5 Manifestations To Say Every Morning (The Results Will Shock You)

Manifestation isn't passive wishing—it's creating alignment between your energy, identity, and consistent action. The universe responds not to your vision board, but to who you're becoming daily. Start by declaring 'I am worthy of the life I dream about,' then act as the person you want to become. T

1h 4m
The School of Greatness

Key Takeaway

Manifestation isn't passive wishing—it's creating alignment between your energy, identity, and consistent action. The universe responds not to your vision board, but to who you're becoming daily. Start by declaring 'I am worthy of the life I dream about,' then act as the person you want to become. Trust the process, choose courage over comfort, and let go of needing to control outcomes. Your worthiness isn't earned through punishment or overwork—it's claimed through showing up authentically and keeping promises to yourself.

Episode Overview

This episode explores five powerful manifestations for creating your dream life. The host shares his personal journey from sleeping on his sister's couch to building a successful business, finding love, and pursuing Olympic dreams. He emphasizes that manifestation is about alignment, not passive wishing—it requires creating congruence between your energy, identity, and daily actions. The episode features insights from Dr. James Doty on overcoming the inner critic, Jim Kwik on the power of 'I am' statements, and Price Pritchett on becoming anti-fragile through embracing friction and challenges.

Key Insights

Manifestation Requires Alignment, Not Passive Wishing

Life responds to your energy and identity, not your vision board or wishes. Manifestation happens when you create alignment between who you are, where you want to go, and the consistent actions you take daily. You attract what you rehearse, not what you want.

Worthiness is the Foundation of Everything

You will never outgrow the level of worthiness you believe you deserve. Many people self-sabotage, settle for less, or block blessings because deep down they don't believe they deserve a good life. Worthiness isn't ego—it's believing you don't have to punish yourself to deserve happiness.

Your Subconscious Mind is Waiting for Direction

Your subconscious mind represents 95% of everything you do and is like a servant waiting for instructions. The words 'I am' are the most powerful tool for directing your identity. Whatever follows 'I am' becomes your reality because your identity creates your reality.

Confidence Comes from Keeping Promises to Yourself

Confidence isn't built from positive thoughts—it's built by keeping promises to yourself, especially the small ones. Your future self is constructed through small daily decisions: how you talk to yourself after mistakes, how you respond to fear, and how you handle both failure and success.

Trust the Process Even When It Doesn't Make Sense

Some doors have to close because they were too small for who you're becoming. Control is exhausting and keeps you from hearing your intuition. Trust creates peace, peace creates clarity, and clarity leads to better decisions. Ask 'Where do you need me to be?' instead of demanding 'This is where I want to be.'

Failure is Feedback, Not Identity

Don't turn failure into your identity. You failed at walking and talking as a baby but never said 'I'm a failure and I quit.' Failure gives you information and data about what's working and what's not. It's necessary for learning skills and developing the soil within you to create a richer life.

Courage Over Comfort Creates Great Lives

Every great life requires courage repeatedly in every area—relationships, career, health. Emotional courage means having hard conversations and making decisions you know you need to make, even when it's uncomfortable. Delaying courageous action only extends your pain.

Embrace Friction and Become Anti-Fragile

Some things benefit from being challenged—from friction, setbacks, and failures. Like a basketball that bounces back when slammed around (versus fragile crystal that breaks), you can become anti-fragile by embracing challenges rather than avoiding them.

Notable Quotes

"Manifestation is not about wishing for something. It's not about hoping and it's not about waiting for life to finally get better for you. Manifestation is about creating alignment in your life."

— Lewis Howes

"You will never outgrow the level of worthiness you believe you deserve."

— Lewis Howes

"The universe doesn't give a [expletive] about you because it has no [expletive] to give. There is not some external entity deciding your fate because you're good or a bad guy. But we have immense power within us to control our destiny."

— Dr. James Doty

"When you sit there and say every day, I'm not worthy. I don't deserve love. It's not possible. I'm an impostor. I can't do it. It's as if you're building a prison for yourself with bricks. Wow. and the wall gets higher and it gets darker and you feel more and more powerless."

— Dr. James Doty

"Your subconscious mind is waiting for directions. It is your subconscious mind is the servant. Our conscious mind has all the logic. And we think that our conscious mind is in control logically. Of course, it has to be. But it represents 5% of everything we do. 95% is in the subconscious mind."

— Jim Kwik

"You don't attract what you want. You attract what you rehearse every single day. Attraction comes to those that can actually follow through consistently."

— Lewis Howes

"Confidence doesn't come from thinking positive thoughts. Confidence is built by keeping promises to yourself."

— Lewis Howes

"I trust that everything is working for me. I trust everything is working in my favor."

— Lewis Howes

"Some doors have to close because they were too small for who you were becoming."

— Lewis Howes

Action Items

  • 1
    Practice the Five Daily Manifestations

    Repeat these five statements daily: (1) 'I am worthy of the life I dream about,' (2) 'Today I will act as the person I want to become,' (3) 'I trust that everything is working for me,' (4) 'Today I choose courage over comfort,' and (5) the fifth manifestation (implied but not explicitly stated in this excerpt). Say them with intention and take aligned action on each.

  • 2
    Reframe Your 'I Am' Statements

    Audit the language you use after 'I am.' Replace limiting statements like 'I am stuck' or 'I am not good at this' with empowering ones like 'I am figuring it out' or 'I am capable.' Your subconscious is listening and will create reality based on these directions.

  • 3
    Keep One Small Promise to Yourself Daily

    Build self-trust and confidence by choosing one small promise each day and keeping it, no matter what. This could be showing up for a workout, having a difficult conversation, or completing a task you've been avoiding. The act of following through builds your identity as someone who keeps their word.

  • 4
    Ask 'Where Do You Need Me to Be?' During Challenges

    When facing setbacks or uncertainty, instead of asking 'Why is this happening to me?' ask 'God/Universe, where do you need me to be?' This shift from victimhood to curiosity helps you find meaning in challenges and stay open to redirection toward something better.

  • 5
    Separate Failure from Identity

    When you experience a setback, consciously reframe it as feedback rather than proof of your inadequacy. Write down what you learned from the experience and what you'll do differently next time. Remember: you are not the failure; you simply failed at something, which is necessary for growth.

Full Transcript

Transcript of 5 Manifestations To Say Every Morning (The Results Will Shock You) from The School of Greatness. Auto-generated from episode audio; may contain minor errors.

If you are looking to manifest a new reality in your life, if you're looking to create a new dream and attract it and draw it to you faster, then you need to understand this concept. Manifestation is not about wishing for something. It's not about hoping and it's not about waiting for life to finally get better for you. It's not about that. Manifestation is not passive. It's not sitting back and saying, "One day when things change, I'll start to feel different." Manifestation is about creating alignment in your life.

Let me repeat this again. Manifestation is about creating alignment in your life. You don't manifest by waiting for your life to change. You manifest by creating alignment in yourself and where you want to go. Because life is always responding to you, not to your wants, not to your vision board, but to your energy and your identity and the consistency you have with both of those things. And I've lived this decades ago. I was struggling to find success, to find meaning, to find fulfillment, to feel loved and joy, and really to achieve anything.

But I learned that I can shape my life by saying these five manifestations to myself and then taking action upon them daily. Consistency is what we need to do. And now I've attracted a life that is beautiful for me. It doesn't mean it's a perfect life that doesn't have any challenges that I need to overcome, but it is a dream life. If you would have told me 18 years ago when I was sleeping on my sister's couch, that I would have the dream business, the the business that I'd always dreamed of, creating impact, sitting across and interviewing some of the world's greatest leaders and inspiring the world, that was like my dream that I would talk about.

If you would have told me that I would be married to my dream wife, that I'd have twin girls, that I'd be able to do all these things that I get to do in my life, that I'd be pursuing the Olympics, I would have been like, "Wow, that sounds like an incredible dream. Is that really true?" And I'm doing it right now. And now I want to break down what these five manifestations are that actually helped get me here because it wasn't always easy when I wasn't practicing these manifestations.

So the first manifestation manifestation manifestation I want you to be thinking about this and saying these things. Manifestation number one, I am worthy of the life I dream about. This is the foundation of everything because you will never outgrow the level of worthiness you believe you deserve. Let me say this again. You will never outgrow the level of worthiness you believe you deserve. You can have big dreams. You can have clear goals, a vision of what you want to create. You can even have opportunities show up all the time right in front of you.

But if deep down you don't believe you deserve a good life. You don't believe you deserve a great life. You don't believe you deserve to be happy, you will find a way to push all the blessings away in your life. You will break it so you don't have to own it. And this shift happened for me when I heard my good friend Dr. James Dodie talk about this a few years back on the school of greatness and Dr. Dodie passed away recently and it got me thinking about this positive message that he wanted everyone to know.

So watch this right here. Everybody has an inner critic. It's just some are much more powerful uh than others. And uh so she also taught me to recognize that that wasn't truth. wasn't truth. wasn't truth. The inner critic. Yes. Because if you uh and being an athlete, I'm sure you know, uh if you tell yourself it's not possible, by definition, it is not possible. It cannot happen. And so when people listen to that, they are giving their self- agency away. And in some ways, uh this is the nature of how we take control of our manifestation.

our manifestation. our manifestation. Uh and as you know from the first sentence in the book, it says the universe doesn't give a about you because it has no to give. There is not some external entity deciding your fate because you're good or a bad guy. But we have immense power within us to control our destiny. And when you give it away and listen to that critic, then you're limiting your beliefs. So the key is how do you uh unlimit your beliefs if you will and that is understanding the incredible power you have within yourself.

When you sit there and say every day, I'm not worthy. I don't deserve love. It's not possible. I'm an impostor. I can't do it. It's as if you're building a prison for yourself with bricks. Wow. and the wall gets higher and it gets darker and you feel more and more powerless and you feel like there's some external force controlling your life. When you understand within you is an incredible power to change your destiny and you have that power and finally you recognize it then extraordinary things can happen.

And this is how you go from you being in charge or let's say a belief that others are in charge to actually you being in charge. The key idea here is about overcoming the inner critic by realizing that you hold immense power within you to control your destiny. And this is hard because a lot of us have learned how to have an inner critic that pushes us down, that says, "Nah, you'll never amount to anything. You're insecure. You're stupid. You're not smart. You're ugly." Whatever insecurity we might have, for whatever reason, our inner critic has trained us to be loud.

And until we train something else to overcome that, that is going to be the narrative running inside of our own minds consistently. So many people want more out of life. And I'm sure you want more out of life, more success, more love, more peace, more freedom. But at the same time, they're carrying a quiet belief that says, "Who do I think I am to have that? Who do I think I am to have a great relationship where someone truly loves me for who I am? Who do I think I am to have financial freedom?

Who do I think I am to have a job or a career that is fun and fulfilling for me? Who do I think I am to go after this dream of writing a book or starting a show or doing something crazy that my friends and family are scared of me even talking about? Who am I to think I have the ability to deserve that? That I really deserve that. Have you ever felt this way about anything in your life? Have you ever had this thought, who do I think I am to have this dream?

Leave a comment if you've ever had that thought. Who do I think I am to have that? And that belief doesn't come from the now. It comes from the past. From childhood moments where love felt conditional for you maybe at different times from failures that turned into an identity instead of failure being feedback for you, which is what I talk about in the greatness mindset that failure is something that we should be excited about because it just gives us information, data. It gives you knowledge about what's working and what's not effective.

But so many times people take a failure as their own identity as I am a failure. I'm not smart enough. I'm not good enough. I'm not talented enough. Therefore, I am a failure. We need to shift that. You need to not think about you as the failure just because you failed at something because you are going to fail at anything new you do. You failed at trying to walk as a baby a thousand times, but you never said, "I'm a failure and I give up on walking." You failed at talking.

It probably took me, I don't know, 16 years to learn how to speak proper English because I was much slower. But now I'm speaking in front of millions of people every single week. You're not a failure just because you fail. We need to shift the identity from the outcome. the outcome. the outcome. You need failure to learn the skills and the tools. It gives you the information and the data. So don't make failures your identity from shame that taught us to play small and to stay safe.

So we learn to prove we learn to I'm going to prove them wrong. I'm going to prove all these people. We learn to overwork. Again, just raise your hand or nod if you've learned to overwork. I know I did that for a long time. We we learn to achieve to feel like validated. I was a big overachiever. And we learned to perform. I don't know if any of you have ever tried to overperform to try to get attention and validation. And this is not because we wanted more, but because we were trying to earn the right to feel enough, enough, enough, to feel worthy and to feel enough.

And when you don't feel worthy, it shows up in sneaky little ways. I mean, this this lack of worthiness inside of your soul and your heart, sneaky little things start to show up in your life because you start to settle for less than you actually want. Again, just nod. Put your hand up to yourself. Leave a like on this video. Leave a comment if this resonates. You settle for less than you actually want. You self- sabotage right before things go well. Man, I have experienced that too many times in my own life, but I've also experienced this from just other people around me.

I've tried to give so many people great opportunities and they just don't believe in themselves. They just they're they're not ready. They don't believe they're worthy and deserving of it and they self- sabotage. And this is just only going to hold you back from the blessings that this world, this universe, God is trying to put in front of you. And if there's an opportunity to create something beautiful, but you don't feel like you're worthy or deserving of it, you're going to self- sabotage. You're going to do something that's going to hurt you and hurt the opportunity.

You're going to block what's coming for you, which only trying to help you. And you've got to be finding a way to overcome this. So, here's the shift you need to make. Worthiness is not ego. Worthiness is not thinking you're better than anyone else. That's not what this is about. Worthiness is believing you don't have to punish yourself to deserve a good life. life. life. Let me say it again for you. Worthiness is believing you don't have to punish yourself to deserve a good life. And when you can open yourself up to this belief, it allows you to step fully into manifestation number two.

And manifestation number two is this. I want you to repeat this. Today I will act as the person I want to become. Today I will act as the person I want to become. Now what does this actually mean? This is where manifestation becomes real. Manifestation is not about wanting. It's about practicing. And you don't attract what you want. You attract what you rehearse every single day. Attraction comes to those that can actually follow through consistently. And I know it can be hard to think about what it means to truly become this new identity.

So, I want to share this clip from my friend Jim Curtis because he shares the two powerful words that will make this shift stick. The I am is an incredibly powerful thing. First, let's talk about the I am as identity. So, our human identity when we say I am, it becomes reality. Our identity is our reality. So the I am, I am smart, I am successful, I am grateful, I'm going to do this, I'm figuring it out is much different than I am stuck, I am going to be laughed at, I'm not good at this, I'm incapable, right?

The shift, what you tell your subconscious mind is waiting for directions. So the I am is the most powerful tool to use to direct who you are. The more that you say I am, the more your subconscious mind believes that that's your identity and your identity creates your reality. Say this again. Your subconscious mind is waiting for directions. Is that 100%. It is your subconscious mind is the servant. Now it has all the habits. Our conscious mind has all the logic. And we think that our conscious mind is in control logically.

Of course, it has to be. But it represents 5% of everything we do. 95% is in the subconscious mind, our reflexes, our habits, our autonomic nervous system, our beliefs. So, it's waiting. That's why if you get hypnotized up on stage and you say act like a chicken and you act like a chicken and like your subconscious mind just took the direction, the suggestion. So, we need to consciously know that our subconscious mind is our servant and to tell it what to do. And we do that through our language and our identity.

Yeah. Because if someone else can hypnotize you to dance like a chicken on stage and you do it in front of 10,000 people and not feel fear, why can't you hypnotize yourself to go pursue your dreams? Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. To chase what you want without feeling that fear as well. You can. You can. But we get caught in the cage. We get caught in the illusion that this is all real. The illusion is that everything's happening in our life is real. That's the illusion. The reality is that our identity is creating our reality and our programs and beliefs are creating our reality so that we get caught in the movie.

The truth is that we're the director, we're the we're the writer that we can say, "Okay, I'm going to change this movie. I'm going to change the movie and then take massive action to do it so that it shifts the timeline. It shifts the energy." The second part of the I am maybe the most powerful one is the I am that I am. The I am that I am uh from was you don't have to be religious to understand this but the I am that I am was the first time that uh God ever really named himself in the Bible.

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. And then the I am discourses was thought that the Grandmaster St. Germaain came to us and dictated these 33 discourses on the I am. And what it basically says is that I am the source. I am the resurrection, the light. This is take take religion out of it. What that means is that everything around us, everything that we are, all this matter, all the light, all the manifestation, all of our reality, all of our thoughts is this idea that we are the source, the creator, the void, the quantum, the universal mind, the collective consciousness experiencing its own human life through us.

We are it. And so if we can understand that we are the creator the creator the creator and that we can shape what we want and it starts in this human life both human and spirit that we can start to use this I am that we take for granted. We say that's so the greatest spell of [clears throat] [clears throat] [clears throat] of the universe we use so casually that we can take it and start using it. So focusing on the energy expanding into source and then using the words to direct the subconscious.

How powerful are words that we use about our self in life? life? life? So powerful. Our body is listening. Our body is listening to every word that we say. Every word that we say is creating our reality because it creates our identity. We believe it. A key takeaway here is the power of the I am. And we have the power to change our reality. our reality. our reality. Your future self is not someone you have to wake up as one morning. Your future self is built through small daily consistent decisions.

consistent decisions. consistent decisions. How you talk to yourself when you make a mistake. mistake. mistake. How you respond when fear shows up. How you handle failure without quitting on yourself or believing you are the failure. how you handle success without self- sabotaging once you have this acknowledgement, this audience, this financial abundance, this accolade, this new position because no one really teaches you how to handle success. And so therefore, a lot of people are afraid of success. This is one of the three key things that limits us.

The three main fears that I talk about in the greatness mindset as well. the fear of failure, the fear of success, and the fear of judgment. And this is why confidence doesn't come from thinking positive thoughts. Confidence is built by keeping promises to yourself. The smallest of promises, the biggest of promises, the ones that are small timelines to the ones that take years to fulfill. A promise I made to myself 18 years ago was when I saw handball on TV in the 2008 Olympics and I saw the sport for the first time and I said, "What is this sport?

This sport was meant for me. I want to figure out how to play this sport, how to get on the USA national team and how to go to the Olympics." And that has been an 18-year commitment I've made to myself. and I have two and a half more years on this timeline of taking it every step along the way as far as I can go all the way to the end. It's just keeping the promises you make to yourself. And sure, there might be a season where a promise gets broken because a new doorway opens or that doorway shuts and it tells you you're not meant to go there anymore.

But when you still have the dream, the desire, and the ability to go for it even when the odds are against you, even when the chances are small, you have to keep your word to yourself because confidence is built by keeping promises to yourself. And when I started the school of greatness, I wasn't a world-class interviewer. I had no clue what I was doing. I shouldn't have been able to do what I'm doing now. I was a guy with a laptop and a lot of nerves.

But I decided to act like the person who had a top tier show. I showed up early. I researched for hours and I prepared. I acted like the professional I wanted to be before the world called me one. And every time you do what you said you would do, even when it's uncomfortable, this is when you start to build selfrust. This is when you start to build this inner confidence, this belief that, hey, maybe I can do this. Look what I just created in this month, in this 6 months, in this year.

Now, at the School of Greatness, it's been 13 years. Look what I had to launch, what I had to build, what I had to endure when there were challenging times and downtimes and struggles and where I'm at at this season. You build self-rust when you keep your promises to yourself. And self-rust is what allows you to dream bigger and to move bolder and to take chances and to risk at life. This manifestation is a daily commitment to stop waiting and start becoming which takes us right into manifestation number three which manifestation number three is a big one.

And I want you to repeat after me what this is. I trust that everything is working for me. I trust that everything is working for me. Or you can say, I trust everything is working in my favor. I trust everything is working in my favor. This manifestation is about faith. Now, you may not like this because you want to have certainty that what you think about is going to happen no matter what and it's going to be easy. But that's just not what life creates for us.

And if everything was easy, you know, it wouldn't be worth it. Sure, we like these things to be easy. It feels good because we don't have to have courage. We don't have to endure pain. We don't have to deal with uncertainty. We don't have to have setbacks. Sure, if it was just all handed to us, it wouldn't be called life. This manifestation is about having faith. Not blind faith, not denial, but a deep grounded trust in the process of life. And I know you don't want to hear this.

And I know you don't want to hear trust the process. The universe is going to give you everything you need. I know you don't want to hear this. I don't like hearing this either. But gosh, I've just experienced it so many times many times many times that when I put trust in the process of life and when I put trust in God and I ask God, "Where do you need me to be?" which is something that my wife Martha continues to remind me when I feel friction when I feel like ah why isn't this thing working easier why isn't it working out why is this process have to be so hard she says remember ask God and you can ask the universe if you don't want to ask God you can say universe God where do you need me to be and when you have faith and you have a trust in life that everything is working in your favor when I look back and I think about breaking my wrist and losing my dream of being a professional athlete, sleeping on my sister's couch for a year and a half, making no money during a recession of 2008, 2009, being like, "Why is this happening to me?

Why am I struggling so much? Why is it so hard to make money? Why am I going through all these relationships that are failing? Why am I dealing with so much internal suffering? Why? Why? Why?" I had all of these seasons of life where I was just questioning, why is this happening to me? As I've learned and I've reflected, I'm like, "Oh, I wouldn't have this incredible marriage with these two beautiful twins." Had I not learned those lessons in those challenging relationships, I would not have the tools emotionally to navigate where I'm at now.

I wouldn't have the business skills. If I wasn't broke for those almost two years where I had to learn the hard way about certain things and find mentors. I wouldn't have been ready for what I'm creating now. We need those seasons of uncertainty, of scarcity, of sadness, of loss. We need those in some ways to enrich us to develop the soil within us to start creating a richer life. But if we don't have a deep grounded trust in the process of life or in the trust of God, and if we don't say, God, where do you need me to be?

Not this is where I want to be, so make it easy for me. If that's where he needs you to be, cool. If that's where the universe wants you to be to the best use of your abilities and your talents, cool. But sometimes you get rerouted. A relationship doesn't work out. A career doesn't work out. Something happens where it reroutes you. It puts you in a different direction. And I know that's happened for you. I know you've had setbacks. I know you've gone through a relationship breakup.

I know you've had a an injury that forced you to stop a certain career or a dream or something. But it's led you into a beautiful season of life. of life. of life. And when you can reflect back and see, oh yeah, okay, now that makes sense. If we just trust the process of life when things are going challenging and we ask, where do you need me to be? Then we start to hear better, we start to listen better, we start to communicate better, we start to develop better.

Because when you don't trust life, you try to control everything. You overthink things. You force timelines. You need them to happen now. You panic when things don't move fast enough. Nod your head if this is resonating with you or if I'm the only one who's ever been through that. And control, let's be honest, it is exhausting. Sure, I like having a sense of control. I like knowing that I can run my business a certain way. I can structure my time with my workouts at a certain time.

I can do certain things and have a schedule and an organized life. But controlling outcomes and controlling everything and everyone in your life, it's exhausting and it doesn't work. You cannot control everything and everyone. Control keeps your body tense. Control keeps your mind busy and loud. Control makes it hard to hear your own intuition and to hear the message from the universe or the message from God on what God or the universe wants you and needs you to do. Trust doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, you know, it's not going to hurt you.

It does the opposite. Trust creates a sense of peace and peace creates clarity. Clarity leads to better decision making. It makes better decision-m because now you're in alignment. Again, we go back to the first one. You got to be in alignment. When you're in alignment, then you know what to make decisions on better. You can make clearer decisions because you're now in alignment. You're not going off track based on you. And I want you to look back at your life and you'll probably see this that some of the things that were most upsetting about losing, about hurt, about pain ended up making room for something better in your life, right?

Some relationship that man, this was like years we're trying to make it work and then it it ended and it was just miserable and we lost all this time and then boom, you met the person of your dreams within the next year or it unlocked the next season for you. Some doors have to close because they were too small for who you were becoming. Some of these old doors in my life, they needed to close. And because I lacked the courage to close them myself out of fear, fear, fear, they were they were smack close in my face and I had to experience more pain because I wasn't willing to go through the challenges that I knew I was meant to do them.

And trust doesn't mean you always are going to understand why something's happening. In fact, you're probably not going to understand a lot of these things. Maybe 20, 30 years down the road, you'll it'll make sense. But it does mean you believe there is meaning even when you're not sure of what it is and you're in the middle of the mess. That's what it's all about. And again, I mentioned earlier about, you know, I I had a dream of being a professional athlete. I made it to the Arena Football League.

I was getting paid. I was living my dream, playing in front of thousands of people, catching a football. This was my childhood dream. And then all of a sudden, boom, I run into the wall trying to catch a football. I break my wrist. After the season, I have a surgery on my wrist. They take a bone out of my hip. They put it in my wrist. I'm in a cast for six months. And it wasn't fun. It wasn't pretty. It was exhausting. It was painful. I had 15 staples in my hip that I had to remove eventually.

And the dream was over like that. Boom. No more football, no more dream. You know, 15 years of pursuing this thing gone. In a moment, it felt unfair. It didn't feel was like, what's the point of this? Why am I being punished? Why is this happening to me? I worked so hard for this dream. I sacrificed so much. I did all the right things to get here. Why me? Why now? And I get chills just thinking about it. If if I knew that something was greater for me coming, then I probably wouldn't have resisted it as much and been as depressed for as long as that I was going through that transition.

Now listen, it doesn't mean when something's bad is happening in your life or you're going through a you get fired from a job or a relationship ends or whatever it might be, it doesn't mean you can't feel the range of emotions of sadness, grief, loss, uncertainty, fear, concern. It's okay. We're human beings. It's normal. But when we can get back on the the train of positive thinking and manifestation manifestation manifestation around alignment and say I trust the timing of my life. This is happening for me.

It's happening for a reason. And it's so hard in the moment because it doesn't make sense. But if I just tried it on, if I just said, I'm going to trust this anyways. I'm going to trust what am I meant to do? What's next for me? Why is this happening? Let me understand the reason why. Let me develop better skills. Let me be more emotionally empathetic. Let me let me use this tragedy for good. When you can do that, man, then you start to boom transform into something special.

And when I started to do that, I instead of loathing on my sister's couch for a year and a half, I started to take action. I started to take action. I started to learn new skills. I started to reach out to mentors. I started reading books. I started creating content. I started writing because I had a dream to be a New York time bestselling author. So, I started practicing. And the next eight years became a practice for me to launch the New York time bestselling book, to launch the show, to launch the business.

It was just practicing and failure over and over again. But that failure became feedback and became little belief and microbelief into bigger beliefs. So, I need you to start thinking about that if you're going through a hard time in your life right now. What does trust look like for you when you're in the middle of uncertainty? of uncertainty? of uncertainty? What does it look like for you? The School of Greatness is brought to you in partnership with Airbnb. The start of a new year always feels like a reset for me.

It's time to reflect, set intentions, and plan what the year ahead is going to look like. And Martha and I both love traveling quite a bit throughout the year, visiting family and carving out time to recharge. So, we often are on the move once things kick back into rhythm after the holidays. And some of the best parts of traveling come from experiencing new places, discovering local food, and getting a real feel for a community. And what I realize is that whenever people travel, their homes usually just sit there empty.

Hosting your home on Airbnb can be a simple way to put that space to good use and share what makes your neighborhood special with people who are passing through. From our experience, hosting has always been easy and straightforward. And whether you travel often or just once in a while, hosting your home on Airbnb can be an easy way to bring in some extra cash during times you're already gone as well. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com/host. There's nothing that frustrates me more than when things don't move with speed.

And when it comes to building a strong daily routine for your life, the tools that you rely on at home should make things run more smoothly without interruptions. And that's the thinking behind T-Mobile's 5G home internet. And big news, T-Mobile now has the fastest 5G home internet according to the experts at UCLA Speed Test. Setup is so quick and simple. No technician needed, and you're online in 15 minutes or less. And the price comes with a 5-year price guarantee, so you don't have to worry about unexpected price hikes down the road.

And when I'm working from home, my internet does a lot of the heavy lifting. It's prepping for the next show on the School of Greatness, uploading files, I'm doing Zoom calls, I'm doing meetings, all these different things are all happening and I need them to happen fast. And with T-Mobile 5G home internet, things move fast and stay smooth. Pages load quickly, files upload successfully, and I can stay focused without constant interruptions. It makes a big difference. Visit t-mobile.com/home t-mobile.com/home t-mobile.com/home to check availability today. Price guarantee exclusions like taxes and fees apply.

Fastest based on UCLA speed test intelligence data second half of 2025. All rights reserved. And that leads us into the next manifestation manifestation manifestation which is manifestation number four. Today I choose courage over comfort. Every great life requires courage. Gosh, I did not like having courage when I was younger. It was just really hard for me. Even in my 20s, it was really hard. Heck, 30s, it was really hard. Now that I'm in my early 40s, I feel like I've went through so much pain because I lacked emotional courage to have the hard conversations hard conversations hard conversations to to make decisions I know I needed to make, but I delayed as long as I could because I didn't want to experience that pain.

pain. pain. Man, courage. Man, courage. Man, courage. It is an incredible gift you will give yourself if you can get comfortable being courageous every single day in every single way. It doesn't mean it's going to be fun or enjoyable, but man, you're going to live such a better life. Every great life requires courage. Not just once, but over and over and over again in every area of your life. Every relationship, it requires courage. If you want to have a better relationship, everything you do requires courage.

And my friend Price Pritchette talks about this concept of being anti-fragile. And I want you to watch this right here. It's powerful. You know, but talking about this thing about we need friction in our life or too much equilibrium is a dangerous thing. dangerous thing. dangerous thing. But people get it's kind of that status quo. M um Narim Nicholas Talib wrote this book. He's written several Fooled by Randomness, uh The Black Swan, and he wrote this book called Antifragile. I love that book. Now, that book is that thick.

And he is an amazingly smart guy. Well, he talks about how how some things benefit benefit benefit from being punched around from friction, from setbacks, failures, you know, stretching, stretching, putting yourself out there and taking the blows, the slings and errors of life, you know, as opposed to sitting in your house, you know, leaning back in the t watching TV all time. And he says, "Okay, here's here's a good way to picture it. Let's say that you have a box of fine crystal bare crystal champagne glasses and you're going to send them to [snorts] Prague.

Some friend in Prague. Okay. So, how do you package? You package these very very carefully and then close the box and you stamp all over it. Handle with care. Fragile. Fragile. Fragile. Handle with care. Okay. But let's say you because it gets damaged by by by friction, we'll say, or turbulence change. change. change. Well, let's say that you've got a basketball. basketball. basketball. You're going to send it to Prague. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. So, you put it in a box. Same what? Package it, you know, throw it in there and everything.

If it gets slammed around, the box kind of crust. Okay. The ball is resilient. Yes, Yes, Yes, the ball comes back and so forth. No damage to the ball. It's right back the way it was. But if you have something else that that that benefits benefits benefits from change, from turbulence, from friction, friction, friction, you would put it in there. Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. You wouldn't put any packing around it or anything. And you'd stamp on the outside. outside. outside. Throw it around. you know, sling it this way, whatever.

It's antifragile and it's good for it to get that. Well, that's what we need to make ourselves. We need to make ourselves anti-fragile. Um, and that means we need to create this dis this equilibrium in our own lives. We need to stretch. We need to do things that are kind of difficult for us and then we become less fragile. Yeah. We become better than resilient. We grow from it. Yes. Yes. Yes. We don't just get back to the way we were, were, were, we get better.

We we become different. We become a different person. different person. different person. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's one thing about the difference between small goals and big goals. There's a lot that's been written about the small goals, you know, little bitty goals. And I'm I'm first of all, I'm just a massive believer in setting goals for your life. Small goals are good for to-do list or if you're trying to develop a habit and some of those kinds of things, but small goals create small energy. Mhm.

Mhm. Mhm. They attract small resources and and and they're very very incremental. incremental. incremental. Big goals Big goals Big goals create energy. create energy. create energy. They they stir you up. They make you more creative. more creative. more creative. They attract other people. People want to be part of it. And so when you set big goals, you don't just achieve more, you become more. A key takeaway from this is you benefit from friction. It forces you to grow and change and develop over and over again.

Small goals create small energy. Big goals create bigger energy. You don't only achieve more, you become more. And that's what this is about. It's not about achievement. It's not about making more money. Those things are going to come. All that stuff is going to come. the accolades, the awards, the success, the followers, the sales, the growth, the money, the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. All these things are going to come. But stop thinking about just them. Sure, it's great to have goals of what you want to accomplish and achieve.

I do that as well. But more importantly, you want to be thinking about who you want to become. Who do you want to become on this journey? If you're insecure right now, then your goal should be, I want to become more confident. I want to become more empowered in my body when I'm normally insecure. Whether it's around speaking with friends or colleagues or on stages, I want to become more confident. Well, to overcome insecurity, that means you have to put yourself in situations where you feel insecure over and over again and practice and overcome it.

And over time, you will be more confident in those things. That is how I have done everything in my life because I was the most insecure kid growing up. I was in the bottom of my class. I felt stupid. I felt unworthy. I didn't want to be alive. I would get into trouble and I'd go to the principal's office and I'd say, "I wish I were dead. I wish I were dead." I would repeat this over and over again because I would get in trouble so often because I just struggled so much in school that I didn't have the emotional tools to be like, you know, in 30 years it's all going to work out as a 8-year-old.

And uh you know, this is all happening for you and even though you have no friends, you get into trouble all the time, you can't pass any classes because you're not smart enough to pass any classes. This is all my internal critic, but it was validated by having the worst grades and no friends and people laughing at me and picking on me and picking me last and all these things. So, I was so insecure. The past kept me feeling insecure. And when I created a game plan for myself, when sports came into my life and I started to find ways that I could be more confident, I found a tool.

Sports. Sports became life. It's where I learned everything about life by playing sports. You've got to find out what that tool is for you. Where is the gift that you are excited about that you want to get better in? Is that art? Is that drawing? Is that music? Is that sports? Is that content? Whatever it is, is it relationship advice? Is it money? Is it health and wellness? What is that tool that you can lean on to build some confidence in your life? And then how can you find the things you are most insecure insecure insecure and make those things you that you are the most confident in?

For example, I could not speak on stage to save my life. If I had to stand up in front of the class, you know, 20 kids and read aloud, when I would do that, I would sweat. I would tremble. I would stutter because kids would make fun of me because I could not read. When I went into eighth grade, I had a second grade reading level based on the test that they gave me. So, I just struggled. So, it meant I was very insecure. I had no confidence in doing that skill.

Now, when I turned 24, 25, I'm sleeping on my sister's couch and I'm a a grown adult, but still a little boy inside. You know, I'm a 24, 25 year old man with the insecurities of a 5-year-old boy. I remember thinking to myself, "Huh, in order to get any job, I need to have confidence being able to speak in front of a boss, someone hiring me, my colleagues, a boardroom setting, whatever it might be. I need to learn how to communicate effectively to be able to enroll people in who I am, in my abilities, in what I'm presenting.

I need to be able to enroll people, but I have no abilities on how to do this right now. I can't do it. I couldn't do it at 25. And so what I did is I found a mentor who was someone who is a speaker professionally, someone essentially doing what I wanted to learn how to do, the confidence to speak professionally in front of others. I didn't know I was going to be speaking professionally in the future, but I wanted to have the skill set to be able to communicate effectively without fear or insecurity.

and he said, "Join Toast Masters, go once a week for a year and report back to me at the end." Toast Masters is an international organization. I think it's like 50 to 100 bucks a year to be a member and you get a workbook that gives you 10 different speech exercises that you have to complete over the year. And each one is about 5 to 7 minutes long of a speech and you need to complete them to develop skills. It just gives you practice in front of a group setting where you can hear other people speak, you can speak and practice your speaking ability.

And I remember I joined one of these clubs in Columbus, Ohio called Midday Toast Masters. And it was terrifying. It was the scariest thing that I probably ever done in my life. And I got up every single week and I practiced speaking and I was the worst person in the room. They were all professionals. They had all wore suits. I was wearing like a t-shirt. I was like a, you know, just got out of I had a cast on in my first few sessions because I was still recovering from this surgery.

And it was terrifying. It was humiliating. It was embarrassing. It was so uncomfortable. so uncomfortable. so uncomfortable. But every week I showed up, I would record the speeches. I would watch them back. I had someone help give me feedback and I just said, "How can I be a little bit better and practice the skill every single week?" By the end of that year, I was getting paid to speak on stages. Now, it wasn't tons of money at that time, but I was making around $500 to speak because I just went all in on improving the ability to communicate in front of others.

And I remember I practiced for two weeks to give my first speech. I kid you not, I was so nervous just thinking about the idea of getting in front of 20 people. Made me nervous for weeks leading into it. And I wrote my speech word for word and I looked down and I just read my speech the whole time. I didn't look up once in my first speech, but I did it. I showed up. I built a rep. I showed myself I can humiliate myself and it get through it.

And then each week I got better and I practiced and I improved and that helped me build confidence. But we can't create just these tiny little goals because again like Price Bridget said, Bridget said, Bridget said, you benefit from friction. It forces you to grow and change. Small goals create small energy. Big goals create bigger energy. And you don't only achieve more, you become more. I wasn't trying to make tons of money as a speaker. Now my speaking fees are multiple six figures for me to speak in front of an audience for 60 minutes.

And if you would have told me this when I was 25, was 25, was 25, 17, 18 years ago, if you would have told me this, I would have been like, you are out of your mind. There is no chance. But I just kept showing up for myself to become more. Not necessarily to accomplish more, to become less insecure. insecure. insecure. And when you make a commitment to go allin on your fears, your fears will eventually disappear. And that's what you need to be thinking about.

You need to be thinking about what is the list of fears or insecurities that I can make my superpower. If you are insecure and you're afraid to speak and use your voice, it means you are meant to be a communicator. It means you are meant to guide people. It means you are meant to use your voice to bring hope, to bring inspiration, to bring positive encouragement to someone. But you've got to learn how to do that for yourself first. Comfort feels safe, but comfort also keeps you stuck.

Comfort tells you to stay quiet, to avoid the hard conversation, to not rock the boat, don't put yourself out there too much. Courage is different. Courage is feeling fear and moving toward it anyway. Courage is being seen when you'd rather hide because you don't want to be embarrassed. And I'm telling you, when I went allin on the speaking, when I went all in on the podcast, when I didn't know what I was doing, it unlocked incredible things for my business. But when I went all in on the thing that I was truly the most afraid of, which was opening up about sexual trauma that I experienced when I was a kid, and I opened up about it publicly on my podcast, I thought my life was going to be over.

I thought I would have no friends. I thought my business would be done, but I felt like it's something I needed to do. I needed to practice the courage and share. And I was like, if I can help one man who's been through some type of sexual abuse in the past, or one woman who's experienced this, who has been living in shame, who's been living quietly in fear, who's been traumatized over and over again because they've been living with this stress in their life, this trauma in their life, and it's been stuck in their body.

If I could help one person, then it's worth it. And I did a whole episode about this over 10 years ago and it completely changed my life and I got hundreds of essays that people wrote in saying thank you and then starting their healing journey in that as well. And then it led to a book that I wrote called The Mask of Masculinity, which was about the the masks that men wear to fit in, to try to belong, to try to look good, to perform, to, to, to, you know, survive when trauma or a violation has happened.

And I started understanding the mask that I wore for most of my life to perform, to achieve, to try to feel loved, needed, and worthy. But really, deep down inside, I didn't feel worthy at all. I was running away from the past, chasing things to try to make myself feel better. And no matter how much I achieved, I still never felt enough. enough. enough. And so, what you really need to understand is that courage is not a personality trait. It's a daily decision. And saying this manifestation to yourself every day allows you to make that decision easier and easier.

Every time you choose courage, you are creating more opportunity for yourself, which leads us right into manifestation number five. And I need you to repeat this manifestation to yourself. Today I am open to receive what is meant for me. Today I am open to receive what is meant for me. Now if you've made it this far in this episode episode episode and maybe you've been critical about what is all these, you know, manifestations that Lewis is talking about. I'm going to see if this is all just BS or some mumbo jumbo or whatever it might be.

If you have a mantra in your life and you say today I am open to receive what is meant for me, it's just saying I'm creating space for the right things to come into my life. And instead of mentally blocking yourself and saying I don't deserve or self-sabotaging because you don't believe you're worthy, you're just creating a block and you're you're walking through life with a filter of negativity and you're not allowing for goodness to come in your life. But if you simply repeat and believe and own this one manifestation, today I am open to receive what is meant for me.

If you wake up and say this to yourself, if you walk out the door and say this to yourself, if you're driving in your car and you just say, today I'm open to receive what is meant for me and only good things come my way. You're going to find good things coming your way. You're going to find beautiful things coming your way. And a lot of people are trying to manifest, but they're closed off to possibilities. They're so fixated on one specific outcome, one specific goal, one specific path.

It has to look like this. They can't see the opportunity sitting right in front of them. So, they've decided what success is supposed to look like by maybe pressure from their parents or what their peers do or what they feel like is cool or whatever it might be. And without realizing it, they've shut the door on something bigger, something more lines, something they couldn't even have dreamed of. Again, when one door closes, it's opening the possibility for something much greater that was meant for you. But it's so hard when we're fixated on keeping that door open that we really thought was supposed to work out.

But when you have the trust in the previous manifestation and you have the belief that something great is going to happen today that is meant for me, then man, good things are always coming my way. Good things are always coming my way. Great things come to me every single day. A lot of people are working hard, but they're working alone. They're carrying everything themselves. Let me know in the comments or just nod to yourself right now if you feel like you put the weight of the world on your back and it just is carrying this tense load and you feel like your shoulders are always tight because you feel like you have to hold up this emotional baggage.

It is exhausting. Let yourself relax. Stop trying to carry everything yourself. People are trying to force the timeline, trying to just h I need this to happen now. They're stuck in the mentality of if I don't do it, it won't get done. But receiving is not a weakness. Receiving is trust. Receiving is believing that life can meet you in ways that you did not expect. And it could surprise you if you allow it. If you allow for the abundance, if you allow for the support, if you allow for the possibilities to just make magic in your life, life becomes magical.

Receiving is allowing for people, conversations, instructions, and opportunities to move you forward instead of you pushing everything forward alone. forward alone. forward alone. And I want to share a piece of my conversation recently that I had with Rhonda Burn. and she talks all about the need to be more open to the will of the universe. Let's watch this right here. It's a piece of cake. Really? Really? Really? Yeah. And I think one of the reasons that one of the things that trips people up is they try too hard.

Like they're trying too hard, but you know, we deserve everything that we could possibly want. And so there's no, you know, the universe to be to put it, you know, sweetly kind of the universe wants us to have everything and to live a full life. And so yeah, it's not a battle or anything like that. So I think sometimes we just like try too hard and trying of course says that I don't have it yet. Really? Really? Really? Yeah. Well, isn't there something around like I guess putting in effort or putting in focus or putting in some energy to developing a skill so that you can receive more of what you want or is it really as simple as just kind of let it go and allow things to come to you as as they come?

Well, I think if you you know with a skill like you it you know you can't just pick up a violin and be a maestro. Right. Right. So, and those kinds of things we all tend to love anyway. Um learning things and accomplishing things and building and building and building you know, businesses and all of those kinds of things. But we do not we certainly do not need to put as much effort into all of that. Like it everything everything is coming from the mental first.

mental first. mental first. Whether we realize it or not, it is every action we take is a thought first. Every word we speak is a thought first. And so if we did more mental preparation before we took an action, that action would be so smooth and just flow, you know. And that's kind of the part that in the future civilization will definitely realize and get really good at. And there's an opportunity for people to get really good at it now. So life's not so hard. Go big.

Think big. You know, what have you got to lose? Think big. Go on. you know, and you can put lots of small things, you know, there too. You know, I want a new pair of Nikes or I want this or, you know, thing small things, but yeah, think big things. Cuz one of the tricky things I think with people is they haven't ever stopped to think about what they want because they think they can't have it. And so to think about what they want is too painful, too painful, too painful, you know, so they don't they don't do a list.

That's the last thing they want to do. do. do. It seems so far away. It seems so far away and impossible and it's just going to make me feel bad that I can never have it cuz I was born here, you know, I don't get those lucky breaks like the person over here that's really lucky. And uh yeah, so I that's why it's so great to write a list because for many people who who follow this, I bet they've never written a list before of what they want.

No limits. Yeah. uh a a friend and mentor of mine who told me, you know, he grew up without a lot of money. He lived in Southern California, but he was probably two hours away from the ocean, but he always dreamed of like having a house by the beach in the ocean. And he's like, when I was in my 20s, I would just visit the ocean and look at the houses. Then when I started to make a little money, I was still so far away from affording it.

But I was like, what if I just rent the house for a day to experience what it's like being in that kind of property, looking out on the beach, beach, beach, and I think the closer we can get to dreaming it by writing it down and making a wish list and then getting closer to the experience, even if you just touch it, touch the car you want to buy, buy, buy, touch the house that you want to live into or rent the house for a night.

You know, you can't buy the whole thing, but it's like rent something like it and see what that experience feels like for a day, for an hour, for a moment. You can go on Sunset Boulevard and rent a Ferrari for 30 minutes if you want to, you know, for 100 bucks. Experience the feeling, right? Get around the feeling. So good. So good. So good. I love this quote that said, "The universe wants us to have everything and to live a full life. It's not a battle.

People haven't stopped to think about what they want because they think they can have it. And this manifestation is about releasing the need to control the how. How is this going to happen? How I'm going to make this? How is this going to be done by the time I want it? You may know the direction, but you don't always know the route. And sometimes the route that actually gets you there looks nothing like what you thought should be doing yourself. It's not the exact path that you wanted, but it still gets you there.

And sometimes what you're asking for, it doesn't arrive at all or not as exactly how you requested it. It arrives as a conversation you almost didn't take. It arrives as a location that you almost didn't go to, an event that you you were going to say no to and you went last minute. And then boom, the person you needed to meet, the thing you needed to hear, the sign that you needed to see. Oh man, it just came to you and it reminds you to keep going.

It It's almost like as a as an invitation you almost said no to. I know you've experienced this. If you're here so far in this episode, this is means it's resonating with you. Like this has happened for you before and this is a reminder for you. It might be it might have shown up in your life as like a delay. like you had to wait in line longer, you missed the bus and you were delayed or that flight got cancelled and you're like, "Ah, why did this happen to me?" But it forces you to slow down and something else comes your way.

That's another sign. Could be a redirection that takes you off your plan and onto a better one. But you only notice these moments when you're open. When you're not clinging and putting the weight of the world and the responsibilities on your back constantly and feeling stressed and just keeping your head down. It's like when you're not clinging to how it's supposed to happen, things will start to unfold. When you're willing to say, "This may not be what I planned for, but let me pay attention to what it's trying to show me." Receiving requires humility.

It requires a letting go, a surrender. And that's hard to do. It's not a It's not enjoyable to say, "I surrender. Just show me the way." It's not easy. It requires you to let go of the identity that says,"I have to do this all by myself." And it requires you to trust that support doesn't diminish you. It expands you. So this manifestation is not about waiting. It's about awareness. It's about staying present to what life is offering, not just about what you are chasing. So say this with an open heart.

Today I am open to receive what is meant for me. And beautiful things come my way. Even if it doesn't look like what I thought I wanted, beautiful things come my way. Even if it requires me to change direction, beautiful things come my way. Even if it comes through other people, beautiful things come my way. These are not just words we're talking about here. These are daily practices. This is a way of being. These are daily reminders of who you're becoming. I want you to say them.

I want you to feel them. I want you to live them. Because when your words, your beliefs, and your actions match and align, your life will expand in beautiful ways. Your life will change. You will evolve one day, one decision, one manifestation at a time. If you've enjoyed this, please like it up. Leave a comment of what resonated for you because I believe that you are deserving and worthy of a beautiful, rich, abundant life. One of peace, one of harmony, one of powerful, beautiful relationships, one that brings you a lot of joy.

But you've got to get in alignment with yourself first. You've got to start acting upon these five man manifestations. I believe you're worthy and deserving of a beautiful, rich life. But you've got to be willing to act upon these five manifestations on a consistent basis. And we're all going to go off track at times. No one's perfect here. I'm not asking you to be perfect. But I am asking you to practice these things daily to the best of your ability and watch what unfolds. Watch what unfolds in the next few days.

If you say these five things just for three days in a row, I want you to see how you act differently, how your energy shifts, how things start to come your way, how synchronicities, signs, conversations lead you into the path that you desire. And again, I want to remind you if no one's told you lately that you are worthy, you are loved, and you matter. You need to have a single season in your life. And here's why. We live in a world that tells us don't be alone or find someone fast.

Or being single means something is wrong with you. But what if being single isn't a problem that you need to fix? What if