This past weekend I attended Tony Robbin’s ‘Unleash the Power Within’ Conference. Tony Robbins is a world reknowned Motivational Speaker and Life Coach. Mr. Robbins has a created a multi-billion dollar company helping people learn how to use the power of their minds to achieve great things. He has coached some of the greatest minds of finance and business. He currently coaches Billionaire Investor Ray Dalio and has coached such notables as Princess Diana. Attending his event this weekend firmly reminded me that my ability to succeed in business has everything to do with what is in my mind. Running my practice Diana Mohyi Attorney at Law P.C. is my own personal chess game.
For the second time, I participated in Mr. Robbins’ famous fire walk. Participants use the power of their minds to walk accross hot coals burning at 2,000-3,000 degrees–without burning. As a reference, a hot stove reaches only around 670 degrees maximum. Although I had successfully completed the walk last year without sustaining life threatening burns, I observed that both my inner voices and the speech of my peers were my worst enemy in completing the task yet again. It was the walk from the stadium to the parking lot, where the coals burned red, which was the most critical part of my journey to success. I had to block them out. I intended to cross the coals this time without the sore feet and tiny blister I experienced last year. I firmly believe that it was my legal training that caused that. Similarly, being trained to look for the negative can be damaging to a struggling business. I knew my success depended on how I used my mind. This was my opportunity to prove that if I did an even better job at blocking out the negative voices, I would avoid any burning sensation whatsoever.
Right before I crossed the threshold was the hardest part. I felt the terror of my peers who started to panic when they saw the burning coals. They started saying ‘no’ ‘no’ but I screamed ‘yes’ ‘yes.’ I knew that if I did not block out their negativiity, I would fail. It was critical to push back the assault on my mind. I kept chanting ‘yes’ ‘yes ‘yes’ and swooshed my arms in the assertive position Tony had taught to us. I faced fear in the face like Tony said to and seemed to effortlessly glide accross the hot coals while chanting cool moss, cool moss to counter the apparent reality of the burning coals beneath my feet. When I reached the other side, my feet didn’t hurt at all and I had no blisters! What changed? My mind. The only reason I was able to cross the burning coals was that I was constantly telling myself I would succeed and actively blocked all the negative voices around me.
As a business owner, you will only succeed if you protect your mental integrity. If you don’t control your mind, you will fail in life and business. Although you cannot control what is in your environment 100%, you can control your mind by what words you allow yourself speak. Don’t express everything that comes into your mind. Fight the inner voices and the outer naysayers with a daily practice. Do not allow poisonous clients into your life or else risk losing everything you have built. Although this practice may be challenging at first, you will build a muscle that will strengthen over time. You will be able to give more value to your clients and your family. As lawyers we have a dangerous tendency to assume our education gives us superior knowledge. But just as we must constantly learn the law, we must take the time to learn about ourselves. We must realize that any barriers we think exist are really just in our minds.
PS: Yes those are my feet less than an hour after my firewalk on November 8, 2018. Warning! Do not try this without the guidance of a professional trained in this process like Tony Robbins!