6 Frameworks That Will Make You Unstoppable In Your Life [Lewis Howes SOLO]

What if everything you think you know about productivity is backwards? In this solo episode, I'm breaking down the six frameworks that transformed my life from scattered and overwhelmed to unstoppable and peaceful. These aren't your typical productivity hacks—they're the counterintuitive principles that elite performers use to create more while stressing less. You'll discover why "busy" is the enemy of progress, how fear becomes your greatest fuel, and why rest might be your secret weapon. If you're tired of grinding without results and ready to build a life that actually serves your deepest goals, this episode will show you the way. Make Money Easy: Create Financial Freedom and Live a Richer LifeThe Greatness Mindset: Unlock the Power of Your Mind and Live Your Best Life TodayThe Mask of Masculinity: How Men Can Embrace Vulnerability, Create Strong Relationships, and Live Their Fullest LivesThe School of Greatness: A Real-World Guide to Living Bigger, Loving Deeper, and Leaving a LegacyIn this episode you will:Discover the one word that saves you from distractions and transforms your entire dayTransform your relationship with fear from paralyzing enemy to unstoppable fuelBreak free from the busy trap that keeps you spinning but never advancingMaster energy management to sustain peak performance without burning outLearn why strategic rest accelerates your results faster than grinding ever couldFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1825For more Greatness text PODCAST to +1 (614) 350-3960More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Marc Berman – greatness.lnk.to/1824SCDr. Joe Dispenza – greatness.lnk.to/1809SCGregg Braden – greatness.lnk.to/1726SC Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  What if I told you productivity isn't about doing more? It's about knowing what actually matters most. In fact, when you master these frameworks that I'm about to share with you, productivity feels almost unfair, like cheating in a sense. And today I'm going to be breaking down six frameworks that can make you unstoppable in your ability to be productive in your life. And if you want to create more with less stress and do more with more freedom in your life, more time, more energy, more peace, more abundance, then this is for you. And before we start, if you are ready to create more in your life

• 0:43Lewis Howes?

  without feeling like you're burning yourself out, without feeling like you're overly hustling every single day, then type the word freedom in the comments below right now. So we can start unlocking more freedom in your life while you create the life of your dreams. Again, I have been a professional athlete in my life. I was a two-sport All-American. I've been to national championships. I built eight-figure business. I've got one of the top podcasts in the world, multiple New York Times bestselling books, over 20 million followers on all of our platforms. I feel like I've been pretty productive. But the first framework is something that I've always done

• 1:26Lewis Howes?

  from the early stages in my teen years, really actually before teen years. I started applying this framework and without this framework, this simple framework, I would not be where I'm at or creating what I have and building momentum what I have without this first framework. This is the key. Most people don't have this. Most people are distracted and they don't have this first framework. So the first framework is to seek clarity first. And you might be saying, well, Lewis, of course, I know that. Everyone talks about finding clarity and having clarity. But most people don't have clarity. They have no idea what they want to do. They know they want to make more. More money, they wanna have more time.

• 2:12Lewis Howes?

  They've got ten different passion projects that they all, they wanna work on all of them at the same time. If that's you, let me know in the comments where you're like, I've got so many great ideas that I don't know what to start on and how to move them all forward at the same time. You don't have clarity if you've got twenty different things you're trying to work on. That's not productivity. That's you holding yourself back by, by not being clear on what you really want to create for this season of life. It doesn't mean you can't be working on lots of projects throughout your life, but it's really seeking clarity first. And this is what all of the greatest minds in the world have who have accomplished big, great things. They have clear goals. And productivity isn't about doing more,

• 2:56Lewis Howes?

  but about knowing what matters most and focusing on that. And a powerful lesson with, with any high performer is high performers start every situation by seeking clarity. This is so important. And again, you may be watching and be thinking, well, I think I know what I want. Thinking you know what you want versus knowing what you want are completely different things. Cause when you think you want, you're probably ruminating on it. You probably thought about it, maybe you've told a couple of people, but you haven't been clear with a clear goal, with a clear deadline and with clear results that you're looking to create within that deadline. And you probably haven't written it down.

• 3:38Lewis Howes?

  You probably don't have it up in front of you where you can see it every single day. And you probably don't reflect on it consistently and write it down consistently. Again, if you aren't doing those actions, you're not clear. You're not clear because there are so many distractions in your day. Every day that you wake up, you are distracted constantly by what you have on your phone, by people texting you and asking you for things, by your team needing you to get things done, by family members reaching out to you with their problems, by checking out the news and just being distracted with your mind on what's happening in the world. Whatever it might be, you are facing constant distractions.

• 4:20Lewis Howes?

  We all are, and it's our job to stay focused on a clear goal. This is what great athletes, great performers, great artists do. They set clear, intentional goals with a deadline. I like to look at it as a seasonal timeline. What can you do within a six-month window? A two-year window? A five-year window? Based on your clear objective. High performers see clarity more often than their peers. It's a quote from my friend Brendan Bouchard, who researched this topic for years on high performers. Clarity is the key. This is something that I talk about in my book, The Greatness Mindset, which is about having a clear vision.

• 5:03Lewis Howes?

  All the great performers are so clear. You know, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, didn't just wake up and say, "I think I want to be the best basketball player in my generation. I think I want to win a championship. I think I want to get results." Mr. Beast, we just had Mr. Beast on the show. He didn't say, "I think I just want to make some YouTube videos and have some fun." No, he said, "I am going to be the biggest creator of our time." And now he has a billion followers and has the biggest YouTube channel and just is crushing it because he is clear on his focus and his obsession. This is what great performers do. They see clarity more often than their peers. People without clarity are distracted.

• 5:48Lewis Howes?

  And when you are not clear, you're not productive. You're just doing busy work. You're doing busy work and you're not really moving anything forward because you don't know what you're moving toward. You don't have a clear aim, a clear target, a clear bull's eye to try to shoot for. You've got to be clear. And it doesn't mean you may not know what you want in this moment. In my book, The Greatness Mindset, which teaches you how to unlock the power of your mind and live your best life today, gives you the exact step-by-step blueprint for you to discover internally what you want in your life, to create clarity for yourself. So this will give you the blueprint on how to

• 6:30Lewis Howes?

  Find that clarity so you can eliminate distractions as well. Like some of the top artists, business leaders, before they're tackling some big task, they set a clear intention. And instead of letting fear and doubt dictate your actions, ask yourself, what's the outcome that I want here? How do I want to feel in this situation? That type of questioning for yourself, that intentionality creates focus, even when there's chaos, even when there's disturbance, even when there's distraction. Because we are going to be pulled in so many different directions in life, constantly, if we're not clear.

• 7:14Lewis Howes?

  But clarity does something powerful for you. It allows you to have the most powerful word in your vocabulary to use at all times. And that word is no. No, because when someone asks you to do something, that's an exciting opportunity, or this new thing, or hey, you should do this thing. When you are clear and focused, you don't have the energy to say yes to other things, unless it serves your mission, which will serve not only your goals and your vision, but impact more people in the process, because then you're using your time. You're using your energy to be of service to your mission,

• 7:59Lewis Howes?

  and your mission is going to help others beyond the distractions. So when you have a clear intention, it allows you to say no without feeling bad. Because you say, this is where I'm heading, and I just don't have any extra time to take on this project, or help here, or do this thing. But I can help you towards my mission if this is able to serve you in some way, then yes, I'm all for it. Or I'll say yes to someone if they're going to help me get closer to my vision, then we can help each other out that way. But this allows you to eliminate distractions in your life. If you're on social media for four hours a day, is that serving your mission? It's a yes or a no. If it's a no, then you don't do it.

• 8:44Lewis Howes?

  You start to eliminate doing things that don't serve your clear vision.

• 8:51Lewis Howes?

  And you've probably heard this before. You gotta know what your goals are. You gotta know what your dream is and you gotta be clear and go after it. The reason I do this video, the reason why I'm speaking this is as much for you as it is for me because I live in a world where I get tons of opportunities and cool things happen all the time where I could say yes to. And it doesn't mean I have to say no to everything, but if I say yes to something that is not serving my goal or my time towards my goals, then it's just gonna take me longer to accomplish it most likely. And so it's learning how to use clarity and the most powerful word, which is no,

• 9:32Lewis Howes?

  to save your time from distractions or people trying to steal your time from your goals. So here's an action step for you, a few action steps. Each morning, I want you to ask yourself, what three things must I accomplish today for it to be a win today? What three things must I accomplish today for it to be a win? And I want you to prioritize these three things and accomplish them no matter what today. If you just do that one thing, this video will be a huge help for you. Cause most people don't write down the three most important things they need to do

• 10:14Lewis Howes?

  to move their goals forward for the day. They have a list of all these to do things to make them feel productive because they're staying busy. And then at the end of the day, you say, man, I had a very productive day. I was so busy, but busy is not productive. It's just keeping you distracted from your goals. Now, if you're busy working on the three most important things that are moving you in measurable ways towards your goal, then that's different. Now you're taking actions and those actions stack and compound over time. Now compounding gets you closer to your goal. It accelerates the goal. It starts collapsing time where it feels like time is getting quicker

• 10:59Lewis Howes?

  and the goal is coming to you faster and faster because you are compounding the actions and collapsing time at the same time. You're becoming a time traveler when you start doing that. Because you could do busy work every single day for a decade and still not. Finish a book and still not accomplish that financial goal and still not lose the weight and still not whatever fill in the blank for you. You could be doing busy work nonstop and still be saying, ah, I'm still so far away from starting this project that I really want to start. I'm still so far away from launching the nonprofit for this cause I really care about because you're distracted. You don't have a clear goal with a deadline.

• 11:42Lewis Howes?

  You need a measurable, clear goal with a deadline. The second action step I want you to have is before meetings or tasks, pause and ask yourself, how do I want to show up here? How do I want to show up here? Again, there's a great book called The Power of Intention. We talked about intention here. We talked about clarity. The Power of Intention, I read that book when I was in my early twenties and it really helped me out and it's just a simple thing that I do almost before everything that I do where it's just a moment where I think, what is my intention? What is my intention in this moment? And a lot of the times, my internal response to myself is my intention is to have fun. My intention is to bring joy. My intention is to connect with whoever I'm meeting.

• 12:26Lewis Howes?

  My intention is to be open to possibilities. My intention is to smile. My intention is to be generous. It's not about my intention is to make a million dollars today. It's not like that. I'm thinking, what is the energy that I can bring with my intention today? Because that energy is what's going to help me get the results that I'm looking for. So how do I want to show up here in this meeting, in this call, in this workout, in this session that I'm doing? Whatever thing you're doing for the day, what is your intention? How do I want to show up here? And the third action step for this is to write your desired intention for the day. Okay, my intention for today, first thing in the morning is to be calm,

• 13:12Lewis Howes?

  confident and joyful. Again, when you bring joy to an environment, when you bring a positive attitude, when you bring a confident poise, people want to be around you. Attitude is contagious. The more positive your attitude, the more contagious others will be positive around you. And that energy is what attracts your goals. People want to be around that energy. People want to be around people that are fun, that are joyful, that are confident, not scared victims that are angry and aggressive all day. No one wants that energy in their life. So you need to be thinking about my desired intention for the day. Calm, confident, joyful, giving, a good listener, all those things.

• 13:57Lewis Howes?

  And if you can do those three keys to get started here with this first key, which is seeking clarity first in your life. If you can apply those things, it will help you in everything else that you do. And in the Greatness Mindset, unlock the power of your mind and live your best life today. I have an entire section in here where it talks about creating your perfect day itinerary, where you schedule and map out every hour of your intention and the results you're looking to create, where you're not creating busy productivity work. You're creating an action list that is collapsing time and getting you closer to your goals. So make sure to get a copy of this.

• 14:42Lewis Howes?

  It'll walk you through step by step how to seek clarity in your life. And then the system, the process to put in place to guide you throughout these next six and 12 months. And I use it over and over again. So that's the first key in the first framework. The second framework, and if this is resonating with you in any way, again, let me know, just type a yes, or say, yes, this is resonating with me, or share with me why this is helpful in the comments, so that I can make sure to stay in touch and just learn more about what is impacting you specifically. But the second framework is to turn fear into fuel. Fear isn't the enemy of

• 15:23Lewis Howes?

  productivity. It's the sign that you're growing. And a lesson for you is that fear and doubt never go away. You know, I'm 42 years, young, healthy, thriving, and fear and doubt doesn't go away. I was just in Spain last week, playing with a professional handball team against some of the top professionals in the world. And listen, I've been an elite athlete most of my life. I've played in the highest levels of competition. I've played with high stakes. I played in front of big crowds, all that stuff, when there's pressure on the line. And I remember last week, I was in Spain playing, and I was like, oh, I'm kind of nervous. It was like, kind of exciting,

• 16:08Lewis Howes?

  because I actually haven't felt nervous like that in a while. But I was like, oh, I'm feeling a little intimidated. I'm feeling a little nervous. These guys are, and these guys are studs. These guys were like incredible athletes, and they were just top of their game handball players. And I was like, man, okay, what am I gonna do? Am I gonna sit down and like be a coward? Or do I just move through it, use the techniques and strategies that I've learned, and start the breathing techniques, and start my visualization techniques, and realize what I'm clear on, and setting my intention. It's just like, okay, my intention is to give my best. And if I make a mistake, I make a mistake. But my intention is to give my best. My intention is to communicate

• 16:50Lewis Howes?

  with my teammates, get out of my head into my heart and communicate. Because when we're living in fear and doubt, we stay stuck in our head, and we don't communicate as much. That's why whenever I feel like insecure or nervous, or like I'm doubting something, it's like, I need to get out of my head as fast as possible. That fear is gonna cripple me, it's gonna make Shrink as opposed to expand and get into flow. So I start communicating, hey, guys, let's go. I'm high fiving people. I'm moving the energy out of my brain and my body where I might feel nervous into connecting with teammates. Great job, great play. Let's go. Hey, communicate. I got this guy. What's over here? It's the communication that allows me to get out of my head and get more into the moment, being present.

• 17:35Lewis Howes?

  And that helps me a lot. So a powerful, powerful lesson is that fear and doubt never go away. But productivity masters move forward a way by reframing fear. So let me say it again, fear and doubt never go away. But productivity masters move forward anyway by reframing fear. And when you can reframe fear as this is just excitement, this is just nerves and it's excitement. How can I get this excitement out of my body? How can I get out of my head where I'm analyzing the fear of failure or humiliation or whatever it might be? And get it out.

• 18:14Lewis Howes?

  Get it out, start moving, start jumping, start setting my intention, reminding myself of my clear vision of what I'm looking to create. And start taking action and get it out, get it out. Because the more reps you do in high stakes moments, the more comfortable you're going to be. So you just need to get in those reps as consistently as possible. Uh, and a quote for you from myself in my book is that self doubt is the killer of dreams. Self doubt will kill your goals, will kill your dreams, will keep you stuck in productivity mode where you feel busy. But you don't feel like you're actually making progress. And when we doubt ourselves, it's like we're putting up walls before we even start.

• 18:55Lewis Howes?

  It's like we're caging ourself when we doubt ourself and we can't get out of the cage. It doesn't matter how much talent or potential you have. If you don't believe in yourself, you'll never take the action needed to pursue your dreams. Leave a yes below if that resonates with you, if you feel that, if you feel like you've experienced that in your life. Self doubt is the killer of dreams. And the more you doubt yourself, it doesn't matter how much schooling, how much education, how many certificates you get. It doesn't matter how many reps you get. If you constantly doubt yourself. It's gonna hold you back from accomplishing what you want. I'll give you a quick story around this.

• 19:40Lewis Howes?

  When I was in eighth grade, um, I was playing with the, the junior varsity and the varsity players in the high school. I was in middle school, but I was, you know, six, four, and I was a pretty good basketball player back then. And so they had me playing practices with the, the high school junior varsity and varsity team when I was in middle school. And I, for whatever reason, there was a player, I won't say his name, but there was a player on this team who was a senior when I was in eighth grade. Who to this day is the best athlete I've ever seen. It was the freakiest thing that I'd ever seen from a human being on how this man was able to jump. And just three sixty dunk with ease.

• 20:22Lewis Howes?

  He had the smoothest three point shot that it looked like he'd never missed. He had handles as a dribbler. He was so gifted athletically. He could do anything with the basketball at any moment and score at will. But for whatever reason, when he got into a game, he was an average player at best. He didn't lead, he didn't dominate, he didn't take charge. And for me, I was always like, God, give me an ounce of this talent, please. And I will dominate. I will be in the NBA, just give me like a fraction of this talent. Because I, you know, I couldn't dunk at the time, I was a little slower.

• 21:06Lewis Howes?

  I didn't have the handles, but I had the fire, I had the drive, I had the like, the willingness to, to lay my body on the ground at any moment and dive for the ball. I had the mindset, the attitude, I was like, I wanna win and do whatever it takes. This guy was the nicest guy, the nicest guy and the most freakish athlete to this day that I've ever seen. But he was an average player when the the game was on the line and he didn't dominate. Now, maybe he didn't have a clear vision for what he wanted. Again, I didn't know him that well. Maybe it wasn't clear. Maybe he didn't care about basketball that much. It was just more of an activity for him.

• 21:47Lewis Howes?

  Um, but for me, it just showed me that the big thing is that he didn't, he didn't believe in himself. His teammates were like, you're a freak of nature. You can do anything. His coaches was like, you got this. You're the leader. Everyone in the stands knew that he was the most talented person on the basketball court. But it doesn't matter if everyone in the world is cheering for you and says, you can do this. If you don't actually believe you are capable of doing it, you won't be able to create what you want. And the reverse, it doesn't matter if the world and your friends and your family all doubt you.

• 22:28Lewis Howes?

  If you believe in yourself, you can overcome all the doubts of the world and accomplish incredible things. And in fact, that's what most great performers, athletes, business leaders do. So many people doubt them, but they have this unwavering belief inside of them and says, I can do this. Wherever that comes from, they hold on to that belief and that belief is what gives them the momentum to break through all the challenging, painful moments, all the setbacks, the hurdles, the critics, the pain, the adversity, because if you don't have belief, it is going to be nearly impossible to accomplish what you want

• 23:11Lewis Howes?

  because there are so many challenges and hurdles along the way to accomplishing your goals. And if you don't have the clarity and the belief backing the clarity, you can pretty much give up on all the goals that you want because they're probably not going to happen. It doesn't mean you can't have a good life and accomplish certain things, but the big thing in your heart is probably not going to happen because you don't have the clear vision. You're not setting a clear intention and you don't have the belief backing the vision.

• 23:40Lewis Howes?

  Overcome the obstacles in your life. So a couple of action steps for you right now is number one, to write down your top three fears this week. Then put next to each one of them, the small action step you're going to take forward to help you overcome this. I actually call this in the greatness mindset. This is something that I did when I was much younger. I call it my fear list. So my, if you want to become fearless, you have to write down your fear list and go all in on your fears until your fears disappear. Because we all have fears, we all have doubts and insecurities. This is normal, we're human beings, we're going to have fears. And we're going to have fears at different stages of life. It's normal.

• 24:25Lewis Howes?

  So you want to write down your fears. I call it my fear list. And then the thing that scares you the most, you want to go all in on tackling that fear until you overcome it. Once you overcome that fear, you become like, man, I can do anything, I can take on anything. You feel unstoppable because you thought, I would never be able to overcome this thing and I did it. What can I do next? I can do any, give me whatever you want, throw anything at me, I can take it on. You feel empowered, you feel excited, you feel motivated. The second thing, Mel Robbins talks about this a lot. She calls it the five second rule. So use the five second rule that she talks about, which is just count five, four, three, two, one, and then take action.

• 25:10Lewis Howes?

  Put yourself into action whenever hesitation hits. Just say five, four, three, two, one, I'm going to act. You can say three, two, one, I go. Whatever it might be, give yourself a tool to move you out of that insecure mind into action. Because the more action you take, the more results you will get. There's an amazing movie where there's this line in the movie called, We Bought A Zoo. I don't know if you watched this movie called We Bought A Zoo by a, and Matt Damon is like the main actor. And a scene in the movie, he's talking to his kids about how he met his wife. His wife that he later married. And it's a cool scene.

• 25:53Lewis Howes?

  He's reenacting when he first met her and they're in like a little coffee shop or a diner. And he talks about how, you know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just literally 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it. And that was his line from that. And I think a lot of us are so afraid of embarrassment. That if you can literally find and muster 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, courage, you can create amazing things. And he said how he walked into this, you know, coffee shop or restaurant and he saw her and he set a line to her.

• 26:38Lewis Howes?

  And then they got married and then they had kids. And if he didn't have 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery, his life would be completely different. And where do you need to have 20 seconds of embarrassing bravery? Where in your life are you lacking the courage right now to risk humiliation? To risk embarrassment, to risk failure or looking silly? Is there a girl or a guy you want to meet that you really are attracted to? That you're like, oh, we could have a beautiful relationship that you're lacking the courage? Because you're afraid of rejection. Is there a job or a career that you really want to go for? But you feel like it's safer to stay where you're at right now? Is there an idea that you have that you want to launch? Is there a passion project?

• 27:24Lewis Howes?

  But you're lacking the courage to tell someone to get started, to go for it? What is that in your heart that you're lacking? The courage to go for the big thing that you want to create or the side project, whatever that might be? This is also just be like, where do I need to have an uncomfortable conversation with the people in my life? My loved ones, my friends, my family? Where do I need that embarrassing bravery courage for 20 seconds? Think about that, even comment below and share with me where you need to have that type of courage? And act on it right now. After this video, how can you take action on it? Write it down, what that is in your life in the comments? Because I want you to inspire other people on what they're thinking about as well.

• 28:09Lewis Howes?

  And the third thing is to reframe fear as evidence you're stepping into growth, not danger.

• 28:17Lewis Howes?

  Because a lot of people are so afraid that they're gonna fail and it's like it'll ruin their life. But really, we are looking for growth and your heart's desire is to grow. It's not to stay stuck. It's not to stay trapped in this, you know, self loathing, self doubt prison. That's just not what you're designed to do. You're designed to overcome those fears. So turn fear into fuel. The third framework here is energy is the real productivity hack. Motivation isn't about willpower. It's about energy management. The lesson here is that without energy, nothing

• 28:58Lewis Howes?

  gets done. And if you're just doing busy work where you're trying to say I'm productive, that's not the highest level of energy. That's just, I feel like I gotta get things done to tell other people that I had a busy day. A busy day is not a productive day. Motivation is really energy management. My friend Brendan Richard says that again, it's about energy management. You don't want to get burnt out and you don't want to have low energy all the time. You want to know how to manage your energy correctly. I had an amazing human being on. His name's Colin O'Brady. We had him on the podcast and he did this whole excursion in Antarctica where I think

• 29:39Lewis Howes?

  it was like 55 or 60 days where he was trying to break the world record, which he did of the fastest trek across Antarctica solo with no help from anyone. It was him dragging a massive sled with all of his food for a few months, tent, gear, all this stuff, dragging a sled through Antarctica. Can you imagine what that's like? Isolated for a couple of months and he couldn't afford wasting an ounce of energy because if he burned out there, he died. So he was holding on to a tent in 60 mile per hour winds. It could have been life or death, just holding on to this tent and

• 30:22Lewis Howes?

  trying to exhaust more energy. So he discovered that high performance was less about grinding harder and like just pushing to the limit and just doing whatever and let's grind it out every day. It was less about that and more about conserving energy. Guiding and directing your energy and creating renewable energy. And most of us don't know how to do that. But when you learn how to create sustainable, guiding renewable energy, then you can repeat the efforts day in and day out and not exhaust yourself. And I know you might feel a little overwhelmed or exhausted in your life right now. And I don't want you to have that anymore.

• 31:06Lewis Howes?

  I want you to feel harmony with your energy. I want you to feel peaceful. I want you to feel alignment in your life. And when you're trying to just do busy grind work or just grunt it out every day and work 20 hour days, it's not sustainable. It's not renewable energy and you will burn out very fast. And you'll hate your life in one day when you wake up and say, why am I doing this? Why am I working so hard to create something to please other people that I don't even care about? I'd rather have harmony in my life. So here's three action steps for you right now. Schedule your work in 60 to 90 minute energy sprints with breaks. You don't have to go eight, nine, 10 hours a day nonstop.

• 31:52Lewis Howes?

  In fact, it's the times where I create more breaks in my life, where I get clearer ideas, better breakthroughs. I've become more resourceful. Instead of me having to do everything, I can empower my team to support me and whatever it might be. And when you take those moments of breaks, whether it be five, 10 minute walk or just standing outside in some sunshine, walking around barefoot in the grass, throwing a frisbee around, whatever it might be, just moving your body a little bit. It's really going to help you be even more productive in that next 60, 90 minute energy burst of the next action step. Again, if you have three action steps a day, three things that you know,

• 32:36Lewis Howes?

  if I can get these three things complete today, it's going to move me toward my clarity of my goal that much faster. You want to have renewable energy in that process. The second thing is to upgrade your fuel. It's really important to have, to hydrate, to eat healthy.

• 32:55Lewis Howes?

  Before big tasks, before big undertakings. Now, you're talking to a guy, or I'm talking to myself, you're listening to me talk to you, that I used to have so much junk food when I was a kid. I don't know if you're like me, but I had, I remember the summers in Ohio, running around, playing basketball day, running around in the backyard, whatever it might be. For whatever reason, I have this vivid memory of me drinking eight to 10 Dr. Peppers. Almost every day of the summer when I was like eight, nine, 10 years old in Ohio. And I used to drink it like it was water to try to get hydration. Do you know the amount of sugar my, my blood, that was in my blood when I was younger? It was like, drinking that much sugar is just not good. And I used to crash all the time.

• 33:40Lewis Howes?

  And I used to eat a lot of bad stuff. And I remember feeling tired a lot. I remember I was on high school track and I like always had a stuffy nose, always. It wasn't always the winter, it was like spring, summer, fall, I had a stuffy nose. And I was always like, just kind of like, you know, I had to like spit out like mucus and I was like, you know, getting stuff out of my nose and I was like, I'm a fricking 16, 17 year old elite athlete in high school, all stayed in track, all stayed in basketball, all stayed in, in football. I'm a, you know, I'm a stud, that's what I thought. But why do I have this stuffy nose? And I'll tell you why, I'll tell you why. Because when I was in, uh, it was a boarding school that I went to.

• 34:21Lewis Howes?

  And I used to have a five gallon milk dispenser in my actual room. I don't know how I convinced the house parent to, to put this in my room, because we used to have it for the dorm. And I said, hey, can I just have this in my room? And I drink a five gallon thing every single week of milk. I was drinking milk like it was water, Dr. Pepper, like it was hydration and milk like it was water. And I'm drinking glasses of milk before bed in the morning, all day long. It's like, no wonder I had a stuffy nose. You know, it's just like constantly stuffed up with milk. You know, it's got sugar in my veins, it got milk in my bones, all this different stuff. And

• 35:03Lewis Howes?

  It just wasn't the smartest thing. I'm not saying you can't have some soda, you can't have milk or whatever it might be, but I was excessive. I was eating ice cream and cakes and processed food all day long. And I always wondered if I would have had the wisdom that I have now, after doing 12 and a half years of research on this podcast, The School of Greatness, where I've interviewed some of the top nutritionists, holistic health experts, doctors in the world now. I have a much better understanding of how to take care of my body with renewable fuel. I'm not saying you have to be perfect and you can't have fun and you can't eat sweets or desserts or whatever from time to time, but know what you're getting into. And everything you put in your body either impacts your cells and your organs,

• 35:46Lewis Howes?

  your brain and your heart functionality at a certain level, or it limits it at a certain level, the more consistently you do it. So you just have to be aware and know the price you are paying by what you're consuming. If it's serving you and your health and your longevity and your goals by having the energy you need to take on the task for the day and for the year that you're going after. So that's a big thing. And the third thing is each day with one small recovery ritual, end the day with that ritual, whether that's a walk, a stretch, some type of unplug, meditation, prayer, whatever it might be, some type of recovery ritual that you can do every day.

• 36:29Lewis Howes?

  I like jumping in the sauna. I like relaxing, things like that. Figure out what that, what that is for you and feel free to leave a comment below of what a great end of day recovery ritual is for you to give ideas to myself and everyone else watching and looking in the comments of another great end of day recovery ritual. So energy is the real productivity hack. Framework number four, if this is helping you in any way, leave a yes below and let me know because I want to be of service to you in the highest way possible. I don't want you to be stressed and overwhelmed. I want you to feel peaceful and harmonious in your life. The fourth framework is rest is a productivity multiplier.

• 37:13Lewis Howes?

  This is extremely counterintuitive because you've probably heard that you have to maximize every minute and squeeze out everything in your day to be the most productive human being possible. So you can become a millionaire and accomplish all your dreams and be number one in the world or whatever you're doing. Man, that's exhausting just saying that. Rest is a productivity multiplier. And when I was younger, again, I've made every mistake in the book. And still am learning today of how to be better. It's not like I'm perfect. I used to be up till three, four AM every night just saying, I need to make more money. I need to work harder. I need to do these things. Then I remember I gained like 30 or 40 pounds in about nine months of doing that. I was exhausted.

• 37:58Lewis Howes?

  I was waking up at noon. I was, you know, up till three, four AM, up at 11, 12. Then I just wake up and grind and start putting bad fuel in my body all day long to get energy and repeat the cycle over and over again. I know some of you know what I'm talking about. You've probably done this before. Maybe you're doing this right now and you're nodding and saying, yeah, that's me right now. But pushing nonstop doesn't prove your worth. It drains your worth. And if you are burned out, you're not productive. You're simply stuck. So the lesson here is that strategic rest is how you cheat time. Strategic rest is how you cheat time.

• 38:42Lewis Howes?

  If you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit. That's a quote that I've seen online before. I'm not sure who said that, but they said, if you get tired, learn to rest, not to quit. We had Michael Todd on. If you haven't seen Michael Todd's work, he's a great, great guy. He, we had him on the podcast. And he told me this story that he learned from his mentor early on. He said, no matter what, I take a six week sabbatical every year. Doesn't matter what's happening. I take six weeks off. And he heard this from his mentor. And every year he's done this for like the last decade. And he said, you know what? I had this big book come out a couple of years ago, ago. And it was, I think it was, it might've been number one New York Times bestseller.

• 39:26Lewis Howes?

  Or at least it was a New York Times bestseller. And he goes, it was a New York Times bestseller the first week, second week, and every week up until the ninth week. And that ninth week was the week I had scheduled for my first week of my sabbatical of the year. Where I take six weeks, just family, no work, you know, and I'm resting.

• 39:51Lewis Howes?

  And he was like, man, I was in the zone every week, New York Times, I was getting press, I was getting opportunities, I was getting everything. And at the height and the peak, that's when the old me would have said, oh, I just gotta push this vacation off and just grind and just ride the wave. He said, nope. I decided to stop and pause. And that was the first week my book didn't make the New York Times, the seller list. And he said, I'm at peace with it. I'm at peace with it because I'm in this for the long term. I'm in this for the marathon, not milking every ounce of every moment, no matter what. He's like, when I, and this is goes back to clarity, guys. When you have clarity about how you want to live your life,

• 40:34Lewis Howes?

  you create a more sustainable, renewable, harmonious life. And it doesn't mean you still can't crush it and accomplish your goals. But this is about longevity. This is about having beautiful relationships. This is about having good family dynamics. And so he set it up and he's like, I don't regret it. I don't regret it. We still got to crush it and the book is still doing well later and it's okay. And I have more energy where now I was able to write my next book because I took those six weeks off as opposed to being burnt out. So some action steps for you is to schedule real breaks into your calendar before burnout forces yourself to schedule them. And a lot of people get sick and unwell where their body shuts down and it forces you to take time off. Instead, just take strategic time off.

• 41:19Lewis Howes?

  Make sure you're finding time on the weekends, throughout your days, throughout your weeks and the year. Where you just, hey, I'm taking time for me. And that's a good thing. Second thing is try work free hours, right? No emails, no Slack after a certain time. Maybe it's seven o'clock at night or whatever, or maybe it's the weekends. You're going to completely disconnect from the phone and allow yourself some time to just fully shut down. The third thing is to build a mini shutdown ritual each night where you can write tomorrow's top three tasks, top three actions. Then just shut it down and stop, like get whatever's in your mind out on paper. And then shut it down. Allow yourself to rest, allow yourself to recover. You need that renewable energy.

• 42:05Lewis Howes?

  Rest is a productivity multiplier. Remember this, my friend. Framework number five, decide with feeling.

• 42:13Lewis Howes?

  Act with logic. Ninety-five percent of decisions are emotional, but productivity comes from not letting your emotions control you. And a quote that I love is that we make ninety-five percent of our decisions with feelings, not logic. This is from a neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio, who said this. We make ninety-five percent of our decisions with feelings, not logic. And

• 42:42Lewis Howes?

  again, I'll go back to my friend Brendan Burchard, how he explained how hesitation triggers the brain's spotlight effect, which then magnifies fear. When we hesitate, it triggers the brain to put focus and emphasis on something, which magnifies the fear in our life. Instead of logical reasoning decisions, emotions take over in our life. And how many of you who've made drastic decisions out of emotion because you spotlight the fear? And they're like, ah, I can't do this, or I have to do this because you're so emotional in that moment. You're not logical. But when you acknowledge the emotion and still choose deliberate action,

• 43:26Lewis Howes?

  you cheat that mental wiring, and that's an important, powerful thing that we can do. So some action steps for you. When you're feeling stuck or overwhelmed, pause and ask, what feeling is driving this hesitation? What feeling is driving this right now? Second thing is to apply that five-second rule to interrupt the loop and to take action. So if you're like, ah, I don't know what to do, or three, two, one, let's go. Let's take action. Because you're able to take action because you're clear on the first framework we talked about, which is getting clarity of your vision, your goal. Seeking clarity first, setting the intention.

• 44:07Lewis Howes?

  When you have that intention baked into your DNA, you know fear is coming, you know confusion is coming and you say, well, I'm clear in my goal, my vision. My intention is to show up with courage. So let's act right now. And you're building these frameworks into your life that create powerful habits for you to accomplish what you want. The third thing is to use feelings for focus. Attach a positive emotion to each key task. Attach excitement, pride, like curiosity, whatever it might be, to each task. Framework number six is don't just strive, serve. The world doesn't care about your output. It cares about your impact. Oh, man.

• 44:51Lewis Howes?

  The world doesn't care about your output, it cares about your impact. And there's a lot of people who've created big results. But if it's not impactful results, then it's just kind of fleeting. It's just accomplishment and results for accomplishment's sake. But have you made a lasting impact on the people around you? Have you been of service? Have you done something truly meaningful? Or have you done something only for yourself to look good? Because productivity is amplified by service. Let me say that again to you. Productivity is amplified by service.

• 45:29Lewis Howes?

  It's a quote that I have in my book. It says greatness is about service. It's about using your gifts to make an impact on others. And when you focus on lifting others up, you create a ripple effect that not only transforms their lives, but also fulfills your own purpose. Again, that is in the book, The Greatness Mindset. This is the book that I wish I had when I was 16, 26, 36. It's everything I wish I had from all the years and experiences and lessons that I've learned and all the great researchers, neuroscientists, world-class athletes, of what they taught me on how to create renewable energy, a clear purpose,

• 46:13Lewis Howes?

  and accomplish your goals where you're making a lasting impact on the people around you. And that's what we all want. We don't want to just succeed for our sake. We want to make a difference. We want to impact others. At least that's what I want. Do you want to make a difference? Do you want your life to matter? Do you want to know that your friends and your family were impacted you in a more positive and empowering way? That you left the places and the people better than you found them? That you inspired them to have courage in their life? That you inspired them to go chase their dreams? To go pursue what matters to them? Instead of being stuck or feeling crippled by their own self doubt and limits? I know that's what I want.

• 46:56Lewis Howes?

  And I think because you're watching this right now, you want this as well. The goal is to create a powerful vision for your life. Is to create a vision that inspires you. A vision that is also able to serve others, to help others. In whatever your talents and strategies you do within your life or your work or your what you're creating in your life. So a few key action steps is to start each day with asking yourself, who benefits if I show up fully today? You know, the other thing is who gets to suffer? If I show up living in self doubt today? If I lacked the courage today? Who do I hurt?

• 47:41Lewis Howes?

  Who do I pull down? Who suffers because I lacked the courage to go after it? So ask yourself, who benefits if I show up fully today? Second thing, connect your top task to how it helps others, whether it be clients or family or your team or friends. Connect your top task for the day with how this can help someone else. And number three, at the day's end, write down one meaningful way that you showed up in service to someone else. How did you show up? It can be as simple as, you know, when I grabbed my coffee today, I smiled and I asked a question of the person who handed me coffee. And I built a meaningful moment with that person. With the people I worked with at my, my job or my career or my business,

• 48:24Lewis Howes?

  I was able to create joy today. I brought joy as opposed to exhaustion to the day. I brought positivity, I brought fun, I brought play, I brought insights, I brought creativity. Like what did you bring to serve someone else today? How did you express your artistic ways with the world around you? And I think when you can think about that, then you made an impact on the people around you today. That's a beautiful thing. And that's the sixth framework is to serve, don't just strive. Because in a world where people want to have highlight reels on their Instagram and look good and get validated and attention for how they look or what they're accomplishing,

• 49:08Lewis Howes?

  that's a striving mentality. But the goal is to create the vision for the goals you want in your life and be in service while you're pursuing that vision by impacting others around you. That is the whole concept of the greatness mindset. It's not just about how do I become the best in the world at what I can do and make a ton of money and be on top of the world. It's how can I build a meaningful life and impact others around me to do the same thing? That is greatness. But here's the truth, you came here for productivity. And productivity isn't cheating. It's clarity, it's energy, it's service,

• 49:52Lewis Howes?

  and it's rest and recovery, mastered through daily actions. That's what productivity is. And when you apply these frameworks that we talked about, these six key frameworks, you'll stop chasing productivity hacks and you're gonna start living at your highest level. A level that is empowering, that's uplifting, that's renewable, and that's harmonious. And that's what you want. Now, this video has helped you in any way, has added value in any way, gotten any insights. Make sure to like this video right now and leave a comment, yes, if it added value to you. And also make sure to check out this next video right here. This one will really help you. The people Who've been watching this have been leaving some incredible comments about the impact on this

• 50:35Lewis Howes?

  video. It's all about what you've been manifesting the wrong way. And here's how I finally found wealth, love, and purpose. Make sure to check out this video right now. It's going to really help you create a manifestation process in your life where you're not feeling overwhelmed and stuck. And I want to remind you, if no one told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter, I'm grateful for you. And I can't wait to see you next week in our videos. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's

• 51:15Lewis Howes?

  episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our greatness plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well. Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you, if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.