Tony Robbins | Tell Me Your State and I’ll Tell You Your Future

“The difference between the dreamers and the doers? One word: State.” – Tony Robbins

Looking for a new result in a certain area of your life?

Or a better result than what you’ve had in years past?

We don’t get new results magically. We get new results from new behaviors.

But many don’t understand the key difference between wanting something and making the shifts necessary to see it through to reality.

People say they’ve “tried everything”. But they don’t embody the changes necessary to meet their goal. They just go through the motions...

Really, you’ve tried everything? Every possibility? Every antidote? Every angle?

Or did you try a few things, get discouraged when they didn’t work, and give up?

We give up because not seeing results puts us in a disempowered state.

The difference between the dreamers and the doers? One word: State.

What do I mean by state?

Your physicality. The physical state you are in.

You can be in a state of fear, overwhelm, stress, abundance, joy, gratitude...

Tell me your state and I’ll tell you your future.

It’s often far less about a person’s ability and more about their behavior.

Look at athletes. Have you ever been able to predict with accuracy if a player will make a basket or goal? Something about their state clued you in.

They’re going to miss this free throw...

Or they’ve got this. You can see it in their eyes, in their body.

When a person is in a state of absolute certainty (think Tom Brady when his team is down in the final minutes of the game) the results are unstoppable.

Talent and skills are of no use if you don’t have the right state to execute with.

Have you ever met an incredibly talented person with a lousy state? They just couldn’t snap out of it, couldn’t apply themselves, or reach for more. They were stuck in a pattern of complacency, comparison, overwhelm, frustration, disappointment, or defeat.

Maybe that’s been you, friend.

Luckily no state is permanent.

Two Ways to Change Your State

Here’s what you need to know – you don’t have to stay in a lousy state. You don’t have to stay in a mediocre state.

There are two ways to change your state in an instant.

The first: change your physiology.

Think about someone who is feeling depressed. What is their body doing?

Where are their shoulders? Are they held back and proud? Or are they slumped forward?

How’s their breathing? Is it full and rich? Or is it shallow?

What’s their head doing? Is it upright, or hanging low?

The mind takes these physical cues and there are biochemical changes that happen.

The same can be said for when we feel excited. How do you breathe when you’re feeling excited? What’s your posture like?

This is the first way to snap yourself out of a lousy state and into an empowering one.

The second way to change your state immediately is to change your FOCUS.

Where focus goes, energy flows.

Think about it: If you’re ruminating on how someone at your job was rude to you, took credit for your idea, or left you out of an important decision, what state are you most likely going to be in?

A pissed off one.

And if you focus on how someone has taken advantage of you or screwed you over, you’re going to feel it, even if it’s not true.

How many negative emotions do you experience in a day due to focusing on situations that create states of fear, anger, and overwhelm?

What if you focused on what’s working instead? What kind of state would you be in if you thought about all the GOOD things happening to you throughout the day?

What kind of emotions would you feel if you thought about a warm interaction you had with a manager or colleague, one where your skills and passion felt seen and valued?

Or a moment where your team crossed the finish line together on a big project and celebrated?

Or a loved one’s face lit up because of something kind you did or said?

How different is life experiencing that state?

What you focus on is everything.

In today’s world everyone is competing for your attention, and they’re aiming to profit from it.

Social media, the news...

But it’s up to you to direct where your focus goes, friend.

Control your focus, control your life.

The Ultimate Comeback

Do you remember Andre Agassi?

He was one of the first athletes I had a chance to work with in my early thirties.

Andre was injured and went from being the number one tennis player in the world to not even ranking in the top 25.

He was incredibly frustrated and close to quitting the sport all together.

At the time he was dating a famous actress, who happened to be one of my clients.

After the injury, she suggested Andre work with me.

“I don’t need to be motivated,” was Andre’s response.

“He isn’t a motivator; he’s a strategist,” the actress offered in return.

Andre is a good friend and a very nice person, but he was neither of those two things when he walked through my door for our first session.

Can nice people be mean? Absolutely. And Andre was in a mean state. Because, really, he was mad at himself.

He came in, shook my hand, and said “OK, do your crap.”

I blinked at him.

“I don’t do crap and you're in my home. I’m going to require a different attitude.”

To his credit he agreed.

“Have you ever hit a tennis ball perfectly?” I asked him.  He offered a sarcastic “no”, but eventually he admitted to hitting a tennis ball with such precision, such skill, that he deemed it a perfect hit.

“Visualize yourself doing it.” I instructed.

And he did. He closed his eyes and I had him visualize hitting a tennis ball perfectly over and over again.

His face started to change. His shoulders weren’t quite as slumped as they were when he first walked in.

We were making progress.

“But my issue is with my wrist.” he countered at one point.

“When you hit the ball perfectly, are you focusing on your wrist?” I asked.

“Well, no,” he responded. “I didn’t even have to think about it.”

Bingo.

“There’s a state inside of you where the perfect swing happens. All we need to do is get you back in that state. But in a state of frustration, you can’t find it and you’re doing what all athletes do... You get caught up in a habit that no longer works and now you feel like you’re choking. The failures are mounting, you’re in a frustrated state, and you can’t find the answer.”

“What’s the state?” he asked.

I came prepared.

If you’re reading this, are you ancient enough to remember a thing called a VHS tape?

I played a tape of him from Wimbledon.

In the recording, he saunters out onto the court and adopts a prowling quality to his movements. Lethal as a jungle cat.

He bounces the ball, once, twice...

He looks up and stares directly into his opponent’s eyes..

Swishes his hair (the flare this man possessed) ...

And dominates.

“Do you remember that moment?” I asked Andre.

“Yes, yes I do.”

“What were you thinking in that moment?”

“I thought, why did that other guy even bother to show up?” he replied. Andre had that level of certainty in his skills before the injury.

I played another tape, the one from the French Open.

He walks onto the court completely differently. There’s no bounce in his step, no energy. He looks at his opponent right before he swings, and I freeze the tape right in that moment. His eyes tell all.

“Do you remember that moment?” I ask.

“Yes.”

“And what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking about the last time that guy beat me and how I can't go through it again.” Andre said quietly.

That’s the difference between victory and defeat.

I had him focus on what he does at his best and rehearse it repeatedly.

He won the next tournament.

He placed second in the next one, third, then first. In four months, he was back to number one, and he gave me an unbelievable amount of public credit, probably more than I deserve. Maybe not.

How fast can you change your state, my friend? In a heartbeat.

It’s where the radical change in physiology (your voice, your body, your movement) altars your biochemistry. But you can also do it by changing your focus.

Is there an area of your life that could use a state change?

Maybe it’s in the way you show up at work or in meetings.

Or maybe it’s the state you walk in the door with after a long day. The one your partner and kids are met with.

Or maybe it’s that dream you’ve been holding on to – your life at the next level – that requires a different state, my friend.

Change is always available to you, and it starts with your physical body and your focus.

Here’s to living in an empowered state.

Live with passion!

Tony Robbins