The School of Greatness - 246 Commit to Your Vision

Episode Date: October 28, 2015

The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision." - Helen Keller If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/246

This is episode number 246. What's up, guys? Thank you so much for being here. I'm in New York City today. It is an incredible day because the day after my book launch, that's right, my book came out yesterday and it was an incredible feeling. I tell you what, I had a group of people who came. I periscoped it a couple hours before and said I was going to be in Union Square, Barnes & Noble,

to look at my book for the first time in stores. I've written a couple self-published books previously. They were on Amazon only. And this was the first time I saw my actual physical copy of my book in stores. And it was such a surreal feeling. Here's the interesting thing. Here is something that's very interesting. I actually thought that I would have

more of an emotional experience when I saw it, but I'm actually not surprised that it wasn't like so overwhelming that I wasn't crying or something because this is something I've been visualizing literally for years. Almost every week, I would go into Barnes & Noble and I would stare at the front table and see my book cover on the table. I'd see my face, my name, the title of my book right feel like for myself in my heart, in my body,

looking at an imaginary book cover right in front of my face. So I was doing this already for years, every single week, experiencing it, feeling it. So when I actually saw it, when I actually saw it and picked it up and I was like, wow, there's my book. This is incredible. It was the same experience that I just recreated for years and years. And so it was overwhelming. It was fun. It was awesome. But it wasn't like this, you know, it didn't like take over my body or something like that. Because again, I'd put

myself in that situation so many times for so long. And I believe that visualization process is something that's so powerful. It's something I talk about in the first chapter of my book, actually, about creating a vision. And I thought I'd start off with this quote that I think is important. And this is the quote that is before the first chapter, the quote before the first chapter that I talk about. And it's from Helen Keller. And she said, the only thing worse than being blind is having sight, but no vision. And one of the things, one of the lessons that I've learned from all these great men and women that I've interviewed over the years and all the experiences I've had and all the,

the privilege I've had to be around incredible people, is that they have incredible vision. They are so committed to their vision, even when there's no evidence that their vision is possible. You know, eight years ago, when I was on my sister's couch in a cast with my arm in a 90-degree angle, there was no evidence that I would be able to write a book to this magnitude. There was no evidence that I would be able to write a book to this magnitude. There was no evidence that I would be able to build a business. There's no evidence I'd be able to make the money that I'm making. There was zero evidence. And now as I'm on Amazon.com and I look at my book page, I'm number one in entrepreneurship,

number one in success, number one in personal finance, and I'm number 27 overall on Amazon, on all books in the world. And if you would have told me eight years ago that this was going to happen when I was in this transition, when I lost my dream, when I had no money, when I was sleeping on my sister's couch, when I was down and out, when I didn't have a college degree, when I could barely read, let alone write, if you would have told me this was possible, I would have said, well, there's no evidence that this is possible because I don't have the skills. I don't have the talent. I don't have the education. I don't have the network. I don't have the audience. So there's no evidence that this is possible. And this is where people get hung up. This is where people get hung up. They don't have evidence. We don't have evidence of our dreams that it should happen. We get to put the vision and faith into place and couple them together with momentum.

And that's what's going to build evidence over time. That momentum is going to increase our belief that our vision is possible. That our vision can be real one day. So many of us get hung up on logistics, on fears, on what people think, on what people say, on the mistakes and the failures they make, on all the things that hold them back. So many people get held back on these things that their vision becomes no longer relevant for them. Their vision is no longer the most powerful thing. And so many people came up to me last night at this event. Again, we had over 350 people. There was a line outside. I'm just so grateful that everyone came and waited to say hi to me. It was so humbling and an incredible experience. But so many people came up to me and said, you know, how did you know this was going to happen? And I have these dreams, but I don't know how they're going to happen.

I said, listen, I knew because I was committed to my vision and my vision was bigger than my fears. My vision was bigger than my excuses. My vision was bigger than my exhaustion. And a lot of people said, you know, how are you so present? I was standing on for five hours talking to people one by one, giving everyone a hug who wanted to come up and talk to me. Five hours, I signed books and waited in line with everyone and hugged everyone. And I was so grateful for the experience. It was incredible. And people said, how are you not exhausted right now?

How are you not falling over on the couch? Which at the end of the night after the last person left at midnight,, I did fall over the couch and just laid there for a moment. But they said, how are you not so tired? How are you so present with every person in this loud room with, you know, people waiting in line, people taking photos, flashing everywhere. How are you present? And I said, because my vision fuels me, my vision fuels me. And I'm so blessed and grateful for this moment. So I want

to take it all in and I want to give everyone my appreciation for the moment. And it starts with vision. And I know a lot of people listening don't know exactly what they want and that's okay. That's okay. But if you want to get to a better place, you've got to know exactly what you want in order to get it first. And that's where it starts. So guys, I am so appreciative. This is greatness week. This is day two of the book launch. So many people stepped up and supported me yesterday and promoted and sent emails out to their email list and bought copies and posted on Instagram and Facebook and YouTube. There was so much promotion happening, blog posts, interviews, press. You know, I was on Good Day New York in the morning.

Then I was on Fox 5 with Kimberly Guilfoyle in the afternoon. And more press was covering me in New York. And I'm doing Yahoo this week. I'm doing Huffington Post Live on Friday. And so many people are coming out of the woodworks. I'm doing Huffington Post live on Friday. And so many people are coming out of the woodworks. I was an entrepreneur. I'm fast companies coming out. So much great press is happening. And I'm so grateful for everyone who's stepping up, who's supporting not only me, but supporting this message. This book isn't about me. Yes,

I have my own vision and dreams and goals of being a number one New York Times bestselling author and selling millions of copies of books. Yes, I have that dream personally. But this is much bigger than me. These are the lessons from the people that I've interviewed for years. And these are the lessons that I've learned from my top coaches, my top mentors, from the experiences that I've gone through and the exercises I learned on how to make it through them to get to my next level, to get to my dreams, to get to my goals. So this book is really about serving people. This is about getting people the information needed to get them to that next step, to get

them to the next level. Whether they're already achieving greatness and they want to get even greater, it's for them. If there are people that are stuck, people that are uncertain, that are unclear, maybe this is actually who it might be for the most because this one gets tricky. This book is for the person, the man or the woman who is living a really, really good life where people say, man, they have it all together. They've got the great relationship.

They've got the job, the career that looks really good. They're really healthy looking. They've got a good family. They've got it all together. They don't need this book. This is actually for that person who it might look like they have it all together, but actually isn't chasing their dream at all. Someone who's making a hundred grand a year and a solid job, who's got the relationship, who's got the family, who looks pretty healthy. These are the, some of the people who get stuck. These are some of the people that get trapped the most because everything is good. Everything is working good for them, but it's not great. Something inside of them, there's a burning desire inside of them that they're yearning

to talk about, that they're yearning to take on, that they're yearning to embrace. That's who this book is for probably the most. The person who has the talent, who has the skills, who has a lot of good already happening, but is afraid to unleash their greatness. That's what this is about, helping people unleash it. And I want you to pick up a copy for yourself if you haven't yet. And I want you to pick up a few copies for your friends because this is for those people

who have yet to unleash their inner greatness. If you know of a friend who's got potential that you love dearly, but you know they haven't stepped up, maybe you've been coaching them. Maybe you've been trying to ask them questions. Maybe you've been inspiring them, but they haven't been taking it. You know, sometimes it takes someone from a different, who's outside of the relationship. It takes an idea, a video, a podcast, a book, something, information that's not from a close friend or a family member that's going to be that catalyst. Because sometimes we don't listen to the people closest to us. We don't listen to

our family or our friends sometimes because we know them too well and it's too close. But when someone else outside brings you the information and has created results in their life and can show you a roadmap, that sometimes is what creates the catalyst for change. So be that for a friend. Get a few copies for your friends right now. You can go to lewishouse.com slash book. Also, we're looking to make a big surge in local bookstores. dot com slash book. Also, we're looking to make a big surge in local bookstores. So if you go to the local Barnes and Noble or your indie bookstore and buy a few books there, that would be incredible. When I went to the Union Square, Barnes and Noble here yesterday, they only had eight copies. I was

blown away that they only had eight copies. And we sold them out in literally like 20 seconds because we walked in there with a group of us and everyone bought a copy and then people weren't able to get books. So they had to go run to another Barnes and Noble, then they sold out there. So what I would love for you to do is go buy all the books or get your friends, buy the books in your local Barnes and Noble or retailer, and then say, Hey, can you reorder these and restock these ASAP? Because it's going to take a couple days for them to do this. That's my request. Your vision is powerful.

Your vision and your dreams matter because you matter. And I want you to know so much that you are worth it. I want you to know that you are worth it and you are a unique gift to this world. You are so powerful. It is unbelievable how powerful you are and can be when you have a clear vision and you stand behind that vision. This vision needs to be inspiring to you. It cannot just be, I want to make a lot of money. That is not inspiring. You've got to have a deeper mission from your heart that speaks to the world. Otherwise, you're going to get exhausted.

You're going to be burnt out. You're going to be frustrated. You're going to be angry. You're going to be questioning things. You're going to be resentful. And you're not going to be a fulfilled, happy person. So you've got to speak from the heart. You've got to live from the heart with your vision,

and that's going to be your fuel. That will be your fuel. My book covers the eight principles on how to take your vision and apply it to your life so that you can achieve your dream. I believe that we're all here. We were born to achieve our dreams. What else are we here for if not to achieve our dreams. What else are we here for if not to achieve our dreams? Just to show up and exist and then die? No. We were born to discover, to explore, to connect,

to create, and to fulfill and live our dreams. And our dreams can shift and evolve over time. They don't have to be one dream. They can be a dream every year. But you've got to pursue it with your heart and all your passion. That's what's inspiring. That's what people want to see. They want to be inspired by watching other people live their dreams. You're going to be a catalyst for the people in your life, your friends, your family, your community, your online communities. When you follow your dreams and live them,

that's what's inspiring. And that's what I want to be for you guys. I want to showcase you that I'm always going to go after my dreams, no matter what. I'm going to pursue them and follow them, no matter what the situation, where I'm at in my life. I'm going to go after my dreams with 100% of my heart and soul, because that's what I believe I was born here to do. I love you guys. If you can pre-order a copy believe I was born here to do. I love you guys.

If you can pre-order a copy, I keep saying pre-order. The book is out. I need to tell myself that the book is out and the day has arrived. If you can buy a copy on amazonlewishouse.com slash book, that would mean the world to me.

If you can go to a local bookstore or Barnes & Noble store and buy a few copies and sell them out, that would mean the world to me. If you can also go to Amazon.com and leave a review for my book, that would really help support getting the word out there. That'll help the rankings. That'll help keep it up in the top. Again, we're at number 27 right now in all books in the world. We're going for number one, but it's going to take all of you to support the greatness book getting there so thank you guys so much from the

bottom of my heart you have no idea how much it means to me that you listen every week that you show up that you support and that you spread the message again this is the message of the most inspiring people in the world that I believe in. So thank you for believing in me and sharing this out. This is lewishouse.com slash 246 if you want to spread this message out. And also make sure to listen to the previous one yesterday, lewishouse.com slash 245, which is all about fighting for your dreams. If you want to hear what my feelings were and thoughts were the day just before my book came out, as a lot of people said, it spoke to them and resonated with them. Share this with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 246. I love you guys so much.

Thank you for showing up in a major, powerful way. Have an incredible day because you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you. you