The School of Greatness

Lewis Howes, host of The School of Greatness, examines the fear of starting before the feeling of readiness arrives. The episode argues that preparation can become a sophisticated form of procrastination, and that confidence follows action rather than preceding it. Examples include his interview with Tony Robbins, a Kobe Bryant interview booked the night before, and the launch of The School of Greatness.

Jonathan Fields, author of Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work That Makes You Come Alive and a former securities lawyer, talks with Lewis Howes about burnout and meaningful work. Each person carries a distinct impulse for effort that makes work feel alive, and aligning with it eases burnout. It covers the Sparketype framework, an Indeed report on burnout, Katie Milkman's behavior change research, and Katie Byron's The Work.

Lewis Howes, host of The School of Greatness and author of Make Money Easy: Create Financial Freedom and Live a Richer Life, lays out seven signs that wealth is close before any bank balance confirms it. The episode works through Myron Golden's four levels of value, why moving up levels beats working harder, the practice of measuring runway in months rather than income, and how Toastmasters built the communication skill behind it.

Codie Sanchez, author of Own or Be Owned and host of the podcast Big Deal, is a former journalist who later worked at Goldman Sachs. Business owners build lasting wealth when their companies run on systems and recurring revenue instead of the owner's constant labor. Topics include the OWN system of profit levers, key man risk, lifetime value, Profit First, the wallet share phenomenon, and the ownerscore.com assessment.

Cal Newport, computer science professor and author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, joins Lewis Howes to argue that concentration is growing more valuable as it grows more rare. The conversation covers productive meditation, solitude, and a 30 day digital declutter Newport ran with 1,600 readers who reported back on what they kept, what they dropped, and what they moved off their phones.

Dr. Kim Foster, a family physician of 20 years turned YouTube creator, coach, and author of Redesigning You, joins Lewis Howes. Dr.Kim argues that lasting behavior change stalls because it is an identity problem rather than an information problem. The conversation covers her Recognize, Redesign, Ritualize framework, the bridge identity concept, her metaphor of identity as an operating system running apps, and her decision to leave clinical medicine.

Lewis Howes, host of The School of Greatness and author of Make Money Easy, breaks down the five inherited money beliefs that build a personal financial ceiling: what people like me earn, pain as the price of payment, guilt about wanting more, spending to prove status, and the taboo against talking about money. Includes the 30-day four-number challenge, the 72-hour rule, real hourly earnings, and the second price tag.

Michael Beckwith, founder of Agape International Spiritual Center (est. November 30, 1986) and author of seven books including Life Visioning, The Answer Is You, and Spiritual Liberation, discusses his path from Morehouse College and USC psychobiology studies through Black Panther Party-aligned activism to spiritual leadership. Topics include his Synthesis Dialogues with the Dalai Lama, presenting Nelson Mandela the Season for Nonviolence Award, induction with Bishop Desmond Tutu into the Martin Luther King Order of Preachers, and United Nations addresses.

Licensed therapist Kier Gaines, author of “It All Starts When You Do: How To Do The Real Work Of Self Healing,” discusses anger, victimhood versus accountability, and identity formation rooted in his upbringing in Washington, D.C. The conversation references “Sapiens” and “The Mask of Masculinity,” alongside journaling as a therapeutic tool, survivor's guilt, and youth mentorship program experience.

Psychologist Angela Duckworth, former McKinsey Consulting analyst and Duckworth Lab founder, is author of Grit, which has sold over 5 million copies, and Situated: Find the People and Places that Bring Out Your Best. The episode references The Person and the Situation, Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning, the fundamental attribution error research of Dick Nisbett and Lee Ross, and Bob Rosenthal's Pygmalion effect study.

Dr. Katy Milkman, Wharton School professor, host of Choiceology, and co-director of the Behavior Change for Good Initiative with Angela Duckworth, discusses How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. Covers Status Quo Bias, Fresh Start Effect, Temptation Bundling, and If-Then Plans, citing studies with Hengchen Dai, Peter Gollwitzer, Marissa Sharif, Hal Hershfield, Ayelet Fishbach, and Kaitlin Woolley.

Sharran Srivatsaa, CEO and managing partner of Acquisition.com alongside Alex and Layla Hormozi, is a former Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse investment banker with a Vanderbilt University MBA and former professional tennis coach to Richard Branson and Bill and Melinda Gates. He discusses frameworks including the Four Money Monsters, Four Goods, Wealth Ladder, Golden Stairways, TIGA, and the 70/20/10 Rule, referencing Rich Dad Poor Dad and Vanguard ETFs VOO and VNQ.

Dr. Bradley Nelson, chiropractor with 38 years experience and creator of the Emotion Code, Body Code, and Heart Code, founder and CEO of Discover Healing, discusses trapped emotions, Heart-Wall theory, and muscle testing methodology. He has certified over 17,000 practitioners across 108 countries, authored The Emotion Code, The Body Code, and The Heart Code, and references emotioncodenow.com and Albert Einstein’s frequency medicine concept.

Amy Cuddy, social psychologist, Harvard Business School lecturer, and former Kellogg School of Management faculty, discusses power posing, postural feedback, self-affirmation theory, and 4-7-8 breathing. Topics include her TED Talk research, meta-analyses of power posing studies, Alison Wood Brooks’s anxiety-reframing research, and her friendship with Alex Wubbels. References include What Every Body is Saying, 12 Rules For Life, and imposter syndrome data from Harvard Business School students.

Dr. Sasha Hamdani, board certified psychiatrist and best-selling author, discusses ADHD, ADD, and Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria (RSD), diagnostic misclassification, and gender disparities in diagnosis age. Topics include her book “Too Sensitive: Rejection, Resilience, and the Science of Feeling Deeply,” medication versus behavioral modification, amygdala hyperresponsiveness, misdiagnosis cycles involving antidepressants, and her personal ADHD diagnosis history.

Transformational coach, hypnotherapist, and author Jim Curtis joins Lewis Howes to break down his Release, Align, Become framework from his book The Book of Possibility. Curtis explains how subconscious identity, forgiveness practices like the Ho'oponopono prayer, and the Three Gs of grounding, giving, and gratitude shape manifestation, confidence, and wealth.

Clinical psychologist Dr. Becky Kennedy, founder of Good Inside and author of Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want To Be, presents frameworks including Same Team, Sturdy leadership, and the three lines, alongside the Good Inside app and membership community. Discussion contrasts timeout- and sticker-chart-based discipline with identity-based, connection-first parenting and boundary-setting; Time Magazine has called Kennedy “the millennial parenting whisperer.”

Peter Crone, a human potential expert and performance coach who has worked with PGA Tour golfers, Major League Baseball athletes, and top executives, joins Lewis Howes to break down the difference between willpower and identity, the mechanics of subconscious conditioning, and why healing requires exiting the level of consciousness that created the problem. Crone also discusses his upcoming 2.0 World membership platform and his three month coaching mastermind.

Anthony O'Neal, personal finance expert and author of Stop Living Paycheck to Paycheck: The Proven Path to Break Free From Debt, Build Real Wealth, and Live Free on Any Income, outlines a five-phase wealth strategy with Lewis Howes covering consumer debt elimination, emergency fund building, index fund and 401(k) investing, HSAs, 529 plans, tithing, and estate planning through trusts and wills.

Chris Voss, former lead FBI international kidnapping negotiator and founder of The Black Swan Group, discusses tactics from his bestselling book Never Split the Difference, including the Black Swan Method, calibrated questions, and the accusations audit. Voss explains why yes is often a counterfeit signal in negotiation, why no unlocks real progress, and shares FBI hostage cases alongside everyday tactics for negotiating discounts, upgrades, and raises.