4 Life-Changing Lessons I Learned From Traveling the World With Tony Robbins This entrepreneur's important takeaways from travels to England, India, Canada and Hawaii will help you rethink your own potential for personal development.
By Simon Lovell Edited by Amanda Breen
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Mentally, I was a mess when I first came across Tony Robbins. It was around 2008; I had just had a full-on panic attack, finding myself curled up in the fetal position in a friend's garden. A cocktail of unhealthy behaviors, relationship challenges and work stress had built up. Completely disconnected from my own soul and spirit, my body shut down.
At the time, I had no idea what was going on and how to resolve my pain, so I searched on YouTube and came across this tall man who started to make sense to me. It was Tony Robbins. I ended up investing in his course Personal Power II, and something clicked. It was the moment when I discovered that I could change myself. This started my journey of transformation, and I found that the more I worked on myself, the better my life became.
Six years later, I was attending a mastermind in Las Vegas, and someone who worked closely with Robbins offered me a complimentary ticket to Unleash the Power Within (UPW), and it was then that I decided to sign up for his Platinum Partnership, a $65,000 investment at the time. I can remember being stood at the table, my heart pounding — this was to be the biggest investment I had ever made in my personal development.
Part of this investment meant that I would be taking trips all over the world with the man who had had a huge impact on me, and my first private chat with him was at a West End show in London. That's where I learned my first big lesson from Robbins.
Related: Tony Robbins: Want Success? Rewire Your Mind.
1. London, England: the power of the eyes and presence
Robbins is the master of presence, and for me, this was a big lesson because I really struggled with eye contact as a result of childhood bullying and social anxiety. Because people didn't feel safe to me, I had trouble maintaining eye contact, and consequently, people thought I was being rude. It wasn't the case; I just really had a hard time.
In London, I described some of my personal challenges to Robbins. He looked me directly in the eyes and asked, "Are you going to India?" I told him I was, and he said, "I'm going to rip that right out of you there." I felt his words throughout my entire nervous system, and from that day on, I wanted to master presence. It's true what they say about the most successful people: They make you feel like you're the only person there. Robbins taught me that the eyes are the connection to the soul.
2. Chennai, India: deep reprogramming
Up until the trip to India, I would not have labeled myself as "spiritual," but I was open to "woo woo" since I had been meditating off and on for a couple of years. In India, we went deep into meditation, and it was the first time that I had an out-of-body experience. Robbins expands your thinking beyond what is taught in the Western world.
While in a private room with Robbins's energy worker, I realized there was so much about the world I didn't know. During the deeper meditations, we were taught how to heal and reprogram ourselves, and this gave me a new perspective on energy and how we are trapped as adults from events in childhood. I had been introduced for the first time to work in the quantum field. Being in an environment where people have little also humbles you, and this trip did that.
Related: This Is How Energetic Intelligence Can Be Your Superpower
3. Whistler, Canada: the love of animals
The trip to Canada focused on investments. Robbins brought in billionaires, but it was a single comment to another entrepreneur that helped me the most. The man was experiencing depression, and Robbins said three words that changed my life: "Get a dog." At the time, having my own dog was not on my radar, but as soon as I got home, I made the call and chose a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel to be my new friend.
My dog Buddha, whose name was inspired by the India trip, has been with me for five years now, and he's played such a big part in my own personal growth. He also brings so much happiness to others. Dogs are such a powerful lesson in presence and unconditional love. Whenever I'm outside and he just wants to sniff the flowers, he reminds me to take a pause instead of rushing back to work.
4. Hawaii, USA: ending co-dependent relationships
One entire event was focused on relationships, and at the time, I was in a toxic relationship, and my own behaviors were very unconscious. A lot of anger, resentment, jealously and fear led me to show up as very passive. There was a big part of me that didn't want to be in the relationship I was in, but there was so much fear of being alone that I stayed in it for too long. Robbins helped me start to understand relationships on a deeper level, and it was soon after this event that I had the courage to end the relationship that had caused us both a lot of pain. There's so much truth to the fact that you can't allow the right person into your life if you're stuck dependent on someone who is draining you.
Robbins has had a huge impact on my life because I acted on what he taught me. You can get key leadership lessons from his energy alone, but my personal advice is to use his teachings as an opening to go deeper into whatever is showing up at the time.
When we take a leap to work with someone more closely, we shave years off our transformational process because we get closer to the person and access inside information not just from the leader, but from those that the leader surrounds himself or herself with. While I had a big fear about my investment at this level, in reality, it didn't really "cost me" anything because of the connections I made and the business that I was able to generate afterwards, even though that wasn't my original intention.
Related: Tony Robbins Describes the Top Traits Found in Truly Coachable
That leap you're scared to take is highly likely to get you where you want to be. I trusted my gut, and whether that leads to Robbins or someone else for you, don't focus on what you will lose — that's based on fear — focus on what you will gain by taking action. Then, your return on investment is fully in your control.
