The School of Greatness - 168 Trust the Process

Episode Date: April 24, 2015

"Every day, allow yourself to stumble." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at www.lewishowes.com/168.

This is 5-Minute Friday! What up gang? This is episode number 168. Thank you guys so much for joining me today on this 5-Minute Friday. And I want to share a story with you during this episode. I'm currently in Philadelphia. I just flew in from Los Angeles and I've only been to Philly two other times. Now, the first time I was here was almost seven years ago. Now, at this time, I was sleeping on my sister's couch, Catherine, who was incredible for a year and a half, let me crash on her couch when I was trying to figure out what I was going

to do with my life because I was stuck. I lost my dream. I had no clue what I was going to do next with my life. I didn't have any money and she supported me. And I was spending all of my time on LinkedIn, connecting with people specifically in the sports industry at that time because that's what I was most interested in then, just coming off playing professional football. And I met a guy who responded to me and was really connected to me. He always responded and gave me support and gave me advice. His name is Ben Sterner. And he's the CEO of a company called Leverage Agency in New York City. One of the top sports sponsorship companies there is around.

And just a guy with a huge heart and also a guy who hustles his face off. I've never seen a guy hustle as hard as Ben, but also just so loving and giving of his time and energy. Now, he said, you've got to come to this sports film festival thing that's happening in Philly. And there's going to be all these great executives and business leaders. And there's going to be a great place for you to network and meet some potential people that you could connect with for your goals, for your dreams. And whatever he did or however he said it, I'm not sure exactly how he convinced me, but somehow he convinced me to go. And I took a Greyhound bus back then and took a bus with a little carry-on baggage that I rolled onto the bus. And I had a number of stops to get to Philly from Columbus, Ohio. And I remember I

didn't have much money. I think I maybe had like a hundred bucks. And I remember I was staying for two nights and I needed to stay at a hostel because I didn't have any friends in Philly at the time. So I found a hostel online. I booked this hostel for two nights. And I remember getting there, putting my stuff in a little locker so no one would steal it. And the first night, I went to this event. I met Ben for the first time and all these other great people that he introduced me to. We went out and had fun, partied after the event. And then it was like 3 a.m. or 4 or 4am. And then I went back to my, my hostel. Now I was sleeping on a

bottom bunk of a bunk bed. And there was probably 20 bunk beds in this one big room. It was literally full of like 20 European guys. Right. And I come back and the first thing I notice is throw up all over the door walking into the the room where we're sleeping the second thing I notice is there's throw up all over the floor leading up to my bed and then there's just a big pile of puke right at the base of my bed and now I'm disgusted everyone's snoring everyone's asleep And it smells rancid puke. I go into the bathroom to try to brush my teeth. There's puke all over the sinks, all over the door handles. It's like a puke vest in here, right? And I probably have one of the most uncomfortable sleeps of my life just because everyone's sleeping and it smells like puke right in my face. But I get up and I

go to the event again because I think it was a two or three day event. So I go to the second day. I'm hanging out with Ben. I'm also networking with people. I'm connecting with them. I'm asking questions. I have like a little flip cam that I'm carrying around and interviewing people that I'm using for a sports blog that I had at the time. And I remember we go out afterwards again and then I get caught up in a different party or hanging out with different people. And I text Ben and say, hey, let's meet up later. And he says, yes, no problem.

Come hang out. I end up going back to my hostel to get a few things. And they told me that my bed had been sold or that there was no more beds for that night and I had already booked it so I was like what am I gonna do I have no place to go you know it's like midnight at this point and I'm trying to get a hold of Ben to see if I can crash on his floor of his hotel or wherever he's staying and there's no answer he ends up losing his phone or he lost his phone charger or something but he he didn't get back to me until the next day, and he apologized because he lost his phone.

And so I'm literally, I have to get my things, get out. I have a little bag, and I'm carrying it around the streets of Philadelphia. I'm strolling around for like two or three hours, trying to figure out what am I going to do. I'm trying to find other hostels, but I don't have any money left. And I'm just like, am I going to be up all night or sleeping in some park in the middle

of the city I've never been in and then have to wait all day to go on my bus back home? And I remember just thinking to myself, man, this was a great experience. I met some incredible people, but reality hit me. I'm still broke. I'm about to, I have no place to stay. I might be homeless for the night. And I'm about to head back on a Greyhound bus back home. And I remember I was like, I'm going to find a place to stay tonight.

Whatever it takes, I'm going to find a place. That was my mission, my goal that night. And I remember walking down the street and I don't drink. So I remember going into a bar and I don't drink. So I remember going into a bar and thinking, what am I going to do? And how am I going to convince someone to let me crash on their couch? And then I end up meeting a guy with his girlfriend and we have a conversation. And then I just say, hey, listen, guys, you know, I'm leaving tomorrow morning, but I don't have a place to crash tonight. Do you guys happen to have, you know, a living room that I can crash

on the floor or a couch or something? And I don't know how I did it, but I convinced this couple to let me crash on their futon and say, I stayed at their place and I left in the morning and I went back on the bus back home. And I'll never forget this experience because it really humbled me and it gave me this incredible sense of drive and ambition. It showed me I got introduced to all these really successful people. And I had a couple of people who were just so nice and generous to me that wanted to support me. And that said, you know, if I have any questions, follow up. You know, Ben was one of those guys that just said, if you ever have any questions,

if you're ever in New York, make sure to hit me up and we'll see how I can support you. And I, I'm back now in Philadelphia and I was, I got off the plane. I got that, checked into a really nice hotel and I walked around the streets by myself and I was remembering this moment again, almost seven years ago, I was remembering what it was like literally strolling around a little carry-on luggage bag late at night three in the morning walking around these streets uncertain scared wasn't sure what i was going to do i was literally looking at different benches of where i was going to sleep on because i had no clue what i was going to do and i didn't have

any money i didn't have a credit card at the time to really use to get a hotel because I thought spending $150 was ridiculous on a hotel at that time. And it's so interesting to come kind of full circle now. The reason I'm in Philadelphia right now is because tomorrow I'm meeting with about 15 of the top editors to pitch my book and to pitch why they should feature my book when it comes out later this year, a story about my book and my message. And it's just so interesting that, you know, seven years ago, I'm here broke, wandering around on the streets, not able to find a place to stay, don't have a, you know, enough to pay for a hostel. And now I'm staying in a beautiful hotel room right now as we speak. I'm going to be driving to this headquarters to meet with all the executives and editors of these magazines tomorrow morning.

And I've got my book coming out later this year that I signed an incredible deal with at the end of last year. And I remember having this vision when I was here. I remember this vision of, you know what, whatever I need to do, whatever I need to figure out, I'm going to figure out how to get to the next level. And each day I've been taking that approach for the last seven years. It's figuring out how to take my vision full circle and how to follow through on my vision and make them come true. And I remember, you know, seven years ago, I had dreams of writing a book and being a bestseller and selling thousands of copies and I had dreams of speaking in front of millions of people and impacting millions of

people with my message with my story and every day I'm on that path I'm still not where I want to be you know I'm still struggling in a lot of areas of my life I still don't have it figured out. I still have a lot of fears and doubts. You know, I'm still scared of a lot of different things in my relationships, in my family, in my business. Things come up for me constantly. But I'm always brought back to the place of, man, I am just so blessed and grateful for

brought back to the place of, man, I am just so blessed and grateful for being able to have a clear vision and at least stepping up and taking the risk and going for it. You know, if I never went on that bus and trusted Ben's advice of going to that event, spending the money to get there and sleeping and puke and figuring out where to crash on someone's couch that night, I would have never built the relationship I had with Ben and the incredible connections I've met through Ben over the last seven years and the business we've done together and the amazing experiences we've had together. And each step, each day is all part of your journey. Even when you're on the couch or trying to find a place to sleep at night or you broke and you lost your job or you just have no clue what to do in your life or you end

the relationship, whatever it may be, each step is a step towards your vision and to making your vision come full circle. And it's time to appreciate all of those steps. Even when you're in your darkest moments, take a moment to look at recognizing that this is part of the process. And one of my coaches recently said, you know what, because I've been going through a little bit of, you know, some down cycles. I've been scared.

I've been, you know, I've been uncomfortable. I've been stepping up into a new game in many areas of my life and I told my coach I was like you know I've kind of been freaking out a little bit I've been scared of and living in you know kind of a breakdown here and there and he said you know you've got to trust the process and if you're not feeling uncomfortable if you're not on the brink of a breakdown then you're really not doing anything meaningful or doing anything worth talking about. If you're staying in your comfort zone at all times, then it's hard to really break through and get to the next level.

So he said, unless you're feeling scared, unless you're feeling uncertain, unless you're feeling like you're about to hit a breakdown, then you're really staying in a comfort zone and you're never going to get to the next level. And I thought that was really interesting and it allowed me to take a breath and take it easy on myself for a moment and recognize that it's all part of the bigger picture. It's all part of the marathon. You know, seven years ago, I remember thinking, gosh, I would love to have a couple hundred thousand dollars in the bank right now. And one of my other mentors said at the time, you know, money will come to you

when you're ready for it. And I wasn't ready for it. But I was ready for that exact experience that I was having. And it gave me the insight, it gave me the wisdom, it gave me the courage, it gave me the experience to then apply that to the next day and the next moment and the next opportunity that came to me and I was able to leverage those experiences, those challenges, those breakdowns to create incredible breakthroughs in my life and my business and my health and in my wealth. And it doesn't have to be perfect guys. It doesn't have to look perfect. You know, this recording alone isn't perfect. I had my travel mic and everything ready to go,

ready to record this five-minute Friday episode. And then I realized that my memory chip and the microphone recorder, I left at home, you know, and this is not a perfect sounding audio. But sometimes you've got to stumble along the way and allow your vision and your message to come through anyways, even if it's not perfect. Every day, allow yourself to stumble. Allow yourself to dream big and go after those dreams. It's just interesting to be able to talk about, you know, things coming full circle with vision. And I'm going to, I'm going to be talking about this a lot more when my book comes out later this year, because the things that have been happening are just so incredibly inspiring to me to know that when you dream big and you have a big vision and you do the right things and you

follow through and you give value to others first without asking for anything, but you just give and give and give first that it will come back to you abundantly and your visions will come true. And it's so cool to be able to live them and experience closing the loop of the visions that I have. And being in Philadelphia right now is a great reminder of that. And there's a lot more great things to happen in the near future. And I'm sure there's going to be a lot of scary moments for me as well. And that's all good. It's all part of the process. So I'm not exactly sure what the title of this is going to be, what my concluding message

is here. I've been doing different episodes lately with music, writing them out and being more inspiring. And this one, I wanted to bring it back to one of the original styles of the 5-Minute Fridays and just wrap for a minute about bringing your vision full circle and trusting the process and doing the steps every single day

that are uncomfortable, which will support you in getting the experience you need to getting to the next level. There you have it, guys. That's my spiel for this 5-Minute Friday. You guys are incredible. I feel so blessed that you show up each week and listen to this episode and this podcast.

And thank you for tuning in Five Minute Fridays. They've been a joy for me to create and produce for you guys. And I'm constantly listening to your feedback and I want to make them better every time for you. So thank you guys so much from the bottom of my heart for showing up, for spreading the word of greatness, for telling your friends about this podcast. You guys know what to do. It's time to go out there and do something great. I'm giving all of you All of you I will give you love You fall in love You fall in love

You fall in love I will give you love I will give you love You fall in love You fall in love You fall in love You fall in love I will give you love

I will keep you alive ស្លាប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់បានប់ I'm not afraid of you Thank you. You won't You won't I'll never give you love