496 8 Keys Powerful Leaders Use to Achieve Greatness

“One day or day one. It's your decision." If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/496 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?

  Episode number 496 on the eight keys powerful leaders use to achieve greatness.

• 0:07Lewis 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.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  It is the halfway mark and I wanted to check in with you. I wanted to check in to see what you've created in the last six months and what you're committed to creating moving forward. This is a solo round, so welcome. It's just me on this episode. Many of you have asked me to come on and do more of these and it's been a while. So I wanted to take a step back, check in and see exactly where you're at and give you some key principles that the greatest leaders in the world use to achieving their dreams. So stick with us. It's going to be an incredible solo round. All right, now let's dive into the solo round. Again, guys, it is time for a check in. Yeah.

• 1:12Lewis Howes?

  Halfway through 2017 and I want to know, what have you created? Are you on track? Let's dive in. I want you to get present with yourself. I want you to sit down, put your phone down and even close your eyes if this helps. Now, a lot of you listen while you're driving or while you're working out or you're making breakfast or while you're going to bed. So if you're doing an activity right now, then you can continue obviously doing that activity and just continue to listen and follow through this exercise. I want to ask you to answer this question internally to yourself. What have you created this year? And again, if you're sitting down, go ahead and take notes. What have you created this year?

• 1:56Lewis Howes?

  Have you created the results you want to? Have you launched that project? Have you started your book? Have you launched the company? Have you created a new course? Have you created a new revenue stream? Have you hired the person you need to hire? What have you created?

• 2:12Lewis Howes?

  How is your health? Are you on track right now? If you're in the gym right now, then hey, that's good. I'm excited for you. Are you consistent with your health? Or have you just been living in fads and doing things like, oh, I'll try this every once in a while? Or are you consistent with a routine that works for you and your body and your health? What about your wealth? Are you achieving the financial goals that you wanted to achieve at the beginning of the year? Are you saving? Are you investing? Are you smart with your money? Or are you just spending it on meaningless things that bring zero happiness or fulfillment to your life? What about spiritually? What about relationships? What about fun, adventure, career, et cetera? Are you on track?

• 2:54Lewis Howes?

  What were the goals you set out for yourself at the start of the year? How are you doing on them? And how is that working for you? Just take a moment to think about it. There are obviously a lot of things in my life where I am completely on track and other things where I'm off track. So no judgment here, no right or wrong. I just want you to think about it and see what's coming up for you for this moment. And again, whatever your answers are, no judgment from me and definitely don't judge yourself. The worst thing you can do is beat yourself up by saying, oh, I'm not doing what I said I was gonna do and I'm just a loser and I'm just gonna give up on this project because it's too hard. No, no judgment. Let that crap go. It's not worth it. It's not healthy.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  This is just a chance for you to get clear on what's working and what's not working. And then the most important thing is what you're committed to creating moving forward. It's all about our commitments and our actions. Commitments and actions. And I've been doing my own check-ins lately on what I'm creating. And I've realized that it's been two years since I published my first book, The School of Greatness. And in that book, I wrote down the eight principles to create greatness in your life. And I studied by interviewing the most brilliant leaders in the world, from sports to business to philanthropy to spirituality to... Anything you can think of, I interviewed the top of the top. And I wanted to know, what are these keys? What are the things that make people great? How do they stay consistent?

• 4:24Lewis Howes?

  How do they keep going for bigger dreams, bigger goals? Having fulfillment in their life, their body, their health, their relationships, their spirituality? What are those keys? And I want to break them down for you because a lot of you still haven't gone through it. You still haven't gone through this information and I want to break it down. And even if you know it, it's always a great reminder to understand, huh, these are the things that the greatest people in the world are doing. Am I doing them myself right now? If not, let's get back on track. So here they are, guys. It always starts with this first key principle. Everything I do, when I'm coaching someone one-on-one, in my group courses, when I'm coaching people in the group, on my high-level mastermind, from teenagers who aren't sure about their future

• 5:09Lewis Howes?

  to 50-year-olds who are successful in business and not sure the next step. It all starts with one thing. That thing is creating a clear, purposeful vision. The vision can be for the next week. The vision can be for months. It can be for years. Whatever it is, you've got to get clear on your vision and create that vision. This is what the greatest leaders in the world have. They have clear, purposeful visions. And at the start of my year, I mapped out exactly what I wanted to create. This year with specific measurable goals, I made a plan for writing my new book. And it coming out in October 31st. I made a plan for launching the Greatness Mastermind, which is a high-level group of seven-figure earners

• 5:52Lewis Howes?

  of people all over the world who are looking to make more income and a much bigger impact in their life while taking their brand mainstream. And we've launched that successfully. I've got clear goals on my Summit of Greatness, which is in September. I got clear goals and vision for the growth of my podcast, for where we're taking the brand, for the revenue we wanted to make, for the courses we're launching, and everything else in between. I got super clear on what my intention was for each area of my business. This is what has been guiding all my actions throughout the year as decisions need to be made and the new opportunities that have been coming my way. That's one challenge is like, the more successful you become, all these opportunities now come to you.

• 6:35Lewis Howes?

  So it's making sure that you're saying yes to the right things and saying no to things that aren't supporting your vision. Because a lot of us say yes to too much. That isn't supportive of the vision. I say yes to a lot of things that support the vision. And even now, every now and then, when I feel overwhelmed, I think to myself, okay, this is just me taking on a lot on my plate. And I need to make a bigger plate and also evaluate the things that I'm saying yes to, to make sure they all line up for my vision. And if it's getting too overwhelming, then what are the things that I can trim the fat with? What are the things that I can cut out in my life? Or who are the people in place that I need to bring on my team that could support making it a bigger plate for me to take on a bigger vision?

• 7:21Lewis Howes?

  That's what it's all about. It's just being aware if our vision is clear enough. So I want to ask you, is your vision clear?

• 7:28Lewis Howes?

  This may be one of the things that is frustrating you the most or leaving you unfulfilled is that you're not sure what your mission or purpose is in life right now. And again, this doesn't have to be my mission for the rest of my life is this. You don't need to figure that out. You can explore and adventure and travel and take time to take a break to figure it out. It doesn't have to be, that could be your vision. My vision is to take six months to travel the world and figure out what is going to light me up next. Right? We go through seasons in life. You don't always have to be on at the highest level. Sometimes you can take a break and have an off season. This is why sports, you can never just play in a season or the playoffs all year round for 10 years in a row, you will die.

• 8:11Lewis Howes?

  That's why you need an off season. You need to take time to take breaks. There are days off during the season. Otherwise, your body will shut down, your mind won't have the energy. You've got to take that time to reflect and reevaluate your vision. So ask yourself, is your vision clear? If not, again, I have exercises throughout my book, The School of Greatness, on this specific chapter on vision, where you walk through these different exercises. A perfect day exercise, which is so powerful. I highly recommend you going through it. And you can get all the exercises that are going to help you get clear on these principles, guys, at lewishouse.com/book, or you can get the book on Amazon or anywhere books are sold. So I highly recommend going to get the School of Greatness and following through on these

• 8:56Lewis Howes?

  exercises that will guide your life in a powerful way. The number two key principle that all great leaders possess is they turn adversity into their advantage. Now, I have been, I'm going to be honest with you guys. A lot of people look at me and tell me, man, how do you just have it all together? How do you constantly just step up your game and your business and your brand and these opportunities and the results you're creating? It just seems like you always have it figured out. And it's flattering to hear that, but to be honest, like the last six, seven weeks, it has been a struggle for me emotionally, mentally. I feel like I've gone through a lot of different adversities. Again, these are like first world adversities.

• 9:38Lewis Howes?

  It's not like I don't have food and shelter and, you know, money in my bank account, right? These are other adversities that just come up with having a bigger vision. And we get to choose how we use these adversities to either move us forward in our growth or to hold us back. And that's what adversity is. For example, I knew I was going to be working on a book launch this year, right? I did the School of Greatness book, which was a huge success, number two New York Times bestseller a couple of years ago, and it's transformed people's lives. It's helped me tremendously, and it was a big accomplishment for me. So I set out to do another book that I'm super passionate about called The Mask of Masculinity, comes out in October.

• 10:21Lewis Howes?

  And there have just been so many challenges and issues and adversities that I did not anticipate. I thought like, okay, I've done this before and it's going to be even easier this time. But there have been certain challenges on the book, just getting it completed, that were much Again, more, more challenging than I anticipated and, and wanted. And then there were other things, you know, again, the bigger your opportunities. There was other things that I've been investing in and partnering in with people and committing to do a bunch of speaking gigs and other things where I'm just felt like pulled in multiple directions. Uh, the personal relationships, other stuff like that, where it's just like a lot of things at once came

• 11:05Lewis Howes?

  all to, you know, kind of a breaking point. And it was so hard for me to make these decisions, like I was just decision fatigue. I was second guessing myself on everything. I, I felt like, you know, uninspired with certain projects that I was working on because of the adversity that was just a lot for me to mentally handle at once. And I feel like I'm, I'm almost completely out of it now where I'm getting back on track with things, but it was a challenging six, seven weeks of me just kind of going back and forth and being like, all right.

• 11:45Lewis Howes?

  You know, I'm gonna do my best. I'm gonna do my routines. I'm gonna meditate every morning. I'm gonna work out every day. I'm gonna focus on the things I can control. And not allow this to just spiral out of, um, out of turn where I don't have anything working for me. Because I've done that in my past before where I pretty much just like shut down completely for a month and not done anything well. Like I've eaten crap. I've just getting bad conversations. I think bad things. And this time I was like, all right, you know what? What can I focus on? I'm gonna work out. I'm gonna meditate. I'm gonna spend time with good people. I'm gonna focus on thinking positive things. And I'm just gonna give my best in all these conversations and adversities that are coming up. I'm just gonna give the best that I can with where I'm at in my life.

• 12:30Lewis Howes?

  And now I'm reflecting back on it and I'm seeing myself growing. I'm seeing that the adversity by staying in it and working through it has helped me get to the other side as opposed to just giving up. And it's still my choice is how I'm gonna handle all these things that arise because I'm committed to a bigger vision, a vision bigger than my excuses and bigger than my adversities. And I'm committed to the impact my vision will make. And when I focus out. That's when I get the most support. When in doubt, focus out. Focus on the vision and the impact you want to make in other people. So that's what I've been focusing on and it's been supporting me in my growth and getting through the adversity. But you want to think about what are all the adversities in your life?

• 13:15Lewis Howes?

  Are there any adversities with your health, with relationships, with your team? With, and again, the bigger the dream that you have, the more room for potential adversity. But this is what's going to allow you to grow. Without challenge, without adversity, without some tension, it's really hard to grow into the person you need to become in order to make a bigger impact. So just be aware that adversity is your friend. Now, I wouldn't say look for it because it's going to come. It's going to come from time to time here and there and just be prepared. When it happens, be aware, okay, I'm going through some adversity. Let me journal about this. Let me make sure I'm working out and taking extra care of my health because I don't want to get sick during this time.

• 14:00Lewis Howes?

  Let me take those extra supplements, make sure I'm eating cleaner. Make sure I'm doing whatever I can to control certain situations. Because there are things that I may not be able to control in this adversity, but I'm going to embrace it. I'm going to have a positive mind around it and say, yes, bring it on. And I'm going to move forward one step at a time. You've got to turn your adversity into your advantage. The third key. Oh, guys, this is powerful. The greatest leaders in the world cultivate a champion's mindset. There is no way to win at our goals if we don't believe we can and will win. The athlete must believe he is going to beat his opponent first before stepping on the court or the field.

• 14:43Lewis Howes?

  If he does not believe, or she does not believe, most likely they will lose and they will not achieve their goal. This is the same thing in life and relationships. You must believe that you're going to be successful, get results, have meaningful relationships, be calm in certain situations. You must believe in yourself. And it's one of the greatest strengths. That I believe I have because I know none of my huge goals would be possible without my belief. They wouldn't be happening without me believing that they're going to happen first. And this is why I practice meditation regularly. This is why I commit to working out, surrounding myself with positive people who inspire me,

• 15:22Lewis Howes?

  who are up to big things, successful people, and to always seeking how I can level up my game in life. And one of the most powerful ways I've tapped into the champion's mindset this year was when I got a chance to go on the Ellen Show, again, a lifelong dream of mine. I had to believe I was ready for the opportunity when it came, so I could deliver on it and not just fumble over my words left and right and make a big fool of myself. And I remember, you know, years ago, thinking about what it would be like on there. But if I didn't believe I was ready or worthy or had the skills to be on the show, then I probably wouldn't have been asked to come back a couple of weeks later. And I probably would never get the chance to do that again.

• 16:06Lewis Howes?

  But I've done four and a half years of practice reps, of interviewing major celebrities and personalities, and stepped up and taken action. And that action got results, which created more results by taking more action. So when you do the work, that's how you develop belief in yourself. You must take action and try something over and over and over again. Because when you do that, you can start to see results and you can start to see how you can grow. And that will allow you to develop belief in yourself. If you just think about something over and over and over again, you're not going to create a belief. You must take action over and over and over again to create the belief. So ask yourself, do you believe in yourself?

• 16:50Lewis Howes?

  Have you developed a strong mindset? If not, what are the actions you can take? What are the skills that you can master in your life? What are the fears that you have that you can overcome? And start believing in yourself in a bigger way. Ask yourself that question. Cultivate a champion's mindset. Number four key is to develop hustle, one of my favorites. None of my goals are going to happen this year without hustle. I've been hustling with my book, getting press lined up six, seven, eight months in advance before the launch. I'm not waiting last minute. I'm doing things so far in advance, being planned, strategic, and ready to go. I'm getting commitments from people to help support promoting it and getting me interviews and all the different things I need to do. Again, I'm planning, I'm hustling

• 17:35Lewis Howes?

  well before the, the, the week of the launch when I'm gonna hustle as well, but well before, a year before, I'm doing all the hard work. I've been hustling with my courses, getting record numbers of new students in the School of Greatness Academy, taking our marketing strategies to a whole new level. I've been hustling to get amazing speakers lined up for the Second Annual Summit of Greatness, to make sure it's an even bigger and more amazing experience than last year. It all comes from hustle. The effort we put in, effort does not lie. When you talk to the greatest coaches in sports, they will tell you they would much rather have a person who is willing to dive

• 18:16Lewis Howes?

  on the floor and make the hustle plays every single play than the most talented person who is lazy and isn't willing to go for those hustle plays, to sacrifice their body and do whatever it takes. It's the hustle that pays off. That's also what inspires people. Someone who's talented and lazy isn't inspiring. That's not inspiring the world. When you just show up and you have talent. Those that are willing to dive for their dreams, that's what makes a mark on the world. And that's what creates results in your life. So, develop hustle is key number four. Number five, master your body and health. This is so important, you guys, I can't emphasize this enough. If you don't master your health, it's hard to master your dreams. I realized at the start of the year that I'd been

• 19:01Lewis Howes?

  neglecting my body and I committed to working out seriously again on a consistent level, because sometimes I would just go through phases, right? I would do, do it hard for a couple months and kind of slack, do it hard, et cetera, et cetera. And I've pushed myself hard in the gym this year. My girlfriend Jen has been, you know, keeping me accountable. She trains with me sometimes and it just like motivates me so much because she's a freak. She can go forever in the gym and just push me. And it kept me on track. I've cleaned up my diet. Now, I still enjoy my life and enjoy things from time to time, but I've really just made a decision like, Sugar and dairy and gluten and things that cause inflammation in the body are not

• 19:43Lewis Howes?

  supporting or serving my vision. Again, it all comes back to the first key of vision. Does it support and serve the vision or not? Now, I do things that bring fulfillment and happiness and joy to me, which is having fun and eating certain foods here and there. But I think it's really important to say, well, is this supporting the vision? And is this helping you live a longer, healthier life? Because these little actions we take day by day either support us or hurt us in the long run. So what are we looking to create? So create a plan that works for you, a lifestyle that works for you. I'm not saying you can never have sugar and never drink a glass of wine or whatever it is you like to do, but really be intentional about how you're showing up with your health,

• 20:26Lewis Howes?

  the foods you eat and all those things. And if we don't take care of our health, we don't have the energy to live a big life and pursue big dreams. It's a must. Create the game plan for your health. The greatest financial leaders in the world say that their health is important to making more money, to making a bigger impact, all these things. Focus on mastering your body. Number six, practice positive habits. Now, I'll admit, I'm not the best at keeping up on all my healthy habits all the time. But that doesn't mean that I'm not practicing them on a regular basis. And the practice is what gets me back on focus when I've gotten distracted. Now, my habits are as simple as expressing gratitude daily, drinking fresh green or carrot juice, working

• 21:10Lewis Howes?

  out consistently and moving my body, making time to get outside and play with good friends, meditating and things like that. And practicing these habits, however, consistent or inconsistent I am, is what allows me to keep my energy in a good place, no matter what adversity is coming my way. Those habits are powerful and important. So think about, maybe even write down, what are the habits that are working for you? What are the habits that aren't working for you? Because those negative ones can hurt you as well. What are the things that you should be taking on? You know, it doesn't matter where you're at, what day it is, month it is, week it is, you can always change a habit and start moving forward today. So start thinking about that. What are the habits that can support you in achieving your dreams? Number seven, build a winning team.

• 21:54Lewis Howes?

  Whew, like I've said it before and I'll say it again, there is no way I could do what I'm doing without my team, not at this level. I could do certain things on my own, but not at the level I'm doing it without a team. I've consistently worked to surround myself with people who are really good at the things that I'm not as good at. And even if I'm really good at something, I want to focus on the things that are going to move my business and my dreams forward and put someone else in place who can support me with other tasks that will help the business and the brand and those dreams as well. Right? It's all about making an impact in a maximum way and you can't do it all on your own. And I've worked to develop great close relationships with people who are far more successful and wise than I am in different fields so that I can learn from them and get their perspective

• 22:39Lewis Howes?

  as well and implement it into my vision. And I've made it a priority to keep in touch with the people who have made an impact in my life to see how I can continue to support them and give back to those that have given to me. There's no point in going through life alone, you guys. This isn't a solo woman or solo man's life. This is about building powerful teams, tribes, families, support systems around you and seeing how you can give back to others as well. Make sure you are building the winning team around you. Huge, huge point and key to greatness, build that winning team. And the last point, number eight. Oh, eight is grades. It's to be of service to others.

• 23:23Lewis Howes?

  Be a giving leader. And as you know, I'm really passionate about supporting causes I believe in, especially education, because I struggled with it so much growing up. In addition to creating content for the podcast each week to offer the best teachers I can to find anyone who wants to listen, I got to go to a trip with my favorite organization this year, which is Pencils of Promise to Guatemala to See the impact we are creating while building schools in rural villages down there. I've done this all over the world with them over the years. And I even got to bring some of my team with me, which is awesome. And to see the kids' reaction and to see the things they're learning, the education, the health they have, what they're enjoying was so rewarding for me and my team.

• 24:08Lewis Howes?

  I've done this many times, but for my team, it was their first time. And every time I read the comments that you guys leave on the podcast or any of the course we're creating or anything we're working on, it impacts me in a big way, knowing that it's impacted your life in a positive way. And I'm so filled with gratitude for the opportunity to live a life of service and abundance through giving back. And my mission is to give back in everything that I create, whether it's through the charities I support, through the podcast, which is free and giving that back, through the books that I write, through the courses I create. It's all structured and designed to create an impact,

• 24:48Lewis Howes?

  to give people solutions to their problems, to support people move forward in their life and break through something. So I want you to ask yourself, how are you giving back? It doesn't have to be through huge donations or traveling to another country and doing what I do, but it's important to be of service, no matter what you're doing. And this could be as easy as random acts of kindness. This could be giving back to your family, to your community, to your team, to a bigger cause you believe in. But if you're not giving back, you've got to ask yourself why you're not. Now, if you're struggling financially, you've got to take care of yourself first. I get it. So you may be limited at that time in your life to do things. I remember eight years ago, people took me out to lunch and paid for my lunch

• 25:34Lewis Howes?

  all the time for about a couple of years until I was able to make money. And it sucked. I hated when people had to pay for me because I couldn't afford my own lunch. It really sucked. But that was a stage where I needed to focus on for myself, to getting at least my basic needs met so I could support financially my buying my own food. Then I was able to give money. To certain things when I had enough money, right? But I was still at that time giving back to others. I was giving back of my time, of my resources, of my connections, of other things that I could help with them, I would spend time with them. And that's the way I was able to give back then. But if we're not living a life to be of service to others and what we're doing, then we really need to ask ourselves why we're here. Because you didn't get here alone.

• 26:19Lewis Howes?

  There's no such thing as a self-made man or self-made woman. There have been thousands of people, whether you know them or not, who have helped you get where you are. And it's our duty and responsibility to give back to the world that has given so much to us. Amen. Those are the eight principles of greatness, the keys all great leaders have. Now, have you been incorporating them in your life and goals this year? Yes or no? What are you going to do differently going forward? Write these things down and really create a game plan. What do you want to create in the rest of this year, the second half of this year? How are you going to finish strong? Here's the thing. Taking action equals results.

• 27:00Lewis Howes?

  There's no other way to accomplish your goals than to take action on them. You're not going to think your way to living the life of your dreams. You're not going to analyze your way to having something come to life. You're not going to sit in a boardroom and have meetings all day about this. Taking action is what gets results. If you sit around and wait, you will get zero results. You must be committed to taking action and building the momentum. There's no other way to accomplishing your goals than action. So I'll leave you with this. The first half is over. There's no going back. There's no reason to worry or be upset about it or judge yourself or beat yourself up about it. Let it go.

• 27:44Lewis Howes?

  The second half of the year is a blank slate. You are the one who will decide of what you're going to create. What is your choice? What are you going to decide? One day or day one? It's your decision.

• 28:01Lewis Howes?

  This is the 8 Keys to Greatness. I'm so grateful you guys came on here. Thanks for requesting another solo round. We've got some big interviews coming up, but this was a fun one for me. And if you want the full overview of all these principles, going into details about the research behind why they're the keys to greatness, and if you want exercises on each one that will help move you forward in your life, then go get my book. I think it's like 16, 17 bucks, maybe a little less on Amazon. And the link to get you there is lewishouse.com/book. Again, lewishouse.com/book. That'll send you right to the link on Amazon where you can get the book. And go through the exercises, guys.

• 28:44Lewis Howes?

  They are there, designed to help you get clear on your purpose, your mission, taking action, building your team, developing the right habits. I give you all the tools in that book, School of Greatness. So go to lewishouse.com/book and get it, and take a photo of it on Instagram and tag me when you get this book. Tag me in your Insta story, tag me on your main feed post, and tag me in the image so I can see it and comment and say thank you and have a relationship and a conversation with you over on your page. And if you enjoyed this episode, again, share it out with your friends. lewishouse.com/496. Share it out. Tag me on social media, on your Insta stories, on your Instagram posts, on Facebook, Twitter. Let me know what you thought of this.

• 29:27Lewis Howes?

  What are the keys that you've been diving into the most and what are the things that have been holding you back? Feel free to share with me any social media platform and I'll do my best to get back with you. Again, lewishouse.com/496. Second half of the year has come. Now is your time. It's time to step up. And you know what time it is? Time to go out there and do something great.