213 Q&A: The Most Impactful Lessons I've Learned So Far

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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 213 and you're entering the solo round live Q and A. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, 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?

  Welcome everyone to the School of Greatness podcast. I'm so excited that you're here listening and tuning in. This is episode number 213. Make sure to check out LewisHowes.com/213 for all the show notes and to share this with your friends online. And we're doing another Q and A. That's right. I've done a couple of these recently. And I asked you guys, do you want to hear more Q and A with me? Do you want me to share more of my specific feedback, my specific advice? And speak directly into your questions. And you tweeted me, you commented on Instagram and Facebook and you said, yes, we love this. So again, you have to let me know over on Twitter and everywhere online, if you do enjoy this, then please let me know.

• 1:14Lewis Howes?

  And I'll keep doing more of them on a consistent basis. I posted out a question today on Facebook and Twitter and said, we're doing another one of these. Post your questions if you want me to answer it. And I've just gone through a few of them. There's a lot to go through. And I'm going to try to go through a few that make sense and really connect it in some way with a theme here. So we're going to see who's asking questions. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to dive in to this Q and A and I'm very excited to see what your questions are. And I'm going to, I'm going to kind of go at random here. There's a couple at the top. I'll get a couple in the middle that I see on this thread. And then I'll do a couple at the bottom. So the first one is by Chris Diaz. So I'm going to reward the, the person who commented first with the question or with the answer.

• 2:00Lewis Howes?

  His name is Chris Diaz. Says, "What's the best advice for someone starting out trying to build their tribe?" This is a great question, Chris, and there's a lot of things I could say like using Periscope, or using Facebook, or Twitter, or building your platform online and using these different social media sites, things like that. But my best advice for starting out when you're trying to build your tribe is being different. Now, I had another guest on here, her name's Sally Hogshead, and she said, "Different is better than better." Different is better than better. And when she said that, I was like, "Yes, that resonates with me." It's not about trying to build an audience. That's not what it's about.

• 2:44Lewis Howes?

  It's about being unique, being different, standing out in a specific way in a specific industry. So, being different, but also mastering a specific skill. So, if you're a graphic designer, you want to be great at graphic design and really hone in on your skills and make sure you're at the top of your game, but be different than every other graphic designer out there. Same thing with social media experts. You know, you've got to learn your chops in social media, but don't try to be a social media expert. Be a specific expert in one area, and Periscope, Facebook, Twitter, wherever it may be. But also, there's so many other people talking about the same things, so you've got to do it in a different way. You've got to really express yourself in a different way.

• 3:26Lewis Howes?

  You've got to be true to yourself, share your authenticity online, and be unique. The more unique and different you are... I've got a friend of mine, Kirma, who has blue hair. She's got blue hair and she's different than everyone else online, right? She's got this blue hair, she's talking about all this stuff, and she's making a million dollars a year online because she's different and unique, and she's authentic to who she is, and she puts it out there in a powerful way. So, I would say, be yourself first, but be different. So, see what everyone else is doing and do it in a different way, but also mastering your skills and building your audience online through being different. So, Chris Diaz, that's question number one. Thank you for asking that. Here's Amelia Rose.

• 4:11Lewis Howes?

  She said, "Someone recently asked me this question and it conjured up some juicy thoughts on quality of life." So, here it is. "Would you rather live one life that lasts 1,000 years, or live 10 lives that last 100 years each?"

• 4:29Lewis Howes?

  Huh. Interesting question. Uh, I believe that I would rather live one life that lasts a thousand years if I could stay young and have energy and, uh, you know, a healthy body after year 100. But if I couldn't move and I was, you know, depressed for 900 years, I would take the other one, the 10 lives that last 100 years each. But if I could have kind of the fountain of youth, I would live one life for a thousand years because I feel like it would be so amazing to watch history and to see what I would be able to create and how much I would learn from one life as opposed to dying and having to learn it all over again. I feel like I would, I would love to be able to apply what I've

• 5:14Lewis Howes?

  learned and continue to reinvent myself. I'd be like the Madonna for a thousand years. Like every few years, I'd just reinvent myself. And I think that would be an interesting experience. Here's from Jessica Holcomb. How do you keep yourself positively inspired and motivated during overwhelming times in your life? Wow, Jessica, this probably couldn't have come at a more perfect time because right now I'm in the final editing stage of my book, uh, which comes out in a couple of months and it's been like completely overwhelming and stressful for me because it's something that I'm not great at. I'm not great at the smaller details of editing a book, uh, you know, as a dyslexic kid growing up who barely

• 5:56Lewis Howes?

  read and, and barely wrote anything earlier in my life. Uh, I just haven't been very good at being detailed and, you know, figuring out all these little minor things that need to happen with a book. So what's keeping me inspired and myself positively motivated during this overwhelming time is staying focused on my vision and also

• 6:23Lewis Howes?

  Creating sanity in my life by staying true to my rituals right now. So making sure that I get up every morning and workout. If I miss a workout in the morning, then it's going to be stressful throughout the day. And I'm going to feel lethargic and I'm going to feel lazy and I'm going to feel overwhelmed. But when I stick to my morning ritual of getting up, meditating, grounding myself, reconnecting to my vision every morning, setting my clear intentions of what I want to create, being grateful for the moment of what I have already and knowing that I've done so much and just acknowledging and accepting and being grateful for all these things. Working out, making my bed, making sure I shower.

• 7:04Lewis Howes?

  Like if I get that done, then I feel like the rest of the day is going to be good. If I just get up and start working and don't go through my rituals and my habits that have gotten to me where I am, then I'm going to start stepping back, losing sleep, not being focused throughout the day, and that's going to be challenging. So surrounding myself, I would say with good friends, taking moments also to give myself a break, even when I'm stressed out, to give myself a break. Sleeping, getting enough sleep, and also the hour morning ritual of those good habits that I've formed. So that's how I keep myself positively inspired and motivated during overwhelm.

• 7:48Lewis Howes?

  Ariel Cardenas said, "What's the best advice you could give to someone who wants to move to a big city and it scares them to death?" Interesting, because I moved to a big city when I was living in Columbus, Ohio, and I was starting to make a little bit of money. And I moved to New York City because I had a dream. I had a dream to play in the Olympics. And New York City had the New York City team handball team that was the national champions for multiple years. And I said, "If I want to go be on the USA national team, I've got to go play with the best club team first." And New York was that team. And I was terrified. I had this like dream to go there for about a year and a half and I was terrified.

• 8:33Lewis Howes?

  But I remember saying to myself, "If I don't go, I'll always regret," wondering what if. What could have happened, what might have happened had I gone and had I tried this? And I remember being terrified because I was paying $495 a month in rent in Columbus, Ohio. And when I moved to New York City, I went for one month. I was like, I'm gonna try this for a month and see what happens. And I found an apartment in Nolita, near Soho in Manhattan, that was 2,700 bucks for the first month. And I remember thinking to myself, this is like six months of rent in Columbus, Ohio for one month. I cannot believe I'm writing this check and handing this over to this person.

• 9:16Lewis Howes?

  And it terrified me to go there. I went there for one month first, so I didn't move like all out. I didn't say I'm moving my life. I just went for one month to test it out. And the money terrified me, but I was like, this is a test and I can always go back if I don't feel comfortable. And after the first week of being in that city, the apartment, the time in my life, I realized like, I can't go back. Like the energy, the excitement, the passion, the opportunities that I created within that first month blew me away. And then I moved into another place for six months that was $3,500 a month. And I couldn't believe the first time I wrote a check for $3,500, I was like, I cannot believe I'm doing this.

• 10:01Lewis Howes?

  This is insane. But then every day after that, I'd wake up and felt more alive than I'd ever felt in my life, felt more connected to my mission, felt like I was around people who got it. And it was totally worth it. Here's what it did. It made me step up. It made me step up to a level of, I'm gonna have to, I'm gonna work harder and work smarter to make sure that this money doesn't even matter. Like I'm gonna make 10 times more money because I'm being cultivated in this environment, in this experience, this energy, this... This like blood flow, like there was such this flow of energy that I am going to figure it out and I'm gonna make it happen and it's gonna make me step up to a whole nother level

• 10:45Lewis Howes?

  because of it. So I would say, give yourself like a test, say, okay, I'm gonna go for a month and um, and then figure it out along the way and you'll see, does this work for me or not? But give yourself a real chance, even if it scares you to death, go for it because you'll always be thinking, what if I didn't go? You'll always be regretting it. Lisa Zante says, what individual in your life has been the most inspiring and why? Hmm, that's a, that's a challenging one for me because in different stages in my life, I've had so many different inspiring people. You know, even now, I'm so inspired by new friends that I meet on a daily basis, new mentors. Uh, but I would say, the person

• 11:29Lewis Howes?

  that came to mind when you said that, would be my brother, Christian House, because when I was a kid, he was my hero and then he went to prison for four years, actually, four and a half years. And we did a two-part episode on the podcast. Um, I'll have that linked up here in the show notes of my episodes with Christian House. And he went to prison for a number of years and that was a challenging time for me and my family. But when he got out of prison, that's what inspired me the most is how he transformed his life, how he transformed his relationships. Uh, you know, he has a family now, two kids, he teaches,

• 12:10Lewis Howes?

  he taught at a university of Berklee School of Music, he teaches to kids all around the world and workshops and has a festival where violinists come and learn from him. He's like, he's one of the top jazz violinists in the world. And he has transformed his life, built his business, he helps so many people constantly. And so he has been a huge inspiration to me because he hit rock bottom. Like, think about going to prison, that's pretty much the worst thing that anyone could do, you would think, is like having to experience going to prison. Would be the most shameful, most guilty feeling, most unworthy feeling, I would think,

• 12:52Lewis Howes?

  being locked up and incarcerated and then coming out feeling grateful, not being mad about the situation, but being grateful for the experience you have and then making an incredible life afterwards and setting the example. For me, that's what's really powerful. Adam Siddique, I believe your last name is Siddique, said, "What's been the greatest gift or gifts you've ever received in your life and how do they make you who you are today?" Huh, interesting question. Greatest gifts you've ever received in your life and how they make you who you are today? I would say some of the greatest gifts I've received are lessons. And that may not be

• 13:31Lewis Howes?

  the answer you wanted to hear, but the lessons are powerful. One that just came to mind is my dad, a powerful lesson is my dad would never celebrate birthdays growing up. So I never, you know, had cake. I never had a party on my birthday growing up and I never understood it. I was always kind of upset why my dad wouldn't let me celebrate my birthday, why we'd never had friends over, things like that. When I would always go to other people's birthday parties, he was always happy with me doing that. But when it came to my birthday party, he said, you know, it's not something we do. And I didn't understand why for years. I was just kind of like, okay, well, I guess I just don't celebrate my birthday. And later

• 14:13Lewis Howes?

  he told me, you know, "I'd never want you to be limited by your age. I never want you to be limited by your age. And I always want you to know that any dream you have is possible to achieve, no matter how young, how old you are, no matter how inexperienced you may be, or what level of your life you're at. There is no dream that is impossible for you to achieve." And for me, that was one of the most powerful, inspiring gifts I've ever received was that lesson and many other lessons my father taught me and mentors have taught me because they're lessons of inspiration and possibility to live the life I've always wanted to live,

• 14:58Lewis Howes?

  to live the life of my dreams and knowing that I can have anything I want. I can experience anything I want and I don't need to be limited by anything in order to achieve them. So hopefully, Adam, that answers your question.

• 15:14Lewis Howes?

  Here's one from Shanae Gourvara who says, "Is Periscope beneficial for every business?" That's a great question for all you Periscopers out there. Is Periscope beneficial for every business?

• 15:33Lewis Howes?

  I would say that it's beneficial right now. I don't know enough about it. I would say it's beneficial right now for every individual who has a business. I think it's hard, if you're like a huge corporation that doesn't have someone that's kind of ambassador for the corporation, if you're just like a brand name with no ambassador on your team or no one who's willing to speak and answer questions, then it's gonna be harder for you. So you've got to have someone in your company that is willing to get on camera and be a resource for your brand or your company. I think it's really helpful for a lot of entrepreneurs, solo entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, actors,

• 16:17Lewis Howes?

  graphic designers, freelancers, coaches, authors, consultants. I believe it's powerful for those people because you're building a connection one to many, right? You're building connection and it's a personal intimate connection. So if you are trying to be this big corporate brand with someone buttoned up who's like, "Let me just tell you about our brand," I don't think it's gonna really be beneficial for you. It might be cool that you're creating a presence on there, but I think, again, you want to be different, not better. So different is better than better. So you've got to have someone on your team who's willing to get in there and be unique, be interesting, connect to the message of the brand with their own personality and create that relationship with the audience.

• 16:59Lewis Howes?

  Because you're creating a relationship with some person. So I would say that it is very beneficial for lots of businesses if you're willing to do it the right way. In fact, I've been talking about the different ways to make money on Periscope as I've already been selling a ton of books. I do a daily in the morning, I'm doing a hashtag "Scope of Greatness," which is a 10-minute inspiration every morning. So if you're You're not following me yet on Periscope, make sure to go there, @lewishouse on Periscope. Check me out. I do a daily morning hashtag #scopeofgreatness, which is a 10-minute inspiration to get you ready for your day, inspired to take action. I do a lot of messages from my book,

• 17:43Lewis Howes?

  The School of Greatness, which is coming out October 27th. Make sure to go to greatnessbook.com and preorder a copy right now and get on the Ambassador Street Team list to support. And I do those daily messages to get people inspired to take action. #scopeofgreatness there. Then I do a nightly bedtime banter is what I call it. #bedtimebanter. And on this nightly Periscope session for about 10-15 minutes, I talk about all the things I learned throughout the day. So I'm interviewing some of the most inspiring people throughout the day from my podcast. I'm doing phone calls with billionaires. I'm connecting with influencers and inspiring people. And then I share the recap of, here's the biggest lesson I learned

• 18:28Lewis Howes?

  today. Here's what you can take out of it. Here's what you can take action for tomorrow. And so for me, I find it very powerful. I've made money by selling a ton of books. I've been selling courses on there. I did a tip jar with my brother. We were playing violin and guitar and I said, for anyone that wants to request a song, donate $25 to my PayPal. And we made $125 in like 25 minutes. So with like 50 people on at night. So it's a very powerful way to build your business and it's still like so young and new that I believe you can really leverage it in a powerful way if you start building your audience right

• 19:07Lewis Howes?

  now. Donna Hare says, what do you consider to be your greatest achievement? What other achievements do you yearn to accomplish?

• 19:19Lewis Howes?

  I'll tell you what, I've been, you know, driven by achievements my entire young life, I would say. And I achieved so many dreams when I was a kid. And my dream was to, you know, be an all-American athlete. I was that in two sports. My dream was also to be a pro athlete. I got to do that in football. My dream was to be an Olympian. I haven't achieved that yet, but that's still a dream of mine. I would say my biggest accomplishment in terms of like, sports dreams that I had as a kid would be making the USA national team and representing my country. I mean, there's, there's nothing that's been more rewarding for me as an athlete, as a kid with a big dream as an athlete,

• 20:03Lewis Howes?

  to wear USA across my chest. And before every game, get to sing the national anthem and compete against other countries. I mean, for me to represent my country, something I'm so proud of, being born from the US, knowing how blessed and lucky I was to be born here when so many people struggled just by being born in other countries around the world. I'm like so grateful and blessed to have, yes, I had adversity and I was, you know, my brother was in prison, so I couldn't have friends and I was dyslexic and all these other, and I was sexually abused as a kid and I had all these other struggles. But being born in the USA

• 20:48Lewis Howes?

  gave me that much more of an advantage, even with all this turmoil that I was facing and inner battles and struggles. As a kid, I was still born in the USA and I was still born in a predominantly white, middle-class neighborhood. And that alone gives me such an advantage. And I was dealt a certain hand of cards. And from that, I was able to create what I have now. Now, never did I imagine in my wildest dreams that a kid from Delaware, Ohio, farm town, Ohio, would be able to do what I've done. Like every time I interview some, some new guests, that's this world renowned this, this number one New York Times bestselling author, this celebrity, I'm like, is this real life?

• 21:32Lewis Howes?

  I am so like in awe of what has happened and I'm so grateful and blessed. So I'd say my greatest achievement is representing my country. Um, and what other achievements do I yearn to accomplish? I would also say that my, my greatest achievement now is how many people I get to serve on a daily basis through this podcast, through my content, through my speaking, through my books that's coming out, through all the things I do. I'm so grateful and proud of being able to share my information and serve people in a powerful way and share, give access to people to information that they wouldn't have access to by interviewing these top, uh, minds and influencers. And so I'm very proud of those accomplishments.

• 22:17Lewis Howes?

  I would say the, the thing that I really want to yearn as an accomplishment, as like a thing would be, uh, to be a number one, number one New York Times bestselling author. And for me, that would be, you know, the ultimate as an author, that would be the ultimate accomplishment is hitting that number one New York Times bestseller mark. So that's what I'm going after now. I'm doing everything in my power to make that a possibility for myself. Okay. Next question. What's the biggest aha moment that you had in the last six months from Michael Sorio? Biggest aha moment I had in the last six months. You know, I don't know

• 23:00Lewis Howes?

  if this is an aha moment or just a moment of constant reminder to myself, constant reminder to myself, because sometimes I forget this aha moment. Sometimes I forget is to always be unapologetically myself and to follow my intuition.

• 23:21Lewis Howes?

  To trust my intuition with where I'm at in my life. It may not be right, it may be the wrong move in that moment. Um, it may upset people. But if I don't trust my gut and my instincts, then I'll be upsetting myself even more down the line. So always trusting my, my intuition, my gut, my instincts, even if it means it's going to create pain or piss people off or let people down. But if I don't trust it and go with it, I'm going to be letting myself down even more. And I'm the one who has to live with that for the rest of my life. So that's what I would say there, Michael Sorrio. Thank you for that.

• 24:03Lewis Howes?

  Paul O'Neill says, when you can't afford a team yet, what's your best advice for when it is just you doing everything? Hmm, that's a good question, Paul. Cause the first couple of years when I was doing this, I was doing it all myself, hustling, getting out of shape, eating bad foods, just on the computer all day, up all night. Cause I was just fricking hustling, man. I was just trying to make some cash to get off my sister's couch. What I would say is it's tough because it all depends on your situation and where you're at. And if you have money coming in or if you're broke. But I would say, uh, if you can't afford a team, I would try to find a team or at least a partner

• 24:47Lewis Howes?

  to come on board with you and split some of the expenses and also the profits. So for me, I didn't have anything really early on and I brought on a partner. And it, I wouldn't have been able to build a business as fast as I did without him. Um, I ended up selling the company to him after a few years. We had grown, we were making about two and a half million a year for a couple of years back to back. Um, and then I felt like we were going in different directions. We had different visions. And so part of me was like, ah, well, should I have just done this on my own in the beginning and, and made it work? But really there were certain things that he brought to the table that I needed

• 25:27Lewis Howes?

  in order to get to a certain level myself where I could then use the money, reinvest it and, and go my own way. Um, so having a partner at that time was really powerful for me to do specific things because I would have been probably more challenged at making them happen or having to find someone else or pay someone else to make it happen. So I would find someone who could complement you with the things you're not good at. Let's do two or three more questions. See how I can see what other questions we have here. Kendall Crane says, "When are we going to hang out?" Kendall, I'm not sure where you live, but I will be doing a book tour soon. When my book comes out, I'll be doing 13 or 14 different cities all around the US, and I'll be going to Montreal.

• 26:12Lewis Howes?

  So, go to greatnessbook.com and opt in there, because I'll be announcing all the dates for when I'm going on tour. And I would love to hang out with you and hang out with all of you who listen on this tour. So make sure to sign up at greatnessbook.com to learn about when we can hang out. Matt Bailey said, "What's the number one piece of advice you've received and continuously make and continuously makes an impact on how you face each day?" Man, these are some good questions this time, guys. Number one piece of advice you've received and continuously make, and that continuously makes an impact on how you face each day. Man, I'm feeling like stumped right now.

• 26:54Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, I would have to go, I don't know if this is a powerful enough answer for you, but I'd have to go back to what I just kind of said previously, which is to trust my instincts and to trust my gut. Because when I do trust my instincts and my gut, things work out in a powerful way. When I don't trust it, things usually start to hurt me in a negative way. So I would say trusting my gut continuously makes an impact on how I face each day. Jennifer Marie says, "Talk about what actually happens internally when you go from five figures to six figures, and then six figures to seven figures and beyond with your business. How does it feel, look different, etc., just in terms of your story?"

• 27:39Lewis Howes?

  Interesting, okay. Talk about how this works internally, yeah. She went on a little bit more here, so I will speak into this. What happens internally when you go from five to six figures and six to seven beyond your business? How does it feel looking different? I'll tell you what, it feels great. First off, when you go from five figures to six, six figures to seven, it feels a lot better because you're seeing growth, you're seeing improvement, you're seeing what you're doing is paying off. Now, how does it look different? It looks different, but usually because of one or two things. It could either mean more stress and headache and time and energy of you working harder to get to that level. And essentially, you're probably gonna need to work harder and hustle at some point to get from five to six and six to seven,

• 28:24Lewis Howes?

  before you can automate things and make it easier and less demanding on you. The challenge is building a team. Usually, when you get to seven-figure mark, it's not you alone anymore. You've got other people on your team, you've got accountants, you've got customer support, you've got project managers, you've got content marketers, whatever it may be. You're bringing in specialists to apply certain things to your business, right? You're bringing in more team to help you with the workloads that you can grow. So from that point, it's a whole nother game. It's a whole nother learning curve. Okay, now managing people's energy, managing their time, systematizing. How to handle it if someone wants to leave, then what do you do? You have to hire people. So it's a whole different game.

• 29:08Lewis Howes?

  It's not like running your own business anymore with just you, trying to market your product and serve your clients or customers. It's like managing the business of managing a business, right? It's like a whole nother aspect on a whole different level. So you might think you've like figured it out. You're like, I've got the six figures now, I just gotta keep doing the same thing. I gotta hire people and then it'll automatically grow. But that's not the case. You've gotta actually put more time into developing your own skills at that level in understanding people with emotional intelligence, with managing energy, with connecting to their vision and making sure you're both aligned. So there's a whole nother level that happens. But in order to scale your business, you've gotta scale your team. And that's important, and it's important in finding A-team players,

• 29:53Lewis Howes?

  giving them, making sure they're accountable, giving them some type of ownership experience in your business or what they're doing, making them own it and making sure that they're growing with you. Because if they're not gonna grow, they're gonna be bored, or they're gonna be tired, or they're gonna wanna do something else. So that's what I would say there. Brett Jones, I will finish with these final two questions. Brett Jones says, are we directly responsible for killing our own momentum? I would say yes, we are directly responsible for killing our own momentum. Now, sometimes there are circumstances that are outside of our, let's say, capabilities.

• 30:37Lewis Howes?

  There are circumstances that may happen. So, our business may be thriving, but then for some reason we go bankrupt because we can't pay payroll, because we don't have enough money coming in yet from accounts receivable or something. So, we've got to end it. So, and sometimes there's circumstances that are holding us back, but we are ultimately the ones responsible for getting to that place in the first place. So, we're always responsible for killing our own momentum. And if anything, the momentum lies in our energy and how much energy we're putting out there and what we're creating, what we're building. And that momentum is also a lot to do with our brand. As we're speaking about entrepreneurs, it's a lot to do with our relationships that we create with people. It's the brand we put out there.

• 31:21Lewis Howes?

  And if we are not managing our relationships well and managing our brand with our business and what the world perceives us as, then if one wrong thing happens and puts us out, it's going to be hard to continue the momentum. But if we've managed our brand well, if we've done good by other people, if we've created great value for people, then that momentum can continue even if there's adversity, even if there's breakdowns or things happening or struggles or stresses. We can continue to build that momentum even through the adversity. Hmm, okay, final question here. We've got a lot of other great questions coming through here. I mean, so many good questions, so I appreciate everyone asking your questions.

• 32:04Lewis Howes?

  And I'm just going to read the last one that came here. We'll do another one of these again soon, but let me read this last question. Lawrence Joshua Morales said, Louis, it's been around 30 years that you've been living in this world. It's actually 32. Does your personal mission and passion change through time? Absolutely, 100% yes. So, when I was a kid... I literally just wanted to like get through class to recess like that was my mission, right? Or, you know, before I was like in eighth grade, I just wanted to kiss a girl, you know, that was like my mission. In high school, I wanted to be a great athlete, all state and everything I played.

• 32:47Lewis Howes?

  And then I wanted to get a scholarship. When I was in college, I wanted to graduate and be a professional athlete. Once I got injured and I was on my sister's couch, my vision was to make enough money to get off my sister's couch. It continues to evolve over time at each stage, each time I achieve my vision, I've got to create a new vision. Or if my vision no longer matters to me anymore, I've got to create a new vision. Otherwise, I'm walking through life without any direction and I'm gonna get the scraps that are left over that other people didn't want from their vision, right? I'm gonna get the scraps of life. If I'm not clear on my vision, if I'm not following it and going powerfully towards my vision, I'm gonna get scraps.

• 33:32Lewis Howes?

  I'm gonna be confused, I'm gonna be upset, I'm gonna be a victim. Why is the world giving me this? Why am I in breakdown? Why am I unhealthy? Why am I having these injuries? Why am I not making any money? Why did I lose my job? It's because I don't have a vision and I'm not a powerful enough human being to be um, consistent with my vision and to be clear on my vision. So the vision for me and the personal mission and passion changes through time, absolutely. And that's okay. If you lose your vision or if you're not, if you don't want to go after it anymore, if your ideal of a business is no longer fun for you, it's okay to end it. If you're not passionate about it, if it's not the most important thing to you, you should find a new vision.

• 34:15Lewis Howes?

  And in my book, in the first chapter, actually, I have a whole chapter that is about vision. And I have exercises at the end of this first chapter in the School of Greatness book that shows you exactly how to discover a vision if you don't know what it is. Shows you exactly how to fulfill that vision by taking the action steps. I create the exercises and the game plan for you to fill out so that you're so clear on how to achieve your vision. And this is coming from a guy that has a lot of practice on setting goals and achieving big dreams. I've done it because that was my focus on achievement. And the achievements were never fulfilling for me up to my twenties because it was always from a place of proving

• 34:57Lewis Howes?

  people wrong, or doing it for ego, or for my own, to make myself look good. It was never for a higher purpose to achieve these visions. Now my visions are based on a higher purpose, so they're very fulfilling when I achieve them. But speaking from a guy who's, you know, achieved a lot, right? I've achieved a lot in sports and business. I know what it takes to get to that point. So make sure to check out the book, go to greatnessbook.com to learn how to discover and create a powerful vision, and to follow and see that vision all the way through. And that is the final question. So, I want to acknowledge you all,

• 35:40Lewis Howes?

  since you're the ones who asked me this question. I want to acknowledge you all for asking such beautiful thoughtful questions. Everyone that I said your name to, thank you guys so much. And it really means a lot to me that you continue to listen, that you continue to show up in a powerful way, that you apply what I'm sharing on these solo episodes on the School of Greatness Podcast, that you apply what my guests share. Again, my mission is to bring the most inspiring people in the world who've had the most incredible experiences, who've lived essentially 10 different lifetimes in their own lifetime, to give you the wisdom that they've experienced. And to,

• 36:24Lewis Howes?

  my goal is to become better and better as an interviewer every single time I get in front of someone, and be intuitive about what is the real thing I want to know? What's the question that's really going to open them up and create possibility? For people who are listening, great possibility for me. You know, I'm doing this in a selfish way to get access so I can learn, so I can grow. For me, school was never fun for me because I wasn't able to learn in a powerful way. This podcast and interviewing people one-on-one allows me a different playground, a different school format where I can learn in a way that works for me and allows me to take action in a powerful way. Thank you again, everyone, for being here.

• 37:08Lewis Howes?

  Share this with your friends, lewishouse.com/213. Post it on social media. Email your friends if you found any of this information insightful or useful, and it would mean the world to me. Thanks again to our sponsor, OnIt.com. Make sure to check out greatnessbook.com or go to your mobile phone and text the word greatness to 33444. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.