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Micro-dosing Tony Robbins

At the outset of The Significance Project I decided that I wouldn't limit myself to looking at just scholarly research and literature. Social media, television, and film are a huge part of our day to day realities, so I figured that it would be important to investigate those sources for diverse interpretations of significance. So, if I'm looking at social trends, who is bigger in the self help world than Tony Robbins? According to his website, Robbins is "the nation’s #1 life and business strategist," and he's the author of lots of books titled things like Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power. From the looks of his official website, the guy probably rakes in a kazillion dollars a year with all the "resource" packages he sells (only $199.99!!!).

I have always thought of Tony Robbins as utter nonsense, having heard about his seminars where people walk over hot coals and engage in a whole lot of self-aggrandizing talk about emotional mastery. I didn't even think of his work as a source for the project until I stumbled across a Netflix documentary about him called I'm Not Your Guru that seems to be generating a lot of media attention, most of which is orchestrated by Robbins himself, and which is focused on his purported mission to help as many people to find significance in their lives as possible. In my experience, anyone who says they're not your guru obviously thinks they are, so I felt compelled to check it out just for a good laugh.


I had to watch the short documentary in three separate sittings, mostly because the tension of being utterly appalled and simultaneously enthralled was troublesome for me. The documentary follows Robbins as he facilitates a six-day intensive workshop called Date With Destiny for a small crowd of 2000 people. The purpose of the workshop is for participants to become equipped with the skills and tools they need to reclaim their lives and to re-design who they really are. Sounds good so far, right? Admittedly, this resonates pretty well with what I'm after in The Significance Project, and this was the part that was enthralling. On the other hand, the documentary portrays a man who is verbally abrasive, entitled, domineering, and entirely self absorbed. Robbins makes grandiose claims throughout; things like, "I can start a chain reaction of transformation," and "I can lift people to the highest places," and all the while he is facilitating "interventions" with people in the crowd to help their "entire lives change in a moment." Even though he proclaims to the participants that he is not their guru, the tone created throughout the documentary is evangelical to the extreme that it borders on cult-like, with Robbins clearly situated as the leader. Yikes!


Despite my very strong misgivings about this guy, I'm instead trying to see how millions of people world-wide have felt that he has something valuable to offer. If that's the case, what can I learn from Tony Robbins that I can apply in my effort to generate meaning and significance in my own life? Knowing that I likely can't stomach any of his books, I need to take what I can from the micro-dose I received in the documentary.


One thing I did appreciate about Robbins was that he didn't try to gloss over the trouble, challenge, pain, or suffering that people experience in their life. Instead, much like Mark Manson (The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck), he acknowledged that problems will arise in life, asserting that we derive meaning from which problems we choose to engage with and how we choose to engage with them.


Robbins also encourages the same kind of curiosity and exploration of self that I've attempted to embrace with The Significance Project. One of his suggestions that I'm willing to try is to reflect on the questions we most often ask ourselves about our lives. His claim is that those questions determine what we focus on, which hearkens back to my thinking about the importance of what I pay attention to. I have a greater degree of control over what I pay attention to than I've given myself credit for, so in the effort to achieve increased consciousness about this I will make an effort to notice things I've never noticed before; to examine reactions that I've never examined before.


Finally, just for kicks, I'm going to take a stab at using Robbins' template to create a guide for re-inventing your life. Why not? To offer him credit, Robbins does provide some of the more pragmatic advice I've come across. His template includes the following:

  • Developing a primary question that creates the foundation for navigating problems and issues;

  • Writing a mission statement, or one core sentence that serves as a trigger to remind yourself about what you intend to be and do;

  • Develop four one-year goals; and

  • Write a relationship vision that applies to the people who are closest to you.

For many years, my own research has focused on why words like vision, mission, and values are inherently problematic, in both personal and organizational development. However, I'm going to set aside my visceral (negative) reaction to the language Robbins uses, and attempt to get at the heart of the message that is implied in this template. I'm going to work on it over the week and will report back. Over and out.


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