Interesting Viewpoints!
Please send me your experience! I will post the best ones here.
Received from Matt, about Time of Your Life, March 21, 2004:
Yeah, to be honest, I just got fed up with the whole thing. It sucks, too, because when I forst got into his stufff 2 years ago, I was really gung-ho. But I can't really say anything has benefitted me for the long term. Like you said, you're pumped when listening, but after the CD is done, you're back to normal. After that, then a seminar, then coaching.... (Cycle) That really did turn me off. You can only take so much...
Matt
Received from Dave, March 12, 2004:
Hi Michael,
I just found your website and read through your reviews on Tony Robbins PP2 and GTE programs, and felt compelled to share my thoughts as well. I don't precisely know why I wanted to share these thoughts with you, I just wish to.
I agree with your general consensus and review of the programs in question. I believe Tony is a great motivator of people, but an even better marketer to people. He is in one of the most profitable businesses on the planet, selling information. To sell that, you have to make people believe that you have the secret to producing some result that they are after. He does that very well. He sells information that promises astonishing results in ALL areas of life that are important to people thereby increasing the potential size of his market. A smart way to do things if you're an information marketer.
When I first invested in PPII it was because of the slickly-produced Guthy-Renker infomercial. I did the program and listened to it many times. I also bought 3 of his books and I used what I learned about human behaviour to make some positive changes in my life.
But then I ordered GTE, gave it a listen and returned it. It was PP1 and PP2 repackaged. I also started listening more closely to how the information was presented, (and I don't know why I did not hear it before, because its peppered throughout all his audio programs) but the constant pitching to attend his other seminars like you pointed out in your reviews was overwhelming. I can't understand how this flew right over my head previously having listened multiple times. I have also gone through his Living Health program. That reference he makes to MHz ratings in food and his pal Dr. Young from Utah is 100% the same exact material taken from this same program. It's the same live seminar 100% repackaged. And I believe its there to scare you into ordering living health branded green drinks and supplements from his website at 2-3 times health store prices.
In fact, I would suggest that all of Tony's teachings be they in books, CD's, video, or seminars, and in fact these same information products from all other 'experts' in the motivational tools industry are 100% based on the book by Napoleon Hill, Think and Grow Rich. That's the original success conditioning book, and it can be summed up with two simple thoughts (as can all other products from success/motivational product industry): 1. You become what you think about. 2. Set goals, determine the price you will have to pay to achieve them, and resolve to pay that price consistently until you get what you want.
We could all save lots of time and money and get where we wanna go faster if more people just knew and applied these two simple tools.
Take care and thanks for your reviews.
DGM
Hey mike,
I was cruising the net one day and came by your web page one day and took interest to the tony robbins page. Being a tony robbins expert (I read both his books, did GET THE EDGE and some of PP2)I read further and agreed with your comments to the t. Just because I know his material doesn't mean I like it. In fact, you summed it up perfectly, the more I know about him, the more I don't want to know! Unlike you, however, I bought GET THE EDGE and feel totally ripped. There was not an iota of useful info in there. At least PP2 had some good stuff. I mean he tells you what to do but not how to do it. Ex. he tells you decisions shape your destiny, therefore choose well, but he doesn't tell you HOW to make good decisions! Just make more of them. wow big fucking help! Another major beef is the complicated steps he provides for solving problems. Ex. If Im feeling a disempowering emotion Im supposed to do six steps to get rid of it. Yeah like next time im angry in my car, Ill remember these six steps. Come on. OH well these are just a few of my insights, maybe you can add them to your page or something. E-Mail me back to discuss it further.
MATT
Hey Michael,
First off, about 2 months ago I was curious about PP2 and TR.. I went to the internet to find some reviews about it and fortunately I was able to find your review, it was really the only detailed out there on the net... Reading from that interview I decided to get PP2... Funny thing is, you said that the majority PP2 are useful information and half infomercial and I remember putting out a thread here back in early Jan about "PP2? and infomercials" just to ask ppl here if thats true... The response was no, they were actually stories from the seminars to get his point across.. Bottom line is I bought PP2 cause I wanted to know who Tony is... I'm like you too I have a good career and makes decent money but I too have room for improvement....
True, he did promote his seminars especially in the Financial CD, HEalth CD, Sixth Human needs etc... Does this bother me? in a way yes but then again this guy is a business man. I did benefit a lot from PP2... I remember from your review also that you said "Tony did not change my life, I changed my life" so true for me too..
What I dont like is when he gave me a voucher for a hundred bucks.. I called the ppl at Tony Research to book a seat and the lady said "do you want the 2000.00 dollar seat or the 1400.00 dollar seat" and I'm like "what? are you nuts?" Then she preached about "well how much are you worth? and I said " well not stupid enough to be sucked in, I dont even know who TR is." She was pushy pushy and I despise that... At this time I became suspicious too, sheeshhhhhh I'M NOT THATTTT GULLIBLE EITHER... We have to use our best judgement.. You know that feeling about a fishy crispy sales person(especially car sales men or watching the presidential campaign l.o.l)
I do like PP2, it benefited me a lot so far, but no I'm not attending his seminar(well maybe the cheap 50.00 buck nose bleed seats) buts thats another time.. When I'm making 2 million dollars then I'll go to Fiji l.o.l..really.... Otherwise the book "Unlimited Power" has a lot of useful information thats not on PP2 and more.. Recently I got "Awakening the Giant Within" I'll stick with these two books for now as i'm sure i'll get more ideas.
P.S I luv TR... He's helped me a lot but I do know that he's not trying to establish a cult and i'm sure he knows that.... I do thank him for being my success coach, everything that he spoke about is right on the money. I appreciate it.
Also Michael, part of the reason why I'm here taking PP2 is because of your review a month 1/2 ago. ..... I took a chance and I thank God I did it..... I'm also taking Brian Tracy motivational tape(Million Dollar Habits) that I got for free from my boss...Which is almost parallel to TR... Brian Tracy doesnt even mention his seminars on his tapes and he does have seminars too...
And Finally I just read your GTE review and the review about the couple who attended UPW seminar.. What do I think? Hrmmmm, scary, makes you think ... It meets my 2nd human need, and that is Uncertainty l.o.l... Only kidding... I still luv you all.. Night.
I feel like I have to respond to a few of the other posts on this website, because there are quite a few out there that are extremely hostile and nasty about Tony Robbins – and most I find are undeserved.
First of all, I attended UPW Miami this weekend, and had a fantastic time. It truly was an amazing event. Even the critics who go who think Tony Robbins is a scam artist were impressed, so obviously he is doing something right – at least in his live presentations. As a former journalist, I am greatly aware of being skeptical in all situations, but it is also my intention to observe without bias. To that end, I participated fully as best I can, to see if the weekend would be worth my investment. I believe it truly was, and here’s why:
#1 – Firewalking – Now, some people out there may believe this is a trick. I wondered myself going in. I wondered if it would hurt, and how no one would really answer the question when I asked. Now I understand why. First of all, it totally depends on if you do it correctly. If so, then not really. If you don’t, then it does a little bit. And from there onward you could easily speculate that it could hurt a lot if you really messed it up.
But the critics fail to point out that the actual process of walking on fire is NOT the point. Anyone who attended could tell you that. The point was that most people there (3,000 people) were totally scared out of their mind to do it. You couldn’t get within 5 feet of the bonfire to light the coals it was so hot. And then you had to think about it for another hour and a half. As determined as I was to do it, I was totally scared and almost backed out. But the inherent lesson was that faith gets you through a lot of things you never thought possible. So does love. Fear only stops you. So the point is when you get up to step across and walk across the coals – you totally believe they could hurt you if you don’t do it correctly. So watching people take a leap of faith and do it was totally inspiring. It WAS for real, and I watched workers pouring freshly made hot coals on the walkway every few minutes. If it was fake, then I’m Don King.
Walking across myself, I took 8 steps – on step 4, I started to look down (which is what we were told NOT to do, or we would burn) and my foot started to feel, “siiiizzzzzzle.” I looked up fast, snapping my head upward, and it stopped. I couldn’t believe it when I got to the other side. Call it mind over matter. Call it the placebo effect. Whatever. The point is that I did it. And I knew in the future that no matter what I wanted to do, I could do. Skydiving. Riding the tallest, scariest rollercoasters in the world. Anything.
That, my friends, was worth the price of admission alone.
The next day, we set our goals and found our true passion. The camaraderie we had in that room was really unusual. 3,000 people all coming together to grow, develop and learn. The mood was palpable.
I wrote down 5 of the most limiting, horrible beliefs I had about myself. This, in truth, totally surprised me. I couldn’t believe what I put down. And then, we went through the process over the next day of getting rid of them. Now, I find this to be incredibly inspiring. My thought on this is, I’ve tried to do this before, but I’ve always b.s.-ed my way out of making it real. This time, however, was different. Mainly because I didn’t want to disrespect my ‘buddy’ next to me and the rest of the group. I wanted, whether through peer pressure or peer respect, to do my best.
So anyway, I played “full out.”
Ripping those 5 out of my brain, and staring at them for all of their ugliness was an amazing moment. I thought of how they would totally make my life miserable if I continued to believe them. And I thought of alternatives that I would commit to doing.
Now, skeptics can say what they want. That it’s just goal setting and who needs to pay $500-$1000 a seat for that? But to me, the difference was that – again – I was in a safe place, with people also trying to make positive change. That inspired me to actually have the courage to look at what was really bothering me. Relating those fears was also amazing. When said out loud, to another person, they seemed small and stupid. Which of course, they were. You can’t believe that you actually thought something so stupid about yourself. But at the same time, you feel a sense of compassion for yourself, because you know why you felt that way. And then, listening to others share their stories, you feel compassion for them. And you feel inspired when they list them for all to see.
Watching someone share their innermost hated feelings about themselves is fascinating. You want reality tv? This was it – live and in person and as real as it gets.
So again – was it worth the money? I sure as hell felt it was. And no one I ran into thought otherwise. But in all honesty, I couldn’t imagine finding that process a waste of time, unless you really didn’t put anything into it.
There were only 2 other parts of the seminar that I found a little “icky,” and that was the pushing of the mastery programs. But in all honesty, it was only for about 2 hours. And how unexpected could it be? Of course if you have other seminars, you are going to bring them up and try to pitch them. That’s called “target marketing” – duh! You have 3,000 people who just had a great experience. Why would you not?
And as far as the ‘money back guarantee’ – again, if you allow yourself to be ‘pressured’ into signing on as some critics claim they were, (or had buyer’s regret) then whose fault is it really? Nobody made you do it. The truth is, you probably got excited and signed up. If you don’t know the phrase “caveat emptor” by now, then you never will.
As much as I loved the UPW program, I was like, “I can’t afford that right now.”
But I’d have to say that I would not be taking responsibility for myself if I didn’t accept that that was my choice. To the critics who ‘jumped on the bandwagon’ and then regretted it, where was your skepticism then? If all it takes is a weekend to get you excited enough to part with $10,000, then I’d have to say (a) some part of you got something out of it, and (b) you’re looking for someone else to place the responsibility on. If you feel cheated, take Tony to court. But now that you’ve spent the money, my god, why not take advantage of it? Take what you find useful and workable out of the seminars and maybe you’ll find something that will change your life for the better.
I refuse to believe that there was nothing good that came out of that seminar for you. Even if it was the ability to see the power of belief and/or faith. No matter how you slice it, what you get out of anything is in direct correlation to what you put in.
So, yes, I wasn’t necessarily thrilled that there was a chunk of time devoted to the promotion of the other programs. But then again, a LOT of people signed up. So it was worth it (obviously!) for them. So I can’t really complain on that point – they were getting something out of it. Nor could I not expect it. As I said, it’s target marketing.
The Q-link and the whole health system – it all comes down to holistic healing and health. If you believe in holistic health, then it will make sense. If you don’t, it won’t. I personally don’t know enough about it to jump whole-heartedly into changing my entire diet, etc. But I am skeptical. So I don’t buy $100 pendants unless I know that I am willing to take a risk and see if they work. For some people, it’s the placebo effect. Who knows? I didn’t really go along with it entirely. I believe in a vegetarian diet, proper exercise, and the power of belief. The toxins, supplements, etc., I don’t. I examine each piece of the program and take what I want and discard the rest. Incidentally, that’s exactly what Tony tells you to do the first day of the program – just so you remember.
The point of this whole thing is that I found value in the program, and that I’m a natural skeptic. Some people are going to go, and hate it. Some people left by the 2nd day, and some on the 3rd. But everyone who stayed all the way through, I found, had a pretty rewarding experience. And I find it beyond insulting to think that everyone there was mislead, stupid and/or ignorant enough to be mindlessly swayed as is being suggested.
If you read an entire book, but get one life-altering sentence out of that book, was the price worth it? If you go to a $1000 seminar, and find something that helps you re-connect to people you love or inspire you to change a few goals, isn’t it worth it?
You see, it’s up to YOU, to find the value.
I would have to then say, prove the skepticism. Prove to me how the seminar is NOT worth it. Because I know about 2,000+ people who would disagree. But hey – it’s not about what they believe, it’s about what you believe, isn’t it?
But then again, that’s the point of the damn seminar, isn’t it?
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