477 You Don't Need to Be Perfect

"Acknowledge all that you can do just as you are in this moment." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/477 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.

• 0:03Lewis Howes?

  Five Minute Friday, episode number 477. You don't need to be perfect. You don't need to be perfect to inspire others. Let people get inspired by how you deal with your imperfections. I want you to think of someone right now, someone in your life that inspires you. This could be someone you're sitting next to right now, a family member or a friend that you listen to the podcast with, or it could be someone famous that you're aware of, who's done some amazing things in their life. Maybe you don't know them personally, but you know of them. It can be for whatever reason. Now, I want you to think about what you know about this person. Are they perfect? Do they have bad days?

• 0:46Lewis Howes?

  Have they ever messed up and made mistakes? Again, this could be the friend next to you, or this could be the famous person. Have they ever messed up and made mistakes? If they're famous, it's very public about all their mistakes. Have their ideas and skills changed over time? Do they ever get vulnerable? Now, of course, everyone does. Anyone who's achieved something great has had mistakes, has messed up, has said something wrong, has been imperfect at some point in their life, and probably right now more than ever. Now, imagine if they had hid themselves until they thought they were perfect and ready to share themselves with the world. Imagine if they said, "I'm not going to do anything until I know that it's perfect, until I know it's ready to go out to the world.

• 1:30Lewis Howes?

  I'm not going to say anything until I'm perfect. I'm not going to do anything. I'm not going to be anything. I'm not going to create anything until I'm perfect and everything is perfectly lined up and ready to get out into the world." People would never create or do anything. I coach a lot of individuals in the School of Greatness Academy, and I do these one-on-one sessions with people in a group setting online. And so many people come to me, it just happened today, where they said, "I want to make sure that I've got the credentials, that I've got all the skills lined up, that I've got the degrees, that I've got the experience. Then I will launch something. Then I'll feel confident and ready to go." I'm going to tell you right now, when you take action and put yourself out there, even

• 2:12Lewis Howes?

  when you're not fully lined up and ready to go, you're going to start to see some results. You're going to get feedback. Some things are going to work, other things are going to fail miserably. And that feedback is going to give you information to see what you need to do to get better tomorrow. And then you repeat the process. But if you wait and wait and wait. If I waited these last 10 years when I got injured playing football until I had the degree, until I had the experience, until I had the skillset to actually put myself out there in the world. I would have zero. I started a podcast without any experience. I was very imperfect. I started recording on my cellphone. There was loud music in the background. There were lots of mistakes.

• 2:57Lewis Howes?

  I had no clue how to interview anybody. But I didn't say I need to go to interview school for the next two years and wait till I'm ready, until I'm perfect at interviewing people in order to launch my dreams. I took action and it was very imperfect. And today it's still imperfect. I am not perfect. I am a human being and so are you. You are missing out on so much if you feel like you need to do certain things to look a certain way before you can launch something. It goes for the people that you are inspired by. They probably inspire you because of the adversities they come through, because of the mistakes they've made and what they've created on the other side.

• 3:39Lewis Howes?

  Allow yourself to be inspired by their imperfections. And the only way you're really going to inspire and move people in this world is when you show that you're not perfect as well. Let go of perfection and acknowledge all that you can do, just as you are right in this moment. And then use the feedback to improve your skills, to work hard, to take action, to increase your capabilities so that you can create better results. Let go of your perfection. There's a famous author named John Steinbeck who said, "And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good." And I want to take it even a step farther. Now that you don't have to be perfect, you can actually be great.

• 4:24Lewis Howes?

  Because greatness is not about being perfect. It's about giving your absolute best and following your dreams and being in pursuit of it and increasing your skills to make an impact on those around you. Don't be perfect. Be great. I love you guys and this is Five Minute Friday, episode 477. If this resonated with you in any way, if you feel like you've been held back because of this imprisonment of perfectionism that you feel like you need to put out in the world, then say amen to me over on Twitter @lewishouse or @lewishouse on Instagram and say, "Yes, Lewis, thank you for this," and share it with a friend. Let your friends know, if you know anyone that's been held back, someone who's got

• 5:08Lewis Howes?

  a dream but they've been holding back on it for the last three years because they're afraid of how they're gonna look, they're not ready, they're not perfect, send them this, lewishouse.com/477, or just click on the podcast app and click to tweet it out or share it out to your friends on social media. I love you guys very much. Let go of the need to be perfect. I am not perfect by any means and make mistakes every single day in every area of my life, but I tell you what, that's what allows me to have the platform that I have today because I put myself out there and I'm not perfect. It's what allows me to strive for something greater because I'm willing to put myself on the line and not be perfect. I love you, have a great day. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.