The School of Greatness - 587 Coffee Conversations: Ultimate Sports Strategies for Time Management

Episode Date: January 10, 2018

"PLAN YOUR PLAY." We live streamed this episode of Coffee Conversations straight to YouTube -- and some of you sent us questions while we filmed! It was awesome and we'll do more of these live episodes if you like them. While Cesar and I were taking questions from you guys on social media, we kept discussing the same main theme. It's something that has made the biggest difference in our business year after year. It's the strategy we set up to manage our time throughout the year so that we can accomplish huge goals consistently. The truth is, it's based on what we learned in sports. The lessons we learned from football still keep us grounded and productive years later. As we answered your questions, we kept coming back to how much this strategic mindset supports us when we set huge goals, get through slumps, stay positive, and more. We realize that the more we choose to live and work in a disciplined, focused way, with plenty of play built in, the better we do all around. Let us know your thoughts on this episode and the live stream after you listen to Episode 587. In this episode you will learn: How we come up with a strategy to accomplish all our big goals for the year (5:10) Why taking breaks to play is so important (14:30) How to make your personal project grow when your time is consumed by your day job (17:48) Strategies for staying positive and keeping others positive (19:28) Tips we've both learned for improving conversational skills (26:58) What to do if you're scared of stepping into your greatness (33:30) How much flexibility I plan into my schedule (39:30) Plus much more...

Episode number 587 coffee conversations the ultimate sports strategies for time management 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. Peter Drucker said, until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else. Welcome to Coffee Conversations, becoming one of the favorite theme episodes that we do

when I bring on my good friend, Matt Cesarato, aka Cesar, and we bring him on for some coffee conversations. And in this episode, we talk about how to strategize for a powerful year from the beginning. Also, the best way to build your side hustle when working a full-time job. Talk about how much I plan flexibility into my schedule throughout the month and the year. Also, what to do if you are scared of starting on your road to greatness. Also, what sports taught Cesar and myself about time management that we still follow today. This is a powerful one. And we did something interesting. We actually went live, did a live broadcast on YouTube during this. And so many of you came on live and listened to it and asked questions. And we're thinking about

doing more of these episodes live and bringing in that different innovative type of feel of the podcast. Before we dive in, I want to give a thank you to the fan and review of the week. That's Dr. Jack Mikhoff, who said, How can I make this short? Almost a year ago, I was working at a desk job in manufacturing. Every day, I wondered what the hell I was doing. It didn't feel right. This job was an hour and 15-minute commute.

That's where I listened to several different podcasts. School of Greatness was one of them. And Lewis Howes, the School of Greatness, changed my perspective on life and living it. Fast forward to now, writing this review because I took a chance and opened a CrossFit gym. We are doing really well. I even started up a powerlifting club through my old high school that hasn't had a club in over 20 years. Thanks for the two years of motivation. So thanks again for the review, Jack. Appreciate it. Hope you enjoyed this. And if you guys want a chance to be shouted out on

the podcast to be the fan of the week, just leave a review over on iTunes. You can go to your the app on your podcast app on your phone or on iTunes, Scroll down, leave a review, and get a chance to be shouted out on the podcast. And without further ado, guys, I'm excited for this one. It's Coffee Conversations, episode number 587. All right. Welcome back, everyone. We're here on Coffee Conversations. Very excited about this. We're trying something new today, so bear with us if, for whatever reason, there's some glitches. And I'm here with my man, Cesar, Coffee Conversations. Live switch it over to Cesar. We've got three cameras set up. We've got got Tiffany who's manning the control panel on an iPad left of another camera later that shows you this we've got Christine

managing audio and making sure that we're actually live on YouTube and we wanted to try something new for 2018 for our team of greatness we're really trying to figure out how we continue to elevate and innovate Innovation baby the podcast game the content game And add as much value as possible for people. So we're doing this YouTube live A lot of you guys have talked about copy conversations You really enjoy having Caesar on massy's errata who runs the operations for school of greatness business and all the things we're up to And so we've invested in some new equipment Zerato who runs the operations for School of Greatness business and all the things we're up to

and so we've invested in some new equipment new camera gear and we're actually going to rehaul pretty much the entire studio soon with better lights better gear better setup everything so that we can kind of do live editing that's the goal it's not the goal Tiffany is like really we're live editing so I'm excited to test this if you're here right now If you're watching live then go ahead and leave a comment with any type of question you have when again We'll have Christine who's gonna be fielding some questions at some point, but we are week two of January, right? It seems like it's been a month already. Yes for me. It feels like it's already been a month we've done so much already in the first week.

I've been consistently, I had a goal for the first month. Not a New Year's resolution, but the first month. Five days a week of HIIT workouts along with Whole30. And I'm trying to do intermittent fasting where I don't eat before at least noon every single day. And so far, the first week, I've been consistent. You have. What I want to do is focusing on every week having a challenge as opposed to saying, okay, I'm going to do this for the whole year.

I'm just going to do this for five days. And then I'm journaling it as well. So I found a new journal that I like. I talked about it in the last podcast. If you go to projectevo.org you can see this journal uh good friends of mine made this it's a journal based on your brain architect type so how you think you take a small test that tells you like what your archetype is mine is the explorer and so the journal allows you to track your goals and your day based on the way you think about the world. So far, I've been consistent with it one week.

I'm excited. Cheers to you. Can't wait to try that. I'm going to have to see what my archetype is. Yeah. A couple of big things I want to talk about from the week so far. We've started off strong. And the key for us this year that I to talk about from the week so far. We've started off strong and the key for us this year that I'm already finding from the breakdowns we had this morning or the piling on of things this morning is strategy. Strategy, strategy, strategy and staying ahead. I had a big vision and dreams that I talked about with Christine and Tiff this morning about what I wanted to do in terms of video that are kind of lofty goals for the year. And I think we've always been good at putting out great content and being

consistent, but some of the times it's very last minute and it weighs on the team sometimes. And we were already feeling that this morning with stuff that's already come on the plate that we're not going to do any of that this year. And now it's already happening. We're like, okay, we'll do it. And so we just need to continue to remind ourselves about strategies. So that's the thing I'm already seeing. And with new year's resolutions in the first couple of weeks of January, I think people get excited about something and then breakdowns happen, new opportunities come in and you got to stay focused. And you know what I think I love about this, Lewis, is I guarantee our team would say their experience, and it's no negative against you at all because you are the visionary, the explorer.

But their experience and my experience is we are reactionary. We have always really been reactionary, at least in the last couple of years of business since I've been here. So I think this shift for 2018 is really exciting for me as well as our team to really just to have a strategy, to have a plan in place, and to really manage expectations over the course of this strategic plan that we're putting together for whatever it is, for whatever project that we're working on at any given point. I know with a live broadcast, I mean, this happened a couple weeks ago, but even then we did have a little bit of planning. And I'm sure there's going to be glitches over the course of us learning to use something new. But I think the cool thing is

sticking to your strategy is what we found over the course of at least 2017 when we stuck to our guns on something that's when we found maximum success rather than last minute reactionary type you know judgment calls and what we want to do with the business so but I also know that I want to give you the opportunity as you know our explorer and visionary to run with something if you're really excited about it. Because I also know that within this team, we find that the maximum output of our team happens when you're excited about something,

and it blends into the excitement of our team. Because we're rallied around your mission and your business. So when we see you excited, we get excited. So even the stuff that we were reactionary on, they ended up working out because of just the excitement I think that you bring to the table. It's not sustainable long-term. But I think when we're going to go real big this year in 2018, I think you're right. Strategy and planning is going to pay off big time for us. Even a few weeks ahead of time of preparing as opposed to last minute. And I'll give you an example.

I've been doing a lot of mastermind calls. So for those that don't know, we host a year-long intensive high accountability mastermind group for entrepreneurs who are at the seven-figure mark looking to take their business to the next level. And all these one-on-one calls I've been doing, we've got some incredible people in the group. You've seen them all come through. We've got some amazing people who are just creating great results already.

The last few years, they've been building their business. The thing that I've seen in order to really grow, and I see this for us too, is having accountability, coaching, but a strategy in place. A lot of these entrepreneurs I've been talking to have been successful. They're making a lot of money,

but they have no strategy. I'm thinking of a couple that I just talked to last week where they're like, yeah, we just made like all this money, but it's kind of last minute everything. There was no game plan. And I said, what would it look like if you had one vision for the year of a mark that you wanted to hit, financial mark or specific goals? And then you had a strategy on the execution plan of how you're going to hit those goals. And then you had a strategy on the execution plan of how you're going to hit those goals. And then every day you had a schedule for the next 12 months. Every day was mapped out 12 months in advance.

And at least in terms of like a skeleton schedule, like, okay, month, you know, every eight weeks, we're going to do this type of promotion on Instagram or Facebook. We're going to do this type of content three days a week. And having it mapped out for the year, that way your team can see what needs to be done ahead of time. You're setting up your team for success. And saying, okay, I know that next month and the following month we've got these promotions, these things happening. So I can get ahead as opposed to last minute. And I think that is going to be just having a strategy and a schedule alone is going to transform people's businesses and lifestyle.

For me, having a strategy of, okay, 30 days, I want to do a HIIT workout every single day, five days a week, during the weekdays. I have it mapped out on the schedule. And then in my journal, I'm creating my goals to making it just one day at a time. As opposed to like, I've got to do this whole thing over the month. No, just today. I need to do a 30 minute session today.

And I schedule it in. If I don't schedule something, it's not going to happen. Unless it's the last minute and I'm exhausted, then I just like will it to happen. But over time, that's not sustainable. Yeah, I've seen. I've seen what it's like. I mean and I'm exhausted and I just like will it to happen but over time that's not sustainable yeah I've seen I've seen what it's like I mean I'm in the studio I'm in your space every day and I get to see you and what you're creating for yourself and you're absolutely right the time that I see you most accountable to completing what you set out to actually

complete is when you've had a plan in place not when you're like oh I just want to do a HIIT workout I just want to do a HIIT workout for the next 30 days I don't see I see that it ends up tapering off you end up sometimes making excuses to say other things are more important instead of now you're being very specific about what you want to create with these HIIT workouts how many you want to do every day every week and what that month looks like in total so yeah I mean I've seen you be more specific about what your strategy is. And I think that's what it is. Like you said, you got to have an end goal in mind and then be very, very specific about month by month, week by week,

what you plan or intend on doing. And without that intention, chances are it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen long-term, that's for sure. And I think you set your whole team up to win as well. I was going to talk about it. I was thinking about the challenge. You know, when we set up a challenge for Summit of Greatness last year, when we did a 30-day challenge as a team, we created some great results individually and as a team. And that's what I'm trying to do for myself every week.

I want to give myself a weekly challenge. But not say, here's what I'm going to do for the full year, but just like, what do I want to do this a weekly challenge but not say here's what I'm gonna do for the full year but just like what I want to do this week to support my monthly goal and I think that's something I'm excited about testing and I already see myself it's more sustainable that way right it's a big vision thinking but like small action taking every single day for like a week at a time so I'd say come up with challenges for yourself right But if you don't have some type of coaching or accountability in your business, in your life, in your health, in whatever, I think it's just going to be really challenging to sustain reaching the next level. And everyone watching right now or listening to this audio,

you're here because you want to reach another level in your life, business, relationships. because you want to reach another level in your life, business, relationships. It's just almost impossible to reach another level unless you're committed to doing those action steps, strategy and schedule, and having that coaching and accountability. So something I want to reiterate as we're already in the second week of the year and most people have already failed their New Year's resolutions. You've already had that, you know, from having no sugar from the month, you've already had a whole tub of ice cream. Right. Last night, you know, you wanted to have a scoop and you're like, I can't deal with this. I'm going to have the whole thing. I know when I do that, I just go all in. I can't just have one. I eat like a whole box.

So I hear you. I'm excited. And here's something we've been doing, you know, today. And sometimes these strategy sessions aren't fun. This morning, every Monday, for those who aren't aware, we do a team Zoom call. Our team is all over the country. We do a Zoom call. And afterwards, we did a call for about an hour on the Summit of Greatness, which is October 4th through the 6th in Columbus, Ohio. And we've got big plans for our event. And we're already planning stuff, is it 10 months ahead?

We were already strategizing for something we're doing 10 months later from now. Yeah, October 4th is when Summit of Greatness starts. October 4th. And so we had half of our team on just for that call, going over the theme, the style the the design the venues everything 10 months in advance and it's you know sometimes I don't want to work on the strategy stuff because I'd rather just get to work I think we've all felt that right every now and then we feel

your energy and you're like all right next thing all right no no no we're gonna talk about that next thing next thing but I know the value of it because it gives our team peace of mind and clarity As opposed to this last-minute feeling yeah, so whatever your plans are and your vision is for this year start strategizing Do it once and I want to do this more with you every single week where we do like a 20-minute strategy session In the beginning of the week or at the end of the week Because usually when Matt and I get together we're like going over numbers, like last minute stuff. There's a lot of business deals that are coming in, sponsorships, partnerships, speaking gigs. There's just a lot to manage already.

And we usually don't have time to just be like, okay, let's sit here and strategize. Yeah, we don't give ourselves enough time for that. And I think when we do, that's when it's really beneficial because it almost writes our course at any given moment. For us to really have that time to strategize instead of being reactionary based on what's inbound right now. Whether it's sponsorships or other social media opportunities that are coming your way,

other speaking engagements. Exactly. I think the good and the bad about our business is that we get so many opportunities. Like most people don't have the opportunities. Grateful for the opportunities, yeah. And they're all amazing. Yeah. Like, come speak here for 50 grand.

Come do this hour thing for 20 grand. Come do this. Come do this. Come partner here. You know, we're going to be asked to be on boards of nonprofits that could really give back. There's a lot of things that we could do. Yeah. And we just get to figure out how we pick and choose.

That's the challenge. It's like, oh, do we turn down 50 grand here? Right. That could be like a three days of my time, but could we just spend that energy on building

our vision? Yeah. I mean, our vetting process has been that. You share with me an opportunity that came up. We talk about it

and sometimes that's where we essentially say yes or no to it. We decide whether or not it is going to be beneficial to add that revenue stream based on what we've already strategized and wanted to create for 2018. And if it's going to take away from that, we just got to realize it just doesn't seem to serve us. So getting clear on the numbers, the results you want, the feeling you want. I

think also the feeling you want is important because reaching certain financial goals or weight goals or whatever it may be is nice. But if you feel tired and like it's a drain to get there, then that's not fun either. Right. So the feeling and i've been really thinking more about play in my journal that's specific for my brain type there's like a play element every single day of adding thing that's going to add more play into your life like adventure fun and you rate yourself every single day like did you live up to your potential in terms of fun and like relationships and meaningful conversations and yes business as well but it's like okay have you scheduled 30 minutes to do something that's just fun you know two years ago we used to go play frisbee all the time down the street you would force me to stop you stand in front of my desk and go no

we're going to play frisbee right now and I got to tell you that was unbelievable so much I felt the shift in my coming back then after 30 minutes after playing frisbee Yes, my focus was even then you know a little stronger a little better Yeah I previously previously was when I was spending hours and hours and hours without giving myself an opportunity As I say to play yeah to break and I think that's important is like Health is key and you as a new father

You know you're not sleeping as much because you got a baby crying every 30 60 minutes that you can't really Control you could try to go to sleep at a certain time. But if that baby's crying you're up. Yeah, and so I think it's a Important to schedule time to move your body right, you know my girlfriend Jen. She's a doctor of physical therapy So she's always talking about movement and the power of that and every time I do it I feel better. But also play. And I think we get to schedule, even though it seems like it's going to be even busier this year,

I almost feel like if we, you know, we were talking with Tiff and Christine earlier just how we can schedule everything ahead and pre-do a lot of our content and information so we're just so far ahead. And I think when we have a strategy and a schedule in place, then we can be a month ahead so we can schedule 30 minutes to play frisbee or take a hike or take the afternoon off on Friday and

everyone go hike or something like that so that's what I'm excited about is how can we continue to elevate our vision our impact you know revenue goals all those things but also have more fun. And our enjoyment. Our enjoyment for ourselves, for the team. I mean, that's definitely important. Exactly. That was one thing that I realized.

When we did that fitness challenge as a team, it also created this camaraderie, this excitement, this buzz within our team that engaged us personally about what our challenge was, but in turn, I team that engaged us personally about what our challenge was. Right. But in turn, I think engaged us professionally to continue to have each other's backs in business. Absolutely. So it definitely had like a trickle down effect that probably is really unseen until you look back and say, at least for myself.

Right. I remember knowing that I had my team holding me accountable and I had a child who was three months old at the time. How old is your daughter now? She just turned five months on the 28th of December. Five months, that's amazing. It's unbelievable. Crazy. That's been a beautiful journey so far.

But the fitness challenge allowed me to continue to elevate myself by being accountable to the team and allowed me to keep focused on what we were trying to do. And the focus that happened in that fitness challenge allowed us as a team to focus then on what we were trying to create with the summit of greatness together. I mean, that was hugely a powerful month of challenge and completion of us doing the summit of greatness sure so yeah yeah it's very beautiful good stuff we got a couple questions coming in from YouTube what we got how can you make your personal project grow when your time is

consumed by your day job so if you're working somewhere that's not your own thing I think that's really strategy is even bigger point when you're working somewhere full-time you really need a strategy and a schedule even more so of, like, before work, after work, when you're going to take action on things, when you're going to do certain things. You know, like what Christine had at an event. She had, like, a retreat over New Year's where she had 12, 14 people. Was it 14 people? 12. 12 people came from around the country

and she was planning it for like three, four, five months in advance on the weekends and at night. And I think you can't do something last minute if you're working a full-time job and you have some type of side project that you're working on. So I think really planning ahead when you have something on the side, if you're working full-time is going to be key. Otherwise, it's not going to be great. That's even more important. The planning component of your side hustle, your secondary job that's your personal thing rather than working for an employer, that employer is going to have every process in

place to keep you accountable. What you probably won't have in place right now, I'm assuming, is also some other accountability measure in your side hustle. So whether it's your spouse, a potential partner, friend, yes, you got to find that accountability piece, I think. That's key. I mean, I think that's important. I saw this question on Instagram from the Ben Erickson who said what's your strategy for staying positive and helping others stay positive as well I thought I mean for me I think it's when I don't have a plan a game plan for my life I get very unfulfilled and unhappy because I'm questioning myself I'm asking myself what am I doing this for why am I I doing something? What's the purpose of this?

Or I wish I was doing something else more inspiring. So having a purpose for my year and my life, when we do our team calls, I'm always excited about the testimonials and hearing the testimonials and making sure that everyone on the team calls hears those. Because when we know that every single day we're doing something, whether someone is reading the School of Greatness book, the Mask of Masculinity, the Millionaire Morning,

going through Inner Circles, School of Greatness Academy, all the projects we're working on, when people give us feedback and testimonials, it reminds me of like, this is why I'm doing what I'm doing and why as a team, we get to continue to be excited about

the work we're doing because it's just making an impact on people. And I don't know too many other places. I mean, if you're like a yoga instructor, you can see direct impact on your students who are in pain before class and now it's like they're less pain or they're more they're stronger or they're more flexible um you know maybe you're throwing a

concert and you have someone come in and they're excited at the end i want to create things that impact and transform people's experiences in their life so for me it's it's having a game plan and a vision of why we're doing something and being able to map out that schedule. I'm coming back to the beginning. So staying positive, I think structuring your life in a way that helps you find clarity, stay true to your clarity. And I also think if I'm not growing every single day or weekly that I'm not staying positive Yeah, so I need to feel like I'm learning something either mentally emotionally. I need to feel like I'm breaking through on fears that I have And seeing improvement in my life health needs to improve

Business, you know some area of my life needs to improve. Yeah, you use those words a lot. Improve, impact, growth. I mean, being of those mindsets, you know, in a business, when you're focused on the end impact that you're going to create and you're focused on that there, then I think, you know, finding the strategy on how to get people to get there if you're starting your business.

That's the process we use as a business. What's the maximum impact we can make for somebody with our books, with our courses, with the mastermind? The event. With the event. I mean, those growth mindset things that you incorporate in your personal life

are also what we're doing for our business. Because the end goal for you personally is what's the maximum impact I can make for myself, for you personally is what's the maximum impact I can make for myself, for your business? What's the maximum impact I can make for the viewers, for the listeners, for the customers of our products and courses? So use those words a lot and I think that's, if you focus on the impact you're trying to make and put together the steps in order to find that place of impact. I think that's where you need to go with it.

Yeah, and I can already see someone saying, well, what if my career isn't growing as fast as I want it to or my business isn't growing or I'm not in control of certain things at work? So how do I grow and improve when I feel confined there? And I would say if one day of your life you're unable to grow as fast as you want, focus on things you can focus on,

which is your health or your relationships or your spirituality or adventure, play. Like focus on other areas of your life that you can grow and improve in. You can always read a new book and learn something. And I think when we're learning, we are unlocking this feeling of positivity. And then another question, part of that question was how do you keep other people around you positive?

I think it's constantly being aware of if people are feeling happy and fulfilled and empowered and inspired in their life, whether it's a relationship you're in, your team. But it's just constantly being mindful and listening. Not being so focused and busy on your own stuff that you can't see the signs of other people and asking simple questions that can get them, that you can learn more about how they could be happier. What is their vision? What is their game plan? Are they not fully fulfilled in the work they're doing? Okay, what are some things we could do to make you feel more fulfilled? I think people want that feeling of growing constantly. If we're stuck mentally or physically, I feel like it's just, it's hard to stay positive. Yeah. So, I mean, what's the way out of that? If you have someone

who's saying, I'm feeling stuck, what's the first thing you can do rather than saying, hey, what's the impact you're going to make? Like, that's where I would say go to. What's the impact you want to make in yourself? If you feel stuck, you want to be unstuck, right? Right. So what do you need in order to get unstuck? You need a strategy. So whether it's a book you're reading, whether it's... Well, I think it's first you want to figure out the vision you want to go. You feel stuck, okay, what is it you want? You're at somewhere now and you don't want

it anymore. What is the exact thing you want and why? Getting clear on the vision of what you want and why. Okay, once you know why you want it and you have a bigger reason behind something, then you go to what you were going to say as a strategy. Okay, what are some steps you could take? Everything for me comes back down to football. The stuff we learn literally football is like there's so many parallels to football in life yep everything yeah and it's such like uh you know i'm just so grateful that i had that sports experience because i don't know how i would have found this any other way without sports yeah i mean college football for people that haven't been through that it's a year-long strategy and planning and commitment.

You're absolutely right. It's not just going out on the football field and catching footballs. It's sitting there hours and hours and hours after practice, watching film. Game film. Even creating camaraderie with your team. So much. Hanging out with your teammates, getting to know them, trusting them.

It's the same thing that I feel with our team. It's like we set these things up outside of the workplace, whether it's a fitness challenge, to connect us, to create engagement with our team. Yeah, last year we went to Guatemala, half the team went to Guatemala to really see the impact we're making as a company, where we traveled around.

Did you guys have fun in Guatemala? Yes. Yes, Christine and Tiffany both had fun. Awesome. And we got to, you know, hang out with these kids in Guatemala and see like where some of our energy is going towards and giving back. So I think we should probably strategize and see what we're going to do as a team this year.

You know, we have the Summit of Greatness, which is kind of like a celebration. But maybe we should do some other like two-day experience in Laguna Beach or something and just like take the team. Maybe, maybe we should, maybe we should declare it right now. Yes.

So maybe we, uh, we ran out of house somewhere on the beach a couple hours away. We take like a field trip for two days or something. Um, hike and talk. I mean, that stuff is hugely engaging and connecting.

Yeah. Just a little getaway, more strategy. Frisbee with the team, you know, Frisbee is hugely engaging and connecting. Yeah, just a little getaway, more strategy. Frisbee with the team, you know? Frisbee with the team, something, yeah. More activities with the team I think will be powerful for us too. So what are the questions we have coming in? Something else? The tips we've both learned for improving conversational skills. Well, I think for me it's always been come down to asking different questions that people never get asked or just

simple interesting questions and then listening. Honestly, for me, it's asking the right questions and then listening and shutting up. That's it. That's it. Like literally just be quiet and listen and ask questions. Those two things, listening and asking questions, were exactly what I was going to say. That's it. I think that's the way that you really get to engage somebody else. I mean, people might say, well, what if the person you're talking to doesn't want to answer your questions?

Well. You're not interesting enough. You're not asking the right questions. Maybe that's it right there. I was going to say, it's asking the right questions. That's it. I think I was going to say, it's asking the right questions. That's it. I think it's, you know, I'm always, I think a couple simple questions you can always ask someone who's brand new is, what are you most excited about in your life right now? Yeah.

People want to be excited and they want to talk about things they're most passionate about. So it could be, what are you most passionate about? What are you most excited about in your life right now? As opposed to, oh, what do you do? Where do you work? Those what are you most excited about in your life right now as opposed to oh what do you do where do you work those things or yeah we need to stop those questions those questions need to go so ask another question is what do you or what are you most grateful for in your life like when you activate gratitude and excitement yeah you activate something in the heart and the mind of that human being that lights them up in a different way, that makes them actually turn on their brain in a different way and opens them up. You see them

stand a little taller when they're grateful. You see them talk a little louder when they're excited. You see them smile. And when they associate smiling and gratitude and excitement and you, when they see you and they associate that, then they're just like, oh, this person was thoughtful. They may not even be aware of it, but they just want to be around people that get them to think that way. So I try to think about that. This is what we do in our team meeting.

We talk about gratitude. What are you most grateful for, excited about from the weekend, things like that. Every time, that's what we start with. And it gets people thinking like, oh, yeah, I'm happy when I go to this place, when we have perspective about things that are meaningful in our life. And maybe I did go through a challenging weekend, but I still have this to be grateful for. And I think that perspective is always really powerful. Yeah, I remember growing up.

I mean, that was the one thing. If I was ever down, my my mom would always say count your blessings That's right count your blessings focus on that positive You know when you're engaging somebody in a positive way and asking them what's positive with them what they're grateful for you know What brings them joy? I think that's an easy way to just have a great conversation Yeah, you know and not having this agenda of what am I going to get from this person? You know, I think watching you over the course of your networking and having great guests on this podcast, I think that's, that's the thing I've always seen you lead with is not what am I going to get from this person? What can I give and what you give and what I've

always seen you give since the second I literally met you was just joy. You give joy to people. You give this like childlike way of being that just, you know, allows people to have the opportunity to just play and be comfortable. And the second you created that space for me, I remember when we met, you know, and we were competitors on the football field. We were. We were going for the same position. First two weeks we probably didn't like each other as much. I remember the first couple weeks,

we were very standoffish. Yeah. I was like, this guy can play football. I was like, shoot, he's competition. But then,

you know, after a couple weeks, I think, I was just like, gosh, this guy's a fun-loving guy. Right, right. And just wants to have fun.

And I was like, I'm in. Yeah. That's it. Bring joy. I think Brendan Burchard talks about that a lot, bringing the joy.

And now, you know, in every speech and every interview, if I'm nervous, so if you're ever nervous from anything you're doing, think about how can I bring the joy? How can I smile, bring the joy? Even if you're a little nervous smiling, just do that as opposed to trying to be serious. Because you'll always do better when you activate that childlike curiosity so right what's something what's a lesson your mom taught you from childhood what was another lesson she would talk about or were there any traditions you guys had at like the dinner table or you know the funny thing was and i i would say my sister and i are so close so close right now in our lives and the the thing is, when I was young, I teased her to death. I mean, I almost feel bad thinking back and going, gosh, she's the youngest or no, Kevin's the youngest. Kevin's the youngest. She's younger than me. Yeah. And, you know, I think

I look back and I tease her so much because of how much I loved her, you know, and that's kind of kids ways of doing things. But what my mom would used to do if I hurt her or upset her or teased her too much, my mom would literally have me sit down and would let me get up until I wrote a page of what I love about my sister. Wait, when was this? This was when I was a kid. My mom would, if I got in trouble for teasing my sister or, I don't know know doing whatever that made her cry

Then my mom would make me sit down and write on a piece of paper what I love about my sister. Yes Wow Yeah, I had no idea. So I think if you find that you know, if you're hurting a loved one in your life, I Think if you again just focus on the things you love about that person I mean, I think that's good feedback for me too even in my in my relationship with my wife you know if we're ever going through a hard time I think sitting down and just outlining what you know what we love about each other is hugely beneficial I remember for my 30th birthday my wife Kendra she wrote down 30 things that she loves about me and I still hold on to those and I still keep those. And that is so powerful for me.

Yeah, I think. You still have the letter? No, from Kendra. It's a little glass mason jar. And she cut up little pieces of paper and wrote a little thing that she loved about me for 30 things in my 30th birthday. So you could pull out one thing at a time?

One thing at a time. It's sitting next to my bed every night when I look at it. Huh, I never saw this. Yeah, it's really cool. So I would say that's the thing, right? Write what you love about that person. If it's something, if you have a friend, fight with your friend or family member,

just write down what you love about them. There's so much there. It's like counting your blessings. It's about expressing gratitude. It's about focusing on the positive instead of the negative. Caesar in the house. What's next? Let's do one or two more questions.

Howard was talking about, he says he feels like his road to greatness, he's almost ready to start. He's scared. I think it started. From what I'm hearing, it started. So take out the almost, because it is started.

And the fear for me, I mean, oh my gosh, I was just sharing with the team the other day. I literally have like shaken like the rookie feeling in myself at the start of the year because of all the cool things we have going on in the business. I'm excited. I'm so excited that I'm nervous. What are you nervous about?

But it's not nervous in a negative sense. It's stuff that I remember playing football. We were so prepared for every game, but it's game day. It's still nervous. I'm telling you, it's like the Jordan jitters. It's like the Jordan jitters. In the locker room, maybe you just got the music pumping. Michael Jordan got nervous before every game. And he said, I wouldn't be prepared otherwise. If I didn't have that feeling, I knew I wasn't ready. So I think being nervous is part of that journey to greatness. So embrace the nerves and set up a plan, an actionable plan, and create the accountability for yourself to keep going. I was watching, Will Smith is now on Instagram,

and I was watching his Instagram stories the other day, and he was just talking about, this is one of the reasons why I want Will Smith on here because I think he's one of the most brilliant actor minds he was just talking about failure fear and failure he's like constantly do things that you know you're gonna fail at because you're gonna get so close to achieving it or you might achieve it anyways but when you fail at it and you're close to it you're going to say to yourself oh i'm pretty close to it like let me try it again and now achieve that thing but like i think that we what we do well is we are constantly doing

things we're like man can we do this like can we do we really think we have the audacity to do like a documentary and do this other show we're thinking about and do this thing and do a magazine and do like all and do like live and do video every day? Like, do we really think we can do this? As a controller, I was freaked out about going live. I was asking Christine, do we have the questions ready? Do we have a topic ready? You know, I was asking 20 questions about how unprepared I felt. questions about how unprepared I felt. Even though, I mean, I have to say the one thing that I think you bring to this team is you elevate us by allowing us to know that, hey,

we may fail, but let's try it anyways. And I think that's a huge part of the success that you've created for yourself that I think holds a lot of people back. They're too scared of failing that they end up never doing it or waiting years to do it. Waiting for years. Years. And that's why coming back to Howard's question of like, I feel like I'm almost ready to start my journey to greatness. It's like, you've got to just jump in and start something and start small even. Like one little thing. There's so many people that I talked to that say they want to write their book. They want to launch their podcast. They want to do video.

They want to launch a website. They want to do something. And I'm like, what are you waiting for? Yeah. Like, well, the book takes forever.

And I'm like, yes and no. Like we did a book that we wrote in two weeks and we launched it a couple months later. Right. Yeah. It's like reframing what you want it to be. Yes. if you want to do like a big book like this and you want to have a bigger strategy, it might take a couple of years. You know, this took a couple of years, Mask and Mask, and then it took a couple of years for like getting something out there, but you can

start a podcast. So many people last week were like, I want to do a podcast. What's the video equipment? What's the audio equipment? I'm like, it's not about the equipment. Just record it on your phone and get it started. How did you start? Yeah, you started with a laptop, you know, your headset, and you just recorded it on your laptop, right? Yeah, and then it was a phone. Yeah, then it was a phone.

It's just getting it started and seeing if you actually like it. Because most people have this idea that they want to do something, but then they wait six months or a year or two years. It's too late at that point. Or they launch it and they're like, actually, I don't want to do this. So do something with urgency now. Fail and see if you're excited enough about it to want to make it better. And if you don't like it, then you can stop.

And let go of perfection, right? Let go of perfection. I'm telling you you can do that right down a mirror for yourself I do I certainly do I mean I'm OCD and I embrace it I'm surprised we even got him in the room for this he was like I don't know what we're talking about so Howard I think you gotta you gotta not be so hard on yourself and allow and actually reward yourself for failing. Like do something every week where, I think Sarah Blakely talked about this when she was on the podcast, she would get rewarded, her father would encourage it.

Every single day at the dinner table at night, I think her father would say, what did you fail at today? Yeah. And encourage it. And if you weren't failing at something, then it's like, okay, you need to go do something tomorrow that scares you that you're not going to succeed at. Because that way of thinking is going to make you constantly be okay with failure as like embracing it as something that you love, that you're rewarded for. Because you're going to

push the boundary and say, I don't know if I could ever do this. This is like the craziest idea. You think Elon Musk was like, I mean, like he's launching rockets and he's like, you know, Tesla and all these other things he's doing. I'm like, this is mind blowing. Yeah. But he has probably put himself out there for years and years and years

doing things that people said couldn't be done and failing at them all the time until it works and then it works a little more and then it gets a little better and then the times catch the time until it works. And then it works a little more. Then it gets a little better. And then the times catch up to it. Right. So I think every single day you've got to be thinking about

what's that thing I could be doing that is uncomfortable. Maybe it's just posting a piece of content on Twitter. And if no one responds, okay, then what can you do to be a little bit better tomorrow? Something small. Right. I like to do things that are a little big right you know and like let's fail big let's do a documentary and see if we maybe we lose all of our money in a year of our life but at least we did it yeah and we we tried

it you know what i mean so anyways let's do the last question mona asks how much flexibility do I add into my year when I'm planning out the year? I think unless you schedule in flexible time, like schedule in, if you want to take trips, schedule and plan it in so you know, like, I'm going to do nothing for this week. I'm going to travel this week. For me, I think, you know, at nights I'm kind of more flexible with myself and I'll do different things. I'm not really planning it in, but I think I work around my trips on how to have fun and do other stuff as well. So sometimes we'll just cancel stuff and do things also last minute. So it just kind of depends. and do things also last minute.

So it just kind of depends. But I think if you want to have that flexible time, either plan it weekly. I call it strategic messing off, you know, messing around, where you're like just being flexible with your time to do whatever you want. And I think sometimes you get the best ideas. Like when we go running in the morning

or we go play Frisbee, we get some of the best ideas. So I think you've got to schedule in just like flexible time in your day to say, okay, maybe I need to work more now or maybe I need to go take a break. Maybe I can go catch up with a friend or do something. What would you say to that? I mean. You've got a baby now and you've got a different lifestyle now.

You don't have much flexible time. No, I'm definitely operating at a different level than I ever have been. Um, but yeah, I think the thing is a lot of people don't allow themselves the permission to be flexible. Um, I think as human beings, we need to allow ourselves the permission to be flexible. Um, you know, if, if it's, you know, a business owner who's asking the question, um, you have to give yourself permission to take a vacation, to take a weekend, to not allow yourself to burn out. I mean, so create that flexibility. If by flexibility, she means time off or time away to decompress and allow yourself a moment outside of that business. If by flexibility, you other allowing other strategic opportunities

for your business I think we we always allow that you have to be open to the flexibility of another you know inbound something coming to our business and potentially disrupting other things you have to allow it you have to at least see what the disruption could be before you say no. I think the way I've seen you operate is that all things are possible. And I think that's the reason you operate that way, though, is because you're not of a limited mindset. You know, you are like, all right, I may have a smaller plate. Well, let's pack it high, right? I mean, you've talked about that a lot. Or make a bigger plate. Or, you know, the team will go, no, our plate's full right now.

And you're like, well, just pack it on. Just pack it on. And do it in a way that's not destructive, you know? And as long as we're seeing that it's not destructive and hurting. It's like defense in football. Bend, but don't break. That's it. Be like the bamboo.

You can get down to, like, the three-yard line, but just don't let them score. You know, don't let them score a touchdown. They might get three points on you, but don't let them score. You know, don't let them score a touchdown. They might get three points on you, but don't let them score a touchdown. Bend, but don't break. So how far can you take it before you break? I think I'm always looking to push the boundaries there. But I think you have to have flexibility.

Of course, yeah, you need to. You have to allow yourself a bit of flexibility. I think scheduling, listen, if we were training, you know, 12 hour days during the season, it wouldn't work. We train hard for three and a half hours then we have like film recovery then there's a lot of downtime to just like play video games or play guitar when we were in school yeah because i didn't study you did

so i just had a lot of downtime but i think you got to schedule in the flexibility time on your days well my my flexibility came in the form of lew Lewis showing up into my dorm showing up and going get up let's go we're going you bring something nice to wear exactly my parents actually refer to it at the as the like age of Lewis like the moment Lewis entered my life I think my GPA went down like a couple half points or something like that. You lost your financial aid. But I can say that it was well worth it. I was a little too uptight at that point in my life, a little too focused on perfection.

Yeah, you were. Instead of allowing myself that ability to play. And I have to say. To flow. It's been a lot more fun ever since. Cheers to that. Appreciate it. We'll wrap it up with this.

I want to try something new for Coffee Conversations. I'm going to give Caesar Says. Caesar gets the final message. Caesar Says for this week. You get the final inspiration. Wow. Theme or question. Hashtag Caesar Says.

Hashtag Caesar Says. And if you're watching right now, if you're listening to the replay of this, use the hashtag Caesar Says on Instagram or Twitter and let me know what you think. Oh, my gosh. I'm putting Matt on the spot here. The wood is burning. Out of his comfort zone. What does Caesar say for the audience until the next coffee conversation?

What should they focus on? I would say plan your play. Plan your play. Yeah. We're talking about strategy. We're talking about flexibility. We're talking about the opportunity to give yourself permission to take time off or decompress.

Go play Frisbee. Plan your play. Allow yourself a moment in time to go out and play, whether it's 30 minutes a day, a day a week, a week a year, whatever that is, plan it. Put it down and plan your play. That's it. Plan your play. Cesar says, this is Coffee Conversations, episode 587. Make sure you guys leave a comment below if you're on YouTube, if you're listening to this on iTunes. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube, subscribe there as well, subscribe on iTunes.

Leave us a review. We love to hear from people. We're sharing out about fans of the week all the time as well, so make sure to leave us a review over on iTunes. Big things are happening for you. You've got some big things coming your way. If you're willing to put yourself out there and continue to dream big and then take massive action, you were born for great things. So make sure to plan your play like Caesar says, and thank you guys for being here. says and thank you guys for being here.

There you have it, my friends. I hope you enjoyed this one. You are on the journey, the path, the road to greatness. It's just time for you to step up and make the decisions that are going to support your dreams. Start stepping up and optimizing your life in a way that supports what you want, not where you're stuck in right now, but where you want to be. And Peter Drucker said, until we manage time, we can manage nothing else. If you're not maximizing your strategy and your schedule and really holding yourself accountable

with some type of system that can support you, then you're just going to be struggling along the way, frustrated, looking for more tools and tactics. It's about optimizing that strategy and schedule, guys. I hope you enjoyed this one. Again, lewishouse.com slash 587. Make sure to share this with your friends. Let me know what you enjoyed the most from this. Also over on YouTube, feel free to leave a comment on the video over there.

Again, we shot it live live so you'll see the video live editing we did a live edit with it and we're trying more of that information we've got a pretty big audience over on YouTube so make sure to go subscribe leave a comment over there let us know what you enjoyed the most from this episode and as always on Instagram you know feel free to tag me screenshot this post it on your Instagram story. I try to reply to as many people as possible when people tag me in their stories and their posts. So continue to do that, and I'll keep being engaged the best way that I can. There you have it, my friends.

Caesar says. I hope you enjoyed what Caesar said at the end of this. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Bye. Outro Music