Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - BATTLE OF THE MIND | Powerful Motivational Speeches | Start Your Day Right

Episode Date: March 24, 2025

Life’s challenges aren’t roadblocks; they are the very path forward. The monsters we face—fear, doubt, adversity—aren’t the exception; they are the rule, shaping us, strengthening us, and revealing what we’re truly capable of. Like a choose-your-own-ending story, we decide whether these obstacles hold us back or push us further than we ever imagined.In this episode, Eddie Pinero explores how life’s toughest moments can either break us or become the fuel that propels us forward. The same way gasoline can destroy or drive, our struggles contain the power to transform us—if we choose to let them. It’s time to see challenges not as limitations, but as stepping stones to the life we’re meant to build.More from Eddie Pinero:Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletterInstagram - @your_world_within and @IamEddiePineroTikTok - your_world_withinFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourworldwithinTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/IamEddiePineroBusiness Inquiries - http://www.yourworldwithin.com/contact#liveinspired #yourworldwithin #motivation

Monsters are not the exception. They are the rule. Yes, the very monsters in your world that bring you pain in frustration. The ones that appear out of nowhere and create chaos, as well as the ones you've seen coming for miles. They are inescapable. But I'll tell you what, that may just be the best news you've heard. Nietzsche once warned,

when you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back. And here he's implying that when one focuses too much on negative, destructive forces, they can consume or corrupt. His warning implies that the more time you spend entangled in those struggles,

the more they change you. I agree. But I want to, for the sake of practicality, add some nuance. I say, good. And so, I want to talk about engaging those monsters. And while doing so, not being consumed by the darkness, but rather learning from it, transforming through it, becoming who you were meant to become by confronting it.

It is because of the fire that the iron is forged, through the unknown that reality is mapped out. It's only because of the things we fear that we learn to rise and become more powerful than those things. So yeah, the abyss, it stares back, and yeah, for the sake of this conversation, that is a beautiful thing. monsters they are not the exception they are the rule how do I know well I can stand here before you and tell you in my life the things that brought the most pain also handed me the most meaningful change the pain of feeling smaller forces one to become bigger the pain of falling short forces one to start showing up better prepared the pain of having insufficient or seemingly insufficient resources forces one to be resourceful.

If I had everything on day one, then I'd be standing before you now with nothing. Nothing of substance, that is. None of the most meaningful things in my life as they currently exist. Monsters are not the exception. They are the rule. challenging us, pushing us to find our strength in our resilience in the face of adversity. Helping us realize these challenges are not roadblocks but stepping stones, urging us forward. These monsters are choose-your-own-ending stories.

I guess the same way gasoline can be utilized to burn down a house or propel forward a Ferrari. The challenge is the answer, if you allow it to be. Monsters are not the exception, they are the rule. They become our teachers. Revealing hidden truths and guiding us towards transformation, each encounter with them is a lesson in disguise, teaching us courage and patience and wisdom. That shadowy figure you fear most also has more to show.

show you, to teach you, to explain to you than anything or anyone else on the planet, just begin the curriculum. Monsters are not the exception, they are the rule. And in accepting them, we embrace our fears, we unlock our truest potential. Through their acceptance, we find peace within ourselves. Look, it's intuitive to want less monsters because we fear them. What we fear hurts. And oh, how joyous it would be to live without hurt. But conversely, there is freedom in acceptance. See, life hurts.

It just does. It's part of the human condition. And that fork in the road you will perpetually find yourself standing at asks you a an ever-important question. Do you want to choose the hurt that lifts you up and pushes you forward? Or the hurt that leaves you right where you are, wishing you had more courage, wishing you were more daring, wishing that you stepped into life.

Monsters are not the exception, they are the rule. Through them, we transform. becoming more than we ever imagined. They are the crucibles in which we are forged, emerging stronger, wiser, and more whole. There are no heroes without monsters. None. So how about giving yourself the gift of picking up the sword,

the shield, and the crown at your feet? Monsters are not the exception. They are the rule. Yes, the very monster. in your world that bring you pain and frustration, the ones that appear out of nowhere, and the ones that you've seen coming for miles. But I'll tell you what.

That just may be the best news one could deliver. Because today, those shadowy figures with their large, round, yellow eyes peering through the darkness, become the reason reason that you stepped into your highest self. They and they alone are your invitation to recreate reality, to live life on your terms, to turn the darkness into the very path you were meant to walk. There will always be monsters. Thank God. When the ground,

beneath us shakes, we crave stability. When the heavens open up and rain pours down and we run for shelter. When life presents us with vagueness, with flashes of possibility, we long for mastery. It's more instinct than anything else. But could it be that that instinct that we run to like moths to a flame is leading us astray that it doesn't have our best interests at heart. Could it be that we're so worried about protecting and maintaining an acceptable image for the world that we forget to build something internally that's worth protecting? What if that's shaking is what brings down the foundations

that held us back? What if that rain washes away the limits of yesterday as we evolve into something more. And what if those flashes of possibility require of us not mastery, no, not yet, but a willingness to be the fool? And what if that willingness isn't an unfortunate dead end, but a beginning? In one of his lectures at the University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson said, if you are not willing to be a fool, you can't be a master. In the cycle that is self-discovery, that is growth. We have to at some point step into an arena that's foreign to us, that we don't yet understand. We have to be willing to operate with inadequate resources, trusting that they'll be picked up along the way. And that's a lot to take in. It's painful to know that others are going

to have knowledge and skills and competencies that you won't. That you'll willingly inject yourself into the bottom of some hierarchy with nothing more than aspirations, that that willingness is your vehicle. And what's clear is that everyone wants the moon, but very few people have the courage to start constructing that spaceship. Very few have the courage to be the student. That's why our inclination is to quit when we can't snap our fingers and magically be on our way,

when we can't leap past that wandering around, the unknowns. The reality is we have to fight to scrap to obtain that sense of belonging in a particular competency. And just talking about it brings me back. It's an obstacle that we all face. It's super real to me. I remember being featured on a podcast where the host literally asked me, why should I listen to what you have to say? Right.

Like, who are you? Why are you roadmapping your journey? I remember fighting for relevance in an area in which, you know, at the time I knew almost nothing about. And I love how Peterson articulates this battle. He says at some point you'll want to make a change and you'll feel like an imposter. And guess what? You are. But you have to be.

You'll ultimately feel worse if you don't do it. That's imposter syndrome. Feeling like a stranger in your own body. And guess what, it's not wrong, it's just a beginning. I like explaining it like jumping into a cold pool. Feels uncomfortable at first. It feels out of place, but then things normalize. They become comfortable.

And what's the other option? To fear that minute of discomfort and never jump in? It's what we need to tell ourselves when we want something but the climb seems too steep. Right? That climb is manageable. You'll acclimate. The adversaries,

pushing beyond that fear of starting anew, taking your limited understanding, bringing it to the base of that mountain, a new Goliath, and looking up with confidence. And the question is, can you be foolish enough to do that? And once you've made that ceiling, your next floor, will you be foolish enough to do it again and again and again? And breaking through that fear, knowing that stumbling around for for a period of time doesn't kill you, it's required. It's the inability to show weakness or appear vulnerable.

That's what chips away at you for a lifetime. If you want more, immerse yourself in that cycle of mastery. Start at the bottom and ascend. And when you approach the top, separate yourself and find another ceiling to chase. Replant a seed. Play the role of the fool again. This is the formula for growth, for prosperity, for fulfillment.

This is the pathway to anything of substance. You take your ls, you embrace your critics, you swallow your pride, and move towards a tomorrow that far exceeds today. As your reality changes, your perception changes, the company you keep changes, you'll start to see that what's around you is made by people who are willing to fail and fail often. Our world is when devised by those who could put pride on hold. By those who were humble enough to crawl through the unknown long before they ran anything. Who knew that before they played for any title or championship, they must first play the

fool? If you remember nothing else, remember this. You have the ability to be stronger than you can even imagine. And this is an enormous and. You have the ability to do that when life is at its worst, when things are hitting the hardest. When you most want to cower and retreat into yourself, that's when you have the opportunity and the ability to shock yourself to be greater than you've ever been. There are certain things I do in my life to reinforce this point. That's how important I think it is.

Why? Well, not to sound tough. Not for Instagram. In fact, most of the time I don't share it or post it or any of that stuff. I do it for me because it's an axe that has to be sharpened, reinforced. It's been some time since I've gone on a run. Like I've said recently, for those of you following along on YouTube and the podcast, you know, I've taken you along on my fitness journey.

I've been more focused on picking heavy things up and putting them down, right? The gym, gaining some weight, putting on some muscle. And it's been effective. But the other day, like, I just need it. I need to run. I need to do it for me. So I put on the old running shoes and did about seven miles. And look, I knew I'd be rusty.

I knew I'd be slower than I was, you know, a year ago, obviously. But that's not the point. The only point here was negative splits. It was to be faster every mile than the one before it. So right out of the gate, very slow, relaxing, nine-ish minute miles, then high-eighths, then low-eighth, then high-sevents, then low-sevents, and ended in the sixes. And it's an exercise that solely reinforces, hey, when you get tired, when things become more difficult, when emotionally, you know, you become fatigued.

That doesn't mean you slow down or you give in. In fact, you can wire your brain to say, okay, this is exhausting, so I need to be better. And that's all it was. Reigniting that flame, turning that switch on. Because the same thing, running that seven and change mile loop is true in life. when we're most tempted to sort of retreat back into ourselves is when we must be bigger.

And we can be bigger. Let's further drill this home. From the running thing, let's move to a different metaphor. Imagine with me a bridge. And this old wooden bridge is connecting two mountains, right? Moving right through a little town nestled in between them. And for years, that bridge had carried travelers and business folks and families across the deep valley below. Oh, it was sturdy, reliable.

But the reality is it had never truly been tested. That is, until one year a storm came. And the wind howled through the valley, and the river below became turbulent and rough, and the rain beat down like war drums. All the people below, they looked up and they feared that bridge wouldn't last, that it wouldn't make it. They watched from their homes expecting any second to see it,

buckle to snap under the pressure. But something remarkable happened. The weight of the storm did not break the bridge. Instead, what it did was reveal the bridge's strength. The wood groaned, but it held firm. And the ropes stretched, but they did not snap. It stood. Not because it had never faced hardship before,

but because it had been built for the. this exact moment. And when the storm finally passed in those people from the town below looked up at it, they didn't see a bridge anymore. They saw an entity that had truly proven itself, that had endured. And that's what we are. It's who we are and it's what we're capable of, right? The challenge that we don't know we can endure until we've weathered the storm. We don't understand our ability to maintain until we've held strong against. the winds until we've allowed ourselves to rise when it feels like the world's pulling us down. The storm doesn't make us weak. It reveals how strong we've been. And so understand this when

times are great. You know, yeah, why not? Put yourself through the manufactured stress, duress and discomfort I mentioned above, you know, when things are smooth sailing. Absolutely. But if you're in it, and I mean truly in the thick of things, right, moving through the storm, the darkness of night surrounding you, I want you to remember how much of you lives beneath the surface waiting to be shown, to be let out, to be freed. Remember that the greatest parts of you need your permission to shine and emerge, but that when they do, nothing. And I mean nothing life throws your way

is too much to endure. Will there be turbulence and chaos around you? Absolutely, you can bet on that. But the calm and resilience within you conquers all. Always remember that. You are stronger than you think you are. You, now and always.

When you lose your job and have no idea what you're going to do next, yes, you are stronger than you think you are. You know, when your forever person, quote unquote, ends up not being so forever, you're stronger than you think you are. When your world's tipped upside down, you're stronger than you think you are. When health issues arise. It was once, you know, very simple, now becomes complex and chaotic and exhausting.

You are stronger than you think you are. Strong enough to endure, strong enough to make it through. Again, the storm does not exist to, break you. It exists to remind you how strong you've always. It may be that our greatest gift in life is that we're always one decision away from transformation. We're always one decision away from a new path with new experiences, new beliefs, new identity, one decision away from a totally different life. It's almost incomprehensible. That all the days leading up to now, everything we knew ourselves to be can be discarded and left with one swing of an axe gone. What is more miraculous

than that? We live at the intersection of two imaginary worlds, the past and the future. Past is gone and essentially meaningless. Yet is the provider of our identity, it still rules over us. Our sense of who we are comes from our collection of past memories. That imaginary world of yesterday, like the elephant tied to the chair with a rope. It hasn't realized it's strong enough to break free. It doesn't know that what confines him is not the rope, but acceptance of a lie. And that's what the past, that's what identity is, a lie.

We are not yesterday, we are right now. And from the trivial things to the significant things we get wrapped up in that lie. We overlook the gift of control we have over our future. What does it mean to say, I'm not a mourning person? That in your past you hadn't conditioned yourself to wake up early? Okay. What does it mean to say, oh, I let people walk all over me? That in your past you didn't stand up for yourself?

What does it mean to say I'm awkward or shy Or I struggle with writing or running or public speaking? So maybe you did. But what does that have to do with right now? What does that have to do with realizing The control you have over your life? Because simply realizing you can disconnect from these narratives that they are not you

Is the superpower. Realizing that calling yourself a bad student Because you fail the test It's like never taking off your raincoat because it rained yesterday. It's like, no, the sun is out, adapt. And once you realize right now is the beginning of the rest of your life, you can start making little changes. Identify not who you were, but who you'd love to be.

And move towards it. Read the power of habit and atomic habit so that you can understand change isn't crazy or big or scary. It's moving little things in your life around so that they work for you, not against you. Start waking up and thinking about not what has happened, but what can happen, not what can go wrong, but what can go right. You are always one decision away from a totally different life

because you're always one decision away from change, from walking away from the narratives that you have accepted. And so remember that. But remember it not just when things are fine. Remember it when you're struggling. when you feel restless or uneasy, unsure, uninspired, sad, angry, not content with the reflection in the mirror. When you feel that negativity, you're not looking at what can be, you're looking at what you have been. And there's no room at the table for that distraction.

Not when you can reach out and start building something new. Not when you can put on a new pair of shoes and walk down a different path. you are always one decision away from a totally different life. And that decision should be first and foremost to choose future over past. Your next step over the last one, choose your ideal world.

And start building. Let's talk about escaping life's algorithm. Because, yeah, YouTube has an algorithm. And Spotify has an algorithm and Instagram and TikTok and all the social platforms we use have algorithms, but guess what? Life has an algorithm as well, and it tends to be a lot more powerful.

It's the invisible force that rewards what's safe, predictable, unexpected. It nudges you towards the path most traveled, steering you not towards what's best for you, but towards what is most reinforced by this system, place. After all, that's what an algorithm is. And so on social media, we'll start there. You tend to see this clearly. You know, originally content is made, let's say, out of curiosity or genuine interest, or maybe just a quick idea, spark of inspiration, whatever it is, right? And so the creator makes it, uploads it, brings it into the world. But then that piece of content, that piece of

Garner some success. It gets a lot of views. The algorithm pushes it. The question then becomes, oh, wow, what did I do right? How do I replicate that? How do I do more of that? Which, there's nothing wrong with asking those questions, right? That's the pragmatic thing to ask if you're trying to reach folks. But it also becomes the trap. I don't know if you guys have seen this, but I always laugh at this story on TikTok. I saw this video where you're For some dude, it goes up to a door, and it hits the door with a hammer. And I don't know what this says about humanity, but the video goes viral, gets millions of views because he hit the door with the hammer. And so you go back to the account two months later, and it's just hundreds of posts of this dude cracking doors with hammers. No substance, right? Does there need to be? That's a different conversation.

And I look at that and I laugh and I think, well, you know, not. not me, right? My stuff is, quote, unquote, more substantive. Well, maybe. But maybe not, because you could make the argument that in our own world, we're all hitting metaphorical doors with metaphorical hammers. We're all playing a game in a system without realizing it. We're all succumbing to an algorithm, one way or another. And this is actually something that my team and I are usually trying to balance, right, that tightrope of doing what will reach others, because if you're not playing to win, why are you playing? But simultaneously never failing to do what inspires us.

Of course we want to grow and help as many people as possible. But your soul has to be lit doing it. Otherwise, why are you here? If I'm not posting what I find meaningful, there's a dissonance in my head that makes it impossible for me to find. function. I have to feel aligned. I'm stubborn about that. And sometimes I wish less so, but that's just how I'm wired. You know, I talk a lot about inspiration in our lives, not being a luxury. Well, that's because it sparks everything meaningful. And when there's no inspiration, when you're

only playing within that box that a platform set up for you, are you a creator? Or are you just another useful widget on a conveyor belt. Suddenly, you're no longer chasing inspiration. You're chasing an algorithm. It becomes about playing the game, not telling the truth. It's about feeding the machine, not exploring your soul. And so we're almost four minutes in here. You're probably wondering what this or how this connects to the bigger picture.

Well, here's where it gets interesting. It's not just a social media. problem. It is the problem. The world's rewards conformity. It praises stability. It collapse when you take the well-lit path, the one that's been walked a thousand

times before. Because it craves that predictability. It wants to have your story, mission, bio down to a T so it knows where it can group you in. I mean, think about it. Your nudge

toward a degree that is practical, a job that's a cure, a way of being that minimizes risk. And little by little, you trade your unique vision for the comforting metrics of social validation. You stop asking, is this the game I want to play? And you start asking, how do I win the game I'm already in? But winning the wrong game is just a glorified version of losing. A person can go their entire life climbing a corporate ladder, only to realize it's leaning up against the wrong building. They can spend decades, chasing approval, only to wake up one day, and realize they never truly were themselves.

And this is not me just sitting back critiquing the world or virtue signaling. I mean, I lived this, right? Which is why, one, it's so apparent to me as I'm going through it, and two, why it means so much. It's like, in my mid-20s, I looked around and I'm like, I did everything right. I did everything I was supposed to do. You know, I got good grades to go to a good school, to get a good job, to do all the things. Like, why am I miserable? Why do I feel like I am losing?

And the answer is, because I'm playing the wrong game. I was in the wrong arena, right? Me in an office sorting columns in Microsoft Excel is as backwards as Michael Phelps playing nose tackle. I sucked at it. It's just not where I was supposed to be. And this is the danger of life's algorithm. It rewards you for compliance, not fulfillment. It encourages repetition, not growth.

And if you don't take control, if you don't step back and see it for what it is, you'll mistake the road ahead for the only road. So what's the solution? Well, it's the same lesson I had to learn with content. The same lesson every creator learns that they last long enough on that wheel, you have to disconnect from the algorithm

and reconnect with you. Small things first, from a content perspective. I started implementing videos very recently on weekends that I know at least algorithmically are going to lose in the short term. But it feels different. And it's nice to mix things up and not care about metrics or watchtime.

It reinforces that without some push into an unknown and challenging of a status quo, I'd stay the same. You know, these features that mean so much to me, clearly, they reflect my life outlook. And if I'm just going through the motions, I'll never be at my best. The snow globe has to consistently be shaken up.

And there's some selfishness here, right? Necessarily. It's not how do I get more views. It's what do I want to say. It's not how do I get promoted. It's what type of impact do I want to have. It's not what will people think of me or how will they view me, but what makes me come alive.

These are the questions that we need to be asking ourselves in the digital realm and far beyond it. That is the shift. That's how you escape the algorithm, not by beating it, but by stepping outside of it. I've come to realize that, you know, this above all warrants my attention. And hopefully, if you reflect and find yourself in a similar pattern, join me, whether it's work, relationships, routine, art, whatever it may be. You realize that the most meaningful things in life, the creativity and love and joy and purpose, they'll never fit neatly into a formula. It would be great. It'd be a real treat if they did. It would simplify a lot,

but that's not how the world works. And so if you feel trapped, if you feel like you're Playing a game that doesn't feed your soul, take a step back. Breathe. Look at the board in front of you and ask, is this truly mine? Because you don't know the algorithm, anything. But you do owe yourself everything. Sometimes what you don't do is more powerful than what you do. Sometimes the answer is not the home run or some lifetime achievement.

No, sometimes the answer is simply hanging, realizing that the yes is they're important. But they're nothing compared to the no's. No, to the faint whispering that you came. No to the feelings of inadequacy and no to the reflection staring back at you that just feels ordinary. is that feeling it's wrong.

And what this means, as I was once told, is that success is not always the spectacular. Sometimes it is simply hanging on when others would let go. When the world would hear that same faint whisper and bow down because, oh, we all hear it. Life is not a movie. fixed ending and where there are unknowns there is fear. That's not rocket science, unknowns equal fear. But if I may, let me explain something. Because where there is fear,

there is also something else. And that something is opportunity. Like a curtain that must be pulled back, an ocean that must be crossed or a toll that must be paid while you dance to melodies of songs unwritten and are led by the characters in stories untold. This is not a game of the miraculous. This is a game of self-belief. A game of not personalizing the people that are going to let you down. The days that will bring you to your knees, it's not feeling inadequate when you swing and miss because you will.

And I hope you do. I hope you do because each swing makes you stronger and each loss makes it easier. Easier to say no to that ship that wants to bring you right back to the port you left from. How comfortable, how safe, how secure it would be. But just like fear and opportunity are one and the same, so are safety and regret. A concession, a wolf and sheep's clothing, and they are a lot of things, but this. They are not you. So forget about the grandiose.

The magic is not in the moon. It's in the staircase that takes you there. Each step, each battle, each time you fall, smile to yourself, and carry on. Because the difference between average and exceptional is the ability to make a single decision, the decision to hold on. To stand firm when the people around you turn back, to believe in your foundation when the walls close in, it's running a race with eyes fixated on each step. Not on the finish line.

No, the finish line doesn't do anything but distract. remind you of the road to be traveled. Your job is not to make a finish line appear. It is to say yes to the step in front of you and know to everything else. See anyone can take one step. Anyone can progress one foot. Races, journeys, life is simply a culmination of those steps, a culmination of little decisions to not let go. So when your arms shake, in the voice in your head screams, when your thoughts beg you to stop

and your mind starts to rationalize the possibility of surrender, remember that big things are broken into little things. Minutes are merely seconds, mountains, Mountains are merely rocks. And success is simply hanging on when others would be letting go. I was recently reading a book called The Boys in the Boat.

About nine American rowers from Washington that won gold in the 1936 Olympics. There's this incredible exchange at one point in the book between the main character Joe, who's part of that historic boat. And a man named George Pocock, who was not only a brilliant rowing mind that helped the team out, but he also had his own business crafting in making the boats or rowing shells, as they were called, and he would make them and send them to schools all over the country.

And so Joe's deal is that he's this natural talent, strong kid, tough as nails, but just seems to lose his composure from time to time. When he's in the boat, there are these moments of jaw-dropping excellence. It's unprecedented speed across the water. And then there are moments when he loses his focus. And the boat sort of follows suit, right? They're inconsistent. And so George Pocock, being the rowing expert that he is,

made a commitment to see if he could help Joe figure that out, right? The mental game. So he calls Joe into his shop. And he starts showing him how he puts together these highly coveted boats, showing him the tools and the pieces and how it's, It's nothing short of an art. He has sort of this divine respect for his craft. And at one point, he pulls out a cedar plank that he'll be using to make one of the boats.

And he points to the growth rings in the wood, mentioning that they tell the story of the tree's 2,000-year life. So here's a quick quote from the exchange. He says, their thickness and thinness spoke of hard years of bitter struggle, intermittent with rich years of sudden growth. The different colors spoke of various soils and minerals that the tree's roots had encountered, some harsh and stunting, some rich and nourishing. Flaws and irregularities told how the tree endured fires and lightning strikes, windstorms, and infestations, and yet continued to grow. Almost as if there was something sacred about it.

The wood taught us about survival, about over-convival, about over-concuit. becoming difficulty about prevailing over adversity, but it also taught us something about the underlying reason for surviving in the first place. Something about infinite beauty, underlying grace, about things larger and greater than ourselves, about the reasons we are all here. I paused after reading that and thought for a minute or two, what is it about those rowers crossing the finish line? after giving everything they have that touches us so deeply. What is it about a cedar tree standing the test of time, those 2,000 years of adversity, only to triumphantly pierce the sky when all is said and done?

It moves us, because it tells us what we already know, yet forget. In our hearts believe, but often fail to see. see, that we are greater than the sum of our parts. Ernest Becker, when he was touched on the aspect of the human predicament, he famously noted that we are simultaneously worms and gods, earthly and divine. And I think it's in those moments, the crossing of finished lines, the times we did more than we ever thought possible, or looked back and smiled about all all we overcame.

It's in these times we're able to transcend the mundane, the everyday. We're able to remind ourselves that, sure, some aspects of us are merely human, but no aspects are ordinary. The greatest power one can witness is that of the human spirit, bending but never breaking, taking light of the odds and an example of the predictable. So know that whether now is difficult or not, it's part of your journey, a defining chapter and the incredible story of your life. And if you find yourself up, cherish that.

It's more precious than gold. If you find yourself down, remember that you'll look back on this growth. ring of your life and be grateful that it gave you that which smooth sailing never could. Because at the end of the day, all you have is what's in front of you, the next move, the next step, and the faith that all these little pieces will someday mean something, that standing the test of time will speak for itself at your finish line, whatever that may be, it will. You'll look back and see that without your knowing or awareness, they propelled you into the current moment. They gave life to something beyond the realm of worms and dirt, beyond the realm of humans operating in their day-to-day world.

No, they allowed you for a moment in time to touch the infinite, if only to prove to yourself that you could. What's the difference between simple and easy? Well, simple is straightforward, uncomplicated. Easy, on the other hand, means achieved without great effort. The difference between those two words is subtle, but essential to understand. One deals with the complexity of an outcome. The other, your will and determination to achieve that outcome. Becoming who you most want to be is simple.

But becoming who you most want to be is not. easy. Just like walking is simple, yet hiking up a mountain is not easy. The procedure didn't change the context did. So let's talk about context. Let's talk about this cyclical nature of growth because it's not that most people can't. It's that most people won't. It's not that most people don't get how. It's that they don't have a strong enough why. The path is laid. out before you, you just have to be willing to walk down it. Will you?

Step one, realize there's more out there. It's not that what you're doing now isn't amazing. It's just that yesterday's act of courage is now today's status quo. What was the spectacular is now the mundane. What was once the ceiling you had to judge? you had to jump to touch is now the floor you walk on, so at the very least, it prompts you to ask, well, what's next? Simple.

Not easy. Step two, the acquisition of courage. Yesterday's courage was a fight. It took a lot out of you, and it's ultimately what got you here. But it dropped you at the curb, it waved goodbye and went on its merry way, and here you are. You can stay here, a lot of people do. You can reminisce of the glory days, the old path, yesterday's triumphs. Or you can do that perpetually uncomfortable exercise of vulnerability.

Stepping into tomorrow's unknown, reminding yourself that life's greatest rewards have a hefty price tag and that price is discomfort. But I've already played this game, one might think. What you did was learn the rules. Now it's time to apply them to a new setting, and around goes the merry-go-round. It might seem like a replication from the horizontal, but here's the secret. You can't see the vertical. You have yet to look down and see your ascent, see what you're becoming.

Just by staying on, holding tight, just by believing in yourself enough to begin again, you are fanning those tiny flames of courage. in your soul that wait to be spread like a wildfire. Simple, but not easy. Step three, mistakes. Now, of course, it's not the mistakes themselves, you fear. It's what you think those mistakes will mean. Ridicule, embarrassment, lack of direction or identity,

losing what you have, but here's the catch. when you realize the upside is greater than the downside, you liberate yourself. When you realize there's more to gain than to lose, your potential for greatness is born. How does one act on this? Mistakes. By making mistakes. By injecting yourself into the turbulence of progress. Our biology has not yet learned that the uncomfortable thing is the right thing.

And that's why you get resistance. That's why it hurts, and it's why few people will accomplish what you will. When it comes to your climb, every day is opposite day. When they run out, you're running in. When they play safe, you play for the victory. To become who you might be, you must learn how to get there. Mistakes are your curriculum. Simple, but not easy.

Step four, trust yourself. Okay, sure, no problem. Easy. Well, yeah, it's easy when you're getting what you want. But evolution takes time, and there's nothing quite like giving and giving and giving and not getting. There's nothing quite like stepping up to the plate again and again and again and bringing no runners home. So how does one find the strength to continue walking up to the batters box? Well, growth is exponential, and those swings and misses matter. The infield singles matter.

Everything matters. because it's all chiseling your future self out of stone. Nothing is dependent on the next at bat, as much as all at bat in the aggregate. That's why success is so often considered to be sheer will, dependent not on the home run, but on the discipline, the self-belief to keep walking up to the plate. Repetition and adjustment.

Repetition and adjustment. Repeat and refine, repeat, refine. Those are the materials from which all things are made. Simple, but not easy. And then we have the finale. The ending, step five. Celebrate and adjust. At some point, you'll be able to look over your shoulder

and notice something that perhaps you hadn't before. Space, space between where you are and where you started. It's not sudden, but gradual. And undoubtedly, with enough persistence, it will emerge. These moments they are precious They are times to acknowledge What you've accomplished The sacrifices you have made

They are life's way of reminding you what you are building And who you are becoming It's a time of celebration Every little win means something Every small victory matters So relish in it And then Transform it

Normalize it Recognize that That mountaintop is your foundation now. Your starting point has changed and so have you, which means so have your expectations. With an increase in ability comes an upgrade to what's possible, what's expected. And look at that. We have arrived at a new step one. Realize there is more. This is the process for capturing that which life has to offer. If you can fall in love with that, appreciate it, respect it, while simultaneously understanding it's not scary, it's dependent entirely on your ability to push forward.

If you can understand that, there is nothing you can't do. Nowhere you can't go. Simple, yes, easy, no. But you're not in this for easy. You're in it for the journey, the growth, the adventure. or you're in it because it's not easy. You'll see in time, as will the world, that this decision to endure

was simply the best one you ever made. I will win. A statement often met with skepticism. Who are you to say that or predict that for yourself? Can you tell the future? Well, there lies the misconception It has nothing to do with the future, does it? The first requirement was that you show up.

And look at that, here you are. Check. The next requirement was that you move, but you don't even give yourself an opportunity to get cold feet. You don't ponder worst-case scenarios or sit on your hands, worrying about the road ahead. No, it's brain off, shoes on. Check.

Then comes the best part. People will tell you the deck is stacked against you, the path comprised of difficulty, life too complex. But look, your job's not to engineer the next rocket to Mars. It's to not stop. It's to put one foot in front of the other. How's that for simplicity? They say that confidence is earned. And it seems to me that by putting yourself in this position,

you have earned a ticket to something greater. The privilege of stepping into that forbidden space, the space 99 out of 100 don't dare touch. And you know what I'm talking about. When your body whispers its complaints to the mind and man is it a good negotiator. But today, right now, it's not good enough because you're here.

And if you're going to do it, you might as well really do it. You might as well make sure that when you get back, back to the car, you're thinking, God Almighty, this thing's over. You might as well make sure your lungs are still angry 10 hours from now when you're eating dinner. You might as well teach your subconscious that feeling tired doesn't mean that much. You will win because you're saying yes to right now and you don't need a crystal ball to tell you whether or not to put one foot in front of the other and at the end of the day be a little better, a little stronger, a little more confident in your ability.

As far as I can tell, that's what winning is. Victory, continuously, sustained, accumulating over time. And while the world stays where they are, looking up at their mountain tops, gazing over their endless abyss, guess what? You'll be scaling those little boulders one by one, bridging that gap step by step. They'll be stopped dead in their tracks, entrenched in the awe and magnitude of what stands before them. But you, on the other hand, will be breaking the complex right down into the simple. Because anyone can do simple, and one of the greatest secrets in life is that that's all there is.

Simple. We just have a tendency to stack it until it looks like an excuse. Because success doesn't wait for the perfect moment. It's happening in the now, always, a million tiny battles, little yeses. How powerful to know that by moving on when most wouldn't, you are building something. bigger than most could dream of. At some point you will reach your finish line. Look back on the aggregate and think that was a lot.

You may even think to yourself it was too much, that the demon took you too close to the edge of your world, and that's fine. Everything looks bigger on the outside looking in, and while you just crawled out from the depths of hell, survived. Because you didn't think about any big pictures or sweeping narratives just one foot in front of you, that's the reason you made it out, escaped.

And now as you look back on from the outside, tired, exhausted, emotionally drained, that feeling of pride pulsating through your veins is proof that winning is not a spot reserved for someday down the road. It's who you are. It comprises every essence of your being. It's why you will be right. back here to do it all over again.