509 How I Use Faith, Mindset, and Positivity to Thrive: Cadillac Confessions

"When we don't believe in anything, that's when things get scary." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/509 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 509 with Cadillac Confessions.

• 0:07Lewis 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.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  Oh yes, my friends, welcome back to another episode of the podcast and back by popular demand. It's Cadillac Confessions. This is where I ask you guys the biggest questions you have for me that you want me to answer. And I reveal them in a confession point of view while driving in my 1991 Cadillac. And we took a trip around Sunset up Mulholland Boulevard overlooking all of the valley here in Los Angeles. And kind of got into it a little bit. I shared some stuff about my faith and some other things that have helped me in my life.

• 1:15Lewis Howes?

  And helped me overcome different things and having a different mindset about things. So I got, I got a little into it in a few different moments. So I think you're going to like it because I've never really shared this type of information. So let me know what you guys think about this one. As always, put out a link, lewishowes.com/509 and tag me on your Instagram story or on your Instagram posts or on Twitter, Facebook, at Lewis Howes everywhere, as I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. And big thank you to everyone who did submit a question. We got to 10 of you and gave you a shout out throughout the, the episode. So thank you so much for your thoughtful and meaningful question. Alright guys, let's dive in. Thanks again for all your incredible questions.

• 1:58Lewis Howes?

  Let me know what you think about my answers. Share this out, lewishowes.com/509.

• 2:09Lewis Howes?

  Alright, are we ready?

• 2:11Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 2:14Lewis Howes?

  Is the mic working?

• 2:15Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 2:16Lewis Howes?

  Test, test.

• 2:18Speaker 01

  We're good.

• 2:20Speaker 01

  Go pros reporting.

• 2:21Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 2:21Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 2:22Lewis Howes?

  What's up guys, welcome to another Cadillac Confessions. Christine in the house.

• 2:26Speaker 01

  Woo!

• 2:27Lewis Howes?

  Tiffany, Pounded in the house. We're gonna drive up Sunset and answer the top 10 questions that came in, so here we go.

• 2:36Lewis Howes?

  Christine, start us off.

• 2:38Speaker 01

  Okay. When you first broke your wrist and you were down to no. No, they can hear me.

• 2:45Lewis Howes?

  Should've put a mic on.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  I can speak loudly.

• 2:48Lewis Howes?

  Okay.

• 2:49Speaker 01

  When you first broke your wrist and you were still sleeping on the couch, what strategies did you use to harness your power and turn it into who you've become?

• 3:00Lewis Howes?

  First broke my wrist was on the couch, what strategies did I use to harness my power?

• 3:05Speaker 01

  Yeah, to use it to become the person you are today.

• 3:11Lewis Howes?

  I think I leaned mostly on the stuff I already knew from sports, and that was, um, finding people who had the answers, who could coach me. And so early on, I was constantly looking for those mentors, the people who had achieved results in their business and their career. And so I was just going to a lot of events, I was connecting with local business leaders in Columbus, Ohio. And I was just asking as many questions as I could and listening and then taking action. And so for me, as an athlete, I was really good at receiving coaching from people I respected, and then taking action on that coaching, and getting feedback based on my results and based on what I was creating.

• 3:55Lewis Howes?

  So I think it was using that athlete mentality and applying it to life.

• 4:01Speaker 01

  Awesome. Carolina, that was from Hampton Roberts.

• 4:06Lewis Howes?

  Hampton Roberts.

• 4:08Speaker 01

  Carolina, from the heart of South America, Paraguay, asks, "How do you cope working in an environment where there is so much malicious people and envy? Where only the powerful ones get a break and the introverted are left out? How do you cope working in that environment?"

• 4:24Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, well, I'm not introverted, so I don't have a problem with that. But I think, um, in an environment where there was a lot of-

• 4:32Speaker 01

  Malicious people and envy.

• 4:33Lewis Howes?

  Malicious people and envy.

• 4:35Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 4:36Lewis Howes?

  I just try to stay in my lane and focus as much as I can on my vision. Now, sometimes I get off track and I allow negative, negative, uh, conversations or comments to affect me. And I'll talk about them, I'll, I'll think about them for a couple of days. But typically, I'm pretty good at being committed to my vision, staying in my lane. You know, my friend Shaleen Johnson, she always said, "Run your, run your own race. Don't try to run anyone else's race. Don't try to be like anyone else or feel like you have to keep up with other people." Um, and so I really just focused on my vision and, and, you know, being committed to that. So, that's what I try to focus on.

• 5:16Lewis Howes?

  I remember early on, I got in a, in probably 2009, I got in a Twitter battle with this guy that I never met. Um, he was another like marketing, social media guy. I think he might have written a book or something. He had a little bit of credibility in, in the social media space. And I remember he said something that offended me and I started tweeting back. And he kind of fed into my, you know, going back and forth with him. And we were like for three days, just like both reacting to each other, calling each other names. And I remember some people were like supportive and like jumping on, on with me and like kind of going after him. And then at one point in day two, someone was like, "You just need to let this go.

• 6:00Lewis Howes?

  This is not, look, one, it doesn't look good for you. Two, it's a waste of your time. Uh, and three, it's taking you away from your vision." And I remember early on, just that lesson, I can't remember who told me that, but I remember early on just being like, "Hmm, yeah, this is not helpful." Just to constantly combat with other people who are malicious or are envious or attacking in any way. So, anytime I see negative comments now or anything that, that I feel like could take me off track, I just- Smile or say thanks for the feedback and keep, keep focused. And I think that's what you should be focusing on is staying committed to the vision and on running your own race.

• 6:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 6:40Lewis Howes?

  Yes.

• 6:41Speaker 01

  So Ismael Gonzalez asks, if you had the opportunity to go back and change something in your life, what would that be?

• 6:55Lewis Howes?

  I don't know if I'd change anything really, to be honest, because I'm just very grateful with where I'm at right now.

• 7:03Lewis Howes?

  I don't know, maybe I wouldn't be as defensive in the past or reactive or frustrated or angry in certain situations. I think sports and certain things that happened when I was growing up. I, I allowed myself to, to be kind of frustrated or react in sports very quickly. And I wish I didn't, I wasn't as reactive sometimes and just played the game as opposed to trying to fight all the time. So I think, um, you know, there are also great lessons in that and great things that came from that as, that as well. But I think if I could go back, I wish I could be a better person in general in those certain situations. But overall, I'm very grateful with, with where I'm at.

• 7:50Speaker 01

  Sherri Smith asks, what's your habit requiring the least effort but makes the greatest difference?

• 8:01Lewis Howes?

  I would say,

• 8:06Lewis Howes?

  um, having a positive mind and smiling. I would say those two things, call it three things, dancing as well. Anytime I think something positive or I'm grateful, I smile at someone. Um, or I dance, I feel like it lifts my energy up to a new level. Especially if I feel down or frustrated about something. If I'm walking down the street or I'm going to get lunch or a coffee or something. When I just smile at random strangers or, you know, the person who's making my coffee. It just makes them smile, which makes me feel better, which continues the cycle of my day.

• 8:48Lewis Howes?

  So anytime I'm, um, smiling, thinking something positive or dancing, it shifts the energy.

• 8:56Lewis Howes?

  In that moment, it usually shifts the outcome of the rest of the day.

• 9:02Speaker 01

  Uh, Aulien Stoyan asks, hi Louis, what do you see yourself doing five years from now?

• 9:12Lewis Howes?

  Um, I see myself having the biggest, um, interview style show where I get to connect with the most inspiring people in the world and share their wisdom to help people live a better life and achieve their dreams. I see myself producing a lot more, um, meaningful content, whether it be documentaries, movies, books,

• 9:43Lewis Howes?

  TV shows to again shift people's consciousness and support them in their growth for their daily life, to move them towards their dreams, to help them live a happier, more fulfilling, richer life. And I just see whatever I'm doing on a bigger scale in the next five years.

• 10:04Speaker 01

  Miranda Johnson asks, what part has faith played in your success? Whatever that means in your perspective.

• 10:11Lewis Howes?

  Hmm, you know, it's interesting because I don't really talk about my, my faith that much and it's, this is a challenging answer for me and I'm actually kind of glad someone asked this because

• 10:24Lewis Howes?

  growing up, I was, I went to church every week, I grew up in a religion called Christian Science, it was a Christian religion. But a lot of it was kind of radical thinking in terms that my father was a pretty extremist in the religion. And he never wanted us to take any medicine or go to the doctor or, um, use any physical substances to help us heal.

• 10:58Lewis Howes?

  And it was always confusing for me because everyone else was taking medicine, but my dad didn't want me to. Even when I had a cough or a sick or flu or whatever it was, he wanted us to learn how to heal ourselves through prayer and through the mind. And I was just always very confused because I was like, well, I feel physical. I can feel this like body and this matter and I can see, you know, and I feel crummy in this moment if I had like a flu or something. So he conditioned me to to think above pain and to think above

• 11:41Lewis Howes?

  accidents and to think above broken bones. And in some ways, it was ridiculous thinking and didn't make any sense. And in other ways, it made total sense. But I think I was just always confused and it was hard for me to grasp the concept. But the faith really supported me in my journey as an athlete and overcoming challenges and overcoming bullying and overcoming insecurities that I faced. Because it gave me something to lean on and to believe in. And I think when we don't believe in anything, that's when things get scary and I'm worried for someone.

• 12:24Lewis Howes?

  But when we have some type of belief, whether it's in ourself, in God, in the universe, in trees and whatever it is,

• 12:33Lewis Howes?

  it's the belief when we hold on to something which supports our growth, in my opinion. And without any belief, we start to question, why are we here? What's the purpose? You know, why me? Why do I, why should I even be alive? And we start to go down darker paths. So that support that I had, even though I didn't always understand it, it was confusing and contradictory and it was kind of radical thinking at times. It actually supported me in having some incredible healings, physically, emotionally.

• 13:07Lewis Howes?

  Because I had this such strong belief in it. It's just like a placebo as well, you know, when you believe that you're having medicine, but it's really a sugar pill and you're healed within a half a day. Sometimes we don't know, was it the medicine, was it the belief that, hey, this, this is gonna support me no matter what it is? So I think it's just having that mindset that you condition yourself. And if you believe in God or whatever religion or faiths you believe in, I think it's all good, as long as it supports you living a healthy, happy, fulfilled life and supports humanity uh, without judgment of what people do and supporting humanity and the world to be better.

• 13:50Lewis Howes?

  And I think if that's the faith that you have, then all, it's all good for me. Uh, for me personally, I'm not going to church anymore. I'm not, you know, reading the Bible, which was what we did growing up. Um, although every now and then I'll kind of glance through things and I'll read through passages. But the challenge that I've faced is, you know, on the podcast, I've just interviewed so many inspiring spiritual leaders, people of different faiths, different religions. And I went to India for a couple of weeks and studied uh, a pretty intense, pretty intense meditation practice with

• 14:33Lewis Howes?

  deep rooted science, um, training along with this spiritual meditation. And just the more I dive into the mind and to understanding physics and science and spirituality, the more I'm researching and studying, it's, you know, things are unfolding for me in different ways that are different from when I grew up, different than the beliefs I had. So. Right now, I wouldn't say that I have one specific faith that I call myself in this specific religion, because I'm still learning and growing. However, I have a strong belief

• 15:13Lewis Howes?

  in good things, in the mind, and the power of the mind, in meditation, in breath, in supporting others, and doing all these things to improve our health and improve humanity. And I think, for me, that's what works right now. And sometimes I'm still confused, and sometimes I'll interview someone else who's this spiritual leader who shares something completely new with me that makes me think differently. It makes me just question and wonder, well, what if it could be different this way, and what if it could be different that way? And so I think that we all should be on our own journey, and I think whatever

• 15:54Lewis Howes?

  our belief is, even if it's not actually the truth, or the facts of science, or whatever it may be, if it's what you believe, it supports you, it helps you live a healthy and happy life, and it encourages the world to be better, then I'm all for it.

• 16:13Speaker 01

  Mmm, preach that sermon.

• 16:15Lewis Howes?

  That's right.

• 16:15Speaker 01

  Okay.

• 16:16Lewis Howes?

  Confession time.

• 16:17Speaker 01

  Woo! Stefan Reinhold asks, "How do you build a tribe online?"

• 16:25Lewis Howes?

  I think the tribe starts with you being your unique self, and either creating a community around your personality, or the personality of the brand that you're building. So when I think of like CrossFit, you know, CrossFit built this incredible community based on its philosophy, its mindset, its kind of core principles. And it's grit and work ethic that's behind these workouts. So it attracted a tribe. Same thing with Spartan Race, Tough Mudder. There wasn't specifically like a person, a personality that built these communities, although they all have CEOs and personalities.

• 17:08Lewis Howes?

  But it's more based on like, here's what we stand for. Here's what we believe. Here's what this community is. So when you put a stamp in the ground and you say, this is what we do. This is who we are. This is what we're creating together. Then you're going to start attracting those people. It's when you don't have anything that you stand for, any beliefs or any uniqueness about you, uh, and you don't know who you are, that's when you're not going to build a tribe. So it starts with, if it's, if it's you building a personal tribe, it starts with you letting out more of yourself and being unique as possible to attract people with a like-mindedness. Or building a brand around some core principles, some core tenets

• 17:50Lewis Howes?

  of what the community stands for, and that's how you start.

• 17:54Speaker 01

  Okay, Andrew Reese asks, what is one thing that you wish people knew about you?

• 18:00Lewis Howes?

  I feel like people know a lot about me, but I'm not sure if there's one thing. I think that I'm pretty sensitive.

• 18:10Lewis Howes?

  I don't know if I wish people knew that about me, but I think I'm pretty sensitive emotionally. And I, you know, I have feelings. I have feelings, I feel a lot, you know, especially like in music or movies. I'm, I'm moved very easily to emotions. And I think it's important for us to, to feel things. And I used to try to mask these things and try to hold them back uh, in my teens, in my early twenties. Even though I felt them so much, I didn't want other people to, to know I had these feelings because I think I, I didn't think they were okay to have or whatever, so.

• 18:52Lewis Howes?

  And I think what's one of the reasons why we uh we we wrote the new book, The Mask of Masculinity, because I wanted to really go on this journey to discover how men can be more open and be more real um with their with their life and their emotions. So that's something I think I want people to know. Next question is from who?

• 19:13Speaker 01

  Alberto Ocampo says, "How can you be truly honest with yourself so that you can take control of your life?"

• 19:24Lewis Howes?

  Well, I think

• 19:27Lewis Howes?

  how can you be? I mean, just being honest is how you can do it, but it's hard to take full control of your life, I think, if you're not honest with yourself because you're always gonna be holding something inside or holding back something or frustrated or resentful that you're not telling the truth to yourself or to someone else. Um

• 19:49Lewis Howes?

  but I think it's harder to not be truthful to yourself than to just go through the hard things and be true.

• 19:57Speaker 01

  Do you have any tips about how you've learned how to be honest with yourself versus avoiding?

• 20:03Lewis Howes?

  I think it's hard sometimes. It just depends on the situation and and what we're talking about, but

• 20:11Lewis Howes?

  I'm not sure if I really have advice on how to be honest with yourself. I think when you know something is off, whether it be a career you're working in, or a relationship, or something you need to tell someone in your family, or whatever it may be, when you know something is off, that's when you should listen to yourself and pay attention. And if you're not paying attention to it and saying, "Okay, maybe this is gonna be, you know, hurt by being honest", it's hurting yourself more by not sharing than by sharing. And I think you've got to be discerning on every situation and everything is unique and you've got to be um aware of

• 20:57Lewis Howes?

  The timing of when you're saying things and stuff like that, but the more honest you can be, I think the better, at least with yourself. Um, and just be aware of what feels right and what doesn't feel right.

• 21:11Speaker 01

  Great. This is about podcasting. Bren Dubay asks, so many people do podcasting with little to no success. If you could name one thing that sets you or the other great podcasters apart from the rest, what would that be?

• 21:29Lewis Howes?

  I think consistency and quality.

• 21:33Lewis Howes?

  I think a lot of these podcasters, you start and they, they launch something within six months and then they get discouraged because they're not getting the download numbers. And it's just gonna take time, you know, with, I think there's over half a million podcasts out there right now. You've got to really differentiate why people should listen to you or watch your videos, whatever it may be. And why are you going to be that much more unique than the other half a million podcasts that are already out there? So if you're not figuring out what it is that separates you in the space and you're not, your podcast isn't completely different than all the rest, then it's not going to be successful. That's number one. And number two, if you're not being consistent with your

• 22:18Lewis Howes?

  show, um, it's going to be really hard because people want to listen to something consistently. So if you do it sporadically, once in a while, or you do it for a few months and you stop, you come back to it, people are going to go and forget about you and go somewhere else. So you gotta constantly be willing to create something of such high quality content that separates you from everyone else and then be consistent. Even then, I have friends who have podcasts who do that, that aren't getting results that they want. So that's just the starting point. It's high quality content that is unique and different than everything else and consistency. And if you're not doing those first two things, then the rest probably isn't going to matter.

• 23:04Speaker 01

  Uh, this is another podcast question. Teresa Snyder asks, are women easier to interview than men or vice versa?

• 23:16Lewis Howes?

  Are women easier to interview than men? I think it depends on who you are. If you are a person who's closed off and are uncomfortable interviewing women, then it's probably not going to be an easy interview. And I think it all depends on how you set up the interview. I think some men and some women are closed off when they go into any interview. They're hesitant. So it's not, it doesn't matter about who, what gender they are. It matters about how you show up, your energy, the conversation you have before the, you press the record button, the questions you ask them to set them up for the interview.

• 23:58Lewis Howes?

  You know, the relationship you've built, getting them on the show. It's all the stuff before you press record that is going to determine if it's going to be a more open show or not. So now some people are more guarded and more closed off in general, but it doesn't matter the gender.

• 24:19Speaker 01

  This is the last question. Todd Ashlock asks, why is it important to you to help bring out the full potential of strangers?

• 24:31Lewis Howes?

  Todd asks, why is it helpful for me to bring out the full potential in strangers? And I think it's, it's important for me to do that with everyone, not just strangers, but people I know and friends, family. I just feel like it's our responsibility to live a full, rich, happy life that is on the path of our dreams. And sometimes it's going to take, you know, many, many years to start achieving certain things we want. I feel like, you know, this is 10 years deep into what I've been doing now. And I feel like there's a lot of things that I haven't done yet. And I could easily be discouraged and I'm not as far along as I want to be or, or whatever it is.

• 25:13Lewis Howes?

  But as long as I'm doing things every single day that get me closer to what I want, I feel like that's all I can control. And so many people aren't doing that. They're, they're just stuck. They're emotionally stuck, mentally stuck, physically stuck. They are.

• 25:32Lewis Howes?

  Living in this fear that holds them back from living a more fulfilling life. And I just feel like if we're gonna be here, why not be here in our best form? And at least try to be in our best form every single day by progressing. We may not be this ultimate, reach our ultimate potential in every area of our life at all times. It's probably just not gonna happen for most people. But if we can consistently say, "Look at the world around us. We were given an opportunity. We're given this body, this experience, this world. You know, I've got this car, I'm in Los Angeles, I'm in the USA. I've got this incredible team."

• 26:16Lewis Howes?

  When we, when we look at the things that we have, even if we're not sure why we're here, but we can say, "You know what? I'm just so grateful for this opportunity." I feel like it's our duty and responsibility to, um, make the most of it for our maker. Whoever our maker is, whether it's God, or our parents, or our, our great-grandparents, whoever brought us into this world and this experience, and that includes a lot of people to make that happen. I feel like it's our responsibility and our duty to figure out how we can make the most of it, and have the most fun, and make the biggest impact, and also leave our experience

• 26:59Lewis Howes?

  better, um, than the way we found it. So that's why I do it. Cadillac Confessions. I hope you guys enjoyed this one. Uh, we are driving around Mulholland. Uh, we've got Christine in the back. We're all wearing shades now. You got Tiffany recording over here. Her, her main camera went down about halfway through. And, uh, now we're stuck in traffic, so LA traffic, we're moving slowly, but hopefully you guys enjoyed this one. Um, I always enjoy doing this. I think it's sort of our third or fourth Cadillac Confessions. This is number four, I think. Number four, I think, maybe. But it's always fun for me to do a Q and A because I don't do too many of these.

• 27:43Lewis Howes?

  So, thanks for your questions. Um, big shout out to everyone who, who asked a question over on Facebook and to the top 10 that we, uh, that we, we answered on. We appreciate you guys and hope you have a good one. Until next Cadillac Confessions.

• 28:01Lewis Howes?

  Well, I didn't think I was gonna take it to where I did on a few of those answers, but would love your feedback. Again, share some things that I typically don't really share about. Couple of things I try to shy away from: politics, specific religion, sharing different beliefs on those things. It usually just gets kind of mixed up and people take offense, or are judgmental, or I feel like it takes people away from the mission of actually living a better life, living a good life, being good to people, and following your dreams. People start to compare, they start to judge. So I hopefully was able to shed some light on my mindset and the way I think, without upsetting too many people. But again, if you thought this was powerful, share it with your friends,

• 28:46Lewis Howes?

  LewisHowes.com/509. This is more for the fans who really want to be able to ask me questions, because I don't really do a lot of Q&A, unless I do it here on the podcast and kind of like confessions. So, thank you guys so much for your support. Alright guys, thank you so much for all that you do. We've got some big interviews coming up in the next few days, so stay tuned. If this is your first time here, get ready and make sure to check out some of the previous interviews, because every week, man, we just keep getting bigger and bigger hits. Inspiration, motivation, tools, training, secrets that people don't share ever, anywhere. You get it all here at the School of Greatness Podcast. Thank

• 29:28Lewis Howes?

  you guys so much, and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.