Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - DOMINATE 2025 - Best New Year Motivational Video Speeches Compilation

Episode Date: January 3, 2025

"One day" or "day one"? The distinction lies in perspective—and in action. In this episode, we explore the power of turning setbacks, challenges, and heartbreaks into stepping stones. Drawing inspiration from the Latin phrase amor fati, or "love of fate," we delve into the idea that every moment, whether triumphant or turbulent, holds a purpose. Even in our darkest hours, the seeds of transformation are planted, waiting for us to nurture them into something extraordinary. Life often blindsides us with its twists and turns, but the beauty lies in how we choose to frame them. While the meaning of our struggles may not always be clear in the moment, they play an integral role in shaping the story of who we are becoming. What if you embraced your trials as necessary chapters in your personal narrative? What if today wasn’t just "one day" but "day one" of something remarkable? Let this be the reminder to honor your journey—every piece of it. Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

There's a Latin phrase pronounced Amor Fatia. It's one of the more powerful ideas I've come across. Its translation means love of fate. It implies everything that happens is good, with the very least necessary. And I think we need that reminder from time to time. Because, funny enough, it is one of the first sentiments to leave us when we're in trouble. when we're down or lost. The idea that everything has its value.

And sure we don't always understand it in the moment or when we're fighting through it, but that circumstance or even tragedy, and the great play of life has a crucial role. Someone recently sent me a beautiful clip from a Stephen Colbert interview. I want to dive in, but there's a caveat.

There's a caveat. I ask that you listen to this in a vacuum. For our purposes, I'm not going to be the Stephen Colbert who mocks half the country on live TV every night. This is the wise Stephen Colbert with a lot of value to add because he can be both. To frame the interview, he's sitting across from Anderson Cooper, and Anderson's asking him about something he said a while back. Anderson reads the quote,

I've learned to love the things I'd most wished had not happened. What punishments of God are not gifts? Anderson then looks up from the paper, looks over at Stephen, asks, Do you really believe that? To which Stephen responds, yes. It's a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There's no escaping that. you can't pick and choose what to be grateful for.

A truly incredible emotional moment. It is the realization of Amor Fati. Even the most trying of times are a bridge to something. Even that which is taken away creates a space for one to ultimately find what they need. A couple years ago, I did a keynote in Hollywood Beach talking about those difficult situations. Some of them are external, but some of them we create. Like chaos, self-induced, that opens the door to the most precious of occurrences. Things that I never would have had or arrived at, if not for the pain, the sadness, the confusion.

It truly all fits together. And so I basically take a trip down memory lane, talking about the physical duress of a cold morning run. Wouldn't you know it? strengthens one's conviction and belief in themselves, or the sadness in leaving someone you care about, someone you love, knowing it's no longer what's best for either of you, but was necessary. Touched on the fear.

The physical resistance I felt walking onto stages in 2015 and 16, dreaming of off-ramps, thinking of excuses in my head all the way up until the mic was in my hand on stage in words came out of my mouth that propelled me to comfort and confidence in sharing my voice. Again, it's all one big puzzle. Every piece matters. You don't get ups without downs. And as you push forward into the next thing and the next, as you see the breadth of the unexpected and the power of the unknown, you learn. You learn that the so-called lows aren't the exception. They're not a problem to be solved. And as I sit here now, I even view them less as a cost than I once did, a pain that must be

endured. No, it's all worthy and deserving of our gratitude. It all matters. It's all precious. I talked about on a recent episode, getting migrants. And one of the days I remember more than any other in my life, and I'm 36 now by the time this episode's released. I have a few days under my belt. This one was truly memorable to me. I was having a debilitating headache and a ton of pain, finally able to fall asleep.

And I remember waking up, opening my eyes, in realizing that the night had finally slipped by. Morning arrived. And I felt good again. I slowly got up, kind of tilted my head back and forth, testing the waters, all clear. I walked outside, down to the beach, and as the sun came up, I sat on the lifeguard stand

and just looked out in awe. The sand, the waves, the seagulls, the sky. it all meant more in that moment than it ever had. I was just beyond grateful to be there. And so you talk about the lows being gifts. You know, I get it. It sounds cliche at best, maybe even ridiculous. But those lows, I swear by it,

always seem to give me the things I'm most grateful for. It's a pattern that constantly repeats itself. They always remind me that the magic is the stuff I walk right by. They put me in hell for a period of time so that I understand to exist beyond that space is a mirroring. Without Lowe's, life's beauty becomes a baseline. And when something is a baseline, it's definitionally average or regular, it's money. mundane. I've learned to love all the things I'd most wished had not happened. What punishments of God

are not. It all matters. It all brings you something. And if you're at a point where you're so deep in the weeds or so far in the trenches that you've forgotten, I hope this finds you and lifts you above it all. I hope it reminds you that you will arrive at the place you most need to be. And it will be, not despite but because of this path you walked that you arrived there. Some people live their entire lives waiting for miracles and some people realize they're already in one and act accordingly. I hope today you choose the latter because it is a gift. Simple truth. You don't need to get it right the first time. You don't. You don't even need to be close. You just can't do nothing.

You need to convince your feet to start moving. You need to generate momentum for some type of outcome. Because what that data, what that outcome will tell you is yes, keep doing more of that thing or no, reel it in and try something different. But either way, progress is reliant upon that information. Going equal solutions. Staying equals hoping, wishing, lost opportunity. Every journey is a long winding road.

It's comprised of wrong turns and dead ends. There will be maintenance required issues to be resolved and narratives to be rewritten. None of which, by the way, is beyond you. So long as you take these things as they arrive one by one, You open up your world to allow them in. And you might look at where you want to be and think that's a lot. That's a world away.

No. It's a few tiny decisions away repeated daily. There's a Greek proverb that suggests beginning is half the battle. Why? Well, because convincing yourself you're capable is not easy. Easy. Trusting yourself completely hurts. But it's not until we come around and greenlight the process. It's not until we give ourselves permission that life begins. How beautiful is the fact that we don't have to have all the answers. Not even close. We just need enough courage to step out into the storm to brave the wind and the rain.

I frequently allude to this transformation. The first time I spoke in front of an audience was terrified, the first few times actually. Then after showing up, getting reps in, and reflecting, I realized, okay, I've earned a bit of confidence here. I continue to go to speak, more reps, more reps. Okay, now we're, well, I guess now we're getting comfortable with this. Not up all night the night before, rehearsing, pacing in hotel rooms. I had a little more trust in my ability. I continue, more reps, more reps, more reps.

Okay, now, now I kind of enjoy this. I've broken through. More reps, more reps, more reps. Now there's enough comfortability where I can look at what's in front of me and start asking, well, now, how do I refine this to stand out? How do I make this so valuable that it becomes the 1% of the 1% of the 1%? I've worked hard for my baseline.

I feel good. Now, how do I chisel away the little elements of mediocrity sprinkled in there? How do I pull them out one piece at a time? It is a testament to going, to allowing yourself to experience life and data points and ups and downs, all that help you refine the process. They are the journey. Can you do all that overnight? No, absolutely not,

but you can always meet yourself where you are and win that battle. You can always become a little bit stronger, setting the stage for the next level and the next and the next. In fact, when you're in it, it feels so intuitive that you don't even realize what you're doing.

One battle at a time. You're just stepping. on the stone in front of you. Think about it, you don't defeat a storm. You simply navigate through each gust of wind and every drop of rain. You pick apart and outlast the pieces that make up the storm, and you are capable of that.

You're made for that. Again, when you give yourself permission to enter the arena that is adversity, that is the unknown, success is oddly intuitive. It just kind of appears in front of you one obstacle at a time, or one opportunity at a time, depending on how you're looking at it. The problem is that too many of us stay on the sidelines.

I think you know this, right? And when you wrap your mind around the fact that stagnation is the only adversary, you become free. You unlock what you grow. could be and always should have been. I mean, how brilliant the mind, that incomprehensible network behind your eyes, capable of both putting a man into orbit

and navigating the depths of the vast oceans that surround us. It is in and of itself a miracle. But what if I was audacious enough to suggest, temporarily taking me? that miracle, that masterpiece, that network behind your eyes and shutting it off. For a moment, hitting pause on the defense mechanisms, actively painting what-ifs and worst-case scenarios, begging you to play small and seemingly always prioritizing safety over meaning.

What if I made the case that the best thing you could possibly do is start now and ask questions later? the journey, start the ride, immerse yourself in the river's current. Ensure you don't know where you'll end up. But it won't be where you currently stand. And that new you contains wisdom. It contains that accrued data to improve upon. It contains the 2.0.

And so the key now and forever is not to expect all the answers. before you step foot out the door. It's not to be sure everything will fall into place. It's simply to have the courage to move into the great unknown without any reassurance. It's you, your belief in yourself and variables unknown. You don't have to get it right the first time. You just can't do nothing.

Nothing. So you have goals and aspirations. Beautiful. You have hopes and dreams. Incredible. But what are you doing? Because there's this equilibrium we have to create and maintain as we navigate our day-to-day lives. And no one addresses this. In my mind, better than Thoreau in Walden, when he's if you've built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That's where they should be. Now put foundations under them. He addresses the very nature of creation, of dreaming, right?

He says, you know, there's an element of idealism, an aspiration, but you have to marry that with pragmatism. Keep your head focused on the mountaintop. Dream. Aspire. Imagine what life could be.

But don't spend your day in thought. Build the foundations. Put the foundations under that castle in the air by doing, by stepping, by every day, creating one more stare in the same. staircase that will bring that new reality into existence.

Over the years, I've talked a lot about Stephen Pressfield's book, The War of Art. Really, the impact it's had on me, I think, for good reason. Personally, I tend to gravitate away from structure. In fact, unless I'm being deliberate and cognizant of how I'm planning my day, things can get messy pretty quickly. So I have to really be intentional about that. And there were times in 2014, 2015, 2016, where, you know, I had visions of building something big

and meaningful and making an impact on the world. And I'd sit down to build it, whether it's write a speech, create a video or episode. In that particular day, I would feel like, You know, I just don't feel inspired. I wish I did.

But, hey, can't force creativity. I'd close my laptop, I'd get up, and I'd move on. And it wasn't until I read Pressfield's book that I understood, that's what every writer, speaker, creator, builder deals with. It's on us to say, no, I'm setting this timer for 90 minutes. I'm going to show up. I'm going to pour my thoughts out, pour my heart and soul into this project.

And if something comes from it, amazing. If it doesn't, that's okay. But over a long period of time, that's how consistency is established. That's the only way to create that necessary compounding that actually supports my goals and big picture and long-term vision. That dedicated effort is, an example of putting foundations under the castle in the air. I don't think we do this intentionally,

but there's often a misalignment between what we say we want and how we spend our time, right, how we live our lives. And just being honest, it's challenging to see these inconsistencies in ourselves. They sort of hide within our day-to-day lives. Which is why that simple alignment exercise of asking, what do I want and is what I'm doing bringing that to life so critical? So I Thoreau's question so deeply resonates. I'm saying this now and I'll say it forever, the greatest changes in our lives will never be a product of some huge, complex, complicated series of moves. It won't be 4D chess. calculus, secret codes and strategies.

It's like, no, critical change starts with some simple adjustments. Usually right at your feet, right? It's getting up earlier. It's cutting something out. Adding a new activity for 20 minutes a day. These are the things that are life-changing. Doing the correct things simply and consistently. The old head in the clouds and feet on the ground adage.

Dream like your life depends on it. Think as big as you can. Have your eyes fixated on mountaintops. Just make sure that your feet are simultaneously moving, that one step at a time you are going that way. Sometimes building those foundations requires more deliberate action added to the day to day. Sometimes it means cutting away the outliers and excesses of our day to day.

It means fully immersing yourself in what remains. In Elon Musk's most recent biography by Isaacson, a particular idea stood out to me. Elon is a man who is literally seeking to invest in and create a world above the cloud. He said something, and I'm paraphrasing, like, We need to free ourselves from the in-case mindset. We have so much excess just in case we need it. And what happens is this dilutes one's capability

and impacts the mission or goal. In fact, he said, if you're not removing so much that you essentially go, oops, and end up putting 10% of what you took out back in, then you're not taking out enough. It creates clarity. It allows you to best structurally support your vision, the mission to build above the clouds

beyond what you currently know, what currently exists. This is the same superpower of being deliberate that the road champions that he advocates for, Just in a different context. It is the greatest dichotomy in human existence, maintaining a vision while building the vision. Having a dream while supporting that dream, knowing what the masterpiece will look like is not enough. Similarly, recklessly throwing brushstrokes against a canvas is not enough. These two things don't stand on their own.

So what if you today were able to effectively marry the two? What if you believed in yourself enough to create a vision and every single day chip away until you're staring directly at it? What if you got to know yourself at a deeper level, truly understanding what mattered to you? What you wanted to build most? looked in the mirror, believed it, and then committed to its creation. Step by step, brick by brick, moment by moment. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost.

That is where they should be. Now put foundations under them. Are we living or are we slowly dying? It's a question I recently came across and my mind said, hey, the second half of that is objectively true. We are slowly dying. Every day. Every morning we wake up, we are one day closer to the end of our time here. Our bodies, the air we are renting with every breath we take all of it signifies how temporary and finite this journey.

We are slowly dying. The question worth examining is, are we living? Emerson has a beautiful quote where he says, it's not the length of life, it's the depth of life. Meaning, it's not inconceivable that one could both have a pulse and sleepwalk through their entire existence. You can physically be present and still not totally understand the gift, gift that is in the palm of your hand.

And so this is not a call for anything but for you to notice, to notice the choice, to notice what's at stake, to notice the fork in the road. In many ways, what happens out there comes down to those who notice and those who don't. Those who see the opportunity and capitalize. and those who know not what they have. Remember, mistakes can be remedied. Most missteps are completely reversible, even the most tragic steps backwards.

They're often a step forward as the dust settles and time plays its part. What's impossible to justify, though, is never going. going. Regret is a dead-end street. It gives you nothing to rectify or adjust or improve. You can't undo not going, not trying, never fighting for what you believed in. So perhaps this is what you need. Right now, where you are, the reminder to go out and stumble. Fall even, fall hard. And in the process, make your mark on the moment. on a world waiting for you to show it what you're capable of.

See, because all that falling day in and day out, when most were sleepwalking through life, it will have made you something they are not. Something they can never be. Unbreakable. Life can't break you. Only you can break you. You can't be both alive and avoiding the limelight.

You can't be both in the arena and asleep. So open your eyes and go do what only you can do. Go be unbreakable because you've earned it. Unbreakable because you are resilient. Unbreakable because there is no fear of hitting the ground. No fear of the battles to fight or hills to climb. Unbreakable because. breaking is quitting. It's stopping. It's refusing to take life in. And that's simply not you.

In a world where outcomes are never guaranteed, we have to cling to what we can control. Heart, a willingness to fight, a commitment to live, to live like few out there are willing to. So are you dying? Sure, we all are. today. Today is about, as Emerson said, the depth of life. Today is about capturing that fleeting moment. It's about reminding yourself and the world why you're here. You are not for everyone. And that's okay. That's a simple truth, we'll call it, that I've picked up over the years. And It's had a pretty profound impact in not only how I look at the world, but how I view myself as I navigate the world, right? It's particularly useful when you've lost faith in the path you're walking.

You've sort of forgotten your power. And I want to share with you a pretty cool reminder of this very thing. A couple days ago, it's having lunch with a friend, very charismatic guy for the sake of this little story. We'll just call him friend. And he's telling me about someone that he's now working with in his business. We'll call that person John. And my friend says to me, you know, Eddie, I am learning so much from John. He's adding so much value to what I do.

I can't even describe it. But he's loud. And he's controversial. And he rubs some people the wrong way. and not everyone loves John, right? So I'm sort of connecting the dots as he's saying this. I'm like, okay, clearly John pisses a lot of people off. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Putting two and two together here. But my friend goes, but you know, he's exceptional of what he does, maybe the best in his lane. And so I don't care. because John's not for everybody, but he doesn't have to be. And you might hear that and initially think, yeah, okay, where's the value, right?

Some jerk is helping your friend at work. Well, to me, it felt bigger than that. It felt like fate was screaming that ever-important reminder. To focus more on extreme authenticity then trying to reverse engineer what other people might say or think. It's like stop trying to manufacture their reaction, because when you're you, the reaction is out of your control and not your problem. Love John or hate John, he is 1,000% John.

And because of that, he'll find his people. Because of that, he won't dull himself down or dim his light. Because of that, John is free. Quick dive into my mind. I certainly have areas of my life, particularly with my brand and my content creation, where I can be bolder, where I can take more risks. Everyone's got their personal arena.

That feels like mine, right? That's absolutely unequivocally true. I'd be lying if I said my brain doesn't try to reverse engineer or stories and topics that will have an impact. Like, I understand what works, and I roughly stay within that framework. That, in and of itself, can be restricting. Never reckless.

But, like, I don't know, maybe there are places I should be or could be more reckless. That's what makes this journey so fun. You are your own experiment. You're always learning about yourself. You're always growing. And the more ot-to's you shed,

the closer you get to your power. And by the way, I know not everyone here has a business or brand or posts on YouTube or Instagram. Wonderful. Those are just a few examples of many. This applies across the board. You know, because I do wonder

whether we all have parts of ourselves that we dull down. And that's the question, right? Are there pieces of ourselves that we don't share because one-third or one-half or, hell, three-quarters of the people we meet will say, eh, nope, not for me. Are there things you want to talk about, hobbies you want to try, places you want to go,

art waiting to be made, stories waiting to be told that are ultimately never brought to life because we'd rather be half of ourselves for a majority of the crowd then be all of ourselves for the right minority of the crowd. It's a button that I'm always pressing. I guess because I see and I've seen firsthand how much talent lays dormant. People I know, people close to me, old friends, acquaintances. There's just so much there, so much in the tank,

so much canvas left blank. So maybe, just maybe, this is finding you at that perfect moment. Or at the very least, prompting the thought, acting is a little reminder that you weren't put here to be for everyone. You weren't put here to be for anyone. You're here to be you. Not a little bit you, but as much you as you can possibly give to the world. You're here to continuously uncover what your authenticity is. and with each step attract those who belong in your orbit.

It's like not only do you get to live a life on your terms, but you get to do so with those who value what you're bringing to the world. He's not for everyone. Thank God. That's how you know he's really making it different. Imagine you're standing on the edge of a cliff and you're looking out at this giant abyss. and you know that what you want is on the other side,

that the very thing you're called to do, the journey of a lifetime that means the most to you that you know you should be on. But instead of making one giant leap, you hedge, you grab a handrail or a rope, you sort of tiptoll along the outside, bracing yourself for the possibility of a fall.

Look, in a perfect world, we'll say. When we know that we should be somewhere when something's calling us, we would always take the leap. And the times that I've done that in my life, I don't regret it at all. In fact, I attribute taking massive action to a lot of the growth that I've had in my life.

But I think it also benefits us to be practical. We can't always do that. We're not always ready to do that. Sometimes you have to earn confidence one little step at a time. And so what I want to do is tell a story about that very courage, about using what you have, where you are, to start taking action now, even if you're not ready to leap without reservation.

It's a reminder that beginnings are rarely graceful, but they're necessary. And years from now, when you look back, you might laugh at the ways you softened your first steps that you hedged. But you'll also realize that starting, even imperfectly, even with training wheels, was everything. And so I want to share a quick story about my friend Clayton. I was recently on his podcast. And we were talking about this, particularly with him, he shares a lot on social media. It's a big part of his brand, his business, what he does.

And he also happens to enjoy dancing, right? And by the way, I'm not throwing him under the bus here. He'd be happy that I share this. So he's saying, I love this. part of what I do but it's outside the scope of what people know me for and really struggled to share it for fear of being criticized or laughed at or you know you can fill in the blank there and he says so one day I did I filmed the video and I'm sitting there for 40 minutes looking at it terrified thinking how can I soften the the blow here right

and he goes I know what I'll do instead of just posting the video So I'll post it, but I'll write this really long essay underneath it in the description about vulnerability and the difficulty in life and some of these things so that people will see that and comment on that and send some positivity there to counteract the negative comments that I'll get about dancing and being made fun of and all these things. You can just see like the circus going on in his brain, right? The loops he's jumping through to rationalize this in his mind. And he says, I'm so embarrassed that I did that. I can't believe that. Right now I dance and I just post it. Who cares?

And not only that, people like it. And I'm listening to this and I'm like, but that's exactly it. Right. We look back at our beginnings and we often laugh to ourselves. Oh, back then, I was so naive. I was so scared. I tiptoed in. I crawled before I walked, before I ran.

Like, it's a sense of shame. You know the phrase, meet people where they are? Well, how about meeting that older version of you where you were? Because back then, it wasn't a silly hedge. Back then, it was courage. It was everything you had. And, yeah, maybe you had to make some small concession. in order to get the train on the tracks.

You had to go the roundabout way. In a perfect world, would you have just dove in? Would you have just shared yourself with the world and said, whoever doesn't like this, oh, well, it's not for you? Yeah. But we live in an imperfect world where the most powerful thing

is not a direct line to a goal or objective. It's starting when you're terrified to begin. Perhaps when that heartbeat in your chest is reminding you that being scared and feeling alive aren't all that different, it beats the same way. The question is, what do you do with it, right? In that moment. And see, by starting, even with the training wheels

or holding the edge of that cliff and tiptoeing around, you're able to breathe life into something that matters. You're able to give yourself an opportunity to say years later, wow. I remember how slow I moved back then. I remember how I tiptoed back then. I remember how much I cared about people's criticism back then. But now, now I don't.

Now I get it. That is the entirety of the point. You may not have been able to pick the fruit, but you planted the seed that would become the tree that would bear the fruit. And in the real world, that means a lot. Sometimes it's not about how you start or where you begin. It merely matters that you do. That you do start, that you do begin.

I'll never forget a quote that Jim Quicks shared. It said, when all you have is 40%, 40% is 100%. And I've spoken about that in a few different contexts in the past. I think it applies here beautifully because time passes. And Clayton, for example, could say, man, I was operating at 40% back then. No, my friend, you were operating at 100% back then because that at the time was the obstacle in front of you. Simply starting was the ocean you had to cross, and you did.

And what's interesting to think about is you, right now, are that person your future self someday will look back on and smile at? Oh man, I remember that version of me. I remember being scared, slow. I remember not knowing. I remember feeling stuck and lost and insecure, but guess what? I found the courage somewhere to set sail.

Ill-equipped, ill-prepared, and in that moment at that time, that was my Everest. So my friends, here we are. And I posed this question, what will you give life to? What is it in your soul you want to share? to explore, to give to the world,

but you're sitting back thinking, I can't, because I don't have all the answers. This is too big or too much. Now is a good time to remind yourself that it can be ugly. It can and it should be something you laugh at down the road. You should smile at this novice version of yourself beginning a journey completely foreign to you.

But the key word is beginning. Give yourself the gift of an imperfect launch into the ether. Let your world expand to places you've never been and things you've never seen. Give yourself that gift. In all, it's imperfection, because going through the imperfection is the perfection. Give yourself the perfection. gift of someday laying back, closing your eyes, imagining the starting line and saying, thank God I did whatever I had to do in order to put one foot in front of the other. That little

footstep, that hedge, that tiptoeing around the canyon, it was a leap. It was traversing the ocean. And so because you found this courage ultimately a door opened to the infinite. On the rooftop where I live, there's a view of Scottsdale, Arizona. And particularly at night when you're up there looking down to the city facing north, there's a ferris wheel. And every night this ferris wheel is lit up different colors and really stands apart from everything else. A few nights ago, I was up there walking around, kind of getting some fresh air before I called it a day. And my brain took me on one of these little side quests, right? I just could not stop thinking about this Ferris wheel.

And it turns out for good reason. And so per standard operating procedure, I want to take you on this little journey with me. So let's start with a simple question, really. What is a Ferris wheel? Well, it's a portal to see the world differently. Think about it. People take time to travel to it. They wait in line.

They pay money to get on this thing. Which, by the way, doesn't move fast. It's not an adrenaline rush or anything. It's merely a chance to get to the top and see a view. A view. of the same place these people were just walking around. The exact same place.

The same place they live, the same place they spend their days, same place they drive around. But they knew there was something beautiful about seeing all that stuff from a top. The Ferris wheel, from a new lens,

a fresh perspective. They knew that it would feel different up there because it is different up there. And this is sort of an obvious thing. The beauty exists if only we can get ourselves atop this circle-shaped elevator thing and prove it to ourselves. And I'll speak for me. There are days where I walk around and I feel excited.

I feel energized by life's upside, enthusiastic about what I'm bringing to the world. And then there are days where I walk that very same path, retrace those very same steps. and I don't see it. I don't feel it. Things seem difficult, impossible, colorless. But I've danced this dance. And I know it's not a reflection of reality. It's merely the story I'm telling myself in that moment.

So how do I solve for it? What do I need? I need to get to the top of the Ferris wheel. I need a new perspective on this. Not something new, but a new. but a new perspective. I know there's magic right here. I just happen to have blinders on at the moment.

The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who is a YouTube data, I will say, analyst, a very good one, right? Strategic thinker. And we're going over some stuff. He's looking at the watch time and retention of some of my videos. And he goes, you know, man, this retention is really, really good. A lot of people watch these 30 to 60 minute videos all the way through, which is very rare on YouTube. And then he kind of makes the offhanded remark, you know,

you could be the next Tony Robbins if you wanted to. And I say that, not as a humble brag, he was half, you know, playing around. But for a second, right, hearing that, I was like, man, Ed, Did you forget the type of impact you could have? And you could help more people. You can do so much more. You're still at the base of this mountain. Infinity is right outside.

If you're willing to dive deeper. If you're willing to see it. And it was this jolt of hell yeah, just excitement. I felt myself going up that Ferris wheel, which is exactly what he was for me in that moment, right? In a sense, elevating my perspective. And isn't it funny how when things click or suddenly we feel ourselves capturing momentum, right?

You get that energy, that charge. It's like often nothing around us changes. It's our thoughts about them that changes. How we see them. changes. That's why to me it's not a small thing or minor detailed to know when you feel down and out. Your absolute worst even. It's not that the complete inverse doesn't exist.

The solution doesn't exist. It's just that from your vantage point, right now, you can't see it. You don't have the view. And knowing that, that simple truth changes the question from, well, does better exist for me? To, of course it does. How do I elevate myself to see it? To get there.

How do I help myself better understand? And then as things evolve, when you find your grounding again, because you will, you get to then be that ferris wheel for others. You get to lift up the world around you, not making them brilliant or beautiful or powerful, but showing them how brilliant and beautiful and powerful

they already are. It's the product of having learned that yourself. Not once or twice, but repeatedly. What you need exists. What you want is there. And I ask that you hear that. Truly, take that in, understand it. Because you won't drive towards it if you don't.

You won't buy a ticket to the Ferris wheel if you don't believe in the view. So remember when you are at ground level feeling stuck or lost or whatever your situation is, it's not that there's no solution. It's that you need to elevate yourself and see the world from a new lens. If you want to change the world, you must be your best in your darkest moments. That's a quote, or a paraphrasing of a quote from Admiral McRaven,

talking about how when things are the most difficult and we want to fold and collapse in, it's when we are invited to be better than we've ever been. And so recently, I got some feedback that it would be helpful if I delved a little bit deeper into some of my personal life and just some of the vulnerability in my life. So, you know, as a lot of you who listen know, I share stories all the time, but it's generally to paint a picture and step out. And, you know, I don't want to make this about me. It's not about me.

It's never been about me. It's about us in using the little lessons and stories we see and come across to get better, whatever better means to us. But I thought, you know, I will. I will unveil, pull back the curtain on something that's been going on. Because this has, you know, not been. easy stretch for me for a variety of reasons. And, you know, there have been moments where I have felt sorry for myself. And, you know, nothing tragic or dramatic. But, you know, in different facets of

life, it's funny. Like, sometimes, you know, when it rains, it pours, the wheels fall off the wagon in a lot of different places, you know. You know, I just recently got out of a relationship, not a terribly long one, but one that, you know, had a lot of promise and potential and, you know, devolved into something not good very quickly. And, you know, that bummed me out on the personal front. I had an assistant, again, someone I at one point thought very highly of, you know, run off with thousands of dollars. Needless to say, that relationship is completely deteriorated. And then just, you know, I'm a 100% invested in this brand, in this community. And August, just from a strictly data, from a numbers perspective, is not one of the best months, you know, I've had.

So a lot of things, you know, and on top of that, you know, I've been working really hard on my physique. About a month and a half ago doing some dips, hurt my shoulder, and haven't been able to essentially, lift to my left arm, getting a lot of help, a lot of different opinions, working on it, you know, but I think you get the idea. It's like, it's not a world-smallest violin thing. It's not a poor me thing. But it's very easy for me to look around and feel sorry for myself, right, in this moment. And I have. I was thinking the other day, as I was taking a little walk, you know, just, you know, getting the poor me vibes. And I think we've all been there. We've all felt that. And I thought of that Admiral McRaven quote. And I thought about how it'd be very easy for me to

lose momentum here because that's what I'm inclined to do. If I stop thinking and stop being proactive and I just let life blow me around, that's exactly what would happen. But there's also opportunity. There's opportunity to be better in every, every single one of these categories. You know, the arm thing, it's like, don't let yourself unravel. Don't stop working out. Don't start eating terribly.

You know how like when you lose your momentum, you lose your momentum? It's like, why should I eat broccoli and chicken breasts? I'm not even hitting the gym hard, right? And it's easy to sort of go down that rabbit hole. It's like, no, eat better than you've ever eaten. Run. do lower body, do abs, work harder, and you'll feel better.

Because this thing, right, this arm is going to work again at some point. And when it does, you know, I'll feel like I didn't waste time, but I prepared and I'm better. The YouTube thing, the branding thing. You know, understand, I know a lot of people who are experts in the field say, well, yeah, August is a slow month. I don't care. Right? It's just like when people say there's a recession, prepare to do badly.

No. Like, I don't buy that. I want to be someone who doesn't let the circumstance dictate their success or their trajectory, right? And so I feel like that's not acceptable and there's still a lot I can learn. So learn from it. Let the relationship thing, you know, with the girlfriend make you stronger, make you better. You know, learn from it, detach and go live your life. Same deal with my assistant.

It's like you now know what you don't want and what you can't accept. But, you know, glass half full, well, now you have an avatar for the role in a sense. You understand what was important, what you need. There's a framework now that exists because, you know, for the first time someone filled that space. And so that is the idea. It's like when you are most vulnerable and you most want to let your guard down, guard down and bow down to life. I'm going to ask you to join me

in not accepting that and saying, no, I'm going to be better. I'm going to be better in every way to show myself, to show the people around me, to show the world that when things get difficult, I find a way. And I do think, you know, I talk about life being complex, and, you know, sort of a non-binary, not black and white.

There's a lot of gray space. But I do think if I had to pick a few areas to make things black and white, it's amidst our difficulties and our moments of pain and suffering. There are people that are knocked down by it and people who use it to do something beautiful and meaningful and powerful. I'm not saying, you know, be a robot, you know, sit in the emotions. Why not?

You know, embrace it. But don't stay there. Don't stay there. And as I was going on my run yesterday, because my legs, you know, still work beautifully. I was thinking, I wonder how many people are going through it. And I wonder how many people in the way. their fight are starting to feel overwhelmed and like life has let them down.

I wonder how many people are in that spot. And I had this sort of powerful moment of clarity that's like this is such a blessing because not only are you going to be better in all of these categories, but you can teach yourself that adversity is not something that slows you down. You only need to take one step. And I want to be that reminder for you. Our difficult times are not defining. They're an invitation. And how cool is that? I don't think that's a cliche or a talking point. I think when life is hardest, it's such a special opportunity to step into it. You know, they say confidence is earned. And I think we can all show ourselves that, you know, when,

as Admiral McRaven says, life feels the darkest. We can be our best. Better than we've ever been, right? We don't know what full potential looks like. We haven't scratched the surface. There are things about you that are untapped. And so what better a time when things feel the hardest to start bringing that to life?

If you want to change the world, be your very best. in the darkest moments. What is defeat? In other words, what does it actually mean to lose? My buddy sent me a post today from X that said simply, until death, all defeat is psychological.

Why? Well, because if there is air in your lungs, there's an opportunity to find a soul. to move forward, to connect all those dots that will ultimately change your life. But here's the catch. This is the part that I think we often miss. We think defeat is something life gives us. Distowed upon us by the world.

It's a letter we get in the mail. When in reality, it's much simpler than that. Defeat is an internal decision. Defeat is looking around in quite, simply saying no. It's saying, sure, I could have this. I know I'm capable of it, but I don't want it. I refuse to march on. Defeat is saying the prize or mountaintop or victory. To me, it's just not worth what it costs. And when you believe that, that's when you have officially created and allowed defeat into your life.

It's a willingness question, a how bad do you want it, question. Because here's the deal, the road to anything meaningful is difficult. A willingness to pivot, to pick yourself up off the floor and continue into an unknown that, let's be real, owes you, nothing, well, that can hurt. That's not a comfortable process. But the truth is, it hurts less than defeat. Waking up two hours earlier to find a way, to build yourself up, to get ahead, that's far less painful than looking in the mirror and saying, yeah, I could have, but I didn't.

I could be there, or at least on the way, but I'm not. And it's amazing to me how the mind will rationalize. We can convince ourselves of anything, which is great when you're your own ally, but it's simultaneously devastating when you're your own worst enemy. The same circumstance that tells you to go can be in terms. as a reason to stop. The brain knows it's been two years since you started your business.

It knows you've been working on your health for six months. It knows the process is taking longer than expected. And so you're tasked with the interpretation of these data points. How do you interpret that information? What do you make of it? Is it, I've been at this for two years now. Think how far I've come. Think how much I've learned.

I've positioned myself for success. I'm one decision away from massive momentum. It's not validation, but continued dedication that will carry me home. This is the path. Or is it, well, it's been two years. And if I can't do it in two years, then maybe I just can't do it. Maybe I should look for something easier. My pride hurts.

I'm letting myself down, I look dumb, right? And the list goes on. That is the fork in the road that means everything. That's the maze that few find a way out of. Not, as previously said, of an inability to find the exit, but because of a lack of commitment to the twist and the turns. Is it, I've been working on my health for six months. Look at the foundation I've built.

When I look in the mirror, sure, I don't necessarily see the results I wanted now, but the habits are there. I've made some progress. I've lost some weight. My ability to run has improved somewhat. Now it's a matter of carrying on to that exponential growth. That may be just around the corner.

Or, just as in the previous example, is it if I can't do it in six months, then maybe I can't do it. Might as well go back to McDonald's for lunch and ice cream after dinner every night. It's over. This is not for me. You see how both ways of talking are at surface level, perfectly reasonable? Both make sense, complete sense.

But life is not predetermined. It's a choose-your-own-ending storybook. The story you tell yourself becomes the story you live. And if you hear that and think, ah, cliche, live news, you're overlooking the magnitude and capability you have with regard to controlling your life and your destiny. Something like five years ago now, I created an e-book with some thoughts.

And this is one that I continuously go back to. Quote, when I make myself the victim, I become resentful. When I make myself the hero, I become empowered. With such an array of outcomes, I am forever grateful for the ability to shape my own legacy. And it's summed up with the quote, if you aren't happy with the role you're playing, change it. Right? You don't have to be the one who gives in, who throws the towel or walks away. There's more around the corner if you're willing to walk around the corner.

If you're willing to find it. See, we are in life who we believe ourselves to be. And you can take that greatness on. You can become the person who looks in the mirror and sees determination staring back, sees resilience looking you in the eyes. You can be that. You can become the person who finds the upside,

and I promise you that's an incredibly small group walking this earth. Most people do the inverse of that without realizing it, either projecting their inability to move forward, onto the outside world, we've all heard this, right? It's her fault, his fault, their fault, my boss's fault, the government's fault. Or it's simply not realizing that doing nothing is in fact a decision. When we make constant concessions, when we think the current moment was fate or destiny and not an invitation to something better, we are choosing to be less than we can be.

And so my point here is pretty simple. Doing things that matter is hard. And it's hard because ruffling the feathers of the status quo comes with unknowns and obstacles. It provides a million off-ramps, reasons to settle or turn around. But to succumb to these outcomes is your decision, not the world. Life isn't a treadmill with an off-switch. If your feet stop moving, it's because your brain told them to stop. So as you make your way into the next unknown,

All I ask is that you remind yourself how powerful you are. Not because you were granted that power, but because you have always been that powerful. An author of the greatest story ever told. Where perhaps, sure, you can't control every variable that's dropped in front of you, but you can control what those variables mean. You can't control all the factors that comprise the world around you,

around you, but you can control where your focus will be allocated and what you will build with what you find. Until death, all defeat is psychological. Until there is no more air in your lungs, stagnation is a choice. Until there is no more blood pumping through your veins, quitting is a decision. So ask yourself, what do you want? to become how far do you want to go and then commit to the journey of arriving at that destination maybe it takes days weeks months maybe years longer than you

anticipated but it will always be true that if you want it it's yours the key is in your pocket the map is in your hand and the road at your feet Arrival at the destination means giving yourself permission to climb that mountain until you arrive at its peak. It's not letting go until you take in the view.

The whole thing was backwards. The cart was before the horse. Now, sometimes that's obvious. You don't need to wait until you're strong, And to go to the gym, the gym is what builds the strength. It's a very easy progression to understand. And we understand it. Some of the time, hear me out.

He seemed to think that if he only found the right person, he himself would finally be complete. Completely unaware that if he just instead made himself, whole. If he worked on himself, the right people would come into his orbit. That is, after all, how it goes. That may be all in all my biggest qualm with, quote-unquote, networking. The best networking you can do is be a capable human being with value to add. Then, get this. Instead of having to scour the surface of the earth for like-minded people, they should. show up in your inbox.

It is all in all a storyline we have backwards. The right people can't complete you. A complete you brings in the right people. Hmm. She seemed to think that money had to be made, that success was critical, because that success would bring approval. And status, in power.

It would be what slays the deal. demons and then once successful she could finally live free she could be at peace not bending to the whims and the demands of others that's why the money was so important that's why the success was imperative not knowing that whoops it's one's ability to live freely now before the money comes without the success and accolades that the door to all that other stuff is opened. Curiosity, passion, and freedom has prompted more greatness than anything else. And there are some things we can afford to postpone. The freedom to be you and do what's meaningful in the present moment is not one of those things. It's another storyline we have backwards.

Don't exist in a cage of your own making so that someday you can live free. live free now and instead capture the meaning in life. He wanted to be one of the greats. And so as if a blueprint were placed in his hand, he recreated. He copied. He emulated those who have walked the path before him. He tirelessly chiseled away at his current self

to represent someone else, those who had done it. Someone standing on a mountaintop looking down. Seems good on the surface. But what he didn't know is that those who came before him injected their own authenticity into their pursuit. They weren't recreating the same portrait as someone else. Maybe in some cases they were picking up the same tools, the same brush, but they were etching the world as it was experienced through their own eyes.

Again, maybe students of the technique and the history, certainly respectful of what previously existed, but understanding that their job was to receive the torch and carry it somewhere new. Another storyline that we have backwards, We think extracting ourselves gets us closer to the formula, but my friend, you are the formula. There's a common theme here.

And I can tell you wholeheartedly from experience, this isn't some magical thing I pulled out from under a rock. This is lived experience. This is learned experience. This is me putting my own hand on the stove and going, wow, I have to be careful of that. Your world within is the chisel that defines the external world. It's fun to look back at our predictions. You know, I've certainly done my fair share of swinging and missing,

like a weatherman, a political analyst, a sports commentator, fill in the blank. We make educated guesses. And then we see how kindly life is to our hypotheses. And the version of me from 10 years ago, mid-20s, walking along the Cape Cod Canal one morning and deciding that your world within would be the North Star, that was one that I hit out of the park.

It's been a guiding light. Handing me the wisdom that when you take accountability for everything in your life, you then become powerful enough to change your life. Your world starts internally and is projected out always. You make yourself more capable and boom, suddenly you are surrounded by those called to your energy. When you focus not on the money or the externalities, but on doing what you love and following your curiosity, you soon end up where few have gone, resulting in, you guessed it, an abundance of

those very externalities. When you seek not to be those who inspire you, but instead to water and protect your own strengths, to marry the known path with your new authentic path, you create space in a very crowded room. Trust yourself in that. Trust that if you plant the seed and water it and look after it, It will at some point bear fruit.

Understand that no one has all the answers because life is not black and white. You are the only one with your vision, your skill set, your values. That means something. Earn that confidence in your own life. Step into the arena. Unleash the parts of you that have been tucked away for fear of standing out or messing up. The whole thing was backward. We placed more emphasis on the path than the person walking it.

More focused on the water than on the seed. A determined mind can navigate any terrain. That energy should be exhausted, putting yourself in the game and committing to a growth process. You are the power. You are the strength. You are the secret weapon. But be honest with yourself. Are you allowing you to thrive?

Or are you waiting for the right people, money, and circumstances to pick you up and somehow carry you away? I think life is waiting, not for them, but for you to realize it. To own it. And then, most importantly, to do something about it. So maybe the whole thing was backwards. Until now, until this very moment, until you realize the wake doesn't drive the boat, it merely requires a courageous captain. Self-trust are you willing to take? There's a saying that will always be true.

It will be true on your best days and your worst. It will be true after victory, and it will be true. after defeat. It will be true when you have momentum and it'll be true when you're down on your luck doing everything in your power to create momentum. That saying is your future begins now. Hey on the surface might not seem like much. Sure my future starts now. I know that. Everyone knows that. Well if that's true, if everyone does in fact know that, why do we spend so much time stuck, reliving our past, unable to break free? Why do we remain terrified to change?

Why do we feel such a connection to who we were, how others saw us? Why must we remain loyal to the character we've been playing in our mental autobiographies? See, here's the thing about the past and the future. One is fixed, can't be changed, and the other, well, it's waiting for you to tell it what it is. One is expired time, one is planned to be determined. And it's interesting how we continue to conflate the two. Epicetus has said that the more things we value outside of our control, the less control we have. Well, I'm going to be the messenger here relaying the precious truth that yesterday is in fact out of our control.

What can be controlled is where we go from here. the next step. Meaning today is not your failures. It's where you take those lessons. It's not your mistakes. But it's what the stronger you can now endure because of them. It's not the dreams you let slip away, but where your pursuit might take you now.

And yeah, yesterday certainly contributes to your outlook, as all information does. It's value can't. its value considered, its impact assessed. It guides you, but it's not you. And that difference is astronomical. There's a question about the role the past plays in our lives. It has to mean something, right?

Your past is, in many ways, your story. It's why you think the way you do. It's contributed to your understanding of the world. It will always be a part of you, and I believe that. But I also believe the past is a story. And just like reading one chapter in a book Simply sets the stage for the next one without controlling its direction So does every day that has led you up to now

Life gives us the tools to experience to grow learn And then shed that which does not coincide with what's important Your failures are not you But they are precious and that they push you to towards what you'd like to be. See, you can experience something and not be that thing. As Kirkagard says, if you label me, you negate me.

If you proclaim me to be X, you're essentially stealing from me the infinite possibility that is the future. Yesterday has nothing to do with what I can become. And so taking it a step further, never mind being labeled by someone else, how could you, label yourself and see it as anything but self-sabotage.

See, you're never defined by your past, but always learning from it. It's not who you are. It's the cheat codes for what you can be. Without that winding road of misfortune and mistakes, the incredible expansion we long for doesn't materialize. Imagine if everyone who ever felt down in life felt like a loser, a loser who temporarily lost hope. Imagine if they looked in the mirror and said, okay, this is who I am now. There would be no triumph in the world because anything meaningful requires the resiliency to map our

way from the hell that was our darkest moments to what will become our proudest moments. Destiny, destiny, destiny means that you separate the finite from the infinite. What you used to to call yourself has prepared you to move towards the horizon. But what you used to call yourself is also as irrelevant now as those seconds that you watch tick away. Seconds that maybe you're not proud of. Seconds that perhaps taught you about the world. Seconds that gave you a glimpse of what's possible unveiled the happiest of times, all

of it. In its own unique way, it brought value, but none of it is your future. Why? Because back to that beautiful, all-powerful sentence, your future begins now. Your destiny is awaiting its marching orders, and all you have to decide as you stand today is where that ship will sail. When it's all said and done, what will your story say? A friend of mine, Justin Prince, once asked me what my dash represented.

I said, yeah, dash, if you think about someday down the road inevitably when we all die, there will be on our gravestone or tombstone the date we were born, a dash, and the date we died. making that dash symbolic of everything, the little line that represents it all. And so when the sun is setting on your lifetime and you've breathed your last breath and you've enjoyed your last sip of coffee and you've smiled for the last time

and all that remains are the people that you've touched in what you've built along the way, what will that dash represent? I hope you'll join me in asking yourself that question. Like truly thinking about it. No, not just when it's easy to. Not when things are firing on all cylinders.

I'm wondering, will you think about it on the days, you've hit that snooze button three times and you're wondering to yourself, does any of this even matter? I'm wondering, will you think about it when you feel lost? Or feel that the hope in your life seems camouflaged? I'm wondering, will you think about it when you've let yourself down?

Or feel like you've let those around you down? Or maybe when others have let you down? There's a lot we can control. But that dash, I need you to hold that. I need you to know that, as Victor Frankel alluded to in a slightly different context, that is the one thing that cannot be taken away. See, the dash, at least for me, it makes it crystal clear how short our time is. And I don't know why it's so effective.

Why, of all things, it's the dash that connects. The idea that your life in terms of time is a grain of sand on the beach. It's a raindrop in a thunderstorm. It's a single flicker of light in an infinite galaxy of star. I think about that and it's like, don't you get it? You're here and you shouldn't be. None of us should. Too many things had to be perfect.

Too many things had to be just right. An impossible number of variables had to align. And they did. They did in order to gift you that dash. And that doesn't mean we can't sit down and relax every once in a while. My point isn't, hey, never sleep in or that you shouldn't be human. I'm coming from a different place. I'm speaking as someone who seemingly always finds the difficulty or trouble or obstacle first. I'm wired to see what's wrong. I've talked about it

countless times over the years. I'm wired to protect and preserve. And I have my moments of courage. I wouldn't be here if I didn't. But my God, if you knew how hard I had. I had to fight to be courageous when I most needed to be, I think you'd be surprised. But what keeps me fighting, the more I come to understand, is that simple line. I cannot let go of the dash. See, if we were here forever, then it's like, I get it. Go slow. It's safer that way.

Less chance of falling down. Follow your curiosity later. It will always be there. And there will be at some point down the road a better time. Why not wait for the better time? Forever we'll present one. But that's not how it works. And you start to think, oh, sure, that song is going to keep playing.

And it might play forever. But me, I only get a few notes. And this march through time is endless. Yeah, but I only get a few steps. And so you start to ask yourself, why wouldn't you make sure? Like damn sure, why wouldn't you be positive with everything you had that those notes echoed into eternity?

And those footsteps took you to the places you most wanted to be. That dash, it symbolizes all that your life can become. So when you need it most, use it. Close your eyes and imagine the highlight, real of your life and ask did I spend that snapshot of time with the people that I loved most? Did I laugh? Did I follow my curiosity? Did I do the things that lit me up?

Did I chase down the meaningful? Cut off the trivial, invite in the beautiful. In this snapshot, there is a world of possibility. It's your reason to push because the reality around you. you now doesn't have to be the one that exists when all is said and done, when the dash is carved into stone. Today is not the end. Today is not permanent.

Today is where you begin the journey of recreating what that line will represent. The times in my life where I've found myself at my lowest, you know what saved me? It's never been the acquisition of something new. It's never been money or resources or even people. It was hope. It was belief that tomorrow can be different from today. And I can't control everything, but I can control that. I get to decide what that dash means, and that has always been enough to close one chapter

and start anew. So if you're questioning the road, if you're asking yourself why, it's because you are blazing a trail that's currently unmapped. You're designing something that doesn't exist. So understand that not knowing isn't a bug, it's a feature. You're designing something that you'll be able to smile about when you look back down over your life. And for those looking at the ceiling now, hitting the snooze button now, wondering why, and trust me, I've been there, it gets better.

And it will get better because you will make it so. You didn't come this far to let it slip away. You weren't put here to mail it all in. There is outside your front door, everything you need to live a life that excites you. Just decide to go get it. decide to craft something beautiful. It may look like just a line on a tombstone,

but it is so much more. It's symbolic of what you can have. The decision at your feet now, when life wasn't easy, when you were unsure, when finding meaning felt like trying to squeeze blood from a rock. The question is, did you remember your strength? Did you breathe one million? 1 million lifetimes into a single, seemingly insignificant, arbitrary line.

Imagine with me a toddler, let's say two years old, walking around a living room and picking things up. And the things that he or she's picking up, they're using for play. In other words, not the original use that these objects were designed for. The kid is picking it up and inserting it into his or her own worldview the way that makes sense to the child. There's not courage involved there. That's innate.

That's built into the kid, right? Like our lungs breathing in oxygen. It's involuntary. It doesn't need to be taught. But somehow, there becomes a point when this is no longer the case. When the object's intended use and history takes center stage, and the launching pad that was once our imagination now exists simply to stack supposed-toes and obligations. After all, we no longer need living room tents, flashlights, or tire swings.

For what? Our driver becomes not making mistakes, blending in, not failing, falling, or getting dirt on our hands. We won't hold life in the palms of our hands because we fear that life may crack. There's an ancient Japanese idea called Kinsugi, where when pottery is broken and altered, the pieces are collected and it's put back together,

glued with a golden lacquer. But the most important part of this process is that the newly constructed item has not lost but gained value. What makes this unique or special? It's the idea that it is a celebration of life. It's the original object plus authenticity. It now contains pieces of you

in your journey, in your world. See, truly living is not following orders or blending in. It's not seeking to avoid scratches or cracks. No, it's stepping out into the world and exploring. Testing, trying, and yes, at times, even breaking. Because it's in the reconstruction of these decisions that life becomes valuable. It's in failing and falling that we become strong.

It's in loss that we find gratitude. It's in not knowing that we find meaning and ultimately wisdom. This means doing what we did when we were two, even if this go through requires courage we didn't need back then. See, when the default is to preserve, we must ask what it is we are preserving. And I'm not discrediting the original. Be grateful for the status quo,

but pay homage to it, by building on top of it, by breaking and reassembling the status quo so that it transforms for merely an object to a banner, to a flag, to a battle cry. This world is yours, all of it, a canvas for your painting, a key to the door you want to walk through. But there must first be adjoining of that, which surrounds you, and well, you...

What you need most is the reminder that you need nothing at all. It costs zero dollars to begin. To see the road before you is one leading to upside. Oh, but this is the real world, one might think, and in the real world exists real and tangible obstacles. Sure. Obstacles that are solved, one by one when you move into them, directly into them. Ill-equipped, ill-prepared, not quote-unquote ready, but willing, willing to learn as you go.

That is, as far as I'm concerned, the only way to move forward into the abyss. As John Maxwell's explained, a car moving out of a parking space at night can't see the entire way home. But the lights illuminate enough to get out of the parking spot. And then out of the parking lot entirely. And then make a right onto the road and the next road, and then ultimately pull into the driveway landing at home. Too many of us don't get in and turn the keys because we, using the same metaphor,

can't see a street sign four miles down the road. We don't go because the problem wasn't solved before we saw the equation. We don't pick up the book because it wasn't fully comprehended before it was open. Life's not a game of answers. Life is a game of moving forward

without them. A game of picking up pieces along the way. Forget what you've done. Forget what's fallen short or not met expectations. What have you not done? What is your heart longing for? And yes, even the things that seem absurd and out of reach, even the things that when imagined feel like a complete reinvention of the self, the notion what will my friends think, my family think?

What will they say about the change or the pivot? If that's the voice of fear that speaks within you when you close your eyes and picture a new reality, perfect. A life of meaning always pushes back against the comfort of normal. A world of substance always forces you to step out of your former self and into the ideal. You require nothing to go. Nothing to believe, nothing to understand that life will be what you make of it. The beating heart in your chest is all the permission you need. Feel the life that is pumping through you now.

The opportunity moving through you. your veins. Capturing it is hard, sure. Obstacles are tough, no doubt, but bowing down to them. Not heeding destiny's call, that is the greatest adversary of all. It's time to step up and put an end to procrastination's lane, to strike a sword through the heart of regret, to step on the prospect of, I wish. You, in this very much, moment, have everything you need to do just. There's a place commonly referred to as the end of the world. It's in Saugras, the southernmost tip of Portugal.

Early settlers, before the age of discovery, looked beyond the rocky cliffs, out at the endless blue ocean and assumed there was nothing more. The sense of isolation and mystery and intrigue culminated into the belief that it was, in fact, the end of the world. I'm currently in Saugris now with my folks, where we've made our way to the edge of those rocky cliffs multiple times at sunset. And I can say it's probably the most incredible sunset I've ever seen.

The water crashing against the massive cliffs, the teal ocean, the fiery orange sky. Watching the sun sink below the water is nothing short of breathtaking. The end of the world. But of course, those early settlers were incorrect. It was not the end of the world. It was the end of the world as they knew it.

It was the end of their reality, of their understanding. Wasn't an end, it was a bridge to the next thing. They just didn't know. Sometimes I think we need to be reminded of the same. that where we stand on the edge of those rocky cliffs in our lives, they look like an ending. They look like, quote, the way things are. And so very often that's what we deem them to be.

But almost always, the possibility is restricted by our own personal snapshots of reality. We only see the world through the hole in the curtain we choose to be. appear through. That ocean stretches to foreign lands. That horizon with all its mystery and intrigue is not putting a border around the current moment. It's reminding you that the current moment is a bridge to wherever you want to go. That sunset in Sagres, at the end of the world is objectively beautiful. And I think even more so because it represents a stunning ending to one chapter, and a beginning of another. It is an appreciation of the now

and a simultaneous celebration of all that awaits. So as you look out from the cliffs at the horizon's open arms, as the sun sets and lights the sky ablaze, I ask you, when this world ends, where will your next one be? What's in store for you?

Maybe you didn't think to ask. Maybe you saw the towering cliffs and their jagged edges and thought, this is forever. And maybe you want it to be. Maybe you found your little slice of heaven. But for those in a different season, perhaps those stuck, those trapped, overwhelmed, lost, disappointed, tired, or just, simply ready to move on, I need you to know this. I need you to know that when the sun sets,

where the waves crash, and the world ends, something new always begins. It's not personal, but it's never personal. Life is not capable of giving you some vengeful. narrative or sad storyline, life can only give you pieces. You decide what to make of them, what to build with them, what they mean. Why'd you quit? Well, because things got difficult. I had to. Why'd you keep going? Well, things were difficult. I had to. It all comes back to the basic premise that our worlds are defined within. They're merely validated externally. And when you think about it, it becomes obvious.

Very rarely will someone see strength in you that you don't see in yourself. That doesn't originate internally. Very rarely will you be held to a higher regard than that what you hold yourself to. You dictate the world react. It is, in a way, almost funny that we look everywhere for solutions, except the place where solutions are manufactured. Tolstoy famously said everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Well, the quickest way to change your life is to understand that the quote-unquote bad things, they're just not personal. When people hurt you, those people are in pain, they're insecure. They're fighting their own demons. When the world seems to be falling apart around you, it's not that life is an enemy or adversary. It's not telling you no, it's just life doing life things. But those happenings, they don't have an agenda, they have no charge. They just wait for you to pick them up and provide meaning.

It seems to me that in most debates, for example, the one who stays calm and collected and locked in on the facts of the argument generally, you know, that individual has the upper hand. As opposed to the one who gets all worked up and starts screaming and reverting to insults, the conversation itself is not emotionally charged. At least not until that charge is inserted into the discussion. Now, imagine you sitting down in a. a chair face to face with fate. It's throwing facts at you, objective truths, realities of sorts.

You have to decide how that will be handled. What will you make of that information and where will you take it? Can you stay composed when you don't like what you hear, when you're not crazy about what you see? Can you detach yourself from it? Put a stop to those self-created storylines that, let's be honest, aren't tied to reality. You're capable of incredible things for yourself and others. When you're able to detach and depersonalize the inevitable disappointment and hurt that comes with growth. When you don't take the setbacks as a referendum on you as a person, but merely the next puzzle to be solved, because that's what every situation is.

A puzzle, a riddle, a code that must be cracked. Every challenge is tools being dropped at your feet in the universe asking, hey, what are you going to make of this now? So when you feel slighted by life, which happens, I think we've all been there. Do your best to remember that life is in no way an adversary. Fate is in no way an opponent. They're just providing resources,

opportunities. It's you who is the architect, responsible for what will become of what's been dropped around you. And I think when you can grasp that and change how you process reality, you also take the wheel and are able to then define reality. Most react. But the ones with emotional intelligence, the ones who can refer to, as Trevor Moad called it, neutral thinking with curiosity and confidence as opposed to pride and ego. Those are the ones who will change themselves, the people around them, and the world.

If you change how you look at life, life will inevitably... This is your reminder that it's not permanent. Whatever it is you're going through, whatever it is your... fighting, feeling, or up against, it's not permanent. It will subside in what you'll be left with is the calm and the peace and the power that was there the entire time just underneath the surface that never truly left. See, we tend to do something. And this something is the root of a lot of our struggle and pain.

This something is particularly in the moment thinking that what we're going through now will last forever. It's the misconception that it's not a temporary battle, but a life sentence. We're incapable of looking beyond the immediate. And I'm here now. to remind you it's temporary. It's all temporary. The question is not, will the storm pass?

The question is, even though it hurts, can you? Will you pick your head up and move through it? And I know in the storm it's hard to see anything other than those gray skies, the thunder, the lightning, the black. I'm not asking you to blink and see some imaginary sunny day. I'm asking you to keep walking even though you feel like you can't. I know it hurts. I know it seems crazy.

But I'm asking you to keep one foot in front of the other until once again you find yourself. Someone once told me success is often a matter of merely hanging on when most would be letting go. And that stuck with me. I think of it often because when I'm in pain, there comes with it an anxiety, almost a pressure, to find solutions, to remove the problem. What if it doesn't go away? What if this chaos is now just life? But that quote reminds me that I don't have to pull a rabbit out of a hat or run into any miracles.

I simply have to hold on. I have to believe in myself enough, trust in the process, enough to not back down or hide or cower. But continually, like those buffalo are said to do, move right into the heart of the storm. And know that when all is said and done, only one of us will remain, and it won't be the storm. See, what you probably don't hear enough is the world needs you because of sure who you are now, but who you'll be on the other side. And so the question is, will you commit to pushing through? What you probably don't hear enough is people need you.

Absolutely because of who you are in this moment, but also because you're the type of person who overcomes the storm and finds a way through. My question remains the same. Will you find the courage to meet those on the other side? There's one true thing about all storms. They come and they go. And we often can't control when, why, where, or how long they exist. Well, it's just sometimes life pulls the strings.

But we can be sure that if we hold on, and just keep going. Remember our worth. There's a world that awaits. One maybe you can't see now. One that might not even make sense now, but a new world entirely. I once heard a speaker from a stage.

Ask the audience if they want a $20 bill. Of course, everyone raises their hand. He crumples it up. Says, now who wants it? Everyone's hands still raised. He then proceeds what? What if I do this, drops it on the ground, stomps on it? Picks it up, shows the crowd, $20 bills and a ball all dirty.

Anyone still want it? All hands remained up. See, it doesn't matter what he did to the money. Value stayed the same. It's worth $20. Many times in our lives, he goes on to say, we do bad things or in bad situations, bad circumstances, we feel like we have no worth. But like that $20 bill, we never lose that value.

That value exists when you are in pain. That calm exists underneath the turbulence. That sun lives beyond the clouds. It's never gone or diminished because of one's current state. When all you see is what's not there, it's not because you're alone or that you've somehow diminished in value, it's because you're pushing through your story just as I'm pushing through mine. It's because you're seeing a crumpled up $20 bill and not its worth, not the true impact

that exists and that awaits. So whatever you do, keep pushing. Keep going. Keep looking for the other side. Whether you can see it now or not, it is waiting for you. And hopefully, innately, you understand that. Not because life as you hoped or wanted was returned to you, but because just like your worth, it was there the whole time.

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What if it's none of that? What if the real enemy is good? What? You might be thinking, good? Well, let's dive into the context. because in a nuanced world where so much lives in the gray space, the details mean a lot. See, I'm a reflective guy.

I enjoy thinking about these things, and I think that a happy life, not even a quote-unquote successful one. I'm not talking about finances or followers or sales or any of that stuff. I'm talking about overall contentment, feeling good. When I look back on my life, contentment was more often derailed by good than anything else. See, those blatantly unaligned things, the sharp pain, the oh hell knows, they're easy to avoid.

They shine so bright that we can't help but turn away. The good things, though, they are the wolves in sheep's clothing. They hide. It's hard to say no to good things. all, they're not pain-inducing. No, certainly not. At least in the moment, they are, however, a decision, a decision to take the good train instead of waiting for the great, the excellent, the incredible trains to arrive at

the station. Good is saying, yeah, I don't see anything terribly wrong with this. And from a distance, it checks out. And see, with that philosophy, what you're left with under these circumstances is a good life, time spent doing good things, surrounded by good people, making good progress, and hey, maybe good is enough for you. I'm not here to tell you what happiness should look like in your world. But I am here to say that life will give you what you ask of it. And if peak living is on the agenda, good simply cannot be. At least not consistently, at least not at

scale. I'm asking that you imagine a world where you spend your time doing things that you deem to be great that tap into your heart, your soul, your curiosity. They don't merely check a box. Their value isn't the no-news-is-good-news mantra. Their value is that they create a pathway to your soul and invite you to step into a beautiful, currently un-evolved version of yourself. What if you surrounded yourself with great people? Not people who were nice enough. Not people whose value is a mere lack of confrontation or constant tension. Now that should be a baseline.

What if you surrounded yourself with people who lifted you up? Who made you better? Who reminded you of life's finitude? Your short window to make an impact in your ability right now to do just that. Imagine what that would feel like. And if merely hearing these things seems preposterous and far-fetched, that means this message has safely arrived to your doorstep in the land of good you currently occupy.

I've heard people say for years, give up good and go for the great. I would hear that, I'd say, absolutely, I'd clap like a baby seal, nod my head like a golden retriever watching TV, TV, then I'd step out into the real world and see how very hard that is to do. Why? Because good is comfortable. And most importantly, good is not bad. The brain can be very easily tricked into thinking that's enough.

How terrifying the prospect of giving up no news in exchange for bad news. Shivers run down my spine. But, and you knew this question was kind. coming, will you give up no news for great news? What if there was a little boat tied to your harbor? And that boat symbolized avoiding failure, mitigating risk. It's living not for greatness, but to avoid mistakes. I think there are a few things that would be more freeing than walking up to that little boat,

cutting the bowline and letting it float away. into the distance. Why? Because the life of chasing down opportunity, of living for the upside, well it ignites the flame in you that's been waiting to burn, those parts of you, the ones you've been dying to explore,

and some you're probably not even aware of yet, they are ready to be set ablaze. Now is this something always front and center on my mind? is it something I always remember? Of course not. Which is what makes this point all the more important. I speak on this because every time I'm brought back to that point, my life is better.

I need the reminder, the thought experiment. The blatant misalignment in my life is easy for me to spot. But the good? The good is sneaky. In fact, if it weren't for a... friend of mine, a great friend of mine recently reminding me that it's hard to step away from the good. But good is not what my soul wants. It probably would have taken me longer to look around. That good boat would still be bobbing on the water's surface in the harbor

that is my mind. And I'm not naive. I understand the comfort is good, the lack of noise, the ease at first glance, sure, it works. But I've come too far to find comfort in the eye of the storm. I owe it to myself to fight through its walls, its winds, its turbulence, and find the skies that bring me contentment outside the storm's center. And I'm guessing that if you're listening, we're not all that different. And so if you're asking what's next, what must change, what must go, I hope you'll find the courage to free yourself of not only that which is detrimental,

but that which is good. I hope you'll find it within you to make space for the greatness in you that will light up your world. I have long believed that the solution to even our biggest problems, right, our toughest tasks, our greatest challenges, they can be solved, or at least the process of solving them can begin exactly where you are using only what you already have, right? Meaning the solution to your problem exists in the room with you, an arm's length away.

And you might hear that and think, dude, you know, That's way too good to be true. That's too idealistic. It's too simple. But what I want to try and explain over the next few minutes is how the most important changes we make in life. The things that matter the most, they're simple. Incredibly simple.

And it's only our tendency to make things unnecessarily complex that becomes the problem. One of my favorite thinkers, Thomas Sol once said, people who pride themselves on their complexity and deride others for being simplistic should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading the truth. And he's coming up this more societally from a political angle.

But I think so many of these things in the big picture and the macro, they make sense in the micro. Like I hear this, and I think, at a personal level, this is so true. You should see the things I come up with in my mind when I'm procrastinating or dragging my feet on something. This angle, that angle, what if this happens or that? Have I thought about A, what about B, what about C?

And I usually dance around these things until I remember, Eddie, we've been here before, no. Turn the internal dialogue off and start. Go, put the project into motion, breathe life into the pursuit. then it's off to the races. It's not that complicated. You go before you're ready and you adjust along the way. That's one example.

And a few weeks ago, this was sort of reinforced to me in a funny way. It's a seemingly trivial metaphor that I think in its simplicity can be truly valuable. So picture this, right? I was on a train. in Venice, Italy, big family trip. And so we'd all been overseas for about five weeks, so we're not exactly traveling light. We have pretty big suitcases,

the standard size you'd have to check if you were at an airport going onto an airplane. But we weren't on an airplane. We were on a train with tight quarters and big suitcases. Big crowds, right? So we board this train. People start piling into their seats. and I'm like, okay, what do we do with these things?

And I'm looking around, seeing if I could find a place to store them, I point to one of them, and one of the folks working there kind of just scowls and walks by. And it's like, okay, I get it. We're the Americans in Europe with the big suitcases. And it just becomes a circus, right? Now, there's an overhead compartment where you can put bags above the seats, but it just looks small, looks tiny. My brother and I were peering around.

We both see it immediately go, no, no chance that's fitting. So I'm like, okay, we'll put the bags on our seats and either stand by them or sit on the suitcases, let the people board the train. And then when everyone's sitting, we can move all our bags to the aisle. And, you know, we're solving this thing in real time. And suddenly, I just get this jolt of why not? pick up one of the massive bags and I just start jamming it into the overhead compartment

and, you know, people all the way up and down the aisle are staring at me like I'm losing my mind. I'm trying to condense the suitcase as much as I can. And after about 30 seconds, the thing somehow fits. My brother jumps up out of his seat,

we start grabbing the bags and jamming them all in his overhead compartment. Now, I need you to trust me. I feel dumb as I sit here even speaking this. Imagine how dumb I felt in that moment, right? This whole little traffic jam and commotion was avoidable. Didn't even really want to rehash this. I just want to let it fade into history.

But it's one of those things where it's like, the more you think about it, the more the seemingly obvious solution is the point. I'm drawing up a plan to sit on a 50,000, pound bag and all this unnecessary nonsense, when the thing just fit where bags are supposed to go. And maybe it didn't seem like it at first, but regardless. You know, the solution was right there in the overhead compartment.

You know, that's like dying of thirst right next to a lake. You're not too far from what you really needed there, pal. So now, let's take this to where it really matters, our personal lives. The things that weigh us down, the obstacles that feel big and ominous and intimidating. Resolving them must call for some larger-than-life response, right? There must be some 5,000-page answer book to encompass my solution here. Nah, not true. What's the simple, singular root of the issue and how can you attack it head-on?

There's an idea I've talked about before, but I want to bring up again about the idea of little hinges. W. Clement Stone once said little hinges swing big doors. Meaning there's certain small things we do that have just this monumental impact. It's just we aren't looking for them. We're not thinking about them the right way, as simple and obvious as it may seem. I'll give you a few personal examples.

Headaches. I've talked about them before. I've battled with them plenty. They've almost completely disappeared from my life, knock on wood. If that was my suitcase scenario, right, I was doing everything but addressing the root cause. Ibuprofen every day, seeing doctors, different medicines, cat scans, you name it. What helped?

Electrolite tablets. It's like I did everything but that. Sports injuries, right? constantly dealing with stuff. And I still am to some extent, but stretching has made a monumental difference. Just waking up in the morning and stretching for 10 minutes. Or my writing output. Having a block of time in the morning where every day I write no matter what.

Diet. Here's the magic solution. Don't have bad stuff in the cabin. I'm looking at you, Flaming Hot Shitos. These aren't of little concord. They're decisions that have drastic. changed my life. And I know they're right, because I look at them now and it's like, it just feels so obvious. Oh, look at the, you know, the rocket scientist over there. He started

stretching more, and now he doesn't pull his back every Thursday. But they only seem obvious in hindsight. When you're moving forward, they feel complex and messy and impossible. You know how difficult life feels when you can't open your eyes because of a headache? The last thing I was thinking was get some electrolyte tablets off Amazon. It was way bigger than that. It was I hope whoever has to cut my head open and perform surgery knows what they're doing. Right? We think the solutions need to be as painful as the problem.

No. The reason we're still there stuck in the issue is because we put the problem on a pedestal. And I firmly believe that. And so my ask of you is to take a second and think about your life, truly. Think about where you are and the so-called obstacles before you. And pretend you had to distill life down into its simplest form. If you had to, and I mean had to find a solution right now, where you are, where would you start? If you had to do one thing today that would give you the biggest bang for your buck, what could that look like?

Solutions are not as big as the problem. And I think that's why they're hidden in plain sight. I think that's why we walk right by them. We think we need a team of Harvard neurologists when we need electrolyte tablets. We're running around trying to camouflage five cases of luggage. When they can be squeezed in the overhead department labeled, yeah, I know, luggage. Use what you have where you are, because where you are, answers live. And maybe it doesn't fix the problem overnight.

But I promise you, it'll get you closer to a solution than the obstacle you've unknowingly transformed into a 7-foot-8, four-handed monster with razor-sharp teeth. You have this. You can slay this dragon and come out on top. Just one, believe it, and two, open your eyes. That combination seems to work. Miracles. When something must be done, pick up your head, roll up your sleeves, and attack it.

Why? Well, to put it simply, your future self will thank you. There's a powerful anecdote about adversity that deals with cows in Buffalo. And what's the difference? Picture the cows outgrazing in a field. A storm is approaching. They hear it. They see the gray clouds moving in.

The cows will attempt to do is run away from the storm. Now, obviously, cows cannot outrun a storm. it inevitably catches up to them, and because they're trying to run away and everything's moving in the same direction, the cows end up being in the storm longer than they would have if they simply stayed put. The buffalo, on the other hand, approach it differently.

They hear the storm, they see those clouds coming, and what they will do is run directly into it. They'll attack it. And sure, they get the chaos in the wind, and they find themselves in the storm center with the turbulence, but also because of this initiative,

it's gone sooner. It passes them sooner. Leaving a very relevant and important message for life. You never win running away from what must be done.

You can't escape the turbulence. It has to be approached and attacked. In a way, it's the perfect metaphor for taking on life's problems, not waiting them out or even worse, running away, but going at it with everything you have. Because only then is the issue result. Things, as much as I wish it weren't true,

generally just don't go away. And if you want to empower yourself, if you want to capture meaning, in an often perceived to be meaningless, world, own this situation. When others would run away, let's run in. When others rely on hope, let's be the ones who seek out solutions. I remember years ago now, Jock O'Willink answering a question on procrastination, and he said

something along the lines of, when you train your brain to attack the outstanding items in your life, you win. When you know you have to, but don't want to, that's when you must. Not even because it's more virtuous, but because it's practical. Because it turns the reason most people falter into the reason you will win. That storm, those clouds, that chaos, believe it or not, is all working. for you. It's an opportunity to rise up and collect your win. Find your strength, empower yourself. It's moving directly against the crowd. It's swimming upstream, making a statement.

If confidence is earned, then my friends, it is earned when the skies are dark. It's earned when the sun is gone, it's earned when every impulse says run, hide, save it for later. If you can stand up then, in those moments, you move beyond being a victim of the storm or even a survivor of the storm. No, you become greater than the storm. You become truly unstoppable. Not because you did any far-fetched or out of this world, but because when most ran out, you ran in. You picked up your head. You rolled up your sleeves and took it head on. And that's the courage that your future self will thank you for.

That's the decision that means everything. If what you want doesn't exist, build it. I had a teacher in elementary school that would say, the last thing you want to do is walk around, walk through life with your hand extended, hoping fate would give you what you wanted, hoping destiny would magically drop what you needed into them. And it's like, as a kid, it made sense, noted. Right?

Don't look for handouts. Take initiative. Take action. It's an important message to hear. But as an adult, I look back and think, well, maybe that's just part of it. I think it also means in life, you need to be the painter of your own portrait. You need to be the architect. Not just someone sitting on the sidelines criticizing what's already been made, not just a silent observer.

And that mental switch or transformation ended up being incredibly valuable. Most people simply aren't doers. Most people don't initiate. In fact, most people sit on the sidelines and react to the doers. Most people don't build. Most people complain, condemn, and criticize that which has already been built. You know, we talk about Teddy Roosevelt's man in the arena. Well, growing up is realizing everyone's in the arena.

Most people just happen to be in the stands, reacting. And so, if you wanted strength, I aim to provide that strength. It is, as far as I'm concerned, understanding that you have control over way more than you think you do. If you don't like where you are, guess what? you can change the environment. If you don't like who you're with, guess what? You can adjust your circle.

If you look in the mirror and don't like the reflection, you can chip away at those things about yourself that create dissonance. If there is a hole in your world, don't accept the lack as merely part of life,

but seek to fill it. If life feels mundane, seek adventure, purpose, and growth, if things feel too fluid, chaotic, uncertain, then find some grounding. The point is, life changes when we stop hoping that we will be handed solution. It changes when we ourselves become that solution.

The human condition, our inclination, is to point out at the world. It's to blame. And I know it feels incredibly good to do that. natural to do that. But oh, the power, when one merely takes that finger and points it directly at their own chest. When one says, well, what can I do now? I don't like what I'm doing for work? Well, think of the luxury of living in a time where we can gravitate towards work that we love, and why not begin that journey? These relationships don't lift me up or invigorate me. In fact,

they make me feel small, well, how beautiful that we don't have to tolerate that. How incredible that if it's not for you, you can walk away. I would love a community that does X, Y, and Z, if only. Nah, no more if onlys, go build it. Go find that. Go be a connector. Bring the right minds together. Create the support that you wish existed.

Life gives us the pieces. Never forget that. It gives the tools and the resources. We just need to stop walking right by them, complaining about what's wrong and instead become the agents of change. Good ideas flow through you. Magic already exists within you.

Not to accept the world as it is, but to create one conducive to your dreams in your imagination. If what you want doesn't exist, you can be the one to build it. Remember that. The other day, a good friend of mine sent me a message that was exactly what I needed to hear,

exactly when I needed to hear it. And more or less, it's a paraphrasing of a quote that says, if you're going to be creative, you have to be in a state of play. And you can't be in a state of play if you're fearful, if you're worried about messing up or making mistakes. Here's something interesting I've observed. In order to build something, you have to be creative.

In a way, intentionally reckless. You have to take risks and put yourself out there. And then hopefully after some time living this way, the milestones begin to accumulate. But, and this is the shift I've noticed in myself, the more you accomplish or the closer you get to that goal, the more your brain wants to transition from creative to protector, from being bold to conserving. We want to hold on to what we've brought to life more than we want to innovate. It's protect the castle on the hill that was, ironically, born of your creativity to begin with. And I know this isn't the way I want to live.

But nevertheless, it's true. It's an example of me finding myself fighting with my biological wiring. Hey, courage got you here. It waters the seed of growth. It brought forth transformation. Abandoning it is a spiritual death wish. Yet, if I let myself run on default mode, and I know a lot of us are the same, courage just so happens to be the very first thing to go.

And so the question reverts back to, if you really want more of the excitement, more of the growth, the beauty in conquering life's obstacles, the meaning in diving headfirst into chaos so that it can be tamed and channeled. How do we place ourselves back into that state of play? That perpetual state of play. Back before I started my own business, I was working in the corporate world, creating onboarding curriculums for new high.

in the insurance industry. I would explain to kids out of college the basic ins and outs of the industry and why it was relevant. And one of the key ideas was risk mitigation. That's what insurance is, right? It's diversification of risk. I even think about it now. When I see my cell phone, you know, close to the edge of a countertop, my brain goes, no, no, no.

And I go to pick it up, place it to the center of the table or in my pocket. table or in my pocket where the likelihood of a $1,500 device falling and exploding on the kitchen floor is greatly reduced. And that's a good thing. Time and place, for sure. But in our personal lives, it also happens that the beauty, the fun, the excitement, and the growth takes place on the counter's edge. It is dancing through life's fringes that we...

find ourselves. There's some truth to the idea that, hey, we might fall from the countertop and crash onto the floor and you know what, fine. Be at peace with that possibility. It's not a call for recklessness but a reminder that a life fully lived is inherently more risky than one where you are safe. See, life is a game of trade-offs. Innovation comes from Play. Play is not safe because there is a largely increased likelihood of mistakes. There's freedom. There's exploration. It's removing the guardrails and immersing yourself into life. And if you feel stuck or that life has become mundane, perhaps it's because risk mitigation is taken the wheel and play has found itself in the backseat. Maybe it's that simple.

Maybe it's time to step outside and live again. To remember that play brings with it its mistakes, sure. But contrary to what our lizard brains want us to think, most mistakes are reversible. And using that same little metaphor, one's phone falling onto the floor and shattering doesn't mean a person can never make a call, send a text, or use social media again, right?

It's a temporary inconvenience in the grand scheme of things until they normalize. I think we want to live in a manner that makes possible the upside. Not one that hides us away and reduces the potential downside. Again, the quote, if you're going to be creative, you have to be in a state of play, and you can't be in a state of play if you're being careful. if you're trying not to make mistakes. So take some time and think.

Ask the questions that if you don't ask yourself, will very likely go unanswered forever. What does play mean to you? What does it look like? And is it time for you to step back into that feeling? You being here alive today comes with odds said to be one in four hundred, $100 trillion. Essentially impossible.

If you want to look around for miracles, look no further than the mirror. And so don't lock yourself away until that ride expires. Don't spend your time protecting mediocrity. Step outside and cash in that check. Invite the play, the uncertainty, the mistakes, and the growth. Because as far as I know, there is no sense. situation where one regrets inviting into their soul more of life. There's always something that can be done.

Sometimes that something is micro. It's the smallest step in the right direction. And sometimes that thing is macro. massive action. It's picking up and leaving when you know the time is past due. Or it's headed towards something beautiful that's calling your name. But every so often, the thing that must be done is the most challenging of all. Nothing. It's understanding the difference between motion for the sake of motion an actual progress. As the Stoics preached,

and the serenity prayer states, Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Well, sometimes understanding that something is outside the scope of your control is both the most challenging and the most necessary. After all, kicking and screaming won't change the weather.

Emptying every penny you have into the fountain won't make someone more honest, trustworthy, or reliable. No, those wishes get lost in the ether. Cross fingers may give you hope, but they don't change the world as it currently exists. I remember a few years ago now having a conversation with author Brani Ware, and her saying perhaps the most important things she's discovered over the years was the power of surrender. Surrender, younger me thought.

With my tightly packed schedule and perpetually rising levels of cortisol, you've got to be kidding me. Life's too short for surrender. Well, a few years later I'm realizing that perhaps I was correct and incorrect. Correct that life is too short to go all in on the wrong thing. Incorrect that the wrong things were a peaceful mind and an ability to accept certain reality is beyond us. Acceptance doesn't make you powerless. No, it makes you more powerful.

Because once you accept the things that cannot be changed, you can finally quit the whole Sisyphus and the boulder routine and focus on the things that actually light up your life. When we focus on that which is worthy of our focus, we become superhuman. I can't say for sure, but I'd like to imagine the Michael Jordans of the world surrender. They surrender to the location of the game. They surrender to who the audience might be. They surrender to who will be opposing them come game time.

They surrender to the weather, the lights, the time, the day, which allows them to focus only on scoring more in 48 minutes than the team they are playing against. Doing that well and consistently greatly diminishes the significance of all those other variables. Surrender is everything because it creates space for what matters most. Tom Brady didn't sit there all day refreshing the weather app before his games in Buffalo. He knew he couldn't control the weather, but he could control the game plan, and so he readied himself and his team accordingly.

I say this as someone who often feels inclined to refresh that metaphorical weather app in my own life. As though paying attention to mundane things outside of my control will alter my fortune or the outcome. Look, there's so much we can control. We are so powerful. Why let the trivial get in the way of our strength? I invite adversaries into our precious headspace when they do not belong. You very likely can't change the people around you. You, however, have control over how you internalize and respond to the behavior.

You can't change your DNA or your biological makeup, but you can very much control how you'll get the most with what you have. surrender to that which is beyond you accept it appreciate it even because once you do this you will finally be free free to grow the things that are yours the things within your control of which there are many I want to share a story with you. The other night, my brother was in town. So he's in Phoenix.

We're hanging out with our aunt, who's also in Phoenix. And she actually hasn't seen my brother in a very long time. So we're all catching up, having a nice dinner. And she tells us the story about my uncle, her husband, who passed away. And when she was with him in hospice, I guess one of the first. One of the things they do is sort of some type of checklist with questions and different things to just discuss and go over. And one of the questions for my uncle when he was sick was how do you want to be remembered?

And she said, you know, she remembers vividly asking him that question and him pondering it for a few minutes and saying one word, grateful. And I thought that was one of the most powerful. beautiful tributes to just life itself, to the people in his life, to everything. I don't think Hollywood script writers could come up with the more perfect answer, a more ideal answer. And it's something that I've been thinking about a lot,

just gratitude in general, that sort of perspective, that power we all have to choose. and how that sort of reinforced the gravity, the importance of having gratitude as a North Star. You know, we all have the ability to choose gratitude. And the older I get, the more I learn that it's not a small thing. One of the most important books I've read by Dan Sullivan, and Benjamin Hardy. I've referenced it a few times.

It's called The Gap and the Gain. And it talks about this sort of binary, this ability we have to either look at the gap, right? What's not there in our life that we want to be there, the things that are missing, the things that hurt us, versus the gain,

which is how far we've come in what we do have. have and how lucky we are. And it's funny, it doesn't matter the situation. There's always both. There's always a metaphorical shelf right in front of you and you can choose which one you want to take and how you want to see the situation. You know, I think something that I'm learning as well is that we all have natural predispositions. We have biological tendencies. How you view the world innately is not going to be the same as I do. Nature plays a role, right?

I need personal development. That's why I love it. That's why I've, in a way, made it my mission. I love philosophizing and diving into it. It helps me. Without it, I wander. Because my instinct is not, I am so happy. Let's find the positive here, right?

It's training the mind to say, ouch, this might hurt, but where's the value? And at the end of the day, that's fine. Because I get there, ultimately, right? And I scream that from the mountaintops because we can all do that. We can all look around and say, hey, there's something to be grateful for here.

There's value here. Even in the darkest moments, even in our suffering, there is value. You know, and in that book, gap versus the gain, that's what Dan Sullivan says. You know, especially as entrepreneurs. It's like, if you're ambitious, it's very hard to see anything but the gap, where you want to go, right?

We're impatient. We want it now. But how lucky are we to even be afforded an opportunity to bring something into existence? It's not lost on me that so much. much of what I talk about is first world. Right? It's like if you're not happy with your life, fix it. You can. That's a luxury to be able to do that. Right. There's a time and place where it's like, I just need food. I need water. I need shelter. Right. I need to hide from violence or, you know, to be violent myself, whatever it is, right? And so we're in this sort of

place in time where we can really make the most of life and why shouldn't we? But I think, you know, with that comes the reminder, we have to understand how lucky we are and how much we have. And, you know, I've said it before, that is, it's armor. To choose gratitude is to choose armor. It's to make yourself stronger. It's to strengthen yourself. I was with my brother the other day.

We were in Sedona, Arizona. And I just found out that my car, when we were in Sedona, some rodent got under it and chewed the front trunk sensor and some wire harness. Clearly I don't know much about that stuff. And so with Teslas, when something's wrong like that, an alarm goes off, like just an obnoxious alarm, and it doesn't stop. It just goes until, you know, you can get some type of, you know, you have to bring it to a mechanic.

You have to bring it to one of their folks who can take care of it, but there's no way to override it. And I'm on the phone with them. I'm doing sort of the restart on the computer, on the car, nothing. So that means every time we got in that car for that entire road trip and beyond, there's this just obnoxious alarm. that by the way, when you turn the music up, the alarm goes up to match the music. It was almost comical, right? But at first, it's incredibly frustrating.

And especially because, you know, they were saying that I couldn't get an appointment for like 45 days. I'm like, so you want to tell me for 45 days, I'm going to be driving around with a siren going off in my car? We got it taken care of sooner. But it brought me to that moment, right? The gap first, the gain. Because you feel angry.

It feels stupid and unnecessary. Why is this happening? This is obnoxious. Then you think, what a problem to have. Poor me. My Tesla is making a sound while I'm on a road trip with my brother in one of the most beautiful places in the world soaking in the scenery. This is when you're going to throw a tantrum, right?

And it's that same idea. There's just, it's so easy to be angry and overlook the good. And I say that not to be cliche. I say that because it's really become a superpower for me. And I want to share that with you. That's what I do. I share my wins.

I share my losses. When I discover something that I think is meaningful or powerful or impactful, I want you to know. Because some of the biggest changes we make are little alterations to our perspective. And so every time you're angry, picture that shelf. right in front of you, and there's the gap and the gain.

Two things, right? There's a reason to be grateful or resentful. There's the choice to move forward or to be slowed down. And you reach out and you pick up the one you want to pick up. They'll always be there. And so if you start becoming accustomed to picking up the gain and the gratitude, and the value. You'll see that, you know, in this game of life,

you're not a puppet, you're the puppet master. You know, Victor Frankel talked about in his book, the one thing that can't be taken away from us is our attitude. It doesn't matter what's going on around us, what life is presenting. Attitude can't be taken away. Your gratitude is always there, so. Whatever you're going through, good, bad, in the middle,

think of that shelf, think of the value that you can pick up at any moment and use to better yourself as opposed to these narratives that we create that hold us back or make things seem harder or put us in that gap unnecessarily. In a world where you can be anything, choose to be grateful. Do you ever wonder how many times you gave up right before you were about? to succeed. It's an impossible question because you can't possibly know the answer. There was an anecdote that was said to me once that was many of life's greatest accomplishments were achieved by people too ignorant of the odds to know that they were quote unquote impossible. I just love the

concept. And when you sit with it, it's a riveting thought. Like, how many times did you stop just short of what maybe wouldn't have brought you to the peak of the mountain, but would have created that momentum or, you know, been a slingshot for that trajectory? There's kind of a funny story with one of my good friends. He's quite a bit older than me, but back in the day in Florida, we were business partners on a few things, still great friends with him. And, you know, there was some overlap in our circle, obviously. And, you know, down the street there was a like a yoga slash interval training studio. And we went to that a few times.

And he met this girl there who, you know, her and a few other people sort of became our our circle. Like, we'd have coffee every once in a while together, all of us. And, you know, he was all about this girl. And I'd check with him, by the way. It's okay that I'm telling this story. But, you know, he would ask her out or allude to, like, you know, grabbing a drink or dinner. And it was like, she just kind of wasn't hearing it, wasn't feeling it, which is just, you know, that's life in the big city, right? Sometimes it, sometimes you shoot your shot and it works, sometimes it doesn't. And, you know, he would, he was persistent.

You know, not in a bad way. I know you can easily conflate this to be something bad. It was in a charming way, right? And I remember being in the car with him, and he was talking about her, you know, asking her to go on a trip or something like that that he was going on. And I said, hey, dude, at what point? Are you going to throw the towel on this? Like at what point has your ego taken enough of a beating?

At what point is your pride, you know, taken so much that you just walk away? And it's one of these moments I'll never forget, you know, Eddie, she only needs to say yes once. I laughed and I said, okay, dude. And a few years later, they're engaged and probably the happiest couple you know, I've ever seen. They're always together. They're just always laughing. They're just, they have this beautiful thing.

And, you know, it's the same question. Like, how many times do we stop just short? Like maybe the time he asked when her plans fell through and it was her favorite restaurant or whatever it was, right? And again, I want to be very careful with this because, like, you know, it can't. can be conflated or blown out of proportion. He's a very respectful human being.

But it's just, it is a, for me, a perfect metaphor of like just stopping way before you've gotten what you've wanted in other areas of life. You know, it's like, I remember John Paul DeGioria talking about, hopefully I didn't butcher's name, but way back, it was one of the first speeches they ever wrote. You know, when a door closes in your face, it could be the very next door.

And so you have to depersonalize failure and keep knocking. And I think I'll speak for myself, like one of the things that you're sort of sheltered from in a lot of, or I was in my old world where, you know, things were very structured and predictable. When you're sort of out on your own in the wilderness, building something, starting your own business, you know, knock, on doors, reaching out, creating things, seeing what works, you learn that failure is part of the process, that rejection is just, it is an important character in the story. And if you let it define you, it will. Right. The thing about progress in a particular endeavor is that life doesn't stop. You choose. right so I can tell you some projects I've worked on that man they just I thought they would be game-changing

I thought they would be life-altering I thought they would bring value to millions of people and look sometimes they just swing and miss and it's very easy to look around and go maybe I'm not good enough maybe I'm not what I thought I was right the mind will write stories for you if you let it but it's like no, this is just a door that was shut in your face. Go knock on the next one. And the funny thing is, the thing that takes off, or the thing that is perceived well, that does add value, oftentimes isn't even much different from the thing that was rejected.

It's a slight pivot. It's a slight alteration. And so I say all of this to put in your brain that so many of the things we want in life we stop short. And I like to think of almost. I like to think of, you know, the best-selling book that was almost written, right?

Imagine Jake Haraling picks up the pen and goes, ah, maybe later. When Michael Jordan famously, you know, cut from his varsity basketball team, people don't talk about the fact that he was a killer on the JV squad for a while, but still, he looks around and he goes, And maybe basketball is not my jam.

There is that version of success for you in something that you will either say yes or say no to. You can't let outside circumstances dictate that in your world. You don't want to be a victim of almost. Because some of the most important, most powerful things you will ever do live on the other side of almost. They live behind mountains of almost. If you're looking around and you're going, hey, this isn't for me, this isn't what I thought, I've tried, I've dabbled.

I'm not really feeling it. That's different. But the world does not get to dictate your story. You do. And this is obviously not in the same narrative as dating. This is like life, right? It's like the world cannot tell you when to stop or what's enough. You decide that.

You take in the information, in the pieces. You know, you take all these variables and you decide. Right. Don't forget how much power you have there. Don't forget how fragile our egos are and how we're always tempted to stop when things become difficult. You only need one yes in many situations. The question is not whether that yes is out there.

The question is, are you willing to keep stepping towards it until it?