(Estimated reading time 4 minutes – longer than usual, I know, but this is an easy post to read just the bits you find interesting.)

Yesterday I had the joy and privilege of attending the Power of Success conference in Toronto with my family. It was the birthday present I gave myself – to have us all go together. Here are some of the things that resonated with me. Most of the time, these are paraphrased, not direct quotes because I just don’t write that fast! This is not in any way a summary of the event or even the main ideas from each presenter – just a few personal highlights.

Although I enjoyed many of the speakers, Tony Robbins was by far my favourite presenter for so many reasons. He spoke for 4 hours and managed to keep the level of engagement in a room of 8000 people very high. It was mesmerizing and very skillful. As a Toastmaster, I’m thinking about how he achieved that. His focus on changing your energy as the basis of getting different results was fascinating. I’m going to try it!

A few personal highlights from the day and my thoughts about them

When you demand perfection from yourself, you also inadvertently demand it from others. John Grey

This reminds me that letting go of perfectionism is not just about me and for me, it’s for those around me. Showing up imperfect allows others to do the same. We can all breathe more easily, let ourselves try new things and not feel shame when we fail. On that note …

Do you know if you fail at something, you can literally just try again? Rachel Hollis

Funny but so true! Easy to forget in the middle of trying to do everything right that if we fail we can just try again.

We cannot control the outer world, but we can control how we react to it. John Grey

More encouragement to let go of perfectionism (which tries to control the external world). Our power lies in seeing that we can change our inner world (how we think and feel about what is happening in the outer world). Our reactions in large part are due to what we decide to focus on and what we decide it means. What we focus on and what we think it means, influences our action – see below.

3 Decisions that shape your life: First, what are you going to focus on? Second, what does it mean? Third, what are you going to do? (What you do shapes your life). Tony Robbins

Do you focus on what you have or what’s missing? What you can or can’t control?

My superpower is that I will never quit. Molly Bloom  

I want this to be my superpower!

The most important skill you can develop is persistence. JT Foxx

That’s two for the superpower of not giving up!

Every six months, you need a challenge. JT Foxx

What’s my next challenge? What’s your next challenge?

All good transformation starts when you tell yourself the truth. Gary John Bishop

Where do I want to change in my life? Where am I now? What’s the truth about why I am where I am? Creating awareness is tough. It’s uncomfortable, and it takes courage and perseverance. I recently did an everyday journaling exercise to help create awareness. It was helpful, but not easy. I had to use two different kinds of accountability to get myself to do it – both internal (a commitment to myself) and external (a promise to text my coach when I had completed it for the day). When I removed the external accountability, I stopped doing it.

Wrestle with your actions until they match your promises to yourself. Your success in life lives between what you say and what you do. Gary John Bishop

I like the word wrestle. I think it accurately describes the process of trying to make challenging changes. Change is not always easy, clean or straightforward. I believe low self-esteem and lack of confidence are often rooted in this area of not keeping the promises you make to yourself – of not lining up what you say and what you do.

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. Rachel Hollis

True. What am I aiming at? What are you aiming at?

Everything great comes on the other side of something hard. Rachel Hollis

True and an encouragement to keep moving through the hard things.

Knowledge is potential power. Executing trumps knowledge every time. Tony Robbins

Where do I know, but fail to perform? What action do I need to take? Where do I need to let go of knowing more and start doing?

Sue Das, Courage Coach, CPCC,ACC , B Soc Sc (SW)

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