I can remember it almost like it was yesterday…

It must’ve been 1996 and I was getting ready to go to work at the law firm in Charlotte, N.C.

The TV was on and this infomercial appeared on screen with this dude with sculptured hair, big, brilliant white teeth and a deep, booming voice…

it was Tony Robbins.

He was raving about his CD audio program, Personal Power, which he claimed was guaranteed to transform your life.

He captured my attention, as Tony is an expert at doing, and I ended up ordering the program.

I was about to finish the executive MBA program at the University of S.C. and I’d been offered a management position with a company in Myrtle Beach.

It was a bold move to step outside of the career I’d studied so hard for and spent the last 7 years working in…

and I knew, once you leave the legal profession, it can be hard to ever come back.

So, I felt I could use exactly the type of motivational kick in the pants that Tony was offering.

That was the start of a relationship with Tony that bordered on cultish obsession.

After that initial experience walking the beach with my walkman blasting Robbins’ distinctive voice against my eardrums and into the cerebral cortex…

I embarked on an all-out Tony Robbins immersion phase that lasted the better part of a decade.

I attended his one day business seminar, twice to be exact. One of those was his last event, for which I chartered a private plane, so that my entire Live Oak staff could attend the event in New York City.

I did his signature Unleash the Power Within event, a three day affair that includes the famous fire walk experience.

During that event I signed up for Date with Destiny, which is the first of a series of three events that Tony calls, Mastery University.

I did all three.

I was at the famous last Life Mastery event on the big island of Hawaii when the planes hit the twin towers on 9-11.

All in all, I guess I spent around $25,000 during this Tony Robbins life phase…including extensive travel expenses, as Tony’s events were always held at the swankiest and most expensive hotels.

So, I believe I speak with some level of experience when I write this morning about the misguided message of Tony Robbins…misguided, at least, in my opinion, holding the worldview that I do today.

Now, granted, my worldview has shifted…dramatically.

Back when I was doing my Robbins thing I was a devout fundamentalist Christian. I never really had trouble reconciling that fact with what Robbins taught.

After all, God wanted me to succeed, right?

I do remember often praying for Tony’s salvation.

Did I ever actually meet him? Actually I did, a couple times, but only to briefly shake his hand and tell him how much his life had meant to mine.

And it did…Tony’s teaching did change me. It released me from many of the doubts about myself that had held me back.

But it also caused me to fixate on that aspect of life that Tony claims we all must deal with…

becoming financially free.

That means having enough money to do what you want, when you want, where you want…etc., etc.

I see now that Tony has written a new book about, take a guess,…

money.

I caught him on Maria Forleo this morning being interviewed about the book.

One of the events in Mastery University was called Wealth Mastery. In it Tony divulged investing secrets of the mega-rich. Seems now Tony has decided all those “secrets” are a bunch of hooey and the best thing to do is put your money in low cost market index funds…yawn!

So, in what manner do I believe Tony to be misguided?

You see, I don’t believe a focus on attaining financial freedom is a sustainable concept, not on personal, nor planetary, levels.

Tony taught me, or so I interpreted his teaching, that I had to fix myself, especially from a financial perspective, before I could fix the world.

I just no longer believe that’s true.

That is, a life where impact is the motivation, rather than self-interest (especially rather than economic self-interest), is what will give our lives meaning and fulfilment.

Tony tells us there is nothing wrong with money, with having things.

Oh, but I believe that there definitely is.

You see, the world can no longer sustain the wealth of a whole bunch of Tony Robbins wannabes.

Tony is an entertainer and in our society entertainers make a lot of money. And Tony has indeed made a lot of money…some of it off of me!

And his message basically is, hey, if I can do it, so can you.

That might be true, but it doesn’t make it a good thing…not on a personal or a planetary level.

People who couldn’t give a flip about absolute financial freedom, but who care passionately about absolute human freedom.

That is, the freedom that comes when all people on this planet can live lives of health and dignity.

Right now, we’re far from that and as the rich keep getting richer and the poor poorer…with many of those rich taking the very advice Tony is peddling…

that level of human freedom is becoming more and more elusive for millions upon millions that inhabit this planet.

I admire Tony Robbins. He has done a lot of good for a lot of people.

He always ends his books and seminars with a call to impact and that’s a good thing.

But, you see, I believe rather than leave that for the end…

it should come at the beginning.

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