Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Can you feel the fear and do it anyway? - Best Motivational Speeches for Courage

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

"Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it." — Nelson Mandela In this episode, I reflect on a recent experience at an open mic night where a young woman, visibly nervous but undeniably talented, took the stage for the first time to share her poetry. Watching her shaky hands and hearing her brilliant words reminded me of the times when I, too, was scared but determined to push forward. We explore the power of showing up, even when fear tries to hold us back, and how those moments of courage—however small—can open new chapters in our lives. Will you take that leap? Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

The other day, I went to check out an open mic. And basically, people sign up to share their short stories, their poetry, stuff like that. And I'm sitting there soaking it all in, enjoying each one as they went up on stage. And eventually this girl makes her way up. The first thing she does is she tells the room, hey, I've never done this before. But I've always wanted to, so here I am. She takes out her phone and begins reading some of her poems. And pretty quickly, two things stuck out to me.

One is she was brilliant. It's just so incredibly talented that I'm thinking, man, if she keeps doing this, she's going to find herself in some crazy places. She's really going to make an impact. That was the first thing. And the second, as I sat there and watched, was that I noticed that her hands were visibly shaking. I was pretty close to this stage.

And I could see this happening to the point where she had to place one on top of the other, right, to keep the hand that was holding her phone from bouncing around while she read. That's how visibly nervous she was. And immediately my mind went down this road, reflecting back on the moments I've had just like that, because, man, I've been there, where you're both determined and terrified at the same time. But somehow, the desire.

to try outweighs the fear just enough for you to find yourself in that exact situation. Just enough that you step into a foreign world, still wondering whether you made the right move, you know, every step of the way from the car, the building, onto this stage, until you hit the point where, okay, well, now you can't turn back. Now you're here, you can't leave. And the thing is, and this is what was so beautiful to me, she was never forced to do this at gunpoint. No one made her step into that chaos. It was self-created.

She could have stayed home. She could have closed her journal or the notes app on her phone, and that would have been the end of that. But no, not today. Today, one yes would lead to another, would lead to another and another, and despite the nerves, the sweaty palms and shaky hands, she would open a new chapter in the story of her life. Proved to herself that she's bolder than she thought she was just a few hours ago, that there's upside when you confront those unknowns in life, and as I sat and watched, I was so incredibly moved, so proud, so impressed, partly because I know that to many of the people in that room, it might not have looked like much. You know, it's like, okay, great, round of applause for the new artist or poet.

Welcome. But I knew the gravity of the moment. I understood how big it truly was, and regardless of what words came out of her mouth or how well they were assembled, that night was not about the performance. No, it was about new beginnings. It was about outstretched wings,

opening one's eyes to the learned helplessness and pinpointing the opportunity that was simply waiting for that first step to occur. And see, that's what I want to emphasize. That's what I believe every single one of us needs to understand, to fully get. The biggest moves we make in life, well it's easy to convince ourselves that they aren't necessary or worth it. The things that transform us hide themselves.

A lot of the time they don't feel urgent. They aren't life or death decisions. They can be the stages we never step on. The people we never talk to, the chances we never take. because well what happens if we simply stay right where we are say thank you but no thank you to those fleeting opportunities nothing

nothing happens more of the same and realistically nothing is far less scary than all that other stuff we don't fear nothingness we don't intrinsically fear more of the same No, we fear stepping onto the stage. We fear vulnerability. We fear messing up, looking stupid, being judged.

And yeah, when you do nothing, you get to skip all that. Avoid all that discomfort and that potential pain. But you also miss the feeling of victory. Of closing your eyes at night knowing how badly you wanted to just let that ship sail, how terrified you were about what could go wrong, but you did it anyway. You get to feel you have earned the rush of stepping into a chaotic world.

And even if temporarily, you tamed it. That's what life is about. Always remember that we have a natural proclivity to avoid pain, not to pursue the things that make us feel alive. Deep down in our DNA, there exist instructions, instructions to run away from the things that could hurt us, embarrass us. Our minds will race, our bodies will kick and scream, our hands will shake, that's just the way it goes. And so we prove to ourselves that it's all conquerable, that reality can be relearned.

It's a layer of resistance that has to be faced and then dismantled. Why was I so moved that night? Because I got to watch in real time someone dismantling that fear on their way to something incredible. It's courage. Stepping into the arena. Not for the people next to you or anyone else, but for you. Because you know there's more. You know that where you are pales in comparison to where you can be.

I'm definitely one to look back from time to time and reflect, and I'll tell you what, I'm incredibly thankful for the hard times that shaped me, the challenges that were forced upon me and made me who I am. But beyond that, and perhaps even more so, the times I stepped out on my own accord, terrified and manufactured change, the times that the fear of staying the same eclipsed the fear of failure. The times I could have stayed home, woken up the next morning and lost nothing, but instead saw what there was to be gained and threw myself into that metaphorical fire

so that confidence could be forged and new chapters could be written. Let's all remember how out of focus the present moment looks Remember how inclined we are to look at life through a lens of scarcity. We are trying to avoid, avoid, avoid. But if you can even briefly find the strength to step back and ask, what is there to be gained? You see that not going is the real danger.

And those stages that seem arbitrary, that seem like optional, stops along the way, while they're just as imperative as the air you breathe. They are not some things, they are everything. We all hit a point where we look back on the roads we traveled and see the culmination of footsteps that have come to constitute our lives. And we want that moment to feel full. Like no stone was left unturned, like we put it all on the line. So will you step onto this stage of life? Stand your ground as the curtain opens, read your poems to a foreign audience.

Will you share your voice even though it trembles? Because if you do, you're giving yourself permission to truly live, to feel. Look, we're not here for a long time. This is a very short ride. So why not give as much of yourself to the world for as long as long as you're not for as long time? For as long as you possibly can, why not step out knowing that the difference between nothing and everything is what you do with shaky hands? At night, the sky becomes visible. The darkness, the muting out of 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 one of my 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, right? The need to both reassure yourself you can see the stars, as well as use the world around you to pull yourself close to. or 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. 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? Know the answer? 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 scrutinize, 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, right? 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, 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. There's a saying that just because you've spent, spent a long time making a mistake, doesn't mean you need to continue making it.

There's an incredible advantage in life for those who can separate past and future, who can recognize sunk costs and walk away, walk away from the past, move on to new things. But here's the challenge, right? Like so many things our instinct is to preserve. It's, yeah, but I've invested so many years. I've spent X amount of dollars and maybe I don't like where I'm at, but look how long it's taken me to get here.

Well, here's the reality. That time is gone. That money is not coming back no matter what you do or what direction you take from here on out. There's no reason to think you have to maintain the same trajectory or hold on to a specific identity or pattern of behavior. Yesterday isn't the focal point here. The goal is simpler. What matters now and how will you get there now? You've grown, you've evolved, you've changed, and your targets have shifted,

so why shouldn't you? The idea of sunk cost is so important because it's essentially realizing that you're not indebted to the resources you've spent or exhausted. There's no need to be a slave to previous decisions that you've made. No, just chalk it up as an integral step, in your learning process, an aspect of growth, and move forward to what matters, to what you care about. If that seems obvious, I challenge you to think about the decisions

you've made over the last year, and I guarantee you you've let factors affect your decision-making that are irrelevant to your goals. Because we feel this camaraderie with yesterday, like there's a debt to be paid, but, man, life is too short. to run in place. If it's not pushing you forward, drop it. If it's not what you need, forget it. In other words, don't be one of those people that wakes up

and makes the same mistake every single day because you've spent a long time making it. See, reality only exists in your head and that's why it's beautiful. You can unlock the cell door and walk out. Don't lose sight of the great The greatest gift you have, the new beginning that lives in every second where you can take a turn you've never taken before. Remove the mask and play a role you've never played. Let that sense of excitement pull you to new things. Let go of what you can't change and pursue what you can.

Forget the time spent. Think of now. Where can you invest now? Your surroundings didn't magically arrive. You chose them. And you can just as easily take that wheel and leave. Simple formula. What is best for you and how do you get there?

Not where you feel obligated to be or expected to be or pressure to be. Where do you need to be? Everything else is noise. Everything else is a rope keeping your ship on shore and you are not confined to that harbor. yesterday's destination you're built to chase the horizon follow your curiosity into the sunset you don't make decisions based on yesterday's story you sculpt it with tomorrow's possibility it's been almost two years since I first read it and still the main idea from the book the courage to be disliked by Ichiro kishimi deeply resonates with me the

idea that being happy is essentially dependent upon the courage to be disliked. And at first, it might not seem like the two, you know, whatever be related. Happiness and being disliked. An odd pair. Maybe even seemingly counterintuitive. Until you realize that happiness comes from such a personal, authentic place that allowing the expectations of others to chart your course

means that you'd probably never arrive there. You have to do what's best for you. And doing what's best for you is going to create a divide somewhere. Why? Because everything creates a divide. Everything is subjective. I knew I wanted to dive into this topic, but wasn't sure the best way to do it. So the other morning I was trying to think of like an objective truth.

Something that no one could disagree with. I was sitting on my balcony and point. point it up towards the sky. Thought, let's start there. Simple as it gets. Hard to refute that, right? I am pointing up. And I remembered, we're floating on a globe, a giant sphere.

There is no up. Up is perspective. Everything is perspective. What's the difference between one and two? Some might say it's one. But technically, there's infinity between one and two. You can have infinite decimals. 1.999 goes on forever, right?

Point being there's subjectivity when we drill down into even the seemingly obvious truth. Now, the value here is not to go running around, arguing with everyone that there's infinity between one and two. No, there are certain aspects of society that we must adhere to, otherwise we couldn't function together. Right?

But it's simply to show that you following the path, you believe is right for you, cannot be rightfully assessed by someone else. It's to place trust in your internal personal judgment. And when people don't understand your infinity, that doesn't mean it's wrong. And by the way, I don't have blinders on to the fact that it's hard to do. In many ways, it goes right up against our lizard brain biological wiring.

right? We're fitting and equates to survival, and ostracization becomes a death sentence, but we are, fortunately, beyond that. It's in our interest now, and in fact, I think the courage to be disliked is a critical lifelong journey. I'm better at this than I was 10 years ago, no question, but do I still have a ways to go? Absolutely. There are still things I'm working on every day to let go of. I remember reading in Jefferson's biography about how it was so well. hard for him to be demonized in the press all the time that it almost dissuaded him from jumping back into politics before his presidential run. Being attacked is a hard thing. But ultimately, he let his beliefs and personal values drive him, his ambition in a lot of ways, and came to see the scrutiny

as a cost, decided it was worth the price. Or like I use this all the time, take one of the biggest pop stars of our day, say Justin Bieber. You look at what people are saying about him in the comments of his video. A lot of it's wonderful. Some of it's great. Sure, but some of it's awful. And that's just the price of anyone putting themselves out there. And again, you think of an inverse scenario. Imagine if he didn't. Imagine if he limited himself or didn't dive fully into what he does because he knew some folks out there would have some bad things to say.

Now, we are, for the most part, neither famous politicians nor pop stars, but our worlds contain the same elements at different scale. There are things we're all scared to do or say because of how it will be received. There are parts of ourselves that we repress because we don't know what the feedback will be. We're all scared to fail in some capacity because of how we're. how it will look or what others will say about it, which is why being disliked is courageous. As Aristotle has said,

the only way to avoid criticism is to do nothing, to say nothing and be nothing. The opposite of being fully, truly yourself is becoming the manifestation of that quote. It's never pushing yourself, never seeing what you're capable of, never exploring or executing on your dreams, your ambitions. Now, this is speculation, but if I were a gambling man,

I'd place everything I own on the idea that, when we're old, looking back on our lives, we'll spend less time thinking about who criticized us or disagreed with us than how we spent our days and who we shared them with. Did we live in a way that made us happy that was meaningful? Because on a sphere, everyone believes they are pointing up. But in actuality, none of us are. We're all merely navigating the subjective universe behind our eyes.

So why not truly explore? Why not capture the magic out there before the hourglass runs out of sand? It's hard, sometimes it hurts, it takes all we have, it requires courage. But I think we'll all come to find that the decision to live fully in our authenticity, regardless of whether others agreed, disagreed, or were indifferent, was the best decision that we ever made. Remove the lifelines. Eliminate plans B, C, and D.

Let the curtains close and the lights dim. lights dim. See, the beginning of something new requires the ending of something current. So make life propel you into Chapter 2. Let the door slam and lock behind you throw away the key. With the boats burned and turning back off the table, we have to make it work. We We have to figure it out. Well, how, we might ask, with only these pieces, with only this circumstance, with only these resources. Well, it's funny how when walking away is no longer a possibility, so many other possibilities

are born. When we're stuck between the wall and our demons, we roll up our sleeves and do that, which we have been, let's face it, running from. We fight. We become proactive. We take initiative. It was always there. We just never had to. So if you can't do it on your own, make life make you. Because the bottom line is there are new horizons that await your arrival. They are always there. But they require you to make the trip, to look out over the vastness of what's before you and convince yourself that what's ahead can become your new normal. And oh, how I wish we weren't biologically preconditioned to preserve, to stay safe, to stay the same. How I wish we weren't constantly being pulled to stay right where we are.

our minds, they love it here. With the rest of the world, the change, the hope, the progress, all on the other side of that window, all outside, all foreign to us. You don't need any of that, it'll tell you. Or maybe, after you conjure up a little courage, it might compromise. It might say, fine, it's worth a try. Put one foot out the door, but don't forget, you can always come back to me.

You can always retreat. It's warm here, safe here, it's predictable here. The mind wants you to know that when things get tough, mediocrity, and comfort are always right behind you. Ready to embrace you with open arms. And it's for this reason that those boats must be burned, that the door must be locked, and that chapter must be closed. The journey before you, it's going to be difficult. There's no question about that.

Anything of value brings difficulty. And when faced with the adversity, the only way to defeat it is to know there is only one way. One option available to you. And that one option is forward. It's through. There is no backwards or compromise. there is no safety. Not if you want from life,

that which is extraordinary. Not if you want the things we covet dream of, whether they're interpersonal, financial, career-oriented, health-related, maybe you just know in your soul that right now ain't it? Any move to something better will present to you its obstacles. And my advice,

if it's what you really want, is to have decided before you started that there is no other way. There's no negotiating with yourself. Because if you allow that door to be cracked, life will kick it open. So point the compass north and dismiss any notion that what's comfortable is more important than what's meaningful. When you're cold, nothing is more appealing than that warmth. But warmth is deception, a short-term ploy for you to forget

get what really matters, an illusion. See, cold subsides, but victory is forever. Knowing that you pushed forward when most wouldn't is forever. Transforming potential into strength when your knees shook is forever. So burn the boat. For no other reason that there is no way forward so long as there remains a way back. Make life make you win.

And where most would look around and see evidence of defeat, you'll find again and again in the same quote unquote evidence to tools to build ladders to new beginnings and bridges to new worlds. There's a saying that I love that most of life's successful people were too ignorant of the odds to know their accomplishments were considered at one point impossible. And I love it because it highlights that there was never a fallback option, a concern for the statistics.

There was no worry or exhausted energy on what if. Rather, it was constant building and adjusting, finding ways over, through, and around the walls that inevitably stand before us. There was no way home. So they pushed forward into their greatness. And so can you, whatever shape, form or color greatness looks like in your eyes, whatever mountaintop appeals to you, if you want it, if you're willing to decide before you go that you will one day stand amongst the clouds

peering out at that world you deemed wasn't against you but for you. anything is possible. 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, a 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, 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, Hillenbrand tells the 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 options. 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 feeling. 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 imperfections, 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. 1,000 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? We sat around in a circle on a beautiful fall morning to build dream catchers. Something, to be honest, I never saw myself doing. in a million lifetimes. The feathers and strings and beads and glue stretched out on a blanket in the middle of the circle. As we built, we took what we needed piece by piece. And it's safe to say, mine was far and away

the least, let's say, aesthetically pleasing of the group. Black and bright yellow string wrapped around the top, above which an assortment of random beads sort of dangled carelessly below. It wasn't the most beautiful dream catcher ever made, but it was mine. After a quick Google search, I learned that some Native Americans believe that the air at night

is filled with dreams, both good and bad, and that the purpose of the dream catcher is to protect from the bad ones, the nightmares and the evil spirits. Interesting, I thought, putting it away, expecting that to be that and life to move on. But a few days later on the flight home, I got up mid-flight to grab a charger out of my carry-on overhead. And in the same side pouch was, you guessed it, that little black and yellow dream catcher. One of the dangled strings had snapped.

My sloppy craftsmanship already was causing the top to loosen up. But something compelled me to grab it along with my charger and I sat back down. I had 8.5 hours to kill, put my chair back and closed my eyes. The previous week had been an important one. A complete break from my typical day-to-day routine. And probably more important, some forced introspection. I like to think of the trip as briefly leaving the heart of a city, which when you're in a city, you obviously know you're there, but you can't really grasp the magnitude and scope of the place.

Not until you leave it and see it from the outside. The gorgeous skyline with the lights and buildings that extend into the clouds. A picture you only get from a distance. That skyline from five miles away just doesn't feel like it could be the same place you live in. You navigate every day street by street with car horns and cafes and people talking, coming, and going. It just kind of flips life upside down for you. It presents new perspectives and questions, and I felt like that's what I'd done, stepped outside that metaphorical city. And I'd picked up a solid handful of new questions.

There were plenty of firsts for me. Met some incredible people, tried new things, went new places, explored new foods. All made me realize that, you know, my worldview had slowly over time, as tends to happen when unchecked, collapsed in on itself. That there was so much more, so much hope and opportunity, so much left. To the extent that the flight back didn't feel like the end of a trip, It felt like the beginning of something new. Like I wasn't leaving these things.

I was taking them with me. But here's the deal. Beginning only matter if you make them matter. Things only change when you make them change. When I was in junior high, one of my teachers would sometimes joke that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Half serious, but the point, is important. It's not what we intend to do. It's what we breathe life into. It's what we allow to take shape.

Let's say that little dream catcher in my hand was a magical entity that sucked out of the sky all the bad dreams and nightmares and left me with only the good stuff. Let's say it was the gateway to all that was powerful, meaningful, and important, because removing what I was moving what I don't want is critical. But what I'm then left with is mere opportunity, not guarantee. Dreams are only potential and life is only what we make it. So growth must be a team effort between me and this little black and yellow defender of worlds, watchmen of the night, a duo. And we agreed. It reminds me of what truly matters and I show it that that that I'm not afraid to make something of what remains.

Of those ideals granted passage to the space behind my eyes. I have to live up to my end of the bargain. And sure, it will be messy at times. Shaky, sloppy, ungraceful. But that isn't a problem. It's par for the course. Plus my lack of elegance will get no sympathy for my unraveling black and yellow

ball of string and disordered beads. The goal is not perfection. It's organized chaos. It's a commitment to the unknown to taking the pieces and building something with them, even when we don't understand what it will become. And as the pilot's voice interrupted my sleep through the intercom, letting us know to prepare for landing,

I realized the magic of where I just been and how it would evolve into the road ahead. That when we know in our hearts life is pointing us a certain direction, when we've separated the good dreams from the bad, we are halfway there. Now we must have the courage to realize what's possible. To be strong enough to stand up when we have something to say, to embrace what calls to us to explore where our paths may lead, to get up and dance when the music plays,

to stop holding back tears when they must fall, to smile when our hearts intend, to leave the old stories and narratives behind, and to step beyond our egos, and towards our authenticity. This is how we make sure that the dream catches. work is not in vain and how we make the most of this gift we've been provided.

And so we sat in a circle on a beautiful fall morning to build dream catchers. Maybe not to collect the bad dreams, but to remind ourselves that it was okay, no, necessary, no, it's a necessary. No, everything to let ourselves make the good dreams. Reality. A cheat code in life is understanding the significance of getting to one. Because if you can get one, you can absolutely get two. And if you can get two, you can get three, four, five, five thousand, five hundred thousand or five million.

Once you realize that something is possible, you're no longer the same person you once were. Your hands need not be held to the sky as though the universe is going to drop something into them. No, you've cracked the code, you have the info. And the burden has now been placed directly onto your shoulders. That little question, is this possible, dissipates. Getting to one was your proof of that.

And then the obvious accompanying question, now what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do? Because the race isn't to one million, it's to one. One is the power. One is the reassurance. One is everything you need. If you can sell one painting, you can sell 50,000 paintings.

If you can make one three-pointer, you can make thousands of three-pointers. If you can create one genius marketing video that goes viral, you can create hundreds, thousands, millions. Again, the evidence, you got one. Anything beyond one is procedural. It's a testing of methods. It's becoming relentless in your pursuit

to repeat the process with the pieces at your disposal. But make no mistake, those pieces of your own. are there, everything you need is there, so long as you get to one. I had to recently break through to this realization. Like so many of us, I'm an ambitious person. I love the game. I want to add value to more people, reach more listeners, generate more revenue, scale impact, all that stuff, of course.

But for a while, I just couldn't figure out how. I became almost disillusioned. What am I doing wrong? Maybe, what if maybe, do I dare say, do I dare even think for a second that I've gone as far as I can go? But was ultimately rescued. Rescued by the realization that I was asking the world

for things I didn't have instead of leveraging what I did. I needed to separate the value I possessed from the logistics that would transport it. Because, and this is what we forget, I've already performed my miracle. I've added value to one person, and if you can add value to one, why not 10, why not 10 million? It's not a product issue. It's a scaling question.

The car works. Figure out how to get it to the racetrack. The tool is effective. Now get it into the hands of the builders. You see the difference, the confidence that comes with that? Instead of doubting all that you bring to the world, asking yourself if more is possible, you say, yeah, of course it is, because I've already done it, here is my proof. Now what's around me that I can use to deliver it?

How can I try things? Reposition things. Figure out how to scale and get further, but I know it's possible. So many of us have already gotten to one. We're adding value. We're doing what we do. believe in. But we're asking the wrong question. We're still asking whether more is possible. It is. The burden is just on you to bring it to fruition. The burden is on you to find a way.

To scale the value contained in your one thing. And by the way, if you haven't arrived at one yet, buckle up. Getting to one, was one of the best periods of my life. Finding your value proposition, enjoying the process, exploring, finding that intersection of value and personal contentment. You'll eventually arrive there.

But remember, for you, the goal is not one million, it's one, one idea that works, one approach that lights you up, one action that opens your eyes to the upside, that makes the world better to those around you. When you've found your one thing, when you know it makes a difference,

then you move on to the scaling chapter, right? Then how do we turn one into one million? But there are two different questions. So remember that moving forward. No matter how stuck you feel, if you have one, you simultaneously have a little seed capable of producing infinity.

It just needs attention. Trust yourself to work through the logistics because that's all it is. transform the if into how and start building that staircase straight to the moon.