“The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty that you can comfortably live with.”
So says American personal development goo-ru Tony Robbins.
If you’ve heard of old Tone, you’ll no doubt have an opinion about him - he's the quintessential motivational speaker, and he attracts a lot of fan girls and boys who hang off his every word like he’s the new Messiah.
Despite all the “Stand up and clap your hands” stuff that makes me want to gouge my eyes out, I respect him as a coach.
He’s studied human behaviour long and hard, and has put some excellent programmes together.
I first saw him on a 90’s infomercial and bought one of his 30 day programmes. He’s one of the reasons I decided to become a coach myself, because the principles I learned from him helped me get through some of the toughest times in my life.
I particularly found the uncertainty quote useful when I was going through a rough period when my ex husband and I were taken to court by a business associate.
This guy threw everything he could at us to ruin us, and it worked on the financial front but not on the psychological one, and I’m grateful for the experience because it made me stronger.
I remember the day before we had to make our first appearance at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Naturally, I was shitting my pants.
In terms of certainty, I had none. I had no idea what was going to happen and how bad it was going to get, but I plugged myself into a Tony Robbins CD and flooded my brain with positive stuff.
Walking into the court building was a surreal experience. I suddenly went from being a frightened solicitor’s client to being an awe-struck tourist. The building is stunning, and I remember thinking to myself how cool it was that I could see it.
I’m not sure if public tours of the building were available then as they are now, and my overriding thought was, “Not many people get to see this. I’m pretty lucky, actually!”
I’m 100% sure that if I hadn’t been plugged into positive brain food whilst going through that difficult experience, then I’d never have had that moment of appreciation that helped enable me to keep it together on the day.
Don’t get me wrong - I spent much of my life in full victim mode around that time because it felt like a long, relentless grind of solicitor’s meetings and scary, puke-provoking correspondence from the Other Side - but it was the moments of strength I remember most clearly now - the pride I felt in myself for finding my mettle when everything looked bleak.
We’re all on our own journey of ups, downs, twists and turns, and some times will feel more uncertain than others.
I can tell you with absolute certainty that if you feed your brain with good stuff rather than endlessly watching depressing news bulletins and scrolling through people whinging and whining on social media, then your capacity to deal with the uncertainties of life will increase, and thus the quality of your life will improve.
You can, of course, find any other coach to work with, including Big T himself, but if you want to take part of your personal development journey with me, then a good way to start would be to jump on the next intake of our 90 Day Breakthrough course
These sessions are usually only available to my private clients who pay a lot of money for the privilege, and you can’t book a single session with me any other way.
The countdown is on!