The School of Greatness - 707 How Champions Win
Episode Date: October 17, 2018FIND THE WINNING BALANCE. You hear so often that people get to the top of the mountain and realize that the summit isn’t the answer. To be a champion, you have to know that there is so much more to ...success than a final outcome. If you focus on the goal without being connected to your joy and larger purpose, you will get burnt out. But when you’re coming from a place of passion, the results will fall into place. To explore this topic further, I gathered parts of conversations with four world-class champions who’ve visited The School of Greatness in the past: Julianne Hough, Ray Lewis, Shawn Johnson, and Novak Djokovic. Julianne Hough is a two-time winner of ABC’s Dancing with Stars and now sits as a judge on the show. She’s one an Emmy for Outstanding Choreography and has appeared in many movies and TV productions like Footloose (2011) and Grease Live on Fox. Ray Lewis is a former NFL linebacker. He is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Super Bowl MVP and played his entire 17-year career with the Baltimore Ravens. Shawn Johnson is a gymnast who won a gold medal in the 2008 Olympics for balance beam and a silver medal in floor exercise and all-around. She’s also a five-time Pan American Games gold medalist. Novak Djokovic is a Serbian tennis player is currently ranked third in men’s singles. He’s won 14 Grand Slam singles titles and four Wimbledon titles among many more. These athletes have achieved the immense success in their fields and have all realized that being the best is not enough of an end goal to give them purpose. So learn how these champions get in the mindset to win on Episode 707. In This Episode You Will Learn: Why being content won’t ruin your drive (10:30) What Ray Lewis learned from joining ESPN (13:40) Why Ray Lewis thinks he was able to play football for so long (14:10) What people can do to win even if they get second (14:56) What helped Novac Djokovic get through a breakdown (21:04)
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This is episode number 707 on how champions win.
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.
Sammy Davis Jr. said, you always have two choices, your commitment versus your fear.
And I want to ask you this question. Are you allowing your fears to control and consume your life on a daily basis? Does your fear of success, failure, or your fear of judgment hold you back in a major
way of taking the actions you need every single day to build that momentum, to build that
belief, that confidence in yourself to get out there and achieve what you want in your
life?
If your fears are holding you back, it's time to eliminate those fears. It's time to actually embrace them, move into them, and say, you know what? It's okay
if I fail because that's where I'm going to learn. That's where I'm going to get the lessons to
improve things. That's where I'm going to get the feedback I need to take a different action
towards success. And it's okay if I do succeed because some of us are afraid of success, the weight, the
pressure, the responsibility that success comes with.
It's okay because you were born to succeed.
You were born to achieve.
You know, when you just live a mediocre life, that's saying that you don't believe you're
here for a reason and you are here for a reason.
And the fear of judgment, if that's holding you back, if you're afraid for a reason and you are here for a reason. And the fear of judgment,
if that's holding you back, if you're afraid of what other people are going to say about you,
that they're going to say, I told you so, that they're going to make fun of you,
or you're going to be embarrassed, that judgment, you're focused on your ego more than on impact.
So you've got to stop focusing on the fears and start focusing out. Focus on how can I make the biggest impact on the people around me.
And when you come from that place, that mindset, that's how you build a foundation to be a
champion.
That's how you develop a winner's mindset and allow you to win at the things that you're
going after in life.
And today we have an incredible episode where I've got some of my favorite guests
who are talking about this championship mind and how champions win and why losers lose.
And we've got Julianne Hough. We've got pro bowler Ray Lewis. We've got Olympic gold medalist
Sean Johnson and the man who is on fire right now, Novak Djokovic, one of the greatest tennis
players of all time.
And in this episode, we talk about why you need to take the time to appreciate the moment
and the process.
So many of us are focused on the end result and we allow all this fear and insecurity
and doubt to hold us down as opposed to focusing on one step at a time.
We're also going to cover the reason you need to be proud of yourself.
I hate when people are constantly doubting themselves. They do something that they should
be proud of and they say to themselves, well, it wasn't that big a deal. Or they can't take
a compliment or they can't receive when someone says you did a great job. And if that's you right
now, then this is important for you. And how being proud of yourself will actually bring you more
opportunities your way. We talk about how fear and doubt will keep you from making the choices
that will lead you to success. If you are suffocated by fear or doubt or insecurity, you are unable to achieve what you want.
Self-esteem is one of the most important factors to success.
If you have no self-esteem, if you doubt yourself constantly, why would anything good come your way?
You're just going to sabotage yourself if you have no self-esteem.
We talk about the reason you shouldn't be keeping
score and why what you feel is what matters the most. I am so excited about this one.
And make sure to share with your friends, lewishouse.com slash 707. Tag me on your Instagram
story as well, because I want to connect with you if you resonate with this as well. Again,
a big thank you to our sponsors. And without further
ado, let's dive into this episode on how champions win. I was thinking about like why I wanted to be
an entertainer when I was a kid and like why I wanted to be an entertainer now. And the meaning
was so different. What was it when you were a kid? When I was a kid, I was like, it's so much fun. I was like, this is awesome. This is so fun. And like,
people are laughing and like, we're just having a good time and we're being creative. And then like,
as I got older, I realized it was like, I wasn't having fun anymore. I was just trying to get the
next thing and like what the next part of my career was going to do for my career and the success of that and like being the most important person and
like all those things where I knew underneath, I still love to do everything that I did, but I was
doing it for a different reason. A lot more pressure it seems like. Oh my gosh. And I never
felt successful in anything that I did and I was never good enough and like all these different
things. And, and people would find that hard to believe. And I'd be like, well, yeah, but I'm not there
yet. And they're like, but look at what you've done. And I'd be like, yeah, but it's not,
it's not enough. So how would you feel when you would, you know, you won Dancing with the Stars
a number of times or you come out with a new record. How would you feel when you released
something or you won something or you checked it off the list or the movie came out, how would you feel? What's next? Yeah. So it was never like appreciating the moment, like
being grateful for this and excited. It was like, this isn't enough. Yeah. Well, I mean the, you
know, when I went dancing with the stars, trust me, I was on a high. I was like,
a day later I was like, okay, what's next? And like, I have to have my music career and I have to have my acting career and I have to have this and that and that.
And when I got through all that and I realized what I was doing it all for and then I kind of came back to my 10-year-old self, which was like, let's go have fun and enjoy it and like have a good time.
I ended up feeling like the most successful person.
And like, I was like, wow, look at everything that I've done.
And like, I'm so proud of myself.
And like, and I think that's really hard for people to say
because, you know, like it's hard to say that you're proud of yourself.
And one, because you're like afraid of what people are going to think.
Are they going to think that I'm cocky?
And it's like, screw everybody else when they think of me.
I'm like, am I proud of myself?
Yeah, I'm proud of myself.
That's good.
So, yeah.
I like it.
And everything is just better now.
And I find that I'm getting more things that are just coming in.
And it's that kind of energy where you're just being and you're just living and you're just enjoying things.
living and you're just, you're just enjoying things. And then you find that you're, you're attracting more things that come your way and, and more success or whatever, however you define it.
But yeah, life is just great right now. I'm excited for you. Yeah. But it comes across that way too.
It doesn't seem like you're stressed or you have any weight on your shoulders. You're just like,
let's have fun. Well, yeah. And I would notice that a lot. I'd be like,
and I'd always take deep breaths, like I'm overwhelmed and like, I need, fun. Well, yeah. And I would notice that a lot. I'd be like, and I'd always take deep breaths.
Like, I'm overwhelmed.
And like, I need to do this.
And like, why am I not that person?
That's that, you know, like I would compare myself to people all the time.
Like, why am I not there?
And they're there.
Like, I'm doing what I can.
And I'm trying so hard.
And I'm like, that's the point.
You're trying.
I'm trying so hard.
Just be.
Yeah.
Just be and like being authentic and real. And like, I know it's hard. Just be. Yeah. Just be and, like, being authentic and real.
And, like, I know it's easy to say that, but when you can find it and you feel that feeling, you don't ever want that feeling to go away.
Yeah.
Like, that's almost, like, the addiction now for me is, like, it's not that I've lost my drive, but, like, it's the, like, I used to hate.
Sorry, I'm all tangenty right now.
Do it. Go on. Go on. But it's, like, I used to hate, sorry, I'm all tangenty right now. Do it.
Go on.
Go on.
But it's like I used to hate feeling satisfied.
I used to like, I used to say that if I ever felt like I was, you know, content, that was the worst thing in the world.
And so then I would, like last year, I started feeling content.
And I was like, oh, does that mean my drive's gone?
Your hustle's gone.
Yeah, my hustle.
And like, you know, because I used a lot of like the negativity that has happened in my life to prove myself, to show what I've gone through.
And I got rid of that.
So I was like, is my drive gone?
Like, do I not have the same?
I just want to relax on the weekends.
Yeah.
And what I realized was that like it didn't go away it actually just made me more calm and peaceful
so that I was more able to go and be really passionate
about the things that I loved when I needed to do that and then I could turn off
wins and losses come a dime a dozen but the battle will never be different and that is you versus me
and when a man physically feel you thrust into them they know what intention you come with
right so every night wow i had to get to a point of releasing worry.
Wow.
Releasing doubt.
Releasing fear.
That's why I studied so much.
I studied so much because when I go, I'm gone.
You can call it how you call it.
But when I go, I'm gone. And that's what, you know, it started to become such a spiritual battle
because when people used to, guys, I used to be playing with guys.
They used to be like, come on, Ray, don't talk to me like that.
I ain't got no other choice.
Out here, this is pure battle.
Wow.
You know, this ain't no disrespect to war.
War and battle is different, right? But it is. It pure battle. Wow. You know? This ain't no disrespect to war. War and battle is different, right?
But it is.
It's battle.
Like, it's you taking your body.
I've been through nine surgeries.
Ugh.
Right?
So it's like you taking your body, and you're saying, I'm going to go try this one more time.
And one more time.
And one more time.
Play after play after play after play.
17 years.
Oh, bro.
Oh, bro. And so my, I used to go in hotel rooms, and people would tell you, I don't leave my hotel room for nothing.
Walk downstairs to the meeting, back upstairs to my room.
Oh, wow.
I don't need to see the city.
I don't want to go out in the city.
Wow.
My head is down.
I don't need, this is what's crazy
that's that's what i'm telling you i no disrespect to the game sure i cheated life so much
because i was so serious about the game that i walked in i never forget it cincinnati pittsburgh
all these places i walked in these places and i promise you while I was playing, I never knew what they looked like.
The cities, yeah.
Never.
My head is down
the whole time.
You got the headphones on.
You're just...
Everything.
The hoodie.
Everybody out.
I'm tuning everybody out.
Wow.
And only until
I joined ESPN
for a few years
that I started to travel
in these cities.
I'm like, wow,
Cincinnati is beautiful.
This is why people live here. Right? And then I started to realize. I'm like, wow, Cincinnati is beautiful. This is why people live here.
Right?
And then I started to realize,
like, man, there is more to life.
Like, Ray, you got to come out of this shell.
And my oldest daughter
said something to me one time.
She was like,
she was like, daddy,
you finally let go.
I was like, what do you mean?
She says, you laugh all the time now.
Because when I was playing.
You didn't smile much at all.
Man, my kids, man.
I took my kids to a lot.
Because my kids was like, dad pissed off.
Always.
Dad pissed off.
Dad is always pissed off.
Wow.
And I played with them.
Yeah, yeah, of course.
It wasn't a thing, but.
It wasn't a sense of free joy.
It was like, because I knew that every week I had raised them and trained them to never be outworked.
Never be outworked.
Lewis, I didn't stay around because of my athletic ability.
I stayed around purely because my effort was way higher than everybody else's.
How can people going into big events or big goals that they have,
obviously we have expectations of winning or we want to win,
but how can they set themselves up to win even if they lose or get second?
What are some things they can do emotionally or psychologically, do you think, that you've learned people can do?
Well, I think something that kind of saved me and kept me sane through that whole process is I grew up with my coach.
And I started training with him when I was five.
Jeez.
And he taught me from day one that nothing was ever about a score.
So when I competed, I was never allowed to look at a score.
I was never allowed to look at rankings, scoreboards, nothing.
I mean, I studied those afterwards,
just learning the science and kind of the math behind the sport.
But it should never, or he taught me it should never drive
your performance.
Interesting.
And so when I got to the Olympics, having that kind of ingrained in me, the scores didn't
necessarily matter, but that final result of the medal, I wasn't used to.
So it made me kind of look at the scores and reflect on how I was judged, but that made
me go against everything
I've been taught my whole life.
And so when I kind of learned to push that away
and go back to, it's not about the scores,
but it's about how you felt you did,
how much effort you put out, your performance,
I could go back and look and say,
I did the best I possibly could.
And my validation as well was finishing my last routine and seeing 50,000 people in the arena on possibly could. Right. And, you know, my validation as well
was finishing my last routine
and seeing 50,000 people
and they ran on their feet.
I mean, it's things like that
that mean more than a score,
a medal, but.
You just got chills.
Yeah.
You know in your heart too,
I mean,
how well you've done,
how hard you've worked.
There's no greater reward
or judge than your conscience.
Sure. Sure.
Man.
Well, how has it affected you in the decisions you've been making since then?
Like, have you been ever second-guessing yourself when you're doing anything?
You know, you did Dancing with the Stars.
Were you guessing yourself in that?
When you went back to compete, did you second-guess yourself?
Was that the London?
No, what Olympics was that?
London.
London Olympics?
I don't think it's changed anything in the way of second guessing,
but I would say I feel like I've made every decision differently
than I would have had I gotten a gold.
Really?
Kind of.
How so?
Because it's no longer about winning to me.
I feel like, and I use the word winning in the sense of like,
it's not about money.
It's not about being the top at a business.
It's not about living in the biggest house.
It's just, I kind of took that away from my life
because I got there and realized that didn't matter.
And so, you know, I butt heads with some people sometimes, some friends, some agents, all these people who are still driven by that.
But for me, it's about the worth that I feel in my heart anymore, which again is a lesson I learned back then.
It's about the balance, it sounds like.
Yeah.
The winning balance, right?
The winning balance.
The winning balance, right?
The winning balance.
I've definitely rearranged a lot in my life just over the past few years,
just trying to get more things in my life
that made me feel good
instead of just trying for a reward
that didn't mean anything.
What have you done?
What have I done?
For me, I've tried to, on a daily basis,
just admit, openly admit that I'm not 16 anymore i'm not at the olympics
i'm not that person i feel like a lot of the perfectionism issues i have is comparing myself
now to who i was then interesting and it was six years ago right yeah six years ago, right? Yeah. It was six years ago today.
Today?
Today.
The Olympics were today?
My gold medal was six years ago today.
Shut up.
It was not.
It was.
Oh, my gosh.
August 19th.
Shut up.
Yeah.
How serendipitous.
I know, right?
Wow.
I just got four chills.
That's my lucky number by the way
19
because I won
the gold medal
on the 19th
I was born on the 19th
and I won
Dancing with the Stars
on the 19th
wow interesting
right
but you were 16
when you won it
but I was 16
yeah I would say
just like
what I've done is
over the last six years
over the last six years
you've admitted
that you're not
that same place anymore
yes and that I I never will be i mean and that's fine again and to accept that that's normal and
that's good is kind of been my progress yeah you know back when i was 16 every little thing about
me back then was was judged by a coach or someone, an individual.
And me now, comparing myself to when I was 16, I see those same qualities.
I'm like, well, I need to be thinner.
I need to look what I looked like when I was 16 to be able to be accepted by the world,
which is kind of what you're taught back then.
So kind of learning to put that aside and admit that past is past.
And the only thing you can better of yourself right now is who you are right now and who you're going to be tomorrow.
Because you can't change yesterday.
I had this upward kind of spiral and trajectory in my tennis career, in my life, and everything was great.
And then all of a sudden I had this period of two and a half, three years where I didn't win a slam.
Really?
I was managing to be three, four in the world, but I struggled a lot.
And for me, being number three of the world wasn't enough
I just
I was not satisfied
with that
and I just
I always go back
say wait
okay
when I was
seven
eight years old
my dream
my life goal
was always to be
number one
and win Wimbledon
that's it
and I need to achieve that
no matter what
but then I reached
the kind of
mentally low point
in my career
I think it was after
Roland Garros you know one of the four slams my career. I think it was after Roland Garros,
you know, one of the four slams.
And I lost.
I was two sets to love up.
I lost in five sets in quarterfinals
against a guy called Jürgen Meltzer.
He was top 10 of the world.
Very good player.
But I had him.
I mean, I had a match and I just lost.
I just had a breakdown.
I remember going first to my parents
and, you know, talking about this and that.
And I just, I cried. And I like, I don't know if this is worth it. I don't know if I should keep going.
And, and my father was like, tough enough, tough enough, you know, no, no, no, no, you know, like,
but it wasn't, it wasn't enough. Like I felt I needed to think about it more. I felt I needed
to share more. So I went to my coach at that time, Marian Vajda and my, one of my best friends in
life and my former
physiotherapist, Milan, and I was in their room and I remember sitting on the floor. Again, I had
another breakdown and I was saying, I don't know, you know, and they were like, okay, take your time.
Let's first, okay, breathe and let's calm down. Let's look back. And they were really, really wise
for telling me like, let's go look back first why did
you start playing this sport and the whole thing do you love it you know leave aside what you want
to achieve yeah what you want to do passion for you know but do you really like holding record
in your hand and then i'm like actually i i do i really i love holding a record in my hand whether
it's a grand slams center court finals whatever or it's just the normal, you know, public court, I still like playing
for the sake of playing.
They're like,
well,
that's your source.
That's what you need
to tap into
and let's take
a little bit of time
and literally,
they thought it's going
to take a few weeks.
Next day,
I'm like,
okay,
I'm back on track.
Let's go.
Let's keep going.
And I never looked back
ever since that moment.
I remember
the next tournament
was Wimbledon Pro.
We played semifinals
and then after that, I won Davis Cup with my country,
with my guys, end of that 2010.
That was one of the highlights of my career.
And then after that, I went into having 43 matches,
win in a row, and I had that streak.
I became number one.
How long is that for?
It's like almost six months.
Six months, you didn't lose one match.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You lost a set, but not a match, right? Not like almost six months. Six months. You didn't lose one match. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You lost a set, but not a match, right?
Not a game.
Yeah.
Holy cow.
It was McEnroe and myself,
we hold the record for longest streak of history.
You tied him?
Okay, so this is...
If you go online...
So, wait, wait.
So, if you go online,
you'll say John McEnroe, 42, Novak Djokovic, 41.
Oh, no. Why? Because they didn't count the two matches of the
guys that retired the matches to me so they didn't count them as wins and I would have the
fourth but okay okay John okay John you have it you have it John okay you have it so it's John
yeah that's kind of feel it man you were just in the zone it was unbelievable and it just gave me
it gave me wings I mean I just I felt all of a sudden that I
started to play and play freely. Between winning the first slam and that moment, it was three years
and I felt like I was playing for the wrong reasons. I was playing because I wanted to
achieve. I wanted to do this. I wanted to lift trophies. I wanted to do this and that.
And that's okay. But that's secondary.
Primary, so to say, motivation needs to be what inspired you to start playing.
What made you fall in love with the sport?
And that is the love, the joy, the passion for it, to play it.
I all of a sudden became the kid that I was when I started.
I felt so much power and energy.
And I just, exactly.
So I never looked back after that.
There you have it, my friends.
I hope you enjoyed this episode,
how champions win.
I thought this was powerful.
If you loved it,
then message me and post this on your Instagram story right now
with the link lewishouse.com slash 707.
You can tag me at Lewis House. I want to hear
from you. I want you to share this with your friends. Text it to a couple of friends you think
will find it powerful as well. Again, Sammy Davis Jr. said, you always have two choices,
your commitment versus your fear. Create a new commitment today. Be committed to overcoming that insecurity, that doubt that you have and put yourself
out there.
It may feel painful.
You may get embarrassed.
You may fail.
You may fall flat on your face and it's going to sting and hurt.
But the only way you're going to grow is through failure.
That's the key, guys.
That's the answer.
The one who can experience more embarrassment and more emotional pain than the other is the one that typically learns how to overcome that challenge and be secure with themselves when they realize that, the more I fail and put myself out there, I'm going to inspire more people around
me because at least I did something. So do something today, make a commitment versus living
in your fear. And as always, you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something
great. Outro Music