Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - FIND YOURSELF AGAIN | 30 Minutes for the Next 30 Years | Motivational Speeches Compilation

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

“Do what you do best and outsource the rest.” - Peter Drucker

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but the second I did, a lot changed for me. And it changed pretty quickly. Essentially, Drucker tells the reader, stop wasting time on areas of low competency. Like, the things that they don't really have a natural proclivity towards. And at first, you might see this and think, you know, wait a minute. Haven't we always been taught to improve the things we struggle in? Isn't that the name of the game?

Well, not necessarily. And in fact, a lot of us are held back trying to become moderately competent in areas we have no business being. When, if we just took the things we loved, the things we were naturally drawn towards, we could truly be impactful in those areas. Leaders in those areas. That's where you change your life and ultimately the lives of those around you. In my world, I like using map as an example because it demonstrates this pretty well. Well, you know, my second year of calculus, I realized absolutely not. I do not like this.

For me, it felt like a square peg and a round hole. I just didn't see a life where calculus would be a necessity. And so I dropped the course and sought out something that felt like a better fit. Now, looking back, could one see my decision to walk away from that class as quitting? Sure, meets the definition. But what happened? Well, I filled that slot, what would have been many slots,

if I could continue that path, with courses that ultimately impacted my life for the better, that built a foundation for what I do today. They were aligned, right? I got to express myself creatively, to write, to speak. You know, I wrote papers about difficult topics. If I spent my entire life trying to become competent in calculus,

it would have been a different story. Could I have improved? No question. Like, with time, it might have even gotten really good. But would I have enjoyed it? No. That's not where my skill set is best utilized. That's not what I was born to do. And because of this, my ceiling would have most definitely

been lower than someone who is naturally drawn towards calculus. and loved calculus. You know, when you find what you love and it adds value, there are fireworks. You become a force to be reckoned with. And I get asked every so often, you know, whether it be on a podcast or Q&A, whatever, the occasion, what are your thoughts or suggestions around someone who finds themselves unmotivated? In my first thought, right, the first thing I'd always want to rule out is that perhaps that person has slipped into the wrong arena, right? trying to win a game that isn't theirs.

You know how hard it would have been for me to be motivated every day if I woke up knowing calculus was what was on the docket? How would I have incentivized myself there? There would have been a very clear layer of resistance. Which is why, to Drucker's point, it's silly to allocate substantial time and resources and energy to endeavors that don't lift you up, that you don't care about.

Now, I'm not saying you are, only do things that you're amazing at. That doesn't make any sense either. My friend Evan says, if you love doing it, but you're not that good at it or it doesn't add value to anyone else, you know, that's great. You don't need a reason. You don't need to be excellent at everything, but what you have there is a hobby. Okay, I'm talking about people in the midst of trying to expand their careers or build businesses, gain expertise for practical reasons, navigate something of significance. In those scenarios, That's where it's critical to stop trying to make all your threes, fives, and instead focus on making your eights, tens.

That's where, again, you will have that monumental impact. No one's ever celebrated for the things they were decent at. Even if it took you 10 years to become decent, 20 years to become decent. No, it's the things you do well, right? And if you look at the world that way and your pursuit that way, you'll live a happier life in a more productive, successful life. Now, there's so much power in the freedom you have to chart your course, but the first step is understanding you have that freedom and flexibility.

It's understanding that when things don't feel right or feel a bit off, it's that it may not be you. It may be the path you've taken, the decisions you've made. Take some time to find a journey that aligns with who you are. are and the world will give back outcomes that were previously unimaginable. Let go of what she'll never be good at, right? Who cares? There's too much upside to be had chasing down the things that will actually light you up that will actually set you apart. The things that will create meaning in your life. I believe wholeheartedly

that it's during our most difficult times our lives are defined. I want to take a second and explain why I believe this to be so. Sort of a personal anecdote for sure, but a quick glance over my shoulder highlights that the best things in my life seem to have occurred after the quote-unquote adversity. The hard thing, ultimately unveiling something meaningful, taking my hand and leading me down a new path. But here's what's particularly interesting.

That same adversity can also be and has been in the past, the reason that I've retreated further into myself, that I've doubted my ability, that I've felt down or embarrassed or defeated. It's not the adversity itself. But it's what we decide to make of it that determines our future. And so this is certainly a little heavy, but I think this metaphor sums it up perfectly.

Take water. Age 2O. It's essential to life. It not only quenches our thirst and allows us to continue on in the world, but it's the foundation for life itself. We can't exist without it. Here's the thing, though.

That very same water can be the reason you drown. Right? The very thing that gives life can take life away the very substance required to carry on can be the reason everything stops. The outcome is dependent on our interaction. When I think of adversity, I think of that very decision point, the fork in the road. What will this be? The reason despite the pain that I grow and push further into life?

Or will it be the reason I shrink? Will it be my excuse to cower in the face of hardship? You know, they say simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Making this concept as simple as I do has saved my life. It's helped me find a way through the downtimes and turn them into something beautiful. After all, what is pain, if not a spotlight on what your soul truly needs. It's the most reliable of messengers. prompting you to get back up, face the world, find that which is needed to reinvigorate the fire in your soul.

So, for example, people. People come and go in life. We all get that. But every once in a while, someone goes that we didn't anticipate going. Someone leaves, we didn't anticipate leaving. and there's plenty of reasons for this. From the end of a relationship to life taking a loved one too soon, it rocks our foundation. We never thought about it.

They were a forever person. And so amidst the emotional distress that appears that fork in the road, that oversimplified black and white decision. Will I let this be validation for why life is no longer worth living? an excuse to feel disdain and resentment towards what's gone? Or will it be a reminder to appreciate the beauty in life because everything around us is fleeting? Will it be your reason to reflect back and find gratitude

for the moments you did have? Will it be the strength you now possess as you move into the world? What will you make of what's been placed before you? Now, for the pragmatic, reminder, sure, it's easy outside the storm to talk about weathering it. You know, it's easy for me to sit here having outlasted some of my greatest distress to look back and say, see, that was nothing. The reality is in the middle of the chaos, when we were standing at that fork, things don't seem so easy. They don't appear so black and white. But those are the moments when we have to

dig deep and we have to remember it's okay to hurt it's okay to feel but it's not okay to let the hell you're going through become the end of you it's not okay to let the hardship write your story no only you can do that never relinquish that control this story will be a story not of defeat The resistance that makes the main character rise beyond what he thought was imaginable. It's the turmoil that prompts that average everyday character in each of us to look in the mirror and say, hey, there's more in there. When things were easy, maybe you didn't see it. But when they were easy, you didn't need to.

It's the fork in the road. The same one that brought you to your knees, the same one that split your heart into, now it's extending an invitation to rise. Yes, when it hurts. Yes, when you feel weak. Yes, when it seems like there's nothing to draw from. Rise. Those are the moments you transform.

When it would be perfectly comfortable to hide or quit or point it at life as the excuse but instead of letting life knock you down you used it like a rope to climb out the only difference between beginnings and endings is where we go next once they arrive the difference between growth and stagnation contentment and resentment curiosity and fear well it's not what life gives us it's what we choose to make with what life gives us It's while standing at the fork in the road going one way, when the easy thing to do would be to throw our hands up in defeat and go the other.

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if you cared enough to shape it than to have actually put skin in the game and fallen short. But there lies the misconception. To step into life's chaos with the hopes of taming it is why we're here. And yeah, obviously it hurts to fail. It hurts to be vulnerable, to put yourself out there. Especially when it seems as though all eyes are on you. But that hurt is a fraction of the hurt the road describes. Falling hurts

But it hurts less than wishing you had the courage to fall Ridicule it hurts But it hurts less than being the one on the sidelines Pointing the finger And simultaneously longing For the courage to take action In their own life What keeps us from going

What keeps us from building? We know life is short. We know regret is the ultimate pain. We know how much opportunity is out there. So why? Why would we not go? Why would we designate dreaming to sleep? In his famous man in the arena speech,

Teddy Roosevelt said this. It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming. But who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause,

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at worst if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. No one who is content in their own life will go out of their way to bring you now. There was never a critic deeply immersed in their own journey who took the time to mock or scoff at the man in the arena. I think our fear is pointed in the wrong direction. It shouldn't be concentrated on or focused on the opinions of those who have not yet themselves walked through those doors. No, the fear should be letting life go by without ourselves walking through.

The fear should be contributing to Thoreau's statistic of quiet desperation. The one most men face. But you are not most men or most women. Not because you were given some special power or status. But because you decided, you can choose not to be like most people. Basic math, taking into account the number of people in the stands versus the number of people on the stage or court or in the arena, well, it tells a tale of courage.

Anyone can sit in the stands. Anyone can. Anyone can from the nosebleeds decide whether to clap or point or boo or cheer. but who suits up and enters the game? Who looks at the finitude of life and says, this is my reason to start building, to put it all on the line? Because if I fail, it will mean I was one of the few

who looked around and said, this isn't bigger than I am. This world is not predefined, It's being built in real time by those willing to walk through the doors and step into the arena. Not the critics, but the doers. And look, everyone has a thing, right? I don't know what that thing is for you, but you do. You probably think about it all the time.

Dream about it every day. You probably know it's where your heart is pulling you. Do not let your life become a detective. Don't you dare go to that graveyard having been someone who held on tighter to excuses than to what mattered most in your life. So go. Step into the arena and if they point, let them point. If they criticize, let them criticize. Your concern isn't with those wishing they had the courage to step through those doors themselves.

It's not about them, it's about you. It's about understanding the beauty and the opportunity and the freedom contained in life for those who find the courage to reach out and take it. I recently heard someone say, it's not about doing your best. It's about doing what's required. Are they different? Very. Here's my take. Doing your best has an emotional component attached to it. It's subjective.

What exactly is your best? Well, it's a story that you tell yourself. A narrative, opening the door to limitation. I've always found that when we put our backs against the wall and venture into scenarios where it's essential that we get something done, we somehow always find a way. When we leave no plan B for ourselves, we are required to make Plan A work. And so we do. It's a testament to both the resilience and power contained in the human spirit,

as well as the reality, that we can astound ourselves when we're unwilling to take no for an answer. That it's not the reality, the resources that are the problem. It's usually our unwillingness to move forward into the dark, our hesitance to try, explore, test, build, and rebuild. Actions that are surprisingly unrelated to one's best and have everything to do with accepting nothing less than an identified outcome. One of the reasons I fell in love with the sport of running is because it reinforced

this notion in my life. It became the template with which I could repeatedly amaze myself. I talk a lot about earning confidence and oh how I earned it. Step by step by mile day by day, in the sun in the rain, in the desert in the woods, through city streets, all over the country and the world. I came to understand the relationship between the turbulence of the world. of now and the satisfaction of later. It was on those days I'd push beyond my usual level of comfort. When that cloud of pain and agony would hover over me. I couldn't even really point to where my body hurt.

It just all seemed to come together into this one giant hell. And to learn that I could not only endure that, but grow in those moments. To see myself rise above any preconceived notion or understanding of best in order to defeat my demons, conquer the day's objective, it changes the way you see yourself in the world. Now, could onlookers be tempted to call these self-created goals arbitrary, even unnecessary? Sure, and I get why they would, but I'd also completely disagree. Those days were a master class in doing what is necessary. Realizing that when you shut your rational brain off

and don't give your mind a chance to talk your body out of it, you can see just how powerful you are. You realize that story of your best is nothing more than a house built on sand. Life is not about that story you've told yourself. It's not about your personal records and peak performances, what you think you can do or how far you think you might be able to go. It's about not stopping in the moments when it hurts.

Doing what is required, a decision that compounds over time to create what was once impossible. One of my favorite quotes is by Admiral William McRaven, an absolute hero of mine. Funny enough, he says, if you want to just change the world, you must be your very best in your darkest moments. And what a beautiful idea to rise when life presents its periods of turbulence. And sure, it may be a matter of semantics. But in those moments of darkness, I think of your best, not in the traditional sense. Not as a

personal metric, but as a willingness to do what must be done. A removal of the spotlight from you altogether and instead pointed directly at the road ahead, at the task at hand. When you choose to make the journey, not about what you can and cannot do, but instead make it about what must be done, the universe, as Paulo Coelho has so elegantly stated, conspires to make it happen.

I think back to my journey, and at so many periods my best wasn't good enough. I was so lost and so overwhelmed that the only thing I could do was not stop moving. That was my superpower, simply trudged through the fear of things falling apart, the nagging pride and hurting ego. And what I learned was that life is no different than all those miles I'd put in running. How I felt what my previous capabilities were, what I deemed my best to be. It was all noise. It was all irrelevant.

What was required was that I moved forward through the chaos and to something better, and so I did. And in your world, so can you. The stories we tell ourselves are so powerful and in many ways valuable in our journey through life. But there's one narrative that eliminates the necessity of so many others. You can get to the top of whatever, mountain you are seeking to climb so long as you do not stop, so long as you let go of the

limitations tied to your quote unquote best and instead do what is required to get there. You'll see how adaptable and transformative that best really is, how it's a lagging indicator. It will take time, but you're capable of being patient. And it will have its moments of chaos, but you are capable of weathering those storms. It will present obstacles that leave you unclear, uncertain, sometimes unprepared, but you're capable of picking your head up and moving through that hate. What you know of yourself now is a fraction of a fraction

of a fraction of what you're capable of doing. And how far that goes will be determined not by putting a stake in the ground and calling it your personal bad. your personal best. But as Emerson has said, by hitching your wagon to a star and pulling yourself towards its light, a little bit.