“In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or to step back into safety.”
(Abraham Maslow)
I am both proud and humbled to help kick off Paleo f(x) 2018 in Austin, Texas (April 27-29, 2018) by giving the opening keynote talk: Disconnect | Immerse | Transform. This year marks the sixth anniversary of my favorite health and wellness conference, and it’ll be my fourth time in attendance. I’m thrilled to be joining again this year as a speaker, exhibitor, and attendee.
The theme of this year’s conference is Create Your Vibrant Life, and my opening address is about treating the conference as the truly life-changing opportunity that it is. If you’re lucky enough to be there, you might as well take full advantage of it, and I’m thrilled to help people discover how they can best do that.
Here’s my point: anyone who is there with me on April 27 will have already invested the time and money to get themselves there, so it’s important to go all in and make your time there really worth your while. There are three main strategic components to making the most of your time at Paleo f(x) or any other conference:
- DISCONNECT – Temporarily leave everything behind—your job, relationships, and the gravity of life that weighs you down. All of it. Turn off the cell phone too!
- IMMERSE – Jump in with both feet to the welcoming and healing waters of the Paleo f(x) tribe and ride the current for all it’s worth. Whether you’re here for one day, two days, or three—jump all up in it, splash around, and unabashedly soak it all up.
- TRANSFORM – Create a better you by becoming more after the conference than you were before you got there. After all, isn’t that the whole point?
In preparation for the magical journey that is Paleo f(x), I’d like to share some wisdom from the conference’s Co-Founder, Keith Norris. He wrote these words for the foreword to my book, Turning Inspiration Into Action[1], and other than replacing the conference as the “catalyst of change” here (rather than my book), I present Keith’s words exactly as he wrote them.
*All changes are in italics.
I am truly excited for you, the attendee of this conference. For you, my good friend, are about to embark on a magical journey, one of transformation; the unlocking of your vast human potential. It is the discovery of what matters to you – truly and deeply – and the bringing of those treasures into your experience, to give you an incredibly rich, meaningful, joyful life.
But the journey, magical though it is, does not come cheap. Nor is it easy. You’ll have to work, and you’ll have to be dedicated to the outcome. “Sweat equity” is required in the beginning, as is faith in what lies on the other side of the struggle. And you’ll need a healthy dose of resolve to see you through that “no man’s land” between “impulse to act” and “desired result,” littered, as it is, with the debris of false starts and failed attempts.
Fortunately, you have a decided advantage as you begin the next phase of your journey through life. You have the speakers of Paleo f(x) to inspire and guide you. And what Paleo f(x) 2018 has laid out here for you is a blueprint for moving from impulse (inspiration) to action. And we know (if even merely at a subconscious level) that without action, all the impulse, inspiration and good intent in the world is for naught. For it is only in action, my friend, that we change our world, and benefit others too.
Or, as Tony Robbins says, “Aristotle, too, has weighed in on this subject with the not often enough repeated quote, ‘The end of science is not knowledge, but action.’”
Striving to be “the change we want to see in the world” (hat tip, Mahatma Gandhi) takes great effort, no doubt. A steely resolve. Or, as the Paleo f(x) motto states: “Heal thyself, harden thyself, change the world.” But know this: the biggest obstacle to creating the change you seek is YOU.
And maybe this truth has been weighing heavy on you lately. Maybe you didn’t even know what it was that was making you edgy, anxious, and just plain unhappy. Maybe, just maybe, your soul’s impulse (inspiration) has been thwarted by inaction. Now, that inaction may be more to do with your circumstances than your inability to self-start. Either way, use your time at Paleo f(x) to discover the navigational tools to see you through, over and beyond your obstacles, whatever they may be. With the Paleo f(x)tribe by your side, you can override those obstacles, whether they come from inside or outside yourself. Starting this very moment, you can begin turning your “inspiration into action”!
It is said that when the student is ready, the teacher will appear. Consider this conference the vehicle, and our world-class speakers, your teachers. I wish you all the happiness in the world, and the very best of luck on your journey.
In health, fitness, and ancestral wellness,
Keith Norris
Co-Founder, Paleo f(x); the world’s largest Paleo event
Inspiring, right? I know! But as Keith’s words make clear, disconnection, immersion, and inspiration are not enough in and of themselves to create the vibrant life you desire[2]. Truly bringing the change you want into your life—after this conference or any other life-changing event—requires action.
So, in my conference-opener, I’ll share my Transformational Process for turning inspiration into action. It’s my hope to support everyone in attendance in changing his or her life for the better. After all, isn’t that why you’re going to Paleo f(x)—to become more after the conference than you were before?
I hope you’ll join me at the Kegenix Paleo On-Ramp Stage, Friday, April 27 at 9:40 AM. I’d love to share my keynote talk with you, and together, we’ll step forward into a magical journey of personal transformation…
[1] Paleo f(x) Worldwide Fundraiser: All proceeds from sales of Turning Inspiration Into Action and all Happy Living books thru April 30 go to support Paleo f(x) featured charities: CC4C.org and the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund