226 The Power of Disconnection

"We forget to connect to what really matters, which is ourselves." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/226. 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?

  This is Five Minute Friday, episode number 226. And it's all about the power of disconnection.

• 0:13Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone to this episode. I just got back from four days in the island of Kauai. Without a phone, without my computer, and without any electronics. I packed my bag, I went there, had four days in a waterfall. Uh, jumping off cliffs into pools of water, swimming in the ocean, hiking the coastline, hanging out with friends, eating food, taking a jeep all around the island by myself. I went on a solo vacation by myself, without my phone, for the first time in 15 years, since I've had a cellphone.

• 0:55Lewis Howes?

  First time in 15 years that I did not have my phone on me for more than a day. And let me tell you, it was liberating. And I want to talk about the power of disconnecting and disconnection. You know, we're always so connected to our phones and our electronics, that we forget to connect to ourselves and to the world and to human beings and to our visions. We're constantly checking our phone, checking email, looking down at the screen, hunching over our backs at the computer. But we forget to connect to what's really matters, and that's ourselves. And I'll tell you what, I was scared. My, my team gave me the challenge.

• 1:40Lewis Howes?

  I was gonna go and take my phone and just turn it off on airplane mode. But my, uh, my buddy Matt said, "No, you should leave it here." And it made me scared. It made me thinking like, "Oh my gosh, I don't think I could do that for four days, not have my phone on me." You know, I live with my phone. You know, it's something that I'm constantly checking. I get a phone calls. Uh, you know, what if someone texts me and something happens? What if I can't find my way around? I need a GPS, I need Google Maps, I need all these things. And I said, "You know what? Since this scares me, it probably means..." Into something I should do because I've been relying relying on it and I haven't been able to connect to myself. And I've been doing so much work with this book launch. It's been, uh, you know, four, five, six interviews a day for the press, for media, for podcasts, for webinars.

• 2:25Lewis Howes?

  To release around the launch of my book in October 27th. That I realize that's not going to slow down anytime soon. We're getting more and more interviews coming up. More press, more travel, you know, we're doing a book launch, a book tour. All these different things are happening for the rest of the year. And I realized if I keep doing this and I'm just constantly connecting to my phone and the computer without connecting to myself. Then I'm probably going to crash and burn and I'm not going to be taking care of my health. So I booked a flight, packed my bag and went. And I tell you what, it was the most incredible thing I've done. It made me want to stay longer. It made me want to, you know, it makes me want to do this every few months and take a week where I literally don't have my phone on me.

• 3:10Lewis Howes?

  Don't have my computer with me and completely disconnect from the things that I'm connected to the most. Um, that served me in a lot of ways. They build my business, you know, I'm able to do great things with them. I'm able to talk to my friends and family. I'm able to look at video of people. All these different things are great. But when we become reliant on it, when we aren't able to go one day without checking our phone. That means our electronics, our phones, they have the power over us as opposed to we having the power over them. So I want to give you guys a challenge. I want you to sometime within the next few months. Before the end of this year, to allow yourself to go on a digital detox disconnection, period.

• 3:56Lewis Howes?

  And that means it could be 24 hours. I'm going to give you a minimum of 24 hours where you have no connection to your phone. You don't even have it with you. You actually put it in a different place and you never touch it for 24 hours. No computer for 24 hours. Uh, so nothing where you log into anything, no iPad. Nothing where you log into a digital connection for. Anything for a minimum of 24 hours. I recommend doing it, you know, a full weekend or even a full week if you want to get crazy. But give yourself that opportunity and when you do this, don't just sit around and watch TV all day and be inside. Do this where you go on a hike all day, you're in the ocean, you're out with friends, you're in nature.

• 4:41Lewis Howes?

  You're doing something where you're connecting to yourself. You know, I took a book and a journal and I was gonna write in the journal every single day and I was gonna read my book. Because I thought I was gonna be by myself a lot. But what I found is that I really enjoyed being around other people and just connecting like humans do. And like we used to do before we had cell phones, before we had that vibration in our pants constantly from the phone. Vibrating and ringing and checking and now we have Apple watches where we're constantly getting vibrated on our wrists and looking down on our, our wrists constantly. So disconnect from the things you're connected to the most. Disconnect for a minimum of 24 hours.

• 5:22Lewis Howes?

  Give yourself the weekend or the week if you want to really dive into this challenge. Plan it sometime in the next few months before the end of the year. I'm telling you, you're gonna have to schedule this and say, okay, this is the weekend I'm gonna disconnect. And tell me how you feel. If you've done this before in the past, then post a comment below in this, this post at lewishouse.com/226. Go there and post a comment below and let me know what opened up for you when you did disconnect. How did you feel? Did you feel like you needed to get on your phone and check things? Were you freaked out or did you feel more relaxed? And if you haven't yet done it, then post below in a comment of when you're going to do this. What you plan to do during that time instead of being connected to your phone or your computer.

• 6:07Lewis Howes?

  And let me know. I would love to hear your responses when you do this. Stay connected to me and let me know when you're done. Because I'm excited to hear about the incredible breakthroughs you'll have. When you connect to yourself, your friends and the world without being connected to your devices.

• 6:30Lewis Howes?

  This is Five Minute Friday, guys. Thank you so much for being here. We do this every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Thank you, guys, so much. Share this with your friends. If you have a friend who is always connected to their devices, share this with them. LewisHowes.com/226. If this is your first time listening to this podcast, thank you so much for showing up. It means the world to me. Make sure to subscribe over on iTunes. And if you are a regular on the podcast, then you guys are incredible. I love you. You're the reason why I continue to do this. So, thank you so much. And I'll leave it at that, guys. This is my message to you.

• 7:10Lewis Howes?

  Make sure to connect to yourself and get disconnected from your devices from time to time. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.