How to Build Unshakeable Certainty When Life Falls Apart | Tony Robbins

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That first sip feeling is amazing. Bold signature espresso with protein boosted milk and sweet vanilla flavor. This is amazing. And what's so crazy is a grande has 29 grams of protein. I mean, talk about staying consistent with your wellness goals. Now my morning iced latte can make it feel effortless to hit my protein target. For me, this is just one of those small moments every day that starts it off right a little bit stronger and knowing I've gotten protein in my drink as well. So make sure to level up and add protein to your favorite drink at Starbucks. The best B2B marketing gets wasted on the wrong people. So when you want to reach the right professionals, use LinkedIn ads. LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, including 130 million decision makers. That's why LinkedIn has the highest B2B ROAs of all online ad networks. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a free $250 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com Lewis that's LinkedIn.com Le W I S terms and conditions apply. So many people have made major impacts on my life. But when I think back to the days before it all began, before the business, before the podcast, before the big audience, I needed the motivation to become someone greater than my fears and my limitations. And one of my first inspirations was.

Tony Robbins, this straight laced kind of teacher. I sent him off to class and he said, you know why I'm here to talk to you. You have a gift. And I'm looking at him like he's crazy. I have a speech here that I'd like you to read and if it appeals to you, he said, I think this is your life. The title was the Will to Win. I could cry just thinking about It. It was so intense. I mean, reading it and crying, just going, I'm only here still. All that I've been through because of my pure will that I will not give up.

I still remember the first time I walked into a Tony Robbins event. I was 16 years old. I was searching for direction, for belief, for something to grab onto. And I had no idea how deeply that experience would stay with me.

Designing a wife is a different way of living, and it requires courage. You can have courage if you can trust in a higher understanding that everything has a higher purpose. And this is an unfolding for me. But I found if you live enough life with that faith and with the drive to find it, you'll find those answers.

Tony Robbins is one of the most influential personal development teachers of our time. He is a number one New York Times bestselling author, a global entrepreneur, and an advisor to world leaders, CEOs and elite performers. He's impacted millions of people around the world. And over the years, Tony has joined me on the show multiple times. But what's mattered more are the conversations we've had in between those interviews, the lessons I've learned, the standards that have been set, and the challenges to grow when growth wasn't comfortable. This isn't a conversation about how to win more or do more. It's about the journey behind the impact of what Tony Robbins has done. What it costs to build a life that ripples outward around the world and what remains when the noise fades. So we are here in this incredible home, and over a decade ago, we did an amazing interview on a private jet. I don't know if you remember this.

Oh, yes, I do remember.

That kind of went viral. This private jet. Yes. It was in Burbank Airport or over there. And now, over a decade later, we're doing another epic interview in this $150 million home here in Bel Air. And you got to tell me, what is. What is this place and why are we here?

Well, this is. Artie Tranvagaran built this home. And he is a dear, dear friend of mine. He actually, when I was doing the Del Mar Castle, I wanted to. I came here to la and I was such a big accomplishment. I had this castle overlooking the ocean in San Diego. And. And then I came to see Chris Heminter here, who built. If you've ever been to the big island of Hawaii, there's a Hilton there now. And it's. You go to your room by boat or you go to your room by monorail. He built that place from scratch. Wow. So I went to his house and he had this underground like, you know, place that was full of, you know, all those wines and cigars. But it was such an intriguing place. And when I left, I was like, I live in the Del Mar tenement. And so Artie had started like me from nothing. And he wanted an address in Beverly Hills. So he went underground and got this little area so you could have an address there as an architect. And he started designing and he's grown. He went to date with destiny, became good friends. So he did My Castle. And then gradually over the years, he's grown to be, you know, one of the number one designers in the world for the wealthiest people on earth. And so every time he builds one of these homes, he goes, you gotta, you made such a difference in my life. You gotta come live in it for a week or two. And I resisted for many years. But I came here with my wife and my daughter and we spent, I don't know, two weeks living here. It was pretty, pretty amazing home. So it's 35,000 square feet, four stories high. Downstairs they can film it later. Is the most amazing areas, you know, for spa areas and I mean everything about it. All these doors open up. So it's just. He's a genius. He's got this spiral staircase that goes up all four stories and you're in the middle of berry layover. I mean you've got an amazing just lifestyle.

You have a view of the whole city. It's unbelievable.

And like all these things come up, you know, it looks like a garden bed and it's a giant television that comes out.

It's unbelievable.

And you're looking right over the Bel Air Country Club in Century City. So it's just cool. So limit the train. My BBJ is being doing the whole new internal piece that's. I know you want to do the plane, but I figured, okay, here's another nice place for you if you're not bad.

So cool. I'm excited to do it.

So you want to go upstairs?

Let's do it. Let's do it.

Okay, here we go.

You're going to be on the left over there, I think.

Okay, you got it.

Well, I'm here with the inspiring, incredible Tony Robbins. Thank you so much for inviting me in this incredible home that you were just talking about. We're here at this expans expansive 100 plus million dollar home in Bel Air and we're talking about how being in an environment like this allows you to expand your own mind at this season of your life at this stage of your life, and how you just keep expanding your thinking by being around the right people, being in the right environments, and allowing you to imagine a world that you don't have yet. Talking about your property in Tennessee and imagining creating the thing you want to create. I'm curious. We were talking as we were coming up here about my Olympic handball journey. We're talking about the people that you have mentored and coached. Olympians, billionaires, presidents you've coached. The best of the best. Overcome their limiting beliefs to help them achieve their own level of greatness. I'm curious, from those who are at the top of their game to those who are struggling day by day, what is the number one limiting belief that most people have that keeps them from accomplishing what they want?

Well, it's different depending upon what level of life you get to. But people usually bump up against I'm not enough. You know, the whole idea that today they talk about it in a trite way. It's like I remember talking to Anthony Hopkins. Tony Hopkins, the actor. He's a good friend of mine. And I was surprised. Cause this guy is so obsessed that he not only knows his own lines. I've made a few movies. I was shocked that people didn't know their lines. But, you know, you shoot things 10,000 times a lot. So he knows his own lines and every other person's lines. And so he's that committed, and he's that great an actor. And he says to me, tony, I feel like, you know, I'm a facade, I'm a phony, and I'm going to get found out. And so I think not everybody has that exact belief, but the idea that maybe I'm not enough for this level that I'm going to or the level I want to go to in my life, whether it's, they might be great in business, but they're not doing great in the relationship, or they're great in a relationship, but they're not good with their kids. They're good with the kids, but their body's not where they want to be. They got all the money without the body, right? And so I think most people bump up against that fear that something in me is not enough. And the deeper fear is that I'm not enough. I won't be loved. And so it's an unconscious fear. So most people push it aside by focusing on what they're good at and not taking care of those other things till they bite them. The relationship, the body, whatever it is, the Kids, or they come up with a story about, well, I don't need to be good at that, or that's just not my nature. And so I'm often called in to help somebody, you know, sharpen their skills. But you're right, usually there is a limiting belief of some sort. So I couldn't say there's one, but if I was saying the most dominant one, it's like, I've never done this before, so how the hell am I going to do it, right? There's uncertainty. If you look at a great athlete, what makes a great athlete, there's that sense of not only you practice, and you got it in your nervous system, you're incredible in your strategy in the sport, but there's the state you bring to the table. So I'm sure you've seen an athlete, basketball player in the NBA, about to shoot a free throw, a kicker in the NFL, and they go jogging out there. And you look at them, you go, they're going to miss it. And sure enough, they do. Everyone's had that experience. How did they know? They saw the lack of certainty in their body. And so when you try to get yourself to do something you've never done before, it produces that kind of uncertainty. So I always tell people, if you want a breakthrough, I think of it as three things at the most simple level to create a breakthrough. A breakthrough being maybe there's an area that you've noticed, gotten to where you want to be, and you've promised yourself you're going to do it, and then you don't follow through, or you fall back and you're frustrated with yourself. Most people have had something like that, but one day they did breakthrough. They did finally say, enough of this. And that day, that moment, they changed their relationship. They quit what they're doing. They started something new. And what I found is there's three parts to that breakthrough. And if you want to break through in any area, these are the things you got to do. But I want to give you in reverse order real fast. Okay? So reverse order is Most people, they want to make something happen. They focus on the strategy. Now, I'm a strategist. I get paid to be able to show someone how to save a decade. Because the right strategy in business can save you 10 years, right? Can accelerate your earnings, can decrease your cost. There's so many tools. The right strategy in relationship is priceless.

It'll turn around.

But as much as I love strategy, it's not what I start with, with people. The reason is because the natural question is, I want to achieve this, but how do I do it? There's nothing wrong with answering the question how. It's just the sequence of these that are critical. It's like if I told you this is someone's phone number and you have the right numbers and you dial the wrong order, you're not gonna reach them. If you knew the vault numbers, but you put in the wrong order, the vault doesn't open. When it comes to a breakthrough, most people are focused on the strategy, the how to. And the problem is, when you go to how to do something you've never done before, it brings uncertainty.

Yes.

And uncertainty creates hesitancy, and hesitancy kills momentum. Hesitancy kills performance. Hesitancy kills, you know, most things that really matter in your life. So what I tell people is, if you took it something like losing weight, and you said, you know, most of America is overweight. Why is that? Is it because the strategy for being fit and strong is so complex? No. Is it only for the 1%? No. Is it super expensive? No. You have to basically ignore everything that's around you. Right. So it's not a strategy problem. People think it's a strategy problem. It's not. The real problem is they have a story. So think of these three S's. The story is locking them in place. The story is, you said a belief, but when you stack a set of beliefs together, you build a story and you tell it to yourself over and over again until you believe it. So the story is, I've tried everything. Yes. And I'll say to them, really, Everything? How many things you've tried? I've tried thousands of things. And then I go, okay, name them. And they'll go, I've tried two things. These two things that don't work, I did over and over again. Right. You know, but as long as you believe that a belief is the feeling of certainty about what can be done or can't be done. Right. Who you are, who you're not. So when you go first for how you have uncertainty, I call it the tyranny of how you don't want to get to the how first. You got to deal with the story before that. Right? So the story might be all the good ones are gone. Right. Or they're all gay and I'm not. Or I'm gay and they're not, you know, some story that makes it impossible to succeed. If you change the story, you can get a strategy that works. But the order people work on is strategy. Rarely pay attention to story. But the one before that is where we need to start. It's your state, it's your mental emotional state as an athlete. You know this, right? So that state of certainty, that state of passion, that state of conviction, that stage of absolute determination, right? That state that every great athlete has, that state any great leader has, any great business person has, if you have that state, it will change your story and it'll change what you're able to do strategy wise. So like for example, have you ever gotten pissed off at somebody and then realized remembered everything you've ever been pissed at them about? You know, it's like you get in that mode, you remember everything, right? Or when somebody's in love. What's wrong with life when they're in love?

Nothing. Nothing. It's amazing.

So your story changes with your state, right? Your story about your life. It's could be one day it's horrible, the next day life's a gift. So the most important thing to do is change your state first. That's why most people fail to achieve what they want. They have not become masters in their own mental emotional state. And you know, in our events, that's my number one piece. Because without that, you won't get lasting change, you'll get temporary change. Once I get enough state, I can change the story. That's easy. Once I change the story, if I don't give you the strategy, you'll find a strategy. You'll make it happen. You'll find the way, you'll make the way. You've lived this as an athlete and as a businessman. So I look at this and say, the problem is most people do it in reverse order. When they go in reverse order, they stop the process. They don't know how. They freak out about the uncertainty, their story doesn't support them and now they're in a lousy state. And so they try something. Try something for a little while and never follow through. So that's the breakthrough. I do it. So it is a belief system, but I want you to see it's a little more complex than that. It's the state because in you were you taught, look before you leap?

Yes.

Were you taught, he who hesitates is lost?

Yes.

So which one do you pick?

Yeah, right, exactly.

The answer is what am I supposed to do? Your state will determine it. So if you're fearful, he states his loss, you're going to justify. If you're more aggressive and there's something you really want, you're going to, you know, it's like I got to make this thing happen. Right. It's a different piece. So you pick your beliefs based on your state. Unconsciously. So state is the controlling factor in everything in a relationship. Congratulations. You've got your two daughters and your wife. We talked for many years about relationships together.

I struggled for many years.

No, but you did it right.

I needed to learn a new story. I needed to learn a new story, and I needed to kind of heal that story.

That's right.

And create a different one for myself so I could attract the wife that I have.

That's right.

I have an amazing relationship.

But even putting up the story, you had to get the state. Yes. When the state was there, it became easier to get the state.

I was living in fear a lot. In intimacy.

I know.

You know, I was even living in the thrill of excitement.

Yes.

Without really going deeper and making sure the values align.

That's right.

And then later, you learn about the values, and you're like, oh, but now I'm. I'm stuck in this, and I can't get out. I'm afraid to be alone now. So I was living in fear or excitement, but it wasn't, like, grounded certainty. And I think when you get into relationships, when you get. When you start dating someone, you're never certain it's going to work out. But it was more of like, I would finally was like, I'm certain I'm gonna be okay no matter what happens. You know what I mean? It was like, I'm certain.

Yes.

If we don't align, then I want the best for her, and I want the best for me. And I was certain that I was okay no matter what.

Yes.

And before, I never had that certainty or because the story didn't match that.

And think about it. Fear almost always makes you make the wrong choice.

Every time. Every time. Every time.

And so there's so much fear and uncertainty in that. And so, by the way, your next one is gonna probably be about your two daughters.

Yeah.

Yeah. Well, it's like this parent, right? Oh, man.

Yeah.

And you got two of them simultaneously, so that'll bring up those pieces. And those pieces, by the way, can filter into the rest of your other areas of life without you noticing it. Being aware of it when I say noticing it. So you got to be cautious about that. Meaning not cautious. Just do the same thing you do with anything else. You want to jump into parenting and learn everything you can about it. So when things happen, you know the pattern in advance.

Yeah.

You. You have a great state. You have a great Story. And you have great strategy, but you've done some study. Go like, you know, certain things, they're predictable. Right. When you have your first child, for example, most people, the first child, the child gets really sick and they freak out, they run to the doctor. If they have four kids, by the time they get the fourth kid, I.

Don'T care about the last one.

You get an earache, you care just as much. But you go, it's part of this stage. It's a problem, but you don't freak out about the problem. Same thing in a business. In a business, when you understand the patterns in the beginning of a business, it's going to be a cash flow challenge. Right. They're going to cash flow challenge when it's mature. That's a, that's a real problem.

Yeah.

But each stage has predictable challenges and opportunities. And the more you can know the pattern in advance, the more you can anticipate. Anticipation is power. Reaction puts you in fear. And so you found the right state, the right story, and then you found the right lady, Right?

Exactly. And I feel like we, we did the work together while we started dating. We went to the kind of couples therapy in the beginning to make sure we were in alignment and kind of communicating, hey, when something happens in the future, how do we want to handle it?

Exactly.

It doesn't mean it's going to be perfect.

That's the anticipation part. Right. Instead of waiting till it happens, then you're in it.

Exactly. And my twin girls were born two and a half months ago. And I felt like I was so prepared. I didn't know what was going to happen because I never experienced it, but I felt emotionally ready.

That's great.

And my wife, you know, she did an amazing job, but she had to go to the ER twice after we got home from preeclampsia and had complications. And the twins and all these different things were happening. Family was around. It was just a lot of chaos for about six weeks. But I felt more calm because I felt like I'd been preparing for years. That's great for the uncertainty. I was like, I was certain it was going to be uncertain.

Yes.

And I would be okay.

And that extrapolate that to life and it changes anybody's life.

Yes.

Like, you know, I train people how to build certain your body. Because people say now to me, they'll say things like, well, with AI coming and all these changes occurring, like when there's no certain, when people lose their jobs, when there's no certainty outside world, how are people Gonna have certainty. And I go, let me give you a clue. There was never any external certainty. You've had rented certainty. You've convinced yourself hypnotically that you're certain. Cause you had a job and you had this. None of this. You walk across the street and get hit by a bus, Right? There's so much that can happen. So we hate uncertainty so much and we want it so strongly. But if we link it to our job or to an income or to a person responding the way we want to, then you're going to live a very fearful life. If you train yourself to feel that internal certainty, which is what you did, and anticipate as much as possible, and, you know, no matter what, I'll find the way, that is a different identity.

Yes.

You've gone to a level of not just how to deal with things, but the identity is, I'm the guy that will find the way for my kids and for my family.

Right.

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You said something to me seven, maybe seven or eight years ago. It was in Fiji. We were at a mastermind with you and Dean graziosi. There's about 20 of us there. You said many things to me over the years, but this. I remember the line you said. You said, winter is coming. You said it while you were barefoot on the beach in Fiji with the sun on our faces and the ocean breeze and this beautiful resort that you have. And you said, winter is coming. And it was maybe a year before COVID right? Or a year or two before COVID Year and a half, something like that. And you said, winter's coming. It may be a year, maybe eight years, but it's coming. And I remember taking that very seriously, you know, as serious as you can take your time on the beach with Tony Robbins hanging out in the sun. But I remember saying, I need to continue to prepare.

That's right.

For winter.

That's why I was telling everybody that.

Yes. And I felt ready when Covid came.

That's awesome.

I felt ready because for years before that, I'd also been doing the work. And I was like, let's go. I was telling my team this earlier this week. I was like, when you stay ready, you don't have to get ready.

That's right.

And this is a lot of Athletes say this as well. And I think it's being ready for the uncertainty or the winter. Whatever is coming.

It's coming and it happens for everybody. Listen, call it extreme stress for a moment. You just call it that. Extreme stress?

Yes.

Who's going to experience in their lifetime?

All of us.

Everyone.

All of us.

I don't care if you're the most God fearing, loving human being. I don't care if you're religious. I don't care if you're smart as a whip. I don't care if you're the richest person. No one escapes. Massive, massive stress. And what does that look like? It looks like your house burns down. Like here in la. Right here.

I lost my friend's houses, burned down.

I know. I was here when it happened as well. So I actually helped. I put in $6 million. So I'm not patting myself on the back, but I just couldn't see. People just not have a home. They had a 14 day pass. So I worked a bunch of organizations, but I. My home had burned down 20 years before in California, here, really. And it was when there was no, you know, AI, no place to put all your stuff. Pictures in the cloud. I lost everything but my family, which is the most important thing. Right. But there's a journey that it takes you on if you deal with extreme stress. Like what else? Your house could burn down. You get robbed, somebody steals from you and your business Covid happens and the government shuts down your business against your own will. You're in a place where you lose your job. I mean, somebody dies in your family, someone tells you you have a tumor, all of us are gonna experience something like that or for someone in our family. So when that happens, what do you do? You either use stress or stress uses you.

Yes.

And the way to use stress is, you know the whole phrase. They say, you know, when you're going through hell, keep going. If you keep going, three things happen. Number one, you discover how strong you really are. It's the only way you're gonna find it is to push through it. And then each time you do it, by the way, you get stronger and stronger. Second, you figure out who your real friends are, not your Facebook friends. Because when all hell's breaking loose, no one sticks around except real friends. And then the third thing, most important thing is it gives you like almost a little immunity to future stress because it's like a vaccination of it. Almost. I remember I dealt with this friend of mine, Captain Coffee was his name, and he was a Pilot and, you know, young and, you know, you know, looks like, you know, top gun kind of guy. And in Vietnam, he got shot down and he got locked up for seven years in a Vietnamese prison, literally in isolation on a floor, cuffed to the ground and upside down so that when he peed, the acid would run down his back. They beat him, they interrogate him and everything to do. And I remember this is decades later, I said to him, he was dealing with the irs, and they were. It took him three years to get his money back. Some guy was. When the IRS was just got some problem about him. But it was brutal what he went through. And I was like, how do you deal with this? He goes, tony, after you've been with the North Vietnamese in prison, do you think the IRS can get to me? So there's great value in that process now, if you make it through those steps now, that internal certainty inside you just builds and builds and builds. And then what happens is life has got a different experience because it's some part of you goes, God's guiding me, or, I've always found a way in the past. I'm going to find a way again. And so you don't go through all those fear stages that make you make the wrong choices in relationships, in business or anything else. And that's part of the value of decades.

Yeah.

You know, it's like you're how old now are you now?

42.

42. You're not the same man as you were at 32. No. We all think we're men when we're 20. Right. But you become a man basically in your 40s and 50s, in my experience, most people, because you've lived enough life and you find if you're growing, you see the patterns you've not seen before, and it frees you.

Speaking of life, we're here in this amazing home again. A friend of yours who's built one of the biggest builders in the world. We're here in Bel Air. But you grew up a few miles from here and in North Hollywood, or at least I think you were born there, in North Hollywood area or the.

San Gabriel Valley, Dora Zeus, out where.

The small is but a few miles from here. You were raised or you were close by in California. And a lot of people have heard your story. You said it many times that your mom was abusive in certain ways. Although she loved you a lot, but she was abusive and she used alcohol and prescription drugs.

When that happened, she was a different human being.

Exactly.

Unfortunately. But she made me a practical psychologist Exactly. I had to learn to manage her emotions. So I got a younger brother, five years younger, younger sister, seven years younger. So she was the most important influence in my life and loved me to death and had quirks, but we all have quirks, and it gave me a gift, 100%.

And you also had, you know, a father that. That left your mom and that left four fathers. Yeah, four different fathers left your mom. But you. You spoke about the word identity a moment ago, and when you had a father that adopted you, I think, at 12, is that correct? So you originally had a different last name. You essentially had a different identity until 12, when you took on a new identity with the last name. I don't think I've ever heard you talk about this moment.

Talk to me about it.

In terms of taking on the identity of a new person's name, how did that shape you from. For 12 years of your life, you're a different man's name. Then you take on Robbins. What did that identity shift do internally for you? Did it give you a different certainty or confidence in life because this father figure was more empowering for you than the previous ones? Did something shift and say, I'm going to go create something of myself now that I take on this name? I've never heard you talk about this. I'm curious about it.

Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah, you're right. It was 12. I was in the seventh grade. It was my fourth father, Jim Robbins, whose name I carry. He adopted me. Tough to me. I loved him to death because he was an athlete, you know, semi pro baseball player and done that. And so, you know, when I was a kid, I really wanted to play sports, but we had no money, so I, you know, couldn't go play Little League or Warner Football and things of that nature. He just couldn't afford it. And so he convinced my mom that. And my mom didn't want me to get hurt. I was always the smallest guy, believe it or not. But, you know, I was 5:1 in high school. You know, it's like my sophomore year and then, boom, six, seven. But the process he brought was, I think, more I connected him through moxie, like I think I always had.

He had the moxie.

He had moxie and I had moxie. But, like, through sports is how our relationship created. I like, he started to play fast pitch softball, and I would get up there and pitch to him as hard as I could throw the ball for three hours till my arm was literally falling off me. And it was just like. Or he hit Me baseballs for two hours. And I was in the beginning and I hadn't played right. So smack me in the face. And I'd be bleeding and go, keep on going telling. And I keep on going, right. And I was like. So part of it was my nature, but my nature got nurtured.

Yes.

Right. I got rewarded. And it rewarded was the form of love I had from him. So I think it was. It wasn't the name as much as the relationship, but the name was Mohorovic.

Your last name was Mahorva?

Yeah. M A H A R A O V. I used to hate when I go into school because they'd say no one could pronounce my name. So now I'm Robin. So it was easier. There's some value in that. But I think the bigger piece was. It was more than that. It was more like, okay, this is my father. My natural father is a really good man. Looking at my life Now, 66, looking back, I can see what a good man he was. But he worked underground parking lots here before we had automatic Parkinson's. That's all he did all day long for 40 years. And he was an alcoholic, but not a mean one. Is nice one. But my mom trained me on who he was. Yes. She told a story and I believe the story.

And so that's. Yeah, interesting.

And the story is he's weak, he's worthless, he's all these things. I don't want to be those things.

Right.

And then the second husband she had, she left him for the same reason. And then the third, and somehow we're at the fourth and he's not weak. So they fought like you can't even imagine. But. So the answer to your question, I think is I developed this identity that was based on, I'm going to be an athlete. And I developed a plan. I'm a plan guy. Right.

Strategy.

You got a strategy. That's right. I mean, I remember we had no money. I'd like save up all my money, work as a janitor so I could go to Dodger Stadium and bleed Dodger blue in the right field bleachers, way at the top. You know, twice in a year would be a big deal. Now I own them.

That's a dream come true. That's amazing.

Pretty cool. Small amount. I own them, but I still own it. And so anyway, just at the World Sees with Peter Guber as the primary owner. My dear friend. And we were there for the seventh game, witnessed that. It was just such a. Such a journey. But my plan was Simple. It's like, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to shortstop in a pitcher. I'm going to crush it in junior high school here. I'm going to go to my high school. I'm going to crush it there. I'm going to get a scholarship to usc, Then we'll play in the minor leagues, and then eventually, I'm going to the Dodger organization. I'm going to bleed Dodger blue, and I want to be a Dodger baseball player. Right? That was my whole plan. So here's what really changed my identity. Yeah, I'm Robbins. That didn't help. But I've got a good mind. So I was, like, the best science student. So the science teacher was the coach of the baseball team, and I was a little bit of his favorite student because I could absorb it. I always wanted to make things work and figure it out. And so he loved about me. So I make the first cut, I make the second cut. And then I know at that time, I had hair down. Well, my style.

California guy, you know.

California guy, your hair was down here. And he was a straight lace guy. And you didn't have it. So my mom cut all my hair off. Oh, man. And I show up, and I got cut from the junior high school team on the last day, and I'm like. My brain was like, what if I don't make a junior high school team? How the hell am I gonna make a high school team? How am I gonna do a usc? The whole thing just exploded in front of me. So something inside of me has always been, there's a way, right? And so I was like, what do I want? What am I going to do with my life? Because there was no safety net in my family. There was no economic safety net. No one's going to send me to school. And I was like, okay, what do I want? What do I love about baseball? What do I love? Sports? I love the energy. I love the passion. Same thing as making you want to go to the Olympics, right? I want to go in there and be in the game, but I want the energy that we generate, how it lifts people, how the crowd becomes one. So, okay, well, how can I do that? Well, I'm smart. You'll become a sportscaster. I'll be a sports writer. So I took in the seventh grade, I took up typing, and I was the only kid, only boy in a shorthand class. So I could take notes really rapidly. And then I was in a program. It was called Mentally Gifted Minders they tested. My IQ was pretty high. So they gave you a free hour in the day that you could do whatever you want, you could design whatever it was, and then they'd score you based on what they thought you did with your time. And so I started reading every book about every different athlete and I'm learning to type one. So I thought, I'm going to interview, I'm going to interview the Dodgers. So in those days we had mimeograph. I don't know if you know what that is, but I typed this stuff on mimeograph and I had these questions and I sent them to Dodgers and they didn't respond. I sent them again and I called in and they just kept pushing. And one day I got this envelope with answers from Ron say, who was third baseman, Right. And then Steve Garvey is still around and some other players. And then the next thing I know, I decided I've got to get live interviews and I want to work for a newspaper. I'm 14. Wow. So one day I'm in my little open class and I'm reading the newspaper at Sports park to see what's going on, and I see an ad that says Howard Cosell, who was the biggest sportscaster in the world at that time. Like he was the guy who did the Super Bowl. He and Muhammad Ali had this taunting relationship. He was a huge of personality. He'd written a book and it was by Simon and Schuster, who later published my books. And he was going to be over here in West Hollow, or excuse me, on the west side here of LA at Robinsons. And he's going to sign books for people that bought them. So I called my mom, who never left the house, was always there. And I said, mom, I never asked you for anything, but I've got a private interview with Howard Cosell.

Wow.

And I did not have a private interview. Right, right.

But you told her you did.

Yeah, yeah. I said, I need you to come get me out of school. Drive down there and get me down there. And I was so. I don't know what it was. Somehow I got through to her and she did it. They had tape recorders, then they were cassette players, but they were this size with a separate microphone. And I printed out these business cards that said, Tony Robbins, future sportscaster, currently limited brief taped interviews sponsored by the MGM program. So I had a little business card.

That's cool.

14. Yeah, 14.

Wow.

And so she drives me down. It's about a two hour drive to get here. And she's like this interview Better go well. I said, it'll go well, Mom. And I go up and I'm watching. He's on this little dais, and these people are standing in line and, you know, getting a book signed. And this older woman walks up to him and had not bought a book with a napkin and said, would you please sign? He goes, I only sign books, ma'. Am. And then I'm like, oh, my God, how am I going to interview this guy? And then all of a sudden, he's starting to finish up, and the guy, his publicists are ushering him out of the room and starting. All of a sudden, he's getting surrounded by. There were, like, cameras everywhere and all these, you know, these sports people and sports writers, and they're like, tell me about this, and what about the World Series? And I'm like, what about this? And I'm on the Lee and the Super Bowl. He's answering. And so I finally push through the crowd. I'm this little guy. I got this little green Levi jacket on and jeans, and I got my microphone, and I handle my card, and I say, sir, sir, I'd like to interview you. I'm interested in becoming a sportscaster. I want to know what makes the difference there and everything else. He said, you wonder what, son? He looks at my car and he looks around the audience, and he saw the moment and he used it. And he said, young man, I'll give you an interview. He goes, you people wait. So we're standing here by the towels and like that, and he puts his leg up and he goes, tell me your questions. So I take it, my hands shake him like this, right face. And I'm going. And my mom, I'm thinking, thank God I got this interview. And so I asked him, what does it take to be a sportscaster? And he says, well, I'll tell you, Tony. He goes, it's not being an athlete. They know nothing about the English language. And he went through this tirade about athletes become sportswears, but people like you, who are educated, going for it. So he does this whole thing. So I get about five questions in, and the time is just a guy. He's, like, trying to get him out of the room, and everybody's taking pictures. The LA Times is there, everything else. And he says. He goes, I think I gotta go, Tony. And I said, well, could I ask you one final question? He said, sure. At that time, there was a radio guy here in LA who used to, the day after Monday Night Football, he would take all the flubs of Cosell and play them. And he was super popular. His name was Jim Healy, most popular radio guy at the time. Sports guy. I said, you ever wish the morning after Monday Night Football that Jim Healy would wake up with laryngitis? And the crowd goes, ooh. And the whole time he's been calling me Tony, right? He goes, I'm sorry, son, but I've never heard of Jim Healy. And he walked off and everybody clapped and cheered. So the next day, the LA Times wrote an article about this kid. Talked about how the woman couldn't get an autograph. But this kid got this interview, right? Well, my local newspaper, my local town saw this and said, would you write an article? So I wrote a 20 page single spaced sports article, which they trimmed down. And then I started getting interviews with Woody Hayes and Joe Namath and all these people at 14 years old. And so that was going to be my target. And then what changed it all was my mom felt like I got KGTV, channel 11 here at the Fox station. Wasn't that they had tried everything to get ratings. They tried Fanny Fox, the stripper, to be the sportscaster. They tried all these things. And then they saw me do these interviews and get interviews with people no one else did. Like right before the Rose Bowl, I get Woody Hayes and Iowa State.

I'm from Ohio. That's my guy.

Yeah. In a room full of reporters. And I pulled it off. I got it right.

Really? You interviewed Woody Hayes?

Yes. Yeah. And I wrote this article about the real Woody Hayes because, you know, he was. He smacked a player. He had all this controversy around him. Anyway, wrote these articles and they turned around and they said he should be our sportscaster. So at almost 16, 15 and a half, I got offered the job to be the sportscaster at ktv. And my mom said, your ego's too big and all this stops now. And she took away it all. I started working for a daily newspaper. She took it away. She said, you're going to come home every day and you're just going to work. You're going to clean the house, you're going to do the things. Really, it was brutal.

What did that do to you, psychologically or mentally?

At the time, I hated her. I thought it was the worst thing on earth. The gift, it is, is like every day of my life, I have people tell me, you know, you're the greatest that ever exists. I love you. You changed my life. But I never lost perspective. That's all that I'm just a guy, really. It was probably God's way of making sure that I'd be prepared for the future or the universe's way, whatever you want to call it. My mom was a great vehicle for it. But what changed my life and why I'm here today is because. So now I'm in class and I have take up a speech class. I'm a sophomore in high school. I'm just turning 16. And I'm mouthy, like, I didn't care about. I never. I never used drugs and alcohol because it was abused in my family, right? So the cool kids, I told them, you know, read between the lines. Yeah. And so I don't give a damn. I don't know who you are, who you think you are, but I'm little. It's like. And I'm attracted to beautiful women. So I'm in my speech class and my journalism class, and I'm already writing for daily newspaper. So they bring me in even though I'm a sophomore. And the head nose guard is this girl named Nancy Coleman. She's the head song leader. And I can make her laugh and I'm getting her attention. And he gets mad. And so he comes up to me and says, you know, I'm going to destroy you. And so he pours chocolate milk all down my head. And then he and five of the guys chase me. And I was not very fast. I get the beat out of me, but I get back up and go, screw you. You know, I was just willful. So one day after a speech class, Mr. Cobb, this straight laced, right wing kind of teacher, says, robbins, I'll see you after class. I'm like, oh, you know, because I was always. I was making fun and teasing things and stirring the class up. So I see him after class and he said, you know why I'm here to talk to you. And I said, yeah, I think I understand why. I'm sorry. And he goes, what are you sorry about? I said, well, I know. He goes, no, I want to talk to you because I've never seen a student in my 30 years who can stand in front of all these other kids and mesmerize and hold their attention for 30 or 45 minutes and influence them. He said, you have a gift. And I'm looking at him like he's crazy. He goes, you don't understand. You have a gift. He says, there's something about how much you care and something about your intensity, something about your style. And he goes, Mr. Robbins, I've done some homework on you because I'm fascinated by you. And I know More about your home life than you think I do because I was in really bad shape. My fourth father had left. My mom kicked him out. You know, I'm going through a rough time. And he said, I have a speech here that I'd like you to read, and if it appeals to you, he said, I think this is your life. And he said, I want you to memorize it, and I want you to compete in persuasive oratory. You're supposed to be a junior to do that. And I'm like, well, I'm not a junior. He goes, I don't care. I'll get you in.

How long was this?

20 minutes. 20 minutes. Oh, wow, man. I read this story. The title was the Will to Win, and it was my life. It was like I could cry just thinking about it. It was so intense. I mean, reading it and crying, just going, I'm only here still. All that I've been through because of my pure will that I will not give up. And I took that speech and I read it and owned it. And I got up and I won first place. First place. First place, four in a row. And then I've gotten debate. And then that led me in a different direction. And then I ran for student body president. I wasn't the most popular kid, but I went around and did actual speeches about what I do, and I go find out if it could really be done. And I shot people straight, and I beat the most popular girl in school and became the president. And that made me believe this is the identity long answer. That if you really are sincere and you're really real and you really give and you tell the truth, then that it doesn't matter whether you're popular or not, you can write your own ticket. You can make this world the way you want it to be. That influenced me more than the name Robbins. By far.

Interesting.

Quite a journey, though. It's having all your plans be messed up. You know, it's like, say, if you want to make God laugh, call them your plans. Right? You know, so. Wow. It was a larger plan. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. Try our all new caramel protein lattes with up to 31 grammar, grams of protein and options with no added sugar. Level up your drink at Starbucks. Did you know Tide has been upgraded to provide an even better clean in cold water? Tide is specifically designed to fight any stain you throw at it, even in cold butter. Yep. Chocolate ice cream. Sure thing. Barbecue sauce. Tide's got you covered. You don't need to use warm water. Additionally, TIDE pods let you confidently fight tough stains with new coldzyme technology. Just remember, if it's gotta be clean, it's gotta be tide.

Two things that were interesting to me is you had your natural father.

Yes.

And then you had your adopted father.

Yes.

And you had these different influences, teachers that saw something in you throughout the journey.

Yes.

I guess. What was the story? If you could look back now, since you have a different interpretation of the story now, what is the story of the lesson your natural father taught you versus your adopted father who you took on the robin's name taught you?

I think what I've learned today is I judged my natural father and didn't want to be him. I wanted to be anything but him because I wanted my mother's love. I was closer to my mother because my father was. My mom was alcoholic too, but she was more there. He was more of a quiet, by himself kind of guy. And I realized that as much as I love my mom, her interpretations I allowed to become mine. And I won't let that ever happen again in my life.

Interesting.

Because it affected it. And I've actually, you know, it sounds corny, but I've actually had prayers and so forth to my natural father saying, you know, I'm sorry, I love you. Please forgive me for the judgment I had. At the same time, I'm proud that Jim Robbins, I think he and I, our natures were more aligned.

Yes.

And so he fanned the flames of my true nature and. And my grit and my capacity to push to anything, which has been a part of my entire life, was. Was expanded by that. And then it got tested because he got kicked out by my mom. My mom chased me out with a knife. I knew she wasn't going to kill me, but I wasn't going back in that house. And I was working as a janitor in San Marino, California, where some of the fires were Pasadena area. And I realized if I could be paid not by the hour, but by the result, if I cleaned two banks, I could do it in the same amount of time in the middle of the night going to high school. So I had to take buses there because my mom kept my 1960 Volkswagen. I'd wear it, 40 bucks a week. So I would take all the buses all the way there. It take me about 90 minutes because you had to switch buses and all that. And then I'd finish about two in the morning, clean two banks thoroughly. But I was the guy that left notes for people and left candy canes at Christmas. Janitor. I was just still people person. And I came out one day, it was 2 o' clock in the morning. And that's the other day that changed my life. I'll never forget. I'm standing by the thing, and I'm standing, waiting for the bus, waiting for us. I mean, I got to get home and get some sleep. Two or three hours, I can get up and go to school. And finally, no bus. Like, after 20 minutes, and I'm like, that's really late. And I'm standing by the bus stop, and this car comes cruising up because the middle of the night, the guy rolls his window and goes, hey, buddy, didn't you see there's a bus strike?

So you're gonna be sitting there all night.

I'm 16, 17 miles from home. I have no one I can call. I have no net, no money of that nature. There's no Ubers, right? The money for an Uber anyway, in those days, like, what the hell am I going to do? And there was such anger in me about my mom kicking out everything else. I started with anger, and I'm like, f this, I'm going to run the whole way now. I'd never even run three miles in my life. And it was 16 miles. I actually drove it one day. I think it was almost 17 miles. But the last mile I walked because I got shin splints, it was so bad. But so from 2 in the morning till like 4, whatever it was, I ran. But the Walley ran. I did incantations, not affirmations. Because I remember when I first got kicked out, I realized I needed to feed my mind. And so I took a little bit of my money I had. I got on the bus and I went up to this spiritual bookstore. It was like 20 minutes from my home by bus. And I was up. A book's gonna guide me. There's a book that's gonna be here. And I got Magic of Believing by Claude M. Bristol. And in the book, he talked about your beliefs control everything, and. And the way to condition them is through not just affirmations, but what I became called incantations. He still called them affirmations, but he thought the difference was saying, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy, I'm happy. And your brain goes, I'm not happy, versus I am ripping this open where your body, your voice, your mind all engage with enough repetition, and whatever you attach the words I am to with enough consistency, enough emotion, you become. It's literally hypnotized you into it. So I start out with, every day, in every way, I'm getting stronger and stronger. And then I go every day and every. I'm stronger every day and every. I'm stronger, stronger. And then I got burned out of that one. So then it's like healthy and healthier and more and more happy. I did that the whole way to this day. That energy lives in me. It's like. It's an energy of like, pure effing will that you tell me can't be, and I'll run to the effing building. You will not stop me if what I'm doing is for a greater good. Right. But I left from the anger part in the middle of it. The anger disappeared. And I didn't need that because anger fuel will run out. And I got into the excitement of becoming more.

Let's go.

Right. And it's like, this is my juice.

Yes, Right.

It's always. I tell people there's like two types of motivation. There's willpower. There's what I call push. And I got a lot of that. I know you do too, my friend.

That drive.

Yeah, drive that push. That push is invaluable. But there's a limit to willpower, no matter how much you and I both have burnout.

Yeah, yeah.

But pull motivation is very different. Pull is. There's something so magnificent you want to serve more than yourself. You want to create, you want to make it happen. Then it pulls you through those times. And pull is way more powerful than push. And pull does not wear out. And so I discovered pull on that trip. And I also discovered this part of me. So I always tell people it's like this Tony Robbins guy. I created him. He's always me. But I shaped and created this mfo, right? I decided who I'm here to be now. And I created it through incantations. Again, not affirmations, but saying it, feeling it, envisioning it with such intensity for hours and hours. And I didn't stop after that. I go on runs. And I do this over and over again. I did it with abundance because I grew up with no money, no opportunity. There's nobody in my family, no money for food. That's why I fed a billion people. Now it's 62 billion. I don't know if, you know, I'm a billion meal thing. I've done 62 billion meals. So it's insane that I've been able to do. But it started with me being able to get inside that head of mind and just Create absolute certainty and train it into myself until I built an identity. This is who I am. And your identity is the strongest force you have. The strongest force in any personality is to stay consistent with your identity. If you think you're a loser, you find a way to lose. If you're Lance Armstrong and you say your core belief, your identity, not just your belief, is, I am a guy that finds the way to victory. When he was told he had cancer in his brain, his lungs, and his testicles, which is inconvenient when you ride a bike, right? Instead of saying, it's over, he said, I will find the way, and created Livestrong. And he survived. Unfortunately, it also was why he used drugs to win.

He used every way. Yeah, every illegal way.

It's the same way. I will do whatever it takes.

Whatever it takes.

So identity is the force that controls you. And when you enhance your identity, you enhance your whole life. Otherwise, it's like a thermostat. You set it at 68 degrees. If the temperature drops to 65, you're okay. But there's a place maybe 60 degrees, where all of a sudden the brain goes that, hey, you're supposed to be at 68 degrees. And the heaters kick on and you got to make it better. You've been there. It's not good enough. But what people don't realize is if you think you're at 68 degrees, that's your comfort zone. That's what you've. It's not your goal, but it's what you're used to. And you get to 70, 78, 80, 88, 90 degrees. All of a sudden, in the middle of the night, your brain goes, what the hell are you doing up here? You're not a 60. You're not a 90 degree or a 68 degree. And you lose your drive, right? The heaters stop, and if that's enough, the air conditioners come down and bring you back to where you are. So all of my work has changed. Identity. If I came to you and said, you don't smoke cigarettes, great.

No, never been.

If I said to you, would you like a cigarette? No, you wouldn't say, what brand is it? Because you go, I'm not one of those. I'm not a smoker. That different. That's an identity belief. Identity beliefs are the controlling force of your life.

Yes, but if you've never tasted abundance again, you didn't taste abundance. You were living in scarcity. Emotionally, you know, probably, maybe spiritually, financially. All these different things. You didn't have the resources. If you don't have a taste of abundance, you weren't living in this $165 million home. You weren't even coming here and visiting it. But if you can't taste it, how do you make your identity shift to become that abundance?

Proximity is power.

Yes, it is.

You have to get yourself in the environment. When I was in the banks, I would. One of the things I would do every night is I go to the CEO's office, which I had to clean up and everything else. But I read all his documents, which totally inappropriate, but I want to know how he thought what he was doing was going on. And when I was there, he had pictures on the wall and, you know, he had this boat, and he had different things there. It's like, wow, that's. That's an interesting life. That's an interesting way of being. And then gradually, I got the chance to be around people where I got to coach some people that were just unbelievably successful in terms of movies, business, life. And they were much older than me, 25, 30 years older than me. And they're like, man, you helped me with this thing. I don't know how you do it. You're just a kid. But I wasn't stupid enough to thought my ego. I'm helping him was like, let me suck out of their brain everything I can. But I got in proximity. That's the first piece and I saw. But that's not enough. You can get in proximity and go, I'll never have this. Yes, right.

And be defeated.

The thing that saved me was when I worked for Jim Rohn, and I'm just 17, 18 years old, and I'm learning basic philosophy. For things to change, you got to change. Things get better. You got to get better. But it's all still foundational. I went to him one day because I got a chance. I'd done so well for him that I got a chance to have a lunch with him and some other people. So I had access to him. And I said, you know, Mr. Rohn, I said, I would love if you could help me with something. I said, I have had four fathers. They were all good men. And all of them, at times, we had no money. We had no money for food at times. And I said, I don't understand how that can be. When someone's a good person, they lost their jobs. And I don't understand how a school teacher back then was like $35,000 a year making 35 grand a year. And this Hedge fund guy over here is making a billion dollars in one year. I said, that is so unjust, and can you tell me why? And he was so awesome. And the advice he gave changed my whole life. He looked at me and he said, tony, you are right. We are all equal as souls on this planet, but we're not equal in the marketplace.

Interesting.

I said, what does that mean? He said, well, let me ask you a question. Is it possible for someone to make twice as much money in the same amount of time as someone else? Yeah, five times, 10 times, 100 times? Yeah. I said, how? He said, that person who goes to McDonald's and they make that minimum wage and they at it. He said, that is not supposed to be a career. It's an opening job. And the reason is you're not adding much value. Anyone can learn to do a job in an hour today. They use machines, right? There's more and more robots are coming for it now. He goes, that school teacher. He said, that school teacher was not willing to bet on themselves. They wanted security. And how many of them were great? I said, a lot of great teachers. He goes, name them. So I thought of Mr. Cobb. I thought of like three of my teachers. He goes, how many teachers have you had? And he goes, and how many people did they help? They worked with how many people? He said, so they had limited added value, and some of them didn't get better. Right. Some of them just went there for their pension at the minimum. They wanted security. He goes, that guy who made a billion dollars, he had a 38% return last year. The money he has comes from people's futures. It's for their retirements. It's retirement funds. It's funds for people's college educations. It's for the. He goes, he made $48 billion last year for his clients. He's worth a billion. Wow. He goes, so, Tony, here's what I want you to remember the rest of your life. You need to become more valuable. Not valuable, what you think is valuable, what serves those out there. And you got to give what people need. He says, you need to find a way to add more value to people than anybody else in the marketplace. If you become more valuable, you're going to add more value, not the value you want to give, the value they need. He said, you will never have to worry about money for the rest of your life. And I've never forgotten it. And I've got 121 companies now. We just got over $12 billion in business. And I've got in all these different industries, radically different industries. And what's the common denominator I have in them every single one. I get great leaders and I create a culture where everybody understands we're here to do more than the customer could possibly imagine. And that creates raving fans because satisfied customers go away, raving fans stay. And so people come to my seminar, they're raving fans. They're not. You don't come to seminar and go, that was good. Or, you know, I like that. People go, I changed my whole life. Right? That's. And I've been doing that for, for, you know, my 49th year.

Yeah. I think Stanford actually did a study about Date with Destiny. I believe a few years ago that they studied a lot of people that came in who had depressive thoughts and oppressive mood and depressive energy. And I think it was within 90 days or 60 or 90 days afterwards, they didn't have the depressive thinking anymore.

It was actually during the COVID situation, during the shutdowns. They came to me because two of their professors came to my date with Destiny at the six day seminar. And what's interesting is they both were clinically depressed and they came back and got rid of the medication and had no symptoms. And they said, this is impossible. They said, do you have data on this? I said, well, yeah, I got millions of graduates. I said, no, no, like scientific data. I said, no, it's not my focus.

Come do the data for me.

But that's what I said. I said, you want to do a study? They said, yeah. About what? They said, depression, because during that time, depression went through the roof and as a result, suicides went through the roof, overdoses went through the roof. And I said, well, okay, if we're going to do this study, help me understand what did a meta study say right now on various treatments? What's out there? And they said, and this blew my mind. 60% of the people that are depressed who seek improvement through psychiatric or psychological tools, drugs or therapy, or both, 60% make zero improvement, 40% improve, and the average improvement across all the meta studies is 50%. So it means they're half as depressed as they were. Some people got well, but very few, most of them stay on drugs forever. Right.

And it was probably because of lifestyle change or relationships or other things.

That's right. And so now they don't grow, they're just numb.

Right.

So I said, okay, that, I said, you should be able to get that result with a placebo. Right. And he kind of got nervous, gave Us a nervous laugh. He goes, yeah, maybe. I said, we will destroy that number. I said, but tell me another thing. I said, tell me, what is the best result you've ever seen? What's the best study? Single study? And it was done, I think almost now nine years ago at Johns Hopkins. And they gave people psilocybin, magic mushroom for 30 days and cognitive therapy. So I said, you did that much to their biochemistry. You had to make some major changes. And they did. It was the most successful study in history of psychiatry up until that point. At the end of six weeks after the treatment they had, 57% of people had no symptoms. Unheard of, right? Unheard of. So I said, will beat that. And I said, I know that sounds like ego or hyperbole or exaggeration, but I said, I'm telling you this not because I'm so smart, but because we're going to change. Your emotions come from the meaning. Is this the end of the beginning? Is this person, you know, disrespecting me? Is this person challenging me? Is this person loving me? Is this person coaching me? Whatever answer you give, it changes your emotion and emotion is where depression comes from. So I said, we're going to change the meaning maker. I don't tell them what to do. They rewire that. I said, you will see radical changes and I guarantee it'll beat this, but let's see what's right. So they set up the study exactly like the study done at Johns Hopkins with the comparison group. And then they put this group of people in date with destiny. And six weeks afterwards, 93% of the people who went to date with destiny had no symptoms whatsoever. 7% improved, but not to the point where there were no symptoms. They had some, but the best number was 17% came in with suicidal ideation. Constantly thinking about suicide. Someone attempted it, and when they left, not a single person. And the best statistic of all is one year later with no communication from me whatsoever. In the whole year, the average person reduced their negative emotions over 71% and increased their positive emotions 52%. And no one was still depressed. So now I just did one on engagement. Because in business, engagement equals ebitda. And since COVID engagement has dropped through the floor. You know, they measure engagement disengagement, which is like quiet quitting, where people try to do the minimum and then active disengagement leads. They're doing the least they can and they're trying to hurt the company too, right? The largest change in 50 years since COVID is huge. Drop in engagement, huge jump in active disengagement. Trying to hurt the company.

Right.

And so we just finished the study. 12 months, I believe 1500 people. Most studies are 35 people, right? Yeah. One year, not two, three months. And the numbers will be coming out in two months. So it'll be on medical journey and you'll see it blows. Your mind is we made up for all the disengagement in six days. We got them back to where they were before COVID But the best part is every month after that, it increased. And I never spoke to them again. Because their meaning maker change.

Yes.

Right.

Yes.

And then we did all this by changing their biochemistry. Not through drugs. You know, you've been to an event. What they found is when people like, they've done this test on Tom Brady, they've done it on the Tampa Bay Lightning, who've won multiple times the NHL hockey championships. And what they found is they put a monitor on me, 70,000, $65,000 device. And at every break, they came and took my saliva to find, because they can feel your tick your hormones out of that. And they took my blood and they're monitoring minute by minute, 12 hours a day on stage. They do this for three years. At the end of it, there was a pattern that's just so clear, and they call it championship biochemistry. You'd be interested in this, in what you're doing. What happens when Tom Brady is down in the fourth quarter by 10 points with four minutes, whatever, to play, if you remember that game and he comes back to win, how does he do it? Here's what he does. This happens in my body every time I get on stage. Testosterone surges. Now, testosterone produces focus, power, intensity, and it enhances your memory massively. If I said to you, were you on 9 11?

Yeah, I remember.

Most people know where they were sitting. If I say, were you on 8 11. Because information without emotion is barely retained, but when you have testosterone, it drives. That's why a year later, they still had it. But normally with testosterone, you get the stress hormone cortisol. In Tom's case, my case, the Tampa Bay guy's case, this championship biochemistry, the cortisol drops off the cliff. So all you have is power and focus. So you go, oh, Tony, aren't you lucky you have this. The best part is then they measured my audience. Then during COVID they measured people in different parts of the world who are in their homes experiencing it digitally. And it looks like, you know what mirror neurons are, right? You look at somebody, maybe they're paddling. And if you're really connected, you kind of feel that unconsciously in their body. Well, it looks like mirror neurons. We literally looks like music. They all surge with me and their cortisol drops off the cliff. Like when we go to the firewalk, they're in front of a fire at 2000 degrees and they might feel some feeling, but the testosterone is so strong, the cortisol is so slow, so low, they storm across it. But more importantly, they retain it. So it's the biochemical changes that make it last. It's not just the intellect. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good. Try our all new caramel protein lattes with up to 30 grams of protein and options with no added sugar. Level up your drink at Starbucks.

I have two minutes, two, three minutes left. So I want to get through the final two questions quickly, if that's cool. I could hear you tell stories for as long as it takes. But I want to be. I want to be respectful because I know you got another interview here afterwards before I get to the final two questions. You've got a summit coming up very soon. This is going to be coming out here in a couple of days, but you have time to rise. Summit.com January 29th through 31st. It's a free event, it's virtual. And you're gonna be giving them some incredible insights and strategies to help them rise in 20, 26 and beyond. Just what you're talking about with your six day in person events or your UPW walking on the fire. This is gonna be a taste of that virtually.

Well, you know what I created, I created during COVID because during COVID all the stadiums in the world, I was used to doing 15,000 people. And they go, you can put 100 people in there.

It's like, hey, 20ft away. Yeah.

Yeah. So then I tried to move to. They shut down Vegas, moved to Texas. I tried to do movie theaters because they let you have 10 people in movies, they shut down the movie theaters. So I built this studio. 50 foot high ceilings, 20 foot high LED screens, 0.67 highest resolution in the world, 50ft around me. And then I called the founder of Zoom, Eric Yon, who's a friend of mine, and I said, I can't just have 1,000 people. I need 25,000. Anyway, we did the first one with like 400,000 people. And now I've done it for five straight years. We've had, last year we had 1.3 million people from every country in the world. That attended. And I didn't just do two hours, I did, let's do three hours a day for three days in a row. And let's give them the best tools to figure out what they really want. Change their energy, find what's stopping them, give them the strategies, show them what to do in their relationships in a compressed period. Like imagine like going to a movie, but the movie's your life and you're actively creating instead of passively, but it's that enjoyable. And so we've done it every year and we're gonna do it again this year. So as you said, there's no charge for it whatsoever. It's not partially, it's totally free. If they go to timetorisesummit.com get yourself registered and you can do it from your home or you can do it in your office. Think about, there's some people you want to do it with because it's really fun. And by the end of those three days, instead of having a New Year's resolution, which people have already violated, by.

The time you're going to do this.

You'Ll actually have a plan and a strategy and have momentum and there's no charge for it.

That's powerful. And I've been to many of your events. I think this is the sixth time I've interviewed you in 13 years of this podcast. Six times in. It'll be a 13 year anniversary that week of time to riseummit.com of me starting the podcast.

Wow.

And so every. Thank you. Every time. It's Every week for 13 years, I haven't missed a week.

Wow, that's awesome.

Not the smartest, but I'm consistent, you know, it's like I got the will to win like you.

Repetition is the mother of skill, baby. It's it right as an athlete, you know that people think they do something once, that's enough. It's the repetition that gets you to be master skill.

Exactly. Exactly. So I have been around you. I've had you on the show six times now. I've been to many of your events. I've been in masterminds with you. I've been around you for over, you know, a decade of this work that I've been into. But I met you originally. You don't remember, but I met you when I was 16. And I've told you this many times, but I met you the first time I was 16 years old. I went to one of your big events that you used to do in an arena. Donald Trump was actually speaking there. Larry King Live, Pat Summit, all these like all stars were there and you came up out of these stands into the audience and stood right next to me. You don't remember this moment, but I remembered it as one of those memorable moments in my life where my state changed. Just like Mr. Cobb for you. You didn't look at me, but I saw you looking around me and looking at everyone. And the energy you brought in that moment is still with me 25 plus years later.

That's beautiful.

And if anyone watching or listening right now feels like they need a new step, change in their life, a new breakthrough, they're stuck, they're feeling anxious, they're feeling overwhelmed, whatever it might be, I'm.

Telling you, succeeding, you want to go to another level and you want to.

Go to another level, you have to go to this event. Timetoriseummit.com I'm telling you, it is a game changer. And I know we gotta thank you for those kind of course. And I tell you every time it was a massive moment for me as an inspiration and a mentor that I didn't even know you were mentoring me, but you were mentoring me back then. And I hope everyone gets that experience with you through this event or one of your events in the future in person. My final question, because they're telling me to wrap it up now. I asked you before your definition of greatness many times. I'm going to read one of them for you and I'm going to have you adjust it. You said this the first time I had you on 12 years ago, 2014. This many times you said back then, you said, greatness is somebody who just will not settle and finds a way to do, be, share and create in life what they want as opposed to fitting in. I'm curious if your definition of greatness has changed now, almost over a decade later, or if there was one message that you wish you could yell, scream or say loud enough that people would truly hear that if this was the only message that you could share and you just like, I don't want to regret not saying this enough. What is that message you want everyone to know?

Gosh, there's so many. But I think at its core, people don't understand that life is a journey and it's a story and it has predictable elements. And that the greatest story, if you study mythology and religion around the world, the greatest story of all is always the hero's journey. And it's that step I mentioned earlier that we're being called to an adventure. It doesn't feel like a call. It feels like your life's ending. It feels like your house burned down. It feels like it's something you value is gone. Your house, you lost your finance, you lost your job. But if you try to refuse the call, it's still going to take. It's like Dorothy and the wizard of Oz. The tornado is going to take you anyway, so why not go proactively into it? And what you'll end up doing is you'll enter a different world and you'll meet different friends, and you'll have new mentors, and then you'll go through ordeals and do battles. But eventually, if you keep going, you'll slay the dragon and you will become something more than you ever were before. And then you get to come home as the hero in your own heart, in your own soul. Not an ego hero hero who knows they've conquered things and you have something to give. And so I think maybe the subset, the simple thought of that, is that everything happens for a reason. There's a higher purpose in everything. But it's your job and my job to find it. It's like, I believe in my soul that life is always happening for us, not to us, even though it looks like it's happening to us. Like Covid, for example. Covid looked like, I can't do my work anymore. And then my seminars went from 10 or 15,000 people to a million people. I mean, it's like all over the Earth, in 193 countries simultaneously, right? It's like. But I had to find that. It was my job to find that. And if you trust in that, if you can have that core belief that, it's like almost anybody's listening. And I ask you, too, haven't you had some time in your life where something happened that was so painful, difficult, frustrating, whatever it felt like, it wiped you out and you never want to go through it again. But then you get five years later or 10 years later, you look back and go, I see the universe or God's perfection. That made me so much stronger, that made me have more courage or that made me care more, right? In my life, I've never not found one of those. Now, it's sometimes hard in the moment to find it, but I think that's the most important thing. The second thing I'd say is most people live a life where they talk about being stressed all the time. There's only one reason you're stressed. You're managing your circumstances instead of creating your life like we were not made to manage circumstances. We were created by something called a God. Call it the universe, whatever your preference is. But no question, something created us and we're given the ability to create. This house is a creation. Your life is a creation. Your two daughters are an amazing creation between you and your wife and the universe of God. I just think the more we're in a creation mode, there's zero fear in creation. There's fear when you're trying to manage or hang on to something, when you're trying to maintain, when you're just trying to make a living. It's like designing a life is a different way of living. And it requires courage. It requires faith. But you know what I tell people? Not religious faith, just faith. You were born with faith. If you're going to drive down a highway here and there's nothing but a little yellow line dividing you from people coming 65 miles an hour at you. And you know every day in every city on earth, somebody falls asleep or is reading a text or is drunk and they come across and kill somebody in every city, every day, all over the earth. So how the hell do you drive down the street without fear? Because you use your faith. Because without it, you'd have to do what they did in Covid. Live in your house and not move and have no life. Right? And so courage does not mean you're not afraid. It means you're afraid, but you do it anyway. You can have courage if you can trust in a higher understanding that everything has a higher purpose. And this is an unfolding for me, and it's going to lead to something greater. And that takes faith. But I found if you live enough life over and over again with that faith and with the drive to find it, you'll find those answers.

Tony, thank you so much, man. Appreciate it.

Thank you, brother. Great to see you.

Appreciate it. Amazing.

Congratulations once again on your wife, on your two daughters.

Thank you.

And I'm going to look to see you in 2028.

You're going to be at the Olympics.

I'm coming. I'm going to be there. Okay, you got it.

Perfect.

Thanks, man. Thank you, buddy.

Appreciate it, man. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description Description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our greatness+channel exclusively on Apple podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter and now it's time to go out there and do something great.