This is an open letter to Lewis Howes to thank him for his show: ‘The School of Greatness’ which inspired & helped me grieve during a tough time in my life.
Dear Lewis,
At the start of this year I was feeling down, burnt out and uninspired.
My business was moving along nicely but something was missing.
I had planned to go to the US in July for Mozcon and stumbled upon World Dommination Summit. It looked interesting so I booked some tickets for my wife & I.
Naturally, I explored who the speakers were to see if I knew anyone. Nope. No dice.
I noticed you were on the bill but at that time had no idea who you were… I was curious to find out about this “School of Greatness” which caught my attention.
I found your podcast, skimmed though the list of episodes and found a few names I recognised and listened to each – here’s the order:
Simon Sinek
(super inspired by his ‘Why’ TED Talk)
Gary Vaynerchuk
(read ‘Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook’)
Marc Ecko
(fan of the brand and read ‘Unlabel’)
Tim Ferriss
(read ‘4-Hour Work Week’)
Chris Ducker
(met last year at an event in NYC)
Marie Forleo
(overheard a lot through my wife)
This was excatly what I was missing. I’ve always loved biographies and hearing people’s stories. And, learning. For personal growth is part of the path to achieving greatness.
But not only that. I was also looking at starting my own Podcast so it was a two-pronged learning experience.
I made up my mind. I wanted to start at Episode 1 and make my way through all of them.
The more I listened, the more my passion grew for what I do. The spark reignighted and drove me to do more. I was super excited to be alive and most definately felt inspired. I even learnt a thing or two about NFL.
So, I reached out:
@LewisHowes Saw you’re speaking at #WDS2015 curiosity got the better of me & now I’m hooked on your podcast. Literally, great stuff man! 🙂
— Woj Kwasi (@WojKwasi) April 9, 2015
5 days later, my world crumbled down around me as I found out my father had passed. A very difficult time.
I was born in Poland and my parents migrated to Australia in 1983. My brother was born in ’89 but that’s it – the 4 of us. And now we were 3.
The circumstances behind dad’s death were really tough to fathom and it took me a while to get back to reality. I removed myself from my business for a couple of weeks. I couldn’t function properly and had a lot of things to sort out.
But what really helped me get through it was your podcast and I need to thank you for that. I really appreciate it.
The honesty, courage, transparency, vulnerability and stories on show from both yourself and your guests is remarkable. Not only that but the focus was broad: nutrition, sports, science, adversity, business, marketing, hustle, your success, mistakes, failures, triumphs – everything about achieving greatness. No regrets.
I’m certain it helped me put together my eulogy speech where I felt comfortable being transparent and real. It was arguably the hardest thing I had to do but I did it 🙂
Interestingly enough, the day after the funeral service I listened to Episode 48 with In-Q. It was deep and I really wish I heard it a few days earlier so I could have included the poem at the end of the episode right at the end of the ceremony – it’s perfect and anyone reading this should take some time to listen to it (jump to 38:40 below):
My favourite episode so far was the back to back ones where you had your brother, Christian Howes, on to talk about his experience at prison and the evolution of him as a world class violinist.
I owe you a review in iTunes but I thought I’d also create a series of playlists to make it easier for anyone who’d like to embark on the journey I did.
So, here are the first 30 episodes of ‘The School of Greatness’:
Next Episodes: 31-60 | 61-90 | 91-120 | 121-150 | 151-180 | 181-191
Once again, I am grateful and appreciate the greatness you are bringing out of me and of others around the world. Keep up the awesome work!
I’m currently at Episode 70 and hope to get to 100 by #WDS2015.
Look forward to meeting you in a couple of weeks, man!
See you in Portland 🙂
Sincerely,
Woj Kwasi
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