If You're Blocked, Do What Tony Robbins Does

My Spencer Stuart partner and good friend, Greg Sedlock (legend of digital media recruiting and consulting) knows that I'm always looking for ways to improve and get ever closer to achieving peak performance. So for the holidays he gave me a book that is right up my alley: Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris, renowned author of The Four Hour Work Week (I'm about 60 hours north of that goal, by the way, but I sill got a ton out that book!).

This reminded me that since I was going to be driving for three hours from Connecticut to Vermont on Christmas morning, I should download a podcast from The Tim Ferris Show. As it happens, Tools of Titans was inspired by and built on Tim's interviews with some of the world's highest achievers, from business leaders and billionaires, to special ops commanders and world-class athletes, to experts in health, investing, and other areas of performance. The podcast I chose to listen to was a conversation between Tim and the most renowned performance coach on the planet, Tony Robbins. Now, say what you want about Tony Robbins, but I've been a fan for two decades. And if you want to strive to achieve your own potential, there is simply no one better.

Well, the podcast was remarkable and wide-ranging, covering topics from unearthing the source of your deepest motivations, to the power of decisions, to the hunt for excellence, and the critical distinction between striving for fulfillment and achievement. But there was also an invaluable and immediately actionable piece of advice from Tony when Tim asked the question, "What to do when you're blocked?" For example, when you face a deadline and your brain won’t cooperate, what can you do to break through? Or if you've been trying to write or build something and you're just not getting anywhere, what can you do to recapture momentum?

The answer:

When you're blocked and it's just not flowing, trying to think your way through it just doesn't work

Instead doing something radical with your body is the key. "Changing your body will change your mind the fastest," says Robbins. Specifically, when this happens to him, he either finds a way to get really cold or really hot, e.g., an ice bath or a sauna, or goes for a run, or does an intense lifting workout. Anything that will pump the blood through the body. "Getting physical in some intense, dramatic way shifts your physiology and that's what shifts your mind. And then the creativity comes."

Then when you've made the shift, come back, not to the deadline, but rather to the fundamental purpose of what it is that you're trying to achieve -- what are you actually doing this for? Tony tells the story of having worked a number of years ago with singer songwriter John Denver, who had been blocked and just couldn't write anything. So he took Denver through three of his greatest songs and asked him to describe the moments that the songs came to him, what he was doing, what he was feeling. In all three cases, he was either skiing or had gone on a run. All of a sudden he was in the flow state and the songs just came to him.

So if you're looking for creativity and it's just not coming your way, rather than sitting in your office trying to figure it out, get out on the road, hit the gym, head into nature, or jump in some freezing or boiling water. Soon you'll find your renewed source of inspiration.