A wrap-up of NAC 2018 – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (and the freakin’ awesome!)

For those of you that have never heard of NAC (like me not so long ago), it stands for National Achievers Congress and is held all over the world and was recently held in Brisbane for the first time in 6 years.

Pretty much, it’s where 6-7000 business owners and industry leaders come together to be inspired and educated by a host of speakers.

THE GOOD

Undisputedly the star of this particular show was Tony Robbins. In fact, most of us made it pretty clear that he was the only reason we were there, and when he did come on, as the last presenter of the two-day event, he certainly didn’t fail to disappoint.

Like him or hate him, you just can’t help but be caught up in his infectious enthusiasm and his engaging and humorous delivery.

I first started listening to Tony nearly 20 years ago (when it was CDs…that you had to actually ring someone to order!) Much of his teachings have stayed with me and I have tried to pass some of it on.

I love that he empowers people to take control of their own lives.

I love that his two greatest teachings are:

1. The Science of Achievement (yes, it is a science that can be documented, learnt and replicated).

2. The Art of Fulfilment (without which, all the achievement in the world means nothing).

What I found most interesting, was that the very techniques that he uses and teaches, I now have a name for. You see, now that I have studied in the fields of Positive Psychology, MindBody Wellness and Health Coaching, I can see that Tony puts in layman’s terms the work of some of the world’s greatest scientists and researchers.

For example:

Tony encourages people to get into ‘state’, where moving your physical body can affect your emotions and energy. This is exactly what social psychologist and Harvard lecturer, Amy Cuddy, describes as a ‘power-pose.’

He also encourages us to find activities that we feel a true sense of peace, purpose and connection, whether that is a sport, music or a hobby. This is what Hungarian-American scientist Csikszentmihalyi, spent many years researching and documenting. He is known as the world’s leading researcher on positive psychology and his term for this state is ‘flow.’

Tony also teaches the use of gratitude to increase positive emotion and resilience. This is now a key component that is delivered to US army troops as part of their Master Resilience Program. This program is a direct result of the work of Martin Seligman, director of the Positive Psychology Centre at the University of Pennsylvania.

Other techniques he uses are Appreciative Inquiry (“Can you think of a time in the past that you did succeed?”) and Guided Imagery (“Close your eyes and see yourself making the perfect shot and winning the tournament”).

Given that most of the work in this field has only become known this century, one must wonder whether Tony started teaching from a knowledge base or just good old common sense and gut feels.

THE BAD

PUT YOUR PHONES AWAY PEOPLE!!!

It is so common now to be at events where all you can see is the stage through the phone of the person in front of you. Seriously, are you ever going to watch that footage back? Or are you going to bore your friends to snorts by making them watch a dodgy recording, where all you can see is the phone of the person in front? Enough!!

THE UGLY

Definitely the thinly-disguised infomercials! There were some really great speakers at this event and if they interested and engaged us enough, I’m sure we could all make our way to Aunty Google to find out more about their offerings. Oh no, they have to use the steak-knife tactics of “Sign up now…..Limited places…..Limited time only….Special price.”

Really?

The funny thing is that they were obviously well aware that Australians don’t really buy into the hype, so they prefaced their presentations by declaring that they were Canadian, not American….because that changes everything, right?

In fact, one guy, JT Foxx (who apparently is the shiz – just ask him) spent the entire 75 minutes or so showing us photos of himself with celebrities and spruiking about his wealth. He is actually very successful and very wealthy – and I can see why. You see, he then offered a special deal for the first 150 people to sign up for his program at the ‘special’ price of $4000. He made himself a cool $600 grand in an hour and a half! Nicely done, Mr Foxx, nicely done.

THE FREAKIN’ AWESOME

Our home-grown, down-to-earth, say-it-like-it-is Aussie speakers.

Hooray for people like Naomi Simson, a lady that I honestly didn’t know a lot about but I am now a fan. Her delivery was so human, engaging and humorous. We all love a woman who can take the piss out of herself, don’t we?

Finally, star of the show for me, was undoubtedly Turia Pitt. What a woman! She hit the stage and had us all up doing squats, grunting and groaning, as she was showing pictures of her latest triathlon. I kid you not. The fact that she continues to achieve in her career, her sport and her personal life is testament to the amazing and inspiring human that she is.

I am seriously looking forward to watching this woman not only walk her talk but go from strength to strength, as I just know she will.