His love of sport started as a naive 11-year-old country boy growing up in the farming town of Methven, New Zealand. At that age, he was selected for the Mid-Canterbury rep soccer team. While very proud of the achievement, he felt out of depth at this higher level. This massive self-doubt was reflected in not excelling under pressure. A similar situation occurred a few years later when he was selected to play tennis for Mid-Canterbury. Massive self-doubt again stifled his performance. These experiences helped trigger his thirst to learn everything he could about growing his inner confidence, releasing self-doubt, gaining a high-performance advantage in sports, and then applying this to business.

A significant junction was leaving home as a 17-year-old to live at Lincoln University in the halls of residence in New Zealand. After two consecutive nights with ZERO sleep, thinking he was going mad, considerable relief was found when a counsellor labelled his knotted stomach as anxiety. During that first year away from home, the anxiety became depression, providing a massive reality check on real life and the transition to adulthood.

Part of this journey is explained in the following 10-minute TED-style talk recorded on the 1st of August 2017 in Auckland. In this talk, Rob Robertson shares his Emotional Fitness journey, followed by 8 minutes of questions about Emotional Fitness.

Making it through year one of University felt like a victory to him with all these major emotional ups and downs. This was only possible due to the critical support of a counsellor. Then things changed in year two, after completing a 4-week Mind Power course by John Kehoe, as positive thinking changed everything.

The next ten years of using positive thinking was an escape from the reality of mental illness, although at a price. An unrealistic positive thinker was born by turning everything into a positive in the head. Yet this seemed like the answer to everything. Inner freedom to be able to escape from the uncomfortable emotions he was experiencing. To feel safe in the head.

While this provided a reasonable level of success in sport and business, under pressure, consistency was lacking due to his unconscious self-doubt. This was evidence that we don’t get what we want in life; we get what our unconscious ‘stuff’ creates.

Then, in 2001, it all changed with the discovery of massive anger and suppressed emotions entirely hidden by positive thinking. This anger and many other emotions had been hidden for ten years by turning every negative feeling into a positive in the head, without consciously knowing he was suppressing his negative emotions.

This discovery of hidden emotions was terrifying, a critical turning point that started an incredible Emotional Fitness journey, learning to connect and understand emotions fully. The process of moving from the known safety of the head to embracing the full spectrum of emotions in the heart.

Part of this journey was forgiveness, with the help of psychologists, exploring and letting go of memories of sexual abuse as a 7-year-old child. This support was an important element in building self-esteem.

In 2001, after discovering his suppressed anger, his Emotional Fitness journey led him to a Men’s Anger Group while he was living in Sydney, Australia. It was a good support network, which he chose to attend on his own. Later, it was learned that many participants in the group had been sent by the Police to get help. This was the start of an incredible journey, revealing hidden anger, sadness, and some challenging lows. This learning and his fascination with understanding all he could, from personal development programs to understanding the power of the heart, provided critical insights for developing the Emotional Fitness Workout.

Then, in early 2017, significant evolution became more apparent. The shift from self-doubt and low self-esteem to a healthier self-understanding and greater self-belief was evident in his more relaxed inner calm. It was no accident that it coincided with his business taking off, reaching a new level of turnover.

Further evidence of his journey into new bounds of Emotional Fitness came in mid-2017, when he noticed that the ongoing anxiety from the first half of 2017 had subsided. The Emotional Fitness Workout helped him process this anxiety for new personal growth. This was an important milestone on the Emotional Fitness journey to break the pattern of anxiety and reach a new level of inner calm and connected peace.

The outcomes have resulted in much healthier inner self-belief and self-esteem, accompanied by a newfound zest, passion, and excitement, reflected in his speech and his connections with people. This was also shown in a significant improvement in his national rankings on the tennis court. Starting in 2007 with a national doubles tennis ranking of D6, placing it just within the top 3000 NZ doubles players. However, through growth in Emotional Fitness and improved mental toughness, he climbed into the top 250 as a D3 in 2019. The key thing was that these improved rankings were achieved without significant tennis coaching or changes to biomechanics.

Then, while receiving tennis coaching in 2023 to improve his biomechanics, he experienced temporary setbacks. As he lost confidence while learning a new serve technique and improved his volleying skills, his NZ doubles ranking dropped to 349 at the start of 2023 among all current players in New Zealand.

Rob’s business has also evolved and changed over the years. Following his redundancy from his role as 2IC at Combined Insurance NZ, where he was responsible for over 100 staff across New Zealand, he established the Unboxed brand at the end of 2013, offering executive coaching and team culture strategy.

Early in 2021, Rob purchased land 50 minutes north of Auckland to create the Stargate Forest retreat space, which is set on 40 acres of native bush. This has been a long-term dream to own a beautiful venue to nurture and grow people.

Life changed massively in June 2022 after the first-ever retreat on this land. The dream came alive at Stargate Forest after more than 15 years. He had been a Reiki Master, yet self-doubt had always stopped him from publicly discussing this passion. At that 2022 retreat, he learnt a new intuitive energy healing methodology. The passion for doing what he loved and reduced self-doubt empowered him to publicly reveal that he was a channel and spiritual guide. He had been doing this work as a channel for more than ten years.

To read more, visit robrobertson.nz, which contains his blog. Click here for a blog post sharing his newfound vulnerability about the struggles of this Emotional Fitness journey.

True emotional strength is about being real, not being afraid to tell the truth, being vulnerable when appropriate, and living with passion from the heart. By not hiding his emotions, Rob Robertson shows the inner strength to be real and vulnerable. To love life, both the highs and the lows, to live with passion, purpose and a genuine heart.