E-Web Crew at Unleash the Power Within
Today I want to share what I learned at my first Unleash the Power Within (UPW) event with Tony Robbins, a 4-day seminar held at Sydney Olympic Park on April 27th – April 30th. The experience was made even more special by the fact that many of my E-Web Marketing team members were there to share in this amazing journey of learning and self-discovery. One of our company’s core values is “Be passionate about learning”, and the fact that each attending E-Webber was willing to not only spend $750 for the entry cost, but a full four days of their life immersed in personal development, wasawesome. It brought me great joy to know that I am part of a team that is so dedicated.
I was a little nervous though, because I was the one who recommended that we all go! Having attended other Tony Robbins events before, I knew we were all looking at 15-hour days with only one or two 15-minute breaks each day. If my team didn’t end up seeing the value in what I’d recommended, and finished the seminar feeling tired and cranky instead of motivated and energised, I knew they’d think twice before listening to me in future.
But I had faith that Tony would deliver even more value than what people were expecting – and did he ever come through, BIG TIME! 
Everyone who went got something out of the seminar and it was thrilling to see the excited looks on their faces as they reached new personal breakthroughs. Whether it was summoning the courage to walk over burning hot coals, vanquishing demons from the past, or realising a higher purpose in life, there was at least one experience that touched each of us at the deepest level.
So what exactly did we learn? While there was way too much content to fit into one or even ten blog posts, I can give you an overview of three key points – for the rest, I highly encourage you to go to next year’s event!
The Source of All Fear
Fear is what stops people from moving forward, so in order to have the life we deserve instead of being doomed to look back with regret when we’re old, we need to learn to overcome our fears. What Tony showed us was that everyone experiences countless variations of fear, but for every person on the planet, any fear can be reduced to two Primary Fears. These are:
1. I’m not enough (to do this or to have that – Tony explained in scientific detail why this is and also why it’s completely illogical)
2. I won’t be loved (because we don’t think we’re enough – also entirely illogical)
These two fundamental fears are shared by your parents, your favourite teacher at school, your boss, your rock star idol, your worst enemy, and the President of the United States. Nobody alive can escape them. What separates outstanding people from most people is the ability to logically dissect each of their fears to one of the Primary Fears, acknowledge that the fear is therefore illogical, and take action to overcome that fear.
What Creates Emotion?
What determines whether we have a great, average, or unsatisfactory life? It’s not the amount of money we have, how big our houses are, or even whether we have close friends or an intimate relationship. To quote Tony directly: “The quality of our lives is determined by the types of emotions we experience on a consistent basis.”
Wouldn’t you agree that this makes perfect sense? When you compare a rich person who is stressed and miserable to a lower income person who greets each day with happiness and gratitude in her heart – who has the better life?
And if you agree with Tony and me that the ideal scenario would be to be rich and happy, you should know that most people who’ve achieved this state (who didn’t inherit their money, that is) have had to learn to control their emotions before they could begin to attract wealth.
The three forces that control our emotions are:
1. Our physiology (our posture, facial expressions, how we breathe and move – emotion is created bymotion)
2. What we focus on (empowering things we can control like being grateful, or things we can’t control like events in the past)
3. The language we use and the and meaning we give to each experience (we often use negative language in our internal conversations with ourselves and attach negative meanings to events that could be interpreted positively – not being able to find a nearby parking spot for instance: you can see it as either an annoying inconvenience or as an opportunity to get some health-boosting exercise)
The Six Human Needs
Tony also went over how human beings are driven by 6 primal emotional needs:
1. Certainty
2. Variety
3. Significance
4. Love
5. Growth
6. Contribution
All of the 4000 people in the room were asked to identify which two of these needs were the most essential, and about 85% of the room agreed that the need to feel certain and the need to feelsignificant were the most important driving forces in their lives. Tony confirmed that most people choose these exact two needs in every city in the world where he holds the UPW seminar.
Why is that? Because certainty and significance are the two most self-preserving emotional states; we need them to survive physically as well as mentally. Don’t you need to feel certain that you’ll continue have sufficient food, clothing, shelter and other necessities? Don’t you need to feel significant, that what you do has meaning and that your peers view you as important? And when you think about it, you’ll realise that the needs for variety, love, growth and contribution all require more effort for less short-term gratification than the needs for certainty and significance.
While most of us are primarily directed by these first two needs (and usually while consciously unaware of it), for an extraordinary life, we need to decide to be directed primarily by the last two: growth andcontribution. These needs are not paramount for most of us because they are more difficult to meet – I don’t know about you, but for me it’s easier watch TV than to study self-improvement books after work, because I’m certain that watching TV will give me that relaxing “zoned out” state. But studying? I know it will help my growth, but I’ll probably have to concentrate on the material for at least half an hour first, whereas TV will meet my need for certainty almost instantly.
Do you think that if you could retrain your brain to be primarily motivated by the needs for growth and contribution, you’d experience better quality emotions on a consistent basis, and therefore have a more fulfilling and happy life?
A Few Other Bits of Wisdom
• Your decisions, not your circumstances, are what shape your life. Skeptical? Check out this inspirational story.
• Focus is power! Most people focus on what they don’t want instead of what they want – so they get it.
• Happiness comes from progress. Progress shows up in the form of growth and in a sense of contribution.
• There is no correlation between problems and happiness. Many people think that once they’ve gotten rid of all their problems, they’ll be happy. But guess what? You’re always going to have problems, no matter how successful you are. The crucial difference is that happy people don’t view problems as negative situations, but as opportunities to improve.
Unleashing Happiness, Success and Fun!
The four days spent at Unleash the Power Within were some of the greatest of my life; I grew so much and alongside a group of highly passionate and dedicated people that I’m proud to call my extended family and who make me excited to jump out of bed each morning to come into the office. What was learned and shared at the event fills me with confidence that E-Web is on the right path to achieving the mindset we need to spread Happiness, Success and Fun to everyone we encounter.
And on that note, to finish up, I’d like to share with you a message we received via Facebook the week following the seminar. It warmed my heart to know we brought a little HSF to at least one other human being in our UPW journey.
“Hi E-Web team,
I know it seems a bit unprofessional to send a message via Facebook but I thought I would like to share something with you.
Last week I was also at Tony Robbins- Unleash the Power Within and I had the pleasure of sitting near your team, and let me say with love- you guys are mental!
I spoke with some of your team, even hugged a few and the love for your company was infectious. So much so that when I got home today from a little holiday I signed up for your open day.
Keep doing whatever it is that you are doing and I wish your team the very best, and fingers crossed I shall meet you once more in the future.
Yours
Jaymie”
Did anyone else go to UPW, or has attended another Tony Robbins event? We’d love to hear about your experience!