Awaken The Giant Within Notes

Link (Amazon)

For anyone who wants to become the greatest version of themselves. A classic. So many worthwhile examples. You’ll probably end up inspired after reading this book.

• If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in life, you’ll find it easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes/quality of life that’s below what you deserve
• It is a choice to choose to be more joyful or more fun or more confident or have more peace of mind.
• Ultimate Success Formula: (1) Decide what you want, (2) Take action, (3) Notice what’s working or not and (4) Change your approach until you achieve what you want.
• The Niagara Syndrome: When you jump on the river without ever deciding where you want to end up. If you’re directed by your environment instead of your values… this describes you
• Success is the result of good judgment. Good judgment is often the result of experience. Experience is often the result of bad judgment.
  • When people succeed, they tend to party; when they fail, they tend to ponder… which leads them to make new insights that will help them succeed
• Remember that a truly committed decision is the force that changes your life. It’s a power available to any moment if you just decide to use it.
• What you link pain and pleasure to will shape your destiny.
• If you don’t have a plan for your life, someone else does. Everyone is trying to control your time and attention.
• Anything that you want that’s valuable requires you to break through some short term pain to get long term pleasure
• Kaizen – never-ending improvement
• Beliefs to have to change quickly:
  • I can change now.
  • I’m responsible for my own change, not anyone else.
• He who has a strong enough why can bear almost any how (Nieztsche)
• One of the best ways to interrupt someone’s pattern is to do something they don’t expect (snaps us out of the automatic programming)
• Your brain can’t tell the difference between something you vividly imagine and reality.
• We can condition any behavior within ourselves if we do it with enough repetition and emotional intensity
• Focus on where you want to go, not what you fear
• If there are things you need to accomplish but you can’t get yourself to do it, it just means you need to change your state.
• Many of our beliefs are due to the words we have chosen… meaning our words hold incredible power (choose wisely!)
• Use words like “passionate,” “outrageous”, “spectacular”
• “I have to do this” can become “I get to do this”
• You’re never “stuck,” you may be a little frustrated but you’re never stuck.
• The metaphors we use shape how we feel. 
  • For example: “Mother Earth” makes it seem like the Earth is someone we should protect
• Associate common occurrences with positivity. Use linking.
• You don’t need a special reason to feel good. You can simply decide to feel good right now.
• Our imagination can make things ten times more intense than it actually is in real life
• All communication is either a loving response or a cry for help.
• The secret to living is giving
• Your current conditions do not reflect your ultimate potential but rather the size and quality of goals in which you are currently focusing 
• It’s not just setting a goal that matters, but the quality of life you experience along the way.
• People who succeed on a massive level have one thing in common: persistence
• You need to experience the feeling of achieving your top one year goals in each of the four categories at least once a day (personal development, career/business/economic, toys/adventure, contribution)
• Actionable advice from Tony: First, get your list of your top four one year goals. Second, get clear on your why. Third, develop a ritual of reviewing your goals and rehearsing the joy of their achievement daily for ten days. Fourth surround yourself with role models and those who can help you develop a plan that will guide you making it real.
• “Habit is either the best of servants or the worst of masters” –Nathaniel Emmons
• The leader’s path is one of balance (dichotomy of leadership, Jocko Willink)
• “Miss a meal, but don’t miss your reading” –Jim Rohn
• If someone is doing better than us, it’s simply because they have a better way of evaluation
• “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside of them was superior to circumstance” –Bruce Barton
• The only way for us to have long-term happiness is to live by our highest ideals, to consistently act in accordance with what we believe our life is truly about.
• Nothing has to happen for you to feel good. You can choose to feel good right now for absolutely no reason whatsoever.
• Most of us have created numerous ways to feel bad, and only a few ways to truly feel good. It should be the opposite.
• Learned helplessness – when you feel like life is unfair so you just give up your power of creating a compelling future
• Tony’s rule for confidence: “If I decide to be confident, then I’ll feel that way toward anything and my confidence will help me succeed.”
• Tony’s rule for friendship: “If you’re a friend, then you absolutely love a person unconditionally, and you’ll do anything you can to support them.”
• “Man’s mind stretched to a new idea never goes back to its original dimensions.” –Oliver Wiendall Holmes
• Reading expands your references for what is possible
• Stand guard at the doors of your mind to make sure what you’re allowing to enter it will enrich your life
• Tony visited many different churches to get an idea and appreciate all people’s spiritual beliefs
• Any limits you have in your life are the result of your limited references.
• “The best effect of fine persons is felt after we have left their presence.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
• “When written in Chinese, the word ‘crisis’ is composed of two characters – one represents danger, and the other represents opportunity.” – John F. Kennedy
• We are not our bodies.
  • Uses the example of visiting a morgue. Looking at people who have recently died. 
• “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” –Wayne Dyer
• Optimists Club Creed
  • To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind. 
  • To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet. 
  • To make all your friends feel that there is something in them. 
  • To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true. 
  • To think only of the best, to work only for the best, and to expect only the best. 
  • To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own. 
  • To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future. 
  • To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile. 
  • To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others. 
  • To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.
• John Wooden’s Seven Point Creed
  • 1. Be true to yourself.
  • 2. Make each day your masterpiece.
  • 3. Help others.
  • 4. Drink deeply from good books.
  • 5. Make friendship a fine art.
  • 6. Build shelter against a rainy day.
  • 7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day.
• Who is a hero? A hero is a person who courageously contributes under even the most trying circumstances; a hero is an individual who acts unselfishly and who demands more from himself or herself than others would expect; a hero is a man or woman who defies adversity by doing what he or she believes is right in spite of fear.
• Become a people builder – build up everyone you meet. Acknowledge strangers with a smile. Give sincere compliments to others.
• Strive for balance over perfection (similar to consistency over perfection)
• Live a life of positive expectancy, knowing that everything that happens in your life benefits you in some way. Know that you are guided along a path of never-ending growth and learning, and with it, the path of everlasting love.