Awaken the Giant Within : How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny!
ISBN:9780671791544 read summary

I enjoyed Awaken the Giant Within. The book is pretty hefty, but is well worth the read. It is a "take action" kind of book and the author tries several different ways to get you away from the book and work on the things he teaches. The book starts off with getting you ready for what he calls, "unleash your power" inside. That is done through decision making and understanding how they affect us. And you are taught how to control that "power" and let it shape your life.
It can take some time practicing his principles, but after all, why else get a book on self improvement unless we intend to improve ourselves. That is what I liked about the book. It's not just to gain some knowledge on a certain topic, but to actually improve your life in some way; and the principles are legitimate too. No quick fixes, but the real thing. The book also keeps your attention, which is needed for a book this size. He does it by clever cartoons here and there, questions he asks you to write down and actual exercises that can be applied just about wherever you are. It's not perfect by any means, but if you have the time and you seriously want to improve what you have or don't have, this book is for you.

This book has just been added to my Top 5 recommended list. While the author provides incredible detail and analysis on our actions, decisions, behaviors, etc, he also provides practical exercises and guidance to get started making changes today. He discusses the difference between decisions and preferences, the 5 steps to make important changes now, and his patented Neuro-Associative Conditioning. There are the 10 Action signals, which remind you to do something different right away. There are several exercises on goal-setting and understanding your own rules. He concludes the book with a lengthy discussion on healthy eating and exercising--after all, if you don't take proper care of yourself, little else matters! Overall, this is a well-rounded approach to getting a real handle on where you have come from, where you are, and pointing to where you want to be. Invest the time to read this now!

I've read "Awaken The Giant Within: How to take immediate control of your mental, emotional, physical and financial destiny!" by Anthony Robbins several times since I first purchased it years ago when it was written. It's a motivating book, and contains some excellent advice regarding peak performance and getting the most from yourself. This was the book that made me a fan of Tony Robbins, and since reading this I've read "Unlimited Power," his first book, and the shorter ones that came after. I've also listened to many of his audio programs. However, it was this book, "Awaken The Giant Within," that first got me interested in what Robbins was teaching, and that I realized he really did share some powerful ways to change your life and as he says, "Shape Your Destiny."

The paperback is over 500 pages long, so it is not a short quick read. However, it is engaging enough that it does not feel long and laborious to get through. I enjoyed reading it, and found myself energized by Robbins' infectious enthusiasm that comes through in this book just as it does in his audio programs.

The book is divided into four parts: Unleash Your Power, Taking Control - The Master System, The Seven Days To Shape Your Life, and A Lesson In Destiny. The first two parts are the bulk of the book and teach the principles and strategies. Part three is a seven day plan to implement the lessons into your daily living, and the final part is the last chapter which is a challenge for the reader to do more and to take on the challenges in life and make a difference.

The bulk of the book, the first two parts, focus on changing one's life for the better. The five main areas looked at to master are: Emotions, Physical being, Relationships, Finances, and Time. Robbins teaches principles of change so you can make the decisions that will effect your life. In fact, chapter two is all about decisions. Robins does a lot regarding pain, pleasure, and belief systems and how they influence our actions. He then teaches how to change through Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques.

I liked chapter 8. It focused on questions. Asking the right questions can be very powerful. Robbins provides his Problem-Solving Questions to assist with working out problems, and his Morning and Evening Power Questions to help you stay motivated, grateful, and happy. Chapter 9, The Vocabulary of Ultimate Success, is also a very good chapter focusing on the words we use and how that affects us, and those around us, and how changing our language can change results, attitudes and more. Other chapters teach the power of metaphors, emotions, and goals.

Part two, Taking Control, focuses on topics such as evaluating your beliefs, your values, the rules you've formed that guide your behaviors and actions, references that influence you, and creating your identity.

The seven day challenge is a worthwhile exercise. I've done it and found it helpful. The seven days have you focus on elements of your life to improve. They are: Emotions, Physical, Relationships, Finances, Code of Conduct, Time, and day seven, a day of rest and recreation.

Overall, I really liked this book. I guess that's why I've read it several times. I think it contains some powerful tools to assist with living the life you desire and shaping your own destiny. The key is to take the exercises and tools that will help you and then actually implement them and make the changes you desire. It's a book that really can help you take charge of your own life. And when life gets rough, and knocks you down, like it will. It's a good book to turn to for assistance during those difficulties to assist you in getting back on top.

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard-Won Wisdom From the School of Hard Knocks and the dvds: Hapkido Hoshinsul, Streetfighting Essentials, Hapkido Cane, the Lock On Joint Locking Essentials series and articles including a regular column on negotiation for The Montana Lawyer. Alain Also wrote a series of articles called Lessons From The Apprentice.

I'm not going to say this is a bad book. It's very motivating and if that's what you need than this will do the trick. However if you're someone who is already motivated, but is just stuck, then this is not for you. I was stuck and looking for practical tools to get me unstuck. I tried this book plus Tony's 30 day Personal Power kit & found them to be pretty much the same. They're meant to put fire under the butts of those who lack it. Since fire isn't my issue it didn't work for me. I also found it weird that Tony teaches in these about relationships & marriages and how to make marriage work etc.. when he himself carried on an extensive affair with the woman he's married to now WHILE he was married to his first wife. The woman he's married to now was at that point also married.. oy yoi yoi YOU want to charge ME 5 grand for one of your Relationship workshops? No thanks.

I believe in looking into someone's history before taking their word. And Tony started as a salesman from a very young age- and that's all he's done ever since. He's never had any other type of job than sales, and he began selling "success" from when he was teenager! So in other words he has made his own success exactly FROM talking about how to make you successful. He promotes, he sells, He gets the fire burning under you. That's what he's been doing pretty much since he was 19. But he doesn't have the background to tell managers how to manage their firms & certainly doesn't have the success in relationships to tell people how to have golden relationships. Yet he conducts events where he tries to "sell" this in a way. I'm not saying he's wrong to do this or that he's a hypocrite (well, when it comes to the relationships & marriage techniques he is, but that's another story). I'm saying that Tony's books & events mirror his life's work in that- they get you motivated to DO..to take action. But they don't do much more than that. If that's something that you need- (alot of people do) then Tony is for you. .. just skip over the relationship stuff.

I have heard of Tony Robbins for years but always thought of him as just a "motivation guy". I recently was exposed to a couple short clips of his stuff and began to get a sense there was something more to him than motivation. So I bought Awaken the Giant Within. I was amazed to learn how much he knows about our brain and how it affects our behavior. I've read quite a bit on this elsewhere but never read anything that made it as easily understandable. But furthermore, Robbins teaches you how to use this knowledge to change your behavior so you can achieve real progress in your life. I highly recommend this book and Tony Robbins' teaching to anyone who is serious about becoming all they can be.