The School of Greatness - Tony Robbins On The Habits & Skills To Take Back Control Of Your Life!

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

Tony Robbins doesn't sugarcoat it. After four decades of transforming lives, he's seen the pattern that separates those who break through from those who stay stuck. It's not about wanting change badly enough. It's about training your brain to act when you say now, even when every fiber of your being resists. In this conversation, Tony opens up about how becoming a father changed his entire approach to impact, why he jumps into freezing water every single morning, and the science behind why most people's thoughts aren't actually their own. This episode cuts through the noise and gives you the exact framework Tony uses with world-class performers to create lasting transformation. You'll walk away knowing exactly how to prime your mind, strengthen your body, and build momentum that carries you through today and beyond.Tony’s books:MONEY Master the Game: 7 Simple Steps to Financial FreedomUnshakeable: Your Financial Freedom PlaybookLife Force: How New Breakthroughs in Precision Medicine Can Transform the Quality of Your Life & Those You LoveIn this episode you will:Discover the 10-minute morning priming ritual that trains your brain to take immediate action and why it works better than meditation aloneTransform your relationship with discomfort by understanding the neurological reason Tony jumps in freezing water every morning, even after decadesBreak through the invisible ceiling holding you back by identifying the one factor that determines whether your thoughts actually belong to youMaster the five human needs framework that explains why some people self-sabotage success and others can't stop growingUnlock the comeback story within you by learning how a 700-pound bedridden man used Tony's free breakthrough challenge to lose 258 pounds and walk on fireFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1840For more Greatness text PODCAST to [phone]More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Lewis Howes [SOLO] – greatness.lnk.to/1831SCDr. Andrew Huberman  – greatness.lnk.to/1219SCDavid Goggins – greatness.lnk.to/1660SC Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You've been researching so much about mindset, about neuroscience, about the body, about nutrition, about all the different medical things that are out there. Is there something new that you do with your morning routine now that is different then? And what has really helped accelerate your productivity, your joy, your peace at this level with your morning routine? Well, I have certain fundamentals that haven't changed. I think I've shared with you before. The first thing I do every single morning is I go in freezing cold water.

and I've shared this with many people, it's not because I'm a masochist, but because it moves the lymph of your body, as you well know. And when you jump in, it never feels good to go in, but getting out, you feel incredible. But I do it for a different reason. I do it to train my brain to say, when I say now, it means now. When I say, go, we go. I don't stand there because it's cold and go maybe in a minute when I'm ready. And I think I've shared with you before. I don't think I've ever had a morning. I look forward to jumping in that water ever. but I always do it because I've trained my brain this is how we work and if you train your brain to do that every single day then it'll do it on the more difficult and important things in life but I also then I do my priming I think you're familiar with which is I do 10 minutes and I pick 10 minutes because if I said do 20 minutes or 30 I don't have time but if you don't have 10 minutes for your life you don't have much of a life so I do this 10 minute process and if people want to know it rather walk through it right now they can go to tony robins forward slash priming there's a video it's free but the essence of it is, I change my body radically, and I do three things to make sure that my brain

is primed. And what I mean by primed is, most people think their thoughts are their thoughts, Lewis, and you and I know better, because you and I've read the studies, right? Priming is a psychological principle where you think thoughts and you think they're yours, but very often they're created by the environment. So one example was Harvard has done multiple studies on this, and one of the studies they did was taking people, walking up to people. They hired two actors. They walked up to 100 people. They had to do the exact same thing, men and women. And what they did is they'd walk up with a cup of coffee in their hand and they'd look at you and go, here, would you hold this for a second? And they'd look down and reach in their pocket to pull out their phone. And most people

then take the coffee. You're not looking to give it back, right? And then they do what they're doing the phone. They put it back in. They go, thank you so much. And they take their coffee back. and they walk away. But then about 20 minutes later, if you're in a mall or a school campus or whatever, a person comes by with a clipboard and they give you $20 and they say, listen, I know this sounds crazy, but if you'll give me 30 seconds of your time, the $20 is yours, I need you to read two minutes of this, literally this little story and then just answer three questions for me. Here's the interesting part. Half the people have a reaction, more than 80%, and half have a reaction 80% difference, and here's the question.

They read the same story, but half the people are handed hot coffee, half the people handed ice coffee. And the question they ask is, how would you describe the main character of the story? I have to read a few paragraphs. And the people who are handed hot coffee say the person is warm and genuine, 81% of the people, 79 to 80, 79.8, it's almost, it's a 1% difference, you know, natural variability, who are giving the ice coffee say the person is cold and uncaring. I can tell you 20 studies like that

that would blow your mind how your brain is conditioned or primed by the environment. And think about all that's gone on with COVID of the last two years and how many people's brains live in fear. And in my new health book I put in there just to remind people with COVID, outside being 80 years old,

the number one, or having four or five comorbidities, number one factor, 80% of people die of COVID, 79.8% are obese. That's something you can do something about. The second factor, according to the CDC, is fear. Because anxiety makes people get short of breath. They freak out, and their whole nervous system starts to go shut down. Your immune system can be shut down just by fear alone.

And so this experience of life that we have, most people just don't understand that you are being primed all the time. And unless you prime yourself, you're going to be primed by the environment. Nutrition. Most people understand that your brain right now is being conditioned and triggered whether you know it or not. If you're in any social network, it's being done continuously by algorithms. So I want to take control of my brain. So I do three quick things. One, I take three minutes of those 10 minutes after I've changed my body and I focus on three different events in my life that I'm grateful for. I usually pick two big ones and one small one. It could be as simple as a smile on my daughter's face, the wind against my skin. But I really, I don't like If you ever been on a roller coaster and you remember the roller coaster over there, it's not the same as remember going over the edge like you're there. So I do in an associated way. And it changes your biochemistry.

Now, it sounds pretty, you know, positive thinky. I'm going to be grateful. But there's a value to it because the two emotions that mess up your business, your life, your relationships are anger and fear. And you can't be angry and grateful simultaneously. And you can't be fearful and grateful simultaneously. So by starting my day with that, and it's not. some fake pump-up positive thinking, they're real experiences. So it literally teaches your body

to go in that state because otherwise the environment when right now, there's a whole lot of uncertainty and fear. Then real fast, I do this three-minute process. It's kind of like a blessing. And then three minutes, the last three minutes are called three to thrive, where I focus on three things I want accomplishment. Instead of thinking I want to accomplish, I see, feel, and experience it is done. I feel grateful. I celebrate it. And it trains your brain. So in 10 minutes, I'm done. Third thing that I'll do, I immediately send a message or a text or an audio message to somebody as a sincere compliment. And I don't go, dude, great job, or wow, you're cool.

I say, listen, I saw you on Tuesday with those kids, and I saw you take that extra 20 minutes. No one has did. And I just want you know, I saw that I thought that was incredible. So I'm always very specific so they know it's not just some positive thinking bullshit call. It's sincerely doing it. It makes me constantly look for the good and the people I work with. Fourth thing I do is whatever I don't want to do, the most challenging part of the day. I want to go handle that problem.

I want to handle that issue because after you do that, everything has momentum. So those four are my core. Now, my workouts, what I've done to be able to have more energy and vitality and strength, I just finished a book called Life Force. It's been three years on it. And in there, I give all the details of what to do, depending upon what your goals are and what your direction is, stage of life. Are you looking for more energy or more strength?

Are you looking to extend the quality of your life? Are you dealing with a real disease? And you know, I did Money Master the Game, and I interviewed, you know, at the time, 50 of the smartest people in the world financially, Ray Dalio, Warren Buffett, et cetera. This time I interviewed 167 Nobel laureate, scientists, and the greatest regenerative doctors on the face of the earth.

So there's nothing in here that's my opinion. It is all science. And it's stuff that you would think would happen 20 or 30 years in the future that's happening either right now or the things are coming in the next 12 to 36 months that the FDA is currently looking at for approval. I want to ask you a follow-up to one thing you mentioned there,

which I think a lot of people don't do, which I think you do incredibly well. I've seen you do this many times. You mention you reach out to someone. You'll text someone. You'll send a voice note or a video message or maybe you're calling them or just saying hi to them and telling them.

You're acknowledging something that they're doing well that you appreciate. I don't think that many people do this. why is this so important for you personally? And why do you think this would help so many people get out of themselves and overcome anxiety and stress if they did this even a couple of times a week. I know you do this every day, but just a couple texts a week. Why was this so valuable for people?

Well, number one, I love people. So I love to sincere. If you just call someone to make a compliment and it's not sincere, anybody can feel that. I don't do that shit, you know. It's like I pride myself in finding the goodness in people or the skills. sets in people. And I also know that what is acknowledged tends to grow. So from standpoint of that, I want them to feel that feeling of being appreciated. I want them to know I see what's happening behind the camera, so to speak. It's like, that's what matters. It's not how everybody else

sees you. It's how you really are. And then it also deepens every relationship you have when you sincerely acknowledge somebody and you notice something other people don't notice. And so it deepens the connection. And to me, quality of life is a quality of two things, your emotions and your relationships. And, you know, if my emotions are terrible, my relationships are going to be terrible. But if I have great emotions and I can extend that out to help other people, then it just makes me feel more alive. So I do it for me and them. It's a virtuous cycle. Right. Yeah. And I think if someone's feeling, you know, stressed, the easiest way to overcome that is do what you said, which is focus on the things you're grateful for and get out of yourself and start acknowledging someone

else and you'll you'll build that deeper relationship and feel better in the process. And now you've got positive momentum energy. Now you attack the most difficult thing of your day. And when you make that your habit, the most difficult thing gets smaller and smaller because you're feeling stronger and stronger, right? And then you have momentum. And so now you'll attack the next difficult thing. And it doesn't even feel difficult at that point. But the whole secret is most of us don't realize, depending on which research are you buy into, somewhere between 45 and 55% of what we do, it's habitual. And the great thing about habit is, you don't have to think. So, I don't know about you, but the first time I tried to drive a stick shift car when I was a little kid's like,

I'm supposed to do this, this, this, watch the interview beer and the, ah, it's too much. But once you learn it, most of driving, 99% of it's habits, so now your brain is free to do other things. That's the value of making something habitual. The weakness of making it habitual is you don't grow, right? The weakness of making habitual is you don't feel fully alive. So it's like you've got to find that balance in your life. But if you can create habits that make you do the right things for your mind, your body, your emotion, and for others, then let those take over. Then it becomes, it's like working out. You and I both are workout nuts. And it's like, in the early days, it's hard to work out. At this stage of my life of yours, if you didn't work out, I don't work out,

my bet is you'd be pissed off and frustrated, right? You need to work out. It's a part of who you are now. In the beginning days, it's like the last thing I wanted to do. But once it's in your life, that now frees you up to use that energy for everything else that matters in your life. Yeah, absolutely. Two and a half years ago, I had the privilege of being in your island in Fiji and spending about a week with a small group of people, Dean and a bunch of other guys and gals, we got to spend some time with you. And you had a prediction.

You said winter is coming. Yes, I did. And you, you know, Dean has told me that you have predicted many things over the last, you know, four decades in, you know, the economy and what's happening in the world and all these different crises, you're, you're kind of on the front lines of access to the most brilliant people in the world. So you know what's happening before it happens. And you said to us, winter's coming. You probably knew this two years prior to that. And you said, you don't know when exactly, but it's coming soon. And then, I don't know, four or five months later, it hit and it hit

hard for a lot of people. And it's still hitting hard like you're talking about over the last couple years and I don't think it's going to slow down anytime soon. It seems like there might be some hope and then boom, another wave and then another wave of something, whatever it is. What do you learn from researching in the new book with all these different experts on how we can really take back control of our mind, our health in new ways to support us when the winter continues to hit? Because it doesn't seem like it's going away anytime soon. You're hitting on a huge note. I'd love to plant the seed with everyone listening, and that is, we're about halfway through winter.

But my hope is this is the year where that part starts to change. But we're still in winter, meaning so many people have been conditioned to be fearful, so many businesses have been shut down. Our children have been kept out of school for such a long period of time that there's after effects on that. And it's also, you want to be a student of history. Think of it this way for a second. When did mankind really become a dominant force on earth when they made one distinction? I've shared this with you when we're private. I think I told you there's three skills that you want to master.

If you want them an extraordinary life, no matter what decade we're in. You know, you've probably read Oxford and many other universities are doing these studies where they say half the jobs we have today will be gone by 2040, which sounds like a long time, but it's 18 years from now, and that'll go like this. And so my grandkids, my daughter, it's like what I want to help them with. Well, the first skill you've got to master to be great. You know, you're the School of Greatness is the ability to recognize, patterns. When humanity recognized the pattern of the seasons, the whole world changed. Because

we went from hunter-gatherers trying to survive from place to place where we're exposed to everything to wait a second. If we plant in the springtime, we protect in the summer, we reap in the fall, and then we hang on to some of that so we can live through the winter. That created communities for the first time. And then eventually cities and states and countries. So that changed the world. What will change a person's life is when you realize there's also a set of seasons in your own life. And so think of it this way. Zero to 21 is springtime. Things are easy to grow in springtime. You don't have to do that much. Growing as a kid happens naturally. And some people live a protected childhood, not some of us not so much. But overall, life is supporting

you. It's sending you, teaching, you sharing with you. Now when you get from, you know, 21 to 41 or 22 to 42, whatever range you want to talk about, some people get there at 16s, some people get there at 25, you now are in the real world. And now you go test what you learned in your springtime. And it's a hot summer and you find out, holy shit, a relationship's different than I thought it was when I'm an intimate relationship committed. It's not the thing I just envisioned so easily. Or I'm not as bulletproof as I thought I was. I'm not president of the United States already in a billionaire, like I said, it was going to be when I was, you know, 19. So you start to learn, test, figure out what's real. It's an important stage of life.

42, 43 to 62, 63 is the power of your life. It's the reaping time. If you worked hard in the spring and the summer and you put yourself out there and you planted, it's a reaping time. It's a time when you really become a leader. Just everyone's different, some sooner or later, but it's a great stage to understand. And then if you're lucky, you go from 63 to 83 and maybe 83 to 103 of the oldest living humans, 119. You have an extended final season of your life where you get to be the mentor, you get to share, you get to make a difference. And maybe towards the end of your life, people look out for you again if you looked out for everybody else. That's kind of the cycle of life.

But then there's a third pattern, and that's a cycle of history. The most powerful people, by the way, have used not only pattern recognition, with the second skill, pattern utilization. They see a pattern and they use it. So you'd say, how did Jeff Bezos become the richest man in the world? And the answer is simple. He studied the growth in the internet

at an early stage and saw how explosive it was. It was like nothing else he could see. And he just figured any product, books was the easy one to start with. But he got himself in. And then he started to learn the real secret. The convenience is what people value more than anything else. And when he honed it on that one distinction, He not only recognized the pattern, use the pattern, the people that are real masters create their own patterns, right?

You play everybody else's music, and then eventually you get good enough you can create your own music, right? So the similar thing happens. And so what's occurred is in humanity is you go through, there's this seasons in nature, there's seasons in my life, and then there's seasons in history. So watch this. This is what gives me great optimism for everyone watching here. First of all, winter's not forever. No, you know, war lives forever. Nothing.

Everything changes and everything ends. And that means something new occurs. You may not like it, but that's how life is. And the good news about winters, it's always followed by springtime. Historically, some winters are long, some are short, but they're always followed by springtime. What follows the night, the daytime? What a cool way to set it up if you were God or the universe, right? So imagine for a second, all of your listeners or viewers, and you think about it,

What if you're born in 1910? Now you know the seasons of a person's life. So from 1910, the next 19, 20 years of your life, you're going to be absorbing what was happening? War War I ends, the world looks like it's a great place, new technology, cars, radio, and then what happens? An explosion of abundance, the roaring 20s. And so you're a kid, you're 14, 15 years old, and you're like, I can't wait to get a car to go. But what happened when that? that person hit the next stage of life at 19, 20, 21 years old. As they came of age, it's 1929. And suddenly, people are jumping out of buildings, total depression, dust bowl, nobody's got jobs.

It looks horrific in it. It was horrific. But did they get a break? No, when they turn 29, it's 1939. So think about it. Now, World War TROP breaks out. You and I don't remember. We weren't there, but anybody was alive will tell you.

it looked like the whole world was going to end. Hitler was sweeping across Europe, bombing London. It literally looked like the world as we know it was over. And this group of people, like millennials or Z generation, a lot of people make fun of and they go there, you know, whatever, wallflowers, I forget the terms they use. And then the millennials and Z generation argue about you're old because you parked in the middle versus the side.

I mean, it's bullshit. The same bullshit was happening then. These people are called flappers. They were irresponsible. But here's the, here's history and one thought. Good times create weak people. Weak people create bad times. Bad times create strong people.

Strong people create good times. That's the history of the world over and over and over again. And so what happened is that generation who was weak became strong, the environment demanded it, they became the heroes. And think about how different the 1930s and 40s were versus after the war 45 through 50, up until Kennedy, 63. That 20-year period was what a lot of people know as the greatest time in America. Now, certainly wasn't if you're African-American, started to become better if you're a woman. But then think about after Kennedy died and Robert Kennedy is killed and Martin Luther King has killed. Think about the 60s and the 70s.

how different they were than the 80s, 90s, 2000s. So we go through these seasons. I could show them to you a thousand years of Roman history, and you can see them. There's a book, I highly recommend. Bill Clinton gave me this book called Generations when I was working with him 25 years ago, about a 700-page book.

But the same authors, William Strauss and Neil Howe wrote a smaller book, which might be more helpful, and it's called The Fourth Turning. I read it in 1997. And it shows you the seasons of history and how everybody enters that. everybody enters that. Like everyone's going to have winter. Some are going to have it in their 20s. Some are going to have in their 40s. Some are going to have their 60s or 80s. Some are going to have it when their children. And then we all move through these seasons that are pretty much historic because the older person dies. Everybody loses that lesson. And then we tend to, unfortunately, have to relearn some lessons again. So I want you to know that if it looks really horrible right now, if you follow those cycles, we're about halfway through winter. And winter usually starts with a financial winter, which was I was referring to. I did not predict the pandemic, but there are pandemics, as there were 80 years ago, right? But in addition to that, there's always a great war.

And it could be a cyber war, it could be a war with China, but there's no question. We are not done with what we're going to deal with it. In fact, I'm reading right now, you know, one of the ways I stay on the cutting edge is I'm constantly studying history because, you know, people say, you know, it doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes, you know. And this is a book that anybody who really wants to know where the world's going, it's Ray Dalio's newest book. the changing world order, I mean, it's incredible. It's 500 years of history. So my whole thing is leaders anticipate losers react. If you can anticipate what's coming, you can really take advantage. If you wait until it hits you, you're in trouble. So I think we're in a time where it's going to be a better year if you're willing to be better, right? You know, winter can be a beautiful time. As you've heard me

say before, you can freeze the death or you can ski and snowboard and have a great time with your family and build something. And so, then when spring comes, you know, you can really take advantage. But if you look at the world, the most successful businesses started in a winter. 68% of the Fortune 1000 were started in either a recession or a depression. I don't care if you're talking about Disney or Exxon in the Depression or Pizza Hut or FedEx in a recession or Apple in a recession. So this is your time, but you have to get your head straight and you've got to get your energy strong. And that's not easy when most people shoved in their houses and isolated and heard nothing but

fear. So you've got to take back control. Absolutely. One of the things in the sports arena that I learned growing up was if you stay ready, you don't have to get ready. I love that. And you, again, you've worked with, interviewed, your friends with the top peak performers in the world in all industries. You know them all. What are one or two practices besides the one you talked about with your morning routine from peak performers that you've studied or maybe you've implemented that keeps them prepared so they don't have to get ready. They stay ready. Well, I think, unfortunately, the real things are simple.

That's why nobody does them. So if you took it Ray Dalio, or Warren Buffett, I mean, they're readers. I'm a constant reader, but I don't just read anything. I read something that I think can give me an edge of understanding. I mean, look at it, Lewis, you and I both know, most people, Jim Rohn used to say, my teacher used to say most people major in minor things. You know, they know more about some actresses' personal life than they know about their own physical body or their vitality or their energy or their emotion or their business or their career. And so what matters?

A few subjects, your body, because your energy matters. That energy is low. Everything I just said is worthless to you. Because you're just going to go, he's talking too fast and there's a lot going on and, yeah, well, hopefully the future will be better. Because when you're low energy, you don't use your full intelligence or ability. And most of us have not moved so much because of the environment of COVID where everybody was pretty much locked down and let you live like I did in Florida. The point of the matter is most people, that energy has been lower. So you need energy.

You need emotion. If you don't know how to master your emotion, emotions start wars. Emotion creates peace. Emotion gets you laid. Emotion gets your children. Emotion is what can make that business work or fail. And most people don't know how to direct their own emotions. What's another lesson?

You've got to look at your own financial work. If you don't master it, it's going to create enormous stress. Your relationships are everything, as we've already said. Your business or your career, or hopefully it's your mission. And then there's the spiritual side of life. So you can take a half-ness in areas and go, let me find whose genius in this area and let me go learn from them. Let me go read.

Let me listen to podcasts. Let me be conscious about feeding my brain things they're going to give me not only inspiration, but insight and skill and tools. And everyone I know who is not only successful, but is able to contribute back to society, it has a hunger to constantly improve at least one area of those six areas their life, and the most happy are the ones that hit in multiple areas. And that's why, like one of the reasons I wrote Life Force,

richest man in the graveyard is not your goal. You know, it's like there's an old phrase that says, you know, a person who's healthy has a million dreams, a person's not healthy as one, you know. So I wanted to give people the cutting edge in that area. because it's such a critical area. Of all these different areas of life, mastering emotions, financial world relationships, what do you think is the root of people lacking

what they really want in all those areas? Is it the confidence? Is it the skill set? What else do they, you know, what is the root cause of holding them back from really growing in all those areas? I think it's a couple things. One is the biggest problem people have

is they think they're not supposed to have any. And problems are, the fuel for growth, right? And so it's like, if you don't have any problems, you're either a liar or you might call them challenges. It feels better. I understand that. But, you know, anybody doesn't have problems. He's either totally asleep at the wheel or they don't have much of any kind of a life. No, no responsibility, nothing they're building. So I think the first thing is this misnomer that if I have a problem, there's something wrong with me or my life. And I think the second one is this delusion we've sold people on that getting what you want is going to make you happy. You know, you could call success getting what you want. I don't define it that way, but that's how most people do. But then there's fulfillment. And fulfillment is living what you're made for. It's like, I think the biggest challenge people have,

and the reason they're not able to respond to challenges, they're just thinking about themselves, and it's not that hard to meet your own needs. And it's nobody's fault. I mean, these little things in our pocket, these little mini computers we used to call phones, I mean, they're constantly conditioning you to instantly get what you

And that's not how human relationship works, and it sure's hell not how you build a business, right? It's not a straight line. If you go to nature, you will not see a straight line unless a human built it. Because everything grows a little up and down, like a stock, like anything else. But if it really grows, it keeps growing. But it's a winding process. And so I think the problem is that people don't have something that they're wanting to serve more than themselves. That's where my energy comes up.

I don't have to working a day of my life. Why the hell do I do all this crazy stuff? I got 105 companies now and I got all these different industries because it's so much more interesting to be in the game of life and keep growing and expanding and being challenged. That's what makes you feel alive. And do all, are there problems with 105 companies, I can promise you. But if I thought my life was supposed to be problem-free,

I would be really stressed out. And if I was just doing it for me, I would have stopped a long time ago. It's like, I know you've asked me a lot of times about confidence. You just mentioned it again. Like, is there a lack of confidence? No, it's a lack of mission, right? Because what happens is when you have something you want to serve, if it's your child and everything's on the line,

you won't come up with answers. You'll never come up with it for yourself, right? So it's like having that sense of mission. And then I think the next problem is that people think they have to know how. I call it the tyranny of how. Like, you get all excited, I'm going to do this. And then your brain goes, I've never done it before. Oh, my God, what did I say?

I don't know how to do. this and they tend to focus on how to do it. And when you start with how, you're screwed. Like, Martin Luther King had no idea how when he did his I Have a Dream speech. In fact, his wife was the one that pushed him because he was uncertain, right? You know the real history, it's pretty interesting. But the bottom line is he gets up there and he gives his vision of how it can be done. He talked about what needs to happen and why. If you can figure out what you want and why you want it and you get strong enough reasons,

reasons that'll drive you late at night. It'll get you up early in the morning. And the reasons are different. Some people do it for nitty-gritty reasons. Jim Rohn used to say because some guy told him he borrowed money from this finance company. I forget the name of HFC finance, whatever it was. And, you know, he hadn't been back since he borrowed the money. So they're calling him in those days they could harass you in ways they can't today, right?

They call him, show up and embarrass him in front of his neighbors. And so Jim Rohn, his first real chunk of money he told me he made because he's like, Like, he set this goal. It was his nitty-gritty reason. His reason to get rich was we could go down and pay this thing off. And he said, he went to the bank and got it all in cash and in small bills. And he bolted into this little HFC finance place. And the guy who borrowed the money was the fourth best back.

And he said, I walked up there. I opened up this brief. And I dumped all the money, all over his desk, and small bills. And I said, count it. It's all there. I will never be back. He said, he was startled because I hadn't been there since I borrowed the money, right? but he did it for

some people do it for their kid some people will do it like we'll almost all do it for something more than ourselves some people do it because they like winning right I know that about you right it's like I like winning I like being the best of what I do so I'm not going to settle for less than that

why would I right so you got to find your reasons but if you know what you want and you get a big enough why now you'll figure out how to do it but if you start with how you know the small brain the fear brain and goes, oh, shit, I don't know what they do, don't know where to go. I don't know what to do 90% of time either.

I know what and why, and then I try something. It doesn't work. I try something else. Now I speed it up by learning from the best. So that's why, you know, Money Master the game is a perfect example. My companies, you know, at the time were $100 million companies. I had one $500 million company. Now we're doing $7 billion.

I took what I learned from these guys. I applied it not only in my investing, I applied it to my own businesses. why do I reinvent the wheel when I just learn from the best on earth? I mean, somebody who's that good can tell you that little two millimeter thing that changes everything. So my life is really about learn from the best,

but I don't start with the how. I start with the what and the why. And I think that's the mistake most people make. And then how do you get confident? You do stuff. I mean, like, I'll give an example. Speaking. You know, it's supposedly outside of falling

like the second biggest fear. People have public speaking. And, you know, you've trained yourself So you don't feel that challenge. But I don't feel that challenge. I've done it a million times. But I didn't feel it early on. And the reason was I tried to explain to people.

I'm not getting up thinking about how I'm doing. If I did, I'd probably be a horrible critic of myself because I can be brutal in those ways. I'm focused on how do I serve them? What do they need? What do they want? How can I serve? And when you're focused on others

and how to serve them, there's no lack of confidence in you because if it's not working, you just change your approach because it's all about serving. People that are scared to speak or thinking constantly, how am I doing? Am I good enough?

Am I strong enough? You'll never get confidence. Confidence comes from doing something so much. Confidence is tying your shoes. Right? Confidence, Michael Jordan, making a thousand shots

before you take a break every single day, six days a week. So you look at Jordan or you look at, you know, LeBron, or you look at anybody who's the best of the world

of what they do, and you go, aren't they lucky? But if you actually study them, You'll see they're doing things. They're practicing in private things that make them certain in public and they get rewarded for what they do in public. Yeah.

And you've got to do the same. It's interesting because public speaking was probably my most terrifying thing. I wasn't even able to speak in front of like five people without stuttering and just kind of forgetting what I wanted to say. I couldn't get my message across. So I took a year of public speaking class with Toastmasters just to get reps in a group of people that are, you know, are going to give you positive feedback. and in a safe environment

so I could just get in front of a room, practice a five-minute speech, and know that I'm going to make mistakes. It's interesting what you said is 100% true about thinking about serving others because for, I think it was probably seven years I was speaking on stages and I would still get nervous like a day or two before.

It wasn't as bad as the first two years where it was like a week before. Now it was only like a day or two. And I called my coach at the time, his name's Chris Lee, and I said, I don't know why. I've been doing this for long enough now. Shouldn't I be not afraid anymore?

And he said, you're thinking about messing up, missing the joke, forgetting what you're going to say in the first line, forgetting, you're thinking about how you're looking as opposed to serving people. And he said exactly what you just said. He's like, when you just know you're going to mess up, it's not going to be perfect, you're going to forget that line that you really wanted to say, but just put all the energy on the audience, everything starts to change. And so your message speaks to me because I'm an example of that. And I really shifted because obviously you kick ass in that area now but think about that

you just gave people the truth right how do you build confidence as action the biggest mistake people think they're supposed to walk out and be good at it and if they're not

because you know they don't want any part of it I don't look good not be good because we live in this social media world where they compare themselves to people that are bullshit

you know I got a friend that owns a gym and we laugh about this all the time he says Tony at least two or three times first time I told me I couldn't believe it but I saw it happen one time I went to go

him up, we were going to lunch. And he goes, look at this. And these people would come out, a woman or a man, they both do it, and lay out all this stuff, take a million pictures himself, and then leave. They didn't do any workout whatsoever. That's the bullshit social media when filters on pictures. And so people compare themselves to, not other humans, they compare to people other's bullshit story. And that's why so many people get depressed when they, you know, I'm sure you've seen the studies, the more time people spend on social media, usually the greater levels of frustration and anger and certainly depression for a lot of people have because you're comparing a world that doesn't matter. Plus, you're being reinforced

by these algorithms in ways that go beyond your conscious awareness. What happens when we don't lean into our fears? Or we just allow our fears to stay inside of us, our insecurities to stay inside of us for years or decades, and we never actually learn to act on them and improve them, what happens to us if we just allow these fears to hold us back? Well, what happens to a muscle if you don't use it? We say you lose it, you don't actually lose it, but it gets weaker and weaker, as you well know, right? And what happens the minute you start making demands on it, especially if you haven't

made demands in a while, it doesn't take much to see real muscle growth, right? And so it's like if you constantly live in fear, your world gets smaller and smaller and it tends to get more fearful. Like, who's more fearful? Someone has broken 10 bones in their body and healed them as a kid, or someone never broke a bone. You know the answer is. The kids that are overprotected are fearful all the time. But if you've gone out in the street and, you know, you've gotten in a fight and, you know, you busted your arm or your hand or finger or you played football or whatever the hell it is or boxed or something, it's like, now it's like, I'm not afraid of that crap because you've lived it.

And there's no substitute. I always tell people a belief is a poor substitute for an experience. You think you know what China is, but I take you to China. You have a little different experience. And so almost everything I do is give someone an experience. That's the reason, you know, I did the firewall. I still do, but it did for so many years. I did before that, I used to do skydiving,

but it's hard to get 15,000 people above the sky in New York in the middle of the night. So I'd come up with other tools, but the firewalk was, again, giving you an experience of something that seemed difficult or impossible, and then you get yourself to do it, and your brain goes, wait a second. If I could do that, what else can I get myself to do? That psychological shift is the most important shift that people can make. It's a shift in your identity.

Why is identity so important for us to shape a positive, powerful identity? Well, first of all, so everybody understands what I mean by identity is we all have a way of identifying ourselves. We have a way of labeling ourselves. So most of us came up with our labels based on how we behaved. But really smart people can do stupid things. Really nice people can be mean. mean people can be nice.

And so if you judge yourself too soon, and most people's identity, their labels for themselves, who they think they are, has been based on their past and often many years ago. And so they don't update it. So the metaphor I'd give for identity is like, it's your comfort zone. It's not your goals. So if you, like, if you took a temperature in the room and it said, 68 degrees is my comfort zone, physically, emotionally, financially. I want more in my relationship.

I want more physically energy-wise. I want more financially in my career. But this is what I'm used to. And so what happens? People stay in their comfort zone for the most part. And then let's say something happens and you dip. You're a 68 degreeer. That's your mentality.

And you drop down to 62, 61, 60, somewhere around 60 or 59, the heaters kick on and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You're a 68 degreeer. What the hell are you doing? We've all experienced that. All of a sudden you go, I'm not going to live like this anymore. I'm not going to be in this relationship. I'm not going to be fat like this.

Boom. And you get this drive and you start. to change. But what most people don't understand is it happens on the upper end too. Meaning, let's say you got momentum. You start crushing you. You start doing even better than you think. You go from 68 to 78 to 8. You're in 98 degrees, financially, emotionally, spiritually, whatever the metaphor is. And then what happens? You're going to say, hey, hey, hey, your brain goes, who the hell do you think you are? You're not a 98 degree here, right? Get back to 68. And if nothing else, the heater stop, you lose your drive, and that'll drift you back. And not enough. The air conditioner,

kick on, you start to kind of sabotage yourself to you get back to your comfort zone. So unless you expand your identity, change is temperate. It's like when someone says to me, I've stopped smoking, it's been eight days. And I go, why are you counting? And I say, why are you counting? So you can tell people how long you lasted this time? Like if I went to somebody and I said to you, hey, you know, Lewis, you want a cigarette? You're not going to say, what brand is it?

You go, no. I'm not a smoker. Notice how people are. I'm not one of those. That's not my identity. Identity is the strongest force in the human personality. If you look Lance Armstrong who has a mixed identity now in the culture, this is a guy that had to win and found a way to win.

So when he was told he had cancer in his lungs, in his brain, and in his testicles, and he rides a bike, and he's going to die. His answer was, no, I'm a champion. I find the way. I will find the answer. And he did. Now, unfortunately, he bent the rules. around the sport, and it kind of ruined his reputation, obviously, but that mentality, his identity

is why he survived. Other people told they have cancer, and they're like, it's over, they give up, they start arranging their affairs. And so that psychological difference is the number one thing I work with people on, because unless you expand your identity, you're going to basically keep where you are. You might improve a little or not. You might go up and down a bit, but you're going to stay within a realm. If you're going to have an explosive breakthrough to another level, physically, mentally, financially, spiritually, then we got to not only give you the tools, we got to shift that internal sense of who you really are and have you find that you are more than anything that's ever happened to you, that you can handle whatever shows up,

even if it's incredibly scary or uncomfortable. One of the biggest challenge I see a lot of people having is the identity when they start to have some success. They expand, they get to, you know, 80, 85, 90, 100 degrees and start to really grow and expand. What would you say is one of the main factors to help people to, you know, to continue to break through to a higher degree as opposed to going back into the comfort zone. Is it a habit?

Is it a mindset? Is it a belief? Is it environment? You know, what are those things would you say or a couple of things to help you continue and not fall back down? It's, I'm sorry to be a broker, but it's just the truth. It's a purpose larger than yourself that keeps you going.

If it's only to meet your own needs, you will drop back into your comfort zone. I've spent most of my life as a vagabond, because I travel all over the earth. So, in most years, I travel to, you know, 115 cities. And as you know, most of my seminars are multi-day seminars. And I go to 12 to 16 countries, you know, like Australia three times. And so all of a sudden, COVID hits.

And I had to adapt. And I found this way to adapt. And now I'm just 10 times a lot of it. I mean, my largest seminar is now 900,000 people versus 15,000. I was trying to, I did one football stadium in 2019 with 38,000 people, 40,000 people. it was incredible. Now that's a tiny seminar, you know, because I couldn't put 900,000 people in any stadium, right?

So all this good comes from that adaptation, right, figuring out what to do. But I think the other part of it is, you know, during that same time, when the great gifts was I could find a way to be home and still touch people's life so deeply and do it in a way that was impactful. I could see it and feel it and in their home. I could see their children. I mean, it's been amazing.

And now I do both. I do hybrid. I got 1,000 people in front of me and 100. 97 countries all around me. I just want to acknowledge you for constantly pushing the thermometer to the next level in your own life and just being on a mission to be in service of so many people to help us in all these different areas of our life. It's really inspiring.

And I'm just grateful for all the work that you do. And again, the model you're creating for so many of us. Thank you, buddy. I'm very excited about this. I believe it's a five-day challenge, the breakthrough challenge. Yeah. Which, you know, anytime you do anything for free, it's like people should be paying tens of thousands of dollars for this because they get so much value from you. You're there consistently showing up, giving your passion, giving your energy and wisdom, you know, over four decades of wisdom from learning and applying this and getting amazing results and, you know, learning from all your mistakes that you've made as well that you've overcome.

And this breakthrough challenge is really going to help people take control back of their lives and develop a stronger mind. to get through the second half of winter, because I'm sure it's going to be some, maybe some moments of ups and then some deeper downs and ups and downs throughout the way. So what can we expect with this challenge? How can we get signed up for it right now to make sure we don't miss out at all? Let me tell you why I create it. And I'll tell you real quick how you can do it. It's free.

There's no cost to it whatsoever. But what I want to mention, you just said something really important. I want to make sure people don't leave without. Winter doesn't mean every night, every day is dark and rainy or snowy and horrible. there's days that look like summer and then a winter. If you live in Florida, winter's a nice place, right? So in winter, I don't want to make people feel like it's all going to be horrible. It just means that the overall theme is more challenging than not.

And that's where we're going to probably be. And we're going to face some bigger challenges going forward, and it's going to make us grow. And then that'll set us up for a beautiful springtime where things are much easier and more fun for a while until you get the hot summer and then you go to fall. It's the cycle of life. But this all started in 2020,

Because before I figured out how to build these events where they could be done in people's homes and have a real transformational experience, like people are home and I was hearing about all the suicides and the kids stuck at home and what was happening to the parents and, you know, drug abuse going through the roof, all the things that we now know, they were happening then already. But I'm connected to it because I know so many people. And so I was like, I got to do something. So I said, you know what, I'm just going to do a one day free seminar, like three, four hours, total immersion and how people like get a new perspective. When you're in your house day after day, you lose perspective, you lose momentum, you lose energy. And I was like, that's bullshit. Everything I do is, you know, by total immersion. So, like, if you learn a language a little bit at a time, high school and college, a few years later, you can't even speak the language. But if I said to you, I'm going to drop you in Rome for the next 12 weeks, and I'm going to pick you up and you have no teacher, 12 weeks later, you're going to be speaking Italian really well. Because that's how the brain works with immersion. And that's why I do seminars in immersion.

So I say, you know what? I'm going to do five days, just 90 minutes a day. Usually goes two to an half hours. I got to be honest, because I get into it, and I really want to help people. I'm going to charge them nothing, and I'm going to deliver to them in their homes so that there's no cost, there's no travel, and I can reach them when they need it right now. And we had 430,000 people show up for the first one. It's the biggest event I ever done. And then last year, it looked like things were going to turn, and, you know, people were getting excited, vaccines are going to go.

and I was like, okay, I'll do one more, and let's do it for people so they get momentum to take on this new experience. And we had 800 and something, 35,000 people, 40,000 people attend. So this year looks like I'll have about a million people, and I'm going to do it one final time because I really believe we're turned the corner on COVID like we've talked about. But what it is is five days, and we're going to start with your energy, because without that, like this whole conversation we had is worthless because if you're tired or you're exhausted or you just burn out or you've been through it all, your brain just doesn't function the right way. So the first day is really about how we shift that energy in you.

And then the next day's about your emotions, the next day's relationship, and the next thing's going to be your finance, the next day's going to be your career. And in five days, you get this massive burst of momentum and a whole new perspective and you create a plan for your year, not some New Year's resolution that six weeks later you're doing nothing towards. And then you're part of our community. And I'll give you a fun story. I give you a hundred stories. But this one's really fresh for me because I just saw this man.

His name's Matt Intinsey. Matt was in a car accident, I believe it was a car accident, and he had an injury, a brain injury. He was put in bed. He was told he couldn't get off oxygen ever. He gained 700 pounds in that bed. He couldn't even get up to go to the bathroom. Oh, my gosh. And this was over seven years.

He's completely isolated, naked in bed for three of those years. And here's the beauty of this challenge. A buddy of his tells him, you've got to do this challenge, you got no excuse, you got nowhere to go. you're in your bed, I'll put this on a big screen in front of you here, we'll put it on a laptop, you got to attend this thing. And Eve thought it was all BS, but his buddy got him, his buddy sat beside him, set it up, made him watch. And the first day he got so excited, I mean, he was so moved that he took this little, like, I don't know, like a railing you'd use to hang curtains, like curtain railing. And he just started doing these little push-up type things in the bed.

Anyway, long story short, in six weeks, he got off the oxygen, which they said he could never do. He stood for the first time. He made it to the bathroom on his own for the first time after eight weeks. Then he started losing weight and feeling stronger. And so finally, I don't know what number he's at, but he lost 258 pounds so far. But I called him up because you know you're part of our community after you do this.

It doesn't end in the five days, and all these people around the world become your friends. And he's getting all the support from people, and he's showing videos of his improvement. So that's how I knew what's going on with him, because I'm tuning in too. So I reached out to him and I said, listen, you lose this much more weight and I will fly you to Palm Beach, Florida, and you come to my live, Unleashed the Power Within Event, the first one we're doing live in two years, and you be my guest, and you walk on the fire.

And he got so excited and he went for it, lost 258 pounds, but then he calls me up and goes, okay, I did what you said, I'm ready to come, I drove a car for the first time, I'm ready to travel for the first time, but he goes, I fell in love and I'm engaged. Can I, can I bring my girl? He said, of course you can. So they just recently came here to Palm Beach. They walked the fire together and Nike's inspiring other people. All this came because of a free challenge because somebody got him in there because there's no reason not to do it. So if you've ever wanted to experience my work, here's your chance. I love it. Tony, thank you again so much for taking the time for being such an incredible teacher to so many of us. And I appreciate you being here.

And Tony, again, thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward.

And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.