How To Never Be Lazy Again | Lewis Howes EP 229

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.

0:53Laziness, procrastination, and the lack of motivation is 100 % natural. It's something that's embedded in our biology, and even the world's top performers deal with this, okay? So you don't have to feel bad if you feel lazy sometimes. Most importantly, it's something that you should never feel ashamed of. This is what everyone deals with. And there are ancient journal entries from the emperor of Rome, Marcus Aurelius, where he's convincing himself why he should get out of bed in the mornings. Now think about that for a second. The most powerful person in the world at the time was trying to persuade himself to get out of his warm and comfortable bed.

1:32And in the text, he talks about his responsibilities and how they would still be waiting for him even after he slept in. Now, if Marcus Aurelius struggled with it, then us struggling to wake up in the morning doesn't automatically make us lazy. It's just something we all deal with. And now for the simple yet powerful question I want you to ask yourself. Are you experiencing laziness or are you just afraid? Now, here's what I mean. Oftentimes, we confuse our fear of failure with not being motivated. So many of us are scared to put ourselves out there to truly fight for our wildest hopes and dreams.

2:07We're afraid that if we try our absolute hardest for our dream, and then if we don't achieve it, then our identity will be destroyed. So we protect it by not taking action on the things we know we need to do. And I'm here to tell you that this is a very dangerous game you're playing. if you tie your identity and your gifts to failure and successes. Now, if you're a filmmaker, a box office flop doesn't mean you aren't a great filmmaker. If you're an author, then rejections from agents and publishers doesn't mean you aren't a great writer. It's okay to fall flat on your face when pursuing your goals.

2:45This is natural. It happens. It's actually the pathway to achieving your goals. The only thing that isn't okay is not pursuing them at all. because you're afraid of the outcome. When it comes to overcoming lack of motivation, one of the biggest mistakes I see is that people are trying to change everything all at once. Now, is this you? You try to change your diet, your food plans, when you're waking up, all these habits all at once, and then you're exhausted after three days. On the other hand, another common mistake I see is people trying to change too little at once. So where do you start them?

3:22And how can you meet in the middle? The best of both worlds here is starting a single strategic change to your habits. Let me break it down. Nearly all behavioral patterns can change by shifting one root habit first. And once you do, the rest of the habits will follow as a result. Take a few minutes to identify the bad habit that lies beneath your inability to wake up early and start the day off with a bang. Now most of the time the answer isn't what you first expect it to be. So the trick is to go just a little bit deeper underneath that. So for instance, maybe you think you're incapable of waking up early.

4:06Maybe you've been a night owl your entire life and that's what's worked for you. But when you think about a little bit further, you realize that you have a habit of going out with your friends for drinks most nights or you won't always go out and party and that makes you a night out. In this example, it's more than likely the habit of drinking and staying out late that's keeping you from becoming a morning person than you being unable to become a morning person yourself. And if you work late hours or the graveyard shift and physically can't wake up early in the morning, then maybe your simple strategic change would be using your day off to meal prep for the week ahead.

4:42Now, what happens to a lot of people who work unusual hours is that they're so tired by the time they get home that they end up eating fast food or unhealthy snacks. And as a result, their energy levels are even lower than they should be. Then they have little to no motivation to chase after their dreams and they end up resenting themselves and their job as a result. And then the cycle just continues to go on and on. For so many people, they're simple strategic change. So just be getting more sleep. It's hard not to be lazy and unmotivated when you're physically exhausted and emotionally drained from lack of sleep.

5:20So that's one thing you got to think about. Over the years, I have had the privilege of interviewing some of the world's top performers across a variety of industries, and they're all unique in their own way. But there are a handful of similarities that I've found to be consistent across everyone from world-class athletes to best-selling authors. And one of those common threads is having a clear mission, purpose, and vision for their life, at least for a season of time in their life. And without a clear vision, a meaningful mission, you'll always feel unfulfilled no matter how many things you achieve in your life.

5:56And before I became clear on the purpose for my life and my meaningful mission, I always felt a little bit empty after accomplishing these big goals that I was setting out for. No matter if it was becoming a two-sport All-American athlete, breaking national records in collegiate football, making it to professional football, launching a seven-figure business. For whatever reason, I always felt incomplete mere moments after those achievements. You know, I always suffered with that information, like why am I not happier and more fulfilled? And taking it a step further without a clear and meaningful mission for your own life, you probably won't want to jump out of bed to first place.

6:35So it's no wonder why you aren't motivated. Again, if you're not clear on where you're going, why would you want to get out of bed if you don't know where you're going to go? And that's why I want you to take a moment to write this thought down. It's our responsibility to create a mission for our life that makes us so excited that we want to jump out of bed in the morning. By committing your life to a purpose that is bigger than yourself, you'll be filled with a deeper level of joy, passion, and energy that you might have never thought was possible. But you've got to get clear on what that meaningful mission is for you.

7:08In the iconic book, Man's Search for Meaning, the author Viktor Frankl talks about his time spent in concentration camps during World War II. And despite the horrific conditions he found himself in, the two things that kept him going were thoughts of being reunited with his wife after he got out, and how he wanted to finish writing the manuscript for a book he had been working on for years. And these parts of Viktor's gave him meaning. They gave him a reason to continue living through all the unimaginable tragedies that he experienced. And I want you to think about for a moment your life right now and the different tragedies that you might be going through.

7:49What can you hold on to? What can you attach your life's intention to on a day-to-day basis when there might be tragedy? There might be heartache, breakups. There might be career loss. There might be disease and sickness in your life and in your families. there may be a time in the future where this happens. So how do you stay consistent when there is something like that happening in the world that is unjust as well? So this is what a lot of people get wrong when it comes to finding their meaningful mission. They confuse passion with purpose. And as an example, let's say you are a painter. Your entire life, you've always had a gift and a deep love for art.

8:29You've even painted and sold portraits all around the world. Now, it's great that you've made money doing something you love, but it's unlikely you'll feel 100 % fulfilled over the course of your life if you only paint and sell what you create. So to transform this passion into purpose, maybe you dedicate time to teaching disadvantaged youth in your city how to paint. You use part of your gift and service, or donating a handful of paintings every year to a charity that's aligned with your core values. These are just types of actions that will fill you up with gratitude and where a feeling of true fulfillment can begin to take root.

9:09Again, it's kind of using your gifts in service of others. Again, it's great to have a craft that you're excited about, that you're passionate about, you're talented in. It makes life so much more exciting and enjoyable when we have that. But be careful when it comes to distinguishing between passion from purpose or confusing having money with having a meaningful mission. It's only by helping others and buying into a vision that's larger than yourself that you'll tap into the greater version of you.

9:42Thank 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.

10:39Again, have an amazing day, and I'll see you tomorrow with another episode of the Daily Motivation Show.

10:54Thank you.