It was probably around April when Ankush asked if I’d consider attending his AJC Coaching Career School.
I was open to the idea.
But I also had my eye on his Powerful Men’s Immersion in September, which would finish just two days before the first weekend of the AJC.
I knew I wasn’t going to do both.
At the end of the September 2025 PMI, I’d had a very clear thought…
I’m coming back this time next year.
I remembered that thought.
And not long afterwards I told Ankush to send me the invoice.
Ten days ago, 15 men from England, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Germany, Slovakia, India, the USA and Canada gathered at the Rose and Crown in Mayfield.
The strange thing was that it didn’t feel like meeting a group of strangers.
There had already been pre-event webinars, 1:1 Zoom calls and laser coaching sessions.
So even though there were four men I’d never met in person before, it felt more like meeting up with 14 old friends.
This was my ninth PMI.
And I had no idea just how good it was going to be.
That’s saying something because I already regard PMI as the best personal development event I’ve ever attended.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll probably share some of the specific insights I brought home with me.
But this week, I simply want to give you a sense of what happens when 15 men spend a week together with almost nowhere to hide.
Ankush has been running these Immersions for around 12 years.
I’ve watched him closely over the last five.
I don’t know anyone more committed to their own growth. He invests heavily in it, financially and personally, and then takes action on what he sees.
In my view, he’s one of the best coaches on the planet.
And one of the things he does masterfully is create an environment where men feel safe enough to talk about what they really need to talk about.
Which, interestingly, is often the thing they least want to talk about.
There is no predetermined agenda.
At the beginning of the week, the men in the room create it.
Anything can go on the whiteboard.
Nothing is off limits.
And strict confidentiality means people are willing to talk about things that might never normally be said out loud.
That’s when things start to get interesting.
Because when we become willing to look at the things we’d rather not look at, we often start seeing the things we couldn’t see before.
Blind spots.
Stories.
Judgements.
Fears.
Things we’ve innocently been carrying around for years and mistaking for reality.
Ankush doesn’t create the week alone.
Igor and Arthur make up the rest of the team, and both have attended more than 20 Immersions.
I’ve known them for four or five years now and watched them grow enormously during that time.
Their attention to detail and willingness to serve everyone in the room is extraordinary.
PMI simply wouldn’t be the same without them.
Most of the week is really one long conversation.
We start at 9am and finish around 5.30pm.
Sometimes we walk.
Sometimes we break into smaller groups.
At least once during the week we’ll head into Tunbridge Wells or another nearby town, walking and talking or simply giving ourselves some space to reflect on what we’re seeing.
We eat lunch together.
Many of us train together.
We often eat dinner together.
Early in the morning or later in the evening, you’ll regularly see two or three men disappearing off for a walk because a conversation isn’t quite finished.
And somehow the boundaries between the event and everything else begin to disappear.
The conversation just continues.
For that week, the 15 men become brothers.
Each committed to his own growth.
And each committed to the growth of every other man in the room.
I love the location.
I love the environment.
I love the sense of connection and belonging.
I love the opportunity to go deep.
But I’ve been thinking since I came home…
What did I actually bring back with me?
What does spending a week like that give me that a week lying beside a swimming pool doesn’t?
It’s surprisingly difficult to put into words, but here’s what I notice…
My mind feels quieter.
I feel more peaceful.
There’s more clarity.
More connection.
I’m more aware of the stories I tell myself and a little less inclined to believe them.
I can see possibilities I couldn’t see before.
Some things I’d been carrying have simply fallen away.
I can see more clearly what comes next.
There’s less judgement.
More freedom.
And perhaps most reassuringly, I’m reminded once again that I’m not some “special little snowflake.”
The things I wrestle with are remarkably similar to the things other men wrestle with.
Different circumstances.
Different stories.
Much of the same human experience underneath.
I also feel more connected to something beyond me.
Call it God.
Source.
The Universe.
Use whatever word works for you.
I didn’t arrive at PMI with any of those things on a wish list.
In fact, for the first time, I don’t think I arrived with a wish list at all.
I just knew that if I showed up honestly, stayed open and was willing to look wherever the conversation took me, something would happen.
It did.
The strange thing is that the week seemed to disappear.
Seven days felt like one.
And yet I know from my previous eight Immersions that some of what I saw during those few days will stay with me for years.
Some will change how I coach.
Some will change how I show up in my marriage.
Some will change how I see myself.
Some will change my relationships with others.
Some of it I probably don’t even know I’ve seen yet.
That’s the strange thing about experiences like this.
They end.
But their impact doesn’t.
You can measure how long they last on a calendar.
But you can’t measure how long they live in you.
A week can feel like a day…
…and last forever.
Much love
Peter