How to Build Certainty When You Feel Stuck: Lessons from 60 Hours with Tony Robbins

What's up, you guys? Welcome back to the podcast. If you are tuning into this episode during the holiday season when it's set to go live, then happy holidays, Merry Christmas. I hope you are enjoying the holiday season, taking some time for yourself. But I also know that this time of year is very weird. Sometimes it feels like we're in the twilight zone, like we're in that in-between period of the year is like kind of ending and it's winding down, but like the new year hasn't necessarily started, or like you don't feel like you're fully in gear yet. And so we can kind of just be in this like state of, I don't know, sometimes confusion, sometimes melancholy, sometimes hustle. Like depending on how your year went, you might be like, wow, that was the best year of my life. Or you also might be like, wow, thank God this year is ending because that was a lot. Like it was just a lot to handle. It was a lot to hold. And you also might be in this stage where you're like, I'm still trying to figure out like what my sights are set on for next year and who I wanna be and where I'm going. And so yeah, if you're also feeling like you don't have everything fully figured out yet and you're not like hitting the ground running and know exactly who you're meant to be and where you're going and what your goals are for the new year. Also, it's totally okay. I think this time of year is a really beautiful time to like take a beat and make sure that you do your reflections. If you didn't grab my reflection guide, I highly recommend it. We're also doing a whole episode on the podcast about the end of year reflections, and I'm walking you through that, so make sure that you go listen to that episode. Grab your reflection guide, like if you need something to do to support you during this time, and also just close the door in a really powerful way on this past year, especially because it was a year 9, which is the end of a almost decade-long cycle in numerology. We start fresh with a year 1 in 2026. So yeah, I think it's a really important time of year to just allow yourself to do some self-reflection, some introspection. And what I wanted to do with this episode is actually share an audio with you guys of basically my raw reflections and biggest takeaways from a few years ago after I had spent 60+ hours in the same room as Tony Robbins at his infamous event, Unleash the Power Within. Because when you go to events like this, you can walk in with any level of conviction, excitement, hustle, knowing where you're going, or uncertainty, confusion, feeling like you're pivoting. It doesn't matter what you come into the room with. When you hear these lessons and you really download these takeaways, you walk out feeling some level of freshness. You walk out feeling renewed. You walk out feeling hopeful. And so I wanted to bring some of that energy to this time of year where we are in the twilight zone, and I think that's what we need. So I hope you enjoy this episode. Inside, you're going to hear me talk about like the key to really getting out of an energy of stuckness or stagnation, if that's resonating with you at all. We're going to talk about how to build more certainty around your next move, how to prime your body to listen to your innate knowing and shut out the noise from any naysayers in your life. Why uncertainty breeds inaction and keeps you trapped in lower timelines. The 3 decisions that you are subconsciously making at every moment of your life and what that's doing. We also talk about the Achiever's Curse, what it is and how to integrate it. The subtle dance between the science of achievement and the art of fulfillment, and the formula for a high fulfillment life. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. I hope it supports you during this time of year, and let's get ready to have the most magical 2026 together. I cannot wait. Thank you guys for closing the year with me, for starting the new year together. I love you so much, and let's dive into this episode. Welcome to the Makeshift Happen podcast. I'm your host, Samantha Daly, entrepreneur, life coach, and your no BS bestie, here to bring you all things mindset, manifestation, and personal development. This podcast is designed to help you expand your mind and uplevel your life. So turn the volume up and roll the windows down if you're coming along for the ride. Let's go make shift happen. Okay, so The first little nugget of wisdom is that you are not stuck, you are just low energy. And this may sound weird at first, so we'll kind of unpack it a little bit. But essentially, when you are in a high energy state, like we were talking about, when you're in a peak state, as Tony would call it, right, you can change anything quickly. But when you're in a low energy state, you are bound to just feel overwhelmed, uncertain, unable, or this overall feeling of like stuckness, right? Of not knowing what to do or how to do it. God, the frustration, right? When you're in a low energy state. So what this means to me and how I'm kind of like integrating this into my life and my business especially is that high energy equals high income. And this is something that one of the other speakers at the event, Nick Santonastasso, talked about. He is an incredible, incredible man. He has a rare condition where he has no legs and he only has one arm, and his story is just one of pure resilience and inspiration, obviously. But he's also really talented in so many other things. And anyway, he was talking about this as well, this idea of high energy equals high income. And when you have high income, you have high impact, or you're able to have high impact, right? It depends what you do with your money. But all of us here listening to this podcast, we're going to assume you're a great person, you're heart-centered, you want to do good things in the world. The reason that you would want to be rich or wealthy is so that you can live an amazing life, obviously. Yes, give yourself beautiful things and beautiful experiences, take care of your family, but also help others and really truly be in a state of overflow where you can afford afford to help others in a big way. And so if we have high energy, we can have high income. And if we can have high income, then we can have high impact. And if we can have high impact, we are guaranteed to have high fulfillment. Because there's only two things that are required in your life to feel just amazing and to be in an incredible state, and that's growing and giving. And so if we are following this formula of high energy equals high income equals high impact equals high fulfillment, well, of course, throughout journey, we're going to be growing, and we're also going to be giving. So we are going to be deeply happy and fulfilled in our lives. And so this just reminds us again that we have to take care of our energy in both the micro and the macro, right? We talk about taking care of our energy in so many ways, but really thinking about this from, you know, what are the small things that you can do to really guard, protect, shape, increase your energy? And also, what are the bigger parts of our lives that also impact our energy? So it's not only about out the small things, like the things that you do on a daily basis that determine your energy, right? Drinking enough water and moving your body. What are your routines, your habits, your rituals? Are you meditating? Are you journaling? Not that you have to do all of those things, but those are just examples of some things that people do in the micro to kind of take care of their energy on a daily basis, right? It's not only those things, it's also our workplaces and our relationships And the social settings that we put ourselves in and the coaching containers that we put ourselves in, all of that stuff also helps us get back to that high energy state, or they can suck the life out of us if we're not discerning and careful about where we're sharing our time and space with, who we're sharing our time and space with. And so looking at how you're taking care of your energy in both the micro and the macro, that's kind of what I am taking away from this overarching message of you're not stuck, you're just low energy. Is looking at, okay, if I'm feeling stuck or I'm more inclined to be like frustrated or feeling stuck in my head, overwhelmed, feeling like it's hard to just take the next move, or not knowing what the right step is, or I can't take action— it's not that I, I'm stuck and I actually don't know. It's that I'm actually in a low energy state. Because from a high energy state, it becomes very clear what the next action step is. It becomes exciting what the next action step is. It becomes very easily accessible for you to know and understand and actually do the next thing that you need to do to continue making progress, right? So that's the first one. You're not stuck, you're just low energy. And so looking at how we can get back to those high energy states, not only from our daily routines and the small things that we chip away at, at a daily basis, but also in the bigger arenas— in our work, in our relationships, in our social lives, in the coaching containers that we join, and who we surround ourselves with, all the things like that. The second little nugget that I want to share with you guys is— oh my God, I love this quote. Holy shit, this is like bold, all caps, like highlighted in my notes. It says, a belief is a poor substitute for an experience. And if we have no greater context, we would be like, okay, maybe that didn't shake your soul right now, me just reading that quote. But when you really think about it, a belief is a poor substitute for an experience. To me, this means that we can consciously think something, we can consciously believe something, but until we actually develop an experience around it, we will still have levels of uncertainty and doubt. A belief is a poor substitute for an experience. The experience is the thing that catapults you so much further. Creating an experience in your body is going to give you 10 times the certainty that it's possible for you than if you were to just think about it alone, right? If you were to just think about the belief of, I know it's possible for me, creating an experience in your body that proves to you, holy shit, this is possible for me. That is going to create 10 times the certainty for you than if you were just to think about that belief alone. And this is why, like I was talking about earlier, the embodiment piece of this inner work is so powerful because if you don't have certainty, you will not execute. And this is something that we learned as well. If you don't have certainty, you will not execute. So you must be certain because knowledge is not actually power. Execution is. The knowledge does nothing for you if you are not actually executing and taking the action on it. And so if we know that we're not going to take action and execute, if we're not certain, then we need to create certainty. And how do we create bigger, stronger levels of certainty? We build experiences within the body that remind us that our beliefs are actually real. And not only are they thoughts in the mind, but holy shit, they are true. Because when you feel something in your body, it becomes real. It becomes true. It becomes factual because the body is the subconscious. Is this all making sense? Okay, let's keep going. So when everyone else tells you know about something, you will already be primed and ready to listen and follow your own knowing instead of the nos from other people. That's something that Jamie Kern Lima talked about. Jamie Kern Lima. I said that really fast. I think I messed up one of the letters. So she's the founder of IT Cosmetics. She built an incredible makeup brand, but it was such a struggle. 3 years of rejection, of being said no to all of the time, left, right, and center. Nobody wanted to stock her. Products. They didn't believe that she could sell makeup with real people, with images of real skin, women that have skin conditions, rosacea, acne, women that are overweight, that are old, that have wrinkles. That was her mission. That was her knowing, was that that was the way to sell her makeup brand. And everybody said no. Everybody said that it wasn't possible. Everybody turned her away over and over and over again until she was basically on the verge of bankruptcy, had no money left, until she finally got her first yes. And she was able to share her makeup products on QVC. They sold out. And from there on, she kind of built up this brand. Eventually, L'Oréal bought her for $1.2 billion in cash. And now she is, you know, one of the most powerful female CEOs. She's a billionaire. All of these things she talks about listening to your knowing instead of the nose. So when we're creating this experience in the body, it allows us to actually already be primed and ready to follow that knowing. Instead of listening to the nos. If all we've done is the mindset work, if all we've done is worked on, you know, the, the mental plane, we are more likely to get sucked into the doubt, to the frustration, to the imposter syndrome, to people saying no, to saying that's not possible. You can't earn that much money. This is your industry. This is what you're set at. This is what everybody else is charging. That's all you can make. We are more likely to get caught up in that narrative if we have not created the certainty in the body., right? Are we following? And so lots of people will tell you that the wealth or the success or the impact that you want to create is unrealistic. And it might even be— it might even be you that's telling yourself that. You might have those stories of, oh, well, you know, this is my job and this is how much people earn in this industry, and this is just the way it is, or this is— I don't have a degree, or I do have a degree, but it, you know, this is all that I can earn and I'm capped at this amount. Nobody, all of my peers are only doing this and that's what I'm, what I'm limited to. Right? Lots of people, including yourself, are probably gonna tell you that, you know, your dreams or goals for the wealth that you wanna create or the success or the impact or whatever it is, is unrealistic or that it's not possible. But when your body knows different, better, bigger, it changes the game because uncertainty is what breeds our inaction, right? If you've ever really wanted to, build a business or quit your job or start something new or literally do fucking anything and you didn't do it. The reason that you didn't do it was probably uncertainty because you were like, oh, I don't know if it's gonna work, or I don't know what people will say, or I don't know if I'll make money, or I don't know if that's a good idea, or I don't know if my parents will support me, or I don't know what my friends will say, or— right? It's uncertainty. It's uncertainty that keeps us trapped in this vicious cycle of wanting to do things and then not not fucking doing them. And so if we are only working with the mind, we are more likely to succumb to that pattern, to the doubt and the fear and the uncertainty. So this takeaway of a belief is a poor substitute for an experience is so powerful because it just reminds us how important the experiences are. Get this, think about it in terms of like retreats or in-person events, right? Have you ever learned something through a book or a podcast or even like a coaching program or something of that nature. And you've learned it and you know it, right? Consciously, but you don't actually know it in your body, right? There's, it's two different things. Knowing it and embodying it are two very different things. And so you may have learned it somewhere and you know it and you talk about it and you think that you're being about it in your life, but then you go and you have some sort of immersive in-person experience of some kind. You go to a live event, You go to a retreat, you do an in-person VIP day with your coach, something that gets you like in an actual experience. And then you're like, whoa. Or you go to Tony Robbins, right? We can take my weekend as an example. And it's all the things that you already knew and they already talked about and they were already in your mind. But now you fucking know it. Now it's in your soul. Now it's been implanted in your body. It is deep in your bones and it has become unshakable. It's so much stronger. So that, it was huge for me, right? A belief is a poor substitute for an experience. And that's why in so much of the work that I do, I'm obsessed with creating experiences. I love using music and movement and getting the body involved. And then number 3, number 3 is where we're going to talk about the achiever's curse. So this is, this is something that, that Tony gave us. And he said, there's 3 decisions that we're making at every moment that we're alive. The first one is, what am I going to focus on? The second one is, what does it mean? And the third one is, what am I going to do? Those three things. Every moment that we're alive, we're making these three decisions. What am I going to focus on in this moment? What am I going to make it mean? And what am I going to do about it? Right? And so the first question, what am I going to focus on? What we know is that where you focus creates a feeling. And so whatever you focus on, you will feel regardless of if that thing was true or not, right? So if you focus on the fact that someone pissed you off or was rude to you or crossed a boundary or is being mean or nasty or whatever, if you focus on those things, you are going to create the feeling of anger or judgment or frustration or resentment regardless of if what actually happened or what you're saying happened happened, right? Because a lot of times we're interpreting things— well, all the time we're interpreting everything through our reticular activating system. It's running through this filter. And so if we're looking for reasons to be upset, we're going to constantly feel upset, even if those reasons that we think are reasons weren't actually factually true, or in reality, or in somebody else's reality, they happened in a different way than how you perceived it or how you felt it, right? So whatever you focus on, you're going to feel. Regardless of if it's true or not. So where you put your focus is very, very important. And the second one about what does it mean— meaning is what then creates the emotion, and emotion is what colors your whole life. So this is something that was so crazy that he said that just you kind of— it's like one of those mind fucks, right? And he said this a lot. So we had a lot of time to kind of like think about it over and over again. But basically he said, you're not experiencing life right now. None of us are actually experiencing life. What we are experiencing is what we choose to focus on and the meaning that we give it, and that, that is what we call life. But when none of us are actually experiencing life, we're experiencing what we individually choose to focus on and the meaning that we provide to that thing, and then of course how that makes us feel. And then the last question, obviously, is what are you going to do about it? Because that's the next thing, okay? I focused on this thing. I created this meaning. It made me feel this way. And now what's my next step? What's my next action? And so then he asked us these 3 questions, right? What do you focus on more? Returning to question 1, what do you focus on? What do you focus on more? What you have already or what's missing? What do you focus on more? What you can control or what you can't control? What do you focus on more? Your past. Okay, so I have something I think you're really gonna love, and your business is gonna love it even more. Do you want to steal the strategy I've been using to seduce premium buyers and sell out my offers on Instagram Stories? Chances are you're already posting, you're already making sales, but if your Instagram Stories aren't working as hard as you are, you're leaving money on the table. Sold Out Stories is going to teach you exactly how to change that so that you can sell out any offer at any price point. And even high-caliber coaches miss this because selling on stories isn't about how much post or how frequently you show up face to camera. 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Like, what do you focus on more, what you have or what's missing? What I have. And what do you focus on more, what you can control or what you can't control? What I can control, right? And I'm totally in my present all the time. It's very easy to know what the quote-unquote right answers are, but it's more important to just actually be fucking honest with yourself. And so it was interesting, he was talking about high achievers and he said high achievers tend to focus on what's missing, what they can control, actually, and the future. This is the combination of a high achiever, someone who's looking for the gaps of like, okay, what's missing in my life or in my career or in my business, and how can I fix that, right? They're— they are focused on what they can control, what's within their control, and they're obviously looking outward to the future of the outcomes that they want to create in the life that they want to live. That's the recipe for high achievers, right? But High achievers are then not as happy as they could be because with this recipe, it's never enough. And that is the achiever's curse, is the feeling of it's never enough. If you are someone listening to this podcast that's like, yes, that's me. Oh my God. I'm always focusing on, you know, what's missing or what the gaps are, what I can do better, what I can create more of, what's next for me. And I'm looking, I'm trying to look at what's within my control, right? What action do I need to take? And I'm, I'm looking at the future of where I want to go and who I want to be. What I want to do in this world, but I'm not as happy. That's the achiever's curse, right? And I resonate with this so much. I've had this experience in my life, like, to a tee, right? So I'm sitting in that seat being like, holy fuck. Like, someone finally is putting words to the experience that so many of us are having. And what this invites us to learn is that happiness has to be a priority. At least that was my personal takeaway. Happiness has to be a priority. And you know, like in the first phase of, of my journey, I was really in hustle mode. You guys know this, I talk about this all the time, right? Oh, so in my masculine, yada yada, you get the picture. In the first phase of my journey, I was really in hustle mode, always pushing and trying and get to the next level. And in many ways I still can easily return to hustle mode because it's my nature. I don't know, I just have that drive and that ambition and, and that's so good and it served me in so many ways. But it's this, this balance that we have to create, right? And so that was my kind of like natural default was push, force, get to the next level, high achiever, all the things. And then at the end of 2020, I started to realize that if I didn't find a better way to do things, that I would be burnt out really soon. I was like getting, I was approaching the burnout, right? Which was fucking so ironic because my signature program at the time was From Burnt Out to Badass. So imagine me, I'm serving all these clients in my program that's called From Burnt Out to Badass, and that is the thing that's burning me out. Kind of hilarious when you think about it. So I knew, I was like, okay, if, if I keep following the, the way that I'm currently doing things, if I run everything in this, in this same way without making any changes, I am going to get to a place of burnout for sure. And so I decided to make some changes. I hired a new mentor, I learned new skills, and I've integrated so much in my life, into my business since then that really helps me dance between the masculine and the feminine, or as Tony called it, the science of achievement, which is kind of like this masculine energy, right? And the art of fulfillment, which is more of the feminine. And so, you know, finding that, that balance, but I'm not perfect, obviously, right? It's a practice. And like I said, if I'm, you know, my natural kind of like default to go back to would be the Achiever Mode, the Hustle Mode, right? The push, force, ah, let's make it happen mode, right? I mean, the podcast is called Makeshift Happen. This is just, you know, it's, it all makes perfect sense, right? So I'm not perfect. Like, this is so a practice and I will be a lifelong student of this work continuing to just adjust and adapt as every new level of my life presents a newer, more elevated, or more complex version of the same challenges that come with this. But something Tony said that really stuck out to me is another quote that you guys can take with you: all suffering starts with the illusion of loss. And the key word here that we're looking at is illusion. So interesting when you really think about that. All suffering starts with the illusion of loss. He said high achievers don't actually get fearful. They just get stressed, which if any of you're listening to this and you, you resonate with the, the idea of being one of these high achievers, you will totally resonate with that. You will get that high achievers don't really get fearful. They just get stressed. But the suffering is the same because there's this illusion of loss, right? Of losing money, of losing time, of losing people in your life, of losing opportunities. It's the— this, this idea we're making up in our head. Oh my gosh, if I do this, I might lose X, Y, or Z. And so we tend to speed up when we are afraid. Fear is what makes us go, okay, faster, faster, faster. And that is where the pushing and the forcing and the controlling comes into play because we are trying to forge an outcome fast. So that we can escape our own suffering. That's why we want it so quickly, because we want to get out. We want to get out of this state of frustration, of sadness, of fear, of whatever the illusion of suffering is that we created, right? We want to get rid of it. We want to escape it. So we're like, okay, let me hustle towards this next outcome and that will fix it for me. That will remove— that will get me out of the state of suffering. This has been the way to make money for so many people for so long. Hurry up, go faster, find the quickest way, try something. Oh, doesn't work. Okay, throw it out, switch it, something else, new business. Okay, starting over again. This doesn't work. Whatever. Pivoting, changing, multiply that, do more of that, hustle towards that, hire someone, fire them, hire someone different. All of these like frantic action steps that are taken from a place of uncertainty and of the illusion of loss. So we're in a state of suffering. And this is really not a long-term strategy for generating wealth or creating financial freedom or growing a business or even just being happy. And so the question that I have for you guys is, you know, what if the answer was to actually shift gears and find a way to slow down this process for getting closer to wealth, financial freedom, success? All the things, right? To actually relax into it rather than chase it. And so this is just felt so, so aligned. I was sitting in my chair like with my jaw open half the time, like, holy shit. Like, yes, this is what I've been teaching. Like just giving words and life and fire to all of the things that I knew to be true, that I knew in my body, that I teach my clients. Because no one is, you know, extraordinarily special, or they've found this one secret formula that nobody else knows about and it's impossible to access. In fact, in the coaching industry, when we do find formulas that we feel like are kind of secretive that everybody should know about, we fucking create a program about it and we share it with the whole world, right? And we give access to it for everybody, right? What you're seeing other people create that you would like to have in your life as well is the proof. It's all the proof that you need that it's possible. And then also because I was so deep in the event and I was away from my phone and we also had like no phone service and my phone died literally every day while we were there. Oh my God. Funny story. Jaime actually called the police the first day that we were there because he hadn't heard from me in like hours and hours and hours and hours and hours. And it was like 1 in the morning. And he was like panicking. And I hadn't posted stories and he was like starting to freak out. And it's because, A, there was such shitty service inside the convention center, likely because there's 10,000 people in there trying to use their phones. And also my phone died. And we were there until almost 2 in the morning on the first night because that was the night that we did the firewalk. And it was just such a long freaking day. But he actually called the police. I was like, I think my girlfriend might be missing. Like, that was probably traumatic for him, so maybe it's not a funny story. But yeah, I don't know where— I don't know where I was going with that. Thank you guys so much for tuning into the podcast. I hope you loved this one. So many nuggets. I'll definitely— like I said, I'm gonna be integrating everything that we learned and actually like implementing it into my life, into my business. And I'm sure so much of what happened this weekend will come through in my future content and podcasts and programs and with my clients and all that stuff. So I'm really, really, really excited to share. It was such a beautiful experience. Thank you guys for following along also on stories. Everybody was like so encouraging and just so excited for me to be there. And I love seeing that, like just having people in your community that are actually happy for you and excited for you and are lifting you up and they're feeling the energy through the screen. And you know, they're living the experience kind of vicariously through you and cheering you along along the way. It was just so, so beautiful. I'm so grateful to each and every one of you. Seriously, if you guys listen to this podcast, like, I pray for you, I think about you, I set intentions for you, I love you so much. I really hope that this show helps bring some value to your life. I hope that at the very least it inspires you, or it makes you laugh, or it motivates you, or it just gives you something nice to listen to while you walk the dog, or do your makeup, or cook your dinner, or whatever it is. So thank you for sharing a piece of your day and your time with me every time that you tune in. I love you and I appreciate you so much. If you enjoyed this episode, I know there There are so many good nuggets in here. Please take a screenshot, share it to your stories, tag me at _samanthadaily and the podcast at Makeshift Happen Podcast. If you guys aren't following our podcast account, also we're posting amazing content recently, like it's so fire. So head over, follow us on the podcast Instagram at Makeshift Happen. I will leave it there. I love you guys so much. Thank you for listening. If you loved this episode, make sure to check out the show notes where I've linked a few similar episodes I know you're also going to love. You'll find them under the similar episodes section in the description down below with direct links so you can dive in and start listening right away, or add them to your queue for later. Binge away for even more growth, expansion, abundance, and fire motivation.