474 Have the Courage

"You've got to be willing to risk the chance of looking like a failure." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/474 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

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  This is your weekly five-minute inspiration, episode 474. Have the courage. The world needs you to share your gifts and go for your dreams. There aren't enough people who have the courage to go for it. I was just on the Ellen Show for the second time recently. And the first time I went on, I was so nervous. I haven't been this nervous in a long time, probably since, you know, the playoffs back in college football, when I was going after a big dream of mine of making the national championships. Or during the time I was actually competing in the national championships in track and field in the decathlon.

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  I was so nervous during those moments because those were moments of mine where I had an opportunity. I had an opportunity to see whether or not I could make my dream come true. And every time I have these opportunities where I'm in front of a massive audience or competing at the national championships or on the Ellen Show, which was a dream of mine at one point, every time I have these moments, these opportunities, I feel a sense of nervousness. I still feel them. And it's because my dream is staring me in the face. And I've worked so hard to make my dreams come to life. Now, every single one of us was born unique. We all have a specific contribution to give to the world.

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  And if we let the fears and doubts in our head guide us, then we'll never reach our full potential. And we need more people to take the courage to do what they were born to do. And I want to ask you if you are one of them. Are you someone who is going to break down because you're too nervous and you're not going to take action when an opportunity comes to you? Are you someone who's going to get scared and say, "I'm afraid to fail, so I'm not even going to take the first step because I don't want to look messy and I don't want to look like I'm going to fail every time I go after my dream." I talked to so many individuals who come to me and ask for support. They ask for guidance. They ask for mentorship on how they can make their dreams come to life.

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  And I'm telling you, you've got to be willing to fail over and over again. You've got to be willing to risk. The opportunity of looking like a failure. Risk the opportunity of looking silly, of looking like you're not good enough. Of people saying, "I told you so." You've got to be willing to risk those things. Because if you don't have the courage to risk the messiness, then you'll never achieve your greatness and make your dreams come true. This is what it's all about. Again, the second time I was on the Ellen Show, I wasn't as nervous. But there's still a lot going on. There's still an opportunity for me to achieve a dream. And I'm gonna give you some steps right now that you can take to apply whenever you have a big moment in your life. Or whenever you feel like, "I don't know what to do.

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  I'm too scared. I don't know if I can make it through this moment." Step one is take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Do that a number of times until you calm down a little bit. Now, if your mind is still racing, because it probably will, the next step is to think about something bigger than yourself. When I am nervous, it's because I'm focused on how I'm gonna look. If I'm gonna look bad, if people are gonna laugh at me, if I don't say the right thing, if I don't feel smart enough. That's when I get really nervous. And when I make it about other things than just myself and how I look, then the nerves start to calm down. So I focus on, "How can I give in this moment? How can I just be an inspiration in this moment? How can I just show up and do my best?

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  Because that's all I'm capable of." And that's what I've put my attention on. Being in service, giving my best, showing up as my authentic self and not trying to look perfect. If we go into something saying, "I need everything to look perfect," it's not gonna happen and we're gonna fail. We'll never get into flow if we focus on trying to look perfect. So we need to remove these things from our mind so we can move forward into our dreams. So that's step one and two. Take a deep breath and focus outward, don't focus inward. And the third thing I would say is be clear on your vision. Be clear on your vision of why you are doing the thing you're doing in the first place. Is it for just you and your dream only?

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  Or is it for, yes, you and your dream and something bigger? bigger than you. If it's only for selfish reasons, you're probably going to be nervous because there's a lot riding on you. That's why it's important. We have a vision and a dream that's bigger than ourselves, that impacts other people around us, not just only us. And step four is to realize that it's never going to be as bad as you think. The worst thing that could happen is not the worst thing that could happen. You're still going to be alive after that moment. You're still going to have other opportunities. You're still going to be able to reinvent yourself if everything goes wrong in that moment. It's not going to go wrong and fail miserably. People reinvent themselves constantly, even when they think they mess up or they fail. It happens over

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  and over and over again for the most successful entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors, thinkers in the world. People fail. They make mistakes. But if you're committed to making an impact in the world and achieving something bigger than yourself, and if you have the courage to step into that every day, people will see you for your authenticity, for your genuineness, and for your courage that you took a risk when 99% of people aren't even willing to take the first step. Are you one of the people that has the courage to go for your dreams? Yes or no? Walt Disney famously said,

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  "All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them." Have the courage. This is episode 474, Five Minute Inspiration. And if you want to be a part of a group of individuals taking step-by-step actions on a daily basis to achieve their dreams, then make sure you get on the waitlist for our next round of School of Greatness Academy. This is where I come in and coach a group of passionate individuals looking to take their life, their health, their relationships, and their career and finances to a whole nother level. We've had many classes go

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  through and get incredible results in all areas of their lives, and we're opening it up very soon for another round. Make sure to go to lewishouse.com/soga.

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  That's LewisHowes.com/so ga to be a part of our next class of individuals looking to achieve their dreams. If you enjoyed this inspirational five-minute episode on how to have the courage, then make sure to share this out with your friends and your family and your loved ones. LewisHowes.com/474. We do this every single week where we bring you two inspirational episodes and interviews, and then one short inspiration to kick you into gear and to help you achieve your dreams. I love you very much, and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.