The School of Greatness - 245 Fight for Your Dreams

Episode Date: October 27, 2015

"You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly." - Rumi If you enjoyed this episode, see show notes and buy a copy of the book at http://lewishowes.com/245

This is episode number 245. It's an intro to greatness. What's up, everyone? Thank you so much for tuning in. This is a special edition of the School of Greatness coming out on a Tuesday. We usually come out on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, but today is a very special day. It's October 27th, 2015. It's the launch of my book, The School of Greatness. That's right. I haven't seen it yet in stores. I'm going to go today to the Barnes & Noble in Times Square at 1 o'clock and see it for the first time. But I've been seeing photos of people who got it the day prior. It was in bookstores. It's been in Canada stores. It's been in Asia. And it's been in local stores as of yesterday. So I'm going to go see it for the first time, see my eight-year dream come true. And it all started with a vision. There was zero evidence that I was able to build a business to get off my sister's couch, to go move to New York City and make the USA handball team. There was no evidence I was able

to create a big brand, evidence I was going to be able to create a podcast like this, evidence I'd be able to connect with some of the most inspiring, powerful people in the world. There was zero evidence that this was going to happen eight years ago when I was sleeping on my sister's couch with a broken wrist and a huge cast on with no college degree, zero experience of business and how to make money, working as a truck driver six months prior, and there was zero evidence I would be here today. And the day has finally come. And I just want to say something that your vision matters.

Your vision is powerful if you believe it is powerful. And if you believe in yourself in taking daily actions to getting to that vision, it may take eight years to get to the place you want to be. It may take three months. But whatever you got to do, you've got to be committed to that vision and taking the steps along the way to achieve your dreams. That's what my book is about. It's about discovering your passion, discovering your vision. And then I give you the eight principles on how to follow those steps and get to the end result you want to be in, whether that's in your business, your relationships, your health, your life, your fitness, your spirituality.

I show you the way from the lessons I've learned from all these great mentors I've had on the podcast and from my experiences in sports and business over the years. Again, all the lessons I've learned, I put it into practical advice, strategies, and exercises for you to get incredible results. And my request is simple. I'm asking you to pick up a copy of my book today. I'm asking you to go to Amazon right now. Go to lewishouse.com slash book.

It'll take you right to Amazon and pre-order at least one copy. Pre-order a few copies if you've listened to this episode, if you've listened to this podcast for a number of months, then pre-order three copies. If you've been listening to this podcast for over a year, then pre-order five copies. If you've been listening since the beginning, then pre-order 10 copies. And find those people in your life, those people in your life who you know are struggling or they're not fully satisfied or you know that they have more potential inside of them that they have yet to tap. Find those people in your life.

Write a list down of those people and buy a copy for each one of those individuals. This is going to be a powerful gift that you give to someone. They will always thank you for. They will say thank you for giving me that book that had the lessons that I needed to learn that was the ultimate catalyst for moving me forward in my life. Thank you. My brother was that person for me. He gave me a book eight years ago when I was down and out,

when I had no clue what I was going to do next in my life. I was in a transition. I was going through a lot of uncertainty and depression. I had just lost my identity of being a professional athlete. It was over. And I had to figure out what I was going to do the rest of my life. My brother gave me a book. It was the only gift I received this Christmas, eight years ago. And the book was the catalyst for possibilities. It was the catalyst for an opportunity, for a new dream. From this transition I was in where I was stuck and I had no clue what I was going to do, doubting myself, didn't have the education, didn't have the experience, didn't have the age, doubting myself, didn't have the education, didn't have the experience, didn't have the age,

didn't have anything really going for me, was busted up. And my brother gave me a gift that changed everything. Without that gift in that time in my life, I would definitely not be here today. I might have eventually created some great success and I might have built a business and I might have done some things, but I would not be where I'm at today. This book would not be happening in this very moment. I can guarantee you that. So I want you to be that person for someone today. I want you to step up and buy a few copies and give one to a friend who you think is not reaching their full potential, or you think has been stuck in a rut for a while. Maybe they are doing great things, but they've been stuck for a while and they don't know how to get to that next level. Give this to a family member, a friend, your partner, your husband, your spouse.

Give this to someone that you want to see grow even more. Again, this should be someone that you care about and you love because you were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant for crawling, so don't. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly. That's the first quote of my book by Rumi. And I am so inspired and humbled by all the support you guys have given me so far. I've seen so many of you post images on Instagram and tagging me, buying the book,

pre-ordering the book, reading the book, people getting it on Amazon. People today have been posting it all over in bookstores that they've been seeing it. And from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you. I want to thank you for supporting me, whether this is the first time you've ever listened to an episode on the School of Greatness podcast or the 255th episode you've listened to, I want to thank you for showing up and for supporting and for continually adding value to your life and educating yourself and inspiring yourself. And it's not by me. I'm not the one who's trying to say I'm teaching everything here. I'm facilitating the lessons that I'm constantly learning. I reach out to these inspiring individuals because they're all lessons that I want to learn. They're all things that I want to improve in on my life. There are

some things that I feel like I'm horrible at, and that's especially why I seek out these individuals to ask them their wisdom and their lessons and their stories so that I can learn how to maximize my life in that area. And some of you guys will notice a trend. You'll notice me talking about something about health for a while, then about relationships and about business and about mindset and about spirituality. I'm diving into different things because it's usually the thing that I want to learn the most, something that I'm stuck in my life, something that I want to

upgrade in my experience, in my journey. This is a big journey for us. Every day is a moment. And we get to choose whether we want to step up and make the most of that moment or if we're going to let our biggest critic, our biggest hater inside of us, hold us back and tell us that we can't do it. We have a decision every single day to make, every single moment to make. And I set myself up to win as much as possible because I know more than anything, I know more than anything that I have a little negative hater inside of me that can tell me at any moment that I'm not worth it, that I am a loser, that I'm a stupid, ignorant kid that can't read, that I'm dyslexic, that no one wants to hang out with me, that I was sexually abused,

raped, I had zero friends, that I couldn't read and write, that I was in the bottom of my class all through high school, all through elementary school, that I had to cheat my way through school just so I could pass and play sports. I could constantly go back to that place and tell myself that I'm not worth it, that I'm a loser, that I'm never going to amount to anything. Because believe me, I told myself that many, that I'm never going to amount to anything. Because believe me, I told myself that many, many times growing up, almost every single day. We have a choice to make. It's our duty to stand up for ourselves. It's our duty

to call forth a greater you. It's our duty every single day to prepare ourselves. Why do you think I have routines every single morning? Because I could easily go into a reaction mode throughout every single day and show up mad and resentful and angry and frustrated and confused and uncertain and just reactive towards days, reactive towards the daily things that happen in our lives, reactive to the traffic, reactive to people saying something that I don't appreciate, reactive to haters online. I go through rituals every single morning throughout the day and through every night to prepare myself, to set myself up to win. Otherwise, I'm not going to

be as great as I could be. I'm not going to reach my potential if I don't do these things. So I want you guys to step up. I'm asking you to step up and support. I'm asking you to spread this message. Yes, I've got goals to be a New York Times bestselling author. Yes, that's a big goal of mine. But I don't want you to buy my book because of that goal. That goal is going to happen one way or another. It's either going to happen or it's not. I'm doing everything I can to get the message out there because I want people to improve their lives. I want people to step up and be their best self.

I want people to live their dreams. For me, that is the most inspiring thing in the world. When someone is fully alive, it's when they're living their dreams. And why should we be here if we're not going to be fully alive in every moment? And yes, there could be a struggle along the journey, and there should be at some times. There's going to be pain. There's going to be heartache. There's going to be frustration.

But that's part of the beauty of the journey of living our dreams. And as long as we're on the path, as long as we're in the pursuit of living our dreams, that's where we find the juice. That's where we're fully alive. That's where the fun comes in. That's what we have something to talk about. Otherwise, we talk about nonsense. We talk about drama. We talk about things we don't like about people. We talk about stupid things that happen

in events. We talk about reality TV. When we're not following our dreams, we talk about nonsense. And we create a negative ripple in the world as opposed to a positive ripple. And those that are living their dreams, those that are in the pursuit of greatness every single day and go after what speaks to them, what calls to their heart, those that follow that passion every single day are the ones that are changing the world. I don't care if you're trying to be the best in the world at something or be a top athlete or be a top author or whatever it may be, if you follow your dream to the fullest and you let your heart rip wide open and let it sing from the fricking rooftops about what your passion is and what your dream is, and then you pursue that with all your heart and you follow the patterns that you need to, to get to that next

step, just the next step today. If you do that, you're on the path and you're someone I want to stand behind. You're someone I want to stand next to and you're someone I want to lift up and get to that next step. I want to see you live your dreams because for me, that's what inspires me. That's what excites me, to see someone chase the dream. That's what this is all about. We didn't come here to just show up and react to life and die. We came here to live our freaking dreams. I want you guys to step up and start living it

today. Whatever that means, whatever it takes, live it today. I don't care if someone's holding you back. I don't care if someone tells you you can't do it. I don't care if your parents tell you that you shouldn't be doing something. If your heart calls you forward to do something, you better well freaking do it today and start taking action. This book is the guide to help you navigate the process, navigate the adversity, navigate the things that are holding you back so you can break through and finally start unleashing the greatness that was born inside of you because we all have it and it's just time we grasp it and start taking action

towards our dreams. My name is Lewis Howes and I'm so blessed and grateful that you showed up today and I want you to take action. I want you to take that first step today. Whatever it is, write down your vision, write down your dream. The thing that speaks to you the most. I don't care if you feel like you shouldn't be thinking it. You feel like you're shameful for thinking it or guilty for thinking it or that your parents don't want you to think it. I want you to write it down. I want you to write down your dream. It can be a simple word. It can be a sentence. It can be a paragraph. It can be a page.

I want you to write it down and send a message to me. Tweet me at Lewis Howes. Post the image of it on Instagram and tag me at Lewis Howes. Message me on Facebook. Email me. I don't care. Get it to me somehow so I can see what your dream is. I want to know.

And then I want to know you're going to take action and make it happen. Again, in the book, I give you the steps on how to make it happen from the lessons I've learned, from all the experts I've had on this show. And for some of you who've been listening for a while, you know there's been some incredible, inspiring, powerful guests. And I hope I've done you well by the package we put together in this book, by the lessons, by the exercises, how it's laid out. I hope I did a good enough job for you to receive it in a powerful, clear way so that you can get the results that you deserve.

Because I know how important it is to have someone who believes in you. And I know how important it is to have someone who stands by your side and says, you got this. And I just want to let you know that I believe in you. If you're listening to this episode right now, it means you've got something inside of you that you're inspired by. It means you've got a dream inside of you already because you wouldn't be here if you didn't. You wouldn't want to learn something new if you didn't. And I just want to let you know that I'm in this with you. I've got your back. I believe in you and I know you can make it happen as long as you continue to follow your dreams in the journey and you take

the steps necessary to make it happen. My name is Lewis Howes again. Thank you so much for being here. This is episode 245. If you enjoyed this, please share it with your friend. If you have a friend who you think needs to hear this message, please send them to lewishouse.com slash 245. Post it online. Also, buy a few copies of the book today. Get one for yourself. Get one for your friends. Get one for your family members,

for your spouses, your children. Get one for everyone you know. Anyone you know who wants to get to the next level or is stuck, get it for them today. It could be the best gift. It could literally save their life if it speaks to them and it's that catalyst for them. The way my brother gave me a book that was a catalyst for me and changed my

life forever. I appreciate you guys so very much. This is greatness week. I'm going to do one of these episodes every single day for this week. Because this for me is the playoffs. It's what I like to call the playoffs. And I'm in the middle of it right now. This week is a big, big week.

A very monumental week for me. This is October 27th. I'm going to go for the entire week. Because this is where it all comes down to, this first week. And then after that, it's continually building the momentum. And some of us go after our dreams and we fall

short just before the playoffs. Well, we get to the playoffs and then we stop. Then we give in. Then we start letting fear come in. You know, we work so hard to get to the thing we finally want to get to. And then we sabotage it all. We've got to fight for our dream, especially when it's so close.

You've got to go all in. You've got to say enough is enough. I'm not going to sabotage myself anymore. I'm not going to allow fear to hold me back. I'm going all in for my dreams until the final bell rings. And that's what I'm doing. It's greatness week, baby. You guys know what time it is.

It's time to go out there and do something great. សូវាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា Thank you. so Thank you. you