The School of Greatness - 130 The Definition of Greatness Recap (and SOG 2 Year Anniversary!)

Episode Date: January 26, 2015

"Final Question: What is your definition of greatness?" If you enjoyed this episode, check out the links to all the full episodes highlighted in this roundup at www.lewishowes.com/130.

This is episode number 130 and you are entering the greatness definition roundup Welcome to the school of greatness My name is Lewis Howes a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur in 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. Welcome everyone to this very special episode on the School of Greatness podcast. And you want to know why it's special? It's the two year anniversary of the School of Greatness podcast. That's right. We

have been around for two years now. This is episode number 130, and I'm so pumped, grateful, humbled, blessed, and just glad to be here, really. I mean, it's been a journey. I can't believe it's been two years, and so much has happened over the last couple of years. So many incredible guests on this show. I've learned a lot and I hope you guys have learned a lot as well. So we've got a lot to come over the next couple of years. This show just keeps getting bigger and bigger. We're at 650,000 downloads this month alone.

We're shooting for a million a month here soon. So I'm very excited about what is to come with the School of Greatness. But I wanted to let you guys know what we're doing with this one. We brought some of our favorite definitions of greatness over this past year. And we did a recap of our favorite ones. I think we got about 17 of them. Even though we have more episodes than that in the last year, I think we did about 17 definitions. And we got all the show notes back at lewishouse.com slash 130. So you can see all the links for all the definitions of greatness from all the different greats we've had on here.

Now, let's go ahead and dive into this episode number 130 of the Greatness Definition Roundup. My definition of greatness is I wrap it up in kind of my philosophy on life. Learn it, live it, give it. Learn what it takes to have the life of your dreams, to be who you want to be, to do what you want to do. Live it so abundantly and ferociously that your life becomes your message. You don't have to say a thing to anyone around you. They just get who you are and what you're about by how you live. And finally, take all of that experience and all of that growth and insight that you've learned yourself and pay it forward. Find a way to share it with others in a unique way that causes them to find their path and create who they are and elevate and emanate into the world and just be the best version of them. And again, it becomes

that ripple effect where they learn, they live, they give. And I think if that ripple happens in the world, I would be damn proud to hopefully be someone who helped start it and kept it going. Jared Robbins. I think my definition of greatness would be finding the thing that you're passionate about and being brave enough to pursue that as your life's work, right? Because I think there are so many people who kind of know what they want to do, but they think they need to do something else that's going to earn them more, this, that. And I'm such a big believer in passion breeding success. And, you know, we spend a lot of our life working.

And so for me, greatness is figuring out what you're passionate about and being brave enough to do that thing. I love that, being brave enough. That's really cool. do that thing. I love that being brave enough. That's really cool. You embrace the idea that these principles, they're not quick fixes. They're not diet plans to get you to a point. This is an ongoing journey of you're always getting better and that you take pride in being willing, no matter how big you get, to do the things it takes to be successful. And you never become an escalator person who just made it and you're just drifting along. You're, you're doing what it takes. And

it's the small, seemingly insignificant choices that you make each and every day, which is, you know, where take the stairs as a metaphor comes from. And so for me, it's just embracing that idea that success is never owned. It is only rented and the rent is due every day. Rory Vaden. It is only rented and the rent is due every day. Rory Vaden. My definition of greatness, man, is leaving the world better than I was given to you. You know, my mother, who, like I said, got pregnant with me at 17. She had one wish for all of us, and that was that each generation should do better than the next generation.

So for me greatness is, you know, just making this world a better place, leaving YouTube better than it was before Eric Thomas got on it, leaving Instagram better than it was before Eric Thomas got on it. Greatness is about making things better. Greatness is about getting better. You know, when we were kids, granny used to say, good, better, best, never let it rest until your good is better and your better is best. You know, so for me, greatness is about nobody knows Eric Thomas. Nobody knows what I'm capable

of, but I know what I'm capable of and getting better every single day. Never settling, never saying, well, I got a PhD, so I'm finished. You know, well, I've got a video, a few videos that went viral. Most people have never done that. I'm doing good. I wrote three books. I'm good. No, no, Eric, you know, you know, at the end of the day, when you lay your head down to sleep, Emano, Emano, man to man, my flesh to my spirit, you know, when you've given your best, you know, when you've gotten better. And greatness is challenging the today you and the future you saying you can get better. To me, that's what greatness is. And I believe it's my duty to use my influence in my finances, in my time to tangibly

make other people's lives better. And to me, that's what Gandhi, Mother Teresa, you know, Martin Luther King, when I think of greatness, you know, those are the people that I think about. And they've long been gone, but their contributions still live with us today. And they're still making an impact on the world today. Eric Thomas, thanks for coming on.

Yeah, totally. To know that you put it all on the line and you've done your very best and to know that you held nothing back and to know that you either failed and gave it your best try or you've succeeded and you've won and it was the hardest thing you've ever done. So I think overcoming great, great challenges is probably my definition of greatness. And the more you set yourself up to do that, the more, you know, exhilarating it is when you actually do win or you do lose, you know, you know, you tried your best. That's, that's my definition of greatness. I pushing your limits as far as they can possibly go and never stopping wanting to add positivity and then leaving a place better off than where

you found it. That's good, Yvonne. Thanks for coming on, my man. I appreciate you. Always making the choices that are right, not what you think you should do. So taking action, getting up every day. And even if it's a harder choice, even if it's not traditional, it's always rechecking to see, is this truly what I believe in? Is this really what I am?

If you are doing that every day, I feel like that you are truly great. I love it. Vanessa Van Edwards. Greatness is living the life you want to live. Okay? This applies on so many different levels, right? The one thing that bothers me most is to see individuals in situations that they don't want to be in, that's causing them strife, that's causing them misery. And what they're not

understanding and getting is that the person that has the power to change that is in the mirror. It's you. You know what I mean? And so many individuals do make that choice to say, hey, you know what? I'm going to live the life that I want to live. I'm going to do the things that make me happy, right? And that's going to lead to greatness because if you're doing something that you're passionate about and you're doing something that makes you happy, you want to do it. You want to do it at a high level, right? Matter of fact, if you don't do it at a high level, you won't be happy. Right.

You see what I mean? Yeah. And that's what leads to greatness. Have you ever seen anybody be absolutely great at something that they hate? And then they're miserable at? You know what I mean? I don't know. Maybe it exists, but I haven't seen it recently.

You know what I mean? But that is greatness. You know what I mean? And it's a decision. A lot of people just feel like whatever, that's what life dished up. So that's what it's got to be. It doesn't have to be that. What's got to be is that's what it's got to be. It doesn't have to be that. You know, what's got to be is what you say it's got to be.

You see what I mean? Because anybody, if you take two people and you juxtapose them and you have one person that is living the life that's making them happy and they're experiencing greatness on whatever level, because it's not about money or social stats or whatever. It's just about, hey, this is what I want to do. Right? That's it. Period.

That's it. Whatever. That's it. Whatever level it is. And you juxtapose that person with the person that is doing something they just hate doing and their life is just all kinds of terrible stuff is going on. The only difference between them, it's not aptitude. It's not that one's smarter than the other and one has, you know, it's that one wanted this for themselves and the other doesn't believe, right? They don't believe that they can create that for themselves. And they don't take those steps and don't take that ownership of their lives and say, hey, I am going to create this and I'm not going to stop until I get there. You know what I mean? Sure. But that, and no matter if it's a long journey

or a short journey, that window is the greatness. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying? I love it. That's that window of greatness because you've now taken control of your life. You've now taken control of your destiny

and you are going to create something that makes you happy. You're creating your own bliss. If that's not greatness, I don't know what is. You know what I mean? Right. And it doesn't matter how socially impactful it is, because it's not about anybody else but you. Sure. But you. And the fact that you've changed your life and now you're a happier person, guess what? Other people around you

will be happier. You know what I mean? And you can be a more positive influence because that happiness is contagious, man. You know what I mean? But yeah, man, just taking charge of your life, man, doing what you want to do. I love it. Thank you for the definition. DJ Irie. I think my definition of greatness is somehow about, is about wholeness and it's about self-knowledge. It's about honoring our strengths, whatever they are, being grateful for them, cultivating them. Also honoring what we're not perfect at and what's gone wrong for us honoring the other people and circumstances who you know who make us living into our greatness possible it's about connecting up these pieces of ourselves and our lives that

that unwittingly i think our culture often is kind of pulling these things apart and i think greatness is an intentionality about putting them together and then kind of living the adventure of that. I love it. Thank you so much, Krista, for coming on. I think of Henry Miller. There's a quote that I use sometimes in my talks and one that's, I think, the most phenomenal one ever. And he says the goal of life is not to accumulate power, but to radiate it. And my definition of greatness is to live by those words. And rather than, you know, grasping at the things and, you know, just kind of hoarding things to instead just look at how do I use whatever I have with me, whether it's almost nothing or whether it's great wealth in the service of others. And that's what makes you great and not anything else.

Dave, I love that. It means having pride in yourself and knowing you couldn't have done anything more. Yeah. I don't know. I think that's a huge kind of issue society has is as long as if you're not holding a gold medal or at the top of anything then you haven't achieved greatness but if you're happy with yourself and you're proud and you've worked for something i think that's greatness in itself yeah you know who put it best or at least put it

in a way that i really like is uh john wooden legendary basketball coach john wooden for ucla he would often tell his players don't worry about don't worry about beating their team or or playing better or even uh uh what the final score is you just worry about doing your best what you're the best that you're capable of and you'll be happy with the result now whether you win or lose that's one thing but if you play the best that you're capable of, and you'll be happy with the result. Now, whether you win or lose, that's one thing. But if you play your best, then you're going to appreciate the result. And for all of us, just do your best. I love it.

You know, Lewis, it's who we are. It's not anything we have to become. So it's our essence. It's all of us. We are all greatness. That's it. And it's just remembering that and removing any story or any belief that tells us we aren't. I like it.

It's not finding it. It's remembering it. It's remembering it and being it and accepting your version of it. It's good. I like that. It's a finding it. It's remembering it. It's remembering it and being it and accepting your version of it. It's good. I like that. It's a good one. Yeah. My definition of greatness is the willingness to put your interests aside so that others may prevail.

You know, the willingness to put your own greatness aside so that others may be great. Love it. My pleasure. the willingness to put your own greatness aside so that others may be great. Love it. My pleasure. As artists and as people, it's easy not only just to recognize how immeasurably powerful we can be, but it's also easy to acknowledge how insignificant each of us can seem.

This creates a contradiction which can really stifle us. And what we have to do is we have to overcome that contradiction. We have to live within that contradiction, recognizing how fallible we are, how limited we are, how insignificant we might be in the scope of things, but at the same time, how immeasurably powerful we can be. And if we can be okay with who we are, with our weaknesses and our strengths, then I think we can be great. we can be great. I think it's being able to wake up every single morning, excited about what you're doing and then go to bed feeling completely content. There you go.

That's it. I love it. I would define greatness as people who become the superhero that they were meant to be. I call it the superhero you. And a superhero has two things. They've developed and discovered their own strengths, and everybody has a unique power, a unique talent, a unique gift that no one else has. But they don't just have a superpower.

They use their power for some kind of purpose. They use it to be able to save the world, to be able to add value to their community. So I would say be that superhero. Be that superhero you. Very cool. Jim Quick, thanks man for coming on. Thanks for this. Appreciate it. There you have it guys. I hope you enjoyed this two-year anniversary. Very special. Above the greatness definition roundup. I am just, you know, I listen to all these different definitions and it just inspires me. It gets me excited for what's to come. It gets me pumped up for bringing you more great content and information and guests.

And we've got some cool things that's going to be happening over the next couple of months. So make sure to continue to listen. If this is your first time at the School of Greatness podcast, please subscribe. Would love for you to subscribe over on iTunes or Stitcher or SoundCloud

or wherever you can find this show. Please subscribe and share it with a friend. If you found this inspiring whatsoever, please email one friend today, the link to lewishouse.com slash 130. And again, you're going to get all the show notes back there and, uh, yeah, let them know about the show. I appreciate you guys for supporting and for being so incredible and, uh, promoting this. I'm constantly getting emails from people saying that they've been sharing it

and talking about it to all their friends. So please keep that up. Stay in tune with me over on Instagram and Twitter and Facebook. I'm Lewis Howes, everywhere online. And again, we've got some great guests coming up here soon. So make sure to subscribe and stay tuned

for all of the greatness coming your way. Been pumped about this moment. You know, over the last couple of years, it's just been an exciting journey. And again, I'm so very blessed and grateful that you guys all decide to plug the podcast into your ears each and every week. So I'm going to keep it rocking

if you want to keep listening. And I appreciate you guys, but it's time to let you move along with your day. So with that, you guys know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Outro Music