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Tim Ferriss · 2024-05-31

Tony Robbins and Jerry Colonna — The Tim Ferriss Show

A 10-year anniversary combo episode pairing Tony Robbins on daily priming and asymmetric investing with Jerry Colonna on coaching, depression, and self-acceptance.

Tony Robbins and Jerry Colonna — The Tim Ferriss Show
The guest

Tony Robbins and Jerry Colonna: Tony Robbins is a peak-performance coach and bestselling author of Money: Master the Game, Life Force, and Awaken the Giant Within. Jerry Colonna is co-founder and CEO of executive-coaching firm Reboot, a former VC (Flatiron Partners, JP Morgan), and author of Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up.

What this episode covers

This is one of Tim Ferriss's 'super combo' episodes celebrating the podcast's 10th anniversary and 1 billion downloads. In the first half, Tony Robbins details his daily routine of cold and hot exposure, cryotherapy, and a 10-minute 'priming' practice, then breaks down the common traits of the world's greatest investors he interviewed for Money: Master the Game. In the second half, Jerry Colonna shares deeply personal stories of depression and a near-suicide at Ground Zero in 2002, the spider tattoo and spirit guide that grew out of a 2007 retreat, and how he became an executive coach. The conversation explores his signature questions, journaling and meditation practices, radical self-acceptance, and managing relationships and an overflowing inbox.

Recommended on this episode

ProductRecommended

Cryotherapy unit

“with all that you do you're going to love this; nothing has come close to cryotherapy; I got it for me and now I'm addicted”
“nothing has come close to cryotherapy... it takes all the inflammation out of your body... I got it for her I got it for me and now I'm addicted”— Tony Robbins
MediaRecommended

Taming the Mammoth

Tim Urban (Wait But Why)

“I highly recommend that everybody check out an article he wrote called taming the mammoth”
“I highly recommend that everybody check out an article he wrote called taming the mammoth which is on this subject”— Tim Ferriss
BookRecommendedISBN verified

Radical Acceptance

Tara Brach

“a book that helped me a lot with this; the book is so good; radical acceptance offered me an entirely different way of relating”
“a book that helped me a lot with this... was Radical acceptance by Tara Brock... the book is so good”— Tim Ferriss

The guest's own work

BookBy the guest

Money: Master the Game

Tony Robbins

“the number one New York Times bestselling author of money Master the game Life Force and awaken the giant within”— Tim Ferriss
BookBy the guestISBN verified

Life Force

Tony Robbins

“the number one New York Times bestselling author of money Master the game Life Force and awaken the giant within”— Tim Ferriss
BookBy the guestISBN verified

Awaken the Giant Within

Tony Robbins

“the number one New York Times bestselling author of money Master the game Life Force and awaken the giant within”— Tim Ferriss
BookBy the guest

Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up

Jerry Colonna

“so I'm looking at a page in the new book appropriately named ReBoot and you have in this book different journaling invitations”— Jerry Colonna

Also referenced (named, not recommended)

BookReferencedISBN verified

The Paleo Solution

Robb Wolf

“Rob wolf who is a former research biochemist and two-time New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Solution and wired to eat”— Tim Ferriss
BookReferencedISBN verified

Wired to Eat

Robb Wolf

“former research biochemist and two-time New York Times best-selling author of The Paleo Solution and wired to eat”— Tim Ferriss
ProductReferenced

Fitbit

Fitbit

“I wear odometer and I'm Fitbit and it's 26 and half miles on average wow we start at 8:30 in the morning”— Tony Robbins
BookReferenced

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Stieg Larsson

“so perhaps much like a novel I greatly enjoy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo this would be the coach with the spider tattoo”— Tim Ferriss
BookReferenced

When Things Fall Apart

Pema Chodron

“I read three books When Things Fall Apart by Anie pemma children Faith by Sharon salsburg and let your life speak by Parker Palmer”— Jerry Colonna
BookReferenced

Faith

Sharon Salzberg

“I read three books When Things Fall Apart by Anie pemma children Faith by Sharon salsburg and let your life speak by Parker Palmer”— Jerry Colonna
BookReferencedISBN verified

Let Your Life Speak

Parker Palmer

“let your life speak which is a brilliant beautiful short little collection of essays that really shifted the dialogue for me”— Jerry Colonna
BookReferencedISBN verified

The Artist's Way (Morning Pages)

Julia Cameron

“but along the lines of say morning Pages you know Julia Cameron and so on writing freehand in the morning”— Tim Ferriss
BookReferencedISBN verified

Nonviolent Communication

Marshall Rosenberg

“I wish I could give you like here's the tool you know like NVC nonviolent Communications has some brilliant tools”— Jerry Colonna

Big reveals from this episode

  • Tony Robbins explains that his Unleash the Power Within events run roughly 50 hours over three days, and he averages 26.5 miles walked per event day on a Fitbit, treating it like back-to-back marathons.
  • Robbins describes his daily 'priming' practice: explosive breathing (three sets of 30), three minutes of gratitude, three minutes of feeling presence/God, and three minutes visualizing his 'three to thrive' goals.
  • Robbins names four traits all great investors share: obsession with not losing money, asymmetric risk/reward, certainty they will be wrong (so they use asset allocation), and being lifelong learners and genuine givers.
  • Jerry Colonna recounts February 2nd, 2002, when he stood above Ground Zero wanting to die and nearly jumped in front of a subway, then called his therapist Dr. Saunders and took a cab to her office instead.
  • Colonna's therapist told him not to go to a hospital but to Canyon Ranch, a health spa, which became the beginning of his rebuilding; he had earlier attempted suicide at 18 and spent three months in a psychiatric hospital.
  • Colonna describes the moment he decided to become a coach: a young lawyer came to network, cried when asked why he became a lawyer, and Colonna handed him Let Your Life Speak and signed up for coach training within days.
  • Colonna shares the 'nasty little trick' he plays on high achievers: asking what they would want their children to feel at the same age, to motivate them to change how they organize their lives.
  • Colonna explains transforming his rage (the 'Hulk') through radical acceptance into 'Thor', recognizing the angry part of himself exists only to keep him and his loved ones safe.

Worth remembering

  • Cryotherapy reduces body temperature to minus 220 degrees Fahrenheit for three minutes; Robbins says it was developed in Poland and Eastern Bloc countries and originally used for arthritis.
  • Robbins recounts Kyle Bass making $2 billion during the subprime crisis by risking only 6 cents to make a dollar.
  • Bass bought 40 million nickels because the metal content was worth more than face value, costing the US government nearly 10 cents to make a nickel.
  • Robbins says he has never lost someone to suicide who stood up at one of his events in 37 years, across over a thousand cases that were followed up.
  • Ferriss reveals he had roughly 68,952 unread emails plus 165 and 255 unread text messages across phone numbers.
  • Colonna references Tim Urban's Wait But Why article 'Taming the Mammoth' about the inner voice of social judgment.
  • Colonna explains the distinction that guilt is self-focused while remorse is focused on the other person.
  • Dr. Saunders taught Colonna three questions: what am I not saying that needs to be said, what am I saying that's not being heard, and what's being said that I'm not hearing.
  • Colonna has journaled by hand daily since about age 13 and never rereads his journals because it's about the experience, not figuring things out.
  • Colonna says the single belief that most improved his life is simply 'I am a good man.'