The School of Greatness - 509 How I Use Faith, Mindset, and Positivity to Thrive: Cadillac Confessions

Episode Date: July 12, 2017

"When we don't believe in anything, that's when things get scary." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/509

This is episode number 509 with Cadillac Confessions. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, 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. Oh yes, my friends, welcome back to another episode of the podcast.

And back by popular demand, it's Cadillac Confessions. This is where I ask you guys the biggest questions you have for me that you want me to answer. And I reveal them in a confession point of view while driving in my 1991 Cadillac. And we took a trip around Sunset up Mulholland Boulevard, overlooking all of the valley here in Los Angeles. And kind of got into it a little bit. I shared some stuff about my faith and some other things that have helped me in my life and helped me overcome different things and have a different mindset about things. So I got a little into it in a few different moments.

So I think you're going to like it because I've never really shared this type of information. So let me know what you guys think about this one. As always, put out a link, lewishouse.com slash 509 and tag me on your Instagram story or on your Instagram posts or on Twitter, Facebook, at Lewis House everywhere as I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. And big thank you to everyone who did submit a question. We got to 10 of you and gave you a shout out throughout the episode. So thank you so much for your thoughtful and meaningful question. All right, guys, let's dive in. Thanks again for all your incredible questions. Let me know what you think about my answers. Share this

out. lewishouse.com slash 509 Cadillac Confessions all right are we ready yeah is the mic working yep test test we're good gopro's recording okay yep what's up? Welcome to another Cadillac Confessions. Christine in the house. Woo! Tiffany Pounden in the house. We're going to drive up Sunset and answer the top ten questions that came in. So here we go.

Christine, start us off. Okay. When you first broke your wrist and you were down and out. Wait, do you have a mic on? No, they can hear me. You should have put a mic on. I can speak loudly. Okay.

When you first broke your wrist and you were still sleeping on the couch, what strategies did you use to harness your power and turn it into who you've become? When I first broke my wrist and was on the couch, what strategies did I use to harness my power? Yeah, to use it to become the person you are today. I think I leaned mostly on the stuff I already knew from sports. And that was finding people who had the answers who could coach me. who had the answers who could coach me. And so early on I was constantly looking for those mentors, the people who had achieved results in their business and

their career. And so I was just going to a lot of events. I was connecting with local business leaders in Columbus, Ohio and I was just asking as many questions as I could and listening and then taking action. And so for me as an athlete, I was really good at receiving coaching from people I respected and then taking action on that coaching and getting feedback based on my results and based on what I was creating. So I think it was using that athlete mentality

and applying it to life. Awesome. Carolina, that was from Hampton Roberts. Hampton Roberts. Carolina from the heart of South America, Paraguay asks, how do you cope working in an environment where there is so much malicious people and envy, where only the powerful ones get a break and the introverted are left out? How do you cope working in that environment?

Hmm. Well, I'm not introverted, so I. How do you cope working in that environment? Well, I'm not introverted, so I don't have a problem with that. But I think in an environment where there was a lot of... Malicious people and envy. Malicious people and envy. I just try to stay in my lane and focus as much as I can on my vision. Now, sometimes I get off track and I allow negative conversations or comments to affect me and I'll talk about them, I'll think about to keep up with other people. Um, and so I really just focused on my vision and, and, you know, being committed to that. So that's what I try to focus on. I remember early on, I got in a, in probably 2009, I got in a Twitter battle with this guy that I never met. He was another like marketing, social media guy. I think he might have written a book or something. He had a little bit of credibility in the social media space.

And I remember he said something that offended me and I started tweeting back and he kind of fed into my, you know, going back and forth with him. And we were like for three days, just like both reacting to each other, calling each other names. And I remember some people were like supportive and like jumping on, on with me and like kind of going after him. And then at one point in day two, someone was like, you just need to let this go. This is not look one. It doesn't look good for you too. It's a waste of your time. Uh, and three, it's taking you away from your vision. And I remember early on just that lesson. I can't remember who told me that,

but I remember early on just being like, Hmm, yeah, this is not helpful just to constantly combat with other people who are malicious or envious or attacking in any way. So anytime I see negative comments now or anything that, that I feel like could take me off track, I just smile or say thanks for the feedback and keep, keep focused. And I think that's what you should be focusing on is staying committed to the vision and, uh, on running your own race. Yes. Yes. So Ismael Gonzalez asks,

if you had the opportunity to go back and change something in your life, what would that be? I don't know if I'd change anything, really, to be honest, because I'm just very grateful with where I'm at right now. I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't be as defensive in the past or reactive or frustrated or angry in certain situations. I think sports and certain things that happened when I was growing up, I allowed myself to be kind of

frustrated or react in sports very quickly and I wish I didn't I wasn't as reactive sometimes and just played the game as opposed to trying to fight all the time so I think you know there are also great lessons in that and great things that came from that as well but I think I can go back I wish I could be a better person in general in those certain situations. But overall, I'm very grateful with where I'm at. Sherry Smith asks, what's your habit requiring the least effort but makes the greatest difference? I would say, um, having a positive mind and smiling.

I would say those two things, call it three things, dancing as well. Anytime I think something positive or I'm grateful, I smile at someone, um, or I dance. I feel like it lifts my energy up to a new

level especially if I feel down or frustrated about something if I'm walking down the street or I'm going to get lunch or a coffee or something when I just smile at random strangers or you know the person who's making my coffee it just makes them smile which which makes me feel better, which continues the cycle of my day. So anytime I'm, um, smiling, thinking something positive or dancing, it shifts the energy in that moment and usually shifts the outcome for the rest of the day. Uh, Iulian Stoian asks, hi Louisis what do you see yourself doing five years from now um i see myself having the biggest

um interview style show where i get to connect with the most inspiring people in the world and share their wisdom to help people live a better life and achieve their dreams. I see myself producing a lot more, um, meaningful content, whether it be documentaries, movies, books, um, TV shows to, again, shift people's consciousness and support them in their growth for their daily life, to move them towards their dreams, to help them live a happier, more fulfilling, richer life. And I just see whatever I'm doing on a bigger scale in the next five years. bigger scale in the next five years. Miranda Johnson asks, what part has faith played in your success? Whatever that means in your perspective. You know, it's interesting because I don't really talk about my, my faith that much. And it's, this is a challenging answer for me. And I'm actually kind of glad someone asked this because growing up I was

I went to church every week I grew up in a religion called Christian science it was a Christian religion but a lot of it was kind of radical thinking in terms that my father was a pretty extremist in the religion and he never wanted us to take any medicine or go to the doctor or use any physical substances to help us heal and it was always confusing for me because everyone else was taking medicine but my dad didn't want me to, even when I had a cough or a sick or a flu or whatever it was, he wanted us to learn how to heal ourselves through prayer and through the mind. And I was just always very confused because I was like, well, I feel physical.

I can feel this like body and this matter and I can see, you know, and I feel crummy in this moment if I had like a flu or something. So he conditioned me to think above pain and to think above accidents and to think above broken bones. And in some ways it was ridiculous thinking and didn't make any sense. And in other ways it made total sense. But I think I was just always confused and it was hard for me to grasp the concept. But the faith really supported me in my journey as an athlete and overcoming challenges and overcoming bullying and overcoming insecurities that I faced because it gave me something to lean on and to believe in. And I think when we don't believe in anything, that's when things get scary and I'm worried for someone. when things get scary and I'm worried for someone. But when we have some type of belief, whether it's in ourselves,

whether it's in God, in the universe, in trees, in whatever it is, it's the belief when we hold on to something which supports our growth, in my opinion. And without any belief, we start to question why are we here, what's the purpose, why me, why should I even be alive? And we start to go why are we here what's the purpose you know why me why do I why should I even be alive and we start to go down darker paths so that support that I had even though I didn't always understand it it was confusing and contradictory and it was kind of radical thinking at times it actually supported me in having some incredible healings, physically, emotionally, because I had this such strong belief in it. It's just like a placebo as well. When you believe that you're having medicine, but it's really a sugar pill,

and you're healed within a half a day, sometimes we don't know. Was it the medicine? Was it the belief that, hey, this is going to support me no matter what it is? So I think it's just having that mindset that you condition yourself. And if you believe in God or whatever religion or faith you believe in, I think it's all good as long as it supports you living a healthy, happy, fulfilled life and supports humanity without judgment of what people do in supporting humanity and the world to be better. And I think if that's the faith that you have, then it's all good for me. For me personally, I'm not going to church anymore. I'm not, you know, reading the Bible, which was what we did growing up. Um, although every now and then I'll kind of glance through things and I'll read through passages, but the

challenge that I've faced is, you know, on the podcast, I've just interviewed so many inspiring spiritual leaders, people of different faiths, different religions. And I went to India for a couple of weeks and studied a pretty intense meditation practice with deep-rooted science training along with this spiritual meditation. And just the more I dive into the mind, into understanding physics and science and spirituality, the more I'm researching and studying, it's, you know, things are unfolding for me in different ways that are different from when I grew up, different than the beliefs I had. So right now, I wouldn't say that I have one specific faith that I call myself in this specific religion because I'm still learning and growing. in meditation, in breath, in supporting others,

in doing all these things to improve our health and improve humanity. And I think for me that's what works right now. And sometimes I'm still confused, and sometimes I'll interview someone else who's this spiritual leader who shares something completely new with me that makes me think differently. It makes me just question and wonder, well well what if it could be different this way and what if it could be different that way and so I think that we all should be on our own journey and I think whatever our belief is even if it's not actually the truth or the facts of science or whatever it may be if it's what you believe it supports, it helps you live a healthy and happy life, and it encourages the world to be better, then

I'm all for it. Preach that sermon. That's right. Okay. Confession time. Ooh! Stefan Reinhold asks, how do you build a tribe online? I think the tribe starts with you being your unique self and either creating a community around your personality

or the personality of the brand that you're building. So when I think of like CrossFit, you know, CrossFit built this incredible community based on its philosophy, its mindset, its kind of core principles, and its grit and work ethic that's behind these workouts. So it attracted a tribe. Same thing with Spartan Race, Tough Mudder. There wasn't specifically like a person a personality that built these communities although they all have CEOs and personalities but it's more based on like here's what we stand for here's what we believe here's what this community is so when you put a stamp in the ground and you say this is what we do this is who we are this is what we're creating together then you're gonna

start attracting those people it's when you don't have anything that you stand for, any beliefs or any uniqueness about you, and you don't know who you are, that's when you're not gonna build a tribe. So it starts with, if it's you building a personal tribe, it starts with you letting out more of yourself and being unique as possible to attract people with a like-mindedness or building a brand around some core principles, some core tenets of what the community stands for. And that's how you start. Okay.

Andrew Reese asks, what is one thing that you wish people knew about you? I feel like people know a lot about me, but I'm not sure if there's one thing. I feel like people know a lot about me, but I'm not sure if there's one thing. I think that I'm pretty sensitive. I don't know if I wish people knew that about me, but I think I'm pretty sensitive emotionally. And I have feelings. I have feelings. I feel a lot. And especially like in music or movies. I'm moved very easily to emotions.

And I think it's important for us to feel things. And I used to try to mask these things and try to hold them back in my teens, in my early twenties. Even though I felt them so much, I didn't want other people to know I had these feelings because I think I didn't think they were okay to have or whatever. So, and I think what's one of the reasons why we wrote the new book, The Mask of Masculinity, because I wanted to really go on this journey to discover how men can be more open and be more real really go on this journey to discover how men can be more open and be more real, um, with their, with their life and their emotions. So that's something I think I want people to know. Next question is from who? Alberto Ocampo says, how can you be truly honest with yourself so that you can take control of your life? Well, I think, how can you be? I mean, just being honest is how you can do it, but

it's hard to take full control of your life. I think if you're not honest with yourself, because you're always going to be holding something inside or holding back something or frustrated or resentful that you're not telling the truth to yourself or to someone else. But I think it's harder to not be truthful to yourself than to just go through the hard things and be true. Do you have any tips about how you've learned how to be honest with yourself versus avoiding? I think it's hard sometimes. It just depends on the situation and what we're talking about.

But I'm not sure if I really have advice on how to be honest with yourself. I think when you know something is off, whether it be a career you're working in or a relationship or something you need to tell someone in your family or whatever it may be, when you know something is off, that's when you should listen to yourself and pay attention. And if you're not paying attention to it and saying, okay, maybe this is going to be hurt by being honest, it's hurting yourself more by not sharing than by sharing. And I think you've got to be discerning on every situation

and everything is unique. And you've got to be aware of the timing of when you're saying things and stuff like that. But the more honest you can be, I think, the better, at least with yourself, um, and just be aware of what feels right and what doesn't feel right. Great. This is about podcasting. Bren Dubay asks, so many people do podcasting with little to no success. If you could name one thing that sets you or the other great podcasters apart from the rest, what would that be?

I think consistency and quality. I think a lot of these podcasters, you start and they launch something within six months. And then they get discouraged because they're not getting the download numbers. And it's just going to take time. I think there's over half a million podcasts out there right now. You've got to really differentiate why people should listen to you or watch your videos, whatever it may be. And why are you going to be that much more unique than the other half a million podcasts that are already out there. So if you're not figuring out what it is

that separates you in the space and you're not, your podcast isn't completely different than all the rest, then it's not going to be successful. That's number one. And number two, if you're not being consistent with your show, um, it's going to be really hard because people want to listen to something consistently. So if you do it sporadically once in a while, you do it for a few months, and you stop and you come back to it, people are going to go and forget about you and go somewhere else. So you've got to constantly be willing to create something of such high-quality content that separates you from everyone else and then be consistent.

Even then, I have friends who have podcasts who do that that aren't getting results that they want. So that's just the starting point is high quality content that is unique and different than everything else and consistency. And if you're not doing those first two things, then the rest probably isn't going to matter. then the rest probably isn't going to matter. This is another podcast question. Teresa Snyder asks, Are women easier to interview than men or vice versa?

Are women easier to interview than men? I think it depends on who you are. If you are a person who's closed off and are uncomfortable interviewing women then it's probably not going to be an easy interview um and i think it all depends on how you set up the interview i think some men and some women are closed off when they go into any interview or they're hesitant so it's not not, it doesn't matter about who, what gender they are. It matters about how you show up, your energy, the conversation you have before the, you press the record button, the questions you ask them to set them up for the interview, you know, the relationship you've built, getting them on the show. It's all the stuff before you press record that is going

to determine if it's going to be a more open show or not. So now some people are more guarded and more closed off in general, but it doesn't matter the gender. This is the last question. Todd Ashlock asks, why is it important to you to help bring out the full potential of strangers? Todd asks, why is it helpful for me to bring out the full potential in strangers? And I think it's, it's important for me to do that with everyone, not just strangers,

but with people I know and friends, family. Um, strangers, both people I know and friends, family. I just feel like it's our responsibility to live a full, rich, happy life that is on the path of our dreams. And sometimes it's going to take, you know, many, many years to start achieving certain things we want. I feel like, you know, this is 10 years deep into what I've been doing now. And I feel like there's a lot of things that I haven't done yet. And I could easily be discouraged and I'm not as far along as I want to be or, or whatever it is. But as long as I'm doing things every single day that get me closer to what I want, I feel like that's all I

can control. And so many people aren't doing that. They're just stuck. They're emotionally stuck, mentally stuck, physically stuck. They are living in this fear that holds them back from living a more fulfilling life. And I just feel like if we're going to be here, why not be here in our best form and at least try to be in our best form every single day by progressing? We may not be this ultimate, reach our ultimate potential in every area of our life at all times. It's probably just not going to happen for most people.

But if we can consistently say, look at the world around us. We were given an opportunity. consistently say, look at the world around us. We were given an opportunity. We were given this body, this experience, this world. You know, I've got this car. I'm in Los Angeles. I'm in the USA. I've got this incredible team. When we look at the things that we have, even if we're not sure why we're here, but we can say, you you know what I'm just so grateful for this opportunity I feel like it's our duty and responsibility to make the most of it for our maker whoever our maker is whether it's God or parents or our great grandparents whoever brought us into this world and this experience,

and that includes a lot of people to make that happen. I feel like it's our responsibility and our duty to figure out how we can make the most of it and have the most fun and make the biggest impact and also leave our experience better than the way we found it. So that's why I do it. Cadillac Confessions. Hope you guys enjoyed this one.

We are driving around Mulholland. We've got Christine in the back. We're all wearing shades now. We've got Tiffany recording over here. Her main camera went down about halfway through. And now we're stuck in traffic. So LA traffic, we're moving slowly. But hopefully you guys enjoyed this one.

I always enjoy doing this. I think this is what, our third or fourth Cadillac Confessions? Number four, I think. Number four, I think. Maybe. But it's always fun for me to do a Q&A because I don't do too many of these. So thanks for your questions. Q&A because I don't do too many of these. So thanks for your questions. Big shout out to everyone who asked a question over on Facebook and to the top 10 that we answered on. We appreciate you guys

and hope you have a good one. Until next Cadillac Confessions. Well, I didn't think I was going to take it to where I did on a few of those answers, but would love your feedback. Again, shared some things that I typically don't really share about. A couple of things I try to shy away from, politics, specific religion, sharing different beliefs on those things. It usually just gets kind of mixed up and people take offense or are judgmental or I feel like it takes people away from the mission of actually living a better life, living a good life, being good to people and

following your dreams. People start to compare. They start to judge. So I hopefully was able to shed some light on my mindset and the way I think without upsetting too many people. But again, if you thought this was powerful, share with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 509. This is more for the fans who really want to be able to ask me questions because I don't

really do a lot of Q&A unless I do it here on the podcast and kind of like confessions. So thank you guys so much for your support. All right, guys, thank you so much for all that you do. We've got some big interviews coming up in the next few days. So stay tuned. If this is your first time here, get ready and make sure to check out some of the previous interviews because every week, man, we just keep getting bigger and bigger hits, inspiration, motivation, tools, training, secrets that people don't share ever anywhere. You get it all here at the School of Greatness podcast.

Thank you guys so much. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh,