What changed in me after Tony Robbins’ workshops?

In March 2016, I attended Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power workshops. I wasn’t going to write about it at all since I didn’t know what people would think, but since it has helped me a lot, I’ve decided to share the experience with others (I wrote about that here). 

When you finish the workshops, you’re so hyped that anything seems possible – literally anything. But the problem is that the feeling lessens after a month or two and you come back to (almost) the same state. So why is it that I would definitely go back and can’t wait to do it again? Because as I said, you’re coming back to “almost” the same state. You’re different already – something has switched in you and you just know more now. 

The workshops are four days filled with listening to lectures and other people’s behavior patterns, writing down your struggles, breathing exercises, meditation, walking through fire, talking to people, dancing and focusing on what you have to work on. These four days are intense. You immerse yourself in a completely new reality. You have to forget who you think you are and start being who you truly are. I don’t think it’s for everyone, and that’s why I don’t want to necessarily recommend it to anyone. If you go in saying to yourself, “I’m not like them” (which is what I said) and you don’t decide to become like them to change something in you, then nothing will change. If you go in thinking that after these four days you’ll achieve everything, just because you participated in these workshops, then nothing will change. The only way to do it is to go in, be as open as you can (I had no idea who Tony Robbins was when I bought the ticket), trust that these people know what they’re doing, listen, write, talk to others and be fully engaged. Then, when you get home…start working on it. People come back after the workshops and expect a miracle to happen. But no – these four days were just the beginning. You have your guideline, and now it’s on you. What does that mean? Now you have to put in some work. Read your notes once in a while (you have your own guidebook filled with their notes and notes of your own), see where you’re at and what it is that you have to work on. Notice your own behavior patterns and habits that you have to change. Do 10 minutes of priming exercise (the exercise that you learn there – three minutes of gratitude, three minutes of planning and three minutes of breathing), listen to videos or podcasts that inspire you (I have my motivation that I wrote about already), read books and surround yourself with like-minded people. Change something. It’s so easy to come back and fall into the same place you were before the workshops. So easy. It takes no time. It’s so easy because your fear is taking over. People think that they will come back and they will get what they want because the workshops promise that “it will change your life.” Workshops merely give you tools to change your life. It’s up to you to decide if you want to do the work. It’s like buying a gym membership, and thinking that that’s enough to change your body right away. What about the working out part? Buying a membership just gives you access to the tools that can transform your body. So do the workshops. 

The more I listen to my motivators and read and focus on my patterns and bad habits, the more I am aware of who I truly am and what I should work on. Since I came back, I’m definitely more appreciative of everything, less judgmental, more compassionate and, most importantly, just happier. I wake up grateful for what I have, and I go to sleep grateful for what I have. I don’t have many bad days, because I learned how to snap out of that. The workshops didn’t turn my life upside down or drastically change my situation, but they drastically changed the way I look at life. And it just made my life way easier. Because life gets easier when you realize that what you have is enough. And even when you’re not in the place you wanted to be yet, your life is still amazing. Simply because you live, breathe, walk, sing, talk, have a roof over your head and people who care about you. Everything else is just the noise that you can easily mute. If you focus just on that noise, then you’re in trouble. If you choose the opposite direction, your life really won’t be the same again. And this is exactly what these workshops promise. The choice is – as always – yours.