Rating: 
Summary: Everything that's wrong with world
Review: I'll make this short, Anthony Robbins is everything that is wrong with the world. Not one idea of his is original and not stollen from someone else. He skims the surface of modern psychology (mostly Victor Frankl, everyone steals from Frankl) and passes it off as their own enlightened sense of well being and success. Yes he's living his dream. Why? Because his dream was to get rich by selling nothing. And that is what he's done, mooched of the idea's and theories of others that took them a lifetime to perfect, and he's packaged it and now he's selling it. It's dangerous and irresponsible, not to mention superficial.
It's low brow but I quote Triumph the Insult Comic Dog: "To make fun of him, would be in a sense, like pooping on poop."
Rating: 
Summary: best of the best
Review: There is absolutely no way that the U.S. Army, the British House of Lords, the President of the United States, the British House of Commons, Xerox, IBM, American Express, Erin Brockavich, and Andre Agassi (among others) would all rely on Tony Robbins for regular coaching if he lacked credibility. Tony Robbins is not some corporate lame-duck pulling a marketing scam. He is THE recognized authority on organizational and personal turn-around, both here in the US and abroad. The facts speak for themselves. When I read reviews which berate Tony Robbins, they just prove that the people who wrote them are inferior in the realm of self-discipline. No one can force anyone to change. No one can force you out of bed in the morning. No one can hand you your goals on a silver platter. What Tony provides is one hell of a roadmap to get back on the highway of success. He himself says that unless you carefully apply the principles regularly in Awaken the Giant, it will be worthless. But for those who apply them and dare to be drastic, permanent changes can be made and you will meet with incredible success. Personally, I plan to attend his next seminar in Chicago. In a world run amok with sales hype, there's at least one person selling something worth your money. Let the rabble wallow in self-pity and criticism-- the rest of us will achieve our dreams.
Rating:
Summary: In Response to Reader from NY
Review: I've glanced over these reviews and have a message for the "reader from NY"--(not the one below me, but the one who continues to post endlessly with the academic jargon). No one (except you) thinks about "meta-belief" (or belief about beliefs) when trying to solve problems in their lives. Take the example of a burning building. You can decide to jump out the window, or choose to ponder which leg should be the first one to stick out the window on the unsubstantiated premise of a cushioned fall. Only you, pal, would dilly-dally on which leg should go first. The rest of us would just jump! The fact is, "beliefs about beliefs" are an exercise in question begging. You and I both know that your scholastic rhetoric is just that-- scholastic rhetoric. It doesn't do anything! No offense, but you sound like a well-groomed, overpaid psychologist who's on the cusp of losing his patients to Tony Robbins!
Rating:
Summary: common sense and uncommon results
Review: Awaken The Giant Within is a masterful book, both for its real-world applications and straightforward style. Any criticism by readers is due to their own lack of long-term initiative to maintain the regimen of success designed by Tony Robbins. Approaching the book with an open mind is vital. I found it to be life changing, because the one thing he focuses on is CHANGE. For those who refuse to follow his threefold strategy-- [raise your standards, eliminate self-limiting obstacles, and take massive action]-- there is always room for doubt. However, for those who have the self discipline to finish what they start, this book can be the best thing you've ever read! It was for me. Little wonder that Toney coaches world leaders on a regular basis.
Rating: 
Summary: There but for the Grace of Elivis go Eye !!!
Review: Ahoy Me Mateys! Ahem... (mentally clearing throat sound)... For a couple of reasons, this poor unwashed reviewer suggest that if you like this here tome on personal change strategies you'd do much better to listen to Anthony's *Powertalk* tape series. Tony is a competent hypnotist, he uses his vocal range and tonal shifts to good effect. Little of this "installation by Tony" effect happens when you read the book (which I supposedly didn't read, but lets create a big mental movie of me (however you imagine me to be) reading the book, so you'll find what I'm saying more congruent with your (wildly innacurate) PRESUPPOSITIONS....) Ok ? nice pretty movie all done ?... goody... So, azz I was saying, you'll get a LOT of useful mileage out of his Powertalk series, Tony's good stuff served straight up with a bare minimum of static... the book's treatement of "asking the right questions" is boring and dry, but the Questions Powertalk is really smokin' good when Tony breathes life into his subject... when you go back and reread the Questions part of the book (which I supposedly did not read, so run your head movie here at the sound of the imaginary BEEP), you think, ech, I should LISTEN TO THE TAPE AGAIN... (hint)... Tony feels that the Question "piece" is the most central to his success strategy, hence if you want to bypass a lot of the phluph and get right to the hot'n'heavy core of what makes this dude tick... listen to the Questions tape, like everyday for a week until it soaks DEEPLY into the white matter of your brain... Once you got that rooted in better than a twenty year old oak, listen to his tape on REFERENCES, another thing that in the book is blaaaah... his trancework isn't as hot on References, and he does push the idea that doing the Firewalk is a Reference you just can't do without. Nice little embedded command Tony, but thanks just the same. Seminar plugs aside, References is a real mind opener and probably out to be distributed free in high schools to make kids a little less grossed out by the idea of education.... again, in the book it's, OK, great, got it, next, uh what ? A third one I thought a lot of was the Six Master Steps to Change which is out of print but you can get them used here on Amazon. Six Steps is another good case of cutting through the hype and doing good changework. Really the nut of what Tony's change technology is all about. Plus he uses one of good old Dave Dobson's moves, happens real quick, but it is a goodie. Scramble pattern well presented, amazing little piece of business to move you strongly away from liking chocolate (har! nice!) and an interview with Mark McCormick (what the didn't teach you at harvard business school...for you business types)... Anyway, in my considered opinion, Tony has his warts but he's got a lot of good stuff, and he's got a lot of filler, padding, and whatnot too. The smart move is to get the Powertalk tapes which is the best concentration of real work, the book by comparison is a total snooze.
Rating:
Summary: There except for the grace of God, go. Thank you Tony!!!
Review: Tony Robbins is not alone in coming under attack by unscrupulous people. Interesting the others are also best selling authors, highly visible and positively impacting the lives of people. So I guess that Tony is in good company. Only successful people who want to share their knowledge come under attack. That is a nice group to belong to. Obviously the "reviewer from New York" at least browsed over Awaken The Giant even though they obviously didn't buy it or read the whole book. I say they because this individual did not identify whether they were a male or female. Sure posts a lot though. Robbins has taken the science of NLP and condensed it into a simple, easy to understand and more effective method of programming. I attended one of Tony's seminars in New York. They are life changing. It is not about hype and Tony never represented or attempted to represent himself as God, but only as a trainer. I'm not sure that the reviewer from New York even knows what metaprograms are and probably wouldn't be able to spell it if they hadn't seen the book or even heard of it. There except for the grace of God go I is definitely applicable to this "person" from New York. Thank God some of us appreciate the great work that Tony Robbins is doing for all of us. And no, Tony Robbins is not God nor do I think he wants to be compared with God. Awaken The Giant is a great book with powerful strategies for those who are perceptive enough to use them. Will it work for everybody? Only if you want to change and back it up with effort. 1 star reviewer, you can keep posting all you want. And everytime you do post your nonsense a phrase will come to mind to those who know better: "There except for the grace of God, go I" And Thank God for Tony Robbins!
Rating:
Summary: This book can change your life forever
Review: Before reading Awaken The Giant, I had nothing. I was out of work, depressed, confused and frustrated. Awaken The Giant turned my whole life around. I am happy, found a new soul mate and living for the first time in a long time. Thank you Tony. If ever we meet, lunch is on me!
Rating:
Summary: "There But For The Grace Of God Go I" : analyse this phrase
Review: Curious statement to make, NLP/NAC wise, innit ? How does one do a thorough NLP "metaperspective" on this statement ? What are the presuppositions here ?
(there but for the Grace of Tony go I ?) (Tony=God ?) (Tony=State of Grace ?) Hmmmmm.... What is the author telling us by the structure of his thinking ? (is there an internal representation of a "here I am" track which is related to a state of Grace, and a second, parallel track, the, um, "there but for" track ? How do these two state dependant tracks relate to one another ? Would it be possible to perform a thought experiment and visualize or whatever a third track where unexpected, but really interesting things happen that aren't directly related to the Here and the There track ?) Could Tony do some interesting things with it, personal changewise, should he be so inclined ? (what images/thought processes cause the speaker to reject/move away from/ experience anxiety/aversion to the "There" track ? What places the "other person" on the There track ? Is it possible that bridges between the two tracks could exist that allow for constructive information flow ?) (if not, what thought processes prevent this from happening ?) Meta-Beliefs, anyone ? That's your ticket to ride.
Rating:
Summary: Awaken The Giant Within....OUTSTANDING!!!
Review: I guess it's true that success breeds jealousy. Just look at the review that precedes this one. When I read reviews like that one, all I can say is there except for the grace of God go I and thank God for Anthony Robbins. But why do people have to attack successful people like Anthony Robbins? Does his success both people? Or is that the success of that guy that used to work with you who has now achieved incredible success following Robbins methods? Isn't it amazing that people will applaud when someone wins the lottery buut looks with ambilevence towards anyone with self earned wealth? WARNING: as soon as you start pulling away from the pack, you will come under attack. When is really deplorable is that the people who need this the most, attack Robbins the most. Ironic isn't it? What appealed to me about Robbins is that he offer real ife changing strategies. He offers tools that are effective. Not just "feel good" stuff. Oh yeah you do feel good...but that is because you are changing...for the better. Robbins offers a technology called NAC (Neuro Associative Condioning)This technology helps you to condition yourself for success. When I first heard of Robbins, I didn't like him either. He seemed to have too much going for him. Tall, dark and hansome. Powerful speaker. Very wealthy with millions of fans...almost like a rock star. I attended one of his seminars and couldn't believe the reaction. It was like attending a rock concert or the superbowl. Perhaps this is what disturbs some people like the reviewer who posted just ahead of me. Hey, I'm happy for Tony. He is successful and is making other successful. What's wrong with that? As I started to say, I didn't initially like Tony either, untill I met him and realized how genuine this man is. Robbins is passionate towards self development and bringing out the best in people. He truly cares about people and offers programs that work. People sense Tony's caring and love. No wonder he has so many people behind him! Awaken The Giant is a powerful book that can make massive changes in your life in record breaking time. This is the same information that Tony teaches in his seminars and charges $5,000 for, minus Tony and the live effects. It is also very similiar to his The Edge program which sells for several hundred dollars on late night tv informercials. Awaken The Giant is jammed packed with useful information. Not just reading, but Tony also puts you to work with exercises that brings out the best in yourself. For me, the goal setting workshop really helped and was surprising as I had attended many goal strategy workshops and read many books on how to set and achieve goals. But nothing happened. Not so with Tony Robbins. I achieved my first 5 goals in one week. His sytem works. You can change your limiting beliefs and achive goals that you thought were heretofore impossible. You can get better at people relationships. You can better your best. You can get fit and lose weight. You can overcome fears and phobias. Awaken The Giant is Tony's best book and I highly recommend it, for achievers that is.
Rating:
Summary: Awaken the Frog Within
Review: before winding up my arm for a brief sermon on the effectivness
or sometimes effectiveness or sometime non effectiveness of NLP ideas, however they are packaged.... An NLP joke that was making the rounds in the trainings. There are two kinds of people in the world. Those who think there are two kinds of people in the world and those that don't. Get IT ? No ? Didn't get it ? Wait a minute... this isn't The Forum, this isn't EST, we don't get IT around here. But this much is true. Every decade or so there is a new face in town, the man with the answers, the guy everybody, male or female has a crush on, the figure we identify with as our big enlightened thousand watt smile hero. Once it was Billy Sunday, once it was Krishnamurti, once it was Werner Erhard, you can fill in the blanks in your free time. This isn't to say that Tony is doing bad stuff... its OK stuff, decent quality, functional stuff, but it isn't the Second Coming or anything... there are still lacunas, incomplete areas, tough ideas that have been watered down to be suitable for mass marketing purposes. Then there is this small but nagging issue of Meta-Belief. And another called Congruity. Well fine and dandy, last one first. Congruity. The master teacher on the subject of Congruity is a man, still alive but elderly, who lives and works in Friday Harbor, Washington State, across the sound from Anacortes, and to this day teaches seminars on Congruity. His name is David Dobson and he is spoken of by some as a living Milton Erikson. Anybody here ever taken the touble to locate Dobson and study with him ? Anybody here ever heard of Dobson ? Tony Robbins sure did. He was scheduled to attend the same trainings with Dobson that I was... Tony got distracted doing infomercials or something and broke off at the last minute, sent one of his people on ahead. Did Tony ever get around to serious face time with Dave ? No way to know. Tony sure talks a lot about Congruity, but he tosses it out there like another groovy idea, some mental secret sauce, instead of boring in on the deep levels of understanding Congruity, its significance, the distinctions of congruity and incongruity, and the near mystical levels of human interaction Dobson calls Other Than Conscious Communication. Dave is out there to this day. You want to get a tight bead on Congruity ? See Dave while he is with us. Then carefully compare Tony's understanding of Congruity with Dobson's Ah yes, Meta Beliefs... I think that I was the first person in NLP to start talking about Meta Beliefs, and then there was a kinda sorta tentative acceptance of this distinction... to etherial for certain types who like to ground their mojo in crisp pictures and plangent bell tones... Meta Beliefs are "beliefs about beliefs". The previous reviewer, who evinces a strong faith based worldview, has a powerful Meta Belief that informs his thought processes. Is that good or not so good ? Lets examine. His Meta Belief is that strong, unshakable belief (although he doesn't say exactly how this belief is represented in his thinking.... movies ? sparkly pictures ? echo chamber type sounds ?) is the prime determinant of success or failure. To assert "change your belief, and you will change your reality accordingly" is, in itself, a potent meta belief that could, potentially, be liberating, self limiting, or not much or either, depending on the context and circumstances. Could his Meta Belief be refined to give him more real world effectiveness ? Undoubtedly so. Many early peoples, or pre industrial peoples had intense faith in their gods and totems, yet they were wiped out by smallpox and modern weapons regardless of their ghost dances and visits to the spirit world. The Cherokee, on the other hand, were darned smart, they kept elements of their faith, but they studied the European ways that made them successful and emulated accordingly. They were the only Native American to develop a unique alphabet , Sequoian, based on Hebrew, Greek, and something else, published newspapers in Sequoian, learned to fire hard brick, trained lawyers who argued before the US Supreme Court, and sadly, unnerved Andred Jackson sufficiently (he was afraid they'd form an alliance with the English) that Jackson wiped them out and stole all their possessions. The Trail Of Tears aside, one could say that the Cherokee had much more sophisticated Meta Beliefs than their plains bretheren. They could analyse and choose when faith in the old gods would be of benefit, and when careful analysis and consideration of costs vs. benefits of material actions could alther their fate. Tony falters, in my opinion, when he dives right in and insists that you change your belief system. He should take more time to closely examine Meta Belief and how it brings belief systems into existence. Once you gain leverage at the Meta Belief level, although you must be exceedingly careful with it, profound change becomes available. Other parts of the world today, obviously those riven with strife and deprivation appear to be suffering from either a complete loss of belief in anything (Nihilism), i.e. the Meta Belief that nothing can be worth believing in except immediate survival, or hyper intensified Meta Belief,(Absolutism) i.e. the more anything causes me to doubt my belief, the greater that proves the power of the Dark One... thus feeling of doubt, questioning, or curiosity about the Outer Realms are in and of themselves evidence of seduction into the ways of Error... quite a gummy thought loop to find oneself mired within, like those super sticky glue traps.... However, the great advances toward modern thinking were precisely great Meta Belief shifts, as when Martin Luther insisted that each man and woman be responsible for his or her relation to the Creator, which required a great social innovation, universal literacy so any person could read the Bible and make up his mind for himself as to what it meant.
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