Anthony Robbins - he's a motivational speaker who is larger than life
and packed with sunny Californian optimism. Across the world, few can have
missed his infomercials, seminars and firewalks.
This book is his definitive work and a must-buy for anyone who enjoys the sometimes cheese-laden self-help genre. It offers a tantalising glimpse that total life transformation is possible - epitomised in the opening story of multimillionaire Robbins, who is flying in his private helicopter to lead a sell-out seminar at a football stadium. As he swoops over Glendale in California, he spots a vaguely familiar building from the air. It's where he used to work, on the breadline, as a humble janitor.
I enjoyed this book for its optimistic spirit and its simple but eye-opening insights, such as "It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped". The opening chapters are exciting, fast-paced and compulsive reading - Robbins really grips your attention by promising dramatic personal change. He demonstrates the vital power of focus, decisions and empowering beliefs, all the time using his trademark conversational style.
The central section of the book focuses on his
theory of "Neuro-Associative Conditioning"; and this is where my
attention wanders. I am not a devotee of NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming)
approaches, so skipped a lot of the content here. Robbins concludes with a
detailed seven-day program to change your life. The closing chapters
systematically apply all the concepts in the book to jump-start your emotional
happiness, health and fitness, relationships, finances and time management. The tag-line of this book
says it all – the aim is to “wake up and take control of your life”.
Here are seven of the insights and soundbites from "Awaken the Giant Within" that have really helped me over the years:
1. Make a decision to
never settle for less than you can be
2. Concentration is
power - a concentrated effort is like a laser beam
3. Raise your standards
and change your limiting beliefs
4. Lots of people know
what they do. Few people do what they know
5. Ten years from now,
who will you be?
6. It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped
7. Questions are the
answer. Throw enough constructive questions at a problem and you'll get a
solution.
Instead of allowing uncomfortable feelings such as fear, disappointment
and frustration to weigh down on us, Robbins suggests treating these as a call
to action. In his words, “Determination is the wake-up call to the human will”.
Much of his work focuses on controlling our mental attitude and staying
resilient in the face of hardship. The most challenging portion is his “Ten Day
Mental Challenge”, where he adapts Emmet Fox’s crazy but profound idea in the
1930s that we should go for over a week with a cheerful attitude and a
systematic attempt to squash every negative thought and disempowering emotion!
Every time you slip up, you have to start again. I’ve confess I’ve tried this
and it is much more difficult than imagined!
I picked up my copy waiting for a flight at Miami airport way back in the summer of 1999 – it cost $12.00 and this investment has repaid itself many times over. The book is available in the UK today in a slimmer, green-jacketed volume for the bargain price of just £5.99 (amazon.co.uk). I recommend it unreservedly.
In summary, this book is an absorbing and enjoyable read with no preaching. It can restore your faith that purposeful action can turn any situation around.
There is a surfeit of recessionary gloom and negativity around these days. "Awaken the Giant Within" is a tremendously powerful antidote.
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