Tony Robbins on why business success isn’t a straight line: “Learn to discipline your disappointment”

“Society does not prepare us for what’s really required to be successful in life and in business,” says Tony Robbins.

The serial entrepreneur and life coach recently spoke to Inc about why business success doesn’t come in a straight line, and how some dreams were meant to be “destroyed”.

“When you get a trophy for participating and then you enter the business world and there are no trophies for participating, you’ll lose your job,” he said.

“Life is not a straight line. There are no straight lines in nature.”

Robbins uses this example to show how it’s impossible for a business to go “straight up and keep going up”, noting that setbacks and “devastation” are part and parcel of successful businesses.

“You need to learn to discipline your disappointment. For people who say, ‘oh my god my dreams are destroyed’ get a reality check, they’re supposed to be destroyed, over and over time,” he told Inc.

“I don’t know anybody who’s been successful in life and business who hasn’t been devastated multiple times. The only difference is they get back up immediately.”

Robbins believes there’s something “in the human psyche” which means fighting for something makes you value that thing more, saying if business achievements were easy, business owners would never value them.

“If you keep growing, if you put yourself in a position where you will not be denied, you will get to where you wanna go.”

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