Fighting Addiction & Achieving Spiritual Freedom | Russell Brand EP 251

0:00Hi, my name is Lewis Howes and welcome to the Daily Motivation show.

0:10I firmly believe that taking charge of your mindset allows you to be in the driver's seat of your life and unlock your potential. And that's why I'm thrilled to share that my new book is out right now. It's called The Greatness Mindset. In it, you'll learn how to build a plan for greatness through powerful exercises and toolkits designed to propel your life forward. This is the book that I wish I had 20 years ago. It's everything I've learned in the last decade with the research and the science to help you unlock your mind. Make sure to go to lewishouse.com slash 2023mindset to pick up your copy of my book, The Greatness Mindset, today.

0:51What skills do you wish you would have learned earlier that would have helped you? I wish I'd learned Brazilian jiu-jitsu. as a child that would have really grounded me really sort of straightened me out why do you think that would ground you? because I think it gives you a respect for your body and it gives you a respect for other people as well the thing about Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is you learn what you're capable of but you also see what other people are capable of so you think well I can do all this stuff but oh my god look at this guy I would not have known that I would not have known from looking at that person that they had those kind of resources.

1:33So it creates the perfect optimal state, I would say, of like, I would not want to be a person that's an aggressor or looks to create conflict. But neither am I so anxious about conflict that I'll bend myself into peculiar shapes to avoid it. And also there are affiliated values within martial arts, respect, hierarchies that are fair and just and earned, camaraderie, physical contact in a clear and consensual and boundaried way. I mean, it's just so full of great values. You put aside who you are when you enter into it. You know, I do try and use my personality sometimes on the map. like come on hey i don't charm people a little bit there's only moderately successful okay so that's that's one skill i wish i'd learned abstinence and the principles of 12-step recovery which of course encompasses quite a lot of values the principles of recovery because even before i was addicted to crack and heroin the way that i was eating chocolate the way i was watching pornography the way i was obsessed with girlfriends the way that i was sort of a clingy little dude all of these things the idea that I can have a connection to a god of my own understanding that I can be to a degree sufficient that I am not god I'm not the most important person in the world all the time but also I'm not scum I don't have to bow and scrape before anybody I have values but I don't need to always as they say in the some of the great literature uh scrambling to be on the top of the pile or hiding underneath it you know like being happy to be just a person among people not always seeking to sort of somehow either fate isolate or separate myself you know being happy to be part of a community or part of a group or part of a family the 12-step recovery has so many beautiful principles the idea of God and the idea that we all have equal access to God the idea of fellowship fraternity sorority brotherhood and sisterhood between us the idea of service of one another the idea of being honest and authentic about who we are surrender acceptance so i would say the skills of 12-step recovery yes that would be the second one every day i think about i wish i spoke another language i every day i think gosh man it's funny you say that because for 20 years russell i've been at the end of every year i look back and say okay what am i proud of that i created and what do I regret that I didn't do that I wish I would have done.

4:09Every year for 20 years has been, I wish I would have learned Spanish. Spanish is the one I want. Because every year I try. Every year I'm like, okay, I'm going to download the latest app. Download the app. I'm going to get the book. I'm going to try this new. Someone said, this is the program that'll work for you. You'll be fluent in three months, all this stuff. And it gets so hard for my brain within the first few days. I'm like, I'm just not smart enough. I can't figure this out. It hurts. I've got all these other things going on and I end up giving up on myself. Well, here's the thing What I realized is I kept losing integrity with myself because I kept wanting to do it I kept saying I was gonna do it and then every year I wouldn't do it And I kept feeling like less and less confident with myself And so I either needed to kill the dream and say I no longer care about this dream and let it go Say that's not for me in my life or I needed to commit to it And six months ago, I said i'm hiring a tutor three days a week.

5:04I'm making, scheduling the time in the calendar. I'm going to make it a commitment. And the first four months were miserable. It was, I didn't feel like I was learning a thing, but now I'm on six. I feel like I'm still not good, but I'm like, it doesn't hurt my brain as much. And I could see, okay, you know, in, in three, five, seven years, I could become a lot better. I could have a conversation and feel proud of it. And it's tough. I get up at, you know, I do it at 8 a.m. and sessions, but it's like I don't want to feel not confident and proud of myself by wanting this thing and always putting it off.

5:39So when I take something on, I want to be the best at it within a day. And this is something that humbles me. It's like being in Brazilian jiu-jitsu for the first time probably. It's like I'm on my back getting pinned every moment no matter what maneuver I try to do. And you just got to say, okay, I'm here to learn. you know i know nothing and have a beginner's mind so i struggle i'm the same as you if i'm not good straight away and that you know that's why yeah i do deserve props for the bjj if i'm not good because i wasn't good straight away and i'm still a beginner at a blue belt you know like it i don't like it because i've got a few things that i'm competent at stand-up comedy or acting or whatever like i like to stay in that and also i guess when i was being nourished or when i was growing up as a kid i didn't feel confident to be not good at stuff i felt very ashamed of not being good at football not being good at fighting like those kind of things felt like a big felt like a big deal to not be good at those things you know so it's a kind of self-love isn't it to go okay we're gonna gently learn spanish we're gonna gently learn the ukulele you have to learn how to be your father the father to yourself don't you to just okay okay don't worry we're gonna take our time with this

6:59Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of The Daily Motivation, and I hope you have an amazing rest of your day. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to click the link in the description. That will take you to the full episode of our main podcast on The School of Greatness. And if you are loving The Daily Motivation, please follow us over on Apple Podcasts and Spotify and leave us a review over on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want more exclusive content and ad-free listening experience, make sure to subscribe to our Greatness Plus channel on Apple Podcasts right now. And if you want to get even more inspiration from our world-class guests and learn how to improve your life and take it to the next level, then make sure to sign up for the Greatness newsletter and get it delivered right to your inbox over at greatness.com slash newsletter.

7:49Again, have an amazing day and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.