Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - BELIEVE IN YOU | Powerful Motivational Speeches Compilation

Episode Date: September 3, 2021

Step 1: Believe it's possible Step 2: Begin Step 3: Don't stop until you arrive

It's a scene from a movie called Dead Poets Society. And this quote just really hit me, hit home. And to kind of explain this scene, basically Robin Williams is a teacher. He's teaching poetry and I think it's a boarding school. And there's a bunch of kids around him and he's explaining to them. You know, these are kids with ambitions. They want to be lawyers and doctors and businessmen. And he's saying, I get that.

Right? But here's why poetry matters. And so it becomes a metaphor for life, essentially. So what he says is to quote from Whitman, oh me, oh life, of the questions of these recurring, of the endless trains, of the faithless, of cities filled with the foolish, what good amid these, oh me, oh life? And the answer is that you're here, that life exists, an identity, that the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse. In other words, with all the negativity, all the ups and downs, all the quote-unquote, you know, terrible aspects of life, all the challenges, what good, why are we here? What's the point? And it's that it's gone on for millions of years before us, gone for millions of years after us, like a play that we can contribute one verse and the power in that, right?

Just waking up and understanding that we have the ability to create our own history, our own little universe, to change the way things are, to leave our mark. And so he's talking about, I mentioned the kids huddled around him. He's like, you want to be businessmen and lawyers and engineers and doctors, and that's incredible. It's a noble pursuit. We need those things to sustain life.

But the reason poetry is important. Reason things like love and passion and beauty are important. It's because those are the things that we live life for. They are the pinnacle of what it is to be human. And every day you can decide what to do with that. You can delve into it to change, to grow yourself, and in essence, improve the world around you. You can play a part in something much bigger than you.

and it doesn't have to be this grandiose thing. It's using what you have where you are. And the impact you can make is infinite. Never forget that enormous things are just the culmination of small things. Little decisions. Because for those of you thinking, well, I'm just one person. You know, what difference does it make? And why would my verse matter in the grand scheme of things, the great play of life?

Well, I have a follow-up for you. I thought this was beautiful, too. You say you're not special because the world doesn't know about you. But that's an insult to me. I know about you. Right? Everyone touches someone. and the ability to impact those in your immediate circle,

it just can't be understated. Sometimes I worry that we don't value ourselves in our ability to be an agent for change the way that we should. Every single person watching this can change themselves, can grow. not talking about, you know, who you are, I'm talking about moving towards your greatness. So back to the main theme, right, in this play of life, what is your role? What is your verse going to say? Because it matters. It matters more than you know. It matters to you because it's an opportunity. And it's a chance to live every day to the fullest, to embark upon, you know,

the important things in life, the elements of being here. human that really matter, passion, purpose, enjoying what's around you, growing, learning, and in essence, helping others do the same. When you delve into your greatness, it changes the world. Failure, by definition, a lack of success. The definition of success, the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. According to these very guidelines, failing is to be marching toward an end point and for one reason or another not getting there. Is failure a possibility? Of course it is. There are no definites in life. But failure is also self-induced. It is not an outside occurrence. It's not a coin flip or an event that we helplessly watch

unfold before us. It's not up to chance. Failure is a decision. The decision to end that same march that you once started. Just like putting on your shoes is a decision. Just like traveling or running or eating, these are decisions that we make. And when the word is all too frequently brought up in everyday conversation, what's evident is that there is a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to quote on quote, fail. It's spoken about as though it's something that's projected. It's just as though failure is an illness or catastrophic event, something that emerges and subdues its victims.

And speaking of it in such a way, misdiagnoses the problem. It's easy to say so-and-so started a business and it failed. So-and-so didn't make the team so they failed, but there's more here. One does not fail until they take a step back, look at the situation, and say that it's no longer worth it anymore. You don't fail until the moment you raise the white flag and say, I cannot do this. Because if you're out there, if you're changing, adapting, stretching yourself and your abilities, if you're seeking help, mentors, learning, growing,

embracing the struggle, relentless in your effort. No one can bring that word into the conversation. It cannot exist. If you are moving forward, you are not failing. You cannot be working towards something and failing at the same time. It is impossible. You can have your ups and downs. No one will refute that. You can get knocked on your ass, have moments of fear and doubt at That is growth, not failure. Growth is taking the uncomfortable and adapting to it, overcoming the obstacles that inevitably get in your way.

Failure, on the other hand, is deciding that growth is no longer worth the sweat. Because I'll tell you what, there's always a way to win, and I truly believe that. Sometimes the cost is extreme. Sometimes the price is more than ever. Everyone around you is willing to pay, but that's a conversation that you need to have with yourself. Just know that if you want it, somewhere there exists a solution.

And knowing that is the beginning of greatness. It is the start of success. And as for that question, what if I fail? Here's some insight. That thought is wasted time and it is wasted energy, Because as far as your goals go, you pull the strings. You are the writer, you are the director, and you are the actor.

Failure only occurs when you write it into your script, when you choose it for an ending. And it is one ending. One of many, it is one approach of many. Once you've started that march towards what's important to you, do not let failure be the choice That you make. Choose growth. Choose the adventure. Choose the long way home. Victory over defeat, the uphill climb over regret. Choose to move forward when most wouldn't.

It's the decision you'll always be thankful you made. I wonder how much of you has materialized. Like if what F. Scott Fitzgerald says is true and our lives are defined by opportunity, even the ones we miss, then how much remains in the ether? And I don't think it's about playing a game of what if. You know, that would be endless. It would be self-defeating. No one's perfect.

I don't even really think it's about making a right turn instead of a left. Because as long as you're moving and moving with conviction, life ultimately brings you where you need to be. But more, my concern is the steps never brought to pay my ideas on the hatch, my opportunities I either knowingly or unknowingly left on the shelf. Because it didn't seem real enough. Like a Broadway play between my ears that as a spectator I knew

would end. After all, that's what stories do. How much of ourselves have we cast aside as simply the things we don't say out loud? At first it's infinite. We've yet to be taught to limit because limits aren't things, their ideas, and ideas must be adopted. That's why they say, some of life's best things were done by people too ignorant to know they were impossible, too naive of the notion that they couldn't say them out loud. Then it's comparison, they have what I want. But it was meant for them and not me. How delusional to think I could have it. How crazy to think that life has yet to be written.

And I am an author. My date is with normalcy in the box where I keep those things we don't say out loud. and then we look around and we see highlight reels. We see awards and vacations and smiles, but we don't stop to think, maybe they're just like me. Maybe they're people who struggle and question themselves and doubt the road ahead.

No, it must be the past diverged. They took happiness, and I took those things we don't say out loud, and then there's everyday life when things don't go as planned, when the world presents curveballs, and you haven't learned to hit off speed, so you feel small and you feel inadequate and ill-equipped,

and you could reach out, but that's not cool. That's not right. That's something that you don't say out loud, but we keep it in, like all in. And eventually if he comes the if only's and I wish I had, it's the quiet envy gazing longingly towards those who just cared less, who realized maybe life's not as serious as we make it out to be, who turn thoughts to things, not by burying, but by embodying them. And maybe that's the trick to unlock the gate, keeping your perceived reality from the

possibility of a new one. The one you could create, if only you promoted your fleeting thoughts to forward progress. See, dreams can fail to come to fruition in two places in your head and outside of it. But at least outside it has a chance. At least outside, you can take the common, normal, everyday background and make it the backdrop to your movie where you play a lead role. But it must be accepted and acknowledged, not thought of or even whispered, but screamed

so that the details and the trivialities that exist now work for you. That's right, they are now yours. Not because you thought about it, but because you reached out a hand and you took. You asked the world for something. And in life, it will always be true that you don't get what you do not ask for. So when you find yourself staring up a wall

comprised of self-defeating narratives and manufactured limits, be ignorant, be ignorant, Be irrational, be the reason your dreams have a chance. And when you look around and you see more and wonder why you don't have it, know that you can, you're allowed to, if you sacrifice you will, but you must believe you are worthy of it. Not in the back of your head where you keep your locker combo and movie quotes, but in reality where words bounce off lips.

And when you feel like life is treating you unfairly like they're happier or have it better, Know that life is peaks and valleys, not just for you but for everyone. And how you internalize that and carry on makes the difference. And when you feel lost or stuck, you are not hopeless, but in progress. Being broken down so that you can be reconstructed, stronger, better. Victory is not in hiding those struggles, but accepting them as the difference, as the reason you created the miraculous.

The miraculous. Not because you had dreams. Because you said them out loud. Sometimes when you don't know where you're going, the best thing to do is go there.

A wise man once stated that an object at rest stays at rest. And while his rationale is a little different than mine, I'm going to borrow from his premise. Right? Because when you moot, Even if you don't know where you're going, you put yourself on a collision course with something. You put into existence an entity to react to.

Some call it destiny. Others call it fate. I call it simply initiative. Because if your journey is hypothetical, you have nothing to celebrate nor correct. A sailboat can adjust its sails once it leaves the harbor, right? It can learn from and manipulate its surroundings, make sure it arrives at a destination, right? It learns and adapts along the way.

But from the harbor, it speculates. It expounds upon a path that might be straighter, might be faster, might be more thought out and tied together than the crazy sailors who took off for the horizon, but in actuality, it goes nowhere. In the real world, it is stagnant, and I could be wrong, but I'd make the argument 10 out of 10 times that the real world is where we want our results. And my proof? Well, a journey that started with insurance and evolved into music, in songwriting, in audio production, then video production, then creative writing, then a sweet spot that kind of combined everything.

A spot that didn't make its way to my inbox with an exact address. A spot that required a lot of failure and lessons learned and disappointment, but man, more than that, so much fun. My proof is sitting down right now in real time, letting my fingers create a bridge from nothing to something of value. By the way, after sitting here staring at a blank screen for hours, it's just starting. Could I be wrong? Could I screw up? Could I wildly miss the mark? Yes. In fact, it happens more than I'd like to admit. But here's the beauty. Even if I am wrong, I now have something to work with. Something has been brought into existence.

And well, that means I'm officially further along than I once was. And I've heard over and over again that there is no perfect moment, that you have to just go. And the idea, I mean, it makes sense. It's impossible. not to understand, but it's one of those things that until you feel it doesn't mean anything. How can you miss something you've never experienced? Well, to put it in a way that help me understand, you aren't going because what do you have to lose? You're going because everything is to be gained. The answers that you pick up along the way, like a little coins you pick up in Super Mario, right? You have to start collecting pieces of a puzzle that you can then arrange.

I truly believe that one of the most important ideas we need to hold on to moving forward as personal agency, self-belief. And I say that because I feel like I'm watching it slip. There are cases where we literally don't know or understand that it's within our own ability and control to change our lives. No person or group or letter in the mail is going to

to come along and green light your idea. In fact, you might not even really know what your idea means or how it will look. And that's not only okay. It's amazing. It's the marble that you get to chisel away at to create something. See, life is not the perfect execution of a plan. Life is the courage to make your way into a world that no one really understands or knows anything about.

And I'm not talking physics or biology or quantum mechanics. I'm talking about the real life that is emergent from those areas of study. Right? There is no perfect formula for happiness. But it will always be true that immobility or standing still is antithetical to progress. And there is plenty of data that supports the idea. Progress equals happiness. We want to move towards something.

So that's what this is about, right? Here's to not being scared of what we don't know. Because somewhere in the realm of what we don't know exists what we need most. So yeah, stop waiting for the perfect moment. And yes, begin. But not because it's an ultimatum. Do it because the things that make life fun

and intriguing and exciting. And ultimately worthwhile, they live on the other side of your front door. When you look at erosion, I like, say, dunes on a beach. What you see is something giving itself away little by little, deteriorating. Sure, there will be events that expedite the process, but generally speaking, it's lost a little bit at a time, day by day, right in front of our eyes. Until the time comes when we realize that what we have is no longer recognizable. It's sort of redefined.

And I think in a lot of ways, we find ourselves in a similar situation. The concessions we allow every day slowly redefine, who we are. You know, and it doesn't seem like much, that's the thing. It never does. Quietly detaching from what you believe. Taking on an identity that doesn't quite align with who you are, doing things, being places that causes something in your gut to protest. Toning down the color in your life so that you blend in. These are not epic, monumental decisions. It's the drawn-out erosion of what makes you who you are. It's the chipping away of what makes you spectacular.

See, the idea that now isn't permanent, so I'll just suck it up now. What's the big deal? I'll just settle for now. Let me tell you, if that's your rationale, you're forgetting how easily tomorrow becomes never and now becomes forever. We operate under an illusion that things will become easier. That change will be less strenuous down the road. We'll make things right, get back on track, be happy then. But the harsh reality is that things don't get easier than they are at the present moment.

It's quite the opposite. And to disregard or ignore this is to let yourself wither away at the hands of procrastination. If you're planning to wait for that, get comfortable. And see, conceding day in and day out, it alters your understanding of who you are and what you're capable of. Our actions reinforce our beliefs. Imagine a straight line, a simple straight line drawn on a piece of paper. Right? You're in the middle. And on one end is who you are, in your heart, in your soul.

And on the other end is everything you're not. Every time you sacrifice your principle, your beliefs, every time you say that's not me, but fine, that's not where I want to be, but okay, it's only temporary, you take a little step toward what you're not. And another step, and another step, and one day you look in the mirror and you have no clue who's looking back at you. Because you've conceded one small decision at a time, you've given away your sense of purpose. Sure, the situation is difficult, but the best things in life are the things that are not easy. You have to fight for those things. You have to stand up in the face of struggle, adversity, the narrative that others want to write for you. We stay within guidelines because we think the outside is scary.

No, what's inside is scary. What's outside is what you need. And when you stop banking on the anticipated miracles of tomorrow and manage the reality of today, you succeed. It's life's greatest test. Are you brave enough to be you? Are you strong enough to fight back when you're tempted to hide,

to blend in? Every time you summon the courage to stay true to yourself, it gets easier, the difficulty lessens, you become free of the mental chains you've placed around your ankles. There are certain things in life worthy of compromise, but your identity, your journey, what makes you feel alive, that is sacred ground, that is worth defending until your last breath. No one can take that because it's yours, and when you look back on your life and the amazing people in it a life live fully will always supersede marching through your days wearing a mask

and following someone else's agenda it's your life it's your gift live it come to accept the fact that i'm a loser the more people say otherwise the more i prove over and over again that it's just who I am. Stuck in my ways, an outsider, outcast, out of my mind, loser. See, it started with my old identity, who I used to be, yeah, I lost that. Then I lost those people that made me feel small, the ones holding me back. Bye. Would the street continue? You bet. Lost that need to please others. Hey, it turns out I know what's best for me better than they do. Lost the things being done out of obligation and not purpose. Lost the wrong metrics I was using to measure success. Gone.

Lost my way so that I might find something better. That was hard. Thought I might lose my mind, but I found it. Just lost my old way of thinking, and hey, that's a win. Lost yesterday, found tomorrow. Lost scarcity, but found abundance. I lost two the people who were more talented, better skilled, the ones who outclassed me fine. Showed me what it took to win. I lost my heart a few times. That sucked, but it looks like it still works, so we're good.

I lost my purpose and follow the shiny objects instead of the things that matter, but sometimes seeing what doesn't shine puts a spotlight on what does. It keeps me swinging from star to star and, hey, I like it here. I lose my discipline from time to time, but hey, regret hurts more. so I force myself to find it. As I write this out, speak it into existence, I'm losing track of time. All is forgotten. But I think that's how it should be.

I hope I lose more tomorrow. I lose a lot. Thank God.