NLP or Neuro Linguistic Programming is the study and practice of excellence. It’s about identifying the strategies and behaviours in our life that we all run.
If those strategies and behaviours serve us, we look at how we can transfer those same patterns to an area where the strategy we are running does not serve us so well, or we create brand new strategies.

I love NLP with a passion. I love strategy and I love the study of human behaviour. NLP brings the two together and through the simple practices, creates immense change and incredible results that anyone can achieve.

There are 5 very basic principles of NLP that I was first taught when I started on my journey as an NLP coach, I’d love to share them with you now:

1. Know Your Outcome

Decide what it is you want. ‘Begin with the end in mind’.
This is where you set your goals and truly decide on what is important to you.
Make sure you get your goals down on paper, if they stay in your head they are simply dreams, getting them down on paper makes them real. Put some deadlines next to your goals and they become actions.
Being clear, knowing where you’re going is the very first step to mastery.

2. Take Action

Anthony Robbins has been said to say “I never leave the scene of a decision/goal without taking the very first step towards its fruition”.
Create your action plan and take action NOW.

 3. Have Sensory Acuity

Is the action you are taking getting you to where you want to go? What feedback are you getting from those around you, from your colleagues, from your results, from the Universe? Be aware and present – this is how you know if you are on track or if you need to make adjustments. Journaling is a fantastic way to record and observe your results.

4. Have Behavioural Flexibility

Based on the feedback you are receiving, have the flexibility to change your approach. This means don’t get stuck in your ways because you are ‘certain’ about your way. Be open to others opinions, be open to other ways of taking action – providing it still resonates with your core values and your vision.

5. Operate from a Physiology and Psychology of Excellence

Model someone who has done it before. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel! Identify the person you want to be. How does that person think? How does that person act? What does that person say to themselves? How does that person feel about themselves? How do they carry themselves? What habits do they have? What do they listen to? Step into the person you want to be and BE that person – right now.

NLP is a powerful tool for personal growth, personal mastery and massive change.

Download the worksheet that accompanies this post and work your way towards your own version of excellence.