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What Is Holding You Back From Greatness? | Lewis Howes

Mar 8, 2023 53m 33s 16 insights
<p><em>New episodes come out every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for free, with 1-week early access for Wondery+ subscribers.</em></p> <p><em>---</em></p> <p><br /></p> <p>It's hard not to like Lewis Howes. He's extremely open about his personal struggles, from childhood trauma to romantic challenges, from family drama to failure and self-doubt. Lewis is a voracious learner, relentless in his pursuit of his interests–and he'll bust his ass to get to the bottom of things in his own life.</p> <p><br /></p> <p>His main area of interest is what he calls greatness. He hosts a podcast, a very popular one, called The School of Greatness. He has spent many many years interviewing people who have excelled in all sorts of areas and has become a true student. Lewis now has a new book, called The Greatness Mindset, in which he shares what he's learned via all of these interviews and his own personal work.</p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>In this episode we talk about:</strong></p> <ul> <li>The source of Lewis's interest in greatness</li> <li>The difference between a powerless mindset and a greatness mindset </li> <li>The pernicious impact of self-doubt</li> <li>How to counter your inner critic via a 'contract with yourself' </li> <li>How to face your fears</li> <li>The importance of mission and purpose</li> <li>Where selfishness fits into finding your mission and purpose</li> <li>And we have a friendly debate about the law of attraction</li> </ul> <p><br /></p> <p><br /></p> <p><strong>Full Shownotes:</strong> <a href="https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/lewis-howes-571" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/lewis-howes-571</a></p>
Actionable Insights

1. Define Meaningful Mission

Define your meaningful mission in a single sentence, ensuring it’s not solely about personal gain but also includes serving and impacting others, as this provides deeper purpose and drive for a ‘greatness mindset’.

2. Commit to Deep Healing

Explore various healing modalities to address original emotional wounds, allowing you to interpret events differently, create new meaning from past memories, and respond consciously instead of reactively. This includes cultivating full love, acceptance, and forgiveness for all past memories up to the present.

3. Face Fears Systematically

Create a ‘fear list’ by identifying all your fears and systematically ‘knocking them off’ by facing them directly, starting with the scariest ones, to build confidence and progressively become ‘fearless.’ Tackle significant fears by immersing yourself in them consistently, working with coaches, and practicing continuously.

4. Cultivate Inner Peace

Embark on a journey of meditation, consciousness, and self-reflection to find inner peace amidst stress, practicing frequently even for short durations like five minutes a day. Stop abandoning yourself in intimate relationships by people-pleasing; instead, cultivate inner peace (‘be peace’) rather than trying to buy it.

5. Create Self-Identity Contract

Counter self-criticism by creating a written and signed ‘contract’ with yourself, defining a healthy identity (e.g., ‘I am a loving, passionate, wise man’) and affirming it whenever old self-criticism arises to build a healthier identity.

6. Embrace Continuous Practice

View self-improvement practices like meditation and coaching as continuous, similar to exercise; don’t stop once you feel good, or you risk losing progress, as freedom requires constant effort and application.

7. Seek Professional Support

Hire an emotional coach or other professional support to guide you through healing processes and continuous improvement, even when things are going well, as enlisting support is crucial for growth.

8. Practice Lewis’s Law of Attraction

Be very clear on your intentions, have a deeper meaning for why you want something (beyond superficial reasons), and then take massive, consistent action to create it. Develop effective communication, congruence with your mission, and emotional intelligence to manifest goals faster.

9. Uncondition Unhealthy Training

Uncondition yourself from past training (e.g., ‘rub dirt on the wound,’ ‘don’t show pain’) that may lead to success but drains inner harmony, peace, and fulfillment, to achieve a more sustainable and fulfilling way of being.

10. Balance Selfish & Service

Prioritize service and mission first, celebrating personal successes as byproducts and using them to amplify the mission rather than as ends in themselves, and quickly return focus to service. Stay humble and grateful, as life will provide humbling experiences if you become too caught up in ego or success.

11. Learn from Others’ Pain

Learn from the pain and suffering of others to gain clarity and avoid paths that lead to similar negative outcomes, using their experiences for your benefit and to make different choices.

12. Share Past Pains

Share past pains, traumas, and shames with trusted individuals (intimately, spiritual guide, friend, spouse, family member) to liberate yourself from their power and avoid being defined by others’ opinions.

13. Adapt Mission to Seasons

Define your current life season (e.g., exploring, resting, stuck) and clarify your meaningful mission within that specific season, understanding that action plans can adapt to your current phase of life.

14. Reflect on Mortality

Reflect on the impermanence of life and the proximity of death to fuel passionate action towards creating something in the world, making something, and helping others, fostering a sense of urgency.

15. Be a Voracious Learner

Be a voracious learner, relentless in pursuit of your interests, and ‘do the work’ to get to the bottom of things in your own life, becoming a true student by interviewing and learning from people who have excelled.

16. Take Action with Game Plan

Develop a clear game plan and take action aligned with your mission, understanding that action doesn’t always mean extreme hustling but adapting to life’s seasons and being clear on the mission.