130 The Definition of Greatness Recap (and SOG 2 Year Anniversary!)

"Final Question: What is your definition of greatness?" If you enjoyed this episode, check out the links to all the full episodes highlighted in this roundup at www.lewishowes.com/130. 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 130 and you are entering the greatness definition roundup. 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?

  Welcome everyone to this very special episode on the School of Greatness podcast. And you want to know why it's special? It's the two-year anniversary of the School of Greatness podcast. That's right. We have been around for two years now. This is episode number 130 and I'm so pumped, grateful, humbled, blessed, and just glad to be here, really. I mean, it's been a journey. I can't believe it's been two years. And so much has happened over the last couple of years. So many incredible guests on this show. I've learned a lot and I hope you guys have learned a lot as well. So we've got a lot to come over the next couple of years.

• 1:15Lewis Howes?

  This show just keeps getting bigger and bigger. We're at 650,000 downloads this month alone. We're shooting for a million a month here soon. So I'm very excited about what is to come with the School of Greatness. But I wanted to let you guys know what we're doing with this one. We brought some of our favorite definitions of greatness over this past year and we did a recap of our favorite ones. I think we got about 17 of them, even though we have more episodes than that in the last year. I think we did about 17 definitions. And we've got all the show notes back at lewishouse.com/130 so you can see all the links for all the definitions of greatness from all the different greats we've had on here.

• 1:58Lewis Howes?

  Now, let's go ahead and dive into this, episode number 130 of the Greatness Definition Roundup.

• 2:09Speaker 01

  My definition greatness is, I wrap it up in kind of my philosophy on life. Learn it, live it, give it. Learn what it takes to have the life of your dreams, to be who you want to be, to do what you want to do. Live it so abundantly and ferociously that your life becomes your message. You don't have to say a thing to anyone around you. They just get who you are and what you're about by how you live. And finally, take all of that experience and all of that growth and insight that you've learned yourself and pay it forward. Find a way to share it with others in a unique way that causes them to find their path and create who they are and, you know, elevate and emanate into the world and just be the best version of them. And again, it becomes that ripple effect where they learn, they live, they give.

• 2:51Speaker 01

  And I think if that ripple happens in the world, I would be damn proud to hopefully be someone who helped start it and kept it going.

• 2:58Lewis Howes?

  Jared Robbins.

• 3:04Speaker 02

  I think my definition of greatness would be finding the thing that you're passionate about and being brave enough to pursue that as your life's work, right? Because I think there are so many people who they kind of know what they want to do, but they think they need to do something else that's going to earn them more, this, that. And I'm such a big believer in passion breeding success. And, you know, we spend a lot of our life working. And so for me, greatness is figuring out what you're passionate about and being brave enough to do that thing.

• 3:40Lewis Howes?

  I love that, being brave enough. That's really cool.

• 3:48Speaker 03

  You embrace the idea that this, these principles, they're not quick fixes. They're not diet plans to get you to a point. This is an ongoing journey of you're always getting better and that you take pride in being willing, no matter how big you get, to do the things it takes to be successful. And you never, you never become an escalator person who just made it and you're just drifting along. You're, you're doing what it takes and it's the small, seemingly insignificant choices that you make each and every day, which is, you know, where take the stairs is the metaphor comes from. And so for me, it's just embracing that idea that success is never owned. It is only rented and the rent is due every day.

• 4:23Lewis Howes?

  Rory Vaden.

• 4:28Speaker 04

  My definition of greatness, man, is leaving the world better than how it was given to you. You know, my mother, who, like I said, got pregnant with me at seventeen, she had one wish for all of us, and that was that each generation should do better than the next generation. So for me greatness is, you know, just making this world a better place. Leaving YouTube better than it was before Eric Thomas got on it. Leaving Instagram better than it was before Eric Thomas got on it. Greatness is about making things better. Greatness is about getting better. You know, when we were kids, Granny used to say, "Good, better, best. Never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best."

• 5:10Speaker 04

  You know, so for me greatness is about, nobody knows Eric Thomas. Nobody knows what I'm capable of, but I know what I'm capable of and getting better every single day. Never settling, never saying, "Well, I got a PhD, so I'm finished." You know, "Well, I've got a video, a few videos that went viral. Most people have never done that. I'm doing good. I wrote three books. I'm good." No, no, Eric, you know, you know, at the end of the day, when you lay your head down to sleep, Imano, Imano, man to man, my flesh to my spirit, you know when you've given your best. You know when you've gotten better. And greatness is challenging the today you and the future you, saying you can get better. You know, to me, that's what greatness is.

• 5:53Speaker 04

  And I believe it's my duty to use my influence, you know, in my finances, in my time, to tangibly make other people's lives better. And to me, that's what Gandhi, Mother Teresa, you know, Martin Luther King. When I think of greatness, you know, those are the people that I think about. And they've long been gone, but their contributions still live with us today. And they're still making an impact on the world today. Eric Thomas, thanks for coming on.

• 6:27Speaker 05

  To know that you put, you know, you put it all on the line and you've done your very best and to know that you held nothing back and, and to know that you either failed and gave it your best try, or you've succeeded and you've won and it was the hardest thing you've ever done. So I think, you know, overcoming great, great challenges is probably my definition of greatness. And the more you set yourself up to do that, the more, you know, exhilarating it is when you actually do win, or you do lose, you know, you know, you tried your best. That's, that's my definition of greatness. I'm Ryan Blair and I endorse this message.

• 7:02Speaker 06

  So my definition of being great is, is pushing your limits as far as they can possibly go and never stopping wanting to add positivity and then leaving a place better off than where you found it.

• 7:17Speaker 05

  Scooter Bond, thanks for coming on, my man. I appreciate you.

• 7:25Speaker 07

  Always making the choices that are right, not what you think you should do. So taking action, getting up every day, and even if it's a harder choice, even if it's not traditional, it's always rechecking to see, is this truly what I believe in? Is this really what I am? If you were doing that every day, I feel like that you are truly great.

• 7:50Speaker 05

  I love it. Vanessa Van Edwards.

• 7:59Speaker 08

  Greatness is, is, is living the life you want to live. Okay? This applies on so many different levels, right? The one thing that bothers me most is to see individuals in situations that they don't want to be in, that's causing them strife, that's causing them misery. And what they're not understanding, getting is that the person that has the power to change that is in the mirror. It's you. You know what I mean?

• 8:32Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 8:32Speaker 08

  And so many individuals do make that choice and say, hey, you know what? I'm going to live the life that I want to live. I'm going to, you know, do the things that make me happy, right? And that's going to lead to greatness because if you're doing something that you're passionate about and you're doing something that makes you happy, you want to do it. You want to do it at a high level, right? Matter of fact, if you don't do it at a high level, you won't be happy. Right. You see what I mean? Yeah. And that's what leads to greatness. Have you ever seen anybody be absolutely great at something that they hate? And that they're miserable at, you know what I mean? I don't know, maybe it exists, but I haven't seen it recently, you know what I mean? Um, but that is greatness, you know what I mean?

• 9:16Speaker 08

  And it's, it's, it's a decision, you know? A lot of people just feel like whatever, you know, that's what life dish dips. That's what it's gotta be. It doesn't have to be that, you know? What's gotta be is what you say it's gotta be. You see what I mean? Because anybody, if you take two people and you juxtapose them and you have one person that is living the life that's making them happy and they're experiencing greatness on whatever level. Cause it's not about money or social status, whatever. It's just about, hey, this is what I want to do. Yeah. Right? Yeah, yeah. That's it, period. That's it, whatever level it is. And you juxtapose that person with the person that is doing something that they just hate doing and their life is just all kinds of terrible stuff is going on. The only difference between them, it's not aptitude. It's not that one's smarter than the other and one has, you know?

• 10:01Speaker 08

  It's that one wanted this for themselves and the other doesn't believe, right? Wow. They don't believe that they can create that for themselves. And they don't take those steps and they don't take that ownership of their lives and say, hey, I am going to create this and I'm not going to stop until I get there. You know what I mean? Yeah. But that, and no matter if it's a long journey or a short journey, that window is the greatness. Hmm. You understand what I'm saying? I love it. That's that window of greatness because you've now taken control of your life. You've now taken control of your destiny and you are going to create something that makes you happy. You're creating your own bliss. If that's not greatness.

• 10:46Speaker 08

  I don't know what is. You know what I mean?

• 10:48Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 10:49Speaker 08

  And it doesn't matter how, how, you know, socially impactful it is, because it's not about anybody else but you.

• 10:56Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 10:57Speaker 08

  But you. And the fact that you've changed your life and now you're a happier person, guess what? Other people around you will be happier.

• 11:04Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 11:04Speaker 08

  You know what I mean? And you can be a more positive influence because that happiness is contagious, man. You know what I mean? But yeah, man, just, you know, taking, taking, taking, taking charge of your life, man. Doing what you want to do.

• 11:13Lewis Howes?

  I love it. Thank you for the definition.

• 11:17Lewis Howes?

  DJ I read.

• 11:23Speaker 09

  I think my definition of greatness is somehow about, is about wholeness. And it's about self-knowledge. It's about honoring our strengths, whatever they are, being grateful for them, cultivating them. Also honoring what we're not perfect at and what's gone wrong for us. Honoring the other people and circumstances who, you know, who make us living into our greatness possible. It's about connecting up these pieces of ourselves and our lives that, that unwittingly, I think our culture often is kind of pulling these things apart. And I think greatness is an intentionality about putting them together and then kind

• 12:08Speaker 09

  of living the adventure of that.

• 12:11Lewis Howes?

  I love it. Thank you so much, Krista, for coming on.

• 12:21Speaker 10

  I think of, of Henry Miller. There's a quote that I use sometimes in my talks and one that's, I think, the most phenomenal one ever. And he says, "The goal of life is not to accumulate power, but to radiate it." And my definition of greatness is, is to live by those words and rather than, you know, grasping at the things and, and, you know, just kind of hoarding things, to instead just look at how do I use whatever I have with me, whether it's almost nothing or whether it's, it's great wealth, in, in the service of others. And, and that's what makes you great and not, not anything else.

• 13:02Lewis Howes?

  Dave, I love that.

• 13:11Speaker 11

  It means having pride in yourself and knowing you couldn't have done anything more.

• 13:16Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 13:16Speaker 11

  I don't know, I think that's a huge kind of issue society has is as long as if you're not holding a gold medal or at the top of anything, then you haven't achieved greatness. But if you're happy with yourself and you're proud and you've worked for something, I think that's greatness in itself.

• 13:34Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 13:43Speaker 12

  You know who put it best, or at least put it in a way that I really like is John Wooden, legendary basketball coach John Wooden for UCLA. He would often tell his players, "Don't worry about, don't worry about beating the other team or playing better or even what the final score is. You just worry about doing your best, what you're, the best that you're capable of, and you'll be happy with the result." Now, whether you win or lose, that's one thing, but if you play your best, then you're gonna, you're gonna appreciate the result. And for all of us, just do your best.

• 14:14Lewis Howes?

  I love it.

• 14:23Speaker 13

  You know, Louis, it's who we are. It's not anything we have to become. So it's, it's our essence. It's all of us. We are all greatness. That's just, that's it. And it's just remembering that and removing any story or any belief that tells us we aren't.

• 14:39Lewis Howes?

  I like it. It's not finding it, it's remembering it.

• 14:42Speaker 13

  It's remembering it and being it and accepting your version of it.

• 14:45Lewis Howes?

  It's good, I like that. It's a good one.

• 14:53Speaker 14

  Yeah, my definition of greatness is the willingness to put your interests aside so that others may prevail. You know, the willingness to put your own greatness aside so that others may be great.

• 15:03Lewis Howes?

  Love it.

• 15:07Speaker 15

  As artists and as people, it's easy not only just to recognize how immeasurably powerful we can be, but it's also easy to acknowledge how insignificant each of us can seem. This creates a contradiction, which can really stifle us. And what we have to do is we have to overcome that contradiction. We have to live within that contradiction, recognizing how fallible we are, how limited we are, how insignificant we might be in the scope of things, but at the same time, how immeasurably powerful we can be. And

• 15:50Speaker 15

  if we can be okay with who we are, with our weaknesses and our strengths, then I think, I think we can be great.

• 16:06Speaker 16

  I think it's being able to wake up every single morning, excited about what you're doing, and then go to bed feeling completely content.

• 16:14Speaker 17

  There you go.

• 16:15Speaker 16

  That's it.

• 16:15Speaker 17

  I love it.

• 16:22Speaker 17

  I would define greatness as people who become the superhero that they were meant to be. I call it the superhero you. And a superhero has two things. They've developed and discovered their own strengths, and everybody has a unique power, you know, a unique talent, a unique gift that no one else has. But they don't just have a superpower. They use their power for some kind of purpose. They use it to be able to save the world, to be able to add value to their community. So I would say be that superhero. Be that superhero you. Very cool. Jim Quix, thanks, man, for coming on. Thanks, Louis. Appreciate it.

• 17:01Lewis Howes?

  There you have it guys. I hope you enjoyed this two-year anniversary, very special, of the Greatness Definition Roundup. I am just, you know, I listen to all these different definitions and it just inspires me. It gets me excited for what's to come. It gets me pumped up for bringing you more great content and information and guests. And we've got some cool things that's gonna be happening over the next couple of months. So make sure to continue to listen. If this is your first time at the School of Greatness Podcast, please subscribe. Would love for you to subscribe over on iTunes, or Stitcher, or SoundCloud, or wherever you can find this show. Please subscribe. And share it with a friend.

• 17:43Lewis Howes?

  If you found this inspiring whatsoever, please email one friend today. The link to lewishouse.com/130. And again, you're gonna get all the show notes back there. And yeah, let them know about the show. I appreciate you guys for supporting and for being so incredible and promoting this. I'm constantly getting emails from people saying that they've been sharing it and talking about it to all their friends. So please keep that up. Stay in tune with me over on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. I'm Lewis Howes everywhere online. And again, we've got some great guests coming up here soon. So make sure to subscribe and stay tuned for all of the greatness coming your way. Been pumped about this moment, you know, over the last couple of years. It's just been an exciting journey.

• 18:28Lewis Howes?

  And again, I'm so very blessed and grateful that you guys all decide to plug the podcast into your ears each and every week. So I'm gonna keep it rocking if you wanna keep listening. And I appreciate you guys, but it's time to let you move along with your day. So with that, you guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.