Tony Robbins Conference - Unleash the Power Within

In Sydney this Friday 4th March - Monday 7th March and includes the fire walk.

Who is going?

The fire brigade ?

The only thing being unleashed is a stream of BS... oh and of course lots of $$$ from punters wallets.

wayneL said:

The only thing being unleashed is a stream of BS... oh and of course lots of $$$ from punters wallets.

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I'm curious as to why you say so Wayne. Have you seen him live, read a book etc? which has given you this impression. I haven't read any books of his or been to a show etc.

When i read the thread title i was almost inspired to do some pushups.

almost.

Jesuuus Nun grab yaself a six pack of heavy and couple of winnie reds and pace yourself

Lol always a sceptic.

What part of his seminar/teaching in partiular is BS?

Funny how the ones who don't go are the ones who need it the most. Figures

pavilion103 said:

In Sydney this Friday 4th March - Monday 7th March and includes the fire walk.

Who is going?

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The Skeptics Association has arranged the same firewalks which are explainable on scientific grounds. Ask Robbins to walk across a very hot steel plate instead of well-spread smoldering coals..... Make a comparison between the coals and a very hot bitumen road.... I could go on.
May I suggest that you do some research on the critics of Robbins [and many other of his ilk] so that you have all sides of the story before making an informed decision.
Robbins can provide a short-term high for many and learning to read beneath the hype is recommended. Look for the substance to support the promises.
In my view his greatest capacity is to take advantage of people who are vulnerable [please note that I did not say "gullible" as there is a huge difference].
Just my view.

nunthewiser said:

When i read the thread title i was almost inspired to do some pushups.

almost.

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breaker said:

Jesuuus Nun grab yaself a six pack of heavy and couple of winnie reds and pace yourself

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Muschu said:

The Skeptics Association has arranged the same firewalks which are explainable on scientific grounds. Ask Robbins to walk across a very hot steel plate instead of well-spread smoldering coals..... Make a comparison between the coals and a very hot bitumen road.... I could go on.
Just my view.

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Reminds me of when I fire walked in a supposedly psyched state of mind. By the time my turn came around I was feeling normal and remember seeing a few up front come out the other side of the coal bed with coals stuck to their feet and assistants quickly brushed the coals away. I didn't get burned but I believe that is because I walked very quickly.

pavilion103 said:

Lol always a sceptic.

What part of his seminar/teaching in partiular is BS?

Funny how the ones who don't go are the ones who need it the most. Figures

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Ahh the standard knee jerk defense from indoctrinated acolytes. So one cannot succeed without going to Robbins? pffft

There are good points and bad points of his teaching and it all depends what you want from life; what sort of person you want to be and what your priorities are.

I imagine a certain type of person would get a lot out of it, but I have seen lots and lots of friends and acquaintances, charged up by a Robbins Seminar, go out and screw up their lives.

Some make money alright, but lose something else in the process.

Later, when their priorities come back into line they feel a bit foolish.

The psychology is like Amway. (In fact MLM companies like to use Robbins et al)

I am not against self help, in fact I recommend it, but think Robbins style is usually more harmful than helpful in most cases. I prefer gurus that help you find your main priorities and take "massive action" on those.

Pavilion, rather that ridiculous platitudes like the one you've regurgitated above, my main point is that a mass seminar cannot understand what an individual needs. Sometimes Tony Robbins is exactly many people don't need.

My opinion.

wayneL said:

I imagine a certain type of person would get a lot out of it, but I have seen lots and lots of friends and acquaintances, charged up by a Robbins Seminar, go out and screw up their lives.


The psychology is like Amway. (In fact MLM companies like to use Robbins et al)

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I can vouch for that. I went along to a few Amway events many years ago and Robbins was certainly one of their main tools.

...my main point is that a mass seminar cannot understand what an individual needs. Sometimes Tony Robbins is exactly many people don't need.

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That is the bottom line.

Robbins mass motivation is all about moving his or his clients product or service. It has precious little to do with taylored individual self assessement and personal development.

Apart from some tertiary subjects on psychology and what is called Human Resource Management these days, I have participated in an intensive 6 days and 4 nights group course that is nothing like a Robins seminar... it was a small group designed to be no more than 20 odd just large enough to interact in small groups after an individual self assessement questionare provided a basic behavioural and learning style for the facilator to design small group activities to understand other styles... and that was just an introduction.

It took literally years to get a good honest grasp of one's own behavioural and learning styles, let alone trying to understand and manage others. The hardest part is coming to terms of being brutally honest with yourself about your own traits because this is the filter that determines how you see the rest of the world.

From what I saw of Robbins, he provides little of this but much more of the Nike motto... Just Do It. Pretty much conditioning you to believe that if you get excited enough about it, it will work for you. That works ok for a certain personality style for a bit longer that others who may just get committed for long enough to spend a few bucks, until you burn out or eventually realise it's not for you.

Amway had a saying in their sales pitch essentially to cold call as many as you can and invite them along (to the high powered senior members semiars) [sales pitch], some will drop out, but work with [push] those [certain personality type] who stay with you to move them along the chain and use them as an example to revisit and show those who dropped out what can be achieved.

Food for thought: Personal development involves Learning Styles, including Concrete or Reflective, to mention two styles, as well as Behavioural Styles often termed Doer or Analytic to mention only two again. You will learn how people often behave differently in groups to when alone.

In my opinion for personal development you would be better off with a personal or small group/class course or psychology coach... for power sales go with Robins, but be prepared for some backlash from a hard sell approach.

With most things there are good and bad. To get the most out of it you need to focus on the best parts.

For me I love how he talks about pain and pleasure as the primary motivators and how it doesn't take will power to do something but getting enough leverage on yourself (eg a smoker not wanting to smoke anymore rather than forcing himself not to). Also creating positive associations.

Also your state of mind will determine how much of your resources you can optimize at any one time. And how he emphasizes repetition as the mother of skill.

I also like his tips for high energy diets.

None of this is exclusive to TR but great material to use if you look at it objectively and not just whose mouth it comes out of.

pavilion103 said:

With most things there are good and bad. To get the most out of it you need to focus on the best parts.

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Ahhh... that is a good hint that it's not a holistic personal development program... or at least that you are looking to exploit it, not properly understand it.

But, I'm prepared to be corrected if you can explain further.

Also creating positive associations.

Also your state of mind will determine how much of your resources you can optimize at any one time. And how he emphasizes repetition as the mother of skill.

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That should be repetition of a skill... not the art of being skillfull. That's a different dynamic all together.

Repetition is actually an inhibitor to being skillfull, ie dynamic thinking outside the square and keeping ahead of the paradym shift, ie up with the latest skills, technology, profitable business practises etc.

But, repetition is a handy tool for mass marketing/production etc.

I don't look at anything as holistic. I take the parts that resonate with me and discard those that don't. I don't think there will ever be one perfect

I love how John wooden would take his best shooter in practice and say shoot me 400 free throws. When he said that he knew how John said he knows buy he wants to make sure he can do it in the pressure moments of the big games. All the greats trained harder on the basics over and over than anyone else

pavilion103 said:

With most things there are good and bad. To get the most out of it you need to focus on the best parts.

For me I love how he talks about pain and pleasure as the primary motivators and how it doesn't take will power to do something but getting enough leverage on yourself (eg a smoker not wanting to smoke anymore rather than forcing himself not to). Also creating positive associations.

Also your state of mind will determine how much of your resources you can optimize at any one time. And how he emphasizes repetition as the mother of skill.

I also like his tips for high energy diets.

None of this is exclusive to TR but great material to use if you look at it objectively and not just whose mouth it comes out of.

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i haven't been cos i generally refuse to look at self help stuff. (covered this in the psychology thread in "general")

from what you say, that stuff about pleasure and pain is basic psychology, conditioning in fact. Pavlov did it with his dogs.

and incorrect (imo) about the will power. Anything that involves you doing something that you don't want to do involves willpower, unless you love your job SOO much, even just the act of getting up at *time* in the morning just to go to work takes willpower.

Smoking (for smoker) is an enjoyable behaviour, unless you manage to reshape thought around smoking, the only way you will be able to stop is via self-regulation/self control/willpower. The more times you're able to stop the more likely you will continue to abstain... also, what generally happens with 'reformed" smokers is that the enjoyment of cigarettes hasn't decreased at all, what's changed is that either
a/ the smoking as a rewarding behaviour has decreased OR
b/ that the NOT smoking behaviour has become more desirable.

--> check out the Premack Principle for this one....
--> also check out Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for the cognitive restructuring..


what i think about self help, is that the people who benefit are most likely the people who probably could've done it themselves, and the people who don't are the people who went looking for somebody else to blame..



repetition isn't the mother of all skills, perfect repetition is.
anybody can swing a golf club 1000 times.... question is whether you can do it perfectly every time even when you're tired.


what i feel people gain the most (the ones who can't do it alone) they need a large group in order to feel that they have others who are trying to do what they're doing. I mean really people don't HAVE to go to church to listen to sermons, they could technically preach to themselves at home.

... sorry i can never keep posts short ^^"

The reason you get up early in the morning to go to work is because the pain associated with getting fired is more than the pleasure you would get from sleeping in.

Tony Robbins does mention Pavlov. He doesn't claim that it is anything new.

In terms of going with a group I'm not sure it's that important. I wish it was a one on one session. I've read books and listened to programs (including) his on my own without even discussing it with others. I'm going because he is there.

pavilion103 said:

The reason you get up early in the morning to go to work is because the pain associated with getting fired is more than the pleasure you would get from sleeping in.

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silly me sorry it wouldn't be considered Pavlovian, it's more operant conditioning so Skinner and his pigeons..

it's not necessarily about pleasure and pain... in those words i mean. People don't *necessarily* get out of bed because they're avoiding the pain of getting fired (negative reinforcement) work is a secondary reinforcer. People don't go to work for the work, they go for the money (enjoyment is irrelevent), which in itself is without value, but money allows access to things that you DO enjoy (eating, playing etc.). [Premack principle] The pleasure and pain theory is only retrospective, and while you can explain a person's behaviour after the fact using it, you aren't really able to predict behaviour with it.

for instance guy A starts going to the gym, does he end up achieving his fitness goals?
the problem with the pleasure pain "hypothesis" i'll call it, is that it predicts that both things can happen and as such it doesn't really work (irrefutable)
a/ A could see the pleasure of a new body over the pain of having to go to the gym and become mr muscle
or
B/ A feels that leading the lazy lifestyle is more pleasureable than the pain of going to the gym.
both follow from TR's P P "motivator" idea. (and really in that sense he's good at marketing because he can't be proven wrong) but in the psychological realm it doesn't really qualify because it is inconsistent and relies on cognition and retrospect interpretation.

as for the group thing i'm not saying you personally go for the group just that it is a possible explanation.

for the record, not that it matters but I have nothing against you going to his seminars of course, but just wanted to call attention to certain things which i feel are a bit..... misleading to say the least.....

I think anyone who goes to these seminars, who is a member of ASF, and can access the knowledge of stocks and investment advice available, and who has read all the comments from senior members about this turkey, ...............................................................................

Is a complete and utter muppet.

gg

Garpal Gumnut said:

I think anyone who goes to these seminars, who is a member of ASF, and can access the knowledge of stocks and investment advice available, and who has read all the comments from senior members about this turkey, ...............................................................................

Is a complete and utter muppet.

gg

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GG

I have a new mentor, Robbins is so 1990's

http://twitter.com/#!/charliesheen/status/43432688190898176

S