Robin Goldsbro is a guy with a vision for the future — a world full of people doing exactly what they were born to do. Instead of work-life balance, people are living — for a living. He founded Level Seven with the goal of making this dream come true.
Before Level Seven, Robin had a corporate career where he challenged the status quo and was known for creating change. He dared people to think bigger and believe in themselves enough to take action. After realizing this was what he was born to do, Robin left his job to follow the dream he’d been building for himself.
That’s how Level Seven came to be. Now it’s dedicated to helping people experience a life with more joy, freedom, and purpose by doing what they love.
Robin Goldsbro
When asked what you do for a living, I want people to reply, “I Live for a Living.”
Robin Goldsbro’s dream utopia is a world full of people doing exactly what they were born to do. There's no such thing as work-life balance, only life.
Previously, Robin had a corporate career where he challenged the status quo and inspired change. He dared people to believe in themselves and to take action. It became clear that motivating and helping people was what Robin was born to do.
Why coaching?
It’s the best work in the world, and I love it. It just took me years to realize this is my raison d’être.
Looking back, I know I really struggled in school, but I didn’t want that to be the ‘thing’ that came to define me. I felt a burning need to prove myself, and I spent quite a bit of time being really up in my own head, projecting my “ideal” self rather than being true to who I really am. I know now that I was lying to myself in striving to prove something to the world. I was trying to fit into a mold that I thought went along with what it is to be successful, collecting objects and stories of accomplishment.
The thing is, there was always a feeling that I’d steered off my true path. I realized I was going about life all wrong, but I couldn’t find the courage to do something about it. I got caught up in a story that there would be negative implications if I tried to change things now. I’d become too embedded in this version of myself that I’d created.
Now that I’ve made the changes in my life, I see the story for what it was - just a story I was telling myself, and acting as if it was real is what made it real.
I want other people to have this realization too. It’s so deeply liberating, and the real magic lies on the other side of this. I really want people to embrace life and live it passionately rather than working on a hidden hamster wheel. We tell ourselves all kinds of stories that prevent us from taking risks. It keeps us trapped in an unfulfilling space. The truth is, you can’t experience true joy when you are living an inauthentic life.
When someone asks what you do, what do you say?
I tell them I’m on a mission to help people have an epic life. I share how I’ve supported my clients to have more ‘life’ in their life and how I’ve helped shifts from a soulless purpose centered around working for money to buy stuff so we can compare ourselves favorably to people we don’t really care for to a life centered around meaningful goals.
I share that I help people take more control of their emotions and thoughts to see, understand and change the stories they’re telling themselves. In my work, I act as a guide for people on a journey to realize what they were born to do and then bring that dream to life, whether they want to start a new business, change their career path, or need help in realizing their deepest aspirations.
I’m working to convey that you can’t measure fulfillment with external, tangible rewards of success. It’s a feeling that’s being generated from within. I focus on getting people in touch with that feeling inside and bringing that to the outside world. No masks, no hiding, no more holding back. Just comfortable in your innate and wonderful uniqueness, doing what’s right for you.
What sort of person do you like to work with the most?
I love working with business owners who want to live for a living, making their life and business work in harmony where each complements the other. I also love working with professionals who have lost their mojo and want to fall back in love with their life again.
When people feel alive, they change the world!
I know that the world needs us, humans, to change our behavior, and for that to happen, we all need to be comfortable as our authentic selves. I help people to achieve this - it’s what enables us to feel truly alive. I help my clients see how they’ve been conditioned and what this does to the subconscious mind, empowering them to lower the veil.
I only work with clients looking to make a positive difference in the world, even if it’s a small difference.
Business leaders, professionals, and those passionate about influencing positive change are in great positions to create the ripple effects needed to be good for everyone.
What would be your go-to advice for someone struggling with motivation and drive at work?
Fundamentally, when we feel this way, we’re following the wrong path. Or we’re on the right one, but wearing trainers instead of walking boots. We’re doing it wrong.
My assertion is there’s often an internal battle going on where values of success are being driven from somewhere external to ourselves and adopted as our own, yet conflict with what we know on a deeper level to be true, and that really brings us joy.
I know that genuine motivation is something that happens inside us. Ask yourself, what am I doing when I find myself in the zone and lose track of the time? What are the specific activities that never fail to keep you immersed? Look for the convergence of all these things, then look where this points you.
You don't need to have it all completely worked out. My advice is to start moving in the right direction, and your path will become emergent. Find the things that are in your ‘sweet spot’ and use this to inform you what you invest in all areas of your life.
What’s your favorite example of a challenge you’ve overcome with a client?
It's the story that finally made me take the leap into full-time coaching. I was playing it safe, coaching on the side whilst still doing work that didn’t bring me joy… and then, within 5 days, two people I was coaching came to share that they'd handed in their notice and were going to pursue new careers. They told me I'd made them see how they were on the wrong path and how I’d helped them see a better one. I was struck - my coaching was powerful, and here I was still playing it safe. Not taking risks. I realized that I would never make it if I couldn't walk my own talk. That gave me the push to find my courage, and Level Seven was formed.
I’ve noticed you sometimes go to Sweden with your clients, tell me about that.
I offer a canoe and camping coaching intensive in Sweden twice a year, and for those who want something a little closer to home or to dip a toe in the water, so to speak, I also offer a lite version of this where I provide coaching whilst we paddle on a local waterway. No prior canoeing experience is needed. The beauty of this coaching style is that it creates a certain energy and mindset that complements the work we do together, accelerating the value that clients get from the coaching.
Adventure and nature are part of who I am. In fact, it’s part of who we all are, but that’s a discussion for another day. It felt almost instinctual to bring this into the coaching experience.
Something wonderful happens when we get away from the noise and distraction and go to a completely new place, and are surrounded by nature. We really get to the core of the challenge, and we use the quiet and the space for insight and mindfulness.
There’s a quiet voice inside us all - that’s our authentic self. The loud voice is the ego and the way we’ve been conditioned.
When out in nature, we are better able to hear that quieter voice. From that place, who we are and what’s right and wrong for us, and the actions we need to take become much easier to see. At the end of the experience, I’ve found clients make significant shifts in a much shorter space of time than through standard coaching sessions. They share of having a new appreciation of how to face the future and feel rejuvenated, recharged, and ready for anything. It’s a really wonderful way of helping people whilst also aligning what I offer with what’s most authentic to who I am and what I love to do.
What are your current goals and projects for moving forward? How do you set yourself on the right path for that growth?
I’m currently making a movement. The work I do inspires people to live for a living, to do what they love, and have more life in their life.
I said earlier that there’s no such thing as work-life balance, only life. It’s the forced separation of these, though, that creates challenges.
It’s the integration that we need, not separation. I want to use this knowledge to make a bigger impact and contribution to the world and push people to really take action in their own life. I always hear this phrase “I’ll do it in my own time. I’m currently at work.” I just want to ask: when are you never not on your own time? You’re spending the hours of your life, and it’s expensive. It needs to be invested in the right places. When we really embrace this truth is when we start really living. Nobody will get to the end of their life and say, “I wish I’d spent more time in the office doing something that brought me money but not joy.” No one.
The community I’m building is there to inspire, encourage and educate people to take control of their own time and to create a life they love, not a job they do in exchange for money to buy someone else’s version of success. I’m inviting business owners, senior leaders, and professionals as they’re the ones creating the environments we spend so much of our time in and making decisions that impact us all. They're in a position of power, and I want them to embrace the responsibility of creating a space where everyone flourishes.
I’m also contributing to a book. It’s co-authored by a number of coaches, athletes, and even an ex-FBI agent. It’s a rich, diverse perspective on “Winning Mindsets.” It’ll be out in August. Working towards it has really inspired me to keep writing, so now I’m also in the process of writing my own book.
Is there anywhere, currently, where people can read more from you or interact with you?
I hang out on LinkedIn, where anyone can interact with me. There are also free resources available if you sign up to the mailing list on my website, but there’s one main place I want to draw everyone to and to join the movement for more ‘life’ in your life.
