76 How to Craft, Communicate, and Cash In on Your Personal Story with Bo Eason

"I was being wheeled off the field to my 7th knee surgery and I was looking up in the crowd thinking, 'I think I may be going to prison.'" To get in-depth understanding of what Bo Eason stands for, come visit us at www.lewishowes.com/76 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.

• 0:01Lewis Howes?

  This is number 76 with Bo Eason.

• 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?

  What is up everyone out there today? Thanks so much for tuning into the School of Greatness podcast. I am your host, Lewis Howes, and I'm excited about today's episode because it's all about how to realize your personal story and the power of your personal story and how to share that with the world. So what I've found through a lot of my journey over the last five years with online marketing and building my business online is the reason I've been able to create the results that I have has been due to a lot of the fact of my personal story and being able to craft my story in a way so others can relate to it, others can connect with me, and others can feel comfortable to take action on what I have to share in my wisdom, my information, and my products and services.

• 1:18Lewis Howes?

  And I would say that my story continues to evolve and I continue to get it clearer and sharper so that people can connect with it. And by no means is it the best that it can be right now. But after today, my goal is to make it a lot better because I get to sit down with my good man, Bo Eason, who I've been hearing about this guy for a while now through some mutual friends. And we finally got to connect and we talked on the phone and then we did this interview. And wow, we have a lot of similarities from, I don't know any other guys who are doing what we do, who are former pro football players. And it's pretty cool to hear about his story. He was in the NFL for five years. I'll talk about this more here in just a second.

• 2:01Lewis Howes?

  He also had a one man show on Broadway for a number of years and it's turned into a, it's got picked up for a movie that they're working on now. So a lot A lot of cool things that Bo has done and it all comes back to being able to have a clear vision on what he wants and being able to share his message and his personal story with the world. So how would that make you feel if you could really share and talk about what it is you do in your story in such a way that other people got you? They just got you right away and they were so captivated by you. They were able to connect with you and they would follow you anywhere because of your story. That's what we're going to be talking about today. And with that, guys, let's go ahead and dive into today's episode. I'm pumped. I hope you're pumped as

• 2:45Lewis Howes?

  well. Here's the one and only Bo Easton.

• 2:59Lewis Howes?

  Welcome back everyone and thanks so much for checking out and hanging out with me today on the School of Greatness podcast. I've got a friend of mine on that we just recently connected through a lot of mutual friends of ours have been telling me to connect with this guy for about six months. And I'm very excited because his name is Mr. Bo Easton. What's up, Bo?

• 3:20Speaker 01

  Hey, how are you? It's funny that you say that because it's true. I've been told the same thing for the last six months to a year. Like, hey, you've got to know this guy, man. You've got to know this guy. And when enough people say that to me, I go, well, I guess we better, we get a better surrender to fate.

• 3:37Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. And the cool thing about the reason I think a lot of people have been telling us to connect is because we have semi-similar backgrounds. We're both former professional football players, although I was never good enough to make it to the level that Bo made it to, which was in the NFL. He played for five years, I believe, with the Houston Oilers and San Francisco 49ers. And I just played a measly year and a half in the Arena Football League. So he was much better of an athlete than I was, but we somehow connect on that football level. So it's very cool.

• 4:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, it's been fun.

• 4:12Lewis Howes?

  But Bo, you know, is also, he's transitioned from football back in the day and done some amazing things now with his life and he's built up an awesome business. He had a one man play called Runt of the Litter. He still has it, but it ran for a long time in New York City. Was it on Broadway or was it off Broadway somewhere or where was that specifically?

• 4:36Speaker 01

  Both, both. It started off and then it went on and we've had two different runs there. So it was, you know, really exciting and fun and it was kind of fun to start like off Broadway and kind of, you know, it's just like in the minor leagues, not necessarily minor leagues, but you're just grinding it out in small theaters and then eventually, you know, producers come and they, they like it and they respond to it and they take you to the big show. So it's, it's kind of like pro sports in a way.

• 5:03Lewis Howes?

  That's awesome. That's very cool. Now, what inspired you to actually say, I want to talk, you know, create this show in the first place? And it basically ended up being about your life, right? Kind of how you grew up and making in the football world?

• 5:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's a one man show and I mean, the genesis of it was, you know, when I was a kid, I drew up this plan with crayon and school paper. And I was nine years old and I drew up this plan and the plan, I still have it to this day. In fact, I take it with me on stage quite a bit.

• 5:36Speaker 01

  And it's really kind of my declaration of independence where I drew up this plan and it was very simple. I just wanted to be the best safety in the world. And, you know, and safety is a position in football for those of you who don't know. And that was it. And for the next, you know, 20 years, I ran backwards. Because that's what a safety's got to do.

• 5:58Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. You got quick hips and you ran backwards.

• 6:02Speaker 01

  That's right. So I did that and was able to, you know, do that and I was first safety drafted in 1984 and, and that came true. And then, you know, after playing in the NFL, you had seven knee surgeries while it's playing.

• 6:15Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 6:16Speaker 01

  Yeah. So at the end, at the end of it, I just kind of running out of body parts to, you know, keep playing this game. And I figured, and I don't know if you had this feeling, Lewis, but at the end of my career, I was like, man. What am I gonna do? I'm trained to be, you know, the best in the world at throwing my head into other bodies. What, how is this gonna translate into the regular world? I mean, how am I gonna, how am I gonna make a living in the civilian world? If, uh, if that's, if that's what I'm trained to be?

• 6:49Lewis Howes?

  And you probably didn't have a backup plan, did you?

• 6:51Speaker 01

  No, you know what they say, you know, when you have a, when you have a plan B, plan A never works out.

• 6:57Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 6:58Speaker 01

  So I took the plan A. So, uh, so anyway, I was, I, I never forget it. I was being wheeled off the field in Miami. I was playing the Dolphins down there and it was, uh, I was being wheeled off and this was like gonna be my seventh knee surgery. And I was looking up into the crowd in, in the orange bowl down there in Miami and I was looking up in the crowd and I was thinking, I think I may be going to prison.

• 7:23Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 7:26Speaker 01

  And that, that was that moment where your whole life passes in front of you and you go, wow. I'm, I'm the best at this thing that is not gonna be acknowledged in the civilian world.

• 7:38Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 7:38Speaker 01

  And if I can't find some kind of way or some kind of platform to express myself, I'm gonna go to, I'm gonna, if it's against the law, what I do?

• 7:47Lewis Howes?

  Right, yeah.

• 7:48Speaker 01

  So I'm gonna end up, you know, in prison, like hurting somebody or hurting myself. So that in the very next moment, when, when they got me into the X-ray room in the stadium, I was like, I'm moving to New York City. I'm gonna move to New York City and I'm gonna start, I'm gonna get on a, on a stage and I'm gonna start to express myself and learn how to do that so that I can actually make a living and not have, and to avoid prison all in one fell swoop. So I was like, that's my plan. That's my new plan.

• 8:16Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 8:16Speaker 01

  And that's, that's kind of the genesis of where it all began.

• 8:20Lewis Howes?

  From the injury.

• 8:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, and you know, the injuries just kept coming and coming. So it was starting to, it was getting to a point where I was like, man, I got, I gotta be able to do something. But how the heck am I gonna express myself?

• 8:33Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 8:34Speaker 01

  You know, the way you can, you get to do in athletics and it's actually you get a pat on the back for doing it.

• 8:39Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. This is a,

• 8:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:41Lewis Howes?

  We have very, you know, the more I talk to you now, we, and we connected a little bit earlier today and kind of chatted as well. But the more I actually connect with you and learn about your story, it's very similar in some ways to what I went through. So it's, it's really weird actually that we're, that I'm learning about this right now. Um, now where did you go to college to get drafted out of?

• 9:03Speaker 01

  I, I went to a small college up in Northern California called UC Davis.

• 9:08Lewis Howes?

  Mm hmm.

• 9:09Speaker 01

  Which at that time, what the Division two school with no scholarships. You know, you basically played football there for fun. They didn't recruit you. They didn't, you know, they didn't, you just played there. Um, and, uh, no one was being paid, you know, it was very small time. And I went there, um, you know, to keep my dream alive of playing safety because I wasn't recruited by anybody.

• 9:31Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  And, uh, and got drafted out of there.

• 9:35Lewis Howes?

  And you were the number one safety to get drafted?

• 9:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:39Lewis Howes?

  You were the first safety?

• 9:41Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow, that's pretty impressive.

• 9:44Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, I could, you know, my brother is a year older than me. So he got drafted eighty-three. I got drafted eighty-four. So my brother was the first round pick as a quarterback and went to New England. Um, and then, um, in that same draft was my roommate from UC Davis, a guy named Kenny O'Brien. He was my roommate at Davis. So no one had really ever been drafted. But my roommate and my brother were both drafted in the first round as quarterbacks.

• 10:10Lewis Howes?

  No way.

• 10:11Speaker 01

  Eighty-three. So, yeah, so that's the draft with Elway, Jim Kelly, my brother, Todd Blackledge, Dan Marino, Kenny O'Brien, all those guys, six guys went in the first round. It's never happened before. And one of them happens to be my brother and the other one happens to be my roommate. And we all grew up together and none of us got scholarships coming out of high school.

• 10:34Lewis Howes?

  That's crazy. How's that possible?

• 10:37Speaker 01

  It's impossible, right? Like, we went to these little high schools. But that's probably what we tell people, man. You know, people think, like, you know, when you look at, like, the most elite athletes or the most elite performers, and I don't care if it's in sports or in music or in, uh, stage work or in acting or in business, you know, it's, it's always the people who are getting rejected.

• 11:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 11:03Speaker 01

  You know, who, who want superstars all the way through. Those are the ones who really become something.

• 11:08Lewis Howes?

  Cause they're hungry.

• 11:09Speaker 01

  Cause they got, yeah, they're hungry. You're exactly right. They're hungry and, and that was two of us three. We grew up, we thought we were pretty good players. We worked our butts off. We had dreams, but no colleges were interested. So my brother went to a junior college.

• 11:24Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 11:25Speaker 01

  Kenny and I walk on at UC Davis, and they don't even want us.

• 11:29Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 11:30Speaker 01

  But we go there and cut to, you know, four years later, those guys are both first round picks, uh, in eighty-three, and then I go the next year, nineteen eighty-four, so I'm a year younger.

• 11:39Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 11:40Speaker 01

  And, um, that's, that's, that's really how it all, you know, how it all began. And it's funny, it's, it's my story and, and, and most, most elite performer's story is really similar to that. You know, you get the rejection, you get told you're not good enough, and then you just battle your ass off.

• 12:02Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 12:03Speaker 01

  Until, you know, you create your own way and then you, you, you know, you cert-, you master a certain thing and then, and then once you master one thing, you can master pretty much anything.

• 12:13Lewis Howes?

  Isn't that the truth? Man, once people learn how to master something, and it's usually themselves, they can do anything, I feel like, at least from my experience. Um, that's really interesting. So when you were in college, did you basically, I mean, this, you know, obviously football is interesting to me. So when you went to college, did you basically just develop as an athlete, get a lot stronger and faster and bigger, and then, you know, you started to make a name for yourself? Or how did this all of a sudden happen in four years?

• 12:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was, well, I had been, you know, I had the plan and I'd been following the plan for years. So I knew what I wanted and I was trained, but as when I got into college. I mean, literally my freshman year, I was, you know, eighteen years old. I didn't have hair under my arms. I mean, I didn't have to shave, you know, I was, I didn't have a muscle on me. I was really skinny and I was a late bloomer and and same was true for my brother and and same was true for my my roommate. And, you know, during those four years in college, you know, I gained weight, I got muscles, I got hair under my arms. I mean, imagine that day when I got hair under my arms.

• 13:18Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 13:21Speaker 01

  And so then my body kind of cut up with my dream in college.

• 13:27Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 13:28Speaker 01

  By the time I was twenty one, I was ready to go.

• 13:30Lewis Howes?

  Wow. That's crazy. Very cool, very cool. So you played five years in the NFL. Seven knee surgeries later. Uh, you realize that that's the end of the road. Was it, uh, did you make the decision not to try to come back? Or were they basically like, we can't sign you anymore because you keep getting injured or kind of a combination?

• 13:51Speaker 01

  It wa- well, you know, the, it's funny, most teams, when you have that many knee surgeries, you're like a pariah, you know?

• 13:58Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 13:59Speaker 01

  You're like, uh, oh, my gosh, this guy is gonna, you know, these these limbs are falling apart. So that was part of it, but I I just, I I mean, I could have come back, I guess, but I just was. After that seventh one, I was like, okay, I gotta, I gotta move.

• 14:15Lewis Howes?

  That's a lot, that's a lot of rehab, man. That's just like a lot of, ugh.

• 14:19Speaker 01

  That's, if you think about that, that's seven. So that back those days, you were in a cast for six, eight weeks.

• 14:25Lewis Howes?

  Ugh.

• 14:25Speaker 01

  Then your rehab was a year back then, you know, in the eighties.

• 14:29Lewis Howes?

  That's crazy.

• 14:30Speaker 01

  So, I mean, I was thinking like half my life I was on crutches.

• 14:34Lewis Howes?

  That is insane. Yeah, I, you know, I had six months in a cat, full arm cast after my surgery from football. And I just remember feeling like miserable. I was just like, I wanted to come back and play, but then I had another year to recover till I could fully straighten my arm and just like get the strength back. And I was like, ah, it's not worth it. Like, I don't want to get injured again. So, okay, so you're, you're down and out. You're, you're like, I might go to prison if I keep doing this in the real world. But I really want to express myself and get my message out there. And you moved to New York City. So is this when you started to develop this play concept pretty much shortly after the NFL? Or was it, did it come later?

• 15:18Speaker 01

  Yeah. No, it came, it came, it came then. And then what I did was I moved to New York and I got into these acting classes. Dance classes and voice class. I mean, every class, I just used all the energy that got me into the NFL. I used that to trying to be.

• 15:34Lewis Howes?

  To master everything else. Yeah.

• 15:36Speaker 01

  Yeah. And so I went to the, all the classmates in my classes and I would go to them. And I was like 27, 28 at the time. And these, these students that were my classmates were much younger. And I would, I would say to them, I go, okay, guys, listen. I want to be the best stage performer in the world. Who do I, who's the best right now? Tell me who the best is right now as we speak. And everybody, this was like 1990, everyone said, oh, that's Al Pacino. And I go, cool. Where is he? And all my classmates are like, what do you mean? Where is he? I don't know where he is. He's Al Pacino.

• 16:21Speaker 01

  And I'm like, cause I need to talk to him. Cause if I can talk to him and if he's the best, I need to know what he's doing. And then I'm going to do what he's doing and then I'm going to take his mantle.

• 16:35Speaker 01

  And so I, I, everyone said I couldn't talk to Al Pacino. Well, about three days later, I'm in Al Pacino's house.

• 16:42Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 16:44Speaker 01

  In New York and um awesome guy. And we played pool for three hours. He had this room where, you know, he had a pool, uh, you know, billiards and we played. And I, he knew why I was there. And I just said to him, I go, look, man, I, everyone in my class tells me you're the best. Stage performer of your time. I want that. How do I get that? Tell me what to do, I'll do it. He goes, okay. So we played pool for three hours and he broke down my next fifteen years.

• 17:23Speaker 01

  And at the end of it, he, I mean, he told me exactly what I was gonna be doing for the next fifteen years. And basically, he said that I was going to be on stage more than any other human on earth for the next fifteen years. I was gonna spend more time with my feet on a stage than anybody else. That was basically what he told me.

• 17:43Lewis Howes?

  Does he say, he was saying that that's how you were gonna become the best? Or that that's what he just saw in you?

• 17:50Speaker 01

  That's what he said that I had to do if I wanted that mantle.

• 17:54Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 17:55Speaker 01

  So I got into, he told me exactly who to work with, who to be around, who to surround myself with, and what miles to run, basically.

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  Jeez.

• 18:03Speaker 01

  It was at this, like, like it was at this, Louis, you came to me and you said, hey, Bo, I have this son and he's nine and he wants to be the best stage in the world. Will you tell him what to do? And I say, yeah, Louis, I actually know what to tell him.

• 18:16Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 18:17Speaker 01

  I'm gonna tell him, but I'm, what I'm gonna tell him is gonna take him fifteen years.

• 18:20Lewis Howes?

  Right, exactly.

• 18:22Speaker 01

  And then your, your son would be, have to commit to, to running those miles. So that's basically what he did. Um, and sure enough, I did everything he said.

• 18:32Lewis Howes?

  Yep.

• 18:32Speaker 01

  And fifteen years passes and I never saw Al Pacino for fifteen years. Until opening night in New York City. And I run on stage and I'm doing the play, I'm performing it and I'm so nervous because the critics are in the house and the New York audiences are tough. And I come out with a play that I wrote, but I'm the only guy in. I run out, I start doing the play. I start to, start to get, you know, some semblance of being on stage and being in front of all these people. About ten minutes into the show and I look out and in the fifth row, right on the aisle, is Al Pacino.

• 19:06Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 19:07Speaker 01

  And I didn't know he was gonna be there and I hadn't seen him in fifteen years since he told me what to do. And we, he and I make eye contact during the show. And he gives me this nod, like a subtle nod, like subtle, like you got this.

• 19:24Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 19:25Speaker 01

  And that was it. That was it. And um, I remember

• 19:33Speaker 01

  a- after that saying to him, hey, thanks for telling me, thanks for telling me exactly what to do.

• 19:38Lewis Howes?

  True.

• 19:39Speaker 01

  I, I bet you that performers come to you all the time and they say, hey, um, the same thing that I asked of you. I bet you get past that every day. He said, actually, you're the first.

• 19:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 19:51Speaker 01

  He, he said, most people come to me and say, hey, I wanna be famous or can you put me in your movie? Or can you introduce me to your agent? No one ever came to me saying, I wanna be the best in the world at, at stage performing. Can you teach me how? Can you tell me what to do? And that really, that really uh stuck out to me because, you know, that's how I train people today, you know, I train them exactly how I was trained by Al Pacino and by the coaches that I had to be the best safety in the world. I keep training them exactly the same and I tell them, I go, look, this is not gonna be a weekend.

• 20:31Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 20:32Speaker 01

  This is gonna be, yeah, you know, this is gonna be mastery. But, once you master this thing, which is the expression of you, then you now are the key, you have the keys to the kingdom because you now can express yourself in what you do and your vision of the world. And there's no occupation you can't have if you have the ability to do that.

• 20:55Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 20:57Speaker 01

  And that, that's really been, um,

• 21:02Speaker 01

  that's really been like a huge lesson is to actually have people um surrender to the pace of being the best. You know, because

• 21:12Lewis Howes?

  So hard, especially for athletes, you know, we wanna be the best now.

• 21:17Speaker 01

  Yep. Um, and it's hard for everybody because we're so quick to wanna be the, you know, we wanna be great right off the bat.

• 21:24Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 21:24Speaker 01

  Well, you can, you can be, but

• 21:29Speaker 01

  To really have that longevity and that mastery over your life and over everything, you really got to spend those, like Malcolm Gladwell says, you know, the 10,000 hours.

• 21:40Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 21:42Speaker 01

  And, and, and that's exactly what I teach my kids, the exact same thing that I teach my clients. I mean, I teach my kids, they're nine, seven, and five, all I teach them is, look, we're going to outwork every other kid your age for the next 20 years. That's all we're going to do. I don't care if they're better at seven years old in living. I don't care if your friends are better than you then. All I know is we're going to outwork them during those years, for the next 15, 20 years. And we're working on being the best when you're 21, not when you're seven.

• 22:20Lewis Howes?

  Right. When it, when it matters.

• 22:23Speaker 01

  When it matters.

• 22:25Lewis Howes?

  Interesting. Yeah, I mean, and when we can understand and learn and experience what it means to work hard daily and whatever it is we want to master, and really create the time, the sacrifice that it takes to put in those work hours over the years, there's nothing we can't do, in my mind.

• 22:47Speaker 01

  No, you're right. You master one thing, you master all things.

• 22:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 22:53Speaker 01

  So I don't care if it's safety, or wide receiver, or quarterback, you master that thing, all of a sudden, whatever occupation is next for you, you just apply that same mastery, that same work ethic, and you'll master the next thing, whether it's business or playing the violin, it doesn't matter. But I think the problem with most people, and athletes for sure, is we don't want to pay those, we don't want to run those miles again. We just want it to cross over directly and not have to start at the bottom again.

• 23:26Lewis Howes?

  So we've worked our butts off to do one thing.

• 23:30Speaker 01

  Yeah, why don't they just, aren't I entitled to be great at everything now?

• 23:33Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 23:33Speaker 01

  And that's just not the case. I mean, but you do have the work ethic, you do have the discipline to take, take the next occupation to that same level. It's just you have to start again.

• 23:45Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 23:46Speaker 01

  You can't just start at the top again, you know, and that's what people gotta just get their mind around.

• 23:50Lewis Howes?

  And I think that's the advantage and disadvantage of some of the most elite athletes out there, or you know, professional football players out there, is that when they're done, they kind of want to keep staying at that same level of like being at the top of what they're doing. But there's, they're not at the top, they're down at the bottom. And some people can translate that work ethic and that hard work and that humility to start from scratch and build it back up. But then there's other guys, you know, obviously that we've heard about in the news and things that just commit suicide a couple of years afterwards, or just get really depressed or go to jail because they have no focus and they don't want to put in that hard work to start something new.

• 24:29Speaker 01

  That's right. And I always, you know, why, I just wonder why people are in such a hurry. I often have to ask people because they go, well, just tell me what to do and I'll just do it really fast. I go, yeah, I'm gonna tell you what to do, but you're gonna do it fast, but you're gonna be doing it fast for like 10 years.

• 24:45Lewis Howes?

  Right, exactly. Yeah, maybe you should, yeah, maybe it'll be 10 years and not 15.

• 24:52Speaker 01

  And I always ask people, where are you going? Or where are you, where are you not yet that you're where are you going so fast that you're not there already? Why do you want to make it so fast? Because just take a breath, know that you're gonna be grinding this out.

• 25:08Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 25:09Speaker 01

  I'm telling you, it's that, you know, and relationships are like that, marriages like that, parenting's like that. It's all these lifetime commitments. Those are the ones that matter. Those are the ones you really need to build this muscle for.

• 25:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, that's true. And one of the, you know, the cool things about you is if you have, you've had success over all the different areas of your life, uh, you know, in college and professional as a playwright and then becoming one of the best performers on stage. But then after that, you transition into what you're, what you're doing now. And it sounds like you had some overlap over the same time you're on stage and performing, but now you're doing a lot of personal storytelling. You're a coach, uh, and helping people tell their story better and clearly and effectively. And how did that translate from wanting to become the best as a stage performer and reaching Broadway and performing in over 50 cities around the country and, you know,

• 26:08Lewis Howes?

  having one of the top shows on Broadway to now doing what you're doing, which is really leading people into discovering and crafting their story and their message. So how did that translate?

• 26:20Speaker 01

  Yeah, that translated because, uh, it was kind of accidental. It's just that people were responding to the play in a certain way. Um, businessmen, you know, presidents of companies, guys and gals, they would come backstage and they would say, hey, can you bring this performance to my company? And my wife is a producer of the show and we were like, no, what are you talking about? We don't even, we don't do that. What do you, I wouldn't even know that that world exists. This is a theater piece, even a movie. And they kept coming and they kept coming. And so eventually we said, yes, eventually we said, yeah, we'll, we'll speak, you know, to your company and we'll train them

• 27:02Speaker 01

  based on what I know. And I know storytelling. I know how to stay disciplined and tell a story. Um, and then people then follow that story. People get behind me while we just started and it just started, you know, picking up steam and, and people really responded to it and, and corporations and individuals, um, are finding that they just make a lot more money if they have the ability to tell their own story, regardless of their occupation.

• 27:31Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 27:31Speaker 01

  So that's why, that's why I just built and built and built. And now, you know, I have my own events uh twice a year and we bring people in from all over the world. And I do my events in theaters like Broadway style.

• 27:45Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, that's cool.

• 27:46Speaker 01

  So that, yeah, so that the people, the, the, the clients get a chance to be in a room that's so vast, you know, and so big. Not that there's a lot of people in it, but the rooms are big and the ceilings are high and the lights and the stages. I want them to be able to fill up those rooms with their humanity, with their, with who they are. Because anything, any room that they enter thereafter is gonna pale in comparison.

• 28:15Lewis Howes?

  Oh, right.

• 28:16Speaker 01

  The size, you know, and once, once people get a sense of how big they are, of how big their story is and how big their humanity is. And how for most of their life, they've been apologizing for it. They really get a sense of their power and their leadership qualities. And therefore, they have an ability to make a lot more money because a lot more people follow them. Regardless of what they're selling or what their occupation is.

• 28:44Lewis Howes?

  So why is it that people, when a company or an entrepreneur, when they have a clear story, why is it that people want to, are enrolled in that person or want to buy from them or sign up for their products and services more frequently? Why is that?

• 29:01Speaker 01

  It's the connective tissue. It's the trust and intimacy that you can create immediately with a story that you can't do any other way. They say, there's this one quote that says, the four most dangerous words in the English language are "once upon a time." "Once upon a time."

• 29:23Speaker 01

  Because they said that every, I don't have a lot of religious background or training, but they say that every religious book, whether it be the Bible or, or, or, or, or the manuscripts from other religions, they all begin with those kinds of words, once upon a time. They all, they all are told through parables, through story, because story is irrefutable. Like, you could tell me, hey, Bo, I could, you could give me some stats and some numbers, and, you know, we could go, we could go back and forth about it. But if you tell me the story about you, now I connect to you. And now you and me are the same.

• 30:07Speaker 01

  We're doing, we're, we're in partnership automatically right off the bat. So, I was, I was in London earlier this year, and I was, I was talking at a speech to the top one hundred financial advisors in all of Europe. So, these are the guys and gals that, that, that control most of the money in Europe. And they brought them all into London, and I spoke to them. And they brought in two people. This other guy spoke, and he runs a company called Oxford Analytica. And Oxford Analytica has two hundred think tanks throughout the world that basically, like our president gets Oxford Analytica briefings on his desk every morning. And so do all major leaders.

• 30:50Speaker 01

  So, what they do is they come up with analytics and statistics and studies on, on threats, on where the markets are going, on all these, all these stats. And so, I was up there speaking about the importance of their personal story, these financial advisors' personal story. Well, this guy from Oxford Analytica comes up to me afterwards, and he goes, Bo, can I talk to you? I said, yeah. He says, do you know all that stuff you were talking about? These people's personal story being the key to the kingdom, the key to their success? I said, yeah. And he goes, do you know you're right? And I was like, well, that's cool, because I was kind of hoping I built my life around this.

• 31:34Speaker 01

  And he said, not only are you right, I'm going to send you the analytics that will back you up.

• 31:40Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  And I was like, that's awesome. So what he did, Lewis, was he sends me a study that has been done, and it started with Julius Caesar in the middle of the Roman Empire, 2,000 years ago, to our last presidential election in 2012, and all leaders in between those two, 2,000 years. So not only was it leaders, like political leaders and presidents and that kind of thing, it was also leaders like, um, Lady Gaga was somebody they studied. And Osama bin Laden, of all people, was somebody that they studied. They, they really wanted to study why people follow other people.

• 32:21Speaker 01

  And they came up, they come up with these analytics, what they all had in common for these 2,000 years, all these leaders. And guess what the number one thing, quality, that all of those leaders had to have?

• 32:34Lewis Howes?

  They were great storytellers.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 32:38Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  They had to have the ability, they had the ability to tell their own story.

• 32:44Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 32:44Speaker 01

  Because, like, think about it right now, everyone on this who's listening to this podcast, and you and me, we all have people in our lives, right now, I guarantee all of us do. A community around us, an audience around us, that is watching us right now, that is waiting for us to lead, waiting for us to take over. And they're patiently just watching and waiting. And the minute that we lay out some connective tissue, they'll then follow us. And that connective tissue is called the story, is the personal story.

• 33:20Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 33:21Speaker 01

  Like, this is my background, this is where I come from, these are my dreams, this is where I'm headed. Now, people around you, that's around all of us right now, are just waiting. And that is how they've been doing it for 2,000 years. So if that's the case, then you and me got to lay down connective tissue for people to follow, to trust, to do business with, to get married, to go on dates. It's all the same thing.

• 33:50Lewis Howes?

  Wow. Now, this is fascinating. And what I want to know is, how much of your story of the connected tissue do you uncover? You know, let's just say if you're an entrepreneur or a business owner, like, how much of your story are you supposed to share? Or do you just share things that you think might be able to relate with people, or open people up, or create vulnerability with them? Like, is there a certain type of formula for how you share your story?

• 34:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah, for sure. It depends on, you know, if you're unknown, like, if I'm unknown, and I'm speaking in front of an audience, which happens all the time. So I'm speaking in front of people who's never heard of me. They don't know what any of my background. The first place I start is a defining moment. And if you think about storytelling throughout your life, like you and me, and everyone who's listening, has grown up with story. That's how we were taught. We've watched movies, we've been read books, we've been watching TV shows. Everything is story to us. So we know, as a human being, one of our greatest

• 35:00Speaker 01

  attributes that's natural to us, is we understand story. And we connect to it. We love it. So, if you think back of every great story that you've ever heard, or any great movie that you've ever seen, it starts in the middle of the story. Do you notice, like, think of a movie right now, like, think of like, a movie, like, an action movie with Tom Cruise, like, say, Mission Impossible, one of those kind of movies. Every time, the first frame of film that they show, isn't Tom Cruise getting ready to do something, it's Tom Cruise being punched, he's swinging from a rope.

• 35:42Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 35:44Speaker 01

  He's being punched in the face. They're taking his children, they're taking his wife. He's in the middle of the story.

• 35:52Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 35:53Speaker 01

  So, that is a defining moment in his life. So same is true for you and me. So, when I'm in front of groups that don't know me, the first thing out of my mouth is not "thank you," or "it's great to be here in Detroit." The first thing out of my mouth is, "When I was nine years old, I had a dream."

• 36:14Speaker 01

  So I drew up a twenty year plan. That sentence is in the middle. Now, you know me like you know your next door neighbor because of one sentence. Because it's a defining moment. It's a moment when I'm nine. So when you say that to people, when you let people in, like say you, say it was you, Lewis, and you said to me, first thing out of your mouth, you come on stage and you say, when I was thirteen years old, I was in love with a girl named Cindy. And I asked her to the prom and she said no. You start a story like that, that's a defining moment that shapes your life forevermore.

• 36:58Speaker 01

  So right when you do that, when you get that intimate and that personal right out of the gates, people connect to you because now they think they're you. They think, because you, everyone has that kind of pain and everyone has that kind of defining moment. So the minute you say, when I was nine years old, I had a dream, everyone in the audience and everyone listening is now thinking of themselves when they were nine. And what dreams they had and what dreams, where they, where they have heartbreak. So that is really the key. The more personal your story, the more effective it is, the more universal it becomes.

• 37:41Speaker 01

  Because people, and this is, this is, you know, you and I were raised, you know, in a, in a world that says, you know, don't brag about yourself, don't talk about yourself, it's not about you. Well, that's just not true. Look, a great storyteller shares himself or herself so that other people can participate. So, so when I say, um, when I was thirteen, my, my girlfriend Cindy dumped me, everyone goes, everyone listening goes, oh, man, I remember that heartache.

• 38:12Lewis Howes?

  I got dumped, yeah.

• 38:14Speaker 01

  Yep. And so you have, now you have intimacy and connection and trust that would have taken you five years to build. And you have it in one sentence.

• 38:26Speaker 01

  That's what I'm talking about. So when I teach business people and entrepreneurs, that, that opening line, what is it? So you can lay out some connective tissues so these people can start to co-create with you. That's what you want.

• 38:40Lewis Howes?

  Right, right. Very cool. Yeah, because it's all about building that bond and that trust and that likability and that relationship with anyone else coming in contact with you. So I think that's extremely valuable. But what about people that feel like they don't have a great story or don't have anything to talk about? What do you say to them? Or how, or how do you help them discover it?

• 38:59Speaker 01

  That's true of almost everybody I've ever taught, everybody I've ever taught. That's true of myself. And that's true of every person that I've ever encountered. They think that the first thing that we do as human beings is devalue our own story.

• 39:14Lewis Howes?

  Or compare to someone else's story.

• 39:17Speaker 01

  Right.

• 39:17Lewis Howes?

  It's not good enough.

• 39:18Speaker 01

  Your story, yeah, your story is so dramatic. It's just not dramatic to you because for you, you've lived it. And so it seems mundane and ordinary to you because you lived it. But often, like I, this one kid got up and I swear this is the first thing that came out of his mouth, Lewis. And he thought it was nothing. But to everyone else, they fell off their chairs. He got up and he said, "The second time that my dad broke my arm",

• 39:50Speaker 01

  that was the first sentence out of his mouth.

• 39:51Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 39:52Speaker 01

  Now, he thought, because that was his life, he assumed that that was everybody's life.

• 40:00Lewis Howes?

  It was normal.

• 40:00Speaker 01

  Everybody's experience. Yeah. But so us in the audience were falling out of our seats going, "Did he just say that?"

• 40:11Speaker 01

  But to him, it was mundane and ordinary because that was his life. Now, when I talk about playing pro football, I, I, look, I played pro football and therefore all my friends that I kind of grew up with and that I knew, all the people that I knew were also pro football players.

• 40:30Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 40:31Speaker 01

  So to, so to us, it wasn't anything big deal. It was just like, doesn't everybody play pro football?

• 40:36Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 40:37Speaker 01

  And then you get out in the regular world and you realize that that's very rare.

• 40:41Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 40:43Speaker 01

  And it's dramatic to people to tell them that. Well, the same is true for every person that I've ever met. They've got super dramatic, moving stories. They just don't know it.

• 40:54Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, yeah.

• 40:55Speaker 01

  Because they try to encapsulate their whole story. Like, I'm fifty-three years old. So if I was to break down my whole fifty-three years, that would be a long, boring, stupid story.

• 41:06Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 41:07Speaker 01

  But what I break down is the most defining moment, like when I was nine and had a dream.

• 41:12Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 41:13Speaker 01

  That, that's what's dramatic. That's what's moving.

• 41:16Lewis Howes?

  Interesting, interesting.

• 41:17Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 41:18Lewis Howes?

  So what are some exercises or an exercise that someone could take on right now, listening? If they feel like, you know, maybe my, you know, I feel like I tell my story well, but I don't know, like, my business isn't growing, so maybe it's not clear enough. What's an exercise someone can take right now, if they get out a pen and paper, or if they just like, go through something that you could talk about to get clear on their, on their story?

• 41:43Speaker 01

  Yep. Um, think right now, everybody, just do this exercise right now. It's like five seconds, okay? So everybody right now, think of your proudest moment. The greatest moment of your life. What, think about what that was. What was that moment?

• 42:03Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. You want me to answer it?

• 42:06Speaker 01

  Okay. No, don't answer it.

• 42:09Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 42:11Speaker 01

  And I, I want you to get that out of your mind now, because that's not a good story.

• 42:18Speaker 01

  Now, I want you for the next five seconds to think of your lowest moment. The one you don't want to tell. The one you're kind of ashamed of, embarrassed.

• 42:29Lewis Howes?

  Jeez.

• 42:30Speaker 01

  That's a good story. That one is good.

• 42:36Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 42:36Speaker 01

  That one is effective.

• 42:39Lewis Howes?

  What if it's really, what if it's really deep and dark and nasty and vulnerable and scary to share?

• 42:52Speaker 01

  Usually, that is where your gold lies.

• 42:56Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 42:58Speaker 01

  All your money-making ability lies right there. Um, all your leadership quality lies right there. In that little pot of gold that you're not gonna let anybody see.

• 43:12Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 43:12Speaker 01

  It's, and it's, you've gotta massage it, obviously, and you've gotta work through it. And you don't wanna necessarily tell certain aspects of it in all business, uh, uh, places.

• 43:26Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 43:27Speaker 01

  But you can certainly share a lowest moment. And you, you know, you may have to finesse it a little bit so that people can hear it.

• 43:37Speaker 01

  You know, like, some people, say, example, you know, it's some kind of molestation, or some kind of rape, or something like that. You, you, if it's something like that, there's a way to tell it that's inspiring for people.

• 43:53Speaker 01

  There's a way to tell it that is, that has formed your life and made you who you are, which is inspiring to us.

• 43:59Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 44:00Speaker 01

  That, that, think of, you know, I mean, just the same example we just gave of the Tom Cruise movie. They never start a movie, ever. Say you and me were making a movie about Mount Everest today, you know, and we, so the first frame of that film would not be of us sitting on top of Mount Everest, planting a flag, raising our arms in victory. The first frame of that film would be us standing at the bottom of that mountain, looking up, and saying, there's no way in hell we can do this.

• 44:26Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 44:28Speaker 01

  That's where great stories are. That's how, because no one cares if you win. They only care where you came from to win.

• 44:38Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 44:39Speaker 01

  No one cares that you graduated from Harvard. Nobody cares.

• 44:44Speaker 01

  They only care, how did you get there? Why did you get there?

• 44:50Speaker 01

  What did you have to face to get to that graduation?

• 44:55Speaker 01

  Nobody cares that you married the prettiest girl in town. They only care about how did you get, how did she say yes? How did you get her? They don't care that you got her, they care how? What mountain did you have to climb to get there? So that's why I say start at the lowest moment. Work your way up to the victory.

• 45:17Lewis Howes?

  Now, when you're sharing your story, is, let's say, you know, you could probably have your story in a long format, in a medium format, in a short format. But when you're teaching and coaching, you know, individuals, entrepreneurs, big corporations, do you tell them to be like very clear in their story and say it in like a couple of sentences? Um, or is it, does it depend on the context of how they're sharing it? What do you, what do you think?

• 45:45Speaker 01

  It does, it depends on the time that you have. Like if, I, I'm constantly revamping or shortening or lengthening stories based on how much time they're giving me to speak. So, you know, if I have a 90 minute speech, my, my opening story is about 10 minutes or 12 minutes long. If I have a shorter speech, I'm reducing that down a little bit. But I'm still leaving in enough detail and intimacy so that I, I have, I build this trust with the audience uh, very quickly.

• 46:16Lewis Howes?

  Could you give us?

• 46:17Speaker 01

  If I have a longer, go ahead.

• 46:18Lewis Howes?

  I was just gonna see if you could give us an example of like a, a 15 to 30 seconds example of your story, like how you would say it if you were introducing yourself or connecting with someone you just had a brief moment.

• 46:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I would do it just like I did with you guys earlier. So, um, I, I, I always kind of leave them hanging with the first sentence. So i-if, and I always use an age that I am not right now. So I'm 53, so I, so I often will go, and most of my clients do this too. When I was nine years old, I had this dream. So that's a comma right there. But that half of the, that's, so that's half a sentence. Pretty much it's over right there. Because I've, I've laid out great detail, I've said when I was nine, so everyone's good. So now the audience and the listener or the potential customer is now

• 47:15Speaker 01

  in their life at nine years old, not my life, their life.

• 47:21Speaker 01

  We listen autobiographically. So when I speak of my, my dream, you don't think of my dream, you think of your dream.

• 47:29Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 47:30Speaker 01

  Or the lack thereof, or the dream that never happened for you.

• 47:33Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 47:33Speaker 01

  So you go into your own life, which is where you want your customers and where you want your audience. You want them in their own lives. That's a great service that you're giving them. Everybody wants to be thinking about their own life. They lo- we love as human beings contemplating and thinking about our own life. So if somebody gives me the gift of putting me in my own life, I like them automatically.

• 47:59Speaker 01

  They also know that I'm telling a story. So I say, when I was nine years old. So that's just like saying, once upon a time.

• 48:07Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 48:09Speaker 01

  When those words, when your brain hears those words, all judgment leaves. Your critical mind stops. When you hear the word, when I was nine years old, and I'm not nine right now, and that's obvious, your critical mind stops and relaxes and you sit back and you go, I'm in good hands. I'm about to be taken on a journey.

• 48:32Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 48:33Speaker 01

  And I like it. And the journey is my own life.

• 48:38Speaker 01

  So now I'm saying, when I was nine years old, I had a dream. So now all my audience is now in their life at a certain age that they're not now, and they're thinking of their dreams that they either had, or they think that never came to fruition, or the heartbreak. So the next half of the sentence is, so I drew up a 20-year plan.

• 49:05Speaker 01

  So now they're going, holy, wait a minute, you drew up a plan to make this? So now in one sentence, it's over. We, in a half a sentence, it's over. But in a full sentence, there, now you're doing all my work for me. You and me are now co-creating this experience together. It's no longer me spewing my story. It's you and me co-creating it in real time. And there's nothing more intoxicating. There's nothing more intimate and intoxicating than co-creation.

• 49:41Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 49:41Speaker 01

  So I have three kids. So I co-created those kids with my wife. I'm telling you, there is nothing more moving and intoxicating than creating something together. Uh, and story is the same way. Story, great storytelling isn't about spewing and throwing up on somebody. It's about co-creating it moment to moment to moment with the listener.

• 50:11Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 50:12Speaker 01

  Once you, once you master that, then you have, that, this is what this, this study from Oxford Analytica was all about. It's about these leaders had the ability to get these people to follow them because they were co-creating their leadership with them. They wanted to be a part of the vision that this leader had. They wanted to be a part of the story. So most people, think about this, Lewis, think about most entrepreneurs that you meet. They start with their resume. They go, like you go, hey, what do you do? They go, well, like imagine, uh, I'm at the golf course the other day, right? So this dude goes, hey, Bo, hey, hey, what do you do, man?

• 50:55Speaker 01

  And I could yell back, hey, I'm a speaker or I'm a trainer or, you know, I'm a writer. And then what would he do? He would go, okay, cool. See ya.

• 51:04Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 51:05Speaker 01

  That would be it. That'd be, that'd be the end of the conversation. He's not asking what I do. He's asking, Bo, what cloth are you cut from? Who are, what do you come, who are you?

• 51:16Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 51:17Speaker 01

  So this is how, when somebody says, Bo, what do you do? This is what I say, first and then I'm in a, if they, Bo, what do you do? I say, when I was nine, I had a dream.

• 51:26Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 51:28Speaker 01

  So I drew up a 20-year plan. And, and right then I walk away. And what do you think they're saying now?

• 51:35Lewis Howes?

  What? What?

• 51:37Speaker 01

  What was the dream?

• 51:38Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 51:40Speaker 01

  So now they're co-creating my story for me. They're doing half my work. Now we have intimacy. Now we have co-creation.

• 51:48Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 51:49Speaker 01

  That's what I'm talking about. So you can kind of leave them in.

• 51:53Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 51:53Speaker 01

  You kind of, you leave them to create for themselves. I think this is the mistake a lot of politicians um make here in in our world today. The reason we don't listen to them and the reason we we dismiss them is because they never are speaking with us.

• 52:14Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 52:15Speaker 01

  They're speaking as if they're above us. And they never ask us to co-create. They ask us to just listen to what they say. And we're like, no, I'm not listening to that shit. Oh, I'm sorry. Can I not cuss? Can I cuss on that?

• 52:29Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you're fine.

• 52:29Speaker 01

  Podcast? Okay.

• 52:34Speaker 01

  I thought I was in the locker room for a minute.

• 52:38Speaker 01

  But but they never ask, they never are co-creating with us. And the, and if they do, and when they learn to do this, they will get more than fifty percent of the vote.

• 52:51Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 52:52Speaker 01

  The reason they're ineffective is because they don't, they don't know this art. They don't know how to do this. And it's, it's not hard to do. We do it naturally as human beings. We just have been in this information age for two generations. And we've gotten fat and flabby as far as our expression muscles and co-creation muscles go. And I mean, it's, it's exact, like you and me right now are co-creating this with the audience that's listening right now.

• 53:21Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 53:21Speaker 01

  That's why, and you know, and you know how I know this is effective? Is because people aren't turning it off. People won't disengage from this kind of conversation. Because they know they're as important in co-creating what we're doing right now as you and I are.

• 53:42Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 53:43Speaker 01

  And that is the key to building what you want to build is this co-creation. And the only way to co-create with people is to share yourself.

• 53:53Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 53:53Speaker 01

  Share what's most intimate with you.

• 53:58Lewis Howes?

  I love it. Bo, I could, I could hear you talk about your story and storytelling and the importance of it for a long time, but I want to wrap it up here in a second because I know you have a lot of different free video training on your website over at boeason.com, E A S O N dot com. And you've got your event that you talked about that you do twice a year, which is called, I believe, Personal Story Power. I think that's what it's called.

• 54:27Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 54:27Lewis Howes?

  And so you've got events, which I highly recommend if you guys are looking to craft and hone in on your own personal story and have control over it as opposed to having no clue who you are and what to say to people, then I highly recommend checking it out over at boeason.com. And signing up for the next event, he's got the info on the products and events page right here on his site. It's a beautiful looking site and some cool video training, some free stuff on, he talks about the three, discover the three most important things you must master to share your personal story. So some great content over on Bo's side. I highly recommend checking it out. And maybe we can get you back on at some point in the future to talk more about this because this is something that I'm extremely passionate

• 55:12Lewis Howes?

  about and interested in. And I'm constantly working on and evolving my story and trying to master it. So I know there's always another level to get to. So if you're open to that in the future, I hope we can get you back on. But I want to

• 55:26Speaker 01

  That'd be great.

• 55:26Lewis Howes?

  I want to wrap up with our final question, which is what I ask all of my guests at the end of every episode. And the question is, what is your definition of greatness?

• 55:40Speaker 01

  Wow, that's really good. You know, it is this. I

• 55:48Speaker 01

  It's funny that I love the name, The Schools of Greatness, because often I tell people this, I go, look, I have one interest in the world, really. I have one interest. Your greatness and mine. That's how I was raised.

• 56:09Speaker 01

  I was told since I was a little kid, and this goes for all my, my brother and my four sisters, that we were the best. That's what I was told. Cause you, and then my dad would wake us up in the morning, he would rub our backs. And my dad was like a cowboy and a rancher, so he didn't talk a lot, but when he talked, he listened. And he would rub our back and he would say, he would cuss, uh, cause he, every sentence he would just lay out cuss words. But he would rub our backs and he would say, you're the best in there. And then he'd drop a few, um, expletives.

• 56:41Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 56:42Speaker 01

  And say, you're the best in there. And so I was raised that way. So everything I'd ever done in my life is I wanted to be the best at, whether that meant playing safety, or whether it means stage performing, or speaking, or storytelling, or coaching, whatever it is, I want to be the best. And that's how I see greatness. Uh, I see it like, I want to be the best. That's my, that's my dream, is to be the best in the world at a thing. So that others can see that that is possible.

• 57:14Speaker 01

  Then I, I think that's a life well-lived. Now, sometimes I get pushed back on that because people go, well, that's bragging. I go, no, no. Uh, look, I never say I'm the best. I say, I, I want to be the best safety in the world. I want to be the best stage performer in the world. There's, there's nothing, uh, conceded about that. That is noble. That is honorable. And I don't see why all of us can't have that same expression, like regardless of what our occupation is, I want to be the best in the world at this thing. And usually if you're able to declare that, if you, if you actually name that, then you have the ability to make, bring that into fruition. You just do.

• 57:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 57:58Speaker 01

  And the world will help you. They will because everyone's inspired by a dream and somebody who has aspirations like that. So I say, yeah, I say it's about, uh, the definition for greatness for me is, is that, that, that's the only way, that's the only mindset there is to have, is greatness, yours and mine, shared, co-created together.

• 58:25Lewis Howes?

  I love it. Bo Eason. Make sure everyone check out boeason.com, E A S O N dot com. And I'm assuming you've got some places in that on social media that they can find on the website as well, right?

• 58:39Speaker 01

  Yeah, there's all kinds of stuff. If you go to boeason.com, you'll see, you know, all the info and all the trainings and fun stuff.

• 58:46Lewis Howes?

  Awesome.

• 58:47Speaker 01

  And, uh, yeah, I'd love to have you.

• 58:49Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, man. And we will, uh, I'll make sure to link all this up on the show notes. So, uh, check out the show notes link here in a second. And, uh, Bo, I appreciate it, man. It's been such a pleasure and a gift connecting with you with the last 60 minutes and getting to know your story. And, you know, from one former football player to another, it's, uh, it's a pleasure, man. And I really appreciate what you're up to in life and how you're inspiring the world to craft their own message. So thank you so much for all that you do.

• 59:19Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love it. It was a great time. So, uh, thank you so much and we'll do it again.

• 59:31Lewis Howes?

  And there you have it, guys. Thanks so much for tuning in. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to check out the show notes over at lewishouse.com/76, the number 76, and leave a comment in the questions box in the comments section below. Uh, we got lots of cool links, pictures, images, videos, uh, downloads, all sorts of cool stuff that we talked about in this show. So go ahead and check it out over at lewishouse.com/76. Make sure to connect with Bo online as well. He's an awesome guy. And if you're looking to tap into, uh, understanding how to share your personal story better, then make sure to check out one of his events, events, because I really think it'll be a powerful experience for you from what I've heard so far. And I definitely want to go check one out myself.

• 1:00:17Lewis Howes?

  Uh, thanks again, guys, for all you do to support the School of Greatness, uh, to support the guests that come on here. The message and the vision behind the School of Greatness, which is supporting people to live a greater life. And I am so proud of this, of this show. And what we've been accomplishing together, so thank you guys so much. If you get a moment today, please share this episode with one person you think it could be helpful for. One person you think could use this information to captivate others with their own personal story. And go ahead and share it online as well with your friends always on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. Tag where you are listening to this in the world and post online Instagram. And we've got to have, a lot of you have been requesting the music.

• 1:01:02Lewis Howes?

  You've been saying, hey, people have been emailing me constantly saying, where do you find the music? Do you have a playlist for the music? So I might be putting up a playlist. I've got my podcast producer Ian working on that right now for me. We might be putting up a playlist for you and posting it somewhere, so stay tuned for that. More goodies coming soon. I want to start putting up two, three episodes a week. I've got a lot of great guests coming up right now. So I might try to do this two, three times a week and see what that works for you guys. So again, thanks so much for tuning in, guys. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.