The Power of Pain to Transform You Into Your Best Self This former NFL athlete shares how he overcame hardship.

By Lewis Howes Edited by Dan Bova

This story originally appeared on Lewis Howes

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He was the NFL's official "Mr. Irrelevant" the season he got drafted. He played for five years and faced injury after injury. While getting through surgeries and pain, he got addicted to pain meds. But once he got clean and retired from playing football, David Vobora knew he was just getting started.

If you're a fan of Ellen, you saw him on the show the day after I was originally on. He was sitting next to a quadruple amputee army veteran and they were telling Ellen about how awesome life is. Pretty amazing considering neither one of them has had an easy one.

But that's one thing I immediately loved about David when I met him. He's not afraid of pain. He knows it's one of his greatest teachers. And he also knows it doesn't have to control him.

When he had the inspiration to start training injured veterans at his elite fitness gym, he didn't know how to do it.

What he did know is that there are possibilities for everyone to live a healthy, happy life, and he wanted to support that effort in the best way he knew how.

What he has created since is extraordinary, and I was so inspired talking to David and learning from his perspective.

This is a powerful conversation I've been really excited to share with you in Episode 491.

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Lewis Howes

New York Times Bestselling Author, Entrepreneur, Coach

Lewis Howes is a New York Times bestselling author of The School of Greatness and The Mask of Masculinity. He is a lifestyle entrepreneur, high performance business coach and keynote speaker. A former professional football player and two-sport All-American, he is a current USA Men’s National Handball Team athlete. He hosts a top 100 iTunes ranked Apple podcast, The School of Greatness. Howes was recognized by the White House and President Obama as one of the top 100 entrepreneurs in the country under 30. Details magazine called him one of “5 Internet Guru’s that can Make You Rich.”  Howes has been featured on Ellen, Good Morning America, The Today Show, The New York Times, People, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Men’s Health and other major media outlets.

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