743 Amy Purdy: How to Be Your Best Self

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A BOOK, HOW WOULD YOU WANT YOUR STORY TO GO? Whatever it is that you want to do in this new year- declare it. Tell everyone. One of the scariest things you can do is to admit your goals. What if you fail? But saying your intentions out loud allows the universe and those around you to make them a reality. Holding yourself accountable to what you really want won’t be easy, but it will force you to dig deep. No one knows this better than my guest on today’s special episode of The School of Greatness. I’m sharing a speech from this year’s Summit of Greatness with an inspirational athlete and author: Amy Purdy. Amy Purdy is a para-snowboarder, motivational speaker, clothing designer and New York Times bestselling author. She is a 2014 Paralympic bronze medalist, 2018 Paralympics silver medalist, and co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports. In 2013, She was named one of the top 15 most marketable para-athletes in the world by the International Olympic Committee. Amy has competed on CBS’s The Amazing Race and ABC’s Dancing With The Stars, eventually becoming the show’s runner-up. Amy used a tragedy that took her feet to push her to the next level. She teaches us to use obstacles not as a reason stop but as a springboard to new ideas. So get ready to learn how to write your own story on Episode 743. Some Questions Asked: What message would you give to other disabled people? (10:26) What’s next? (15:28) How did you become such a great speaker? (17:34) What do you do to stay motivated? (22:43) In This Episode You Will Learn: How to use what you have (11:57) How Amy is aware of her time (14:07) Why it’s important to tell stories that make you feel vulnerable (19:00) The power of intention (23:40) And much more... Follow me on instagram @lewishowes Follow me on twitter @lewishowes 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 743 with the inspiring Amy Purdy.

• 0:07Lewis Howes?

  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.

• 0:33Lewis Howes?

  Elon Musk says, "When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor." For me, that resonates so loudly because every day I get messages from people online or people I meet in person who tell me that they're not doing the thing they really want to do because of self doubt, because of insecurity, because of different challenges and obstacles that they face in their life. And they're really afraid to fail and afraid to let people down and for people to judge them. And for me, I feel like we weren't just put here to play things safe, to play small, or to show up some of the time. Yes, we want to protect ourselves. Yes, we want to have our needs met.

• 1:18Lewis Howes?

  Yes, we don't want to put ourselves in physical harms way. But if we want to achieve our dreams and if we want to do something meaningful to us and fulfilling, that means you gotta live messy at certain times. That means that you need to face different challenges. You're gonna break your heart. You're gonna hurt people. You're gonna do things people don't like. You're gonna, not everyone's going to like what you do. You're gonna lose some people along the way. You're gonna frustrate people. You're going to feel some emotional pain here and there. And I don't think you're just supposed to coast and live this safe life all the way from the moment you wake up to the moment you die. I just don't believe that's what this is supposed to be. Now, I don't want you to...

• 2:01Lewis Howes?

  Face emotional pain every single day, that's not worth it either. But there are going to be moments in your life that you're going to need to get stronger. Not play smaller, but build your strength so you can take on the challenges and adversity. And today's guest has taken on some extreme adversity in her life. Amy Purdy is one of the most inspiring people I know. She's a massive motivational speaker, she's a para snowboarder. She is a bestselling author. She won the bronze medal in snowboarding in the Paralympics in 2014. And in 2018 Paralympics, she was a silver medalist in snowboarding.

• 2:41Lewis Howes?

  She's also just such a kind human being, one of the kindest people I've ever met. And she had a challenge when she was early in her life where she lost the bottom half of her legs. She lost the bottom half of her legs. And she had extreme challenges and extreme adversity that she had to face. And in these challenges, she didn't settle for a safe and comfortable, comfortable life. She stepped up to the plate and started taking more action. And she was the closing keynote speaker at last year's Summit of Greatness, which was mind blowing. She got a standing ovation and her speech was one of the best I've ever seen. And we sat down and did a Q and A afterwards.

• 3:21Lewis Howes?

  And in this episode today is part of that Q and A that I felt really resonated. That had people in tears, that had people standing ovation, all this stuff. And I wanted you to have access to it because of how inspiring it actually is. And if you haven't got your ticket for this year's Summit of Greatness, it is going to be mind blowing. So make sure to go to summitofgreatness.com. Get your ticket and get some tickets for friends as well because it is going to be a great weekend in Columbus, Ohio. But in this episode, we talk about the power of using what you have to the best of your ability. Again, Amy lost her legs below her knees and shouldn't have what she was born with anymore.

• 4:02Lewis Howes?

  But she makes the most of what she has now and she is on fire. We also talk about what it takes to be your best self every day, even when you don't feel like showing up. She covers the power of vulnerability and sharing your story. So many people are afraid to share their story because they feel like it doesn't matter, that it's not interesting enough or no one's gonna listen. But I'm telling you, it matters. How to keep going and stay inspired even when you're doubting yourself and figuring out your own personal why. I talk about why a lot because that's what keeps me motivated. You know, I don't, I don't need motivation. I don't need to like watch videos or psych myself out in the mornings to wake up. I wake up every day because I know what my

• 4:47Lewis Howes?

  personal why is and you need to know what your personal why is as well. This is going to be a powerful one. Please share it with your friends, lewishouse.com/743. Tag me on Instagram at Lewis Howes while you're listening or watching this interview and tag Amy Purdy as well. She would love to see your comments and your messages about this. So make sure to tag her on Instagram. Again, a big thank you to our sponsors. Now, I'm very excited about our guest today. So without further ado, let me introduce you to the one and only Amy Purdy.

• 5:26Lewis Howes?

  We're going to do a few minutes of Q and A with Amy. So if you guys have a question, do we have mics down here? Let's go here first.

• 5:34Speaker 01

  Thank you. You guys were seriously, this was just incredible. I mean, the, the energy in this room is unreal. Absolutely.

• 5:43Lewis Howes?

  They bring the passion. They bring the passion.

• 5:45Speaker 02

  Hey, Amy. My name's Jacob. I'm from Hawaii and I, I'm just such, you almost brought me to tears hearing your story. And I believe there's a purpose greater than anything we can even explain. And I feel like this moment right now is something greater. And just a quick little thing so you could get an understanding is actually-

• 6:05Lewis Howes?

  Quick question. Quick question.

• 6:07Speaker 02

  Basically, my question is for the people I'm about to help, which is I worked with Miss Wheelchair Hawaii and we're making a disabled training app for her 12 week transformation. She got second place in Miss Wheelchair America and inspired hundreds and thousands of people just like you. And, you know, we're launching this next Friday and all these people are going to be doing it. I want to have you give them inspiration and, and tell them what it takes to take that step of once feeling powerless and to change your perspective in life and feel empowered like how you are today.

• 6:45Lewis Howes?

  So you wanted to share a message to you?

• 6:47Speaker 02

  Share a message to all these people that will hear this message from you. Because your story is exactly what I want them to go through on how you were in your situation where you thought that your life was over and then, but you were able to change your life and now inspire thousands of people. So I just want, just like, what can you say to these people that are disabled or have these inabilities that you once faced?

• 7:13Speaker 01

  So, first of all, I would say my TED Talk. A very short, short version of some of the stuff that I spoke about today. But really, I just think, I think if you work hard enough and you're passionate enough, that the possibilities are endless. I never say that anything's possible, because I think we all know not anything is possible. I mean, I'm not growing my legs back. Somebody in a wheelchair is not just gonna get up and walk. But I think that if you work hard enough and you're passionate enough, that the possibilities of what you can achieve are endless. And when I look back and I look at that video that my, of me dancing with my dad for the first time, standing on my legs for the very first time, who would have thought that I would go on to do Dancing with the Stars?

• 7:56Lewis Howes?

  Crazy.

• 7:57Speaker 01

  And that's why you can't give up on yourselves. Because you never know what life has in store for you. It really is, like I said, just about using what you have. Using what you have to get ahead. You know, there's, I feel like every accomplishment and challenge in my life, I wasn't prepared enough, I was, you know, I was injured going into the last Paralympic Games. I mean, there's always these things and always these challenges that are holding us back. It's about using what you have. Who here can say that you use what you have every single day, like, to your fullest capacity? None of us. I don't think any of us really, I don't know, I mean, I don't know if it's possible to reach that, but it's just, it's that idea that we have so much potential inside of us,

• 8:40Speaker 01

  and just to try to use what you have today to the best of your ability, that's what gets you ahead. And that's what I've really kind of learned and I guess been focused on in my life, is just using what I have, so.

• 8:53Lewis Howes?

  You've done amazing.

• 8:54Speaker 01

  Thanks.

• 8:55Lewis Howes?

  Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

• 9:04Speaker 03

  Hi, my name's Sam. I'm from Columbus, Ohio. I am grateful for... 14? I'm 14. Yeah. I'm grateful for time and having time to do things with the information that I'm getting here today from all these speakers. Good to be 14, right?

• 9:22Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know, right? I like time.

• 9:24Speaker 03

  Yeah. And my question is, so I just started snowboarding a few years ago. And on your mountaintops, literal and figurative, when you're heading down, whatever, maybe that jump, or you're gonna start your new program for the Paralympics in snowboarding, why don't you just like turn around? What keeps you at each individual moment to do that thing, make that jump, or whatever it may be? You sure you're not 24?

• 9:54Speaker 01

  Yeah, I know. I know. Amazing.

• 9:56Speaker 03

  I could never even just stand up in front of people.

• 9:57Speaker 01

  I know. I could never stand up at 14 in front of this many people. So, thank you. I think that you actually, you said it. You talked about time. And the thing is, I'm very aware that we don't have time. That anything can change tomorrow. Your lives can change so fast. And for me, I'm very aware of my own mortality. I know that what I'm doing today might not have the opportunity to do tomorrow. So every single day that I wake up and I'm healthy and I'm strong, I have a kidney transplant that keeps me on my toes more than my feet do. Because with a kidney transplant, you never know if it's going to fail. I don't know if I'm gonna need five kidney transplants in my life, or if this one will last a lifetime. So every single day that I'm healthy, I'm using what I have.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  And I'm pushing myself. And I'm trying to figure out what the possibilities are. Because we don't have time.

• 10:49Speaker 01

  Not to scare you.

• 10:52Speaker 01

  But you know, that's what inspires me. Like, every single day I'm healthy, I'm working. I'm doing it. I'm working towards my dreams, my passions, my goals. Every single day that I have what I have today. So, yeah.

• 11:15Lewis Howes?

  Go ahead, stand up. The one you were pointing to, yeah. Right here in the middle. If you could pass it down.

• 11:21Speaker 04

  Hi. I'm Kim from San Francisco, California. And I'm grateful for just all the stories. Like you said, like the stories are just so powerful. My question to you is, man, you've got this resume that's ridiculous. So, my question is, what's next?

• 11:37Speaker 01

  Oh, my gosh. So, it's kind of interesting. So, like Louis said, I... So, I travel all over the world and I usually speak to corporate events. I will speak to 20,000 people at a time. And it's all corporate and it feels nothing like this. This is amazing. I love what I do, though. I get to connect with so many amazing people and I hear so many different stories and share my stories. But there's a bit of a disconnect because I almost live in a bubble. Even though I'm speaking to thousands of people at a time, I'm in this little bubble because if you're not sitting in there with me, you don't get to hear it. I don't get to connect with you. So, I'm actually... I'm learning so much just being here today because I'm trying to learn how to reach out more to the followers that I have.

• 12:21Speaker 01

  When I have little kids come up to me in tears and saying that my story changed their life, like that's what I want to do more of. I'm really inspired by our younger generation. I feel like they have more challenges than any of us have had with social media and trying to figure out where you fit in the world. And so, I'm really inspired to reach out to more of these young kids. But in order to do that, there's a little bit of a bridge that needs to be made from my world of living in this bubble to being able to reach out more to my followers out there and be able to create the content, really, that the younger generation is going to, you know, actually get something from. So, yeah, so that's...

• 13:02Speaker 01

  What's moving forward is a passion and somewhat of a question mark. So, we'll see how I do that.

• 13:09Lewis Howes?

  There you go.

• 13:18Speaker 05

  Hi, my name is Kendall Crane. I'm from Nashville, Tennessee.

• 13:23Speaker 05

  My question is, I've talked to a lot of people this weekend, and a lot of feedback that I've gotten, or a lot of... Trying to figure out the word. A lot of what I've heard is that we're all kind of in this space where we're learning to tell our story. And like, I'm personally in a place where I'm transcending my pain, and like, you've gone through a lot of transition and transcending. I would love some tips on how you learn to tell your story, and any tips you would have for the people here.

• 13:52Lewis Howes?

  Did you have a speaker coach?

• 13:54Speaker 01

  So, I'll tell you what, I called my speaking coach this morning. I haven't talked to her in probably a year.

• 14:01Speaker 05

  Wow.

• 14:01Speaker 01

  Because this event had so much power to me, that I was like, I just want to make sure I'm on the right track here. And you know, she's so amazing, she's never helped me write my speeches at all. She just reminds me of what's important. She reminds me that being vulnerable, that getting up here and even if your voice cracks and you have tears going down your face, that that's what matters. Because you know what? We think too much. Like, our heads are constantly going, especially with a room of game changers like you guys. We always have something to do and go, and we're educating ourselves, and we're on Instagram, and we're feeding our brains. It's rare that we actually sit back and get to open our hearts. And so that's why it's so important to share our stories.

• 14:43Speaker 01

  And that's why I say that the stories that you are most scared to share, the ones that you are embarrassed about, the ones that you think, "I could never share that story because nobody would ever understand", those are the stories that you should be sharing. Even if your voice cracks, even if you cry, those are the stories that will transform the world. Those are the stories that will inspire the people around you. So I think just everybody has a story. We all have a story. And sometimes people come up to me and they'll say, "I'm really inspired by your story, but I don't have a story. So how do I inspire other people?" And I think that's wrong. We all have a story. But I think we have to be careful with the stories that we tell ourselves. Because those are the most important and powerful stories of all. Because those stories shape who we become.

• 15:29Speaker 01

  So, I'm up here just as nervous and scared as any of you would be getting up here, sharing your story. Every single time. Every single time I share my story, I relive it. And I do my best to kind of... I do my best to share the journey of it. You know, I've never, it's crazy that I'm called a motivational speaker because I don't go up and do the Tony Robbins kind of stuff. Like, I just share my experiences and what I've learned through them. And I hope that somebody in the audience can relate and that it impacts them to be able to move forward with their lives. So that's all it's about. It's about truly, truly just being you and being your most vulnerable self.

• 16:10Lewis Howes?

  Up top, anyone up top?

• 16:14Lewis Howes?

  Anyone up top have a question? I've neglected them up there for hours, that's probably why.

• 16:19Speaker 01

  I know, there's lights up here, so we kind of don't see all of you, but we know you're there.

• 16:24Lewis Howes?

  Go ahead.

• 16:25Speaker 06

  I'm from Toronto, Canada.

• 16:28Speaker 06

  My son is not able to use his legs. He has CP, he has a disability. And I'm trying to write my story. And I want to know if there is a ritual or something that you do, and our last speaker said, what do you do every day to keep you going the way you're going and to help?

• 16:46Speaker 01

  You know what, I actually, so I want to write a second book that's all about inspiration and how you do just that. Like, how do you wake up every day feeling inspired? And actually, I think you had one of the best answers that I've heard. We did an Insta story on my Instagram and...

• 17:00Lewis Howes?

  What did I say? I can't remember.

• 17:01Speaker 01

  Yeah, no, you said, it's having the big picture. It's the big picture because you can get really caught up in the challenges of what we're trying to accomplish here. Like, every day we can up, like, I have to sit down and write. I have to, like, all this stuff is hard. It is not easy and there's nobody making you do it. So like, you have to do it yourself. But if you have that bigger picture of your why, like, if you know your why, the how will always figure itself out. You know, you have to be clear on those intentions. If you know your why, and for me, my why is that I, my why is honestly, the little kids who come up to me who say that I've changed their life, or the lady who comes up to me that says that somehow hearing my story, she lost 100 pounds and it made her feel like she,

• 17:45Speaker 01

  she could follow her dreams as well. Like, it's so important to share these stories. And so even though there's all this work that's involved and even though life can be really difficult, I think that it's just having that bigger picture, knowing your why. And I'm just so inspired by who I get to meet that that really, that's my why.

• 18:09Lewis Howes?

  One more, final question.

• 18:17Lewis Howes?

  Sorry.

• 18:18Speaker 07

  I'm sorry.

• 18:21Lewis Howes?

  I have one down here, I already picked it right here, go ahead.

• 18:24Speaker 07

  Hey, Ally from New Orleans, who dat? Hey Louis, Amy, loved you on Dancing with the Stars. I voted for you hundreds of times.

• 18:35Lewis Howes?

  Ah, it's amazing.

• 18:36Speaker 01

  Thank you.

• 18:37Speaker 07

  And I was fascinated by how you got through it. And watching the show, I see the vulnerability of the celebrities. So, what was your biggest takeaway in your experience from Dancing with the Stars?

• 18:53Speaker 01

  Gosh, let me think, man. First of all, I went on Dancing with the Stars, I didn't want to be the first one eliminated. That's all, you know, I had really high hopes for myself. I had no idea, I had no idea if anybody with two prosthetic legs has ever done that before. Dancing seven hours a day for seven days a week for three months straight. I didn't know if my legs would move in the way that I need them to. But, I was so motivated to just figure out what the possibilities were. Like, I didn't know what was possible, but I also put a lot of pressure on myself because I knew people were watching me because they too were trying to figure out what the possibilities are. Like, what can somebody with two prosthetic legs actually do on Dancing with the Stars?

• 19:38Speaker 01

  And so, we had to get really creative and we made different feet, every single week was a challenge. Every single week, I'm telling you, as much as I want to say that we were like, "We got this, positive thinking", no, every single week, we thought we were done. Every week, we were like, "How are we going to do this?" It would get to the end of the week and it would be an absolute mess and I would have feet overnighted and we'd try to make them work. But every single week, we figured it out. Every week, we figured out a way. So, I go back to like, if you're passionate enough and you know your why and you're willing to work hard enough, then the possibilities of what you can do are endless. And I had this why. I was like, well, first of all, I'm not gonna, you know, there's no way I'm gonna fall on my face on national television.

• 20:23Speaker 01

  That was one big why. You know, but also, I really wanted to figure out what was possible so that a little kid who's sitting back watching TV, who has a prosthetic leg can say, "If she can do that, I can do that too."

• 20:35Lewis Howes?

  Yeah.

• 20:44Lewis Howes?

  And there you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Again, behind the scenes, powerful insights from my dear friend and the inspiring Amy Purdy, who just continues to break boundaries and overcome challenges every single day. And again, standing ovation of her speech at the Summit of Greatness closing keynote last year. She is just a delight and an inspiration. And make sure to check her out on Instagram, Amy Purdy, over on Instagram. Tag both of us. Let us know what you think about this interview. Share it with your friends. We are building a movement together, my friends. LewisHowes.com/743. The School of Greatness is almost six years old. Can you believe it?

• 21:26Lewis Howes?

  It's almost having its sixth birthday. Even though I don't celebrate birthdays, I'm excited for the sixth annual School of Greatness podcast show to come out soon. Again, my friends, we are doing the thing together. We are learning and growing together. We are messy together. We're making some mistakes together. We are impacting and changing lives together. We are impacting our families together, and we are impacting our own life together. And as Elon Musk said in the beginning, "When something is important enough, you do it even if the odds are not in your favor." And I'll tell you what, your odds are never really in your favor when you think of it

• 22:11Lewis Howes?

  that way. But when you start to manifest things and build momentum, you can change your mindset and say, "The odds are always in my favor." I love you guys so very much, and you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.