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How The Personal Development Powerhouse [Unknowingly] Keeps His Audience STUCK

Arguably one of the most impactful, truly loved, and motivating humans to have ever walked the planet, this self-help guru has the awesome ability to take one’s greatest fear and turn it into personal power. Helping people with setting goals, gaining new perspective, and generally take their baseline standard of life and in the span of a weekend help those watching turn their ordinary life into one of true fulfillment with true value.

Absolutely, we are talking about Mr. Anthony Jay Robbins.

Anthony Robbins (Tony to me and you) – motivational speaker, featured on TED talks and in Forbes, bestselling author, life coach, business strategist (among other titles, I’m sure) – has single handedly lifted millions of human beings to a new level in life. His methods are excellent examples of how asking quality questions followed by making the exact wise decision can result in obtaining clear vision on any area of life that seems troubling. This superhuman ability packs houses all over the globe, giving people the experience of their lives. The secret of success for this motivational giant is not hard to figure out. He leaves people FEELING INVINCIBLE. 

However, this author has some questions.

As I have fallen in line with a completely new way of looking at and observing the world around me, it has caused me to take a deep dive internally. It’s no doubt that lots of people on the planet have been doing the same and the ranks of those people vary greatly according to their ability to be open to asking better questions and therefore receiving better answers.

Questions like…

What is the true definition of success?

How does my past failure influence my present moment?

How DO I live life to the fullest?

HOW do you take control of your life with all that’s going on around you?

This list is evidently endless as we ponder the great shifts that are happening on a literal moment-to-moment basis. Tuning into one of the top-rated world leaders who provides positive impact on your personal life is, in my humble opinion, a great investment across the board.

However…

While on my own path of identifying the concept of continuous improvement as it pertains to my personal world, I have stumbled upon several opportunities to challenge the best quotes made by this powerhouse icon of the development world. I have found that concepts and buzzwords such as goal setting, determined action, and the “fact” that lack of emotion causes lack of progress prove to be completely outdated and – truth be told – damaging to the unsuspecting participant looking to live life at the highest level.

Understandably, to regard anything as the only way, the only limit, the only thing to “work” on this only impossible journey, well, that’s simply not plausible. So let’s take a look at some of Tony Robbins’ most noteworthy, most highly regarded quotes and see if we can’t observe the true nature of what the underlying current is and create a new path of conceptual realization to further support this great leader.

“Identify your problems, but give your power and energy to solutions.”

Why not start with one of the biggest invisible elephants in the room? Buckle up. This one might take you for a ride.

Here’s the thing… If we continue as a collective to identify problems that seek solutions then, by default, that is ultimately what we will forever continue to live our lives doing. Creating more problems that seek more solutions.

This looooong time concept has become so ingrained within our existence that we don’t bat an eyelash at it. The effects of thumping around problems that seek solutions are so in-our-face that we don’t even see the ramifications. There’s a term that supports this ultra-familiar concept and that is INVISIBLE INSTRUCTION. The invisible instruction here is that through your identification of your “problem” you must wrestle to the ground a “solution” that sucks up all your energy as that is what you CHOOSE to give all your power to.

I know. I know. You still don’t see the “problem” with this yet. Let me clue you in.

What if… Just, what if there were never any problems that seek solutions?

What if… Just, what if there was a way to forego that energetic SUCK of that pattern and have the ability to place all your power, energy, and focus into the PERFECT outcome?

There is.

It’s called CREATING.

Stay with me here.

As we have learned, placing our belief that we have problems that seek solutions will only bring in more problems that, yes, seek more solutions. It’s a vicious cycle that keeps every single participant in constant search. Not to mention that these solutions you have to first search the world over to identify and – if you are lucky to have done so – solve the problem that seemingly exists, is downright exhausting, frustrating, and quite frankly SUCKS.

Taking a gentle pivot toward the other option that is readily available, and therefore placing all of your power and energy into powerfully CREATING that which you DESIRE is absolutely a much more valuable use of your time and your energy. This method of looking at and feeling into what you want to be, do, or have while observing where you are in relation to that creates something called “creative tension.” This creative tension allows you to clearly identify what steps need to be taken in order to gently make your way toward that which you desire. This gentle resistance is necessary due to the fact that we go nowhere – we are not called to act – unless there is a force that’s available asking us to do so.

Instead of being pressured to “solve a problem” you are now acting from the inspiration to create! Now tell me, which feels better?

Here’s another one…

“Your past does not equal your future.”

As warm and fuzzy as this one feels, there is one MAJOR aspect left out.

Do you see it?

It’s the one thing that we are doing less and less of as we grapple with panic and fear of what’s going to happen to our beloved world.

Give up? No “problem.” (LOL! See what I did there?)

It’s living in the PRESENT MOMENT.

The invisible instruction in this famous quote is that from our now vantage point we only have access to two vistas – the past and the future. Now if we stand in our physical shoes and focus on either then, quite frankly, we have great potential to be screwed! If we spend time focusing on our past then we run the risk of either falling into a depression, wishing that things were the way they were “back then,” or we panic as we try to figure out ways in which we can run away from past mistakes that seem to keep rearing their ugly heads in one way or another.

On the contrary, if we spend our time looking to the future under current conditions the view looks more like an apocalyptic crisis! No anxiety there or anything… yikes! Your future can be anything and everything that you want it to be. But if you cannot legitimately imagine yourself there – if you cannot picture aspects of yourself there NOW then you truly stand no chance making it anything more than a pipedream, and it’s in the moment that you realize that you’re just a dreamer when your self-fulfilling prophecy of being able to live as nothing more than a dreamer becomes fulfilled, as well.

And how about this one… “It will be better when.” If your past does not equal your future and you’re skipping over the present moment, then there is no opportunity to feel whole NOW. Without feeling whole now (which is what you believe you will feel once you have everything you want and you’re all that you want to be) you have zero chance to practice the you that you wish to become – the identity that already exists in the reality you desire.

This is also a great time to mention that “Fake it ’til you make it” has no place in this equation either. Fake is exactly what it means here – FAKE! Not “real.” Not “true.” So why on earth should we not claim that which we are? Saying and believing that we are instead “Being it before we see it” brings forth a much brighter, inspiring approach to the identity that matches that desired reality, wouldn’t you say?

So, in short, no, your past does not equal your future. 

But your present moment can. 

And when it does you are taking massive strides toward the identity that matches and is in full support of the “you” that already exists in the future. You can be it NOW.

Here’s another good one…

“The path to success is to take massive, determined action.”

“…to take massive, determined action.” Hmmmm… Ok. So we are supposed to reveal the giant within, but I have a question. What if the now identity exhaustively grapples with “imposter syndrome” or the like? What if the only thing that truly stands in the way of unleashing the giant is the absolute fact that the individual has an overwhelming feeling of security in staying small?

This is about to get juicy.

Having been this version of self and full-on employing the identity of which I am speaking of, I can speak with absolute certainty and tell you that NO MATTER HOW HARD I TRIED there was LESS THAN NOTHING I could do to allow myself to feel like a mediocre human, let alone a successful giant. You see, I did ALL THE THINGS. I got the certifications, I quit the job, I bought the LLC, I put myself out there on social media, and you know what? NOTHING felt good about it. Absolutely nothing. The anxiety I felt when I had to enlarge myself in any way, shape, or form was almost debilitating at times. It wasn’t right, and do you know how I knew it wasn’t right? Because in my desired reality, everything was easy and I was having FUN, but this? This was NOT fun.

Not different from being on a diet, I then began to “eat everything in the fridge in order to avoid that which I wanted.” In other words, I was extremely busy doing everything BUT the things that were going to get me closer to my desired end result. And the busier I got, the more stuff I found to do. Stuff. Busy work. Nothing that was bringing me closer to the end goal. In fact, at one point, if anyone asked me what it was I was taking action on the only answer I could justify or muster would be “spinning my wheels.”

This was until I realized… I was not taking INSPIRED ACTION.

You see, there is a MASSIVE difference between taking “massive, determined action” (ie: wrestling it to the ground) and taking inspired action.

Inspired action is received when one quiets their mind and allows their imagination to take them to their end result – the place where they are there, being and feeling that which they would be and feel if they were living in their desired reality. Once there, one can gauge precise action that is required in order to change, shift, evolve, and maybe even adapt in order to become that who is in the desired reality.

So, for example, if you have zero business background yet wish to build a business empire then you must see yourself as that type of business owner. For some, that’s not an issue. However for others it freezes them in their tracks. They begin to think of all the reasons why that dream cannot be accomplished.

Not enough time freedom.

Not enough money.

Not enough knowledge.

Don’t know the right people.

The list goes on and on, and the super sad part is that the majority of these people allow those fears and doubts take over instead of taking TINY advances toward that which is desired.

That’s right! TINY.

NOT massive, nor determined. That is simply incredibly overwhelming!

Slow and steady here wins the race EVERY TIME because as slow and steady is actually accomplished, momentum builds and before you know it, you can absolutely look back and see the MASSIVE action you took with little steps, over time.

Now don’t get me wrong! If you are able to see and totally capable of taking any sort of “massive, determined action” then by all means, be my guest! Just PLEASE don’t think that you are incapable of living a life that you love in every aspect because you are judging the size of your action steps.

Here’s one more – only because this is so much darn fun!

 “The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships.”

For this one I’m not even going to actually argue! I am simply going to elaborate…

First of all, the quality of your life is totally and completely on you. You create it. NOTHING outside of you has the power to instill an impact on any part of you. Unless, that is, you allow it.

Here’s the thing. Your life is a direct interpretation and projection of what you are feeling on the inside. If your circumstances suck, I would ask you the question, “Why do you believe that you suck?” If you experience an exorbitant amount of lack on any given subject then I would ask you, “What is it that you feel you are lacking within you?”

You see, as within, so without and visa versa. That’s universal law.

So to say that the quality of your life is the quality of your relationships makes sense, but only to a certain degree and on a much deeper level than most newbies to this world of personal development will understand. To take this quote at surface level could mean that the recipient may feel that they don’t stand a snowball’s chance in hell of getting anywhere in life because they don’t have access to “the right people.” Again, this can produce a sense of unnecessary overwhelm to an already overwhelming situation.

The truth here is that the quality of your life is the quality of how you FEEL. Period. It has NOTHING to do with other people, not initially anyway. How you feel about you is everything. Your relationships are simply a direct projection of where you stand with YOU.

In support of this quote and from a much “deeper” level of understanding, the quality of your life IS the quality of your relationships because oftentimes we literally outgrow people and we must come to firmly understand that THAT’S OK. Not everyone is going to be in support of your growth especially if they themselves are not on a growth path themselves. You are going to change. Evolve. Move graciously past the you that you once were. And in those moments, you have a choice – you can keep the relationships that no longer serve you intact and ignore your need to move forward OR you can move forward and leave it up to the other person whether they want to grow to meet you where you are at or simply fall away.

Think of it in terms of your “higher self” or whatever term you use to identify your highest level of awareness or consciousness. Do you think that part of you bows down and meets you according to where you’re at or do you believe that it stays firm as your “higher self” and holds the bar for you to choose to meet? The same holds true to all subjects in your world to include relationships. For instance, if you are a musician and get asked to play full-time in a band, yet you work a full-time job you may have to let the security of the full-time job go in order to pursue your dream. If you are scaling yourself to be a social media influencer and have friends and family around you who devalue your success, you may have to interact with them less in order to stay focused on what you know to be true – your complete and total SUCCESS.

And ONE LAST QUOTE:

“I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk.”

Mr. Robbins, there’s no arguing this one.

I concur 110%.

I would add a gentle reminder to the reader that your very own life – your masterpiece – is no different than the blank canvas from which it started out. Sometimes the colors didn’t work and other times the lines may have not been properly illustrated, but those were simply opportunities to learn and try again to get it just right. For we never properly fail. Instead we gain the opportunity to create EXACTLY what we set out to enjoy.

One day I am going to come face to face with this massive thought leader. I am going to have the opportunity to discuss with him, in depth, each and every topic in this blog plus more! Mr. Tony Robbins has wholeheartedly inspired me to elevate my version of what a quality life looks and feels like and he is one I absolutely look up to when I want to see how it’s done.

Thank you for that, Sir.

So my question for you is what is your favorite quote from this motivational powerhouse? Have you seen him live and in-person? If so, what was that experience like? We would LOVE to know!

In the meantime, if you are struggling in any way with navigating your very own ocean of possibilities on any given subject reach out and let us know! Perhaps this would be a great opportunity to hop aboard a CHARTERED excursion toward living a life you love.