Tony Robbins: New Year, New You

RAISE YOUR STANDARDS
IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP

Woke up yesterday with a total lack of motivation, so I decided I'd get online and just take a look at what types of motivating content the web has to offer.  Now, to be honest, I was going to buy Chalene Johnson's book entitled Push, but after reading the reviews, I wasn't convinced that was really what I needed, so I looked further and came upon Tony Robbins.

Now, I don't live under a rock, at least not usually, so I know who Tony Robbins is, but I haven't ever read one of his books, haven't listened to any of his talks, nothing...zero, so I wasn't really sure what to expect.  Come to find out the person I thought was Tony Robbins isn't Tony Robbins at all....seems after all of this time, I thought that Tony Horton and Tony Robbins were the same guy.  Silly me.  So after I got over that complete inaccuracy, I watched the video that I linked above.

In the video Robbins talks about New Year Resolutions.  Hey, it's September 10th, I'm not yet thinking about New Year Resolutions, but I am on this path of self discovery.  I am on this path of being a better version of myself.  I'm on this path as Shellie coined it to Unleash the Best of me and as much as I think about it and as much as I plan for it, the bottom line is, I don't do it.  I mean, seriously, no one needs to teach me what I have to do to lose weight, no one needs to tell me how to maintain my house, no one needs to show me how to be successful at my job.  I already know all of that and I have news for everyone out there - you intrinsically have this information at your disposal, as well.

Yet, for some reason, we don't listen to ourselves.  We run to the latest self help book, to the latest fad diet, we're constantly searching for answers and I wonder if we're constantly on this search because the answers that we have inside scare us.  We know what we have to do, but that's hard and I don't know about you, but I'm constantly searching for an easier way.  I mean, I'd like to take a pill and be 130 pounds tomorrow.  I'd like to say a few incantations and have my house spotless.  Deep down, we know the answer to this, too - nothing changes unless we want it to change.

I honestly liked this video.  In some places I did feel like it was just rehashing what every other self help guru has told me, but in other ways it was fresh - it gave me new ideas and holy hell, it got me off the damn couch.

The thing that stood out the most and apparently is Robbins' go to phrase is "Raise Your Standards."

Here is a list of other things that he said in the video that rung true to me:

1. Change is going to happen regardless of your actions.
2. Progress is true happiness.
3. To make progress, you have to have a vision and it has to be compelling.  It has to have an emotional intensity that will give you strong enough reasons that when the going gets tough you have the strength to pull through.
4. You need to look at the reasons first and the answers second.
5. You have to review it and feel it everyday.
6. Make it a must.  A lasting change is different than a goal.  
7. People follow through on who they think they are.  We need to stay consistent with who we think we are, but we must examine when we made the decision that this is who we are.  If this was a standard or a belief that we held years ago, then maybe it's time to change it.  Think about when you decided to make "this is who I am" a limitation.  Joy comes when you're spontaneous.  That's when the real you shows up.
8. Rituals define us.  Rituals lead to progress.  It's all the inner stuff.
9. If you're standard is that you're an athlete than you need to stay consistent with who you think you are.  If you think that you're fat and you're always going to be fat (this is my paraphrasing here), then that is your standard, but if you say that you're an athlete and you live to that standard, then you're an athlete.

During this talk, Robbins gave a four step plan on discovering how to raise your standards and how to, without making resolutions, achieve what you want for yourself.  Over the next couple of days, I'll be working through these four steps.  

It's time to Wake Myself Up.  It's time to realize that there are two types of pain:  the pain of regret and the pain of discipline.  Let's let the past go and get rid of the regret.  Let's see what this discipline stuff is all about.  Let's raise our standards on who we are.  Let's UNLEASH the best of us.

Focus on the Dash

A long while ago I heard a story and though I can't remember the exact details (I guess I could google it), what I do remember is that the story included a birth date and a death date, but the story focused on the dash in the middle.  It's not when we're born that matters, nor does it matter really in the scheme of things when we die.  What matters the most is how we live our life in between.

I haven't always had a great outlook on this.  I can't honestly say that I have a great outlook on this now.  I spend too much time looking back or looking ahead and never really focusing on looking at the present.  They say looking back is called regret and looking ahead is called anxiety.  I get it.  I really do, but that doesn't mean that I'm always very good at remembering it.  It's something I struggle with.

At 19, I was diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder.  Added Generalized Anxiety Disorder to that a few years ago and this year, to complete the "I have no idea what is going on in my head" trifecta, my doctor added the diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder.  Let me tell you, folks, no matter what my life looks like on the outside, on the inside it's a damn struggle, but I know it can be better and that's part of what this blog is all about for me.

This blog is a place for me to examine things; a place where I can brain dump; a place where I can react to what I've read, to what I've seen; a place where I can focus on the inside.

The question may come about why I chose to do this publicly and the truth is, I learn so much from so many people that I encounter on the internet, I just want to be one of those voices.  A place someone who is struggling may happen upon and realize that they're not alone.  A place to realize that most of what is shared on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter is the best version of our lives but not the real life we're living.  I don't know about you, but I'm not on Facebook when I'm having a depressive episode, when life feels so hard that even getting out of bed is impossible.  So, here I am.  I don't know that if the perspective that I offer will be so different from anything else.  All I know that this is me.  Unfiltered.  Unrestrained.  This is the inside.