Why we do what we do | Tony Robbins 2020 | TED Talks

I have to tell you I'm both challenged

and excited my excitement is I get a

chance to give something back my

challenge is the shortest seminar I

usually do is 50 hours I'm not

exaggerating I do weekend's and what I

do ready but more than not obviously

coach people but I'm into immersion

because how'd you learn language you

didn't learn it by just learning

principles you got in it and you did it

so often that it became real and the

bottom line of why I'm here besides

being crazy mofo is that I'm really in a

position I'm not here to motivate you

obviously you don't need that and a lot

of times that's what people think I do

and it's the furthest thing from it what

happens though is people say to me oh I

don't need any motivation and I saw well

that's interesting that's not what I do

I'm the Y guy I don't know why you do

what you do what is your motive for

action what is it that drives you in

your life today not ten years ago are

you running the same pattern because I

believe that the invisible force of

internal Drive activate is the most

important thing in the world I'm here

because I believe emotion is the force

of life all of us here have great minds

you know most of us here at great minds

hey I don't know if I'm in the category

but we all know how to think and with

our minds we can rationalize anything we

can make anything happen we can I agree

with what was described a few days ago

but this idea that people work in their

self-interest but we all know that

that's at times you don't work

in your self-interest all the time

because when emotion comes into it the

wiring changes in the way it functions

and so it's wonderful for us to think

intellectually about how the life of the

world is and especially those who are

very smart we can play this game in our

head but I really want to know what's

driving you and what I'd like to maybe

invite you to do by the end of this talk

is explore where you are today for two

reasons one so that you can contribute

more and two so that hopefully we can

not just understand other people more

but maybe appreciate them more and

create the kinds of connections that can

stop some of the challenges that we face

in our society today they're only going

to get magnified by the very technology

that's connecting us because it's making

us intersect in that intersection

doesn't always create the

you of everybody now understands

everybody and everybody appreciates

everybody so I've had obsession

basically for 30 years and that

obsession has been what makes the

difference in the quality of people's

lives what makes the difference in their

performance because that's what I got

hired to do I got to produce the result

now that's what I've done for 30 years I

get the phone call when the athlete is

burning down on national television and

they were ahead by five strokes and now

they can't get back on the course and I

got to do something right now I get the

result of nothing matters I get the

phone call when the child is going to

commit suicide and I go do something

right now and in 29 years I'm very

grateful to tell you I've never lost one

in 29 years it doesn't mean I won't

someday but I've done it and the reason

is an understanding of these human needs

that I want to talk to you about so when

I get those calls about performance

that's one thing like how do you make a

change but also I'm looking to see what

is it that's shaping that person's

ability to contribute to do something

beyond themselves so maybe the real

question is you know I look at life and

say there's two master lessons one is

there's the science of achievement which

almost never in this room is mastered to

an amazing stat that's how do you take

the invisible and make it visible right

how you take what you're dreaming out

and make it happen whether it be your

business your contribution society money

whatever it is for you your body your

family but the other lesson of life that

is rarely mastered is the art of

fulfillment because science is easy

right we know the rules you write the

code you follow the and you get the

result once you know the game you just

you know you up the ante don't you but

when it comes to fulfillment that's an

art and the reason is it's about

appreciation and it's about contribution

you can only feel so much by yourself so

I've had an interesting laboratory try

to answer the question of the real

question which is what's the difference

in somebody's life if you look at

somebody like those people that you've

given everything to like all the

resources they say they need you give

them not a $100 computer you give them

the best computer you give them love you

gave him joy you were there to comfort

them and those people very often and you

know some of them I'm sure and that the

rest of their life with all those love

education money and background spending

the life going in and out of rehab and

then you meet people that been through

ultimate pain psychologically sexually

spiritually emotionally abused and not

always but often they become some of the

people to contribute the most to society

so the question we gotta ask ourselves

really is what is it what is it that

shapes us and we live in a therapy

culture most of us don't do that but the

cultures of therapy culture and what I

mean by that is the mindset that we are

passed in everybody in this room you

wouldn't be in this room if you bought

that theory but the most of society

thinks biography is destiny the past

equals the future and of course it does

if you live there but what people in

this room know and what we have to

remind ourselves though because you can

know something intellectually you can

know what to do and then not use it not

apply it so really we're gonna remind

ourselves this decision is the ultimate

power that's what it really is now when

you ask people you know have you failed

to achieve something how many have ever

failed to achieve something significant

your life say I

thanks for the interaction on a high

level there but if you if you ask people

why didn't you achieve something

somebody who's working for you you know

or a partner or even yourself

and you fail to achieve a goal what's

the reason people say they failed to

achieve what do they tell you don't have

didn't know enough didn't have the

knowledge didn't have the money didn't

have the time didn't have the technology

you know I didn't have the right manager

didn't have the Supreme Court

and

what all those including the Supreme

Court have in common

they are a claim to you missing

resources and they may be accurate you

may not have the money you may not have

the Supreme Court but that is not the

defining factor

[Applause]

and you correct me if I'm wrong the

defining factor is never resources its

resourcefulness and what I mean

specifically rather than just some

phrase is if you have emotion human

emotion something that I experienced

from you

day before yesterday at a level that is

as profound as I've ever experienced and

if you communicate with that emotion I

believe you had a beat his ass and won

but how easy for me to tell him what he

should do

[Music]

idiot Robbins but I know when we watched

a debate when we watch the debate at

that time there were emotions that

blocked people's ability to get this

man's intellect and capacity and the way

they came across to some people in that

day because I know people that wanted to

vote in your direction and didn't and

I'm loves upset but there was a motion

that was there how many know what I'm

talking about here say I so emotion is

in if we get the right emotion we can

get ourselves to do anything we can get

through it if you're creative enough

playful enough fun enough can you get

through to anybody yes or no if you

don't have the money but you're creative

to determine if you find the way so this

is the ultimate resource but this is not

the story that people tell us all right

the story people tell us is a bunch of

different stories they tell us we don't

the resources but ultimately if you take

a look here flip it up if you would they

say what all the reason they haven't

Conway said that next one please he's

broken my patter that son of a

[Laughter]

but I appreciated the energy I'll tell

you that

what determines your resources we've

said decision shape destiny which is my

focus here if decisions shape destiny

what determines it is three decisions

what are you gonna focus on right now

you have decide what you're gonna focus

on in this second consciously or

unconsciously the mini decide to focus

on something got to give it a meaning

and whatever that meaning is produces

emotion is this the end or the beginning

is God punishing me or rewarding me or

is this the roll of the dice an emotion

then creates what we're going to do are

the action so think about your own life

the decisions that have shaped your

destiny and that sounds really heavy but

in the last five or ten years fifteen

years have there been some decisions

you've made that you made a different

decision your life would be completely

different

how many can think about honestly better

or worse say I so the bottom line is

maybe it was where to go to work and you

met the love of your life there maybe

was a career decision I know that Google

geniuses I saw here I mean I understand

that their decision was to sell their

technology at first what have they made

that decision versus to build their own

culture how would the world be different

how will their lives be different their

impact the history of our world is these

decisions when a woman stands up and

says no I won't go to the back of the

bus she didn't just affect her life that

decision shaped our culture or someone

standing in front of a tank or being in

a position like aren't Lance Armstrong

and someone says to you you've got

testicular cancer that's pretty tough

for any male especially if you ride a

bike

you got in your brain you got in your

lungs but what was his decision of what

to focus on different the most people

what did it mean it wasn't the end it

was the beginning what I'm gonna do he

goes off and wins seven championships he

never once once before the cancer

because he got emotional fitness

psychological strength that's the

difference in human beings that I've

seen of the three million I've been

around cuz that's what my lab I've had

three million people from 80 different

countries that I've had a chance to

interact with over the last twenty nine

years and after a while patterns become

obvious you see that South America and

Africa maybe connect in a certain way

right other people say all that sounds