Tony Robbins | My Career Curveballs

“You never know when the curveball could be the catalyst for achieving the life of your dreams.”?

It’s graduation season and I can’t help but think of the bright minds of today stepping out on their own,?soon to be the leaders of tomorrow.?

It causes me to pause and reflect on my own career beginnings.?

What advice would I extend to a recent grad? Or someone looking to start their own business? Or make a career shift??

1. Our lives and the work we do rarely follow a straight line.?

They’re a myriad of dips, twists, turns, catapults, and zigzags. ?

And there are curveballs, my friend.?

When I was five, I knew more than anything else that I wanted to be a fireman. I wanted to save people’s lives. By age seven the dream had evolved: I wanted to be a police artist and draw pictures to catch the bad guys and help people. By the time I was nine, it was clear to me that I was destined to be a rock star. I wanted to rock the house and give people an experience of feeling alive—a feeling they’d never ever forget.?

By the time I was twelve, my father, Jim Robbins, had entered my life. He’d previously been a semi-pro baseball player, and my love for him grew into a total love for the sport. ?

When I was in junior high, I tried out for the baseball team. We went through four cuts and when it came to the final cut, I didn’t make it. ?

I just couldn’t hit the curveball. ?

And I was completely devastated.??

What am I going to do with my life??I thought.??

I’m fourteen and my entire career path has been annihilated.?

If I can’t make the junior high baseball team, how will I ever make the high school team — much less get a scholarship to USC and then play pro ball? ?

My life is over!??

I laugh at this thought today but it felt like life and death for me at the time.?

I think this feeling surfaces even in adulthood when life doesn’t go the way we planned when it comes to our goals...?

But there’s actually a lesson here.?

2. Striking out doesn’t mean losing the game, if you can pivot.

In that moment, I decided to make a very quick shift. ?

I asked?myself:?What are the common denominators of what I want to achieve???

I wanted to help people in their lives.?

I wanted to live passionately. ?

I wanted to give people unforgettable experiences. ?

I wanted to be with people and see them reach peak states of celebration and excitement. ?

While I might not be the source of the excitement as the athlete winning the game in the bottom of the ninth, perhaps I could be the person who augmented the experience of fans and players everywhere, as a writer and sportscaster.?

So, at 13 years old, I was an 8th-grader armed with a reporter’s notebook, I signed up for two classes I was certain would catapult me to the press box big time — typing class and shorthand writing. ?

When I learned that Howard Cosell, the famous sportscaster, would be signing autographs for his book at Robinson's Department Store in Los Angeles, I saw that as my opportunity to learn from the man who was considered the best in the business.?

I got to the department store and there he was, the king of sportscasting himself, standing on the stage, pontificating about the Super Bowl and Muhammad Ali. He was surrounded by reporters from radio and television news stations from across the country.?

I was wearing my “two-piece”— my corduroy jeans and jacket that I got in a thrift store. I even had a business card that said, “Tony Jay Robbins, future sportscaster.”?

When Mr. Cosell was getting up to leave, I — all 5’1” of me — burst through a small crowd of people and marched right up to him.

I handed him my card and said, “I want to become a sportscaster, and I’d like to interview you right now.” ?

He saw the opportunity in the moment, with flashbulbs popping from the L.A Times and TV people filming. He said in his trademark call voice, “Young man, I want to give you this interview.”?

And that he did.?

It was a momentous spark in my career that truly impacted me for life. With the ability to pivot, I could still make my dreams come true and better than I had ever imagined. ?

But there was another lesson to be had not too far down the road...?

3. There are people who see you for who you are, and there are people who see you for who you can become. Be the latter for yourself. ?

A few years?later, I entered speech class at my high school because a very smart, pretty girl?was taking the very same class. ?

I spent most of the class trying to entertain this girl?I admired until one day Mr. Cobb, the teacher, came up to me...?

“Mr. Robbins, may I speak to you after class?” he asked me. ?

Mr. Cobb was an incredibly strict disciplinarian, so I knew I was dead in the water.??

But that detention turned out to be just another notable bend in the road, pointing me still in the right direction. Mr. Cobb stood before me, crossed his arms, and said, ?

“There’s something about you and the sincerity you have,” he said. “You have a way to penetrate people because you really do care. I've not seen someone care at the level you do.”?

I was stunned.?

Then he added, “I know more about your life and challenges than you think I do. I’ve picked out a speech for you to memorize and deliver in two weeks at a regional competition. I believe you can win.”?

The speech he gave me was called “The Will to Win,” and all I can tell you is, the first time I read it through, I cried my eyes out from its effect on me.?

The speech was about someone who refused to give up because they believed their life was meant to be something more than they were currently living. It was about overcoming every obstacle, every kind of pain, every tragedy, with sheer will and persistence that is only possible when someone feels a calling to serve beyond themselves.?

In other words, it was my life.?

I gave the speech, I won first place, and found my new direction. I could use my voice, my heart and my soul to touch people and help them take the action that would truly change their lives.?

Today I get to use all my creativity to entertain, educate, and move people to transform. ?

As I write this, I recently?finished my largest Unleash the Power Within ever, serving over 40,000 households. ?

The road to my career has been and continues to be non-linear...?

Filled with curveballs like being forced to shut down our?live events due to Covid-19.?

It was another moment where I had to pivot, where what felt like the end?actually birthed a new way.?

I’m now able to reach more people than ever through virtual events. It’s a unique experience, being in someone’s living room seeing their pets and their family, and it’s making the tools I teach more accessible than ever before. ?

And as I look back, I realize that I?have?found a way to be the fireman who can help when things are “burning down” for people.?

Or like the police artist I can help them uncover the culprit that’s “robbing them” of life.??

It may not be a baseball diamond but I’m on the field every day. Serving. ?

I couldn’t have planned this adventure in a trillion years.?

So how DID I get here? Some would say it's random chance, some may say it was dumb luck, others still might call it hard work, or destiny. I choose to see the grace in it all. ?

The curveballs, the setbacks – all grace. ?

So for anyone out there stuck on life not going as planned, or fearful of starting out, remember your curveball could actually be your greatest catalyst toward the life of your dreams.?

Remember...?

Life isn’t linear.?

It’s OK to strike out (as long as you pivot!)?

And always aim to see yourself not as you are, but who you can become.?

Tony Robbins

• Read the original article I wrote back in 2014?for more stories and a deeper dive into my own personal Career Curveballs ?

Find a Mentor?

• We all need people who see us for who we can become, for our true potential. Schedule a coaching call today with one of my expertly?trained coaches. There’s nothing like accountability and mentorship when it comes to reaching our goals.?

“We can have a clear path for our lives, but sometimes life gives us a divine nudge towards something even greater. The importance is noticing the nudges.”?