Six takeaways from Lewis Howes’, “The Greatness Mindset”

This was a fantastic and inspiring read. Lewis talks about our limiting beliefs and self doubts stemming from fears of failure, success, and judgment. He then shows many ways to overcoming these, creating a path to greatness, backed by stories of the greats of today’s world. I recommend this book to anyone who feels stuck, have strong inner critics, but want do something about it. So here are my six takeaways:

1. Successes rarely spark much reflection. Failure is how we grow.

I really liked the SPANX story in the book of how founder, Sara Blakely, overcame all painful rejections and went on to build a $1.2b business. Her secret weapon was her training as a kid where at their dinner table, her dad would ask her and her brother an odd question: “What did you fail at today?” Then her dad would encourage them to write down the “hidden gifts” – the lessons that came from their failures.

We need to realise that failure is critical to growth. Failures move us forward. Reflecting on my journey so far, it’s the biggest failures I’ve experienced that were the pivotal moments of my development, whether personal or professional. Sure, it will be tough and painful when you fail, but the following week, month, or year, you’ll be so thankful it happened as you’ve come out more experienced and mature.

For those who are also bible readers, my favourite verse that supports this notion is from the book of James:

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. ⁴ Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything

James 1:2-4

2. You’ll never rise higher than the way you see yourself

The author quotes, “Self-doubt is the enemy of progress”. He continues to say that self-doubt stems from fears we have, which are:

1. Fear of failure (we discussed above)
2. Fear of success, and
3. Fear of judgment

Fear of Success

I recently watched Taylor Swift’s concert here in Sydney. Side note: I realised I’m a fake Swiftie at the Eras Tour concert – I know a lot of her songs but the majority of the 83,000 who came out that night to watch her are on a totally different level – from exchanging of Swiftie bracelets (learnt they are a thing that night!), to wearing full-on costumes that had some form of TayTay meaning, to knowing the lyrics word-by-word, I felt a little out of place… and old, even though she is my age. But one thing my friends and I wondered was – HOW DOES THIS LADY DO IT?! HOW DOES KEEP IT TOGETHER?!

First of all, she sang 44 songs that night. Fourty-effing-four. She changed costumes, performed different dances, had different themes, everything was to perfection. If I knew this was the level of performance she was going to put on, I would have bought front row tickets. And this was just one of four concert nights in Sydney, back to back. And this was just Sydney, after having been to Melbourne. And this was just Australia, after having done so many other countries… I’m gonna stop there. I am super proud of seeing someone my age reach heights like that but it must be so scary to be her.

What my friends and I felt is what Lewis Howes describes – “Fear of Success”. Although, he didn’t really talk about Taylor Swift, the author talks about the fear of not being able to keep pace once you reach some form of success. Will I be able to withstand the pressure of the public spotlight? What if I’m not good enough to succeed again? Will I be able to sustain success? These were questions we were asking ourselves if we were to put on her shoes.

Fear of Judgment

The third fear Lewis talks about is the fear of judgment. I will be writing about this in a separate post because out of three, this is the one that holds me back the most. I believe you (my dear reader) would agree that expanding this one would be futile.

3. Engage the inner critic with your inner coach

At a recent women panel held at my workplace where we covered the concept of the inner critic, one lady from the crowd asked me directly during the Q&A for advice on how to deal with the inner critic. I hadn’t read Lewis Howes’ book then but I cited Tara Mohr’s, “Playing Big” where I mentioned a few strategies to engage with the inner critic, such as engaging your inner mentor, as well as having a confidence board next to you to remind you of all the positive things you have achieved.

This book talks about the same, but I also like how Lewis uses the analogy of critic vs coach. A critic will only point out problems; a coach, however, will show a path to overcoming problems. A coach operates from a place of love. I really like this analogy; simple yet profound. The next time your inner critic goes off, call on your inner coach to help you take action, and there is a good chance you already know what to do. If you don’t, reach out to someone you know can help.

4. Use the magic minimization formula

The book is packed with SO MANY EXERCISES that offer solutions to overcoming limiting beliefs that at some point I thought the author was going over the top. However, this goes to show there are many paths to greatness so kudos to the author for putting together a comprehensive list of exercises.

One of my favourites is Dale Carnegie’s magic minimisation formula, which the author covers as a 3-step exercise:

1. Analyse the problem – and you need to do this fearlessly and honestly. Use an if-then statement. For example, I fear that if I quit my job and start my own business without experience, then the business may fail, and I will lose my savings and waste time and energy and I cannot get back.
2. Accept the worst possible outcome. By doing so, we can relax and activate problem-solving skills. What will you do when the worst case scenario happens? If I fail with my first business, I will have learned valuable knowledge and experience. I can either pivot to start another one, or go back to the workforce as I know I’m employable
3. Minimize the problem. To avoid the worst-case-scenario, what you can do now to minimize the problem? I will enlist support from mentors who have founded businesses so I can get timely advice and reduce risks of failing my first business. I will also join founder communities and join meetups to fill gaps in my business knowledge.

I did this exercise and #2 made me realise the worst-case scenario is not that bad after all. I still don’t want it to happen but I’ll survive through, if it does happen. Equally, I can take early steps to prevent #2 from happening.

5. Be a hero, not a victim, nor a villain

This is my favourite part of the book and is now also one of my favourite analogies. These three characters all start with with some form of disadvantage, problem, or pain. But what they do about their situation differs:

• Victims do not transform; they give the pain so much power they refuse to do anything about their circumstance.
• Villains cause pain on others; they use their circumstance to cause trouble on others around them.
• Heroes take action and overcome their situation; just like any movie with a hero, they often start with a problem, feel the pain, but they refuse to give up. They fight, and work hard to overcome the situation.

Which is the easiest path? Being a victim is the easiest path. You don’t take action but you get stuck. Taking the hero path is the hardest, but you come out of it better than when you started.

There is actually a fourth character:

• Guides have been there and done that. They have experienced pain and they have overcome. And they help others do it too.

Which character are you embodying today?

6. Choose imperfect action over perfection, always.

A lot of us wait to have skills before we do anything. We wait to be experienced in public speaking before taking on public speaking engagements. We wait to be experienced in technology before applying to switch to the tech industry (I know some of my friends do). We wait to progress the career ladder before starting our own business.

Lewis covers the importance of massive, imperfect action. We need to shift from “I can’t do it” to “I will learn to do it”. The action may not be imperfect, but it’s still progress, and 1% progress every day over a period of time leads to greatness. This should be familiar to you, for those who have read Atomic Habits by James Clear.

To also add what John Acuff said, “Perfectionism offers us two distinct distractions: hiding place and noble obstacles. A hiding place is an activity you focus on instead of your goal. A noble obstacle is a virtuous-sounding reason for not working toward a finish. Both are toxic to your ability to finish.”

Conclusion

These six takeaways are just a few of the many areas he covers. I haven’t touched on other topics he talks about, such as enlisting support, creating routines, and finding your Meaningful Mission. The good news is that every single one of us can create a path to greatness. As he says, “You’re in charge of you”. So take action, don’t be afraid to fail, enlist support, overcome limiting beliefs and you’ll be on your way to greatness.