Awaken the Giant Within

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

Tony Robbins is the leader in self-help business in the U.S.  and his book, “Awaken the Giant Within:  How to Take Immediate Control of your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny” is a testament to his being ahead of the pack.  Here are the main points of his book.  (Sentences in quotation marks are words from the author)

Decide What You Want

Awaken your inner giant by specifying four inspiring life goals in the areas of your life such as career or business, personal development, adventure, and contribution (“Remember: a goal is a dream with a deadline”).

Write down what you truly want in each of the four areas listed above by answering the question: “What would I go for, in this area, if I knew I could not fail?” Pretend you’re a kid on Christmas Eve and “put yourself in a state of mind of absolute faith and total expectation that you can create anything you want.” Write until you’re excited. “People are not lazy, they simply have impotent goals…goals that do not inspire them.”

Question Your Beliefs

Limiting beliefs are like invisible chains that hold you back from pursuing big goals. “However, limiting beliefs are (often) generalizations…based on interpretations of painful experiences.”

If a challenging project went poorly in the past, you may generalize the painful experience and avoid all challenging projects going forward. If a teacher criticized your writing, you may generalize the critique and believe you are a bad writer. If, in elementary school, you did poorly on a math test, you might believe you’re bad with numbers and avoid all math and science classes in high school.

Prevent ‘generalizations’ from limiting your action towards your four goals. Find three ‘generalized’ limiting beliefs in each of the four areas: Career/business, Personal Development, Adventure, and Contribution. Look for limiting beliefs that you tell yourself like “I am too…therefore I can’t…” or “I’ll never…” or “I always…” Now, question each limiting belief (“If you question anything enough, eventually you’ll begin to doubt it.”):

First, question the source of each belief: Is the person you inherited this belief from (Dad, Mom, high school friend, old coach or boss) the perfect role model? Why should you believe them? Are they an expert in this area? Second, question the accuracy of each belief: Why might this belief not be 100% accurate? Has this belief always been true in your life (think of counterexamples)? Is this belief true for everyone (search for counterexamples)?

Once you doubt a limiting belief, create an empowering belief in its place. Robbins says, “if you had a belief that ‘I can never succeed because I’m a woman,’ your new belief might be, ‘Because I’m a woman, I have resources available to me that no man could ever dream of!’ What are some of the references you have to back up this idea so you begin to feel certain about it? As you reinforce and strengthen this belief, it will begin to direct your behavior in an entirely new and more empowering way.”  Keep in mind two powerful empowering beliefs: (1) “Problems are gifts – without problems, I do not grow.” (2) “There’s always a way to turn things around if I’m committed.”

Alter Your Pain‐Pleasure Associations

If you fail to take consistent action towards your goals, it’s because you haven’t linked enough pleasure to action and enough pain to inaction. Robbins says, “The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you.”

Associate immense pain to inaction by visualizing procrastination, then repeatedly asking yourself: (1) “What will my inaction ultimately cost me?” (feel the consequence of chronic inaction) (2) “What will my inaction ultimately cost others?” (feel the negative impact on others)

Associate immense pleasure to action by generating an intense feeling of pride with every action that moves you closer to your goals (big or small). Feel your confidence expanding with every step forward. See yourself like the bodybuilder who goes to the gym and pushes himself/herself through the pain because he/she loves the feeling of progress after a workout.

“Understanding and utilizing the forces of pain and pleasure will allow you once and for all to create the lasting changes and improvements you desire for yourself and those you care about.”