{"id":17689,"date":"2026-08-11T16:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T16:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/?p=17689"},"modified":"2026-09-13T12:17:33","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T12:17:33","slug":"tony-robbins-cover-feature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/fall-2026\/tony-robbins-cover-feature\/","title":{"rendered":"Tony Robbins: Awaken the Giant Within \u2014 Again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly a decade after Tony Robbins returned to the cover of Healthy Aging\u00ae Magazine, his classic Awaken the Giant Within<\/em> is back in an updated edition. Maybe it\u2019s a good time to ask ourselves a question: What are we still capable of becoming?<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Carolyn Worthington<\/p><\/p>\n

I<\/span>n 1993, Tony Robbins came into my life.<\/p>\n

No, I didn\u2019t meet him. I still haven\u2019t. He arrived in a box of cassette tapes my husband handed me when I was struggling with something that probably sounds familiar to anyone who has ever started a business: believing enough in the value of what I was doing to ask someone else to pay for it.<\/p>\n

I was producing television programs at the time and developing what would eventually become Healthy Aging\u00ae. I loved creating programs. I loved finding stories. I loved helping other people discover opportunities.<\/p>\n

Selling them? Not so much.<\/p>\n

My husband handed me Tony Robbins Personal Power: A 30 Day Program.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHere, listen to these,\u201d he said. \u201cMaybe you\u2019ll be inspired.\u201d<\/p>\n

I believe my initial reaction was something close to pooh-poohing the whole idea. And, yes, these were cassette tapes. Look them up if necessary.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I put one into the cassette player in my car while driving my kids back and forth to school. Then another. For 30 days, I listened.<\/p>\n

Something clicked.<\/p>\n

Robbins didn\u2019t magically turn me into a salesperson. What he did was make me think differently about the value of what I was offering. If the television projects I was proposing could educate and inspire people, they had value. And there was nothing wrong with asking sponsors to pay a fair price for that value.<\/p>\n

Within a few months, I sold three major sponsors on a six-figure fee\u2014about three times what I had originally thought of asking.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to 2017.<\/h3>\n

We put Tony Robbins on the cover of Healthy Aging\u00ae Magazine<\/a> when his book Unshakeable: Your Financial Freedom Playbook<\/em> was published. I told the cassette-tape story then and explored his ideas about taking greater control of our financial lives.<\/p>\n

Now, here we are again.<\/p>\n

\"\"Robbins is back with an updated edition of one of the books that helped make him famous, Awaken the Giant Within<\/em>.<\/a> Originally published more than three decades ago, it has sold millions of copies. The new edition offers strategies for taking greater control of our emotions, bodies, relationships, finances, and lives.<\/p>\n

That is a very big promise.<\/p>\n

But as I read the book, I found myself less interested in the idea of becoming some superhuman version of myself than in a much simpler question: At this stage of life, what are we still capable of changing?<\/p>\n

Quite a lot, according to Robbins. And that may be the most interesting message of all.<\/p>\n

What Do You Really Want?<\/h3>\n

It sounds ridiculously simple. What do you really want?<\/p>\n

Not what did you want when you were 25. Not what your parents expected. Not what your children need. Not what your r\u00e9sum\u00e9 says you should be doing.<\/p>\n

What do you want now?<\/p>\n

One of Robbins\u2019 recurring points is that many people never clearly decide. We spend years responding to what is immediately in front of us\u2014work, family, bills, deadlines, obligations. Suddenly, decades have gone by.<\/p>\n

That question becomes especially interesting after 45 because the answer can change. Maybe what mattered tremendously at 35 doesn\u2019t matter nearly as much at 65. Maybe something you put aside years ago suddenly does.<\/p>\n

Maybe you don\u2019t want to retire in the traditional sense. Maybe you want another career. Or to start a business. Travel. Paint. Learn Italian. Get stronger. Make new friends. Move. Stay exactly where you are but live differently.<\/p>\n

Robbins argues that change starts by deciding what you want and identifying what is stopping you.<\/p>\n

That second part may be harder.<\/p>\n

The Pain Problem<\/h3>\n

Why don\u2019t we do things we know we should do?<\/p>\n

Robbins spends considerable time exploring pain and pleasure and the role both play in our decisions.<\/p>\n

Think about something you have been putting off. Exercise? Losing weight? Making a difficult phone call? Getting your finances organized? Starting the project you\u2019ve been talking about for five years?<\/p>\n

Robbins suggests actually writing it down. Then ask yourself why you haven\u2019t done it. What pain have you associated with taking action? And what will it eventually cost you if you continue doing nothing?<\/p>\n

Then turn the equation around. What pleasure could come from finally doing it?<\/p>\n

It is an exercise designed to move a vague intention into something much more concrete. We tend to think procrastination means we are lazy. Robbins\u2019 interpretation is more interesting: often we have attached more immediate discomfort to taking action than to avoiding it.<\/p>\n

Until the balance changes, we stay put. And we can stay put for years.<\/p>\n

Is Your Age a Fact\u2014or a Belief?<\/h3>\n

This is where Awaken the Giant Within becomes particularly interesting for Healthy Aging\u00ae readers.<\/p>\n

Robbins writes about two women who reached 70 with very different beliefs about what being 70 meant. One saw it essentially as the beginning of the end.\nThe other kept moving.<\/p>\n

That woman was Hulda Crooks.<\/p>\n

Crooks took up serious hiking later in life and continued climbing for decades. At 91, she became the oldest woman at the time to climb Japan\u2019s Mount Fuji.\nSame general age. Very different expectations.<\/p>\n

Robbins\u2019 larger point is that events themselves don\u2019t necessarily determine the direction of our lives. Our beliefs about what those events mean can have enormous power.<\/p>\n

Turn 70 and believe the interesting part is over? Or turn 70 and wonder what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

There\u2019s Healthy Aging\u00ae in a nutshell.<\/p>\n

The number isn\u2019t necessarily making the decision. You are.<\/p>\n

The Stories We Tell Ourselves<\/h3>\n

Beliefs can be useful. They can also quietly work against us.<\/p>\n

Robbins examines the ways people sabotage themselves because of beliefs they may barely realize they hold. Money is one example.<\/p>\n

Someone may consciously say, \u201cI want to make more money,\u201d while associating wealth with greed, stress, being judged by others, or becoming a person they don\u2019t want to be.<\/p>\n

Guess what happens? They may repeatedly find ways not to move beyond a certain level.<\/p>\n

The same principle can apply elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to travel, but I\u2019m too old to do that kind of trip.\u201d\n\u201cI\u2019ve never been athletic.\u201d\n\u201cI\u2019m terrible with technology.\u201d\n\u201cI\u2019m not creative.\u201d\n\u201cIt\u2019s too late to start over.\u201d\n\u201cI could never run a business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Say something often enough and it can stop sounding like an opinion. It starts sounding like a fact.<\/p>\n

Robbins challenges the reader to examine those beliefs rather than automatically obey them. That\u2019s worth doing at any age, but perhaps particularly in the second half of life, when society supplies us with plenty of beliefs about what we supposedly should\u2014or shouldn\u2019t\u2014be doing.<\/p>\n

What If You Expect the Worst?<\/h3>\n

Robbins also takes aim at another familiar habit: expecting disaster.<\/p>\n

We sometimes think imagining the worst protects us. If we\u2019re prepared for everything that can go wrong, perhaps nothing can surprise us. But constantly predicting failure can also shape our behavior in ways that help produce exactly the outcome we fear.<\/p>\n

Robbins knows something about setbacks himself. His career has included enormous successes as well as serious financial difficulties. His response, as he describes it, was not simply to sit with the question, \u201cWhy did this happen to me?\u201d<\/p>\n

A more useful question was: How can I turn this around?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a small shift in language with a potentially large effect. One question looks backward. The other demands an action.<\/p>\n

Ask Better Questions<\/h3>\n

This may have been one of my favorite practical sections of the book.<\/p>\n

Robbins has a series of questions he recommends asking yourself in the morning. Among them: What am I happy about in my life now? What am I excited about? What am I proud of? What am I grateful for? What am I enjoying most? What am I committed to? And who do I love\u2014and who loves me?<\/p>\n

The point isn\u2019t to rattle off answers while brushing your teeth. For each, he asks you to consider why you feel that way and what the answer makes you feel.<\/p>\n

If you can\u2019t immediately come up with an answer, he suggests changing the question slightly: What could I be happy about? What could I be excited about?\nThat one word opens a door.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, the questions change. What did I give today? What did I learn today? And how did today add to the quality of my life\u2014or how can I use what happened today as an investment in my future?<\/p>\n

I like that last one.<\/p>\n

Not every day is going to be wonderful. Some are downright awful. But perhaps even an awful day can teach us something useful for tomorrow.<\/p>\n

Ten Days. No Wallowing.<\/h3>\n

Robbins also proposes a 10-day mental challenge. The basic idea is to stop dwelling on negative thoughts and, when one appears, shift your attention toward a solution.<\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean pretending bad things don\u2019t happen. They do. It means refusing to make the problem your permanent mental address.<\/p>\n

There is a difference between recognizing a problem and moving into it.<\/p>\n

For 10 days, the challenge is to catch yourself when your thinking heads in that direction and redirect it. Toward a solution. Toward an action. Toward the next step.<\/p>\n

It sounds easy.<\/p>\n

Try it.<\/p>\n

Leaders Are Readers<\/h3>\n

There was another line in my notes that made me smile.<\/p>\n

Robbins writes about the importance of reading and learning throughout life. One of his teachers gave him advice he never forgot:<\/p>\n

\u201cMiss a meal, but don\u2019t miss your reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know that I\u2019d recommend skipping dinner. But I do like the message.<\/p>\n

Keep learning. Keep exposing yourself to ideas. Keep questioning what you think you know. Keep reading people who challenge you\u2014even if you don\u2019t agree with everything they say.<\/p>\n

Curiosity, after all, has no age limit.<\/p>\n

The Optimist Creed<\/h3>\n

Toward the latter part of the book, Robbins points readers toward existing codes of conduct as inspiration for developing their own.<\/p>\n

One he includes is The Optimist Creed,<\/a> written by Christian D. Larson more than a century ago. Its promises include looking at the sunny side of things, being as enthusiastic about the success of others as your own, leaving past mistakes behind, and devoting so much time to improving yourself that you have little time left to criticize others.<\/p>\n

Some of the language belongs to another era. The sentiment doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Imagine making your own creed now. Not at 20, when you have barely had a chance to discover who you are.<\/p>\n

Now. After you\u2019ve lived a little.<\/p>\n

What do you believe? How do you want to treat people? What do you still want to accomplish? What isn\u2019t worth worrying about anymore? What deserves more of your time? What deserves less?\nThat\u2019s an exercise I\u2019d add to the list.<\/p>\n

The Giant Doesn\u2019t Have an Expiration Date<\/h3>\n

Tony Robbins is now 66.<\/p>\n

The man whose cassette tapes I listened to while driving my children around all those years ago is no longer a young motivational speaker telling people to seize their futures. He has a few decades behind him, too.<\/p>\n

Today, Robbins is an international entrepreneur, bestselling author, philanthropist, and strategist who has advised athletes, entertainers, Fortune 500 CEOs, and U.S. presidents.<\/p>\n

But celebrity clients aren\u2019t really why Awaken the Giant Within interested me this time around.<\/p>\n

It was the ordinary questions.<\/p>\n

What do you want? What are you afraid of? What beliefs are holding you back? What are you learning? What are you grateful for? What are you giving? And what are you going to do next?<\/p>\n

In 1993, Tony Robbins helped me answer one of those questions without ever knowing it. I stopped thinking about how uncomfortable it felt to ask for more money and started thinking about the value of what I was creating.<\/p>\n

That change in thinking changed what I did. And what I did helped change the direction of my business.<\/p>\n

More than 30 years later, Healthy Aging\u00ae is still here.<\/p>\n

So perhaps the real value of revisiting Awaken the Giant Within<\/em> isn\u2019t discovering some mysterious giant hiding inside you. Maybe it\u2019s recognizing how much power there can be in questioning a belief you\u2019ve carried around for years.<\/p>\n

Especially one that begins: \u201cI\u2019m too old to\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Cross that out.<\/p>\n

Then ask yourself: What do I really want now?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The answer might surprise you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rethink what\u2019s possible at any age<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2026","category-fall-2026-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17689"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17897,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17689\/revisions\/17897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/healthyaging.net\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}