The weekend which changed my life was called UPW, short for Unleash the Power Within.

A  huge fan of Tony Robbins I was already familiar with his books, tapes and tactics. I absolutely loved him and couldn’t get enough of his materials but the seminars always seemed to be for “other people”…..mostly those who had more time than I did.   I was a newly single mom juggling young kids, a business of my own, and all the problems that come after the death of a sister and a divorce.

I rarely had time off and if I did, the last place I wanted to be was a seminar!

They say people come into your life for different reasons and always when you need them. Josh Wenner was that person for me. He is one of the Tony Robbins Senior Peak Performance Strategists and one of the most down to earth  people I’ve ever met. He’s got the “gift” with people. No matter who you are, he just cuts right through and gets to that place where you cant lie…….not even to yourself.

As fate would have it, in a room filled with chairs, I landed smack right in front of him. Looking back I realize I didn’t have a chance. I remember the moment when he changed it all……after talking about the seminar coming up he asked me why I wasn’t going.

I gave him the usual   line that as of lately seemed to be the reason why NOTHING was getting done…”too much work, not enough time”. I finished it off with “I will someday.”

He looked at me and said “ Sue, there’s something called The Law of Diminishing intent. How you do ONE thing, is usually how you do EVERYTHING”.

Really to be fair he should have given me some warning…….but with those words something inside my mind shifted. I don’t even think I had time to take cover as all my excuses and stories came crashing down around me. They were still hitting me as I reached out for the pen he casually held out to me, with a  knowing look on his face. He’d probably seen a thousand people slam into those words, and make a mad dash for the sign up sheet. To his credit he didn’t laugh – but I’m sure it was comical.

I literally went from a very casual “I’ll do it someday” ……to ….. “Holy crap I have to do this right now” or I’m going to absolutely DIE….in about 5 seconds!

It truly felt that dramatic……..yet even as I was signing my name promising to go,  I was wondering how I was going to pull it off. I had a house of toddlers and a schedule so tight I barely had time to SHOWER without kids.

I didn’t know HOW TO …but I knew I HAD TO …and it was enough for the moment. It was momentum, and it was POWERFUL.

It was the cross roads of “Ill play it safe and say someday” { which means never } vs  “I’ll take a risk and do this right now”.

I choose to take the risk, jump, and build my wings on the way down.

Let me tell you……..especially for those of you prone to making excuses why you wouldn’t be able to go. This was NOT an easy event for me to get away for. So many obstacles were thrown in my way, that it would have been very easy for me to call Josh up and cancel.

It almost seemed like a test – how difficult could the world make it for me to get to this seminar? The IRS screwed up and froze all my bank accounts, I had no child care, the hotel lost my reservation, and the weather turned out to be miserable. Yet every time I thought about rescheduling Joshs words kept echoing back in my mind.

I felt like if I put this off, I would be putting my ENTIRE life on hold . To be honest I have found these type of stories to be very common with Tony Robbins Seminars.

It almost seems like the more you have to fight to get there – the more you actually NEED to be there.

I have no clue even to this day how I pulled it off, but November came and I found myself in a packed room with thousands of other people………answering the question “WHY ARE YOU HERE” ?

It was the first time I was confronted on finding “my why’s”. It can seem trivial but let me be very clear…..before you do anything great in life, you have to be clear on WHY you are doing it.

I arrived wet from the pouring rain, exhausted from the drive over and really hungry. I had met a team of people from my business and sank down in my seat like a half dead person almost unable to smile. I remember at first just waiting for the “boring seminar” to start…..but after going through some “state changing exercises ” with Tony I realized that strangely enough I was having THE TIME OF MY LIFE!

When most people think 3 day conference of 8- 12 hours a day, they don’t usually think FUN……but it was so much fun at the end I actually DIDN’T WANT TO GO HOME!

I would describe it more like a rock concert and a party than a “seminar”

Of course there was the famous fire walk which was absolutely fantastic, but there was lots of jumping around and dancing, loads of laughter and a roomful of really charged up people who had decided to take life to the next level.

I can not describe to you the power in being around  thousands of people who are taking charge. It was like the Club Med meets Rock concert and slams into seminar.

I don’t want to give away the secrets of the seminar – you really must go yourself but I will tell you……………..IT IS A GAME CHANGER .

You make sure to kiss yourself goodbye before you go to one, because you will NOT come home the same person.

You are forced to confront truths and stories long buried, to examine your internal blue prints and figure out why you do the things you do.

Like….Why do you keep making the same mistake over and over again? Why do you keep finding the same person in many different relationships? Why do you believe the negative things you do ?

Finally and most  importantly what are you going to do about it ?

It’s an emotional, intense and enlightening experience where you will laugh like a maniac, dance like a fool, cry your eyes out, and literally WALK ON FIRE!

I came home a much better mother, a better person, and a more educated business owner. I had tools in my toolkit that I didn’t even DREAM existed.  I walked in my front door and just started tearing down my old life and building another one.

Every single aspect of my life got ripped apart and put back together the way I wanted it, not the way somebody else saw fit to build it for me.

In later posts I’ll go into much more personal details but for now I can tell you that some of the immediate changes I made in coming home were :

  • Raising my energy level naturally and breaking my caffeine addiction. I was drinking close to 15 cups of coffee a day before the seminar. I came home and within days I was down to one.
  • I stopped yelling at my children. It was always something I’d wanted to get a handle on but being raised in a house of 5 kids yelling was taught to me as a way of life. After the seminar – I found yelling to be unacceptable and I just QUIT. My children noticed instantly and began responding to me differently almost from the moment I said ” enough” and made the decision to stop.
  • I got back to a super healthy lifestyle. Working like an animal before the seminar had caused me to skip over my workouts for almost 6 months. My energy levels had changed, my body had slowed down and I no longer felt good on most days. I came home and jumped right back into training several hours a day. I am now signed up for two huge marathons with plans for 2 more on the way.
  • My business plan changed. I realized mid-seminar that I was on the right road business wise, but in the wrong lane, and driving the wrong carpool.  I came home and just simply took action.

The bottom line is that the seminar  gave me the resources I needed to create the life I’d always dreamed of. Except now I’m not just dreaming of it………I’m designing it and I owe my ability to do so all to Anthony Robbins.

The books and tapes are fantastic, they gave me the desire to want to change and I highly recommend you pick up ANYTHING he puts out.

However, the pieces of the puzzle did not come together until I went to his seminar. I had to feel the passion and the energy, for the changes to actually become “MUSTS” and not “SHOULDS.”

If you would like more information on attending a Tony Robbins Seminar please click the picture  to be taken directly to Joshs Facebook page – where you can connect with him.

If you truly want to change your life, don’t let anything stand in your way. Give yourself the gift of a weekend with Anthony Robbins at Unleash the Power Within.

I promise you that once you attend a UPW seminar………..”LIFE WILL NEVER BE THE SAME.”