Why I Was Terrified of Tony Robbins

We all have our fears.  Some are greater than others.

Some of those fears are a mere inconvenience, but others can severely restrict how we function or move forward in everyday life.

So initially the title of this 5-minute video from John Assaraf surprised me.

Until I listened to what he had to say.
In 2000 John was looking at himself as a comparative beginner alongside Tony Robbins who was already an established and successful motivational speaker and coach.

I look at the work done by both Tony Robbins and John Assaraf, from which I have learned so much.  I am currently in that place of being afraid that I am not good enough or able to do what they do.

Yet I know that with dedication, hard work, continual learning and especially knowing how to overcome the tricks that our minds play on us, we can retrain our brains to recognise these fears, reframe and release them and so move forward to take action.

I have been following Neurogym (of which John Assaraf is the Founder and CEO) for several years.  Over the past year or so I have been following the Winning the Game of Money program.

This has opened up my knowledge about brain retraining and is a subject I shall return to frequently.

This video, though, ended with a call to sign up for a encore presentation of his Winning the Game of Fear program.  Although I have been aware of this and followed some of the short videos which accompany the program, I have decided that it is time that I take full action on this.

I have plans to make quite dramatic changes in my life.  It is exciting yet scary at the same time.

However I know that with the right help, education and support I can and will move forward.

I think John's words are giving me another kick in the right direction:

"Fear is one of the silent killers holding most people hostage."

I am not prepared to be held hostage any longer.  I wish to fly!


Have you used any of Neurogym's programs?  Do let me know what you think about them.  I look forward to your comments.

You Can Change - Motivational Video Ft Secret Entourage

Fear is the green light not the red light.  

If you feel fear then you need to do it.

You are in control of what happens.

You can change.  

This week in my teaching I have had some quite difficult classes.

Some of the students have been rude and argumentative.  They have disrupted the lesson so much that they have prevented other students from learning.

The concepts that I have been teaching have not been particularly difficult, yet because of the disruption, it has been difficult to convey them properly, making sure that each student understands them.

At the end of the lesson I have felt discouraged, worn out and yes a little fearful about whether I can manage the behaviour enough to have a lesson where the students really learn.

Do I need to change the whole structure of the lesson, or just some of the elements?

Do I need need to change the way I teach and react less to the behaviour which some of the students probably design to upset me and cause disruption?

The answer is definitely 'yes' within certain parameters.

Am I afraid of that?

Again the answer is 'yes'.  

It means more work and more trial and error with this particular group.  

It will demand more time and effort when I am planning my lessons.

I will need to continue my own professional development, researching, studying and putting into practice strategies and ideas to break the cycle of poor behaviour.

And the further fear?

That the demands of the education system and the inspection regimes are such that I am not supposed to get this wrong.  That each student should seemingly be on an ever upward learning cycle.  That it could affect my appraisal result, my ability to teach.

Yet I feel the fear and so I need to do it.

For the sake of my students and their learning.

For the sake of the education system.

But most of all for my own sake.  

For the knowledge that I have done the very best I can and that at some later stage, some of my students may have cause to thank me for the way in which I helped them through a difficult time.

Life is not easy.

Teaching is not easy.

Learning is not easy.

But we must all feel the fear and do it anyway.

I CAN change.

Back to school

Did you enjoy school?  Did you love learning from your teachers?

Or were (are!) you like so many of my students who really do not want to be there?

Many of my teenaged students struggle with morning lessons - particularly on a Monday after a week's break.  They would far rather be in bed and maybe come into school later in the day.

Or students who are very close to taking their GCSE exams at the age of 16.  Exams upon which our Government place huge emphasis - the students, the teachers and the schools are measured and placed in league tables, based on the results. 

Poor results mean that the schools have more frequent inspections, may be forced to become an Academy and parents may not choose to send their children to the school, due to those results.

What are we teaching our students?  That they have to play the game? 

At the moment I am running revision sesssions with students who are on the borderline of achieving the results that our Government considers to be a 'good' pass.  That is exactly what I am doing - teaching them to play the game of getting the most marks they can from what they know.

I have spent the past week, whilst I have had a holiday from teaching in school, learning, studying, developing my knowledge and abilities.

When I asked my students today who had done any study over the break, only a small handful admitted that they had done so.

Have we squeezed the love out of learning in our education systems?

It is a topic I shall return to often because it is one which I feel passionately about.

Do let me know about your own experiences in school.  Did you love it or hate it.  Do you wish you had paid more attention whilst you were there?  What do you think would improve the ways in which we help young people to gain knowledge and to grow?

I would love to hear from you.