Kay:

Hello there, and welcome once again to The Mentorship Quest! We’ve got Episode 137 coming at you today, and it is Tuesday, July 14th. And, on this terrific Tuesday, we’ve got a quote coming to you from one of our favorite mentors, Mr. Tony Robbins!

Shi:

…Who says, “Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions.”

Kay:

Now, if you know anything about Tony Robbins, then you know, he probably would say this like (in a raspy, muffled voice), “Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions.”

Kay & Shi:

*Laughter*

Shi:

Apparently his vocal chords are completely gone, but he is so hardcore that his brain rewired his chords to his, (I guess it’s called) “false voice box”.

Kay:

So, talk about a guy who gives SO much power and energy to his solutions, that he will literally rewire his anatomy in order to keep going…

Shi:

He identified his problem and then quickly shifted to giving his power and energy to his solutions, and didn’t quit until he found a solution that he was satisfied with! And, we admire Tony Robbins a lot for that, and many other reasons! If you have listened to us even just a little bit, you have probably heard us quote him, talk about him, say that we love going to Tony Robbins events, and all of the things in between. And, it’s because he takes really complicated life things, and just boils them down to the easiest to understand common denominator. And here, he says, look, we can talk about problems all day long, but at the end of the day – once you understand the problems – you need to start focusing on the solutions!

Kay:

Well, there’s a couple other common phrases that I think go well with this quote. One of which I’m sure you’ve heard from Dr. Wayne Dyer, and I’m sure he got it somewhere else, (probably from the Tao Te Ching), is, “Where your focus goes, energy flows”, AKA: what you think about you bring about! And so, when you identify your problems in your life, many of us have a tendency to look at a problem, and we not only focus on it, but we often become OBSESSED with it. And so, we obsess on that problem, but we don’t realize that we’re giving power and energy to it by doing so. And, where our focus goes, our energy flows…which means energy is going to create more momentum around NOT the solution, but the problem itself…

Shi:

This whole concept helps bring some dimension to positive thinking, which sometimes gets a bad rap…Because, I think what happens is, people think there’s either two camps here – either identify your problems, OR give your power and energy to solutions. But, if you don’t know what the problem is, solutions aren’t going to be very effective. And, if you only focus on the problems, you’ll never make any progress towards fixing that problem. And so, you do need BOTH! And, the way that Tony often gives this example here is by saying, you know, we can all go out into a garden and chant, “There’s no weeds, there’s no weeds, there’s no weeds,” all day long – but that’s not going to change the fact that there’s weeds growing in the garden. So, what you need to do is look down, see the weed, point at the weed, pull it out, yank it out, and remove it. And, that’s exactly the imagery behind the metaphor of this quote. Tony is telling you to identify your problems, (AKA the weeds), and then give your power and energy to solutions, (AKA, use your body and your resources to pluck those weeds out of your garden)!

Kay:

Well, look, identifying your problems is something that comes biologically hardwired into your brain. You’ve probably heard us talk about this before, but you are gifted with something that’s essentially a servo mechanism inside your brain, which means there is a negative feedback system within you that identifies problems. So, that part of you is already built inside. Now, what Tony is talking about here is giving your power and your energy to solutions. And, your power is your focus, and your energy is your time, your consistency, and your momentum. So, those are all things that aren’t just given to you for being born. Congratulations! Those are things that you wield as a human being and that you have the power to direct at your will! So, are you going to allow your mind to just go along with the servo mechanism? Or, are you going to intentionally direct that focus, and then give your power and energy (that time, consistency, and momentum) to the solutions that will eventually make you happier?

Shi:

I love this imagery of wielding your power and energy! Because, we all get those things, but oftentimes we squander them, or we just let them sit in that loop of obsessing over the problem, rather than wielding those two things and being able to use them to our advantage. You know, power equals focus, and energy equals time, consistency, momentum, and action. In other words, this is like where you make the decision. SO – are you the victor or the victim? We are the victim if we just sit in our problems, but we shift to the victor when we wield our power and energy and point them towards solutions. So, to remind you, Tony says, “Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions.”

Kay:

All right, gang! So, today you have a tracking quest! And, in this tracking quest, you’re going to: Observe the amount of energy that you spend around thinking about your problems, instead of thinking about your solutions. Every time you feel yourself thinking more so about your problems than your solutions, we want you to stop and make a tally in your phone notes. Every time you track, you’re also interrupting that pattern of behavior of obsessing around your problems and creating better solutions. Now, we’re not asking you to do this for seven days, five days, 30 days, or any of that business, just for your waking hours TODAY! That’s your quest. Are you ready?

Kay & Shi:

Let’s quest!