The School of Greatness - 255 How to Achieve Goals & Celebrate Along the Way

Episode Date: November 17, 2015

“Create celebration every single day with small victories.” - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/255

This is episode number 255 on the New York Times bestseller recap and the power of goals. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And 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 episode.

Very excited about this. Just got back from Summit at Sea semester, not semester at sea, but Summit at Sea. When was I thinking semester at sea? It felt like a semester with all the content. Oh, my gosh. It felt like it. And I saw Adam Braun, who was there, and he was at semester at sea and actually almost like didn't make it back.

Like the ship almost sank or something. It was like insane. So I just had a conversation with him late last night and made me think about it. And I'm sitting here with my buddy, Caduce, who is my roommate for the semester at sea, for someone at sea. And we just got off. That's how tired we are. Yeah, sleep deprivation is very evident right now.

We didn't sleep. We had an incredible time. And I asked Caduce to come on and introduce me to you guys for doing a recap of what happened in the last couple weeks. Should we get some coffee right now? I'm so out of it. Should we get some coffee? I'm so out of it. We are right now in a lobby of a hotel, and I think they could serve us some coffee, and they should.

Exactly, exactly. And I wanted to have them come on because we actually didn't even see each other at the match in the last three days. The irony. We were rooming together, and we saw each other at like 9 a.m we were both waking up like hey how was last night meanwhile you had been dancing until about 3 or 4 a.m yes and i felt like the grandpa of the ship going to bed around 1 a.m exactly um but i wanted to have you come on and and interview me turn the tables you've been on the episode before but i want to have you come on and talk about my my launch and everything You've been on the episode before, but I want to have you come on

and talk about my launch and everything that's happening in the last few weeks and kind of facilitate the questions. Yeah, you get to have a debrief of a whirlwind and a dream come true because I've been able to see how much work you've put in

and the journey that you've been on to put this book out, The School of Greatness, and how successful it's been. It's been crazy, man. Wow. It's been nuts. The New York Times bestselling list, number three. Number three, and then it hit again for two weeks in a row.

We'll see what happens this week. I've been gone the last few days, so I haven't been able to promote as much. But I just checked the Twitters and the Instagrams, and everyone's been promoting it for me. Well, this is amazing. So we get to talk about how this has been for you. We get to really dive in because a lot of the interviews that you've been giving have been about the book and really focused on the message. And now we get to really check in with the man behind it all because you really have been constantly going and going and going and and yeah let's take a breath into this moment right now for you because you know for

anybody listening i think that the question probably is what is it like to have your dream actually be realized and probably exceeding expectations am i right yeah you know i really the real vision was number one New York Times bestseller. To get number three, it's like sometimes you got to shoot for the moon and land on the stars or whatever they say, right? And I'm very grateful. When I hit number three, there was two other huge books ahead of me. One was like the Simplifying Guide to Tidying Up.

This woman has sold over two or three million copies in the last like 6 months or something. Has been number one for months on the list. And then Pioneer Woman came out with a book. And I don't even know who she is, but she's some big craftsy or I don't know, food person that's just got this insane audience. And so I think they both sold like 100,000 copies each. sold like 100,000 copies each. So for me to be right underneath both of them, above Elizabeth Gilbert, who has a big book out right now, and above other big celebrities who have books that came out, and also above Urban Meyer, who's the head football coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, which is my favorite team. He had a book came out the same week as me, and he was below me.

And to have this huge national champion champion megastar coach who's like an idol to me it's like a guy would love to interview to be able to beat those guys out it's like it's pretty cool to see that you know the podcast the audience people listening really stepped up to support the message and the movement and in the book and the book has a lot of great value in there and i'm seeing that you, I haven't really taken it in even this moment. I'm not really, I don't think it's fully landed that I'm a New York time bestselling author and over summit at sea, not semester at sea, but someone at sea, you know, it was so nice. It was all my friends. There's so many powerful people there, influential people at, at summit. And it was cool that all my friends were like,

this is the New York Times bestselling author, Lewis Howes. Like everyone introduced me as that. Everyone came up and congratulated me. A lot of my friends were just like, the first time they got to see me, give me big hugs. Strangers that I didn't know who listened to the podcast just came up and said that they bought the book

and they were very excited about it and supportive of that. So it's cool, the experience, but I'm still in the middle of a book tour. I've got five more cities. So I haven't fully taken it in and just gone to sleep at night saying, oh, I'm a New York Times bestselling author. Well, in some ways, I feel like it's a pretty distinct thing for you to be there because you've built out a community of people that have bought into this idea of a school of greatness and what that means for them as much as it is about you being the facilitator of that. So in that sense, I think it's actually pretty natural that you would be feeling somewhat adjacent to all this and it hasn't necessarily landed that you are a New York Times bestselling? Because in a lot of ways, everybody listening is a New York Times bestselling author. Exactly. It's not about me. It's about us. It's about what we created together. And the book is not about me specifically either. It's about the people I've interviewed. You're featured in the book. Your name's in there. And all the people

that I've interviewed on the podcast before the book came out, in the acknowledgements, I acknowledged every person that came on the podcast. Because without their teachings in the school, they're all professors. I'm a professor and a student, and so are you. Without all of them teaching me something and my audience something, there would be no book. And so I acknowledged every person that came on, which my publisher was like, you sure you want to put everyone's name in there? And I was like, yes, because without them, this would not be possible. So I get to acknowledge all those people. Well, that's what I love about the book is right away you make a point of really widening the lens beyond you and really saying, like, this is a culmination of a lot of interviews with a lot of great people. And I happen to be the humble beneficiary of the interviewer here

and the one who's actually providing now this information in the form of a book. And that, I think, is one of the most refreshing things right away about the book is that you really are simply facilitating. But I love the way you facilitate. And I think that's really what I want to acknowledge you for is that it does take a special gift to be able to consolidate that amount of information that you have been a part of listening. You guys have been privy to, uh, that, that you could actually crystallize that in the way that you did is I think why it's being received the way it's being received.

Cause I know a lot of people who interview a lot of people and they're not necessarily writing books that are, that are translating the way that this one is. And I think that's what I think is pretty remarkable about this book. And you probably were aware as you were writing it of how this could be one of the linchpin aspects of this book, right? Exactly. great at in my career and in my, not even in sports and in the business world, has been able to package and position things clearly that may be complex or maybe not even understandable. So I was able to package and position myself as an athlete to the scouts. I was able to sell myself to them, even though I went to a very small school, one of the smallest colleges in the country,

Principia College that had 500 students. it's very challenging to play professional football going around a small school. And I was able to package myself, position myself. I went to the combines. I made DVDs with nice images on the cover, and I built relationships with every scout and every coach that was there. I followed up with them on the phone. I did whatever it took to get the tryout where a lot of guys who are more talented than me, who are much smarter than me,

more athletic than me, weren't willing to put themselves out there and do that work and get creative and hustle in that way. And then translating into the book, there's lots of podcasts. There's hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there. Not many of them have been able to package the information and position it in a way so that people can learn and receive it and get the results in their life. And I think that's something I've done well at is done a great job at getting people to give me the information and teach me lessons and then found a great way to translate those lessons into actionable steps that people can apply in their life so that they can not just say, okay, a principle of greatness is vision. Now, go get a clear vision and make it happen.

But instead, here are the steps to making it happen with a clear vision. So that's why at the end of every chapter in the book, there's exercises that show you how to apply that to your life. And I think that's what I've been able to translate well, and that's why it's been received well, I believe. Yeah. And I'm curious, now that the book has come out and you're actually getting the feedback from the people reading the book, what's the conversion been like on those action steps? What kind of stories do you have now that have been encouraging to what you had intended? It's cool because the book's only been out in two weeks so far, two and a half weeks.

And I'm doing this book tour so people are coming out all over the place and saying, you know, I read the book and I did the exercises here and they're posting pictures of the completed exercises online, which is cool to see. It's hard to see, like,

how much people's lives have changed in the last two and a half weeks. But people are coming up to me and saying it's making a big impact and difference already. And, uh, you know, the way people feel about themselves for me says a lot when someone feels great about something, when they feel excitement, when they feel like they're ready to shift, that tells me a lot that it's done something. If they didn't feel nothing, then it did zero.

But when they were like ready, they're taking action. When they're getting clear on their vision, they're building a team around them. They're doing the steps necessary to get to that next level in their life for their relationships. You know, along this tour, it's been amazingly humbling hearing the stories from people of how they've transformed their life just from the podcast. You know, people come up to me and say, you know, I started listening a year ago and I was in a similar situation, sleeping on my parents' couch and I decided to launch a business

based on this specific episode and now I'm making six figures a year because of you, because of the catalyst that you brought. And then other people were like, our marriage, married couples came up to me and were like, our marriage was down in the dumps. And then you had Catherine Woodward Thomas on who talked about conscious uncoupling. And we actually really learned how to love each other deeper in the confusion, in the

messiness. And we would not be here married today without your podcast. So thank you. So hearing those types of stories, another person's like, I lost 100 pounds because something that I listened to on your podcast connected with me. And I decided that my life mattered and my health mattered. And now it's a time to step up. Otherwise, I'm not going to have X, Y, Z later. And so it's been incredible to be able to hear these stories and people come out and support the book and come out and give me a hug and share their stories with me.

For me, that's what excites me when people take that action. And I know the book is doing out and give me a hug and share their stories with me. For me, that's what excites me when people take that action. And I know the book is doing that for people. It's just, you know, it's only been a couple of weeks, so there's only so much transformation you can have in a couple of weeks. Sure. But I know it's happening because there is something about the book that really is an amazing access point and it makes it so clear and and and supports people in action steps i think that makes it a real distinction because there are a lot of self-help books that that really provide a lot of information it's valid but i feel like the absorption level is really on a conceptual level and it doesn't necessarily create that pathway that those steps that are

really tangible and that are required to actually transform one's life. And I think you lay it out in such a way where it's so easy and it's inviting. It's simple. And I think that's really important. Yeah. It's been fun, man. Yeah. Oh man, I'm so proud of you. I mean, I'm gushing like your parents right now. I feel like I want to just throw a party for you right now. But it really is remarkable. And I'm really proud of you because I know the work that it did take. So let's talk for a second here about the importance of the goals that you set along the way in the process. I'm so interested to know, how did you lay it out and in such a way where you ended up getting to this success?

I've told the story many times now that eight years ago I had this vision, this dream, and that was to write a book that inspired millions of people around the world, that created a possibility for them as a catalyst to transform something in their life. The way a book did for me eight years ago, a book I read called The 4-Hour Workweek, it really was the catalyst for me designing the life that I have now because I didn't know the tools were available before then. And I said, I want to have Tim Ferriss' agent as my agent, and I want to be a New York Times bestselling author. That was a vision eight years ago. So to bring it full circle has been amazing.

Now, it's taken a lot of smaller goals to get to there. And that was always the main big goal. And one of the things that I have is I wrote that down on what I call a certificate of achievement. And I have this for people in the first chapter of the book. This is an exercise that I give to people about goal setting, about having a vision, is to write it down and frame it and put it on your wall, put it on your mirror, by your bed, whatever it may be. I find it so powerful to stay focused on a goal is when you can write it down and when you can see it every single day. When you don't see it, it's not as important to you. It's not in your face. If you're just like, yeah, this is my goal, we get

distracted so easily with social media, our phones, conversations, relationships, whatever, that unless we actually physically see it up somewhere, I don't care if it's on your phone, on your computer screen or somewhere, you got to have it up somewhere to be that constant reminder of what am I creating today that's going to get me closer to my vision, to my goal. And so I needed to first ask myself, who do I need to become to make this possible? If I launched this a year ago, I wouldn't have been ready. So even though I wanted the goal to happen now, it would have been great to be at 25 years old and be a New York Times bestselling author.

But I wasn't ready. I didn't have the results. I didn't have the skills. I didn't have the intelligence, the team. I didn't know what it took. And so each year, I had goals that I would set for six months and 12 months every year what I like to do is I like to have a big vision that's kind of um my compass right it's like my

compass of which direction I'm heading but then it's hard to stay focused on something for like 10 years without breaking it down into smaller increments. So I like to have six-months and 12-month goals. It can be really laser-focused where I know this will be a stepping stone to the bigger vision. And that's what I did for the last eight years. Every year I was like, okay, what do I need to do in business to gain credibility? And so I built up my experience as an entrepreneur.

I built up my experience making money, advising companies, investing in companies. I hit the gamut of all the things I could do to become the person I needed to get the credibility to write a book like this. Because if I didn't get results in my life or in my business, then it wouldn't translate over into people wanting to buy the book. They would be like, well, okay, this is a great theory, but what have you done in your business or in your life to back this up? And I think people get ahead of themselves sometimes. They're like, I want to do this X, Y, and Z, but what are the results you've created that people are going to trust you enough? They give you enough credibility to create that. And I worked really hard at getting a lot of press and studying and researching. I think a year and a half ago, I did a session with you where I was like, can you give me feedback on me presenting on the news?

Because I was like, I'm about to be on the news a lot for this book, and I need to get practice reps. And I had you give me feedback for, I don't know, maybe it was Today Show or something else like that. day show or something else like that. And it's not like I didn't do any reps on the news until the launch of the book. Like I've been doing this for two years, preparing for the week of this moment. Right. As opposed to just saying, okay, now it's time to go on there and like swing it. Yeah. Like, so there was many goals leading up to this to prepare myself for my big vision and everything was preparing for this week. My entire life was preparing for this essentially. And that may sound either really awesome or really like depressing because you're like,

okay, now what do you do? Right. You know, he just did everything for this one week and now what do you do? And that's what everyone's been asking me as well as well. It's like, what's next? What's next? And what I'm telling people is what's now is most important. And this is a vision that I get to continue to fill it, fulfill every single day, really until the end of this year, until the book tour is over. And then I can start really focusing on re-evaluation, taking an off season so I can see what I want to create next. But what I want to tell people is it's really important to have a big vision of where you want to be moving towards. That way, every decision you make is either a simple yes, because it's leading you towards

your big vision, your big goal, or a simple no, because it's not supporting you becoming the person you need to become to achieve that. And then six to 12-month goals. Have a certificate of achievement. Put it on your wall. A six-month goal, a 12-month goal. And stay committed to those goals. You know, without these goals in our lives, where are we going?

If we don't have a goal, then what are we doing? Well, it's like the equivalent of us being out at sea just now with Summit at Sea and having a captain with no coordinates to where we're going. We're just like floating around in the ocean and we're not heading in any direction. And listen, sometimes we're going to be docked at sea, right? We're going to be docked on the shore and not going anywhere. It's time to like evaluate and rest and like get lost on an island like we were in the Bahamas yesterday or this morning, right? And you don't always have to be moving.

But when you are moving, it should be in a specific direction. Purposeful. Purposeful direction. In a direction that you want. Towards something. Otherwise, you're going to get frustrated or you're going to run out of gas. You know what I mean? You're going to be going in circles, running out of gas, saying, what's the point of all this?

Yeah. What's the point? And so let me ask you this, because you are so goal orientated and actually having achieved this goal now and everybody asking you, well, what's next? What's next? In the achievement of the goal, I'm asking you as a friend, because I know that we have just been at Summit and there's so much to engage in there and move into in conversation. And there was some dancing. Now, I wonder, do you feel like you've celebrated to the extent that you can? Because this is huge. This is a seminal moment in your life. I want to make sure as a friend that you really celebrate this.

It's interesting because I was reminded of the story we first met because Caduce hosted my launch party in LA and he was telling the story of how we first met at Summit. So it's funny. This is all coming full circle. Everything in the last few weeks is becoming full circle, everything I've done. And we met and you were like – I was dancing on the top with this – You were. So let me set the stage here. So I come into this party.

It's like the big event at Summit outside, I believe. Yes. It was like Tahoe or something. Yes. Yes. And so come into the event and there's all these top flight entrepreneurs doing what they do, type A's, networking, hitting on pretty girls, et cetera. And then I see in the dance floor, in the middle of the dance floor, Louis jumping up and down like a madman. It was awesome. Was I on the speakers or no? You might as well have been on the speakers.

I don't think you're actually, you don't need to be on the speakers if you're that big, right? But you were like in the middle of the dance floor totally lighting it up. And I remember that so clearly like it was yesterday. And I remember thinking, man, like what an awesome human being that is such a beacon of light and love

and celebration and excitement and all the things that obviously everybody listening knows and loves about you. So I wonder how in this moment where there is so much tethered to this, where there is all of this energy and work and planning and teamwork and all of this stuff and all these expectations and numbers and New York Times list, you want to stay on it now, et cetera, in the midst of this stuff and all these expectations and numbers and like New York Times list. You want to stay on it now, et cetera, like in the midst of this. As opposed to a moment of just being at Summit and celebrating life. Sure, sure. How are you computing and celebrating this? You know, I feel like I haven't fully, fully expressed and celebrated myself to the fullest potential. I feel like I've done a really solid job at it. Like I would say like 85% I've allowed myself to celebrate, but I'm still in it. So it's

not over yet. So I'm kind of like, okay, I've got five more cities. I don't want to just like expend all my energy celebrating and screaming at this day. And they'd be like, I have nothing left to give. Like I'm still in like the final four minutes of the fourth quarter in my mind. And I want to like give it all I got to the very end and then celebrate over Christmas or New Year's or something. So I've been so, I would say my celebration has evolved and I've been like so grateful and humble and appreciative and thankful and everything. And last night I did celebrate. I was up on the hot tub, kind of like outside of the hot tub

with this wooden plank, like dancing in a sea of people that were dancing. But the music was also kind of like mellow-y, like hippie-ish. So it wasn't like you could really unleash like this, like, ah. Note to the DJs dj summit let's turn it up next time it was a little yeah it was a little like anti-climatic music so if it was i might have been like going crazy but no one was really going crazy so i feel like i've celebrated in my own way and i'm just very you know it's interesting it's like i've been celebrating this

moment almost every single day for the last eight years. Every week I would walk into a Barnes & Noble and see my book right front and center of the Barnes & Noble, which now is in every Barnes & Noble front and center and almost all of them. And I would walk in and see my book there and I would go like this and raise my hands up and celebrate. Like in the victory position, if you can imagine it, my hands above my head. I would sit there and I would smile and I would be like, yes, yes. I would like celebrate like it's happening. Wow.

Because I like to create the feeling of celebration. Like I'm already creating what's about to happen in eight years, five years, two years, one year, one week. Like it's happening. I did this in football. Like I would get in the end zone. I would catch a ball and then I would celebrate like It's happening. I did this in football. I would get in the end zone. I would catch a ball and then I would celebrate like it's happening. Yeah. And I love this as it ties into the theme, part of the theme of this particular show, because in setting goals, it's not about setting

goals, simply having them in front of, but it's also really activating what you just described, which is this sense of confidence that it's going to happen, preemptive celebration, as crazy as that may seem, but that activates the law of attraction. And I don't know if you guys listening believe in it, but I've seen it time and time again work. Yes. And it's really amazing because you are yet again an example of how it works.

Exactly. And it's also like, you don't want to work, here's what I used to, you know, you don't want to work for eight years for something or one year for something and not celebrate until it happens. Sure. Because what if it doesn't happen? You're just holding your breath. Yeah, holding your breath. So create celebration every single day with small victories.

So I'm always celebrating the mini goals that I have, the small victories. Every night, I'm celebrating by saying what I'm most grateful for. Here's what I'm most grateful for. Here's what I'm excited that I have, the small victories. Every night, I'm celebrating by saying what I'm most grateful for. Here's what I'm most grateful for. Here's what I'm excited that I created today. And here's all the good that's happening. Let's celebrate today. Let's celebrate this moment.

With my team, we celebrate often. When we launch a product, we're celebrating often, every couple of months. I'm trying to incorporate that more and more so it's not just like oh we worked two years for this new york time best so thing now we can celebrate like that's not a fun lifestyle in my opinion so the goal is to have a big goal but also have many goals along the way where you frame them put put them up, and act as if they're happening. Visualize them happening. Put yourself in the state of what it will feel like every single day when you achieve that goal.

How is it going to feel? How is it going to make you feel? What's your body going to react? And do the act. I imagine that all the time in the morning. What does it feel like when I'm a New York Times bestseller? And I'll look in the mirror and I'll be like, yes, this is amazing. I'm so grateful. This is awesome.

And I'll create that. And then I'll go take the actions necessary for me to become who I need to become to make it happen. And the results I need to create for that to be possible. Because you've got to do the work. It's one thing to celebrate this and look weird in the mirror by yourself or something. Or being Barnes & Noble like putting your hands in the air. And then getting tased by the security guard. Exactly. But if you don't take it and back it up with really hard, focused work and action,

then it's never going to happen. Yeah. I love how you just unpacked what I think is the quandary for a lot of people who are so goal-orientated, so achievement-based, and so much so that they don't enjoy the journey. You've got to enjoy the journey. And it sounds like you really have hit that great access point, that integration of both those mindsets where there is every step of the way something to enjoy along the way. I like it to imagine Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, right? That she has this yellow brick road that she's looking at every yellow brick and like, yes, that's a beautiful yellow brick.

And there's Oz. I can see it along the way. And it makes that much more enjoyable along the way. Yes. And I think it's actually productive as well when you think about like what burns people out before they hit their goal, what stresses people out, what gives people all sorts of sickness, ailments, whatever along the way. stresses people out, gives people all sorts of sickness, ailments, whatever along the way, it's because they're not allowing themselves to be replenished by the celebrations along the way. Exactly. And in football, I learned this in sports because I would achieve big dreams. This is before kind of like professional ranks. I would achieve my big dreams and then I'd feel

empty afterwards because I was just so focused on the goal that I never really allowed myself to enjoy the process. I never allowed myself to enjoy, like, the smaller victories in high school. It was until college where I started to, like, really appreciate it. And I was just like, what's the point of this if I'm, like, angry or unfulfilled after I achieve my goals? And that's why it is the journey. Not lame, but, I mean, as cliche as it may sound, you've got to sustain this over time and to be able to make this a lifetime journey. We've got to be able to incorporate celebrating on a consistent basis, even when we don't hit

do anything well. And this is the thing. Some people listening may say, well, I haven't been achieving results for months or for years. Like I felt stuck. I feel like I'm worthless. I feel like I'm this and that. That's when you get to dig deep and say, what have I done that's been good? Yeah. Who have I treated well lately?

What have I done well for myself lately? You've got to start really small and acknowledge small things to get you going to build that momentum. And that's why in the book we talk about building positive habits to build these goals, to make these goals happen. When you create a routine or a ritual or a habit routine in the morning, it's going to set you up to win for the rest of the day. And a lot of people, when you have a goal, if you don't have a routine to back up that goal,

it's going to be way more challenging to make it happen. So when you set the goal, you've got to think of, what are the three things I need to do every single morning that's going to set me up to win for this. For me, I look at working out is a huge thing that it gets my mind clear. It clears any anxiety I may have. It gets my energy going and it gets me getting a lot of ideas ready for the day. Number two, I always clean my, make my bed in the morning as well because I believe that's a momentum builder and that's a completion generator. So I'm completing something.

I'm cleaning my space. I'm cleaning the energy. I'm getting clear. And I am building momentum with a positive accomplishment. So before I do anything, I create a positive accomplishment, which sets me up for the next positive accomplishment. That's something I do. And then I also love to have a green juice and a smoothie in the morning as well. It's like fuel myself with something positive in the morning also so I can get up and ready to go. And a lot of people just check their phone right away and start fueling themselves with emails,

responsive reaction, reaction, reaction, as opposed to let's create something intentional today that's going to move us towards our vision and towards our goal. And listen, I'm guilty of this too. There's a lot of days where I check my phone, first thing, last thing at night. It's not like I have it down perfect every day. But when I do follow my habits and routines, I set myself up to win to achieve my goals. Yeah. I love that you just broke it down for everyone no matter where they're at. And it is all relative when I think about it because we all got to start somewhere and meet ourselves where we're at and be gentle with ourselves along the way in that way.

Like if we beat ourselves up for not being in the conversation of being a New York Times bestseller, here's your listening to this. Well, where are you right now? And what is the next step along your yellow brick road? Exactly. And eight years ago when I was on my sister's couch, I was just like, how do I get off this couch? And that was my step.

I couldn't even think about being a New York Times bestseller. I could barely write. I didn't have any credibility, any results. And that's okay. It's like work on the goal for the next three to six months. How can you get to the next level for the next three to six months and enjoy the process along those three to six months? I'll tell you what. The last eight years have flown by.

I cannot believe. I'm like, where has my life been? I'm 32. What? This is crazy. It's like, what's happened? I felt like I was just playing football, and it's been eight years since I put on the pads. Wow.

And here you are. And I think that's so remarkable because time moves slower, I think, when we're not necessarily in action. I think when we're action, it has a tendency of going by quicker. Yeah. So I think it's an interesting – that's a totally different podcast. I've been talking about time and how that is all relative in some ways too. But I think that you really have framed goal setting in such a way where – I know some people are almost adverse to goals because it seems like a lack of freedom in that. But I think what it's provided me certainly in being more goal oriented is like actually

finding freedom within that. There's like a structure that. It's like a relationship. Yes. It's like finding your freedom in a relationship as opposed to feeling like, oh, I don't have the flexibility to do what I want or spend time with people or travel on my own or whatever. But it's actually creates a container, like you said, a focus point to raise you to your best, I believe. And I'm learning all these.

This has been an incredible journey. I'm learning so much about myself, about relationships, about career, about the intention of having a clear vision in what's possible when you have a focus. Yeah. When you don't have a focus, again, we're just like wandering directionlessly in the ocean running out of fuel. Well, and another point I think that could be added to this convo is how what happens when we actually set a goal and are declaring it to people that are in our lives, it creates an access point for them to be actually aligned with it and be all about it with you and support you. And support you. Yeah. And, you know, when you keep your goal to yourself, when you keep your dreams, your

vision to yourself, you're not allowing other people to move you closer to that vision. But when I say to you, hey, this is my vision, I remember saying, like, I need, my vision is to be a New York Times bestseller, to write a book, to build my business to X, Y, and Z. I said this a few years ago. And I was like, in order to do this, at the level I want to do it, with all I'm traveling, with all the different businesses I'm running, I'm going to need an incredible assistant. I'm going to need someone who can do, pretty much run my life. Like, it's going to be a superwoman. It's not an ordinary assistant.

This isn't like a trained assistant. This is like a superhuman being that's like a mutant. And I remember I literally put it out there to everyone. I was like, this is what I need. I was like telling my friends, my family. I was putting it out on Facebook. I was emailing my list. Any person I talked with, I'd be like,

here's what I'm looking for in my life right now. It's going to help me get closer to my vision. And my chiropractor, Trish, who was doing a lot of work on my body at the time, I told her. And she's like, I think I have the perfect person, but she's in Utah. And I was like, fly her out here. I need to meet her. And this is her name, Sarah. And she's now my assistant and much more than that, just an assistant.

She takes care of my entire life. But there's no way I would have been able to achieve this vision without having that – Support. Her to support everything that I'm doing. I mean constantly on top of things to make my life easier, to save me essentially four or five extra hours a day so that I can create my book, so that I can be focused, so that I can work on the things I needed to, as opposed to spending those four or five hours a day doing stuff that isn't going to help me make my vision come true. And so I'm putting it out there constantly what it is. Again,

I'm framing it. I'm putting it out there for myself to see. So I'm clear. I'm putting it out there for other people to see. So they're clear. And I told people this with my book too. I was like, when I started doing the promotion of it, I was like, here's my dream is to be a number one New York Times bestselling author. And I would love your support. What do you think we could create with this? Or what can we do with your audience or this and that? And I would tell people and ask for support and they would come up with, hey, okay, here's what I'm willing to do. But without asking them or telling them, here's my dream, here's what I'm looking for. I would ask them or tell them, why would they just automatically know this is my dream and be like, hey, I have a feeling, Lewis, that you have a dream right now and I just want

to step up and support you. No, you've got to tell people and give them that chance to make it happen. And this is the hotel telling us we have had a long enough interview. What I want to say to wrap up the interview as we get sung out here beautifully is that a distinction is not just in the goal or in terms of vision. It's what the vision actually is and what it is for others. Because it wasn't just about you getting on the New York Times bestseller list. To bring this full circle to the way we started out this conversation, it is about all the people listening right now. It is about how they have been able to access their greatness through what you've been able to create here. It's a vision way beyond your own self-interest. And I think that's really something

to note, you know, is that let your goals be about contribution. Let your goals be about making the world better than you found it. And you will find a lot of support and you will probably find yourself potentially on the New York Times bestseller list too, if you're listening with that particular goal. But I think that's really something that I think was beautiful to see at the heart of all this was your heart and your heart for people and this being a way to support the world. And I think it's something that we all celebrate as your listeners, as your friends, as everybody that's been along this journey with you, that we have felt like co-creators in a better world because of this book. And obviously, I love you, and I'm so, so proud of you. And I know everybody here listening wants to hug you right now,

so I will certainly do that in a minute. But I just really want to acknowledge you for doing this and doing this the way you've done it, the spirit that you've done it with. It's really been contagious and certainly inspiring for me as your friend. So I really, really acknowledge you for being such a gift to the world. You really have given your heart to this. And it's no wonder you're getting the results you're getting.

And you're getting other people to get the results that matter to them in the process. So you have made the world a better place with this book. And I am so grateful to have you in my life personally because you're like a book to read every time we talk. And with that, I'll say this has been a pleasure to interview you on your show. Thanks, man. And to know you, man. It's to love you. I appreciate it.

And I'm so damn proud. And that 15% of celebration in the gap, it's going to happen. It's coming. It's coming very soon. Well, I appreciate it. Thanks for facilitating this. If you guys enjoyed this, feel free to share it out. Lewis's going to happen. It's coming. It's coming very soon. Well, I appreciate it. Thanks for facilitating this. If you guys enjoyed this, feel free to share it out. LewisHowes.com slash 255.

Again, LewisHowes.com slash 255. If you want to share this with a friend who maybe is struggling with a goal, getting a clear vision, this could guide them into getting that started in their next step. Thank you guys all for making this an incredible journey. I love you. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you. Bye.