194 Don't Be Perfect, Be Patient

"Don't try to be perfect. Just do your best." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at lewishowes.com/194. 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.

• 0:02Lewis Howes?

  Five Minute Friday, episode number 194. Don't be perfect, be patient.

• 0:12Lewis Howes?

  I saw a quote earlier today by a guy named Ray Bradbury from The Illustrated Man. He said, "We're all fools, all the time. It's just we're a different kind each day. We think, 'I'm not a fool today. I've learned my lesson. I was a fool yesterday, but not this morning.'" Then tomorrow, we find out that, yes, we were a fool today, too. I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we're not perfect and lived accordingly. So, I've been going through a little bit of emotional challenges, inner turmoil, some confusion, frustration, and experiencing a lot of fear lately.

• 0:54Lewis Howes?

  And I realized it's because I've been putting so much on myself. I've been putting so much of having to look good and be perfect and say the right things in relationships and do what I'm supposed to do and do what other people want me to do and, you know, feel like in order to fulfill something I'm supposed to be here to do, that I've got to, that I'm obligated to follow through on certain things. And I've just been experiencing a lot of inner turmoil and conflict. And I don't know if anyone's ever experienced this, where you're, you feel like you want to do something great.

• 1:34Lewis Howes?

  You feel like you want to be great, be perfect at something, relationships, your career, your business, you want it to look a certain way, and you feel like you've got to continue doing things a certain way to please others and to...

• 1:51Lewis Howes?

  Again, not look like you're not perfect. And lately, I have not been perfect. I've been the opposite in a lot of ways. And I have been beating myself up because of it. And, you know, it's been a challenge because, you know, I don't want others to know that about me. I don't want others to know that. Um, you know, I don't have it all figured out, but honestly, I feel like I have things figured out less and less each day. And I feel like the more I know, the more I realize that there's so much more to be learned and so much more to understand. And I want to tell you guys that it's okay if you're not perfect. It's okay if you don't have it all figured out.

• 2:36Lewis Howes?

  It's okay if you make mistakes and if you mess up royally. And it's okay if you're feeling hurt or frustrated or you're experiencing some type of pain or confusion or if you're stressed out or you're uncertain or you're unclear. It's okay. You don't need to be perfect. You just gotta be patient with yourself. You gotta be patient with yourself. And I was at a talk the other night with Rob Bell. He was giving a talk here in Los Angeles and he was on the podcast previously. And I had an incredible time listening to him and interviewing him. And during this talk, you know, he talked about, he talked about a lot of things. And I recommend going to check out his tour if he comes to a city near you.

• 3:21Lewis Howes?

  But he was mentioning about how the universe is made up of roughly 94% dark matter. And scientists say that this dark matter, these black holes and all this matter in the universe, they don't really know what it is and they don't know why it's there. But they know that the universe, the world, us, would not be able to survive and thrive without 94% of the universe being dark matter. And he made this correlation with our lives. You know, there's all these things that we, that confuse us or that these, these really horrible things that have happened to us in our childhoods or our past. And our families passed and our grandparents, there's been wars, there's always something

• 4:06Lewis Howes?

  that seems like it's this dark matter in our lives, this darkness, this uncertainty, this unclear feeling. And it can be extremely scary and unsettling and emotionally traumatic, at least I speak for myself, when that is the case for me sometimes. And sometimes it seems like it's so overwhelming and that all I want to do is curl up in a ball and cry and not want to see anyone or do anything ever again. You know, there's times where it feels like that. And again, I don't know if you can relate to that feeling or if you've ever experienced that. But when he, he referenced it to our lives, you know, he said, the universe is made up of 94% dark matter, but we would not be able to thrive without that, even though we don't know what it is, we know that we would not be able to thrive without it being there.

• 4:51Lewis Howes?

  And even though we don't know why this, these experiences happen to us and why there's uncertainty and why there's pain and suffering and frustration, even though we don't know why we experience that in our lives, we know when we tell people and we reflect back on it, that we would not be where we are today without that dark matter in our lives, without that uncertainty, that unclearness, that trauma, that experience when we are children, that was traumatic, but it actually shaped us into being the loving human beings we are today and having the gifts that we have today and serving others the way we serve today. So take a moment today and recognize that there's going to be dark matter in your life.

• 5:36Lewis Howes?

  There's been dark matter and it's probably going to continue to be dark matter. And it's okay, because you don't have to be perfect. You do not have to be perfect. You just need to be patient with yourself, continue to ask the questions, continue to expand yourself, to grow, to serve others, to live bigger, to think bigger, to deepen your humility, your gratitude, and do the best you can today. That's it. Don't try to be perfect today, just try to give your best and be patient with yourself.

• 6:16Lewis Howes?

  This is Five Minute Fridays, guys. I hope you enjoyed this and thank you so much for listening. We do this every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Every Monday and Wednesday, we've got powerful interviews where my goal is to bring you some of the most inspiring human beings in the world to educate and share their stories and give you some inspiration about how to achieve greatness in your life. On Fridays, I do this. I give a five-minute, roughly five-minute message, which I like to share and share what's opening up for me in my life. And my goal is to bring you some clarity, or some perspective, or some inspiration for the day. I hope you enjoyed this. If you did, please share it with your friends

• 6:59Lewis Howes?

  over on Facebook or Twitter, or anywhere on social media. Email a friend, you know, tell a friend in the next conversation that you have that you're listening to the School of Greatness podcast, and have them download it on their phones and check it out. It's because of you that I'm able to do this. It's because of you that I'm able to build a community and share these interviews and these episodes with people. So, thank you for what you do. Also, if anyone is interested in getting my new book, which comes out later this year, and getting some behind-the-scenes bonuses and episodes and interviews that I'm not going to be sharing anywhere else, then go ahead and open up your mobile phone

• 7:37Lewis Howes?

  right now and text the word GREATNESS to 33444. That's 33444. And if you're international and you're not in the US, then you can go to greatnessbook.com and sign up there. I love you, guys. Thank you, guys, very much for listening to this episode of Five Minute Fridays. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.