Tony Robbins's TED Talk in February 2006 starts off by saying that he is the "why" guy. His goal is to discover why we do what we do. He goes through the talk breaking down the human needs he has discovered over his twenty-nine years of work. He is asking the question "What makes the difference in the quality of peoples lives?" One surprising example provided refers to how some of the most privileged and happy people are often the ones checking in and out of rehab versus how the physically, sexually, and psychologically abused tend to contribute great things to society. The talk stresses that even if we are without money, technology, or management it is not the defining factor holding us back. He presents the claim that humans have six needs in life, which people essentially need to function normally. He ends the talk by telling a personal story at one of his past seminars in Hawaii. Tony Robbins TED talk "Why We Do What We Do", strives to persuade the human population about the complexity behind our decision making process and how it can be affected by countless emotions and actions. He does this by presenting personal examples he has come in counter with over time. In telling his audience the story of his seminar in Hawaii and other past experiences from talks he has given, Robbins demonstrates the importance of recognizing the why we do what we do and the hidden things that drive us to the average human who tends to lose sight of this in the stressful moments of their hectic daily lives.

Tony Robbins speaks on many ideas regarding human emotion and action. He stresses early in his talk that "humans have an invisible force of internal drive," and how it is the most important thing in the world. He stresses this point because all humans have an emotion inside them that drives their choices, even if they believe it was a logical, rational decision. Robbins continues on his point by saying "emotion is the force of life." Emotion is what we use to determine our actions and to determine why and how badly we want to do anything. This point shocked the audience in a way that helped open their eyes to what the might have missed out on because there emotion wasn't strong enough for something they wanted. Whether its how badly you want to go get an ice cream cone on a hot summer day or how tempted you are to skip your early morning class. Tony Robbins makes it very clear that he is not the type to stand up and motivate you, he claims himself as the "why" guy. This distinction is important because if he were the motivator people would solely rely on what he says to them to achieve what they want; whereas his career now makes people open their eyes to change that they can promote within their own power. He is determined to find out why you do something. 

He wraps up his opening statements with a simple question. His goal is to discover "what makes the difference in the quality of peoples lives?" Robbins answers by saying that in life there are two master lessons. Robbins does a solid job or providing detailed examples from real life that engages the audience to scope their own lives through the points he makes throughout this portion of the talk. These lessons are "the science of achievement" and "the art of fulfillment." The science of achievement is something that everyone has already mastered. Robbins explains this as turning the invisible into the visible. It is all about how you can take your dreams and make them a reality, whether it be opening your own business or contributing to society in a bigger way. This is what people are born to do. Their emotion drives their sense of achievement until their goals has been reached. Robbins says this is easy because it is just like science. You make a plan, write a code and follow the rules and you succeed in what you were trying to accomplish. Next the art of fulfillment is something that is rarely mastered. Robbins says this because fulfillment is all about appreciation and contribution.

Fulfillment is all about doing something bigger than you. You can only feel so much by yourself. Robbins gives two images to back up his point. On one side you have the people who have been given everything in life, the nice computer, you gave them love and joy. Interestingly enough he says that in his studies these are the people who spend their life checking in and out of rehab. These people have no sense of fulfillment; they always want more and need more to achieve what is their own "happiness's." On the other side you have the people who have been in ultimate pain. The sexually, mentally, and psychologically abused are the ones who contribute big things to society. These people are always content with what they achieve, they find happiness in doing good and contributing to society. This is their sense of fulfillment. 

The six human needs are a big part of the talk. These needs are: certainty, uncertainty, critical significance, connection and love, growth, and contribute to something beyond ourselves. These needs are what drive us to live our lives. Each one has an important function in our lives but not all of them are easily achievable. The first four: certainty, uncertainty, critical significance, and connection are all easily achievable by everyone (according to Robbins) because he claims these are physical needs. Every human can find a way to fulfill his or her physical needs. However, the final two needs: love and growth, are spiritual needs. These needs are not easily achievable by everyone. To obtain love and growth takes a lot of time and a lot of effort. Not everyone has the internal drive to shoot for these needs.

The problem is so many people can't achieve and can't reach this fulfillment because they whole-heartedly believe there is an external aspect always holding them back. The most common things people claim they don't have for is: time, money, contacts, technology, or proper management, but that is not it at all. Once you fall into the mindset of believing that you need something more than just yourself to achieve, then you begin to solely trust that resources are the only things that can make you succeed. The thing is you don't need the resources to succeed; you need emotion. With enough emotion and the right emotion we can do anything. It is all about pushing us from inside to achieve. The sneaky thing Robbins does without the audience realizing is this all is tied back to his point about internal drive and how the people who are making these excuses are lacking their own internal drive. This point allows the audience to reexamine their actions and attempt to realize if they fall into this category of excuse makers and if they need to boost their internal drive. 

This is possible but with two invisible forces that Robbins explains. The first invisible force is in the moment or state. This focuses on what you do right there and then and how your decision making process allows you to use emotion to do what is best. The next force is long term. This refers to our model of the world, our worldview, and the shaper of meaning, emotion, and action. This is what determines how we want to live our lives and what things we allow in and what we drive out of our lives. The two invisible forces open up two new ways of thinking for the audience, what we need now, and what we need in the long run. 

Robbins ends his talk with a heart warming but sad story of a lady who attended one of his talks in Hawaii. Her back-story was she left her boyfriend because she freaked out about marrying him, and by attending Tony Robbins talk in Hawaii the relationship ended. However, what she learned from this talked changed her and she called her boyfriend and said she wanted to marry him and that she loved him. He called her the next day and told her how happy he was to hear this. The sad thing he had to tell her was that he was going to die because he was on the top floor of the world trade center on 9/11. This changed her view forever on how she looked at life. The audience loved the talk and begged for the end of the story because Robbins ran out of time but TED allowed him to continue to the finish. You could sense the realization of the audience about how life can change drastically at any moment and if you give up on sometime to quickly, it might be gone before you get a chance to save it. 

Tony Robbins does a great job of persuading us on how our actions and emotion truly affect the major parts of our lives. He does an unbelievable job of uncovering why we do what we do and what forces drive us to be these things. He challenges the audience with many in depth questions that are short and to the point but each question lingers throughout the talk do to the fact that he consistently finds subtle to rise the question to the surface again. Robbins goes in depth to a place where the average human does not have the time or energy to think about. The talk helps breaks down human emotion and thought process and in the end gives society a better understanding of our lives while engaging to audience and making them contemplate on how we can begin to manipulate ourselves to begin to achieve these spiritual needs. The audience is left challenged to go forth and live life searching for these needs that are harder to achieve, rather than just going through their normal hectic daily routine. The human population is left with a chance to grow from this experience and put forth the time and effort to contribute to something beyond themselves and one-day master the art of fulfillment. 

