Last night I had the opportunity to see Anthony Robbins live in Las Vegas at the Martial Arts Industry Association Supershow. I am not completely new him. The first time I got his tapes (yes, I said tapes), I opened my martial arts school. This was back in 1997. At the time I was a public school teacher in Central New Jersey. The second time I got his product, it was a new course called Get the Edge, and it was on CD’s. At the end of that course I committed to moving to the next level, and left teaching to run my business full time. I do not regret that decision because I have not stopped growing and learning ever since.

Now I saw him live, so what will I commit to do now? To answer that question, let me give you a summary of the key points of his dynamic presentation. Amazingly, I was able to take notes on my Blackberry note pad. If you’ve ever seen him live, you know how difficult this is, because he has you jumping up and down and screaming your head off throughout his program. Anyway, here’s the gist of what I was able to put down.

Taking massive action is no longer enough to be successful. Now, in addition to that, we must become a person of influence. To influence another person, we must already know what influences them. The two things that most influence the way a person behaves are: A. your emotional state (which he got us to rev up to high gear throughout the event), and B. your blueprint (loosely, the way you have been since you were a kid).

To change your emotional state, you must know this rule: Emotion is created by motion. To change your state, you must make a radical change in the way you move your body; and when you can cause yourself to do that, you can change your life. So… to change the way you feel, you have got to change the way you move!

The only reason anybody does anything is to change the way you feel. For example, the success you want, or the things you want to have are not what you really want. What you really want is the way you believe those things will make you feel. Tony suggests that we master our own emotional state, so that we can put ourselves in peak state anytime we want. Then you can go about achieving whatever you want, while you are already in ‘peak state’. So, decide right now that you don’t need an excuse to feel good.

Getting back to influence… to influence somebody, you have to be able to change their state. This made me realize why martial arts training is such a powerful vehicle to change, and self improvement. It definitely changes your state, and gets your body moving in a radically different way than it is used to. Way cool!

Not only that, it changes a person’s focus. It puts them in control. Tony says focus equals feeling. Whatever you focus on, you’re gonna feel, even if it’s a lie. Imagine a friend telling you another friend is spreading rumors about you. You are going to feel something based on that information. Then you come to learn that what the first friend said is not true. Now you will feel something different.

The easiest way to change your focus is to ask new questions. To improve your state, you must improve your focus, and in order to do that, you must ask yourself better questions. So, stop saying, “Why do I suck at everything,” and start asking, “how can I improve myself?”

So, the natural question at this point is, what should I focus on to be successful? The answer: We must condition ourselves to certainty. Stop hesitating, stop doubting, and become certain! The next logical question is, how do I do that? Here are five ways that Tony gave us.

1. The only way to change your life is to raise your standards. In order to raise your standards, you turn your ‘shoulds’ into ‘musts’. Whatever you think you should do, you most likely will not do. Whatever you know you must do, you will do. So turn your ‘shoulds’ into ‘musts’! The difference between a should and a must is a different life. When it is a must, you will find a way. You are a reflection of your musts!
2. You must change your limiting beliefs. You will find whatever you believe. For example, look around right now for everything brown. Find every brown thing you can see in the next 20 seconds or so. Now, how many red things did you see? What? Yes, how many red things did you see? Probably not that many because your mind was focused on brown. Now look for red? See more this time? Thought so.The success cycle works like this: potential leads to action, action leads to results, results lead to belief in our potential, and so on. Our beliefs, or what we are certain of, controls our destiny. We tend to believe the things we say to ourselves over and over again. This will determine how much of our potential we will actually use. Fact: there is a lot more potential than most of us are willing to believe in.
3. Own yourself, and model your behavior after the most successful people in the field you want to be successful in. You can turn years into days like this. This is the best way to accelerate your progress.
4. Create more energy in yourself. Our lives are controlled by one force: decisions. Things will go wrong. When they do, assign them a meaning, and decide what you are going to do next. You can choose what state you want to be in. Choose to be in peak state! Do this through movement, because as we said earlier, motion creates emotion.
5. Always give more than you expect to receive! To live is to give.

There was a tremendous amount more to his seminar. It was supposed to be two hours long, but he gave us three. He said his typical seminar is at least fifty hours long. His level of intensity was amazing, and I tend to believe that he manages to keep it up for the entire time. He told some great stories to exemplify the points he was making. He also had us get up quite often, and do activities through which we would learn what he was teaching. The interactive and responsive nature of his program caused all of us to retain more of what he taught than is typical.

As far as what I will do, now that I have seen him live? The first thing I did was write down my ‘musts’. I have committed to giving an hour a day (on top of my normal schedule) to the attainment of these musts. I will imagine there is a giant water gun aimed at my face, and if I do not do it, I will get super soaked!

Ask yourself a better question. What are your musts? Once you know what they are, you know what to do… Take Massive Action!