An Afternoon with Anthony Robbins

Learning from the Giant : Anthony Robbins

Last week, the Gallantoro team and I attended the National Achievers Congress in Sydney. The headline act was of course, Tony Robbins, the forerunner in helping discover and uncover what it takes to be a peak performer. I won't go into detail about his long list of accomplishments and endorsements, but let's just say he is the real deal, and is the Michael Jordan of his field. 

The whole event is a bit of a ploy, where by get rich quick schemes are laid out by speakers throughout the day, offering you an insight into their plan for global domination, then offering a once in a lifetime deal of half price of the original ten or twenty grand to attend their elite training school. It's a bit of a tragedy, even more so seeing the hundreds of people throwing their money at these speakers. No time schedule of speakers is set of course, otherwise everyone would only be attending the Tony Robbins speaking engagement, and avoid the rest. Alas, we stayed one and a half days, and seeing and listening to Tony was worth the endurance. 

He came out at 4pm, and for the next four and a half hours or so, he built the three thousand strong crowd into an absolute frenzy of activity, energy and excitement. Like a General commanding his army, he filled us with so much energy and positivity we felt like we could march out of that room and destroy anything or anyone that stood between us and our goals! Almost a week later, that fire is still burning. 

Focus

• Absolute Obsessed Focus
• Energy Flows Where Focus Goes

These were the first two points Tony focused on when he emerged from behind the curtains and took control of the crowd. Walking thorough the isles he engaged us and demanded our focus, and I'll tell you what, make eye contact with the man is something special. He's a force. 

So we had drilled into us, that whatever we want, focus on it. Too many times and too many people put their energy and focus onto what we don't want, putting us into a state of negativity. Decide what it is you want, and focus on that goal or that dream with unwavering faith and certainty. 

Massive Action

This is a big Tony Robbins staple. Most of us pander to what we want, never really fighting for it. "Burn the f**ken bridges!" Tony said. Be willing to not only take action, but take Massive Action toward what you are working for, and have absolute faith in it. Faith that even if it doesn't work out at first, or second, or whatever, that eventually you will succeed. It's the law of averages. 

Be Obsessed

Tony then went on to say, we need to become absolutely obsessed with our goals. From experience, I know this to be really true. As achievers, we can strive toward a goal on cruise control, doing the minimum we need to to say to people "I'm trying really hard", but not really being obsessed. History has shown that the greatest achievers in any field were absolutely obsessed with being the best, and Tony is of course a prime example. 

"See it as done" - Tony Robbins

On Relationships

Tony went on to talk briefly about relationships, and the most important take away from this was when he said "Do at the beginning of the relationship at the end of the relationship - and there will be no end". This really rang true, just like with anything, it's always exciting at the beginning, but it takes work to keep that energy and that excitement for years and decades. 

Be a Kid

"Don't be embarrassed to fail like a kid." - Tony Robbins

Tony got us to remember back when we were kids, and how if we want to do something, we just did it. We didn't sit back and weigh up the pro's and con's and eventually talk ourselves out of trying something, we just went ahead and did it and if we fell over and failed, we just got up, dusted ourselves off and tried again! Too often people don't try something for fear of failure. This reminded of what Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, "Don't be afraid to fail." Now we've heard it from two great men. Failure breeds success.

Leadership

1. See it as it is, not worse than it is.
2. See it better than it is.
3. Make it the way you see it.

Tony was big on us being leaders, and that to be a goal to strive for, even if we're not naturally inclined to be leaders. The fact is, the people who are the best at what they do, are leaders, and we are all striving to be the best, otherwise why are you here? So when faced with leadership problems, don't always see it to be the worst thing that could happen, then change the way you see it before making it the way you see it.

State

"Say Yes!" 

This was the greatest point and the greatest takeaway from Tony, and the funny thing is I've heard it all before in Tony's tapes, but having the visceral experience of living it with Tony really cemented the notion deep into our brains. Dozens of times throughout the event, Tony would have us stand up and shout, jump up and down, high five each other and scream at one another positive things. Sounds crazy, right? All I can tell you is it worked. We became so energised at 7 in the evening, it was like we were on drugs (from what I'm told). 

Tony went on to instil in us that your physicality greatly affects your emotion, and if you want to change your emotion it must start with the body. No man practices what he preachers more than Tony Robbins, and experiencing his MASSIVE energy for those four and a half hours is testament to this point. This 55 year old man put 21 year olds to shame with his massive energy that we could all feel, and it wasn't hard to surmise he's been practicing getting and staying in 'state' for many many years.

So emotion is created by motion, and if you want to feel better and perform better, move and stay in a positive, energetic state. Here's his formula.

To get what you want, you have to be willing to throw out all your excuses and limiting beliefs. Burn the f**ken ships as he would say, and do whatever it takes! You WILL find a way! The only thing keeping you from what you want is the story you keep telling yourself, so divorce your story and marry the truth! 

What an experience it was! We all left Moore Park absolutely charged and in peak state to take control of our futures and destiny's, and that feeling remains prevalent today. Not very often a man like Tony comes around who is absolutely obsessed with finding out how the best people perform, and what is their motivation for action. He travels the world not trying to sell a course or a system, but to try and help people become the best they can be. Listening to him speak and engaging with him in such an an environment, makes this fact obvious. I encourage anyone who has the chance, to hear him speak. It can change your life if you let it.

In closing, here are some other key points Tony touched on...

• Motive Matters
• Grow or Die
• Progress = Happiness
• In the realm of uncertainty, passion is found
• You become who you spend time with the most
• GET IN STATE!

-rbjs