103 The Power of Clarity – 5 Steps to Achieving Any Goal

"You've got to figure out what you want first or you'll be given whatever others didn't want that was left over." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed the show and would like to know more, head over to www.lewishowes.com/103 for show notes and more. Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 103 and you're entering the solo round.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  Yes, welcome back to another episode and another solo round. I know I'm getting into this again. You guys have been asking for me to do more individual episodes, so I'm giving you guys some more of my insights and my stories and my own experiences about greatness and what I'm up to. So this is all about getting clear with what you want. And if you want to achieve something, you've got to have a clear vision about it first. Now that may seem very basic, but we're going to be getting into that here in just a second. But it's all about getting clear on what you want. So let's go ahead and dive into this episode. Number 103 with myself on the solo round.

• 1:22Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness. Super pumped today for this episode. And it's another solo round. I'm very excited because I just got back from a long run. I haven't been able to work out in a couple of weeks because I took a pretty hard hit on the floor during my last handball tournament, playing against Puerto Rico with the USA national team. I was taking a charge against a guy and I just whiplashed my head really hard back. I've never had a headache in my life, ever. Maybe for like 10 seconds or something. But whenever people talk about they have these killing headaches, these super nagging annoying headaches. I've never experienced that for whatever reason. You know, I played lots of football and smashed my head against other guys at full speed,

• 2:04Lewis Howes?

  but I never had a headache. And I've had like this nagging pain headache. In the back of my neck and in my forehead for the last two weeks now. And it finally, I haven't been able to work out because it's just been so painful. So I've been trying to take it easy and just kind of let my body relax. And whenever I meditate, it goes away, but sometimes it comes back. And I just went for a long run and it was super amazing just to feel like I could work out again. So I'm very excited about this and I wanted to do a solo round for you guys again because just did a last solo round about mentorship. You guys loved it. It's been taking off. So I want to do another one and I was inspired about this specific topic, about vision and about discovering what you want. And there's a problem in the world.

• 2:47Lewis Howes?

  The problem in the world is that so many people out there don't know what they fricking want in their lives, in anything. And it stresses me out just to be around people. Actually, I should take that back. It doesn't stress me out. It inspires me. It inspires me to evoke and ask questions, to support people in discovering what it is they actually want. And I've always, I feel like I've always known what I've wanted. Let's say not for my entire life, you know, I don't know what I want specifically in the next 50 years. I have kind of a vague idea of what I want, but I know specifically what I've want over the next couple of years. And I'm very clear about it and it shifts and it changes.

• 3:30Lewis Howes?

  And once I achieve what I want, I come up with new visions and new wants and new desires. So I want to, I want to share with you guys a story real quick. What happened? I was out to dinner with my girlfriend last night and we were meeting with a couple of her friends, another couple. And her, one of her good friends, his name is Steve. He is a really cool guy and he's in grad school to be a doctor of physical therapy. And he was, I was like, you know, Steve, what do you, you know, I'm meeting for the first time and sometimes I can be kind of intense with people for the first time. I like, I like to ask a lot of like evoking questions and probing questions to discover like how they're going to achieve greatness and it could be a little intimidating, maybe I'm not sure. But I'm all about the evoking and figure out how people can reach the next level.

• 4:15Lewis Howes?

  That's really what excites me. So that's the questions I ask. And so I'm asking Steve, I'm like, so what does he want? And you know, he's gonna be a doctor of physical therapy in the next six months. And I was like, what do you want to do afterwards? You know, what's, what's the dream? And he goes, you know, I'm not really sure. You know, I got, it's, it's a similar response I get from a lot of people. I'm not really sure what I want. And I said, well, if you could have anything, what would you want? You know, if you could have it all, what would it be? And he was talking about being a physical therapist in the, with the military and the benefits that would come with that and how it could support his family and things like that. And I was like, cool. Was that really what you want or is, is there anything else? And he's like, well, you know, I used to be a football coach. So I love to have like, uh, work on a pro sports team.

• 5:00Lewis Howes?

  And be a physical therapist for a pro sports team and work on these great athletes. And I was like, that's pretty cool. Is that really what you want? And he goes, well, actually it's probably be a lot of hours, probably like 80 hours a week. And I'd have to work my way up and it'd be a lot of time and energy. So that's just one option. That's like plan B or C. And I was like, okay, well, what is it you really want? And he was like, well, it'd be really cool to have my own practice by the beach and, and work like five hours a day and then be able to be there for, to support my family. But I don't know if that's possible. Okay. And I said, okay, so what is it you really want, Steve? Let's get, let's get real here. If you could have it all, what do you want? And he kept going on and all these different options. And again, I say it frustrated me, but it really inspired me to support and evoke questions

• 5:42Lewis Howes?

  for him to see what was possible and see what was possible when he got clear on a vision for what he wanted, when he got clear on just being specific. With specifics in our life, we're able to figure out, uh, by when. We're able to get clear on what we want and by when. If we just say, I want to make a million dollars. Well, if you don't give it a timeframe, if you don't say by when, by January 1st of next year, by, you know, in five years, March, you know, 16th on my birthday in five years, whatever it may be. If you're not specific, then it's going to be really challenging to work backwards and figure out the action steps necessary to achieving that goal, that mission, that dream,

• 6:25Lewis Howes?

  whatever it is, that want that you have, that desire. So success really starts With a clear vision of what you want. Achieving whatever you want starts with a clear vision of what that is with a timeline. Now, this may seem very basic. You may have heard this many times before about goal setting or things like that. But there's a, there's a lot that goes along with this. You've got to be clear on the distinctions of what you want. The vision of what you want, but then you've got to also take other steps. And these other steps are crucial. So what I want to go through with you guys is something I go through with a lot of my one-on-one students or group students that I have. Who pay a high fee for one-on-one consulting with me.

• 7:10Lewis Howes?

  And we always start with, what do you want? What's the main goal? If it's business, we start with a number. Because that's easy to quantify and say, okay, there's this number that we want to achieve. Whether it's a hundred new sales by a certain date. Whether it's, I want to make $20,000 a month, starting in four months at this date. Whatever it is, it's easier in business to quantify and give a timeline and work backwards. And so that's why a lot of, I have a lot of students that make a lot of money because when they get clear on what they want. It's so easy to figure out the pieces to put it in place to move forward and achieving that goal. So you got to figure out what you want first. Or you'll be given whatever others didn't want that was left over.

• 7:54Lewis Howes?

  Okay, let me say that again. You've got to figure out what you want first. Or you'll be given whatever others didn't want that was left over. So to give an example back to Steve, you know, unless Steve gets very clear on what he wants. And again, I'm, I know he's going to get what he wants. It's just when he gets clear, then he'll be able to make it happen. If he doesn't get clear on what he wants, let's just say he's got all these different options. But he actually doesn't go after one of them. He doesn't do whatever it takes. He doesn't hustle. He doesn't build the relationships. He doesn't find the mentor. He doesn't do all these things I'm going to talk about, then he's going to be given whatever others didn't want that was left over. So again, he's going to be given whatever others didn't want.

• 8:38Lewis Howes?

  So if he really wants to be a, you know, a physical therapist on a pro sports team. But if he isn't clear on that, then he's gonna be given a different job of whatever's left over that other people aren't competing for. Do you guys see what I'm saying? And that's kind of what I'm, I see in a lot of people who are reaching out to me online, who are emailing me, who are part of my, my, my mastermind group in the School of Greatness Academy, when they get started out, they're kind of left with these leftovers, let's say. They're kind of left with like the scraps. They're left with like stuff that they're not excited about, that doesn't really taste that good, that's like kind of scrappy and got some extra bones in it. You know, they're not left with like, they don't, they don't get the good meat.

• 9:22Lewis Howes?

  They don't get the, the, you know, the veal. They don't get the filet mignon. They get kind of like the scraps. That's like, not even scraps from today's meal. It's like yesterday's meal, right? It's like kind of moldy and stinky and like, just tastes really nasty and gets caught in your throat and you have to like spit it up. It's just like, not the good stuff that's exciting, that's like inspires us to take on life and to take on our relationships and have fun and be passionate about what we're up to. And that's the challenge I see with a lot of people in the world is that they're stuck in situations that they're not completely fulfilled by. They're not completely passionate about. They, and then they say, well, it pays the bills and it has to, I have to support my family,

• 10:04Lewis Howes?

  so I have to do this. I have to do this job because it supports me and it pays for, you know, I've got three kids. I have to do this. And what would life be like if you were able to create the exact job, the exact position, the exact business, the exact lifestyle around what you're up to in making money? What if you could have it all? What if you could do what you wanted, spend time with the people you loved, support the people you love, and make a living around what you love to do? A full-time living around what you love to do? That's what I'm up to and that's what we're up to today. It's about starting with a clear vision and a clear want with a timeline of when you want to have it and when you want to create it.

• 10:49Lewis Howes?

  Okay, so what I like to do, I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of insider exercise right here about how to discover this want and how to create this want and this, this goal. And I want you guys to, this is something I do with, again, a lot of my students. I start off with this exercise. It's called the Perfect Day Exercise. So I want you guys to get out of a blank piece of paper. I'm gonna give you kind of like a brief overview of this Perfect Day Exercise. I'm not gonna go into it in full detail. I do inside the School of Greatness Academy. So I've got hundreds of members in there right now who are creating and achieving the life of their dreams, their finances, their relationships, their lifestyle through going through a lot of these exercises.

• 11:33Lewis Howes?

  If you want to be on the waitlist for the next round, the next enrollment, the next Academy enrollment, it's at schoolofgreatness.com. You can sign up for the waitlist, which will open up here in about a few months. But I want to give you guys a kind of a brief insider of what we go over. And it's called the Perfect Day Exercise. So I want you to get out a piece of paper or open up your iPhone and take out the notes section. If you're driving, then you know, don't do this right now. Come back to this or pull over on the side of the road and, and set this out. But I really want you to come back to this as soon as possible if you're driving. So, so listen along right now and then come back to this and follow through on it.

• 12:15Lewis Howes?

  Because this could, this could be one of the most powerful 10 minutes of your life if you do this. Every time one of my students goes through this exercise, they always tell me so much opens up for them and that it's one of the most powerful things they've ever done to themselves to realize what it is they actually want. Okay, so I'm gonna walk you through this really quickly. It's called the Perfect Day Exercise. Now, there's two parts to this exercise. The first part, what I want you to do is write about a paragraph or two down. And you can type this up on your computer, again, your iPhone. You can write it down. So I want you to write down a paragraph or two of what your ideal

• 12:56Lewis Howes?

  perfect day looks like. Now, your perfect day, you know, is gonna change. It's not gonna be the same thing every single day. If you did the same thing every single day and had the same conversation, had the same meal every single day, went to the same restaurant, life would get boring. So it's gonna, it's gonna evolve and it's gonna change and uh, you know, it's not gonna be the same thing every single day, but I want you to just imagine for a moment what your perfect day looks like, what it looks like, what it feels like, what it tastes like, what experience you have, what your thoughts are, your emotions, your conversations. So I want you to imagine this for a moment. And then you're gonna write down what your perfect day looks like

• 13:42Lewis Howes?

  in about a paragraph or two. You can get as detailed as want, as you want, you can, you can make it a whole page if you want, or a couple pages. Uh, but just to kind of get the exercise started, start with about a paragraph or two. So I'm gonna give you an example. Mine would kind of look like this. I would, I would write something like this down. And I have one written down, but I don't have it in front of me, so I'm gonna go off the cuff here. My perfect day would start like this. I wake up next to the woman of my dreams and my heart is so full of love because I can't believe how much she loves me and how incredible of a relationship we're building together and we're creating every single day and the fun and the joy that we have. And I'm so blessed and grateful

• 14:25Lewis Howes?

  for that moment. Then I wake up, you know, play with my, my girlfriend, have fun, we cook breakfast together. Then I go out and do a workout and get ready for the day. So I do an intense workout. It might be a run, it might be a lift, it might be a kickboxing class. And then I go and I check in with my team. And I check in on what we're up to and creating in the world and how we're serving the, the mission of my company, which is to serve a hundred million people to make a full-time Doing what they love. How to serve a hundred million people to make a full-time living doing what they love. I check in with my team and I create with them and engage and I create content.

• 15:10Lewis Howes?

  And I'm connecting with influencers, I'm reaching out to friends. And I'm following through on my mission, which is to serve a hundred million people. Then I come back and I reconnect with my, my lady. We do a workout together or some type of activity together. We cook dinner or we go out. Then we connect with friends later in the evening, have an incredible night and go back to bed. So that's kind of like what I would write down as a brief of what my perfect day looks like. Kind of like a brief overview, okay? And then the second part. And in this description, you can talk about like how it feels, what it looks like, you know, what it tastes.

• 15:51Lewis Howes?

  Be descriptive, really paint the picture for yourself of what your perfect day is. You know, again, really be descriptive here. Explore the possibilities. If anything is possible, write it down. That's what I want you guys to do. It could be traveling, it could be I'm constantly traveling, I'm with my family, I'm doing this. Whatever it seems like unrealistic, feel free to write that down. If it scares you, that's what you need to write down. Okay, so the second part to this is I learned this from sports. A lot of things that I do, guys, is comes from my sports background. And I apply the things that I learned from my coaches. And all these different sports I played, I played football, soccer, basketball, track and baseball in high school.

• 16:34Lewis Howes?

  And then I played three sports in college and then I played professional football. And then now I'm playing on the USA national team for team handball. So I've played lots of different sports. I've had many different coaches. I've played all over the world in these sports. So I picked up a lot of different things from many different coaches. And what I learned is how to apply this to kind of my life and how to make my life a sport, right? And how to play the game, really. If life is a game, then how can you win? And how can you make sure everyone wins around you? And this is all I've been trying to do is learning new things and constantly exploring and testing and, and applying what I've learned from my other experiences in sports and applying it to business and relationships

• 17:17Lewis Howes?

  and giving back and serving and, and adding value to the world. And that's what I'm up to. Okay, so the second part of this is. An itinerary, so your perfect day itinerary. Now in football, we had an itinerary every day of practice. The greatest coaches at least had this for us. And it would be in our locker, before we got to the locker room after school, we would go and there would be an itinerary, printed off and handed to, or just like sitting in our locker, right? So right when we get there, I put my book bag down, start putting on my gear and changing, putting the pads in. And then I would look at the itinerary and go over it and see what we're going over today to prepare myself, right? So I know exactly what we're gonna hap- what's gonna happen next and then what to get

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  ready for. And, uh, you know, and make sure that I go over the plays that I, that I need to cover for today's, uh, exercises and, uh, practice slots, right? And just be ready. And so kind of have like an agenda, what I'm gonna do. Because if I don't set an agenda and if I don't have an itinerary for each day, then how am I going to achieve what I want? Specifically in business, it's really hard to achieve what you want. Once you discover what you want, it's hard to achieve it if you don't have a detailed map, a detailed game plan, a detailed itinerary of the step-by-step process and the reverse engineering of how you're going to get there. Okay? And the reason we had an itinerary every day is because we had a goal for each week and for the entire season that we had

• 18:46Lewis Howes?

  written up on the chalkboard in the locker room. The whole team created these goals together. And so our coaches said, this is our team. We're gonna have goals and then we're gonna do whatever it takes to get those goals. Our coaches set us up for success by giving us a daily plan to reverse engineer to achieve what we wanted to achieve each week, which is a victory. And then at the end of the season, which was going to the playoffs. That was the plan. If we did not create the step-by-step, very detailed outlined itinerary, then we were gonna be given whatever others didn't want that was left over. Again, we were going to be given whatever others didn't

• 19:29Lewis Howes?

  want that was left over, which means losing. Because no one wanted to lose. So if we didn't plan to win, we were gonna be given that. Okay, and this is kind of like the same thing. If you're, uh, if you're not clear on what you want and you don't game plan every single day and have the coaches and the itinerary on how to get there, you're gonna be given whatever others didn't want that was left over. Okay, whatever job, whatever money or income, you know, you're gonna be given government support. Whatever's left over, you're gonna be given that. And that's what you're gonna be living with. Okay, so you gotta be very, very clear. I hope this is resonating with people. Alright. So the second half is the itinerary. Now, in the first half of the perfect day exercise,

• 20:10Lewis Howes?

  you wrote down what your day looks like. You've expressed it, you were detailed. Now, in the second part, you're going to be detailed to the hour. So from the, uh, the moment you wake up, let's say 7:00 AM, you're gonna write what happens from 7:00 to 8:00, and then 8:00 to 9:00, 9:00 to 10:00. You gotta go through all the way through the day until you go to sleep and you're gonna write down sleep, whenever that is, 10 o'clock, midnight, whatever. Okay? And if it's half hour increments, then you're gonna write every half hour, whatever it is, you're gonna write that in. If there's a four hour window, you're gonna write work from 9:00 to noon. Okay? And you're gonna be very detailed about what you're gonna be creating.

• 20:50Lewis Howes?

  So the perfect day itinerary is so valuable because you've just descriptive and you're visual and you're writing out these, um, you know, descriptions of what your perfect day looks like. If you don't have the step by step time markers of what you're gonna be doing and how you're gonna be doing it, then it's probably not going to happen. It's just gonna be this fantasy you think about and maybe some parts of it will happen, but not the whole perfect day. So again, you want to apply these lessons, these exercises. Again, this is something I learned from sports. It's not something I created. It's just something I learned and put together and facilitated for my life and for students to reach their success. Okay? So be very detailed. So the first half of the page is going to be,

• 21:34Lewis Howes?

  uh, you exploring what you want, writing it out, expressing it, how you wanna feel, what it looks like, how it tastes, you know, where you're traveling to, who you're spending time with, those types of things. Then you're gonna be Very detailed for the hour by hour, what happens throughout the day. I want you guys to do this right now, like write this down. And do this right now, and maybe some of you are even listening and doing this right now. And if you are doing this, I would actually love to see a one page, I want you to take a photo of this. And I want you to post it on Instagram and tag me at Lewis Howes. And put a hashtag perfect day. I want you to tag me, upload this to Instagram and tell people. What your perfect day looks like and what you want.

• 22:17Lewis Howes?

  Another part to achieving what you want and making it a reality is putting it out there to the world and telling people. And letting people know what your goals are, what your vision is, what your want is. Being clear on it so that you can be held accountable by your peers, by your community, by your family. When you are very clear and you put this out there, it's going to, you know, make you say, okay, now I gotta step up and do this. And again, we put our goals up on the chalkboard and we would announce it, right? The whole team knew what it was and we announced it and we kept each other accountable. This is our goal. This is what you said you wanted. This is what we said we wanted. We gotta do the work to make it happen. Let's go, right? So I want you to post a picture on Instagram. So write this out right now. The first half of the page is.

• 23:01Lewis Howes?

  Describing what your perfect day looks like, what it entails. You know, it's more, it's more broader terms like. I'm doing these things. I'm hanging out with these people, these friends. This is how I'm feeling. And then the second half is very, very detailed, right? It's like hour by hour, here's what happens from 7:00 AM to midnight. Here's what I'm doing. So I want you to write it on a big piece of paper, my perfect day at the top. And then write a paragraph or two. Just below that, describing what it looks like, what it feels like. Then below that, you're gonna put your hour markers from, you know, 7:00 AM to midnight. What happens every hour, what you're gonna be doing to make that a reality. The action steps to make that reality, okay?

• 23:47Lewis Howes?

  And then you're gonna do the next step, which is post it out there on Instagram. Tag me so I can see it at Lewis Howes and hashtag perfect day. Cause I wanna see what you guys are up to and I'm gonna keep you accountable as well. I'm gonna check in on some of you and make sure that you're actually following through with this, okay? Biggest thing is people need someone to check in with them, make sure they're accountable. So I want you to do that. Now, there's another part to this. It's writing up a specific goal and framing it. So you've got your perfect day. What your day looks like, okay? You got your perfect day, you put it out there. Now you kind of get a better sense. And by doing this exercise, you should really see, you know, if what you're doing right now, are you living your perfect day? If not, why are you not living your perfect day every day?

• 24:31Lewis Howes?

  Why are you not living your perfect day every single day? And again, it's going to evolve. It's going to change. It's not going to be the same thing every day. So don't think of it like that. Think of it as like a guideline of what it should be feeling like, what it should be looking like. But when you write this out, ask yourself, am I living this every single day right now? Am I living the spirit of this perfect day exercise every single day? If you're not living the spirit of the exercise, why not? We really only, uh, you know, not really only, we only have one chance at this life that we know of. There's, you know, not another life that we're aware of or that we're gonna, you know, that I'm aware of at least.

• 25:14Lewis Howes?

  Maybe there is, but there's only really one chance at this life that you have. And once it's over, you don't have another chance at this specific life. So if we have the possibility and the opportunity to live our ideal day every single day, then why aren't we doing it? And why aren't we taking the steps to do it? And maybe it's not going to happen right away. And maybe it's going to take a couple of years to happen, but at least we can work towards it. And at least we can support ourselves to get there faster. And then once we get there, we can help others get there as well. Again, it's not about keeping it for ourselves so that we live an awesome life or have a perfect day. It's about giving back and supporting others around us. So everyone is lifted up to a higher standard, a higher level, and a higher greatness, okay?

• 25:59Lewis Howes?

  So the next step to this is writing one specific goal, one specific tangible goal. Uh, I want to lose 20 pounds. I want to make $5,000 on a speech. I want to, you know, sell a book deal for a million dollars. Whatever it is, I want you to come up with a specific goal. Most of you have business goals because most of you are entrepreneurs who listen to the show or are launching a product or something. But if it's a relationship goal, that's fine as well. If it's a health goal, that's fine as well. It's gotta be very specific though. You gotta be, it's gotta be tangible and specific. So I'll give an example. And again, this is what I did back in high school and college. I would write up my goals and then I would frame them and I'd put them right above,

• 26:41Lewis Howes?

  you know, when I was in a college dorm, I would put them right above my, you know, my bunk bed. So that I could, uh, you know, I could see it every time I went to bed and every time I woke up. And then, uh, you know, after school, I'd put it just next to my mirror in my bathroom and I'd look at it constantly when I go to the bathroom. Right? So I'll give an example. I was terrified of public speaking. Once I got done playing professional football, you know, I got injured. A lot of you who know my story, I was injured and had to sleep on my sister's couch for about a year and a half while I was recovering from a surgery. And I was in this full arm cast for six months. It was just not a fun experience. You know, I look back at it as one of the best experiences of my life for what I learned, but it was definitely a struggle and I was, you know,

• 27:25Lewis Howes?

  just uncertain about so much of my life. What was my life gonna be about at this point? You know, my dream was over. So I had a new dream. I said, you know, I'm terrified of speaking public, but I'm really inspired by guys who can just command, or ladies who can command a stadium where a large audience, you know, someone like Tony Robbins can just command a stadium of thousands and thousands of people and get them excited and off their feet to take action. And I thought, man, if, you know, if I could do that, if I could inspire people to see what was possible, then take action and actually make it happen. That's making an impact. When you're causing other people to make a change in their life to get better. That's making an impact.

• 28:08Lewis Howes?

  And I said, you know, that'd be awesome to be able to do, but I'm terrified. I can't even speak in front of five people without stuttering over my words, stumbling over my words, uh, without feeling insecure, feeling stupid. You know, I had a, a major learning disability my entire life. I was always in the special needs classes in elementary school, middle school and high school. When I went to a private high school, I was, uh, they gave me, I had to do special testing before I could get in. And they said I had a second grade reading level when I went to eighth grade. So they put me in the special reading tutor class with a one-on-one with a tutor every single day. When other kids were off doing like recess and, and stuff like that, I had to learn to read because I had a really

• 28:50Lewis Howes?

  a challenge reading my entire life and it's still, you know, a challenge sometimes today. And I have a challenge reading out loud without messing up words and I have a challenge spelling. So I had these, these challenges and I remember thinking it would be awesome to be able to overcome this challenge and speak in public and it'd be even cooler if I could get paid to do it. What if I could share my story and get paid to do it? And I remember saying to myself, you know what? I've never spoken in public before, except for my high school senior speech that I had to do and it was terrifying. And I said, in a year, I want to make $5,000 to do a speech. I don't know how I'm going to do it, but this is my goal. So I put a

• 29:33Lewis Howes?

  specific date down. I said, I'm just going to test this out and see if what I learned in sports, I can apply to my life. And so I put down a $5,000 speech and I put down the date right below it and I signed it. And it was like a year away from the date that I was signing it, right? So what I did is I framed this. I put it up on my wall. So it was like a certificate. It was like this award that I had been awarded $5,000 on this date for giving a speech. And I awarded myself, right? So I want you guys to think about this and I want you guys to do this. I want you to think of a big goal that you want to achieve within the next six months or the next year. And I want you to write it down or frame it and then sign it with the date of when it's going to be achieved,

• 30:16Lewis Howes?

  like it's in a certificate you're giving yourself. And what I did is I started reaching out to people who had, who were making money speaking. The only way to make it happen is to find other people who are doing it. And then I started researching about public speaking. I started reading books. I started watching, uh, public speaking videos online. And I was watching like the world championships of public speaking and I was just like fascinated and blown away by these guys on how commanding they were on stage and their presence and their storytelling and their, just everything about them was so inspiring and passionate and unrolling. It just made me sit on the edge of my seat. I said, God, it'd be so awesome to do that someday. I want to do that, right? So what I did is a, a friend

• 31:01Lewis Howes?

  of mine, I'll never forget this. I was in Barnes and Noble, Columbus, Ohio, Eastern Shopping Mall. For anyone who knows Columbus, Ohio, they know of Eastern Shopping Mall. Sitting in the Barnes and Noble, near the window, near the entrance. And I'm sitting there, I'm talking to a friend of mine, Felix, who was a salsa dancing guy that I would have met up with salsa dancing every now and then. And we became friends through salsa. And when I learned he was a motivational, uh, public speaker, professional speaker, I said, hey, man, can we catch up for coffee someday? I want to learn about how you do this. And so, since I already had that connection and bond with him through salsa, we had that kind of experience together. He was happy to connect with me.

• 31:42Lewis Howes?

  And I said, dude, how do you do it? How do you make money speaking? Like, I'm terrified. He said, first off, you gotta go to Toastmasters. Toastmasters is what changed the game for me. And it's what gave me the confidence to be able to speak in front of people. And I said, I never, I never heard of Toastmasters. I was like, what is this? He goes, it's a international community where there's clubs all around the world and you join and people and they teach you how to become a better public speaker. He said, the first thing you gotta do is sign up. And so, I just trusted him. I said, okay, if this is how you're gonna do it, I'm gonna go do it. So, next week, I, I found like five different Toastmasters clubs in Columbus, Ohio. And I went to each one. I wanted to see what they were like. I went as a guest to each one and I wanted to see what they were like, where, who the best speakers were in the, in the city.

• 32:27Lewis Howes?

  And I was like, I'm gonna go find the one that's got like the scariest for me, which is the best speakers. And they're all making money. And I, and I found that one. And it was so intimidating. You know, it was like this 23 or 24 year old punk with a huge cast on. They were all, you know, 30s and 40s, speaking all over the country. One guy had his book on Oprah, like, and I was just like, man, I'm out of my league here. But that was exactly what I needed to get up to that league, was to be exposed to it and to just make mistakes over and over in front of that league, to get that feedback, to be around it, to be hearing them, to be watching them, to immerse myself in what they were creating, was such a powerful experience for me.

• 33:07Lewis Howes?

  And so at the end of the year, I went there every single week and I gave 10 speeches in the year. And I went from being so paralyzed, reading off and I would type out my entire speech and work on it for weeks. And then I would read word for word off a piece of paper. This is how bad of a public speaker I was. I would stand behind the podium, look down the entire time and read off the paper and I felt so embarrassed. And I felt so ignorant and so lame and stupid. Uh, but I knew that I needed to go through the pain of humility and embarrassment to get to where I wanted to be. Which was a confident public speaker on stage and taking my public speaking to the next level.

• 33:48Lewis Howes?

  And gratefully, uh, you know, they were supportive of me just fumbling around my words and looking like an idiot. They were supportive and gave me great feedback and no one was negative really. They were just like, here's what you can work on. And so each week I came back and I came back and I was like starving for feedback and hungry to get to the next level. So I just put myself through the pain every single time. And wouldn't you know that just after the year mark, I got a $5,000 speech. And it was a testament to putting a goal out there, framing it, then working backwards. Creating the itinerary for myself to go each, every week, having the structure, the support system and everything I needed to get to the goal.

• 34:29Lewis Howes?

  Now, it didn't happen on the specific date. It happened like a month later or something or a couple of months later. But it happened. And you know, sometimes when I put my goals and frame them, it doesn't all happen on the date. Sometimes it happens before the date. Sometimes it's even bigger and better. But I'll tell you what, I set myself up to win by making the intention, putting it out there. Framing it, looking at it every single day, then having the itinerary to back it up and to take the action steps. So you gotta get clear on what you want. And success starts with a clear vision of what it is you want. And this may shift, this may change. If you're in college, you may want a job, but uh, when you're done with college right now, but maybe once you get the job on a year, you're gonna realize that's not what you want anymore.

• 35:14Lewis Howes?

  So things are gonna shift, they're gonna evolve, they're gonna change. That's okay. And that's good. You wanna have change. But it starts with a clear vision of what you want and you gotta figure out exactly specifically what you want first, or you'll be given whatever others didn't want that was left over. Okay, I can't emphasize this enough. You'll be given whatever others didn't want that is left over in the world, in the universe. Whatever's left over, you're gonna be given that and you're gonna receive that and that's what you're gonna get and it's not gonna be what you want. So you gotta be very, very clear. Okay, then I want you guys again to write out your perfect day. So here's a recap of what we're covering today. You gotta be clear on what you want, very, very

• 35:56Lewis Howes?

  clear. Then you're gonna write out your perfect day. So in broad terms, a paragraph or two, what it looks like, what it feels like, who you're spending time with. The second half of the paper on the perfect day, you're gonna write out your itinerary, specifically hour for hour, when you wake up, when you go to sleep, what you're doing, what you're doing to take action to make that perfect day a reality. You know, you gotta back it up with action. You can't just talk about it or dream about it. You gotta do it now. You gotta take the massive action, be consistent, so that's repeated. Then I want you guys to write up a very specific goal in your business or your life or your health or relationships that you want to achieve in the next six to 12

• 36:36Lewis Howes?

  months. Be specific, write the date of when it's achieved by, sign it, frame it, put it up on your wall, wherever you're gonna look at it the most throughout your day, on your bathroom, on your, in your bedroom, whatever it may be, and you're gonna look at that. Then I want you guys to post on Instagram, @lewishouse and hashtag perfect day, what your perfect day is, post a picture of it on Instagram and let other people know, hey guys, I did this cool exercise called the perfect day and I just wanted to put this out there because this is how I wanna live my life and I want you guys to keep me accountable. Here's what it looks like, here's who I'm spending time with, here's what I'm up to most of those days to create this. Now, now keep me accountable. If you see me slack on this, let me know and, and I appreciate the feedback. Put that out

• 37:19Lewis Howes?

  there. Find yourself a mentor, guys. We just did a show on mentorship, episode number 100. This is episode number 103. We just did one on mentors and finding a mentor. You've gotta have a mentor. Again, I had a mentor when I was doing public speaking to help me get to my goal. You've gotta have one. It's just gonna be that much harder. I had a mentor when I was learning the salsa dance. You know, I'd meet with him a couple of times a week and he'd go over all these different moves and combinations for me to learn. You gotta have a mentor. I can't emphasize that enough. Go to LewisHowes.com/100 to listen to the episode about how to find and discover and connect with powerful mentors that will change your life forever. Okay?

• 38:01Lewis Howes?

  And then you gotta take massive, massive action and hustle more than anyone else. You gotta shift, adjust, be so inspiring, passionate and enrolling that you bring others along with you to support you in your goal. You've gotta have a team. You gotta have a support system. If you try to do it all alone, it's gonna feel very weighted. It's gonna feel very heavy, stressful, you're gonna feel lonely. So, don't do it all alone. Find people to support you. Family. Hire people to support you in your business. You know, hire people in your health, coaching you to achieve the fitness levels you want, the weight you want, the lifestyle you want. I hire people constantly to coach me in relationships, in business,

• 38:43Lewis Howes?

  in my life, in my sports. You know, I'm constantly hiring people to support whatever goals and dreams I have. So, these are some of the tips and strategies for really getting clear on what you want, finding and discovering the clear vision and then making it happen. And success starts with that clarity and being clear. And if you don't know what you want, then start with the perfect day of how you wanna feel and what you want your perfect day to look like. And once you figure that out and you just write it out, here's what I wanna be doing. I wanna be on the beach, I wanna be traveling, I wanna be spending time, I wanna be giving back, you know, writing it out. I wanna be with loved ones. That's going to support you in discovering clear vision of what you want. Okay? Now, this is something I'm extremely passionate about and I love talking about this stuff.

• 39:28Lewis Howes?

  If you guys have any questions, go ahead over to LewisHowes.com/103. That's episode 103. And I wanna hear about what your guys' vision is. I want you to post it in the comments section. slash one oh three tell me what you're up to tell me what you want tell me what your vision is tell me what your perfect day looks like post a picture up on instagram at Lewis Howes hashtag perfect day success starts with a clear vision of what you want I can't emphasize this enough and there are so many friends that I have out there who constantly ask me you know what can they do but really got to know what you want first before you can get what what it is you want okay doesn't taking action before knowing what you want is useless

• 40:13Lewis Howes?

  you gotta get clear on what you want at least for the next week at least for the next month for the year before you graduate before the job is up whatever may be be clear and then take action on that I am super grateful for all of you this is an exciting next round of 100 episodes we're on one oh three right now I am super pumped I've got a lot in store for all of you greatness is coming at you with full steam ahead I am super pumped I'm gonna be doing a lot more videos here coming up soon and I'm gonna be doing a lot more podcasts we're doing two a week we might be upping it to three a week here in the next few months but I'm so excited about what I'm bringing you guys the interviews with the influencers and the inspiring people I'm

• 40:57Lewis Howes?

  meeting I can't wait to introduce you to them they're so inspiring to me that I'm pumped to share their wisdom with you and ask them the questions that are interesting to me and let you guys connect with them as well thank you guys so much for being a part of this community for being a part of the school of greatness podcast I am so inspired by you every single day I was just running yesterday here in LA and someone shouted out my name he said Lewis he was in the car driving stopped at the stoplight he goes Lewis Howes hey man I love the school greatness podcast keep it up and I was running by him I go thanks bro thanks for listening we're like passing in LA so I appreciate you guys enthusiasm I appreciate you guys passion if

• 41:39Lewis Howes?

  you see me anywhere in the world say hi let me know what episode you love the most you guys know what time it is it's time to go out there and do something great

• 42:12Lewis Howes?

  Woo!

• 42:23Lewis Howes?

  Ha!