572 Rachel Platten: Never Give Up on Your Dreams

"IT’S NOT ABOUT ME, IT'S ABOUT THE EXCHANGE OF ENERGY ON STAGE.” So many times we give up on our dreams because of deadlines we put on ourselves. There have been plenty of moments when I felt like things were taking too long or like I was getting too old. It’s those moments we need to look within and understand why we are doing it. Find our real purpose. Do you want to be an author to hit the New York Times bestseller list or because you want to have people read your work? Is it because you want your message out there or so that you can make your profile bio look great? My feeling is that your purpose should always be to serve. Serving other people brings fulfillment to yourself. Reaping the material rewards is just a bonus. Remember, you’re never too old. It’s never too late for your dreams to come true. Our guest today, Rachel Platten, didn’t reach her mega-success in music until she was 32 - when most people would have given up on their dreams. Rachel is an incredibly hard working person. She kept pushing and pursuing her dreams for over ten years before anyone noticed. She was doing small intimate gigs and performing for people in hospitals. When her hit song Fight Song came out it wasn’t an instant success. She was devastated and lost in her definition of success. She was certain it would sell millions of records and hit the charts. After reaching an all-time emotional low, feeling her only chance passed her by, she began to reflect on herself. The reason she got into making music was because she loved it for herself and she loved the connection it gave her with people. She came to the conclusion that playing hospitals and small venues was enough for her to feel happy. After that revelation, it was only a few weeks later that her song became a hit. She let go of her ego and trusted in the process. Doesn't sound like coincidence to me. Discover all of Rachel's incredible story and much more, on Episode 572. Show notes: What’s the thing you’re most grateful for and inspired by this year? (7:05) Did you always feel like you were looking for outside approval? (8:44) How did you stay dedicated to your dream for years before anything happened? (10:01) Why was music shut down in your life for a while? (17:39) Do you get nervous on stage? (18:56) Who was your greatest teacher? (20:37) Do you doubt yourself now? (22:14) How do you find confidence? (23:17) What’s been your most memorable moment on stage? (25:23) Whose opinion matters the most to you right now? (27:42) Did you work other jobs while you were starting? (34:07) How has becoming famous affected your marriage? (37:17) Who have you been jealous of most in your career? (43:43) What do you think is your highest purpose? (47:46) In this episode you will learn: Rachel’s experience performing at hospitals (10:50) What it was like to perform in front of 80,000 people in Trinidad (14:08) The importance of staying on mission (24:11) How Rachel realized she didn’t need the approval of others (28:38) What it was like performing small shows for years (32:13) How she survived living in the city (35:07) The dream her husband is pursuing (40:01) How she’s not afraid to go to places others are (42:53) When a big dream becomes a delusion (44:40) How you begin to lose yourself (52:31) Plus much 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 572 with Rachel Platten.

• 0:06Lewis Howes?

  Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a 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.

• 0:31Lewis Howes?

  Earl Nightingale said, "Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway." Welcome, my friends, to today's episode with the incredible Rachel Platten, who is a singer and songwriter, and she has released three independent albums between 2003 and 2014 before signing with Columbia Records in early 2015. Now, she rose to fame in 2015 with the release of the single Fight Song, which peaked at number six on the US Billboard Hot 100, topped the charts in the UK, peaked all over the world. She won an Emmy Award for the live performance of the

• 1:12Lewis Howes?

  song on Good Morning America. And she's got a new record out, new album out called Waves, just came out featuring the hit single Broken Glass. Now, here is an inspiring individual who has really done some things that I feel like most people aren't willing to do. Most people aren't willing to spend a decade of grinding and hustling for a small audience, and then all of a sudden, rising to the fame that she's got. And her song Fight Song really took off, and it's been kind of like the theme song for so many women over the last couple of years. And just an inspiring story, and so many good things have happened to her. It couldn't happen to a better person. Some of the things we talk about in today's

• 1:56Lewis Howes?

  interview are why it's important not to seek validation outside of yourself. This is a really challenging thing to do. I've been there myself. But the key to this, okay? We talk about that. Also, how to stay committed to your vision even when results aren't happening for you. That's right. It may not happen overnight, guys. Also, how to clear out the fear from your mind before a big gig, a performance, or something where you have to show up. Why hard work beats talent. And all the people talk about the excuses of maybe not having the talent. I'm telling you, the hard work is where it's at. And also why Rachel believes in never giving up, even if you feel delusional about a dream. Super pumped for this, guys.

• 2:39Lewis Howes?

  Make sure you tag your friends, post this right now that you're listening to this on your Instagram story. Tag Rachel Platten, tag myself at Lewis Howes over on Instagram, Twitter. Send her some love and let her know that you're listening. Before we dive in, I want to give a shout out to the fan and the review of the week. This is from Preston, who said over on iTunes, he said, "I'm a junior in college and over the last year, I have had some hard lessons about life, but being an adult and dealing with real world problems. Along this journey, I have struggled with some depression and social anxiety. The School of Greatness has cultivated a burning desire to pursue my passions and assume responsibility for my life.

• 3:22Lewis Howes?

  I have a desire to learn, to put my best foot forward and help the world progress. Listening to this podcast and reading the book has been unsettling in a good way, but it has given me a foundation to live a great life." So Preston, super grateful for the review. Thanks for sharing and congrats on the actions you're taking on your life and the improvements you're making. And if you guys want to be considered to be shouted out on the podcast, go ahead and leave a review over on iTunes or just open up the podcast app on your iPhone and leave us a review for a chance to be shouted out on the podcast. All right, guys, I'm super pumped about this and so excited to bring on and introduce to you the one, the only Rachel Platten.

• 4:12Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone to the School of Greatness Podcast. We've got an incredible human being, Rachel Platten in the house. Good to see you.

• 4:18Rachel Platten?

  Yes, my man.

• 4:19Lewis Howes?

  We made it. I've been trying to get you on here for about a year since we had Andy come on.

• 4:22Rachel Platten?

  I am very hard to get. I'm just kidding. No, I wanted, I really wanted you to. I don't know how it didn't work out.

• 4:30Lewis Howes?

  It's all good. You just became like the biggest sensation in the world the last couple of years.

• 4:33Rachel Platten?

  Stop. That's not true. No, people are going to think like, I don't even know what that is.

• 4:37Lewis Howes?

  Everything's happening for you. It's just like you've been nonstop. So it's all good. It's, everything is supposed to happen when it's supposed to happen.

• 4:43Rachel Platten?

  That's true. That's what I believe.

• 4:44Lewis Howes?

  So you're here.

• 4:45Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 4:45Lewis Howes?

  You seem super like chill and relaxed.

• 4:47Rachel Platten?

  I feel pretty chill today.

• 4:49Lewis Howes?

  It's been an amazing year.

• 4:50Rachel Platten?

  It's been a year.

• 4:52Lewis Howes?

  What's the most, what's the thing you're most grateful for and inspired by from this year so far?

• 4:57Rachel Platten?

  I grew a lot this year.

• 4:58Lewis Howes?

  How so?

• 4:59Rachel Platten?

  Personally, I, well, we're just diving into it. Okay.

• 5:02Lewis Howes?

  Yes, we are.

• 5:02Rachel Platten?

  Oh, God.

• 5:04Lewis Howes?

  You listen to the show. You know what this is about.

• 5:05Rachel Platten?

  I know. I thought there was like a buffer of like, where are you from? I was ready for those. What am I, okay. I think that I really have learned some lessons this year about seeking approval from the outside and how to stop that and how that's an endless chain of thinking that you will never be satisfied from. You know, you're going to always be hungry for more and more and more. And I've learned to turn inwards. And I'm not all the way there, but I'm like, kind of right in the middle of it. And I'm doing a pretty good job.

• 5:37Lewis Howes?

  You seem pretty grounded.

• 5:39Rachel Platten?

  Do I?

• 5:39Lewis Howes?

  Pretty centered. Yeah.

• 5:40Rachel Platten?

  That's good. I, I've had, I've had a tough, like, three or four months.

• 5:44Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 5:45Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. So I'm at a place now where I'm actually, I found a lot of peace recently. And it's not because of any outward success. And it's not because of any like incredible achievement or anything. It's actually because I had to do a lot of work to not need that for my happiness.

• 6:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 6:02Rachel Platten?

  And now things are coming a little easier and they're just kind of delighting me. Like, oh, cool. But, but it's not making my whole world. So I do feel pretty grounded right now. I'm glad that it seems that way.

• 6:13Lewis Howes?

  That's great. So the biggest lesson for you this year is what?

• 6:16Rachel Platten?

  Don't look outside of yourself for approval. When you find it, it's going to be fleeting and you're going to be chasing it more and more. You need to find it from inside and know that you're enough.

• 6:25Lewis Howes?

  I like that.

• 6:26Rachel Platten?

  And goodbye.

• 6:28Lewis Howes?

  Drop the mic. I'll see you later. Now, did you always feel like you were chasing outside approval over the last, you know, decade of pursuing your music career and everything you've been up to?

• 6:38Rachel Platten?

  I think I did a lot of that. Yeah, I think from when I was little, it was a lot about me looking around me to my parents, to my coaches, to my... I love anyone giving me instruction, or I like getting better. I'm just a seeker. I just wanna get better and I'm hungry to grow in any area that I can. So whether it's looking for approval from sports coaches, or mentors, or voice teachers, or my parents, I've kind of based a lot of my self-worth on other people telling me, "Yeah, you did a good job. You're perfect." Yeah.

• 7:10Lewis Howes?

  I can relate to that. I mean, I think a lot of us can. It's hard to be like 10 years old and be like, "I'm just gonna like find approval from within and not care what the outside world thinks about me."

• 7:19Rachel Platten?

  Some kids are like that. Some kids are cool like that. Yeah. But no, I wasn't that cool either.

• 7:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 7:25Rachel Platten?

  No, no way.

• 7:27Lewis Howes?

  Now, I've been inspired by your story because you got a kind of similar story like Andy, kind of. Where you guys were just...

• 7:33Rachel Platten?

  Andy Grammer, he's referred to, yeah.

• 7:35Lewis Howes?

  Where you just like worked your butts off for years, for like two people a day, right? He was busking in Santa Monica, like right where you live now, near there, right?

• 7:43Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 7:43Lewis Howes?

  For four years before anything even happened. You've been doing this for like a decade, right?

• 7:48Rachel Platten?

  Yes.

• 7:49Lewis Howes?

  Until...

• 7:49Rachel Platten?

  13 years.

• 7:50Lewis Howes?

  13 years?

• 7:51Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 7:52Lewis Howes?

  How do you stay like committed to your vision with not a lot of big hits or success?

• 7:59Rachel Platten?

  I had no... Yeah, you're being kind. I had no hits. There was like nothing going on.

• 8:03Lewis Howes?

  For 13 years?

• 8:04Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. I mean, okay, there's two things. Not two. There's maybe three or four. I just like how people on your show are like, "Two things."

• 8:11Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 8:12Rachel Platten?

  So I wanna be one of them. But okay. One of them was, I really loved what I was doing. I loved making music. I loved writing songs and I loved performing. And I was performing. Even though it was small bars and, you know, doing covers three hours a night and hustling and like bringing my 85-pound piano all around the city, when I was on stage, it didn't matter what the stage was. I learned from friends in the city that the party was on stage. If anyone wanted to join me, awesome. So I loved performing and I was still performing. The other reason was that I was really heavily involved in this charity called Musicians on Call. And I sang, and I still do, and I sing bedside to patients in hospitals.

• 8:53Lewis Howes?

  I love that about you.

• 8:54Rachel Platten?

  Thank you. And I got to do that... Maybe once a week when I was really in the flow of it and that was incredibly rewarding. And that reminded me every time my ego would get in the way. It would remind me to shut that down and say, who am I to decide that this isn't enough? When I'm reaching one person and I'm reaching them in a real way. Why do I need more than that? So it would be a pretty good gut check and I'd be like, huh, that's just my ego.

• 9:20Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So every week you would go to a hospital and sing songs for kids or any patient.

• 9:26Rachel Platten?

  Patients, our kids, yep.

• 9:27Lewis Howes?

  And sing to them just, uh, they do covers, you do your own stuff?

• 9:31Rachel Platten?

  I'd do my own stuff. They actually wanted me to do covers.

• 9:34Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 9:34Rachel Platten?

  Well, the patients didn't care. I mean, they were sick and usually like just grateful for music. And but, um, the program suggested covers and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna try out my songs on these patients. So I'd be like, I'd be like playing not fully formed songs for the patients, but it's just love. You know, you're just like in there in that room and, and I don't know. I, no one's judging you. I'm not judging their condition. They're not judging me. And it's just really a beautiful exchange of energy.

• 10:01Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Wow. So how long were you doing that? Or when did you start doing that?

• 10:05Rachel Platten?

  I started when I was 22. As soon as I moved to the city, I realized, or maybe 23. I realized like pretty quickly that I wasn't gonna be able to make it as quickly as I planned in my head. And I was like, well, I really wanna play music still and I wanna find a way to do good through the music I'm doing. It's, it's such a selfish, like self-absorbed career. You're just, ugh, you're just constantly thinking about you and like what people think of you and, and how to get more famous and how to get more attention. And it's like gross. And I noticed that I didn't like the way it made me feel. And I know that doing charity did make me feel good. I was always doing charity in like high school and college and I wanted to combine the two. So I looked online and I found this organization.

• 10:50Lewis Howes?

  Isn't it funny? I mean, I remember five, six years ago, my business was doing really well. And I was like, but I don't feel like I'm giving back in any way. It's just for me right now. And it was great because I was, I was broke before and so it allowed me to like have some financial freedom. But I felt like something was always missing. And when I found a charity that I really appreciated, Pencil Promise, and I started really giving back in a big way, I was like, these are the most fulfilling moments.

• 11:13Rachel Platten?

  Yes, way more than the, way more than the moments that are like, you know, what people tell you should be fulfilling, like the awards and the audience. It's not that. It's, it's those one-on-one connections that, yeah.

• 11:25Lewis Howes?

  We're gonna get you down to Guatemala sometime.

• 11:27Rachel Platten?

  I would really love to go, yeah.

• 11:29Lewis Howes?

  We're gonna make it happen.

• 11:30Rachel Platten?

  Okay.

• 11:30Lewis Howes?

  You realized your passion of singing a long time before you kind of have made it in the mainstream. And I heard, I think I read on your, your site, you talked about performing, you were like a backup singer and like a big.

• 11:42Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 11:43Lewis Howes?

  Performance, right? You were like 22 or 23, is that what?

• 11:45Rachel Platten?

  Uh, I think 19 or 20, yeah. Yeah. So, you want me to tell you this story?

• 11:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, this is crazy. So how are you performing in front of 80,000 people?

• 11:52Rachel Platten?

  Okay, so I was in college at Trinity. I wanted to do a study abroad program. I was an international relations major, and in one of my classes, this amazing guy named Tony with like huge dreads and this amazing accent came in and he had this presentation about Trinidad. And something lit up inside of me and the presentation was all about Carnival. And the biggest Carnival in the world is in Trinidad.

• 12:15Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, really?

• 12:16Rachel Platten?

  Maybe second biggest to Rio, sorry. But it, or maybe it's on par, I'm not sure. But it's really, really big and really popular. And I saw these images and he talked about how music infused the culture there. It was just all about music and I was starving for music. I had been shutting that part of me down. And so I kind of saw this as a way to just secretly slip into it and see what would happen. If I went to a place that was all about music, that communicated in music. I went there and I was interning at the diplomats office and then I was also interning at a record label. And the record label had this band and they were like, well, I don't know if I can say this, they were all, everyone smoked pot all the time.

• 12:58Rachel Platten?

  Alright, fine. Okay, fine, fine. So we were like super high and someone didn't show up. That happened all the time. And it was a huge gig. Like, they were like, does anyone in here? They were kind of freaking out. I was like, wait, I know the songs.

• 13:11Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 13:12Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, I'm like, I know the songs. I also know, I knew the piano parts, yeah. I was like, I can play, I can play and sing. They're like, what? This white girl like?

• 13:20Lewis Howes?

  They let you play piano?

• 13:22Rachel Platten?

  So they're like, no, dude, this girl can't do it. And I'm like, guys, give me a chance. So we rehearsed.

• 13:26Lewis Howes?

  You're eighteen?

• 13:27Rachel Platten?

  I think I'm nineteen or twenty, yeah. So we rehearsed and they're like, okay, fine, you'll do. I don't think they understood like what a huge deal this was for me. I was freaking.

• 13:36Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 13:36Rachel Platten?

  So we get on stage. It's the International Soca Monarch Finals. I didn't know what the gig was. I was just like, gonna go to some concert. The International Soca Monarch Finals are like eighty thousand people in the center of Port of Spain. And it was wild. And I got on that stage and I did not feel an ounce of fear. I felt completely on purpose. I felt completely at home. And the microphone in the front of the stage that the lead singer was about to grab, I was like, how do I get that microphone? How do I get in the front of the stage? No. And that was it.

• 14:09Lewis Howes?

  Did you get in front of the stage?

• 14:09Rachel Platten?

  No, I mean, I was in back of the stage, but like.

• 14:11Lewis Howes?

  You're figuring yourself out. How do I get there at some point in my life?

• 14:14Rachel Platten?

  That's this is what I'm supposed to do with my life.

• 14:16Lewis Howes?

  Were you always performing as a kid?

• 14:18Rachel Platten?

  In in choirs and a cappella groups and on musicals. Like I was a dork.

• 14:23Lewis Howes?

  I sang in a musical and in choir.

• 14:25Rachel Platten?

  Yes.

• 14:26Lewis Howes?

  I never did the a cappella because I was never that good. I just tried to blend in.

• 14:29Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 14:30Lewis Howes?

  I'm a secret Glee fan. I'm actually not a secret Glee fan, but I love Glee in Nashville.

• 14:35Rachel Platten?

  Michelle's one of Michael's friends. She is the best.

• 14:37Lewis Howes?

  She's unbelievable.

• 14:38Rachel Platten?

  She's the best. You want her? I'll tell her to come on here.

• 14:40Lewis Howes?

  I'd love to have her come on. Yeah, amazing. No, Glee, I was like literally obsessed. Every week when Glee would come out, I'd be like, don't mess with me.

• 14:46Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 14:47Lewis Howes?

  Don't call me. I need to watch Glee.

• 14:48Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, no, you're a dork.

• 14:49Lewis Howes?

  Until the last season, then it kind of went downhill a little bit, but great show. Anyways, I think I secretly loved it because I I can't do what they can do. And so I just appreciate it.

• 14:57Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, I know what you mean. Fixer Upper, I love because I can't, I can't do what they do.

• 15:01Lewis Howes?

  Isn't it sad? It's over?

• 15:03Rachel Platten?

  What do you mean it's over?

• 15:04Lewis Howes?

  Fixer Upper.

• 15:04Rachel Platten?

  Chip and Joanna, what are you doing?

• 15:06Lewis Howes?

  They're shutting down the show.

• 15:07Rachel Platten?

  Why?

• 15:08Lewis Howes?

  I'm pretty sure, aren't they? I'm almost positive they shut the show down.

• 15:11Rachel Platten?

  Pause the pod right now and dive into this.

• 15:13Lewis Howes?

  No, it's horrible, right? No, it's a great show.

• 15:15Rachel Platten?

  That's hard. It's a great airplane watch.

• 15:17Lewis Howes?

  Great airplane. She's great. Great at my place, just watching it. Yeah.

• 15:20Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 15:20Lewis Howes?

  Back to you. Okay.

• 15:21Rachel Platten?

  Okay.

• 15:22Lewis Howes?

  So you sang in choir, you sang in musicals, you sang in a cappella. But then you mentioned something about like music being like disconnected from your life or like kind of shut down. Wha- what happened? Why was it shut down or was it just missing?

• 15:34Rachel Platten?

  I didn't grow up in a place that encouraged anyone to be an artist. I didn't really have examples of artists around me. My dad's a psychologist, an industrial psychologist, and my mom's a therapist. And I grew up in a really just kind of sweet town and everyone went to graduate school. That was what, not everyone, that was the path if you were doing well and succeeding was go to graduate school, be serious. And I didn't have any examples around me. I didn't know to reach for that. I didn't know I could. And also, I didn't know I was good enough. Like, I was never told by anyone. I didn't, I didn't have any teacher or coach tell me like, you're incredible, you should pursue this. No.

• 16:09Lewis Howes?

  Inquire and musicals.

• 16:11Rachel Platten?

  No, inquiring when I was little, I did. I was too young. Like, no one was like, leave school and go on Broadway. They were like, yeah, you're really good. You should try out for the solo and have Maria. And I was like, done. But it wasn't like, oh, you're incredible. Join local theater. No one ever, no, no one ever like pointed me out until.

• 16:27Lewis Howes?

  Until eighty thousand people were screaming your name.

• 16:30Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 16:30Lewis Howes?

  Rachel.

• 16:32Rachel Platten?

  They weren't screaming. No, no, no, they weren't.

• 16:33Lewis Howes?

  That'd be amazing if they were.

• 16:34Rachel Platten?

  I was like, yeah, yeah, I know. Wait, no.

• 16:35Lewis Howes?

  That'd be amazing if they were. So, so you had this opportunity then to go on stage in front of this many people. You have felt the zero fear.

• 16:43Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 16:43Lewis Howes?

  Do you feel fear today when you go on stage?

• 16:46Rachel Platten?

  Well, not when I'm on stage ever. Like, when I'm actually performing, I'm sure you hear this from performers all the time. Not in the middle. When I'm in the flow, no way. But moments before, big things, I, I played on TV last night, or two nights ago on a big TV thing. And I was, yeah, I was scared. My heart was pumping. And I was like texting, I have this therapist who's an energy healer. So I was texting her. I was like, can you help me? Can you help me? And she's like, I'm sorry, sweetie, but those nerves are gonna help you. Like, you actually need that adrenaline. It's gonna help. And I was like, okay. And it was fine. I started singing and it was perfect.

• 17:20Lewis Howes?

  And you were great.

• 17:20Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 17:21Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Okay. So.

• 17:23Rachel Platten?

  Do you feel fear when you have?

• 17:25Lewis Howes?

  When I speak sometimes? Yeah, before.

• 17:27Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 17:27Lewis Howes?

  A little bit before, like, I used to be terrified going on stage. But then I really practiced over and over to overcome that fear.

• 17:33Rachel Platten?

  Toastmasters?

• 17:34Lewis Howes?

  Toastmasters.

• 17:34Rachel Platten?

  I know.

• 17:35Lewis Howes?

  She listens.

• 17:36Rachel Platten?

  I heard, I listened to the pod.

• 17:37Lewis Howes?

  Toastmasters saved my life.

• 17:38Rachel Platten?

  I think we should call it the pod.

• 17:39Lewis Howes?

  The pod?

• 17:40Rachel Platten?

  I'm really into calling it the pod. I keep trying to make it happen. You're like not saying it.

• 17:44Lewis Howes?

  Podcast, yeah.

• 17:45Rachel Platten?

  Okay.

• 17:45Lewis Howes?

  Pod. Now Toastmasters like saved my life because I knew that I wanted to be able to share my message, but I was too scared to get in front of five people.

• 17:53Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 17:53Lewis Howes?

  And I was like, okay, I need to overcome this. And you just got to practice your fear.

• 17:57Rachel Platten?

  Yes.

• 17:57Lewis Howes?

  You just got to do it over and over.

• 17:59Rachel Platten?

  Yes, hundred percent.

• 18:00Lewis Howes?

  Hundred percent.

• 18:01Rachel Platten?

  I believe that.

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  I do too.

• 18:02Rachel Platten?

  I do. I walk myself through moments, like visualize every single moment of a show or a performance. And I walk myself through the entire thing and I like visualize it all going perfectly and me feeling peaceful throughout it and powerful.

• 18:17Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 18:17Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 18:19Lewis Howes?

  So who has been your greatest teacher, would you say?

• 18:22Rachel Platten?

  I have a tough time with this one. I feel bad that I have a tough time with it, but I don't know. I, I listen to people talk about their like, their mentors and, and their influences. And I have a lot of artists that I look up to, but I don't know if any of them were like biggest teachers. I have a voice coach that's been incredibly supportive and helped me with my confidence a lot over the past 12 years. His name's Breck Allen. He's in Nashville for any of you aspiring.

• 18:47Lewis Howes?

  Musicians.

• 18:47Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, musicians. I usually, if someone comes to me and they like haven't, they don't have a lot going on in music, but they want something to go on and they, that didn't make sense. They want more. They want more. I, I direct them to Breck first because I think that the most important thing he does besides being incredibly intuitive voice teacher is help you with your confidence. And he helped me so much believe in myself and believe that the way that I sounded was unique and, and special. And that I didn't have to change my tone to sound like anyone else. I just had to develop the best version of my voice. And I think that's really powerful because a lot of what you do in the beginning is imitation and that's good. It's good to have people that you want to imitate, but then ultimately you need to find your own sound.

• 19:29Rachel Platten?

  And I think this is for any field, you know, you need to find your own root and your own path. And if someone is there telling you like. Yeah, what you have to give the world is valid and worthy and we want that. We want more of that. All you need to do is clear out the bullshit so that you have the best version of your unique gift that you can. And that's what he did for me.

• 19:48Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 19:49Rachel Platten?

  So, oh, I guess in answering that, I kind of figured it out.

• 19:52Lewis Howes?

  That's great. He's been a great teacher for you.

• 19:53Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 19:54Lewis Howes?

  When did you really start to believe in yourself?

• 19:56Rachel Platten?

  I don't know. I think I'm still working on it. I don't know. I mean, I guess I believe.

• 20:00Lewis Howes?

  Do you doubt yourself now?

• 20:01Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, all the time. Do you doubt yourself?

• 20:04Lewis Howes?

  Uh, yeah, when I get nervous, I'm like, should I be doing this right now? Am I ready for this?

• 20:09Rachel Platten?

  Who doesn't doubt themselves? I don't know. I think that that's healthy and a little bit of a, maybe it's not healthy. Maybe I need to work on that. But I, I believe in my songwriting ability more than anything. I know I can write a song.

• 20:19Lewis Howes?

  Writing the song.

• 20:20Rachel Platten?

  Writing the song. I'm, I'm a songwriter first and I'm really proud of that ability. And I'm okay, and I'm okay saying right now I am a great songwriter. Like I can deal with that sentence and not freak out with like my, you know, insides being like, no, you're not.

• 20:34Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 20:35Rachel Platten?

  I think I'm a really good singer. I think I'm a great live performer. You didn't even make me do that. Why am I doing this?

• 20:43Lewis Howes?

  What else are you great at?

• 20:44Rachel Platten?

  I'm a great friend.

• 20:45Lewis Howes?

  Tell me everything.

• 20:46Rachel Platten?

  Great dog walker. I have a dog and I take him on great walks.

• 20:50Lewis Howes?

  I'm sure you do. How do you develop this sense of belief and confidence in yourself? First off, how did you do it when no one was watching for 12, 13 years? And then how do you continue to do it when everyone's watching?

• 21:03Rachel Platten?

  I really turn inward and I really get quiet and I use meditation a lot and I journal and I have therapists and I have close friends and I have a lot of tools that I use when I'm doubting myself. That's something that I've really gotten great at is knowing what tools I need. I think that that's a really big trick for anyone in like trying to pursue anything. Yeah, knowing that like. What are you gonna turn to in those moments of doubt? And you have to set that up beforehand so that when you're in there, you're not like, you know, thrashing, looking around. You know, like, okay, I can meditate right now. If that's for you, maybe not. I can read inspiring books right now. Whatever your thing is.

• 21:45Lewis Howes?

  I can do a jog.

• 21:46Rachel Platten?

  Do a workout.

• 21:47Lewis Howes?

  Call a coach.

• 21:47Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 21:48Lewis Howes?

  I call a coach when I'm like, before a big gig or something. I'll call someone and like, ground me.

• 21:53Rachel Platten?

  Yes.

• 21:53Lewis Howes?

  Give me like, the intention of like, why I'm here, what my mission is. Like, I'm nervous, why am I nervous?

• 21:59Rachel Platten?

  The mission thing is a big deal. That's a big deal. And staying on purpose and, and on mission is like, really important for me to combat fears and ego stuff. Because if I can cut through that and figure out, wait, Rachel, why am I doing this in the first place? I am doing this for whatever it is, your causes, my causes. And then I can clear out the fear. Cause it's like, who am I to block that?

• 22:21Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. Yeah, I mean, I used to get really nervous before speaking gigs. And then I would overanalyze afterward, afterwards.

• 22:28Rachel Platten?

  That's so mean.

• 22:29Lewis Howes?

  I messed up this, I forgot to say this, I sounded like an idiot here, I stuttered here. And now, I don't overanalyze because I go into a speech just saying, I'm going to mess up. But if I focus on giving to the audience and serving their needs.

• 22:44Rachel Platten?

  Serving is the biggest deal.

• 22:46Lewis Howes?

  Serving in the biggest way, then who cares how much I mess up? They're gonna feel a certain type of energy.

• 22:50Rachel Platten?

  Exactly.

• 22:51Lewis Howes?

  And it doesn't matter if I don't, if I forget something or whatever.

• 22:54Rachel Platten?

  Exactly.

• 22:54Lewis Howes?

  I'm sure you probably do something similar where you go on stage and you're like, I'm just here to give.

• 22:58Rachel Platten?

  Yes, a hundred percent. It is really not about me. It's really about the exchange of energy on that stage. And it's really about me getting out of the way. So that I can both channel and then give freely.

• 23:08Lewis Howes?

  What's been the most memorable moment on stage for you?

• 23:13Rachel Platten?

  I think probably with, performing with Taylor Swift.

• 23:17Lewis Howes?

  Ooh, when was this?

• 23:19Rachel Platten?

  Last, a year and a half ago.

• 23:20Lewis Howes?

  That's like, big.

• 23:21Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, that was fun.

• 23:22Lewis Howes?

  Does it get bigger than that?

• 23:23Rachel Platten?

  I don't know, I mean, that was pretty crazy.

• 23:25Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 23:25Rachel Platten?

  I have a funny story about it too.

• 23:26Lewis Howes?

  Tell me.

• 23:28Rachel Platten?

  I was about to go on stage and I was gonna be lifted up from the bottom, you know, like, on this like,

• 23:33Lewis Howes?

  That's epic.

• 23:33Rachel Platten?

  crane thingy.

• 23:34Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 23:35Rachel Platten?

  And I had never done that before and I was, I was there with the crane operator. I was like, there was no one to freak out with. And I was like, dude, this is crazy, right? And he was like, I don't know, lady, can you just stand still, please? So I can buckle you in? And I was like, let's hug.

• 23:48Lewis Howes?

  He's like, I'm union, don't touch me.

• 23:49Rachel Platten?

  He was like, bitch, get off. Just chill.

• 23:52Lewis Howes?

  So that moment of going up the crane or just performing with Taylor?

• 23:56Rachel Platten?

  Um, no, I mean.

• 23:58Lewis Howes?

  With eighty thousand, a hundred thousand people again?

• 24:00Rachel Platten?

  I think maybe I'll, I think like sixty five or something. And when I, I didn't mean to say it like that.

• 24:04Lewis Howes?

  No big deal.

• 24:04Rachel Platten?

  That's like, it's not like I perform to those audiences all the time. I remember being lifted up to the stage and then seeing the lights. Because she had this thing where everyone had these little sparkly lights that lit up together and seeing them around me. I had envisioned that moment. Every moment I envisioned happened, by the way.

• 24:24Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 24:25Rachel Platten?

  Almost every, yeah. But so I had envisioned that moment. And when I felt it come true, it hit me because I was so intentional and like so clear about what I wanted to see. I recognized it and seeing it, I was like, this is it. This is the moment I was dreaming about. Yeah.

• 24:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Did she call you, her team call you, or how did that happen?

• 24:45Rachel Platten?

  I was in a writing session and she texted me, I mean, we became friends and she was like, hey, how do you feel about? Or she was like, what are you doing, June, whatever? And I was like, I don't, I was like, I don't know. I think I'm. Cause I thought we were gonna hang out and she's like, wanna come on stage with me? And I was like, yes.

• 25:02Lewis Howes?

  Did you sing your own song or did you sing one of her songs?

• 25:04Rachel Platten?

  My song. I sang Fight Song. Yeah.

• 25:07Lewis Howes?

  That's crazy.

• 25:07Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. It was cool.

• 25:09Lewis Howes?

  Holy cow.

• 25:10Rachel Platten?

  It was pretty cool.

• 25:11Lewis Howes?

  That's amazing.

• 25:12Rachel Platten?

  And I really did a good job, too.

• 25:14Lewis Howes?

  I'm sure you did.

• 25:14Rachel Platten?

  I did a good job.

• 25:15Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna have to watch this. This is on live.

• 25:17Rachel Platten?

  I was like, I didn't freak out. Like, I was like, once again, I kind of felt like, oh, this is where I'm supposed to be. Yeah.

• 25:24Lewis Howes?

  Now, whose opinion matters to you the most right now?

• 25:28Rachel Platten?

  That's a great question. Wow.

• 25:30Lewis Howes?

  Is it your fans' opinions? Is it your family? Is it?

• 25:33Rachel Platten?

  Such a good question. Because honestly, it's the work that I'm doing so much right now internally is like not really needing other people's opinions and, and not really clinging to them so much. But maybe me three months ago can answer it a little more honestly. Not honestly, but like, I was really hungry for. Public approval and anyone outside of music praise when I was releasing new music in this fall. So I would probably say critics. I wanted a stamp of approval like, yeah, you're you're good. And that's just exhausting and dumb.

• 26:12Lewis Howes?

  When did you realize you don't need that anymore?

• 26:14Rachel Platten?

  Recently.

• 26:15Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 26:16Rachel Platten?

  Recently, like three weeks ago.

• 26:18Lewis Howes?

  How did this awareness come to you?

• 26:20Rachel Platten?

  I had this crazy experience. I don't know. This might be weird for this podcast. I did this like crystal sound healing. I'm laughing because I'm such a hippie.

• 26:30Lewis Howes?

  The the bulls.

• 26:31Rachel Platten?

  Singing bulls.

• 26:32Lewis Howes?

  I played the singing bulls.

• 26:34Rachel Platten?

  You have?

• 26:34Lewis Howes?

  I I gave a speech at Unplug and was playing them.

• 26:37Rachel Platten?

  Okay, was that Unplug?

• 26:38Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I was there like three weeks ago.

• 26:40Rachel Platten?

  Oh, my God, what wasn't you?

• 26:41Lewis Howes?

  It wasn't me.

• 26:42Rachel Platten?

  I.

• 26:42Lewis Howes?

  But I was doing like the whole thing. You know, I was like going and then I could like the whole thing.

• 26:45Rachel Platten?

  So I've done sound healings before. I met my best friends in New York.

• 26:48Lewis Howes?

  Powerful.

• 26:48Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, one of my best friends did them was has started them like three years ago before they kind of became trendy. And we were like, what are you doing? And we would kind of laugh. We would like make sure we were using substances before and I but I hadn't done it sober. So I had this really powerful experience. I don't know. I just started understanding that the question I needed to ask was I want to align with. This word's tricky because I know not everyone has the same vision of God, but like I want to align with God's vision for my life. I want what God wants for my life. I don't need anything more than to be on purpose. And whatever that looks like, it can't be what my stupid human brain thinks it needs to look like. It has to be something bigger.

• 27:31Rachel Platten?

  And it's like, I keep defining it from like Grammys and and arenas and and tours and opportunities.

• 27:38Lewis Howes?

  Sales.

• 27:39Rachel Platten?

  Sales, right. And it's like, that's not what this is about. I don't know. I just had this realization that that wasn't what I needed to ask for anymore. What I needed to ask for was how could I fulfill my purpose in the biggest way possible? In alignment with what I'm supposed to do in the world and whatever that looks like, maybe it doesn't look like outward success in the way that I want. But maybe it's going to make me happier. So I had this realization and since that moment, I haven't been like completely like zen like enlightened, but I've been pretty at peace. And I've been pretty happy and I've been pretty chill and like it's really recent. So it's funny that I'm here talking about it because I don't know if it'll last. I don't know.

• 28:18Lewis Howes?

  Sure it'll last.

• 28:19Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. By the time this comes out, I'm like a mess. I'm like, what was I talking about?

• 28:24Lewis Howes?

  I need more sales, sales, sales.

• 28:26Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, but outside opinion, I mean, I don't know. Right now, I'm just looking.

• 28:30Lewis Howes?

  It's easy to say that also when things are going well, but if, if people stop showing up or people stop downloading or listening.

• 28:36Rachel Platten?

  Well, I'm not in like a great moment. I mean, I'm, I'm, okay. First of all, that's ridiculous because I just played Miss Universe.

• 28:42Lewis Howes?

  Speaking of the context, yes.

• 28:43Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, okay, in context, I, my life is incredible right now and I'm so grateful, but.

• 28:49Lewis Howes?

  If you're comparing yourself to other artists.

• 28:51Rachel Platten?

  But comparing myself to Taylor, for instance, her record sold millions of copies, whatever, and mine didn't. And it hurt. And it felt like, oh God, what did I do wrong? But the thing is, is that nothing, I didn't do anything wrong. I created what I'm supposed to create. I love the songs I created. My fans are loving the music. It's getting out there. And that's beautiful. That's enough. And I really think I believe that right now.

• 29:15Lewis Howes?

  Stick with that belief.

• 29:16Rachel Platten?

  I heard myself saying that. I'm like, yeah, I believe that. I was like, I don't know. I do, I believe that.

• 29:20Lewis Howes?

  No, it's good. I think if you don't believe it, you're just gonna keep going back to, I'm never enough, I'm never enough. And then when you hit those marks, you're gonna say, well, now I need to keep hitting it to be enough.

• 29:31Rachel Platten?

  It doesn't, it just, it just keeps changing. It keeps getting farther away.

• 29:35Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 29:35Rachel Platten?

  I hit every single goal I wanted and then I just wanted more and more and more. And it was, ugh, sucks.

• 29:42Lewis Howes?

  I hear you. I've been there before. Now, as you were, again, performing for an audience of two every night or whatever for years.

• 29:50Rachel Platten?

  Ten, thank you very much.

• 29:52Lewis Howes?

  Were you performing all the time in the city or was it like coffee shops and bars when you could? Or was it weekly? What was it like?

• 29:58Rachel Platten?

  I had a Monday night gig on, yeah, depending on the year, it changed. But I had a Monday night gig at Prohibition on the Upper West Side in New York. Awesome place. So, so great. If you guys are in the city listening, you have to go to Prohibition and tell them I say hi.

• 30:10Lewis Howes?

  They'll give you a free shot.

• 30:12Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, they'll give you a free shot of, of, no.

• 30:15Lewis Howes?

  Water.

• 30:16Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, they were so kind to me. First of all, they support live music still and there's a lot of places in the city that have now since shut down and like they're making it hard with noise laws and all that stuff. So go support them. But anyway, I play there on Monday nights and then I'd play at Slane, which is since closed down on MacDougal Street in the Village. That was freaking awesome. It was this jam that all the musicians around the scene, we would like finish with our cover gigs or whatever gigs we had and we'd all meet up at this place on Tuesday nights. And we would have the most fun ever. This is another reason I kept going because I had this amazing network and family of musicians and friends that supported me and that I supported. Other times I'd go on little mini tours. I got a van in my mid twenties. It was freaking awesome. I still have the van, by the way. Yeah, I converted.

• 31:00Lewis Howes?

  Here in Santa Monica.

• 31:02Rachel Platten?

  It's, I think it's in Burbank. I've been trying to figure out what to do with it. I might do like revisit home tours. So I do a lot of house concerts.

• 31:09Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 31:09Rachel Platten?

  And I would take this van to them. So I might like do a reunion house concert thing.

• 31:12Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 31:13Rachel Platten?

  Would be cool.

• 31:13Lewis Howes?

  I like that.

• 31:14Rachel Platten?

  Um, so I do little mini tours and I play a lot of house concerts in living rooms. For those of you who don't know what a house concert is, it's amazing. Look into it. You can book a musician to come to your house and play for you and your friends and you invite them all over and you have like potluck style.

• 31:30Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 31:31Rachel Platten?

  And it's incredible. Yeah. So I do that.

• 31:34Lewis Howes?

  Would you get paid a lot for these gigs?

• 31:35Rachel Platten?

  No, but I didn't care. I was so broke. Yeah. Well, the house concerts were pretty good. That was like, I thought it was pretty good.

• 31:42Lewis Howes?

  A hundred bucks for five.

• 31:43Rachel Platten?

  Like a thousand.

• 31:44Lewis Howes?

  That's pretty good.

• 31:45Rachel Platten?

  Pretty good.

• 31:45Lewis Howes?

  Like two hours of gig. That's amazing.

• 31:46Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, for me and a drummer. I mean, it would cover like the gas and hotels and it would keep us on the road. In the city though, it was like, yeah, a hundred and fifty dollars for three hours.

• 31:55Lewis Howes?

  Now, were you working a job as well during this?

• 31:57Rachel Platten?

  I had so many jobs. I got fired so many times.

• 31:59Lewis Howes?

  Really?

• 31:59Rachel Platten?

  Oh, my God. Yeah. I just heard, what's her name? Bos? Bos?

• 32:02Lewis Howes?

  Ah, Bos, yeah.

• 32:03Rachel Platten?

  Talking about temping, I think.

• 32:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's how she got her first kind of gig.

• 32:06Rachel Platten?

  Me too. I was listening to that and I was like, I haven't heard anyone else on podcasts talk about temping, but that was. And the pod, thank you. Yeah. So I was, I was temping.

• 32:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 32:16Rachel Platten?

  That was a lifesaver for me because. I'm like really hirable. Like when you meet me, you're like, oh.

• 32:22Lewis Howes?

  You seem great.

• 32:23Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 32:23Lewis Howes?

  But you're not.

• 32:24Rachel Platten?

  Not. I'm not great. No, that's exactly it. I come off so much better than I am as a worker. This girl's gonna work hard for our company, no matter what the company. She seems enthusiastic. She's a nice smile. She seems like a friendly person. Little do they know, like a couple weeks into the job, I'm like, you know, shoes off on the internet requesting MySpace fans and like eating lunches and like

• 32:46Lewis Howes?

  trying to get three downloads.

• 32:47Rachel Platten?

  taking over the mailroom and making them print my posters.

• 32:49Lewis Howes?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 32:50Rachel Platten?

  I was horrible.

• 32:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 32:51Rachel Platten?

  I just got fired so many times.

• 32:52Lewis Howes?

  So how did you sustain this life for 10 years in the city? How did you survive?

• 32:57Rachel Platten?

  I hustled my butt off. I wrote commercials. I sang jingles. That was really.

• 33:02Lewis Howes?

  That's profitable.

• 33:03Rachel Platten?

  That was incredible. Writing and singing jingles was great. Um, I lived in a really cheap place and I, I didn't need that much. I was playing music and I, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. My, my apartment was, my rent was really cheap. I lived in this fifth floor walk up. It used to be, I think Bob Dylan's apartment or like.

• 33:24Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 33:24Rachel Platten?

  The one across from it. Yeah.

• 33:25Lewis Howes?

  That's kind of cool.

• 33:26Rachel Platten?

  On McDougal Street. It was dope. There was cockroaches and mice. It was, it was gross.

• 33:30Lewis Howes?

  McDougal and what?

• 33:31Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, McDougal, between West Fourth and Bleecker. West Third and Bleecker. I'm sorry.

• 33:35Lewis Howes?

  I used to live off Prince and Mulberry.

• 33:37Rachel Platten?

  Oh, my God.

• 33:37Lewis Howes?

  Loved it down there.

• 33:38Rachel Platten?

  I didn't know.

• 33:39Lewis Howes?

  It was the best.

• 33:39Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, that's an amazing area.

• 33:41Lewis Howes?

  2010. So maybe I ran into you sometimes.

• 33:44Rachel Platten?

  I was still there. Yeah.

• 33:45Lewis Howes?

  You were still nobody, huh?

• 33:47Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. A hundred percent.

• 33:49Lewis Howes?

  When was the year where you were like, oh, I've made enough to actually like live in a nicer place and not scramble for like another temp job? When was that? What happened?

• 33:59Rachel Platten?

  It didn't come until, okay, well, there was like a, a little, a couple of years where my husband graduated from business school. And most of the time that we were together, he was in school. He had just graduated from law school when we met and then, then he went to business school. So he's like, loved school and we had a lot of debt. So we were struggling, but then when he graduated and actually got a job, he of course tried to start paying down his debt, but. We had enough to move down to Battery Park into like a fancier place. I was doing the commercials and stuff. That was probably around two thousand and eleven ish. Two thousand and twelve. We had just gotten married and I think we moved.

• 34:36Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 34:37Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 34:37Lewis Howes?

  So you've been married for five years now? Five or six years?

• 34:39Rachel Platten?

  Seven years.

• 34:40Lewis Howes?

  Seven years?

• 34:41Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. So in two thousand and ten, okay.

• 34:43Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 34:43Rachel Platten?

  So I moved right when you got to the neighborhood. I was like, I'm out.

• 34:45Lewis Howes?

  Peace.

• 34:46Rachel Platten?

  Louis is here. I'm out.

• 34:47Lewis Howes?

  I'm out of this place.

• 34:48Rachel Platten?

  This place is going downhill.

• 34:50Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. Now, I'm curious. You connected to your husband. You guys got married. You were still really unknown and now you've kind of grown into popularity. How is that like in a, in a marriage and a relationship when a dynamic change is now everyone knows who you are?

• 35:06Rachel Platten?

  I don't, everybody doesn't know.

• 35:07Lewis Howes?

  A lot of people know who you are.

• 35:08Rachel Platten?

  Everybody doesn't know who I am.

• 35:09Lewis Howes?

  A lot of people, you know, you, you've grown in popularity.

• 35:11Rachel Platten?

  Okay, okay.

• 35:12Lewis Howes?

  In a big way.

• 35:12Rachel Platten?

  I'll take that.

• 35:13Lewis Howes?

  To where, you know, people are screaming for you when you're at a conference or a concert, right?

• 35:19Rachel Platten?

  Yep, lots of conferences. People are screaming at me, yeah.

• 35:21Lewis Howes?

  House conferences. Now, what is that like? Has the dynamic changed or has it not? Has he been fully supportive? Is there different conversations? Is it?

• 35:28Rachel Platten?

  He's just incredible. He is unbelievable and I knew what I wanted in a partner because I had kind of figured out in my early twenties that I couldn't have anyone who was ever gonna be jealous at gigs. Like, even though they were small gigs, I would, I would have concerts once every couple of months and I, not to like be brag, but I had a lot of friends in New York. So when, when I,

• 35:52Lewis Howes?

  People show up.

• 35:52Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, so when I did like not the cover gigs that I was hustling at, I would have these concerts once, like once every two months at Arlene's Grocery or Bitter End and I would pack them. And even though I had nothing going on, it kind of seemed for a night that I did. So I needed a guy that wasn't gonna get threatened, that wasn't gonna get jealous and I made the mistake of dating some that were. So when I met Kevin, I think the first thing I did besides go on, you know, a date with him was bring him to a concert and see how he acted. And he was so cool. He was so supportive. He was so excited and I forgot about him at the show. I think like, he was just there talking with, he just made friends. He just made friends. He was like chill and I finally remembered and I went over to this like hot guy at the end of the night with like tall, dark handsome guy and I was like, oh my God.

• 36:35Rachel Platten?

  I'm sorry. I forgot to say hi. And he just gave me a kiss and he was like, you were incredible. And I kind of knew. I was like, okay. I mean, I knew before that honestly, I knew on my first date with him that right in the beginning that he was never gonna be threatened or jealous or insecure from my success. All he ever wanted for me was for me to be his. Successful as I could and he pushed me and pushed me and he taught me to work hard, harder than I thought possible and he supported me every step of the way. I don't usually get to talk about him very much on podcasts or like I'm only done one pod. So I don't know what I'm talking about, but like in interviews, I'm not usually like talking about how important.

• 37:10Lewis Howes?

  What's the thing about him you love the most?

• 37:12Rachel Platten?

  Oh, a sense of humor. He's hilarious. He's so funny. He's just funny.

• 37:19Rachel Platten?

  I feel like we're not like normal married couple that because I'm on tour all the time. Sometimes I still feel like we're just in our six month honeymoon phase. Like I'm so excited to see him and I get giggly and like, hi. It's not always that easy, but sure. Right now we're like in a good phase.

• 37:35Lewis Howes?

  That's good.

• 37:35Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. But so nothing, nothing has changed. You know, my

• 37:38Lewis Howes?

  Nothing has changed.

• 37:38Rachel Platten?

  No, not at all.

• 37:39Lewis Howes?

  He's just as supportive. He's excited. He's like, it's amazing. Now you can help support, pay for the rent. Yeah.

• 37:44Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. Well, he's fulfilling. He's pursuing a dream right now. After years of supporting me and believing in me, when I finally made it, I have quote, I have the finger closed. You guys can't see. I have that going on. I don't know if I've made it, but when I finally got successful and made money, I was like, go follow your dream. So now he's chasing something. Yeah.

• 38:03Lewis Howes?

  Wow. What's his dream?

• 38:04Rachel Platten?

  He's opening a restaurant.

• 38:05Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 38:06Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 38:07Lewis Howes?

  That's pretty cool.

• 38:07Rachel Platten?

  I know.

• 38:08Lewis Howes?

  In Santa Monica?

• 38:09Rachel Platten?

  Santa Monica. It's gonna be called Gables.

• 38:11Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna have to come.

• 38:11Rachel Platten?

  In the spring. It's gonna be amazingly delicious. Yeah, I will. I will a hundred percent.

• 38:17Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 38:17Rachel Platten?

  You'd be a good guest.

• 38:18Lewis Howes?

  I will be. I love food.

• 38:20Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 38:22Lewis Howes?

  Amazing. What's been the biggest lesson he's taught you?

• 38:25Rachel Platten?

  To outwork other people. And it is not based on my talent. It is not based on opportunities. It is based on how much work I'm willing to put in. That's what I can control. And always control what you can control.

• 38:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. That's a good lesson.

• 38:40Rachel Platten?

  I mean, he's taught me a lot more, but yeah, I think in terms of my career. Yeah.

• 38:44Lewis Howes?

  I think there's so many examples of that, too. There's someone that I respect a lot who's The Rock and I think of his career.

• 38:49Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, I heard you talking about him with Lilly. I love Lilly.

• 38:52Lewis Howes?

  She's great, isn't she?

• 38:53Rachel Platten?

  She's the best. Yeah.

• 38:54Lewis Howes?

  He is not that good of an actor. For a lot of the critics will say he's not that good. I think he's great, but a lot of people say, ah, he's not that good. But he's still the highest performing actor in terms of like, sales at movies and he-

• 39:06Rachel Platten?

  I didn't know that. That's freaking awesome.

• 39:08Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, he crushes it. But he wasn't that good of a football player. Like, he didn't make the NFL, but he worked really hard and then he transitioned into wrestling and he wasn't that good in the beginning and-

• 39:16Rachel Platten?

  Yes.

• 39:16Lewis Howes?

  He just worked.

• 39:17Rachel Platten?

  I feel like that's the most encouraging thing that anyone listening can take away. Is that it is really not about your innate talent.

• 39:22Lewis Howes?

  Talent helps.

• 39:23Rachel Platten?

  Talent, okay, sure.

• 39:24Lewis Howes?

  You gotta have some talent.

• 39:25Rachel Platten?

  Yes, yes, yes. Because, well, but you have to know that you're supposed to be doing that in the world. I mean, you can't like, decide you wanna go to the moon and not like, have any inkling that you're gonna go through the astronaut training and all that stuff. I think like, if you feel pretty much like, you know what your calling is, then you're on purpose. And then it doesn't really matter how innately talented you are, past that little bit. Because I really believe that it's about hard work. My voice was not that special when I was growing up. Didn't stand out that much. It was pretty and it was sweet. But I've worked my ass off over the past thirteen years. And now my voice is special. But it was through hard work. And I tell people that all the time. I'm like, don't doubt yourself. You just haven't put in the work yet. Do you think?

• 40:10Lewis Howes?

  I agree. Yeah, cuz it's easy to compare and be like, well, I don't sound like Beyonce growing up or whatever.

• 40:14Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, I never did. I couldn't do that stuff right. I couldn't do those trills. I didn't-

• 40:18Lewis Howes?

  But you could write in a way that connected with people. And you could also sing in a way that connected with certain type of people that resonated differently.

• 40:26Rachel Platten?

  Yes. I'm emotional. Like, I'm an emotional performer and it connects with other people. And I also think something that I might do that helps people, that has helped me stand out, is that I'm not really afraid to go to places that other people might feel uncomfortable going to.

• 40:40Lewis Howes?

  Like what?

• 40:42Rachel Platten?

  Anything that's vulnerable. This last record, I dove into stuff that was hard to talk about. I have a song called "Grace" and it talks about how I don't recognize myself cuz I'm being, I'm jealous of friends and I'm, feel ashamed and I feel like I lost track of who I am and I need grace. And, and I have a song called "Fooling You" and it's about my relationship with my husband. And it's like, I don't know that I deserve the love that you're giving me. I don't think I'm worthy of this. And it's stuff that maybe we think or we all feel. Honestly, though, I hope people don't. Like, I hope people don't feel that way. But, but I just go there. I just write it. I don't know why I don't have a filter. I've always felt comfortable. Maybe it's because my parents are therapists, like sharing and and being honest. When you ask me, is there anything you don't want to talk about? I'm like, no, that's the good stuff.

• 41:27Lewis Howes?

  Who is the person you've been jealous of the most over your career?

• 41:30Rachel Platten?

  It's changed at every level I've been at. When I was just playing the New York singer songwriter scene, it was the songwriter that climbed out of the scene. I wasn't comparing myself to Beyonce at that time. I was like the person just a little bit above me. Like Ingrid Michaelson, who's a friend now. I was like, oh, man, I could be where Ingrid is. She's amazing doing other things now on Broadway. But when I got that, then it was like, okay, well, now I want to be where Taylor is. And I kept changing the mark and getting jealous of new people. Yeah. But I think that jealousy is healthy, too, because I think it helps you understand where you want to go. And if you can use it like in a positive way, you can kind of, I've learned to do this and say, cool, what are the things about them that I like?

• 42:13Rachel Platten?

  What what can I work harder on? What can I borrow from?

• 42:16Lewis Howes?

  That's good. Yeah. For those who are big dreamers, maybe they're in their twenties or something, they have a big dream. When has a dream become delusional? Where you're like, you know what? You should probably give up. Because for someone like you, who was going after it for 12, 13 years, not really getting a big break. Did you ever think like, maybe I'm just delusional?

• 42:39Rachel Platten?

  All the time.

• 42:40Lewis Howes?

  But how do you know when to keep going and when to give up?

• 42:43Rachel Platten?

  I'm never going to be the one to tell you to give up. I'm just, you're coming to the wrong person. I'm like the fight song. I'm like, don't you dare give up on yourself. Get out of here. Get out of here. I'm no, if you're listening and you're ready to give up, I am not the person that's going to tell you. I am going to tell you to dig in harder and work harder and go and find some more tools and and start and turn within and find out what where the resistance is coming from, why that resistance is showing up. What is it? What can it teach you? Yeah, absolutely. Shifting is important sometimes and like. Unclenching, sometimes we're holding too tightly to something and we're not allowing it to come to us. So sometimes you really do just need to back off and relax and allow

• 43:24Rachel Platten?

  it to come and receive. But no, I don't want any, I don't think anyone should give up on their dreams. I don't think it's ever too late. No, because I am the example that, that it's not. I was thirty, thirty-two. I was thirty-two.

• 43:38Lewis Howes?

  And as a female in the industry, that's like, you're old, you're too old.

• 43:43Rachel Platten?

  Way past my prime, way too old. Everyone probably thought I was delusional.

• 43:46Lewis Howes?

  You're still like hustling in the city, like.

• 43:49Rachel Platten?

  All my friends were having babies, moving on, like, I was still, I was still sending out emails like, hey, guys, performing. I think, I don't know, I, thank God, I, I don't really have an awareness of being embarrassed. Like, I'm not very, I don't feel that feeling a lot. So I didn't feel it. Like, I wasn't, my sister is funny. She's like, always embarrassed about everything. We'd talk about it and she's like, if I were you, I would have been horrified. In a kind way, she was trying to tell me, she was like, proud of me. But I didn't feel that way. I felt like, isn't it cool what I'm doing? I'm making music. I'm traveling around the country. I got a van. I got a van. You got a baby, I got a van.

• 44:26Lewis Howes?

  Right. Now, what if you were forty? Is there an age that's too, like, if you're doing this for twenty years and not seeing any, like, big wins or small wins, would you still keep doing it?

• 44:37Rachel Platten?

  Well, it depends on what's making you happy. It depends on your happiness. I mean, if you're deriving pleasure from it and feeling like content and.

• 44:44Lewis Howes?

  Might as well.

• 44:44Rachel Platten?

  Why, wouldn't you, why would you stop? That's crazy. Come on. How do you know what your spot in the world is? How do you know, like, what level you're supposed to do this on to fulfill your purpose? Maybe you're supposed to do it on a, on a smaller level and that's still beautiful and exactly where you're supposed to be in the world. And, and who are you to doubt it? And who is someone else to judge your level of success with your chosen thing? Also, you enough, no one has any idea what is around the corner. I love this thing. You don't know what's happening behind the scenes. You don't know what's being shifted in your favor. You might be forty and like, at forty-one, you might be the first person at forty-one to achieve that thing that's impossible. Someone's gonna be that person. Why not you?

• 45:20Lewis Howes?

  Amen to that. I love that.

• 45:22Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, brother. That was a good high five. My other one sucked.

• 45:24Lewis Howes?

  That was a good one. What do you think your purpose is then, right now? Your highest purpose?

• 45:28Rachel Platten?

  I think it is to be as honest as I can in my music and just create whatever.

• 45:38Rachel Platten?

  I'm supposed to create in the world and not judge it and spread love through my music and help other people recognize their own light and their own fire within them through my music. Think. I don't know. I haven't been asked that before. That's good.

• 45:52Lewis Howes?

  What would you say is your purpose and vision for 2018? Have you thought of that?

• 45:56Rachel Platten?

  I used to do it every year. I've been doing it. And honestly, right now, I'm just much more at a place of like peace. Like, I'm not really all about setting humongous goals I need to reach. I'm actually way more about just being calm and like happy in what I already have and letting whatever is gonna come, come. So, no, I haven't really set any goals for the year. Maybe that's not good. I don't know. But I'm happy. And I feel good. And things are happening, like exciting things are happening. I just got called about a huge opportunity this morning and I, I had just kinda chilled on it. I like kinda went away and then it came back. Yeah, so I think like, this happened right before Fight Song too, honestly.

• 46:38Lewis Howes?

  What? Tell me.

• 46:39Rachel Platten?

  I chased and I chased and I chased. I knew when I wrote Fight Song that there was something special there. I mean, I'd been writing for five years. Like, I started working with this manager who was like, "Stop gigging and just write songs."

• 46:50Lewis Howes?

  And write for other artists?

• 46:51Rachel Platten?

  Write for myself. He just wanted me to write and learn how to write a pop song. So I'd been writing and writing, writing. And finally, I wrote Fight Song and it took a year and a half to write and I had to learn how to produce it, all this stuff. But when it was finally finished, I was like, "This is meant to be really massively healing in the world." And I had this vision for it, but it wasn't happening. It wasn't until a year and a half after I released Fight Song that it started getting picked up on the radio. Yes. And during that time, I was holding so tightly to what I thought needed to happen. And there was this moment, moment after, it was played on a popular TV show and I thought that was gonna be the moment that it exploded. And I was hanging all of my hopes on that.

• 47:32Rachel Platten?

  And nothing happened. It played on the TV show and nothing really happened. It made a small blip, but nothing. And I was thirty-two and broke and like hanging every hope. Cause I was like, if people hear this, they're gonna understand what I know about it. And then it didn't. And I freaked out and I cried so hard and I threw myself on the floor and I was just like yelling up to God or whatever you believe. I was like, what the F U C K? What the hell? I have given everything. I don't understand what else I'm supposed to do. I gave up. And I went to bed that night. I woke up in the morning and I meditated and I calmed down and I realized that that was so ridiculous and ego-driven. I couldn't do that anymore to myself.

• 48:15Rachel Platten?

  And I made a vow right then that I was gonna stop needing anything more than I was already given. And I just chilled. I was like, you know what? Whatever the plan is, I'm fine with. If it's that I'm gonna go become a music therapist or work in hospitals, whatever it is, I'm fine. And two weeks later, it got played on a radio station in Baltimore. Shazamed at number one. I got signed a week after that.

• 48:37Lewis Howes?

  Shut up.

• 48:37Rachel Platten?

  I was on a massive tour. It went to number one two months after that. Yeah.

• 48:42Lewis Howes?

  There's that one song.

• 48:43Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 48:44Lewis Howes?

  Blew everything up for you.

• 48:45Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, but I think that it had to be.

• 48:47Lewis Howes?

  You had to let it go.

• 48:47Rachel Platten?

  Me letting go. Yeah.

• 48:49Lewis Howes?

  And then it came to you.

• 48:50Rachel Platten?

  So that's where I'm at right now, honestly. I clenched and clenched and I needed and I needed and I desired and I got exhausted from it. And I'm just like, I can't anymore.

• 48:59Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Amazing. There's a great line in one of my favorite movies called Swingers. Have you seen this movie?

• 49:05Rachel Platten?

  I love Swingers. Yeah.

• 49:07Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna butcher the line now because I'm thinking too much, but uh, something about like, when you act like you don't want it, they give it to you for free.

• 49:14Rachel Platten?

  Mmm.

• 49:14Lewis Howes?

  You know what I mean?

• 49:15Rachel Platten?

  We're talking about babies, but yeah. Beautiful babies.

• 49:18Lewis Howes?

  You act like you don't want it, they give you that stuff for free. And it's kinda like when you let it go and you're not like clinging on to it so much, then people like wanna come over and.

• 49:25Rachel Platten?

  I think it's true. I think it's the key to money, to anything. I mean, like, to abundance in general. I think you can set a goal and you can envision what you want and you can try to manifest it, but then people forget the last step, which is the trust.

• 49:40Lewis Howes?

  Surrender.

• 49:41Rachel Platten?

  The surrender. Yes.

• 49:44Rachel Platten?

  So I'm surrendering right now. Yeah.

• 49:47Lewis Howes?

  It looks like it's going pretty well for you.

• 49:48Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 49:49Lewis Howes?

  You don't feel stressed at all. Not that I was expecting you to be stressed.

• 49:52Rachel Platten?

  No, I'm not stressed at all right now.

• 49:54Lewis Howes?

  But I think a lot of artists in general kind of have this like sense of like needing to. I remember asking Steve Aoki when I interviewed him, I was like, what's your biggest fear? He goes, something around like relevance, like.

• 50:03Rachel Platten?

  I knew you were gonna say that.

• 50:05Lewis Howes?

  My audience like not liking this stuff and then like leaving me or not listening to it or it not growing as fast. And it's like, and you're constantly chasing. Not there's anything wrong with like wanting to be relevant. Like I want to be relevant.

• 50:17Rachel Platten?

  I know, but it's dangerous.

• 50:19Lewis Howes?

  Fear of like missing it, like clinging on to everyone.

• 50:22Rachel Platten?

  Yes.

• 50:23Lewis Howes?

  Or doing things just to be relevant.

• 50:26Rachel Platten?

  Oh my God, that's the most dangerous thing you can do. That's when you lose yourself.

• 50:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 50:31Rachel Platten?

  I don't know. I think about that a lot. I'm like, well, okay, what if I had put a song that someone else wrote on this record that I knew was a hit, although you don't ever know when anything's a hit. Who knows? No one, there's no science to it.

• 50:44Lewis Howes?

  Well, fight song was.

• 50:46Rachel Platten?

  Okay, I kind of had a feeling. I had a feeling about this next single too that's coming out. Like I have that feeling again. But anyway, I have inklings, but I don't know.

• 50:54Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 50:54Rachel Platten?

  So I'm like, well, should I have done something differently? But who cares? I would have gotten, maybe I would have gotten there to the top of the mountain. It wasn't the message that I believed in or wanted to spread. So then, because ultimately we just want to be happy. We just want contentment.

• 51:09Lewis Howes?

  Loved, happy.

• 51:09Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, like why are we doing any of this for inner peace and for inner happiness? I went through this whole thing with my husband today on a walk. I was like, something's hard with his restaurant right now. And I tried to walk him through the whole entire thing. I was like, well, why do you want that? Okay, cool. And why do you want that? Great. Why do you want that? And ultimately we got down because he wants to be happy.

• 51:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 51:28Rachel Platten?

  And I was like, why not just decide to be happy right now?

• 51:30Lewis Howes?

  That's right.

• 51:31Rachel Platten?

  You could cut out all those middle steps and still be doing them.

• 51:34Lewis Howes?

  That's true.

• 51:35Rachel Platten?

  I'm so wise.

• 51:36Lewis Howes?

  You are. That's amazing.

• 51:38Rachel Platten?

  No, no, no. You're like, what is she talking about?

• 51:41Lewis Howes?

  I love it. I love it. Where can we, I got a few questions final for you.

• 51:46Rachel Platten?

  Okay.

• 51:46Lewis Howes?

  I want to get you, I want to respect your time.

• 51:47Rachel Platten?

  No, you can't end on I'm so wise. That's horrible.

• 51:50Lewis Howes?

  No, I have a few more questions, yes. But where can we connect with you, before I ask the final questions, where can we connect with you right now? Where's your new music? Where's?

• 51:57Rachel Platten?

  I have a new album called Waves. It's out now. It's on iTunes, on Spotify. Please go check it out. Let me know what you think.

• 52:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 52:04Rachel Platten?

  You know, I am not attached to your opinions, but I'm curious.

• 52:09Lewis Howes?

  At least check it out.

• 52:10Rachel Platten?

  I would love to know. Yeah. You can, you know, all the social media, at Rachel Platten.

• 52:14Lewis Howes?

  Where do you hang out the most? Instagram?

• 52:16Rachel Platten?

  Instagram, yeah. Twitter got scary for me last summer after my song was attached to election. I got a lot of death threats.

• 52:24Lewis Howes?

  Like the song for Hillary Clinton?

• 52:26Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 52:27Lewis Howes?

  How crazy is that?

• 52:28Rachel Platten?

  I mean, that's crazy.

• 52:29Lewis Howes?

  Was that, did that blow things up to a whole nother level in a good way or?

• 52:32Rachel Platten?

  Not in a good way, no.

• 52:34Lewis Howes?

  Not at all?

• 52:34Rachel Platten?

  No, I mean, I, maybe I got more recognition, but I refused to do any press around it because I was really afraid.

• 52:39Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 52:40Rachel Platten?

  And so people just kind of started knowing me as the Fight Song Girl or Fight Song Singer, and that's kind of frustrating. So I got a lot of hate and scary stuff happening on Twitter. So I just stayed away from there for like a year. Now I'm, now I'm back on.

• 52:52Lewis Howes?

  Slowly coming back.

• 52:53Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 52:54Lewis Howes?

  Hey guys.

• 52:54Rachel Platten?

  Hi.

• 52:55Lewis Howes?

  Don't be mean to me.

• 52:56Rachel Platten?

  Remember your old friend Rach? Yeah.

• 52:58Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 52:59Rachel Platten?

  But Instagram, yeah, I'm on Instagram a lot.

• 53:00Lewis Howes?

  So we'll check you out on Instagram on the gram. What's the thing you wish more people would ask you? That you would like to talk about?

• 53:08Rachel Platten?

  Maybe about what I learned from failure, not just about like the successes, but yeah, the hard moments.

• 53:14Lewis Howes?

  Tell me, what did you learn from failure?

• 53:16Rachel Platten?

  Oh, to believe in myself. Yeah, I mean, I love to talk about that, that part. I love to talk about the journey of like from darkness to light and like from my own struggle to like getting there. I also love talking about my early days in New York City. So you did, you did ask me about that today. Yeah.

• 53:32Lewis Howes?

  Awesome.

• 53:32Rachel Platten?

  Yeah.

• 53:33Lewis Howes?

  I made it.

• 53:33Rachel Platten?

  My husband. I like talking about my husband. Yeah.

• 53:35Lewis Howes?

  I covered all of it.

• 53:36Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, you nailed it.

• 53:37Lewis Howes?

  Perfect. If there was a, a final song you got to sing?

• 53:43Lewis Howes?

  If there was only one song you could sing, and this was the last song that people would remember you by, what would the lyric or the line be that would be the most important for you for people to hear in that song? Is there a sentence, a phrase?

• 54:00Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, I have a, I mean, I have a sentence. I don't know if I could turn it that easily into lyrics. I'd have to like recraft it, but I have like a phrase that I believe in and that

• 54:08Lewis Howes?

  What's that?

• 54:09Rachel Platten?

  I think confuses most of my

• 54:10Lewis Howes?

  Is there a song that you currently have with a phrase?

• 54:13Rachel Platten?

  I have, I have a song that I haven't released yet. It's called, I kind of imagined it as like the modern day Imagine by John Lennon, and it's called Choose Love, and it's, "I tried to close my eyes, my darling, but fear knows its way through the dark. Tried swinging fists at all my problems, but it never even made a mark. So I choose again," or something like that, and I choose love. Something like that, but okay. I don't know. That's not what I would say. I think what I would say

• 54:38Lewis Howes?

  It's okay.

• 54:39Rachel Platten?

  This is a tough question.

• 54:40Lewis Howes?

  It's okay.

• 54:41Rachel Platten?

  I would say, I would say everything

• 54:42Lewis Howes?

  You haven't released it yet either, Stan.

• 54:43Rachel Platten?

  No, no, no, I gotta work on it. Everything is either fear or love. If you're feeling anything other than a sense of peace and calm and love towards those around you, then don't get confused. It's coming from fear. It's not coming from anger or resentment or anyone not liking you. It's coming from a place of fear, and I think that helps me differentiate judgment and disputes with people and confrontation, because I can just understand that we, we are very similar at our core and we all just want to be loved and approved of, and we all have these scars on our hearts, and it's hard. Life is hard and it's scary, and if we can be more compassionate and understand that

• 55:23Rachel Platten?

  behind like really big smiles and beautiful outfits and we're the same, we're the same. I think that's what I would try to all put in a song. I don't know how I'd do that.

• 55:34Lewis Howes?

  I like it. We'll transcribe that part and send it back to you, and you could figure out a way to put it into the song.

• 55:39Rachel Platten?

  I'd also maybe do the Tony Montana Scarface. "You gotta have some fun in this life."

• 55:44Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 55:45Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, I'd put that in a song.

• 55:46Lewis Howes?

  I like it. I like it.

• 55:49Lewis Howes?

  This is called the three truths.

• 55:51Rachel Platten?

  Okay. I know this one.

• 55:54Lewis Howes?

  You know this one already.

• 55:55Rachel Platten?

  I should have prepared.

• 55:56Lewis Howes?

  It's all good. I like you not being prepared.

• 55:57Rachel Platten?

  Damn.

• 55:58Lewis Howes?

  It's more fun.

• 55:58Rachel Platten?

  Alright.

• 55:59Lewis Howes?

  More, more authentic. So if this was the last day for you, many years from now, you're a hundred and something years old, and you've done all the things you want to do. Every hit song, you've written a million songs, you've done whatever you want to do. But for whatever reason, it was all erased, and people couldn't listen to the music anymore. There was no lyrics anymore. So you had to write down three things you know to be true about your life, your experiences, that you wouldn't want to leave behind. If there's only three things that you could share, three lessons or truths, what would they be?

• 56:30Rachel Platten?

  I never hear any guests stumble. They're always like so certain with their truths.

• 56:34Lewis Howes?

  Some stumble.

• 56:34Rachel Platten?

  Okay. I first want to be, only you decide what is possible and what is not possible. No one else but you decides how you react to anything, how you feel about anything. We always decide our inner state. We can decide to change something just based on our mind. The second one would be, giving and receiving are the same thing. And we forget that a lot, that we look to get and get and get. And we forget that actually giving is way more powerful and gives you the same feeling. It's been scientifically proven that giving gives you the same joy, if not more, than getting. So they are, the Course of Miracles says they're the same. Do you read Course of Miracles?

• 57:14Lewis Howes?

  No, but I've had Mary Ann Weisner on.

• 57:15Rachel Platten?

  Oh dude, it's so good. It's good shit. Okay.

• 57:17Lewis Howes?

  She's great.

• 57:17Rachel Platten?

  My third one would be, what I said before in my song, ineloquently, just, everything's either love or fear. So if you're feeling a place of, if you're feeling fearful or angry, choose again. You can always choose again and come to a place of love.

• 57:32Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, hmm. I love that. Make sure you guys check out the new music, Rachel Platten on Instagram and everywhere, rachelplatten.com as well.

• 57:39Rachel Platten?

  Yeah, rachelplatten.com, yeah.

• 57:40Lewis Howes?

  Get all the music and information there. Before I ask the final question, I gotta acknowledge you for a moment, Rachel, because you are a beautiful ball of sunshine and light.

• 57:50Rachel Platten?

  Thank you. You think so?

• 57:51Lewis Howes?

  Literally like, the energy you've had being in here, you're just like this, you radiate joy and...

• 57:57Lewis Howes?

  Possibilities.

• 57:59Rachel Platten?

  Thank you.

• 58:00Lewis Howes?

  So, thank you for all you do to inspire so many people around the world and for how you show up. You show up just like so joyful and loving and giving and compassionate. And I think your, your realness is really cool.

• 58:11Rachel Platten?

  Thank you so much.

• 58:12Lewis Howes?

  No matter what's happened or who, how many people follow you, you're very real. And I appreciate that about you and acknowledge you for that. So, keep that in your heart.

• 58:19Rachel Platten?

  I want to acknowledge you. You're incredible. What you're doing is amazing. I listen to you. You've helped me. Your guests have helped me. I love everything you do and that you stand for, and I think it's amazing. So, yeah, back to you.

• 58:29Lewis Howes?

  Appreciate it, appreciate it. Final question, what's your definition of greatness?

• 58:34Rachel Platten?

  Identifying what your passion is, what your purpose is, working your butt off to master it, and then being able to give it to the world regardless of outcome and regardless of outside approval. Just do it on your highest level because of the simple joy of you fulfilling your purpose in the world.

• 58:55Lewis Howes?

  Rachel Platten, let's get a great one.

• 58:57Rachel Platten?

  Yeah. Oh, yeah.

• 59:04Lewis Howes?

  There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this one. No dream is too big. If you are willing to put in the time, put in the work, you don't have to be the most talented person in the world at something, but you have to and you must embrace who you are and your unique gifts, because only you has a unique gift. No one else has the gift that you can bring to the world. So, stop doubting yourself. Stop looking for outside approval and start stepping into who you are and start giving and sharing your voice, your message, your talent, your gift with the world. If you enjoyed this one, make sure to take a screenshot, tag your friends, post an image of this on your Instagram story,

• 59:47Lewis Howes?

  on Twitter, on Facebook. Let me know what you thought of this, at Lewis Howes over on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and tag at Rachel Platten as well. Let her know what you enjoyed most of this interview, as I'm sure she would love to see your thoughts and your feedback. Make sure to check out her new album, Waves. You can get it all over the place online and follow her on social media. I'm sure she'd love to see some of your faces on social media as well. And as Earl Nightingale said, never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass anyway. You have something special inside of you. You have a gift. It's time to bring that gift to the world. I love you guys, and you know what time it is.

• 1:00:30Lewis Howes?

  It's time to go out there and do something great.