In 2015 I traveled to Secaucus, New Jersey for a life-changing event.

My mother had been a fan of Tony Robbins for years. She listened to his tapes, a lot.

So, for my birthday she bought me a ticket to his 3-day “Unleash the Power Within” event.

I went in clueless about who Tony was, or what to expect.

In a crowd of 3,000 people I sat in the back row (it was the only ticket we could afford).

And over the next 3-days I observed a master at work.

If you don’t know about Tony Robbins, he’s a giant in many ways. He’s bold, captivating and is also one largest humans I’ve ever seen.

People from all walks of life come to the temple of Tony Robbins.

At the time I was 25 years old. My life was good, and I was comfortable.

So when Tony asked us all to journal “what beliefs do you have that are holding you back?”. I froze. I had nothing to write.

Around me were people who had lost a job, or a loved one, or had recently gone through a divorce. People were in pain, and could easily access those beliefs.

But my life was good. I didn’t have any beliefs that were limiting me…or so I thought.

So I sat there pen in hand staring at my sheet of paper for what felt like an eternity…

I wasn’t going to let this moment pass. I needed to dig deep or at least make something up.

So I did.

“I feel like my lack of pedigree, prestigious school, or experience is limiting to my ability to succeed.”

It was like pulling a thread. I didn’t know if it was true or not. I didn’t know what would follow but here I was with a new insight of something that I had never said or consiously felt.

The events of next couple of hours changed my life.

Tony asked all 3,000 people to lay down on the floor. He turned out the lights of the conference room.

Then asked me to imagine my future life if I let this belief control me.

I had to push myself. I tried to picture it as clearly as I could: my life story limited by this belief.

I thought of my love life.

I thought of my career journey.

I thought of my friendships.

And then I thought of myself as an 80 year old looking back on my life, full of regret.

Knowing I could have achieved so much more. But my fear, and the limiting story I told myself prevented me from my full potential.

The goal of this exercise is to feel the emotional and physical pain today instead of sometime in the future.

This will force you to rewrite your story before it’s too late.

That weekend changed my life in two ways:

1. I learned to identify stories and beliefs that had governed my life to this point, that I wasn’t even aware of. The silent parasites of my existence.
2. I learned how to imagine the true pain those limiting beliefs could have on me, so I can change the path of my story today

Do yourself a favor and spend some time writing out the answer to:

• “What are self limiting beliefs you have, and stories you tell yourself?”

Feel free to share them with me or keep them to yourself.

The act of writing is powerful and is the first step to change.

Have a great week,

Sieva