Want to learn the ideas in Awaken the Giant Within better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins here.
Read a brief 1-Page Summary or watch video summaries curated by our expert team. Note: this book guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the publisher or author, and we always encourage you to purchase and read the full book.
1-Page Summary of Awaken the Giant Within
Overview
Tony Robbins’ book, “Awaken the Giant Within”, is a comprehensive guide to living one’s best life. It teaches people how to be in control of all aspects of their lives and become fulfilled. Everyone has the capacity to be happy and achieve success if they apply these lessons, which are available for everyone regardless of background or past failures.
Everyone has had a glimpse of their ideal life. Achieving that vision can be difficult because everyday responsibilities get in the way. It’s hard to stay motivated and keep pursuing those dreams, so people often give up on achieving them or adopt limiting beliefs about what they can accomplish.
Yet, with knowledge of why people behave the way they do and how to change it, individuals can use a personalized strategy to their advantage. This will allow them to take control of their lives and make real changes that improve their relationships, professional life, physical health, and emotional well being.
In 1992, Tony Robbins published a book titled Awaken the Giant Within. It became an instant New York Times bestseller.
Key Takeaways
The ability to make decisions is the most important factor in personal growth. Individuals must raise their standards, change their limiting beliefs and adopt new strategies for action if they want to achieve personal transformation. Two factors that motivate human behavior are pain and pleasure; people will avoid pain at all costs while pursuing pleasure.
Events don’t have inherent meaning, but people assign them meaning. Change can happen instantly if you have a clear strategy and are willing to question your beliefs. Personal responsibility is key to growth in life. You can change your behavior by conditioning your nervous system to react differently through positive thinking and self-talk. People crave the feelings they believe will come with certain achievements rather than those accomplishments themselves. Well-crafted questions are important for changing yourself and achieving success in all areas of life. You can learn to harness the power of negative emotions as well as positive ones for more productive ways of living.
Key Takeaway 1: The power of decision-making is the single most important factor in personal growth and transformation.
If people want to achieve something, they must make a decision to do so. Once that decision is made, they can harness their personal power and start making incremental progress toward achieving it. Jim Carrey’s father chose a seemingly safe route in life by becoming an accountant instead of pursuing his passion for comedy. This decision led him to failure when he was fired from his job, which had a huge impact on the budding actor. In a commencement address at Maharishi University of Management, Carrey told graduates that if you fail at what you don’t want, then it might as well be worth trying your hand at doing what you love. Following this advice made him one of the most successful actors in Hollywood today.
Key Takeaway 2: The three elements of significant personal change are raising standards, altering limiting beliefs, and adopting fresh strategies for action.
If you want to enact real change, first, you have to decide what it is that makes you unhappy. Then, you should figure out why those things don’t work for you and choose different beliefs so that they do work for you. Finally, after choosing the new beliefs that will empower your success, identify the methods for achieving your goals and use them until they become habits.
To illustrate these principles, imagine a young woman who is content with her job as a private chef. She makes good money and works for a nice family. However, she finds herself bored at times because she does the same thing over again every day, even though it pays well and lets her live in luxury. Perhaps she should start an artisanal food line instead of staying complacent in her cushy job.
