Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - DON'T GIVE UP ON YOURSELF | Powerful Motivational Speeches | 1 Hour

Episode Date: December 16, 2024

What if today wasn’t just another mark on the calendar, but a turning point in your story? Each day holds the potential to be mundane or monumental—it’s up to you to decide. There’s something calling you, something you’ve dreamt about, but have been putting off. It’s there in the back of your mind, waiting for you to act. Today is your invitation to give meaning to the ordinary, to breathe life into your aspirations, and to ignite the courage to begin. You don’t need anyone else to show you the way—you already know. Deep down, you know what step you’ve been avoiding, and today is the day to take it. Because when you bring light to your own world, you illuminate the path for others, too. So, what will you make today mean? Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

Today, it can mean absolutely nothing. Just one of many. Insignificant. Not so much good or bad is another X on the calendar. Or today can mean everything. And that's quite the contrast to hear me out. My point is, you can right now make today matter. Like in this moment, you can bring significance to an otherwise bland, monotonous endeavor.

You can bring light to a dark room. How do I do this? Well, that's what's great. You already know. I don't. You do. You know what's been calling you, because you know that thing you've wanted to try, begin, or explore. You know that thing you've been putting off. You know, because you think about it.

In fact, you probably think about it a lot. You close your eyes and you dream about a world where you had the courage to simply do that thing. We all do. The other day I was sitting in the sauna listening to Sir Jordan Peterson's new book. Read all this stuff in my eyes. The man is legendary. For some reason in that moment, I'm sitting there, I'm listening, and it dawns on me, this is not what I need right now. My brain just can't go there for some reason. My soul's trying to speak, so I convince myself to listen. Inputs become outputs.

And what's lacking for me in this season of my life is excitement. It's adventure. It's inspiration. And so I point all the spotlights to this realization. For the next X number of weeks, I immerse myself in story. It's fiction now for me. Leave home, do things, not forever, but break the cycle. Rent a cabin in the woods.

Walk places you've never walked. Run places you've never run. Push creative boundaries. Try new things. Listen, because you know what you need. And so I mentioned this to Ashley, who's a big part of the team over here. Send her a picture of some books I have on Audible that I've never read.

You know how we do that? Most books are purchased and not consumed. Guilty is charged. And she says, oh, tale of two cities. I have that one, too. Let's both read it. And so it begins. It was the best of times.

It was the worst of times. In the beginning of the book, there's this note explaining that Dickens didn't write this all as one book. He released it to the public as a series of individual pieces, one part at a time. Though they've obviously come together to comprise one of the greatest novels ever written. And so I hear that and I press pause. Whoa. What did you just uncover here? How different this approach must feel?

Setting aside the novel in totality to make each individual contribution impactful. I guess the same way a Netflix series is so intriguing. We're not watching one 10-hour movie. That would be absolutely brutal. No, but we'll sign the dotted line to watch 10 one-hour movies back-to-back-to-back-to-back, to back-to-back, no question. Each one with a different problem to be solved. Whether we realize it or not, each little episode, while contributing to the overall plot,

has its own beginning and middle and end. Each one is a journey. Each episode contains a cliffhanger, a bridge to what's next, and how badly do we want to know what's next? So why we're so intrigued. Why we gladly jump from one chapter. to the next. When something feels good, there's a reason it feels good.

Maybe I need to stop looking at my life as a movie and start looking at it as a Netflix series. Where my day is not some arbitrary chunk of time carved out to contribute to this nice, linear, long-term unraveling of a plot. No. Let's give this baby a pulse. Let's make it mean something,

a little hero's journey within the hero's journey. Let's give today life. As if I was planning to put a bow on it and share it with the world the second that sun sets behind the mountains and stars trickle the way into the night sky. Let's make today binge-worthy. I want to be screaming from the couch how badly I need to know what happens next. That's the world that must be created. Oh but there's no Charles Dickens here. There's no Netflix producer. There's one author. And just like before, you know them well. And if you don't, go look in the mirror and introduce

yourself. That lovely face staring back will do more for you than anyone you could ever meet. You want excitement, inject the excitement. You want more noise, make more noise. You want a reason to tune into episode two. Write that reason in. You can do that. I swear to you, you can do that in your own life. And in the story of our lives, which sounds a lot like the soul. soap opera and my mother would listen to when we were kids, but I digress. Focus in the story of our lives. All this beautiful must be cultivated by us, by you, by the doer. You have more control than you think you do. You have more control than you can even fathom. And from your end, it might be like, yeah, okay, I've heard this. Sure, you've heard it, but have you heard it? Do you believe it?

you're so much more powerful than you think. If you just drop a little more of that into every day, imagine what the product could be. And I'm not sitting here begging you to be more of someone else. I'm proposing, I'm showing you what could happen. If you gave a little more life to a little bit more of you, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, whatever. All of the time is your time.

Every day can be your day. Just write it into the damn story. Let it be soul. Stop hushing your soul and let it drive your character arc. Today can be nothing or it can be everything. Do with that information what you will. Everything happens for a reason. That's what they say.

But what's not often said is that you get to decide what that reason is. Every occurrence is a tool, only as valuable as its utilization. In other words, as the famous saying goes, it's not what happens. It's what you choose to do about what happens. A great painter wouldn't let a dollar store paint brush and cheap paint get in the way of excellent. No, they'd find a way to transfer their genius to the world. I remember, you know, growing up a Red Sox fan. And Boston's one of the toughest environments for athletes to play in.

Just because of, you know, the pressure of the city, the media, the fans, you know, every pitch is scrutinized. There's a very, the expectations are high there. sometimes even unrealistic, you know, and that was the situation, that was the reality. And I remember seeing players join the team, and some of them would just light up. They would thrive in that environment where every pitch is watched, you know, every game is talked about. They'd show up and they'd feed off the energy, and then there'd be some players that would fold like a lawn chair. The pressure was too much. players that, by the way, were stars in other cities.

Another way of saying, you know, same situation, same resources, different outcomes. Different players built different realities with what was at hand. And that's one example of many I could give, right? But the idea here, if you think big picture, is that life is an infinite assortment of tools. It's not provided to you pre-assembled. It's there for you to build. Reality is your responsibility. You've just been handed supplies.

End of a relationship. You're sad. I've been there. We've all been there, right? So what are you going to do about it? What are you going to make with it? And that might seem insensitive, disheartening, even impossible while you're going through it.

But if you want to build something precious from the pieces that remain, you can. As crazy as that might seem amidst the storm, you can. You can take what you've learned, you can pick your chin up, you can find out in the world what you thought you already had. Or let's say you had an opportunity of some sort fall through the cracks, and you wanted this opportunity. You wanted it bad. You thought the deal was sealed, the reality's different, it's gone.

Missed it, swing and a miss. So what now? Again, same question. What will you build a statue to remind yourself that you're not good enough? Or a bridge to the next thing? Will you allow that disappointment to become armor that you wear? And that's exactly what it is. It's like you just, you lost.

You know, you scuffed your knees. Maybe your ego's hurt. Your pride's hurt. You told people great things were going to happen and they didn't. Well, you look to your left, look to your right, maybe you realize, hey, I'm still here. Life is still going on. Maybe worst case is not that bad.

And maybe I can take that knowledge and that confidence onto the next thing. Maybe I can be a little bolder. Live with a greater sense of curiosity. Be more determined in my exploration. Everything happens for a reason. So why not manufacture the best reasons? Everything happens for a reason. So why not reason your way into that ending that's meaningful?

I point to 26 is the age I learned that I can choose my own outcomes, create my own reasons. Because prior to that, it was, you know, this is the hand I'm dealt, so this is what I'm supposed to do. This is how life is supposed to happen. happen but there are no supposed tos none zero there's what you choose to build with what you have and by the way indecision is also a decision not doing anything at all is often the same thing as building a cage around yourself but that news hit you

like the miracle that it is sure it's tough it's humbling but the truth is everything around you, what you call reality you've chosen. You've allowed to exist the way it is, and you're capable of changing that at any moment, redefining the quote-unquote reason. So perhaps it's not as much that everything happens for a reason, as much as it is that everything happens. The reason is entirely up to you. The most important promises are the ones you make to yourself. Of all the people on planet Earth, it's most critical that you believe you. That when you commit, you show up.

When you make plans, you follow through. When you tell yourself you'll do something, you actually do it. Here's what's interesting. Being that this is, I believe the North Star. I'm consistently chasing down this standard, right? Trying to be better and better and better at following through. I clearly think we all should, but keeping promises to yourself is different than keeping promises to others. When you let other people down, especially those close to you, you feel the social repercussions.

And for human beings, negative social repercussions are painful. We care greatly about our reputation. Don't want to let others down. Don't want to be known as the person who doesn't show up. And that's incentive enough to push us towards following through with others. But with yourself, where do the repercussions go? What are the consequences? You tell yourself, today is the day.

I'm starting. beginning, trying something new, and then you don't. There's no phone call with someone on the other end saying, hey, where were you? Hey, you promised. Hey, you owed me this. No, when we break promises to ourselves, it seems like the situation, after maybe a second or two of disappointment,

just floats away into the ether. It feels as though there is no substantial cost. But I actually think those broken promises stick around. I think we wear them. We feel them. We see them when we look in the mirror. And sure, maybe there isn't that friend or family member staring us down with disappointment in their eyes. But how we see ourselves changes.

Every broken promise to yourself reinforces the idea. that not having high standards is okay. Every time we let ourselves down, it supports a narrative that being let down is normal, par for the course. If you don't show up for you, it begs the question, why should others show up for you? Why should others follow through?

When you wouldn't even do it for yourself? I've always believed that so many facets of life start internally and are projected out. How you see yourself, treat yourself, is the sun around which all that other stuff revolves. The world will notice and act accordingly. It will conform to the standards you create for you. So let's work on those standards. Let's make it so there's skin in the game.

So that when we break promises to ourselves, say, ah, not today, or this is good enough for now. that we understand the magnitude of those decisions because they're not insignificant. They're crucial. And sometimes we have to highlight the consequences of what we don't do. Sometimes we have to make ourselves truly feel the opportunities we let slip away. As though we did actually hold them in the palms of our hands. There is a price to letting yourself

down and perhaps there's power in quantifying it. There's an idea that, you know, life isn't really you versus anyone or anything else. It's you versus you. And just like you would never let a stranger talk down to you or tear you apart, why would it be okay for you to talk that way to yourself? Right? Like if a friend says he's going to meet you for coffee at 7 a.m. every morning and never shows up, In what world would you keep driving there, sitting down, waiting, brushing it off, and rinse, repeat? Of course not.

You'd look around and go, this is crazy, I don't deserve this, I'm better than this. Your defenses would kick in, you'd make adjustments. And just as you shouldn't tolerate it from someone else, you shouldn't tolerate it from yourself. Because you're better than that. Growth is a game of, one, identifying what's important. Two, creating small steps that move you in that direction. And three, following through on those steps. Right, that's the formula.

Being there for yourself when you fall. Hey, get back up, right? Falling is an indicator of progress, courage, and strength. Being there for yourself when you don't want to. Hey, I know you're tired. I know this doesn't seem fun right now, but you committed and think about how good it's going to feel when you're done. Being there for yourself when you know there's more in you,

but that voice in your head is tempting you to pack it all in or call it a day. Hey, it doesn't matter what that voice in your head says. is no negotiating you already made up your mind. See there's power and simplicity. Find a target aim shoot. And although life is turbulent, there are certainly highs and lows. We are at our best when we decide what's important, initiate the journey, and show up. When I set the alarm clock, it can't be about rationalizing sleep. That be able to be able to be. can't be about X many hours. No, it merely signifies a promise.

It cries out, hey, remember what you said right before you closed your eyes last night? Well, time to bring that to life. So sure, that means be careful of the promises you make to yourself. Don't take them lightly. But once they are etched into the universe, they must be law. And I'm not talking about failure to adapt or try things.

or try things. I'm not talking about being stubborn. I'm talking about the initial follow-through that precedes all that. Will we do what we said we would do? And I'm not emphasizing, you know, making this the standard because life should be some perpetual boot camp,

but rather because discipline is freedom. Because when we go to bed at night knowing we set goals and meet them, we see ourselves as winners. People follow through on who they believe themselves to be. It's an endless feedback loop. You see yourself as a winner. You carry yourself as a winner.

You carry yourself as a winner and other people see it. They treat you as such and around and around it goes. So when you feel like skipping or procrastinating or quitting on yourself, remember that it's not just that immediate moment. It's not a little thing. It's one brushstroke on the mural that is your current reality. It becomes you. And again, you wouldn't let other people talk down to you.

So stop doing it to yourself. You wouldn't allow being stood up by others. So stop doing that to yourself. Become the king or queen of your own empire. Rule over yourself like it all matters, because it does. To keep the promises you make to yourself is playing off as. It's essentially building a bridge to the outside world so that you may go shape it,

as opposed to merely putting up your hands and living at life's mercy. Never forget how much control you have, how powerful you are, and that you don't need to convince others, you need to convince you You need to convince yourself during the highs, the lows, the ups and the downs, the sun and the rain. You need to be there for you. George Eliot wrote, it's never too late to be who you might have been. See, you are a storyteller, a creator of narratives. in what you see when you look in the mirror

are stories stories about your past I am the type of person who does X right X being an accumulation of history of things you've done you used to do and in theory you know there's truth to that we are what we repeatedly do

but here's where it becomes a problem when you confine yourself to that narrative When you become stuck there, when you are unable to become something new because you're telling yourself that's not who I am. Just because that was the narrative doesn't mean it always has to be. You can always pick up the pen and start writing a new chapter. I put on a green shirt last year, last month, every day last week. Therefore, I am someone who wears green shirts.

Therefore, tomorrow, I must put on a green shirt. It's who I am. Seems a tad ridiculous, right? Until you change the example a little bit. You know, I was called out recently for saying, I am a runner trying to put on weight. Building muscle in the past has been a challenge for me, right? Because I am a runner.

And I was. I was running seven to ten miles a day. Well, now, in the present, the story's changed. I've essentially stopped running, at least distance running. I'm focusing on the gym. And in a group setting with my trainer there, I recently said,

it's been challenging for me to put on weight as a runner. He looks up and he says, ah, limiting belief. You're still identifying yourself as what you were. And he's dead on. 100% right. That's an old story. I ran long distance for years.

Had a quote unquote, distance running body type for years. So what? Therefore, I'll continue to have a distance running body composition, It's the exact same thing as the hypothetical green shirt. Just because you were that doesn't mean you have to be that. Just because that's what you did doesn't mean it's how you must identify.

No, it's time to flip the script. And when you start unpacking this idea, you know, it gets crazy quickly. Like you realize how many areas in our lives we create these limiting beliefs, how much we have. adhere to or shackle ourselves, tie ourselves to old narratives. They're everywhere, right? I make $80,000 a year. I'm looking for a new job that pays about $80,000 a year.

It's like, why 80? It's just as arbitrary as 25, which is just as arbitrary as 175. Like, why can't you aspire to be more? Why don't you feel deserving of more? And I'm not talking about snapping your fingers, right? There's no magic involved in this. It's very practical. It's when you decide something is what you deserve or something is what you're going to be,

my friends, that's what you will get. You know, you have to decide you are worthy, you have to improve your worth, you have to see yourself as something different before the world will ever adhere to that or give you something new. You know what one of our greatest superpowers is? The reminder that we can change. change, that we don't have to concede or accept anything. If it isn't adding value in some way, it can be changed, transformed, mitigated. I think the issue is that sometimes we just forget that we are the ones telling the story.

I was reminiscing recently about 2013, 2014, commuting to work from Boston to Worcester with a friend of mine and didn't particularly love the job, right? And so on the commute, we would, you know, joke around every day, you know, and I put joking in quotes because we were truly hoping for it, right? It's like, you know, wishing we'd get a flat tire or something would derail the commute. And, you know, as time goes on, hindsight's 2020, you look back and you realize just how, like, weak and pathetic that is. Like hoping for external circumstances to guide you where you most want to go, because, you know, Because, you know, I won't speak for him, but me personally, I couldn't manufacture the courage to change, right? Not for a long time, at least.

Because here's the deal. No one was forcing me a gunpoint to be there. I didn't have to do anything. It was as simple as the story I told myself was every day, over and over again, this is what you're supposed to do. It doesn't matter if you like it or not. It doesn't matter if it lights you up. It doesn't matter if this is the best use of your skill set. This is what you do.

That was the narrative playing in my head, right? And therefore, it's what I did. Changing that thought pattern was one of the most challenging things I've ever done, but it's unequivocally true, that at any point I could have looked around and said, this isn't me. I'm going to start building a life that is. Eventually, I got there.

It just took time. And to one of the reasons I'm so passionate about, you know, trying to give others that nudge to empower people, you know make change in their lives as opposed to looking around and hoping outside circumstances you know push you to where you need to be it all comes back to that idea that we have way more control than we think we do we just have to be aware of the lines we draw around ourselves there are so many places where it's like oh we

can't step over there why I don't just never have right this is what I do is what I've done in the past so this is what the future must look like It's all story. Everything is story and any story can be changed or rewritten. No chapter must be a continuation of the rules from the prior chapter. See as George Eliot states, it's never too late to be who you might have been, to walk away from the narratives in your brain that can find you. When you know something's out of alignment, that's something we feel in our bones, by the way.

by the way. We know deep down that that's the truth. We just need to understand that what's happening now is not a life sentence. We're not confined to reality as it is. Again, your superpower is the ability to reinvent yourself. Just as acquisition is valuable and necessary, so is the ability to walk away. And on top of that, the ability to walk away usually precedes one's ability to let the important things in. You're only stuck if you believe you are. You're only free if you believe you are. Therefore, what you believe is not some supplemental things

sprinkled on top of reality as it exists. What you believe determines what reality means to begin with. I'm going to share one of the most important lessons I've ever learned, along with the different sort of unconventional way that I've learned it. So bear with me for a second while I set the scene. Last week, I did for the second time, what I refer to as a broken marathon. Let me explain what that is. It takes exactly 24 hours to complete.

And what it is, is at the top of every hour, for 24 straight hours, you run exactly 1.1 miles, which in totality adds up to a little bit more than the 26.2 miles standard for a Here's why it's tricky though. An actual marathon, like in the traditional sense, is challenging for obvious reasons. It's nonstop. It's incredibly tough on the body, the physical exertion, right? This, on the other hand, or what I'm referring to as the broken marathon, is difficult for an entirely different reason. Sure, it's difficult on the body, but it's the mental discomfort one endures trying to complete it that is true.

truly the obstacle because you know for someone in relatively good shape to you know at noon run 1.1 miles come back rest until 1 p.m. at 1 p.m. run 1.m. run 1.m. come back in a few minutes rest until 2 p.m. at 2 p.m. run 1.1 miles come back rest until 3 p.m. right you get the idea basically that's not that bad at least at the beginning, right? But here's what's tough. It's the little aches and pains you start having to navigate around as your body gets tired. It's the darkness and cold from midnight until 5 a.m. It's the sleep deprivation. It's at times moments of boredom and loneliness. I think most significantly, in my mind, it's that feeling that you don't even need to be out there doing it. It's all self-infravement.

which I'll get to in a little bit here. So we started at noon on a Thursday with the intent to going to, you know, roughly noon on a Friday the next day, straight through. But we did a few things a little differently. One, instead of going around the neighborhood, you know, I got some very close friends, and we went into the middle of the desert, decided to do it under the stars. Second is instead of running the 1.1 miles, we all put on rucking backpacks with 30 pounds in them and decided to rock or walk with those 30 pound backpacks for the 1.1 mile stretches. So a little different, mixed it up. And what I'm going to do now is break the 24 hours down into three chapters, which should immediately show you the parallels to life, right? It's surprisingly apparent. Chapter 1. Arriving. So we find a spot,

we parked the cars, set up a canopy to create some shade, we grab our 30-pound backpacks, and we go the first 1.1 mile lap or trip. It's easy, fun even, exciting. You know, we use the GPS on our watches to find the best 1.1 mile loop through the desert. Life was good. And I would say the first 10 laps or so fit that description. It's like the brain can't even comprehend how something like this can be difficult. It's a walk in the park. We're getting back, putting our feet up between laps, snacking on some sunflower seeds, just smooth sailing.

Then comes chapter 2. Darkness. And they say life can change quickly. I think few things epitomize that. more blatantly than the feeling of that beautiful sunset turning into complete darkness. It was us and the moon. By midnight rolls around, 1 a.m.

We have lawn chairs around the fire, people trying to get comfortable in their chairs, taking power naps. Some folks are taping blisters on their feet, stretching, trying to loosen up. It's incredible to me. how quickly the fun can leave the equation and unveil this sense of seriousness, right? It's like, oh, this is a thing now, you know?

And I learned from the last time I did one of these that the hardest part was waking up five minutes before, you know, you have to do the next lap when your body wants to sleep. So I decided this time to take a different approach. No sleeping at all, just cold brew, coffee drinks, you know, this is only 24 hours, tough it out. Into the darkness, headlamps illuminating the five feet in front of us as we navigated the emptiness of the desert. Could hear both the beautiful and eerie howling of the coyotes in the distance. A foot injury ended up taking out one of our buddies. Another one had his knees start acting up and threw on a few compression sleeves.

You know, it would certainly be dramatic to call it head. But it became very clear that this wasn't the cakewalk that the newbies thought it might be. It's very much a game of enduring, of turning the brain off and like a robot programmed to do one thing, standing up when the alarm at the top of the hour sounded and moving one step at a time. See, in these moments I can tell you exactly why it's so hard to continue moving forward. Because it's not that you can't. It's not that the 30-pound rucksacks are the adversary, or even the darkness, the sleep deprivation.

It's all those things combining, creating a little voice that whispers, you don't need to be here. This is silly. You're a 36-year-old dude walking through the desert for no reason. reason, you have things to do tomorrow and the next day, you're putting the important things in jeopardy, stop. Go sit by the fire. Go relax. You don't need this nonsense. And that's why the

dark is so dangerous. It tells you everything that is not conducive to your success. Darkness is a lobbyist for mediocrity. It's amazing to me. It's just how rarely it is that we can't do things. It's that we talk ourselves out of it. We rationalize. It's easier not to. Chapter 3, hope. Laps 19 to 24. The sun coming up, it's amazing how meaningful that is, in and of itself, the excitement, right? You made it through the heart. as part, the dark hours. Haven't slept in a full day, but somehow that light helps you find within yourself

another burst of life. You feel like if you can walk out of the other side of that, then the remainder's easy, nothing. Everyone's feet hurt a little more, right? Hamstrings were stiff. People aren't walking so much as they're limping around, right? Just the wear and tear. But your brain looks back and essentially knows you can navigate what remains.

Plus, you've come this far. Who waits until the sun comes up and, you know, quits then? That doesn't make sense. That's not a thing. And so you waltz on through chapter three. Maybe on one leg, but you do. And then you're done. Just like that, right?

This chaos you manufacture, this seemingly trivial, unnecessary trip with the guys suddenly makes sense. Because you feel in your soul like you just did something most people would not do. That ever elusive warmth that lights you up when you know you just personally evolved in the face of adversity. And so, you know, two days out looking back,

what am I left with? Well, two things, two very important things. The first is that in our darkest moments, there will, period, always, there will be a voice whispering that you don't need to be doing what you're doing. It will be highlighting off-ramps, alternative plans, it will be making excuses for you telling you that it doesn't matter. There are other ways, options, avenues to explore. We'll light that metaphorical fire and say, hey, it's warm over there. So just sit there. After all, this isn't a requirement.

This isn't defining. But if you can find the strength to march straight through that moment, to carry yourself right into the heart of the night, you'll see that it mattered more than you could have ever believed, because knowing you're the type of person who endures, who doesn't stop, when you take the ruck off and leave the desert, it becomes who you are.

Starting a business is a ruck through the desert. That first month where it's hard to make ends meet, where the customers aren't what they, you thought they'd be or hoped they would. Very easy to say, oh, maybe this isn't that important. Maybe I'll just take the backpack off and sit by the fire, right? What do you do? Maintaining a healthy relationship is a ruck through the desert.

Passing the class in school is a ruck through the desert. That's the gift that 24-hour stretch presented to me. Eddie, when it's darkest, what will you do? And second, having done two of these now, I can attest to how incredible it is to be around people on the same mission, to push and inspire one another, to help keep the fire lit, share supplies, laugh from time to time about how random the whole thing is. But to keep that flame burning. When people around you grit their teeth and step into the darkness, makes it a hell of a lot easier for you to do the same. So surround yourself with people who, when that alarm clock

goes off at the top of the hour, suit up, and start walking the path. Hemingway once wrote, the world breaks everyone down, and afterward many are strong at the broken places. Well, I would encourage you to push beyond normalcy. Just far enough to crack, far enough to let the light shine through. We endure broken marathons, because when we put ourselves back to the reflection in the mirror towers over what once was. We let life break us down in order to construct what we otherwise could never have had. And so let this be your sign, your reminder, whatever you want to call it, when the voice whispers in your ear that it doesn't matter,

let this be a promise that it does. Let this remind you that you are strong enough to crack, to crack and let that light shine through. Imagine with me a world where you stopped segmenting out the difficulty in your life as other than, where you stopped seeing the turbulence as an obstacle. Imagine with me life as a symphony, where everything works together to create the whole. Where the high notes, the low notes, the pauses, the rest, the tempo changes, all contribute. to the overall theme.

None of it's unimportant or dismissible. How could it be? Without the low notes, the high notes don't mean anything. Without the rest, you don't get the satisfaction and the power of the moment that music re-emerges. In fact, it was the contrast that created the magic to begin with. All of it is needed. Even when you don't understand why. You don't know that this is needed.

this slow beginning, the breaks, the tempo changes, that it will all be the reason you are soon awed by the crescendo that awaits. And how could you? It's one flow. The journey points in one direction. You are in this for the ride. See, in our lives, the obstacles, the chaos, the confusion, they hurt. They're unsettling. So the inclination is to dismiss them, to push them away.

This isn't what I need, this is void of value, so get rid of it, we tell ourselves. When in reality, those things are integral components to your song. They are what culminate into your final piece. They're bringing you to that crescendo. It doesn't mean you have to love the challenging times, of course not. But it does mean we should understand that even though we can't see it unfolding before, our very eyes, it's all playing a role. My hurt made me stronger.

My struggle injected meaning into my life. It made this song richer, the sound sweeter. Today is what it is because yesterday was what it was. And I know when I'm face to face with something that my gut instinct deems to be detrimental, that two things can in fact be true at once. that I need to work to write the ship, to repoint the compass, but also understand that the storm wasn't void of significance.

The valley wasn't all for not. It's gifted me new oceans to cross, new mountains to climb, and new perspective as I peer out over the view. So as you move through the dark, as you navigate the chaos of night, know that the light you're chasing, is only meaningful because of the depths you are emerging from.

Life beyond these shadows is not where the world begins. It's a continuation of an already beautiful journey you're on. It's your symphony in totality. See, the time will come when you'll look back and you'll be grateful for the so-called inconveniences that surround you now. Your heart needs the contrast that this adversity creates. Your soul depends on the hardship to understand the magnificence of life.

It's why now, when it hurts, you must keep going. You have to keep going. You have to let the notes materialize into the beautiful song it will become. the masterpiece it was meant to become. I was taking a walk a few days ago and was listening to an audiobook called 10x is easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy. And this is a book essentially about how exponential growth

requires a reframing. A change to the way we think about ourselves and the journeys that we're on. And in it, Sullivan states, and I'm paraphrasing, the things that brought you to the current moment will keep you there. Powerful. In a lens through which I hadn't really looked at my personal growth or journey before, I've always thought of progress as a stacking of repeatable habits over and over again.

And while this may not be wrong, Sullivan and Hardy make a pretty effective argument that it's only part of the story. See, if you show up and you do the exact same thing every day, you'll get growth, no doubt, but it will be linear in nature. Exponential growth requires instances of self-recreation, of evolution as we make our way forward. It's a continuous pushing aside of things we don't need to be doing and a simultaneous deep dive into the things that bring us the most return. They use the example of the famous Michelangelo, who was known for his paintings, right?

And then some time goes by and he produces a 17-foot statue of David. And then he pivots again, as he's commissioned by Pope Julius II, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and then moves on to direct even larger project. And each example here is a 10x evolution. certainly not a road that could have been mapped out from day one how would he ever have known but it's a series of sometimes even lateral moves

instances of following your intuition your strength doing what felt right instances of breaking down and building back up the self same foundation of talent and skill same general competency but he continuously stacked new and enhanced versions of himself on top of one another. Sometimes reminders hit you exactly when you need to hear them. You know, personally, I loved everything about this message.

The idea that there should be more emphasis and courage, for that matter, on one's 10-X trajectory, multiplying my strengths. On taking the value I bring to the world and putting it through some stressors, seeing what comes out the other side. Because the danger in playing it's safe, which the second we stop being intentional about things is ultimately what we tend to do, it's that you don't experience that transformation. It was not safe, using the same metaphor for Michelangelo, a painter,

to create David. The safe thing would have been to keep doing the same thing every day. But you have to trust your skill, your heart, and your intuition. There's immense value in all of us understanding that and to some degree emulating it. There's value in all of us finding our David. Stepping into that, which is a little unclear, makes us a little nervous. But at the same time allows us to take this. the skills and talent, the parts of us that are most meaningful and inject them into the world

in a bigger way, which would never have been possible had we stayed the same. The things that brought you to the current moment will keep you there. Well, here's defining your 20%, that which matters and using it as the template with which you paint. Not getting so stuck in the routine, that you forget the routine is a means not an end you have the ability in your own unique way to change the world around you the question is do you have the courage to reach for it I wrote almost three full pages before coming across the sentence or the the message that I was looking for and that message was walking there like God sent you a message someone shared with me recently before I gave a speech at a conference.

I guess it was hanging out in my subconscious, waiting to be brought back to the surface and explored. I think it's fitting that it took so long for me to arrive there, to realize its value. Why? Well, to put it bluntly, I think it's because life contains more wrong terms than right ones. It's just that the right ones, when discovered, unlock some of the most beautiful things imaginable. And while we look, while we wade through the streams not meant for us, the temptation or instinct is to get mad, frustrated. What a waste of time screams the pragmatic brain. Three full pages of wasted words.

Three months with the wrong person, three years doing the wrong things, when what we'd yet to understand is that they weren't wrong at all. They brought us to exactly where we need to be. Our yeses are very often buried under 1,000 nose. That's not punishment. That's just life. It's often references a reminder that in baseball hitting 300, or getting a hit three out of every ten at bats essentially makes you an all-star. Three successes out of every ten attempts.

Well, life, I believe, is harder than baseball. Sometimes its losses more numerous, its rules more convoluted, but its wins unparalleled. See, life is not a game of getting it right. Life is a game of showing up again and again. When you get it wrong, when you swing and miss, when things don't go the way you want them to, showing up. Being bold enough to fail spectacularly. Life is a journey. And me, sure, I've been scared to fail, scared to try, scared to risk what I had many times.

In fact, I often still am. I just know enough now to question that resistance and hesitation in my head. Walking up to the mirror and asking Eddie, are you? Are you not going because you have more important things to do? Or are you not going because it's going to be challenging? Are you not going to bring you to a state of vulnerability that makes you uncomfortable? And oh, how those conversations leave you feeling exposed. Nothing is more difficult than the convos you have with yourself, but those are the conversations

that contain the answers. The wrong things become the story. The characters push the hero forward. The chaos sharpens his skill and strengthens his resolve. It's all happening for you. The now is always of value, always. So walk through every door that opens like God sent you. See it for the miracle that it is.

Pieces of a puzzle coming together, the story of a lifetime where the only way to lose is to not go. to dance around the flame that is your hopes and dreams until that flame burns out. No, go right through. Wherever you are, you're there because there's value to be extracted. There are no wasted moments, just opportunities yet to have evolved. So when you fall, know that you will be wiser once back on your feet.

And when you're lost, know that you will soon know the way at a depth you never thought possible. And when you're hurt, know that you will soon be in position to love harder than you have ever loved. When angry, no, you'll soon be able to empathize like never before. When unsure, know that you're building confidence in real time, pulling back the layers of the quote-unquote wrong things to discover with each unveiling what it means to truly live see it's all you so be there walk through the doors as i was reminded like god sent you like you belong there because you do in the journey that is your life every second matters every moment a rocket ship taking you to the next iteration

every variable a piece of you coming together so walk through those doors like they are bringing you exactly where you need to be and you'll see in time that that is exactly what occurred