Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Embracing the Storm: A Lesson From Buffalo

Episode Date: October 2, 2024

"The best way out is always through." – Robert Frost In this episode, Eddie Pinero shares a powerful metaphor about how cows and buffalo handle approaching storms. While cows attempt to outrun the storm, only to prolong their time in it, buffalo face the storm head-on, getting through it faster and emerging stronger. This lesson applies to the challenges we face in life—when we try to avoid or outrun them, we only extend the suffering. But when we have the courage to confront them directly, we grow. What storm in your life do you need to face? Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

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 out grazing 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 one direct. directly into it. They'll attack it.

And sure, they get the chaos and the wind and they find themselves in the storm's 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 resolved. 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, Jocco 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 anything 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.

There's a quote attributed to Seneca that states no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself. Meaning it's in pursuing the difficult thing that we obtain meaning. Recognition that we prove, ourselves, but prove ourselves to whom?

This is the same Seneca who famously stated that we suffer more in imagination than we do in reality, that he is most powerful who has power over himself. And that's one of the beautiful things about stoicism. It makes us ask a very simple but often overlooked question, who's really the adversary here? Who's the opposition we're dealing with as we fight our battles? What is it that must be transformed? Is it the outside world?

Or the way our eyes view the outside world? What's really holding us back? The circumstances? Or our own personal thoughts about the circumstances? And I think this is where we misunderstand misunderstand the challenges before us. I want to delve into this power of perspective to explain that we are the gatekeepers

between ourselves and our ideal lives. And very often we do a good job of ensuring that gate stays closed. We sabotage our own goals, our own dreams, our own happiness, while simultaneously pointing the finger at a million externalities. See, when we look at a look at, the difficulties of life and there's no doubt that life can be a very difficult thing, it's easy to look at the world as this binary playing field, me versus the world. And in fact,

we often visualize the world as the enemy pushing back against us, as if its motives were counter to ours. So many of these narratives, these stories, they actually say nothing about the outside world and when we look deeper, it becomes apparent that they actually say a whole lot more about us. It's the one viewing that gets to decipher what the circumstance means. And so all narratives are reflections of the observers. Jim Rhone used to tell a story about two brothers who had an alcoholic father. He'd come home drunk, he'd abuse his sons. They had a terrible childhood.

And as they each grew up and had families of their own, their paths kind of diverged. One became abusive, and the other was kind and loving and caring. And when confronted, the now abusive brother stated, well, look, how can you blame me? Don't you see how I was raised? But the kind, loving and caring brother, stated, of course I'm like this. I could never put my family through what I went through as a child. Same circumstances. Different lenses, interpretations, which means different real world result.

And the idea here is to emphasize how one of the most important abilities a human being possesses is the ability to interpret the world around him. I think of us as subjects navigating a way. world of objects, as though the things around us don't have meaning until we place meaning upon them. That's what humans do. Create narratives out of objects. And that often overlooked, seemingly insignificant ability, places a lot of power in our hands. Very rarely is it what we see, It's what we think and what we do about what we see. You ever hang out with people that just tend to be happy, upbeat, positive energy?

I have a very good friend like that where his first inclination is always to find the positive. In moments where I've sort of trained myself to pause, take a second, sift through the emotion, and uncover the value in a tough situation, refocus, and take a strategic step forward, I look over at him and he's already arrived there, right? He's been there for three minutes, right? Eliminated the negativity, it's his first instinct. He's the metaphorical kid hopping around in puddles,

whistling at the top of his lungs, while everyone else is hiding out from the rain, or at least trying to find the courage to run out onto the street with. Then there are people who seem to always find the negative. It doesn't really matter what this situation is. Happiness is fleeting, only to reveal the negativity that never seems to go away, right? The kind of person that if they won the lottery, their first thought might be, oh, no, but what if I lose it all?

Both examples are people projecting themselves onto the world around them. The same way that smoke covers and consumes an entire room. It's not the room that's the culprit. Here's another example from Jim Rohn, Centurna, Jim Rhone. her own kick. He's making a similar point, and this is all from a collection of speeches. He has on Audible comparing humans to oranges, which is probably not a comparison you've made recently, but he said there's consistency to an orange and that it can be filled with one thing. When you squeeze an orange, orange juice is coming out, period. It will never be apple juice.

or grape food juice, it will only emit what it has inside, which is orange juice. And while here's the connection, when life pressures us, challenges us, or metaphorically squeezes us, we only emit the emotions that are contained and available, that are alive and well within us. If there is no jealousy contained in our thinking, we're not going to project it. jealousy out into the world. If there is no hatred within us, we will not project hatred onto others. Why is that powerful? It's powerful. Because again, it's one of the most important things you can do. Certainly one of the most important things I've learned to do is take that finger pointing blame at the outside world, slowly turn it around and point it back at myself and ask what thoughts

What emotions, what ideas am I letting live inside my head that's altering the narrative, the story I'm telling about myself and the world that I live in. And while one might think, well, that's uncomfortable, that's unfair, a little extreme, why should I point at myself? It's not my fault. I would challenge you, at least for the sake of the next few minutes, to see such a change as empowering, as your advantage,

as the bridge from where you are to where you want to be. See, if you always have feelings of, let's say, jealousy around a particular person, that feeling in your stomach like, oh, they have it all, they're ahead. They live how I want to live. They're this and that, and I kind of hate them for it. You're naively giving the external world the power. You're saying, I feel the way I do because of that out there. Some cosmic injustice.

You are powerless. because you're neglecting your personal agency as a factor. But when you turn that finger around and say, I only feel this way because I'm allowing myself to, then you can ask the question. So many never think to ask. Why? Why do I feel this way?

Which lights a path to how can I fix it. See, the key to a better life is realizing you don't have, have to be in the passenger seat pointing at and blaming the driver, complaining about the road being taken, no, you can get into the driver's seat. You can take the wheel, you can take control, inherit responsibility. And there's more at stake, there's greater vulnerability. But the upside is unfathomable. And I find myself thinking all the time, man, people are blaming the wrong things. They're shifting blame to the wrong adversaries. The real villain here is not the driver or the road or the weather. The real villain is the voice in your head pleading with you

not to take the wheel. Pleading with you to ride shotgun and complain as the world passes you by. And of course it makes sense to qualify that with the inevitability that there are some things placed upon us that are just bigger than us that we can't control. And you can make a list however long you want to, natural disasters, decisions, and actions of others, health problems. We don't often get to choose the landscape. So as the Stoics would say, understand that. Understand what you can't control and what you can. Because the beauty is that you can control how you navigate that landscape. That is power.

That is what makes the difference. See, the two brothers, I mentioned a few moments earlier, same landscape. Different navigational tactics. Different view of what it all meant. One took the wheel and one did not. So that's Seneca quote. That states, no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. for he is not permitted to prove himself.

Well, it's perfectly clear, as far as I'm concerned, the question is not whether or not to face adversity. I think we all understand that. What I hope we take from today is a better understanding of what the true adversity is. A better understanding of the fact that in front of us there is always an answer, a key to every lock.

Some people just don't think to look. They're so busy peering around every corner for external enemies and scapegoats that they don't give themselves permission to succeed. Maybe unfortunate, but it's true. You can hit the bull's eye over and over again. But if it's the wrong target, it won't do much for you. You might as well have missed by 50 feet.

And I think that is what we overlook. overlook. You can't always fix the outside world. You can't change the unchangeable, but you can always change yourself. You can always fix you. As Tolstoy said, everyone wants to change the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. You're capable of being both your greatest adversary and ally. So choose wisely, because the world around you will do nothing more than respond to Accordingly to your decision. One of my favorite thinkers, Jim Rohn, he says, Life doesn't give us what we need.

Life gives us what we deserve. You don't reap the harvest because you need it. You reap the harvest because you deserve it. Because you planted in the spring and took care of it in the summer. And oh, what a shift. A hard truth to learn, actually, that the universe doesn't care what you need. It's indifferent to you and your want. It doesn't care about what you'd like to accomplish or solve.

It rewards the question, how can I be more deserving of my ideal life? When you become more personally, your ability to acquire increases proportionally. When you build yourself up, the world conforms. And I remember being frustrated, being in a tough spot and just thinking, why won't the world give me what I need? I'm down and out. I need some type of guidance, of help. Just a break, right?

I'm out here struggling. And it turns out the answer was simple. I had to go manufacture some sort of momentum. Increase the value that I added to others, improve my skills. I remember saying, I want a million dollars. I want a huge personal brand. And I look back now and it's like, in what world did I think I was entitled to those things? Because I wanted them?

That's not the way the world works. I had so much growing to do. There was so much effort that needed to be exhausted before that was possible. Now, you identify as that. Sure, you put the shoes on and you start living like you are that. Like you're on that trajectory.

You believe that for yourself. But it's understanding that you are creating space for it in your life, chipping away daily. As you grow, the universe listens. And it's not that the world is a bad place or a dark place. The world is a beautiful place. But to get, one must give. And so the question remains, what are you giving to the world?

To your community, to your friends and family. What are you giving to yourself? How are you making yourself more deserving of the infinite opportunity outside your front door? It's a question that should be really helpful when it comes to prompting thought, being real, being honest with yourself. And in fact, one of the greatest advantages one can adopt is instead of pointing out at the world, right, and projecting blame, pointing in at oneself and asking, how can I fix this? What can I do? Right? Every single time.

even when the situation was caused by outside circumstances, beyond your control, even when it's not your quote-unquote fault. Why? Well, because you are always in control of yourself. And when you adopt this mentality, you learn to take accountability for you, always. You learn not to blame, but adapt. And that is power. Because when it's always someone else's fault, it's never yours to fix.

Someone who refuses to even entertain the victim narrative and instead seeks to find the value in a given situation unlocks the roadmap to becoming deserving of the world they want. And that's the control that we forget we have. We have the ability to look around and change things. If we're not happy with them, we can adjust them, but we must first own them. We have the ability to tear down the walls that are boxing us in, to remove the characters in our stories holding us back. When you take action, you're building the life you deserve.

When you look around and seek to alter the world as you know it, you're putting yourself in position to receive more from life. It's a simple lesson, but one of the most powerful lessons out there. The ideal life, the things you want, the things you hope for, they're not given to you externally. They are created within and projected out to the world. They start with self-belief and manifest into daily action. Day by day, taking what matters and building it, creating a reality. The world doesn't respond to hopes and dreams.

responds to action because to be deserving is not to want. To be deserving is to create. It's to take life in your hands and carve out your own journey. Minute by minute, day by day. There's a saying that some people feel the rain. Others just get wet. I've always found this interesting, this idea, how the same subject, same situation, or occurrence can be interpreted so differently, right?

It can plant the seeds for such different outcomes. Like Yashimi and Koga mentioned in their book, The Courage to be disliked, well water is 60 degrees, and it's always 60 degrees. In the summer and the winter, but depending on what time of year, right, the makeup of the outside world, that 60 degrees feels different. The water didn't change its circumstances did, and are the thoughts are no different. It's not the world that writes the story. We do. And every second moment day is merely an interpretation. Does time tick by? Or is it driven into a state of flow? Is it transformed into something more? Was losing an indicator that, hey, maybe you're not good enough?

Or is it your motivation to be better than you've ever been? Is your day? an allegiance to the present or an invitation to chase down tomorrow. See, the world doesn't get to tell the tale. The world is paper, its ink, its ideas. The world is everything you need to decide how your story's going to go. How does he see the world? How does she define reality? That's the question. Because you don't need to change the world.

You need to change the way you see it. And you don't need to change who you are. You need to change the imaginary shackles you placed around your ankles that are limiting the heights you could reach. In fact, the world, as far as I'm concerned, is an accumulation of thoughts, ideas. It's 8 billion individualized movie screens,

attempting to interact, to coexist together. And when you look at it like that, it's not that your mindset plays a role or it's kind of important. No, it's that it narrates the play. It's the glue that ties everything together. What you see is what you get. And this isn't a one and done thing, it's an everyday thing. Because there's always going to be occurrences in our lives that challenge us,

to threaten our understanding of who we are and what we're capable of. There will always be the temptation to make the opportunity into the problem and the hero, into the villain. But why forfeit that control? I remember hearing that if you find time to be grateful, both in the morning and at night, it changes your life. Not because the world transforms, but because it reinforces the perspective you need.

We are lucky to be here. We're lucky to have challenges that push us forward. Lucky to have ups and downs that bring us closer to the people in our lives. We're lucky that chaos and discomfort open a door for transformation. on the other side, and look, I get life isn't perfect. And not everything can be great all the time. But I do believe that if we can bring ourselves to stop, to breathe, to even focus briefly, we can find value in any situation.

What's in front of you, it exists, right? It's the well water. You can't go back in time or remake the obstacle at your feet, but you can always decide how to make that work for you. And that's a superpower. And I use that. I use it when my short-term ideas or videos or projects underperform. I use it when people let me down.

I use it when in the moment I'm either under or overwhelmed. The question, where is the win? In this spot, this situation where most would hang their heads and let the outside world rewrite the story, how can I find a way to hold mine high and maintain my own accountability? Extreme differences in life outcomes are so often prompted by such subtle realization, subtle decisions. Their reason to stop could be your reason to not only carry on, but thrive. And the best news is you don't need approval or authorization. You don't need the stars to align or doors to open up.

You just need to give yourself permission to see the sun amidst the clouds, the hope amidst the doubt. to remind yourself that there is always something to cling to always a second chance there is always a win all you have to do is to see it fear is either a headwind or a tailwind it's a red light or a green light it's either an end or a beginning you get to choose i talked about this exact thing a few months ago so So it's kind of fun following up now as some time has passed and the technologies continue to evolve. Last spring I heard someone say there will be two types of companies in the future. There will be companies that leveraged AI in companies that no longer exist.

And I didn't know quite what to make of that at the time, but settled on, well, I trust myself to figure it out. After all, that's what humans do. we adapt and we find a way. Well, I was recently in the middle of one of my YouTube audits and I saw something interesting. There's a section of YouTube that discloses 15 channels that are similar to yours. Basically, there's an audience overlap.

So, for example, one of the 15 right now for me is Andrew Humerman. So apparently, a number of people who watch or listen to his channel also make the way over to my YouTube channel, which I thought was interesting. So I wanted to dig a little deeper. And as I was poking around at some of those other channels, here's what I found. About a third, from what I can tell,

of the channels on that list, were faceless YouTube channels with AI voice automation, AI scripting, and what I could only assume is AI video editing as well, which means that the future state is here. It's not knocking. It's not around the corner. It has arrived. Okay. Noted. That means two things. I can either, one, water the seat of concern whispering, hey dude, you're now fighting for real estate on this platform with robots.

And two, ask, okay, well, how can I add value in a way that AI automation can't? Right? Because, because there are certainly plenty of ways. And in writing this, you know, it was kind of like, it almost seems a bit tired, right? How many ways can you say, find a way to win? But in reality,

this is a perfect example of the crossroads. We're always at perpetually. Right? In every difficult situation, we're tasked with growing or dying. And I truly appreciate that this is forcing

me to evolve, or at least quicker than I would have, right? It's putting me in position to inject more into my craft. That's not optional. That's a requirement. And it's what technology has always done and will always do. I was joking around with a friend of mine who, you know, said the same things. Like chat GPT creates, you know, great B minus work. How do you ensure moving forward? that yours is a plus right that's the question now and will always be the question and in thinking about this i don't know how anyone could think they aren't powerful when in almost every situation the same tool that that gives life can also kill you the same things that make you stronger have the ability to destroy you the outcomes entirely

dependent, not on the tool, but on its utilization by the actors. I call us artists because we all are. And the proof is in what you've made with what you have. I was playing around with chat GPT this morning, seeing if I could write a speech in the quote unquote Eddie Pinero style. And I was laughing because it gives these, you know, kind of robotic, rigid essays. but every single one of them referred to life as a dance and in the world as a blank canvas.

I'm like, wow, I didn't realize I said that that much. I was, what's his name, Woody in Toy Story, and you pulled a string, that would be like my two rotating messages. But I believe that, right? Is there anything better to describe the freedom contained in the time we have? We are painters.

We are architects. We're not handed good or bad things. We're handed things. And from our handling, interpretation, and craftsmanship with regard to those things, they take on certain meanings. Everything is opportunity. It's just waiting for us to first grant it permission to become one. When I was growing my company in the early years, right? every once in a while, I would feel so defeated.

Like, just tired of feeling like everything I did wasn't enough. You know, that sort of hamster on the wheel feeling, and I'd have to figure out a way to pull myself up again and again, right? And it was always, hey, remember, this situation is not good or bad, it's just a situation. You have to take it and paint it onto your canvas. If you think it's bad, what you paint will reflect that. Everyone will seem better further along than you.

The road will seem too challenging. Personally, I'll take on a persona of not enough. But if I start thinking that the situation is valuable, is an opportunity, that's what will be etched into my reality. We are vehicles bringing meaning to meaningless things. And to know you have that ability can make all the difference. And so my thesis here stays the same. Technology will evolve, so will I, and so will you.

But I think beyond that is an underlying truth. This isn't really about technology. It's about our willingness to adapt and make good things out of neutral, indifferent circumstances. There will always be a reason you can. and a reason you can't. Or put in an artsy way, there are imaginary castles in the sky and imaginary shackles around your feet.

You get to choose which to believe in. So you're stepping onto a rocket ship, leaving planet Earth, and you have one message to give to the world before you take off. What is it? For me, it's an easy one. It's that life is not as serious as we make it out to be.

It's the most important thing I've learned. And perhaps the simplicity of that message might make people a little uneasy or take them by surprise, right? How exactly is it helpful? We'll all explain. Waking up every day is not an obligation or requirement. It's not another test or make or break audition to impress those around you. It's a gift. It's a challenge, it's something to be explored.

If the odds of being alive, living, breathing, or one in 400 trillion, you've won. You have, as you sit or stand right now, already done the miraculous. So why not cash in? Why not live, push boundaries? To live scared. To play safe or do nothing with your life is like winning the lottery and keeping. keeping that bag full of cash under your bed for the rest of your life because you're scared of what could happen to it.

It defeats the purpose entirely. And I'm not exaggerating. This mentality has changed my life. If I lose, who cares? If people laugh, who cares? But I have to swallow my pride and be broke for a few years, who cares? If I'm the unsure one, the one who doesn't know what the immediate future looks like? Fine, who cares?

I'll take the upside. I'll take the fun, the hard work, and the adventure. I talk about this all the time. I'll never forget. Walking into this bar with my friends six years ago now, I just left my job. And I remember I'm talking to this girl at the bar, story time here,

and she asks me what I do for a living, because of course she does. And I tell her I just left my job, I got this really cool idea for a YouTube channel. I think it's going to be incredible, and I'll never forget how fast that comes. Convo shut down, right? Blink and she'd walked away and I thought, you know what, this is perfect. I'm going to remember this probably for the rest of my life. Why? Because it's a symbol. It's a sign

that the immediate is what stops us from the best things down the road. Leaving my job, as hard as that maybe one or two year stretch was, was the best thing I've ever done. I am living exponentially better than I was before I had the courage to make that move. See, if life is about not screwing up, Then yes. I'm still in that cubicle getting yelled at for including too much color in my PowerPoint presentations. But that's not what life is. Life is opportunity. Not hiding so that you don't lose. No, it's about making something where you are with what you have. And my friends, there is so much out there. There is a win on the other side of every door you walk through, even when it's hard to see. Right now is a perfect time to be talking about this. A little crazy coronavirus has people being quarantined, everyone freaking out.

Guys, take a step back and find the opportunity. I just read the other day, Shakespeare wrote King Lair when he was being quarantined because of the plague. There is always a winner. Use the time. Find solutions. Maybe you've always wanted to start a business. Great, take a small step, create the business page on Facebook, do something small. Get the ball rolling.

See, when life is a game, you're finding ways to win. Why do all these entrepreneurs talk about the hardship they've encountered before they found success? Because they knew that losses wouldn't define them, but in life, just like in a game, you win and you lose. But what happens is, through repetition, you get better and better, and the winds start accumulating, becoming more substantial and consistent. See, most decisions, and let's say worst case scenario, you take the leap and things implode. Let's just be dramatic for a second. Everything goes wrong. Loss, loss, loss, loss.

The reality is 99% of your decisions, they're reversible. If you don't get the intended result, you can backpedal and adjust. You know what's irreversible, though? Inaction. You know what you can't improve upon? Steps you've never taken. You can't be propelled by dreams that are hanging out in your head. Living scared is looking at yourself in the mirror and saying,

I hope nothing goes wrong today. Living fully is looking in the mirror and saying, I'm going to make something significant today. I'm going to take risks. I'm going to find solutions. I'm going to propel myself forward. So that, as I make my way onto this rocket ship, would be my message. Stop playing to avoid losing and start playing to win.

Life is not serious. It's not a standardized test. It's a blank page waiting for a story. And stories are written by the bold, the risk takers, the ones who stop wishing and go out and make things happen. Wrong actions can be corrected, improved upon, but life through a lens of scarcity is a sealed fate. So how about living like this is the only life you have?

like each day is a metaphorical currency that you can't take with you to your grave. It must be spent, it must be cherished, and utilized fully. So here's to not only dreaming, but finding the courage to delve head first into a journey so great that no stone is left unturned. No day is without the magic of your creation. Because if life is serious, it is... a serious opportunity to live fully. And nothing less.

How can I be happy all the time? It's a question I get probably more than any other, right? And every time I read that question, you know, I pause for a second and can't help but think. That it's somewhat misguided. Happy all the time. How can I eliminate everything? And I guess the thinking is, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, Folks that know the channel and watch my videos, right?

So they hear the perspective and the positivity and the messages, and, you know, they want that to be a constant reality. And I get that. But the part that I think is overlooked is that those breakthroughs, right, those lessons learned, they come from stories that were carved out from hardship, right? From some of my most difficult times. It's not that happy isn't the goal, it is. But at the macro level, it requires micro adjustments, periods of difficulty. You know, we're human. We have emotions.

We have highs, but you bet we have lows and there's good, but there's all so bad. And I don't believe that happy all the time is the target. The targets everything that comes your way, the good and the bad, making something out of it, a net positive. finding happiness in places where perhaps we didn't see it the first time, right? Thinking big picture, thinking macro, our overall contentment with life. See, that's the beautiful component that we're prone to overlook. And so I thought for some clarity, what I do is start from, you know, day one when I started this journey, this entrepreneurial, you know, process.

And I'd go through some of my messaging, some of the videos that I've released along the way. and talk about why, how I got to that point, how I got to that lesson learned, and why maybe happy all the time is misleading. The first video I ever released, it's called Ode to Excellence, and essentially it's about, it's a promise to myself to never quit, to never give up, to never back down, no matter how difficult things get. And I wrote that after my first true entrepreneurial project. I was on my own for the first time and loved music.

Music's always been sort of the backbone of my creativity. And I thought, you know what, I'm going to do? I'm going to put everything aside. I'd saved up some money. I'm like, I'm going to record an album, an acoustic album. And that's what I did. And I blocked off the world. And for three months, I wrote songs and recorded them and edited them and mixed them and mastered them.

Put them all on CDs. I sent the CDs to radio stations, clubs, bars all around Boston. I thought it was going to be this life-changing thing. And it was, but not in the way that I thought. The CD got no traction, right? Family, friends bought it. We're very supportive, but, you know, that's really where it ends. And it was the first time in my life, truly, I'd given everything for something and gotten no response.

It was the first time I realized that effort does not always equal a result. But here's why it was the best thing that ever happened to me. One, I realized that maybe it's not that good. Which, looking back now, is what you'd expect doing something for the first time. It's like, dude, you have to hone your craft. You have to write 2,000 songs. You have to put in so much more time to be at a level where you want to be. You can't just think that it happens overnight.

And that was a very important thing for me to understand. The second is I realized that I was at the bottom of a very big mountain looking up. You know, this is a process. And it's going to take persistence. It's going to take patience. And it was stressful, right? Particularly because I didn't have that safety net that I once had, I wanted to retreat back to the simplicity of what I had. The sort of the reassurance of a job.

You know, I wasn't sure that the cost, the uncertainty of the moment was worth it. It was stressful. But that situation helped define me. It wasn't perpetual happiness that taught me this lesson. It was one of my toughest times. From that failure came my resilience, came my owed to excellence. I wrote a speech called Perspective.

And this is months down the road. I saw my first kind of glimmer of light. I've been doing the music thing and also creating a brand on YouTube and sharing my thoughts. telling stories and I finally saw a little bit of success I wrote a speech called Running in the Rain and it was getting traction was doing well it was being shared creating buzz I was getting speaking inquiries all these things and like all right

well here we go right let's go a little bit of momentum and I woke up one morning and I got this email from YouTube and it was like we had to remove the video from your channel because you broke community guidelines and apparently I put some keywords on the bottom of the description to help it get traffic, running, inspiration, things that would help it sort of move to the top of the pile when someone's search for it. And I remember being so angry about the situation. I felt so sorry for myself. It was like momentum, attention, they're so hard to capture.

I'm finally getting it. And now this, right? And my views are declining and everything's going backwards. And you just feel like it was delusional. I felt like the world was ending. But that prompted me to look at the big picture, right? to realize that look there's nothing you can do except re-upload the video start over and keep my head up Think about it life is going to throw things at me that are much more difficult than this

Right there's going to be difficulty and loss and Problem even even tragedy and if I fold over a video being taken down I don't really have a shot right so from that tough time I gained perspective I learned to toughen up. I started to understand that it's not what happens to you because everyone has difficulty in their life, but it's how you deal with it. That's what brings happiness at a macro level.

I wrote a speech called Dancing with No Music. You know, I remember the situation, exactly. I was sitting at my desk, kind of brainstorming a new project I was going to work on and my phone buzzed. Pick it up and I had a text message from, you know, a friend at the time. And he accidentally sent a text message to me, kind of poking fun at me and my work and what I was doing.

It was meant to be about me to someone else. And he accidentally sent it to me directly. And I remember sitting there thinking like, dude, are you kidding me? Like, these are the people that are supposed to have your back. They're supposed to be, you know, picking you up, encouraging you when you're, you know, going. through these difficult times. And so in that moment, you know, I felt more alone than I had in a while. It wasn't a great feeling. But it prompted thought. Thought prompts perspective. And I began to realize,

you know, look, it's not his fault. Right. People don't see, you know, the world as it can be. Right? They don't understand your vision. They see now. Not your idea, not your potential, they see now. And if you want to bring that to fruition, you have to separate the negativity. Separate the people that do that and think like that and say those things and live life like it's already there. Like it's guaranteed. And so from that difficult moment, I learned that I need to dance with no music. Believe in myself. See it before it's there. Act like I already hear the melody and I'm moving towards it. That's the only way to push through that cloud of chaos into the result that you want, that you so desperately want. I wrote a speech called The Last Train Home. And at this point, I've been working hard to build your world within for, I don't know, maybe a year at this point.

One of my greatest struggles was that I continued to feel the pressure to adhere to standards that I didn't personally believe in. Right? I was restricted by benchmarks that they weren't integral to my journey. And so before working for myself, it was trying to impress my boss and the idea of promotions and goal sheets. Then it became, you know, comparing my style to those around me to people that have found success in some capacity. And I even remember running at 2 p.m. and feeling guilty because all those people doing quote unquote the right thing, they're working in an office. They don't have the luxury of running downtown. And like that was my mindset. And so I fell into the temptation of viewing precedent or like previous success stories as not just a tool, but as the singular way to reach the summit.

And so I was continually zinging and zagging. you know, here's the shortcut, or here's the method, here's the strategy, I need to incorporate this and this and this. And every time I diverted from what felt true to me, I stumbled. Every time I left my path for someone else's, I became lost in this cloud of confusion. And it took, you know, that reoccurring experience for me to finally understand. You know, it was from those times of disarray that I began to see the significance of patience. That it's okay. It's okay to take my own train. Even if it's the last one to leave the station, don't panic, don't do something you don't feel is true or right. Believe that your train is

there. It's waiting and you will catch it. That's a very difficult thing to do. It's not a happy experience, but it evolves into this freedom, right? This flexibility and ultimately this satisfaction with life that wouldn't be there if you didn't seek it out, if you weren't patient enough to find it. I wrote a speech called Remember Why You Started. Hands down, one of the toughest transitions of my life. I was in a situation that on the surface wasn't bad. In fact, you could say it's good. I was surrounded by beautiful people, beautiful relationships in a good place that I liked. But I was coming to the realization more and more that the situation wasn't conducive to me creating what I felt like I wanted to create. I'd sort of lost track, I'd lost that

fire, that energy that I had when I first began. And that's due to concessions, so small compromises that I was making along the way that add up. And you sort of slowly lose yourself a little bit at a time. And when you make that realization, it's like, well, you have a decision to make. You know, are you okay 30, 40 years from now with sacrificing the thing you wanted to build because something else was more important or other things, you know, took priority? And I don't think either one is right or wrong. It's the question that you have to answer. And I made that decision. And I packed up, put my stuff in a trailer, and I left. And I remember as my world faded away in my rear view thinking like this is the hardest thing I've ever done

I didn't believe for the first 200 miles I was actually gonna go through with it. I really didn't And eventually you know I arrived at a new place and I made it my home and dedicated myself fully again to what I believed and to what I felt right truly in my heart in doing and I felt that energy and I felt that energy and I felt that energy and that fire sort of reemerge. And you know, right? You know, you wake up and it just feels good. You have this passion that's there that you want every day,

that you want to maintain, that you want to drive you. And I knew it was the right decision. But that wasn't born out of happiness. That wasn't born out of the easy thing. It was very, very difficult to get there. It was almost a battle, right? You have to fight to reprioritize. And so this comes up a lot when I hear that question.

How can I be happy all the time? And it's like, well, you know, you can do the easy thing that's easier in the short term, but then will you be happy in the long term? You know, it's sort of a catch-22. It's a prioritization. It's understanding what makes you feel alive. What makes you feel truly good, authentic. And that's not a question of short-term, consistent, non-stop happiness.

It's a question of long-term fulfillment. Sometimes we have to do the difficult things to create what we want long term, big picture. And lastly, I'll talk about Ode to Excellence Part 3, which obviously it's been years since part 1. And a lot's changed. The goalposts have shifted. The context is new, but the idea is pretty similar. It's a promise to myself to move into uncharted water, whether that's because it feels right. I'm called to do it or sometimes just for the sake of sheer care.

curiosity, it's that idea that sometimes what awaits around the corner can change your life. That unknown can be exactly what you need and you don't know unless you move there. And the difference in context is that now I'm settled. Right now I'm substantially more comfortable than I was when this whole thing began for me. And the danger in that is nothing screaming at you constantly to continue to grow and evolve and develop. It's real easy to fall into routine and just kind of keep going the way you've always gone. And I remember sitting right outside talking to a good friend of mine on the phone. And we were talking, you know, strategy, talking about growing our brands and just kind of the different worlds that we're involved in.

And he asked, you know, Eddie, why, you know, have you stopped doing the music thing? I think there's something there. And, you know, music's obviously been a big part of what I do. It kicked off my creative journey, as I mentioned earlier with that album. It's been sort of intertwined into this process. I write a lot of background tunes. I wrote the background music you're listening to right now. I haven't completely left it, but I've pivoted.

And when he asked why it's been sort of in the background, I couldn't give a complete answer. I didn't really know. But as I began to think about it, the answer really rose to the surface. It became so fixated on one dimension of what I was doing that I started to look at it through a lens of scarcity and ignoring the infinite possibility out there. I mean, really, in relation to what's possible,

my accomplishments are a grain of sand on the beach. And it's very minimal. But that's not how you look at things when you really get lost in the weeds. I didn't want to hurt my credibility. I didn't want to lose what I've built. I didn't want to sabotage a quote unquote winning formula. But guess what? That's not what life's about.

That's not what my brand or message is about. That's not what got me here, right? Exploring creativity is what got me here. It means everything. And that was such an eye-opening thing. It was such a beautiful reminder that, head, you're limiting yourself. You're not evolving fully.

There's a treasure chest around the corner and you're too worried about losing your shiny penny. And it was from this predicament, right, being honest with myself. that that courage and that determination grew. In fact, the struggle ended up exponentially increasing my overall happiness because it re-emphasized the creative flexibility necessary to do what I think is right. The third Ode to Excellence is a promise to keep that flame lit. And see, these are just a handful of little stories.

They're little epiphanies. But I can say wholeheartedly that they shape you. to me. Not because every day of the journey I was constantly smiling, but it was the specific times that I wasn't that made me stronger. I'm happier now, my life is better now because of these situations. And that's what I want to emphasize, right? Happy all the time isn't the goal. It can't be the goal. Living a life you're proud of and turning the bumps along the way, the inevitable roadblocks along the way into momentum, that's going to give you a lot of. That's going to long-term happiness.

That's going to make you feel better about every moment. It's such a gift to be here. We're so lucky. Let's move away from the idea that there are people out there that never have a bad day. Nothing's ever wrong in their life, because that's not only untrue, but it dilutes the opportunity in front of you. It makes you feel like you're losing when bad things happen, when in fact, those are the tools to win, to live every day to the life.

fullest. Right? The reality is sometimes it is the Hallmark card thing, right? Hands out, sun on your face, smiling, humming your favorite song, life is good. Sometimes it's picking up those little pieces when things feel like they're falling apart around you. But know that regardless, right, either one or anywhere in between, there is positive there. There is power at your feet. Just find it, Hold it and by all means keep moving forward