The School of Greatness - 981 The 4 Ways to Master Your Mind During Tough Times

Episode Date: July 17, 2020

On today's 5-minute Friday, Lewis acknowledges the tough moment we're facing in the world and gives actionable advice on how to use this time to set yourself for future success.- Brene Brown teaches you how to create true belonging and heal the world: https://lewishowes.com/536- David Goggins on mastering your mind and defying the odds: https://lewishowes.com/715

This is 5-Minute Friday! You know the famous quote, that tough times don't last, but tough people do. This saying has been on my mind a lot this week after they just announced in Los Angeles and throughout California, the big shutdown again because of a surge in COVID-19.

I'm a little bummed. And I know a lot of people are bummed right now. And it's okay. It's okay to feel frustrated because after months of quarantine and a hope of all this kind of fading out and going back to a new normal and getting back to the activities you like, the gym you want to go to, the restaurants, the movie theater, doing the things you want to do that bring you a lot of joy, we're going back to a place of not being able to do a lot of those things. And we had these hopes that it would open back up, that things would get back to a place quickly.

And it doesn't seem like that's going to happen anytime soon. And I want to let you know that it's okay to have these feelings of frustration, despair, and misfortune. It's okay to feel that way. You don't want to suppress those emotions. It's okay. But I want to let you know something really important. okay. But I want to let you know something really important. And that is adversity is what makes great people great. You see, adversity is the thing where all great people have an incredible

story about them. They look into their past and they can reflect with hindsight and say, you know what? This was a really challenging time when I was 20, when I was 30, when I lost my job, my business went under, when I went through that divorce, when something challenging happened, they always look back and they can reflect and say, you know what? That challenging time is where greatness came out of me. That challenging time is where I learned how to overcome all my fears that were holding me back, where I learned that I needed to develop new skill sets that could get me out of this situation and into something greater, where I learned that I needed to let go of this toxic level of thinking, these toxic people, this toxic

mindset, these toxic habits, these toxic eating patterns, sleeping patterns. I needed to remove these toxic limitations from my life and start doing something more positive, start creating and cultivating positive habits and routines in my life. And when I'm aware, you know, the challenging times create feedback for us. It says something is not working. Here's your results. We're going to give you something challenging because you didn't have what you needed in order to make it through this time.

You weren't set up the right way. You weren't following your heart. You didn't trust your instincts. You didn't do the preparation work beforehand. Whatever it might be, challenging times are feedback for you to see if you were prepared, if you were set up, if you were making the right decision and to ask yourself, am I on the right path? This is what challenging times do. They get you back to clarity. What's the most important thing? Am I focusing on

the most important thing? Because if you are not, then you're going to constantly be faced with challenges and you're going to constantly be faced with challenges. And you're going to be faced with challenges even when you are on your right path, even when you are in the right relationship, even when you do have the right habits and routines. You're going to face challenges during that time as well. But you're going to be more equipped and prepared to take on those challenges and not let it crumble you, not let it cripple you, not let it destroy your emotions, not to destroy your body because you're going to be setting

yourself up for success through the actions you're taking, through the way that you're thinking. And that's what this is all about. The value of mastering yourself in the challenges and finding growth in difficult times. That's when you become the best version of yourself. It's not when everything is easy and perfect and comfortable when you become the best version. It's when times are challenging and when times are tough. And I want to give you a couple of tips to succeeding during this moment. Number one, make sure you get clearer and clearer

on the vision and the direction you want to go. You again may not have any clue of how you're going to get there and that's okay. But having a clearer direction, at least of where you want to go and why you want to go in that direction will guide you in taking steps and towards that vision. Number two, have a great team to back you up and support you. So many people are around negative people. And I hear this all the time. Well, what if it's a family member? What if it's my husband or my wife? You've got to be willing to have the hard conversations. That's what is happening during this time. It's forcing you to create those challenging conversations to get

clear with the people around you, to ask them for support in different ways, to ask them not to act a certain way or not to tear you down or gossip about you or talk bad or give you feedback that doesn't support you. It's time to surround yourself with great people who are cheerleading you on your vision. The third thing, continue learning and growing. The reason we create this podcast every week to find some of the most incredible minds in the world is to serve you and help you learn and growing. The reason we create this podcast every week to find some of the most incredible minds in the world

is to serve you and help you learn and grow. I do this for myself selfishly. I get to learn from the top sports psychologists, athletes, actors, business leaders, and learn from myself because I know the power of continual learning and growth. And the fourth thing, you've got to, especially during tough times, you've got to,

this is huge, celebrate your wins every day. If at the end of every day you say to yourself, well, more bad things happened, more struggle, more pain, more loss, more heartache, that's not a place to build from. You need to find any little thing and say, you know what? I got up and I made my bed this morning. I did what I said I was going to do. I got up and I moved for 20 minutes for a walk. I sweat. I did a run. Whatever you create for your daily goals and actions, focus on celebrating the wins of the process, not the end result.

The process is where you'll find your purpose and where you'll find opportunities for growth and fulfillment in your inner world. I'm telling you guys, you follow those four things that'll help guide you during tough times. Because like we said in the beginning, tough times don't last, but tough people do. And I know you are one tough individual who can overcome any challenge and adversity in your way. If this was helpful for you, please subscribe over on Apple Podcasts and leave us a five-star rating and review,

as that will help us spread the message of greatness to more people. Click on that subscribe button on the Apple Podcasts and let me know what you thought about this episode. You can share it out, lewishouse.com slash 981, or just copy and paste the link on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to this episode, and share it with a friend that you think would inspire today. You can always text me the word podcast to 614-350-3960 to get weekly inspirational messages directly to your phone from me. And I'll leave you with this quote.

Napoleon Hill said, Every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries with it the seed of an equivalent or greater benefit. Remember, you are loved, you matter, and you're worth it.