This ONE Lesson Transformed My Entire Life

Today, I want to share one of the greatest lessons I learned from my dear friend Tony Robbins that absolutely shifted the course of my life forever. Welcome to the Dean Graziosi Show. All success starts right here. Hey, it's Dean Graziosi. Welcome to the podcast. This is where we go upstream and anchor in the foundation, the habits, the rules for long term sustainable success, wealth and abundance in your life. I want to go back in time a little bit and share this one sentence that Tony Robbins said. And you may have heard it before, I bet you I've heard it before. But at this moment in time in my life, it changed everything. Before we get started, though, if you hear the waves crashing in the background, I flew into Puerto Rico last night as I'm sitting here talking to you, and I'm here for a mastermind with some dear friends that I'm so excited for. If you're not in a mastermind, if you don't run a mastermind, if you don't learn from other people who've already been there, you're missing out. It is the ultimate unfair advantage. So be open to that. Learn from people who've already been there. Share what you've learned, impact others, be impacted. I'm busy as heck this month, and fitting this in was difficult, but I made it here because I know I'll get a return on my time. I'll also get a return on my investment of traveling. So if you hear the waves, I have about 10 minutes here to be with you before I start the Mastermind. And I wanted to share this powerful lesson. And what that one sentence was, was, what if life happened for us, not to us. Now, I say that to you and you go, I think I've heard that. And what the heck does that mean? I want to share in my personal life what that means. My dad was the youngest of 11 children, and he was physically abused and sexually abused as a child. And my dad was born in 1938. It was before really cared about therapists, cared about kids, protected them. So my dad didn't have a protector. He had to learn to tuck down his feelings. And it turned into rage and anger. My dad could be the sweetest father in the history of the world and the scariest man I've ever been around in my life. A man who taught me how to drive a car when I was 14, who saved every dollar he could to help buy me a BMX bike. The same man that that helped me have a bleeding ulcer at 12 years old, where I was throwing up blood Because I was so scared and stressed out of my mind. So as I got older, I forgave my dad and I love him. And you know, my sister hasn't and she still doesn't have a relationship with my dad. Eight of his brothers and sisters didn't, and they didn't have a relationship with him. He didn't have a relationship with his dad or his mother when he died. So. So how could that have happened for me? So I'm telling you through my eyes. And I know you have your own story. And since I don't know your story, I have to tell you mine and hope that you can relate and associate something that was painful in your life, something that was done unfairly, the partner who screwed you over, the husband or wife who was unfaithful, the friend who let you down, the money that didn't come through, the business that failed. What if you could find a way to realize that was designed for you by God, by the universe, whatever it is you believe in? So let me again go back. When I was about 12 years old, my dad was going through a really rough patch. He hated the fact that my mom and him divorced when I was three. And he caused a lot of chaos. I'll just say that in our lives. And there was a point where we were literally in a motorhome going from campground to campground just trying to take a break from my dad. I'm putting it politely. We were a little scared. At least my mom was, and my stepdad and I got to a point where I couldn't take it anymore. My sister and I walked downtown about a mile on a payphone. That's how long ago it was called my dad. And he was very upset, but it mildly. And made some, you know, statements that scared. And I said, dad, how do we stop this? How can you let this go? And he said, move in with me and I'll let it all go. So at 12 years old, I made a decision to move in with my dad. And again, moving to my dad was amazing. He let me drive to school when I was 14. He helped me with bikes and let me race motorcycles and took me fishing. And also it was the scariest times of my life. And I was quiet and shy and nervous as hell on the inside many times. Because when my dad, you look at it like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, when he was Dr. Jekyll, the greatest dad that lived when he was Mr. Hyde, I was scared to death of him. And during the time of living with him, what I realized Is that through empathy, through love, through caring, through feeling bad, that what he went through, and this is a 12 year old feeling bad, what he went through as a child, I found a way to feel his emotions and feel the anger building or understand the things that triggered him. I could feel it, I'm not kidding you. If he just walked in a room and I learned to read him and be able to keep him on the good side, keep him in the love side, keep him as the dad that I, that I loved being around, not the one that scared me to death and made me have a bleeding ulcer. So you say, well, what the hell does that mean, Dean? Well, as a kid, I thought this was terrible and I didn't tell anybody and I hid it and I was ashamed of it. There's a helicopter flying by. So this is real and raw, but I'm not stopping. As I got older and I got into the self education industry, I realized, I started to realize maybe that was my gift. Maybe being with my dad taught me patience, it taught me love, it taught me empathy. And I already started seeing that until one day Tony invited me to a date with destiny. We had been friends for multiple years and I had gone there still trying to be a student. I don't care if we're best friends. I still go to his events and listen to his books and audios as a student. And a woman stood up with her own story about her childhood and her father was ruthless and she blamed him. Tony looked her in the eye and said, so you're like him. You're a monster. You hate your kids, you don't love your husband, you don't make money. She said, hell no. Because he was mean to us. I love my kids and have a great relationship because he was always broke. I have a successful company because he was mean to my mom. I'm incredible to my husband. We have the best relationship. And Tony said, if you're gonna blame him for those bad things, then you best call him tonight and blame him for the good. Because that happened to you. You are a better mom, you make more money, you're a better wife, and you have an abundant life. And I could see the love you have in your heart. Life happened for you, my dear, not to you. And I watched her sob and let it go. And here's the part that Tony didn't know. About a hundred feet away, I was sobbing unconditionally because at that very moment I blame my dad for being the man I am today. I wouldn't be strong. I wouldn't know how to handle problems. I wouldn't have overcome the million obstacles in my way. I wouldn't have been able to touch the lives of millions of people around the world. Life happened for me. Not to me. Again, this is my story. What's yours? I'd love for you to take a moment right now and shift the story of that thing that hurt you and figure out how it's really been put in your life by God or the universe to make you a better version of you. I appreciate you guys so much. Thanks for being a part of my podcast. And remember, if you don't have my brand new book, the Underdog Advantage, it is going viral right now. I'm so excited. The world is loving it. You can get it@deansbook.com go grab a copy for free. Copy means I paid for the book, you pay for the shipping and handling. We'll get it in your hands right away. I'm Dean Graziosi. Remember, all success starts right here. If you liked this podcast, make sure you rate it and also make sure to click subscribe so you never miss out. You can always follow us on Instagram and if you don't already have millionaire success habits, you can grab it for free@deansfreebook.com Remember, all success starts here.