My wife and I were talking about how the television show Jersey Shore was renewed for their second season but Tony Robbins’ show was cancelled after two episodes.  So as a nation we prefer Snooki to Tony.  What does that say about our IQ and our EQ (our level of emotional intellgence)?  Is it fair to say that we would rather be entertained than challenged to become a greater person than we currently are?

Sales trainer David Sandler talks about a concept he coins “okay-not okay”.  Basically he says that people feel more comfortable around someone who is not doing as well as they are.  When people are confronted by someone more successful than themselves, they emotionally “tighten up”.  Sandler says the guy at the airport dressed in a Valentino suit and alligator shoes whose flight is delayed will get less help than the guy carrying the suitcase with a string wrapped around it who says this is the first time he has ever been in an airport.   

Tony Robbins says that we are an emotionally unfit nation because we have not been tested.  There has not been the same  level of emotional challenge that there was in the 1930′s and 1940′s when a great depression was followed by a world war.  Robbins also says that in times of crisis you do more of what you already do.  So if you are a fearful person, you get more afraid; if you are an angry person, you get madder and if you are a doom and gloom person you become more certain that this really is the end.

The qualities we need now are confidence, ambition, creativity and vision.  The intensity of our current test is going to increase because we have financial instability – that is a fact of life.  Tony Robbins wants you to recognize that you are in charge of your life, not your emotional pattern.  He wants you to learn what your emotional pattern is, model people who are doing more of what you haven’t learned to do yet, and help people who are not doing as well to train you to feel grateful for what you have.  Snooki wants you to have a beer and a smoke, be yourself and mind your own f***ing business.

America has voted and the results are  in:

Snooki 1, Tony 0

David Zahaluk, MD is a practice optimization expert and the author of The Ultimate Practice Building Book.  His firm, Ultimate Practice Builder, takes physicians to the top 10% of their specialty – in income, time off and quality indicators - within 3 years… guaranteed.  Learn more at http://www.ultimatepracticebuilder.com/.

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