Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - DON'T WASTE YOUR LIFE - Powerful Motivational Speeches - MORNING MOTIVATION

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

Are we truly living, or are we slowly fading away? Each day brings us closer to the end, but the question is: are we making the most of the time we have? Emerson reminds us that it’s not the length of life, but its depth that truly matters. Too many sleepwalk through life, unaware of the incredible gift in their hands. Mistakes and failures are part of growth, but never trying—never truly living—only leads to regret. This episode is a call to wake up, to stumble, fall, and fight for what you believe in. Life isn’t about avoiding the cracks but about leaving your mark on a world waiting for your unique brilliance. So, what does truly living mean to you? How can you dive deeper into making each moment count? Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

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

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 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. 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 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 hill. 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, but not 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.

I learned recently how grateful I am for storms. Quiet skies don't show you how strong you are. Calm doesn't force you to level up. No, it's when the ground shakes we learn to endure. We're forced to find within ourselves a resilience that was once tucked away. They say confidence is earned, and well, it's earned because when we walk through hell, we give our greatness permission to walk alongside us. We grow in proportion to the discomfort we allow in our lives.

Our evolution is tied to the stressors we face. When we don't know what to do, we have to look in the mirror and find solutions. When we don't know where to go, we learn to navigate foreign, even hostile terrain. When we allow life to push us, we learn to push back. If you want more, allow more to be placed before you. A lot of us want to be slaying dragons, but never find the courage to approach the mountain where the dragons sleep. A lot of us want our blades sharpened but never approach the fire that would forge them.

It's not discomfort for the sake of discomfort. No, it's discomfort so that your greatness receives the invite to materialize. It's discomfort so that you can teach yourself what you're capable. capable of it. When you stay safe, you remain tied to reality as it is. When you avoid chaos, you never learn to shape it. And it's in shaping the turbulence that we become capable, that we grow. So remember that voice, that voice telling you to step down, to shy away from difficulty, chaos, and discomfort.

That voice is completely at odds with your potential. That voice wants to preserve. It doesn't want conflict because conflict threatens the now. But a life fully lived takes the current state, it smashes it on the floor, and it rebuilds over and over again. A life fully lived is walking through the fire so that you are forced to become someone who can handle the flames. Be grateful for those storms.

They give the excellence within you a face. They take you by the hand and show you what you've been capable of since the very day you were born. I'm going to start today's episode off with a quote. This is from Seneca, and he wrote, I judge you unfortunate because you've never lived through misfortune. You've passed through life without an opponent. No one can ever know what you're capable of, not even you. A brilliant member of the Your World Within Team, Ashley, she sent me a kind of

thought experiment the other day. And she asked, if you're choosing between two trees, right, the exact same type of tree, height, everything, one to one, which one is strong? stronger, right? And one of these trees exist in a very turbulent, you know, climate. High winds, a lot of fluctuation in weather, extreme temperatures, low temperatures, high temperatures versus that same tree in a, let's just say, more mild, consistent, way less harsh climate. Which one do you think will be stronger? And why?

The answer is, well, one, obviously acclimated and adjusted over time, it became tougher and stronger, more adaptable and resilient in the face of turbulence. It's proven itself because it exists where it exists, right? It had to evolve. Couldn't survive otherwise. Had to learn to endure. It's by facing the storm that you learn to navigate its chaos. And, you know, having lived in South Florida, for a long time, you see some of these palm trees take a beating during, you know, cat threes, fours, God forbid, fives, and they're still there, right?

The inverse or the opposite example is the tree that's never been tested because they've never had to be tested. See, every single one of us is stronger than we think and more capable than we know. the question in my eyes, you know, is how often do you give yourself a chance to prove it? How often do you nod your head and kick open the door, trusting that you can take on what's on the other side? We have to be tested in order to evolve. Just like those of you familiar with weightlifting at the gym, building muscle is breaking down old muscle. and then it builds itself back up. A little bit fractionally stronger

than it was before you broke it down. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. I think a lot of people don't realize that growth is just a lagging indicator. It's the product of your strength and your willingness to attack something new in the first place. And sometimes, by the way,

life gives you no choice. It throws the kitchen sink at you. But, and this is the fun part, when you fall in love with that process, when the gratification of progress pulls you in, life becomes an opportunity, a gift, a game, a chance to step into an evolved version of yourself.

We do what hurts now so that it doesn't hurt tomorrow, so that the doubt becomes armor. We attack the attack. things that seem bigger than us today so that, you know, those ceilings become floors tomorrow. Stop signs become stepping stones. And this is, you know, not merely a collection of cliches. This is a very real reminder. You know, the further you're willing to go, the more life will give. The harder you're willing to push, the more opportunities are going to present themselves to you. Comfort isn't the enemy because of what it is.

Right? Comfort is the enemy because of what it is not. It is not conducive to growth. It's antithetical to any pursuit of meaning. Comfort is often stagnation. So how do we realize this? Simple. Go out into the world and as the saying goes, do one thing every day that scares you.

You'll find what does scare you becomes more. you becomes more and more infrequent. I'm not sure that it's the world getting smaller as much as you and yourself believe and trust in who you are gets bigger. It's earning confidence. Oh wow, the city can fall down and I can rise from the ashes. Then why not live a life with more skylines?

Why not dive deeper into the horizon? Not to prove anything to do that. anything to the world but to show yourself. And the chisel sharpens the marble. It initiates the masterpiece. So when you look around and think I'm worthy of more, or my heart's longing for something different, bigger, a life transformed,

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

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

To remind yourself that most will say no and that's fine, but that's not who you are. When the sky's falling and the walls are crashing, crashing, you are the one who finds a way. While the world slept, I stayed awake. I guess I couldn't bear to close my eyes and drift off into a dream, knowing that as soon as they opened, it would end. I sat up, I put my goals and aspirations into the backpack next to my bed,

threw it over my shoulder, and I left. destination unknown. But I was armed with the belief that opportunities exist wherever you bring them to life. So while the world slept, I stayed awake. There comes a point when dreaming takes the form of an adversary. I didn't want to wake up and see the discrepancy between fantasy and reality. I didn't want to be associated with a relationship.

to be associated with wishing or hoping or crossed fingers. See, the beauty of life is that it always provides the necessary pieces to put your puzzle together so long as your eyes remain open. So while the world slept, I stayed awake. As the mind lays dormant, so does opportunity. As the ideal life remains imaginary, so does the action needed to build it. The best way to find answers is simply to look for them. A folded up map hidden away in your desk, it suggests a million possibilities, proposes an endless journey, but until you grab it, open your door and step outside, it will never truly take you there.

I wanted to feel the wind on my face, the sand, on my my feet and even the most adventurous souls in the world don't have time to see everything. To experience it all. Time is the most precious of commodities. So while the world slept, I stayed awake. It's not in opening your eyes. It's in what you allow your eyes to see. It's easy to live while being asleep, to completely disregard or walk.

Walk right by the advantages, the opportunities, the pieces that we can reach out and use to shape our lives. Look, it's not about being right or wrong. It's about trading what you kind of want for what you really want. It's about walking down your street and viewing every single thing in front of you as perfection as the stars aligning

as the perfect ingredients to create whatever you choose. Leave nothing for sleep. Let your dreams envy your reality. And while the rest of the world sleeps, I dare you to stay awake. I dare you to get everything you've ever wanted. Infinite means no bounds. Which is, you know, kind of an abstract comment.

Forever is difficult to grasp. But I want to explain to you why in my life it's prevalent in something I truly need right now in terms of a deeper understanding. And I'd be willing to bet that in some capacity, a better relationship with the word forever or infinite would benefit your life as well. Let's drop into a very specific mental state. See if it rings a bell, you know, that feeling of,

of depletion. That feeling of being stuck or feeling lost, just total helplessness, you know, whether it's over a long period of time or sort of temporary helplessness. Whatever the context is, right? This feeling is the product of a scarcity narrative playing in your head.

Finitude. Amidst a forest of abundance, it's like staring at a tree, from one inch away. All you see is that single fragment of tree bark. You don't see much, it looks pretty bleak. But then you take a step back and you go, okay, right? You see the shape of the tree, go, I get it.

Take another step back, maybe two or three feet back. And you start seeing how these trees come together. You step back even further, you go, okay, I get it. All these trees comprise the forest. Maybe you continue to step back, you turn around, you see a totally different view. the landscape, the skyline, you see birds flying overhead, all that stuff that was always there,

you just couldn't see it. Not from your vantage point, not that close to the tree, which is going to be, for us, metaphorical for a problem or obstacle that we are immersed in or trying to overcome. There's an idea that there's no situation that cannot be rectified, Or put in the positive, every situation can be resolved. There's no hole you can't climb out of. There is always more.

There is always a solution. And this little tidbit, you know, it might not mean much when you're feeling good. You have momentum. You know, the stars feel like they're aligned for you. But I'll tell you, it can be your saving grace when you are trudging through the valleys of life. The inevitable, difficult period. For me, it's been everything, right? It's reminded me that there is a way.

I just need to find it. It reminds me that I'm capable of solving and conquering even life's greatest tasks. I just need to move into the night with conviction. I need to remember how close I am to that tree, right, and create some sort of separation there. Because, look, sometimes life is complex. You know, sometimes it's nuanced and in detailed.

And then sometimes the opposite is true. Sometimes it is very simple. And one example of that is that there is always a way, and you are always capable of finding that way, of arriving that solution. understand that and you'll see how abundant this dance through life really is. Truth is, personally, you know, sometimes the fear I experience, even about trivial things, just navigating life, it can hit hard.

I think it's a visceral reaction, like involuntary. It just, it happens. You know, podcast numbers dipping. Business deal falls through. Maybe a riff with the family. member or friend, right? My brain walks right up to that metaphorical tree, stands there and says, hey, there's nothing you can do. This is it. This is the end. You are stuck. You are lost. You are defeated. You are hopeless. You are all these things and none of them are good. But what makes

human being special is by understanding there is more, we empower ourselves to create more. We empower ourselves to step five feet back, to see the forest, the view of the valley below. Don't settle in the finite, dive into the infinity that surrounds you. You know, I think sometimes, you know, we become so pulled in to a specific problem or situation that it never even dawns on us to think,

okay, you know, this is life, it happens, but you don't have to stay where you start. You are not confined to where you are. Because if it's not pushing you forward, it can be altered, mitigated, transformed. It's not an if question. Your assent is a how question. One of my favorite ideas, it states that many of life's greatest accomplishments were carried out by folks too ignorant to understand the odds.

When you feel stuck, it's not because you are. It's because your human brain is in default mode. And it's like, no problem. Override. There's a way to turn every single predicament into a strength. As Jim Rohn has famously stated, It's not the mountaintop that holds the value. It's who you become along the way to the mountain top. And that climb consists of a multitude of these seemingly dead ends.

But in recognizing their inability to hold you back, you yourself grow. You arm yourself with that knowledge. And to sum up, you know, the entire message here in its entirety, It's that in a world of infinite possibility, there is a way, right? I challenge you to find it. The same challenge I look in the mirror and present to myself when I feel stuck or helpless or hopeless. I challenge you to look at your reality in a different light

until the light bulb goes off. And it's like, oh, this wasn't assigned to me. I'm choosing this. creating this. And as the architect of my own world, I can recreate the story in its entirety. You know, people just don't go around in life telling us that. It's not normal to hear,

hey, buddy, you have more control than you think you do. Hey, you're accepting some things that you don't need to accept. Hey, step back five more feet and build again from a different angle, right? Just like all the money in the world doesn't do much good, stacked up in a warehouse that's never touched or utilized, you know, all the opportunity doesn't matter if you can't see it. If you're blinded by the tree, the downside, the limitation, none of that means anything.

If your vantage point is one of confinement, infinity is always there. So step back, turn around, and walk directly into it. Use the resources to build reality, not as it is, but as you want it to be. A world on your terms. It's time. The world will not stop spinning. The clock won't stop ticking, days won't stop slipping by.

It's time. Things won't suddenly get easier. The difficulty does not remove. move itself. The path does not narrow. That perfect moment, it doesn't exist. A flawless beginning is fiction. The stars will never align for you. It's time. Not tomorrow, not someday down the road, but this very second. See, you don't need all the answers. You don't need to know or be sure or be armed with guarantees. Your job, your only requirement is to begin.

It's time to trade fear for opportunity. Someday for right now, it's time. To stop thinking small, stop seeing what you want as a reach. To stop looking at success as a stranger. time to sit down and convince yourself that what you want can be accomplished when it's as real as the space in front of you when it's as probable as the completion of a single step it will happen because it has to it's time at some point you have to see that you're not simply playing conservatively. You're not being a perfectionist. It's not about being okay with where

you are. No, if we're going to get anywhere, let's be truthful. Let's call it what it is. These things, these ideas, these excuses are a derivative of fear. The problem with possibility is that it's incredibly hard to quantify. Technically, if you've never had it, you've never lost it. And that is how we rationalize staying where we are. That's why we compartmentalize the things we want most as dreams. But for a second, let's be bigger. Let's start from the premise that what life can provide or become is limitless. It is truly infinite.

And when you sit on an idea or you refuse to begin, you are in fact. losing every single thing around you, everything. At one point it began. At one point someone summoned the courage to reach out and take what's in front of them. Maybe you do the same. Maybe you take that step. Maybe the first few times go terribly wrong.

Maybe it's terrifying. Maybe you find out who has your back, who your real friends are, and maybe those truths scare you, but guess what? Guess what those steps turn into? Confidence, amplified purpose, and most importantly, more steps. You get to see right in front of you as your demons diminish, evaporate. The higher you climb, the better the view, the longer the road, the greater, the experience. I would rather fall.

A thousand times and continuously get back up stronger than be someone who looks at the world through a window like it's some fairy tale. Because at the end of the day, sure, they have no scratches, scrapes, or bruises, but I have no limits. And I'd make that trade any day. It is time. To stop separating what you want from what you have and take that step forward. It's time to go get it. No one is stopping you. Nothing is stopping you.

And in fact, if you choose to be, you are unstoppable. So take a look in the mirror, lace up your shoes, open the door, and begin. It's time. There's power and simplification. Not because you can't handle the complex, but because too much noise drowns out the meaning. It gets in the way of the things that actually make the difference. Our blessing and curse is the finitude of our time. So by default that makes the word know a gatekeeper to the contentment we feel in our lives.

What are you keeping out? What are you saving space for? Clarity is not a luxury, but a necessity. And when one has limited capacity, they must both cherish and protect it. So why does this matter? It matters because when you simplify things, the path is never as intimidating. The problem is never unsolvable. The opportunity is never too far away.

It matters because we dress the solutions up in irrelevant detail and then call them the problem. We don't see things as what they are. We see them as stories. We tell ourselves. We see too much. And it just so happens that the biggest leaps forward one can take in life or the result of not secret formulas or hidden answers, but in freeing ourselves of that excess.

no to the wrong things so that we can say yes to the right things. Underneath the stacks and accumulation of nothing is something. There's something to the notion that the road to recovery is always a single decision away, that it's already there. But you just haven't been able to acknowledge, to choose it. When life becomes convoluted, there's this tendency to think I am the problem, I am broken, I am incapable of X or Y or Z. And it's like, no, you've just let so much in that what was once obvious is now buried. You're looking at the giant ocean before you, forgetting that a very tiny boat can traverse it. Basics.

Let's ask the question, where is it I most want to go? go and what would one step in that direction look like? Sometimes we have to go knowing that mile 10 will have its monsters, and mile 50 will have its setbacks. But to not take step one in anticipation of those future problems, of something way down the road is letting that excess in. Simplicity is the goal, simplicity. Ask yourself, can you start?

beginning grants you one of the greatest weapons to possess an ability to adjust the ability to adapt the ability to utilize the now and this is not to dismiss the pain and difficulty associated with our most challenging times it's to remind you that during those times you feel lost or closed in you don't need to reinvent the way world to your left and right. It's not bigger than you. So much of the time it's about composing yourself enough to reach out for the light switch that will illuminate the path just enough for you to look up and walk right out the front door. It makes perfect sense in our busy lives that we sometimes lose sight of fundamental truths. At least from time to time, that's part of being human.

And I want to talk about an important one. The tendency to forget that parts make a whole. Sounds simple, sounds obvious, not so much. That pieces make a stack, that little actions create big change. And I can tell you that every time in my life I've found myself, in trouble or overwhelmed or intimidated? It's because that very simple concept has alluded me. And all I can see in the moment is how far I have to go.

All I can see is this big intimidating result, and I'm not there. And I want to tell a quick story to provide some context. Those of you who have seen my videos, you probably guessed it. It's running related. But if you're not a runner, hang tight, because this is not in any way specific to running. It's just a good way to articulate the message, and you'll see that. So the realization occurred a few days ago,

doing a distance run down A1A, which is just a long, straight stretch down the coast of Florida. It's perfect to kind of zone out and just run. And that's exactly what I must have been doing, zoning out, because as I'm pretty far along, I realized that they were kind of closing off the street. There were people lining the sidewalks. There was some kind of organized event.

I realized that I couldn't go back the same way that I came up. So I had to run up the beach. And it was one of those things where we've all been there, right? The idea was great. Our body didn't necessarily like it. It just was one of those days. It did not feel good. And I was really trudging my way forward.

And I noticed that every time I thought about the day, distance I needed to travel, I felt worse. You know that feeling when you're uncomfortable? It's the thought of having to endure that for a long period of time that's most taxing. Sure, right now it's uncomfortable, but what creates the anxiety is that it goes on for a long period of time. We don't see an end to the immediate. We can't stop thinking about the space between where we are and where we have to be. Right. So I'm continuing and you know my mind sort of makes its way back to my freshman year in college and this is an important part in my life specifically because it's when I really learned what it

meant to work hard I had no idea you know and I speak about this often because I went through high school I had good grades I was a decent athlete but I didn't understand what it meant to truly work. You know, my first month in college as part of the rowing team there was where I learned that just because you're suffering, just because you're hurting, doesn't mean you're entitled to anything.

Someone else out there is suffering just as much. The difference is they might be getting more out of it. They're not feeling sorry for themselves, and that mentality was eye-opening for me. It's not, look at me, I'm a hero, for putting myself through this. It's, yeah, it's uncomfortable. She's also uncomfortable.

Which one of you guys is going to turn that into results? That's what defines winners. And I remember, you know, the first workouts I did. I remember doing jump squats and wall sits with my teammates and emphasizing ways to break down the exercise into simple pieces. Mentally, right? Little pieces that the mind was okay with that weren't so scary. A two-minute wall sit.

is pretty intimidating. A 20-second wall sit? That's not so bad. So do six of those. Say something funny between each set. Find a way to tear down, you know, the mental obstacles because the body can take so much if the mind lowers its defenses and simply allows it.

So anyway, I'm making my way forward up the coast, and I stopped thinking about how far I had to go. I just stopped. I did not let it enter my brain. My focus went very specifically to every two steps, counting one, two, one two, one two, because anyone can do anything for two steps. It's not hard. Again, it just so happens that they stack up and create miles, but miles is not my concern.

I'm not physically able to leap a mile. No one can do that. What I'm capable of doing is taking steps. That's all I can do. And it's manageable, and I can say without a doubt that that changed my experience, it took the pressure off. And if you don't feel like you're in control, you will have a very tough time generating results. Because again, no one can leap a mile. And so a big part of success is rearranging the deck so that you have that.

control, you're behind the wheel. Sometimes it's just reminding yourself that the little things create the big things, the pieces stack up, and every single thing in life can be broken down into those little pieces. And guess what, they're not scary. When you take the cover off, they're not overwhelming. Most importantly, they're completely within your control. On a similar note, a friend of mine recently asked the other day about YouTube. He's got a follower base of entrepreneurs. A lot of them are looking to take their business onto the platform. It was asking me some questions. And he asked, you know, what was the moment that sparked your channel's growth? And it's a funny question because the 100,000 subscriber mark was something that,

you know, right from the get-go, the onset that I was looking forward to. I was aiming for. But there was never that mile leap, right? There was no single video that should, change the trajectory of my viewership or channel or business. That's not how it happens. It's a step-by-step process. You can't jump to 100,000 or 500,000 or a million subscribers. And starting out, all I would think about is how far I had to go. I'd get all worked up and stressed out and, you know, disappointed.

But you learn lessons as you go through things. And I realize that you don't get X many subscribers. in a day. And if that's your focus, of course you'll be overwhelmed because you can't control that. But what you can control is every thought, every video, every interaction with someone who cares about your message.

And if you stay true to that, your consistency manifests itself in the form of a growing subscriber base. You know, and the point is it doesn't matter what you're doing. Talk about running, talk about YouTube. It could be sports, it could be relationships, it could be anything. Yes, you want to understand where you're going, you want to know your target, you want to lock in a direction, then let go. Goals derail us because we forget what they're made of.

They're made of little vulnerable pieces. To get to the top of a mountain, you have to climb it rock by rock. And when you're looking up from the base, yes, it's demoralizing. It might even seem impossible. But no one can cover that distance. It's about the steps to the top. And then at some point, so long as you decide not to turn around, so long as you remain committed to overcoming each tiny obstacle, each barrier,

you'll be at the top looking down at everything else, everything below you. Why? Because you didn't see the stack. You saw the pieces that were laid on top of each other one by one. And that makes all the difference. Success is seeing what's beyond the surface. What's past the thing staring you in the face. And if you can manage to do that, you'll see that nothing in life, nothing is too big or too tough for you.

easy to look back and think about all the things you could have done differently. Especially since as we get older, we get wiser. Time provides this beautiful gift of clarity. And ultimately we realized things like maybe a lot of our hesitation was unwarranted. Maybe a lot of our decisions or indecision was fear-based. and knowing that it's easy to look over your shoulder and feel like you could have lived a different life or taken a different path

at the very least wish you'd done things differently but the reality is everything you've done has in fact taken you here to this moment and when you dwell on the past the should-haves and the could-haves you completely diminish the power of right now, the current moment. You completely underestimate the knowledge and the wisdom you've been collecting for years

whose single job is to assist you in your next move. It's a compounding of experience. The good, the bad, and the ugly has landed you right here, right now, and how beautiful right here is. The infinite blank page. The forever fresh start. And that's not to say the past doesn't matter. It's to suggest that your prior discomfort,

your mistakes and lessons have equipped you to deviate from the routines and the cyclical nature of your past. The past is a gateway. to now, not a life sentence. And there's a difference. You say last year or last month or last week is valueless because you did X when you should have done Y. I say to that.

Doing the wrong thing has positioned you to now do the right thing. Potential energy, right? Like a spring being pulled back tighter and tighter and tighter. awaiting its opportunity to propel forward. You don't get that without those could-haves and should-haves. They're integral to the process.

The reason you'll be different moving forward. You can say, I wish I'd taken more chances. I wish I was bolder. I wish I followed my heart. Two pieces of news for you. One that's fantastic. It seems as though you're now aware of those times you fell short and can therefore mitigate them moving forward.

And two, you're not dead yet. We have to stop looking at yesterday like it's anything but a ladder to greater competence. The gymnasium for your decision making. Anyone can cherry pick the past. But the practical me asks, What does beating yourself up about what's gone do for you? What does it add to your life?

Except for enabling and legitimizing the same identity you're looking to evolve and move on from. See, we don't limit ourselves because of right now. It's always because of yesterday. Look what happened. Look what I lost. Look how things turned out. And it's like take the data and trudge forward. You now have the tools to move right into that darkness of night.

And in five years you'll look back and sure you'll wish you did things differently. And same five years after that. But that's why life is a journey and not a standardized test. We are picking up the pieces as we go, painting the masterpiece one brush stroke at a time. And even though you might wish yesterday's brushstroke was a different color, little darker, different shade, it's just as valid as all the others in contributing to the mural in its totality. So sure, be your greatest critic. But be your greatest ally as well. And that calls for being bold enough to let go of what's gone.

extract the value from yesterday and use it to build now. Something, anything. That's up to you, but hear the message. It's up to you now. Not who you were yesterday or what you did. Not how people saw you or how you used to live your life. You have an opportunity now to go wherever, your heart desires stronger and wiser at this point in time than you've ever been in your life.

So rather than dwell on what's gone, how about asking how you can take those pieces of yourself and build? What's the difference between simple and easy? Well, simple is straightforward, uncomplicated. Easy, on the other hand, means achieved without great. effort. The difference between those two words is subtle, but essential to understand. One deals with the complexity of an outcome. The other, your will and determination to achieve that outcome. Becoming who you most want to be is simple. But becoming who you most want to be is not easy. Just like walking is simple, yet hiking up a mountain is not easy. The procedure didn't change the context did.

So let's talk about context. Let's talk about this cyclical nature of growth, because it's not that most people can't. It's that most people won't. It's not that most people don't get how. It's that they don't have a strong enough why. The path is laid out before you. you, you just have to be willing to walk down it. Will you? Step one, realize there's more out there. It's not that what you're doing now isn't amazing.

It's just that yesterday's act of courage is now today's status quo. What was the spectacular is now the mundane. What was once the ceiling you had to jump to touch is now the floor you want. walk on, so at the very least, it prompts you to ask, well, what's next? Simple. Not easy. Step two, the acquisition of courage. Yesterday's courage was a fight. It took a lot out of you, and it's ultimately what got you here. But it dropped you at the curb, it waved goodbye and went on its merry way, and here you are. You can stay here. A lot of people do. You can remember of the glory days, the old path, yesterday's triumphs?

Or, you can do that perpetually uncomfortable exercise of vulnerability. Stepping into tomorrow's unknown, reminding yourself that life's greatest rewards have a hefty price tag, and that price is discomfort. But I've already played this game, one might think. Know what you did was learn the rules. Now it's time to apply them to a new setting. new setting and around goes the merry-go-round. It might seem like a replication from the horizontal, but here's the secret. You can't see the vertical. You have yet to look down and see your ascent,

see what you're becoming. Just by staying on, holding tight, just by believing in yourself enough to begin again, you are fanning those tiny flames of courage in your soul that wait to be spread like a wildfire. Simple, but not easy. Step three, mistakes. Now, of course, it's not the mistakes themselves, you fear. It's what you think those mistakes will mean. Ridicule, embarrassment, lack of direction, or identity losing what you have, but here's the catch. When you realize the upside is greater than the downside you liberate yourself. When you realize there's more to gain than to lose, your potential for greatness is born. How does one act on this? Mistakes. By making mistakes, by injecting yourself into the turbulence of progress. Our biology has not yet learned

that the uncomfortable thing is the right thing. And that's why you get resistance. That's why it hurts. And it's why few people will accomplish what you will. When it comes to your climb, every day is opposite day. When they run out, you're running in. When they play safe, you play for the victory. To become who you might be, you must learn how to get there. Mistakes are your curriculum. Simple, but not easy.

Step four, trust yourself. Okay, sure, no problem. Well, yeah, it's easy when you're getting what you want. But evolution takes time, and there's nothing quite like giving and giving and giving and not getting. There's nothing quite like stepping up to the plate again and again and again and again and bringing no runners home. So how does one find the strength to continue walking up to the batters box? Well, growth is exponential, and those swings and misses matter. The infield singles matter.

Everything matters. matters because it's all chiseling your future self out of stone. Nothing is dependent on the next at bat as much as all at bats in the aggregate. That's why success is so often considered to be sheer will, dependent not on the home run but on the discipline, the self-belief to keep walking up to the plate. Repetition and adjustment. Repetition and adjustment. Repeat and refine, repeat, Those are the materials from which all things are made. Simple, but not easy. And then we have the finale.

The ending, step five. Celebrate and adjust. At some point, you'll be able to look over your shoulder and notice something that perhaps you hadn't before. Space. Space between where you are and where you started. It's not sudden, but gradual. And undoubtedly, enough persistence it will emerge. These moments they are precious. They are times to

acknowledge what you've accomplished, the sacrifices you have made. They are life's way of reminding you what you are building and who you are becoming. It's a time of celebration. Every little win means something, every small victory matters, so relish in it, and then transform it. Normalize it. Recognize that That mountain top is your foundation now. Your starting point has changed, and so have you. Which means so have your expectations. With an increase in ability comes an upgrade to what's possible, what's expected.

And look at that. We have arrived at a new step one. Realize there is more. This is the process for capturing that which life has to offer. If you can fall in love with that, appreciate it, respect it, while simultaneously understanding it's not scary, it's dependent entirely on your ability to push forward. If you can understand that, there is nothing you can't do. Nowhere you can't go.

Simple, yes, easy, no. But you're not in this for easy. You're in it for the journey, the growth, the adventure. your in it because it's not easy. You'll see in time as will the world that this decision to endure was simply the best one you ever made.