The School of Greatness with Lewis Howes

“NEVER LET ANYBODY GET IN THE WAY OF YOUR DREAMS. NOT EVEN YOURSELF.” So many times in this world we let others dictate our lives. We listen to our parents, our friends, even our neighbors on what we “should do” with our lives. No one knows our true purpose -- that’s something we have to find on our own. Our passions and our love should be what guides us in life, not just logic. Life’s too short to spend precious moments chasing something we don’t care about, something that doesn’t make us feel fulfilled. Sure, you could be a doctor or a lawyer and make money fast: but what good is the cash if you’re miserable? When you follow your passion and master those skills, the money will follow, and it’ll be worth the delay. That’s why for today’s episode of The School of Greatness, I brought on a truly inspirational woman: Michelle Waterson. Michelle is a wife, a mother, and an amazing UFC fighter. She had a passion for martial arts even as a child but pushed her passion aside to listen to what her parents wanted. Sh

THERE'S ONE THING EVERYONE LIKE: A GOOD STORY. A strong story can move the masses. It can inspire a generation or change your life forever. Storytelling is also one of the most important tools we can use in business. Good storytelling can take your business to new heights. There is a secret to good storytelling: make other people the hero. If you’re the hero of your own stories, you sound conceited. Instead, make others the focus. If you want to take it to the next level, make your audience the hero of the story. To dive into the power of storytelling, I wanted to bring back an interview with Donald Miller for this episode of 5 Minute Friday. Donald unlocked the power of storytelling and quadrupled his business in no time. Then he started to get calls from the biggest companies, like Pantene, Ford-Lincoln and even the White House! Learn from the grandmaster of storytelling, on Episode 654. In This Episode You Will Learn: The thing everyone should do (00:34) How Donald quadrupled his revenue (1:26) What stori

"AS A PEOPLE, WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT OUR ALTER EGO IS.” One of the hardest things for us to deal with is pain. Our mind tries to prevent us from experiencing it. It's just trying to protect us and keep us alive. When we push through that pain, however, that’s when we accomplish greatness. Now I don’t mean continuing with a broken arm. I mean pushing through those tough times when your mind is trying to tell your body to stop, but you know you have more to give. That’s why I wanted to bring you today’s guest, the Iron Cowboy himself: James Lawrence. James did 50 Ironman Triathlons, in 50 days, in 50 states. He was constantly on the move for 12 hours a day, running, swimming, and cycling. As soon as he was finished, he had to travel to the next state. Most days James only had about four hours to rest. That’s no time for your body to recover. Did he hurt? Did he want to give up? Of course. But James ended up powering through, breaking a Guinness World Record. At the end of the 50 days, his body had begu

“I LEARN BEST BY JUMPING INTO THE UNKNOWN.” There’s one resource in this world we all take for granted: time. We’re only on this planet for a small amount of time, and we tend to build routines in our lives that makes the days roll by. The next thing we know, we look in the mirror and we’re 70. When you look at that face do you want to see a life of missed opportunities or one filled with experiences you are proud of? If you want the latter, you need to make sure you schedule time for you. Take the time to build your life resume, because that’s what makes our lives much more interesting. When you talk about someone, do you talk about how they clock in to work on time everyday at 9 am and work late hours? Or do you talk about the places they’ve been to, and the experiences they’ve had? On this episode of The School of Greatness, I bring you back someone who has decided to build their life’s resume: Jesse Itzler. Importance of taking advantage of time. Routine make life fly by. Make time for yourself - building

“WE’RE GOING TO FALL CONSTANTLY. WHAT KEEPS YOU YOUNG?” We all go through struggles in life, and it’s so easy to get into a loop of self pity. Instead, find a way to focus on your future. Make goals for yourself, especially if you find yourself in a life changing event. Where do you want to be in six months? What accomplishment do you want to make in the next year? Life’s too short to dwell on the present, so look forward to the future. The importance of creating this sort of accountability really got me thinking about a past episode with one of the most inspirational people I had on the show: Amy Purdy. Amy is a Paralympian who lost both of her feet. It didn’t stop her from becoming a world class athlete and someone that even Oprah has called her hero. On this episode of 5 Minute Friday, Amy discusses how she was able to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles by shifting her mindset to one that is selfless. Learn all about how you can overcome the impossible, on Episode 651. In This Episode You Will Learn:

“The leader who acts like they have all the answers leaves no opportunity for others to help.” - Simon Sinek My previous mashup episodes have been exploding. Because of this, I wanted to bring you an episode on leadership. No matter who you are, or what you do, you will be in a leadership position at some point. Whether you are the CEO of a company, or a stay at home parent: there are people who rely on you to stand up and take charge. This can be a very confusing situation, as sometimes you may find yourself feeling like you can’t ask for help. You also may feel like you’re losing progress and need to keep moving forward. To give you the tools you need to lead in success I wanted to bring you back segments from Alison Levine, Simon Sinek, Nancy Duarte, and Cesar Millan. This collection of interviews, I felt, will give you some of the tools you need to really progress in your life. If you take these lessons, and integrate them into your life a little at a time, you will see results. I don’t expect you to memo

“YOU HAVEN'T LOST CHANCES TO BE A BETTER PERSON.” Are you aware you’re constantly being judged? I bet you are. Are you letting it affect the the way you live your life? I really hope not. Today, it’s so much easier to feel the burden of judgment. With social media, our lives are always in the spotlight. There are so many people who will hate on us, and the more successful we are the more haters there usually are. You can’t listen to them. You just need to follow your heart and brush off their comments. Focus in on listening to those that you really do care about, not some stranger that you’ve never heard of. I have a special guest who knows more about this than most people: Brooke Ence. Brooke is a fitness and Crossfit icon. She also appeared in Wonder Woman as an Amazonian warrior and she's just getting started. Unfortunately, she’s always received a lot of criticism in her life. Her love of working out has meant she doesn’t have a traditional female body. She can come off as intimidating to people, and ther

“Gratitude is always the best place to start with anything.” If you enjoyed this episode, check out the video, show notes, and more at http://www.lewishowes.com/648 Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

"EVEN THE SKY IS NOT THE LIMIT." - NAVEEN JAIN We've had some incredible masters of business on the show over the years. For this next mashup episode, I selected 5 clips from some of the most impactful conversations I've had with these masters. I've learned so much about how to take my business to the next level by learning from these entrepreneurs. Each of them has a unique business and personality (and strengths), but each has achieved extraordinary success by following certain key patterns. Interested to know what they are? You'll hear from Rob Dyrdek, the mogul of skateboard products, MTV, and funding startups. You'll then hear from Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx and the youngest female self-made billionaire in the US. Then you'll hear from Naveen Jain, the founder of multiple wildly successful tech companies, including ones that are making private space travel a reality - and curing disease. Next is Lisa Messenger, the Australian multi-media entrepreneur who turned out an incredibly success

“YOU HAVE NO CONTROL OVER OTHER PEOPLE, BUT YOU HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OVER YOURSELF.” Do you ever feel like there’s certain things that just set you off? Certain subjects that send you into a blind rage? We all go through it. There was a period in my life, well honestly it was most of my life, I was explosive. Even if a little thing would trigger me, I found myself exploding. In those moments, I would reflect - and I know that wasn’t me. The truth is, it wasn’t me. It was my reaction. More importantly, it wasn’t my reaction to what was really happening. I was reacting to things in my past. Previous events I was holding on to, and constantly judging, were making me react in an explosive manner. Events would trigger these memories on a subconscious level, and everything that built up would come out all at once. I was able to find a place of peace with my past and find a place of neutrality, thanks to the help of today’s guest: Chris Lee. Chris Lee is a transformational facilitator and coach (and TV personality) th

“THERE’S A HUGE AMOUNT OF REAL STATE BETWEEN THE WORST AND THE GREATEST.” Do you care about getting your social media numbers up? Do you want people to love and adore you? The problem is that you’re focusing in the wrong direction. Don’t concentrate on yourself or what you want from other people. Shift your focus to helping others. Make an impact on those who already appreciate you. When that happens, more people will appreciate you. You’ll make their lives magical, and the success and admiration will come later. For example, when Oprah comes out on stage she doesn’t say “Look at me. I’m great.” She puts her focus on her audience. She zooms in on others and does what she can to help everyone around her. For this episode of 5 Minute Friday, I’m bringing back this segment from Elizabeth Gilbert. She’s an American author, essayist, short story writer, biographer, novelist, and memoirist. She is best known for her 2006 memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, which as of December 2010 had spent 199 weeks on the New York Times Be

THE FIRST WEALTH IS HEALTH. Lately I have been bringing you some mashups, giving you some of the best advice on a specific topic and the response has been overwhelming. I know you love the long interviews, hearing about all aspects of someone’s life - and I’m not going to stop those. I love them too. But I wanted to take a moment to bring you a best of on something very important to me. It’s something that you need to think about if you want to truly achieve greatness, because without it you can’t go very fair. Yes, it's health and wellness. Without having good health, you can’t really enjoy your life. Trust me I know. I used to not care about my body at all. I worked all day. I would hardly sleep. I was putting on a lot of weight. So much so people started to call me Flewis (Fat Lewis). Once I started taking care of myself, that’s when everything changed. I started sleeping better, I had more confidence, and I was a lot more productive. That’s why for this episode of the School of Greatness, I am bringing yo

“WHAT YOU THINK IS YOUR GREATEST DISAPPOINTMENT CAN BE YOUR GREATEST RESCUE.” Do you ever get down on yourself over mistakes you’ve made in the past? Are you upset about things that happened to you and feel like the best times of your life are over? They’re not. When I was younger and injured right as my professional career as an athlete was starting to take off, I thought that was it. I thought my life was over in my early twenties. I had no backup. No plan B. I ended up sharing myself with the world, and turning my selfish nature into something selfless. I started making it my goal to help others, to transform lives, and I’m so much happier than I ever could have been. Of course, a part of me wishes my career as an athlete had been successful, but when I think about everything I have and all of the memories I have from helping others, I wouldn’t change it for the world. There’s no reason you can’t do the same now. Your glory days are still coming. On this episode of The School of Greatness, I had the pleasu

"CONVINCE YOURSELF YOU ARE WORTH IT.” Have you ever wondered, “What value do I have? Am I good enough? How can I compete against others?” Those thoughts stem from you comparing yourself to others. It’s a natural habit, but it’s one that is going to hold you back. Your value comes from you. From being who you are, and all of the experiences you went through. This world, and finding your place in it, is all about you being you and trusting in your instincts. If you compare yourself to others, you’re always going to feel like you’re coming up short. The truth is, you are great now. Every experience you go through, good or bad, makes you something special. To go further into this, I wanted to dive into a previous episode with Taye Diggs. Taye is an actor and singer who has had an incredible career in film and theatre. He was in the film, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and the TV series Private Practice, among many other career highlights. Listen to all of Taye’s insights, on Episode 642. In This Episode You

"You have to have some kind of practice of stillness in your life." - Danielle LaPorte Have you ever wondered what the truth is about why we're here and how to make sense of life? I think we all have. It's a question I often ask guests on my podcast who have a spiritual background. I'm fascinated by all the different ideas on our purpose in life and how to find it. We've had some amazing spiritual leaders on the show, from all different backgrounds, so I thought it would be cool to do a Masters mashup episode on spiritual truths. The response to these mashup episodes from the archives has been so great, I'm going to keep them coming. This one features 4 clips from some of the wisest spiritual minds I've ever met. First we hear from John Gray about how we can see our biggest mistakes and challenges being used for good in our lives. Then we hear from Marianne Williamson about the difference between pain and suffering (and that we have a choice about how to respond to them). Next there's a great nugget

THE GREATEST PEOPLE ARE MADE BY THE GREATEST CHALLENGES. Have you ever wondered what the truth is about why we're here and how to make sense of life? I think we all have. It's a question I often ask guests on my podcast who have a spiritual background. I'm fascinated by all the different ideas on our purpose in life and how to find it. We've had some amazing spiritual leaders on the show, from all different backgrounds, so I thought it would be cool to do a Masters mashup episode on spiritual truths. The response to these mashup episodes from the archives has been so great, I'm going to keep them coming. This one features 4 clips from some of the wisest spiritual minds I've ever met. First we hear from John Gray about how we can see our biggest mistakes and challenges being used for good in our lives. Then we hear from Marianne Williamson about the difference between pain and suffering (and that we have a choice about how to respond to them). Next there's a great nugget from Danielle LaPorte about why it's so

“IF YOU FILL YOUR HOUSE LIGHT, DARKNESS CAN'T COME IN.” So many people I know put more time and energy into their things, or their career, than they do into into their relationship. I know I can be guilty of it, and I’m sure you can be too. We put so much time into fixing up things like our homes, maintaining our cars, we tend to forget about those closest to us. We take them for granted. When is the last time you really took the time to make your partner feel good? How often do you really put effort into boosting their confidence -- or even just being present with them. That’s not the only relationship we neglect though - we forget about the one with ourselves. Chances are it’s been awhile since you’ve taken the time to forgive yourself. To do something respectable and give yourself that moment to appreciate it. To appreciate you. To dive further into this I wanted to bring back a previous episode with the internationally acclaimed spiritual author and lecturer, Marianne Williamson on Episode 639. In This Ep

"SOMEBODY HAS TO BE THE BEST. WHY SHOULDN'T IT BE YOU?" - MIKE CHANDLER Have you ever looked at the best in the world and wondered if you could be that? I have. I think a lot of us do when we're kids. We are amazed and inspired by the very best examples we find. But often we grow up and discover all kinds of reasons for why we can't be as good as the best. We fail at things. We struggle. We get knocked down, disappointed, hurt. I got to connect with someone this week who has experienced all of that. Many times. But he still decided he could be the best in the world at what he does. And he became that. Mike Chandler is a Bellator Lightweight Champion fighter. He was an All-American wrestler in college. He's overcome extraordinary opponents to win titles again and again. But he's also faced losses. Failures. Setbacks. At one point, after winning the world championship, he didn't win another fight for 688 days straight. So when we had a minute to sit down to record a podcast about the mindset of champi

"When you become rare, people become really terrified of losing you." - Matthew Hussey I know I get huge value every time I sit across from an expert and hear their wisdom about one of the most important parts of my life -- my relationships. We've had some amazing relationship coaches on the podcast through the years, but some of the episodes are so old, I know you may not remember them (or have ever heard them). That's why I wanted to put together another mashup episode from the archives to share some of these gems with you. If you enjoyed last week's mashup episode on High Performance Habits, you're going to love this one. We're first featuring a clip from my good friend and global dating icon Matthew Hussey. This is still one of the most popular episodes we've ever recorded. Then we dive into part of my conversation with Tracy McMillan, an Oprah favorite, a long-term TV writer, and relationship expert. I love how real and honest Tracy is in this episode. Last, we feature the master therapist hers

“WHEN YOU HAVE A VISION, IT BURNS INSIDE OF YOU.” If you want to find your purpose in life, you need to dream with others in mind. When you find that purpose, you’ll have to lead others. When you do, there’s a lot of responsibility that comes with that. To explain this more, and how to tell if you’re really meant to be a leader, I brought back this clip from Nancy Duarte. Nancy Duarte is the founder of the design firm Duarte, Inc. They have consulted companies and leaders like Apple, Google, GE, and so many more to create the speeches and presentations that have shaped all of the brands we love. Her most recent book is all about how leaders can use storytelling to enroll their teams to follow their vision. You’ll learn all about what it takes to bear the torch of leadership, on Episode 636. In This Episode You Will Learn: Who the real leaders are (1:00) The importance of being a torch bearer (1:51) Why we need self mastery (2:25) How businesses used to be run (2:53) What your dreams need to have to be success