593 5 Years of Greatness

"IT'S ALL ABOUT LIVING THE ADVENTURE OF LIFE AND DOING IT TOGETHER." Wow. This week marks the 5 year anniversary of the School of Greatness podcast. I took a minute tonight to reflect on the incredible gift this show has been to me and I was overcome with gratitude. I could never have imagined what this show and these conversations and these relationships and this audience would become when I started this little project. I would love to hear from you this week -- how has the podcast impacted your life? How long have you been listening? What have been your favorite episodes? Has anyone listened to every single episode? At the end of the day, the best part of this whole experience is you -- the audience. There's no show without you. I'm so grateful you've listened and stayed with me on this journey. "It's all about living the adventure of life and doing it together." When I think about the inspiration we've heard, the lessons we've learned, the value we've gotten, and the people we've met through this show, I am so humbled. And this is just the beginning. While I am always looking forward to what we can create even better, I knew it was important to take this moment and acknowledge what we have created together so far. I am truly honored to be in this journey of greatness with you. To celebrate this milestone, I wanted to highlight one top episode from each year of the podcast. I added a little commentary before each one and shared my thoughts about the show as a whole. So thank you again and here's to another 5 years of greatness in Episode 593. In this episode you will learn: How Tim Ferriss prepared for big keynotes Tony Robbins' morning priming ritual and book recommendations Alanis Morissette's definition of true success Why Chris Lee believes in the power of visualization so strongly How Mel Robbins became a confident master of her fear Plus much more… 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?

  Welcome to a special edition of the School of Greatness Podcast, five years of greatness on episode number 593. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a 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. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Not everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great,

• 0:44Lewis Howes?

  because greatness is determined by service." Wow, guys. This week marks the five-year anniversary of the podcast. So we wanted to celebrate this amazing milestone with a huge thank you. And we picked one popular episode from each year of the podcast to highlight. And I'm sharing my thoughts on why each episode went so great. Again, for me, this started with an idea. This podcast was literally an idea. When I moved to LA, I was sitting in LA traffic and I felt stuck in my life. I felt stuck in a relationship I was in, in a business partnership I was in, and just in all the things about my health and my life. I just felt stuck.

• 1:29Lewis Howes?

  For some reason, I was achieving a lot on the external world, but I felt like I was missing something on my internal world. So I said, "What could I do to continue to learn more, to develop myself, my mind, my soul, my energy, but also give back to the world, to let others learn from what I'm learning as well?" And that's where the School of Greatness was created. It was from this idea to continue to grow myself and then serve humanity by sharing these powerful insights and conversations with the most inspirational humans in the world, who are at the top of their game in sports and business and science, and to reveal the keys to greatness. And this is what we've created together.

• 2:13Lewis Howes?

  You know, again, after five years, over 50 million downloads, some incredible interviews, some powerful, moving moments, some, so many emails that I've received from you. Thousands of people who've messaged in talking about these different moments of the podcast over the years that have shifted things for them, that's transformed their attitude, their mindset, their life, their health, their relationships. So many incredible healings and results that have resulted because of this. It just continues to humble me and bring me so much joy and gratitude to continue on the podcast. So, we are five years in, and I feel like we're just getting started. We're continually growing, and we couldn't

• 2:55Lewis Howes?

  do without you, the Greatness Community. Alright guys, I want to dive into this. Again, I am so grateful for so many of you that continue to listen, and we just continue to grow month after month. It's just growing and growing and expanding. And I want to believe that it's because we're getting incredible guests on who are sharing these powerful nuggets, just like you're about to hear right now. So I thought I'd go back in time and reflect on some of these moments, and what they meant to me, and how they really helped so many people who are listening to the podcast. In year one, one of my top episodes, one of my favorite guests was a guy that really helped me early on, without even knowing it.

• 3:35Lewis Howes?

  He wrote a book called The Four Hour Work Week over 10 years ago. His name's Tim Ferriss. And I remember wanting to have him on, really to thank him for all that he did for me, to writing that book and being a catalyst of ideas and possibilities in my mind. And it was the trajectory of me launching my online business. So without Tim Ferriss, I probably wouldn't have had a podcast, because I wouldn't have even known anything about this online space. But in this section, really quick, it's about three minutes, Tim talks about how he prepared for his big South by Southwest presentation years ago, and how he really got amped up for this. Also, why Tim never rehearses a keynote all the way through. We talked about him rehearsing his keynote in front of his friends, and he also talked

• 4:19Lewis Howes?

  about why he drank two Diet Cokes before he speaks. So let's go ahead and dive into this blast from the past, year one of the podcast with Tim Ferriss.

• 4:31Speaker 01

  If it is something that I can rehearse, then I will rehearse. And I remember the first time I had a keynote opportunity at South by Southwest, which was a huge opportunity for me. This was probably 2007, something like that. And I had between 45 minutes and an hour to give a presentation. The first thing I did was I broke the presentation down. I mean, this should sound familiar, right? This is just like decon. So I took the presentation and I broke it into three parts. And that meant there were going to be kind of three acts to the keynote. And then I would have a very short introduction and a very short conclusion.

• 5:12Speaker 01

  So it was like one to two minute intro, act one, act two, act three, one to two minute outro. And what that allowed me to do was rehearse each act by itself. So I never rehearse a keynote all the way through, start to finish, to begin with. I will rehearse each of those acts or each of those segments until that segment is smooth. Then I'll move on to segment two and rehearse that until it's smooth and segment three until that's smooth, and then I'll do them all together. And in the case of South by Southwest, what I did, and I don't do this every time, but it will maybe be funny for people to hear, is I was staying with, all the hotels were

• 5:54Speaker 01

  sold out, so I was crashing in a friend's house in Austin, kind of out in the boondocks. And he had a garage, he had a big garage, and he had three chihuahuas of different sizes. It was like a giant chihuahua, a tiny chihuahua, and a medium sized chihuahua. This isn't a fairy tale, I'm going somewhere with this. And my friend had to go to work, and so I was kind of home alone until I had to head over to the conference center to do this keynote. And so I rehearsed by giving the keynote to these docs. And if I, no, check it out. If I was really animated and like compelling as a speaker, of course they don't understand what I'm saying. But if I was really animated and compelling as a speaker, they would sit there and watch

• 6:35Speaker 01

  the whole thing. It was hilarious. If I got monotone, or like looked down at my feet, or didn't make eye contact, they'd just start wandering off. So, I rehearsed it with these chihuahuas. But that's an example for keynote, right? So I have a format that I follow. I have a way that I rehearse. I have rituals. For instance, like I don't usually drink diet soda, uh, for a lot of reasons, but in this case, before I do keynotes, I will drink two diet cokes. And I guess they're probably, I don't know, 12 to 16 ounces each. And that's the reason I do that is, uh, primarily ritual. It's not because I need that to be the only way I get the caffeine. It's because that's what I did for years when I had really good

• 7:18Speaker 01

  keynotes. And I just decided that was gonna be my ritual.

• 7:24Lewis Howes?

  If you're a big fan of Tim, make sure to, uh, give him a shout out over on Twitter or Instagram, and let him know what you thought of that moment. And year two, we dive into another massive guest. And I remember when I first met Tony Robbins, I was a teenager at one of his conferences. And he stood over me, next to me at one point. He walked down offstage, and he walked into the audience, and I was sitting there. And it was almost like he was walking right at me. And he stopped right next to me. And he actually didn't look at me. And I don't remember what he was saying. He was saying something about mindset, probably. And he was shouting it out to 15,000 people who were captivated

• 8:07Lewis Howes?

  about what he was about to say. And I can't remember what he said, but I remember the way he made me feel in that moment. He showed me someone with so much confidence, so much poise, so much passion for his mission, and to serve that audience, that I said, one day, I want to be able to have that type of passion. I want to be able to have that type of purpose and mission. And I got to have him on. I've had him on a number of times now, and got to connect with him a lot more. Uh, love what he's been up to. But this was the first time. So it was a very powerful moment for me to be able to meet him in person for the first time after that, and share with him that story. And in about four minutes here, he talks about Why you should skip a meal, but don't skip reading.

• 8:50Lewis Howes?

  And you should always be feeding your mind. We talk about why fear is physical. His primal ritual, cold plunge, and the three books that he recommends. Let's dive in with Tony Robbins.

• 9:06Tony Robbins?

  Honestly, there was no internet back in the day. I'm pretty ancient. I used to go to the library because it's the only place you could go. And I would feed, I'd read biographies. I'd read people's lives. And it'd make me go, wait a second. As bad as I think it is, the greatest people in the world had it worse.

• 9:17Lewis Howes?

  Sure.

• 9:18Tony Robbins?

  So there's something here. So you feed your mind. I, Jim Rohn, you say to me, skip a meal, but don't skip reading. He said, read 30 minutes a day. I don't give a damn what it is. And today, I don't mean internet crap. I mean, read something, a biography, read something that's a strategy, read something that's going to change your life. And the second thing I tell people is feeding your mind's great, but you've got to also strengthen your body. And you do that as an athlete naturally. I learned to do that because fear is physical, right? You know where you feel it. And if you go work out, if you go lift, if you go run, even if you're out of shape, you just go for an intense walk. That experience alone changes your life. Every day in my life, the first thing I do before I do my priming, if I'm at one of my homes, I jump in some hot water for fun and I jump in freezing water. And I have, you know, a river, you know, in one of my homes in Sun Valley. And I've got cold plunges everywhere else. So I go in 57 degree water, boom.

• 10:03Tony Robbins?

  And what it does is like, it's teaching my brain, I do, I tell my brain what to do and it does it. It doesn't feel like it, doesn't want to do it. And every cell in your body is alive, right? So it doesn't have to be like two hours with something. It can be something you do for 30 seconds, but it's training your body to be strong. Cause a strong body could strong mind and vice versa.

• 10:21Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 10:21Tony Robbins?

  The third thing I tell people is find a role model. You know, it, it seems impossible till you see somebody's done it. So, you know, Ray Dalio is one of the greatest investors in history. The guy was a caddy, right? You know, his dad was a jazz musician, his mom was a homemaker. Um, you know, he's worth 14 billion dollars.

• 10:37Lewis Howes?

  He found someone to mentor him.

• 10:39Tony Robbins?

  He found, well, he found multiple people to, to model, right?

• 10:42Lewis Howes?

  Right, right.

• 10:42Tony Robbins?

  You don't always find a mentor, but you find somebody you can model. And when you start seeing that somebody else can do it and you see they really did, you start to believe, you start to get certainty. And then the fourth thing I tell people is it's massive action can constantly change your approach. And then it's finding somebody worse off than you are and help them. Because when you do that, it gets you out of yourself. And that's what I really have people do. That's what we do at Thanksgiving. We have our basket brigade where two million people get fed.

• 11:04Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 11:05Tony Robbins?

  Not the one I do, the one that I get people to do. And it's amazing. People go in there and they see, my God, I thought my life was tough. But look at this person's life. It makes you appreciative. It puts life in perspective.

• 11:13Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, very cool. Now, talking about feeding the minds.

• 11:16Tony Robbins?

  Yes.

• 11:17Lewis Howes?

  If you could only leave three books behind. The end of your life. Three books behind to your kids.

• 11:22Tony Robbins?

  Yes.

• 11:22Lewis Howes?

  And or the, you know, the message to the world of like, here's the three most important books that you should read.

• 11:29Tony Robbins?

  That's tough.

• 11:29Lewis Howes?

  What are those three books that?

• 11:30Tony Robbins?

  All the books I've read.

• 11:32Lewis Howes?

  You only pick three?

• 11:34Tony Robbins?

  That's a tough one. I don't know if I can do that, but I'll tell three off the top of my head. I'd say Man's Search for Meaning.

• 11:38Lewis Howes?

  Uh huh.

• 11:39Tony Robbins?

  Viktor Frankl, because all of us in our lives are in the experience of extreme stress. I don't care how much money you have. I don't care how much love or respect you, you'll have your time. It might be a health issue in your family. It might be something happens to the economy. It is something happens to all of us. And so to see how people that were put in the most insane unjust environment, people that were in Auschwitz, how they dealt with that unbelievable situation and how the ones that thrived in spite of it. And to go through Viktor Frankl's way of understanding how to create meaning in your life. I don't think there's a more important book. I think maybe another one might be As a Man Thinketh. Because it's a book that you can read dozens of times in your life. It's small and it's the core of everything. As you think, so you are.

• 12:19Tony Robbins?

  I mean, obviously the Bible is an extraordinary book or whatever religious document a person believes. I'm personally a Christian, but I tell people whatever you believe, you need to practice it. Whatever it is, because there are many different ways of connecting, you know, to what has created us. And then that's three already, but I'll give you one more. I think another one that's important would be understanding the life cycles of humanity. There's a book called Generations. It's a big book. It's I think a thousand pages, eight hundred pages.

• 12:45Lewis Howes?

  Bigger than this book.

• 12:46Tony Robbins?

  Much bigger than this book. But it's a book worth reading because it shows you how as every hundred years, eighteen hundred years, we run through the same cycles. Like what we've just gone through economically in two thousand eight, happened eighty years before. And you can go through a thousand years of Roman history and you see it. And when you begin to be able to anticipate what's coming, you know how to take advantage of the season. Some people freeze to death in the winter. People that are prepared might snowboard or ski and have a good time. So it's a brilliant book and it's by Strauss and Howes.

• 13:15Lewis Howes?

  Love that guy. And again, if you enjoyed that section, make sure to share a message over with Tony on social media and let him know what you thought. Year three of the podcast, I'm getting in the groove now, right? I'm finally figuring out that I can interview decently, you know, overcoming some personal challenges and growing a lot more myself. And, you know, things are picking up. I'm getting some traction. People are liking it. And year three happens. And I remember getting the opportunity to interview the incredibly talented, lovely, spiritually guided Alanis Morissette. This woman is a powerhouse, right? She's got an incredible

• 13:57Lewis Howes?

  voice, very talented singer songwriter, sold millions of copies of her CDs and albums. And it was a beautiful experience. I didn't get to do video interview with her, but we did it in audio in her office in Los Angeles and really loved connecting with her. And I hope I've connected with her over text, actually, a number of times since then, haven't got the chance to hang out in person again. But I really want to connect with her some more. I just loved her energy. So in these four minutes, we talked about how do you handle when your best work being behind you? And how do you deal with that? We also asked Alanis about her definition of success. So let's dive in and connect with Alanis.

• 14:42Lewis Howes?

  Four records, millions of copies.

• 14:44Speaker 03

  Not kill herself?

• 14:45Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. How do you emotionally handle it? Like, oh, maybe my best musical performances, or the results of the best performances are behind me?

• 14:54Speaker 03

  Well, the results of the best performance is probably a good way to put it, because so much of it has to be around how I define success.

• 15:01Lewis Howes?

  Of course. I mean, sales numbers.

• 15:03Speaker 03

  Yeah, sales numbers to me are, you know, and I said this before Jagged Little Pill, during Jagged Little Pill, and still now, they're almost inconsequential. You know, does it affect money coming in and opportunities? For sure. But opportunities abound for me.

• 15:17Lewis Howes?

  Of course.

• 15:17Speaker 03

  And it really begs the question of what kind of opportunities? So there are opportunities to do huge TV shows with huge audiences. I've had the privilege of doing a lot of that.

• 15:26Lewis Howes?

  Movies.

• 15:27Speaker 03

  Been doing it recently. I mean, I have access to being expressed. So for me, if I have a sense of self, I'm in my seat, as I call it, and I'm being expressed, I'm being of service, and I'm taking care of myself so that I don't burn out. That to me is the definition of success for me. And then I had to start having some personal fulfillment too, because I had professional fulfillment nonstop, and I still have that.

• 15:52Lewis Howes?

  You could succeed anytime professionally you want to.

• 15:55Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 15:55Lewis Howes?

  You can get in a TV show or movie.

• 15:57Speaker 03

  It's the most fun.

• 15:58Lewis Howes?

  Performing AMAs.

• 15:59Speaker 03

  Yes, doing a comedy piece with so and so. And there's just so many ways to scratch the itch of forms of expression. So that to me is like I'm a kid in a candy store today.

• 16:09Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 16:10Speaker 03

  For me, it was about also combining personal fulfillment. So that took a minute. And then now that I have that as well, I'm happy to say, now I just feel like I, it's about waking up in the morning and knowing what is the imperative. For me, it's service and self-expression, continuing self-definition, deepening intimacy in relationships that were always terrifying in the past and becoming slowly less and less so, and nurturing the ones that are really important to me.

• 16:40Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. What are the most important relationships right now?

• 16:42Speaker 03

  My husband, my son, my community, my best friends. They're huge.

• 16:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 16:48Speaker 03

  And it's a constant, every day there's a new thing. You know, and sometimes it's subtle, sometimes it's, oh, they let me rub their back a little longer, or, oh, they cried with me, or, oh, I asked for help, or, you know, whatever the growth stretch is for me in any given moment that in the past perhaps I wouldn't have done for fear. Maybe I'm doing it a little bit more today. So defining success to me is a multitudinous thing. It's not just success means winning Grammys, although that is some version of success. According, sort of, it's like externally oriented success. So there's internal orientation around success and the external validation. The external validation is dangerous though, because if we're singularly focusing on that, that is an ebb and flow.

• 17:32Speaker 03

  My whole life, I've been loved and hated. People don't give, people don't care. All of a sudden, they really care this week, and then next week they don't care again. And then they hate, and there were websites erected on how to punch me out properly. Like, there's, I mean, just the whole continuum of abject adoration and love and respect all the way to abject hatred.

• 17:52Lewis Howes?

  Wow.

• 17:53Speaker 03

  And emotional violence, so.

• 17:56Speaker 03

  I can't really ride that roller coaster.

• 17:57Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 17:58Speaker 03

  If I'm externally oriented, I'm in trouble. Externally referencing.

• 18:02Lewis Howes?

  Constantly looking for an acknowledgement, a thing to like bring you a feeling or feeling like, like you did.

• 18:08Speaker 03

  And then you're dependent on it.

• 18:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. You're always searching for the next big thing.

• 18:11Speaker 03

  And not to say I'm an island, the whole autonomous movement, you know, God bless the movement of autonomy and post feminism and everything, or post feminine, post seventies really. But, but now I just think, I can't be singularly internally referencing, I'm not an island. So I pick the people who I feel vulnerable with, we give each other feedback. They'll say, oh, there's a little blind spot there.

• 18:34Speaker 03

  And vice versa, but we always do it with a tenderness.

• 18:37Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 18:37Speaker 03

  And then I'll want their feedback. You like this song? But if I like the song, if I like the chapter, if I like the conversation we're having, I don't actually care what someone else thinks about it. This is just self-definition. I'm not saying this is the, this is the height of what all people should aspire to. It's what I love.

• 18:54Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 18:55Speaker 03

  And that's it. And that's enough for me.

• 18:58Lewis Howes?

  Uh, big love for Alanis Morissette. Make sure to, uh, message her over on Instagram if you've been a fan of hers as well. If you enjoyed that section, it's at Alanis over on Instagram or Twitter. Year four, the big year four. Now, there was one guest I've had on more than anyone else. And so many people kept requesting him to come back on. And I think he's been on, I don't know, 13, 14, 15 times now it seems like. And he always has this, this powerful episode that people constantly refer back to. And they listen to him over and over again. And that's the one and only Chris Lee. And he's a guy who has really been transformational in my life.

• 19:40Lewis Howes?

  I went to a workshop where he was conducting one time, uh, that helped me open up about so many things from sexual abuse as a kid to other challenges I had as a man and just being a better human being in general. And he really called me forth to, to being better in my life. And in these three minutes, we talk about the visualization process to seeing the result complete. And also your, that your vision becomes a reality. So be careful what you visualize because it just might come true. Let's connect with Chris.

• 20:15Chris Lee?

  So.

• 20:16Lewis Howes?

  I love this.

• 20:17Chris Lee?

  Yeah, visualization is actually seeing the result complete.

• 20:21Lewis Howes?

  Before it happens.

• 20:22Chris Lee?

  Yeah, seeing it.

• 20:23Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:24Chris Lee?

  So when I visualize my business already making over a million dollars a year in profit, spreading all over Latin America, having people experiencing abundance because of this business and because we're a business that operates from outflowing, from clearing, from integrity, then, you know, we become unstoppable.

• 20:48Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:48Chris Lee?

  And then you actually see the result. And what's great about visualization is that you have something to gravitate towards.

• 20:55Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:56Chris Lee?

  And the clearer you visualize things, the more likely it is to happen. It comes from the word vision.

• 21:03Lewis Howes?

  Hmm.

• 21:03Chris Lee?

  So having a clear vision, there's no possibility for abundance without having a vision.

• 21:09Lewis Howes?

  Yeah. I think it's, I think this is a very important part and it's something I learned as an athlete about visualization was seeing the play happen before it happens. And I got to practice as an athlete and transitioned into business world. And it's definitely one of the most powerful things you can do with anything, seeing the relationship that you want to have, seeing the business, the body and visualizing the way the vision will look in the future.

• 21:34Chris Lee?

  And the reason why a lot of us fall into the same traps and we keep falling into the same breakdowns is because what we're doing actually is we're visualizing all the things we don't want.

• 21:45Lewis Howes?

  Right.

• 21:46Chris Lee?

  And so we're visualizing how it's going to fail and we're visualizing how it's not going to turn out. And we're visualizing that we don't have the money, that we don't have the time, that we can't. And then your vision becomes a reality. And so, you know, I always say that be careful what you visualize because it may come true. You gotta be very conscious that visualization.

• 22:08Chris Lee?

  Is something that we use all the time and it's in an abundance and prosperity. It's a question of channeling in the right direction. So that always have your visualization include what you want, not what you don't want. So a vision would not be, you know, my vision for my life is a life without scarcity and without pain and without suffering because what you're doing is you're bringing all those experiences alive versus my vision for my life is a life of abundant, a life of health, a life of joy. And so you're actually putting and planting into the universe and your consciousness, all the things that you want.

• 22:47Lewis Howes?

  Yeah, I think, I think it was Mother Teresa that would talk about being for peace as opposed to against war.

• 22:52Chris Lee?

  Right.

• 22:52Lewis Howes?

  She never talked about being against something because that would then bring it forth, right?

• 22:56Chris Lee?

  Yeah, one thing is a position, another thing is a stand. When you stand for something and you stand for something, you're standing for something that's positive. When you position yourself, you're against something. And so what I'm, when, when you create a vision, it's important that your vision be a stand. What is your vision for the life that you want, for your health, for your finances, for your family, for your children, for your business? You just opened up a business. What's your vision? And the clearer you have that vision, the more likely it'll become a reality.

• 23:31Lewis Howes?

  Ah, yes. If you're a fan of Chris, make sure to send him some love over on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, all that, at Chris Motivador. And year five, man, big year five that we just wrapped up. When I think back to the last year, had so many incredible people on, but I remember when I met Mel Robbins for the first time and brought her on, this episode just blew up. You know, the video on YouTube blew up and it was just such a profound. Individual who gave such great insights and confidence and exuded this energy and the level of wisdom that I hadn't experienced before.

• 24:14Lewis Howes?

  And we cover a couple of different points, you know, in a two-minute section and then a, an extra one and a half-minute section, we talk about that fear still comes, but I have 100% control of what I think and do when I have fear. Also, where anxiety comes from and how to build confidence and courage. Let's connect with the legendary Mel Robbins.

• 24:38Mel Robbins?

  No, the fear still comes, but I have 100% control of what I think and do. So, one of the things that is important for me to, um, to put on the table is that a lot of times, um, you know, people look at your, where you are now. And so they'll see me on television, or they'll see that TED Talk, or maybe you'll be in an audience of 20,000 people in, in the American Airlines Center, and I'm onstage, and you're like, wow, that chick must have just been more incompetent. I hate her. The fact is, uh, that's not at all how I, how I was. I, I, when, when I was 19, I started having crazy panic attacks. And they got so bad that I took medication, and medication was a godsend for me.

• 25:23Mel Robbins?

  I took Zoloft for two decades. When I had our first daughter, who is now 17-years-old, the postpartum depression was so bad that, um, they put me on Ativan, which turns you into a zombie. And I could not be left alone with her. So when it comes to self-doubt and to how we can torture ourselves with our thoughts, boy, have I lived that nightmare. And as I started to use the five-second rule, which we're gonna get into, um, and everything about my life changed, because when people first learn the rule, what you're gonna learn, what you're gonna start doing is you're gonna start using the rule to push yourself to do things that are annoying. You're gonna push yourself to get up on time. You're gonna push yourself to work on your business plan. You're gonna push yourself to make calls that are scary. You're gonna push yourself to get to the gym.

• 26:08Mel Robbins?

  You're gonna push yourself to speak up more at work. You're gonna push yourself to put the booze down. Behavioral, behavioral, behavioral. And then you're gonna start to actually use it to change the thinking patterns that are self sabotaging. So I, four years ago, wondered, as I started to see myself go from facing bankruptcy, to building, you know, close to an eight figure biggest. What happened for me is I started to say, okay, this is a really cool little trick to bring out the most powerful side of you. But can I use this to actually cure myself of anxiety? And the answer is yes, you can. And four years ago, I went off Zoloft and I started using the five second rule,

• 26:50Mel Robbins?

  which I'm gonna explain in one second, to interrupt the patterns of worry and self doubt. Which, by the way, anxiety is nothing more than the habit of worrying, spiraling out of control. And body feelings triggering now the habit of obsessive worrying that turns into anxiety and then kind of escalates to panic. I started using the five second rule to interrupt my thoughts every time I would feel that kind of worry kick in. And because the prefrontal cortex is awakened when you use it, your mind is now ready to take on a totally different thought. It's a very different strategy than just trying to switch the channel on what you're thinking. Because you're actually inserting the step that nobody talks about, which is switching the gears in your mind so that your mind can actually take and believe the thinking.

• 27:34Mel Robbins?

  All, how you change your life is one five second decision at a time. One push at a time. And if you, if you accept the fact that you may never feel ready and you may never feel motivated and you may never feel confident, you may never feel courageous, and that's okay. But you can still push yourself forward. What happens over time is, as you start to see yourself becoming the person that takes action, that you start to see yourself becoming the kind of person that speaks, even though your voice is shaking. You're the kind of person that, that, that has a bias toward moving instead of a bias toward thinking. Guess what happens? You build the skill of confidence and courage.

• 28:12Lewis Howes?

  Ah, she is an incredible human being. If you enjoy her, make sure to send her a message over on Instagram, Twitter, and let her know what you thought. If you like her stuff and you liked this episode, send her some love. And that is my reflection on five years of greatness. Some of my favorite moments, people that I've had on, I could do a reflection on each individual, but I thought we would collect just one big one from each year, or a powerful insider moment that I thought would be useful to reflect on. And it's crazy, time flies. If you would have asked me five years ago where this podcast would be by now,

• 28:54Lewis Howes?

  I would have had no clue. All the people I've got to connect with, all the individuals I've got to learn from, partner with, be a part of their lives. It's one of the greatest gifts I've ever been able to receive, is to be able to host this podcast, and to meet all these incredible human beings who I interview. But most importantly, get to meet all the incredible beings that are listening on the other side. And I've been fortunate enough that when I travel and do speaking gigs and book tours, that a lot of you come out and say hi. And I'm very humbled and grateful when you do. It's always a pleasure to meet you, to shake your hand, to give you a hug, and just listen to you for a moment, to hear about how the podcast has been impactful to you. For those that see me randomly in

• 29:39Lewis Howes?

  the streets, make sure to keep coming up and saying hi. It happens a little more and more now, which is always very kind of you. So just make sure to come say hi. If you listen to the podcast, say hi to me in person. Give me a hug, shake my hand if you don't want to give me a hug. But I like to give hugs. And let me know what's been impactful for you. It's truly a privilege and an honor to be able to host this experience for you. And you ask my team and they will tell you, I obsess over this daily of how we can improve it, how can I can make it better, how can we reach it into more people? How can we continue to inspire people to take the information they're learning from this and

• 30:21Lewis Howes?

  implement in their life so that those results just ripple out into the world so that more people want to be better in their lives? It's all about living our best life. It's all about following and finding our passion and purpose, having deeper, more meaningful relationships, living healthy and inspired, having full energy, living the adventure of life and doing it together. You know, I've learned a lot over the last five years, some powerful lessons. I talk about it in the School of Greatness book, I talk about it in the Mask of Masculinity, talk about it in the Millionaire Morning, but I feel like there's so many more lessons

• 30:59Lewis Howes?

  to be learned and I can't wait for each day for what I'm learning because I'm still a work in progress. I've still got so much to overcome, so many things I get to tap into and keep stepping up in my life. And I know that this is only just a reminder and an opportunity for me to stay accountable and to continue to overcome my challenges and, and work on being a better human being. I love you from the bottom of my heart. It means the world to me that you continue to show up here each week, every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, when we release episodes.

• 31:40Lewis Howes?

  So, thank you if this is your first episode or episode number 593. I'd be curious to see how many people have actually listened to all 593 episodes. I'd love to hear from you. Send me an email if you have on LewisHowes.com, you can just email me there. And thank you guys for all that you do. I kind of don't even want to stop this right now because I'm just reflecting on all the moments of connecting with all of you and everyone that I haven't connected with yet.

• 32:11Lewis Howes?

  I hope to connect with you in the future. So if you're listening to this now, please come say hi to me sometime when we're in the same location. And just give me a high five, a hug, and just say, "Hey, heard the episodes and love it." That's all I need. Just want to know that you're out there. Again, Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Not everybody can be famous, but everybody can be great because greatness is determined by service." Again, I love you guys very much. Five years is complete, but our journey continues. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.