Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Up Sheep-Creek Without A Paddle


It's hard to believe that I'd never before heard of Tony Robbins - a fabulously wealthy, self-help guru from the 90s.

I just started reading one of his books and I'm afraid I'm going to have real trouble putting it down. It's 500 pages so there goes this week!

From page 41 of Awaken the Giant Within:
Too many of us don't make the majority of our decisions consciously, especially these three absolutely crucial ones; in doing so, we pay a major price. In fact, most people live what I call "The Niagara Syndrome." I believe that life is like a river, and that most people jump on the river of life without ever really deciding where they want to end up. So, in a short period of time, the get caught up in the current: current events, current fears, current challenges. When they come to forks in the river, they don't consciously decide where they want to go, or which is the right direction for them. They merely "go with the flow." They become a part of the mass of people who are directed by the environment instead of by their own values. As a result, they feel out of control. They remain in this unconscious state until one day the sound of the raging water awakens them, and they discover that they're five feet from Niagara Falls in a boat with no oars. At this point, they say, "Oh, shoot!" But by then it's too late. They are going to take a fall. Sometimes it's a physical fall. Sometimes it's an emotional fall. It's likely that whatever challenges you have in your life currently could have been avoided by some better decisions upstream.

Bingo! No?

The three crucial destiny-controlling decisions referenced are:

1. Your decisions about WHAT TO FOCUS ON.

2. Your decisions about WHAT THINGS MEAN TO YOU.

3. Your decisions about WHAT TO DO to create the results you desire.

Tony Robbins used to broke and fat. Now he's worth an envy-inducing $480 million!

Note that he DID NOT ATTEND COLLEGE either.

I'll say it again - HE DID NOT GO TO COLLEGE!!!


I myself have never been to Niagara Falls - it's not really on my list either.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

His schtick gets old fast though he has managed to brilliantly separate people and corporations from tremendous amounts of their money.

CaptiousNut said...

I'm only 50 pages in. Will render judgment at the end.

You're the second one in a minute to deprecate Robbins to me!

Lucy said...

I keep this quote from Tony Robbins posted by my desk

"How am I going to live today in order to create the tomorrow I'm committed to?"

Self-help gurus are all pretty much alike I find, lots of nice thoughts but low on applicability (or at least low on real motivating power to change my behaviours ;-) ) This quote was an exception.

CaptiousNut said...

The hard part, for most, is simply getting in a position where they can POSSIBLY change their behavior.

I really wish I had majored in self-help/self-propulsion and entrepreneurialism when I was young. The paucity of quality guidance for teenagers is tragic.

Just go to college....and major in your best subject....everything will be fine after that.

That's crock of course.

Avoiding the *school* trap with my kids was/is huge.

Next I have to get my own business going to the point where my wife can quit her Wall St grind.