Tony Robbins: Give

Goalcast

This random act of kindness to a stranger changed Tony Robbins life forever.

Transcript

00:00I was so broke that I had, I don't know, $21, $22, whatever it was, to my name.

00:05I'm living in a foreign square for a bachelor apartment.

00:07I'm feeling sorry for myself.

00:08I'm watching Luke and Laura on General Hospital.

00:10I mean, I was a mess.

00:11I was a total mess.

00:13And I realized I'm not paying my rent and I'm out of money.

00:16And I don't have any prospects for some new cash in the short term.

00:19And while I was sitting there, there was this little boy that came in

00:22and he held the door open and in walks behind him,

00:24this beautiful woman who was clearly his mother.

00:26And so, you know, I definitely took it in.

00:28And then he sat down, he pulled out the chair for her.

00:30He was just so attentive to his mother.

00:32I mean, he was just so with her that, honestly, I was moved.

00:35And so I finished my meal and then I got up and I paid the bill.

00:38And I was like $6 in those days, you know, for all you can eat salad bar, whatever it was.

00:41And so I had whatever's left, $17, $18, $19.

00:44And I walked over to this little boy before I left.

00:45And I said, hi.

00:46And I introduced myself.

00:47I said, I'm Tony.

00:47And he told me his name was Paul or whatever it was.

00:49I don't remember his name.

00:49This little boy.

00:50I said, Paul, I said, you are a class act.

00:53I said, I saw you held the door open for your woman.

00:55I saw you pull up the chair for her.

00:56I said, take her out to lunch like that.

00:58That is really cool.

00:58And he goes, well, she's my mom.

01:01And I said, that's even more cool.

01:02And I said, take her to lunch.

01:03He goes, well, I didn't take her to lunch.

01:04He goes, you know, I'm nine years old.

01:05I don't have a job yet.

01:06And I said, yes, you are taking her lunch.

01:07And I reached in my pocket and I took all the money I left, whatever it was, $17, $18, $19.

01:11I dropped it in front of him.

01:12I had no plan to do this.

01:13It wasn't like manufactured.

01:14I wasn't trying to impress this woman.

01:16And he looked up at me like shocked.

01:17And he goes, I can't take that.

01:18And I said, sure you can.

01:19He said, how come?

01:19I said, because I'm bigger than you are, right?

01:21And he laughed like crazy.

01:22And I didn't even say another word.

01:23I just walked out the door.

01:24And I got to tell you, it was the most powerful experience of my life.

01:28Because I had no fear.

01:30I had no scarcity.

01:31And I got home.

01:32And I realized what I'd done.

01:33I was like, I have no money now.

01:34I had like no money, nothing.

01:36And the next day, I got the old snail mail and came in around like noon.

01:40And I pull out this letter.

01:42And there was a young man that I had loaned $1,200 to.

01:45And he had not paid me back.

01:46And I was desperate for cash.

01:47I probably called him 10 times.

01:49Trying to track him down.

01:50Not a single response.

01:51And I was so hurt and pissed.

01:52And here's the letter from this guy saying, I'm really sorry.

01:54I know you've been trying to reach me.

01:56I've been avoiding you.

01:57And here's the money you owe.

01:58And I'm going to give you some interest as well.

02:00So I got, at that point, that was like more money than anything.

02:03And so once again, I'm sitting there.

02:05Tears going down my face.

02:06I'm an emotional character.

02:07And I chose to believe, I don't know if it's true, but I chose to believe that it's because

02:11I let go of trying to just take care of myself.

02:13I did what was right.

02:14Life's not about me.

02:15It's about we.

02:17And that's also why when people are suffering, it's always because you're obsessing about

02:22yourself.

02:23You're obsessing that something happened and now you have less.

02:26You think you have less.

02:28Or something happened and you've lost something.

02:30Lost love.

02:31Lost money.

02:31Lost significance.

02:32Lost attention.

02:34Lost something.

02:35When you get all suffering is obsession with self, you can snap out of it.

02:39And all you have to do is stop expecting and start appreciating.

02:43You know, if you're going to wait till you think you have something, you're never going

02:45to have something of any size or scope.

02:47There's something inside the human psyche that when you do what's right and you get

02:50outside of yourself, there's something that'll click for you.

02:52So it's a long way of saying when you have nothing is when you need to give.

Category

Transcript

Recommended