Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - 10 Speeches For The Next 10 Years (Motivational Speeches)

Episode Date: November 25, 2023

“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty." — Winston Churchill Tune in for a powerhouse compilation of 2023's best motivational speeches. This episode is a treasure trove of the year's most inspiring moments, delivering that kick you need to rise above mediocrity and chase the exceptional. These are the themes that have urged us to pivot towards our passions, to understand that quitting the mundane can be the first step towards our greatness. It's a call to live boldly, to embrace the journey of becoming our best selves, and to remember that our existence itself is a rare gift. Get ready to be fired up and fueled for your journey to the top – because greatness awaits, and it's ours for the taking. Don't miss out on these epic moments of 2023 – they're game-changers! Join the weekly newsletter! Yourworldwithin.com/newsletter

The hard thing brought me through hell. But also to that which exists on the other side. The hard thing prompted me to question and doubt, but also provided the pieces I used to build my confidence little by little. It made me ask the tough questions, the ones maybe I didn't want to hear the answer to, but also gave me the power to transform those answers I didn't like. The hard thing meant forfeiting being the expert in my world

in exchange for the role of student in a foreign arena. Gave me new ladders to climb, new possibilities to reach for. It showed that true growth requires a willingness to be the beginner. It took some people out of my arms, my circle, my work, and in some cases my life altogether, but always seemed to open the door to those souls better aligned, to those conducive to the journey and the process. Let's remember what the hard thing is. Beyond the pain, because we all know it does bring that. Beyond the challenges, because there are certainly many.

Beyond all that exists the hope and the change and the promise. Robert Frost says the best way out is always through. Through because it's the chaos, the haze, the darkness of night that shapes us. It's in being broken that we learn to rebuild our world with the pieces, and perhaps most importantly. We learn that such a rebuilding process is possible to begin with, that the now is not mandatory or permanent. The hard thing, as it turns out, is nothing more than a transaction.

Turbulence for the view above the clouds, fear in the moment for confidence in the future. It's learning that although life sometimes appears to paint a picture, picture of conformity and helplessness. There's always a path leading to the very place we need to go. It just asks we find the courage to walk it. Churchill has said the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.

And this beautiful message rings true. Because from the difficulty is the advantage. And sure, our first instinct is to see the problem. Our eyes tend to initially fixate on that which is unfortunate. But beyond that is where we get the most incredible things life provides, as if one is removing the shell or outer layer in order to get to the nutrients in the center, the ingredients required for growth,

the pieces necessary to experience, experience life at its fullest. And so we must be reminded that those opportunities, they're not rare, they're not reserved for everyone but you. They just tend to disguise themselves as the things we're most inclined to disregard or walk by. But if one finds the courage to move into them, through them, if one can see the difficulty not as a deterrent but as a bargain.

They'll be given everything on the other side. Reality is not changed with the magic wand or the granting of a wish. It's from staring down the heart thing and moving directly into it one little step at a time. At night, the sky becomes visible. The darkness, the muting out of everything. Everything else allows the stars to finally shine through, to make their presence known. And during the day, conversely, one cannot see those stars, but the world around him on the ground

becomes illuminated. It's a push and pull that seems to work perfectly. And I think there's something poetic about the partnership existing between the big picture goal and the small steps required to bring it to life, as what of my first. favorite sayings goes, keeping your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Because here's what's interesting. If one were to only look up at the goal, she'd be consistently reminding herself of the ideal without taking the necessary steps to get there. And if one were to only look down at her feet, well, her steps would eventually become aimless.

and it's that duality, the need to both reassure yourself you can see the stars, as well as use the world around you to pull yourself closer to them that changes things. It's that beautiful dance that has to be maintained. And this is a balancing act that has certainly been challenging. Sometimes the pendulum swings way too far one way, sometimes way too far the other, But in a perfect world, you know, you wanted gravitating towards the center. I remember just starting the YouTube channel almost a decade ago, having, you know, big multi-million subscriber goals, but completely lacking the systems and everyday practices in place that would

walk me towards that finish line. I mean, sure, something's better than nothing. I was working and learning, but the actions simply didn't align with the objective. I had to correct them. And then I've been on the other end as well. But I'd be doing things every day without knowing why. All steps, no goal. That sort of thing occurs when routine takes on a life of its own.

You start doing things because, well, it's what I do. It's what I've always done. You know, this is when one has to look in the mirror and ask the difficult questions. And look, anytime I can squeeze the complexities down into the simple, I try and do that. So with that in mind, my questioning goes like this. What do you want? No, the answer? Okay, good.

Next question. Is what you're doing, taking you closer every day to what you want? Asking that question in a serious way takes a spotlight to one's world. Using my previous metaphor, it shuts the lights off so the North Star becomes visible. And then, right, turns. them back on to ask yourself if you're using your resources to move there. And I've become pretty good at asking myself this question consistently, and still I find things that don't belong. That sort of, you know, they hide in plain view. I have faith that I'll end up exactly where I need to

be. But that faith is rooted in my commitment to continually assess, to scrutin. recognize and adjust. There's very little hope and a substantial amount of trust in my ability to continue forward. There's an idea referred to as the Stockdale Paradox, which states, and this is the first definition I grabbed from Google here, you must never confuse faith that you'll prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. That's where the tough love thing comes in.

Be your biggest fan because no one will believe in you unless you do. It all starts with your trust in yourself to navigate the process and arrive where you must arrive. But it also requires you are your biggest critic. It means the reason you trust yourself to get there is because you know you won't just sit back and say, eh, I'll win because I believe I'll win. No, you'll win because you will, while having your head in the clouds, be brutally pragmatic with the steps you're taking on the ground. You'll win because you're committed to learning and adjusting. What of my favorite

epiphanies when I started doing this full time was the realization at a very small scale at first, that, whoa, someone can't fail unless they quit. You can't lose unless you stop. Impossible, someone might think. Well, no, because when you miss the mark or you fall short, you take a second to understand why, and then you come back to the problem or challenge again, right? This means life is a game of tenacity, of persistence, of commitment.

The one who keeps adjusting and coming back is bound to connect the dots eventually, which makes failure the simple decision that, eh, this isn't worth it for me. I don't want to continue adjusting and re-engaging with this. And look, hey, depending on the situation, that may be the move, right? There have been things in my life where after sufficient trial and error, sufficient data, I've said, this doesn't align with who I am or what I want. I'm going to walk away and pivot to something that does, right? But the key is knowing that it is a decision.

To not reach a particular goal is a choice to no longer attack it relentlessly. And so when you feel lost or defeated or even frustrated with the process, try that line of questioning. What do I want? And is what I'm doing today bringing me there? This allows you to start taking a sledgehammer to the things that don't belong, refining the process. And yeah, sometimes walking away from the things that are no longer in the scope of who you want to be and where you're going.

But the power is in knowing, it's in understanding that your footsteps, the little actions of your day to day, they are incredibly powerful. But most of all, when you are methodical with them, when they're pointed in the right direction. So pick your stars carefully and own those steps that take you towards them. Failure is not a sickness you catch. It doesn't fall on your head like a piano in those old cartoons. It's a choice. Meaning in positive terms, as long as you are committed to learn, re-approach, and repeat,

you will find yourself atop the mountain. as long as you're willing to evolve, you will ultimately arrive. What makes human beings different from birds, cats, dogs, and chimps, is that we understand the finitude of life. We get it, how temporary, how fleeting it all is. But we do, however, as we get caught up in the trivialities of our day-to-day, need to be reminded of that fact, that there is no forever in this world,

because sometimes we wait like we can afford to wait. We drag our feet like there will be a next time. There are no next times. For me, especially when it came to doing the things I knew I needed to do, but was worried about or nervous to begin. I had to adjust my mindset. I had to learn to see missed opportunities as tangible, as though they're real. And that's the hard part.

It's easy to dismiss something that never happened. Oh, I didn't go. End of thought, end of story. It's easy to rationalize that as insignificant. How could something you didn't do be important? That when you view what you need to do or where you, want to go as an already existing path, then to not walk down that path is very real. It's a decision. The next question is, well, what if I'm not ready to walk down that path? I'd catch myself

thinking that all the time. Right? Well, here's the deal. For the big things in life, we simply never feel ready. There is no fully prepared. There will never be a fully prepared. Because we learn as we go. How could we know all there is to know and understand all there is to understand when the path is the teacher? It's like expecting a seed to grow without ever having planted it. Life is about being in motion, letting the world shape you. It's less about being handed a map as it is about being the Lewis and Clark of your own story. understanding that what awaits is intimidating, it's unknown, sometimes terrifying, but simultaneously the adventure.

That thing in your heart and your soul that pulls at you, that asks you to be a little bolder, a little stronger, asks you to unshackle yourself from the worry and begin your pursuit, that is your frontier. And sure some will simply watch that clock tick away. They'll never set out on the journey. They'll stay where they are, citing the difficulty, maybe the irrationality of that which they don't know.

It's all crazy, right? They'll spend their days a little safer every step, a little more predictable, but they'll also never truly see the show. They won't understand how beautiful those views are and how the darkness of those valleys become our strength. Time should have been their reason to go, and instead it was the story that never came to be. Like Jim Rohn has alluded to,

you think going is expensive, wait until you see the cost of not going, of not trying, of not walking down the path that will unlock your mind and change the way you see the world. You know what that is for you. Let's be honest, we all do.

It's not about answers, it's about commitment to willfully embrace that which we do not understand. We don't get how those pieces stack up. But it's about letting yourself be the student and life the teacher. This I believe, when our finite time is up on this rock rotating around the sun will be what makes us smile, makes it all worth it. The memories we made, the adventure, the times we thought we were done but somehow kept moving. Thought we'd lost but somehow found away. That's our power.

And if we're the authors of our own stories, the only thing truly unimaginable is the refusal to pick up that pen and open the book. Don't deprive yourself of the opportunity to explore the depths of your imagination. Don't hide from your greatness. Don't let what could go wrong cheat you out of all that can go right. As the saying goes, you only live once, but if you live it right, once is enough. So don't stay because of the clock. Go because of the clock. Live because of the clock.

Its hands are pointing you to that place you most need. The miracle isn't that I've finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start. John Bingham. We all share a commonality. the runner on the starting blocks, the one at work, the one studying, the one trying to create the best life possible for their family. See, we are all at a beginning looking up at an idea. Nothing given, nothing to adjust or react to no just an idea.

And ideas when we are at the bottom looking up, they're deceptive in nature, their size, their weight, their breadth, they like to present themselves as much more than they actually are. And so, to turn ideas into things one needs to see themselves, not as some descendant of Mount Olympus tasked with lifting that 2,000-ton boulder before them, but as one armed with an understanding, the awareness that the 2,000-ton boulder before them can be broken down piece by piece that it is nothing more than a facade and while it may stop most in their tracks you are simply not most not because the world

treats you differently but because you see the world differently by knowing you are bigger than the sum of its parts you have defanged this wolf you have put yourself in position to do that which makes the world tremble. That which causes even the most confident to doubt, you have put yourself in position to begin. See, there is a time to look at the top of the mountain, breaking through the clouds, powerful and majestic.

And then there is a time to look at your feet. And right now is the ladder. You're not concerned with the big things. No, not right now. Your job is to move forward into this haze, to not see but adapt, to not know but trust. Things will materialize, and you know that.

But at the same time, you can't control the future. Your battle is right now, and it's with the space immediately in front of you. It's with the thoughts attempting to deceive you. It's with the things the outside world will tell you, but forward motion is the antidote to all of that. And so forward

you must go. The beginning is always the hardest because our thoughts are a mightier foe than life's obstacles. Thoughts take on lives of their own. They become monsters, demons, dead ends, obstacles. On the other hand, just ask that we adjust.

There is no obstacle that can't be addressed by stepping into it. And so while the temptation is to sit, thinking, speculating about how challenging the road ahead. This is where you think less and move more. Harness the world as it comes, because the truth is nothing is as big as it appears to be. Life is incredibly solvable.

Every problem has a solution. Every bad chapter ends. Every setback is a chance to be more than you've ever been. But how would you know that? If you bow down to the mountains in your head, how would you know that? if you never began. So let today be the dotted line you sign with your future self.

A promise to be aware that the mountaintop peers over you, but to not be distracted by its shadow, to take the climb one rock, one step, one second at a time. Let it be an acknowledgement that nothing life throws at you can't be broken down and conquered so long as you don't get in your own way. Gone are the days of being held captive behind steel bars of self-doubt and fear. That road ahead is not the problem. It never was.

Refusing to give yourself permission to travel down, it was the problem. So without constraints, meet life head on. Let the trials and tribulations emerge because they will, but know that you will rise to meet them. Let the unknown highlight all that you don't know. You can't see. Fine. The one thing you are sure of is that you will, one by one, transform the unseen into strength. And when those thoughts emerge, telling you that you've gone too far, that you're in over your head, that this isn't meant for you,

Know them, not as truth, but as the only obstacle that can derail and distract. You don't have time for make-believe monsters. No, not today. So onward you go. To map the unknown, to tame the untamed, to live your life the way it was meant to be lived. Quite some time has gone by since the last letter I wrote to my younger self. younger self, a few years actually. And I think we're due because older me continues to learn

to both enjoy and be humbled by life, to experience hello and endure goodbyes, to win and to lose, to acquire, and to cut away. The world is a maze of complexity to navigate. And maybe we should start right there. Because look, kid, there are some fundamental ideas about life that you just have wrong. There is no door that you walk through where you suddenly go from not understanding to finally having all the answers. Part of growing up is realizing how little human beings know about anything. And that's okay.

What you'll understand is it's not a reason to run. it's a source of courage to draw from. Oh, but adults are wise, you might think. No, adults are just children with mortgages. You'll learn that, and as we all become renters, even that's changing, right? Oh, but him over there, or her, wait, them, they have it all figured out. No, they just walk with conviction into their individual unknowns. That's all.

Oh, but there has to be some certainty. We have to know some things for sure, you might think. Well, certainly we do, or at least we think we do, but you have to understand, 150 years ago, science said bleeding someone out would cure them of their illness. Our pursuit of truth is crucial, but it's a work in progress. Life is a work in progress. You are a work in progress.

So what am I talking about? Why does this matter? Because I don't want you to think that you are ill-prepared to venture further into your potential. I don't want you to think that other people have what you don't, that you're not enough. The world around you is chaos. It's a mess. It's clay. Some people use it to build and create and shape the reality, and others, well, others don't.

The kicker here is that nothing is built if you don't first give yourself permission to take the unknowns and make something with them. Once you understand that there is no secret code that must be figured out, you free yourself to explore and capture the essence of being alive. Again, life is messy. So go flail around, wander, go get lost. Who cares? You see what I'm saying? You can watch from afar, succumbing to the illusion that the world is some meticulously constructed orchestra where everything's playing in unison. Or you can dive in and make your own music, dance to your own melodies because there is no perfect.

There are people who stand still and people who pick up the pieces as. they go. Next and very closely related, younger me, give yourself a chance. Try things. No, more things, bigger things, terrifying things. You see those posters and the people you have hung up on your wall. They're not of a different world. They're people like you. Right? But they decided along the that they would try, that they would step out a line, break some rules, push life, and see how hard life pushed back. Younger me on my college essay, I referenced one of my favorite quotes. I attributed it to Mark Twain. Turns out, it wasn't even by him, but hey, life goes on, right? It said, 20 years from now, you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than the ones you did

do. So throw off the bow lines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sales. Explore, dream, discover. It's a beautiful quote. And here's what I gather from it. The biggest mistakes I've made over the course of my lifetime ended up being my greatest teachers,

leading me to something new, to where I most needed to be. I mean, a lot of my mistakes are even funny stories. that I joke about with buddies over a beer, the vast majority of things you're worried about, they either won't happen or they're reversible. But what gets you, younger me, what truly hurts is wishing you have the courage to apply to that thing

that you instead let the deadline slip away, or talk to that person you walked right by, or audition, or train, or travel, or follow your intuition, your heart to someplace new, Those are the things we tend to carry around. The second you learn that not going is far scarier than stepping out into the unknown, you'll possess a perspective that's incredibly valuable. It will change your life.

And lastly, this one's kind of hard to articulate, but let me tell you, it continues to resurface. it is. If your intuition is telling you something, listen. Trust it. If something feels wrong, let it go. If it feels like it's where you need to be, you're being pulled in that direction. Explore, move towards it. When you know in 30 seconds that someone isn't a good person, don't give them your time. When something doesn't align with your goals or objectives, don't feel bad walking away. When something excites you, trust that feeling. This is all intuition, and I've come to find that initial response to be more and more valuable. What that feeling is telling you matters.

Don't turn your back on that. Now, of course, there's a line we have to walk, or an element of pragmatism we have to hold on to. Sometimes, when we're particularly upset, it makes sense to let the emotion subside and allow rationality to enter. But this is more about being aware of who you are and what you want, right? Don't talk yourself out of what you know you want and into what you know you don't. Life gives clues. It's not always 4D chess.

Sometimes it can be simple. What's needed is right there. But you have to look around. You have to listen and trust yourself and no one will ever know you better than you. than you. But if you tune yourself out, then how can you have a shot at living a meaningful life? One on your own terms, be impossible. So younger me, trust yourself.

Beyond what anyone else tells you is best or most beneficial, again, those are answers only you know. So listen to you. One of my favorite messages is that you are your own experiment that as we move forward into the haze of the unknown we understand that at times we'll fall at times we'll see our plans disintegrate right in front of us but this is when we step back and really examine not a cause for alarm but a chance to celebrate celebrate because the world's pushing back

at you implies that you are moving forward and that is strength as the saying goes in the broken places the light shines through younger me promise me you won't be scared of breaking that you won't fear leaving the harbor because nothing out there is bigger than you or too much for you to handle or navigate the funny thing is younger me that your journey is reliant on you giving yourself permission to go to see to explore all that starts with you green lighting your own adventure but remember what I'm telling you there is no rubric for life it's trial and error remember that

if you don't give yourself a chance you simply watch the opportunity slip by and And remember that you are the only one who knows what's best for you. So trust that intuition. The world will be whatever you choose to make it. And my hope is that you realize you are strong enough. You're bold enough. You're capable enough to make it whatever that might be. So younger me, go pave your path.

go blaze your trail and remember along the way as you navigate the ups and downs, highs and lows, remember to look up and enjoy the ride. There's vulnerability that comes with risk. I'm not sure we can get the full extent of it from a book or a video.

Rather, we only understand it once we experience it firsthand. where you step further out into the world, the short distance beyond what was once the status quo, whatever that looked like for you. And suddenly you become susceptible to criticism and rejection. You feel things you've never felt, see things you've never seen. Sometimes it feels like you're taking off your armor

and marching directly into battle. And it makes sense in the beginning. But there is always, always a point during the heart of the storm where we look around and ask why. It's like a hangover, right, where there's this internal tension, frustration, knowing that the whole thing was self-induced. You could be comfortable right now. Comfort was always an option. But you chose differently. And as you push through, something becomes evident.

It takes time, but all things of value do. You realize that life is now offering you things previously unavailable, as though your ticket now permits you to relocate from the bleachers to court side. The lock has come off the door. And immediately, you see why there was a cost associated with leveling up. After all, what is value, if not scarce? If this were easy, what would it mean? If it were always accessible, where would the significance exist?

If everyone could snap their fingers and arrive here, what would be special about it? What's remarkable is that it is reserved for the few willing to make the trip. And oh, the things we learn about ourselves along the way. In the book Unbroken, Hillenbrandt tells a story of Louis Zamperini, a runner who went to fight in the Second World War, his plane is shot down. And almost the entirety of the book navigates the horrors he endures. First being rescued in the Pacific, then tortured in Japanese POW camps. Where he sees many around him die and even comes within inches of losing his own life. on a handful of occasions.

And when he's finally rescued at the end of the war, and I'll never forget this, he's asked about what he went through, and he says he'd rather die than go through it all again. And I'll tell you why that's so meaningful to me. Because it shows you what human beings can endure when we take things one day at a time, an almost unfathomable amount of pain

and suffering and sacrifice. We are so strong and so powerful when we, as Louis did, take the battle day by day. And sure, looking at the horizon, it's an ocean to traverse. But broken down, merely droplets of water.

Certainly manageable. Now, of course, we are not POWs, and I'm certainly not equating our adversity to his, But the reality is we are in our own context, in our own ways, fighting our own battles. We're all navigating personal obstacles. And it's critical to know that one, you are capable and two, the other side is worth it. We forget because it's easy to forget. Because we are wired to avoid discomfort.

because no one wakes up and intuitively thinks, man, I'd love to do the hard thing today. But what we learn is to love deeply is to take off the armor and allow the heart to be vulnerable. To seek out the adventure is to embrace the possibility of losing one's way. To dream of a place amongst the stars is to risk falling short and being reminded of our impermeaded. our perfections, our mortality. One might understand this and think only of the adversity, of what can go wrong, perhaps create lines in the sand that they refuse to cross,

and sure, they play conservatively, their hearts won't be broken, their maps won't be necessary, their pride won't be crushed. But for what? What kind of existence is one where you never play the game because there was a possibility of defeat.

We can all endure what is required to live fully, every single one of us. Yet so many will never leave the harbor because we struggled to see the journey as a collection of manageable pieces. You deserve more and you're capable of getting more. Don't deprive yourself of it. 1,000 heartbreaks is worth finding that,

someone who lights you up. In 1,000 miles in the wrong direction is worth uncovering that place you were meant to be. One thousand swings and misses is worth finding your place amongst the stars. Vulnerability is not a burden, it's a staircase to the moon. Why not make today the beginning of your ascent? I was having dinner not too long ago with a friend of mine. I see him as somewhat of a as well, he's a bit older as a couple decades on me as an entrepreneur. And we were talking about personal development, different ways to invest in yourself, what has the most ROI kind of throwing ideas back and forth. And I started talking about different coaches I've linked up with some of my observations on that.

And he jumped right into this story, says Eddie, way back in the day, I paid a huge amount of money to spend the weekend with someone that I admired as an entrepreneur, as a business mind, with the intent to learn about him, his systems, his approach to his business and life, the whole thing. It was basically an investment into my journey. And he went on to say, I arrived for the weekend. It didn't take me long to feel completely underwhelmed, completely let down. everything about the guy in his organization was sloppy, nothing seemed to be methodical, very little was extraordinary or groundbreaking.

He said, I couldn't believe it, you know, especially after tens of thousands of dollars spent, right? He spent a lot of money. Couldn't believe that someone, he looked up to it, so little to offer. And I'm sitting there just kind of like wide-eyed. Like, oh, man, and almost instinctively, I said, man, you might. must have been so angry. And he goes in this cheerful voice,

I wasn't angry at all. This is a direct quote. He says, it was the best money I've ever spent in my life. I said, oh yeah, how? He says, it was that day I learned that, hey, if this clown can do it, if this guy can pull it off, what in the world is stopping me? What's my excuse?

Basically said that day has been directly correlated to the success he's had since. Wow. Right? To which I responded, hey, thank you for the theme to what will become this Monday's YouTube video, right? Because the world needs to hear this message. So many of us need this.

There's a tendency to put other people, people we don't know, people we know nothing about, right, on a pedestal and see ourselves as perpetual outside of our people, looking in, this notion that they have what I don't. When so often that thing they have is simply, even solely, self-belief. I know so many competent people that second-guess themselves out of starting or growth or progress. They see their inadequacies as substantially greater than their strengths. They don't go because they contemplate.

They don't speak because they internal. because they internalize they don't create because they worry and it's like if you don't someone else will and that's someone else could very easily be less suited for the job but they did the thing that you wouldn't the thing as it turns out that matters most they trusted themselves to give it a shot they understood that nothing starts until one looks in the mirror and believes in the pair of eyes staring back. And I look back and it just all makes perfect sense. You know, I think of the frustration in my parents' faces when I was a kid.

It would say, I can't do that. It was the frustration of people who care deeply about me watching me get in my own way. Yes, you can, Eddie, you are the one stopping you. You know, my grandfather's saying everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time. No one is that special. And I think it's a critical reminder. It's not to say that success isn't warranted, that people who have done great things aren't qualified or talented or haven't earned it.

No, not at all. The opposite, in fact. Time plus effort, plus consistency, tends to land people in pretty remarkable places. But it's like no one takes. that path or starts that journey unless they see themselves as worthy of it until they give themselves permission it makes you wonder how many people are simply too intimidated to lace up their shoes and walk out the front door don't even give it the thought hey that's someone else's reality I'm confined to this space

right here think back to the early days of any incredible transformation. I'm going to use a pretty cliche example, but I think it will do a great job of demonstrating my point. Think back to Michael Jordan playing JV basketball in high school, his sophomore year because he didn't make the varsity team. And at that point, if he was looking for evidence as to why he wasn't quite good enough, there it was. He could have easily found it. Not skilled enough, not quick enough, lacks vision. Certainly, as his coach pointed out, not tall enough, right? What in the world gave him the right, despite his circumstances, to think he was good enough to ultimately play at a high level? Who gave him permission to be that guy? He did.

And it's just that. We don't see or think about any of that now. We see the NBA legend, the greatest ever, forgetting that at one point, he wasn't. And his life continuously consisted of crossroads where he had to bet on himself. Times where instead of accepting outcomes that weren't ideal, he sacrificed. He said, I do not accept that. He put in ours, which is a concept that we take for granted, right? People don't sacrifice unless they believe something will come from the blood, sweat, and tears. He believed that it would.

You have to believe that it will as well. In fact, your life, if you started right now, made a little dot or mark on the present moment, then you could live two simultaneous existences at once. One track where you saw yourself as something extraordinary and sought to live that out. And the other track, where the same you, Saw greatness as some intimidating, larger than life, reality reserved for other people, the few. You viewed yourself as an outsider. Average, incapable, undeserving.

The difference between where those tracks would end up would be worlds apart. Again, because humans follow through on who they believe themselves to be. We don't do things unless we believe they're possible. We don't sacrifice unless there's some sort of delayed gratification. We don't climb unless there exists a summit. What makes life both beautiful and mysterious is that we have to arrive at those outcomes before they exist. As Babe Ruth famously said in that article in the 1940s, it's hard to beat a person who never gives up.

And it's hard to beat them because they believe themselves worthy of what they are chasing. So when will you? When will you find yourself worthy of that next level? When will you find yourself worthy of the financial success, the physique, the significant other, growth in your business? When will you let yourself be more or different or happy or whatever it is that seems just outside the scope of your reality? This world is built by people who understood what they wanted and granted themselves. the freedom to pursue it. No superhuman strength required to place greater value on yourself.

No record-breaking IQ necessary to live life on your terms, just a choice. Truly, a decision. And sure, it will be strange and awkward at first. You'll feel like an imposter in your own body at times. After all, getting what you've never had means doing what you've never had. doing what you've never done, but this is par for the course. This is life. And life cannot give you what you don't ask for. You can't arrive at a destination. You're not traveling. You can't be who you don't believe you're capable of becoming. So know that that aforementioned

reflection in the mirror has a depth to it. That must be explored. And that what separates immobility Immobility from infinity is the understanding that, hey, if it's possible, then it is most definitely possible for me. It's no secret that the best things in life come with the biggest price tax. The victories, the transformation, the things that ultimately define your journey, they're made of. something different. And in fact, if you look at the etymology of the word extraordinary, it means outside the normal course of events. It means it requires of you something bigger. Robert Frost has a beautiful quote that the best way out is always through. The only way to redefine reality is to stop running in place and look the now.

square in the eyes. And when I think about my story, my growth, the greatest adversary I've faced hasn't been instances of misfortune or setbacks. Sure, they occur, but we find ways around those. My greatest adversary has been to concede to what I believed was normal. To hope or expect that somehow things would change on their own,

that the world would ultimately rearrange itself for me. But this way of thinking needs to be changed because where there is no accountability, the power is in the situation. But when you find the courage to face every problem in your life head on, you suddenly find yourself where you need to be in control. Life is about breaking things down and rebuilding. It's remembering the meaning of the word extraordinary. and therefore stepping into the dark, the unknown, the organized chaos, not going around the discomfort, but storming the castle because it's here the greatness lives. It's by paying a price in strength and courage that reality will ultimately bend to your will.

While life might tempt us, while pride might beg us, the best way out is, Always. What if I fall? The man asks. Looking nervously over the edge. Oh, but my friend, a voice responds back. What if you fly? A little quote heard not too long ago demonstrating our proclivity to maintain, to preserve, to protect, to move away altogether from the risk. for fear that we might lose our grip on the status quo. Completely forgetting to think about what life could become if things worked out. Forgetting that life is a game of trade-offs. And to fixate on never losing what you have means forfeiting the possibility.

It is that simple. To stay is a refusal to go. And we need to constantly reinforce the idea, the truth, that what we aren't doing is a decision. And while we place our energy and efforts on minimizing the falling and the failure, someone else is stepping into it. They're capitalizing on it. Falling again and again and again until they can fly. Because the danger is not in falling. it's in never taking to the sky.

It's becoming only a fraction of the person you are capable of becoming with the required sacrifice and courage. It's an understanding that we're not wrong for initially thinking small, playing to not lose, thinking only to protect, protect, protect. That's how human beings arrive out of the factory, right? Stock. And you can thank millennia of evolution for that. You're not weak for being scared.

You're not less than for shaking when you stand face to face with the adversity of life. Again, this is what being human is. But what we also possess is the ability to understand these default limitations and transform them. To understand being scared of the world around us was incredibly valuable forever ago, right? When we roamed around hunting and gathering, it made sense not. to inquire further when there was a shaking in the bushes. It made sense not to rashly run into the cave. It made sense to fear deeply the prospect of being abandoned by your small tribe that was

the only reassurance separating you from the vast unknown lurking in the darkness, the wilderness. But anyone listening to this today must also understand that these biological drivers are outdated. The lions in the bushes are no more. The caves are generally metaphorical, and one's quote unquote tribe should be carefully and methodically chosen, right? Civilization provides that cushion and what a luxury. So when life pushes back and it will, and you feel like you're on that ledge, you will want to turn back. Not because you're weak. But because you've forgotten that the voice in your head screaming in fear can't see the upside.

It's blind to the possibility. It only sees downside. It only says, hey, this might bring about discomfort. There are things out there you don't know, foreign entities, possibly adversaries. Why would you even contemplate taking that leap? And that's where you step in and provide reassurance. Yeah, things could go wrong, but the wrong steps are one, usually reversible, and two, provide the wisdom that I need. It gives you a chance to inject into the conversation that if things go right, your life changes.

That this could be the beginning, and that we don't live until the excitement about what life can become if things work out is greater than the fear of what life would regret. into if they didn't. Without upside, there's no hope. Without hope, there is no purpose. And as Viktor Frankl has said, life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose. We're all operating within the same parameters,

same playing field. But the difference is, we have different soundtracks, interpretations and narratives playing behind our eyes. He may see the world collapsing and spend the rest of his life mourning what is gone, while she may see the same devastation and bring herself to wonder, well, what can I build in its place? What can arise from the wreckage?

Same circumstance, different storyline, different result. I often cringe when I hear mindset misinterpreted as this magical thing that becomes reality the second you close your eyes and make a wish. The law of attraction, as far as I'm concerned, is not magic. I think this whole song and dance is much simpler than that. We act in accordance to the things we believe. And if you believe you're not good enough,

if you believe you're not worthy, if you believe more is out of the question, what incentive do you have to change? None. It's much easier to default to hating the world when that's your perspective. But when you can find the discipline, even for a moment,

to pause and ask, well, what if things got better? What if my life could be more? That spark has suddenly given you a reason to take another step forward. It's made an argument as to why that discomfort just might be worth it. The magic isn't that you wished for it, and so it was.

The magic is that you saw it as a possibility, and in doing so incentivize yourself to move towards that outcome. It's hard to gravitate towards something that has not yet been built. It's hard to stand with conviction in defense of a life that. that hasn't yet materialized. But that, my friends, is the beauty and mystery of life. You don't get what you want until you start living like you already have it.

Like you can touch it, taste it, like it's real. So when the journey feels impossible, know that you are on the right track. You're competing against some very formidable adversaries, your very DNA. You're competing against the people around you that don't understand. You're competing against the obstacles that make you question whether that conjured up castle in the air existing only in your head could ever come to fruition. That is some resistance.

But as you step forward into the haze, your single solitary acts of courage will begin to tell a story, to take shape. shape. The ones make believe will become tangible. You'll see the pieces coming together and you'll see yourself is the one capable of assembling them. An architect of sorts, a designer, one with courage and self-belief. The truth is you will never completely mitigate fear. That will be with you forever. It's par for the course. You just need to remember that the power of of purpose, of meaning, the value of upside and opportunity is greater than that nagging voice of fear. It's not about closing your eyes to who you are or where you've been.

There's beauty and all that. It's merely about opening them to all you can become. What if the so-called detours in our lives weren't detours at all. What if they were the way? And all that time spent worrying, analyzing, critiquing was nothing more than an inability to realize the perfection of the moment. The greatness that completely oblivious to us we've stumbled upon. Sometimes we can fall into the trap of looking at life in a way that I believe is too linear. And I certainly think we benefit from simplicity for a variety of reasons, clarity, the ability

to make something repeatable, the gift of focus. But here's the thing, truth is so rarely black and white. And that begs the question, well, what do we make of all that nuance? all that other stuff. The surprises, twists, turns, mistakes, sudden goodbyes, unexpected hellos, the cutting away and the taking on. Because life is messy,

unpredictable. And our greatest lessons seem to come from places we least expect them to. Our most memorable moments are often somehow dropped into our laps. The whole John Lennon is a whole John Lennon and notion that life is what happens while you're busy making other plans, right? And it's interesting to me that I've spent a decade pointing at this metaphorical

mountaintop pouring myself into a methodical plan, just to see again and again that the value continuously comes from the places I didn't anticipate, where if I kept my eyes closed or even blinked for a second, I might have missed it. Seems like the important things often dress themselves up as mistakes, problems, setbacks, and detours. So why bring all this up? Well, in case you're like me, and you have that tendency from time to time to beat yourself up for the times you fell short, let yourself down, the times you swung and missed. For anyone who thinks a deviation from the original path is in some way of failure. You know, my goal is to remind you that these things, every single one of them,

they all come together to make you you. And the more days I collect, the more I realize they are not only part of the chapter, but integral to the storyline. They're the character development. See, somewhere, at some point, along the way you'll have situations that change things that come and go, relationships that fall apart, forever things that ended up being rather temporary. And that animal brain will tell you that, you know, this was somehow a total loss, that your days were wasted,

your time was stolen. It won't highlight for you how much you actually learned or that that point in time gave life to the next thing, which became the next, which opened the door to the next, that it was all part of this critical evolution. The thoughts you think, wisdom you now hold, none of that is ever realized without you having taken the path you've took. And so I ask, was that a detour? Or was that you being exactly?

where you needed to be. Then there will be ideas. The ones you thought you had ironed out, nailed, hit out of the park, the plans that would change the narrative, rewrite the story. But ultimately, time just wouldn't allow them to live up to that potential.

They'll fade away and leave you no choice but to pick yourself up and move on in your pride, your emotion, will absorb all that and tell you, hey, it was all for not. Another failure, a giant L. They won't show you how learning to brush yourself off. And start again is a muscle, a skill,

and that being as all people fall, the ones who never learn to get back up are at a tremendous disadvantage in life. They won't explain that you're more courageous now, than you've ever been up to this point in time that depersonalizing our miscalculations and carrying on well it won't just help you succeed it will be the reason you do the X factor the wind beneath your outstretched wings and so I ask were those miscalculations detours or were they the

wisdom that you needed more than anything else. And then of course, there will be the times you just don't know. Perhaps these are the hardest, you know, stuck, unsure. And it's bad enough that you have no idea. But then you look around and it always seems like everyone else has it all figured out. Everyone else has it down. At least that's the message, you know, our brains like to create.

You're alone in this. This is all you. It doesn't tell you that in reality, no one knows exactly where they're going or what they're doing. And the ones who think they do are very often redirected and for good reason, as is the entire point of this message. Right? It doesn't tell you that you don't find yourself until you get lost.

That life is not some predetermined checklist or series of qualifications it's an adventure where some corners are turned only for you to realize that the contents just around the bend aren't what you wanted and some bridges are crossed only for you to see that maybe you were wrong about what you thought was important and that contrary to how you might originally feel is a beautiful thing. The times you're unsure remind you to keep your eyes open, to enjoy what's around you, capture the value, explore the vastness of a world that will eventually offer up all the pieces required

to build what you need. And so I ask, was being unsure a detour or the necessary starting point to live a life true to yourself. Perhaps we've been looking at this whole thing the wrong way, a little too black and white. What if what we need to do is, while in pursuit of whatever it is we're pursuing, give ourselves a little more love, a little more understanding, because one cannot be their own greatest critic. If they forget to also be their own biggest fan, the two are inextricably linked, making it not okay to be so caught up in the former that one forgets the latter. Life is messy.

So forgive yourself when your plans, from time to time, mimic the pulse of the very world we are trying so desperately to navigate. Be there for yourself. Because every step is important, every moment matters. And again, I ask, And again, I ask, what if the so-called detours in our lives weren't detours at all? What if they were the way? And all the time spent worrying, analyzing, critiquing, what if they were nothing more than

an inability to realize the perfection of the moment, the greatness that we've stumbled? If it means something to you, it's not wrong. I'm talking about different roads, going to different places, different ways, at different times, none more or less important than any of the others. It's an amazing thing that a perfect life can mean something so different to each and every one of us. You know, I get asked quite a bit about my decision to do what I do, as far as what prompted the journey, the process of turning a page beginning a new chapter. new chapter and in essence leaving what didn't serve me to pursue what does. And what I realize is that a lot of these conversations are with people that have an outlook very similar to mine, right? We value a lot of the same things. But there's distinction between

what you see every day and what truly reflects reality. Is what's around you the only option? Is it the real deal or is it a part of the puzzle, right? Like if you look at Twitter, for example, you have 20% of Americans supposedly used Twitter. And of the conversation on Twitter, 80% of it comes from 10% of the users, right? So it's a subset of a subset, but how easy is it to open the app and think that's a reflection of the world and how people think and what's going on? It's not. It's a very small fragment. And the reason I bring it up, the reason it's important is because we tend to look at what we see around us as the right way or the instruction manual. You know, I've talked a lot about the corporate world, like it was essentially a prison for me, right?

And in many ways, it was because of the way I think, how I get fulfillment, right? There was a predictability and a straightforwardness that just doesn't mesh with my personality, but that's me. Right? And I had the realization the other day when I was on someone's podcast, and they asked me, well, how come some people don't get it? How come some people don't understand the entrepreneurial spirit or that sort of adrenaline that comes with the high highs and the low, lows and I spent some time thinking about the answer and I think it boils down to something simple. It either pulls you that way or it doesn't, right? It's the thought process isn't the right way to live or the wrong way to live. It's one of many ways to live. It depends on what you

gravitate towards. You know, I like to reference one of my best friends Chris because we couldn't be more different, right? He has a nine to five. He loves the structure. He's immersed in it. And because of that, he's moved up the organization very quickly, comes home, spends time watching TV with his beautiful kids, cooks with his wife, sends the group chat shots of the, you know, the smoked pork or whatever the hell he makes. He's in heaven. He loves his world. You know, but then he looks at, you know, my world. He sees the unpredictability of my life, my choices, traveling, moving around all the time, the financial oscillation where it's like one month is great financially. The next, it's. It's underwhelming, it's up and it's down. And he goes, how do you live like that? You know, and I could ask the same of him. Where's the rush? Where's the uncertainty?

You know, it's two very distinct ways of looking at the world, and I think that's incredible. But I also think it's easy to miss. You know, like Twitter, you sort of think what's around you, what you see is the real deal, is the path, is where you should be. And it's why a lot of people are concerned or question themselves. It's like there's this invisible metric, whatever side you fall on, there's a right way or a wrong way, and that's not true.

There's your way. If it means something to you, it's right. And that's the standard, period. It's where you need to be, right? Who is anyone else to set those standards? No one knows you. And I think the question is twofold.

One, have you taken the time in your busy life to identify what that is? Whatever it may be. Have you thought about it? I'll never forget a friend asked me once, you know, what my perfect day looked like. He asked me to describe it in detail. And I looked at him like a deer in headlights. I'm like, I don't know.

I've never thought about that, right? He could tell me when he got up from when he went to bed what his perfect day was. He goes, well, how could you ever have one? By accident? Right? So do we take time to think about what matters? And number two, are you willing to drive towards whatever that is? whether it's entrepreneurship or athletics,

being a rock star in the corporate world, being a world-class painter, an amazing dad, some combination of some or none or all of these things, like, what are you aiming for? But it's nice sometimes to get that reassurance that your path, regardless of how different or quote-unquote normal it is, if it's right for you, it's right.

And that's something that no one can tell you. You know, so much of life is a conversation with yourself. It really is. You have to give yourself permission to live. And I've spoken about it. You know, I've spent a lot of years at that intersection of what I thought was right because others were doing it. And what truly made me happy. Waiting for the light to turn green before realizing that that moment doesn't come, you need to be the one to change it. Life is a beautiful experiment.

But it is an experiment, which means you need to get to work. You know, it's testing what you love, what you don't, where you want to be, where you have no interest. being and embracing that right discovering what you love what's meaningful and then trusting yourself to get there goodbyes are tiny beginnings sunsets that grant a very special kind of permission a green light to take all the value and the beauty all the life lived and carry it into tomorrow. Which sounds easy enough. But then again, on paper, so does running a marathon or climbing Mount Everest. And I'd wonder, how could something be painful and transformative? How could something break me and be good for me? It's not hard to see the dissonance there, right? But here's the

Oddly enough, that seemingly paradoxical experience is consistent. Consistent throughout our lives appearing every time we grow. Our darkest moments feel like endings, perhaps because we're hanging on to what was the ideas that felt like home. But in actuality, those moments, those goodbyes, are already the beginning of something new. The same way midnight sparks the beginning of a new calendar day right in the heart of darkness, unbeknownst to us while the world is turned off and our minds are asleep. A hello in disguise.

When we said goodbye, my heart immediately declared war on my mind. Why? Because her not being there didn't make sense. Because when you care about something, you fight for that thing, because goodbyes, well, they signify change. I liked this chapter. But my brain fired right back. Right idea. Just wrong time.

What's the reality of this situation? Did you ask yourself that? It said, letting go can be the hardest thing and the right thing simultaneously that I should know the rules. And so goodbyes were said and sons, they said. And we went to sleep in separate beds, not knowing anything about the future, except that it would be different. Way different than today. And immediately in comes the heart. Picks up the mic, tap, tap, is this thing on, check one, two.

Hey, make sure you're aware of what's gone. Make sure you spend your time thinking about what you don't have. See the blank pages they used to have writing. You see the empty space that used to be occupied. Make sure you shine that spotlight on what was once there. Oh, it's empty? How does that make you feel? asks the heart then the door opens in comes the brain the pragmatist more direct certainly more matter of fact says hey time to move you have things to build and places to go you can't let that blood pumping the organ get in the way of what really matters here lace up your shoes open the door go make a name for yourself kid go be that guy you get what you focus on, remember, focus on the reality, the process, the analytics, data doesn't lie. Your

heart does, though. I let them fight it out for a few. Our desire for faction so deeply ingrained that I feel like I'm looking down at myself while my right half fights my left half. How best do we go forward here? Right, wrong, yes, no, stop, go, before realizing, Like so many things the truth hides in the gray space. Maybe in an obtuse way, they both want the same thing. The truth is it hurts because change hurts, but that doesn't mean I've lost more than I've gained. It doesn't mean that yesterday's memories won't impact the minutes that make up tomorrow.

Nothing is disappearing into thin air here. This isn't a magic trick. The time spent doesn't suddenly become meaningless. No, it comes along because I'll continue to move along and those moments are now me. So recalibrate. Acknowledge that. When I watch a movie, see a concert, go on a breathtaking hike, run up the coast in the morning. They are experiences that take me somewhere beyond the physical.

Their peak experiences, but they are not forever. And interestingly enough, upon their completion, they're not quite gone either. They make a little home for themselves somewhere in the soul, like a candle that as small as it might burn is never truly extinguished, a light to help guide the way forward. And so when we find ourselves in the dark, how powerful that we remember to reach for it. As the saying goes, you have everything you need. And you do because of everywhere you've been and everyone that's helped keep your soul ablaze. You are the continuation of the best story ever written. And no hero makes it on his own.

And so that night, I decided to mix things up a bit. Sit under the bright lights of the South Florida sky, glistening pieces of wisdom that share for free. And the moon, that moon. Which I recently learned we can only see because the sun's light reflects off of it. Perhaps they too knew each other in a previous light. But me, I got in my car, drove out to the beach, a nice change of scenery, figured it would be a real treat to hear myself think, to find clarity.

Climmed up onto a lifeguard stand, let my feet dangle over the edge, and just looked out, watched the waves crash on the sand. The clock would strike midnight soon, and while the world slept, I would be given a brand new day. And what a relief because the previous one was painful, the previous one hurt, the previous one broke me. But as I sat there, waves crashing, feet dangling, I was starting to feel like those little pieces just might come together to comprise something meaningful. As Hemingway put it, the world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. Well, under those stars,

I felt like I could be strong. Like once again, I could be anything, and the heart and the head can bicker all they want. But they're saying the same things just through each other. One sees what's no longer there, the other sees what's next, and that's what goodbyes do. Force us to look around and realize what we've become

as we start the next journey. Eyes a little wider, soul shining a little brighter, because of her, because of me, because of the blank spaces, because of what will someday occupy them, because of what it all means. And just like that, midnight. Quiet, calm. Those waves they crashed and they crashed and they crashed celebrating the new day. It's certainly been here before and they'll be here tomorrow long after I come and go. And in a way my impermanence is what makes the now so precious, why it all matters, why the sun and moon conspire to shine light on this very lifeguard stand at this very moment in time.

Reminding me that down is not out, wandering is not lost, that I am stronger than I've ever been. And sometimes it takes a goodbye to remind us. You were made to rise, to take your pain and convert it to purpose, to take your struggle and transform it into meaning. In a world of concession, of self-sabotage and defeat, you were made to rise. And so it's critical that you look around where you are now and adjust your lens. It's critical that you see the present moment, not as an ending, the culmination of wrong turns or broken plans, but as the beginning. of what all that will be turned into. This start of the next chapter, a new road,

because you were made to rise. Life has an interesting way of not pushing us to be more until our backs are against the wall, until we've fallen or found ourselves where we don't belong, but it's down in the ashes that we're being. presented this blessing that were given the chance to be more than we've ever been. You weren't made to look around and call this diminished reality home. No, you were made to rise.

Life is about decisions, what to accept and what to cut away, and it's in our moments of distress. We must find our calm. When we feel low that we must remember the heights we're capable of obtaining. Look our greatest invitations, they often feel like defeat, like hopelessness, but see beyond that narrative. Look in the mirror and know that what looks back at you isn't the problem, it's the reason you'll succeed.

Someday you'll see the present as the moment that made you, the days that shaped you just as a sculptor arrives at his masterpiece. So stand up, brush yourself off, and look up because that is where you're going. Now is where it begins. You weren't made to accept what is. You were made to rise. The mind is like water.

Necessary for survival. survival, productivity, but can just as easily drown out that likelihood of success. And I can tell you with confidence, you've never seen your body's limitations. What you've seen are the limitations of your mind. When you're tired or uncomfortable, weak or unsure, these things start as fear. being planted in your brain and attempting to grow roots, looking to acquire the real estate that exists between your ears. It's a powerful source.

It can manipulate you, your reality, anyone, and everyone around you. But it only exists with your permission, and we're not always cognizant that we've opened the gate and let it in. That's the crazy part. Oh, but we do. subconsciously or not. It's the reason you haven't gone as far as you can go, pushed as you possibly can, because at some point fear stood between you and what you want. At some point, you started asking yourself if you've gone too far.

Look, it doesn't matter if it's athletics or business or art or anything. When things become uncomfortable or hurt, fear always shows its face. It shows its face. It's not because, you know, you're dragging your leg on the floor or your knee gave out. It's not because you can't go on. It's because those thoughts trickle into your mind about not being able to finish. What if I can't handle this? I don't usually go this far. Am I pushing harder than I normally do? Is this right? Is it dangerous? Is it over the top? These thoughts are the seed of destruction, a virus. Here's the remedy. There's a saying in naval special operations that when your mind is telling you you're done,

when you feel maxed out, you are only at 40% capacity. You haven't scratched the surface and value isn't obtained until in one way or another, you're able to realize this and push the panic, the anxiety back underground. You're not stopping because you can't go on. You're stopping because of the what-ifs and the worst-case scenarios. You're stopping because you're pre-conditioned to stay within boundaries. Because that seed has grown into concerns about the world conspiring against you, but the body does not control the mind.

The mind dictates what the body does. See, the thing about life is that we all have narratives. We all have stories that we believe. And here's why that's important. Everything that happens to you or around you will be molded into your narrative. If you see something as crazy or far-fetched or impossible, life will be nothing more than evidence of that belief. Pain will be a wall 10 feet high.

The old saying is seek and you shall find what you look for is what you get. Expect greatness and the body will listen. Your world will conform. That's why believing is being. It executes. Loyal to every belief, you'll always be what you decide to be. Had a window seat on the plane a few days ago. And during the descent, I watched as we lowered into a thin layer of clouds.

Which anyone who's flown before knows creates turbulence. The plane starts to shake. For a brief moment, can't see anything outside the window. only white. And no matter how many times I watched this happen, and at this point probably in the hundreds, I can't help but feel a little uneasy. Heart rate increases a little bit. It's just an uncomfortable thing.

And here's the deal. Not only is a plane going through turbulence safe, a quick Google search will explain to you that no plane was ever brought down by turbulence. They were built specifically for that to endure it. And I know that. I understand it. I believe it. I guess that, you know, faint nervousness, I feel, highlights the divide between my mental capacity to understand something and, you know, my physiological reaction to it. It shows, to put it simply, that often what's necessary will be uncomfortable, right? Will get easier over time, but the point is there's a very real biological resistance associated with doing what's

necessary. Even when we know the necessary thing is the right thing, even when we know we're capable of enduring the journey, right? Just like that plane was built specifically to endure turbulence. Well, in your own world, so were you. And yeah, that world might shake. Yeah, you might look around and see an unknown providing no clarity or visibility, at least in the moment. But that feeling of discomfort should not be interpreted as negative, assigned to stop or turn back, has a signal that the world is too much. No, it's where you close your eyes and remind yourself how much you can handle, despite life trying to make you feel to the contrary. You are built to overcome, made to push into uncharted territory, to take your losses and uncover

the hidden away value within them. Sometimes to grow, it's required that we learn not to resist that trembling, but to see it as the courage to say yes when it would have been infinitely easier to say no. And that's what this is about. Nothing groundbreaking, no secret formulas, just the reminder we often need, but don't hear enough that during the ascents and descents of life, and there are and will be many, know that you were built for the turbulence. You can harness the chaos, you can get through to the other side.

What's required is simply that you remember who you are and what you're capable of. Because again, when visibility is limited and our world's shake, it's easy to forget. You will not lose because of the challenge. You will win despite it again and again and again. And sure, stepping up to face that adversary, you may never detach from that nervous feeling in your stomach or the shaky hands, but that's okay. That's your indicator, that you're alive, that you weren't tricked into submitting to a very beatable opponent.

you didn't turn away from the things that meant the most. Sometimes the most important things we do in our lives are the product of sheer will. Of taking little nothings that surround us and making something out of them. In other words, the greatest opportunities, often the ones we need most, they simply aren't obvious. They're hidden. hidden behind what looks like difficulty, what appears to be hopelessness. The reason I place so much value on a single step forward when we're overwhelmed or at a low point is because a single step means you're in the game.

You're giving yourself a chance to find and obtain those little hidden away pieces that can't be found when we stand still and stand still and. dwell on a situation. Mobility is empowerment and when we move forward only with what we have we're continuously reminded that what we have is enough. We have the tools, the resources, and the ability. We just have to somehow remind ourselves that with those tools we are capable of building, of creating the incredible. So a quick story about what I believe is the best song ever written, certainly one of them. And it's a little bit older now, but in 1998, a band called The Goo Goo Goo Dolls released a song called Iris.

And that song changed my life. It was the first album I bought. It introduced me to music. I listened to it probably thousands of times. And even 24 years later, it gives me chills listening to it. And so I wanted to find out a little more about the song. And I came across an interview from Johnny Resnick, who is the frontman and songwriter for the band. And in this interview, the interviewer is asking Johnny about the song, basic questions, how it came out, how he wrote it and stuff like that.

And there's a few points that I think are amazing. I want to share them with you. First is the state he was in prior to writing the song. He just came out of a divorce, personal life sort of in shambles, coming off of a bad record deal where the label from his previous album had done what record labels are notorious for and ended up keeping the vast majority of the revenue. He had writers block, you know, just felt down and it left his home to stay at a hotel in Los Angeles. Bottom line is it's not a dream scenario by any stretch of the imagination. And then gets a call from his manager about potentially writing a song for the City of Angels soundtrack. And he says he went and sort of auditioned with what he had, which was two lines of a song

and a guitar with two broken strings. It was evidently good enough. He gets a nod from the label and starts writing. And the verses, according to Johnny in the interview, they align perfectly with the movie, right? It's an angel willing to give up anything, even his immortality to be human so he could be with this girl, right? And it's this deep dive into, you know, what it is to love someone so much, you give up everything for them. And then, and this is the icing on the cake for me, that's when it, like, I realized that I wanted to. right about this. The interviewer says essentially, okay, Johnny, the verses aligned with the movie,

but the chorus, this revolutionary, big, beautiful, powerful chorus, it seems to take a left turn. Like, can you explain that to us? What were you thinking? And he just kind of pauses blankly for a second. And I'm thinking, no, don't you dare say what I know you're about to say? And sure enough, he does. He basically shrugs and goes, I don't know, the words just kind of worked. And, you know, I'm paraphrasing, that's not a direct quote, but that's the idea. You know, one of the deepest, most powerful, beautiful songs I've ever heard is patchwork, right? Even the song title, he says, was named after a country singer on the cover of a magazine laying next to him, Iris.

That's patchwork, it's pieces put together, right? And then, as I thought about it for a minute, it's like, of course it is. How perfect, how absolutely perfect, the whole thing is an assembly and construction, a metaphor for the human spirit. Conceived when its author was down and out, right, taking L after L, called to present an idea, didn't have some crazy budget or equipment to pitch this song, nope, move forward only with what he had in the moment. And that was enough.

Then the song, a beautiful depiction of, you know, the movie's theme combined with elements of real life, his personal situation, what he goes through, maybe even components that mean nothing other than an ability to encapsulate a feeling or an emotion. Words that allowed him to put a bow on all these little pieces himself and get it out the door. And millions and millions of people listen to that song. changed by it, not because of what it meant to Johnny, but because it gave them a chance to take it and fit their own worlds and struggles into those same lines. It became a vehicle to inspire others to push forward, to find things in themselves they didn't know were there. This has become one of my favorite metaphors for finding the hero buried deep within yourself, changing your life, changing your world, changing the world around you, the lives of others, can truly be,

and in fact often is the result of just moving forward with what you have, right, realizing that even when the mountain seems too tall to climb, there is a way. We just require that mental shift. Listen to this question, right? Because I used to ask myself all the time, is this possible? Can this be done? Well, then that becomes the question that I focused on. And everything that occurred around me became evidence that would either support or invalidate that possibility.

The second I came up against an inevitable barrier, I'd think, ah, maybe this is telling me the answer is no. Right? Life will always be evidence for or against the questions that you choose to ask, which is why it's so important that you're asking the question. you're asking the right questions. Because the second, you change that question to, look, I know this can be done, but how will I do it? You start looking at life as a puzzle that must be solved. That same obstacle that was once interpreted as a stop sign

is now merely an indicator that the path exists, just perhaps somewhere else. You've extended the pursuit. You've given yourself permission to keep looking, And it's because of these self-created expeditions that we find more in ourselves. You know, things won't always go perfectly, but when you look at those imperfections through the right lens, you see that this isn't about you. It's about that particular door being locked. All you have to do is believe in yourself enough to move to the next one, to continue knocking until you find a door that opens, until you're going to.

until you find that bridge to whatever comes next. And that's why I love that story about Iris. Why I wanted to share it today is crafted during times far from ideal, with resources far from abundant, with words far from perfect or related or self-explanatory. But you end up on the other side with this masterpiece, this song that certainly changed my life indefinitely impacted many others. And it's like we have to realize when we're sitting on the edge of the bed,

you know, maybe it's not divorce or writer's block, but whatever it is holding you back, that's not the end. It's your reason to keep going, to begin again. You don't have to know how things will be, but you do have to know how they won't be. They won't be like this, because you won't let them stay this way. And Maybe it's not two written lines in a broken guitar. Maybe it's moving forward when your strength is not at a 10 out of 10. When you don't really have that spark, or you're longing for some resources, some finances,

wondering where they'll come from. But pushing forward one little step at a time until things start making sense. And maybe it's not a combining and restructuring of song lyrics, using your personal experiences to fill the gap. on the paper before you. But it's trusting that your own story will ultimately tell itself if you don't put the pen down. That the heroes will rise,

the villains will fall, and the adventure will continue on. After all, that's what life is. One giant adventure, testing us, pushing us and transforming us when we're at our lows, while reminding us during the good times, Why we're lucky to have been gifted that same adversity we once looked at with contempt. Why we're lucky that when everything's made to be broken, as the lyrics suggest, we get to make something imperfectly beautiful with the pieces.

There's a quote from Henry David Thoreau that I've learned to love over the years. He says, we are constantly invited to be who we are. Meaning essentially there is always a hand, you know, reaching out to invite us to leave the confinement we've allowed to become our lives, the pressure of the outside world, and attack a world that means the most to us, not obligatory, but for the opportunity. Because it's there, it's perpetually available, and that's what Henry David Thoreau means. And what's interesting is the second we lose sight of this, our lives become consumed with things that really have no relevance to our goals or our objectives. In fact, the daily routine becomes the goal. It's the box that needs to be checked to feel accomplished. We do things because, well, isn't that what you're supposed to do?

Adhere to rules and processes and guidelines, almost like we forget why that routine matters. Like we forget the car has to go somewhere of relevance. You don't just get in and drive it to drive it. That doesn't make sense. And a friend of mine recently showed me this book of insights from different photographers. It's called The Photographers' Playbook, and it's life lessons that helped each one of them along the way. And one that stood out to me specifically was Andrea Parleto. And she talked about a concept called hibernation or cutting off, temporarily leaving your day-to-day or your craft.

so that all the have-toes and the should-bees can dissipate. And you can ask yourself the question that we so quickly lose, the question that should be the target, that should be the foundation we build upon. Who do you want to be? Because when all is said and done, and you're looking back, that's what will matter. That's what will dictate your happiness.

Not that you were five for five on your checklist, every day on your 20s, 30s, 40s and on. No, what does it look like when you heal that back? What does it look like under the surface? What makes you you? And sometimes we have to step back, go away, leave the day-to-day world we've created to see life from a different angle. Eliminate the steps, the requirements, the technicalities, and what are you left with? When you put your head on the pillow at night, what makes you smile?

Bronie Ware states in her book regrets of the dying that not living a life true to oneself was one of the greatest regrets people experienced. Isn't it worthy of your time, your attention? Don't you owe it to yourself to make sure that your vision is defined and your action support that? See, anyone can move just to move and anyone can breathe just to breathe. But the ones who make the most of each step, each breath, they put themselves in position to live life differently. To accept the invitation to be who they truly are. To take their inspiration, their gifts and their dreams, and never look back.