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Lesson Info

Lewis Howes

Hey, everyone, how's it going? I'm Chase Jarvis, welcome to another episode of Chase Jarvis Live. I am your host, your guide, your friend, and you are tuned into CreativeLive, here specifically, the 30 Days of Genius series, where I sit down with the top creatives, entrepreneurs and thought leaders and extract really, really actionable advice that helps you live your dreams, and career, hobby, and life. If you're new to the series, check out CreativeLive.com/30DaysOfGenius, the number 3-0 days of genius. All you gotta do is click that little blue button, sign up, and then you'll get one of these bad ass interviews in your inbox, every morning for 30 mornings, a healthy dose of inspiration and actionable insight. My guest today, we've been friends for a long time, I'm not gonna lie, but you know him from the list of things that he's done. He was a professional athlete for a long time before he ever got into this entrepreneur-and-creative game, then he went into that world, build himself...

a seven-figure business, and now he is a best-selling, a New York Times best-selling author of this book right here, The School of Greatness. My guest today is none other than Lewis Howes. Thanks for having me man, I appreciate it. So happy you're here. (inspiring, determined rock music) (audience applauds) They love you! Lewis, thank you so much. Thanks, brother. I'd hug you but we've already hugged like 20 times. (laughs) Nine times. Thanks for joining us. You heard in my intro, the big book, School of Greatness, I know you've been working on that for a long time, you've got the podcast, but before we go into all the accolades, and your journey specifically as of late, let's go way back, 'causeone of the things that I'm trying to do is-- Back into time. Yeah, back in the day, One of the things that I'm trying to do is help people understand that the people that are online, or the people that we call them thought leaders, that a lot of people pay attention to, that they've all had hard times too, and the crowd is on the other side of this camera, I would say this community is a creative community, it's an entrepreneurial community, it's a community that's also sometimes trying to go from zero to one. They are in a rut and they wanna break out. And so, I like to tap into each guest's history, specifically around tough times, and I think the story that I know about you, that I was hoping you could recount, is athlete, got broken. You were literally injured, sleeping on your-- Sister's couch. Sister's couch. Yeah. So, take us back, how long ago was that, and what kind of condition were you and your life in at that point? Even before then, I had a big dream. I always dreamed big, I think I had a creative mind and just wasn't able to be artistically creative with painting or drawing, but I always wanted to put my ideas into reality in a creative process, and for me, that was with sports. Football was a big passion of mine, and my whole goal growing up was to be a professional athlete. That was my dream, that's all I wanted, it's all I cared about, it's really all I was good at. I wasn't good at school, it was hard for me to comprehend things in school, but sports and being physical and active, I could get, I could pick up quickly. And I excelled. So, I did well in college, I had an opportunity to go play professional football, I had played at arena football for a while, and then I got injured, I broke my wrist diving into a wall, and snapped it when I dove into a wall to try to catch a football. I remember I was kind of in denial, I was like, "Okay, this is broken, "but I'm gonna come back next season and be okay." I was in a cast for six months, from here to here, just walking around like this. How brutal a cast, I broke both my wrists twice. It's miserable. It's miserable. (laughs) Miserable, you can't do anything. You wanna get the hanger down, you got the itch. Yeah, it's so bad, man, so bad. (Jarvis groans) And so for me, I didn't have a backup plan. I didn't have a college degree yet. This was in 2007 going in 2008. The economy was pretty bad in the US, so I didn't have a college degree, I didn't have any money saved, I was living off three credit cards, I had a lot of student loans, and my father had just gone through, the year prior, had a really bad head injury, he got hit in a car accident. He was in a coma for three months. Oh, my God. He's never been the same; he's still alive, but for over 10 years, he's been essentially learning again. We had to teach him how write, how to talk, how to use the restroom, how to do everything, how to walk, and he's still rehabilitating essentially today. So, my relationship with him changed from him being my father and mentor, and kind of coach and friend to really needing to be there for him. So, when I didn't have any money, I didn't have any direction, I didn't have the support, the finances, and my dream was over, I was like, "What am I gonna do now?" Wow, that's a pretty heavy stack against you. I had no clue. And listen, I still had a family, I still lived in America, so that alone, gives me the advantage, right? There's always something that could be a lot worse. Sure. But for me it's was really trying to figure out, "What I'm I gonna do next?" I was 23, 24 years old, and I was just like, "Okay, what I'm I gonna do the rest of life?" Whereas, a lot of pro-athletes, they have no clue what's next. We lose our identities very easily when we put our passion and our energy into one thing. and then when that's gone and that option's no longer on the table, it's a reality check. Yeah, it's soul searching and identity crisis, all that stuff. So, luckily I have great sibling support; my sister was like, "Why don't you come live with me for a while?" on her couch. You were in the Midwest, and did you come-- I was in Columbus, Ohio. Yeah, I lived in Columbus Ohio, I just moved back there, and for about a year and a half, I was just trying to figure it out, I had no clue. I wanted to make money, I wanted to have an impact in the world, I wanted to do something that I loved, I wanted to inspire people, but I had no clue how I was gonna do it, because the way I used to do it, I could not longer do. You had quite a few things stacked against you. What was the first step towards achieving those things? Brene Brown has this term she calls gold-plated grit, it's like, "I was down in my luck, "and this happened, and it was the worst day ever, "and then, I was right on top." It's just like you talked about the grit but there were really wasn't-- Eight years later, it's like just starting. You grinded, and grinded and grinded. Yeah, I mean, I think what you were talking about before, a lot of people wanna get to the top pretty quickly, they wanna make the money, or get out of their situation, and I think everything is a process and a journey. Everything has its time and its place. And even when we accelerate things, even with CreativeLive, when we learn, and we accelerate the learning process, it still takes time to master the processes. It still takes time to get the credibility and generate results over and over and over again to get us to where we want to be. At the peak level of performance there's still a trajectory that you can't exceed, or if you do, the chances of you staying there almost are zero. Very slim, very slim. Because you probably don't have the experience and the understanding and the awareness of where to take it and how to continue to maintain it. True. So, for me, the first thing I did was, after I watched a lot of TV and laid there with my sister's golden lab, which her name was Lady, the dog and just still like-- (chuckles) You laid there with lady. Laid there with Lady for hours everyday-- ♫ Lay lady lay That's a great song. Anyway, sorry about that. I started to find mentors. Again, my father really wasn't in the picture. I couldn't lean on him, because he was in his own recovery phase. And in some ways, I looked back at it, and I was really upset and frustrated that he had gone through this accident, because he essentially was like, "Go do your thing, "go live your dream, "and then when you're done playing football, "you can come work with me. "I've got this business, you can come, "I can just plug you in and away you go." But I didn't have that. Were you depressed? Were you clinically depressed? I don't know if I was clinically depressed, but I was just in a funk constantly, whatever that is. And even though I didn't necessarily wanna go work with my dad, that option wasn't there. His financial support, his emotional support, wasn't there at all. So, I'm a 24-year-old, I have no clue what I wanna do with the rest of my life, and I said, "I need to find some people "who can kind of create that support system for me." My family was there for me, my siblings, but I really wanted to find mentors that I could learn from. My siblings taught me a lot, but they didn't know the things I wanted to know in business and getting to the next level. So, I started reaching out, I was doing a lot of salsa dancing actually at the time, 'causeI just wanted to stay in my body. I wasn't able to use my arm, but I could move my legs. So I did a lot of Salsa dancing, and I would meet people that were passionate about life, and then I started to ask them questions, I started saying, "What is it that you do that excites you? "What are you most excited about? "What are you passionate about? "And how do you make money doing that?" And the more and more I did that, I just realized that there are so many options out there, there are so many things that people can do. It's crazy how many options are there to make money. So, many things that people can do to live an incredible life and make a full-time living. And some of these people weren't making millions of dollars, they were making a good living, but they were so lit up every single day around doing what they loved. I met this one guy salsa dancing, actually, I'll never forget. He told me one night, out in the corner of the salsa club, he's like, "I'm a public speaker, "and I inspire youth through my words," and I was like, "What a powerful thing to do, "to inspire people through speaking." He's like, "Oh yeah, and I make a 100 grand a year doing it, "just traveling the country, speaking to high schools." I was like "Really?" I was like, "I am terrified to speak in public." It is one of my biggest fears, like most people. Yeah, more than death. Yeah it's like it's a huge, I'm terrified of what people think of me, if I'm gonna sound stupid, if I'm not gonna say the right thing, I'm gonna humiliate myself. And I asked him for a meeting, I was like, "Can I meet with you and learn more "about how you are doing this?" And I never forget this, I met him in Columbus Ohio, at Eastern, at Barnes & Noble, there was a Starbucks in the corner, we sat there at a table and he told me that if I want to really make an impact in the world I need to learn how to communicate and speak on stage. Whether that's on a stage like this, or in front of a lot of people. He's like, "The greatest leaders in the world "know how to communicate, "and they can move people to action through their words." I thought to myself, "Wow, it's actually true." I started to think back about how presidents move people-- Coaches. Coaches move people, inspire people to take action, and believe in a vision, right? It all stems from a vision, it's about this creative process of using what's in our minds, and speaking it and getting it out in the world. He said, "You need to join this thing called Toastmasters. "If you wanna be a great public speaker, "there's a thing called Toastmasters." I had never heard of Toastmasters, he told me what it was, and he said, "If you wanna be great, start there. "Start somewhere, and this is the place." So, I joined this Toastmasters club, there was a local club in Columbus, Ohio. For those who don't know what it is, it's a public-speaking group, all around the world. In every major city you can join a group, it's like 50 bucks for the year. So, I joined this group, and I remember being so terrified. The first time I stood in front of this room of 20 friendly faces, who were there to support you-- Literally there to support you. Literally, they are like, on the edge of their seat, waiting for you, cheering, standing up, no matter what you say, just to build you up. And I spoke, the first time and I was just like, I couldn't look anyone in the eyes, I was trembling, I was shaking, I was sweating, and I was just like, I had not clue what I was saying. I was so terrified. But I remember the support and the encouragement, they were just like, "We would love "to have you come back next week." And I said, "Okay, I'm gonna do this, "I'm gonna come back every single week for a year, "and see how far I come." Wow! So, every week, I would train to be a better public speaker. The first speech I gave was a 60-second thing just introducing myself, but my official first speech was a five-minute speech called an icebreaker. I spent weeks on this five-minute speech, (Chase laughs) writing word-for-word, everything out. I had pages of my speech written out word-for-word, and when I got in front of the podium, I again, couldn't look anyone in the eyes, I had to look down on the notes, and read, word-for-word, my entire speech. And then I couldn't even look up when I was done, I just walked back to my seat, 'cause I was so terrified of the response. Did you go for the whole year? I went for the whole year, every week I went and I just gave myself another challenge, and said, "Okay, how can I go there, "and not read the entire time?" Like, I'm still gonna write down my speech, and I'm gonna read it, but how can I find a place to look up, and breathe? That was the next challenge. I gave 10 speeches in a year. The following speech, I was like, "Okay, how can I go up there, "and just look up and down the whole time, "but still have my thing written out?" Then, "How can I go up there with just no cards?" And just five bullets on each note, and then do it behind the podium. Then, "How can I go up there with no podium, "and just no cards?" And do the same thing. And then, "How can I do it with no cards, no nothing--" And no clothes on. Exactly, right? No clothes on. (Chase laughs) And each week, I just got more and more feedback, and during this time, I also had a coach that was there, like a mentor who was in Toastmasters who, I would go to his house and work on it after work, and he would give me an hour of his time to practice with him. So for me, it was about learning a new skill, it was about trying to become a master at a certain level, and finding a coach in that process to accelerate it. So, most importantly though, it's about communicating, right? Yeah, of course. To me that's the... Well A, the dedication. Let me back up a little bit. I love your point about communicating and how it's basically required for all leadership, and if you wanna manifest the thing you have in your mind, you have to rally other people around you, either to support or get on board, but specifically the practice, let's talk about that because I think there is this desire to go from zero to 10 overnight. 52 weeks of attending these things, 10 speeches over the course of the year, and that process was really step one, was it not? Step one, and I also gave myself a goal, I said "Okay, I'm gonna make $1,000 on a speech "by the end of this time." So, I gave myself a big scary goal, and I was like, "Who would pay me to speak about anything?" I had no skills, or no experience, besides being an average player in an Arena Football League, that got injured. So I was like, "Who would actually pay me?" But I said, "I need to have a goal attached to this," to give myself something to work towards as well. Not just become a great speaker, but what am I moving towards? What's the purpose of this? And that was the first step of the purpose, is like, "Let me see if I can monetize this "in some way in a year." And that's like, "How can I enroll someone "in the vision of having me speak? "Whether it be a local group, or high school, "I don't care, but this is what I'm gonna do." That challenge that I gave myself is something I think a lot of people don't do, we don't challenge ourselves enough. That's why I have a program where I'm constantly challenging people, to do something that seems a little scary to them. Otherwise, we're just working towards nothing, we're just working to build skills, but what is it for? So, create a challenge with a deadline and a date, and I think that steps up the ante of what you're doing. Tell me about your $1,000 speech. Yeah, at the time I was actually doing a lot of LinkedIn, I think you met me originally when I was teaching people about LinkedIn. During this time on my sister's couch, I was just trying to learn and grow about what was available for me, and blogging was pretty big back in 2007, 2008, guys like Chris Brogan and Guy Kawasaki were getting famous for doing this blogging thing. I was like, "This is amazing. "You can make money or build an audience, "or just like impact people through the Internet; "this is amazing." So, I learned about LinkedIn from another mentor, and said, "Why don't you check this out, "there might be some other opportunities for you." I spent about six to eight hours a day on LinkedIn just like optimizing my profile, diving into groups, connecting with people, meeting influencers, taking the online connections offline, and just learning from people in there, znd then people said, "Hey, can you help me with LinkedIn, "your profile is amazing, can you show me how you did it?" So, I started doing that for free, for friends. They were getting jobs, or landing deals. Then one guy was like, "I'll pay you $ "to do this for me," and I was like, "Really? "You'll pay me for this?" This is something I'm already doing that I like doing, that I'm good at. I optimized his profile, he paid me, and I just made a business out of that. I started doing more and more of the consulting for people; then that was my first speech, talking about LinkedIn and I made $1,000, like a local business chamber. Within the year, did you hit your goal? Within the year, yeah. I set a date, I put it on my wall, with the date I wanted to achieve it, and it happens, yeah. So, goal setting is clearly a huge part of your life. I know beyond that story that you've just shared, but I think it's interesting that that's actually a thing with everything, when you came out with The School of Greatness, you told me you were working on the book, and you said, "My goal is to get this thing "on the New York Times Bestseller list." I said I wanted it to be number one; I got number two. So, it's okay, sometimes you don't have it, right? The sting of defeat, come on. (Lewis laughs) This speaks into a lot of creative artists, and I'm assuming a lot of creative artists are watching and listening to this, and I think I have an awe for artists. I'm amazed at singers, musicians, people who can draw, video, any type of craft. Filmmakers, I'm just in awe, because it's so inspiring for me, because anything that someone can put out there, that gives me chills. I watched a video today, a 90-second video that literally gave me chills. Every hair on my body was risen and then I watched it 10 more times. A 90-second clip, that our mutual friend Jason Silva texted me this morning, and I was just like, I'm so in awe at creativity, when someone can create something. It's powerful, man. Right? And move you. And then move you to tears even, or move you to action, that's just so powerful. But I think that there's so many artists, and I'm speaking about artists, entrepreneurs, anyone creative, don't create goals and deadlines for themselves enough. They're too in the clouds, they're too in their mind about their art, and they're not as practical about creating some type of structure in the process. Yeah, let me talk about structure for a second. Yeah, go ahead. So, structure, I'm a person you described, and for me for a long time, when I decided to jettison everything, everybody else's plans for me, I talk about it in terms of if you don't write your own script, someone else will write it for you, and when I finally was brave enough to do that, and I was just like scraping by, taking pictures, selling fine-art prints in a couple, I did a commercial shoot that got me 500 bucks, and all these really, really small things, but it felt like a structure was there to keep me down. Like, oh man, I had left what everybody else wanted, so now it's like free and expression, what art and creativity requires. No boundaries, and what I found out shortly thereafter, maybe even not shortly, a couple years through that process, was structure actually-- Creates freedom. Yeah, it literally creates freedom. If there is something that you are doing over and over again, a Photoshop action or whatever, if you can find a way to automate or put that thing on rails as I call it, that frees up RAM for you to actually do the creative stuff, and once you've created something, how can you operationalize it and create a support network, whether that's peers, whether that's a morning routine; all those things that I felt were there to keep me down were actually amazingly powerful vehicles for action. So, does that match your-- Absolutely, and this is what I learned in sports. My whole life after sports has been based on, "Here is what I know what works." Sports is a structure; there's a practice schedule, everyday you show up on time, and you leave at a certain time. You have a vision; the beginning of the season, we have a big chalkboard, a whiteboard, that the coach says, "What is our dream? "What do we wanna create together as a team? "If we can imagine anything happening, "how are we gonna put it on paper?" And then we literally write it out, and we collectively say, "Yes, that's what we believe in, "that's what we wanna create this season, "the next three to four months." Then we say, "Okay, here is the game plan "for making this happen, this dream a reality. "Everyday we're gonna practice, "it's gonna be really freaking hard. "It's gonna be a lot of work. "There will be days you're gonna wanna not show up. "Some mornings, we're gonna do lifting, "and some nights we're gonna stay out late, "and whatever it may be to do more. "We're gonna watch game film, we're gonna do this and that, "and each week we're gonna have a game. "And that game is gonna show us what we need to do "it's gonna give us feed back on where we are at "to create the dream we want at the end of the season. "And we're just gonna keep moving forward, "and here's the structure." Now, within the game, since we know the plays, you have freedom to improvise in each play, and once you catch the ball, now it's on you to perform and to really let your artistic creativity come out and shine so that you can create awe, and an incredible moment for everyone watching. So the structure actually allows you, as an athlete, to be creative. {Chase] So true. So I've just translated that into business, that's all I knew. I didn't know anything in school, I wasn't really-- I love that you don't have to know stuff. You're taking something that you do know, it's not like there is something out there that you need to go sort of conquer this beast, before you do something. Even the conquering of the beast can be done with what you have right now, and all you need to do, is get to the next step. You don't need to hit the home run, you need to show up. That's it, I think it's important to have, I guess as an artist or entrepreneur, to a six-to-12-month vision, and make it like a season, maybe make it three months. Give yourself a season of time, not this five- or ten-year thing. You can have a bigger vision of what you wanna create your life, but six-to-12-month season of your life, "What do I really wanna create? "What would light me up, what would fulfill me, "What would be great if in six months, "I achieved this, or I was in this direction?" And really be clear, write it down, and give yourself a deadline. With that structure, that end game within the season, then you can play, you can be organized every single day to get you there. It's very simple, and that's what I've translated into my business. And I'm still not perfect at it. Yeah, you only got second place in New York Times Bestsellers. (Chase laughs) Exactly, second place, yeah. Incredible, congratulations buddy. So, I love the word play, I think we've talked about this before, I went to college on a soccer scholarship, and the concept of playing, in soccer, there's a strong Latin influence and it's a lot of self-expression, and this person has a particular style, and the concept of play, when translated to creativity, it's a perfect one-to-one match for me, and what I hadn't thought about that you just shared with me, there's this structure that sort of sports gives you, and when you're a solopreneur, an entrepreneur, or an artist trying to find a way to make a living, I think that the structure is missing largely, and it's on us to create that. So, there's gotta be different kind of structures for different folks. You mentor a lot of people now, you do a lot of giving back, you have some coaching, you have all kinds of online products. What can you tell the people at home about how to create their own structure? I think-- It's a tough question I realize. It depends on what you're trying to do, but here's what I'll say, I think it's always important to have a team involved in whatever you're creating, whether it's one person on your team or 10 people, or however many, because it's not fun creating something meaningful on your own. Yeah, in a basement, in a dark place-- Exactly, so whether it's just one person, an assistant, or partner, whatever it is, have a team in creating something. And maybe you say, "Well, I don't have any money, "I can't hire a team," well then maybe it's just a friend that you're an accountability partner with and you're crating that team. This is something I do with my team, that I started implementing about a year ago, is like once a week, we just do a check-in to realign our vision, and speak about, "Okay, here's what we're really creating, "what's the most important things?" Because I easily get distracted, there's so many opportunities coming my way, and I'm like, "Yes, yes, yes." And then I'm like, "Wait a minute, that's not really what we're doing. "And let's take a step back, "and make sure that we reconnect--" Every week you have a check. Every Monday we do a check-in, yeah. And we all start off with what we are most grateful for, and really get grounded, because I think we could easily... I think we have similar personalities. I can easily be triggered or upset with the best of them, right? And get negative, and frustrated about whatever's happening or not happening. So for me, I do this as a daily practice, to stay positive, to stay focused on what really matters, and I think gratitude, it's hard to be angry or upset, and grateful at the same time. (laughs) I've tried, I've tried. It's really hard. You can't literally even do those things. And if I'm ever off emotionally or upset about something I'm just like, "What am I grateful for?" And I'm like, "Man, I just feel so much better," 'cause there's so much good out there. I love the concept of a team, man. I really do, I think even a team of one, a peer, a parent, a sibling, like your sister was your first teammate, and suddenly that's-- And the Lady the dog. Just laying in my lap, just checking with the dog. Like it's doesn't even need to be human. Yeah, exactly. (laughs) So, yeah, the team. And here's what I'll say. An example, I have an online community, and that's part of this book, and this program. They create their own group, they create their own mini-group of five or six people, accountability group, and someone today left a comment in the group, and just like, "I'm so grateful that I have this group. "We check in for two hours a week, "and we have so much great ideas and inspiration, "it keeps me inspired and on track." And I think that's just so important, we were born to connect. We weren't born to be alone. So, make sure you're creating ways and facilitating that type of intimacy and connection once a week to stay on track. I love the structure, I also think that in particular there's a disposition for folks that identify as creative, entrepreneurial, that there is this sort of lone-wolf mentality. Yes. And one of the things that I had liked to check in with you on is, this sharing of the progress. Austin Kleon's been a guest in this show, he's got a great Mew York Bestseller called Show Your Work. It's about actually-- Show Your Work? Yeah, involving people in the process of making, it helps build this, there's a great community that ends up bubbling up around your work, whether you share it online, or in person, but the most sort of toxic thing is sitting in your basement and trying to make the perfect thing, especially when you're flying solo or if you have sort of a lone-wolf personality. So, Toastmasters sound like it was a vehicle for you, there are other vehicles, but I'm wondering if you see this as... Does this transcend? I think artists think they're their own bunch, creatives think they're their own bunch, but do you feel like this transcends, is this a human-thing connection? Or is it just a thing that-- I mean, again, if we're talking about sports, it's like you gotta connect with your teammates, your coach. Even if you're a tennis player, you still have a team around you, if it's a solo sport. So, it's reconnecting with your coach, your nutritionist, whoever, your sports psychologist, your family, and I think it translates to every area of life. Business, sports, relationships, artists. Yeah, for sure; you struggled early. Yeah. You pulled yourselves up by your own bootstraps. How long was that process of getting out of the mud? It was a couple of years, it was two years until I started to make a few hundred bucks a week or whatever. So I struggled for about a year and a half, two years of really not making any money. And it was frustrating, 'cause I remember I had another mentor that I was working with, probably about 20 hours a week. He's an inventor, he creates new products, brings it to the market, so I learned about design, I learned about PR, packaging, the consumer experience throughout this process, and he paid me 500 bucks a month, eventually. He would pay me 500 bucks a month, and I was like, "I could really use some money right now." Like, "I'm broke, and this sucks." And I'm living in Columbus, Ohio. It's pretty inexpensive to live there still, but 500 bucks a month is all I was making really. And he said something I'll never forget, I've mentioned this all the time; he said, "Money will come to you when you're ready for it." And I was like, "I feel pretty ready." (laughs) I'm checking my bank account. I'm like, "I'm pretty broke." I'm pretty ready. I'm pretty ready, but it's interesting, because I think back on that, all the time, because if I would have gotten like five grand just in my bank account at that moment, I probably would have blown it. I wouldn't have known how to reinvest it, or apply it to what I was doing. I would just have been like, "Oh!" 'Cause I had this mentality that I wasn't ready for it. And the more I started making money, I realized, "You know what, I have been putting in the work, "I've been creating the relationships, "I've been creating results over, and over again, "that deserves this type of money that I'm creating now." Like, "I see the worth that I'm creating," as opposed to just saying, "I'm worth it!" for doing nothing, and then I should just have money. No, I'm actually creating value over and over for people that is getting incredible results for their business and life, that, yeah, this amount is worth what I created. I think that it's a really interesting perspective, that, let's talk about it in terms of entitlement, I don't wanna talk about generations of people because I don't like drawing a whole circle around generations of people, but I think there is a disconnect that I see from people who are trying to make this shift into we'll say, working for the man, that's in air quotes, and trying to shift into something that is more in line with their lifestyle, or lifestyle business, around photography, design, film, music, entrepreneurship, and that is, there is a disconnect between what they do, or I'll say we, 'cause I found myself in this position. Do you do a thing, or do you add value? 'Cause at the end of the day, what you're really being measured by, and what's gonna get you invited back for more work, is, did you add value? Because someone's you giving money in exchange for something that thing is value, and if they give you $ and you deliver more than $500 of that value, at least at or above $500 of value, you are gonna have that person back in your life. Absolutely. And instead of just the act of going through the motions of say taking someone's photograph, or whatever, did you, above and beyond deliver that value or greater, and can you be honest with yourself on that process? Is that sort of the mentality that you're in at this point in your life? Right now? Absolutely. No. At that point? Yeah, at that point. Yeah, at that point, I was just like, I didn't even how to money, I was just like, "How you do you do this?" I had no clue, and when he told me that, it started to make sense afterwards. I was like, "I'm not really adding more value "to give to someone that's worth them giving "the amount of money that I want." I don't even know how much money I wanted, I was just like, "I'm broke, and I wanna make more." I was like the starving artist, right? Except I didn't have a creative talent like most artists. And so, I started to learn how can I package and position myself to add value, and then put a price tag on it. And once I started to learn that, everything changed for me. The whole game changed, I was like, "Wow! "Okay, I see how to position things." First, I started to add value, and get results for people, 'cause that's all that matters first. Yes. Then I see how to position it, and package it, so that people understand the value they're getting, and results they're going to get, so that when I sell it, it connects with them, they buy it, they take action, they get incredible results, then they tell their friends, and that creates a loop for me to get more sales, more customers, more results, more experience, which increases my rates, with all those things. So, it's this little virtual cycle happening. Yeah, it's its own loop, I guess, yeah. But it all stems from the value first. So, you're creating value-- And to are create value, you've gotta work on yourself to develop new skills. So, for me that was Toastmasters originally. A year of training. With you that was photography school, or whatever it was, the experience that you had to become a photographer initially, where you could charge for the value, but you've gotta build a skill first. Then I spent eight years researching and studying how to write a great book, and how to package and position a book. I didn't come out with a book, that was New York Times Bestseller, the moment I said, eight years ago, "I wanna write a New York Times Bestseller." 'Cause I wasn't ready for it, I didn't have the skills yet. So I put in the time, the energy, to develop the skills where I could have the value to position myself to potentially achieve the dream. Wow. (Lewis laughs) There's a lot of ifs; no I love it, I love the layers. I'm gonna try and put a bow on this concept that we've been talking about right now, and it sounds we're talking about, to me, correct me if I'm getting this wrong, but there is a plan that you are working toward everyday you're putting in effort, and that effort is going towards a goal-- I would call it a vision. A vision, okay. 'Cause I think- A plan is not very-- A vision is powerful. Yeah, and a plan is like, there is an evacuation plan in the door over there. I think the plan stems from the vision. We have a vision, that's what fuels us every morning. 'Cause a lot of people are like, "I don't know what I'm passionate about. "I don't know what I'm excited about." In the entrepreneur space I hear this, people that want to be entrepreneurs, and I say, "Figure out where your vision is." Go into nature, disconnect from all your phones and devices, and just get back to you. Go play in the park for days and days until you figure out what it is. But I think everything stems from a vision. What we dream about, and what we feel in our heart would be so rewarding for us. And that vision is partly, what I think, is what we're born to do. It's like God created us, or whoever you believe in, created us, I believe, for a reason, and that's to discover what our talents are, and our visions are, and our dreams are, and then it's our job to pursue them, with so much passion, because that's going to create a ripple effect around the people that watch us pursue our dreams. So how do we, in a non-cliched way, talk about passion, and the role that it played for you, and, ideally, your explication on how it pertains to others. For me it's the fuel, it's the fuel that says, "I'm gonna do whatever it takes, "above and beyond, every single day. "I'm gonna obsess over something to learn the skills "to create more value for people, "and to create the life that I want." The business I want, the finances, the opportunities, the health, whatever. So, it's the fuel. Then you create the boring game plan, right? The non-sexy thing, which is the game plan. It's going to Toastmasters for every week, for 52 weeks. Yeah, "Okay what am I gonna do? "I'm gonna go ever week single week," or, "I'm gonna work on photography an hour a day," or "I'm gonna," whatever, "go to this class, "I'm willing to invest in CreativeLive, "and I'm gonna do these courses, "because that's when I master my craft. "Then I'm gonna actually implement it, "and then I'm gonna give myself a challenge." You gotta give yourself a challenge, and a deadline. "Okay, I'm gonna land my first photography gig "for a wedding," or whatever it may be, or a corporate gig, "and I'm gonna charge $500. "That's what I'm gonna get for this "four-hour photography shoot by three months from now." You just gotta give yourself a deadline and a challenge, so that you then have the game plan to make that happen. That's a pretty good road map, and you got a little community thing in there-- Simple, yes add a coach, or support staff, or something. I love the simplicity. Simple. So this has been reasonably theoretical, and then we got a game plan out of that, so, that's a tactical thing. I'm gonna go into a little bit of Lewis. Let's do it. Okay. (Lewis chuckles) Your sports background, what do you feel like that gave you? An incredible edge over everyone else in my space who didn't play sports, because I just know, and again, let me take it back, because for me, it used to be, I wanted to win and beat everyone; after sports was over, I was like, "How am I gonna do this "so that I can be at the top of what I do?" And now I look at as, "How can I be at the top "but also bring everyone else with me? "How can I create a win-win?" It's not about beating someone or necessarily having the edge over them, but really knowing that I'm going to be able to go after what I want, and I can deal with the pain that comes on a daily basis. I was talking to Neil Strauss, and he shared a quote that Lionel Richie, Neil was a famous music journalist for years for Rolling Stone, interviewed Lionel Richie. He had a year, he said, where everything happened. He won a Grammy, he had a platinum record, every possible accolade. So, he was on top, and he said, "You know what? "When I clawed my way up that mountain, "you know what was there when I got there? "Nothing." (laughs) Yeah, yeah. Literally nothing, so I love your concept. Do you feel like sports is a part of that? I just don't know of any other experience that we have-- It's what you know right? It's what you know. I mean, I just don't know anything else that a child could go through in their teens, or up 'til they go to college that facilitates the type of community-- Teamwork. Teamwork, the type of shared vision, the type of constant challenge, daily challenge, the type of physical pain you have to go through, emotional pain. Unless you go to like army-school boot camp when you're 12 or something and they put you through the same thing, I just don't know anything else. Debate club or something is not going to compare with the physical pain you feel, and the emotional pain, as like football and soccer. Yeah. Winning, losing... Everything, there is so much ups and downs, that the adversity you face in that part of your life, you can handle so much more adversity when you try to like learn something new, because I'm learning every single day as an entrepreneur. When I scale my team, it's like, "I've never done this before. "I've never brought on more and more people, "so how do I do this?" I have no clue, but I have been through so many adverse moments that are way more challenging than this, where a guy literally spears me in the ribs, full speed, last couple plays of the game, and I've broken three ribs and I've gotta get up and finish the game. And there's thousands of people watching, and my dad just got in a car accident the night before, and he's in a coma and we don't know if he's alive. All the pain that is stacked against you that happens from sports, and the vision, and your community, and your peers, and all the emotional stress that comes to you, it's just like, the challenge in business, it doesn't even compare to what we've been through as athletes, for most of us. What would people not know about you that they'd surprised to find out, if you told on them right now on this show? I'm pretty open, if they've watched any of my stuff or read my book, I'm pretty open about all the things I've done, but I would say that I love romantic comedies. (chuckles) Romcoms, no way! I love romantic comedies, yeah. What's your favorite Romantic Comedy? Love Actually, it's one of the greatest comedies of all time. There was a woman next to me on the plane; we're in L.A. now, I just came from New York. This woman next to me, watched Love Actually-- It's amazing. Twice. It's amazing, man. She watched it twice, on the same flight. Is it that good? I'll tell you another fact is that every time I watch the movie Rudy, I cry. Rudy, oh man, I remember that. Every time I watch the movie Rudy. And, here's one that probably people would never guess. I have watched the Justin Bieber movie many times, and I always cry in the part where his grandfather's talking. If anyone's watched the movie. (Chase laughs) So, yeah. I love it. Morning. Talk to me about how important your morning is to you. It's important because when I am consistent with my morning routine, I am way more productive and focused towards my vision throughout the day. And when I'm not, which happens often, 'cause I'm traveling, or I just don't make it a priority or I think that, "Ah, I've got it down," and I don't do it, I notice it, I feel myself slower, I feel myself not as focused, distracted, not this kind all the time, and I feel it. So, morning routine is very important. When I'm on the top and I do it, it's wake up and say thank you and express gratitude. Again, everything stems from gratitude; it's hard to be angry and grateful at the same time. I've tried, you can't be. (chuckles) It's really challenging. So, start with gratitude, whether you wanna say it to the person next to you or you wanna write it down, you wanna call someone and tell them what you're grateful for, start there. Then for me, when I work out in the morning, I feel better. I just feel better. Move your body? Move the body. Do whatever workout you wanna do. For me, I'm always mixing it up. Then 10 minutes of meditation, I usually do 10 minutes before I start, and I use Headspace, an app called Headspace. I think it's incredible, it's simple, it's easy to use. It's not a religious thing, it's just like, do 10 minutes and it's gonna set you up for the day. A smoothie or a green juice, and always make my bed, obviously, brush my teeth and shower, and then I feel like that's a great morning. Why make your bed? It's something, and I went to boarding school when I was 13 years old, and we had to make our rooms every single day. I hated it, I hated making my room, I never made it when I was at home, and we had to make it there and we would get essentially scored, like a grade, on our room. We always tried to rebel, and I didn't really like doing it, and actually it wasn't 'til after sports was over, pro football was over, a couple years into business, I remember meeting a monk who said you should make your bed every morning, and the reason why. I was like, "Really? My mom's been telling me for years, my house parents were trying to get me to do it, never wanted to do it, until he was like, "You know what? "It's gonna set you up for an incredible day. "It's gonna have you build momentum." The most important thing in everyday is building momentum, because you can just wake up and just do nothing for hours, but when you complete something in a positive way and you clear your space, you clear the energy from what you went through last night in your dreams or the previous day and you clear it, you are setting yourself up for a clean space to create something powerful today. So, 90% of the time I'm making my bed, every morning, when I wake up. I hated it as a kid. Also, it's one of the things my parents required of me. They didn't have many rules, but that was one. My mom's a neat freak to say the least, and yet, as an adult, I find it powerful. It's like therapeutic to do it. It is, there's something-- You complete something; at least if you do that, you know, "I did something today." And then as much, it's that you come back at the end of the day, to your bed and finding a bed-- That's nice. Yeah, there's something that's sort of, it's not civil, it's welcoming. I might have had a hard day, and this might have created this challenge and that challenge, but I did... It's so simple, right. It's rewarding too. But it sounds trite of childish, but there is something that's simple and inviting. It's visually clean; I'm a very visual person, so clutter freaks me out. However, I just realized I never make my bed when I stay hotel rooms. No. I just stay in hotel rooms like hundreds of days a year, so I don't know what that's about, that's my rebellious side. Me too. Alright, so you make your bed; nighttime routine? You have one? Yeah, it depends but-- Arianna Huffington sat here and told me that she takes a bath every night. She puts where all screens 30 minutes before bed. I'm like I usually go 'til I can't move anymore, and then I just, wherever I fall down, that's where I sleep. I'm not like as optimized in my nighttime as I could be but the goal is to pass out before midnight. How important is play for you? It's extremely important. I feel like that's what keeps me childlike, is playing. What kinds of things do you do for play? Salsa dance, play ultimate Frisbee, Frisbee golf, play pickup basketball. Yeah, just walk around the town and hang out. Do you build community, as in draw people to you, or do you attend community, and does that say anything about you? I'd say both. I'm bringing people, then I'm also going out to different experiences and connecting in new places. How about is there someone in your life, right now, who is playing an unexpectedly powerful role, that you didn't expect to be learning from and there's this someone in your life? You don't need to name names, but what role does this person play? And the reason I ask is because when I find out that I'm open to inspiration coming from anywhere, and dispelling the hierarchy of the universe, I learn from the people who are above me, but when you realize you can learn from anyone; is there anybody in your life that's teaching you something that you-- Yeah, there's some who is teaching me, that's pushing up against all my buttons just teaching me a lot about myself. (chuckles) Any depth there, can you go? Yeah, I mean it's my girlfriend, she is teaching me a lot. It's interesting, I feel like I can connect with so many different types of people, and I can definitely connect with my girlfriend on an amazing level, but it's just the dynamic of an intimate relationship, I'm learning so much more about myself every single day. It just opens up more and more for me. We are gonna go to School of Greatness now. Yeah. School of Greatness, started out as a podcast. Yes. Then became a book. Started out as an idea. Started out as an idea or vision? A vision. Recap that vision for us, 'cause this is a great book, if you are not listening, if you're watching, actually if you are listening, I'm holding up a book right now. It's a good-looking cover, I think your friend Nick Owen shot that photograph. He did shoot that, yes. School of Greatness: Real-World Guide To Living Bigger, Loving Deeper, and Leaving a Legacy. So, presumably this didn't come out of view full-formed, it came out, like things do, in any many small chunks over a long period of time. Yeah, it came out from two adversities. The first one is I moved to L.A. from New York City for a girl. How'd that go for you? The day I moved, she broke up with me. Literally the day you moved. Day I moved. I had gotten rid of my lease in New York City, I didn't yet have a place to stay in L.A.-- Can I call this woman right now? (laughs) Let her know what's up? It's all good. Okay. There's no hard feelings. It all worked out the way it needed to. Which I look back to and I'm very grateful for the experience. We ended up getting back together, breaking up like for another six months or something, and it was just a really stressful and emotional for me, but it taught me so much about myself, and it was like a huge blessing and I'm extremely grateful for that experience, and for everything. But being in L.A., I didn't wanna be in L.A., I wanted to stay in New York, but I came for this girl that was like didn't wanna be with me, and so I was like, "Why am I doing this?" And I was upset at myself, and I was like I told myself I would never move for a girl, and I was just beating myself up, felt humiliated, all these things, right? Ended up was like, "You know what? "I'm not gonna run back to New York, "I'm gonna stay here and see what great comes from this." Being in L.A. I'll make the best of it. So, about six or seven months in... So that was the first adversity. The second adversity is, I was in L.A. traffic, and you're in L.A. traffic today, here-- Oh, hell. It's a lot right? It's a lot. I think the intersection of the Five and 405 is one of the worst places on the planet. It's pretty bad. It's horrible. It's pretty bad, although I was just in Cairo, a couple of months ago, and that city is insane, traffic-wise. I mean those cities make our problems look--- Yeah, exactly. Thank you for putting that in perspective. (laughs) Exactly, be grateful over here. For sure, I love the 405 and and the Five intersections. It's actually stop lights, and rules. So, I was driving in traffic one day, I don't know, to go to workout or something. I remember just being like, "This traffic sucks. "This is not fun," and so many people were getting mad and just like, there's gotta be a way to lift people up in this adversity they're facing everyday, whether it be in L.A. or wherever around the world in traffic. And this was in 2012. When did I launch it, in 2012? January 2012? 2013. Yeah, so in 2012, towards the end, I was like Pat Flynn and Derek Harper, and John Lee Dumas were doing these podcasts, and I would ask them, I was like, "Is this actually working for you? "Are people like listening?" And they're like, "It's actually one "of the most powerful things for my business. "I'm building my audience, I'm connecting with people, "it's inspiring them." I was like, "Really? "This podcasting thing that I thought was dead?" And they were like, "Yeah." It's weird, I had a really early, like 2006, 2007 thing, I was doing a video podcast on iTunes back then. And then it died. Yeah. And then it came back in 2011, 2012, '13, and I was like, "Huh, if these guys can do a podcast, "I think I could do a podcast." As you know, I'd built a lot of great relationships for years, and I was like, "Why don't I just have great conversations with people "and record 'em," like you do, "and put them out them out there? "I think it could really inspire people "who are driving in traffic." And I was just thinking the idea, I was like "What would be a good name for this podcast?" And I remember talking to a friend of mine, who was like, "You should do it on business and marketing, "or call it the Lewis House Show," or this and that, I was like, "I don't want to pigeonhole it into one specific thing," but he was like, "This is what you teach, "you tell people to get into a niche "and then expand from there. "You started with LinkedIn, you went and expanded from there." And I was like, "I understand what I said, "it's like do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do thing." But I was like, "I want do something different, "and I want it to be broader, "and I want it to be about learning and education. "but I was horrible in school, "so why don't we call it like the School of Greatness?" And that's kind of how it came, I was like I want it to be about inspiration, and greatness and unlocking your human potential. Where do ideas like that come for you? For me from conversation, again, all comes back to connection, not to try and do it on your own. Team, connection, community. Getting feedback, and like oh, that a good idea. It's like still like an artist type of thing. It's like oh, cool, cool, cool, and just like, let's put it together into something that connects to the vision. And so, I was like alright, Alright, I'm gonna do this thing once a week, for a year. And again, I just gave myself a deadline-- Toastmasters 2.0. Gave myself a game plan, I was like I'm gonna create, one episode a week, for a year. I think I missed one or two in the first year, and I launched it at the end of January, 2013. Did it every week for a year, it was horrible in the beginning, the sound quality was bad, I was getting all this negative feedback from production value, but I was just like alright, how can I make it better? Again, like a football game, in the first game of the season, you are gonna be pretty bad. There's gonna be a lot of feedback, you're gonna watch the game film, your coach is gonna point out 100 mistakes you make. So, hopefully you make 90 mistakes the next week. And so, I just continued to improve each week. "Okay, let me just get a little bit better mic "as opposed to using my iPhone in like a loud place, "maybe that will help. "Let me do a little bit more research beforehand "and actually have some better questions. "Let me not talk as much and let them talk more; "let me dive in and just really listen. So, each week I gave myself a challenge, feedback, based on what people were saying. And I just improved, improved, improved. I remember, eight years ago, I had this vision for the book, and Steve Hansenman, my agent, was like, "I think we should do a book," and I started writing a proposal around like a business book. So we spent all this time writing this business book, but as this podcast was happening, and growing, my podcast listeners were like, "Will you create a community for us, "so we can learn more about the principles "and have an online course around The School of Greatness?" And so, I created the School of Greatness Academy, that people fell in love with and we are getting results around The School of Greatness Principles. And I was writing a proposal for a business book at the same time. And this course was growing, and this community is growing, and the podcast was growing, and then we finished the proposal for this business book, and he's like, Okay, "We're gonna go shop it, and it's time to sell the book." And I was "Uh, I don't think this is the book I want to do." He's like, "What do you mean?" Steve is like, "What?" "What do you mean, we just spent two years on this." and I was like I know. How hard is that? It was hard, he goes, "What do you wanna write about?" I was like I think I wanna write about greatness. Like the School of Greatness, this is what lights me up more than anything right now, my community is telling me they want more of this, I know it's not a specific business book which might sell really well, but it's like a broader topic, and it's more vague sounding, so it's not as like a concrete, but I just feel like it's gonna be incredible. He's like, "Alright, "well if that's what you wanna do let's do it." So we redid the whole proposal, so it started with the podcast, then an online community with a course, then the book, now we are just deepening the brand. We're launching more and more things around that, now it's gonna be a conference, and experiential events, at the end of this year called The Summit of Greatness. Do I get to go? You get to go yes. Yes. And that's where it's going, it all stemmed from an idea of I wanna inspire people who are stuck. Literally stuck in traffic, but stuck in their lives, and just aren't fully inspired or they want information to get to the next level. Wherever that level is in any area of their life. And so, I bring on professors, who are at the top of their game, to teach the non-traditional ways of learning. Things that I didn't learn in school that I think every school should be teaching, to help us have a great life. You have an incredible class in CreativeLive, speaking of teaching; I wanna give you props as a teacher. Thank you. You wanna recap the class? Well, I did one the first one, I think it's one of like the best selling or something, in the business category, it's about how to build and launch you online business essentially. Online business. It's like three years old now I think. It still lights out though. There is this like creating online business, yeah, it is high quality, and you're a very motivational an inspirational cat. The class, if I'm remembering correctly,, you had a cast of students that were in your class-- Someone made 22 grand that weekend, you remember? So, you taught them how to find something in their world that they are passionate about-- Yes. On the first day; the second day, you spent setting up like literally a store online. A webinar with a PayPal link. A webinar with a PayPal link, and in the third day, the students performed a live webinar-- One student did, yeah. One student, within the context of class. So, is the class watching people start a class? It was like implemented this right now, yes. Like literally in the moment, and she-- She made like 22 grand, I think, 21,000-something in an hour. From that class, yeah, yeah. In real time. Real time. And we filmed it on CreativeLive, and said okay, "We are gonna show you what she is doing real-time, "show you the numbers." She had no clue she was doing that, and until she got there. So, check out that class on CreativeLive, it's a super bad-ass class. Lets get back to principles though, principles on the book, you talk about the 10? Is that right? Eight Principle of Greatness. Eight principles. Yeah, eight is great man. We want the folks at home to pick up the book. I'll tell you, how much time do we have? I'll tell you a couple of principles. Go for it. How much time do we have? Enough. Enough time. Enough, you have to give in a few principles. I'll say the first and the last one and then you can ask me about more if we have time. The first is what we were talking about over and over today. And I think it's speaks to entrepreneurs, to artists, to moms, to people in business whatever it is. In sports, any area of your life. If you want to be great, if you wanna have a great family, if you wanna have the child of your dreams, you have to have a clear vision first. It starts with vision. Vision, vision, vision. How do you capture the vision? This is tactical, I know we are talking about principles but how do you capture the vision? How do you get clear on you're vision you mean? And then how do you sort of represent it? Do you write it down? Do you staple it? Do you draw it? It depends, for getting clear, it all depends on what you want. So, you gonna ask yourself, what do I want in this life? At least right now, what's my vision for the next six months, a year, 10 years. Think about a vision that you have. And again, I played baseball all the way up until senior year. It was a big vision of mine, a dream of mine to play baseball, every single season. My senior year, I was just like, "I'm not inspired by this anymore." So, it wasn't my vision anymore. So, visions can change, they can evolve. You can love something for a while, and get burnt down and then go on to the next thing. Do you write it down? I write it down, absolutely. I'm very clear about my vision. When it comes to me, I'm like okay, "Here is my vision, "or what I wanna create for the next year. Lets say, and I write it down, And I create a deadline of when I wanna create it by. And the goals associated. And the goal associated, and then I create a game plan from there. The vision, so it could be I wanna have a family. Two, a boy and a girl, as mom, right. Okay, that's a vision, I wanna have a family, so, I wanna meet someone within a year, and I'm gonna put a date on it. And then I'm gonna create the life, I'm not gonna wait and hope it comes to me. You are talking about, when you say vision, you are also like literally, envisioning? Yeah, of course. This is some mental framing. And then you are putting it out there and you are like set me up with someone, put me on dates, I wanna put myself out there more, whatever it is. It's the same thing with business, life and everything. Everything stems from a vision, getting clear on it, writing it down. I frame it, I put it on my wall as if it's already been achieved, by a specific date. And then I create the game plan. Give me a little more context there, is like it was so great that I achieved the New York Times Bestseller list Yeah, it's more of like I call it Certificate of Achievement. So, this Certificate of Achievement, is awarded to Lewis Howes, for achieving, what. And you frame that thing, what is that thing? You frame it literally and figuratively. And the you literally and figuratively, you put the day it's awarded, by this date, signed your name. So you are awarding it to yourself. Wow! Maybe that's a little woo-wooey or something sounding-- No, it's cool. This is what I've been doing in sports, as a kid we did this in sport. You got to what you know. Exactly, so, I frame it for everything. For me it's powerful reminder to, again stay focused on the dream. And so, I see it, I remind myself of it everyday when I'm looking at it. Every Monday, you talk to your team about. Every Monday, I mean it's even more often, we are connecting an more. Every Monday, it's just what is our vision? Why are we doing this? So, that's the first principle. First principle of greatness is, get clear on you're vision. The last principle of greatness? We are here for more than just ourselves. Again, we shouldn't be here to be a lone wolf, we're here to connect and create together. Last principle, on my mind is the most powerful as living a life of service. Your vision, should be to serve, in whatever capacity possible. Goes back to that adding-value thing. It's all about adding value, all about adding value, service. So, it doesn't mean I need to donate all my time to the shelters, and just like give constantly in that format, for me service is like, how can I impact with every interview that I do, or every thing I create, how can I impact a maximum number of people for their lives? And for me that's my way of service. It's like I'm doing this to serve, I'm doing this to give back, I'm not charging for the things that I do, or all these things I do, is to give, is to create opportunities for growth in people's lives. So, you wanna to look at how can make the biggest amount of impact on the people around you? I think it's the most rewarding gift you can give yourself, is to give something away. I'm gonna give a shout out to a friend Chris Jordan. I went to his house, he is a photographer, very well known photographer, fantastic ted speech. Incredibly powerful work. Works of the environment, and I went to his house, and he has several gongs, is like, man, you can come check out my gongs. I was like, "Cool dude" I guess I'll check out you're gongs. And if you've ever with the intention of listening and experiencing a gong, sitting in a room. There's a gong, hanging in front of you, and you take this big beautiful mallet, and whack that thing, and you stand in front of it. It is transcendent, I'm telling you, it's very very powerful. When I left his house he gave me one. I mean this is a gigantic brass thing I could barely lift the thing, it is one of the most beautiful things I've ever received. Really? It was completely unexpected and I know giving away things is not necessarily physical gifts, but my point is that I was not expecting it, and people don't move to the world expecting to get things for free, I guess most of the people that I know anyway. And that gift of giving, whether it's volunteering at the shelter or giving a gong to your friend. It's very powerful, this reciprocity of giving and receiving, I think is under articulated in our country, our time, our culture is what I meant to say. And certainly undervalued. So, be inservice, give. Yes. Let's shift gears now, so that's the book, A couple of principles I can share more if you want. Yeah, I want the folks at home again, Lewis's book, also give us some great talks about that, we're together at WDS, the World Domination Seminar, friend Chris Gillebeau puts that on every year, a phenomenal gathering. It's amazing. It's what inspired me to do my Summit of Greatness. I was there and I was like this is incredible. I wanna create it for my community yeah. So cool, so it's gonna be at the end of the year, and I'm sure that people that are following you, that they'll know how dial that end. Before I forget, give me some coordinates on the internet of your @lewishowes. @lewishowes everywhere except for Snapchat. It's Lewis_Howes. Some squatter just--. I got it myself originally then deleted the app like a year and a half ago, and I got back on and I cannot remember my password. Oh no. Ad I didn't know how to figure it out-- I'm having so much fun with Snapchat. It's fun, you're doing really well. I'll be following you. It's so fun. You're good at it. It's creative in a moment. Quick. Yeah, it's super quick, I enjoy it and it allows a connection of one to one level, that can really reply to a lot stuff in a short amount of time. It's super fun and very engaging. So, before we close, a speed round. Ready? Let's do it. Food you won't eat. Any fruit besides apple and banana. Wow. No berries, no fruit, besides apple and banana. Texture, or? Texture, taste, everything. Smell. Taste? Who doesn't like raspberries? I have these taste buds like a seven year old. So, chicken nuggets for dinner for you every night? No, but I learned not to healthier, I used to eat just chicken tenders and french fries and pizza. But now I'm like-- Can you validate this, either one of you guys? I eat very healthy, actually, now, but I just don't like fruits and berries. But I eat a lot of bananas and apples. Cardio or weights? Depends on the season, but usually weights. Morning or night? Night. Depends on what we're doing. I've got several curveballs already. What did you learn yesterday, meaningful, what was the lesson you took with from yesterday? Last thing I learned yesterday was stay focused, because I was having a talk with my COO, he was like, "There's just a lot on your plate right now. "In the beginning of the year, you had a clear focus "and you said yes to a lot. "So it's time to reconfigure "and stay focused on the vision." So, again I was going back like committing to what you want, and staying on it. I could be easily distracted with the best, I'm like yes, yes, yes. Let's do it, put in my schedule. Put it on my plate, and it's like oh, I'm like exhausted. If the question is yes or no, what's your answer? You are clearly trapped here. Yeah, how to be creative to like expand my plate and then my team to still do it, stay focused on the most important things. Put it up for later. Do you schedule things? or are you a militant scheduler? Yeah, all day, it's all scheduled. Do you mean I go off the schedule? That'll be yeah. So, you start with a plan and then you ar willing to-- Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I change things last minute all the time. Do you have a format for the doing that? My assistant schedules everything for me. Does he ever need direction? Time, like schedule if for 10 minutes, schedule is of 30 minutes, an hour. Usually like after I try to schedule everything to after 10' O clock. So, I can all of the stuff into my morning, and not feel rushed, so yeah. What's a mistake you've made in hiring? I made a mistake with these two. No, I'm just kidding. Two awesome people in the room I didn't know what I was doing early on, and I think I wanted to hire the first people that I found. I was like, "Oh, do you wanna do it? "Okay let's do it." Do you have a heartbeat? Are you willing? Great you're hired. There is a need usually for entrepreneurs or someone who is hiring, and I'm an impatient person at times, and I want the need filled yesterday. You know what I mean? And so, being very patient and asking the right questions when hiring has been something that I've learned how to better at. I continue to be better at it. But making sure that I think someone wants to be with your team, and it's aligned to your vision. As opposed to they just wanna learn everything, and then leave in three months. And then that's exhausting. So, finding people that wanna be a part of the team, and part of vision as opposed to just like let me take all the skills that I can take from you and then leave, so that's just not what I'm looking for personally. What's your best social platform? How do you express yourself best socially? For the folks out there that might not have time-- Good hands. Yeah, I still got them. I was a receiver and defensive back too. I would say, this is probably not technically a social platform, but my podcast on iTunes, right now is the best. Just the impact an hour long interview gives. to someone's life. Amen to that. Someone you've loved to interview. Today, been watching Jim Carrey videos. It's inspiring videos. Jim Carrey, Will Smith, and the Rock are my top three this year. Got it. How about somebody you've already interviewed that you got a lot of value from it, it's like your audience did too. Tony Robbins, I interviewed him a year ago, and I'm actually interviewing him in two days. Again, for the second time, but his insights were pretty powerful people. What is it you love about Tony? He is so certain of his vision, and so certain of who he is. Is crystal isn't it? Crystal clear. Very clear, and I love that inspiration. What's missing right now for you? I wish I could clone myself. Time? Yeah, it's just like I have so many ideas that I wanna creative. I feel lime I'm an artist in my own sense, and I just wanna create them faster. And so learning how to either build the team to create together the team faster or I don't know it's like figuring out the process about how to create faster, with just as much value and meaning behind it not just like lets just get it out to get out. But it's like still awe-inspiring to people when they get it, and I don't have to spend all my time on it. What's one thing I didn't ask you? That you would like to tell the world. I'd like to tell the world this quote that I like saying, it's people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care. And I think nothing matters unless you care about people and they know that you care about them. Doesn't matter what you create, how great of an artist you are, businessman you are A woman, whatever significance you've created I think really at the of the day it doesn't matter unless people know you care. I wanna echo that, and just gonna say that having gratitude and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not giving it. A lot of present stacked up on my closet that I'm ashamed that I haven't given, I need to back that a little bit more. I'm grateful for a lot of things, and a lot of people don't know that. Is that your quote, it's a good one, I'm gonna steat that, I quote you No, I'm sure it from somebody way smarter that me, but maybe we should do some research. My man, speaking of grateful for you, your time, you are willing to sit down for us for 90 minutes here and unpack you The School of Greatness and help people here in CreativeLive live the dreams and career, and hobby and life. Thanks man, I appreciate it. Alright, we gotta go, he's gotta get back on the freeway here in Los Angeles, he has only got four and a half hours to his next thing and that's tough in Los Angeles. That's two miles away. That's two miles away, thanks for tuning in, there will be another video tomorrow. (resolute rock music)