Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to The Dr. Gundry Podcast, the weekly podcast where Dr. G gives you the tools you need to boost your health and live your healthiest life.

Dr. Gundry (00:17):
Welcome to The Dr. Gundry Podcast. Now, right now, some of you are struggling, whether it’s related to your job, your family, or your health, just remember, you are not alone. But as hard as things can be, I want to remind you that every cloud, believe it or not, has a silver lining. It just may not feel like it right now, but it’s now a perfect time to focus on your health, and to take a few simple steps to transform your life and pursue some things you’ve maybe always wanted to accomplish. And my guest today is a great person to help guide you on that journey of self-discovery.

Dr. Gundry (00:59):
Lewis Howes is the New York Times Bestselling Author and the host of the hugely popular The School of Greatness Podcast. And today, he and I are going to talk about all the ways you can emerge from this COVID-19 crisis mentally stronger than you’ve ever been before. We’ll also discuss the best advice Lewis has ever gotten, can’t wait to hear this, and the one simple thing you should start doing today, to take back control of your life and health. Lewis, it’s so great to finally have you on my podcast.

Lewis Howes (01:36):
Thank you, thank you, I’m very grateful to be here.

Dr. Gundry (01:39):
For listeners who don’t know your story, tell me a little bit about your journey.

Lewis Howes (01:47):
12 years ago, I was pursuing a dream of mine to play professional football, ended up getting injured in 2007 playing arena football, indoor football, by diving into a wall to catch a football as a receiver. Broke my wrist, played for the next 14 games with a broken wrist, got surgery afterwards, the doctor said, “You probably should have got surgery a long time ago.” They did a bone graft, took a bone out of my hip, put it into my wrist, and was in this position, a 90 degree angle with my arm for six months, trying to let it to recover and heal. And that was a time where 2008 came quickly after that, the recession went big, everyone was losing jobs, people weren’t hiring people with master’s.

Lewis Howes (02:30):
It reminds me of this time right now, is kind of like, I was in a very dark place, depressed, my identity was shaped around football, that was over, my self-worth was identified around my accomplishments in sports and I can no longer put that into sports. I was living on my sister’s couch at the time, for a year and a half during this, just trying to figure out, “What am I going to do next? What’s my next steps? How do I get out of this situation? How do I make money? How do I get a job?” I really had no clue what I was going to do. But within a few years, I had some great mentors and coaches, I had a hunger and a desire to get out of that darkness. And through that, built some businesses, created The School of Greatness, and here we are 10, 12 years later, during this kind of downturn in the economy.

Dr. Gundry (03:22):
We’re going to talk about this later, but this is a good segue, when you’re down in that dark hole, I mean, nothing’s going right, your career, it’s over, and you said, “I just had that drive.” Help our listeners to understand. Okay, come on-

Lewis Howes (03:48):
How do you get the drive?

Dr. Gundry (03:49):
Yeah, where’s the drive?

Lewis Howes (03:51):
Well, I didn’t have any drive for about a year, I literally laid around and I ate macaroni and cheese, and ramen noodles, everything that you’re not supposed to eat with the Gundry diet, and watched bad TV for a while and just allowed myself to be depressed and down and out, and angry. I was angry at the world, I was angry at my coach who put me in this play where I broke my wrist, I was thinking everyone was out to get me, “No one understands me, why did this happen to me?” And that type of thinking kept me stuck and kept me down as opposed to a different type of thinking, a creative thinking, thinking of service or thinking of, “Okay, well, this happened, let me accept it. Now, what skills can I build up, that I don’t have, that will support me for my future?”

Lewis Howes (04:41):
And that was really after a while of this, I just, the hunger came from really not having any of the options. My dad had just gotten into a car accident, where he was in a coma for many months, and he’s still alive today, but he’s not the same person. So, I didn’t have my father as an emotional, mental or financial support anymore. I didn’t have another backup plan. And so, everything came down to, “Okay, I don’t have family to lean on, beyond sleeping for free on my sister’s couch. I don’t have these opportunities here with my dad, or this, or that, so, what am I going to do with this time?” And instead of being angry about everything, I started to, first, grief. And I’ll just share the process.

Lewis Howes (05:27):
For me, it was like, “Okay, my whole life and dream was to be a pro athlete. I did it for a short amount of time, I didn’t get to the level I want to, and it stopped quickly, I need to grieve this.” And it took me some time to really accept that I wasn’t going to be that person anymore. And I think when you have a vision in your mind for 10, 15 years like I did, it’s hard to let go of something. It’s hard to let go of your career, or relationship, whatever it may be that you’re holding onto. For me, I started to learn how to grieve, and I did it poorly. I got angry, I was this, and then I finally learned how to let it go after years. And I started to find the right mentors and find the right group of people to spend time with and learn from.

Lewis Howes (06:14):
And from those mentors, they talked to me about the importance of perspective. And you got to hear other stories about people who went more tragic experiences in their life, and that gave me a sense of gratitude. So, I started to say, “Okay, you know what? What can I be grateful for? You know what? I’ve got to live my dream and play sports professionally. Most people don’t get to do that. I have a sister that allows me to sleep on our couch for a year and a half, I’m not homeless.” It’s finding that perspective and gratitude. And the next thing was really, creating goals. I think this is a perfect time to create new goals for yourself. Maybe the plans, the goals you had are broken, you can’t do them anymore, and I started creating goals. The first goal was, “How do I make $100?”

Lewis Howes (06:58):
And then it became, “How do I make enough money to get out of my sister’s place and get my own apartment? What does that look like?” I just started really small. I had big thinking, big dreams, but I had to start small on these baby steps. And those goals, I’ve heard of the research from people, you probably know better than me, but having goals actually decreases depression for people. Just having something to work towards, that you’re inspired by, decreases depression, decreases anxiety, all these different things. And so, by having new goals, it will set you up for more peace in your heart. It’s not going to be easy, but it’s going to set you up for the less frustration.

Dr. Gundry (07:41):
Okay, you talk about mentors, well, I mean, what do you do? Phone a friend?

Lewis Howes (07:46):
I didn’t have many mentors at the time of… I didn’t have access to resources with people at the time, this was 2008, 2007, 2008, what I did have was, who I knew. I knew coaches from the past, from college and high school, that I really respected and admired. I called my coaches. I called a couple of teachers, one was the headmaster of a small university I went to called Principia College, who I really respected there, I called him, and I talked to a couple of my dad’s friends. I was just like, “Anyone that I could talk to, who do I respect? Who knows more than me?” I talked to my family. It started small, but then, one mentor said, “Why don’t you check out LinkedIn?” This is in 2007.

Lewis Howes (08:27):
He’s like, “Go make a profile.” I think there was 10 million people at the time on it. And he goes, “I hear people are getting jobs there. So, go check it out.” I just started saying, “Okay, I’m going to take the words of the mentor, I’m going to take massive action on their information, I’m going to try things, make mistakes and learn as I go.” Linkedin ended up being my greatest asset for the next few years, because it was there, where I was able to find CEOs, executives, founders, leaders, and email them and message them, and get responses. And get on the phone with a lot of them, meet a lot of them in person, and build new mentorships from actively reaching out on LinkedIn to people. And it was one of the greatest places for me for many years.

Lewis Howes (09:10):
And that’s what I did. I started just being, “How could I build a profile that’s so unique and creative that people want to respond to me and want to connect with me? And what can I offer them?” When I felt like I had nothing to offer, “How can I offer a mentor value?” And that’s the process I took.

Dr. Gundry (09:29):
So, you created a profile, I mean, did you lie? I mean, come on now.

Lewis Howes (09:34):
In every great resume, you usually try to, in every great dating profile, you show your best photos. You don’t show the stuff where you made your mistakes, you put your best foot out there. And so, for me, I was like, “Okay, who do I want to connect with?” In the time, I wanted to be in the sports world. I wanted to do a sports job, I had a sports marketing degree that I eventually got. So, I was like, “Okay, if I’m going to get a job, I want to work in sports.” Because it’s what I know at the time as 24-year-old. So, “What do I need to position in my profile, that’s going to get me in the door with people at sports companies, big CEOs in the sports world?”

Lewis Howes (10:12):
And I just led with being a professional athlete, even though I wasn’t in the NFL, I was a professional athlete, I got paid in the Arena Football League. I led with my accomplishments. I was a two-sport all-American. I broke a world record in football for the most yards in a single football game. I led with the things that I had best first, and openly spoke about those things. I didn’t talk about my… and I said I had a college degree, which I did at the time, it took me seven years. But, I didn’t talk about anything else really because I didn’t have any other skills. So, is lead with the best foot forward, make it look shiny, and hopefully, someone will respond.

Dr. Gundry (10:50):
And people responded.

Lewis Howes (10:53):
People responded. I mean, I connected with the CEO of ESPN at the time, the founder of ESPN, a lot of big executives, leaders. And what I did is, I was just really good at following up with people, and saying, “How can I support you? What’s your biggest challenge? Who do you need connected to?” My secret weapon became the power of my network. I didn’t have the skillset to help people personally with let’s say marketing, or design, or video editing, or sales. I didn’t have those skills. But what I did have was the ability to put myself out there, build a relationship with someone important, ask them what they needed, and then source from my network, someone who could help them. And I became essentially a matchmaker of problem solving. And that became a superpower, which I had no clue was a skill, but I did it through action.

Dr. Gundry (11:43):
Were you a people person before all this?

Lewis Howes (11:47):
I would say, I was a outgoing happy guy that wanted to connect with people, but I didn’t know how to do this in a professional setting, or how to do this in a career setting. It was just hanging out with my buddies in the football team. I didn’t know how to translate it necessarily, and so, I made some mistakes early on, until I realized, no one wants to respond to someone when they ask for advice, but they always want to share their story of success with someone. And so, when I started thinking, “Okay, if this person has no time, they have everyone messaging them, everyone trying to get a phone call with them, why would they respond to me when I have nothing to give them, if all I’m asking is to pick their brain, take 10 minutes of their time, when they don’t have it?”

Lewis Howes (12:35):
When I realized that doesn’t work, I stopped asking for advice, I stopped asking for a job. I said, “You know what? I was really inspired to read this article about how you shifted from this part of your career to this part of your career. It’s fascinating to me how you became successful in that area of your life. Can you share with me that story?” Most of the time, people were like, “Yes, I’d love to talk about how cool I am, how successful I…” It’s just shifting the question and the perspective. And in doing so, they’re going to give you all the advice in the world, and they’re going to think of you higher, and they’re going to want to help you in return, because you gave them something most people don’t give them.

Dr. Gundry (13:16):
Persons listening at home or watching at home, they go, “Well, yeah, but you’re Lewis Howes, you’re a famous football player, maybe you were on your sister’s couch, but that’s not me. I just-

Lewis Howes (13:31):
“But this stuff come natural to you, it’s easy for you,” all that stuff. Here’s what I’d say, I remember at this time when I was on my sister’s couch doing this, I was so afraid of many things. And I remember being crippled to speak in public in front of five people, I couldn’t do this in school. I was in the special needs classes, where, every time, this was the worst thing that could ever happen to me, when a teacher would say, “Okay, class, we’re going to read aloud, and we’re going to go around the class, and each person’s going to open up a page and we’re going to read out loud into the class.” That would terrify me because I wasn’t able to read the words and speak them out without stuttering and stumbling and messing it up. It was just very difficult for me. And speaking in front of an audience was my greatest fear, because I was just terrified.

Lewis Howes (14:18):
So, during this time on my sister’s couch, as I was reaching out to mentors and coaches and people to share their story of success, but really to give me advice, one mentor was a professional speaker, and I was so inspired by, and admired his ability to be able to go around the country and speak and get paid. And I thought, “How cool would that be? Problem is, I don’t have the ability to speak without stuttering and stumbling in front of people.” And so, he gave me, I said, “Can you share your story of how you did this, how you became so successful?” He took me out to coffee at a Barnes & Noble Starbucks in Columbus, Ohio, he bought me the coffee, he took his time, when he was busy, to teach me, because of the way I framed the question. And he gave me everything I needed.

Lewis Howes (15:05):
He said, “If you want to become great at public speaking, whether you want to do this full time and make money doing it, or you’re going to get a job and you need to present into a boardroom, you need to learn how to persuade people with your ideas. Whether you do this as an entrepreneur, career, whatever it may be. That’s when you become a great leader, being able to persuade people with your ideas.” He said, “You need to join Toastmasters. You need to go to this group, a public speaking class every week, and do it until you’re not afraid.” And it was the last thing I wanted to do was to dive into public speaking classes, and to be made fun of, and to stand in front of groups and practice. It was the last thing. But, that’s what I did. I did it every single week for a year, and I got a coach at this group who helped me, we watched film of myself doing it, which is just horrible to watch yourself when you’re bad at something, and critique it and analyze and give feedback.

Lewis Howes (16:00):
And every week, I would just go back and do it over and over again until the end of the year. I remember being able to get up in front of an audience after a year of doing this, with no notes, no podium, nothing, and just be able to present ideas for 10 minutes. And it seemed like a long time then, to speak for 10 minutes as a 24, 25-year-old, but I remember just feeling the sense of peace and confidence that I never had before.

Lewis Howes (16:27):
And so, what I started doing was, creating a list of all my biggest fears, and saying, “In order to overcome these challenges,” like you said before, “Well, you’re Lewis Howes and this comes easily for you,” and this and this, well, a lot of these things never came easily to me, I just decided I was going to turn my fears into a superpower, so they didn’t have control over me. If I were you right now, I would create a list of your biggest fears. What are the things that hold you back? For me, it was public speaking, it was salsa dancing and dancing in general in front of people because I just never felt confident dancing in front of people, I always felt awkward. I was this tall, lanky, white boy that had no moves, and so, I went all in on learning salsa dancing.

Lewis Howes (17:10):
Went out three times a week to clubs, I took group lessons, private lessons, YouTube tutorials, everything, until I was no longer afraid to go out and dance in public. And the more I wrote down my fears and tackled them until they disappeared, the more confident I became in every area of my life, and that’s the process for me. Finding great mentors and people to give me some type of model, and doing the thing that I don’t want to do over and over again until I actually start to enjoy it. I never thought I would enjoy standing in front of a stage in front of people and speaking. I never thought because I hated it. I never thought I would enjoy salsa dancing in front of people. I never thought I would enjoy doing these things that I do now. I never thought I would write a book.

Lewis Howes (17:59):
I was like, I almost flunked out of English class, so, I never thought I would do that. All these things that I took on as fears, I now really enjoy, and then it becomes super powers.

Dr. Gundry (18:09):
Okay, School of Greatness, your show is School of Greatness, and there it is right behind you. How did that get started? I can see, I think, how it got started. What are the common attributes that make your guests great?

Lewis Howes (18:28):
How did it get started? Seven years ago, I moved to L.A., eight years ago, I moved to L.A. for a girl that I was dating long distance. The day I moved here, she broke up with me. And we ended up getting back together the next day, and it was up and down for many months, but it was an emotional roller coaster. And I just moved from New York city where I was loving it, my business was growing, I felt more competent than ever. And then I moved to L.A., I don’t know anyone, I don’t like it as much, this girl and I are having challenges, and I’m like, “What is going on with my life?” And things start to fall apart.

Lewis Howes (19:06):
And as they started to fall apart over that next year, I said to myself, “Man, I thought everything was going pretty good in my life.” I was 28, 29 years old, whatever it was at the time, I built a business. After being on my sister’s couch, I went and built a business, multimillion dollar company, ended up selling the company. I was getting awards and accolades, I felt like myself again from sports days, but that was all on the outside. On the inside, I was really insecure, I was nervous, I was scared, I was projecting an image. I wanted people to look at me as opposed to really being vulnerable. I had a big ego, I’d react to people, all those things that I didn’t like.

Lewis Howes (19:51):
And it started to come out more and more after moving to L.A. and being in this relationship that was up and down and ending. And I remember being stuck in L.A. traffic one day, I know you know this feeling, and feeling like, “Man, I just feel stuck in my life.” It took me an hour to go two miles or whatever it is, and I was just frustrated with the relationship, frustrated about this and that, and I said, “You know what? I am afraid of a lot of things still. And I thought I’d conquered all these fears, but there’s a lot inside that I’m still afraid of. And I wish they would have taught me this stuff growing up.

Lewis Howes (20:28):
“I wish the first 30 years of my life in school they taught me about failure, they’d taught me about grieving, they taught me about going through breakups in relationships, they taught me about how to have better health, all these things. They taught me about scaling my business right now. I’m just feel stuck, and I want to know more.” And that was the moment where I was like, “I think I could do a podcast.” This was pre-podcasting, and I was like, “I think this podcasting thing might be a way for me to do this, where I can interview people that I know, and learn, be selfish and learn, but also share with other people.” Because up until then, I had just been reaching out to friends for help, but not sharing the wisdom with others.

Lewis Howes (21:11):
And that’s where I was like, “Okay, I’m going to call it The School of Greatness because I wish this is all the stuff I wish they would have taught in school, and an education system that they never taught me.” Maybe a coach would teach this stuff every now and then, but in school, they didn’t. And I was like, “This is the stuff I truly need.” And that became the moment I launched it seven years ago, and I just said, “I’m going to look for the greatest minds in science, in spirituality, in finance, money, business, health and wellness, and figure out how to optimize my life and people who want to listen.” And that’s how I found you.

Dr. Gundry (21:46):
I guess I’ve got to get on your show one of these days really.

Lewis Howes (21:51):
Yes.

Dr. Gundry (21:55):
What are some of the most interesting things you learn from your guests? Can you get real gems?

Lewis Howes (22:02):
Yeah. I mean, I usually bring people on with what I need the most at that moment in my life. So, like when I’m going through relationship challenges, I’m like, “Man, I need to bring a relationship expert on and teach me how to improve this in my life.” And typically, there’s a lot of people that are going through relationship challenges at that time. When I want to grow something in my business, I’m like, “Who can I call? Who is that person? So, the gems are always like, they’re timeless and they’re also timely to what I want at that moment. But, I mean, the gems that you told me, really about, I put so much olive oil on my food now, because of you, and I’m just dousing my vegetables in olive oil. And I used to not like olive oil before, but now it’s really tasty. So, that’s one thing, that’s a gem right there.

Lewis Howes (22:49):
But, I think, everything that you teach about the health side of things is always really valuable. And so, I would say, check out all your stuff there. But, I really like to talk to the spiritual practitioners, the great athletes who learn how to channel their inner world, their inner mind, their inner heart, and manage pressure and create more peace in their life, and get into the zone. I think when we, the guys like Kobe Bryant who I had on, he always talked about getting in the zone, and it’s hard to come from a creative place, if you’re in a world’s in chaos. And when your inner world’s in chaos, it’s hard to perform and be in the zone because you’re anxious, you’re stressed, you’re worried. So, I like his message there. Yeah, lots of great stuff.

Dr. Gundry (23:41):
What was the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Lewis Howes (23:46):
That’s a really tough one. Best piece of advice from my podcast, or just in general?

Dr. Gundry (23:49):
Just in general. Let’s go in general.

Lewis Howes (23:53):
My dad, the first thing that came to mind is my dad, he never celebrated my birthday as a child. And I remember, probably nine or 10 years old being like, “Dad, how come you don’t celebrate my birthday, when all these other kids have parties, and gifts and presents, and they’re celebrating, and I don’t get anything?” I go, “Do you not love me?” And he said, he looked at me and he said, “Lewis, I love you very much, and I celebrate you every day. The challenge is, I don’t believe in time and age. And I don’t want to emphasize time and age with you or anyone, because I’ve seen too much in the world, that people think they’re too old to go take on this dream or to start this thing, and a lot of people think that they’re too young to believe in themselves that they’re capable of doing great things.

Lewis Howes (24:41):
“So, I never want you to be limited by your age or time, on what you’re capable of doing.” And I was like, “Yeah. But, dad, you can still get me a cake and presents.”

Dr. Gundry (24:50):
Yeah, “Come on.”

Lewis Howes (24:51):
But that lesson is kind of a more of a mindset philosophy, and I think this is something we talked about too, where it’s like, you even said in our interview, it’s not anti-aging, it’s, what was it, the word you use?

Dr. Gundry (25:02):
De-aging.

Lewis Howes (25:04):
De-aging. It’s, it doesn’t matter how old, time-wise, you are, or young, time-wise, you are, you can always create more wisdom in your youth, and you can always de-age in your, “Older years,” to be youthful. So, for me, it’s just not having a limiting mindset.

Dr. Gundry (25:25):
But, hey, your dad sounds like a pretty smart guy.

Lewis Howes (25:28):
Smart guy.

Dr. Gundry (25:33):
This is a really difficult time for most people, emotionally, financially, physically, what can they do to get through this?

Lewis Howes (25:44):
I was talking with a doctor about the science of happiness, and all her research, Dr. Laurie Santos, is all about the science of happiness, and the research behind what makes you happier even in the darkest times. And when I asked her this question about, “How do you become happier when everything is against you?” She said it really comes down to two things. I mean, there’s a bunch of things that you can do, but there’s two main things. And the first one, it seems just so basic and so simple, but she said there’s so much research backing the evidence of gratitude, how it automatically… I mean, you probably talk about this, how it automatically increases your immune system capabilities, it increases the dopamine and serotonin and increases things when you think about gratitude.

Lewis Howes (26:29):
Something that someone did something nice for you. A perspective how your life can be is better than where it was before, or it’s better than someone else. A gratitude of where you live in the world, “I live in freedom, I live in America. I’m healthy.” Just anything at all that you can hold on to. Gratitude being number one, the second thing would be to, the reason why we are lonely, sad, depressed, anxious, worried, all these things, in my opinion, comes back to a lack of service mentality, a lack of focused outward on other people. We’re so focused on what we lack, what we don’t have, what we’re not getting, what someone did to us, as opposed to saying, “Okay, this is happening, but I’m going to put my energy on helping other people.

Lewis Howes (27:21):
“And when I focus on myself more and more, I feel my ego swell up, and my suffering continue to grow. But when I focus on others, how can I give my gifts to other people? How can I contribute? How can I smile and call a friend?” Whatever level of contribution you can give, the more service-oriented you are, the more happier you’ll become. And that’s the two main things that she talked about is, if you want to increase your happiness, gratitude and service to other people.

Dr. Gundry (27:55):
Yeah, you’re so right. I’ll give you an example this morning, we had a huge windstorm last night in Montecito, and a big tree fell down near us, knocked down power line. No power, and 67 people, residents without power. And I go to get in the shower this morning and it’s ice cold water, and requires the garage as in open. And I’m sitting there going, “This is terrible. What a bummer. I’ve got no electricity.” And then I went, “Last year at this time, I was in Ethiopia for charity water, and they have no electricity, and these poor women were going two miles carrying-

Lewis Howes (28:48):
For the water.

Dr. Gundry (28:48):
“For water, on Jerrycans. And hyenas, the whole bit.” And I go, “I am so lucky that I actually have cold running water.”

Lewis Howes (29:04):
You have running water.

Dr. Gundry (29:05):
I actually have cold running water. I don’t have electricity, but I’ve got running water. And made me think back and I said, “How thankful I should be, just to have a cold shower?” And it just totally changed my entire perception. Just being thankful for, yeah, a lot of things went wrong this morning, but even in our worst situation, we’re so much better off than just about anywhere else, and people we know.

Lewis Howes (29:41):
That’s true.

Dr. Gundry (29:42):
All right.

Lewis Howes (29:43):
And you also had a, was it two years ago where you had a massive flood in Montecito, where tons of houses were wiped out?

Dr. Gundry (29:50):
We lost our home.

Lewis Howes (29:52):
Yeah. Your house was wiped down.

Dr. Gundry (29:53):
Yeah.

Lewis Howes (29:54):
So, you can say, “Well, okay, at least my house didn’t get wiped out this time, it was just a tree.”

Dr. Gundry (29:58):
That’s right. I’m going to remember that one too. In the midst of all this craziness, how do you stay calm and focused on your goals?

Lewis Howes (30:09):
You don’t. I think you don’t stay calm and focused on your goals, you just manage with what you have, until you can figure out how to get there. And so, for me, it was a lot of survival mode feeling of just like, “I need to make a little bit of cash so I can buy some food for myself.” It was kind of day by day at that point for me. And I think it’s really hard to say, “Well, I’m going to stay calm, and everything’s going to be okay, and I’m going to practice gratitude and all these things,” when you feel like you have nothing. That’s the baseline though. If you can continue on this routine of gratitude, if you need to write a journal, if you need to call someone every day, whatever it is, that’s what helped me.

Lewis Howes (30:50):
And I also highly recommend having some type of coach or accountability friend. At that point, you may not be able to pay for a coach, but you can find a friend and say, “Listen, I’m going through some really challenging times right now, I’m really struggling. And I know that I’m going to go into a darker place if I isolate myself, and my words, and my thoughts. So, can we check in every day?” Maybe it’s three times a day for 10 minutes, you need to check in with someone. Have someone to check in with once a day, in the morning and at night, and say, “Here’s what I’m going to do today to help me get closer to my goal. These are the three actions today, I’m going to call five people, I’m going to email this person, I’m going to work out, I’m going to eat,” whatever it is, you do the three actions that day that’ll get you close to the goal.

Lewis Howes (31:37):
End of the day, you check in with your accountability friend or your coach, and you say, “Here’s what I created, here’s what I took action on, here’s why I struggled, and here’s what I’m going to do tomorrow.” And it’s focusing on the bigger goal that you have. That goal might be a month goal of like, “I need to make a hundred bucks.” Or, it might be something bigger, but you keep the action small, day to day, and you can celebrate those wins. It could be like, “I emailed three people today.” “Great, let’s celebrate, you did something good, you were productive, as opposed to yesterday, you sat on the couch all day.” So, it’s celebrating the wins, having the accountability, and having a simple action plan daily.

Lewis Howes (32:19):
When we are taking action and we feel like we accomplished something, we’re more productive, we increase our levels of happiness, and we can try to do more the next day. And I think, that process. And you can also not beat yourself up, because beating yourself up is the worst thing that can happen. You’re already going through survival mode, struggle mode, stress mode. Beating herself up more, “I should have saved money six months ago, I should have done this, I could’ve done this. I wish I didn’t make this stupid decision.” That’s going to hurt you. So, don’t beat yourself up. Own it, accept it, and say, “What am I going to do to fix this?”

Dr. Gundry (32:57):
What’d you say to someone who just lost their job? How can you possibly express gratitude over losing your job?

Lewis Howes (33:05):
I have this technique that I call, I don’t know if I heard something like this and came up with it or what, I don’t know if anyone else has this technique, but I went through some challenging times in the last couple of years in relationship, and I remember feeling a lot of pressure and judgment from friends, followers, whatever. And it was not fun. It was not a fun experience being judged by a lot of people, without them knowing the truth and the facts and all these things that were there and people making assumptions. And I said to myself, “You know what? This sucks right now. This is really crappy, and I don’t like this feeling at all, of feeling abandoned, of feeling lied to, manipulated, all these different things by a lot of people. But, what I’m going to do…”

Lewis Howes (33:54):
When I trace back bad things that have happened in my life, usually something good comes from it. I learn a lesson, I meet someone, I shifted my business, my health transforms. Usually, it takes us going through something bad, to break through. And so, I had that awareness, and I said, “Okay, I’ve got five, six years of great interviews I’ve done, so, I’ve got some tools from people that can help me. What I’m going to do is I’m going to put myself a year out from now, and I’m going to have what I’m calling hindsight now. I’m going to imagine it’s the end of the year, it’s New Year’s Eve, and who are the people in my life that I’m talking to? And what are all the things that happened, that set me up for success a year from now? What are all the good things I’m going to come from this, were the benefits of this? What am I going to be super grateful for in a year from now?”

Lewis Howes (34:51):
And every time, which was multiple times a day, where I felt like this pain inside, this suffering, this agony, this betrayal, these whatever feelings they were, I kept saying, “I’m having hindsight now, and a year from now, this is all going to be better. I’m going to learn something great, I’m going to meet someone better, I’m going to transform in a unique way.” I just kept putting myself into the future, and that perspective allowed me to get through that moment of pain, until the next moment of pain, and I just kept staying in that perspective and saying, “What are the actions I’m going to do today? What can I control today? And I’m going to keep showing up that way.” That helped me.

Dr. Gundry (35:29):
“Why is this happening to me?” It’s actually, “Why is this happening for me?” As my friend, Tony Robbins, would say.

Lewis Howes (35:36):
Exactly.

Dr. Gundry (35:37):
And I think that’s the only way you can possibly approach all this. “This is happening for me, I have to figure out why this is happening for me, because it sure feels like it’s happening to me.”

Lewis Howes (35:51):
And once you figure that out, I remember I just and I kept saying that to myself, “Okay, why is this happening to me? But, this is going to benefit me my business and everything in the world that I want to impact later, because it’s going to give me more perspective, it’s going to give me more humility, it’s going to give me more grace, it’s going to give me more compassion towards other people. I’m going to be less judgmental.” And so, I kept saying that to myself, “This is going to give me so many more skills in the future.”

Dr. Gundry (36:21):
I’ve talked about this, this would seem to be a great time to do something new, since so many people, number one, a lot of people have to admit that they’re in a job that they really don’t like. And certainly, do what you love and love what you do, and it’s still some of the best recommendations I know of. But, this is an opportunity. And you’re a guy who has looked at an opportunity, multiple ones, is this a good time to go off and try something? Or, no?

Lewis Howes (37:01):
I think, if you’re in survival mode and you need money, then just go get a job that you need to survive right now, because some people might be in that mode. But if you are in a place where you’re like, “Okay, I’m not in survival mode, but…” It’s the perfect time, I think, to go do the thing you’ve always wanted to do. And you might need to still be at your job and do that thing on the side, and start building it on the side. I’m not saying leave everything and go try something where you’re not making money with. But I couldn’t agree more with you, I think it’s the perfect time because we’re going to be reminded more and more that that security you think you had in something that you didn’t love may not be there. So, you might as well do the thing you do love, and go for it.

Lewis Howes (37:46):
I think it’s the perfect time to build that creative endeavor, to launch that thing, to start that book, whatever it may be, to go do it.

Dr. Gundry (37:54):
Learn to be a public speaker.

Lewis Howes (37:57):
And I would say, whatever the thing that makes… And usually, we don’t do the thing we want to do out of fear, fear of other people’s opinions, fear of judgment, fear of failing, fear of success. And that’s why, for me, the most important thing is to write a list of those fears, and then, whatever the biggest fear is, go tackle that one first. And when you tackle all your fear and you essentially do what Batman did, which was, live in darkness, be surrounded by bats, and you become that thing, that thing turns into your superpower.

Dr. Gundry (38:32):
You’re very active on social media, what are your approaches to keeping a healthy balance between the news intake now, the social media, how do you, come on, how do you balance that act?

Lewis Howes (38:48):
I don’t watch any news. I’ll get updates from my girlfriend or a friend of mine of what I need to know. But the rest of it is, I’ll watch positive news. I’ll to see what people are doing that are impacting people in a positive way. I’ll watch those types of videos and stories, but I won’t watch news or speculation about fear or what’s to come potentially. Until it happens, tell me about it. But the rest of it is commentating on what might happen, or the bad things that are going to be happening because of this. And I want to have positive thoughts and positive feelings, so I can be more in the flow. Like I said, Kobe Bryant, you can’t be in chaos and creative at the same time typically, and really productive, and you can’t stay in that flow state that much.

Lewis Howes (39:36):
I need to have peace of mind, so that I can serve people at the highest level, support people, and just be a good friend to people. So, I don’t consume much of the news, unless I need to, unless someone said something that I’m like, “Okay, let me go read the details. And social media, for me, I just follow the accounts that are inspiring.

Dr. Gundry (40:01):
Any advice for, I know this has been an advice show, where do you go? What are the resources for somebody who wants to strike out on their own?

Lewis Howes (40:14):
Strike out on their own? I mean, we’ve got School of Greatness, we’ve got lots of great resources here for free. People can check out on entrepreneurship and things like that. But I think I would ask yourself the question, what is the biggest challenge you have right now? Maybe your health has been out of integrity for years, and you’re finally looking at yourself and you’re not happy with where you’re at. Then I would go to your site and your-

Dr. Gundry (40:37):
Come on now.

Lewis Howes (40:39):
Exactly. I would go and say, “Okay,” and I would challenge myself, “What’s the lifestyle change I’m going to create?” If your finances are in, and you’re trying to start a side hustle, then we’ve got those resources. If you’re spiritually disconnected, then, for me, I like a guy named Rob Bell, I like someone named Liz Gilbert’s, I like Michael Beckwith, I like following those people for more spiritual tapped in connection. So, that’s where I would go.

Dr. Gundry (41:10):
Do you read any books?

Lewis Howes (41:13):
It’s interesting, I was just doing a little review of books this morning on my page, and I picked up two books, one, Think and Grow Rich, I think this is by Napoleon Hill. I haven’t read it in over a decade, but I want to pick it back up. And it’s a book about thoughts, and about shifting your thoughts. And I think, when we shift our thoughts, we can start to create stories in our mind, and then we start to attract those stories, those movies in our minds. Same thing with our health, if we start to imagine the health we want, then, hopefully, we’ll take better decisions and actions towards creating and manifesting the health that we want. So, that was one book. And I actually just have another book here that I picked off my shelf this morning.

Lewis Howes (41:57):
I grew up in a religion that I’m no longer necessarily a part of a practicing, but this book called Science and Health with Key to the-

Dr. Gundry (42:06):
Mary Baker Eddy.

Lewis Howes (42:07):
Yeah, by Mary Baker Eddy. And this was written in 1875. And the Christian Science Monitor is a famous credible publication that was founded by her. And this woman was sick and pretty much dying. It felt like she was dying, her entire life was in bed all the time. And in the 1800s, she created a movement with millions of people around the world, of how she was able to heal herself through spiritual thought. And the Bible was confusing to her, so, she went and did research on science and medical doctors, and she started to research how to heal the body through thoughts, through the mind, and that philosophy. And you see people like Dr. Joe Dispenza and other people like that, talking about these philosophies in their own way with different types of research today, but that’s the type of philosophy I was growing up with, was, our thoughts are greater than our physical bodies, and you can shift and heal with the ideas in your mind.

Lewis Howes (43:08):
So, I haven’t read that in a long time, but it’s something that I was like, “Yeah, maybe I’ll pick it up and just see what comes to mind.”

Dr. Gundry (43:15):
Wow, we’ve covered a lot of territory. This is good, this is very good, when we need to cover this kind of territory.

Lewis Howes (43:21):
It’s all about adding value to people. And I know you do this on your show as much as you can, with all the different topics you cover. And I think if people truly organize their thoughts and their life better, they will have a better life. What do I mean by that? When this stuff started happening, whatever, over a month ago, I remember just saying, “Okay, how can I take inventory of my life?” And if you’re listening or watching this right now, you can literally get out a piece of paper and a pen, I have this journal, I have tons of notes from you when I had you on in here, and I literally just will take inventory on the categories of my life that I’m struggling with. And so, you can put my health as a top category, “Am I happy with my health? Am I setting myself up to have more energy, more clarity, more focus? Do I feel good?”

Lewis Howes (44:13):
It’s not about having the perfect physique, but is the body giving you the energy you need to be passionate, to be clear, to not react to people all the time, but respond in a more peaceful way? And if it’s not, then, “Okay, let me take inventory on what’s off. Let me take inventory on my finances. Have I looked at my banking account lately? Do I know where my money’s going? Do I know when it’s coming in?” Take inventory. “What about my physical space?” I cleaned out my closet in the first week after all this happened, I was like, “Man, I’m just holding onto a lot of junk that I don’t need. So, let me clear this out and organize and take inventory. My relationships, what do I need to organize and take inventory?”

Lewis Howes (44:58):
So, all these areas of your life, I would write down and start to organize, “Am I happy with these categories of my life? Do I have too much baggage that I need to let go of in these areas?” If so, what are those action steps? And when you start to organize and have an awareness of all the inventory, it gives you peace of mind. When you don’t know where things are, it makes you feel stressed out. When you don’t know how your body works, you’re going to be unclear, it’s going to stress you out. When you don’t know where your money is, it’s going to stress you out. When you don’t know all these things, it’s going to stress you out. So, focus on inventory, and I think those would be great steps to start with, is to just have organization of your life, so then you can go take action on it.

Lewis Howes (45:44):
It’s like, I don’t know if you remember back when you had a test or a quiz or homework to work on, when you’d take homework home, and you’d put it in your room, Dr. Gundry, and you’d say, “You know what? My room is messy right now, so, let me put this homework thing on hold, and I’m going to actually clean my room, and then I’m going to go do the homework project that I’ve got to do.” It’s like, it’s hard to be productive on something we need to get done, when we have a messy room. And so, you’ve got to declutter your life, so that you can have a clear mind to take action on your homework or the project you’re working on.

Dr. Gundry (46:16):
You and my mother, come on, did you talk to her or what?

Lewis Howes (46:20):
And you’ve got to make your bed. If you make your bed every morning, it’s something I started doing about seven years ago, and I wish I’d listened to my mom earlier, but I’m telling you what, this one simple act of making your bed, it will transform the way you feel about yourself the rest of the day. And you’ll come home to a clean space, and it just feels better coming home and untucking the covers and getting in. It makes you feel at peace that day. My girlfriend moved in a few months ago, and she gets up later than me. So, the bed’s not made half the time, and it’s like, oh, I want to just get her out of bed so I can make it. But I’m telling you, it is a powerful thing if you can do that too.

Dr. Gundry (46:59):
Uh-oh, I can see we’re going to have relationship issue. We’ve got to have a relationship expert on The School of Greatness, because this bed-making thing is maybe…

Lewis Howes (47:12):
I’ve had two relationship experts on in the last two weeks. It tells you something.

Dr. Gundry (47:15):
Aha! All right, Lewis, it has been great seeing you again and thank you for coming on the podcast, you’re going to be a great help at this time. You’re always a great help.

Lewis Howes (47:26):
I’m taking my 5,000 vitamin D every day, I’m taking the olive oil. Make sure you guys get the vitamin D, that stuff is a lifesaver.

Dr. Gundry (47:33):
It really is a life saver. It really is. All right, School of Greatness, how do they find you?

Lewis Howes (47:41):
The School of Greatness on Apple or Spotify for the podcast. We had an amazing interview with you a few weeks back that’s been going viral, people want to go listen to that. I feel like every time I get you on, I get you to share things you normally don’t say, because I ask it in a different way. So, I love people’s perspective on that. And then just at lewishowes.com, and @LewisHowes on social media.

Dr. Gundry (48:03):
All right. All right, take care of yourself.

Lewis Howes (48:06):
Thanks, Dr. Gundry.

Dr. Gundry (48:08):
Okay, now it’s time for the audience question. Charles Antonin on YouTube asks, “Do vegans have a deficiency in methionine, isoleucine, and cysteine?” No, you don’t have a deficiency. But, you do have less of these amino acids in a vegan diet than you would in an omnivore diet, where you eat even a vegetarian diet, where you ate eggs and milk products. But what I see in my vegan population is that they usually run high homocysteines, which is another amino acid which is normally converted to methionine. And that’s generally because you don’t have enough of methyl B12 and methylfolate in your diet. And if you’re vegan, you know that getting an adequate amount of B12 in your diet is very important. And I have all my vegans take a methyl B12 and a methylfolate, regardless.

Dr. Gundry (49:12):
But, the absence of methionine in a vegan diet may be one of the reasons that vegans who’ve done rightly, have extended longevity. Certainly, in the Loma Linda experience, as you know, where I was a professor, Adventists in Loma Linda are some of the longest living people in the United States, were the only Blue Zone. The vegans are the longest living of the long lived Adventists. And it probably is because, methionine is used by what’s called mTOR as the energy sensor. And people on a low methionine diet like vegans, in general, are going to live longer. Animal studies support this. A low methionine diet makes animals not only live longer, but live healthier. And that’s why you see in all my books, the more animal protein I can get away from you, I don’t have to take it all away, the better you’re going to do in the long run. So, great question. No, you don’t have a deficiency.

Dr. Gundry (50:22):
Okay, now it’s time for a review of the week. After watching our recent episode on immune health, YouTuber Amelia Porter wrote, “This was the most impressive, factual, clear, concise, informative, truthful video I have seen to date, on wellness and immune health during these crazy times. I have shared it with everyone I love and care about. I agree with everything you stated and follow a similar health regime, and have for decades. Bravo, clapping hands, Dr. Gundry.” Well, thank you, Amelia. Those are very, very kind words. And I’m always looking out for you, and I want people to have what I consider the most update, unbiased, non-crazy information. There’s so much misinformation out there on the internet, and you just got to be careful, and pick your sources. And I’m happy you pick me, so, we’ll keep doing that.

Dr. Gundry (51:24):
Thanks for joining me on this episode of The Dr. Gundry Podcast. Before you go, I just wanted to remind you that you can find the show on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts. And if you want to watch each episode of The Dr. Gundry Podcast, you can always find me on YouTube at youtube.com/drgundry. Because, I’m Dr. Gundry, and I’m always looking out for you.