Tony Robbins...

Every now and then, as I walk by a bookcase, my eye will drift to a set of audio tapes I have entitled "Your Personal Power" by motivational speaker Tony Robbins. Ten tapes sit in their little boxes inside a cardboard case, all neat and tidy and ready to go, but hardly used. In fact, I've never listened to more than three of them since I got them. A while ago I decided to check them out for some reason and snapped a cassette into the old portable tape recorder I have and started to listen to tape number one again as I had that first day in 1996. It's had a real affect on me this time.

Robbins presents information in these tapes that is designed to motivate a person to action. Personal power to accomplish things in life lies within, he maintains, and all a person really needs to do is tap into that power source and their lives will be transformed from one of a person who only dreams of accomplishment to one who actually has accomplishment in their life. It's all pretty good stuff. I'm drawn to Robbins, as many are, because of his charisma and energy. But, I'm also drawn to him because he has popularized the notion that to have once been hopelessly addicted, without a trace of faith that anything can change, does not destine someone to a the dust pile of life...he has overcome addiction (I think it was to food and not necessarily to drugs) and gone on to build an empire, not only financially, but spiritually as well.

I, like so many who have bought his tapes, did not follow through and listen to them all after I got them. Instead, I said to myself that I know all about that stuff and he's just too simplistic about complex problems of living. I found no need to do the exercises he suggests and thought very little about his basic premise, i.e., we are able to change our lives if we change the way we think. Then, one day several years ago, I discovered what he was up to. What Robbins has done is customize and popularize a form of mental conditioning called Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) that attacks and changes the way we think about life in ways that have been poor adaptations to the challenges we experience. I knew about NLP and actually used it as a device to help my patients overcome their negative thoughts about themselves that always led them to using drugs. In many respects it works well to help a person change...I just never really believed it could help me.

NLP relies on not only analyzing what we think about problems - being overweight, using drugs, having a lousy job, being in a bad relationship - but also doing something about that thinking. Robbins teaches that what people really need to do is make quick and subtle changes in the way we do things in order to one day realize that change has actually taken place. It's the baby steps idea. But, it is also more than that. He is a powerful personal coach and has a non-stop chatter that keeps you moving forward in your thinking rather than drift to old and comfortable ways of avoiding the pain of self-discovery and self-actualization. That's why each of these tapes has an exercise attached that is homework a person must do today in order to move forward to the next level tomorrow. And, if you take those exercises seriously, you'll change. It's inevitable.

So, I am trying to change some things in my life and I turn to Robbins for help. My first assignment (decide on one thing I want to change and write it down and take one small, immediate step toward achieving it) was to finally sit down and plan out how I was going to lose some weight. I wrote down my goal and thought of one step I could take toward reaching it. I set a goal of 50 pounds and picked up the phone and called Nutrisystem to order their meal plan. So far, a few months into it, I've lost 38 pounds.

What keeps me going? It's is the Robbins tape that challenged me to finally abandon those old, worn out and broken thoughts that had consistently failed to get me to lose weight. I didn't set out to lose it all at once, and I didn't have an exercise that would guarantee I would drop it all at once. Rather, I had a plan and took one small step at first and a bunch of small steps since that have led me out of the woods into the sunshine of a healthier life. In effect, I've brain washed myself into thinking I could lose the weight and then went on automatic pilot thinking that drives me to eat the Nutrisystem meals and stick to the program.

For some people, the idea that brain washing happens this way is odious to them. But, for me, my brain did need some washing when it came to weight as I zoomed up each year one or two or three pounds until I was grossly overweight. Now that it has been washed with the cleanser of NLP and the belief that losing one or two or three pounds at a time is possible for me I feel rewarded and have much more confidence I can go all the way. It's not easy, but it's the Robbins NLP that worked in this case.

Now I'm turning my attention to other problems. And, I've got some. But, I'm determined to deal with them in another way other than the old familiar ways that have not changed a thing for decades. It's all thanks to Tony Robbins, for sure, but it is also thanks to my belief that there is power back in my life today that can help me achieve my goals.

All the best, Roger W.