255 How to Achieve Goals & Celebrate Along the Way

“Create celebration every single day with small victories.” - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/255 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 255 on the New York Times Bestseller Recap and the Power of Goals.

• 0:08Lewis Howes?

  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.

• 0:34Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone to this episode. Very excited about this. Just got back from Summit at Sea Semester, not Semester at Sea, but Summit at Sea. Why was I thinking Semester at Sea?

• 0:44Speaker 01

  It felt like a semester with all the content.

• 0:46Lewis Howes?

  Oh my gosh, it felt like it. And I saw Adam Braun, who was there, and he was at Semester at Sea and actually almost like, didn't make it back, like the ship almost sank or something. It was like insane. So I just had a conversation with him late last night and it made me think about it. And I'm sitting here with my buddy Caduce, who is my roommate for the Semester at Sea, for Summit at Sea. And we just got off. That's how tired we are.

• 1:11Speaker 01

  Yeah, sleep deprivation is very evident right now.

• 1:13Lewis Howes?

  We didn't sleep. We had incredible time. And I asked Caduce to come on and introduce me to you guys for doing a recap of what happened in the last couple of weeks.

• 1:26Speaker 01

  Should we get some coffee right now?

• 1:27Lewis Howes?

  I'm so out of it.

• 1:28Speaker 01

  Get some coffee.

• 1:28Lewis Howes?

  I'm so out of it.

• 1:29Speaker 01

  We are right now in a lobby of a hotel and I think they could serve us some coffee and they should.

• 1:34Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, exactly. And I wanted to have him come on because we actually didn't even see each other the match in the last three days.

• 1:40Speaker 01

  The irony.

• 1:41Lewis Howes?

  We were rooming together and we saw each other at like 9:00 AM. We were both waking up like, hey, how was last night?

• 1:49Speaker 01

  Meanwhile, you had been dancing until about 3:00 or 4:00 AM.

• 1:52Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 1:53Speaker 01

  And I felt like the grandpapa of the ship.

• 1:55Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 1:55Speaker 01

  Going to bed around 1:00 AM.

• 1:57Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. But I wanted to have you come on and... Interview me, turn the tables, you've been on the episode before, but I want to have you come on and talk about my, my launch and everything that's happening in the last few weeks and kind of facilitate the questions.

• 2:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, you get to have a debrief of a whirlwind and a dream come true, because I've been able to see how much work you've put in.

• 2:19Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 2:20Speaker 01

  And the journey that you've been on to put this book out, The School of Greatness, and how successful it's been.

• 2:28Lewis Howes?

  It's been crazy, man.

• 2:29Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 2:30Lewis Howes?

  It's been nuts.

• 2:30Speaker 01

  The New York Times bestselling list, number three.

• 2:34Lewis Howes?

  Number three, and then it hit again for two weeks in a row. Uh, we'll see what happens this week. You know, I've been gone the last few days, so I haven't been able to promote as much, but I just checked the Twitters and the Instagrams and everyone's been promoting it for me, so.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  Well, that's just amazing. So, we get to talk about how this has been for you. We get to really dive in, because a lot of the interviews that you've been giving have been about the book and,

• 2:56Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 2:57Speaker 01

  and really focused on the message, and, and now we get to really check in with the man behind it all, because you really have been constantly going and going and going. And, and yeah, let's take a breath into this moment right now for you, because, you know, for anybody listening, I think that the question probably is, what is it like to have your dream actually be realized? And probably exceeding expectations, am I right?

• 3:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, you know, I really, the real vision was number one New York Times bestseller. To get number three, it's like, sometimes you gotta shoot for the moon and land on the stars, or whatever they say, right? Um, and I'm very grateful. When I hit number three, there was two other huge books ahead of me. One was like the Simplifying Guide to Tidying Up. This woman has sold over two or three million copies in the last like six months or something, has been number one for months on the list. And then Pioneer Woman came out with a book. And I don't even know who she is, but she's some big craftsy or, I don't know, food person that's just got this insane audience. And so I think they both sold like a hundred thousand copies each.

• 4:02Lewis Howes?

  So, for me to be right underneath both of them, above Elizabeth Gilbert, who is, you know, has a big book out right now, and above other big celebrities who have, Books that came out and also above Urban Meyer, Urban Meyer, who's the head football coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, which is my favorite team. He had a book came out the same week as me and he was below me and to have like this huge national champion, mega star coach who's like an idol to me. It's like a guy I would love the interview. To be able to beat those guys out is like, it's pretty cool to see that, you know, the podcast, the audience, people listening, really stepped up to support the message and the movement and in the book. And the book has a lot of great value in there and I'm, and I'm seeing that, you know, I haven't really taken it in, even this moment, I'm

• 4:47Lewis Howes?

  not really, I don't think it's fully landed that I'm a New York Times bestselling author. And over Summit at C, not Semester at C, but Summit at C, you know, it was so nice. It was all my friends. There's so many powerful people there, influential people at, at Summit. And it was cool that all my friends were like, this is the New York Times bestselling author, Lewis Howes. Like everyone introduced me as that. Everyone came up and congratulated me. A lot of my friends were just like, the first time they got to see me, giving me big hugs. Strangers that I didn't know who listen to the podcast just came up and said that they bought the book and they were very excited about it and supportive of that. So it was, uh, it's cool, the experience, but I'm still in the middle of a book tour.

• 5:30Lewis Howes?

  You know, I've got five more cities. So I haven't fully taken it in and just like gone to sleep at night saying, oh, I'm a New York Times bestselling author.

• 5:39Speaker 01

  Well, in some ways, I feel like it's a pretty distinct thing for you to be there because you've built out a community of people that have bought into this idea of a school of greatness and what that means for them as much as it is about you being the facilitator of that. So in that sense, I think it's, it's actually pretty natural that you would be feeling somewhat adjacent to all this and it hasn't necessarily landed that you are a New York Times bestselling. Cause in a lot of ways, everybody listening is a New York Times bestselling author.

• 6:10Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. It's not about me. It's about us. It's about what we created together. And the book is not about me specifically either. It's about the people I've interviewed. You're featured in the book. Your name's in there. And all the people that I've interviewed on the podcast before the book came out, you know, in the acknowledgements, I acknowledged every person that came on the podcast because without their teachings in the school, they're all professors. You know, I'm a professor and a student and so are you.

• 6:35Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 6:35Lewis Howes?

  And without all them teaching me something and my audience something. There would be no book. And so I acknowledged every person that came on, which my, you know, my publisher's like, "You sure you want to put everyone's name in there?" And I was like, "Yes, because without them, this would not be possible." So I get to acknowledge all those people.

• 6:53Speaker 01

  Well, that's what I love about the book is right away, you make a point of really widening the lens beyond you and really saying like, "This is a culmination of a lot of interviews with a lot of great people, and I happen to be the humble beneficiary of the interviewer here and the one who's actually providing now this information in the form of a book." And that, I think, is like, one of the most refreshing things right away about the book is that you really are simply facilitating, but I love the way you facilitate. And I think that's really what I want to acknowledge you for, is that it does take a special gift to be able to consolidate that amount of information that you have been a part of, listening, you guys have been privy to, that you could actually crystallize

• 7:35Speaker 01

  that in the way that you did, is I think why it's being received the way it's being received. Because I know a lot of people who interview a lot of people, and they're not necessarily writing books that are translating the way that this one is. And I think that's what I think is pretty remarkable about this book. And you're probably, you probably were aware, as you were writing it, of how this could be one of the linchpin aspects of this book, right?

• 7:56Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. You know, I think one of the things I've been really great at in my career, and in my, not even in sports and in the business world, is been able to package and position things clearly that may be complex, or maybe not understandable. So I was able to package and position myself as an athlete to the scouts. I was able to sell myself to them, even though I went to a very small school, one of the smallest colleges in the country, Percipia College, that had 500 students. It's very challenging to go to the, to play professional football going at a small school. And I was able to package myself, position myself, you know, I went to the combines, I made DVDs with nice images on the cover, and I built relationships with every scout and every coach that was there.

• 8:41Lewis Howes?

  I followed up with them on the phone, you know, I did whatever it took to get the tryout, where a lot of guys who are more talented than me, who are much smarter than me, more athletic than me, weren't willing to put themselves out there and do that work, and get creative and hustle in that way. And then translating into the book, you know, there's lots of podcasts, there's hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there. Not many of them have been able to package the information and position it in a way so that people can learn and receive it and get the results in their life. And I think that's something I've done well at is done a great job at getting people to give me the information and teach me lessons. And then found a great way to translate those lessons into actionable steps that people

• 9:24Lewis Howes?

  can apply in their life so that they can not just say, okay, our principle of greatness is vision. Now, go get a clear vision and make it happen. But instead, here are the steps to making it happen with a clear vision. So that's why at the end of every chapter in the book, there's exercises that show you how to apply that to your life. And I think that's what I've been able to translate well, and that's why it's been received well, I believe.

• 9:48Speaker 01

  Yeah. And I'm curious, now that the book has come out and you're actually getting the feedback from the people reading the book, what's the conversion been like on those action steps?

• 9:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 9:57Speaker 01

  And what kind of stories do you have now that have been encouraging to what you had intended?

• 10:02Lewis Howes?

  It's cool because, you know, the book's only been out two weeks so far, two and a half weeks. And I'm doing this book tour, so people are coming out all over the place and saying, you know, I read the book and I did the exercises here. And they're posting pictures of the completed exercises online, which is cool to see. It's hard to see like how much people's lives have changed in the last two and a half weeks, but people are coming up to me and saying it's making a big impact and difference already. And, you know, the way people feel about themselves for me says a lot. When someone feels great about something, when they feel excitement, when they feel like they're ready to shift, that tells me a lot that it's done something. If they didn't feel nothing, then it did zero. But when they're like ready, they're taking action, when they're getting clear on their

• 10:46Lewis Howes?

  vision, they're building a team around them, they're doing the steps necessary to get to that next level in their life, for their relationships. You know, along this tour, it's been amazingly humbling hearing the stories from people of how they've transformed their life just from the podcast. You know, people will come up to me and say, you know, I started listening a year ago and I was in a similar situation, sleeping on my parents' couch, and I decided to launch a business based on this specific episode, and now I'm making six figures a year because of you, because of the catalyst that you brought. And then, you know, other people are like, my, our marriage, you know, married couples came up to me, or like, our marriage was like down in the dumps, and then you had Catherine Woodward-Thomas on, who talked about conscious uncoupling, and we actually really learned

• 11:31Lewis Howes?

  how to love each other deeper in the confusion, in the messiness, and we would not be here married today without your podcast. So, thank you. So, hearing those types of stories, another person's like, I lost 100 pounds because something that I listened on your podcast connected with me, and I decided that my life mattered and my health mattered, and now's the time to step up, otherwise I'm not gonna have X, Y, and Z later. And so, it's been incredible to be able to hear these stories and people come out and support the book, and come out and give me a hug and share their stories with me. For me, that's what excites me, when people take that action, and I know the book is doing that for people. It's just, you know, it's only been a couple of weeks, so there's only so much transformation you can have in a couple of weeks.

• 12:14Speaker 01

  Sure, but I know it's, it's happening, because there, there is something about the book that really is a, an amazing access point, and it makes it so clear and, and, and supports people in, in action steps. I think that makes it a real distinction, because there are a lot of self-help books that, that really provide, a lot of information's valid, but I feel like the absorption level is really on a conceptual level, and it doesn't necessarily create that pathway, those steps that are really tangible and that are required to actually transform one's life.

• 12:45Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 12:46Speaker 01

  And I think you lay it out in such a way where it's so easy, and, and it's inviting, it's simple, and I think that's really important.

• 12:52Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, it's been fun, man.

• 12:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, oh, man, I'm so proud of you.

• 12:55Lewis Howes?

  Thanks, man.

• 12:56Speaker 01

  I mean, I'm gushing like your parents right now. I, I feel like I want to like just throw a party for you right now. Uh, but it really is remarkable, and I'm, I'm really proud of you, because I know the work that it did take. So, let's talk for a second here about the importance of the goals that you set along the way in the process. I'm so interested to know, like, how did you lay it out and, and, and in such a way where you ended up getting to this success?

• 13:20Lewis Howes?

  You know, I've told the story many times now, uh, that eight years ago, I had this vision, this dream, and that was to write a book that inspired millions of people around the world that created possibility for them as a catalyst to transform something in life, the way a book did for me eight years ago. Uh, a book I read called The Four Hour Work Week, it really was the catalyst for me designing the life that I have now. Because I didn't know the tools were available before then. And, uh, and I said, I wanna have Tim Ferriss's agent as my agent, and I wanna be a New York Times bestselling author. That was a vision eight years ago. So to bring it full circle has been amazing. Now, it's taken a lot of smaller goals to get to there.

• 14:01Lewis Howes?

  And that was always the main big goal. And one of the things that I have is I wrote that down on what I call a certificate of achievement. And I have this for people in the first chapter of the book. This is an exercise that I give to people about goal setting, about having a vision, is to write it down and frame it and put it on your wall, put it on your mirror, by your bed, whatever it may be. I find it so powerful to stay focused on a, on a goal is when you can write it down and when you can see it every single day. When you don't see it, it's not as important to you. It's not in your face. If you're just like, yeah, this is my goal. We get distracted so easily with social media, our phones, conversations, relationships, whatever, that unless we actually physically see it up somewhere.

• 14:42Lewis Howes?

  I don't care if it's on your phone, on your computer screen, or somewhere. You gotta have it up somewhere. To be that constant reminder of what am I creating today? That's gonna get me closer to my vision, to my goal. And so I needed to first ask myself, who do I need to become to make this possible? If I launched this a year ago, I wasn't, I wouldn't have been ready. So even though I wanted the goal to happen now, like it would have been great to be at 25 years old and be a New York Times bestselling author. But I wasn't ready. I didn't have the results. I didn't have the skills. I didn't have the, you know, the intelligence. Um, the team. I didn't know what it took. And so each year, I had goals that I would set for six months and 12 months every year.

• 15:28Lewis Howes?

  What I like to do is I like to have a big vision. That's kind of, um... My compass, right? It's like my compass of which direction I'm heading. But then it's hard to stay focused on something for like 10 years. Without breaking it down into smaller increments. So I like to have six months and 12 month goals. Give me really laser focused where I know this will be a stepping stone to the bigger vision. And that's what I did for the last, you know, eight years is every year was like, okay, what do I need to do in business to gain credibility? And so I built up my experience as an entrepreneur. I built up my experience making money, advising companies, investing in companies, like I hit the gamut of all the things I could do

• 16:10Lewis Howes?

  to become the person I need to get the credibility to write a book like this. Cause if I didn't get results in my life or my business, then it wouldn't translate over into people wanting to buy the book. They'd be like, well, okay, this is great theory, but what have you done in your business or in your life to back this up? And I think people get ahead of themselves sometimes. They're like, I want to do the X, Y, and Z, but what are the results you've created that people are going to trust you enough that you give me enough credibility to create that? And I worked really hard at getting a lot of press and studying and researching. You know, I think a year and a half ago, I did a session with you where I was like, can you give me feedback on me presenting on the news?

• 16:51Lewis Howes?

  Because I was like, I'm about to be on the news a lot for this book and I need to get practice reps. And I had you give me feedback for, I don't know, maybe it was Today Show or something else like that. And it's not like I didn't do any reps on the news until the launch of the book. Like I've been doing this for two years, preparing for the week of this moment, right? As opposed to saying, okay, now it's time to go on there and like wing it. Yeah. Like, so there was many goals leading up to this to prepare myself for my big vision and everything was preparing for this week. My entire life was preparing for this essentially.

• 17:32Lewis Howes?

  And that may sound either really awesome or really like depressing. Cause you're like, okay, now what do you do? Right? You know, you just did everything for this one week and now what do you do? And that's what everyone's been asking me as well. It's like, what's next? What's next? And what I'm telling people is what's now is most important. And this is a vision that I get to continue to fill, fulfill every single day. Really until the end of this year, until the book tour is over. And then I can start really focusing on reevaluation, taking an off season so I can see what I want to create next. Um, but what I want to tell people is it's really important to have a big vision of where you want to be moving towards. That way every decision you make is either a simple yes, because it's leading you towards your big vision, your big goal.

• 18:17Lewis Howes?

  Or a simple no, because it's not supporting you becoming the person you need to become to achieve that. And then six to 12 month goals, have a certificate of achievement, put it on your wall, a six month goal, a 12 month goal. And stay committed to those goals. You know, without these goals in our lives, where are we going? If we don't have a goal, then what are we doing?

• 18:41Speaker 01

  Well, it's like the equivalent of us being out at sea just now with Summit at Sea and having a captain with no coordinates to where we're going.

• 18:48Lewis Howes?

  We're just like floating around in the ocean and we're not heading in any direction. And listen, sometimes we're going to be docked at sea, right? We're going to be docked on the shore and not going anywhere. It's time to like evaluate and rest and like get lost on an island like we were in the Bahamas yesterday or this morning, right? And um, you don't always have to be moving, but when you are moving, it should be in a specific direction.

• 19:13Speaker 01

  Purposeful, clear in a direction that you want.

• 19:16Lewis Howes?

  Towards something. Otherwise, you're going to get frustrated. We're going to run out of gas. You know what I mean? You're going to be going in circles, running out of gas, saying, what's the point of all this?

• 19:24Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 19:25Lewis Howes?

  What's the point?

• 19:26Speaker 01

  And so let me ask you this, because you are so goal orientated and actually having achieved this goal now and everybody asking you, well, what's next? What's next? In the achievement of the goal, I'm asking you as a friend, because I know that, that we have just been at Summit. And there is so much to engage in there and, and move into in conversation. And there was some dancing. Now I wonder, do you feel like you've celebrated to the extent that you can?

• 19:51Lewis Howes?

  You know.

• 19:52Speaker 01

  Because this is huge. This is a seminal moment in your life. I want to make sure as a friend that you really celebrate this.

• 19:58Lewis Howes?

  It's interesting because I was, you know, I was reminded of the story we first met because uh, Caduceus hosted my launch party in LA and he was telling the story of how we first met at Summit. So it's funny, this is all coming full circle. Everything in the last few weeks is becoming full circle. Everything I've done. And we met and you were like, I was dancing on this top with this.

• 20:17Speaker 01

  You were, so let me set this stage here. So I come into this party, it's like the big event at Summit outside, I believe.

• 20:25Lewis Howes?

  Yes, it was like Tahoe or something.

• 20:27Speaker 01

  Yes, yes, and so come into the event and there's all these top flight entrepreneurs doing what they do, type A's, you know, networking, hitting on pretty girls, et cetera. And then I see in the dance floor, in the middle of the dance floor, Louis, jumping up and down like a madman. It was awesome.

• 20:44Lewis Howes?

  Was he on the speakers or no?

• 20:46Speaker 01

  You might as well have been on the speakers. I don't think you're actually, you don't need to be on the speakers. You're that big, right? So but you were like in the middle of the dance floor, totally lighting it up. And I remember that so clearly, like it was yesterday. And I remember thinking, man, like what an awesome human being that is such a beacon of light and love and celebration and excitement and all the things that obviously everybody listening knows and loves about you. So I wonder like how in this moment where there is so much tethered to this, where there is all of this energy and work and planning and teamwork and all of this stuff and all these expectations and numbers and like New York Times list, you want to stay on it now, et cetera,

• 21:27Speaker 01

  like in the midst of this, as opposed to a moment of just being at Summit and celebrating life.

• 21:33Lewis Howes?

  Sure, sure.

• 21:33Speaker 01

  How are you computing and celebrating this?

• 21:36Lewis Howes?

  You know, I feel like I haven't fully, fully expressed and celebrated myself to the fullest potential. I feel like I've done a really solid job at it. Like I would say like 85% of allowed myself to celebrate, but I'm still in it. So it's not over yet. So I'm kind of like, okay, I've got five more cities. I don't want to just like spend all my energy celebrating and screaming and this and that. And they'd be like, I have nothing left to give. Like I'm still in like the final four minutes of the fourth quarter in my mind. And I want to like give it all I got to the very end and then celebrate over Christmas or New Year's or something. So I've been so, I would say my celebration has evolved. And I've been like so grateful and humble and.

• 22:21Lewis Howes?

  Appreciative and thankful and everything. And last night I did celebrate, you know, I was up on the hot tub, kind of like outside of the hot tub with this wooden plank, like dancing in a sea of people that were dancing. But the music was also kind of like mellow-y, like hippie-ish. So it wasn't like you could really unleash like this, like, ah, you know.

• 22:43Speaker 01

  Note to the DJ at the summit, let's turn it up next time.

• 22:47Lewis Howes?

  It was a little, yeah, it was a little like anticlimactic music. So if it was, I might've been like going crazy, but no one was really going crazy. So I feel like I've celebrated in my own way. And I'm just very, you know, it's interesting, it's like, I've been celebrating this moment almost every single day for the last eight years. Every week I would walk into a Barnes and Noble and see my book right front and center of the Barnes and Noble, which it now is in every Barnes and Noble, front and center in almost all of them. And I would see, I'd walk in and see my book there and I would go like this and raise my hands up and celebrate. Like in the victory position, if you can imagine, my hands above my head. I would sit there and I would smile and I'd be like, yes, yes, I would like celebrate like it's happening.

• 23:31Speaker 01

  Wow.

• 23:32Lewis Howes?

  Cause I like to create the feeling of celebration. Like I'm already creating what's about to happen in eight years, five years, two years, one year, one week, like it's happening. It's how, I did this in football. Like I would get in the end zone, I would catch a ball and then I would celebrate like it's happening.

• 23:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, and I love this as it ties into, to the theme, part of the theme of this particular show because in setting goals, it's not about setting goals, simply having them in front of, but it's also really activating what you just described, which is this sense of confidence that it's going to happen, preemptive celebration, as crazy as that may seem, but that activates the law of attraction. And I don't know if you guys listening believe in it, but I've seen it time and time again work.

• 24:15Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 24:15Speaker 01

  And it's, it's really amazing because you are yet again, an example of how it works.

• 24:18Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, and also it's also like, you don't want to work, here's what I used to, you know, you don't want to work for eight years for something or one year for something and not celebrate until it happens.

• 24:28Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 24:28Lewis Howes?

  Because what if it doesn't happen?

• 24:29Speaker 01

  And you're just holding your breath.

• 24:31Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, holding your breath, so create celebration every single day with small victories. So I'm always celebrating. The mini goals that I have, the small victories, like every night, I'm celebrating by saying what I'm most grateful for. Like, here's what I'm most grateful for, here's what I'm excited that I created today. And here's what, you know, here's all the good that's happening. Like, let's celebrate today, let's celebrate this moment. Um, with my team, you know, we celebrate often, every, when we launch a product, we're celebrating often, every couple of months. Uh, you know, I'm trying to incorporate that more and more, so it's not just like, oh, we worked two years for this New York Times bestseller thing. Now we can celebrate, like, that's not a fun lifestyle, in my opinion.

• 25:14Speaker 01

  Totally.

• 25:14Lewis Howes?

  So, the goal is to have a big goal, but also have mini goals along the way, where you frame them, put them up, and act as if they're happening, you know, visualize them happening. Put yourself in the state of what it'll feel like every single day when you achieve that goal.

• 25:33Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 25:33Lewis Howes?

  How is it going to feel? How's it gonna make you feel? What's your body going to react? And do the act. Like, I imagine that all the time in the morning, like, what does it feel like when I'm a New York Times bestseller? And I'm like, I'll look in the mirror, I'm like, yes, this is amazing, I'm so grateful, this is awesome. And I'll create that, and then I'll go take the actions necessary for me to become who I need to become, to make it happen, and the results I need to create for that to be possible. Cause you've gotta do the work. It's one thing to like, celebrate this and like, look weird in the mirror by yourself or something, or being Barnes and Noble, like, putting your hands in the air.

• 26:07Speaker 01

  And then getting tased by the security.

• 26:08Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. But if you don't take it, back it up with really hard, focused work and action, then it's never gonna happen.

• 26:16Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love how you just unpacked what I think is the quandary for a lot of people who are so goal-oriented, so achievement-based, and, and so much so that they don't enjoy the journey.

• 26:26Lewis Howes?

  You gotta enjoy the journey.

• 26:27Speaker 01

  And it sounds like you really have hit that great access point, that integration of both those mindsets, where there is like, every step of the way, something to enjoy along the way. I liken it to like, imagine like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, right? Like, that she has this yellow brick road, that she's looking at every yellow brick, and like, yes, that's a beautiful yellow brick, and there's Oz, I can see- Along the way and it makes that much more enjoyable along the way.

• 26:52Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 26:53Speaker 01

  So and I think it's actually productive as well when you think about like what burns people out before they hit their goal, what stresses people out, what gives people all sorts of sickness, ailments, whatever along the way, it's because they're not allowing themselves to be replenished.

• 27:08Lewis Howes?

  Every day.

• 27:08Speaker 01

  By the celebrations along the way.

• 27:10Lewis Howes?

  Exactly, exactly. And in football, I learned this in sports because I would achieve big dreams, this is before kind of like professional ranks, I would achieve my big dreams and then I'd feel empty afterwards because I was just so focused on the goal that I never really allowed myself to enjoy the process. I never allowed myself to enjoy like the smaller victories in high school. It was until college where I started to like really appreciate it. And I was just like, what's the point of this if I'm like angry or unfulfilled after I achieve my goals? And that's why it is the journey is not lame, but I mean as cliché as that may sound, you've got to sustain this over time and to be able to make this a lifetime journey, we've got to be able to incorporate celebrating on a consistent

• 27:55Lewis Howes?

  basis, even when we don't hit, do anything well. And this is the thing, some people listening may say, well, I haven't been achieving results for months or for years. Like I felt stuck. I feel like I'm worthless. I feel like I'm this and that. That's when you get to dig deep and say, what have I done that's been good?

• 28:13Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 28:13Lewis Howes?

  Who have I treated well lately? What have I done well for myself lately? You've got to start really small and acknowledge small things to get you going, to build that momentum. And that's why in the book, we talk about building positive habits to build these goals, to make these goals happen. When you create a routine or a ritual or a habit routine in the morning, it's going to set you up to win for the rest of the day. And a lot of people, when you have a goal, if you don't have a routine to back up that goal, it's going to be way more challenging to make it happen. So when you set the goal, you got to think of what are the three things I need to do every single morning that's going to set me up to win for this? For me, I look at working out is a huge thing that it gets my mind clear, it clears any anxiety I may have, it gets my energy going and it gets me getting a lot of ideas.

• 28:58Lewis Howes?

  is ready for the day. Number two, I always clean my, uh, make my bed in the morning as well because I believe that's a momentum builder and that's a completion. A generator. So I'm completing something. I'm cleaning my space. I'm cleaning the energy. Uh, I'm getting clear and I am building momentum with a positive accomplishment. So before I do anything, I create a positive accomplishment, which sets me up for the next positive accomplishment. Uh, that's something I do. And then I also love to. Have a, a green juice and a smoothie in the morning as well. It's like fuel myself with something positive. In the morning also, so I can get up and ready to go. And a lot of people just check their phone right away and start fueling themselves with.

• 29:40Lewis Howes?

  Emails, responsive reaction, reaction, reaction, as opposed to. Let's create something intentional today that's going to move us towards our vision and towards our goal. And listen, I'm guilty of this too. There's a lot of days where I check my phone. First thing, last thing at night. It's not like I have it down perfect every day. But when I do follow my habits and routines, I set myself up to win to achieve my goals.

• 30:02Speaker 01

  Yeah, I love that. You've just broke it down for, for everyone, no matter where they're at, you know, and it is all relative when I think about it because. You know, we all got to start somewhere and, and meet ourselves where we're at and, and be gentle with ourselves along the way in that way. Like if we beat ourselves up for not being in the conversation of being a New York Times bestseller. Here's your listening to this. Well, where, where, where are you right now? And, and what is the next step along your yellow brick road?

• 30:29Lewis Howes?

  Exactly. And you know, eight years ago, when I was on my sister's couch, I was just like, how do I get off this couch? And that's good. That was my step. I wasn't even, I couldn't even think about being a New York Times bestseller. I didn't even. I could barely write, you know, I didn't have any credibility, any results. And that's okay. It's like work, work on the goal for the next three to six months. How can you get to the next level for the next three to six months and enjoy the process along those three to six months?

• 30:54Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 30:54Lewis Howes?

  I'll tell you what, the last eight years have flown by. Like I cannot believe, I'm like, where has my life been? Like I'm thirty two, what? This is crazy. You know, it's like, what's happened? I felt like I was just playing football. And it's been eight years since I put on the pads.

• 31:08Speaker 01

  Wow. And here you are. And I think that's so remarkable because time moves slower, I think, when we're not necessarily in action. I think when we're action, it has a tendency of going by quicker.

• 31:24Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 31:24Speaker 01

  So I think it's an interesting, that's a totally different podcast. I mean, we're talking about like time and how that is all relative in some ways too. But I think that you really have framed goal setting in such a way where, I know that some people are like almost adverse to goals because it seems like a lack of freedom in that. But I think what it's provided me certainly in being more goal oriented is like actually finding freedom within that. There's like a structure that-

• 31:49Lewis Howes?

  It's like a relationship.

• 31:50Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 31:50Lewis Howes?

  It's like finding your freedom in a relationship as opposed to feeling like, oh, I don't have the flexibility to do what I want, or spend time with people, or travel on my own, or whatever. But it's actually creates a container, like you said, a focus point to raise you to your best, I believe.

• 32:07Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:08Lewis Howes?

  And, you know, I'm learning all these, this has been an incredible journey. I'm learning so much about myself, about relationships, about career, about the intention of having a clear vision in what's possible when you have a focus.

• 32:19Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:20Lewis Howes?

  When you don't have a focus, again, we're just like wandering directionlessly in the ocean, running out of fuel.

• 32:26Speaker 01

  Well, and another point I think that could be added to this convo is how, what happens when we actually set a goal and are declaring it to people that are in our lives.

• 32:36Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 32:37Speaker 01

  It creates an access point for them to be actually aligned with it and be all about it with you and support you.

• 32:43Lewis Howes?

  And supports you.

• 32:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 32:44Lewis Howes?

  And, you know, when you, when you keep your goal to yourself, when you keep your dreams, your vision to yourself, you're not allowing other people to move you closer to that vision. But when I say to you, hey, this is my vision. I remember saying- Like, I need, my vision is to be a New York Times bestseller, to write a book, to build my business to X, Y, and Z. I said this a few years ago. And, um, and I was like, in order to do this, at the level I want to do it, with all I'm traveling, with all the different businesses I'm running, I'm gonna need an incredible assistant. I'm gonna need someone who can do, pretty much run my life. Like, it's gonna be a superwoman. It's not an ordinary assistant. This isn't like a trained assistant. This is like a superhuman being that's like a mutant.

• 33:30Lewis Howes?

  And I remember, I literally put it out there to everyone. I was like, this is what I need. I need, I was like telling my friends, my family, I was putting it out on Facebook, I was emailing my list. Any person I talked with, I'd be like, here's what I'm looking for in my life right now. It's gonna help me get closer to my vision. And my chiropractor, Trish, who was doing a lot of work on my body at the time, um, I told her, and she's like, I think I have the perfect person, but she's in Utah. And I was like, fly her out here, I need to meet her. And, you know, her name's Sarah, and she's now my assistant, and, you know, much more than that, just an assistant. She's like, you know, takes care of my entire life. Um, but there's no way I would have been able to achieve this vision without having that,

• 34:13Lewis Howes?

  you know, her to support everything that I'm doing. I mean, constantly on top of things to make my life easier, to save me essentially four or five extra hours a day, so that I can create my books, so that I can be focused, so that I can work on the things I needed to. As opposed to spending those four or five hours a day doing stuff that isn't going to help me make my vision come true. Yeah. And so I would, I'm putting it out there constantly what it is. Yeah. Again, I'm framing it, I'm, I'm putting it out there for myself to see, so I'm clear. I'm putting it out there for other people to see, so they're clear. And my, I told people this with my book too, you know, I was like, when I started doing the promotion of it, I was like, here's my dream, is to be the number one New York Times bestselling author,

• 34:57Lewis Howes?

  and I would love your support. What do you think we could create with this? Or what can we do with your audience, or this and that? And I would tell people and ask for support, and they would come up with, hey, okay, here's what I'm willing to do. But without asking them, or telling them, here's my dream, here's what I'm looking for, if I didn't ask them or tell them. Why would they just automatically know this is my dream? And be like, hey, I have a feeling, Louis, that you have a dream right now and I just want to step up and support you. No, you've got to tell people and give them that chance to make it happen.

• 35:28Speaker 01

  And this is the

• 35:29Lewis Howes?

  As it comes on.

• 35:30Speaker 01

  The hotel telling us we have had a long enough interview.

• 35:32Lewis Howes?

  Exactly.

• 35:33Speaker 01

  What I want to say to wrap up the interview as we get sung out here beautifully.

• 35:36Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 35:37Speaker 01

  Is that, you know, a distinction is not just in the goal or in terms of vision. It's what the vision actually is and what it is for others. Because it wasn't just about you getting on New York Times Bestseller list. To bring this full circle to the way we started out this conversation. It is about all the people listening right now.

• 35:54Lewis Howes?

  It is.

• 35:55Speaker 01

  It is about how they have been able to access their greatness through what you've been able to create here.

• 36:01Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 36:01Speaker 01

  It's a vision way beyond your own self-interest. And I think that's really something to note, you know, is that let your goals be about contribution.

• 36:09Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 36:10Speaker 01

  Let your goals be about making the world better than you found it. And you will find a lot of support and you will probably find yourself potentially on the New York Times Bestseller list too. If you're listening with that particular goal. But I think that's really something that I think was beautiful to see at the heart of all this was your heart.

• 36:26Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 36:27Speaker 01

  And your heart for people and this being a way to support the world. And I think it's something that we all celebrate as your listeners, as your friends, as everybody that's been along this journey with you. That we have felt like co-creators in a better world because of this book. And obviously, I love you and I'm so, so proud of you. And I know everybody here listening wants to hug you right now, so I will certainly do that in a minute. But I just really want to acknowledge you for doing this and doing this the way you've done it. The spirit that you've done it with, it's really been contagious and certainly inspiring for me as your friend. So I really, really acknowledge you for being such a gift to the world.

• 37:08Speaker 01

  You really have, you've given your heart to this and it's no wonder you're getting the results you're getting. And you're getting other people to get the results that matter to them in the process.

• 37:17Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 37:17Speaker 01

  You have made the world a better place with this book and I am so grateful to have you in my life personally. Because you're like a book to read every time. And with that, I'll say this has been a pleasure to interview you on your show.

• 37:32Lewis Howes?

  Thanks, man.

• 37:33Speaker 01

  And to know you, man, it's to love you.

• 37:36Lewis Howes?

  I appreciate it.

• 37:37Speaker 01

  And so damn proud. And that 15% of celebration in the gap, it's gonna happen.

• 37:41Lewis Howes?

  It's coming.

• 37:42Speaker 01

  It's coming.

• 37:43Lewis Howes?

  Coming very soon. Well, I appreciate it. Thanks for facilitating this. If you guys enjoyed this, feel free to share it out. LewisHowes.com/255. Again, LewisHowes.com/255 if you want to share this with a friend who maybe is struggling with a goal, getting a clear vision. This could guide them into getting that started into their next step. Thank you, guys, all for making this an incredible journey. I love you. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.