725 How to Transform Your Life with Shaun T

TRANSFORMATION IS A ROLLER COASTER. It’s that time a year where a lot of us commit to making changes in our lives. But sticking with resolutions is hard. Very few of us are consistently committed to ourselves. It is not easy. We have to think of new habits like a roller coaster. We’re building momentum to making the change. But then the roller coaster goes down. The dip is normal. When you’re feeling low, you have to know that you will climb back up. You have the forward motion to make it happen. To talk about this journey of transformation, I wanted to share a special presentation and Q+A from this year’s Summit of Greatness with an inspirational icon: Shaun T. Shaun T is a world-renowned health and fitness expert, TV host, motivator and creator of the best-selling fitness programs INSANITY, HIP HOP ABS, FOCUS T25, INSANITY MAX:30, CIZE and newly released SHAUN WEEK. He has hosted several primetime TV series and shared the stage with Adam Lambert and Val Kilmer in the musical version of the Ten Commandments, as well as landing roles in Pippin, Applause, Six Feet Under and the feature film Beauty Shop. A native of New Jersey, Shaun T received a BS in Sports Science and a minor in Theater and Dance from Rowan University. He’s danced with Mariah Carey as well as Aaron and Nick Carter, and choreographed for USTA’s Arthur Ashe Kids Day, the NCAA Final Four Halftime Show and the movie Bring it on: All or Nothing. Shaun talks about the phases that we go through when we try and succeed. He shares the superpowers that you have to get in touch with to withstand the roller coaster of chasing a goal. So get ready to learn how to unleash your seven superpowers on Episode 725. Some Questions Asked: What stories need to be told? (7:55) Who do you prepare yourself for the low? (11:06) How do you encourage people to stop hiding the things they’re uncomfortable with? (12:46) How do you go bananas but balance your life? (16:12) In This Episode You Will Learn: About the “secret backpack” that has tools for your life (8:12) Listen to what people are saying their biggest pain (9:57) What are your needs and wants now (11:48) Why you have to have a mirror moment every day (17:40) 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 725 with inspirational icon Shawn T. 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.

• 0:32Lewis Howes?

  Colin Powell said, "A dream doesn't become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination, and hard work." And that's what our friend Shawn T. is all about. Some of you may know him as a motivational speaker, fitness trainer, fitness motivator, businessman, and TV personality. He is best known for his home fitness programs for adults and kids, which include T25 Hip Hop Abs and Insanity and so many more incredible programs. Through personal appearances, his workout programs, and the Transformational Academy, his podcast, Trust and Believe with Shawn T., and his book, T is for Transformation,

• 1:15Lewis Howes?

  he is focused on affecting positive lifestyle changes in people around the world and proving that becoming the best version of yourself is attainable. And he's all about hard work, dedication, determination, and being committed to yourself. And sometimes we say we're committed to ourselves. We might even be committed to ourselves for a little while, but very few of us are consistently committed to ourselves. And in this interview, we talk about how to see the greatest version of yourself and be committed and consistent in the daily process. I'm telling you, it is not easy.

• 1:55Lewis Howes?

  I love to sleep in. I love to not work out. I love to eat sugar and candy and cakes and brownies all day long if I could. I could drink milkshakes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I'm telling you, I love all these things. But I wouldn't be able to achieve what I have and what I'm going to achieve in my health, in my relationships, in my life, in my business without... The consistency, the commitment and the dedication, and that's what this is all about. In this interview, we talk about how to develop your belief system because that's really at the core of these things. Why we make poor decisions is stems from our belief system.

• 2:35Lewis Howes?

  Talk about believing in the process and how to really be aware of the fear that we feel every single day and address it and overcome it. We talk about how to implement the big three Cs, which is commitment, climb and conquer. Because most of us can do some of it, but it's hard to really overcome all of it. Talk about breaking down your superpower. Do you know what your superpower is? If you don't, you're going to want to listen to find out. And how authenticity is required for being creative. This was actually from an interview we did on the Summit of Greatness stage in Columbus, Ohio recently.

• 3:16Lewis Howes?

  And he just blew the roof off of people who were there, 1,500 people from around the world flew in for Summit of Greatness. You can get your ticket for next year, summitofgreatness.com as well for the early bird, general admission rates. Go check it out if you want to come next year. But this was from that interview and man, did he blow the socks off of people. So make sure to share this with your friends, lewishouse.com/725. And as always, tag me at Lewis Howes on your Instagram stories while you listen. And make sure to tag Sean T, at Sean T, while you're, you're listening to this as well on your Instagram story. And let them know what you enjoyed about this most. All right, guys, it's all about how to transform yourself.

• 4:02Lewis Howes?

  And I'm excited about this as we're going into the holiday season even more. Transformation is something we're all reflecting on. And what better to bring you than the one and only Sean T.

• 4:17Lewis Howes?

  What's your name, what are you grateful for in your question?

• 4:19Speaker 02

  My name is Sky. I'm from Boston, but I live in Los Angeles. I'm grateful for my family and grateful to be here. I'm a video creator, storyteller, producer, and I make videos about health and wellness to inspire others to live their healthiest, happiest lives. So I'd like to ask you what stories need to be told to impact society, inspire and elevate society to live our most vibrant, healthiest, happiest lives?

• 4:46Speaker 03

  What stories, as in your personal stories or what stories in general?

• 4:48Speaker 02

  No, what stories in general. What do people need to hear?

• 4:52Speaker 03

  So, you know, I always say through struggle comes strength. And, you know, I talk about a secret backpack. In my book, I talk about the secret backpack. No matter what you've been through, if you're here today and you're breathing and you're living today, you can actually reach in your secret backpack because there is a tool that you've gained and you've earned in order to progress forward. And if you were to go through something again, you're like, hey, I kind of been through that. So I can reach in my secret backpack and utilize it. So my challenge to you is, tell stories where people have challenges, but don't just show like, oh my gosh, they overcame. What did they learn from this? What is the superpower that they got from it? And more importantly, what is the tool that they have? And like, what tools are they using?

• 5:35Speaker 03

  I would love to see a video where you literally do some sort of graphic of a tool, like of these people utilizing this power. Because we are inspired a lot by video of people overcoming obstacles. But what is that one thing? What is that one thing? And I think society needs to see the, you know, I say truth, trust and transparency, full transparency. And I'll say this, when I wrote my book, when I talk about my sexual abuse in my book, there are some people who read the Gally and they were like, oh my gosh, that's too much. And I'm like, great. I'm like, because there are a lot of people out there who've been sexually abused or raped and they're so quiet because they're afraid to tell their story. And I'm like, I'm telling this story. And I'm telling this story in such graphic detail. We a lot of times tell stories for the surface, for people to get, we want to get a rise.

• 6:20Speaker 03

  But how deep can you go? Like, how deep can you go for the people who are silent and are, and they are... Stifled by silence, like what kind of stories can you say to give people strength to say, you know, I need to utilize that tool and I want to say something and I need to go deep?

• 6:36Lewis Howes?

  I think also listening, I think that's great. Thank you for sharing that. I think also really listening to what people are saying is their biggest pain. Whatever they say their biggest pain is, whether it's your friend, your close friends, whether you just are seeing these conversations on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram and people talk about the same pain over and over again, that's the video you should make that speaks to the pain, I think, because that's the one that people are going to resonate with the most. It's going to help them the most and it's probably going to be reached farther than just some generic video. So speak to the pain.

• 7:06Speaker 03

  Yeah, thank you so much. And good luck, Scott.

• 7:10Lewis Howes?

  Uh, where's the mic at? Name, what you're grateful for and quick question.

• 7:16Speaker 04

  All right, uh, my name is Matt Conti from, uh, Yorktown, Virginia. Uh, grateful for you, Louis, but Sean, like, I can't even say how much you've changed my life. I'm an instructor, been for about five years, so.

• 7:34Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 7:39Speaker 04

  Like, I feel like I've hit my high, like you're talking about when I was an instructor, teaching five classes a week, but then I went down. What do you do to prepare yourself on the way down for that low in order to turn it back up?

• 7:53Speaker 03

  Yeah, I can tell there's a little bit of pain and while I can't obviously interview you, it's like what, how do you go back up? And I was saying like when you, I was talking about the secret backpack before, a lot of people forget about what they did before, you know? Number one, you have to look at what you did before to get to that highest point where you are, but then you also have to combine it with who you enhanced yourself into as a person, because I don't believe people change. I just believe they enhance who they are. And so there's the you that's back there that you're grabbing a baton from, but who are you now? Like you have to connect to who you are right now and what are your needs and your wants right now? And that's going to give you the power to push back

• 8:36Speaker 03

  up. You might, I don't know, but you might be in a different relationship. You might have kids, you might have moved a job or a house. And so all of these things that's surrounding you are changing your roadmap to success, but you have to then go back and be your own GPS.

• 8:51Lewis Howes?

  Snap.

• 9:00Speaker 05

  Hi, my name is Penelope. I'm from Berkeley, California. And I apologize for taking a chance at a second question. But in Louis's documentary, he talked about hiding all of these things he was feeling inside, and they were being exposed through the different mannerisms and behaviors. And he talked about when he opened up about being sexually abused, that was the first time where he was able to tap into his potential. And you talked about being sexually abused every single night when you were eight years old. At what point did you start opening up to people about that? And then how can you inspire all the people in this room to stop hiding the things that they're uncomfortable with and talk about it so that they can reach their potential?

• 9:36Speaker 03

  Oh, okay. Thank you. Thank you so much. So the first time I opened up about it was in therapy. I actually told my mom. How were you? When I was 21 years old, I told my mother. But it wasn't much of a help because it was more emotional. And then so I started going to therapy. The first time I went to therapy, and I was like, oh, this is gonna work. But it didn't. And then, okay, here comes a little emotional. Ah, okay. So then I met Scott, my husband Scott, right? And so I was the happiest I had ever been in my entire... I was so happy, I was like in love.

• 10:17Speaker 03

  But at 2 o'clock every night, I would start a fight with him. I would start a fight with him, I would like leave... This is in my 30s. I would leave the room, and he would be like so confused. Like I would literally wake up mad. And I would, and I would take him on this like horrific journey at 2 o'clock in the morning, often. And then I was like, I need to go back to therapy again. Like, I don't know what's happening. And so I would go to therapy every day. And then it was this one afternoon where I had to call my therapist. Like, I was so distraught that I couldn't even make it to her office. And she was like, you know, what's going on? I had never really talked about that before. And I was telling her what was happening.

• 11:02Speaker 03

  And she just said to me, when were you sexually abused when you were a kid? And I was like, 2 o'clock in the morning.

• 11:10Speaker 03

  So every night at two o'clock in the morning, not every night, but every night ish at two o'clock in the morning, it would happen. And so, once I realized where that was coming from, once I realized where it was coming from for me, then I was able to understand where it came from and not push it off the scot. So now I'll go to your question, when did I start telling everyone about it? Believe it or not, at that time, I had started to write my book, and once that happened, I stopped writing my book, because I had to release this in order to try and motivate other people. And so, when it finally broke inside of me, and when I finally realized, like, wholeheartedly what it is, like, what the full struggle was, that's when I was able to talk about it. But I had to talk

• 11:52Speaker 03

  to myself first. I didn't know what that was first. And so, yeah, that was, that was probably, that was tougher than the actual abuse, because it was realizing how I was affecting the person I loved the most, and taking them on this journey, and they didn't deserve that. And so, I had to talk to myself. And the minute I could tell myself, and look in the mirror and tell myself, that's when I was able to tell other people. And thank you. Thank you so much.

• 12:26Speaker 06

  Hi.

• 12:27Speaker 03

  Hello.

• 12:28Speaker 06

  My name is Gina Molinari. I'm originally from New Jersey, but I live in Columbus, now.

• 12:32Speaker 03

  What part of Jersey? What exit?

• 12:34Speaker 06

  No, I'm actually in Parsippany.

• 12:35Speaker 03

  Oh, okay. I like it.

• 12:37Speaker 06

  Not really near the public. So I'm actually on two pretty major journeys at once, and this is something that I really struggle with. Oh, yes, I'm gonna get emotional. So I'm not only on the journey of entrepreneurship and building my business, but also to transform my physical self. And I know one supports the other, but how do you prioritize and focus when you wanna go bananas so hard in both?

• 12:57Speaker 03

  What was the last part?

• 12:58Speaker 06

  Like, when you're saying go bananas is one of the, like, how do you go sow bananas in both and, like, balance your life?

• 13:04Speaker 03

  Yeah. So it is about balance. It's about recalibrating every single day. And so, first of all, I don't wanna say, I'm sorry that you're going through this. I'm gonna say congratulations, because there are, there are, so, can I go closer to her?

• 13:23Speaker 03

  Listen, Gina, there are so many people out there, no, there are so many people out there who they're going through this and they're silent. It's just like when Penelope Wright asked me, like, when am I gonna break the silence? But you know, you know you need to prioritize. So everything else around you has to flow from everything that's around you. So your business is, I don't mean it's in a negative way. It's a materialistic thing. Like, this is things that, I don't know if it's gonna help other people or it's gonna make money, but that can't thrive without the happiness of you, the happiness of the internal you. So it's not really about balancing and prioritizing them. Like, you are the most important. And here's what I can promise you.

• 14:08Speaker 03

  If you focus on you every single day and you make you the priority, whether it's nutrition or whether it's exercise, that business is going to thrive in such a way because the energy that's gonna take over your body because you've given to yourself. And then, so the last thing I'll say is, have a mirror moment every single day. Because a lot of people, and I'm gonna say this because you mentioned that you were on this weight loss journey and this physical journey and fitness. There are a lot of people who you may look at that might have the six pack, who look in a mirror and don't like what they see. And I tell them to have a mirror moment as well. So instead of looking in the mirror and saying to yourself, "Oh, my gosh, like, I gotta lose this weight", you have to look in the mirror and be like, "Your hair is lit today, Gina." You have to look in the mirror and even if you feel like,

• 14:52Speaker 03

  and I'm a full disclosure kinda guy, even if you feel like you got too many extra curves, that booty might be sitting right that day. So for me, I tell people like, "Right, sitting right." So what is your best, I call it, what is your best asset, right? Because here's the thing, I don't have my before picture here, but when I looked at my before picture, because that's why I started this journey, I hated my face. And I still wake up today and every day and I'm like, "Oh, my God, I still feel like I have that fat face." And so, full disclosure, but now, if I go through that moment, I used to go have the mirror moments that I'm telling you about. And I'm like, "Well, what do you like on your body, Sean?" And I was like...

• 15:32Speaker 03

  You don't have to like it. No one else has to like it, but you have to like it, right? Have your mirror moment. Give yourself time every day, even if it's 10 minutes of jumping jacks and pushups. But you prioritize you and everything else. I promise you will fall into place.

• 15:48Speaker 07

  Give it up for Sean T, everybody. Give it up. Give it up. We love you. I love you too.

• 15:53Speaker 03

  Thank you.

• 15:58Lewis Howes?

  Oh, I love this man. And if you enjoyed this as much as I did, then make sure to share this with your friends. LewisHowes.com/725. Tag me at Lewis Howes on Instagram and at Sean T. Let us know what you enjoyed most about this, the thing you took away. Again, a big fan of Sean T and all he does to support humanity and really transforming more than just health and fitness, but transforming the inner world, the mental state that we go through to help us be consistent and committed and conquer long term. That's what it's all about. Again, share with your friends. Check out Sean T as well. Make sure to follow him, support him and all the good things he's doing because he's got a big program coming out very soon. So stay tuned to that information.

• 16:41Lewis Howes?

  Colin Powell said, "A dream doesn't become reality through magic. It takes sweat, determination and hard work." If you want to live an average life, then you don't have to work that hard for it. You can kind of coast. But if you want to create a magical life, a life of abundance, of freedom, of impact, of influence, then it will take hard work. It will take determination. It will take sweat. That's what it's all about. But you must create pain in your life so that you can overcome the obstacles that average people are unwilling to overcome. Those people...

• 17:22Lewis Howes?

  Create average results in their life because they're unwilling to experience the level of pain that you are willing to experience. So if you're willing to take on that pain, then get ready for magic to start to unfold. Because it's about to be so much more beautiful on the other side of pain. I love you guys and as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.