Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Do you know what you're capable of? Best Motivational Speeches

Episode Date: August 19, 2024

"The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places." — Ernest Hemingway Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube  In this episode, Eddie Pinero explores how life's struggles reveal our true capabilities. Through challenges, we uncover strength we never knew we had, and it's in these difficult moments that we grow and evolve. Join Eddie as he delves into the power of adversity and how overcoming obstacles shapes us into stronger, more resilient individuals.

Before we begin, I want to thank the sponsor of today's episode, Pro Compression. Coined the best compression socks you'll ever wear, they're a big part of my running, my lifting, as well as my recovery. For those unfamiliar with compression socks and the value that they bring to your fitness journey, you know, they're known for a few things. One, alleviating swelling and soreness after a workout, boosting blood flow, energy, and also enhancing performance and recovery. So being as into fitness as I am, it become a big part of my routine, and I'm happy to pass that along to you guys.

I've teamed up with them. They're currently offering 40% off their entire website. If you use the code EP40, the website is pro-compression.com. And again, the code is EP40. I'm going to start today's episode off with a quote. This is from Seneca, and he wrote, I judge you unfortunate because you've never lived through misfortune.

You've passed through life without an opponent. No one can ever know what you're capable of, not even you. A brilliant member of the Your World Within Team, Ashley, she sent me a kind of a thought experiment the other day. And she asked, if you're choosing between two trees, right, the exact same type of tree, height, everything, one-to-one, which one is stronger, right?

And one of these trees exist in a very turbulent, you know, climate. High winds, a lot of fluctuation in weather, extreme temperatures, low temperatures, high temperatures, versus that same tree in a, let's just say, more mild, consistent, way less harsh climate, which one do you think will be stronger? And why? The answer is, well, one, obviously acclimated and adjusted over time, it became tougher and stronger, more adaptable and resilient in the face of turbulence.

It's proven itself because it exists where it exists. It had to evolve. Couldn't survive otherwise. had to learn to endure. It's by facing the storm that you learn to navigate its chaos, right? And, you know, having lived in South Florida, for a long time, you see some of these palm trees take a beating during, you know, cat threes, fours, God forbid, fives, and they're still there, right?

The inverse or the opposite example is the tree that's never been tested because they've never had to be tested. See, every single one of us is strong. longer than we think and more capable than we know. The question in my eyes is how often do you give yourself a chance to prove it? How often do you nod your head and kick open the door trusting that you can take on what's on the other side? We have to be tested in order to evolve.

Just like those of you familiar with weightlifting at the gym, building muscle is breaking breaking down old muscle, and then it builds itself back up. A little bit fractionally stronger than it was before you broke it down. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. I think a lot of people don't realize that growth is just a lagging indicator. It's the product of your strength and your willingness to attack something new in the first place. And sometimes, by the way, you know, life gives you, you know, life gives you no choice.

It throws the kitchen sink at you. But, and this is the fun part, when you fall in love with that process, when the gratification of progress pulls you in, life becomes an opportunity, a gift, a game, a chance to step into an evolved version of yourself. We do what hurts now so that it doesn't hurt tomorrow,

so that the doubt becomes armor. We attack things that seem bigger than us today so that those ceilings become floors tomorrow. Stop signs become stepping stones. And this is not merely a collection of cliches. This is a very real reminder. You know, the further you're willing to go, the more life will give. The harder you're willing to push,

the more opportunities are going to present themselves to you. you. Comfort isn't the enemy because of what it is. Comfort is the enemy because of what it is not. It is not conducive to growth. It's antithetical to any pursuit of meaning. Comfort is often stagnation. So how do we realize this? Simple. Go out into the world and as the saying goes, do one thing every day that scares you. you'll find what does scare you becomes more and more infrequent. I'm not sure that it's the world getting smaller as much as you and your self-belief and trust in who you are gets bigger. It's earning confidence.

Oh wow, the city can fall down and I can rise from the ashes. Then why not live a life with more skylines? Why not dive deeper into the horizon? not to prove anything to the world, but to show yourself. The chisel sharpens the marble. It initiates the masterpiece. So when you look around and think, I'm worthy of more, or my heart's longing for something different, bigger, a life transformed,

drop yourself into the storm. So that, one, you become capable of moving through it, And two, you remind yourself, you prove to yourself who you are. That matters. You're not the type of person who sits and watches life go by. You are the person who steps into the abyss and determines what life is. You're not an order taker. You're an architect.

Manufacturing opponents, not to defeat them, but to elevate you. So again, go find obstacles. Attack chaos. Immerse yourself in unknowns. Be the one who doesn't know but steps in anyway. Not to prove anything to the world. Not to show anything to anyone. But to remind yourself that you can.

To remind yourself that most will say no and that's fine, but that's not who you are. When the sky's fall, falling and the walls are crashing, you are the one who finds away. Courage. Storming the castle and slaying the dragon. Overcoming all odds, achieving greatness, taking the game-winning shot when you have everything to lose. Courage.

doing that what you are afraid to do. It's engraved in every step you take. Courage is in each little decision, each fork in the road. It's not just an end point or a victory or the act of holding up a trophy. It's representative of so much more. Every milestone is comprised of thousands of courageous actions, deciding to begin again. going where others having, having the confidence to stay true to yourself in who you are. Courage has roots and they're interwoven into the current moment.

Like anything it's built, if your goal is ambitious, it is courageous, and if it's courageous, it begins now. It's life moving around you, waiting for you to see it, to take it head on. Greatness is in every courageous step you take. you take not tomorrow next month or next year but the one right in front of you today Seth Godin wrote in his book The Dip quit or be exceptional averages for losers and I love this and I love it for a few reasons first it calls out the fact that if we are going to live we might as well live in pursuit of the exception why Why just float by?

Why just stand there while time elapses around you? No, seek out the things that matter. Exist not in life's shadows, but in its fringes, where few look but the best things live. The places where most only dream of but the courageous go, quit or be exceptional. Second, it suggests that quitting isn't always a bad thing. And context is everything here. It's a beautiful thing if it's done for the right reason. In other words, it's far better to quit the wrong thing to pursue what matters

than it is to stay and immerse yourself in a lifelong dance with mediocrity. It's not that you quit. It's why you quit. I have a problem with the word quit to begin with. stopping the wrong thing is less quitting than it is pivoting. It's evolving, but ultimately that's neither here nor there. It's semantics, right? The moral of the story is, if I never quit, personally, would I believe to be wrong for me?

I'd still be in the same building I was 10 years ago. And I'm not being emotional here. I'm being practical. To become your best self, you have to shed yourself of the things that aren't you. There's an idea that what we say no to is one of the most important components of growth. So if you take that and create a little thought experiment, if you have the courage to adventure and try new things, some of those new things will inevitably fall short of expectations.

They'll be wrong for you. They can't all be aligned. And so what then? You do the wrong things forever? Or do you take the lesson and move on to those level of ten, opportunities. That's what this is about. Quit or be exceptional. Leave mediocrity behind. Do you have to? Well, you don't have to do anything, but the question is, what do you want? Because a world where you chase down the exceptional will be better for you. It will be better for those close to you. It will be better for the world at large. You will live a fuller life. And since you can never give more than what you are, it means the amount of

value you can then distribute to others will grow. What we give is directly proportional to what we allow ourselves to be. So don't be mediocre. Don't allow that. Don't even entertain the thought. That's not you. Quit or be exceptional. Go all in or don't go. Believe in it fully or walk away. Average is for losers. The fence is for people who forfeit the upside in an attempt to escape. the downside. Completely unaware that the true loss is the moment of reflection years down the road where you wish you had the courage to do a little more, to chase down the things that invigorated you, to wish you'd lived a little more boldly with just a tad more conviction. Quit or be exceptional. Simply put, whether we realize it or not, we have defied the odds

in simply existing. And I don't care that this idea is pushed to the point of it being cliche. I still don't think we get it. I don't think we've grasped the magnitude. Perhaps a metaphor we could use to help us think about it and still not indicative of our reality

but worth a shot is walking into a theme park and spending the entire day standing by the entrance, holding the ticket. Or being handed a lottery ticket and keeping it in your pocket. for fear of what could go wrong when you cash it out. Being there but not experiencing there.

See, chasing down the exceptional feels good because it's what you were meant to do. And if you haven't found it yet, don't give up. Find what lights you up until you can capture it and immerse yourself in it. Be the best at it. Let curiosity lead you to exploration and findings that few would be tenacious enough to discover.

Quit or be exceptional. Or maybe better put, don't stop pursuing that thing worthy of your commitment. And once you have that target, go. Like everything is riding on it. Go. Like it's the sun around which all else revolves. Go. Life is simply to show.

short to leave your greatness on the shelf. I'm going to share with you a general metaphor about life. This brought me a ton of value, help me maintain perspective over the years, and I think it's going to help you as well. I'm going to be using YouTube as my example here, but worry not. This applies to everything. I just happen to be immersed in the content creation space. So, to frame it, the growth of a YouTube channel is a lot like the stock market.

You certainly want it trending up over time. You want your work to reach, you know, as many people as it can. But there are and have been segments along the way where that growth slows down. There are times when the channel overall, it just gets less engagement, less views, all of it. And you look at it when that's happening, when you're in the midst of one of those dips, and you think, oh no, what have I done? Anytime something you're creating slows down, it can be jolting. And this has over the years occurred many times, and every time my instinct is the same.

It's, ugh. You know, that type of just duress. And I put a lot of time, energy, effort into this. This work is some of what I'm most proud of in my life, so it's like, sound the alarm right now, I need to figure this out. And every time things eventually correct and continue in that upward trend,

sometimes it takes a little longer than others, but I get there. And here's what I've learned. When there is a dip or a slowing down of anything that's going in the opposite direction of the way you want it to go, I do force it to go. I do four things.

One, pause and breathe. Because you have to. Re-gain, recapture that perspective. Life, as I say so often, is simply not that serious, so stop making mountains out of molehills. Two, seek to understand why. There is some sort of change. What's different? What prompted the change?

Knowing that is power. So find it. Three, once you have that information, make the necessary alteration. It's not only about having the answer, but it's in implementation. It's adjusting. It's testing. And four, be patient. Trust the process.

You can be ferocious in your day-to-day and also calm and poised with the overall process and faith in its unfolding. And so I'm going to give you one more YouTube example, and then we'll pull it up to a level. that's more broad and applicable everywhere, right? Something interesting about YouTube is that a lot of channels only have a handful of videos. We'll say four or five that generate the majority of that channel's interactions. It's a pretty common thing.

And so when things slow down, you can often point to one of those four or five videos. So let's say something does. There's a dip. You, one, you take that breather. Two, you inquire, pull back the hood. What's going on? It looks like one of these,

videos is not getting clicked as much as it was or it should. Okay, that's great to know. Now what do we do about it? Test different thumbnails. Try new ones. You try and it fails and you try and it fails and you try and bam one resonates. This new thumbnail gets clicked 3.3% of the time instead of 2.8. Everything goes back up. Impressions go back up. We have righted the ship. And I know that's a very detailed example. Not everyone's a YouTuber, but everyone's, you know, in their own way, niche down doing their thing. And so you have to look at it in the context of what you're doing. What's your metaphorical YouTube channel? When things are wrong, how can you pull back the hood,

identify that piece, and tweak? If we step outside that box, what we'll find is that life is like that stock market. It's like a YouTube channel. It's not up. and up and up, there are lows. There are metaphorical recessions. There are times where it feels like the world is collapsing around us and we think, oh no, what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? It's over. In reality, nothing is over. This is the roller coaster ride that is life. You don't get highs without lows. And when you think about it, you wouldn't appreciate them without the lows either. The setbacks are baked into the growth. And I'll use relationships as another example because I know in some way it's relatable to everyone.

When the wheels fall off the wagon with the relationship that meant something to you, whether it's a breakup, falling out with a friend, whatever the case may be, the tendency is to perceive it as a falling down, the walls crashing down, rather than a little blip on your S&P 500. So what do you do? Same exact plan. One, breathe. Understand that this is a process.

and all will be well. Two, you understand the why. You're human. You're going to feel emotion before you can reach any level of necessary pragmatism to fix anything. So allow that to occur. Gather yourself.

And then ask what prompted the break. Were you too different? Did you not align? Why? What did you learn about yourself? About the type of people you allow into your life. Three, once you have that information, adjust.

How can you be better moving forward? You'll never be perfect. Human beings are complicated and messy, and relationships are not an exact art. Too many variables. But that doesn't mean you can't improve your approach in the future, mitigate some of the mistakes you made, target the things in people that you truly value.

And as you do, and you are number four, patient in the process, you'll find things level out and ultimately begin to rise. That situation was not and never was the end of you. It was a necessary low before a future high. And so, 10,000 foot view, remember that during your difficult times, those moments aren't indicators that life isn't working for you. They are a part of every journey,

factors necessary to every ascent. And if you see them as such, you will conquer them, learn from them, and climb them to that place you most need to be. Sometimes when I need to take a step back and think, I like to listen to the sound of waves on the beach, crashing in their beautiful simplicity. As quickly as they come, they go. proceeding back into that vast ocean from which they arrived. They were an instant, lightning in a bottle, this gentle reminder that all we have is right now. Sure, there's a future, but that's just a right now that hasn't arrived yet,

and maybe there's a past, but isn't that just a right now come and gone? We're a collection of these singular moments in time, a product of the stars aligning the universe conspiring to put us right here, right now, and the truth is. We can come back to the location. We can even attempt to recreate it, but it will never be what it was in that moment. Because every moment is different than the one that precedes it, and every breath takes in something new, when every glance sees just a little differently,

every second is the first, the last, and the only. Like waves pulsating through our veins for the very first. Why not soak in the warmth of the sunrise? Lose yourself in the depths of worlds undiscovered. Why not chase down that? spot where the road meets the horizon, taste the sweetness in every sip, dance under the glow of the moon, laugh like nothing else matters, why not cherish right now, this moment in time?

So when the tide reaches down and calls for its inevitable retreat, the magic will remain. to be great. Everyone wants to be the best, the top, the 1%, or as the saying goes, everyone wants to be a beast until it's time to do what beasts do. See what life has revealed and continues to emphasize is that our most vital decisions, they present themselves in the dark of night. The chaos of the battle, they show up amidst our discomfort, we know these moments. The ones that seek to stop us in our tracks and turn us around. They are what must be prepared for. They are the gateway to excellence.

So let's look at the big picture for a minute, life in totality, because consistently doing this simple, easy things, they're important. Consistency of that That which is simple is the foundation. It's what we build the structure upon, but it is far from everything. Moving right along, we have the difficult things that push us to be more, that show us who we are, that hurt, that test us the temporary storms. They are the armor we come to wear.

They're what prepares us to endure the trials and tribulations of life like a muscle that must be grown and developed, but the difficult things are far from everything. Because lastly, we have our defining moments. The moments that put it all together, when the sky feels like it's falling, the body feels like it's failing, the mind feels like it's dwindling. Presenting the question, will you do the hard thing when you feel like you can't do the hard thing. It's doing what's difficult when the situation around you

is screaming at the top of its lungs. You've gone too far. You've separated from normal. See, you are wandering into something that can no longer be deemed predictable or safe. See, running is hard. But running when you're tired, when you didn't get a great sleep last night you don't feel good when you're busy when your schedules full when you have

things to do when you're in the midst of your workout and your lungs are screaming for air the cloud of pain is hovering over you as you make your way forward for no other reason than you told yourself you would that's not hard that's transformative going to the gym is hard But going to the gym when you don't want to, when you don't even feel like stepping into the car, when your mind is trying to rationalize a day off, when you're asking yourself what the point was to begin with, that's not hard. That's transformative. Growing your business is hard. But growing your business when you've experienced a monumental letdown.

When you went all in and were left empty-handed, when you were chewed up and spit back out, yet you showed up, kept your eyes locked in on that win. That's not hard. That is transformative. See, these monumental moments, the ones that break so many of us that we've all come face to face with over the course of our lives,

they're not about easy versus hard. They're about doing the hard thing when it seems as though you cannot do the hard thing. The world is saying no. Your body is saying no. That chirping in your head is saying no. Can you separate yourself from that hurt and that anger and that disappointment? Can you segment the negativity knowing that you will do what you can to remedy this situation? But that life's curveballs can't stop.

you from moving forward for the simple reason that you won't let them when life gets hard you have to be harder the one who gets bolder you have to learn to surprise yourself here is what i believe to be the goal the pinnacle it's what i aspire to become when life puts me through hell to dig deep and find the emotional IQ the awareness to know that Right now is the invitation I've been longing for. My chance to level up. See, you might be wondering what brought this concept to the forefront of my mind.

And well, it was one of life's inevitable setbacks. And I had to look in the mirror and say, I'm not going to think about the technical issues that just cost me thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of my time. No, I'm going to one learn, but put parameters in place so it never happens again and to find the opportunity.

See, when we build back, we tend to build back stronger, clean slate, new lease on life. Where can I be better than I was? Where can I pinpoint and capitalize on the value I once walked right by? When we adopt this mentality, we become unstoppable. Someone on the outside looking in might say it's over the top. It's over the top and it is, but so are the things that I want. They might say it's not that simple, correct. Running away from our problems is simple, I'm not about that life.

They might say it's impossible to do all the time, to think that way every day, and perhaps so. But if we bow our heads and retreat every time life isn't perfect, we'll never attempt anything. I'm not aiming for perfection, I'm aiming for progress. Those who aim for perfection tend to spend the entirety of their lives doing exactly that. Aiming, planning, speculating. Wanting more for yourself means receiving more rejection from the world. It means elongated valleys of despair. It means deeper treks through the heart of the vast unknown across

distant lands and through turbulent waters, it means doing the hard thing when the circumstances are what mere mortals call impossible. At some point, we must transcend the versions of ourselves we once were. We must recategorize and redefine the adversity we face in life. Be the ones who find something where others see nothing. Find valourines. Find valourism. Find valourise. you in the seemingly valueless. Let us start from the premonition that there is always a solution. And if there is always a solution, there is always a way to bring it to existence. Some will stop it easy. Fine, let them. Some will stop it hard, great to each their own. But if one dares to push further, to trudge forth into the night,

They will be tasked with doing the hard thing when the circumstances are devastating. They will be asked not just to sail the ship, but to sail it through the storm, to not just build the tower. But to build as the skies open up, the wind blows and the ground shakes, that will be the difference. That has always been the difference. So what will you do when the time arises? Who will you choose to become?