I Went To Unleash The Power Within by Tony Robbins And Here Is Why I Walked Out…

Let me start with two disclaimers:

1. I am no stranger to personal development. To find out more, see my post “Top 5 bulletproof ways to grow yourself as a leader”. I am also a trained executive coach. It means two things: I don’t know how one experiences this event if this is their first time at such seminars. And I look at the event also from a professional coach perspective.
2. Success Resources (the organizers of the event in London and everywhere outside of the US) invited me to the show as their guest. I covered all my travel expenses, and they provided me with an event ticket for free. It doesn’t mean though that I wasn’t committed;)

I will start with a summary to set up your expectations: I left the event around 3 pm for the first two days and walked out of the show without coming back on the day three after the early morning session. Below I will explain to you why.

But first things first, let us start with what I liked about the event.

If you have never been at this event, here is what you can expect. Unleash The Power Within is the biggest and at the same time, the most accessible event ran by the Tony Robbins’ team. Outside of the US, the event is organized by Success Partners.

This event will teach you:

• how to get yourself in the right state to achieve anything you want
• to see others in a kind and loving way, no matter who is sitting next to you
• to understand what do you want
• to work on your limiting believes and fears
• to understand what creates progress and
• to seat through a 12h session without using a bathroom:)

During these four days, you will be surrounded by 13'000 people from 66 counties working their asses off to create a change in their life.

Sounds amazing, right?

On top of it, both teams behind the event (Tony’s team and Success Resources) are doing a fantastic job. It feels like there is at least one team member taking care of every 10 participants. I saw them in action, trust me, they are well trained to deal with participants in any state possible.

The main room is designed in the way that you can see, hear and experience everything no matter what ticket category you buy. The registration process is super smooth as well as the entrance procedure.

If you have ever seen Tony’s videos from other events, you know how inspiring he can be. Multiply it by 1000, and you know how it feels when he is working live with an audience. His partner in crime — Joseph McClendon III, is my most significant discovery of these three days. He is funny; he is practical and straight forward.

But why did you walk out then, Olga?

And here is why…

Simple and easy tools … that are quite basic and spread very thin throughout 4 days

I didn’t have any particular expectations when I came to the event. I wanted to participate in the show and have my own opinion about it. And this is precisely what I got.

It was helpful to shake up my toolbox and ask myself certain questions that are left unanswered in my busy day-to-day. At the same time, certain parts were way too basic and also loosely explained.

Instead of coming here, I could have just booked a hotel room in London, locked myself with pen and paper and I would achieve quite the same result.

It is very heavy on your body and all your senses

Joseph repeats it multiple times, and this is true — the process is designed in a way that it gets to you through all your senses. For a sensitive person like me, that feels the world in a very empathetic way; this was a nightmare and the main reason why I had to leave around 3 pm on the first two days. My whole system was down. My body was shaking; my eyes were hurting, etc. I had to take 2-hour naps every time after returning to my hotel room to restore and to restrict myself from listening to any music or even looking at screens for the rest of the day.

Not enough time for reflection

The event is very fast-paced. You dance, you write, you jump, you yell, etc. As soon as I was getting closer to something vital for me, to some realizations or Aha moments — we were asked to jump (literally) into the next thing. I had no time to process my learnings and appreciate them.

It feeds both wolves simultaneously

There is an old Cherokee legend that tells a story of Two Wolves:

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil — he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.”

He continued, “The other is good — he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you — and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

This story to me contains the essence of what growth path means to me and my value system. My firm belief is that my self-development path is about feeding the loving and hopeful wolf and getting to know and if possible minimizing my evil wolf. The same applies to my work as a coach.

UPW to its essence doesn’t name the “wolves” and because of that feeds both of them simultaneously. It is about human connection, and it is about greed, and it is about ego — all at the same time.

I agree with Tony and his interviews that it is every participant’s responsibility to take care of their journey. At the same time, I do not feel comfortable opening up to my neighbors during reflection exercises after they got their evil “wolves” pumped next to me.

I am against putting up a person on a pedestal

Tony is a great guy, I get it, and I respect how much he has achieved in his lifetime. I also admire his mastery of public speaking and the way he leads a 13'000 people audience. At the same time, he is a human being, not better than we are, not worse than we are, just different.

I came alone, and during this event, I spoke to lots of new people. Hearing their stories was touching and sometimes scary. Some of them hoped Tony would change their lives one and for all, some of them live from one event to another event. They pray on Tony, buy his courses, his books, share stories from his life and wait eagerly till he is back on stage.

You might argue with me and say — again; it is a responsibility of every participant to rely on their strength. I agree. and here is a big BUT. The whole system is designed to let you spend more, signup for more courses and pay to have a closer look at Mr. Robbins. It is a business, I get it, but not my type of business.

So now you know, why I left the room and didn’t come back. If my reasons to leave the event don’t bother you, and you decide to attend, here is what I recommend to you:

• Come with a question to answer or a goal that you would like to achieve during and after the event. It will help you to identify whether the event is meeting your expectations;
• Prepare lots of snacks and water;
• Take some warm socks, sweaters, hoodies, and shoes with you. It is freezing inside the venue, sometimes freaking cold;
• Listen to your body and your soul. Both Tony and Joseph will push you to go an extra mile. Remember — there is a difference between resistance and exhaustion. If your body asks you to leave — leave.
• Come alone. It will allow you to have your own experience and not fall under the influence of other people or their expectations.
• Switch off your email, messengers and don’t consume coffee or alcohol. It will all influence your senses and take you out of the “state” created carefully by Tony and Joseph.
• Buy Gold, no need to spend more if you are not sure what this event can offer you.
• Stay at the Good Hotel. Fantastic view from your room and only 5 minutes walk from the venue.

Please comment and reach out directly via hello@olgasteidl.com