I picked back up Tony Robbins’s Ultimate Edge program the other day, and was giving it another listen…
And I had a huge realization about what I believe to be Totny’s ultimate super power.
I’m going to share that with you in just a moment.
First, I want to give you the context for this realization.
Part way through the program, Tony starts telling the story of internationally-famous physicist Stephen Hawking…
Most folks don’t know, but Stephen Hawking wasn’t always confined to a wheelchair, with no voice of his own.
In fact, until he was about 21, he was a relatively normal — though quite geeky — boy.
Then in his final year at Oxford, his coordination started to deteriorate. He got clumsy. He had a fall on some stairs. He started to have trouble rowing.
His speech slurred, and the problems worsened.
Then, at 21, he was diagnosed with ALS.
It’s a degenerative disease, where the neurons that communicate between your muscles and your brain stop working. And it usually only gets worse.
In fact, doctors told Hawking — at 21 — that he only had 2 years left to live.
But his girlfriend — soon fiancée, then wife — gave him a will to go on.
And so he did, starting what would become an incredible career in math and physics. All the while, his ALS continued to eat away at his ability to move, and even speak.
Then, it got worse.
Hawking came down with pneumonia. It was life-threatening. At one point, his wife was asked if she wanted to remove life support.
She said no, so the doctors opted for tracheotomy — completely removing any remaining ability to speak.
At this point — and at many points before — Hawkings had many, many reasons to give up.
Nobody would have begrudged him had he decided his career was over, and sought to live out the rest of his days in as much comfort as he could achieve, given his condition.
But he pressed on.
And in the roughly 30 years since losing his voice — tacked onto another couple decades with ALS — Hawking has continued to be a huge thought leader in physics and other related fields.
Tony told this story to make a point…
That no matter our perceived limitations, there’s probably someone out there with even more of the deck stacked against them, making an even bigger impact on the world.
I’d been starting to have my realization at this point — though it’d been developing for some time.
As I listened, Tony was making point after point.
But he wasn’t just making the points. He wasn’t just telling you what you should believe. He wasn’t just going through the facts.
He was weaving in stories where he wasn’t telling you what he wanted you to understand… He was showing you.
Story after story.
That cut right past all your natural filters.
The filter that says, “I get bored easily.”
The filter that says, “I don’t believe these claims.”
… And every other filter that gets in the way of Robbins reaching deep into your mind and influencing you at both a conscious and subconscious level.
Tony is famous for so many different skills…
He’s a master marketer. He’s a master salesperson and persuader.
He’s a giant of a business-builder.
He’s an entertaining, even enthralling public speaker.
And those who go deeper will learn that he’s a master at NLP and hypnosis, having worked at points with many of the modern masters in these fields.
There’s a lot that Tony Robbins is known for — and all of it, for good reason.
He’s seemingly superhuman in so many areas.
And it makes him a totally attractive character to want to follow.
And yet, there’s one more skill — one more super power — that isn’t so frequently cited.
Tony Robbins’s biggest super power is his story telling…
The Stephen Hawking story was one of dozens upon dozens of stories he used in just that one program to influence, inspire, and motivate.
And that program is one of many.
Any time Tony Robbins speaks, he uses stories. Countless stories. Each very intentional. To make a point. To convey a thought. To inspire you to believe something.
Critical skills in teaching and inspiring. But also, in selling.
Tony Robbins’s most powerful skill when it comes to influencing you — to whatever end — is the stories that he tells.
Take away any one his skills, and it would hurt. It would put a dent in the Tony Robbins magic.
Take away his story telling, and you wouldn’t have Tony Robbins.
What would it mean to you to have just some of the influence and power of Tony Robbins?
Anyone who makes a living on the strength of their ability to persuade, to motivate, to influence will only enjoy greater success by increasing their ability to tell compelling stories.
And the good news?
You don’t have to be a natural story teller.
Sure, some people seem to be more “natural” at it. Whether they were born that way, or they just absorbed the ability through whatever experiences growing up.
But listen. In college, I took a modern literature class. At the time, I wrote like a 19th-century author. Full of flourish and detail, but empty of excitement and real story.
It was the first time I was called out on it (in fact, other professors gave me high grades for puffery). The professor told me I could write well, but nobody would want to read what I wrote. I had to learn to write STORIES if I wanted anyone to actually be excited by what I wrote.
Fast forward a little more than a decade, and I’ve written stories that not only got readership — but that have generated millions of dollars in sales as a result of people reading then taking action.
I learned what it takes to tell stories that compelled people to take action — the same skill Tony Robbins uses any time he opens his mouth.
Now all I have to do is draw on all my best practices and templates. On what I know works. I simply look for where these best practices line up with my current project, and it’s almost “paint by numbers.”
The same for Tony Robbins — or for anyone else who uses stories to influence.
It’s a learned skill. Something you can develop. Through first knowing what you need to do, then through practice.
In about a month, I’ll be starting my Story Selling Master Class for Copywriters.
I believe this is the single-most valuable skill you can develop in persuasion — and especially copywriting.
The wait list is growing by the day. If you’re not already on it, I don’t think you’ll want to miss it.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
