Tell me about Tony Robbins

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am interested in finding out if Tony Robbins teachings, for lack of a better word, are helpful and authentic. I know absolutely nothing about him other than hearing his name in passing.

I have had a few people lately that have mentioned using his techniques and it has intrigued me. These people, by the way, all seem to have very successful and genuinely happy lives and attribute it to using Tony Robbins techniques.

I, for the most part, currently have an extremely suck-worthy existence. Practically my entire life is going down the tubes (own two businesses, both of them suffering in the economy, down to about 1/4 of normal income, cut EVERYTHING extra out of my budget, no end in sight, have not been able to secure outside employment though working diligently on it) and obviously things need to change if I am not going to eat a gun.

I am looking for answers, basically, and wonder if Tony Robbins would have that answer for me. Apparently, despite working my butt off my entire life, I am still doing something wrong.

Could you all please tell me what you know of him and/or your personal experiences with following his program? I do not have money to invest in this but perhaps can borrow some materials from friends though I hate to ever impose upon anyone in any way. Is this something that could make a difference in my life/outlook/outcome?

Thanks in advance everyone! Ann

2

I guess you’d call me a fan of Tony Robbins. I’ve read/heard a number of his books, and have attended a few of his speaking engagements. I started by reading Unlimited Power years ago to help with my career in sales, and have been hooked ever since. I’ve always been an optimistic person, and I liked his attitude.

Did it help me? I think so, but it’s hard to define exactly how. He definitely gets you pumped up and into believing that you can accomplish just about anything (even more so at his events), but you definitely need to break down some personal walls to get anything out of it. He talks about how the past no longer matters, and what you do right now is what is going to shape your life. You have to be honest with yourself, and stop blaming others for your failures, and find out what you need to change. Sometimes that’s hard to do by reading a book, but my wife and I went to one of his events, and she really helped me with my self-evaluation.

I’d recommend starting with Awaken The Giant Within, and see how you like it. He can get a little new-agey, but I just sort of pass over that.

Hope it helps.

3

Old thread from the Dark Ages.

4

Robbins is just doing what people for centuries have been doing. Offering self help advice to people. I’ve read some of his books and have found nothing new or Earth shaking in them. This is not a knock of him. The reason why it’s nothing new is it’s just common sense advice repackaged.

Tons of people do this, Suze Orman, Loretta LaRoche, Dale Carnegie etc etc.

Are his books helpful? I guess if it motovates you. I love LaRoche as she’s funny and Carnegie is also light reading that is interesting. (I love Carnegie’s examples as they are easy to understand and I relate to them).

But there’s nothing in them that will make you say "OH my GOD, so THAT is what I’m doing wrong)

You say you worked your butt off and you have nothing so YOU are doing something wrong. Not really. Yes in the end, you made choices that were not good or correct. But we all do this? And it’s very easy to spot bad choices AFTER the fact

You will find in life luck is often nothing more than having the financial ability to overcome bad choices.

Will his books help? Maybe, maybe not.

As Amy Grant says in one of her songs “I hear you saying you wanna see changes, but you don’t know where to start.”

Finally you’re not alone, this is the worst economic mess since the Great Depression, it doesn’t help but at least you can take comfort in that

Good luck.

5

I used to work for a company that hired Tony and his crew to “teach” us. Most of it was the usual motivational bullshit. He said nothing that really “wowed” me. The only thing that was unusual was this:

We were all given pieces of wood. They were probably about 1 foot wide and long, and maybe an inch (if that) thick. He showed us a karate chop type move, and told us that if we WANTED to break the board, we could. If we were afraid and doubted ourselves, we woudln’t be able to.

I rolled my eyes, thinking of how this was going to work. The wood wasn’t particularly dense. Even so, I’m not particularly strong.

We all gathered around and stood in a circle. One at a time we went into the circle and chopped the board. Some people could do it right away, other people needed “coaching” after many failed attempts. The coaching was “TRUST YOURSELF!” type shit.

I nervously awaited my turn, feeling torn between confidence (the boards weren’t that strong, this is a trick, blah blah blah) and insecurity (this will probably hurt my hand… I’ll feel stupid as hell if I get up there and can’t break the board).

I broke the board, first try. It wasn’t hard at all.

I don’t honestly believe that my confidence and fortitude broke that board. I think it’s just weak wood, and I gave it a good chop.

With that said, MANY people I know have gone through The Forum. Everyone I know has come out with a lot of new ideas and good feelings about life. I had quite a few epiphanies while I attended.

However… It can be quite cult like, and some people tend to get “sucked in”. I know friends that put out THOUSANDS of dollars and “volunteer” hours for this company, only to have to fight their way back out.

It’s said to be run by the people who did the whole EST stuff.

I’m not saying it’ll cure what ails you or anything like that, and I’m not saying it is a part of my life now, but I would be lying if I said attending The Forum didn’t teach me certian things. I’d do it again. Well, if it were free, that is. :wink:

6

I’d say that it’s not that you did something wrong. You own two businesses that brought in 4 times what they’re bringing in now that the economy has tanked. So you obviously did something right. It’s just that now the circumstances have changed and you need to do something different. You may even need to close one or more of the businesses. That’s the down side of being a businessman. That just happens.

I hope that you can find your way to Plan B. While getting there, listening to motivational speeches can be uplifting, if you can afford them. You can also check out motivational books and tapes/DVDs from the library. And you might want to try hooking up with local groups that are likely to have other businessmen in them. I don’t know what’s available in your area, but something like the Chamber of Commerce, (Insert City’s Name) Business Alliance, Toastmaster’s or Kiwanis Clubs, etc. are usually available. Some have motivational speeches or speakers who are discussing local issues. Joining usually isn’t free, but it might be worth it. If nothing else, you’ll get sympathy.

7

Not an answer to your question but you might enjoy watching this documentary with Louie Theroux. (not very objective but very entertaining)

T.R is not featured but he meets people that are in the same vein or at least business. Charismatic people that have a quick-fix solution for whatever problem you might have in life.

8

Wait for it…

:smiley:

What else is a wife for, if not to point out your faults.

9

ZING!

10

Is lack of motivation what is making your business decline? From what you’ve said above, no. Then what use would more of it be, even if you got that out of his “teachings”? None.

The magic answer to managing your businesses more successfully is that there is no magic answer. You just have to make it up as you go along. Robbins and his ilk are snake oil salesmen out to make a buck from your desperation and credulity, like folks selling dowsing rods on the goldfields. Spending anything on this crap is the last thing you should be considering right now. It would be, aside from everything else wrong with it, a bad investment. Borrowing money to do that would be utterly disastrous and likely destroy some friendships, which are more valuable in your life than your businesses are.

You need to decide whether there is any achievable circumstance in which these businesses would become viable, and work towards that end, or get out of them. One idea might be bringing in a partner who is also experienced in your area of endeavour. Or merging with a competitor - even buying one out (which can be a valid reason for borrowing, but only from commercial sources).

11

Since the OP is looking for personal experiences, this is better suited for IMHO than GQ.

Colibri
General Questions Moderator

12

He must make some money from what he’s doing, because he used to speak in Bangkok fairly often. Would have an ad on the front page of the local English-language dailies whenever he was coming, and that’s not cheap. I am not sure I’ve seen one for a while now though and only finally noticed him after he appeared as himself in the film Shallow Hal (2001). (I still laugh remembering Jack Black calling him “Banana Fingers.” :D)

13

100% agreed. I used to work with a company that distributed a bunch of his merchandise. As an employee incentive, I got a bunch of his motivational CDs for free. The alternative was a bottle of expired moisturizer. I was ripped off.

14

I thought Tony Robbins was very good, very impressive: in Shallow Hal, he made a lot of sense, and he made very clear how to see beautiful people .
After, because of, I saw him in the movie, I then tried to watch him on tv with his regular routine non-movie feelgoodpitch, but it just was not the same as his performance in Shallow Hal.

15

Maybe he was playing an alternate Tony Robbins.

16

Breaking wood is not hard, especially white pine. It is, however about equal parts technique (aim to strike a pot about 6 inches behind the piece of wood), and parlor trick (type of wood and orientation of the grain). Just about all of the battle is mental, because if you think you can’t break it, you won’t, which is the point in both MA classes and motivational seminars.

17

Yabbut, did the board catch you when you fell backwards? :slight_smile:
These things are alot like religion. It fills a hole inside of us with some kind of positive message, releashing some feel good afterglowy endorphins like sex for a couple of hours. Only ( I’m guessing here, since I haven’t read any of these kind of books, ) some of them might have some grounding in business management and gone to real college and stuff like that so there might be a foundation for it all.

Unlike religion (which is a message from ABOVE and Tax FREE for the church and It’s all made my a magical guy in the sky who clearly has issues if he actually existed outside of peoples minds, but I digress) the Self Help people make mega dollars off of it a year (without the sordid sex scandals and at least they pay taxes and are not doing any faith healing nonsense and that really weird preacher-type talk which is so gd distracting " Jee-SUS Say-ed Joe-SEPH."

You get out of it what you want, I guess is what I am saying. If you listen long enough, you will hear what you want. I am not knocking any of TR stuff ( I’ve never read him, but my philosophy is to check some of his stuff out of a library and give it a good shot. If you get one piece of advice out of it that really resonates deep inside of you, then it was worth it.

18

That’s very shallow, Susanann.

BangTheDrum, Tony Robbins is the double, double two-sugared cappuccino barista. The trouble for some, is the coffee he serves can be addictive and non-sustaining when the coffee shop closes and re-opens somewhere far far away.

Tony Robbins uses a lot of NLP - which as a behavioural science can be very effective when it’s properly facilitated, and ecological for the individual. If you’re thinking that a revivalist atmosphere with the multitude of thousands is going to do the trick for you, it won’t. It will make you feel good in the same way any large event will that has enough emotional reefers going around and strangers telling themselves - and you - what a worthwhile human being you are.

I would suggest finding yourself a bona fide NLP therapist. A good one, with recommendations - rather than the plethora out there who are dubiously certified. So do some research, maybe read some Bandler and Grinder NLP books and make an informed decision from there.

Possible in the world, possible for me it’s just a matter of how…

Go for it.

19

The primary thing I got from Tony robbins sounds like just what you need: Stop allowing the past to “build up” and defeat you.

IOW, you’ve been trying for a while, and are beginning to conclude that this will never end. When you talk of eating a gun you are trying to joke, but I think the imagery is extremely important, and you need to ake control of your thought process pretty quickly. It’s probably a good idea for you to at least review that thought with a professional, just in case. A quick mental health check-up never hurt anyone,a nd has saved the lives of quite a few.

So here’s the thing: The more time and energy you spend thinking about what didn’t work, and how it’s not working, and how you ened to do something different, the more time you are going to spend feeling defeated and hopeless. That shows, and the more you look defeated and hopeless, the less youa re going to succeed.

What I got from Tony was: Ask yourself, if I did know what I neede to change, what would it be? What is one thing I could do differently today? (start the day with exercise, call a friend, drop by the local SBA office and see what programs are running, the list is infinite)

Mood follows action. Don’t wait until you feel like doing something, do it, and then you’ll feel like a person who did that today.

Also, “Act as if.” How would I stand if I were feeling successful? What would my smile look like if I’d just foudn the perfect job? How would I sit/cross my legs/hold this pen/answer this question if I were the ulimately perfect candidate for this job interview? Practice looking/moving/gesturing like you have already succeeded. Assume success.

Studies have shown that the act of smiling does in fact raise your mood, so that’s a small effort you could begin with right now. Smile! ! !

How am I doing here guys? Is that fairly good feel for what Tony woudl say? LOL!