My Top 10 Takeaways from UPW 2020

Over 4 days, 14 hours a day, I had the exceptional opportunity to learn from Tony Robbins and other speakers at the Unleash Your Power Conference (UPW). They taught tools for psychology, physiology and how to break limiting beliefs to achieve goals with exceptional and genuine energy. I have over 20 pages of notes in addition to all of my notes in the workbook, but I wanted to share my top 10 takeaways from the conference with you:

  1. Your Physiology Matters

Whether it’s what you put in your body, how you align your body or how you reinforce your thoughts physically, your body is a powerful tool in your own beliefs and the progress towards your goals. 

  1. You only get out of things what you put into them. 

Throughout the conferences, Joseph McClendon III reminded us that to get the most out of any experience, you have to play all out. If you don’t put the energy into something, you won’t get the results you’re looking for. This reminded me of what I hear from workout instructors constantly: “ you showed up, why not give your workout the focus and energy to make the most of your time?” If you go into something believing it will suck or that you’re too tired or don’t feel like it, you won’t get the same results as if you had gone into thinking that you’ll feel amazing after or that you’re excited to do it. 

  1. Writing down your goals will focus your mind and help you move towards that goal. 

What you write, you invite. I loved this phrase throughout the conference. Not only because it’s catchy, but because it encourages your mind to focus on what you write down. Only 5% of people write down their goals. I thought that was crazy. If you physically write something, there is a physical connection between your hand and your brain. Your body is physically doing something in response to that goal which helps wire focus into your brain and you use multiple senses to focus on that goal making it much more likely to become a reality. 

  1. Knowledge is potential power, action is real power.

I love that there was a consistent theme of now. When’s the best time to do something? Now. When should you start working towards your goals? Now. If we never starty and we never take action towards our goals that we set, we find ourselves a week, a month, a year, a decade later in the same place or worse. It’s so important to have that 20 seconds of insane courage to just start putting one foot in front of the other to take that massive action you need to succeed. 

Tony talked of 3 things to do to master anything. All of these things require action!

  1. Master Cognitive Understanding: Complexity is the enemy of execution. You have to make it simple (makes me think of KISS- Keep It Simple Stupid from school way back in the day!)
  2. Master it Emotionally: You have to feel it, what does it mean to you? Why do you want to master it? What will it feel like when you master it? Emotion equals energy plus motion. Information without emotion is not retained.
  3. Physical Mastery: You have to create a muscle memory for it. Whether it’s a goal, sport or a new habit, you have to do it over and over, practicing like you condition a muscle to make it second nature. 
  1. Figure out your why, your powerful why.

Goals are a great step to setting benchmarks and pushing to the next level, but without an emotion behind it, it’s easy to lose the momentum towards achieving it. Your emotion is your superpower! Why you set that goal, what you’ll feel when you achieve that goal and visualizing what it looks like is such a powerful motivator to keep you working towards it even through obstacles. 

Jamie Kern Lima shared her amazing story of creating IT Cosmetics and going through so many no’s and toiling for three years before she finally had her first success on QVC that literally pulled her away from bankruptcy and into a growing business. She said she had to find the why behind her why and feel it so deeply so she could keep fighting for what she believed in. 

  1. Check the meaning you attach to events and words.

When something happens, you choose what you’re going to focus on. What you focus on becomes your reality. But more than your focus is the meaning you place on that event. Is it a challenge? Is it an opportunity to grow? Is it a gift that helped you move on to better things or learn a necessary lesson? The meaning you give to things that happen is so powerful and can create limiting beliefs. 

  1. Limiting beliefs have exceptional power.

Sometimes what we believe about ourselves…the bad things, are really some of our greatest strengths. Tony used the example of himself when he first started out feeling like he was too young or not educated enough to do something when in fact, his youth and drive to succeed was exactly what made him unique and exceptional. We wrote 3 beliefs down and flipped them to new beliefs, the ones that are truth. 

Do it with me! What are your limiting beliefs? If you reframed that belief to something positive, what would it look like? For me, I had a limiting belief that because I’ve worked for some companies that are not as well known, I wouldn’t be able to find as many jobs in my next career move. When I reframed this belief, I realized that at those companies, I had experiences that I never would have had in a traditional company and those experiences have changed my view of the world, my approach to problems and my style as a leader. Those experiences make me unique and much more impactful.

  1. Learn to interrupt negative patterns. 

Whether it’s a bad habit you’re looking to kick or a negative thought that creeps into your mind on the regular, you have to learn to interrupt that pattern and then create a new pattern to replace it. Try something physical like crossing your pointer fingers and saying no out loud every time you have that thought. Then each time you break the pattern, replace it with a positive affirmation or a positive new habit. Maybe you take 10 deep breaths after you interrupt that bad pattern. You’ll retrain your mind and you’ll get some extra oxygen throughout the day!

  1. Leaders are unwilling to settle for less than they can achieve or be. 

This is where your fierce comes in. It doesn’t mean you aren’t nervous or uncomfortable. It’s the fact that you are unwilling to accept anything less than what is the most outstanding. He talked about the 2mm principle. The difference between excellent results and outstanding results is just a little bit more. When you believe that you can get that extra bit, you will push for it with unassailable certainty. 

  1. Master the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment.

So many people have the money and success that they worked hard for, but are still not happy. The science of achievement focuses on what you’ve achieved in the past and learning from yourself, modeling successful people- copying their patterns to turn decades of experience into days of learning – and learning the tactics and specific tools needed to achieve. But the art of fulfillment is a true art and can be different for everyone. More money only magnifies your current state and personality. If you aren’t fulfilled now, you have to spend just as much time and energy learning what makes you feel fulfilled so it can go hand in hand with your achievements. 

Even though this was a virtual event, it was truly immersive. They had us up, dancing in the living room, igniting our energy through physical exercises, concrete tools and processes to live an outstanding life. I can’t wait to start on some of the specific goals I set during this event and share the results with all of you!

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