BOOK SUMMARY 208 The School of Greatness
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Summary written by: Justin Gasbarre
"What The School of Greatness is going to teach you
is, first and foremost, what is great and special about you"
- The School of Greatness, page XIX
I
first came across Lewis Howes, author of The School on Greatness,
via his podcast a number of years ago. Lewis would interview (and still does)
big timers in business, athletics, authors, etc. and each episode was a gold
mine! Fast forward a few years, now comes his bestselling book The
School of Greatness, which at a high-level is a compilation of the amazing
insights from his podcast guests.
Lewis
Howes, among being an author and podcast host, is a lifestyle entrepreneur,
speaker, business owner, and pro athlete! In his book, he shares with us tips,
insights and habits from “the greats” he’s had on the podcast which cover the
following topics: Creating a vision, turning adversity into an advantage,
cultivating a champion’s mindset, developing hustle, and living a life of
service.
What I
love most about this book is its informal flow. I felt like I was listening to
Lewis speak while reading it. Each chapter begins with a “get grounded”
paragraph which sets the tone for the context of what is going to be read and
finishes up with a “coaching tip” which leaves you with some actionable
takeaways and motivation as you wrap up.
The Golden Egg
Master your body
"Greatness
isn’t about working a lot or making a lot of money. It’s about having purpose
and being the best that you can possibly be."- The School of Greatness,
page 127
Foundationally,
in order to be successful in anything that we do we must be healthy enough to
actually do it. Our health affects our ability to be good parents, partners,
friends, clients, leaders, etc. Yet while we inherently know this, taking care
of our bodies is one of those things that we often brush off because of how
“busy we are”. There’s a great quote in the book from Richard Branson who
was “asked for his best piece of advice. His answer was one word: exercise.
Why? Because if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of your
business.”
An
often overlooked topic when it comes to health is our brain health. Lewis
interviewed a leading American psychiatrist, Daniel Amen who said, “Your brain
is literally involved in everything you do. How you think, how you feel, how
you act, how you get along with other people, and when it works right, you work
right. When it’s troubled, though, for whatever reason – toxic exposure, head
trauma, drug abuse, lack of oxygen – that’s when you start getting sadder,
sicker, poorer, less successful.”
Gem #1
Practice positive habits
"We
are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."-
The School of Greatness, page 154
I
absolutely love the above quote from Greek philosopher, Aristotle. Simply, our
habits define us. When you look at them individually doesn’t seem all that
critical; it’s when you take them in combination or as a whole that they become
incredibly powerful.
It’s
important to evaluate what good and bad habits you currently have. It’s even
more important to decide what good habits that you want to adopt as well.
Without knowing which habits will help you achieve your goals and who you want
to be, it’s unlikely that you’ll get there. Every habit you have either
helping you towards your dreams and holding you back from reaching them.
As
Howes writes in his coaching tip for practicing positive habits, “it’s time to
step up and get serious with you daily actions, as this is what builds the
momentum in your life towards the vision you want to achieve.”
Gem #2
Working harder and smarter
"The
best hustlers are all underdogs. Even if they’re not, they view themselves that
way."- The School of Greatness, page 102
This
GEM is at the root for all of those who are “successful” and it’s no surprise
Lewis addresses it in The School of Greatness. Anyone who is
good at anything was once a beginner at it. They had to learn their craft, work
to hone it and continuing growing over a period of time to refine it. In
our world of instant gratification, the fact that it takes time to become great
at something is completely disregarded. Most of us get worked up when we aren’t
good at something right off the bat. We may fear looking back, we probably run
through a litany of what-if scenarios in our heads and ultimately become
disappointed because we aren’t world class the first time we try something.
Lewis
give us some good coaching advice in saying “when you experience fear, move
toward it. When you feel doubt, take the necessary actions to build your
confidence. When you are afraid of being wrong or looking bad in front of
others, be humble and vulnerable to create real human connection.” The hustle
requires action and all you have to do is just start.
“We
are only as good and as strong as our adversity makes us,” Howes reminds us.
The
School of Greatness is simple a guide and a framework to
discover what you’re passions are and how you can expose those passions to the
world. Using his own experiences along with the knowledge from other highly
successful individuals, Lewis Howes has provided us with a step-by-step
blueprint to follow in order to grow our skills and abilities that will
ultimately help us become the greatest version of ourselves. Now go be great!
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