The School of Greatness - 191 Follow Your Purpose But Enjoy the Present

Episode Date: June 19, 2015

"You don't have to have a huge dream to start." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at lewishowes.com/191.

This is 5-Minute Friday, episode number 191. Find your purpose, but enjoy the present. So recently I've been thinking about this, and over the last really two decades, I was so focused on these dreams, this purpose, this mission that I was up to, these goals that I wanted to achieve, and I was never satisfied with my current results, with where I was. I was always slower as an athlete and not as big and strong as everyone else. I was never the best athlete. I was never satisfied, but I had these big dreams to be a professional athlete.

Then after my professional career ended, I had achieved a lot of the things I wanted, but I was still kind of feeling like unsettled and I wasn't happy with what I created in my life. And now I was in a new transition and had to figure out what I was going to do next. And I had this big dream to making millions of dollars and achieving this success, right? And building a business and doing all these things and being in great shape and all these things I wanted to achieve. I had these big dreams and goals.

And I was left feeling, you know, in my teens and in my 20s for really two decades, not feeling 100% satisfied along the way, not feeling 100% fulfilled along the way, and really finding myself getting irritated from time to time. I was a pretty happy person in general, but there were times where my emotions would get the most of me, the best of me, right? And it would overtake me and everything else. And I would just act like a fool and an idiot and react in such a egotistical, cocky way that made me look really stupid and held me back in many ways.

And what I want to talk about today is really discovering what your purpose is and having that purpose, having those dreams, having those goals. These are all important things in our lives. We must have a purpose and dreams and goals. Otherwise, we'll be wandering around aimlessly in every direction. And that is not fulfilling. So you want to make sure you have clear, concrete, distinct goals, visions, dreams, mission, purpose. You want to have those things.

They're so vital to our fulfillment, to our joy. The thing is you don't want to focus on the result 100%. You want to have them. You want to be driven to go towards those goals, and that's the direction you're going to be heading. But for a couple of decades, I was left 10%, 20% of the time feeling miserable and unsatisfied because all I did was focus on the purpose, the dream, the goals.

And even if I did achieve them or didn't achieve them, I was unhappy. It didn't matter either way. And I realized it's because I wasn't focusing on living in the present and being grateful and loving the present. So you want to really have this vision and purpose, but be focusing on the present and the process. And I get a lot of entrepreneurs who are emailing me and messaging me who say, you know, I wish I was making more.

I wish I was bigger in my career. I wish I was getting the credibility I want. And it's going to come. It's going to come. You've got to be patient in my career. I wish I was getting the credibility I want. And it's going to come. It's going to come. You've got to be patient in the process and really appreciate each thing that you create every single day. So what I want you guys to do is focus on all the things every single day that you create, the energy you're putting into things. You are creating results. You are getting closer to your dreams and to your goals, but don't focus on it as the end all be all. And it doesn't have to be this huge dream to start.

I remember when I was on my sister's couch for a year and a half, my dream was to get off of the couch. So for a year and a half, I focused on having enough money to afford my own apartment. And I remember the day I wrote a check for $495 for a one-bedroom apartment in Columbus, Ohio. I looked for three months to find the cheapest apartment I could find in the area I wanted to live in, downtown Columbus. And it was $495 a month. And I remember thinking, man, this is a lot of money.

And hopefully I can continue to afford this. And I achieved my purpose in that time frame. My purpose was to get off the couch, get my own place, and be able to get on my own two feet. And I did that. And then I was able to appreciate the things that I had, right? So what I want you to do is to focus on appreciating the steps you're making every single day. Appreciate the journey you're on.

It's going to take energy. It's going to take effort. It's going to take hustle. You're not going to achieve greatness without hustle. So you need to understand that in order to achieve greatness, you're going to need to put in the grind. The hustle is going to need to happen. You're going to need to work your butt off daily, and it's going to have to be consistent. It's not just going to happen and things are going to be

easy. It could be easy over time once you learn how to leverage and multiply your time. But for a while, the bigger the dream, the more drive and passion and hustle you're going to need to have. But I don't want you to get focused on the end goal so much that you completely miss what's happening in front of your eyes right now. Take a breath. Take a moment to appreciate everything you've created so far this year, everything you've created this week, this month, this day. Take a moment to acknowledge that.

You want to focus on the big purpose, the big passion, the big dream, and have a direction of where you want to be heading towards. That's powerful. But always remember to take a moment to appreciate the process. This is 5-Minute Friday. Thank you guys so much for being here. Thank you so much for being part of this great community. I'm so blessed and grateful that you listen. you guys so much for being here. Thank you so much for being part of this great community.

I'm so blessed and grateful that you listen. We have episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And my intention is to bring on the most powerful, inspiring, influential minds in the world that you don't really have as much access to. And really, I don't have access to. But the goal is to build a platform and a community so big that we're able to bring them on and have them share their deepest secrets and their most inspiring tips and their most insightful moments to share with all of us so that I can learn and continue to grow and then facilitate the process to have everyone else listen as well and grow. That's my intention.

I would love it if you subscribe to the podcast if you haven't yet over on iTunes, over on Stitcher and SoundCloud. Share this with your friends. Let people know what you're listening to, what you're learning from. Thank you guys so much. You guys are incredible. I do this all for you. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great.