Winning By Losing Everything | Michael Levitt | My Instruction Manual
Keith McArthur

Becoming a Winner by Losing Everything

There’s a story in the Hebrew Bible — and the old testament of the Christian bible — about a cosmic bet between God and Satan.

The subject of their bet is a rich man named Job, who’s blessed with many children and servants. Job is also a devout worshiper of God.

As the chat in heaven, Satan tells God that job is only so pious because God has given him so much. So they decide to put the theory to the test. God allows Satan to take away Job’s wealth, kill his family, and take away his health by infecting him with boils.

Job’s faith in God waivers, but in the end, he stands by him, so God cures Job, brings his kids back to life, and restores his life.

I was reminded of it when reading Michael Levitt’s book 369 Days, How to survive a year of worst case scenarios.

Over the course of a year, Michael lost his health, his job, his house and his car. While there isn’t the religious parallel, Michael found that this year of loss did help him to become a stronger, more grateful person.

Michael is my guest in this episode of the My Instruction Manual podcast. Listen here:

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Episode 67 Show Notes

[00:00] Welcome and Intro

[2:20] Featured interview with Michael Levitt

Michael is author of 369 Days: How to Survive a Year of Worst Case Scenarios and he hosts the Breakfast Leadership podcast.

In this conversation, Keith and Michael discuss:

  • How Michael got everything he wanted by age 40 — and it was slowly killing him
  • Michael’s heart attack
  • Michael loses his job and car
  • Why losing his house made Michael feel fully at peace
  • Why Michael feels like he need to lose everything in order to win
  • How the right morning routine sets up your day for success

[33:00] Michael’s Instruction Manual

1. What are the habits you maintain every day to stay happy and healthy?

  • Get a good night of restful sleep, exercise frequently, eat foods rich in nutrients + triage his calendar

 2. What personal development book do you recommend?

3. Favorite personal mantra / inspirational quote

  • “A pessimist is an optimist with experience.” — Chuck Daily

4. What’s your one guilty pleasure?

  • The Monte Cristo sandwich from Branigan’s Irish Pub

5. When your time comes, how do you want to be remembered? 

  • As somebody that survived a lot of lousy situations and came out of it better and made the world better by sharing those experiences.

Where to find Michael

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