The School of Greatness - This Hidden Belief May Be Sabotaging Your Abundance | Brendon Burchard

Episode Date: February 9, 2026

Brendon Burchard shares a powerful truth most high performers miss: creating significant life changes is more dependent on an understanding of sociology than psychology.While personal discipline and habits matter, the real breakthroughs happen when you surround yourself with people who see possibilities in you that you don't yet see in yourself. You're likely stuck not because something is wrong with you, but because you're an A player performing on a B field.The path forward isn't about working harder or gaining more information. It's about investing in the right rooms, whether that's a mastermind, a volunteer group, or a team that elevates your thinking and challenges your timeline for what's possible.The Greatness Playbook: The Network is Net Worth EditionBrendon’s books:The Millionaire Messenger: Make a Difference and a Fortune Sharing Your AdviceThe Charge: Activating the 10 Human Drives That Make You Feel AliveThe Motivation Manifesto: 9 Declarations to Claim Your Personal PowerLife's Golden Ticket: A Story About Second ChancesHigh Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That WayThe High Performance PlannerIn this episode you will:Unlock the proximity audit framework to identify which relationships expand you and which ones drain your potentialDiscover why sociology is more powerful than psychology when creating breakthrough moments in your business and lifeTransform from showing up as your minimal self to consistently embodying your aspirational self in every areaBreak through the plateau that comes from relying solely on personal discipline and self-improvement tacticsMaster the art of making strategic bets on yourself by investing in rooms where excellence is the standardFor more information go to https://lewishowes.com/1887For more Greatness text PODCAST to [phone]More SOG episodes we think you’ll love:Lewis Howes [SOLO]Brené BrownTony Robbins Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy!Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most people really believe they're going to change your lives with their own personal will. It will make you great to a certain extent. But you will plateau at a certain level. You'll be dissatisfied. You'll be bored. You'll be frustrated. There's nothing wrong with you. Name a legend who didn't have a legendary team.

Or a legendary coach. Yeah. Find one. I don't know any. He is one of the most respected teachers of high performance in the world. Worked with elite performers, entrepreneurs, and leaders at the highest levels, the inspirational Brendan Bouchard. If you're around a bunch of what about people, that's called like prison.

You share a dream. They go, oh, but what about taxes? Oh, but what about you have to hire people? The people who are around, that's everything. For people that are looking to create the next level of financial abundance or personal abundance in their life, is it a strategy problem or an environment problem? So what a lot of people miss? Welcome back, everyone, to the School of Greatness.

I'm very excited about our guest today. We have the inspirational Brendan Bouchard. And if we don't know Brendan, he is one of the most respected teachers of high performance in the world. He's a number one New York Times bestselling author. He's trained and coached millions of people across more than 190 countries, worked with elite performers, entrepreneurs, and leaders at the highest levels. And he's built a personal development company that's become a global force for good.

And in this interview, I wanted to be more of a conversation where we help people unlock the power of their mind of what is possible to achieve at the highest level, while also having the deepest level of fulfillment and having free time to do exactly what they're meant to do in life. And I'm very excited that you're here today because we have so many powerful behind the scenes conversations that people don't connect us to. So I want this to feel like a behind the scenes conversation

because so much that we just talked for an hour that we should have recorded it. You know, we should, and a lot of these we talk about are, you know, around standards, around identity, around relationships, around big thinking possibilities. And I think so many people get stuck in their life because they're bogged down by the stress, the responsibilities, what they feel like they have to do. And it's hard to think in a way beyond where their limitations are at now. And I want to ask you to start this off around the, power of masterminds. I have some good stories. I know you've got some good stories to share.

But if someone here is watching and listening has some type of dream, have some type of bigger goal, but they haven't been able to tap into it yet, maybe because of their environment, their limited mindset, they don't have the right relationships yet, whatever it might be. But what actually happens when a human being who has a big goal or a big dream, when they get into a room where excellence is the norm from that group of people. And big dreams are possible for that group of people. What actually happens when someone is able to get into a room of the right people who also think like them?

Yeah, it's rocket fuel. It's the catalyst. You know, if you had a child and you wanted them to learn better math, how can you do it? You get them better textbook. You get a better calculator. You get better tools. You get better AI. You can get somebody gear.

You can get them things, but get them better teacher, everything shifts. Get them in a better school. Everything shifts. And we're coming out of time where everybody just set all these big goals for themselves. And often their goals is very tactical. It's, I'm going to do this discipline. I'm going to have this habit. I'm going to run this routine.

You know, I'm going to say this affirmation to myself. It's self-help. It's self-improvement. And that's important. You and I, you know, we espouse that. Personal empowerment is everything. Everything. However, what most people miss is that sociology is often more powerful than psychology. What does that mean?

Sociology is get around people. When you're an environment of other people, you're incredible. You and I both coach athletes. And, you know, there's this myth that every athlete must go to practice so high. They have a contract. You know, they're playing professional sports. They're stoked. They're walking into practice. Amazing. You know, I work with athletes all the time. I coach them at high performance all the time. NFL players, the best of the best. And here's what's the truth. They dragged themselves into that locker room. They shuffle their feet like your teenager does going to school.

They come into the practice with the gym. They're like, ugh. But as soon as they get in there, there's five other guys lifting, having a good time. They're lifting. As soon as the coach is on the practice field, so I run, they're running. They're doing drills. They're doing things that they would not do by themselves because they're in a social environment where that is the thing.

Yes. And in the entrepreneurial world, that's what a mastermind is. You're getting into a room where you probably wouldn't run this promotion. You probably wouldn't think this big. You're probably showing up to your work each day kind of shuffling in. I got to do this. I got to answer these emails. I got to send that promotion out.

But when you're around other people who are hyped and they have drills and they coach and there's this expectation, you lift. And every great player in any professional sports teams knows the quality of their team and the quality of their coach takes them to do a number. another level. Absolutely. They've already, they already have decent nutrition. They already care about sleep. The basics are covered. It's that you're not going to do 20 more things. What's going to happen is you're going to change one thing. And that is your environment, the people who you hang around. Yes. And soon as you do that at a high level, it shifts you into like a gear that it's

impossible to describe to people because most people really believe they're going to change their lives with their own personal will. And that is true until you plateau. your personal will, it will change your life. It will get you outstanding results. It will make you great to a certain extent. But you will plateau at a certain level and you will know it. You'll be dissatisfied. You'll be bored.

You'll be frustrated. You'll sense like, why do people have it more than me? And there's nothing wrong with you. This time of year people think, well, your mindset is bad. Everyone thinks this time of year your habits are bad. I'm like, oh, nothing's bad. you're just probably an A player playing on a B field. We got to get you an A player playing on an A field.

Yes. You're not doing, most people aren't doing anything wrong. That's the myth. Everyone's doing things wrong. I'm like, most people are really working hard. They really care. They really try. They really believe in service.

They want to live aspirational lives, something I want to talk with you about today. But they've plateaued their personal will, self-discipline, and mindset. We can improve those things. And we know we can bring double percent digits. But if you want like step change, a step change, that comes from sociology. The people who you're around, that's everything. Step change has only happened in sociology.

Step change has rarely happen in individual. That's true in individualism and that's true in evolution. I mean, I guess if you're like so far behind, if you're so far behind in every area of your life and you flip the switch psychologically and say, I'm going to have more discipline, better habits, I'm going to eat better, I'm going to train, I'm going to sleep better. You might see growth.

But then once you get to a certain level of success, it's really hard to get a step change after you've kind of gone from rock bottom to like a new norm, right? It's hard to get real exponential growth at that level unless you're around the right people, is what I'm hearing you say. Yeah. Because the right opportunities come from people, not from you just gaining more tools,

getting more information. It's like reading more is great and it's going to keep you on track. And maybe it unlocks something here and there. But being around the right relationship can completely change your life. Yeah. Those are requirements for success. Yes. But the step change is different because I was telling people, name a legend who didn't have a legendary team.

Or a legendary coach. Yeah. Find one. Yeah. I don't know any. You know, you have so many great sports examples of people going from an average team to a better team. And then that was their most excellent.

season of all time. Or even if you have someone who's so extraordinary, who can shift an entire team, it still took that person so much work to shift the entire team. So as soon as we get around that, I always tell people, like, who is your team really? If you want to earn seven figures, are you around seven figure people? And even if you are beginning on a journey, you're like, oh, I just want to earn a basic income or I want to do whatever. I'm like, okay, are you in a room with people, even if they don't have that, is there openness to possibility for you at that level? Or is there possibility for you set on history? Because I'll share, you know, Lewis and I, we were talking to camera, but it's like, we were off camera. And one of the first questions

Lewis asked me today was, you know, what would make this year, if we got to the end of the and it was a great year, what would have happened. Yes. That's friends who talk about future orientation and aligning to that. But most people are surrounded by people who are like, well, I knew you this way in high school. Or no, you're this way in the house. Or this is your job. And so they're just not around people who are asking the questions to grow you into an aspirational self.

It's interesting because when I was growing up, I really struggle. go to school. And I, and I would, I had a belief that I wasn't smart. And I wasn't good enough, that I wasn't smart enough, that I would never, no matter how hard I worked, I wasn't going to get, you know, in middle of the class even. I was always in the bottom of the class. So I had a belief that followed, essentially, I'm not smart enough. And I was like, man, is this going to hold me back my entire life because I don't have the skills or the smarts? So I always be broke, essentially. And everything changed for me when I went to my first mastermind in 2009. And within a couple of months after that mastermind, the year before, I think my business had done

$250,000 in sales. This is the first few years of me getting into business. Two months after this mastermind, we did half a million in sales from five relationships I built from the mastermind. And everything unlocked for me because I said, oh, I'd don't have to be smarter to earn more. Sure, I need to have skills and I need to work hard and, you know, put myself on the right position and have some type of value that I can bring to people. But in order to get to the next level, it was being in a mastermind, adding value to five people out of this kind of 25 person group, building relationships and adding value and seeing how I could help them. And in return, they said, hey, let's do a project together, let's do a webinar,

which I was doing at the time, and we'll sell your program. And it was the collaborative aspect of adding value in a mastermind, learning from them, seeing what they were doing with the possibilities, and then taking massive action within those couple months

and partnering with them, that it unlocked it. I was like, I didn't get any smarter to earn this money. I had the same knowledge, essentially. It was all about relationships and how I built that relationship with those individuals.

Yeah. And then I was like, Oh my gosh, I could actually make it in this world. I don't have to be, I can be at the bottom of my class and still make it. I can almost blunk out of high school and I can still, I'll be okay. Uh-huh. It unlocked something in me. I was like, oh, I just have to love on people and add value and be in the right room.

Yep. Be in the right room and don't force anything and allow for possibilities. If something naturally happens, great. And if not, just keep being in the right rooms. So good. And being in the right. rooms for the last, I guess, 17, 18 years now is what it allowed me to build the school of greatness, build my business, build my brand. It's the collaborative aspect of other people

who are dreaming and thinking big and willing to collaborate. Yes. And I would say that is kind of like what unlocked my world of yes, I still want to learn and I want to develop, you know, in interviewing people who write the books is kind of my way of reading, right? It's like, okay, I'm learning skills still, but it's really the relationships that has unlocked things. We've known each other for what now? Like when we start probably like early 2010s, right? 2010, 11, so it's probably been 15 years. Definitely 13 years.

But 15 years of building a relationship, you know, and being in this world together, it's like the long-term thinking of relationships, whether it's a mastermind or just being in the right room with each other, it's building those relationships long-term, create possibilities. And I think that's what people struggle with because we all know a lot of people who are like the one in their group or they they venture off and try something. They start a side hustle. They start a business. They start doing something different than their friend group. But they always say, no one understands me.

Right. Or people are telling me, ah, don't take that risk. Or you shouldn't be doing that or they're getting judged for what they're doing. Until they enter a mastermind room or a group or they go to an event where they see other people doing what they're doing. And they say, wow, these are my people, right? We do this all the time. Right. For those that are interested in joining a mastermind, we have one.

Me and Brendan have one. There's an event coming up here soon. If you go to Lewishouse.com slash ultra, you'll get all the information about what our mastermind is, what it includes, the mentorship and coaching from both me and Brendan and all the incredible entrepreneurs that are already in it and what you'll get out of it. If you're interested, go check it out. Lewishouse.com slash ultra.

And for those that are not sure if they're ready for something like that yet, or they want to do something locally in their own community, there are other resources out there that can support you in kind of finding that. I think this conversation got people started with it. It's like, hey, there's Rotary Group, there's Kiwanis Group, there's local charities, there's different things that you could be doing locally as well. Also, if you're just following someone online that you're like, that person's really cool and rad, like just message them and say, hey, let's create a little three to four person

and group and meet up once a month, once a week on a Zoom call and just talk about ideas, talk about what we're working on, what our challenges are. That's a form of creating proximity as well. And you can start that with anyone that you're inspired by. But I really see the value of having a structure, having a coach and a mentor, having a curriculum as well, and accountability steps every week, every month in a community that supports you who are all achieving high things. And after 15 to 20 years of both of us doing masterminds on our own, we've kind of taken the best

of our lessons and the biggest of our mistakes and try to put it into one group with all of our wisdom and knowledge. And with Brendan, who's, you know, coaching some of the biggest billionaires and companies in the world, number one New York time bestseller. You sold how many, I know, five, 10, 20 million books, all these different things. And with everything that I've done in the school of greatness and my business is in brand, we're bringing our collective minds together to serve everyone in Ultra. So again, go to Lewishouse.com slash Ultra.

Get signed up. Come to the next event. It's coming up here pretty soon. The dates will be on there. And if not, come back and listen to this and just apply what you're learning to this right now and get yourself started until you are ready for that if you're just getting started. That's what I want to have people take away with because proximity is power. Masterminds are something that I'm going to constantly invest in for the rest of my life.

whether it's through an amateur sports club, investing in bringing six Olympians to teach me. I love that so much. Whether it's investing in the best business mind like Brendan and being a part of our mastermind together, whether it's a relationship coach, whatever it might be, I'm investing in teachers, coaches, mentors, groups,

rooms to be in. I want to be in the room where it happens, right? Hamilton, let's go. Yes. And I guess what is your, when did you first realize because you started writing books and you were a coaching and a consultant before you kind of got into this world.

But when did you realize that being around the right people was more valuable than just gaining more skills? First realizing, probably first aha realization was in high school. I was going to drop out of high school. I didn't enjoy going to school.

I didn't enjoy learning. I was making money, mowing lawns. I was like, what do I need high school for? I was from a small town in Montana. We had moved to this town. I didn't know people really well yet. And I just didn't have a great time because something amazing had happened in my family. Somebody on my mother's side had passed away in Europe and left some money to our family to go to the funeral.

And we were a family. They didn't have that kind of money. We grew up very poor. My parents were using the four. of us, there is no money. So this opportunity to go to Europe was like this, like winning a lottery from a town where we grew up in an economically depressed town.

They've been economically dressed for a century. Like this is a huge deal. This is Montana? Where was this? Yeah, we were in Butte, Montana, and then Great Falls, Montana. And so this is a huge, like, for us to go to Europe, this was so outside, it was unbelievable.

And so I went to all my teachers, I said, we get to go to Europe. a bunch of my teachers like, oh, that's amazing. Hey, I'm going to give you this assignment. You know, oh, you're going to be in Paris, go to Louvre. You know, oh, you're going to be here, you know, write this little article when you come back and teach the kids, you know, take some pictures and do a slideshow back in the slide show. Like, a show a slideshow of your trip. It was a big deal and everyone was excited about it. And then they had rolled out that year in school, though, this new rule that says,

you cannot miss a certain number of days of school. Otherwise, you're expelled. And you miss this semester or the term. and you either have to take summer school or catch up the following year. And so the principal calls me and I heard you're going to have this trip. You can't go. You're going to miss it.

And we're like, what do mean we can't go? So literally he tells me I can't go. I go home. I'm so upset. I cried to my parents. I'm like, I can't go. And they're like, what? So they go in. They talk with the principal, not a nice person.

We end up petitioning the school board. And literally in a public, like, school board meeting they, which was televised on TV, they literally go, we understand why you want to go a young man, but if you could go, then everybody else could go, you can't go. Oh, man. And I'm like, devastated about it.

So I'm like, F school. F these people. You know, Mark Twain said, you know, there's more of a, like, never let school get in the way of an education. And so I went. And I came back and I was never going to go back to high school. I was bitter.

I was upset. I was like, screw these people. I had the best, of my life. I learned about people and culture. I saw something so amazing, you know. It was just when you're a 16 year old kid and you go abroad, it's just so eye-opening. It was life-changing. So I came back and like, I don't, why don't you go to this? But for one of the teachers, I did go back and do the slideshow about the Louvre. And in the back, the high school journalism teacher came in to see the presentation.

She walked up to me afterwards and she says, you're really, you have an eye. I would like you to come back and be a photographer over the school newspaper. And I was like, what? I didn't have that competency. I didn't know what to do. And I was just going to go make it on my own in the world. I end up learning over summer with her and the photography teacher,

how to do photography. Long story short, I joined the journalism crew there. We all become great friends. That crew wins the number one newspaper in all of the United States of America. Wow. I win second place of all. kids doing photography for high school journalism. Wow. This group of us with like

barely any computers is competing with the biggest high schools in the country and we're just slaying. We're just we're we went we're cleaning up the award because we have a great teacher and we're all in it together. None of us have a journalism background. She teaches us that but it was just like we created something of greatness like top award-winning things. It was called the Great Falls High School Inoua And it was an unbelievable, like she had years of students achieving greatness. And a lot of people that was her is like, no, the camaraderie she built that opened us up to the idea that we can become world class as something. Not are you, not, you know, can you do this?

Because a lot of people are around, but what about people? You share a dream. They go, well, but what about taxes? Oh, but what about you have to hire people. But what about what about? And if you're around a bunch of about what about people, that's called like prison, you know. But when you get around, people are like, they believe in your dream. They can see it.

But more importantly, they see something more for you than you do. I had a dream of being free from school. She saw that I could be great at something that I didn't even see. And your life is not just a measure of how great individually you become. Your life is opened up by gates of generosity by us. other people who see something in you that you never did. And I know as we talk, I know a lot of people never have that because I know all my friends, they never had that.

They never had that teacher. They went that same high school, they didn't have Mrs. Ballou. They never had somebody go, I know you're struggling. I don't want to quit. I know life sucks, but I see something. Yeah. And when someone sees something in you, it's just like, You don't even know to thank God yet.

Because you don't believe it yet. They see a possibility in you. And everybody listening, somebody probably did that for you in life. The challenge is that most people leave that gate of opportunity to luck or chance or God's grace. I was lucky that happened to me.

Yeah, hopefully someone shows up in my life and helps me. It was unbelievable. And then when I got the professional world, I was like, oh, I can invest to be in that room where there's a hundred people who feel that way to me. And when I share an idea, they might go, great idea. Let me give you the tools, the resources, the connection. But they might even go, that's good, kid, but you're kind of plain small.

Have you ever thought you could? So I just thought I could take a picture and I'd like take a picture. she thought I could become like in the best in the country. Now, she had no right to believe that. She just could see a passion there. And it was only a developing passion. And so what I tell people, if you were in a kid and you had that opportunity

and somebody believed in you, first, please be thankful for God for that because that's rare. Second, please be that for somebody. But third, if you're an adult and you're trying to get to a step, change, you need to be in rooms and invest in being in rooms. I don't care if you've got to buy a conference, join a mastermind with us, go with somebody where you're in a room where people

think like that. They see a higher possibility. It's important. It's so weird to say this today. I know we're in social media age, but it's like, I don't need a bunch of people who see me. I need a bunch of people who see beyond me into a future that's aspirational for me. Like I don't need to just know, like we're friends, but I have a huge vision for Lewis House. That may or may not be something that you see or you sense. And I know you think about me because you've told me that before. We did an interview on your book tour.

I didn't think I was very good at interviews. And you're like, you're good at this. We should do more. And that was really I am. And so it was affirmational for me. Yeah. But it was aspirational. It could see something beyond somebody.

So what does that look like? Give me an example. You know, we've known each other for 15 years. We talk a lot. We work together in different things. I share with you my hopes and dreams. And I'm a pretty driven guy. You know, I'm clear and focused. I've got a vision. I'm like going for it.

What am I missing that you see as possible for me in the future? Yeah. What would you say as a someone coaching me? Yeah. Or mentoring me that maybe I'm on the right track or I'm not even seeing something that I should be seeing. or I could be dreaming bigger or whatever it is or shifting it in some ways. Like, what would you say?

Well, first, just languaging, I don't think you're missing anything. And I think that's really important for people because so many people feel like, I must be missing something. I'm like, you're usually not missing something. It's just that there are higher levels of strategy that bring greater fulfillment or impact. Yes.

And sometimes it's just like, oh, I didn't know what that strategy was for that higher level. Notice, it's not saying impact and fulfillment isn't there. It's often that there's a higher level. Yes. And for most people, if we're talking about like that higher level of strategy for impact or fulfillment, you know, it usually comes from just a couple places. I think one, you and I have come up. We're actually talking about this off camera, so this is not, you know, new intel.

You and I came up in a media world. And I think that the higher aspiration I have for most people in their life is that they, they're always doing media. That's important these days, but I really believe that that more intimate mentorship role becomes... Having a mentor, intimate remorse?

You serving that. I think... Being a mentor to... Yeah, it's hard because... It's weird because I know I'm talking to you as a friend, but I'm talking to people who are listening who I love too. Yes.

And I can tell people listening who know Lewis really well that Lewis has a very humble spirit in a very good and beautiful way. And you're such a good man. Thank you. And in that humility of you interviewing other people

and bring such amazing information to the world, you've empowered people and you've changed our lives. And sometimes we get so good at that at a mass level. We forget that sometimes being in the room with specific people and unlocking them, you mentoring them. You don't really think about that because you're just so great at what you do. Like, you're so good at interviewing.

We've hung out of tons of times, you know, I've got two, two billion dollar valued companies that I'm like the major advisor to and have like multiple points into. And so, but you, you don't think of

mentoring me because of those types of things. You're an amazing mentor. And so what a lot of people miss is they miss, like, let me get 20 people who have major impact in the room, like major impact. And let me mentor them. You interview them. But what I would say humbly to my humble friend is like, you're Lewis House. Right, right, right. Like you have a ton of mentorship to give them directly. But what you're so good at, you always ask us so many questions,

which is a Socratic way of mentoring. I don't want to take that way. Yes. But I would say it's not something you're missing. It's just like, I see that for you. Like, if I sat you down with my four billionaire clients, I coach four billionaires every week, if I set you down with them, I know you would ask them times a question, but I also know you could push them. Because I've seen you push me. I know you push your audience,

but there's like, I would say there's a certain group of people in your future. I don't know what it is. I just see it for you. World leaders, world changers, like major impact people who, you're already friends with so many of them,

but there's a mentorship component there that would be powerful. I also think of learning, and we all have to learn this, how do we run empires and have extraordinary amounts of free time that gives us adventure and deep relationship free time. You run a may, I don't think a lot of people, they might be seeing us. And I feel weird again, for those who are listening. I do feel weird talking. I'm almost third personing this,

so forgive me. But I'm aware, I'm in a room, guys, with Lewis right here. We're in this amazing studio, but right off the studio, everybody, there's a huge office with conference and team, and it's gorgeous, and it's a super expensive building in L.A. You know, this is like, some of you guys don't know. We are so connected to Lewis and his heart. We don't know. He runs an empire. Like, guys, this is bigger than you think. And sometimes when we're running Empire, it takes, I love your experience right now, new dad. Yeah. That locks you into, oh, I need to to set up more free time. A lot of people, they never understand the importance of setting up free time in their business until one of three factors happen. One, they have family. Two, they get

sick. Or three, they get sick of doing it all. And they desperately need team. They get burnt out. They get burned out. And those three conditions, you know, when those happen, they go on a search to go, how do I make the business scale and have more free time? Yes. And that has been my quest in teaching our masterminds that. That's my quest. You know, I, most people know I'm pretty happy enjoy a lucky kid because I've had the free time I've wanted for 15 years. Yeah. I mean, because, listen, if you're an entrepreneur or you got a side hustle, you're trying to like launch a business or whatever it might be. And if you start out on your own, you can really only get it, I mean, maybe there's some outliers, but you can only get it to a certain level

on your own financially in terms of like creating the product, selling the product, servicing the product, doing the customer support, creating the marketing. If you do it all on your own, maybe you can get to a few hundred thousand, maybe a million on your own with a few freelancers, but it's like there's levels and then you're doing everything and it's the quality diminishes. Right. And then your time diminishes with your family, your friends, your quality of life diminishes. You might be earning more, but then at what expense.

And then you learn, okay, we've got to, I've got to hire someone and then, oh, that person didn't work out. And then I have to create systems and processes and all these. different things. You have to learn new skills to scale to new levels. Right. Right. You teach this a lot as well in our joint mastermind that we have. And, and it's, it's got growing pains, you know, to try to get there. But I think when you have the right people in the room to tell you, hey, you're going to come up against this in the future. You're going to be having the right coach or mentor to say, you're going to come up against this. Yeah. So if you want to save three years of

your life of going through hell, you know, trying to figure it out. Do these three things instead. You know, it's like saving this time, hiring the right people, getting the right systems to support you in the step changes faster. Right. And less pain. So you can still have a life. Right.

That's the goal. And we just don't run into that in business because in most business, even most of our peers, they're so passionate about teaching discipline to solve the problem of personal focus versus realizing if I got to solve your discipline problem, really what I got to do is solve your team problem. Because if your work has become such a chore that only discipline fuels it, when you started, you were interested, you're obsessed, you're passionate.

My word, I geeked about it. I love to geek out. It's like my business was geeking out. And then it gets a certain point and it becomes a chore. And now it requires so much discipline. And I'm forcing my will upon it. It's like, I often tell people like, we often think, oh, force more discipline on it and it solves it. And but the people who say that go look in their real lives, they just bought a new building.

They just got a new team. They're still espousing. I'm just all disciplined. And they are. But often you get behind the scene. It's like, actually, they hired some excellent killers who are weapons at work. Yes. And I think that a lot of people need to learn that.

It's like, it's that old thing. I'll just share it, come back to discipline metaphor, because you know, it isn't so much because we're always trying to stay healthy. And, uh, I have one of my clients, you know, extraordinary person, covers of magazines, like unbelievable. I was at his house, has an amazing home gym, and he hired a personal trainer. So his goal last year was to get a certain fitness level. Yeah. He didn't quite achieve it. So I'm at their house. I meet this personal trainer. I was like, oh, I know this personal trainer is famous on Instagram. So I knew who it was. And I know that. I know the person gets results. So we're all talking there. And long story short, I take the personal

trainer out in the backyard. This person has this huge acre. Like, why didn't he get the results? That's what I asked. I was like, what happened? And the personal trainer basically explains, you know, all these formats that he has tried with this client. I mean, tons of strategies. Tons of programming, you know, charts on the wall with gold stars and, you know, four by four splits and all this stuff that I didn't even know what he was talking about. And I was like, okay, it was good. And he said, I don't know. Honestly, one of my goals was to ask you, you're the high performance guy. How do I get this guy to change?

I go, do you have other clients in the area? He goes, oh, yeah. I said, who are they? Kind of shared with me. I said, oh, bring two of them to the workout from now on. Call me in 30 days. We went back in, talked to the client. I said, hey, you know, you're investing a lot of both of us.

I have a requirement of you. The requirement is he's going to bring two buddies over to your home gym. and you need to say yes. Do you agree? He's kind of, well, and he's all right. 30 days there. Most results we've ever got in a year of working together. Why you think?

Because the two other people in the room create social standards, social expectations. Two other people in the room can unlock you. But we've been taught to go into siloed, you know, social media world. And here's the thing that people don't think about. in that experience, I bet a lot of people listening to me, just because I know people, you think, oh, those two other guys really unlocked him. I'm like, that's part of it. But guess what?

When he's in that environment with other achievers, it's not just that he has to level up. He finds himself cheering them on. Of course. He finds himself coaching them. Well, you got this. Yeah, yeah. He's, yeah, exactly. He's the person there lifting the weight off.

Others are lifting you up and you're lifting others. That's right. Yeah. It's not just getting you out of silo. It's putting you in some capacity of service. Yeah, that's interesting. If I put you in some capacity of service at people your level are higher, you re-engage. It's not discipline.

It's not a chore. You end up looking forward to it because there's a little, we don't even know. It's like a hidden psychology. We all have little helper brains. But we want to help. We want to help people. Yeah, yeah. We have helper brains.

We don't know it. And most people, because they're only helping themselves, they keep hitting the same discipline ceiling. I just socially construct the right people around. And all of a sudden, it's like, you've seen us do that in our mastermind, right? It's like, I just put the right people around. And everyone wins. Everyone wins.

Right? Because that person he thought he solved it by getting the best one person, a who, right? He got the physical, you know, coach. To the trainer. Yeah. He got a coach. It's like, yes. And now we need to put you in group.

And as soon as we do that, it doesn't need to be a lot. For him, it was two people in a gym. You know, for you and me, our first masterminds, they were super small. Yeah. It was like five, 10 people in the room. So this is not about you need, you know, hundreds or 200s. You know, you and I curate that for people now.

Yeah. But, you know. If a few key people. Yeah, it's like, there's three people at your church. Yep. Who could unlock your next seven figures. There's three people who you go volunteer with in your local community who can unlock the next seven figures. Next seven figures in your backyard.

The issue is you often don't know. how to find it or how to scale it. So you've got to get around people. I know it's so funny because I'm the high performance guy. I'm like so much high performance is high performance team, high performance culture, high performance energy. Like I walk into the school greatness guys.

I wish you guys could see it. Like I walk in here, the vibe is on. Yeah. Like we took pictures off camera, everybody. There's like a vibe. There's music thumping. Lewis is surrounded by like aspirational people. They're in great shape.

They got good vibe. They have spirit. They have soul. Marta might come through. and just light the whole place up, you know? It's like, like, Lewis is surrounded by good energy. Yes.

And I'm surrounded by, I know I can't do what I do in my life if I'm not surrounded by great energy. 100%. And I'm just here to tell adults, you can buy that. And it sounds terrible to say. Yeah.

It sounds really terrible because, you know, we just don't learn that. But a lot of people listening, you probably also went to college. And that social environment. Bought it. Yeah, you bought it a lot. That isn't maybe going to give you

the relationships you need later in life, too. If you didn't get the right relationship in college, you're still paying off college. Oh, yeah. I tell you all the time, like, if you're still making college payments, and I don't mean to be flippant. I mean, like, you didn't get taught how to do the networking there that would have gotten you the deal flow to handle the situation. That's true.

It's really hard for people. It's not just about the right information or the right accreditation or the right degree that's going to get you the success or the financial abundance or the personal freedom you want in life. Yeah. You need so much more than that. And for people that are looking to create the next level of financial abundance or personal abundance in their life, is it a strategy problem or an environment problem? What would you say?

I don't think you can separate them. I don't think, yeah, I don't, you know, only in college do you separate the hallways of psychology and sociology. In real life, you can't do that. Every person around is some way, his. those mirror neurons and shaping your thoughts, your energies, your belief. And everybody here knows that because everyone who's probably dated a jerk or been in the wrong relationship or had a divorce and you're like, that person like put you in the wrong state of mind. And what they usually did is they put you in a contemporary state of mind.

Because there was drama and conflict, you were locked into a present mode with them versus being around a person who is a coach or a mentor or in a mastermind where you are pushing into what we call progress mode, right? You're like pulled into progress mode, like the tide's going out to a great new location. And I think that people just, it's so hard to say this because we love the self-work and I'm the self-work guy. I'm written six books and self-help. I deeply love that research. I've just found it to be limiting on its own and worse. I don't know. I don't know

that anyone can have real fulfillment in life without the right people around them. I don't know. Last year, even if you're introverted and even if you like to be alone, you still are going to interact with people and you need to be around the right people.

Yeah, I work with, you know, a person who's probably in the top five, six, seven, let's call it the top ten golfers in the world. Unbelievable skill. Unbelievable swing. Unbelievable hunger. Wrong caddy. Not the right situation has, you know, when I came in had to replace an agent they were

working with, I said, this agent is just cannot even see over a wall for you. It's like you need people who can see over walls for you. And if you don't have that, I'm telling you, that is the gift to buy yourself. Don't go buy the next, you know, stationary bike for your house. like invest in being in the right rooms. And I tell people all the time because they think I'm selling here. Let me just share everybody.

If you want to transform your life, I'll give everybody the free keys. You need to go volunteer in your local community again. Because who is in the volunteer group in the local community? Leaders. Usually the most successful, highest earning people. Sit on those nonprofit boards,

run those associations, help out in the community because they often already made it or they retired or they had that servant heart. I'm like, oh, you. You want to be around Gibbers? Yeah, because that's what I did.

I moved from Montana to San Francisco to start a job, corporate job, at a company called Accenture, and I was doing change management work there. I moved this big town. I mean, San Francisco is a huge town if you're from the town I was from. Yeah, yeah. Huge. And I didn't know anybody. And the first thing I did is I joined the Kiwanis group.

And Kiwanis, you know, meet often, you know, once or twice a month, depending on the Kiwanis group. And you know, you have your eggs, you have your conversation. People talk about volunteering and services. But everyone there was older than me. They were like a bunch of 60-year-old dudes. And they would just be like, hey, kid, don't do this. Or hey, kid, do that.

And whatever was, you know, the two years of that particular group changed me forever because it gave me access to higher thinking. A lot of those guys were in banking. Right. I knew nothing about money. I needed your book. Make money easy. I need to read that like 5,000 times.

That was not even in the repertoire of my thought process yet. And so getting around that group taught me about money. So that strategy was intertwined with that socializing. I'm here to tell me, the best strategies are socialized. You learn them by talking with the people. When we run mastermind, we don't care that everybody's in the same industry at all. We just want, are you a go-getter? do you have positive energy

and do you have high aspirations for yourself and other people? If those three conditions are totally true, it doesn't matter if you're a podcaster or a banker because guess what? They can both learn from each other. Yes. You know?

And so I think the diversity of your social sphere can also be very empowering. And it's so, you know, I've been in the mastermind world for I guess 15 years now, I guess. I've like, since going to my first one to going to many of them,

to speaking at them, to hosting my own, to having one with you now. I've been in a mastermind world for a long time. And even if it was like, I think it was like six years ago. I remember, and most of the time I'm getting invited to speak now and different things like that, just like you do. And I decided I was going to pay for one.

It was like a weekend mastermind. It was 10 grand. And I was like, I'm just going to go and see if I can learn something from this guy, even though I probably know a lot of what he's already teaching, even though we're in the same industry, even though I'm doing really well already. But I was like, I'm going to pay the money. I'm going to show up for two days, for the two-day mastermind. And the people I met in there was just worth the investment.

Right. And I'm reminded of things by the teachings as well of like, oh, yeah, what I'm doing is working. I'm going to keep doing it. And here's a couple things new that I could try that could help accelerate my growth. That's worth it. But just like investing in yourself, when you make an investment in yourself to be in a room, you say, I matter and I'm worthy of being around the right people. I matter and I'm worthy of learning,

of developing powerful relationships with big dreamers, with big doers. And when you make that investment, whether it's time, money, or energy into a group, like the Kiwanis group, you know, maybe there's a hundred bucks a year or something, right? Or whatever. It's not a big investment, but you invest in time and energy.

Yeah. And you got a massive return. So it doesn't always have to be money to buy into a group, but that's what a lot of people do for college. You buy into a group and you pay 200 grand for a piece of paper. that doesn't guarantee you financial success. It doesn't guarantee you the right relationships 10, 20 years down the line when you really need them.

Maybe you have a good time in college. And I'm not saying I didn't have a good time, but it's like it guarantees you debt unless someone pays it for you. And you've got to find a way to pay that off. And a mastermind is one of the best ways to do it in my mind to get to the next level in your life. And I want to ask you, because some people might have a confusion

around what is in a mastermind? Is it more just like networking? I think we've explained some of it. But what a real mastermind actually is doing, or I would say what is a real mastermind doing at a psychological and identity level for people when they make the time, energy, or investment to join a group of like-minded or higher achievers than themselves?

Yeah, I thought a lot about this before we started ultra together and I want to just like baseline what I'm about to say to people because it will sound offensive. but it took me a long time to figure this out. You know, I've been running masterminds since 2008. Wow. And, you know, for most of these years, I've, you know, generated well over eight figures doing that. Just that piece of our business.

Like, it's been a big part of my life. And I think I had some years where I did them great and some years I did really bad, like, because I didn't know this difference. So, like, there's some, like, real delineation here. It won't sound good, but I'll share, like, the true part. I used to think when I first started my masterminds, it was like, oh, I I take people places and we have a great time together. I took people, I took groups. They were paying $50,000 a year. I took them to the Caribbean. I took them to unbelievable places in New York City and

Miami. I rented out yachts, jet helicopters, boats. I mean, I made these extravagant and like retreat things. I'm just, I thought it was that. The adventure mastermind. I was in. Yeah, it was like, and I did training, but I really thought that, you know, make sure that that environment thing is super, locked in. I think that's a component. It can be a new experience for people, especially in an AI world. I think that's going to matter. But I made the mistake. That was too big. I made that such the big part about it. And, you know, I just watch how many people stay over how many years. And then I thought, oh, you know, it really needs, the critical thing here is training. If we can train somebody's mind for a step change in thinking, that's the investment.

And you think about if you did go to college, there was, you know, especially if you took like philosophy, right, or political science, or you took a major liberal art that really expanded your brain. You're like, oh, wow. Right. Or you went into advanced mathematics. It's like those moments that were step changes in big thinking, that was life. That was the aspirational unlock. And so I learned that. And now to the offensive part. And this applies to mass mind, but everybody listening, whether you're ever to mastermind or not. Most people show up each day as their minimal self. So this is an identity conversation and this is where I'm saying, this might sound offensive and I don't want people to discount me because I'm using this phrase, but I hope you'll stick with me. People show up as their minimal self. They show up and they kind of go through the motions of the day.

They're in stimulus and response. What shows up? How do I respond to it? Even if they try to show up and respond to it really well, they're kind of locked into that position of today, the contemporaneous, how do I handle this? Even if I'm trying to be peaceful, how do I handle this? But most people throughout their day,

because there's this human thing called homeostasis, we kind of fall back to the level of just like average. We fall back to a level of what if we had the power in the guts to say, kind of mediocre, it just means in that moment we weren't being intentional beyond stainless in response. We weren't being aspirational. In other words, we didn't take. turn ourselves on. We didn't summon the best of who we are intentionally. And so even if what we did

was good, it wasn't, we weren't in the right head space to be aspirational. There's a minimal self, show up, do the bare minimum, even if you're good, but then there's the aspirational self. Like asking, what would the aspirational self do? And I'll give it like real world example outside of masterminds. But a mastermind has to achieve this with a person. A mastermind has to achieve this with a person. A mastermind has to achieve a percentage change of how people show up from a minimal self to an aspirational self. We know about strategies, business, money, all that, all day long. But if we don't achieve that, that's the unlock of a mastermind. I used to spend this percentage of a time in going through the motions guy, in dealing with life as it came guy. And I went way,

a step change in intention and aspirational living. And it can be as simple as this. You have date night with Marta. After a day of all this running an empire, it'd be easy to show up in the being state of the person who ran an empire that day. Maybe you were energized and stressed that day or maybe you were just like wipe the F out. But most people, they show up to handle things. So I or you show up at date night to handle, okay, we're date night. When you become extraordinary, when you reach greatness in your life.

life, there's a beat where you take a step back and you are not in stimulus in response at all. You're in high intention and aspiration. You're like, what would make tonight an aspirational date night? Not just going through the motion. Restaurants already chosen. But you see it all the time in movies, right? There's the couple in the movie sitting at dinner. There's other people sitting around them. But at some point, one of them gets up and now they're dancing around their table. And everyone else is looking out, oh my God, that's so beautiful. We used to dance. There's a magic element that you chose consciously to make that an aspirational date, not

a normal date, not just a good, like something happened. So if you shift a person into that in their personal life and their business life, take them from a minimal self. And I want to say that minimal self does not mean there's something missing. And minimal self does not mean there's something bad with you. It's literally a homeostatic state. Human beings experience it. It's not bad.

The least resistance, the most comfortable. We're built that way in some ways to have a comfortable flow. But, and I don't want you lose comfort. I just want you to be more percentage of time in an aspirational state. And I've learned this from you, big time. I just want to give a shout out. Like, I, last time Lewis and I were hanging out, guys, I had just done this big major media thing. And I super bombed.

Like, I was bad. I was bad. And I left that situation. And I came and I sat. with Lewis and Matt. And I told him, I bombed. I was, like, so bad at this interview. It was bad.

And Lewis was, like, laughing and jovial with me. But the first thing went to my mind was remembering us on stage. Uh-huh. And seeing how you, you're always Lewis Howes, but there's a magic you're able to do here that has opened me several times in our conversations. Like, I don't do, people go watch it on the internet. I don't do interviews very good.

It's like, I'm a teacher. I'm not used to being, I'm a very poor subject. And, but you unlock me because you, you quote unquote, turn on. Yes. And when you, it's intentional too. You intentionally turn on. It's intentional.

Yeah, you intentionally show up for those babies. Yes. You intentionally show up for Marta. Yes. Because you have an aspirational self to says, you know, I'm not just going to go with my state of being right now. I have a view of a great man. Mm-hmm. I want to be a great man.

Mm-hmm. So let me behave from that. Yes. Getting around the right people who have aspirational self as a core philosophy, what I call a dominant psychological frame. When you're around someone who has a dominant psychological frame that they want to live into their highest and best aspirational self, that's rare. Get around those people.

Yes. Get in rooms with those people. I don't care if volunteering or paying a mastermind or going to a conference. Get around those people. because it will like open you to a future. Dude, it's life. It is. That's life.

Proximity is power and who you spend time with in your intimate relationship, your friends and your family, how much you spend time with them, whether they bring you life or they suck the life out of you, it's powerful or it can be disempowering as well of who you're in proximity with. And I love for us to do a proximity audit activity together. Cool. Real quick. And this would be a real life, real,

time proximity audit of our lives. We'll do it quick. It doesn't have to be so deep or anything, but I would like to give people watching or listening this kind of three prompt exercise to do at home as well as a takeaway for this to get them thinking about the powerful relationships or the disempowering ones in their life currently to see what's holding them back and what they need to invest into to launch them forward as well. So I'll have us each do this. There's three quick prompts. and the first one is, it can't be each other, who is one person who is, who expanded your thinking in this last year.

One person, maybe it's someone known, someone not known, but first person that comes to mind, who is one person that expanded your thinking this year, not me? My wife, Denise. Okay. Yeah, and she's been that steady, expansive force in my life for so long. She expands by thinking because she,

wants so much for me, which is, what a gift for you and I both have. It's like, they want so much for us. And sometimes I'll be like, oh, I'm going to do this deal. She's like, you're worth more than that. She's expanded my thinking so much in health to stay healthy. She expanded my thinking in, you know, we have all certain, we have timelines. You know, you and I building empires.

We have like a timeline when something might happen. And she's like, why can't that happen sooner? You know, why does that idea take five years? And it's, there's no pressure to it. It's just expensive. Like, wow, you know, it's Elon Musk's famous thing. It's like, well, if you think it takes six years, why can't it be done in six months? Yeah.

When someone does that to you and time becomes a forcing mechanism. It's why can't it be done and what would need to happen? Yeah. It's to be done in half the time than what you originally thought. That's right. You need to be around more people like that. That's right. Who tell you those questions, who push you and say, sure, if it takes six years, fine.

But if you had to do it in six months, what would need to happen? And maybe you don't want to do what needs to happen in six months. Maybe it requires too much time or energy or it's, you've got to get an investor or whatever it is. And you're like, I'd rather not do it that fast. If it means doing this. Yes. But what if it was easier?

What was faster? What if it came quicker and you'd have to work as hard? Yes. What would need to happen? Yes. Those types of questions are what someone then you're in the right proximity with, you want to be around them more. Yeah. So your wife, Denise, is the one person who expanded your thinking this year.

Can I jump on that one best? Because I love what you just said. I actually want to watch that clip like 10 times where you just said. Because there's so many definitions that are vital. I hope someone will rewind what Lewis just did there. That was great. I want to jump on it because I just want to tell people, if you've had the right business coach, if you're an entrepreneur, or you've, you've, been in the right rooms, you can recall a time when somebody gave a strategy or an idea

that doubled your business and made it more elegant. Yes. Easier. Effortless. If you've never doubled your business or became more elegant because somebody told you that strategy, it means you've never had the right coach, never had the right strategy, or never been in the right room. You might be super smart, but if no one's ever like handed that to you, wrong rooms most of your life. Like doubling your business was like an awful slog or a genius luck moment. And here's the thing. It's like the power of mastermind, the person that you're choosing to be in mastermind with, whether it's the person you're investing in or the group of people, they don't have to have to have all the answers for you also. They don't have to be the one that's like,

they've already done everything you want to do and they have to have all the answers. I'm not going to say the person's name, but there's a guest I've had on a few times who's a billionaire. And when he was around, I don't know, half a billion dollars in his business, I was like, I'd never been a billionaire. I don't know what that feels like, but I just said, what would it take for you to get to a billion from a half a billion to a billion? Because he had a plan for like a few years out. I go, what would it take for you to do in the next six months?

I literally said this question. And he got really frustrated with me. It's just, yeah, it's just not possible right now. He just kind of gets squirmy and frustrated. They're like, well, I don't know. He couldn't think about how to make it possible. And I was just like, if you had to make it possible, what would need to happen? Just brainstorm with me.

This is almost a billionaire and I'm, you know, I'm not at that level. And he goes, wow, you just can't. And I go, come on. Really, you can't? You've already gone into a half a million. You can't do this. Like, what if you had to? What would need to happen?

And just that question got him thinking, well, well, I'd have to make a call to this person and have to get more courageous with that. this person and asked them for this. I'd have to go do these many more deals and I have to unlock this thing. I'd go, okay, well, could you do that in six months? He's like, yeah, I could. Literally, I think it was maybe eight or nine months later, he had a billion dollars in his business from taking these actions. And I get, I didn't know how to do the strategy. Right. I didn't know how to execute what he was doing. But I just asked the right question for him to see a bigger, more powerful possible future that he hadn't yet seen in that timeline. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

And I think that is the key that you've just said is being around people that are willing to ask you those questions. For you to kind of tap into life's golden ticket of tapping into your own inner wisdom, it's like, yes, you need a coach for the mentor, the mastermind to unlock it. But then it's you seeing what is that possibility? Yes. What do I need to become in order to create this faster or do it more elegantly or to unlock something in a more effortless manner? Right. But it allows synchronicities to flow effortlessly as opposed to forcing it so much, being burnt out, grinding.

It's like, it's finding the people that can unlock that in you, but then you tapping into the inner wisdom as well and acting courageously and boldly like you talk about in all of your work. An insight instigator. Yes, that's it. You instigated an insight for him. That's it. You've got to be around problem solvers.

Yes. Catalytic thinkers. Yes. People who like, they don't have to have the answer, but their belief in you. Yes. And the ability to Socratically ask the right questions that instigate, and you're like, oh.

Belief is so key. I mean, it's like believing in a possible future identity for someone is such a powerful mentor that you can have. Not someone that's pushing you down or saying, yeah, slow down a little bit, but someone who's like, hey, if that's what you want, I see that in you. You had this with your teacher when you were 16, I've had that with coaches and mentors.

And it's just having someone put more belief into you so that you can believe it's possible as well. Because if you don't believe it's possible, it's probably not gonna happen. Right. Or maybe it happens longer or it's like you're grinding to get there. But if you believe in someone who puts belief into you,

it just unlocks more. So the first, this is the first prompt is one person expanding my thinking this year for you, it's Denise. For me, it's Martha. We got married. We had twins. It's like, you know, that whole year, it's been a big year. She's expanding my twins.

She's expecting. But she, I mean, I'm not copying because you said your wife and I'm saying my wife, but it's like that was a big year. It's like being married at this stage, having children and going through everything we went through has been a powerful thing. And so I want everyone to think about the one person who's expanded their thinking this year. And then I want you to text the person on appreciation notes. Oh, I love that.

of how you've expanded my thinking this year. And so you can just say, hey, I just did an exercise. And you were the first person that came to mind. I wanted to tell you how you expanded my thinking this year and why I appreciate you. I love that. So I want everyone to do that for step one. This is the proximity audit activity that Brendan and I are going through. The second prompt is, what is one environment that sharpened you in this last year?

one environment, whether it was a group, whether it was an event, whether it was, I don't know, the gym you built or whatever it is, like an environment that sharpened you this year. Definitely when you I did Ultra in Scottsdale. Yes. Ultras are mastermind. Everybody is called Ultra. And Lewis had to fly in. And I mean, when I say had to fly in, he had to fly in like, Marta might be. do with twins at like any minute later.

It was like crazy. How many days later? It was fast. What was the day that we... There's a week later or something. It's not like that. When was the, I can't remember the exact date we did Ultra, but it was within a week. Yeah.

But it was like, the babies could come any moment. So I was like, can I make it? Can I not make it? I fly in like right before, I leave right after. It was like, I need the plane ready to get back in case something happens. It was amazing. So this environment, August, Aaron, most maybe for those who know my brand, I've been doing three and four day seminars for, you know, coming about 20 years.

You know, for those counting, I've done 130 three or four day seminars where I was primarily the teacher, like almost just me, you know, usually doing 40 to 50 hours over a weekend, just me on stage teaching my curriculum on high performance or leadership of business. So it was kind of a solo act for a really long time. You know, I have a lot of our friends come in, and they might speak a little bit, but I never got to do it with, you know, a partner or people. And at that event, two things happened. One, I co-host an event with Place, which is a billion dollar real estate company, before you and I did Ultra. So I got to see them, you know, they're on a path, you know,

going to be a multi-billion dollar business. They're already valued a billion dollars and, you know, just world class. And I've become a lot of a lot of. And I've become a lot of a lot of business. And I've become, I'm friends with the founders and, you know, I'm their chief growth advisor. So I get to see them with their people and talking about the future. And, you know, when you see billionaires talking about the future, it's just different. So I was watching, I was like, whoa, there's just a game in this room right now. It was spectacular. Then meeting all the best agents in the country and seeing how they thought about the real estate market

and thought about deal flow. And it was like, whoa, okay. this was like, I was inspired by like that because it's different industry than me, right? It's just just seeing that. I was like, whoa. Then bam, we flipped the conference to alter a mastermind. The next day, yeah. Everybody shows up the next day.

They're just so energized because the first time you're coming, you know, to do the stage the way you did. And honestly, it was like, I don't know, so for me and the team, we were on like day three or four. And you were tired. I was tired. I was tired. I was feeling it because it was so much running around in a different way than me just being on stage. And you came in and I just saw your energy. And when you went up on stage, two things happened.

One, seeing what you were teaching at the level that you were teaching, I hadn't gotten to see you do that for a long time. And so you hadn't run a mastermind forever. I had it done it four or five years. It was unbelievable. I think everyone was like in shock and awe of what you did. It was like, whoa. And then also I got to talk with Matt Backsade.

a little about, but you guys have been building, just learning about all that. It was just, it was a moment of three or four days where I was in an aspirational setting. Yes. Of people doing things that are very different than me, but they all were on. Yes. Giving their best.

Giving their best. Wanting be of service, caring about excellence. And one of the things I always say as a high performance coach is like, as high performance coaches, we're paid to push. Mm-hmm. And seeing you push the audience, But you did, I remember two of them.

You might have done more. Some breakout coaching. You did two coaching with entrepreneurs. And the way that you honored them, but then, like, it was like, okay, getting to witness mastery in your life, that was it for me. What was yours? I'm curious. First thing you came to mind was summit of greatness that we did. So amazing.

Where we announced Ultra. And for those that are interested, you know, Brennan and I just launched this mastermind called Ultra. And you can go to Lewishouse.com slash Ultra to learn more about. it. If you're interested in diving into coaching, mentorship, and a powerful entrepreneur community with us, go to Lewishouse.com slash ultra. But for me, the Summit of Greatness at the Dolby Theater was powerful because it's, you know, 10 years in. And I'm always creating something new. So it challenges me to step up and be my best. That was one. The second thing that came to mind is a month ago, I took over the Los Angeles handball club.

Yeah, I thought you might say that. Yep. And taking on a new challenge where there's no money, I'm spending money, but there's no money coming in. I'm not earning something from this. But I had six Olympians on our team that we brought in from Europe, six guys who've been in Olympics, five who have medals at the Olympics, to play on my team. Wow.

And to invest in the recruitment and development of taking over a team, recruiting. I have a manager whose name is Jan who did all the recruiting of these guys, but I said, we need the best in the world. If we want to be the best or be the best we can be, we need to bring in the smartest, the most talented. And we need to do it with certain structure where it's not just spending all this money. Like how can we do it where people are bought in, but they don't want to get paid, they want the experience. They want the dream. They want to come be and play in America for a weekend. And they want to play handball in USA when they've never played.

They've only played in Europe. So we need the right mindset, the right attitude, not people that are like, you got to pay me to come here. No one got paid. Wow. But they got an opportunity to experience something. And they're going to do it again here in the next couple of months with the final tournament we have.

But being the president of the team, you know, the, I guess the leader of the team in certain ways and a player on the team and also having humiliate enough to say, I'm not the best one here by any means and I'm okay. I want that. So as the owner and president, I have humility to also say, coach, your job, whatever you want us to do. I trust you. All the other players who have been in the Olympics, you know way more than me.

I haven't done that. I trust you. What are we doing? And having the humility to say, hey, you lead. Sure, I'm the owner and president and I'm organizing with other people, but I sit the bench in the first half. You know, it's like, I don't need to start. I don't need to be the all star on my own team. If that's the case, I'm doing things wrong.

So I have the humility to say, I can sit the bench and come in when I'm needed, but I don't need to be the starter or the guy getting the ball all the time. I'm okay with that. I want to achieve my goal and dream of being an Olympian. And if that means being around the best and then rising to their level eventually, cool, I'll play five minutes a game. I don't care. If I'm getting better and I'm getting to my goal, then I'll do whatever it takes. So for me, sharpening my skills, that environment has sharpened me more than anything

this year because it takes courage, it takes recruitment, it takes humility. Again, this is an amateur sport. There's no money in this in America. So it's like investing time and energy and something that has no guarantee. of the dream coming true and being okay with that. And so for me, that experience has been amazing. I loved it when you were talking about it because it's manifesting a passion, but you thought at like the club level.

Yes. I think a lot of people don't kind of connect with what we're sharing there. It's like you have things that you love to do. Watch the magic that happens in life when it's an equally passionate, geeky, loving people around it. Like, I was like, get around obsessed people. Yes. Because it's so exciting because they're not doing it for money. No.

Like you and I aren't even in this room for money. We're good when the money, it's like we love talking. We love teaching. We love sharing. We love inspiring. We love empowering. And when you're around that in sports or in business or in your. or in your media world, it's like, it's just a different level.

Relationship, yeah, and so it's like I've invested in my own mastermind with handball. I love that. And I'm getting around the right players, the right coaches, the right people in the handball world to build those relationships. And I've been doing that for the last, you know, 15 years for a dream that's a few years away. And I'm doing it now for the future self. So I'm doing that in that passion as well. So that would be the environment that's sharpened me.

So again, write down the environment that's sharpened the year. And then we don't have to say the name, but one relationship or input that you had to limit or cut this last year. So it doesn't, you don't have to say like the person's name, or we'll believe it if you say it. But it's just, uh, is there a person? I would say it's not just a person. It's almost like an avatar of people that I would say, uh, you know, my wife has been good at coaching me on is like I, I love people. Yes, me too. I mean, I just, and you know this the way I run our groups and I run, I love people and I have to be very conscious and diligent and apologetic about boundaries.

Yes. And a lot of people in our industry, especially they come in and it's just like, you know, the number of favors requests that come. Yes. And I don't like, I'll do a favor, but I'll do 50 favor. I don't have the intelligence. For you and you're going to be, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just not very good. I know. There's a line.

There needs to be. And, you know, I need to make that line clear. Clear. And I also need to make sure that there's give and take. Yep. And because I don't care about the take piece. I often also don't get value back. Yes.

And later on. It feels draining and exhausting after a while. Yeah. It can. But really, I don't know that I sense the draining. It's interesting. I wish I did. But the reality...

What do you feel? Resentment or just time commitment? No. This took me a long time to figure out. Because I don't... My problem is I don't get frustrated in that situation. My problem is I will keep breaking the boundary. Even though I know there's nothing coming back.

I don't... I wish I got the bitterness or that edge. It goes, F, these people. Instead, what ends up happening is it becomes a clear... rational, intellectual boot to the brain of opportunity cost. Yeah, the time away from your main thing to helping all these other people, yeah. And there's no bitterness. I just, it'll be a flash of insight like, oh my gosh.

I just brought up this person and look at they're doing these amazing things and they haven't done anything back, which is fine. But here's this other person who was struggling who didn't get that attention. And so it's, or there's a part of my business. that, you know, plateaued because I spent over here. And I don't, I could reuse your coaching on that. I don't know why. I wish that I had that, like, I don't have the F, you know, mentality.

I just never have. Sure. Because for me, that sense, I think I, you know, I learned from the, you know, Earl Nightingales and Dale Carnegie's and the Zig Ziglers, and they all warned against bitterness. Yeah. Bitterness is corrosive. It's not good.

And so I kind of decided in my early 20s, I don't want that in my life. However, I do need more edge to recognize that earlier in the relationship. Not because they're bad, but because I have responsibilities over here. Yeah. And my time to give to these responsibilities is more responsible over here. And that's been, so it's a time management thing that I had to own. And I think what's opening it for me, that you just triggered in me is like,

if you're experiencing bitterness, it means you don't have a boundary. You don't have a clear about you're like feeling resentment or speak for myself and I'd feel like resentful or frustrated or bitter by feeling like, oh, I'm just giving me this person for years. And then if I ask one little request, it's a no. And like, huh, okay, where's there?

It doesn't mean they have to give something in return, but they're only reaching out to me to ask for something. Right. There's not a deeper relationship. Then what are we doing? I know you get a lot of that, so that's hard. Yeah, yeah. And so for years, I had to learn how to be like, I was just bitter with people,

but I want to speak up because I was afraid or I didn't want them to think I was like, whatever. And so I, it's learned, I've learned how to really make my circle tight. And I think when I started, you know, 18 years ago, I needed to expand my circle. You need to create opportunities. You need to meet everyone. You need to, hey, let's work together. Let's help you.

I mean, bup, you know, and then you're just spreading everywhere. And it gets to a certain level. But then I had to learn to be like, okay. Now I have no time for anything to do my own thing where it needs the most time and attention because I'm just helping everyone else. And I like that state. I like helping everyone as much as I can. It's a fun thing to do.

To see people succeed. It's enjoyable. But if it's at the cost of you not being able to reach your goal or build the thing you're trying to build or there's a financial burden or whatever it might be, you've got to put your attention and focus back to the thing that pays your bills. And it brings you joy and fulfillment as well. I learned this phrase you might like, because someone was coaching me on this and they said, Bren, you have to learn to differentiate between a naive receiver and a taker.

Yes. Yeah. And he was like, you don't know the difference. I was like, I don't think I'm doing. Out of the guy, I probably did either. You know, intellectually, I could say I do, but behavior is what matters. Yes. And if you're ever in that place where you end up wanting or needing something and you share a goal

and the people who you've helped when you share a goal and the people who you've helped when you share or goal, don't immediately go like, hey, I don't know, can I help? Yes. They don't have to help or know how to, but if they don't ask the question, it means that you were probably in a relationship there where there was some taking going on. It's not that they have to solve or even give, it's that do they even ask? Yes, that's it. And that's what I was like, oh, yeah, that's, because that's behavior.

You can measure that. Do they ask or not? Yeah. And one of the greatest gifts that I've received was learning how to create balance. in my life, probably more in like emotional, intimate relationships, learning how to create boundaries and find, you know, developing a relationship with Martha, who is, I would say, an equal or greater giver than me,

which I don't know even that's possible because I feel like I'm giving all the time, but she's such a match of energy around giving. Uh-huh. That it's just a joy every day, because we can both give it to each other. But I think if you've grown up with wounds that you haven't healed and you've been traumatize and you're a giver to please others, you tend to attract takers, you know, if you don't know how to create boundaries, right? And if you're like anxious and all the things that I was. True. And so I would just attract takers and I was just a good giver. And then after a couple

years, you're like, I'm exhausted. I was like, you know. Right. But so it's learning how to create healthy boundaries with yourself and others in settings where you feel like there's a good give and take. And I think if you're only giving and you're not around a conscious receiver who also just wants to at least appreciate the giving and say, hey, thank you so much for helping me develop, you don't have to give equal back, but there has to be a conscious receiving. Yeah, yeah. That needs to be, you know, a good energy exchange, I think. So anyways.

I just want to share this because I know a lot of entrepreneurs are listening and they join our masterminds and everything too. That whole metaphor we just shared, and I'm going to do this. this for myself too as part of the homework. I'm going to flip the metaphor that we just shared about giving into relationships and give and take and flip it to opportunities too. Yes. Because I think that a lot of us give our heart and our spirit and our soul sometimes into opportunities. And that opportunity doesn't give anything back. No, it doesn't. And you end up, I think a lot of entrepreneurs end up in that pit where it is just endless, you know, gambler's dilemma.

I put so much money, I put so much time, I better keep filling the pit. And there was never any give and take there. There was never any boundary there. It ate up all of your life, all of your finances, or even if it's good, now it's corrosive for you because maybe it's not the spirit in which you developed. You got more conscious or you moved out of that wanting that particular business. And I think it'd be cool to go, okay, because there's opportunity to cost there too. the opportunity cost of pouring yourself into the wrong opportunity that doesn't give you back. We should be in opportunities that fill us.

Yes. And I see how I watch so many of your episodes. It's like, I can tell you're filled from the conversation. Yes. That's cool. Yeah. And people would see when I teach, you know, because usually I'm just directly to the camera talking to people teaching. And I only do curriculum-based like framework teaching.

And so I finished my framework. I'm full. I feel good, you know, versus there's been other business opportunities that were very lucrative in my life. I just never felt that give, the opportunity should give back to you to. Yes. Emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, always everything, fulfillment, joy. That's cool. So I want everyone to do this, it's called the proximity audit.

And again, answer three quick prompts, write down or say out loud one person who's expanded your thinking this year, one environment that sharpened you. and one relationship or input that you had to limit or create a boundary with, just for you to reflect on this to see, okay, how could I be, how could I set my life up moving forward, 2026 and beyond with the right people, the right environments,

the right situations that expand my possibilities, they expand my thinking. And I'm around people that want to see me accomplish my goals bigger, faster, and better than even I do. Be in rooms like that with those people. Brendan, any final thoughts we should leave with people,

on the power of mastermind before we wrap things up in this conversation. Again, Lewishouse.com slash ultra, go there, do the audit that we just talked about, the proximity audit, and that will give you a reflection of your life right now to hopefully help you start making some different choices in your life.

Any final thing around mastermind's proximity for people to take away with when we're real. Yeah, I think this time of year, just realizing your breakthroughs will be social. We need to get back in that understanding, of human awesomeness together. Yes. And when you're in the right room,

you will know you're in the right room because there's aspiration beyond how you normally show up. The minimal self or the aspirational self. Your job one in life is a summon the best of who you are to advance towards who you know you could be. Yes.

But sometimes who you know you can be is limited by like fears and old worries and your obligations and the kids or the spouse or the other things. You have to be in groups or around people, whether it's best friend, a trainer or coach, I don't care who it is, somebody on your team, somebody who aspirational

leads you, who is that insight like instigator, someone who gets you thinking and thinking about your future in a way that is maybe even beyond you thought about. I really get tired of this idea that, oh, we're just supposed to know our future. And I go, most people are moving towards a fixed future. That future is not what we call a growth-oriented future. It's certainly not a step change. They're looking at the incremental path, and the incremental path has its places. We want compound habits, of course.

We want compound affirmations. We want a good mindset and habits. But at some point as an adult, you go, I don't want just incrementalism for the next five decades of my life. Not that it's not bad, but if you look at people who made real wealth or look at people who had like adventurous, incredible, fulfilling, vibrant lives, they did have some of those peaks in valleys. They allowed it to peak once in a while.

And that came from this idea of going, there's got to be step change sometimes. In Jeff Bezos's last letter as CEO, he talked about the challenge that everybody will want you to fall into a normalcy. That's to me what the minimal self is. It's like they'll chip away at your specialness. They'll chip away at your uniqueness. You'll be around people in your life who will chip away with all their doubts and their concerns at the magic of who you could be. not just who you are of who you could be. They're chipping away, and you don't even know they're chipping away at it.

And his whole idea was like your specialness, your distinctiveness, we have to make sure every day is a day one. We don't need to get complacent. We need those big bets. He would talk about, you know, part of being an investor in Amazon, as an example, is that we're going to make billion dollar bets that fail. But we need to have the right to do that. Because some of those, they're going to be the home run.

And a lot of people haven't made any bets on themselves in a long time, because they've been stuck in incremental land. And I'm here to say, sometimes you've got to make a bet on yourself. That's getting in the right group. That's making the right phone call. That's, you know, be in the right room. It's like looking for a step change. The reason people have midlife crises is almost never because of they didn't do the right

incremental things. It's that they actually do need a step change in earning. They do need a step change in freedom. They do need a step change in fulfillment. And so be around a group of people who are willing to do that responsibly who know the right strategies to make the right impact, the right fulfillment, the right growth. But I'm like, this might be the time

a lot of people are listening. I need a step change, so I do that. Hope they get an ultra, because it's about going the ultra mile, the extra mile. You have a marathon, but they have an ultra run. Like, you and I want to be on that ultra run ideology of life. And I want other people to hear that. There's a step change waiting for you,

and the breakthrough will be social. So get in the room. Yeah, and it's about being on the right teams, having the right coaches and being on the right teams. And we hope you guys, if this feels like it's a calling for you, we hope you join our team in Ultra Lewishouse.com slash ultra and you start seeing those exponential changes very quickly. Brennan, love you, man. Appreciate you.

So good. Let's do it, brother. Love you, brother. Thank you. Amazing. I have a brand new book called Make Money Easy. And if you're looking to create more financial freedom in your life, you want abundance in your life, and you want to stop making money.

hard in your life, but you want to make it easier. You want to make it flow. You want to feel abundant. Then make sure to go to make moneyeasybook.com right now and get yourself a copy. I really think this is going to help you transform your relationship with money this moment moving forward. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and it inspired you on your journey towards greatness. Make sure to check out the show notes in the description for a full rundown of today's episode with all the important links. And if you want weekly exclusive bonus episodes with me personally, as well as ad-free listening, then make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Share this with a friend on social media and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts as well.

Let me know what you enjoyed about this episode in that review. I really love hearing feedback from you and it helps us figure out how we can support and serve you moving forward. And I want to remind you if no one has told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter. And now it's time to go out there and do something great.