Anthony Jay Robbins, the pundit of self-discipline through self-reflection, links the psychology of success and happiness through journaling every day.

A daily morning ritual of exercise and meditation sets him on the track of a very busy day. “If you don’t have ten spare minutes to work on yourself every morning, then you don’t have a life.”

Summary of Robbins’ success

The American author, entrepreneur, philanthropist and life coach is forever running to meet his goals of self-reflection, infomercials, seminars, and self-help books, including Unlimited Power and Awaken the Giant Within.

Robbins Research International organises his programs. He is also the founder of a number of companies earning about $6 billion just through annual sales. He made it to the Worth Magazine Power 100 list in 2014 and 2015.

How Tony Robbins keeps his journal

Through workshops, Tony Robbins teaches the first golden rule – write your goals down, not on a computer, but on paper or in a journal.

The very process of writing with a pen on paper unleashes the power within through self-reflection. He sums up the reason why you should record your day, your goals, your life, and aspirations:

Mapping out your goals, reaching out for them and pushing the envelope are steps that Robbins recommends for everyone. It is through self-reflection that you can unlock your own secrets to yourself.

As he put it: “You are acknowledging both your conscious and subconscious minds that where you are right now is not where you want to be. Your brain then makes this distinction and becomes dissatisfied with the status quo”.

How long has Robbins been doing it?

After a rather tumultuous childhood and teenage life, Tony Robbins left home when he was 17 and never went back. At the same age, he began his career by promoting seminars for motivational speaker and author Jim Rohn.

That seemed to have kickstarted his own self-reflection, as he went on teach neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and Ericksonian hypnosis.

Since then, Tony Robbins spent the rest of his life practising self-reflection, building up his career through life lessons, journaling, and motivational talks.

How self-reflection helped Robbins achieve his success?

Tony Robbins is clear that in order to get to where you want to be, it is important to proceed through self-reflection. It is only through inner introspection that you will be able to understand what blocks you from moving forward. According to him, successful people ask better questions and as a result, get better answers.

Without getting bogged down by setbacks, he seems to have transformed his failures into success. Tension and pressure can serve as powerful drivers of our actions. “Use this as a tool to influence yourself so you can start to take actionable steps toward your success,” he said. It is clear that for him, negatives became positives that boost self-reflection.

The self-help guru also expressed a lot of gratitude to create joy.

He understood that one should look at what works, not what fails. It is important is to generate gratitude inside yourself, so that you learn to appreciate what you have, instead of longing for whatever you don’t have.

He translated his own experiences into a to-do self-reflection chart for his followers: Commit in your heart and soul to find something to appreciate in every moment. Then you will experience the real wealth of ongoing happiness!

What challenges has Robbins faced?

Robbins, the eldest of three children, recalls his domestic life as “chaotic” and “abusive”. Born as Anthony J. Mahavoric in North Hollywood, on February 29, 1960, Tony’s parents divorced when he was seven.

His mother remarried more than once, including Jim Robbins, a semi-professional baseball player, who legally adopted the boy when he was 12. Robbins grew up in Glendora, California, where he worked as a handyman to help raise his siblings.

In high school, Robbins’ growth spurted by ten inches, which was later thought to be due to a pituitary tumor. When he was seventeen years old, he left home forever. He later worked as a janitor and did not attend college

However, through self-reflection, Robbins never let his problems overtake his life. He wrote:

What does the future hold for Robbins?

Today, Tony Robbins is a life coach and mentor to over 50 million people.

Helping others reach their goals has been a lesson in self-reflection as well as learning for himself too. While he has already advanced his life and career, he just hopes that his future will be driven by the one word that he tells everyone should be used:

“I will tell you right now, there’s one word that will give you happiness, one. You’ll remember it as long as you live, progress. Progress equals happiness. Achieving goals does not equal happiness.”

How can you get started with self-reflection?

Like Tony Robbins, you could begin with writing as a means for self-reflection. You can divine not just what is going to happen, but how to get there. That would make your life worth recording and remembering.

Looking for an easy way to get started with your self-development practice? Daylitude can help shift your mindset, increase positivity, and discover a greater connection with yourself.