The Giant in You Is Already Awake; Here’s How to Let It Stand

Decisions, standards, words, and questions. Four doors to the greatness that’s been waiting inside you.

There’s a giant in you.

You’ve felt it. In the moment you spoke up when your voice shook. In the morning you got up before the sun and did the thing. In the day you chose love when anger was easier.

Those moments were the giant stirring.

In 1991, Tony Robbins wrote a thick, electric book called Awaken the Giant Within. It’s been a bedside companion for millions ever since, and it’s been one of mine for years.

Its message is simple and huge.

The power to shape your life is already inside you. Today, let’s help it stand up.

The short version. Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins (1991) teaches that your life is shaped by your decisions, your standards, your beliefs, the words you use, and the questions you ask yourself. Change these, and your emotions, actions, and results follow. Start with one decision, one raised standard, one new word for how you feel, and one better morning question.

Start Early Today

This One Decision Rewrites Your Story

“It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within, 1991

Every path you’re on began with a decision.

A small yes. A quiet “enough.” A moment you chose.

And here’s the beautiful news. You get to choose again, right now.

Robbins describes a real decision as cutting yourself off from every other option. Once it’s made, the whole of you moves in one direction.

What we intend, we become.

“Each moment is a new vantage point from where you can create a new world.”

Paolo Peralta, You’re still figuring it out, but from a better place than yesterday

Every morning is a fresh moment of decision. You get your own opening day, and it can be today.

Apply it today. Make one real decision before breakfast. Say it out loud. Write it down. Let it be final.

What decision has been waiting for you to make it?

Raise Your Standards and Awaken the Greatness Within

Robbins says real change begins when you raise your standards.

Wishes are what we hope for. Standards are what we live by.

When you raise the floor of what you’ll accept from yourself, your whole life rises to meet it. The way you speak. The way you move. The way you show up for the people you love.

And he pairs it with belief. Robbins writes that your conviction has to back your standards up, or they’ll wobble.

So raise the bar, and then believe you belong there.

You are limitlessly capable. Awaken the greatness within. It’s the power you’ve always had.

I explored this in raise your floor, enjoy the cinnamon roll, and answer five questions that will find you exactly where you are and 9 Ways To Get Ahead Of 99 Percent Of People.

Apply it today. Write three new “musts” for yourself. Things you’ll now expect from yourself every single day. Keep them small, clear, and yours.

Which standard is ready to rise this week?

The Words You Repeat Become the Life You Live

This is my favorite chapter in the whole book.

“Simply by changing your habitual vocabulary… you can instantaneously change how you think, how you feel, and how you live.”

Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within, 1991

Robbins calls it transformational vocabulary. Say “I’m furious,” and you are. Say “I’m a little annoyed,” and the fire cools. Say “I’m overwhelmed,” and you shrink. Say “I’m in demand,” and you grow.

Science backs him up.

Harvard researcher Alison Wood Brooks asked people about to sing karaoke, give a speech, or solve hard math problems to say one short sentence first. Those who said “I am excited” performed better than those who said “I am anxious” or tried to calm down. The speakers came across as more persuasive, competent, and confident (Journal of Experimental Psychology: General).

Same racing heart. New word. Whole new result.

Every word you speak to yourself is a spell. Cast beautiful ones.

Go deeper with The Words You Repeat Become the Life You Live.

Apply it today. Next time your heart races, say “I am excited.” Out loud if you can. Notice what shifts.

Quality Questions Create a Quality Life

“Quality questions create a quality life.”

Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within, 1991

Your mind is always asking questions. And it always finds answers.

Ask “Why does this always happen to me?” and your mind will dig up a hundred reasons.

Ask “What’s great about this?” and it’ll find a hundred gifts.

Instead of asking, “How will I get through today?” try asking, “What could make today wonderful?”

Robbins offers a set of morning power questions. What am I happy about right now? What am I excited about? What am I grateful for? Who do I love, and who loves me?

Ask them before your feet touch the floor, and watch how the day unfolds.

I keep returning to this in The Question Underneath All Your Questions.

Apply it today. Before you check your phone, ask yourself three of those morning questions. Answer each one with a feeling, and let yourself smile.

What’s the most beautiful question you could ask yourself today?

The Power You’ve Always Had

Here’s the secret woven through all 500 pages.

The giant was never asleep because it was small. It was simply waiting to be called.

Every decision calls it. Every raised standard calls it. Every kind word to yourself calls it. Every quality question calls it.

When you tap into this mindset, you gain all the power.

You already have what you need. You already are what you’re becoming. Be the one you need.

Pair this with The Power You’ve Always Had and You Have Another Gear. Use It Today.

Try This Today and Wake the Giant

1. Before your feet touch the floor, ask three morning power questions and feel the answers.
2. Make one real decision before breakfast, and write it down.
3. Write three new “musts,” small daily standards that are yours to keep.
4. When your heart races, say “I am excited.”
5. Swap one heavy word you use about yourself for a lighter, stronger one.
6. Tonight, write down one moment you felt the giant stand up.

Your Questions About Awaken the Giant Within, Answered

The Giant Is Already Standing Up

Remember those moments? When your voice shook and you spoke anyway. When you rose before the sun. When you chose love.

That was never luck. That was you.

The giant has been with you this whole time. Every decision, every standard, every word, every question has been calling it forward.

This morning, call it by name.

Start today. Start early. Start with one decision.

Keep Going

• You Are a Beacon; Let Your Eyes Say So
• The Magic of Believing Starts in the Mirror
• How The Miracle Morning Teaches You to Win the Day Before Anyone Else Is Awake
• If It Is to Be, It Is Up to Me

If this woke something up in you, join us here. We’d love to keep sending you your daily dose of GOOD.

With love,
Paolo

Sources

• Robbins, T. (1991). Awaken the Giant Within. Quotes via Bookey
• Brooks, A. W. (2014). Get excited: Reappraising pre-performance anxiety as excitement. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 143(3), 1144–1158. Harvard Business School; summary via Harvard Magazine