How to Stop Sabotaging Yourself From Success & Take Action On Your Dreams EP 1169

Welcome to episode number 1169.

Welcome to the School of Greatness.

My name is Lewis Howes, a former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Today's episode is a little bit different and I'm excited to share this with you. to you because last week I put on a five day experience for 25,000 people called the Greatness Challenge. It was a virtual experience with me focused on building and monetizing your personal brand. Every day we had a Q&A session with our VIP members after the live challenge. It was only supposed to be an hour each day for the VIP members, but we went two or three hours on some of the days. And it was crazy what I learned and what I was hearing people, what they were going through with the struggles of building and monetizing their business and their personal and I wanted to share these conversations because I know a lot of you will relate to the struggle with self-doubt and getting out of your own way. And if you're looking for accountability, if you're looking to grow your personal brand and your business, then I'm excited to share that I've launched a new membership community for growth-minded entrepreneurs, and it's called the Greatness Academy. We have over 45 trainings from myself and other top industry experts in the world dedicated to helping you increase sales, grow your social media following, master public speaking, launch a business, book in a month, grow your podcast, your YouTube channels, your social channels, learning about building email funnels that convert sales and so much more. And if you're ready to take your business and personal brand to the next level, then visit us@lewis.house.com slash academy and get signed up for this brand new community of the Greatness Academy. And what you're about to hear in this episode is me coaching some of these members from the VIP section, talking about how to grow and monetize their brand while overcoming the fears that have held them back for so so many years to actually put themselves out there. I think you'll find it fascinating. And in just a moment, we'll be walking you through and diving into these sessions. So stay tuned.

Okay.

In this first section, we speak with Taz Falconer, who, like a lot of us, opened up that she suffers from getting in her own way, analyzing everything, and then never taking real action. Not taking action is one of the worst things that you can do for yourself. And as we started talking, it became clear what gets in most people's way and how to overcome it so you can achieve results for your life.

I'd like to ask you more around the psychology of kind of getting out of your own way. Because something that I found every day I show up and like, I love what you're sharing. And when we're here and we're in this group, I feel super inspired and motivated to take action. But then the next day I'm like, oh, wait, I'm still me. I'm still shy. I'm still so scared of judgment. And then, like, reality kind of kicks in. And it's something that's frustrating me quite a lot because it's almost like this analysis paralysis where, okay, I find myself always learning. I love learning, which is fine, but the proportion of, like, learning to action, I'm not really happy with. So I just feel that I get in my own way.

You keep running and learning and learning and learning, but then you don't act.

Yeah, and I think it's also because learning is so humbling. So when you learn something, you realize how much you don't know. And then you're like, okay, actually I know nothing. So I shouldn't try to put anything out there. I should try learn more.

Ah, interesting. So because you're learning so much, you realize, well, I actually don't know as much as I, there's so much more to learn. So why should I put something out there? Yeah.

It's kind of like a pointless way to you because then you just, It's like that analysis paralysis that I'm saying you don't end up taking action.

Your question is how to take action when you feel this way?

Honestly, even the question overwhelms me and I'm so glad to see that other people feel the same way because I know that it's not a here's my question, give me the answer and it's going to fix it. I know this is like such a deep inner work issue but I didn't want to not bring it up. So yes, basically, you know, any advice and As I ask you this question, I've personally already done a lot of coaching and inner work around this issue, this fear of judgment, fear of not being smart enough, who am I to say this, all of this. But it's just such a big, big issue. So yeah, just your advice on... I remember a lot of learning and taking action.

Well, okay, I'll share that answer there, but I'll talk about the money the money. Like, do you believe you deserve to make more money?

Yes, I. Yes. And when the more that I educate myself, the more I do feel like I have invested in myself, and I. I do deserve to make a bit more money. Yes.

So because you learn more. So because you learn more, you feel like you deserve to earn more money. Is that what I heard you say?

Yes. But then definitely the. The block comes at the. that fear, that fear of judgment. So in my mind and maybe to the people closer to me, I can say that I see my self-worth or deserve level increasing the more that I do educational things. But when it comes to sort of putting that out to the world or going outside of that circle that you're comfortable in, I don't take action that helps me to earn more money. I don't take the action.

There's a lot of people that are smarter than me, I'll tell you that, who are way with broker than me. There's a lot of people that learn more, have more credentials, more skills, more degrees, PhDs who are making a lot less. And I learned early on, a mentor of mine when I was extremely broke about 11, 12 years ago when I was broke, a mentor of mine, I was struggling and I was just like, Man, I don't know what else I need to do. Like, I'm working hard and the money's not coming in. What do I do? And he said, Money comes to you when you're ready for it. And I was like, I'm really ready to make some money. right now. I'm pretty broke. I could use this money. And he just kept saying, Money comes to you when you're ready for it. And there are certain things we need to overcome and certain actions we need to take in order to be ready to receive the type of money that we are then not going to blow and mess up and spend on stupid investments that we lose it all. So if you get money when you're not ready for it, you'll hoard it. You won't use it and multiply it. You you'll spend it and you'll lose it, or you'll feel like you'll just feel anxious because people want it from you and you don't know how to manage it. So there's a process that I've learned the hard way that is, okay, money comes to you and you're ready for it. So when I know that like, okay, if I really want to make more money, there are certain actions I need to take in order to come from that space. I need to focus on it. I need to pay attention to it. I need to learn something that I haven't learned around money. I need to overcome some type of emotional blockage that I'm holding on to. I need to like look within, you know, can I look myself in the mirror in the eyes for 10 minutes and love myself fully? Or is there something I have yet to address? Is there something I haven't talked about that I'm afraid to talk about? Am I blocking myself in intimate relationships? Am I not being vulnerable with family, friends, whatever it is? Am I lying to myself? If I look myself in the mirror for 10 minutes, Do I feel comfortable with me? And if I don't, why? And lean into that. That's phase one. Another thing is, the amount of money you make is directly related to the amount of value you add to others and your ability to package, position, and receive the money from the value offer. So someone might say, well, Louis, teachers in America are offering a lot of value. They're teaching these kids, but they make whatever, 40 grand a year, right? I don't know what the average salary is, $50,000 a year, right? They've been working for 10 years, and they make $50,000. Is that fair? And it is fair because they haven't learned how to package and position their value. And so then you hear stories of teachers who say, okay, let me package and position the skills that I have and create an online course and teach it in a unique way and learn marketing and learn how to package and position so that I can deliver the value and receive more money from this other skill. so if we're not learning how to position and package the value we offer, and we're just learning, learning, learning, you have a lot of value to give because you're learned so much. But the thing that I'm hearing you say is you, you haven't learned how to package a position and overcome that, that inner fear or doubt of embarrassment or judgment and things like that. This is a real fear because most of us have this. I was at the point where I was so broke that I was just like, I don't care if the world laughs at me. I just need to figure this out so I can get off my sister's couch. So I almost had an advantage because I was so broke and had nowhere else to go. My back was against the wall for a year and a half. I was just like, I'm already embarrassment to my family, to society, like girls laugh at me because I'm living on my sister's couch. Like, I'm already being laughed at. So I might as well try something, see if I can get out of this position. It's when life is good is when it's really hard. For most people, it's when you're making, you know, 80, 100, $120,000 a year for a, you know, a number of years. You've got a steady thing going on. You're like, you're comfortable. That's when it's actually really hard. When there's a massive breakdown, it's easier because you're already in breakdown. Like, you're already like going through so much. You're like, well, let me just take action and get out of this. It's when life is good. is when it's hard because you're comfortable and you've got to constantly put yourself in uncomfortable situations in order to grow. It's extremely challenging. You're educated, you're smart, you're attractive, you're talented, you have good friendships probably, you are constantly investing and learning. It's going to take you putting yourself through a number of challenges to get extremely uncomfortable for you to want to really start to grow exponentially. and this is why I always tell people whatever the thing you're most afraid of, you want to create a 30, 60 or 90 day challenge every single day, putting yourself in the most uncomfortable, scary situation to face that thing until it becomes second nature. And I don't know what that thing is for you. I don't know if that's you going live every day on Instagram and teaching what you're learning. If that's super scary to you, I don't know if it's you putting on your own event. I don't know if it's you putting out a part like I don't know, we all need to figure out like, okay, what is the thing that I've been resisting doing for a long time? And me just saying that, it looks like that's something that would be scary for you, right?

Like sweating just by you proposing that idea.

So you need to think like, is that the thing that scares you the most? Is there something else? Is it interviewing people? Is it you going live? Whatever it is, you need to think about the scariest thing for you. and you need to create a 30-day challenge for yourself. I can give it to you, but you've got to be the one to accept it and take it. And if it were me, I would say every day for 30 days, you need to go live for 10 minutes on whatever is the biggest platform you have. And you need to teach what you're learning. You need to actually offer value in a scary way. For me, this was public speaking 10 years ago. I knew that if I wanted to impact more people, I needed to learn how to communicate with my voice. 'cause I didn't want to speak. I didn't want to stand up in front of people. I could not do it. I was terrified to speak in front of three friends. I could do one-on-one, but if there was like two people looking at me saying, Louis, what's your thoughts? Like, I just couldn't do it. And you may think that's crazy 'cause I'm here doing this in front of thousands of people and I speak in front of thousands of people on stage. And it's literally, I found a mentor. I think I mentioned this yesterday, the day before. I found a mentor with a model that I can mimic. and I do this in every different stage of my life. What's someone who I'm inspired by, who's done something that I haven't done that I want to do? So there's a mentor with a model similar to close to what I want to create for myself that I can then mimic and learn from. And I invest in those people or invest in those books or those programs or courses or whatever it is. And I learn the model and then I mimic for what works for me. So when I did this, I could not speak. I kid you not in front of a few people. And if I did, it would stutter for a few seconds and I just couldn't think, I couldn't create my thoughts and organize them in a way to deliver a cohesive message. So I met a guy when I was doing another challenge for myself. I was doing a three month, everyday immersive salsa dancing challenge for myself because I was terrified Terrified to get out of the dance floor. Terrified. I could not step a toe on the dance floor without freaking out, right? It was just like, I can't do this. I cannot do, I physically, emotionally will die if I'm on the dance floor. That's how I felt. It was such an irrational fear, but these fears consume us, right? They're like, ah, I will die. That's how it feels. And I was in the middle of an immersive three-month challenge myself. I was 23. three, 23 years old, terrified of salsa dancing. And I was like, damn it. That means I have to do this. And I finally, it took me a few months to actually get the courage to do it. But then when I started it, I was all in for three months. And I actually did it for a year pretty consistently, but it was a three-month journey I gave myself where I said, every day I got to do this until I'm not afraid. And I made a fool of myself, and it was embarrassing, and I stumbled all over myself, and I. It was miserable, but now I have the skill and the confidence to go anywhere in the world at any moment and go to any salsa club, anywhere in the world, and every time I do this, I've done this for the last, I don't know, 13, 14 years now, travel the world and find salsa clubs. I will go. I can't speak the language. I will look after the first song that I'm there, I'll look for the best female dancer. And I go, that's where I'm going first. I'm going for the scary, most intimidating place that I don't know, no one knows me. I don't speak the language. I'm going to go ask them to dance. Half the time I get rejected and I think, good, this is still scaring me. I got to keep going. I got to keep putting myself out there. And then I go find some other girl and I dance with her right next to the girl who rejected me. And I wait for her to ask me to dance with her. I say, I'm good. Thank you. And I leave. I'm just kidding. I don't do that anymore. I did do that though for a while. So one of the things I did during this time of salsa dancing, was I met a guy who was a professional speaker. I had multiple fears, so many fears I was afraid most my life. And I learned from him on how to do public speaking. So every week I was public speaking to learn this skill. For a year, this was a year-long challenge because I knew it was going to take me more time to master this. I couldn't speak in front of a few people. This wasn't going to happen overnight. He told me the model. He had a lot of success as a public speaker professionally. I said, what's your model? He told me the model. He said, you need to join Toastmasters every week for a year. You need to do this and you need to put yourself through the discomfort and you need to record it and you need to watch how embarrassing you look. And this is the worst thing, to watch yourself stumble like a fool in front of people. It's horrible. It's miserable. But now every week I had a Coach, I watched myself back. I practiced and I showed up. And at the end of this year, I became a confident communicator. I still had a long way to go. I was not where I wanted to be. I was not perfect, but I could stand in front of an audience for 10 minutes and deliver a message. And that was phase one. Then it was, how do I do this for an hour? Then how do I get paid to do this? Then how do I do this in front of a thousand people? How do I do it? It's like always a different level of growth around our fears. But if you're not putting yourself through massive action on a daily basis for 30 days with this, it will always cripple you and you'll never get the results you really want. It'll be slow growth. And so each one of us in this group right now, I dare you, dare you to write down the thing that would be the scariest thing for you to take on for 30 days. Maybe it's for Taz, maybe it's going live every day on Instagram or Facebook or wherever is terrifying to me right now in this context. I'm not talking about like, going and grabbing a snake out of the tree or something like that type of fear. I'm talking about the emotional fear of judgment, of criticism, of whatever that is for you. I dare you to write it down and I double dog dare you to do it for 30 days. I would bet that 90% of you will not do this for 30 days in a row. I would bet, I would put money down it on almost everyone. Maybe 10% of you will every single day. Maybe some of you'll do it for a few days. But I wholeheartedly believe if you do this thing for 30 days, Taz, 30 days, by the end of 30 days, you'll be like, oh, this is not that big a deal anymore. And maybe you won't get any sales and maybe you won't get results, but you'll build a belief that you haven't had before within yourself that'll help you do the next thing. And that's what everyone else here, I believe, will support you in learning how to package and position your value. Cause you have value ties, you've got a lot of knowledge, but you haven't figured out the courage on how to package a position and put yourself out there. I had something that I'm grateful I learned how to develop, which was when I had nothing, I realized I have nowhere else to go backwards. Like I was already broke. I was already in debt. I already didn't have, you know, I was just like, I'm not living my dream anymore. I'm injured. I was already like so many things that weren't going my way. I was like, well, let me get some courage then. Let me just do something. And it's when things are good is when it's actually the hardest. So I challenge you. And that's why I invest now because things are good for me. I've got a good life. I'm grateful. I'm blessed because I've worked extremely hard to overcome my insecurities and my fears. And this is why I push myself with coaches. I hire the best coaches with a model that I can mimic that I want to continue to prove in and I invest in them. I pay them and I say, man, I don't want to face this thing today, but I know I need to coach me. Ah, my therapist. Oh, you're right. I need to speak about this. I need to resolve this thing with my family member. I don't want to do this, but it always brings me more peace by taking the hard, challenging action. Health. Oh, gosh, I just want to have more donuts. No, let me keep on with the accountability with my nutritionist. It's like, that's why it's important to invest, especially when things are going well. So I don't know if this is helpful. I'm just kind of rambling now, but it says the key for me has been going all into my fears and it gives me the courage to package and position my value. And this is why I'm not afraid to charge $150,000 for a speech for 60 minutes now. This is why I'm not afraid when people want one-on-one coaching to say it's $250,000 for the year for one call a month for me. I'm not afraid to do this because I know my value. So I've learned to package and position these things because I've also backed up my value by years and years of results. I continually show up and deliver the value so that there are results for my clients, customers, my audience. Followers, whatever it is. I'm creating value so people are impacted in a powerful way. And I try to overdeliver. Would you say this $49 has been a worthwhile investment for you?

Yeah, 100%.

Definitely.

Do you feel like you've gotten more than $49 worth of value?

On day one, yes.

And that's interesting you say that because for my mastermind, which was $50,000, which we did a few years ago, we stopped doing. I said to, they got a year, they got three in-person events with me, they got a coaching call in the beginning and then a coaching call at the end. And I said to myself, from our first hour coaching call, I wanted it to be worth $50,000. Then the weekend, I wanted it to be worth 50,000. Like every moment they interacted, I wanted it to be worth the $50,000. And so I learned how to deliver and execute the value so that every time I charged it, it was worth it. If they were willing to invest in actually doing the things that we were communicating and they took the action, it was worth the money. If you just sit here and learn and you don't take action, then maybe it's not worth it because you're not applying. So you have to apply what you learn. And everyone would say on the first coaching call, this 60 minutes, I would have paid $50,000 for this call because I know after a decade what people need when they're already making a million dollars in a business, I can easily get them to $3 million in the next year just because that's what I did. And I learned the process from tons of mistakes. And so it's easier to go from 1 million to 3 million if you've got a little team, if you've got your business, if you've got an audience, it's super easy actually. Now, it took me a long time to figure it out, but it's easy for me to show people the exact steps on a 60-minute call. and actually help them do it in half the time that they normally think they'd be able to do it. Because I am perfectly positioned to help the person I once was. Just like I said here on this call, you become perfectly positioned to help the person you once were. And so because I'm able to see result after result with the clients we have come in, when someone says, Louis, can you do one-on-one? I can say $250,000 for a one-on-one client. I know within 60 minutes, that they would get their money back times 10 within a first 60-minute call. And then they would have the rest of the year to have accountability. So you're going to look to see like, are you doing the work to overcome your fears enough so you believe you are worth the value you're charging? Because if you don't believe it, then you're not going to be able to receive it. And money comes to you when you are ready for it. So what is the challenge that you've got to prepare yourself for? and take on so that you feel ready to receive the money that you want. You're worth it, you're valuable. You don't need the money to know you're valuable, but money comes to you and you're ready for it and you have to learn other skills in order to get it. Some people get it not by doing those things. They get it inherited, they win the lottery, but those are the people that you heard from study after study are the most unhappy, are the ones that blow their money, they get into drugs, they haven't learned the step of overcoming the fear, whatever their fear is for them. You got to become the Batman for your life. You know, the Batman was afraid of bats and he said, I don't want to have this fear anymore. I'm gonna go live in the cave. I'm gonna surround myself with these bats. They scare the crap out of me. I don't want to be in the darkness, but I need to be comfortable in this space constantly. And you know what? I'm gonna make my identity the thing that I'm the most afraid of. so let me become a bat and embrace the fear and actually live the fear daily so that it doesn't affect me anymore. And when you do that for 30 days or three months or however long you need to do it, the fear will start to disappear and you will start to see incredible shifts in your life. I'm not just speaking to you, Taz, I'm speaking to everyone here. So hopefully everyone is listening as if I'm speaking to you because this is the secret. This is the key. to unlocking incredible growth and financial abundance is going all in on your fear until the fear disappears. Does that make sense?

Yeah, that makes total sense. Obviously it's a little bit scary right now, but I think it is definitely what has to be. Like my palms are sweating thinking about it, but I know it's what has to be done and I am going to do it and I'm going to set myself a deadline. I'm definitely gonna do it. But also when you were speaking, what came up was a book that really helped me dealing with being uncomfortable, which was David Goggins book, Can't Hurt Me.

Can't Hurt Me. Yep.

Yep. So I read that and I opened my first business after reading that book. And yeah, so I just wanted to share that actually if it could help anyone else because it really, really shifted things for me. Because I had kind of curated this life of comfort. and reading that book just, it got me doing things so that helped.

And here's the thing, like living an uncomfortable life is great. Like I'm not saying you have to like go on your fears and be uncomfortable every day. Like you don't need to do that. If you are happy with your where you're at, then keep living the way you want to live. But if you feel like something is like calling you to create something more, but there's a fear blocking you, then that's the time to address the fear. Because if there's something calling you that you're doing, that you're not putting out into the world and you're allowing some fear to hold you back from delivering value to more people, then you're doing a disservice to your creator, in my opinion. You know, if you are happy with where you're at and you're comfortable and you love your life and you don't, you don't feel that calling, then cool, like keep living your life. But all of you are here to learn to grow in a different way. And so I'm assuming, Taz, there's something that you want to express to the world that you haven't yet expressed. There's a reason you keep learning and developing because you want to help people. You want to add value in some way, right?

Yeah, I definitely I actually have a message that I want to share and I think what resonates so strongly with me is I think I've heard you say twice during this training that if you were to die tomorrow, you'd feel happy that you feel you've done the most with your skills. And at this moment, I just feel I don't feel that way about myself. So I just don't feel that I'm doing my absolute best with my skills and talents that I've been given. It's like a little bit of a hard thing to obviously express and say.

But if you look yourself in the mirror, for 10 minutes and stare into your eyes. What would you say to yourself at the end of the 10 minutes?

Like, what would I say?

What would you say that you've, you haven't done, you're, you're not proud of, or that you feel like something's missing, or you feel like something's lacking or you're not on the pursuit or, or creating something you want to be doing. What would you say to yourself if you looked yourself in the eyes for 10 minutes in the mirror at the end of that 10 minutes, what would be the thing that comes up for.

You that you're not proud of? Just not being as useful as I feel I could be with the skills and knowledge that I've firstly been given and secondly been acquiring. Yeah, it's that not doing your best. I don't mean this in a competitive way. I mean as in not being of service to people as much as you can, not bringing your message to the world as best you can because well, as I'm speaking in third person, but as best I can because of these limiting beliefs, like it's a bit, it's quite upsetting, you know, it's just, it's not really worth, it's not worth getting.

The fear get the better of you there. It doesn't mean we all need to like go after all of our fears all the time and like, it's not, I'm not saying you should do that. I'm saying you should feel out peace within yourself. And if you look yourself in the mirror and you feel like you're not at peace, what is the thing you need to address?

That's what I'm saying here.

I want people to feel fulfilled and peaceful.

Yeah. So, like with what you're saying for me, I just want to, every single day, I want to feel like I've done my best. And because I feel like I'm holding part of myself back, I can't, with an open heart, say that, like, I did my best today.

So what would it take for you to actually give your best?

I think that a big thing that sticks out, I've heard it before when you said it in this training, is to not focus on myself. So not worrying about, oh, I I'm not smart enough for him. I have to say this, but trying to shift more to how I can add more value to other people. This is the theory, but obviously I've not mastered it.

How long have you been thinking about this? How many months or years have you been thinking about this?

10, 12, like a long time.

12 years you've been holding on to something and thinking about this.

Yeah, in different mutations, I would say.

Yeah, different. How much longer are you gonna hold back from sharing your gifts with the world?

Why don't we start with the 30-day challenge? And after that, I'll either totally regress and just go back to, I'll just delete all my accounts or we'll have a breakthrough and then, so let's like.

Maybe like, what's your intention with, what you wanna let go of, what you wanna create, how you wanna impact people, what's your intention?

As in a mission?

What's your intention? Do you want to let go of this fear or shame? Do you want to serve more people?

Yeah, so in terms of letting go, I definitely want to let go of judgments, self and others. In terms of sharing, I just, I kind of want to share the message that you get to create your dream life regardless.

Are you doing it for yourself?

I believe I am compared to where I started, yes.

Right.

So I'd love to show people that regardless of your background, upbringing, circumstance, you don't have to be a victim of your history. You can, to coin a phrase from another mentor, be a master of your destiny. You can create the life you want to live. It's up to you to really create that life you want to live.

There's a common fear that a lot of people have and it's one of the biggest challenges we all face is like, what is that thing each one of us have that we're critical of, that we're afraid of, that we're insecure about, that we're ashamed of? of that keeps us for months, years, decades holding back for you 12 years in some way, you said, holding back from fully giving yourself of service to whatever your mission is, whether that's, you know, and that's if this is you not building a business and you building your family, if this is you in partnership with people, if this is you with your family and friends, like are you being in service with whatever it is you want to do that brings you joy and fulfillment at the highest level? There's no right or wrong, good or bad here. It's, are you at peace with yourself? Can you look yourself in the eyes in the mirror and say, you're proud of you? And that's where a lot of self-worth comes from. That's where a lot of self-worth comes from is when you can look yourself in the mirror and say, am I proud of me? Am I showing up for what I feel called to do? And your calling is going to be different than mine. so it's a personal feeling. So hopefully that's resonating with you.

Thank you very much. Thanks everyone. I'll go read these comments now. Thank you. I really appreciate it.

Before you bounce, what resonated with you from this time together? What didn't resonate? And share that first.

I think what didn't really resonate at this point was the sort of the monetary thing. It's not that it didn't resonate, but it's just, it's not the biggest issue for me right now, if that makes sense.

Yeah.

Sort of raising the, the self-worth in that. I've kind of done that to quite a large degree over the last year, so it's not that it didn't resonate, it's just. that's not like the deep issue right now.

What resonated?

I think you're speaking about like what you're called to do if you feel that calling and like facing the fear, just taking that like a boot camp approach almost to just face the fear rather rather than maybe getting too caught up in trying to work through it in your mind, maybe getting like out of the head a bit and getting more just going for it.

So that resonated.

I think, yeah, there was a lot. I was like, I think I'm gonna go watch the replay, to be honest. Okay.

But because for 12 years you've been doing. What have you been doing for 12 years? You've been in your head about it?

Yeah.

And like I say, learning more, which is fine. There's benefits to that. I'm glad that I'm learning, but almost like using the learning as the. The crutch, putting it off as the crutch or. putting off the action in a way?

Well, I want to see you create the growth that you want to create and have the inner peace that you're looking for with the impact you want to create as well. And I don't want you to wait another 12 years to do it. So that's my intention is that I want you to wait 12 years. I don't want you to wait 12 months. I don't want you to wait a month.

Yeah, and I think also what resonated was like you said, you don't have to do that. So I get that it's not right or wrong. It's not that if someone like doesn't face their fears and doesn't do this, they're not wrong, they're not like less of a person or whatever. But in terms of what is important to me, it is very important to me that I can overcome this and take this action. So just seeing that also like, yeah, yeah, go ahead. No, just seeing that it's not someone who doesn't do it or someone who's not taking that hard road, it's not wrong. Or when you said you can live a comfortable life, fine. I realized like, oh, you can, I guess. That's fine too. So not having that judgment around that, but just really following what you feel, what you feel your soul wants, what you feel called to, what you feel you want to share.

Yeah. And we're all in different seasons of life too. Like, you know, in 10, 20 years, maybe this isn't my mission anymore. Maybe I don't feel like I'm supposed to do this. There's something inside of here that's like, ah, you're supposed to do this. and then I asked myself, okay, am I supposed to do this? Is that calling coming from ego? Because I feel like I want to make more money or I want, like, people to love me or I want a bunch of followers so I can feel, like, good about myself. Or is this be coming from a place of, no, like, I just. I don't know. I just feel like I want to serve at a higher level. I feel it keeps coming to me over and over. I keep hearing this voice for years, decades, whatever it is for some people, and it's just. I gotta do this. we don't know the mystery of why we're supposed to be here and what we're supposed to do sometimes, but that's what my calling is to me. And I cultivate that by listening to it, by meditating, by reflection, by feedback, by therapy, by processing, by dealing with shame. Like I process things so that I get rid of the noise in my head so I can hear what I'm supposed to create. If I wasn't processing those things, I'd be chasing money to feel good. I'd be chasing whatever girls to feel validated. I'd be chasing followers to feel like I'm enough. Okay. Like, because I'd have the fears in my head and be like, ah, I need to calm this. Let me just go make something and have it. Now I can feel better. And then I still don't feel better. Let me get more and more and more. And this is why it's important to be able to process our emotions, to process our pain, our shame, our insecurities, to face these things so that we can hear whatever is coming through us. For me, that's very important to do. And when I feel overwhelmed and stressed and confused and in fear mode, I know that's time for me to reflect, to go talk about it to someone, to work out, to meditate, to take a walk and be alone and listen. And what is it that I need to hear? What am I not doing? You know, why am I not feeling good? Why can't I look myself in the eyes right now? Is there something I'm not saying? Is there something I need to be doing that I'm not doing? Am I out of integrity? It's a process of reflection, a process of communication and an action. And it's never gonna be this perfect thing and you always have it figured out. Like there's always some breakdown somewhere. But at the end of the day, I look myself in the mirror and I'm proud of who I am at this moment. Am I proud of who I've always been? No. Is there stuff I'm ashamed of? Absolutely. I wish I didn't do all the time. But I don't hold on to them. I don't beat myself up about it 'cause I'm proud of how I continue to evolve and grow. process today. So that's the process that I think is important for each one of us. And I know this was about monetization and this was not supposed to be figuring out self-worth conversations here, but unfortunately, they're all connected. Unfortunately, they're all connected. And so I can tell you the strategies of packaging and positioning and all this stuff, but if you don't believe you are worthy, the money will not come to you until you're ready for it. And that's why for me, for many, many years, I put myself through these challenges of, okay, what is my fear right now at this season of my life? What is my insecurity? What am I ashamed of? What am I worried about the judgment of other people? Dang it. That means I need to go do this. Okay. What's my challenge? What am I going to give myself? What feels really scary for me? I really don't want to do this because it's so uncomfortable. But that's when I know I need to lean into that thing. you get more comfortable doing it once you've done it once. I've done so many of these challenges for myself. They're second nature for me now because I am comfortable being uncomfortable. It's something that I've built the muscle around, like putting myself through embarrassment, putting myself through humiliation. Because I know on the other side of that is freedom and fear is not freedom. So I put myself through whatever I need to to feel free and feel peaceful. and, you know, courage is a muscle. I haven't always been courageous my entire life. It's a muscle and there's always a different area of your life you got to learn to be courageous in. So I could stop right now and just be like, you know what? I'm happy with everything. I just want to like stop creating so much and stop being curious about people and interviewing people and stop, you know, shut the business down and just, you know, live life of my relationship and work out and do that stuff and I can live a great life. But that's not what's calling me. So I'm listening to my calling and I'm acting from that space. So hopefully this was helpful, Taus. I appreciate you for being here and sharing so openly and vulnerably. So many comments have come in about how a lot of people are saying that, you know, they're not speaking up and they wish they could speak up like you and you're so composed while you're talking about all these things. So it's, I really acknowledge you for for sharing. So thank you for sharing. And I think you helped a lot of people in their own discovery through this process together. So I appreciate it.

Thanks so much. Thanks, everyone. I was not composed at all, but thank you.

You're great. We appreciate you. And yeah, reflect on this. And if you want to do a 30-day challenge for yourself, then feel free to post in the group. When you're ready and comfortable to do that, then do it. No pressure either way. I want to support you. I want the group to support you just as I want you to support everyone in the group. And I mean, I hope all of you, honestly, I hope all of you join Greatness Academy if you're not already in there, because it's a monthly accountability like this. And there's going to be a lot of great people in there. So if you haven't signed up for that yet, guys, I highly urge you to do it. Again, you're going to get access to my team talking about these different strategies. You're going to get access from me. There's going to be a community of people. So if you found this valuable in any way, go to lewishouse.com/academy right now. Get signed up. We're doing a special offer. We've just opened it back up today for the first time, I think, eight months. So get yourself in there because that's where I'm going to be the most active. in there and in our Greatness Coaching Group. So, if you want coaching like at a different level, more on the emotional side of things like this, we do this in the Greatness Coaching Group as more for people that are really the six-figure earners and up. There are some people that aren't at that level, but it's really for the higher earning group that is trying to scale the business more and things like that. So, either way, join Greatness Academy, LewisHowes.com/Academy. if you found this valuable and impactful. And if you've seen that you're going to see growth and results, then join that and have monthly accountability with my team and a community of other people just like you. Taz, I'm not sure if you're seeing the chat in here of how much people love you and how much they appreciate you, but a lot of people are saying that what you shared was very helpful for them. I'm assuming you are not alone. and that there are many people who have had this fear or shame or insecurity that has held them back for a year or five years or 10 years or 12 years. And I bet there's even more who've had it for longer that haven't put out that thing they want to put out because of that insecurity. Go ahead and type in how long you've been thinking about doing something, the book, the project, the the content launching something, how long have you been thinking about it that you haven't put it out for? Someone saying one year, 30 years, 20 years, two years, five years, three years, 17, 18 years, five. So you see you're not alone. That there are people who have had dreams, who have had something that keeps speaking to them in their core, in their heart, wherever they're hearing this calling. to do something, to try something, to put it out there. This is not like you're alone in the world. This is majority of people. I have that for certain things that I want to put out that I haven't done yet. I just act on them pretty quickly. If I have it for a year, I'm like, okay, I need to do this. And I start taking action on it. It's also matters of how much time you have and it's like some things I hold to do but I'm not afraid to do them. I might say, okay, I want to do this thing, but it's been two years since I've been thinking about it. But it's really a bandwidth thing. It's not like I'm afraid to do it. I would do it. It's like, okay, I gotta get the resources then I can do it. But most of you make that excuse and say, I don't have time. And that's not the excuse. It's really you're afraid to do it. And so you make the excuse of time or the excuse of money. I'm taking on so many things that are my dreams right now and I'm doing it consistently and showing up at a big level to my ability, it's just a matter of how can I do it faster for all the other things that I have as well. Don't use the excuse of time or money or family or this or blah, blah, blah. Those are excuses that after 10, 20, 30 years do not hold up. It's the fear holding you back. You've got to create that challenge for yourself. No one can help you out-think this fear. It's not something you just say, I'm not going to be afraid of this anymore and I just move on. This is your own hero's journey. This is the part of the process for your life that you've got to figure out how to overcome. And if you don't, then you've got to figure out how to deal with 5, 10, 20, 30, 50 years of having something festering inside of you and not come out. And are you going to be okay with that? And maybe that's okay. But for some of you, that's not going to be okay. and this is going to be your journey and your process. So can you look every night at the end of the day in the mirror at yourself for a couple of minutes and say, I'm in the journey, I'm working on the thing I want to do, or at least I'm strategizing it and I'm executing on a small level. Am I processing? Am I doing it? Am I doing the fears that I need to overcome? Like, you're the only one who can really look yourself in the mirror and ask you that. It's a conversation with you and you. people can coach you, but you've got to be willing to do the work. So, I hope this was a helpful session. It seems like it was very therapeutic for a lot of people. It seems like this struck a chord with more people than most of the topics. And usually when you get into money and you face yourself and your self-worth, a lot of stuff comes up. I love you guys. I appreciate you guys. I feel like we should all do like a group hug or something after this conversation, this vulnerable emotional conversation. So I'm hugging you all. I'm appreciating you all. I appreciate you being there for Taz as she opened up and she communicated with a big heart, a huge massive heart and really revealing herself. So big hug to Taz and to everyone here as well. You guys are amazing. What are we going to do next? What's the action plan? Because we've learned, you know, Taz is really good at learning, but now we're going to act, right? Taz, we got to start taking action and everyone here, I want you to as well. And one of those action plans I'm telling you is accountability and coaching. So, go into the link lewishouse.com/academy and just sign up for that so you're good for the year there.

In this next section, we speak with Shannon Little. And let me know if this sounds like any of you. You have a lot of really great and big ideas. You think about them all the time. You know you want to accomplish all all your goals, but you just don't.

Know where to start.

That's where Shannon was at and I came up with a challenge for her that you can apply in your own life as well to get started.

I didn't think the Academy was actually going to be relevant to me because I'm not an entrepreneur and, you know, so but you mentioned today that you guys actually have a section relevant to, you know, publishing books, writing books, marketing your books, etc. And I have I've already got enough content of original quotes and poetry and everything. So I can probably get three books published before the end of this year with my own photography as well. But I also, I haven't got enough of my own personal story, which is another thing that I would like to actually get started. But I could probably write, I'm a writer as well. I was a high school teacher and then because of my health, that ended in 2008. So I've been on long-term disability for a number of years.

But.

Writing has been a passion since I was like a wee little thing.

So what's the goal and what's the question?

I want something published before the end of the year. I just can't decide.

Okay, stop. Stop. Have you published something before? No. Okay, so for 17 years you've wanted to publish something.

Yes, sorry, yes. No, no, I have written for many online magazines.

Have you published a book before?

Never published a book before.

Okay, so you want to publish a book. That's step one, right? Yes. Why do you want to publish a book?

Because I feel that what I have to say can help people, whether it's my inspirational writings.

Do you want to help and how do you want to help them?

My stories and or my inspirational writings will make a difference in people's lives.

With whose life? Who are you? Who do you want to help and how do you want to help them? So who are you? Is your story and your expertise who you want to help are the exact specific audience of people you want to target and then how you want to help them. You're delivering the, you're using a mechanism to deliver a solution. I'm hearing that your mechanism, you want it to be a book. So that's your mechanism. Yeah. So what are you going to be offering as extreme value for those individuals and who are the specific individuals?

I like the word that you use, conscious achievers, because I deal with I'm an empath. I'm always, you know, dealing with positive gratitude.

Okay. And what are you going to help them overcome?

Life challenges, loss, love, life lessons.

Something specific. Something specific is too broad. You don't have a personal brand to go broad right away. You can try it, but it's too broad where you're not going to make the biggest impact. You can try it and maybe you'll get a few sales, but it's, you want to talk about so many things. It's hard to really put that out there. Again, I don't want to say you shouldn't do it, but I want you to get maximum results if you're going to do it. And if you're just like, I don't care if anyone buys it, I just want to do this for me, then do it. So don't think I'm trying to tell you not to do something, but if you're asking me what's going to support.

You, it's you getting very clear on who you are, who you help and how you help them. I've been listening to you. That's the thing. This is, that's the problem though, is that like if we're talking about my quotes and my poetry, They're all encompassing.

Like they're all different. So which book do you want to write first? Do you want to do a quote book or do you want to write the Transformational Journey storybook with a methodology about your life? The quote book could be done tomorrow.

Why have you waited 17 years to do a quote book? Well, I guess, well, because, well, I don't know.

I've been doing other things. Well, if the quote book can be done tomorrow, and it's something you want.

To do, then why are you not doing it? Well, no, I've been dealing with other things. I've been doing other things. I have been doing other things.

So this isn't important enough for you. It's not a big enough, it's not calling at you enough then I guess. If you cared about it, why would you keep resisting it?

I guess now, because now is the time that I have finally decided this is what I want to do.

Okay, so you've gotten clarity now. Yes. So it wasn't always clear before.

Got it.

No. So now you're clear that you want to write a book and you want to help people with your books. Yes. You've got a few different options for books. So you're trying to figure out which book to do first. Yes. Are you asking for permission or an opinion?

I'm asking for an opinion because all I kept hearing from you the whole time this week has been, near your audience, near your audience, near your audience. And when it comes to even the.

Book.

It'S broad as well. I think that it still will be conscious achievers, but it'll deal probably more with with overcoming an obstacle and loss and just keep persevering, you know, regardless, you know, like just don't give up.

Okay, that's the other book, not the quote book, right?

No, no, that's the personal, yeah, just don't give up no matter what.

Gotcha, okay, so which one do you want to do first? Quote book, which you could do tomorrow, I'm hearing you say, or the other one where you got to figure out how to really craft and write the story.

Well, I guess if I were to join the academy, then I'd need, I.

Would want assistance with the personal story. Well, you can do this with or without the academy. You can write your story. You know, we're not a, we're not a book process, you know, accountability for writing your book. Yeah. Accountability for helping you accomplish your goals. And you stay accountable towards the action steps you need to take. Okay. We have a process for how to write your book in 30 days, but I'm not here walking you through step by step and holding your hand every day. Did you do the book yet? Did you write the chapter? This is something you got to do. This is for you to invest in yourself to say, I'm going to show up in 30 days and I'll have this much more done on my book. As opposed to you say, well, we're waiting another 17 years until I actually launch this. So it's do you invest to pay attention because you paid investment in something to actually stay accountable towards your goals. That's what this is about, whether it be building and then you're going to need to build your personal brand to sell your books. You're going to need to build audience. So this is going to help you on all these things, building audience, staying accountable with your goals. But you need clarity on what you want and why you want it. And that's the work that you got to do. I can't answer this for you. You know, you've got to figure out within you, you gotta clear your mind and say, what is it I truly want? And, and you can start with either book. It's, it really depends on what matters most to you. If you want to get started on a quote book, and I think you need to publish something. If you were asking my opinion, the quote book seems like a great place to start. It's less scary. You have all the material. Yeah. You can put it out there. You can reach a broader audience right away. Or you could narrow the audience and say, this is for women going through tough times. You can do anything you want there and you can go broad if you want to with a quote book. But then you gotta figure out how you're gonna sell it and you need an audience or you need collaborations, you need partnerships, you need to learn all these things. We teach all those steps in the academy. We've got every lesson you can think of on how to do any question you have already. It's already there. And if you have a question and we haven't answered it, then we'll answer it. We'll create a training around it. So that's what we're here to do. Our team is incredibly talented and will provide the information you need on how to execute. It's up to you to show up every day for yourself to execute. But if you want to write a book, you need accountability, you need some deadlines and some goals. You need support and if you want to build an audience, then you need to learn how to build your personal brand. And it's still not clear to me who you are, who you help and how you help them back to day one. I'm not clear. So why would I follow you if I don't know you can support or serve me or inspire me or entertain me of one of those categories? Or I don't know how I can refer someone to you. You know, I know you've been through a lot and you've overcome a lot, but I still don't know what it is exactly. So that's going to be the work that you got to figure out for you. Again, we have the processes for discovering that in Greatest Academy and all these things, but you've got to execute and show up. And it doesn't mean it's set in stone for life. I've reinvented my personal brand four or five times in the last 12 years. So just because it's this season doesn't mean it's all seasons. And just because you're putting something out there now doesn't mean you're tied to this forever. But you haven't put anything out there in 17 years in terms of a published book. I'm not saying that's right or wrong, good or bad, but it's been inside.

Of you and it's something you wanted to do. Is that right? Yes. But I was also, but I've been doing other things.

I get it. You've been publishing online and all these things, but you've had this thing that you've wanted to do that you've been resisting for 17 years, you said. Maybe unless you, unless it's only been five years. Well, I don't know.

How long have you been thinking about doing a book? I guess I always thought I wanted to write books, but I've also been.

I was like an online writer and interviewer. I've done. You've been creating.

Yeah, you've been creating.

You haven't done the book yet. I just haven't done the book yet. So it's not like you haven't done anything. You've been doing a lot. I've been doing a lot.

But now this is still showing up.

Inside of you and it's calling you. It's been calling.

So you just gotta ask yourself, are you gonna be happy until you put that out there? No, that's why I think that this is why this has been the timing now.

Everything is coming to alignment now and the time is- so what would it.

Take for you to launch your quote book by Christmas? I just need to figure out exactly what it what I need to do. I have to, I've got all the, I have enough to do three separate books. I mean, you could publish a book.

Today with all this stuff on Amazon. If you really wanted to, you could put this on Amazon. That's my thing.

And I've even got, I've done the research too. I mean, I've got some stuff that I mean, you know, like online.

So what is holding you back from putting it out there? You're extremely smart. You've been talented. You've been creating and writing online for years. You have all the materials. You know exactly how to publish a book on Amazon, it sounds like, because you can Google how to upload on Amazon and print and publish today. You've done that work. So what is holding you back from actually publishing it?

Oh, no, I said, I've just, I've downloaded. I haven't read on it yet because.

I just did it literally just doing this this week. Well, I mean, you can go on YouTube and you can go on YouTube and say how to publish on Amazon and there'll be a five minute tutorial that'll actually show you step by step how to upload a PDF to Amazon and press publish. and start making money right now in five minutes. So the step by step is there. You can Google anything.

Okay.

You have the materials.

Yeah.

You have two decades of experience, of effort, of results. So what is holding you back now from printing a quote book?

No, nothing. That's the thing is I'm just speaking to you now.

Give me a date that you want to publish this by.

My birthday, October 22nd.

Okay, so one month essentially, right? Less than a month. Okay. Okay. So what's it going to take for you for the next, whatever, 30 days to make this happen every day? What action are you going to take? That's what I want you to do right now is write step by step. Every day, one action, one action a day for the next 30 days from it being published by that day and think, what do you need today? The day before, the day before, the day before until today. And all you're going to do is one action a day should take you 30 minutes a day.

Okay.

And you'll have this thing published. So your next step is creating the game plan, like we talked about here on day five. You've got a clear goal now. You want to go with this quote book. You want to do it by October 22nd. Now you just got to figure out the pieces on how to get there by writing down the action plan. You know what to do. So would there be any reason why you wouldn't be able to do this? Any other excuses that would come up, any other distractions or fears that would come up in your way?

Yes.

Because you need to address those right now. you have a game plan for when you get afraid, for when something happens with health, for when you get distracted, for when you get tired, because that will happen. Most people don't prepare for those things. So I want you to write down also what you will do when every fear comes your way and why it's important for you to keep moving through it.

Yeah, there could be some blocks I might have to You know, or some hurdles I might have to jump over.

But that may- so write down exactly how you're going to jump over those hurdles. Yeah. So when they do come, because they will come and they will be bigger than you think. Yeah. You have the game plan on getting over them.

Some things are out of my control legally. Legally.

So you couldn't publish a quote into a book today?

I'm going to do my best. But I may be denied. That's all I'm gonna, that's all I can say.

So, here's what I'm gonna tell you right now. A book can be anything you want. You can take one page of a quote and you can upload it to Amazon right now and print it into a book and call it a book. Are you legally allowed to put any quote of yours and put it up on a PDF into a book on Amazon? It takes five minutes and say, here's my book. It's calling it the quote book of Shanna. Are you legally not allowed to do that for some reason?

I should be allowed to.

Okay, so if you're not allowed to do something, then don't create the goal around that. But if I'm hearing that there's some other legal stuff that you're not allowed to publish your own work, you're not allowed to publish it from a pen name, like you, there's so many workarounds to what I'm hearing this potential excuse. And I don't want this to hold you back.

Well, this is why I'm working through, like I said, I was pushing through the, like, some three major fears. Okay. And it looks like things are going to be progressing in the positive.

Right. Yeah. Sounds good. Well, I would love for you to challenge yourself and put up one page book tonight on Amazon. A one page book. One page book. Because I'm just hearing more and more excuses and hurdles that are coming your way. And if you could overcome this by saying, I published a book today. It's a one quote book. your favorite quote. You're laughing, but you know what's not funny? What's not funny is 17 years of a dream dying inside of you. What's not funny is you making an excuse for, well, I'm gonna do this date in 30 days, but then maybe I'm gonna, ah, there's gonna be some challenges. Maybe I'll push the date. That's not funny to me. It might be funny to you, but that's not funny to me because you've got a gift inside of you that you're making excuses to not give the gift out. or at least progress on putting it out there. And I don't want you to keep holding back for you. It doesn't matter for me, it's for you. So whatever you need to do, strategize or execute to start putting yourself out there, a one page book for me is a brilliant idea because it'll actually give you the courage to say, I did the action. I put out one page book. I don't know anyone who's got a one page book. Maybe it's the greatest idea in the world of book marketing. and you get one sale, get one page book and get one person to buy it. I bet 10 people here would buy your one page book if you did it today. I dare you, dare you to do a one page book on Amazon and call it Shannon's Book of Quote. Shannon's Book of Quote. There's one page and one quote.

Okay.

I dare you, I challenge you to print it today.

I will.

I challenge you to go on YouTube and type in how to upload my book to Amazon and see a million tutorials and then actually print it today. I dare you. I dare you. I don't think you can do it. I don't think you have the courage. So I dare you to do it. Let's see if you can. All these people are saying, send it to me. I'll buy the book. I don't know if you're seeing this chart here. I'll buy it. I'll buy it. I'll buy it. You can list it for 99. You can put it for 99 cents. this doesn't have to be some grandiose thing. Your fear is actually taking action and just doing it.

Okay.

And you got 50 people that say they'll buy it. I accept that. Put a 99 cent, 99 cent one quote. Your favorite quote. One quote. Shannon's book of quote.

Shannon's book of quote. Okay.

Shannon's book of quote. And it's got to go up by tonight at midnight, Pacific Standard Time.

Okay.

Yeah.

Because Shannon's book of quote. We just need some momentum.

Shannon's book of quote.

One quote, one original quote.

Right?

My original one quote.

And you can put the thank you from Lewis Howes if you want to, you know what I'm saying? Okay, thanks. Add a little thank you for Lewis Howes and the VIP Greatness Challenge Group.

For pushing you and buying your book.

Of course. VIP challenge. Here's the thing, Shannon. Here's the thing, Shannon. I don't think you're gonna do it. Oh, you've got all, look at all.

The, you've got hundreds of people saying.

They'Ll buy your book. and they're encouraging you.

I am 100%.

I don't think you're gonna do it by tonight. Oh, no, this is odd. I don't think you'll do it. I'm doing it. Here's the thing. I want you to message me on Instagram, the link to Amazon where I can buy your book by midnight. Okay. If it's not to my Instagram DM.

By midnight Pacific Standard Time, then I was right.

No, no, I'm doing this. No, no, you should. People talk big all the time. People talk big and say, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do this in a month, but maybe I'll push the dates. No. You just said already, I'm gonna push the date. Ah, I'm gonna push the dates. It's gonna happen, but I'll push it. If you don't do it tonight, I don't think you'll do it by October 22nd.

So- no, I'm doing this. That's my challenge to you.

That's my challenge to you. And then a quote. Thank you to Lewis House. You don't need to thank you in there. Just put a quote and print it. Anything that's gonna distract, anything that's gonna distract you or limit you from putting it out there, don't do it. put one quote on a PDF, Shannon's Book of Quote. Okay, and this- Midnight, send it to me and put a link in the Facebook group. And this is you being in integrity with yourself and you challenging yourself. I'm offering the challenge, but this is you doing this with you. And I want to just say this to Shannon, because a lot of you are going to have similar excuses. A lot of you are going to say, well, I want to do this by now, but I'm not sure, blah, blah, blah. And I have this excuse for 17 years or seven years or three years, and this challenge and this hurdle. you got to take action and do something. I took my iPhone and I said, I'm not going to allow technology and equipment that I don't know how to use and being an interviewer that I've never done, hold me back. I'm going to press record and I sit it down on the table and ask someone a question. I'm going to publish it. And it was bad. It was bad. But I published it and then I built momentum. I didn't wait five years and say, well, I'm going to wait until I'm ready until I get the equipment until I know exactly what to do until Someone's not going to make fun of me. I just took action and it didn't work out perfectly, but look where it is now. So this will be an amazing story that you wrote a one-page book and then you write the next book and then the quote book and then your story. You're building experience. And I'm not just speaking to Shannon, I'm speaking to everyone here because I know this is going to be a similar thing that so many people are thinking about with your own thing, with your own dream, goal, project, There's been a hurdle. There's been obstacles for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years for some of you. And there's been excuses. And maybe they're valid. I'm not saying these aren't valid excuses. But now you're here. Some are valid, but it shouldn't still hold people back from putting something out there.

No.

Yeah.

You could have written a book 17 years ago. I didn't. I'm not saying it had been Shakespeare, but I'm saying you could have written a book. My first book, you think I'm super proud of my first book when I look back. 12 years ago and look at my LinkedIn book. McKenna, will you grab that book on the shelf, the LinkedIn book real quick? This book I wrote 12 years ago is not my best work. I'm telling you that right now. But I think I sold like 7,500 copies and I printed it on Amazon. 12 years ago, I was 24, 24 years old. I had never, I should have no business writing a book as a 24 year old who took seven years in college. This is a stock image that I got. I probably stole this image, you know, if I'm being honest, or maybe I paid 20 bucks for this. This is, look how horrible this image is. Do you see this? This is a crappy $20 image from Google Stock Image, a horrible font, and that's it. I even put the logo thing in the last part of my name. You know how tacky and lame this is? You know how horrible this is. You know how ugly this is?

Do you know how not on Amazon now?

You know how not cool this is? I put like a little photo myself down here. Look at this. This is like, I got a little barcode. This thing is not fancy. It looks like a cheap PDF. And I sold 7,500 something copies. And it's Not even 100 pages. It's big font. It's like massive, like taking screenshots in here. It's not even 100 pages long. Okay? But you know what? Of all the people talking about LinkedIn, I had the courage to put something out there. It wasn't perfect. It wasn't amazing, but it had great value inside. I'm proud of the value. I'm proud of like the content. It was powerful. And it established me as a personal brand. And if I didn't do this, I wouldn't have been able to write the New York Times bestseller. I'm telling you right now, if I didn't do this, the New York Times bestseller wouldn't have happened. This gave me a step with the size of audience I had to put myself out there. I was taking boxes and boxes of books around the country on buses, on middle back seats of Southwest planes for $47 a trip and carrying boxes and taking them to events and selling them one at a time, because I didn't have the audience then, to try to make a little money. And I'm building reps that way. So this is not perfect. It's not fancy, but I printed it 2009, 12 years ago, when I shouldn't have been able to be a writer. I didn't have skills. I was flunked English. You understand this in high school. So I have every excuse that I could have said as much as you. the difference is I didn't let those fears hold me back from doing this. And then it allowed me to write two other books and I'm going to write more books. And I'm not a writer. That's not how I identify as you are, but there's something holding you back, just like there's something holding everyone back from whatever it is they want to do in this group. And it's not okay for you anymore. Not about me. It's not okay for you anymore and everyone on here. And again, whether you sign up for greatness Academy or not, it's kind of irrelevant to me. I want you to because I want to be able to scream at you in a loving way every month and be like, what are you doing? Step up. You said you were going to do this. Now, where is it? You're out of integrity with yourself, not me. This is you against you in a way and your fears, just like everyone here. So that's what Greatness Academy is about, is to support you and say, well, I don't know the steps to do the book. We've got a 30-day plan to help you write and print the book so you could do that challenge that we already have stepped out for you step by step. So there's no excuses. Just you got to show up and do it for yourself, just like everyone here.

So hopefully that makes sense. Yeah, it does.

And so I don't even want you to speak anymore because if you actually do this challenge by tonight at midnight, you need to go right now and do it.

How am I supposed to watch the rest of it? I got another hour with you guys.

Then you got to do it right after this.

Okay, no, you're right.

You're right. I can watch the replay.

You can watch the replay.

You can watch the replay. So whatever excuse you're going to make, for the rest of this day. Oh, I've got to do this and I've got to pick up this and I've got to do this. It's just the same thing in a different disguise. So this is an exercise to see if you can actually do what you say you want to do in one day and half a day.

Okay.

And I hope you do it. I hope you do it. But 17 years of you making excuses is a lot of proof showing me that you're not going to do it. So I'm going to put a, I'm going to put a wager down. I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a hundred dollar Amazon gift card. that, that if you do it, I'll give you a $100 Amazon gift card. And if you don't do it, you sign up for Greatness Academy. It's just take that challenge. You take the challenge.

Okay.

Yeah. Go and do it right now. And by midnight you're posting the group and you're sending me a DM. And if it's not in there by midnight, exactly before midnight, it can't be 1201. No, no, no, no, no.

It's got to be before midnight.

We're in the same time zone, so it's all good. I'm actually going on a flight, so I'll be on the East Coast. It'll be a 3:00 a.m. my time. Okay. Okay. So make sure that you put it in there. I'm going to see the time stamp. And if you do it by 9:00, even better. This should take you an hour right now. Okay.

So you don't need seven hours. It's, I go to, you know, is it an Amazon link? Figure it out.

Figure it out. I'm not going to tell you anymore. Okay. I'll see you in the DMs. before midnight. And if not, then I'll see you in Greatness Academy and you can spend more months trying to figure it out. But either way, you got to show up for you.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

Awesome.

All right, we'll see you, Shannon. Bye. Thank you.

Everyone's giving you the link on how to upload the stuff. This should take five minutes. And I want to give you a recap with the challenge I did for Shannon. That day, like she promised, she launched and published her book, Shannon's Book of Quotes, you can even go on Amazon and see this right now. She got a bunch of sales by that night. She sent it to me and it just goes to show that all these excuses that are holding us back are really just excuses. Whatever it is that you are being held back with to launch your ideas, your product, your consulting, your side hustle, your coaching, your YouTube channel, your podcast, your book, all these things that you've been holding on to for years are really just excuses. And if you challenge yourself to go all in on your fears, you will see what is possible for your life. If you challenge yourself to make it even crazier, how could I do this in six months? How could I do this in six weeks? What if I could only do this today? Would I be able to launch my dream? There are so many ways that you can launch your course, your podcast, your.

Book in a day.

It doesn't need to be perfect. So many of you are consumed with needing things to be perfect that it holds you back from actually optimizing your life and putting out your gift into the world. And it's time to stop. It's time to stop letting your fears hold you back. And it's time to start moving forward towards your goals and doing it imperfectly. I'm telling you, your need to be perfect and to be liked by everyone is literally holding you back from the greatest gifts in the world. You should have seen the message I got from Shannon that said, thank you so much for this incredible gift. It's been years. I've wanted to put out a book. I put out a book and I started making money in the first day. You guys, this is possible, but so many of you are being held back. I'm telling you right now, if this sounds like it resonates with you in any way, then go to lewishouse.com/academy right now. Get signed up. You can try it out for one month. lewishouse.com/academy. You can sign up for the year. We have all these trainings to support you. All the strategies that are working right now for us. The things that don't work for us, the things that are working that are accelerating our personal brand, the growth to over 7 million followers on social media, millions and dollars a sale every year. One of the top podcasts in the world, a New York Times best selling book. We give you the challenges every month, we give you coaching, we give you Q&A, you've got access to a powerful community, and you've got over 45 trainings from some of the top experts in the world. teaching you about growing your audience, helping you launch your brand to the next level. So make sure to go to lewishouse.com/academy right now. Get signed up. Try it for just 30 days. See what it does for you. We're gonna give you an entire step-by-step plan right when you get signed up.

To figure out where you are to.

Where you need to go for your business success track. This is all designed to help you grow and optimize and build a profitable, personal brand and business. If this resonates in any way, go to lewishouse.com/academy right now. You owe it to yourself to stop waiting. You owe it to yourself to stop making excuses year after year saying, I'll launch this next year. I'll do this next month. You won't. Honestly, you won't. If you've been waiting for years, you're not going to do it next year or next month if you don't do it right now. So now is the time to for your goals and your dreams and stop doubting yourself and doubting your gifts and abilities because you're better than that. And I want to see you put your gifts out into the world right now. So again, sign up at lewishouse.com/academy and remember, if no one's told you lately that you are loved, you are worthy and you matter, and you know what time it is, it's time to go out there and do something great.