>> Hi.

I'm Lewis Howes, New York Times best-selling author and entrepreneur.

And welcome to "The School of Greatness," where we interview the most influential minds and leaders in the world to inspire you to live your best life today.

In this episode, UFC champion Georges St-Pierre shares how not to let your ego control you and how to transform your health by building self-confidence in your personal and professional life.

I'm so glad you're here today, so let's dive in and let the class begin.

♪ ♪ I read about your childhood, where you were pretty much bullied and picked on and people, like, beat you up and stole your money, isn't that true?

>> I think it left a scar in my head.

And that's one of the reason why I started martial art because of a self-defense and I got -- I was bullied when I was young.

And at the time, I saw it as a very negative experience.

And it was.

But I realize now that the fact that I was bullied when I was young helped me later on in my life facing the mental warfare that I had to face in mixed martial art because it's a very egotistic sport.

There's a lot of intimidation when you get into a fight, especially during the promotion of the fight, the press conference.

And I got used to it when I was so young.

And we see very often a lot of fighters, they lose their chill, so they -- >> They go crazy.

>> It can make them commit mistake but that never worked with me because I had a very strong shield to protect me that I probably built during my youth.

>> So no one could say something to you that would get under your skin?

>> That's right.

And I think the way to get to me would be not trying to get me.

Try to get to someone that I love or like family.

That's why a lot of people ask me, sometimes, "Hey, you're very mysterious.

You know, you're a public person, but you always keep your private life private."

And that's one of the reasons because fighting, you know, you play hockey, you play soccer, but you do not play fighting.

So if I'm fighting you, it's very serious business because the outcome of the fight might affect your well-being or mine.

>> Your life.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

>> Your arm, your face.

Something.

>> That's right.

So if I can do something to you to make you derail from your strategy by insulting someone that you love, I will do it in a heartbeat.

>> I felt like I was picked on a lot as a kid as well.

And it's what got me into sports because I was like, I never want to get picked on, bullied, made fun of ever again.

And I was picked last on sports teams early on and I was like, I'm going to become so big, so strong, so dominant that people have to pick me, they have to choose me that I will win at all costs.

And I built a shield as well.

So I can kind of relate in a sense.

>> Yeah.

>> What did that teach you about building this, you know, identity around self-defense, around karate, around jiu-jitsu, all the different mixed martial arts that you built for decades?

What did that do for you, that identity?

>> For me right now, training.

Like people ask me, "Why do you train?

You don't have a fight coming up."

For me, it's not because only I like it.

It's because it's a therapy.

>> Yeah.

>> I believe because I was bullied when I was young, it left a scar in my mind.

And it might sound crazy to most people because most of them cannot relate to that, but because when I was young, I got bullied so much, I got humiliated so much, and sometime physical damage is not as bad as like emotional damage.

And that's what happened to me.

So I need to train.

I remember even sometime when I'm not in shape and I -- or I got an injury, I don't feel as confident as I am.

And I don't know.

I know I would never get probably beat up because, you know, I'm an adult now, but I don't know.

It's inside my head, like it's a question.

It's a confidence thing for me and I believe confidence is very important for me.

So I like to walk in a room knowing that if something happened, I can take care of business.

I know this sounds maybe preposterous because we're in this very civilized world, but because I was victim when I was young, it left that scar.

And yeah, and I know confidence is very important because you could have all the skills you want.

And I'm not only talking about fighting, I'm talking about everything.

>> Yes.

>> If you have the skills, but you do not have the confidence, I believe it's like someone who have a lot of money in his bank account, but no way of accessing it.

>> Mm.

Interesting.

>> For the magic to happen, I think you need the skills and the confidence.

>> Do you feel like you ever learned how to heal from the bullying?

>> I think it left a scar.

But sometimes it's for the best and sometimes for the worse.

There's good things that -- >> 'Cause it trained you to become a killing machine, essentially, right?

It trained you to become a disciplined human being, goal-oriented, you know, structure with your life.

>> Yeah.

And I'm not a psychologist, but I think it helps me to be stronger, to face adversity.

When you get ready for a fight, it's -- it's -- The stress, the fear.

It's unbearable.

And there is no courage without fear.

And for a long time, because of looking around me in my entourage before a fight, sometimes my corner are there fighters and everybody react differently.

Other fighters, you will see them there.

Some of them are very excited.

They're in the locker room like, "Yeah, yeah!"

>> Some are quiet and nervous.

>> Yeah, and I'm thinking like, "Man, this guy's a psychopath."

When I'm getting ready for a fight, I'm scared.

Like deep down inside -- Like, yeah, I pretend that I'm happy and everything.

>> Yeah, everything is good.

>> Yeah, but deep down inside, I'm like, "Shoot, what the...am I doing here?

Oh, God."

And every fight, I don't feel good because I sleep terribly the night before, every time, because I make too much scenario in my mind.

It becomes like an obsession.

So I think it build up that tolerance and that courage to go face certain adversity that you would not have the courage to face if you wouldn't -- if I wouldn't have gone through that.

>> Really?

How often did you doubt yourself when you were competing?

Was it...?

>> Every fight.

>> Would you doubt yourself in training days too or just during fight days?

>> Well, in training also because in training, you try to -- Not every day, but sometimes the training is very hard and it's borderline very dangerous.

Even though we have equipment, you can get knocked out.

So we try to re-create the same environment that you will face in a fight because in a fight you're always outside of your comfort zone.

And I believe in order to improve, you need to get out of your comfort zone because it forces you to adapt and be -- The fighter that are the best are people that adapt, that become the perfect nemesis to their opponent.

>> Yeah.

>> So every training... >> You're on the floor.

>> ...I'm doubting myself.

>> You've got one arm back.

You have to get out of every horrible scenario.

>> I see the lineup of my sparring partner and I fly them from outside, you know, because I don't -- When I'm -- That's one thing.

When I'm getting ready for a fight, I don't train with my normal training partner.

>> Why?

You're used to it.

>> No, because the reason I'm used to them, so there is some kind of camaraderie, so I fly a lot of the guys.

>> Who you don't like.

>> I don't know them.

I never touch them.

I don't know their movement pattern and I don't know them so emotionally.

I know they're there and they may be trying to take my head off, but it's the same uncertain feeling.

>> Wow.

>> When the rings start, like, you don't know.

>> They're trying to knock you out.

>> Some guys are nice but they're gonna try to go crazy.

>> Really?

>> So I never -- I always doubt myself before every fight.

The only fight that I doubt -- I did not doubt myself was when I fought Matt Serra the first time, and I got knocked out.

>> No way.

>> I swear.

>> You had confidence.

>> I had a great night of sleep the night before.

That's the only fight.

And I got humiliated.

And I've learned from that mistake because it taught me that I should never underestimate anybody.

>> Mm.

>> So it takes one moment, one punch.

Right?

>> You zig when you should've zag at this level.

You don't even have time to blink.

It's too late.

>> Moment.

You're done.

>> That's right.

>> They're already ringing the bell.

>> It was a terrible experience for me, but I -- I think it made me a better fighter at the end.

>> It's almost like you need to kill your ego.

Like, in order to tap out, you need to be, like, willing to kill your ego and not be like, well, I'm going to be this tough guy and just wait till I'm knocked out and go out of my shield or my sword.

>> Yeah.

>> But why is it so hard for people, especially in that sport, but in general, to let go of their ego, do you think?

>> I think personally, my ego, my pride, it's one of my best asset as a fighter but also one of the worse issues I have in the society.

>> Tell me more.

>> Example -- My pride.

I'm a very proud person and that's why I train so hard because fighting is so important for me.

So I don't want to go there and lose and be humiliated because my friend, my family will see it and remember that moment.

So I do it not only for myself, I do it for the others because the way they look on me.

That's why I'm so proud.

And I'm always training with that behind the back of my mind.

However, it can become an obsession at one point, because if you -- And I'm a little bit obsessive compulsive, I think.

>> You'll train 10 hours a day.

>> I will train 10 hours a day.

And I'm the kind of guy that when I get ready for a fight, the idea of fighting the person, the scenarios hunt my mind.

>> You go over every scenario in your mind over and over.

You watch it all day l-- Everything they do, training, repetition.

How do I get out of this?

How do I get out of this?

>> And sometime before a fight, it haunt you so much that when you eat, when you drive your car, before you go to bed, when you wake up, when you go to bathroom, every time, every time to the point that there's some highlight the pop ups in your head sometimes, and sometimes you see yourself winning.

Sometimes you see yourself losing.

However, the trick that I've learned is and I think one of the reasons of success, I believe I stay very strong mentally is that -- And sometimes it pops in your head.

It's not because you want this to just pop in your head.

You don't control it.

And you don't -- You're in trouble sometimes.

You're not winning.

However, you never want to let go your thought on a negative ending.

You always want to let go.

Let's say you're in trouble.

You want to think about -- Force yourself to think.

Even if you're in the middle of something, you say, "Wait a second, put things on pause and say, okay, if this happened, then I'm going to do this, this, this.

To get out of trouble, I'd get the upper hand.

Now I can go do my thing."

You know what I mean?

So that's what I've been doing all my life.

But it become an obsession because it hunts.

It hunts you, hunts you.

And I believe it hunt me because of my pride, because I care so much about it.

I don't want to be humiliated that it's working up there.

>> So when you're going through scenarios, in your mind, it's happening all day, right?

In your sleep all day, you know.

>> And the closer you get to the fight, it's like a funnel, like on the other way, you know, it gets worse and worse and worse and worse.

It's terrible.

>> How often would you imagine yourself losing?

Or would you always find a way, "Okay, I'm getting out of it"?

>> No, when you instigate yourself...

When you instigate the visualization, you focus on the positive thing.

However, sometime, like anything in life... >> Your mind plays tricks on you.

>> ...there is something that will pop in your head very often.

It's a trick, and this imagery will be negative.

However, you don't want to let it... Like I said, you don't want to let it end on the negative note before you go back to what you do.

You want -- Okay.

Okay.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait.

Okay, this.

You put me down.

Okay, I'm gonna armbar you.

And then I'm going to win the fight and -- Okay, now what we're doing now.

>> So you write the script.

You write the script.

>> I don't write -- I do it all mentally.

>> Writing it in your mind.

>> It's a different world that happen in my mind.

>> It's a movie in your mind?

>> Yes.

And that movie, by the time I get to the fight, I've seen almost every possible scenarios.

I've seen myself in trouble in any possible ways because I run it through my mind so many times.

So when I get into the fight, it's like it's not the first time I've lived through this.

>> I feel like doubt also holds us back from being our best.

>> That's right.

>> So how do you build confidence and not let doubt cripple you from not taking action and playing scared and playing like weak?

You know, soft?

>> I believe confidence, it's a state of mind, but you can work on it.

And of course you need to train hard.

But most importantly, you need to train smart, you need to work smart.

And this is applied to everything in life.

A good analogy is let's say I have an exam at school.

>> Yes.

>> And it's a very important exam, like a decisive one.

And I did study.

I will be scared still of the result, but I will be more confident.

But I am still going to be scared.

>> Because you knew you put the work in.

>> Yes.

And I have reason to be confident, but I'm still going to be scared.

Just as scared as if I would not have studied.

It's same thing in a fight.

So confidence is if I got a fight, there's always a X factor, an unknown factor, because I do not control my opponent, but I do control myself.

So I work as hard and as good as I can to get myself ready.

That I know that there is no way I cannot be better than I am right now.

>> Yeah.

>> This is confidence.

Now I have the right to go in there and be confident.

>> And calm and relaxed.

>> Yes, but I'm still going to be just as scared as if I would not have worked out.

But just as scared.

But I'm confident.

>> Yeah.

>> And when you work hard and smart and get very well-prepared on top of that, I believe because I'm a big believer of that, but I always act and put on a mask.

Like for me, it's impossible to fail.

Deep down inside, even in front of my team, and my team knows and my trainer knows how I am, because deep down inside, I'm like, "Oh, my God, I can't believe I'm in this again."

But the day of the fight, I'm in the locker room because I want to carry a positive attitude and I want my team to be positive.

So even though I have doubt, I cannot let that happen.

And my team, if they are scared, they cannot let that out because it would be a breach.

And if there is a breach, there's an opening.

So we have to stay united and strong.

We go to war together.

So I'm very scared.

But I go and I don't show it.

I show confidence.

And even every fight days I feel like very bad.

>> But inside you're just, like, screaming.

>> I feel terrible.

I always wake up in the morning and say, "Oh, man, I don't feel good today."

And when my trainer asks me, "How do you feel today?"

I'm like, "I can't wait.

This is going to be a lot of fun.

I can't wait."

But they know I'm -- Because they know.

They know I'm playing games and they kind of laugh.

And after we never tell the truth until the fight is over.

But after, I'm saying, "Oh, yeah, I went to bathroom, I threw up."

I tell the real thing.

But before that, the war is over, playing the role of invincible fighter.

Because we go to war as one unit.

>> What happens if you told the truth?

"Hey, Coach.

I'm not feeling good today.

I'm just not sure.

Did I do enough scenario?

Did we train hard enough?"

What happens to a fighter or anyone in life?

In business, sport, whatever, if they actually say the truth.

>> Well, it's the same thing.

If I would make an analogy, you go ask a girl on a date and you go with no confidence.

"Uh, uh, I'm sorry.

Uh, uh, would you please -- I mean, if you wouldn't mind, please come to the movie?"

>> Can I get your number?

>> It's not very attractive.

Or you go for a job interview.

You go like.

Like this, shaking.

"Yeah, I-I would work really hard."

The guy's like, "Yeah, I don't want to get that guy."

And so the same thing.

Like, when you do something, you need to come out 100% or don't come out at all.

>> Mm.

>> When I do something in life, I go 110%.

I win, I win big, I lose, I lose big.

But I'm not going to go and lose and tell myself after, "I wish I would have" because I've done a lot of stupid thing in my life and I -- But there is things that I -- It's hard to live with is regret.

>> That's the worst.

>> And for me, regret is the worst.

So I don't want to have regret.

>> You seem like one of the most mentally determined individuals.

I mean, you are obsessive with training, with learning, with mastering things, and with putting yourself through pain and hard work consistently.

How do you make sure that you never negotiate with your mind to do less than what you really want to do in order for you to be successful?

How do you not say, "Oh, I'm tired today, so I'm going to negotiate with myself and take the day off"?

Like, how do you like be so determined with your mind, no matter what is happening in your world, pain, stress, family, like, you are committed all in on what you need to do?

>> I think it's -- I mean, it could -- I never been diagnosed to be obsessive compulsive.

I just think I am.

But I've never been diagnosed.

>> Sure.

>> It could be a bad thing in terms of how you live to society.

If you -- It makes you go crazy to have a weird behavior towards other people.

But it could be a good thing.

In my case, I try to take that and put it into my field of work.

>> In your creation.

Yeah.

>> But it become something.

Become an obsession.

>> Yeah.

>> So you try to... Like, when I play basketball, just an example, when I play basketball and I look at the alarm clock, "Oh, I got to go.

I need to do a free throw and get it in.

I cannot leave the court if I do not get my free throw."

Otherwise, I don't know.

I know it sounds completely preposterous to everybody.

And it is.

It is.

But I have this impression that if I don't do that, my -- it will ruin my day.

I know it sounds crazy.

>> You'll think about it and you'll never guess.

>> This is not normal.

This is insane.

You know what I mean?

That's how crazy I am.

People think I'm a normal guy.

Like, I'm nuts.

Everybody has their own mission, but that's one of the thing.

I have that.

>> Do you think anyone can be number one at what they do in the world without being insane a little bit, without being a little crazy, without being obsessive, like you can't be number one in something.

You can be great.

But to be number one consistently, you can't obsess over something for a while.

>> Perhaps if you dig into these individual lives, you'll find some pattern that like, "Hey, whoa, whoa, this guy has got issues," you know?

Or I mean, it's not really issues, but it serves him well.

But he's not normal.

>> Yeah.

>> And what is normal?

Normal is just to compare it to the norm.

I mean, the average.

I mean, what is -- The word "normal" is a word that we made it up.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, maybe nobody is normal.

You know what I mean.

>> Right, right, right.

For people in the world who are not extreme fighters and not in your field, but they have a lot of challenges that come to them.

Relationships, career, health challenges, just whatever, the pandemic.

They have challenges that come to them.

How do you think people should prepare for tough challenges, for pain that's coming their way?

What's the best way to prepare for pain?

>> To prepare for a challenge, sometime time restrict you in terms of your preparation because you might not be qualified to face certain problems.

And I think you need to build a team of people that are qualified, but also people that you can trust.

>> Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

>> For example, when I started making money in my career, I was facing a big challenge because I was paid in U.S., but my structure was never like I never did that before.

So what I did is I didn't try to make my tax report myself.

I hire someone that is -- that I first could trust and I know is qualified to take care of that problem.

So I think one thing I was good at my career is to build a team.

And I think if you're facing a challenge that is overwhelming and you need help in order to face that challenge, I think you need to build a team of people that are qualified and also that you can trust.

And if you don't have these two things, it could be very damaging.

You can build s-- You can hire someone that is qualified, but you do not trust is going to maybe take advantage of you.

And if you can trust or hire a friend but he's not qualify... [ Chuckles ] ...just as bad, you know.

So you need both.

>> So you need both.

>> Qualify and trust, yeah.

>> This is a question I ask everyone at the end.

It's called the Three Truths.

So I'd like you to imagine a hypothetical scenario.

It's your last day on Earth, many years away from now.

You get to live as old as you want to live, but then eventually you got to turn the lights off and you've accomplished every dream, everything you want to accomplish.

Healthy, happy, family's good.

It all happens.

But for whatever reason, you've got to take all of your work with you.

This interview, you got to take it with you.

All the videos of your content from your fights, the movies, the shows, it all goes with you to the next place.

So no one has access to your information anymore.

>> Okay.

>> But you get a piece of paper and a pen and you get to write down three things you know to be true that you would share with the world.

Three lessons that this is all we would have from you.

What would you say are those Three Truths?

>> One of the lesson will be work hard, but work smarter.

It's even more important.

Work smarter -- It's more important than working hard.

>> Okay.

>> I would tell to live in the present, try to not live in the past because of your experience that things that haunt you, your nightmare makes you have a nightmare, but also not live in the future, to worry too much about what's going to happen.

Try to live in the present.

>> Throw the brick away.

>> Yes.

And I think I will say -- In French we say -- I don't know if I can translate it.

Like a healthy mind and a healthy body.

It's like a symbiosis.

Both work together.

>> Mind and body.

How do you say it in French?

>> [ Speaking French ] It's actually -- I believe it's a Spanish coat.

But this is very true.

>> Healthy mind, healthy body.

>> Yeah.

I have to research, but there's a coat.

It's healthy mind and a healthy body.

If one of it, it's not healthy, you won't be as happy as you could.

>> My final question is, what's your definition of greatness?

>> I think it's linked with happiness.

>> Mm.

>> Everything I've done in my life, it was to get me closer to my ultimate goal.

And if people think my goal was to be champion, it's B.S.

It's not my goal.

I use that as a platform to get me to my goal.

>> Wow.

>> My goal is to have a family and live long and happy with my loved one.

That's my goal.

And I use that to get through that, to get my mind to get to that.

But that's, you know, I think that's the ultimate goal is greatness is to be happy.

If you're happy, you're succ-- >> What else?

>> Yeah.

What else?

You're happy.

You succeed.

>> That's all you need, man.

>> That's all that matter.

>> My man, Georges.

Thank you so much, man.

Appreciate you, brother.

>> Thank you very much.

>> Powerful, man.

>> Thank you very much.

>> We hope you enjoyed this episode and found it valuable.

Stay tuned for more from "The School of Greatness" coming soon on public television.

Again, I'm Lewis Howes.

And if no one has told you lately, I want to remind you that you are loved, you are worthy, and you matter.

And now it's time to go out there and do something great.

If you'd like to continue on the journey of greatness with me, please check out my website lewishowes.com, where you'll find over 1,000 episodes of "The School of Greatness" show, as well as tools and resources to support you in living your best life.

>> The online course Find Your Greatness is available for $19.

Drawn from the lessons Lewis Howes shares in "The School of Greatness," this interactive course will guide you through a step-by-step process to discover your strengths, connect to your passion and purpose, and help create your own blueprint for greatness.

To order, go to lewishowes.com/tv.

♪ ♪ ♪