Be your own Guru

I recently watched the Netflix documentary "I'm not your guru" about Tony Robbins and his "Date with Destiny" retreat. It was fascinating. The retreat seems kind of over the top and corny at first, almost like a cult, but then you start to understand why it feels that way. Because...it is a cult.

It's a cult of change and empowerment. People are there to change their lives, so it makes sense that the environment is engineered to do just that. It's benevolent brainwashing designed to get you to take the actions that will change your life. That is after all, why people are there. So, drink the cool-aid.

Brainwashing isn't bad if it takes you where you want to go. Positive self-affirmations are nothing more than ritual chants for very tiny cults.

While the crazy atmosphere may help with the brainwashing, the real work at Tony's seminar comes back to the basics: introspection, personal honesty, and immediate action.

In every area of life, it's always the people who've mastered the fundamentals that make the biggest waves. Tony isn't magic. He's just mastered the fundamentals and he help others apply them to themselves.

What's your real problem? What should you do about it? Do it now!

Watching Tony work you can see this in action. All he does is ask questions. Good through provoking questions. And he keeps asking them until he gets to the bottom. This is Five Whys applied to humans, because the first answer is never the core issue. It's a superficial symptom of your "root cause" problem. Keep going deeper. You'll know when you've hit bottom.

Why is it so easy to see other people's problems, but not our own? Selective ignorance. Ultimately, we know what our problems are. We're just to afraid to confront them.

To conquer our limiting beliefs and pain, we must first identify them.

After Tony leads someone to their root problems he doesn't offer them a solution. There is no solution that he could offer. It's always the person, the "self" that provides the help, since no one knows us better than ourselves. We are the ultimate source of information and solutions to our own life problems. They're there if we would only just look inside.

Deep down, we know what needs to be done.

Finally, Tony uses "tough love" to make people take action. Sometimes we need a push in the right direction to make us grow. Tony provides that push, and maybe more than one, until action is taken. That's it. That's all Tony does.

Tony's techniques aren't magic. They aren't even special. It's problem solving applied to humans. Cold, hard problem solving and immediate action. It's not easy or pleasant, but nothing that really works is.

Don’t confuse the complex with the difficult. Most situations are simple--many are just emotionally difficult to act upon. -- Tim Ferriss

Be your own guru today:

1. Identify your real problem.
2. Identify the best solution.
3. Fucking, do it.