The School of Greatness

by Lewis Howes
Lewis Howes is a New York Times best-selling author, 2x All-American athlete, keynote speaker, and entrepreneur. The School of Greatness shares inspiring interviews from the most successful people on the planet—world-renowned leaders in business, entertainment, sports, science, health, mental health and literature—to inspire YOU to unlock your inner greatness and live your best life.
Episodes

Your Brain Is Built for God, Not Scarcity | Dr. Lisa Miller
Dr. Lisa Miller, Columbia University professor and author of The Spiritual Child: The New Science of Parenting for Health and Lifelong Thriving, draws on 10 years of MRI research and a global study of 270,000 children to explain the three circuits of the awakened brain (bonding network, ventral attention network, parietal network). Covers the 4 P's framework (Practice, People, Purpose, Path), achieving vs. awakened relationships, spiritual injury, post-traumatic spiritual growth, and findings showing a strong spiritual life is 80% protective against addiction onset and 82% protective against completed teen suicide.

Why Your Retirement Plan Is Wasting Your Life | Bill Perkins
Hedge fund manager and Die With Zero author Bill Perkins discusses his framework for maximizing life fulfillment through memory dividends, time buckets, and the three-variable model of wealth, health, and time. Topics include the "life is like Tetris" concept, optimal timing for transferring wealth to children, breaking generational scarcity conditioning, net fulfillment over net worth, and three keys to earning more: belief, mindset, and consistency.

The Psychology Behind Why You're Still Broke | George Kamel
George Kamel, #1 national bestselling author of Breaking Free from Broke and co-host of The Ramsey Show, reveals the Baby Steps framework, debt snowball method, and SMART Spender framework (Self-awareness, Motive, Affordability, Research, Timing). Covers financial infidelity, lifestyle creep, the doom loop of emotional spending (Dr. Arthur Brooks), buy now pay later dangers (Klarna, 40% cart size increase), prediction markets, the Goldman Sachs finding that 40% of $500K+ earners live paycheck to paycheck, and Ramsey Solutions EveryDollar app.

The Neuroscience of Identity: Why You Keep Repeating the Same Patterns | Emily McDonald
Neuroscientist and mindset expert Emily McDonald, known as Emonthebrain, joins Lewis Howes to break down the neuroscience of identity shifting, neuroplasticity, and subconscious reprogramming. The conversation covers the default mode network, identity anchors, the kitten experiment in early neural development, law of attraction through a neuroscience lens, ADHD medication dependency, dopamine system hijacking through addiction, and Emily's personal journey from victim mindset and clinical depression to building a coaching business and social media platform reaching millions.

Why You're Still Playing Small (And How to Stop) | Emmanuel Acho
Emmanuel Acho, former NFL linebacker, Fox Sports television host, bestselling author of Illogical: Saying Yes to a Life Without Limits, and the only person outside of Oprah to publish multiple books under the Oprah Winfrey imprint, joins Lewis Howes to discuss reframing failure, releasing goal-setting in favor of objectives, navigating public criticism, building self-love through success, and the mindset shifts required to break through limits others cannot yet see.

Fear, Shame, and the Fight to Get Out of Your Own Way | Joel Kinnaman
Joel Kinnaman, Swedish-American actor known for The Killing, Robocop, For All Mankind (season 5), Altered Carbon, and House of Cards, opens up about battling anorexia, debilitating stage fright, panic attacks, and self-loathing while building a 16-year Hollywood career. He discusses overcoming performance anxiety through radical preparation, the psilocybin experiences that accelerated his self-awareness, and why success in his career has not translated to consistency in his personal relationships.

The Science of Doing Less to Achieve More | David Epstein
David Epstein, investigative journalist, science writer, and bestselling author of Range and Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, joins Lewis Howes to explore how strategic constraints unlock creativity, focus, and performance. The conversation covers the BCS Press Release framework, kind vs. wicked learning environments, the 10,000-hour rule myth, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, satisficing rules, the subtractive neglect bias, and research from MIT, Northwestern, and the Census Bureau on founder age and startup success.

Why You Keep Choosing the Wrong Person (And How to Finally Stop) | Faith Jenkins
Attorney, television judge, and author Faith Jenkins joins Lewis Howes to discuss her book Sis, Don't Settle: How to Stay Smart in Matters of the Heart. Jenkins draws on her experience presiding over divorce cases, her own 10+ relationships before marrying at 42, and personal encounters with heartbreak, rejection, and radical acceptance to offer a practical framework for choosing love wisely, identifying red flags early, and building emotional maturity through each chapter of your dating life.

The Sleep Doctor's 5 Rules for Your Best Night Ever | Dr. Michael Breus
Dr. Michael J. Breus, board-certified sleep specialist, clinical psychologist, and bestselling author, shares his five-step framework for transforming sleep quality through circadian rhythm alignment and chronotype optimization. Topics include adenosine and sleep drive, the 4-7-8 breathing technique developed by Dr. Andrew Weil, the Napa Latte protocol, non-sleep deep rest (Yoga Nidra), melatonin misconceptions, the Time Shifter jet lag app, thermoregulatory sleep pads, chrono longevity, PTSD and nightmare therapy, and how timing of caffeine, exercise, and alcohol impacts restorative sleep.

The 5 Steps to Reprogram Your Mind and Break Every Ceiling | Lewis Howes
Lewis Howes, New York Times bestselling author and host of The School of Greatness, breaks down the five-step mental reprogramming process he used to move from winning on the outside while feeling empty on the inside. This episode covers default programming awareness, pattern interruption, identity shifting, subconscious rewiring through repetition and emotion, and mental environment protection, drawing on Lewis's personal transformation from fear-driven achiever to aligned and purpose-led leader.

How to Fast for Fat Loss, Hormones, and Better Sex | Dr. Mindy Pelz
Dr. Mindy Pelz, fasting expert, functional health practitioner, and bestselling author of Fast Like a Girl, joins Lewis Howes to discuss intermittent fasting, the hormonal hierarchy, the menstrual fasting cycle, ketogenic energy systems, cortisol, oxytocin, the effects of birth control on the gut microbiome, the Power Sync 60 fitness program, and how fasting timing affects fat loss, libido, and hormone balance for both men and women.

The Real Reason You're Broke (It Has Nothing to Do With Lattes) | Mrs. Dow Jones
Financial educator and author Haley Sacks, known as Mrs. Dow Jones and called the financial guru millennials listen to by The Wall Street Journal, joins Lewis Howes to discuss her book Future Rich Person: The New Rules for Building Wealth. This episode covers Sacks' three rules for building wealth (money mindset, action money, and securing the bag), her IBIZA money mindset program (Identify, Blame, Interrupt, Z, Action), the concept of learned financial helplessness, value-based spending, frictionless finance, compound interest and index fund investing, and the psychology behind why people look rich instead of building real wealth.

Stop Living by Your Preferences and Start Living Your Vision | Brendon Burchard
Three-time New York Times bestselling author and high performance coach Brendon Burchard joins Lewis Howes to introduce his FREE framework (Feeling, Responsibility, Expression, Expansion) and the "complexity ceiling" concept from High Performance Habits. They cover imposter syndrome after success, generating internal state on purpose, and building a dialogue with your future self.

How to Build a Million-Dollar Portfolio Starting From Nothing | Graham Stephan
You have probably been told to live for today and stop worrying so much about money, but Graham Stephan built a multi-million dollar portfolio by the time he was in his late twenties by doing the exact opposite. In this episode, he breaks down the specific habits, investment strategies, and mindset shifts that took him from his first real estate sale to financial freedom.

How Fear Almost Killed Her (And What Saved Her Life) | Anita Moorjani
Anita Moorjani spent decades living in fear of cancer, people-pleasing her way through life, and shrinking herself to fit others' expectations - until the disease she feared most put her in a coma with organs shutting down. You'll discover why the real illness was never the cancer, and how facing death finally taught her to love herself enough to come back and live.

Why Winning Didn't Fix Me: The Truth About Pain | Kevin Love
Kevin Love is one of the most decorated players in NBA history, and he'll tell you that none of it prepared him for the real work: learning to feel. In this conversation, you'll discover what it actually takes to build emotional resilience before you hit rock bottom, and why facing athletic mortality may be the most clarifying moment of a man's life.

The Auschwitz Survivor Who Chose Freedom | Dr. Edith Eger
At 95, Dr. Edith Eger -- a Holocaust survivor, psychologist, and bestselling author -- sits down just days after losing her sister to share the lessons that carried her from the gas chambers of Auschwitz to a life overflowing with joy, meaning, and freedom. You will walk away knowing the one shift that separates people who heal from those who stay trapped forever.

How to Perform Under Pressure Without Losing Yourself | Chloe Kim
Two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim opens up about the mental battles most people never see behind the podium, including competing injured, an ADHD diagnosis that reframed her entire career, and why winning everything still left her searching for peace. You will walk away with a new way of thinking about pressure, self-worth, and what it actually means to show up for yourself.

How to Stop Reacting and Start Winning with Difficult People | Ryan Leak
Ryan Leak has spent his career pulling people's lives off the floor, and in this conversation, he gets radically honest about what it actually takes to deal with difficult people, set boundaries on your friendships, and trust something bigger than yourself when others let you down. You will walk away with a framework for handling the hardest relationships in your life without losing who you are in the process.

Why Your Past Trauma Is Costing You Real Love | Pastor Michael Todd
Most people chase love, success, and significance without realizing a childhood wound is running the whole operation. In this conversation with pastor and bestselling author Michael Todd, you'll discover how to stop letting past damage quietly destroy your closest relationships, your health, and your greatest potential.