24 The Champions Blueprint with Dr. Jeff Spencer

For those seeking a crystal ball on the path to greatness on the field, in business or life, this episode of The School of Greatness has not only the professor, but the doctor behind the Champions Blueprint. Achieving prolific peak performance is the goal for most and it can be an intimidating process if you don't have a roadmap. If […] Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is episode number 24 with Dr. Jeff Spencer.

• 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.

• 0:32Lewis Howes?

  What is up all the beautiful greats out there? Today is the day to unlock your greatness. Clarity and vision will trump your fears. Staying hungry each day will kill doubt and laziness. Life is now, and when are you going to stand up for the way you want to live it? It's been an amazing week for me, and I'm excited to share with you today's interview with the one and only Dr. Jeff Spencer. Now, Dr. Spencer has been a friend of mine for over a year now, and I've learned some amazing things from him so far. He's all about understanding the champion's blueprint.

• 1:14Lewis Howes?

  And today, that's what he's going to be sharing with you, all about how to discover what the champion's blueprint is, the phases of the champion's blueprint, how to know which phase you are in, and how to really get to the top and leave a legacy that you want to leave for the rest of your life. This is going to be a very powerful interview, and I'm very excited to share with you. Now, Dr. Jeff Spencer was an Olympic athlete himself in cycling, and he was also the sports psychologist on the Tour de France, and I think it was like eight Tour de France championships that he won as the sports psychologist on the team with the US team. Now, this was back when Lance was on, but also when Lance was off the team,

• 1:58Lewis Howes?

  he won a championship with the Tour de France team as well. So a guy who knows about success, he's been there and done it himself, he's coached others. He now coaches people in business and doing big things in life. He coaches. World-class athletes. He's a guy that can really help you unlock your potential as a champion. And I'm very excited to introduce him today. But I want to give a quick shout out to the fan of the week before we get into this interview. And that's with, I just saw a picture posted on Instagram today from Christian Dion from Montreal, Canada. He's also at Rebel Entrepreneur on Instagram. And he said this, he said, "Listening to the School of Greatness at the gym today makes me feel like

• 2:43Lewis Howes?

  the boss," with capitals, "the boss." So, big shout out to you, Christian. Thanks for that. Hopefully, it's been inspiring for you to listen to the different guests I've been bringing on and the messages we've been sharing about greatness. And if you guys are out there listening at the gym or on your car ride to work or wherever, in bed, wherever you're listening to this, feel free to post a picture on Instagram, tag me in it, and let me know what you're thinking. I would love to share you as the fan of the week. Love it, guys. So, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna jump into this episode. And again, it's all about unlocking the most optimal human performance you can create for yourself in all areas of your life.

• 3:28Lewis Howes?

  This podcast is about greatness, so I'm bringing you inspiring people to help you achieve that greatness in your life. And Dr. Jeff Spencer is the man. He's gonna share with you some great stuff on the Champion Blueprint. Get ready to go to class today. Take some notes, soak it in, and let's get after it.

• 3:57Lewis Howes?

  What is up, everyone? I am here with the one and only Dr. Jeff Spencer. How's it going, Jeff?

• 4:02Speaker 01

  Well, with that introduction, where do we go from there?

• 4:05Lewis Howes?

  Jeff is here at the studio at the School of Greatness studio here in LA. Very excited. We just had an amazing lunch, had a great catch up about some experiences we shared last year and some of the things I've been going through. And Jeff is an amazing individual, extremely wise, and very blessed and grateful to have him here to share with you his insights about what it takes to become a champion and really the mindset of a champion with his kind of formula, which is called the champion's blueprint. We're going to get into that in a second. But for those who don't know Jeff, he is amazing. He used to be, you were in the Olympics in 80, no, it's 70.

• 4:46Speaker 01

  Actually 72, celebrating my 42nd anniversary, if you can believe that.

• 4:50Lewis Howes?

  You look a lot younger than that.

• 4:51Speaker 01

  I hope I don't knock my age also, you know?

• 4:53Lewis Howes?

  So 72 and it was the, it was in cycling, but it was a specific type of cycling, right?

• 4:58Speaker 01

  Yeah, I was, I actually rode two events. I was a sprint cyclist and they also had the bicycle built for two, the tandem. I actually drove the tandem.

• 5:05Lewis Howes?

  Tandem?

• 5:06Speaker 01

  That is one of the most terrifying.

• 5:08Lewis Howes?

  Two people on bike?

• 5:08Speaker 01

  Yeah, it was the most terrifying thing you could ever imagine.

• 5:10Lewis Howes?

  They don't do that anymore, do they?

• 5:11Speaker 01

  No, they don't. I think for safety reasons. I mean, it's literally, it's like 70 miles an hour racing inside of a teacup. I mean, it is, it is so incredibly scary.

• 5:20Lewis Howes?

  Wow. So that a speed, what's the first one, the speed?

• 5:23Speaker 01

  It's sprint cycling. It's a thousand meter sprint.

• 5:27Lewis Howes?

  And that's on a, what's it called the?

• 5:28Speaker 01

  It's a velodrome. It's like racing inside of a teacup. That's what it's like.

• 5:31Lewis Howes?

  Velodrome. Yeah, those things. And it goes like, it elevates around the curve or something. It doesn't like go up and then it comes down?

• 5:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's usually, it's a 30, 30 degree bank is what it is.

• 5:40Lewis Howes?

  It's crazy.

• 5:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, it is like insane and probably that's why I like it.

• 5:43Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, yeah. And watching it in this past Olympics in London, I guess England was like the best team and it's.

• 5:49Speaker 01

  They were, yeah.

• 5:50Lewis Howes?

  And they just dominated, right?

• 5:51Speaker 01

  Yeah, they did. Which is a good thing, being the host country. I think that's always a good thing.

• 5:54Lewis Howes?

  And it was like, it became like popular to watch because they were showing it a lot. And so it was cool to see that sport because I'd never really seen it before. So you did that back in the day. You're an Olympian. You didn't medal though, did you?

• 6:08Speaker 01

  You know, I did not. Actually, I was 21 at the time and it probably had a couple of more Olympics in me. But because I had an interest in school and a variety of other things, it just got to a point where for me to be able to move on was was for sure the right decision.

• 6:22Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure. And then you went to chiropractic school, right?

• 6:24Speaker 01

  Actually, I, when I went to the Olympics, it was between my sophomore and junior year at the University of Southern California where I was studying sports science. So I actually went on to get my master's degree in sports science and exercise physiology. So I really understand what it takes for the body to get to the top and stay there.

• 6:39Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 6:40Speaker 01

  And then in working with professional and amateur athletes, one of the questions I always got is, well, what do I do for my injury care? So I decided to go back and then become a chiropractor to be a primary healthcare provider so that I could also help advise them with their injury management and injury prevention procedures. So really, the outcome of that was I became a one-stop, jiffy-lead shop for everything that you need to get to the top and stay there. Because I understand mentality, whether it's business, sports, on stage or at home, I really understand what it takes to get there. It's universal.

• 7:11Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 7:12Speaker 01

  Having a master's degree in exercise physiology, I understand the ability and the requirement for a body to be able to sustain a career, whether it's in business or whatever. I mean, you got to have the physical staying power and you got to be able to get well and stay well. So all those three things gave me access to some very amazing people's lives to help them get to the top and stay there.

• 7:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. And it's great that you're able to do it in sports first because then you can help athletes. But also you can transition that into business and to.

• 7:39Speaker 01

  It's all the same thing. Yeah.

• 7:41Lewis Howes?

  Everything.

• 7:41Speaker 01

  Yeah. Those are technical differences. You know, champions are champions. But then you've got to have staying power. And one of the things that I see that people in business, they blow themselves up prematurely because they don't manage their health responsibly during the climb to the top. And once they get it figured out, they either blow up from a heart attack or a catastrophic relationship problem because they fail to consider that in the climb. So again, it's all universal.

• 8:05Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, exactly. But it's hard to, if you're an athlete, it's hard to like believe someone who didn't do it as an athlete.

• 8:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, I think that it is. Yeah.

• 8:11Lewis Howes?

  So you being an Olympian and doing it before, it's gives you much more credibility as opposed to just, you know, a mindset coach who didn't do anything athletically, you know?

• 8:19Speaker 01

  Well, a lot to say for that. I mean, there's a resonance through vocabulary and experiences that allows you to look between the one to 2% that really makes the difference. So. At that level, that's truly the the holy grail is to find that one to 2% that makes a difference.

• 8:33Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, let's talk about Champions Blueprint.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  Yeah, one of my all time favorite subjects.

• 8:38Lewis Howes?

  This is amazing. I mean, I love this stuff. And when I first, when we first met about a year ago, I think. And who introduced us? Michael Fisher or Michael Fishman?

• 8:46Speaker 01

  Yeah, he did. It's one of the all time great introductions. So, thank you, Michael.

• 8:51Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, when we first met, we bonded right away because I just believe in your mindset and

• 8:57Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 8:57Lewis Howes?

  in your, um, in your blueprint. And, you know, my whole life, it's never been about just getting to the top and then being done. It's about how to get to the top and stay at the top, sustain the legacy, which is what's very important. Um, and you see a lot of these people who get to the top, you know, like Tiger Woods is a great example. Gets to the top, but then he crashes and can't stay there because of he's not prepared or he's not, you know, he doesn't have a balance. I'm sure you have some thoughts.

• 9:25Speaker 01

  Well, you know, I do. And what's sort of tragic about that is it's 100% preventable. Because if you know where a person's headed and what they're going to face, then you can take proactive measures to capitalize on the opportunity and avoid the pothole. You know, and in my view, no matter how you slice the pie, I mean, you look at, you know, Tiger's difficulties. I mean, Lance Armstrong's got his. There are countless examples of people that have extraordinary talent and will to get to the top, but they can't manage it. And it's like, you just can't manage it when you get there. I mean, that's been kind of mismanagement throughout the career. So if you kind of manage these things and you know what's coming, then you're not taken by surprise. So, you know, in my model, it's like, if we know where you are, then we can predict where you're going to be.

• 10:07Speaker 01

  And if we know where you're going to be, we know what you're going to face. And we know if we know what you're going to face and you're going to be ready for it, there aren't going to be no surprises.

• 10:13Lewis Howes?

  So before we get into the Champions Blueprint, how does someone, let's just say there's, you know, someone listening who's an entrepreneur or an athlete and they're like, okay, how do they know where they are currently? And then how do they have the awareness to say, here's what's going to happen next to me? What do they, how do they get to that point?

• 10:30Speaker 01

  Well, they probably don't because you don't have enough experience to peer into the crystal ball to read the future. That's where mentorship really comes into it. And so for me, you have to have mentors that, uh, understand your domain, understand your personality, they have a wisdom about life and its predictability and its uncertainty. To be able to forecast what's coming and to be able to plug you into where you are. And then to be able to help define the challenges that you're going to face and create strategies for dealing with them so that they have no impact or they don't steal your momentum to be able to get to where you want to go. No one wins alone, it's not possible. You really need, again, you need the team, you need a personal and productivity team,

• 11:14Speaker 01

  and you also need a mentor or a corner man, so to speak, that understands life to be able to help you read the crystal ball so you don't fall victim to either your own success or the punching bag or the boomerang that you don't see coming.

• 11:26Lewis Howes?

  So you believe that without mentors or a team of mentors, there's no way to reach the top and stay the top?

• 11:33Speaker 01

  No, because then you're only going to learn through your mistakes. And none of us have enough time to deal with all the mistakes because we don't have 50 years to learn the lessons, you know, especially in today's world that's so rapidly and dramatically changing where the cost of a good or a bad decision has never been greater. We don't and can't afford that.

• 11:50Lewis Howes?

  Right, interesting. Well, that's important to know. I've always preached about having mentors, how important it is, but it's good to know that you have to have it in order if you want to get to the top and stay there.

• 12:00Speaker 01

  It's indispensable because, you know, again, so many of these people that we scratch our heads in disbelief, "Well, didn't they know better?" Well, no, they actually, they didn't because they weren't trained to know better because they didn't have mentorship, so...

• 12:12Lewis Howes?

  They had mentorship that was just their father or their parents that didn't experience what they needed to go through and were giving them the wrong advice or something, or they didn't prepare them the right way, right?

• 12:22Speaker 01

  Well, that's exactly right. They kind of gave them advice within the context of their capacity that outlived its shelf life, so to speak, at a certain point. And the higher you go on the food chain, the more difficult it is to find people that understand the challenges that you face. And if you start believing your press clippings about your greatness prematurely, then it's very easy to succumb to some of the challenges that are fortunately or unfortunately 100% preventable.

• 12:49Lewis Howes?

  Sure, interesting, very interesting. Well, let's talk about the Champions Blueprint then. Tell me about it. What is it?

• 12:55Speaker 01

  My parents divorced when I was 12, and my dad died homeless on the streets of New York City, and my mom...

• 13:02Speaker 01

  Was a very capable woman and became addicted to prescription medicine. So unfortunately during that very difficult time, it was very challenging for me, but I had the benefit of dealing and having some massive mentors come into my life. It had a very important, vulnerable time for me that shared with me their secrets. They came from sport, they came from stage, they came from business, they came from life, and they shared with me their gems and their secrets on how they became prolific performers. And that became the like founding principles of the Champions Blueprint because I asked myself, what is it about these people that makes them so different? And why is it they're not the biggest, the baddest, the smartest, the fastest? But yet, these are the people that always prevail.

• 13:44Speaker 01

  They have this innate capacity to see opportunity and capitalize on it where people that have much more talent and will aren't able to do it. What's the difference here? And I realize it's how they conduct their life and there are certain strategies that are applied at predictable times that enable them to see the opportunity and seize it and avoid the potholes. Right. And those became like the foundational elements of the Champions Blueprint that is a seven-step process by which one first gets to the top of their game. And then, once they realize, once you get to the top, that there's more to it, there's another second half of life to live, then you build your legacy that serves as a permanent reminder and your personal case study for what it is you did right and what it is that

• 14:28Speaker 01

  you could have done better for other people to learn from. That's really what our gift is. And the Champions Blueprint is really, it's a crystal ball and it's also a map. This is predictable as the sun rising and the sun setting. That's how predictable it really is because human nature is predictable. And what's so predictable about it is this, is that it's always a good idea to have a map before you run into the jungle. And I realize that most people don't do that. They run off into the jungle, then, once they're lost, they look for the map to try to figure out where they are and what do I do about it? And by then, it's too late. So, we always look at a map that tells us what to do and where we are. And if we follow the strategies of the Champions Blueprint, then, one thing's certain, you're going to get to the top.

• 15:11Speaker 01

  There's no doubt about it because I've seen it hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of times. And the other thing, Louis, that's really important about the Champions Blueprint is it's predictable. In that it talks about legacy, something other people don't talk about. And legacy is really the grand prize. That's where we fulfill our capacity. That's where we can mentorship back to other people. That's where we create just massive, long-term staying power for other people as to what it is that we did with our talents and how we embraced our gifts. And what's also predictable about the Champions Blueprint for each and every one of us is that I can tell you exactly where and why people succeed and fail.

• 15:54Speaker 01

  Because if I can show where on the blueprint they are, I can tell you what they did right and what they did wrong.

• 16:00Lewis Howes?

  Because it's the same blueprint for everyone.

• 16:01Speaker 01

  It is, because we all go through these seven different steps. And there are no exemptions from that. And these seven steps are exactly what my mentors went through. The billionaires of life that I've worked with that mentored me, the Olympic gold medalists that were my mentors, the people that won Academy Awards, the people that succeed at life, the thing that they shared were these seven different steps. That was the common link. So to speak just to a couple of more things about the Champions Blueprint is that if I can take Lewis, and I could take a thumbtack, and I could put that thumbtack in the map on the wall, being the Champions Blueprint, and I could tell you where you are, I could tell you what's coming. It's a crystal ball.

• 16:46Speaker 01

  And if you know what's coming, then there are going to be no surprises in your life. And when the stuff shows up, both good or bad, you're going to know what to do.

• 16:55Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 16:55Speaker 01

  And most people aren't prepared for life. So when those days, both good and bad, show up, they don't know what to do. So they forfeit the opportunity, or they stick their foot in the pothole. And you can easily lose a week, a month, a year, or a lifetime of preparation by one amateurish mental mistake that could have been avoided.

• 17:11Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 17:12Speaker 01

  And that's the gift of the Champions Blueprint.

• 17:14Lewis Howes?

  Sounds powerful to me.

• 17:15Speaker 01

  It is. It's fail-safe.

• 17:17Lewis Howes?

  That sounds powerful.

• 17:18Speaker 01

  It's never not delivered.

• 17:20Lewis Howes?

  Well, what's the first step then?

• 17:22Speaker 01

  The first step actually is legacy. And why I say legacy is because if we can define our legacy, meaning what is it that we want to leave behind and what is it that we want to contribute to others and how do we want to be known, then it changes the way that we look at our current and our immediate decisions.

• 17:40Lewis Howes?

  So what do you mean legacy, you also mean vision, you mean purpose?

• 17:45Speaker 01

  Yeah, legacy I'm talking about at the end of the day.

• 17:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:48Speaker 01

  You know, what is it that we leave behind?

• 17:50Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 17:51Speaker 01

  What is our legacy? What was our contribution? What are we known for? That's our legacy. And to me, that's what outlives every one of us. And to me, that's the grand prize.

• 18:01Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 18:02Speaker 01

  Because it's the gift that we give to other people. And what it gives to us during our life process is that because it's based on our values, it also keeps us in integrity. Because if we don't have a legacy as a reference point and all we have is a blind ambition to get to the top, there's a lot of people that get to the top, but they leave a trail of destruction 10 miles long behind them in terms of broken relationships, promises that weren't kept. And very few people that just get to the top can stay at the top because the foundation by which they engage life through doesn't have the staying power, the reference point to have sustainability and staying power. It isn't there.

• 18:45Lewis Howes?

  So start with the end in mind.

• 18:47Speaker 01

  Yeah, you start with the end in mind.

• 18:49Lewis Howes?

  That's the first step.

• 18:50Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 18:51Lewis Howes?

  Start with how you want to end and then step two is?

• 18:54Speaker 01

  Well, step two is actually then mindset comes.

• 18:57Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 18:58Speaker 01

  And there are two different ways that we can engage life. We can either engage life through our human instincts that we're all born with that are based on fear and our primal brain.

• 19:07Lewis Howes?

  Reactive base.

• 19:08Speaker 01

  Exactly right.

• 19:09Lewis Howes?

  Fear-based, limiting beliefs-based, playing as a victim, things like that.

• 19:12Speaker 01

  Yeah, and it's also about me. You know, as long as I win, then that's all that counts.

• 19:15Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 19:16Speaker 01

  And unfortunately, it never delivers on the promise where the champions and those prolific performers have learned something about life that I call the human blueprint, which is a set of very unorthodox ways of looking at life that when consistently applied allow us to move beyond the things that trip most people up to our bigger future. An example of that would be given an opportunity, human nature would be, well, what is it that I stand to lose here? Or the champions ask the question, what is it that I stand to gain? The champions never look at the genes as the determinant. They look at the fact that they have the power. And that's why they give them minds, body, brains, and a spirit. It's to do something productive with.

• 19:58Speaker 01

  So there are two completely different reference points for decision making that determines a healthy mindset that successfully gets to the top and elevates people in the process. And there's an unhealthy way of getting there, which is through human nature that never delivers on the promise. And people that generally get to the top when motivated by that, their lives crashes fast, if not faster than it took them to be able to get to the top.

• 20:22Lewis Howes?

  That makes sense to me. I mean, start with the end in mind and then frame your mindset in a way that helps you get there.

• 20:28Speaker 01

  Yes, because, again, as long as your legacy is really the lens through which you live through, then you limit the risk of some of the human nature things that everyone succumbs to. And we don't have to repeat the mistakes of others to be able to move forward with a friction-free life, to get to the top and create and leave a massive legacy.

• 20:46Lewis Howes?

  I agree 100%. That's beautiful.

• 20:49Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 20:51Lewis Howes?

  Okay, now step three, or stage three. Is it a stage or a step?

• 20:54Speaker 01

  Step three. Step three is actually the base. And when I mean base, I'm not talking about bass guitar, bass men. I'm talking about having like a resource inventory that enables us successfully and effectively to be able to get to the top and create our legacy. And examples of the resources that we need, we need a team. We also need equipment. We need financing. We need resources. We need space. We need a variety of different things tangibly. And nothing is worse than to see someone with massive ambition that has just a phenomenal plan in motion, and then it stalls because they don't have the right amount of resources. And unless we have the right amount of resources, then don't even begin the journey. Because by definition...

• 21:40Speaker 01

  You'll never get to the top and it's tragic to see that when that happens and most people, they don't spend the time to create a foundation because they're so focused on getting to the top. They want to get started as quick.

• 21:50Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, they, yeah, exactly right. And it's like. We'll lose, how many lose pounds, uh, 20 pounds in a week.

• 21:55Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:55Lewis Howes?

  Like, you know, a month, whatever it is.

• 21:57Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 21:57Lewis Howes?

  The quickest way to get the result.

• 21:59Speaker 01

  It, it is. And in the legacy mindset, there really aren't shortcuts. I mean, the closest thing to a shortcut is a solid system and that's what the champion's blueprint is. So, again, without the right resources, we get in just a little bit too much of a hurry to get to where we want to go. And then we stall because we didn't do the planning in advance. So in my mind, the base should always take twice as long to build and should be twice as thick or three times as thick. Then you should always add 30% what you think you need because it always takes more time and effort and resources than we believe that it will based on our plan.

• 22:29Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 22:29Speaker 01

  So you never start the journey until you get your base built.

• 22:32Lewis Howes?

  Interesting.

• 22:33Speaker 01

  Always got to do that inventory, man.

• 22:34Lewis Howes?

  I like that.

• 22:35Speaker 01

  And if you're not sure, that's where you bring in a mentor that's got experience and you let them sign off on it. You never start the journey unless you got the base tacked down.

• 22:42Lewis Howes?

  What if you're an entrepreneur, you're somebody who's, you know, mid to late twenties or even early thirties and you're like, been struggling for a while, you're not happy with your job, you want to start something on your own and you really need to make money now to survive, to get by, to pay for your kids, your wife, whatever it may be, your family. What do you say to someone like that who's like, I don't have time to build the base?

• 23:02Speaker 01

  Well, I, I think that you do because you don't have time to make a mistake because it's going to catch up with the anyhow. So what you do, you get yourself a job and it doesn't matter what it is. So that you can at least pay your expenses, right? And then behind the scenes, you take the time to create a great plan for those things that you're passionate about. And then you start to, uh, build that platform and you start to engage that professionally. And then you transition into that at the right time.

• 23:25Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 23:25Speaker 01

  But you've got to be responsible for it, you know? Too much, too quick is never a good idea. And I've seen too many people with brilliant ideas and just phenomenal souls, shortcut themselves because they didn't take the time to create a base. So there's always a way of doing it.

• 23:38Lewis Howes?

  Right. Okay. So we've got legacy, we've got mindset, we've got base.

• 23:43Speaker 01

  Correct.

• 23:44Lewis Howes?

  What's, what's the fourth?

• 23:45Speaker 01

  All right, man. So once you got the base and once you got the mindset, you made the commitment, you know you got the stuff. So that's where you got maximum enthusiasm. You've got tons of energy because you haven't used it up yet. And you've got massive expectation for a bigger future. So that's where you start. Stage number four, which I call climbing the wall. And when I talk about climbing the wall, I'm not talking about climbing the wall like, hey, I'm going crazy. Someone get me out of here. I can't take this anymore. Even though I think we've all felt like that. I'm talking about really literally climbing the vertical wall or the face of Mount Everest to get to the top. Very similar to Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours in his book Outliers that it takes to develop the skill to perform at a level consistent with your ambition and your vision.

• 24:30Speaker 01

  Takes about 10,000 hours to do that. And there's two different steps. There's the first part of the climb the wall where you're all enthusiastic, where you just can't wait to get going. And the people that successfully make it to the top. First off, understand that the top isn't your first goal. The first goal is to develop the skill to have a breakout performance. That's consistent with performing at the top where your vision sees yourself going. You've got to hit that breakout performance first. That's your first goal. Don't worry about the top yet. So to do that, two steps. First step is that you got to take your time. It's the honeymoon phase where you're really excited and you can't wait to get going. And that's where you conserve your energy and your resources. You don't burn it up.

• 25:14Speaker 01

  And then once you have a reality check to realize that this is a little bit more difficult than I thought. That's a good sign because it means that you're getting closer to that breakout performance. And when you get into that second phase, which I call the daily grind. That's where you get up every day. You remind yourself why you go to work and what you're doing. Because you understand that at a certain point. Your skills are going to have critical mass and all of a sudden you're going to have that breakout performance. And that's that day where all of a sudden you get up different and something happens that confirms to you that you're now capable of performing at this level that you've been dreaming about. It's the breakout performance.

• 25:49Lewis Howes?

  That sounds exciting.

• 25:50Speaker 01

  It is really exciting and I got goosebumps thinking about it. Because that's a defining moment where you no longer dream about being able to perform at that level. You've now proven it to yourself that you can do it.

• 26:01Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 26:01Speaker 01

  You know, it's like.

• 26:02Lewis Howes?

  And then you can repeat it over and over.

• 26:04Speaker 01

  Well, that's actually step number five, which is elevation. So, once you've had your breakout performance.

• 26:10Lewis Howes?

  Can you give me an example of a breakout performance for someone?

• 26:12Speaker 01

  Absolutely. Let's take an athlete, for example. You know, there's a local kid that wants to perform at the national level. And he trains behind the scenes, his dad's taking him to practice every day. Then, all of a sudden, a couple of years later, he has this breakout performance and he's on the national team, or he's won a national event. That's a breakout performance. He's not a national champion yet, but he's won a national event, which tells him, if I can do it once, I can do it again. I just need now to duplicate what I did to create the breakout, so it becomes my new normal.

• 26:40Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 26:40Speaker 01

  Because if it stops here, I'm only a one act wonder. And that's the problem. A lot of people believe it, that when they have the breakout, the performance, that I've arrived. So, what they do, they get a little bit too much of a hurry to try to get to the top, so they start short cutting, they start changing their team, they start kind of breaking the rules, because they're a little bit too ambitious. And that's the fastest way to carry momentum and erode your team's support, and also to lose confidence and scruff off all the momentum that you spent 10 years generating to get to the top. You can throw it away instantly. Unless, you know that that's coming. And that's the value of the champion's blueprint, is because you're never going to be taken by surprise, because you always know what's coming.

• 27:17Lewis Howes?

  Hmm. Okay. And so, the next stage is elevation.

• 27:21Speaker 01

  Yeah, that's stage five. That's where you take your breakout performance, and rather than rush ahead to try to get to the top, you duplicate exactly what you did to create the breakout performance, maybe a dozen times, so you absolutely own that process. You own it, you can do it in your sleep.

• 27:36Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 27:37Speaker 01

  And once you do that.

• 27:38Lewis Howes?

  It's the new normal.

• 27:39Speaker 01

  It's the new normal. It's exactly right. And at that point, you are truly worthy of the title, having arrived at your vision and at your ambition.

• 27:50Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 27:51Speaker 01

  Which then signals the beginning of stage six, which is adaptation. So now you've performed at the top. Now you've jumped off at the penthouse level with the big boys. So the leverage there is this, is that you believe now technically you can do anything at any time in line with your ambitions, because you can, because you've proven it to yourself through duplication. The other leverage point there is that you've got a lot of people looking at you that are very interested in your quality and your capacity, and may want to do business with you, because they know that they can bring something to you that can elevate your capacity with the snap of a finger, to take you to heights that you could never dream of. But their question is this, it's not about your talent or your technical skill, it's

• 28:36Speaker 01

  about you. And whether or not you can adapt to the pressures and the challenges of the acceleration of performing at the top. Right. So you've got a probationary period, where you've got to prove the merits that you're capable of dealing with that. And if you can't step up and into that and illustrate to people that you can handle the pressure at the top, then they're not going to invest in you. And then traditionally what happens is that a person's confidence erodes, or they do an act of desperation to try to get back something that they know is slipping away from them, or they mentally lock up and don't know what to do, or worse yet, they give up and they climb back down the wall to a level that they're comfortable with, that they used to be at.

• 29:20Speaker 01

  And ultimately, unfortunately, they throw away their legacy and their potential as a result of that. And it doesn't have to happen. But those people that can adapt to the top, because they have a team waiting for them when they get there, that knows what to do, and shows them the ropes where they develop that responsibility, have ultimately mastered the process of prolific peak performance. You look at the U2s, you look at the Michael Jordans, you look at the prolific business people, these are people that have risen to the responsibility of the top. And they've been able to perform at that level. They've gotten the support of other people that can catapult them to these stratospheric levels. And they've grown into it.

• 30:03Speaker 01

  And as a result of that, they've mastered the process of how do you duplicate prolific peak performance over the long term?

• 30:11Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 30:11Speaker 01

  And it's a skill that you learn. Seriously, you're not born with it. You know, our born instinct is to run for the exit.

• 30:17Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 30:18Speaker 01

  Or talk ourselves out of our potential.

• 30:19Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 30:20Speaker 01

  That's our born nature. But if we transcend that and we develop that mastery, then we have the ability to move into stage number six, which is actually what I call ride the wave. And what I mean by that is, if you look at U2, like every year they come out with a new platinum album, right? It's like, how do you guys do that? I mean, I don't get it. Well, it's because we apply the formula. We've mastered the art of prolific peak performance, so we duplicate the process.

• 30:48Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 30:48Speaker 01

  And we don't get greedy. We don't try to be on the main jet 24 hours a day going after every possible opportunity that comes along. We pace ourselves. We choose and we pick an ambition or a goal that resonates with us, that can contribute to our legacy. And we prepare for it, we perform and we capitalize on it, then we pause. We take a little bit of a rest and a breather, then we decide the next one. So we ride that wave. And ultimately, after enough successes at that level, then we complete a full and complete legacy that we leave behind as an example and a case study for other people on how you do it.

• 31:24Lewis Howes?

  Right. So that's it. So stage six is riding the wave?

• 31:27Speaker 01

  Yeah, stage five is actually, no, no, that stage seven is actually riding the wave.

• 31:33Lewis Howes?

  Riding the wave, got you. Okay, so stage six is adaptation.

• 31:36Speaker 01

  Is adaptation.

• 31:37Lewis Howes?

  Five is climbing the wall.

• 31:38Speaker 01

  Five is elevation.

• 31:40Lewis Howes?

  Elevation. Four is climbing the wall.

• 31:41Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 31:42Lewis Howes?

  Three is base.

• 31:43Speaker 01

  The base, you got it.

• 31:44Lewis Howes?

  Two is mindset.

• 31:45Speaker 01

  That's right.

• 31:46Lewis Howes?

  One is legacy.

• 31:46Speaker 01

  That's it.

• 31:47Lewis Howes?

  And seven is?

• 31:49Speaker 01

  Seven is riding the wave.

• 31:50Lewis Howes?

  Riding the wave, so sustaining it for the rest of your life.

• 31:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, just to think of this like a surfer, right? I mean, the surfer goes out, what he does before he goes to work, the night before, he checks the weather report, he checks the surf out. And if the surf looks good, then he shows up and he goes surfing. If the surf isn't good, then he doesn't go.

• 32:05Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 32:06Speaker 01

  And so, once he gets to the beach, if the surf looks good, then he waxes up the board, he puts on the sweatsuit, you know, and then he paddles his way out to that sweet spot where the waves meet, place to paddle and catch the waves. And he uses the least amount of effort possible to catch the wave. He doesn't struggle for it. And if he can't catch the wave easily, then he doesn't try. He pulls out and he waits for the right wave to come along.

• 32:30Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 32:31Speaker 01

  Just like we should. And if he catches the right wave, he doesn't try to bend the wave to his skill. He uses his skill to ride the wave. And he rides the wave as long as he can. And when the wave starts to lose momentum, then he pulls out and he paddles back out to begin the process again. And that's exactly what the prolific performers do, that create these massively successful legacies.

• 32:51Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, it's amazing.

• 32:52Speaker 01

  It's all by design. I mean, none of the stuff that happens is an accident.

• 32:55Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 32:56Speaker 01

  It's the very purposeful outcome of very deliberate strategies that are consistently applied.

• 33:00Lewis Howes?

  Who benefits from this the most? Mostly people in sports and business or?

• 33:05Speaker 01

  Well, everybody benefits. It's non-denominational. It could be in sports, it can be in business, it could be on stage, it could be at home.

• 33:12Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 33:12Speaker 01

  Because it's a model and it's a method about us as individuals. The technical side of that, whether it be Dr. Laurie and N N Chief, it kind of like doesn't matter. That's a technical skill. But this is about how we show up and how we make decisions to be able to carry momentum and avoid the potholes. So if we look at who benefits, well, number one, you know, we do because we are able to grow into our talents and we're able to create just a massively prosperous, passionate, productive life for ourselves. And part of that purpose is to be able to elevate our family and everybody else around us.

• 33:46Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 33:46Speaker 01

  To be able to elevate them to live in a way that they're passionate about and leaves tremendous value for themselves and for others. So it's a win-win across the board for everybody.

• 33:55Lewis Howes?

  Sure. Now, if I want to learn more about this, if someone listening wants to learn more about how they can apply the Champions Blueprint in their life, their business, relationships, what can they do? How can they get more access to this content? Because this is amazing.

• 34:07Speaker 01

  Yeah, well, thanks. You know, this is the real deal because it's proven itself to be. What it says it to be. It's truly a crystal ball and it's a roadmap on prolific performance. So there are two ways. Number one, my website, which is www.jeffspencer.com. It's right now in evolution. And then another way for those people that would like to submit an application to have a personal conversation with me, they can right now write me an email at [email protected]. [email protected].

• 34:40Lewis Howes?

  Cool. And do you have a book about this as well?

• 34:42Speaker 01

  I have a book that was written in 1998, which is called Turn It Up: How to Perform at Your Highest Level for a Lifetime, which was a precursor to The Champion's Blueprint. But it was really designed to be a resource to carry with you. You could open up to any page, you open up and you start reading and it may be that one thing that you need to hear that day as if the book knows what you need to know and it provides that for you. It speaks to you.

• 35:03Lewis Howes?

  I love that. I love that. Make sure to check out, well, make sure to check out your website because I'm sure you'll have more resources and information and content. But this is great stuff. When I first learned about it, probably eight months ago, I was like, this all makes sense. And it's definitely something I'm living my life by. So I appreciate you sharing with me.

• 35:22Speaker 01

  Easy to do. It's my pleasure. Thank you.

• 35:25Lewis Howes?

  And let's do, let's end with the final question that I like to ask everyone. And what is your definition of greatness?

• 35:31Speaker 01

  What is my definition of greatness? My definition of greatness is that you respect the talents that you're gifted with and you're obligated to grow those talents and build a life, a life platform based on them, to be able to mentorship back to other people, to help other people elevate their game. And when you've honored that within yourself and you've honored that to be able to elevate others, then you've lived a great life.

• 36:02Lewis Howes?

  Well said. I appreciate it. Dr. Jeff Spencer, thanks so much, my man.

• 36:06Speaker 01

  Always a pleasure, Louis. Forward and upwards and best of luck to everybody.

• 36:17Lewis Howes?

  There you have it, great. I hope you enjoyed today's episode with Dr. Jeff Spencer on the Champions Blueprint. All of the show notes and the info that we talked about in this episode is over on the website at schoolofgreatness.com. Be sure to head over there. And if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the entire podcast so you can get notified each and every time a new episode comes out, which is every week right now. Also, please share this with your friends. Go to schoolofgreatness.com and share this latest episode, or any episode, on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram. Let us know what you think of the podcast. How can we make it better for you? And if you have any recommendations

• 37:00Lewis Howes?

  for guests in the future, please shoot me an email. And there's a contact form over on the website. With that, guys, thanks so much for all your love and support. And remember, whatever it is you do today, make sure to do something great.