Tom Oliver is an artist, businessman, philanthropist and visionary leader. He has worked with world leaders such as Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama as well as with the CEOs of Fortune 500 Companies throughout the world. He is a highly demanded global keynote speaker on the topics of creativity & innovation, entrepreneurship, managing teams and Global Corporate Citizenship.

Tom is also the founder of the World Peace Foundation, the Leadership Circle at Manchester Business School, lifelong member of the Committee of 100 for Tibet, lifelong creative member of the Club of Budapest and Member of the GPC.

He is the author of Nothing is Impossible: 7 Steps to Realize Your True Power and Maximize Your Results. In this extraordinary new road map for success, Tom — a motivational self-made entrepreneur and coach to many of the world’s most notable CEOs, philanthropists, and entertainers — shows you how to dramatically alter your life path. He has shared his extraordinary secrets with Bono, Richard Branson, the Dalai Lama, and Deepak Chopra who calls him “an extraordinary leader.”

Dr. Relly Nadler: Tom can you share with us some of your insights on getting over whatever our challenges may be?

Tom Oliver: At some point we all face tremendous challenges. Our challenges can be of tremendous use to all of us no matter who we are, no matter where we are. We have to ask ourselves what are the gifts behind the challenges we face and if we look closely we can discover that the greatest challenges are assets and opportunities in disguise, but we have to be willing to look that way and apply that kind of thinking.

If someone came to me and said I’m facing tremendous challenges and I don’t know how to turn them around and turn them into victory and overcome them, I would sit down with him and I would have him write a number of different possibilities or opportunities that could come out of this situation. I would have him brainstorm and write this down. Then after a few days I would have him sit down again, address that list and then try to put some of them into action; try them on for size and really look at the problem or the challenge with a completely different mindset. How could that actually be a major asset instead of being the elephant in my life; the ugly stone in my shoe. If you apply that way of thinking you can really turn things around and turn any challenge into victory.

Dr. Relly Nadler: To kind of highlight what you were just saying:

1. Take the problem out of the shadow and look at it because we want to put it back in the closet.
2. Ask different questions and then stay with it. We all may ask a question for a moment but we don’t stay with it. Where is the opportunity? What is the strength? How can I use this?
3. Then ponder those questions almost like letting it go into the unconscious for a while and then return back to it to see what other things that can be possible.

Tom Oliver: Absolutely, and this will cause you to almost recalibrate your brain and rewire the way you are thinking so that you approach challenges or major obstacles with a different mindset. Different in terms of the way that we were brought up to think and different from they way we are taught to think. This will really be the key that will unlock not only hidden talents you never thought you had, but unlock the door to a wealth of hidden opportunities.

Dr. Relly Nadler: What would you say are the four tips for success?

Tom Oliver: That’s a great question.

1. Clearly define your destination. This is true if you are a CEO of a multi-national corporation already or a high school drop out. I always recommend to my clients to do this writing and review it daily.
2. Embrace ourselves and our unique energy. That means that we have to learn to trust our own energy just like I had to trust my energy growing up because then we can really do wonderful and very constructive things with it. We have to learn to go with the flow of our being. This also means that we have to let go of perfectionism and discover what we love and are most passionate about and do best. This also means that we have to trust our “fun” and that “fun” will actually produce the best results.
3. Learn how to harness what I would call our creative power and get into states of peak performance, I call this the “zone.”
4. We have to find the right partner not only in our personal lives but especially in our professional lives whether it’s the right company, the right team, or the right partner to start a new business with.

If we take these four things to heart and put them into action, nothing is impossible.

Dr. Relly Nadler: It may be interesting for our listeners and what may be unique here is “trust our fun energy.” So say a little bit more about that and how you put that into practice.

Tom Oliver: For me this was a tough one to be honest. I grew up in Germany and Germans are born with a strong distrust in anything that is remotely fun. There is even a famous saying in Germany where a guy repairs a car, he is sweating and it is strenuous and the he sits back at the end of the day, he opens a can of beer and then there is a saying which is, “first the work, then the fun.” Obviously which means that work cannot be fun. Let’s face it we all believe that to some extent and this limiting belief really pervades most of society, our youth and our educational system.

However, once we look at it, fun really leads to out biggest success. The real work is done when our fun kicks in, that is when we are at our creative, professional and personal best. Fun leads to our best results in all the areas of your life. It is the most direct way in which our heart speaks out about what matters most to us and where we are best.

In a way, it’s a great guide that can steal us back to or best and most rewarding opportunities in our lives, career or business. It’s almost like our inner guidance system. We have to learn to trust that guidance system and we have to learn to go with the flow of that fun to point the way to our greatest talents and strengths.

Dr. Relly Nadler: Another thing I wanted to talk about is this idea of the safety net, because you are getting this creative spirit and getting in touch with fun, you say why we need to dispense with this safety net. So maybe you are in touch with the fun, there is that energy, but then there it that kind of nagging of can I really do it. So say a little bit about the safety net and how to dispense it.

Tom Oliver: It’s a great topic. Like most of our audience, I actually do believe in safety nets. However, most of us are brought up to believe that we should focus all of our energy on realizing Plan B instead of going for what we really want and what I would call the most fulfilled reality in our personal and professional lives. The danger comes from spending so much time on our safety net that at some point we forget all about what we really want out of life. We become conformant rather than innovative and we lose touch with what drives and motivates us in the first place. No wonder most of us feel so disillusioned and so drained.

Dr. Relly Nadler: Can you talk about some of these limiting beliefs and habit that we all have. What are some of your tips and strategies about how you break those apart?

Tom Oliver: It’s important to realize that all of us grow up being surrounded by limiting beliefs and habit, we just don’t realize it. We could compare limiting beliefs and habits to invisible prison bars. They limit us from realizing our full potential and power. We have to become aware of them to eliminate them so that we can actually step out of that prison. We do this by observing our beliefs and by challenging what others tell us cannot be done.

We have to remind ourselves that we are our own ultimate and greatest authority. We can all get to a place where nothing is impossible. Some of our limiting beliefs are:

1. We are too focused on the specifics rather than the end goal. It’s important that we dream of our ideal but do not let the specifics get in the way.
2. We ask everybody else but ourselves for advice. It’s good to ask others for advice but we have to be our final filter. I always recommend that we ask ourselves first because as I have said before, we are our own ultimate and greatest authority.
3. We believe that we do not have the right to go for our dreams, which is something most of our listeners are brought up with which is the belief that you can’t really go for what you want, you can’t have it all. We have to tell ourselves that we have the right to go for our dreams. This also means that we have to realize that we are not taking away from others if we set out to create the most fulfilled reality we can experience. Only by honoring ourselves do we truly honor others.
4. We have either/or type of thinking instead of a “both” type of thinking that we apply way too often when we go for our goals because at some point we start to compromise. You can have BOTH.”

Hear more from Tom Oliver and learn how to face the challenges and realize that nothing is impossible. Trust yourself first and foremost and learn how to not focus on limitations. Get tips and tools to tune up your performance by listening to the complete recording above, without commercials.

Thanks,

Relly