Anthony Robbins: guru or what?

[trendie]

I like to catch up on new ideas, and new ways to think, and just watched an Anthony Robbins seminar on youtube.

Anthony Robbins - Business Mastery #1 Skill Your Business Needs to Survive - YouTube

He seems to be highly regarded, giving seminars on business improvements etc.
But, I dont get it. The stuff he comes out with seems to be "stating the bleedin' obvious".
He goes on and on about "anticipating the future", but surely thats contradictory.
He says stuff about the successful products are ones that are better marketed, not the better products. Yeah, I know.

Am I missing something?
Am I missing this the point of this business guru?
Or, is it mostly (expensive) bull?

 

[Trader333]

I know someone who went to one of his seminars around 5 years ago in London. I had arranged to pick him up after and bring him home and when I arrived I asked him about it. He looked me straight in the eye and told me is was the biggest life changing event he had ever experienced.

5 years later his life is no different in any way to what it had been before the seminar and that says it all to me.

 

[R.Charnock]

Or what.

 

[markmc27]

He is great if you want a woman and are a bit critical ,worked wonders for shallow Hal

 

[darktone]

I like to catch up on new ideas, and new ways to think, and just watched an Anthony Robbins seminar on youtube.

Anthony Robbins - Business Mastery #1 Skill Your Business Needs to Survive - YouTube

He seems to be highly regarded, giving seminars on business improvements etc.
But, I dont get it. The stuff he comes out with seems to be "stating the bleedin' obvious".
He goes on and on about "anticipating the future", but surely thats contradictory.
He says stuff about the successful products are ones that are better marketed, not the better products. Yeah, I know.

Am I missing something?
Am I missing this the point of this business guru?
Or, is it mostly (expensive) bull?

Ive seen some of his stuff on Ytube before etc. Its ok. I took away in general a way of thinking / seeing things for what they really are. He talks about setting goals and taking action to reach them etc.
Whats obvious to you might not be to someone else eh. Would also say that knowing something is pretty useless unless you have the (insert you best terms here) to make use of it and get results. The diet industry would be a good example.
Forgot to say i saw something he did about the financial crisis. About debt etc. Was misleading / poorly understood imo.

 

[darktone]

I know someone who went to one of his seminars around 5 years ago in London. I had arranged to pick him up after and bring him home after and when I arrived and asked him about it. He looked me straight in the eye and told me is was the biggest life changing event he had ever experienced.

5 years later his life is no different in any way to what it had been before the seminar and that says it all to me.

Says it all? In what way?.. It could be that AR is a nonsense or your friend has no real desire to change his life. Or something ive missed.

 

[trendie]

Ive seen some of his stuff on Ytube before etc. Its ok. I took away in general a way of thinking / seeing things for what they really are. He talks about setting goals and taking action to reach them etc.
Whats obvious to you might not be to someone else eh. Would also say that knowing something is pretty useless unless you have the (insert you best terms here) to make use of it and get results. The diet industry would be a good example.
Forgot to say i saw something he did about the financial crisis. About debt etc. Was misleading / poorly understood imo.

I get the idea that info is useless, unless acted upon.
I agree that diets et al are a good example. But here, success may be due to having an external observer monitoring you. Or a group, where you become responsible to the group. That type of thing.
In the youtube clip I posted, he mentioned that he has a million$ refund option.
If anyone wants to call in the refund, he will give it. He says only 2 people in 3 years have done so.
However, he then says he was happy to give the million$ back, because he didnt want to "work with these stupid idiots anyway", or words to that effect.

Now, thats blaming the other people, rather then himself. That I find objectonable. The idea that the great AR is always right, and if anyone fails, its their fault, not ARs.
I am sure if a mentor trader offered training at a price, then blamed the trader rather than the rules for losing a shedload of money, we would tear him to pieces.

I think I might watch a couple more examples, but initial impressions are not good, considering his reputation.

 

[the hare]

He does have a couple of books that might be worth reading, and available for just a few euros.

Most of his stuff has been stolen from basic NLP principles, and there's very little original thinking, but he packages it in a way that's appealing to his target audience, and he does OK punting this stuff out.

On reflection, his books are OK, I'd probably even recommend them

 

[NVP]

ive worked with him and his courses in the past when I was on an American company payroll .......very american rags to riches story with high adrenaline motivated firewalking training rah rah

useful if you are having to go over the top and win at all costs in a situation

I prefer a more reflective approach these days to life and issues

N

 

[darktone]

I get the idea that info is useless, unless acted upon.
I agree that diets et al are a good example. But here, success may be due to having an external observer monitoring you. Or a group, where you become responsible to the group. That type of thing.
In the youtube clip I posted, he mentioned that he has a million$ refund option.
If anyone wants to call in the refund, he will give it. He says only 2 people in 3 years have done so.
However, he then says he was happy to give the million$ back, because he didnt want to "work with these stupid idiots anyway", or words to that effect.

Now, thats blaming the other people, rather then himself. That I find objectonable. The idea that the great AR is always right, and if anyone fails, its their fault, not ARs.
I am sure if a mentor trader offered training at a price, then blamed the trader rather than the rules for losing a shedload of money, we would tear him to pieces.

I think I might watch a couple more examples, but initial impressions are not good, considering his reputation.

Fair points. I havent watched this particular video tbh so cant really comment.
I dont believe there are any experts, let alone gurus, but i do like some of his lines of thinking.

 

[Trader333]

Says it all? In what way?

That it made no difference and his story is a familiar one for most of those who attend these types of event. They come back convinced their lives are going to change and rarely is it ever the case that they do.

 

[wackypete2]

Says it all? In what way?.. It could be that AR is a nonsense or your friend has no real desire to change his life. Or something ive missed.

Just a thought here, but even if the friend had no real desire to change his life afterwards then the motivational speech didn't work.

Peter

 

[darktone]

Just a thought here, but even if the friend had no real desire to change his life afterwards then the motivational speech didn't work.

Peter

That it made no difference and his story is a familiar one for most of those who attend these types of event. They come back convinced their lives are going to change and rarely is it ever the case that they do.

Fair doos guys. Its a funny one gunning for what we want, or at least what we think we want. Causes of motivation.
I wonder how the next 5 years would have turned out for him if hed been taken out back, had a gun jammed up his nose and was put under no illusion that if he hadnt improved his lot 5 fold in the next 5 years, hed be eating a bullet! Fight club style.
Stick or carrot. I find it fascinating tbh.

 

[Trader333]

Fair doos guys. Its a funny one gunning for what we want, or at least what we think we want. Causes of motivation.
I wonder how the next 5 years would have turned out for him if hed been taken out back, had a gun jammed up his nose and was put under no illusion that if he hadnt improved his lot 5 fold in the next 5 years, hed be eating a bullet! Fight club style.
Stick or carrot. I find it fascinating tbh.

An interesting point as iirc what AR and others do is to suggest visualizing exactly the sort of scenario you have suggested. ie visualize as much pain as possible as the consequence of not changing to reach your goals. Maybe we just have a lot more masochists around which is why there is such a low success record after attending these types of event.

 

[Shakone]

Regarding carrots and sticks and what motivates us, there is an interesting TED talk here (you may be surprised):

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation | Video on TED.com

Trendie if you don't already look at TED, there are some interesting and different (to the norm) views on there.

 

[trendie]

Regarding carrots and sticks and what motivates us, there is an interesting TED talk here (you may be surprised):

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation | Video on TED.com

Trendie if you don't already look at TED, there are some interesting and different (to the norm) views on there.

Im a massive fan of TEDTalks, and yes, have seen the Dan Pink one.

 

[trendie]

An interesting point as iirc what AR and others do is to suggest visualizing exactly the sort of scenario you have suggested. ie visualize as much pain as possible as the consequence of not changing to reach your goals. Maybe we just have a lot more masochists around which is why there is such a low success record after attending these types of event.

I think the successes come about because you have to buy into it.
At that point, much like weightwatchers, you then become responsible to a group, or you are given a set routine, that you follow with others.

Very few I suspect can make such changes by themselves.
Its having set goals, and having someone monitor you, and check up on you.

Thats how, I believe, life coaching works. Setting out plans, and then meeting up with some referee type person, to ensure you are following the plan.

 

[Shakone]

For me, it comes down to your expectation. The person Trader333 mentioned came out of the seminar motivated. For whatever reason, they lost that motivation and continued on with their life. But at least for a while they were enthusiastic about change. So I guess the speaker succeeded in a way.

It's ludicrous to assume that you can go to a 1 hour seminar and it will change the habits of a lifetime. It might be the final piece in a puzzle for you, it might give you a new thought, that you then go on to work with and achieve, but you can't expect much from a talk.

There are no posts on this site that can make you a successful trader. But when you've worked on it for long enough, there are posts that make sense to you, and posts that lead you on in the right direction. You still have to do all the walking yourself though.

 

[Lord Flasheart]

IMHO the change has to come from within and often by yourself. I used to go on trading courses(mainly free) and come away thinking id cracked it. So much similarity with AR and the likes. I also have friends like t333 who had exactly the same experience. Good thread