April 2016 interview on EO Fire with John Lee Dumas
Tony Robbins is the #1 life and business strategist in our nation. Author of 5 international best selling books, over 4 million people have attended his live seminars and more than 50 million people have been empowered by his audio and video life training programs. In addition to the #1 program of all time for personal and professional development, his current book Money: Master the Game is a NY Times bestseller.
So I was really interested in hearing Tony Robbins’ interview on EOFire, John Lee Dumas’ phenomenal podcast about entrepreneurship. Tony shares plenty of great advice for budding entrepreneurs, from thinking about cash flow demands and saving for slow times to leveraging the financial expertise of Chief Financial Officers for strategic growth. What struck me even more was how much time in the interview that Tony spent talking about his commitment to giving back.
He’s got a huge track record of making an impact as a philanthropist. His backstory is that at 11, his family had no money or food for Thanksgiving and a stranger came to their door with food. His father was going to refuse but took the food and left his family shortly thereafter.
At 17 he started providing meals and that grew to 100,000, then 1,000,000, then 2,000,000, then doubled again to 4,000,000 meals for 12 years through his foundation. He donated his $5,000,000 book advance on Money: Master The Game to Feeding America, then when he found out how many people they’d feed with that amount, wrote an even bigger check himself. Having donated over 101 million meals a year for the last two years, he now has plans for 1 Billion meals for 10 years.
He also involved in providing fresh water in India, donating to supply 100,000 people per day with plans to grow that to 1,000,000 people per day. I had no idea how much he supports different charities. I see his commitment to helping others in need as a reflection of his philosophy on life, not a business tactic.
Tony said in this interview, “The only thing that’s lasting is growth and contribution” Having very little exposure to his books, tapes or seminars, I really didn’t know much about him besides the fact that he’s a hugely successful motivational speaker. How he’s gotten to this point in his life is the most impressive part for me. I took the time and effort to transcribe a portion of his interview. It was worth it:
22.35: “If you ask me ‘What does it take to be happy?’, it’s one word: progress. Progress equals happiness. If you’re not even where you want to be but you’re making progress in your business, you’re making progress in your body, you’re making progress in your relationship, you’re going to feel alive.
“And when you achieve a goal, you know, goals only feel good for how long. I don’t give a **** what the goal is. The biggest goal of your life, you achieve it and after a while, ‘is this all there is?’ Because we’re not designed just to get a goal, it’s who we become that makes us really happy or really sad. So we’ve gotta grow, that’s what makes us feel alive, and when we grow we feel we have something to give. And giving is what makes people feel like they have a meaningful life.
“You know, nobody wants to be a taker. You may think so on the surface but anybody who takes, it’s a pretty empty feeling. When we feel like our life has meaning beyond ourselves, when we feel like we’re here giving more than we’re taking, that’s when someone starts to prosper not only financially, but emotionally and spiritually.
“I think the game of life comes down to understanding it’s not about me, it’s about we. The secret to living is giving, as corny as that sounds. But it’s real.”
Tony Robbins, thank you for giving back and making a difference in people’s lives.
To listen to Tony Robbins’ interview on EOFire with John Lee Dumas:
http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/3/e/5/3e550092bfa6906a/Tony_Robbins_2.mp3?c_id=11421270&expiration=1466263626&hwt=36dac4ae4aa1b44a32fc0370ba7b0e7a
(22.35 is the start of an incredible minute that I transcribed myself, it was so powerful)
To receive a free copy of Tony Robbin’s book Money: Master The Game:
https://moneymasterthegame.com
