Tony Robbins gets real about success in life and health: 'Just thinking positive is B.S.'

Well-known life strategist and No. 1 best-selling author Tony Robbins has just released a new book, "Life Force" and has made numerous media appearances — including on Fox News Channel — to discuss why he spent the last three years writing it and how he's used regenerative medicine to address a devastating personal injury.

Now, in a new interview with Fox News Digital, Robbins shares life tips, insights and advice for all of us — no matter who we are, what stage of life we're in, what we might be struggling with or what type of work we do.

Robbins' most compelling thoughts may surprise a few people: "I don’t believe in just thinking positive," he said. "That's B.S."

"I don’t think you should go to your garden, and there are weeds there, and [you] start chanting, ‘There are no weeds, there are no weeds, there are no weeds.’ Come on!" said Robbins in an email exchange with Fox News Digital. 

"You have to see the weeds so you can rip them out," he said. "You have to use your intelligence. You have to have some courage and take some risk. You have to create."

Robbins shared plenty of personal insights and inspiration about the potential for personal growth for all — especially as we emerge from difficult pandemic times.

Fox News Digital: Tell us how your book can help people who find regenerative medicine or new technologies too removed or "distant" from their own lives. 

Tony Robbins: I’ve always been obsessed with finding answers to what can make the difference in the quality of people’s lives. And there are only a few areas that really matter — your health, emotions, relationships, time, career, and spirituality or religion. 

I’ve spent the last decade on the area of money, interviewing 50 of the top financial minds on earth, and wrote two books to help people master that area. 

So I did the same in this area — and it wasn’t just something I was interested in. For me, it was something I was impacted by personally. 

A few years back, I was [snowboarding], tearing down the mountain in Sun Valley, Idaho, and acting like a 14-year-old — and I fell and tore my rotator cuff. I was in such a high level of pain that I could not even sleep and was later told by a doctor I also had severe spinal stenosis. 

I place high demands on my body for my events, and after four-and-a-half decades, it had taken a toll. The doctor told me that "life as I knew it was over." 

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I wasn’t going to settle for that, so I went looking for answers. I didn’t want to be out of commission for 6 months and risk not having full range of motion. That is what led me to stem cells. 

I went down to Panama for treatment, and within 2 days, I was completely pain-free in my shoulder and my spinal stenosis was healed. Literally after 14 years of back pain, it was gone. After experiencing the benefit personally, I went on a journey to find the best regenerative tools out there — tools that can help others heal. 

Ultimately, with the help of my co-authors [of "Life Force"], I met and interviewed than 150 leading scientific, medical and health experts in their fields to provide people who do not have the resources and connections to have access to the amazing breakthroughs, insights and simple lifestyle changes that I discovered are available today, or will be in the near future. 

The fact is that our own DNA — our unique coded genome — is not our destiny. In "Life Force," I explain, and more importantly show you, why and what everyone can do about it, in some instances before disease strikes. 

I wrote this book for everyone, from peak performance athletes to the average person who wants to increase his or her energy and strength, and discover how to heal faster.

Fox News Digital: Can you share more of your own life's journey, what you've gone through and what's brought you to this point? 

Robbins: I was diagnosed with a pituitary tumor when I was younger. Initially, doctors told me I needed brain surgery immediately. 

"When it comes to your health, your children, finances, relationships and religious beliefs, other people can give their opinions, but you need to make those decisions for yourself."

— Tony Robbins to Fox News Digital

There was just one problem. Assuming I actually survived the operation, there was still a high probability it could wreck my endocrine system — depriving me forever of the energy that made it possible to do my life’s work. For me, that was unacceptable. 

At the very least, I’d need a second opinion before I could even contemplate such a risk. But this doctor was one of those people who become infuriated by any challenge to their authority. 

He refused to recommend another expert. 

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So I did my own due diligence and got a second opinion. I went to Europe and was told by another doctor that I’d need to get an injection twice a year in Switzerland of an experimental drug that would prevent my tumor from growing and reduce the risk of heart problems. 

When I asked about its side effects, he said, "Well, to be honest, there’s a severe loss of energy." Obviously I couldn’t do that either. 

It was literally like the butcher wants to butcher. The baker wants to bake. The surgeon wants to cut. But I wasn’t willing to sacrifice my quality of life, and I knew there had to be an answer. 

Over the next three months, I met with six other doctors. 

One of them made a compelling case for doing nothing, other than going for regular checkups to make sure my condition hadn’t deteriorated. While he agreed my bloodstream contained enormous quantities of growth hormone, he pointed out something that everyone else had seemed to overlook: my condition hadn’t caused any negative effects. 

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To the contrary, he said, my reservoir of growth hormone may have boosted my body’s ability to recover from the extraordinary stress my work placed on it. "You’ve got a great gift here," the doctor told me. "I know bodybuilders who’d have to spend $1,200 a month to get what you’re getting for free!"

What this taught me is the cornerstone of "Life Force." It’s to let experts be your coaches but not your commanders. 

Because when it comes to your health, how to raise your children, finances, relationships, and religious beliefs, other people can give you their opinions — but you need to make those decisions for yourself, because if they’re wrong, the consequences are ones you’re going to need to live with. It’s why I became the CEO of my own health. 

Fox News Digital: You also reveal a surprising family detail in your book that you hadn't shared widely before. Can you elaborate? 

Robbins: I haven’t talked about this publicly before I put it in "Life Force." 

But my biological father had Alzheimer’s. He didn’t know who I was at the end. It was an excruciating experience for me and our whole family. 

That’s when I promised myself to do all I could to find an answer for this disease, so that I’d never be a burden to others and could enjoy my own family in a healthy, active way. 

Fox News Digital: Many people have felt discouraged and confused during the COVID pandemic, for so many reasons. For all those struggling to emerge with hope and happiness this year, what's your best advice? 

Robbins: What I've been sharing with more than 2 million people around the world during a number of free virtual events to help people with this exact question is that what we’ve gone through — and continue to go through — with the pandemic shall pass. 

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You know, it's true that nothing lasts forever, even pandemics and world wars. 

When things are going great, people think it's going to go great forever. 

When it's going horrible, it's going to be horrible forever.

"Having courage does not mean you are not scared. Being unshakeable doesn’t mean you are fearless, but that you have fear and you deal with it anyway." 

— Tony Robbins to Fox News Digital

But thousands and thousands of years of history show us that there are seasons of life, and they're always changing. 

Springtime is when there's growth, and it's easy, and it's fun. 

In summer, it's hot and sweaty, and you're like, "I've been working so hard, where's the result?" 

In autumn, we get to reap, and it's easy to buy a house when you have no money, no income, but you do it. 

Then there are times like now, when it is winter. 

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When it's really dark, when it's really hard, when it seems impossible to make progress — you think you'll never get out of it. 

You think you'll never get your body where it needs to be, or you'll never turn around financially, or you'll never get your kids turned around, you'll never find that relationship. It never feels like it will improve. 

Just thinking positive won’t do it. 

Just thinking positive is B.S. I don’t believe in just thinking positive. 

I don’t think you should go to your garden, and there are weeds there, and [you] start chanting, "There are no weeds, there are no weeds, there are no weeds." Come on! 

You have to see the weeds so you can rip them out. You have to use your intelligence. You have to have some courage and take some risk. You have to create. 

Having courage does not mean you are not scared. Being unshakeable doesn’t mean you are fearless, but that you have fear and you deal with it anyway. 

"Success leaves clues … Luck has nothing to do with it."

— Tony Robbins to Fox News Digital

There is nothing on this earth you can't make happen through the power of your mind and your heart with persistence and consistency. We just need new habits of thinking, focus and action.

Fox News Digital: You're known for sharing great advice — but you've received some great advice yourself from mentors over the years. Tell us about that.

Robbins: I share in my book what my first mentor, Jim Rohn — an amazing personal development coach and business philosopher — shared with me when I was seventeen years old and supporting myself by working as a janitor. He told me for things to change, I had to change. 

For my life to get better, I had to get better. Bemoaning my past wouldn’t get me to a brighter future. Complaining about my current stressful circumstances wouldn’t help. Neither would hoping my luck would change, or wishing on a star.

He told me in no uncertain terms that if you want to succeed at anything — whether it’s building a hugely profitable business, constructing a stormproof investment portfolio, or creating a healthy lifestyle that fills you with boundless energy — you need to study people who have already achieved the result you’re after. 

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The fact is: Success leaves clues. 

If a person has sustained success in any long-term ambition — whether in losing weight, growing a business, sustaining an extraordinary relationship — luck has nothing to do with it. They’re doing something different than you are. 

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So you need to understand exactly what they’re doing differently, and precisely how they’ve mastered the skills you’ll need to replicate their success.

To learn more about Tony Robbins and the key messages he shares in "Life Force," watch the video at the top of this article, or access it here.