By playing, you agree to uListen's Terms and Privacy Policy and YouTube's Terms of Service.
Lewis HowesMONEY WILL FLOW LIKE CRAZY! (How To Manifest Success & Riches) | Lewis Howes
Summaries, chapters, transcripts, and FAQs on this page are made by uListen, not YouTube.
Great conversations run long. Their best ideas don't have to.
uListen is free on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chrome, and Claude.
See howTranscript
105 min read · 20,668 words- 0:00 – 1:12
Abundance as inner peace: valuing presence over money
- SPSpeaker
You will not be able to make money just from massive achievement. Once you actually have practiced understanding that this moment is more important than anything you think you want, now you are abundance, not money. Because the highest thing we have, the number one asset we have is our con-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
You are fully on the highest vibration. Do you understand how much more valuable you are than money?
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
And, and how much more... Remember Buddhist monks, there's millionaire achievers that go to Buddhist monks all the time. The reverse never happens.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
There's no Buddhist monks going, "How do I get the Lamborghini?"
- LHLewis Howes
I need to make millions. Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah. Why is that? Because the highest thing we have, the number one asset we have is our connection to ourself. The s- then the most of us think it's, it's money, so we make that the highest vibration-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... but it's not. It's-
- LHLewis Howes
Inner peace
- SPSpeaker
... it's inner peace.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
It's this moment, and you have that available, and we over... You know, the best things in life are free is a very cliche sentence, but it's true. And that's true, but also we only pay attention to what we invest in financially.
- LHLewis Howes
That's true.
- SPSpeaker
So we overlook meditating here, but if we could pay to meditate, we'd all of a sudden do it. So we have to understand that what is free for real will bring in everything else that you want.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- 1:12 – 2:55
Changing your “relationship” with money: the date metaphor
- SPSpeaker
I have a rule too with money that you might think is cool.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
This is a, this is a thing that I want to offer people. If you're trying to figure out how to, how to create a space for money, I, I offer people to think about how they think about money. Like, think about how unconsciously you think about it. Like, you're never enough, you're the root of all evil, whatever.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SPSpeaker
Now picture that you're money on a date with you, and if you're on a, on a date with a person who says, "You're never enough. You're the root of all evil," you'd never wanna be there, right? Well, money doesn't wanna be in the vibration of someone-
- LHLewis Howes
You reject that person
- SPSpeaker
... that's judging it.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Right?
- LHLewis Howes
You reject that person, so-
- SPSpeaker
Yeah
- LHLewis Howes
... you're rejecting money.
- SPSpeaker
Right.
- LHLewis Howes
When you think that, yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Y- i- yeah, I'm going to y- how else would we say it? I'm going to use you to get someone to like me. I'm going to... This is how money is seen. So how could money show up if that's how you see it?
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
Because you wouldn't stay with someone on a date that said, "You're never enough. You're the, you're the root of all evil."
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SPSpeaker
It's, it's like, okay, so how would you like to be seen on a date? You'd like to be seen as I love you no matter what. No matter if you're small or big, if you're off or on, if you're feeling like [censored] , I love you all the way. And if you can look at your debt or, or have $1 in the bank and go, "I love you," now you're creating a vibrational space-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... for it to show up. Because you're safe, because your focus isn't on money and how it needs to change. You're much better off because you're on how you're going to change.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SPSpeaker
And when you start changing like we just did and looking at these things and not needing to overcome as much as [sighs] loving it, now you're focused on the thing that actually creates the money. Remember-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... every dollar you've ever made came from you. So don't get excited about money. Get excited about you.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
Right?
- LHLewis Howes
Zing. [laughs]
- 2:55 – 6:19
Stop focusing on the “cup of water”: you are the source
- SPSpeaker
Like, if I went on a hike with you, we get lost in the woods. I round a corner, I'm not with you, and we find a waterfall.
- LHLewis Howes
Uh-huh.
- SPSpeaker
I find it. You don't see it. I fill a cup up with water, and I come back and I say to you, "Dude, a cup of water."
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
What am I not showing you?
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
I'm showing you the small thing.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, not the waterfall.
- SPSpeaker
Not where it came from.
- LHLewis Howes
The source.
- SPSpeaker
The source of the water-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... is the much more important thing.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
So none of us look at the source of where our money came from.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
We look at the money. So you're sitting here dwelling, not you, but the people that we, w- we're dwelling on the cup of water.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, not us being the source of creating more.
- SPSpeaker
Every dollar you've ever made came from you. Get excited about you.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
Start the focus on what you are, not what money will give you.
- LHLewis Howes
And our, our, you know, your energy is going to attract or repel more wealth. A lot of, you know-
- SPSpeaker
Yes
- LHLewis Howes
... s- a mentor of mine said... I was at a salsa club learning how to salsa dance, terrified out of my mind, and I saw a guy who was amazing. He was a public speaker. He actually got me into public speaking. And he said, "The world makes room for passionate people." I think-
- SPSpeaker
Mm
- LHLewis Howes
... uh, money is attracted to passionate people as well-
- SPSpeaker
Yes
- LHLewis Howes
... 'cause people are passionate about life. They bring an energy. They bring, bring a richness, a fullness, a richness, and they attract riches.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
You know, whether it be through, uh, the community or the, the art they're creating or the business they're creating.
- 6:19 – 8:59
Old vs. new consciousness: why achievement-only wealth won’t satisfy
- LHLewis Howes
That's true. You mentioned this, uh, a couple of times, and it reminded me of a, another mentor of mine, Chris Hawker. I was working-
- SPSpeaker
Oh
- LHLewis Howes
... as an intern for him for about six months when I was on my sister's couch, broke, no money. My dad had just gotten into an accident, a car accident that left him in a coma for three months, and he was kind of my safety net.
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- LHLewis Howes
He was my, you know, financial stability, where he would support me financially on things. And he always said, you know, "When you're done, like, living your dream and chasing your football career or whatever it is, you'd want to come work for me."
- SPSpeaker
Wow.
- LHLewis Howes
He had an insurance company, life insurance. And I did the whole, like, insurance internship and did the testing and I almost failed three times on, like, getting my, uh, whatever it is, like, the series something, whatever. The life insurance test that I had to pass so I could sell life insurance. I should have stopped after I failed the first time because I just knew it wasn't for me, but I did it so I could have this backup plan.
- SPSpeaker
Wow.
- LHLewis Howes
And so when my dad got in his accident, uh, he had to sell his company to his partner because he was no longer able to work anymore. And I didn't have the financial stability like I, I had before.
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- LHLewis Howes
So I was sleeping on my sister's couch for a year and a half, and I was working, uh, as an intern for about six months with someone that I was learning a lot from. And I remember at one point being like, "Man, I just really want some money. I feel like I've been working hard for a few years. Like, I really could use some money. I'm not paying any rent money at my sister's. I feel like a loser because I can't contribute to her."
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- LHLewis Howes
"I can't even get my own apartment. I'm just a loser." I was 24 at the time. I was like, "Man, I'm just a loser of a guy." And he said something to me that, what you said. He said, "Money comes to you when you're ready for it."
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- LHLewis Howes
And I was like, "I feel really ready. You know, I could really use the money right now." And-
- SPSpeaker
He goes, "I didn't say desperate for it." [laughs]
- LHLewis Howes
Exactly. [laughs] He didn't say that, but he was like, "It's gonna come to you when you're ready for it. And when it starts to come, it's gonna make sense." And I was like, "Gosh, I just want it, though. I just want it right now." And it's funny because maybe a year later, it started to come.
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- LHLewis Howes
And then it started to really come pretty quickly, like six months to a year after that. And I remember reflecting a year and a half prior, I was like, "Man, I wasn't ready for this." Like, if this would have came two years prior, I would have blown it.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
I would have been scared of it. I wouldn't have been prepared for it. Like, I would have been so freaked out by the numbers in my bank account, I would have sabotaged it probably.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
And so I really feel-
- SPSpeaker
Exactly
- LHLewis Howes
... like it comes to you when you are prepared and ready, and sometimes it's not when you want it to be.
- SPSpeaker
And, and when people say, "How do you get prepared and ready?"
- LHLewis Howes
Yes, that's the key. What's, so how do you-
- SPSpeaker
Yeah
- LHLewis Howes
... how do you prepare and be ready? [laughs]
- 8:59 – 12:55
Becoming “ready”: meditation, fulfillment, and the expand/contract test
- SPSpeaker
So for, for me, meditation, like, ma- gets me to understand that I'm the abundance-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... not money. And the second you understand that you're the abundance, and I mean, and understand it in your nervous system. I mean, don't just hear that sentence while you're still dying for it in your body. Like, really be in the alignment of understanding-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... that I'm the abundance. Wayne Dyer said beautifully, you know, there's a thing that everyone thought, you don't attract what, that you attract what you want. And Wayne Dyer said, "You don't attract what you want, you attract what you are."
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
What you're in vibration of. So if you want abundance, you need to get to a place where you understand your abundance. And everything comes into your life the second you finally don't want it. It's not, not don't want it like avoiding, like, you're, you don't need it.
- LHLewis Howes
Not desperate, yeah.
- SPSpeaker
The second you stop looking for it, you don't even remember you wanted it, that's because you have to access the fulfillment of the connection to yourself first, and then weirdly, it's going to create, first of all, so many creative things. But you're gonna just start, you're so, first of all, you're so aware that you see things differently. Like, think of just the, just the, when someone's in their head, they're, they're walking down the street on their phone worrying, you could pass a $100 bill and not even see it.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
Right? But when you're not in your head, you suddenly start to see all these dots connecting and everything meaning something different, and you see every moment as meaningful. Like last night, I was waiting to go into a restaurant. One guy recognized me and said hi, and we created a friendship 'cause he's also a musician. That's cool. And then this four-year-old girl comes in and just sees me and starts dancing in front of me and showing me her toys, and I just ha- that moment was so much cooler-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... than if I was looking through, wondering, you know, what the, is going on in politics, and-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... that was fulfilling, that moment. And because that's fulfilling, and then on my way to the table, each step is fulfilling.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Now, this is more fulfilling than anything I perceive could come to me to make me happy. Once you actually have practiced understanding-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... that this moment is more important than anything you think you want, now you are abundance, not money. You know, once you're abundance, it's impossible for it to not come. You're just gonna start feeling safe to everybody.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
They're gonna wanna hire you. You're gonna get bizarre offers. They'll just say, "Can you help me through something? Can you create this thing?" You'll get an alignment with your creative gifts more than your fix-it gifts to make money. You'll be in this higher thing. You'll be worth more. Better jobs will start asking you.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
You'll start to actually feel heavy when million-dollar offers are coming in because you're like, "Even that I don't want." And then it just, every time I say no to something, even if it's a huge thing, the bigger thing comes up.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
It's like life's like, "How about this? How about this?" And then the only question I ask is, does this expand me or contract me?
- LHLewis Howes
Ooh, yeah, that's good.
- SPSpeaker
Right? If it expands me, then I say yes, and I can feel that within two seconds. If I get to a pros and cons list, I'm already in contracting. Do you get what I'm saying?
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SPSpeaker
So a way that I always give an example is if, if you, if you've ever had lunch, you ever have lunch plans with someone and then you hope that they cancel.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah. [laughs]
- 12:55 – 19:38
Rethinking “skills” and value: do your 10, delegate the rest
- LHLewis Howes
How important is developing skills and value? There's one thing of, like, being abundance and being acceptance and all these things, but there's another thing of, like, okay, well, the person still doesn't have any skills that are valuable-
- SPSpeaker
Mm
- LHLewis Howes
... for someone else to give them money.
- SPSpeaker
So wanna-
- LHLewis Howes
You know what I mean?
- SPSpeaker
... crazy answer here?
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
That's a belief that they need the skills.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
So let me, let me explain that. So let's first of all talk about value, okay?
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
Most people-
- LHLewis Howes
Value is perceived, right?
- SPSpeaker
Sure. And most people think value is what their worth is based on what's in the bank, right? You could say that person's-
- LHLewis Howes
Most people
- SPSpeaker
... got a net worth of-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... 20 million, whatever. Cool.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
That's nice. But if [laughs]
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
What... But there's some people that could lose that money and remake it again in 10 minutes.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, of course.
- SPSpeaker
Like Tina Turner, if her bank account got robbed tomorrow, could just go on tour and fill it again.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Right? Then there's some people who inherited it.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
And, and won or won the lottery, and if that went away, they're still not valuable at that moment, at least, right?
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
So what's the cause of value? Is it how much money you have, or is it what's under it, right? And what you understand is under it. The factor of value is do you understand how valuable you are, right? So-
- 19:38 – 24:32
Money psychology and early programming: beliefs, memory, and lack
- SPSpeaker
Yeah
- LHLewis Howes
... how it plays in our lives? 'Cause a lot of people wanna make more, they wanna attract more, but they're just struggling with just the concept of it.
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm, yeah. Well, I think we've been programmed quite a bit, uh, in, with our relationship with money. I mean, y- we have a relationship with everything known in our environment. You have a relationship, a neurological network in your brain to, for your parents, for your cell phone, for your computer, where you live, where you've lived in the past, what you're gonna do tomorrow. The, for the most part, the brain is a reflection of everything that we know, right? So along with that is our relationship with money, and I-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... I feel like I have a really good relationship with money, 'cause I work on having a really good relationship with everything in my life, right?
- LHLewis Howes
Did you always have a good relationship with money?
- SPSpeaker
I think so. I think so.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
I've never really lived in lack. That just wasn't part of it. Even when I went to college and I had to take out student loans and stuff, I always figured out a way to always be a little bit ahead of the curve. And so, so let's back up and just look at how people, uh, form beliefs, 'cause-
- LHLewis Howes
Yes
- SPSpeaker
... most beliefs, um, are created from past experiences, right? So, uh, children, uh, when they're, uh, in their early ages, their brainwaves are very slow. Like, their brainwaves are in alpha, uh, when they're, like, seven to 12. They're in theta when they're, like, uh, two to six years old and, and they're in delta, like, when they're, when they're, you know, newborn to two years old. And so these brainwave states, uh, are states that we're really suggestible to information.
- LHLewis Howes
So when we hear information, we believe it.
- SPSpeaker
And we accept it, we believe it. We surrender to it as if it's the truth without analyzing it, because there's no analytical facilities yet.
- LHLewis Howes
Right.
- SPSpeaker
The a- the analytical mind starts around 12 or so, seven to 12, and that analytical mind is actually what's, creates a barrier between the conscious mind and the subconscious mind. So-
- LHLewis Howes
Before 12, roughly, what we see, how we model our parents' behavior-
- SPSpeaker
It's all pro-
- LHLewis Howes
... what they say to us
- SPSpeaker
... it's all being programmed subconsciously, right? And-
- LHLewis Howes
Wow
- SPSpeaker
... and so, so that's really, really important, because if you heard money is the root of all evil, uh, money is bad, uh, only certain people are allowed to make money, you have to work hard to make money-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... this is how you gotta do it, and that becomes the foundation subconsciously. Like, that's like write, uh, recording an audio file. You just keep recording that audio file, it becomes a subconscious program, right?
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
So a lot of people have a relationship with money based on either what they've been told or what they've experienced in their outer environment, right? So, so then we gain information from our environment, and the stronger the emotion we feel from experiences in our lives, the more altered we feel inside of us, the more w- the brain freezes a frame and takes a picture, and that snapshot is called the memory. So-
- LHLewis Howes
Based on an emotion.
- SPSpeaker
Based on an emotion. The emotion alters our internal state. So you're going along as Lewis, feeling really good-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... and all of a sudden you have this trauma, you have this crisis, you have this shock, and all of a sudden you have this dramatic change in your internal state and your senses get heightened, and then you freeze the frame and you associate this internal state with whatever it is that's causing it, right? And that's how we create long-term memories, right? So-
- LHLewis Howes
Are, are painful memories more, uh, powerful or beautiful memories more powerful?
- 24:32 – 41:28
From 3D hustle to “quantum” creation: coherence, intention, and emotion
- LHLewis Howes
What, what is ha- before you go onto the next thing, what happens to the body and the mind when it is in an environment of lack? Mentally or physically, I'm in lack.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
What is, what is the body and the mind saying?
- SPSpeaker
Yeah, so the body is saying, "I'm waiting for some external event to occur. I win the lottery."
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
"I marry the right guy." Whatever it is.
- LHLewis Howes
Right, right, right.
- SPSpeaker
That, you're waiting for that event to occur. That experience produces an emotion. So the emotion then takes away the lack. And so when we play the game in three-dimensional reality, the creation game in three-dimensional reality-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
... um, we experience separation from everyone or everything because our, our senses fool us into the illusion, the hallucination of separation. I'm here, and you're there.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
I'm here, and the door is over there. So I'm aware that I'm here at one point of consciousness, and the door is over there, another point of consciousness. Okay, so in order for me to get from here to the door, I gotta move my body and do something through space. I gotta do something, and everything in this three-dimensional reality is gonna take time and energy.
- LHLewis Howes
Yes, yes.
- SPSpeaker
Right? So, okay, so then here's, here's Lewis right here.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
And then he says, "Okay, I want this experience in my future," and your brain automatically predicts and projects how far in the future you think it's gonna take.
- LHLewis Howes
Maybe it's a year, five years, 10 years.
- SPSpeaker
30 years.
- LHLewis Howes
Oh my gosh.
- SPSpeaker
Right? Because that's what it's gonna take to pay off that house, right? So now one point of consciousness, I'm here. The other point of consciousness is where I'm placing my dream. So I'm separate-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... from that experience. So then how do I get to that experience? In three-dimensional reality, you gotta get up, and you gotta do something.
- LHLewis Howes
Every day, yeah.
- SPSpeaker
You gotta go to work. You gotta drive to work. It takes energy. You gotta fill your car with gas. You gotta eat food. You gotta work. You know, all this stuff. You gotta sleep. You gotta recover if there's stress. And now people are, in a sense, waiting for the experience that's 10 years down the road or 30 years down the road to happen, to take away the lack of them not having it. And unfortunately, many times when the experience finally occurs, they can't enjoy it-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... 'cause they're too exhausted, right?
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs] Right.
- SPSpeaker
So then, so you play the game. You, y- you go to school. You study really hard, or you study on your own. You develop some skills. You make the right choices. You start m- saving money. You start learning from your mistakes. And then the game is how many things can you accumulate, and that accumulation then you associate with being wealthy or being abundant or being successful, right? And some people get really good at it, right?
- LHLewis Howes
Uh-huh.
- SPSpeaker
You can get really good at that. But for the most part, though, when we create from three-dimensional reality, we're creating from lack and separation. In other words, you're driving down the road and you see someone driving a car that all of a sudden you realize that you don't have. The moment you become aware that that person has that car, and you don't have it, you're in lack of having it, right?
- 41:28 – 47:14
Daily study, persistence, and habit programming (Think and Grow Rich)
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah. What would you say are some of the habits that you have that people wouldn't expect that you would have? Maybe they would expect certain things like waking up early or journaling or, you know, getting eight hours of sleep, but what are some habits that you do differently that maybe are unexpected in the personal growth space?
- SPSpeaker
I study every day. Every day.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
Um, I've studied every day now for 60 years. I started to study this book in 1961, and I read it every day, same book, Think and Grow Rich. I have, uh, just here behind me, I've got the Laws of Success, the original ones that Napoleon Hill wrote in 1928, and then he come out with this in 1937. And, uh, the man that gave it to me, he said, "If you'll study this every day," he said, "you're gonna have a wonderful life." And he pointed out Napoleon Hill spent his whole life- ... studying the lives of 500 of the world's most successful people. He was mentored by Andrew Carnegie, who at the time was the wealthiest man in the world, and he said since he spent his whole life putting this together, he said it would be a prudent move on your part if you spent the rest of your life trying to understand and apply what he is teaching.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
And-
- LHLewis Howes
Right
- SPSpeaker
... you know, that just seemed to make some sense to me, and that's what I started to do, and I've never stopped.
- LHLewis Howes
If there was only one principle inside of Think and Grow Rich that you could only live by and only talk about, and you wouldn't be able to talk about anything else inside the book, what would that one principle be?
- SPSpeaker
Persistence. He said there, he, he said in the book, he said, "There may be no heroic connotation to the word, but the quality is to the character of the human like what carbon is to steel." See, I think the trick, Lewis, is get some good habit patterns and live with them all of your life, because you're either gonna grow or you're gonna die. It's, uh, it's create or disintegrate. There's no such thing as leveling out and staying where we are, and some people think they can just hold it where they're at, but they can't do that. You're either gonna go ahead or you're gonna go backwards. It's create or disintegrate. And so if you have good habits, you're gonna keep growing. Way back, I think around 1938, '39, Albert E.N. Gray worked for The Prudential, and he wrote, um, the Common Denominator of Success. It's a great article, and he said, "The common denominator of success is in forming the habit of doing things that failures don't like to do."
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
And he was speaking one time. A young guy said, "Why do successful people like doing these things?" And he said, "They don't. [laughs] That's why they've turned them into habits."
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
[laughs] You know? I thought that was beautiful. He said that's why they've turned them into habits, they don't like doing them, you see? And of course, a habit is-
- LHLewis Howes
What, what do you think-
- SPSpeaker
Well, a habit is something-
- LHLewis Howes
... go ahead. Sorry
- SPSpeaker
... we do automatically without any conscious thought. We just, it's part of our paradigm. We're programmed. Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
What do you think are the three most difficult habits to develop, uh, that actual, actually will support us for the most growth long-term if we can take these habits on?
- SPSpeaker
One of the things I think the most difficult is repetition of studying the same thing.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
I have a, um, a book here on my desk. It's in a book holder, and when I went to visit Earl Nightingale way back, mm, 1968, '6... no, it was earlier than that. It was around '66, and I saw he had this book stand on his desk and I asked him what it was, and he said it was a book holder. And I said, "Why do you have it?" He says, "'Cause I want to read those two pages every day for the next month, maybe two months." I said, "Really? The same thing?" And he said, "Yeah." He said, "Then they'll become a part of me."
- LHLewis Howes
Mm.
- SPSpeaker
And he said, "That's really the suc- the secret of success is the repetition of an idea." You see that in sports. You play ball, I mean, y- it's definitely part of your game, you know. Um, how many g- how many plays do you have in your head?
- LHLewis Howes
Ooh. Um, well, a lot of different plays, but in football, there's really only, like, nine different routes a receiver can run-
- SPSpeaker
Yeah
- LHLewis Howes
... as part of the tree of ru- of running a route. But there's so many different variations within plays that that one receiver could run, and then another person could run in tandem with that.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
So you have to, there's a massive playbook that you go through at the beginning of the season, and you've got to remember a lot of different things. But if you typically know the route you need to run and what other people are doing around you, then you can, you can figure it out.
- SPSpeaker
But it's repetition that enables you to do that, isn't it?
- 47:14 – 51:10
Principle over precedent: repeating ideas until they become you
- SPSpeaker
Most important thing? Here, read it to you. "The lesson to be learned from the practical aviation of the present day is that of triumph of principle over precedent, of working out of an idea to its logical conclusion in spite of the accumulated testimony of all past experiences to the contrary. With such a notable example before us, can we say that it is futile to inquire whether by the same method we may not unlock still more important secrets and gain some knowledge of the unseen causes which are the back of external and visible conditions? And then by bringing these unseen causes into a better order, make practical working reality of possibilities which at present seem but fantastic dreams." They're talking about the Wright brothers. He said there was a secret. They got off the ground, because nobody knew how to fly, and neither did they until after they got it in the air. But he pointed out that it was principle over precedent, and we let precedent control us too often.
- LHLewis Howes
What's the difference between principle and precedent?
- SPSpeaker
Well, precedent you're let- letting something that has happened in the past control you.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SPSpeaker
The principle, uh, is that there's always a better way. Doesn't matter what you're doing. Better is a beautiful word.
- LHLewis Howes
What's something in your life that took a long time where you were holding onto the precedent of something for a while, maybe it was months, maybe it was years, decades, that eventually the principle finally started to fly and you had a breakthrough? Is there an area of your life you can think of?
- SPSpeaker
Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Just as soon as you said it, yeah. You see-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
... when I started in this, when I first got this book, um, I was such a loser, and I mean in every, every way you look at it. I, um, I went to high school for two months, and I didn't quit, they kicked me out. They didn't want me there. Um, and I was kind of happy, 'cause I didn't like it there anyway.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
Um, I held dumb jobs. I never had a half decent job. The idea that I could even get a good job never entered my mind. I had such low self-esteem. I didn't understand that at the time, I didn't even know what self-esteem was. And letting go of the fact that I didn't have a formal education, that I never had any business experience... The man that gave me the book, he said, "None of that matters, Bob. That's the past." He said, "Let it go." Well, I had a difficult time letting that go, because we're programmed that if you don't go to school you can't get a good job, that if you're gonna earn a lot of money you gotta be really smart. Well you see, I didn't think I was very smart, and I didn't have any formal education. That's a hard thing to let go of.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
But through the repetition of studying this over, and over, and over, as he pointed out to me, Edison had grade three.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SPSpeaker
And he pointed at different people that had no formal education. And I finally made a break, got, left it behind. I'm not quite sure exactly when, but I let it go. Yeah.
- 51:10 – 1:01:57
Building self-esteem through self-knowledge and “higher faculties”
- LHLewis Howes
What would you say are some deciding factors that can help someone with their self-esteem? Because you and I are very similar, where my childhood I didn't, I didn't have much confidence in myself or-
- SPSpeaker
Mm
- LHLewis Howes
... esteem, because I was in the bottom of my class in school because I was, you know, had tutors and special needs classes because I just wasn't able to understand it and comprehend that well, and felt awkward and goofy in my life. What are some, some things you think people that in their teens, or even in their 40s and 50s who don't have confidence yet, what are the things that we can be doing differently to gain confidence, to build self-esteem? Because I think this is one of the key factors of success, is believing in yourself. It doesn't matter if the world believes in you, if you don't believe in you.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
What can we start to do to change that?
- SPSpeaker
Well, I think a person has to start to study themself. Most people know very little about themself. They think they're their body. You're not a body. You have a body, and you have a marvelous mind. And when I first started to study this I thought, you know, studying the mind, that's for a psychiatrist, psychologist, behavioral scientist. And the man that told me, he said, "No, it's not." He says, "That's for anybody. That's for little kids." And so I think as we start to understand something about our mind, and something about our higher faculties... See, we're, we're all programmed to live through our senses. We go by what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch. Well, I've got a little dog at home that can see, hear, smell, taste, touch. All the animals in the world, they're, they're completely at home in their environment. They blend in. They operate by instinct, which is perfect. Um, we had instinct removed and we had higher faculties put in our place, in their place, and if we would study these and gain an understanding, your self-image would automatically start to improve. You have perception, the will, reason, imagination, memory, and intuition. Those six faculties will give you the ability to create your own environment. See, we're totally disoriented in our environment, where all the other little creatures are completely at home in theirs, and we're c- we're disoriented in ours because we can create our own, but we don't know that. School doesn't teach us that. School is more interested in, in the development of your intellect than in the development of awareness.
- LHLewis Howes
Hmm.
- SPSpeaker
Like, um, a person doesn't earn $100,000 a year because they want 100 a year. They earn 100 a year because they're not aware of how to earn 100 a month. Awareness is really the key, and when we become aware of who we are and what we've got working for us, you know, marvelous things start to happen to us. And that's really what happened to me. I never went back to school. Um, I, um, I built a very successful company. It operates all over the world. Um, I didn't do it myself. I have a tremendous team of people. I've got a- Just an absolute genius of a business partner, a, a woman who's an attorney. I mentioned to you before, you should have her on sometime. You, she, y- you'd be fascinated with her. She's that interesting. But there's a group of people, we've attracted a phenomenal group of people in our company.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
And we're operating now in 91 countries-
- LHLewis Howes
Wow
- SPSpeaker
... teaching this information. You know? It's... I don't know another company that teaches what we teach. Like, I think, um, Tony Robbins has probably done more for our industry than any individual. The Secret has probably done more for it, as much as Tony has, um, the movie. Um, but there's... I don't know anybody else teaching what we're teaching. And what we're really doing is teaching people how their mind functions and, um, how to expand their understanding of how it operates.
- LHLewis Howes
What are six faculties again? Now, you shared this before-
- SPSpeaker
Yeah
- LHLewis Howes
... which I, which I love, and I think if people really understood this-
- SPSpeaker
Perception
- LHLewis Howes
... it would help them build their self-esteem. Yep
- SPSpeaker
There's perception, the will-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... imagination, memory, reason, and intuition.
- LHLewis Howes
Which one is the hardest for people to-
- SPSpeaker
Well, I don't think any of them are
- LHLewis Howes
... build awareness?
- SPSpeaker
They're, they're all equally as valuable. Um-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... you take your imagination. Think of this for a minute, Lewis. Nothing is created or destroyed. Look here. Here's a little cell phone. What you can do with this almost blows your mind when you think of it.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah. [laughs]
- SPSpeaker
Well, when I was a kid, we didn't have a phone. And we didn't have a phone because we didn't have any money, for the first reason. But the second, um, not everybody could have a phone.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
We were not aware that there was an infinite number of frequencies. Today, there's [laughs] what, a zillion phones. Because there's-
- 1:01:57 – 1:10:08
Paradigms, earning money, and anticipating chaos: three preparation steps
- SPSpeaker
Because we're programmed to go the other way. You know? What language do you speak?
- LHLewis Howes
Uh, I barely speak English.
- SPSpeaker
[laughs] How about Russian?
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs] Uh, privet. Kak dela?
- SPSpeaker
[laughs]
- LHLewis Howes
Uh, that's all I know. [laughs]
- SPSpeaker
Well, the point is you were raised with the English language.
- LHLewis Howes
Yes.
- SPSpeaker
You don't know another language.
- LHLewis Howes
No.
- SPSpeaker
I was raised with the English language. I don't know another language. I was working with people over in Kuala Lumpur a number of years ago, and they had a little boy four years old. That little boy could speak four languages.
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SPSpeaker
They thought nothing of that. There's people speak many more than four languages, because that's the way they're raised. We're the product of our environment from the time we're born. But prior to that, genetically we're programmed. You're, you're genetically programmed at the moment of conception. You get all mom's DNA and all dad's DNA, and God knows how far it goes back on either side. Well, that is programming. That's in our subconscious mind. And [laughs] that's called a paradigm. That's what it is. It's a program in our subconscious mind. Now, here's the crazy part. You have programs in your phone or in your computer. The people that write the code for these programs are really smart-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... when it comes to writing code. They really know what the hell they're doing. The people that wrote the code for our biocomputer had no idea what the hell they were doing.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
They don't. They did not.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
They were writing a code for my subconscious mind and for yours, that's our paradigm, and that probably controls our life to an enormous degree. It did with me until I was 26. Now, I was fortunate when I met Ray Stanford and he got me into the Think and Grow Rich book, and that led me into God knows what else. I have been working at changing that program since I was 26. I'm 86 right now. So I've been at it for a long time, and I work at it every day. Most people don't even know that they have the problem. [laughs] So they stay stuck their whole life. Listen, you interview some pretty interesting people. Um, I watched you interview here a, a billionaire a while ago. Um-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
Um...
- LHLewis Howes
Which one?
- SPSpeaker
I forgot. I've forgotten who it was.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
Anyway-
- LHLewis Howes
We got Ray Dalio, Charles Koch, uh-
- SPSpeaker
It, it was a pretty interesting interview anyway
- LHLewis Howes
... John Paul DeJoria. Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
But-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah
- 1:10:08 – 1:20:13
Support-based income, “happy money,” and finding your reserved seat
- SPSpeaker
Yes. Uh, and then the third step would be start getting support from everybo- everybody. You know, I have, say, for example, more than 10,000, uh, people, um, sending me money every month as a s- a form of subscri- subs- uh-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... subscription online salon.
- LHLewis Howes
Yes.
- SPSpeaker
So, and, uh, um, I haven't promised anything to do for them, so it's just a love money. So can, you know, I'm gonna-
- LHLewis Howes
This is what type of money?
- SPSpeaker
Love money.
- LHLewis Howes
Love money.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
So 10,000 people-
- SPSpeaker
Yeah
- LHLewis Howes
... pay you money every month-
- SPSpeaker
Yeah, it's $10
- LHLewis Howes
... just because they love you.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah. Um-
- LHLewis Howes
$10.
- SPSpeaker
That's how they feel. [laughs]
- LHLewis Howes
Wow.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
Are you, are you offering them any- are you giving them any teaching or-
- SPSpeaker
I did just say, uh, I, I had this, uh, fun interview with Lewis today, and I'm in Stockholm.
- LHLewis Howes
Sure.
- SPSpeaker
I send some videos-
- LHLewis Howes
Uh-huh
- SPSpeaker
... but I'm not promising like, "I do this, you know, so I give you this, so get me, give me this."
- LHLewis Howes
Right, right.
- SPSpeaker
No, it's more of a casual thing.
- LHLewis Howes
That's cool.
- SPSpeaker
So, uh, um, so I have enough trust from people, so the happy money, so almost like, um, uh, is given in my custody so I can help other people.
- LHLewis Howes
That's cool.
- 1:20:13 – 1:24:24
Affirmations, money as energy, and the dangers of hoarding
- SPSpeaker
I, I think a lot of people don't un- understand the power of a daily affirmation-
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... or a daily check-in with yourself-
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... just like you talked about for two minutes. For someone that doesn't believe in affirmations, what would you say to them?
- SPSpeaker
So if you, even if you don't believe it, you must be saying something to yourself, like, "This is a terrible day. It's so hot. I don't like this." You know? So, uh, subconsciously, you're saying something about your life or about yourself, about your friends or about your clients. "Oh, I, I hate working with this person." [laughs] You know, something like that. So I think it's a, a, affirmation by itself. So, um, just to write down what are the things that you say to yourself, uh, subconsciously-
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... you can probably figure out.
- SPSpeaker
Right.
- SPSpeaker
And is that a happy thought? [laughs] And then, uh, unfortunately, a lot of the, uh, things that we talk to ourselves are negative.
- SPSpeaker
Yes.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah. So, uh, so do you wanna feed negative thoughts like this, or do you want to, uh, pour more positive thoughts?
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
You have a choice, but unless you sh- uh, write them down, uh, you, you never know it. And then, uh, you may find that, uh, the reason why you get, you get depressed, because I'm k- you're getting-
- SPSpeaker
All these negative thoughts-
- SPSpeaker
... negative, yes
- SPSpeaker
... yeah, yeah
- SPSpeaker
... about, about life. W- no wonder y- I feel depressed.
- SPSpeaker
Sure.
- SPSpeaker
So if all the things you talked about to, about, about you are positive and loving, um, it's, it's what you get.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah, exactly. And can you tell me how we can think about money as energy?
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
In the book also, I, I saw you writing about how money is energy, and sometimes people try to make it and hold onto it.
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
They wanna hold onto it. They wanna stack it in their bank as high as they can go.
- SPSpeaker
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
And they don't wanna spend it. Sometimes it happens. What happens when we hoard money, when we keep it, and we don't let it come and go-
- SPSpeaker
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... as energy? What happens?
- SPSpeaker
So I have seen so many interesting things, like when you, uh, if you hoard your money, a few things happen. You get sick-
- 1:24:24 – 1:36:39
Cash flow, risk aversion, and tying self-worth to results
- SPSpeaker
Two nights ago, I was, we were out with, uh, to dinner with a guy who just got valued at a billion, right? And it's off cash flow. It's not one of these software things. Like, it's off-
- SPSpeaker
Wow
- SPSpeaker
... like, he's getting... Yeah. Like, he's making real money, crazy money, and he's like, "I'm not going to that gym." He's like, "For e- for Equinox." He said, "I'm not paying $200 a month for a gym membership." It's, it's a different perspective. Now, I'm not saying I'm that way.
- SPSpeaker
Yes.
- SPSpeaker
You know what I mean? Like, I'm okay spending on a gym membership.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah, yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Like, that's fine for me, but, like, everyone has their own things, and, like, there are these behaviors. Like, he got, the other guy who had the 250, he got to that point because he lived s- he, he squeezed everything out of his business, which made the business so valuable, and then he was able to sell it. But, like- The, the billion-dollar guy was saying, he's like, "You know what they don't tell you about when you sell your business?" 'Cause he's sitting next to the guy with the 250, right? And he's like, "The moment you sell your business," he's like, "You have no cash flow." And so he felt that too.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
He's like, "What are you gonna do?" He's like, "You're gonna take the money, and then what are you gonna do? You're gonna try and buy more cash flow, 'cause you gotta replace the cash flow-
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah
- SPSpeaker
... you had with the business." He's like-
- LHLewis Howes
You gotta get real estate assets, you gotta do something else
- SPSpeaker
... he's like, "Why bother?" He's like, "I'll just keep it." And so he doesn't have any intentions of selling. And so it was an interesting lesson for me too, because, like, we obviously got rid of our cash flow asset when we sold, uh, all three last year.
- LHLewis Howes
Well, you got a lot more money, but you don't have the money cash coming in anymore.
- SPSpeaker
Right, because then it looks like this dep- this finite asset. The business goes on forever, in your mind at least, right? And so it gives you this illusion of control, this illusion of security. And me personally, most people wouldn't believe this when they hear it, but, like, I'm very risk-averse, and so I probably need... Like, what's the core changes that I need to have? I probably need to be a little bit more of a risk-taker-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm
- SPSpeaker
... um, than I am. Like, I tend to always take the lowest risk path, uh, when I can. Even, even the idea of, like, when I quit entrepreneurship, or, sorry, when I quit my job to start entrepreneurship, it was because I knew that the path that I was on was guaranteed not to get me where I want.
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm.
- SPSpeaker
So I had a zero outcome. And that... So this one, even though it was lower, like, I had a low chance of success, the other one had 100% failure guarantee. And so that- so it felt like the lower risk option-
- LHLewis Howes
Mm-hmm
- SPSpeaker
... for my long-term goal was to quit my job and become an entrepreneur for that reason. And so-
- LHLewis Howes
Right
- SPSpeaker
... you know, people are like, "I'm really risk-averse." I'm like, "So am I." Like, I hoard money. Like, I'm-
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs] Right. You-
- SPSpeaker
I do. I do
- LHLewis Howes
... you haven't spent any of the money from the exits still.
- SPSpeaker
No, not at all.
- LHLewis Howes
It's like, just sitting in the bank. Yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Nothing. We started working the next day.
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah.
- 1:36:39 – 1:45:57
Letter to money, fear of outshining family, and doing what scares you
- SPSpeaker
Hmm. Um, I definitely think the best place to start is your thoughts, beliefs, and words. So I have an exercise that I love that just was so sobering for me back in the day. Have you ever done that one where you write a letter to money as if it's a person?
- LHLewis Howes
I'm not sure if I've done that exactly. I've written many letters to myself.
- SPSpeaker
Uh-huh.
- LHLewis Howes
Fu- future self, past self.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah.
- LHLewis Howes
But t- tell me, tell me this one.
- SPSpeaker
Your spleen.
- LHLewis Howes
Yes. [laughs]
- SPSpeaker
Um, I... Yeah, it, it, um, it's, it's where you write a letter to money as if it's a person, and you do it very stream of consciousness and, and you just let it rip and- It's so illuminating, 'cause most of us have such a push-pull going on with money where it's like, of course, like if you handed me 10 grand, I'd be like, "Thank you very much. This is awesome."
- LHLewis Howes
Yeah, yeah.
- SPSpeaker
But then we also feel dirty for pursuing money. We think rich people have no morals. We think we'll have to sacrifice the things we love. We think we'll lose friends and family if we get rich. We'll, you know, whatever. And so when you do it stream of consciousness and really treat it as if it's a person or a thing, it blew my tiny mind when I saw this-
- LHLewis Howes
What, what happened to you? What were your-
- SPSpeaker
Oh, my God.
- LHLewis Howes
[laughs]
- SPSpeaker
Well, my... Okay. [laughs] So, so I had lots of I, I love you, um, I wish I had-
- LHLewis Howes
I hate you, I love you, I want-
- SPSpeaker
[laughs] Pretty much
- LHLewis Howes
... I want more of you. Get out of my life. It was like a dramatic relationship, yeah.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah, it is. It's an abusive relationship. And they say if you take the money out and you replace intimacy-
- LHLewis Howes
Ooh
- SPSpeaker
... in like man or woman, whatever you're into, samesies. Yeah, it's the whole thing. I mean, you gotta be ready to be super humiliated if you're gonna do any of this work. [laughs] But mine was all I love you, I wish I had more of you, I resent needing you, I don't trust that you'll stick around.
- LHLewis Howes
Ooh, man.
- SPSpeaker
Like all that kinda stuff.
- LHLewis Howes
And how were your intimate relationships during that time?
- SPSpeaker
Same. Same.
- LHLewis Howes
I want you, but I don't trust you.
- SPSpeaker
Yeah. Really, my hair is still standing up. So, so that's a real doozy. And, and then once you get all of your dirty laundry out on the page, then you can start questioning it, you know, like we were talking about.
- LHLewis Howes
So how did you question... Personally, what came up for you?
- SPSpeaker
Mm.
- LHLewis Howes
And how did you-
Episode duration: 1:45:57
In the uListen app, the transcript lights up word by word as you listen. Get uListen
Transcript of episode Pnq0Cv7WtNg
