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'Unearthing Diamonds!' by Tony Burgess

When the delightful group of six delegates arrived in Glastonbury and met for the first time, they were excited and curious and in some cases a little nervous too. None of them had any idea just how significant the personal journey would be that they were about to embark upon. The training team (myself, my partner Julie French and wonderful Steve Halls) already had a very clear sense about the level of ‘magic’ that would unfold across the week (and beyond) – after all, the programme was designed that way and we had seen the magnificent results emerge time and time again! Of course this would be a unique kind of ‘magic’ because every new group brings a unique blend of skills, experiences, attitudes, beliefs and thoughts to contribute to the mix.

After introductions and an initial orienting session, we shared a wonderful meal together, provided by our in-house chef Marie Halls (Steve’s wife). Steve then ‘set the scene’ on the benefits of paying attention to health and fitness across the week to provide high levels of energy and maximize effectiveness of learning during the 7-day value-packed experience. This is a truly holistic programme – mind, body and spirit all benefit hugely from the training as skills are honed and personal breakthroughs happen in abundance.

The programme – ‘Unearthing Diamonds’ is a unique ‘NLP Practitioner’ training experience. NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) being a whole ‘toolbox’ of attitudes, beliefs, approaches and techniques that have evolved from ‘modelling excellence’. In other words, it captures all the detail of whatever boosts the effectiveness of human communication and performance and by doing so allows others to integrate the detail into their own ‘programmes’ to achieve similarly impressive results.

What is it that allows some people to get better results than others? Why is it that an individual will thrive in one area and yet ‘get in their own way’ in other areas?

The secrets can be discovered in the structure of people’s beliefs, thoughts, emotional responses and behaviours.

All human activity (inside and out) has structure – and when you can notice, capture and harness whatever works in that structure and dismantle, alter or replace any structure that is not working you can really step up and make a difference – in your own life and the lives of other people. It is so freeing to discover that you can take control of your own experiences and thinking and to discover that by doing so you can achieve more of what you want more quickly, more effectively and more consistently.

The training programme is particularly well suited to people who intend to learn much more about themselves and at the same time master skills that will help them to empower others too and this was certainly the case for this group. 

NLP has been successfully applied in personal development, the world of business, the military, the world of sport, a wide range of therapeutic endeavours and in pretty much every category of human experience and performance that you could think of. We train a lot of coaches, trainers, professional speakers, managers, leaders, consultants and other change facilitators as well as other people who simply want to take their ‘people skills’ to a whole new level of excellence.

As the week unfolded, the participants got increasingly in touch with their own magnificent potential and also learned how to express and direct this potential and tease it out of others too. They learned how to become masterful communicators to influence and support positive change. They went from ‘unconscious incompetence’ in their communication (ie they didn’t know what they didn’t know) to ‘conscious incompetence’ (ie they realized how little they knew) to ‘conscious competence’ (getting better and better as they began practising what they learned) and then by around day 5 they moved to ‘unconscious competence’ (ie the skills were so well embedded that the masterful communication simply poured out of them easily and effortlessly). This pattern of progress was also matched by the development of their ‘mental fitness’ skills and other personal development skills across the week.

As participants harnessed more of their inner resources each day and increased their capacity to influence positive change in others, they learned the secrets of how their minds function. They learned to manage their own states and emotions. They learned to change their thinking and beliefs. They learned to operate at the level of 100% commitment. They broke unhelpful habits (or programmes) and replaced them with much more useful ones. They unleashed more confidence and certainty. They honed their sense of their own values, purpose and goals. They achieved things that appeared to be impossible. And they skillfully eased this whole journey for each other as they opened the gates on their own potential and helped each other to really shine.

Every hour brought new insights and new breakthroughs. Personal life-changing results were experienced by everyone, including the training team. There is always a real ‘family’ atmosphere to the training and the bonds that develop are strong. The small group of participants got plenty of personal attention and support from the training team – a key component of the programme that really accelerates progress. And another key component is FUN. There was so much fun injected into the training experience that participants found learning to be enjoyable and stimulating despite the long hours that we all worked (or should that be ‘played’).

We have always found that words are not enough to convey the full richness of this powerful training experience and the magic will be kept alive through the free ongoing support that is on offer for the participants as they go out into the world and begin to make a massive positive difference out there to their own lives and the lives of others.

If only every school in the land gave our young people the personal awareness, understanding and skills that this course offers to people. It would mean that education would be based on a firm foundation of confidence, self-belief, high self esteem and masterful interpersonal skills – which in our view is preparation to thrive in life. The best news is that anyone can make that decision right now to shine brightly out there in their endeavours and NLP offers a wonderful opportunity for stepping up your performance and more importantly to live a successful and fulfilled life (however you choose to define that for yourself).

Six more ‘magic weavers’ have now gone out into the world to unearth more diamonds in people and we as the training team are excited by the prospect of hearing news of their ongoing achievements. And now we are happily anticipating the arrival of the next wonderful group of participants to be part of our next programme which starts in January in Stafford. We’re getting ready to welcome them and to share more magic as they embark on their own journey of discovery that will have them shining at a new level of intensity that will light up the world even more!”

(There are still places available on this programme and it will be a good match to your wants and needs if you are ready to make 2009 your best year yet – Click here for details) 

Article by Tony Burgess, Director, Academy of High Achievers Ltd and Communicate4 Partner.

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