Living One Hundred Per Cent

Self Help Classic - "Awaken the Giant Within" by Anthony Robbins

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.

The Commodity of Kings - "Unlimited Power" by Anthony Robbins

"Unlimited Power" is a tantalising idea. It's also the signature work that propelled the young Anthony Robbins from late night infomercial king to his current status as a world-famous personal development coach. So does this book still weave its magic 22 years after its explosive launch? What does the man who has counselled Andre Agassi, Bill Clinton and Greg Norman have to offer within its pages?

Section 1 - "The Modelling of Human Excellence"

This is a thorough review of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) as taught by Bandler and Grinder. If "Unlimited Power" is the "new science of personal achievement" (the book's sub-title), then NLP is its periodic table. Robbins explains NLP as a science that reveals how language, both verbal and non-verbal, impacts on the human brain. Through self-hypnosis, you can use words to mould and create your own reality. He encourages us to "model" the behaviour of successful people - because NLP shows that if one person can do it, anyone can.

Robbins goes on to explain some classic techniques to discover if people prefer words, images or touch ("auditory, visual or kinesthetic") and to read and mirror body language. He then moves on to strategies that he claims can boost your energy levels, including renouncing all dairy products through adopting a vegan diet.

Verdict: The writing is fast-paced and absorbing. Yet while NLP boasts some useful and important insights, I am not a true believer. Several of its theories are contestable at best while others are so useful they have now been popularised into many management training courses. The dietary advice was also not convincing enough to break my cheese and milk addiction :-)

Section II: The Ultimate Success Formula

This section of the book contains some real gems. "Winning starts with beginning", claims Robbins - and he urges us to commit six month, one year, two, five, ten and twenty year goals to paper in great detail. He lists some "outcome questions" that will help deliver the answers - "What do I want? What is my objective?" Then he shows specific techniques to build rapport with people and take the sting out of problems through mentally "reframing" them.

Verdict: This section is jam-packed with useful practical ways you can apply his concept. It is fun to experiment with some of the techniques, phrases and methods just to see what works.

Section III: Leadership - the Challenge of Excellence

In the closing section, Tony seeks to apply his techniques to global problems. He also lists the "five keys to wealth and happiness" - the ability to handle frustration, rejection, financial pressure and complacency, and always to give more than you expect to receive. Lots of good, sound practical advice here.

Unlimited Power can be summarised in one message - that "the quality of your life is the quality of your communication". This means communication with others, but just as importantly, with yourself. As an exploration of the then radical and cutting-edge theories of NLP, it is first class. Many of the anecdotes exude a 1980s retro charm. As a personal development book, it is absorbing, vital and insightful. However in the final verdict it does not boast the scope, range or power of later Tony Robbins works.

Unlimited Power is a worthy silver medallist. But If you are only going to buy one Tony Robbins book, then "Awaken the Giant Within" takes first place by a country mile.