Back with you after an amazing week spent with life strategist Anthony Robbins and his crew target at his Date with Destiny workshop. For me it was a blind date because I had no idea why I was going or what to expect. I spent thousands of dollars to be there and I turned down an opportunity to go the AKC Invitationals in order to participate in this workshop. I have no regrets, it was spectacular.

It was 6 days but in those 6 days we got 90 hours of instruction. Yes, you read that correctly. We started at 9 AM, sometimes 10 or 11 AM. The earliest night was 1 AM and one night we went until 3:45 AM all without more than 1-45 minute break per day (so you had to pack snacks with you) and no scheduled bathroom breaks.

Now I am a person that is bed by 10:00 at night and up at 5:30 in the morning. Some New Year’s eves I can make it to midnight, but not all of them. Yet I rarely checked my watch at all during those late hours. Each day we went full tilt. Time flew by and I would do it again in  a heartbeat. To say it was life altering would be an understatement. Tony has a new reality TV show starting in January. Be sure to tune in and get a glimpse of what we went through.

The workshop was mostly about discovery, learning about yourself, what makes you tick, your relationships and emotions.  There were many couples that went and a many people in a lot of pain. But that was before “Transformation Day” where things were turned around. There was about 1500 participants and we were put into groups of 50 people. Many of  those 50 people were almost like family by the end of 6 days.

During one of his lectures Tony made a comment that made me think of some of my students. When I have asked some of them in the past what they are trying to achieve with their nose targets or other dog training skills the answer has sometimes come back as “perfection”. I always found that a strange answer but it has not been uncommon in my teaching. I tried to inspire people to exchange “perfect” for loads of fun and “roughly right”.

Tony’s comment really struck a cord so I thought I would share it.  He said “Perfection is the lowest standard a human could ever take on because it is unattainable therefore you ultimately have no standard at all. You are preparing for failure, because that is your ultimate expectation.” So aiming for perfection means you will never move forward. For some of you that may be what your subconscious expects and you will never achieve more than you think you deserve.

It was pretty heady stuff!

Today I am outrageously grateful for my week with Tony Robbins and for all of the people in my life (including each of you).