Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Fix Yourself Before It's Too Late | Powerful Motivational Videos About Life

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

“You're not everything you could be, and you know it.” - Jordan Peterson

There are two kinds of crossroads. First, the external. The crossroads at life beyond your control places before you. The abrupt changes, the sudden twists, the tragedies, even the occurrences we don't quite understand, and so chalk them up as fate. And then there are the internal, the crossroads that you manufacture, the ones that are self-creative.

self-induced. The, you know what, I've had enough of this crossroads. The I deserve better crossroads. The, there's more out there and today I'm going to find it. Crossroads. And I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. In fact, I think sometimes when we wait too long to manufacture our own crossroads, life steps in gives us a little nudge. The you universe pushes us towards that change like a wind at our back. It doesn't quite make things black and white. Doesn't always put a catastrophe in front of us. Sometimes it's the mere whispering that, hey, you're accepting more pain, more friction than you should be. It reminds us to take accountability, to take control of life, something that we seemingly forget more often than we

should. One of my favorite stories is Jim Rohn's famous epiphany or light bulb moment. The point where, you know, you basically realizes enough's enough, right? I'm creating a crossroads here and going down the road that I've known for a long time I should have walked down. And it all starts with a knock at his door. It's a Girl Scout, like trying to sell him cookies. He walks up, opens the door and just desperately, with all of his being, wishes he could buy cookies from this Girl Scout, but he can't because he's broke. He doesn't have the money to buy a box. So to save face, he tells her, you know, I'm sorry, but another Girl Scout was just here. You know, you just missed her and I bought a box of cookies from her.

And she smiles, says thanks, walks away. He closes the door. and upon closing it says never again. Never again will I have to turn a Girl Scout away because I cannot afford the cookies. Never again will I be in this place of lack. Never again, right? That's the beginning of a transformation. He points to that moment as the day that changed his life.

He built a crossroads and changed direction. in real time. Now, is this an oversimplification? Sure. Massive transformations are complex. No doubt. They require a reworking of many things. But they all start with a decision.

A decision to manufacture that change in your life, to take the road you are not currently taking, to walk down a new path. These decisions can hurt. They force you to become something you've never been, and to do things you've never done. That's no cakewalk. But it's a different kind of hurt.

It's the short-term discomfort pushing against friction. It's the building of muscle, which is way different than the psychological hurt of knowing that you're out of alignment. Knowing deep down there's more in you and that it's fading away with each passing day. That's hurt. And we all know in some people,

capacity that life doesn't always create circumstances that move us. Life waits for us to move ourselves. It waits for the, I've had enough moment. It waits for us to see the present, not as all there is, but rather a doorway to the next thing. There are two kinds of crossroads. And I'm a believer that a meaningful existence means not waiting for the external to push you, but allowing the internal to drive you.

It's the classic stands or the stage. Where do you want to be? You can sit and watch, clap when you're happy, boo when you're mad, but ultimately not be in control. Or you can choose to perform. To be on stage, to narrate, to choose your ending, elevate your character, become the hero of your story. And I say this as someone who, at points, has simply waited too long.

looking around, praying for the gust of wind that would propel me to the place that I needed to be. Essentially, you know, not understanding that life was waiting for me to greenlight my own journey. Life is about the turns we take at the crossroads before us. And so never underestimate your ability to create that intersection most truly. And never underestimate your courage to take. to take the turn that you know in your soul needs to be taken. What exactly are you afraid of?

What's holding you back? As the giant rock you inhabit spins to the universe, a speck in a galaxy of stars, it's easy to look out and see the vastness of the world around you and forget entirely about the strength that you possess. Forget entirely that the mind's capacity is as infinite as those same stars that surround you. I don't think it's that we definitively choose to sell ourselves short. I think we simply lose sight of the fact that we have a say in the matter to begin with.

Our fears keep us wishing, our insecurities keep us hoping, we stay standing still when we should be moving forward. should be moving forward. But truth be told, our pain comes from not doing, but wishing that we did. It's no coincidence that the more we fail, the more we realize life is a game that expands as we push. The power of making mistakes isn't the mistake itself, it's that when we get back up and brush ourselves off, our cognitive mapping of the world changes. We see that we can step out a little further. Our very definition of what's possible expands, and I believe that's what courage is. The willingness to step into that chaos of life, knowing that each time you find the strength to push forward, you are restructuring your reality. The resources are there, the tools are

there, the opportunity is there, how crazy is the fact that we just need to convince ourselves that more is worth it, that the difficulty of short-term vulnerability isn't an enemy. It's the very ticket required for admission to the show. And so I ask again, what are you afraid of? Falling? Because you will rise and you will rise stronger than you ever were. Is it criticism? Because one, people are so focused on their own endeavors that they look up way less than we think they do. And two, other than the small group you surround yourself with, why would you care? Is it pride? Because building things of significance requires starting on the ground floor and there's no shame but honor in breaking down to build

And when I look at my life in terms of chapters, right, childhood, high school, college, 20s, 30s, the things that were my biggest concerns during each chapter are now laughable. And maybe, just maybe, if I saw that, I could have lived a little freer, been a little bolder. What if we were to get ahead of that learning curve? What if we understood that life is beautiful and flexible and exciting? and what if we understood that now? Instead of looking at this chapter, 15 years down the road, and chuckling to ourselves for not having the courage to have made the leap,

taken the chance to have moved out into an unknown, we cannot physically see that which doesn't exist, which is why it's so important that we know we are the architects, that the fear pulsing through our veins is indicating that we are building, that we are choosing to step into a world that will give more if we find the courage to act. So as this giant rock you inhabit spins through the universe, a speck in a galaxy of star, perhaps each little light up there exists not to remind you how small you are, but to remind you that those same elements exist within you.

To show you that the fire of a million suns sits in your soul, beats in your chest, waits for your signal now. So what are you afraid of? Sometimes all we need is a reset. A new beginning, fresh start, a transformed perspective. Do you remember those pictures that used to make their way? around from time to time and looked pretty obvious at first glance. But if you really examined it, you would see that the picture of the young woman or whatever it was was also an older woman, differing based on how you looked at the lines.

And depending on who was looking, they might have a proclivity towards seeing one or the other, but when made aware of the picture's duality, they could always see both. And there's something to this. This idea is something we should lean on because I'll tell you what. Sometimes our natural proclivity is to see the thing that's not helpful. The first thing we see is an excuse or self-pity. The first thing we see is a list of insecurities or doubts. We have to remember to take a step back and look again, to examine harder.

it's amazing how differently things evolve when you make a point to see their value. For example, let's say someone has something you want, something you wished was yours. Maybe your default is, you know, you are less than. Your life is not what it should be, but if you step back and looked again, you would see a few things. One, we're all running different races. You're competing against you, not anyone else. Two, think about everything you do have that someone else would give anything for. And three, if you truly do want that thing, how about applauding yourself for having goals,

for having desires, for wanting to push the boundaries of life? Now, the question is, can you seek to truly understand what that desire is and map out your path to bring it into existence? This is nothing but an opportunity, right? And how could it be anything else? Life's challenges, life's losses, they are wins. They contain within them the DNA to create change, to progress. But one must be able to move beyond the instinct to label it a problem or a net negative.

There are and will always be wins where you choose to see wins. As I've heard Tony Robbins mention on many occasions, this isn't closing your eyes and saying, there are no weeds, there are no weeds, there are no weeds when your garden is full of them. No, it's understanding a simple truth. You'll never leverage value that you don't believe is there. Seeing it is always step one, because it gives you a foundation to stand on as you build. It's picking up the pen and starting that next chapter. It's choosing your worldview.

If you lose money, how would one react to? I can't believe it's gone. Things will never be the same. My life is over. Versus, okay, obviously I learned how to acquire it in the first place. Time to do it again. I'm wiser. I'm more aware.

And life is abundant. The person that is, wakes up thinking the former would probably have a hard time getting out of bed. The person telling herself the second story would be motivated to go make things happen. Her worldview has incentivized her. That's why thoughts become things. How we think directly translates into how we act and our daily actions become our reality. We've all found ourselves in situations where we struggle to see the good in things,

where life knocks us down and the opportunity seems to hide itself. But that's exactly what it's doing. Hiding itself. It is there. It's always there. It's there when you've lost something. It's there when you've taken a wrong turn. You get the point.

And I'm going to differentiate here between simple and easy. Because the idea of stopping and forcing yourself to find the positive, it's simple. But it's not easy. It's oftentimes not the natural thing to do. But if you can ask that of yourself, you will find the wins that others walk right by. You'll be the change you want in yourself because the outside world will act as the toolbox to make that happen. Remember, we often can't control what the world gives us, but we can always control what we do about it.

And that ability is what I believe separates human beings and their level of growth, success, and achievement. Next time you find yourself down and out, sure, do your thing, handle it how you must. But don't forget that golden rule. It's not what you look at, it's what you see. And when you examine the world around you, point to one, however small value add, that will pick you up, get you back on your feet,

and move you forward to that more ideal reality. She had a picture framed on the table that said, make today amazing. Place there to remind her just how much of life is a choice. how much we get to decide. It symbolizes that on our worst days, life hands us lessons, and on our best days, the highs of existence. During our low points, currency, and during our high points, the chance to cash it all in.

Yeah, make today amazing. Because today's are few and far between. Today's are not an inconvenience nor an obligation. Today's are what it's all about. Today is the big show. The answers we look for, the destinations we long for. Today is a place of dreams. That is, if you choose to leave room in your world for dreaming.

Today is the beginning of wherever next is for you. A chance to see the new and normalize it. To stretch, to reach further out and pull impossible a little closer into your orbit. You can do that. And while one often can't control what they are given, they can control what becomes of what they are given. Like architects and designers engineering what will be in what the malleable world around them will become, when one raises their standards, life seems to accommodate.

Because believing it means acting the part, means making the changes, means the external world makes room, means your identity is reinforced and so the cycle goes by making today amazing. you are making yourself more. Decisions are the beginning of all things. See, very rarely is the tool in and of itself the differentiator. It's the vision that pulls us through. And if you take something arbitrary, say a hammer,

there's no way to, based upon its existence, determine what it will mean or what will become of it, A hammer can be an agent of chaos. It can smash and shatter and destroy. It can be the thing used to tear down. Or it can be what built. It can connect. It can alter and redefine so that something when all is said and done is brought into an existence

that never was. It was never the tool. It was how the eyes viewed the tool. It was the vision that designated the roles that made today amazing. And the reason we all need this reminder, as far as I can tell, is because the difficult things just so happen to be the meaningful things. Because we are fighting not against some little rule or idea we picked up along the way. We are fighting against our DNA, against thousands and thousands of years of evolution, because

the fear that kept our ancestors alert and alive now in a totally new world keeps us contained and our talents minimized. The approval of others that kept us safe and secure as we once traveled the landscape in small groups, hunting and gathering, well now it keeps us needless. looking over our shoulders and craving acceptance. The unknowns that kept us out of the dark cave with the predator living in its shadows now keeps us confined.

Looking out at life's potential through self-made windows. We need to be reminded to make today amazing because those things are quite the adversaries. Because our default is, to just let the ship sail. Our default is to simply survive. After all, that is the standard and the rule by which living things abide. Make it another day. But I believe you are more than a living thing. The Godlike ability to not just exist in a world, but create new ones is a miracle. Both a blessing and a responsibility to drive towards a more

fulfilled you, a happier you, a healthier you, a more complete you. But one must first become aware that around them exist the pieces required to build something never before seen. The vehicle to those far-off places that were once only dreams, thought, illusions. I've always believed that if it means something to you, it's not stupid. It warrants exploration. For even if the thought doesn't end up being all it was cracked up to be, even if it's not the destination, but only a stop along the way,

it still pushes you to the next thing and the next thing and the next thing. It still moves you forward in this beautiful game of life. So decide. Decide to make today amazing. Choose to make it better. Let the obstacles lift you up and the momentum carry you towards something meaningful. When others stop and find reasons to doubt themselves,

how about you find this small wind buried, tucked away underneath it all? The little key that may do nothing more than get you through that next door. After all, sometimes that's what, life's about. Picking up your head when it's most difficult and finding the next door to walk through. And the magic is knowing you can always do that because there always exists both the doorway and the key, but we must be willing to find it. That's the obvious thing about those doors.

The right ones will open. But they require we find the strength to approach them. They require that we seek out amazing. And so with this in mind, what is the next chapter like for you? Are you currently enduring one of life's winters? Are you navigating those inevitable valleys of despair in which the value is in finding that single ray of light amidst the storm? Looking within yourself for the courage to take one more step forward. And another and another,

and another, are you seeking out that spark that will reignite the fire in you? Because it's there. So long as you choose to make today amazing. Maybe you've climbed yourself out. Maybe you're looking for whatever is next, the new evolution. Seeking to follow your heart and continue the beautiful progression that is light. Let the external world support. that vision. Choose to see the detail not as trivial but as the answers. The tools that will lift you

up and support what you are building, it's there. She had a picture framed on the table that said make today amazing. Place there to remind her how much of life is a choice. Because in a world of option. What a gift to choose the journey of a lifetime. What a ride that awaits so long as you decide to step in. Hardy Fiber Cement Ciding handles conditions that can cause damage to vinyl. From fire to hail, Hardy Siding stands tall through it all. Helping trade professionals look their best when they recommend Hardy Siding and Trend. See the proof at James Hardy.com. When our backs are against the wall, we're forced to become more. When the clock is ticking, we are tasked with finding answers that hide among us.

It's in the darkness. We find light, and while lost, we find ourselves. The paradox of life is that from our pain comes our purpose, our evolution, and our greatness. I love thinking back to about 2014, making my moment. way around Boston, having just quit my job, essentially purposeless, clinging to a YouTube channel and a podcast idea that I would name your world within. And why? Why do I think back? Why does this mean everything to me? Well, because at the time, I knew nothing. I understood nothing. Nothing about speaking or media, audio, video, nothing about running a business. But more importantly, I knew very little about life

and what's truly required to progress in a world with infinite moving parts. I didn't know that my lack of understanding is what made everything feel overwhelming and complex and that it was up to me to simplify. I didn't know the extent to which I'd have to befriend failure. And that was the most eye-opening realization. Because when you gravitate towards a risk-free existence and you box yourself in as I had for so long,

of course you don't get the upside, but you also don't fail as dramatically either. Life was a simple game of cause and effect. Do work, get result, not much room for more than that. And so stepping outside that box in the way that I did change some rules. I learned some things. First, you can spend time on something.

You can exhaust energy on something and get nothing in the short term for your efforts. And I mean nothing, unless you count getting your pride stomped on. Unless you count your friends disappearing when you need them most, unless you count self-doubt in a constant worry about not amounting to anything. I mean, these are very wrong.

very real human emotions. They tend to arise when we start something new, but in them is also the power. This is where the light bulb turns on and the path emerges. It's where I learn that we only get what we want when we endure or what we don't. And what a foreign concept when you think about it, right? It's like, Eddie, take this mic,

go stand in front of this audience, front of this audience and pour your heart out. Your knees are shaking, chest is pounding, but dude, trust me, it'll be good for you. And funny enough, it was. It was because the fear in my stomach became the indicator that something new, something exciting, something more was around the corner. Like Pavlov's dog hearing that bell, any time the fear kicked in, I could feel myself getting closer to something meaningful, to a higher version of myself. The pain is an invite. The sheer terror. And let's face it, that's what it feels like sometimes. It's an upgrade. Disguised is the monster that you think you should be running from. When it is, as I recently

mentioned, the adversary you should befriend. We have to change. our relationship with discomfort because our initial understanding, the one that comes stock in our minds, is never sufficient to build anything of significance. Its default setting is to preserve the now, not expanded. And so just like those stock speakers that came in my 1999, Ford F-150 when I was in my early 20s, let's rip it out. Let's customize. Let's upgrade the quality of the sound we hear and the things we say to ourselves. What an advantage it is to know that the hard things are what make us level up to find that awareness. What a blessing that when life's difficulty startles and scatters the masses, you could be the one that remains.

Standing tall, seeking out the advantage amidst the commotion, every little act of courage becomes more and more meaningful, powerful. But we must lose ourselves to find ourselves. We must embrace our fears if we are to become courageous. We must fail in order to succeed. And sure, sometimes the price seems steep. But I promise not going costs more. Wishing costs more.

If only's cost more. So maybe for you it isn't a YouTube channel or a speaking career. Maybe it's something totally different. But it is something. And should you bring yourself to pursue that which your heart pulls you to pursue, you'll have those moments of defeat, where you're mad at yourself

for leaving the comfort and safety of your previous world. You'll have times where you have no idea what to do, where you feel alone or stuck or unsure. The difference will be whether you see this as the invite you've been waiting for or the reason to turn around and sell. for less. That's the question. How do you internalize all that emotion that will feel like it is consuming you? I couldn't believe how strong that temptation was to go back, nagging at me

every day. Just come off the edge. Just be comfortable again. But as my old coach would say in college, when we're doing wall sits or something physically taxing, 15 seconds. You can do anything for 15 seconds. And isn't life just a culmination of 15 second windows? It's compartmentalizing the process. It's turning the difficult into the advantageous. You have the ability to not think like everyone else. You have it within you to rewire your previous conceptions of the world,

to see darkness not as your reason to hide, from conjured up monsters, but as your invitation to become the light. Remember that the best way to be more is to have the courage to put your back against the wall. And you won't want to in the moment. There will never be a perfect time. But committing to that vulnerability will release from within you the power, the strength, the greatness that has been for so long tucked away. By moving into the chaos, you are simultaneously creating the calm you always dreamed of.

You're realizing the possibility that just needed the door left ajar to make its way into your world. Relax, you're here. That's a clever little sign hanging above the sidewalk, right at the border where Pompano Beach turns into Loderdale by the sea. And as it turns out, that spot is almost directly in the middle, one of my favorite running routes. Almost exactly halfway. Which at first I found kind of annoying, being that, no, I was not where I wanted to be or intended to be. And no, I certainly could not relax. The heat and the sun and the miles to go always begged to differ, right?

False advertising. It was not in fact here. After all, here in this context suggests one has arrived, and how can arrival feel like missing pieces and unknowns? How can it feel like so far to go? In the valley of despair, can one really be here? But the more and more I took that route, the more the little sign became a landmark in and of itself.

Something that I looked forward to, its own little destination, a point in which I could both look over my shoulder and realize how far I've come, as well as find reassurance for the journey ahead. It was a manufacturer pat on the back, a change in narrative. Because here's the deal, it's easy to feel lost in the middle. It just is. It's easy to feel empty-handed after days or months or years. it's easy to fall into the trap of never enough.

But if you step back and adjust your perspective, you see it for exactly what it is. A beautiful process. Here doesn't have to be the predetermined destination. Here can be the culmination of all the steps it took you to arrive at the now. Here can be the lessons learned along the way. can be the reassurance that while you're not done,

you've overcome every obstacle up until this point, and there's no reason to think you won't continue that pattern moving forward. So relax. You're here. Perhaps here being a place of trust. The ability to look in the mirror, and sure, see your opportunity areas, but way more importantly, see your brilliant.

Your tenacity, your courage, after all, when armed with those traits, it doesn't matter where you're dropped off at or placed. There's no finish line that's too far away, no mountaintop that's beyond you. Where you end up in the game of life will be directly correlated to the level of trust you have in yourself to play.

So relax. You're here. Maybe here being that point where you can make the leap you've always wanted to make. Where you can feel confident that the unknowns don't stop you, they inspire you, where you see the past as proof that your limitations exist, only where you decide they do. And here is not a wall or a barrier, but a springboard to the next great adventure. next great adventure, where you find that spark of inspiration to push against life and see what

comes back, to test the waters, ride the wave, that self-identified beginning that lights a fire in your soul. So relax, you're here. Maybe here being the point where you realize you've been selling yourself just a little bit short. Where the image, you're just a little bit short. Where the of yourself that you've created in your head is lacking. The metaphorical shoes you've been wearing have been outgrown. And here is where you change them for something that better suits you. Where you make a contract with yourself to endure the growing pains and the discomfort, where you willingly pick up the pace in exchange for that adrenaline rush associated with leveling up. The excitement of the wind on your face, the increased speed opening up your mind to the realization that you haven't even scratched the surface with regard to your potential.

And that alone is a gift. So relax. You're here. Maybe here is a reminder to simply enjoy the now. to stop thinking only about what's down the road and look around, to realize that the future is just a fantasy about what might come. In the past is a retelling of stories that have already occurred, making your experience on this planet only right now.

A culmination of right now is stacking up to comprise your entire life, And while the destination is the purpose that pulls you through, the very idea of a destination is essentially trading a current right now for a future one. So maybe look around and enjoy what you have. Appreciate the moment in all its glory. Relax. You're here. See, whatever here means to you,

It's essential that we know even in the heart of the storm, the chaos of battle mid-jurney, that you have everything you need. Not just to survive, but to adjust and re-examine. To identify what means the most to you and follow that like your life depends on it. Relax, you are here. Here being the inflection point that separates the past from the future, that cuts your negative self-talk and those self-imposed limitations down to the nothings that they are. For me, that sign and its message have become a reminder of the duality of life. The tightrope that I have to walk between chasing down the dreams that.

pull me out of bed every morning and simultaneously cherishing the moments that comprise the journey. Sure, it's the halfway point of my run, and sure, I have ways to go. Sure, celebrating now would be counterproductive, but breathe in. Look what I get to do. Look where I am. Look what I have. They say we live not for the destination, but the journey, and I think that's. right. I think in a way the finish line might just be the excuse we give in order to experience

the steps that take us there. It's the chase, the pursuit, and so relax, you are here, reminds me that I'm in the thick of the good stuff. Ed Helms, at a commencement speech, quotes his character from the office, Andy Bernard, as saying, I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you've actually left them. Well, this might just be that reminder. Grow to something you've yet to become, but with everything you have, appreciate who you are now. Respect that finish line, but cherish the race. When the time comes, and we've reached the end of our days, reflecting back, I think there are two successes that I'll identify as I'm reminiscing. First, I don't want to look back and feel regret for a lack of courage.

I don't want to wish that I'd been bolder in pursuit of my dreams. No, I want to accomplish the unthinkable, capture the unobtainable. But second, I also don't want, when reflecting back, to realize that I never looked around and enjoyed the ride, that I didn't know what I had the entire time, that when things felt like a lot, I forgot that a lot was in and of itself a gift. So when the pressures of life seem to consume us, the expectations overwhelm us, the story disappoints us. Let's find the time to pause. Take a breath and relax. because it just might be life's way of telling us.

We're here. You're not here just to get by, to check a box. No, you're here for something different. Maybe it's your desire to chase down that sunrise while the rest of the world sleeps, to embrace the difficult,

the inconvenient in exchange for that little bit of glory you'll soon feel. feel as you pour your morning coffee and start your day. Or maybe it's your fascination with the fact that every time you ask yourself, if there's more, if you have anything left, the answer always seems to be yes. And maybe that's it.

That what you're capable of in a way, world affinity and constraint and limitation seems to be the only thing with absolutely no bounds. The human soul undergoes a sort of transformation, if you will. Every time we look around at what currently is and decide it will soon be the gateway to something more. And that's life's best kept secret. The word decide. the idea that we choose whether to accept things as they are or to change them, that we have within us the ability to push further than we've ever pushed, to find what was once only existent in our imaginations.

And this will always be true. You get what you seek. What you're willing to envision. And while some see this trade-off as too much as a cost far too expensive, others see it as the chance of a lifetime. The opportunity to give some of you so that you can grow and improve all of you. See each footstep is far more than a point on the earth. It's a declaration, a commitment to give more than most would give so that you can feel what only is. only a few will feel.

So remember that when things seem trivial, when it's easier to call it a day or turn it around, that the simple act of continuing forward puts you in the minority. It's positioning you to experience life as it should be lived. You're here to both cherish the now and cash it in. Let the value of your quality courage compound. Let your resilience remind you just how much control you have and how much is waiting for you. If only you say yes when it hurts, move forward when the path is unclear,

believe when the possibility only exists in your head. You're here because while it may be easier to watch life go by from the cheap seats. The risk, the sacrifice, is worth being able to look back someday down the road and know that at least you have the courage to play the game. Sometimes the inspiration doesn't come to you. No, sometimes you have to go out and find it. When it hurts the most, when the deck seems stacked, against you when the road to travel seems to be longer than you can endure.

These are the times we're tasked, not with waiting, but with creating. And those lows, they become highs because they force us to self-assess to look around and say, I don't want to feel this way anymore. I'm done tolerating X, accepting Y, associating with Z, and And so a bridge must be created to something. And your question is simply what's that something going to look like? Here's what's interesting. Knowing what you don't want is often the beginning.

It breathes life into a first step. Maybe you look up and you have no idea what step 2,000 or 3,000 looks like. and that's perfectly okay. You don't need to know exactly where you're headed, exactly what the top of the mountain will look like. What took me forever to figure out is knowing that here isn't right for you, wherever here is is enough,

because it is the beginning. The engine that makes it all work, you don't owe explanation. apologies aren't required of you. All you needed was that feeling in your stomach that more is out there and perhaps you've been depriving yourself of it for a tad too long. You just need to leave scarcity behind

and train your eyes to find the abundance you exist with him. The other day I saw a quick interview Tiger Woods was giving. And I'm not really a big golf guy, but when the greats talk, I listen. And those who have been following him know that he's had kind of a rocky past, right? A very public, you know, family situation to injuries, surgeries, a recent car accident. And you can only want someone like that to rise from the ashes, right? I feel like everyone's rooting for him to rediscover the dominance he once possessed. And basically in this interview, the interviewer's asking him about day one of the masters,

where Tiger played well enough to make the cut. You know, he survived day one and was about to continue the tournament into the weekend, but it certainly wasn't the best golf he's ever played. And so upon reflecting on it, he says, and I'm paraphrasing, things aren't the way I'd like them to feel. But I've given myself a chance, and I love the way that sounded. Not just because it came from a man who's been metaphorically battling uphill for what feels like sometime now, but because it's how we all reemerged from our adversity.

It doesn't matter what happened yesterday. Your past, all of it, the ups and downs, the bumps and bruises, they've all brought you here. And if life is one giant tournament, you've made the cut. You get to play in your masters. Tomorrow is coming. And it brings with it the chance to write the ship. To discover the undiscovered, to find yourself again.

By showing up today, you've given yourself a chance, and that is the most powerful thing. one can possess a chance. I think too often we look at what we don't have. We spend our time focusing on the holes, the blank spaces, the gaps. Instead of looking at the opportunity we've created to pivot wherever we deem necessary, the flexibility is the asset, but only valuable when we recognize and utilize it. And yeah, that can feel like a tall order when we are not at our best. When we're operating at a level that, let's say, is less than ideal.

It's easy to see all the problems we're going through as supporting evidence that the world is bigger than us, that we are outmatched by life. But really, all these things that have come together to create our current state, There are nothing more than life providing you a chance, an opportunity to turn the page. I'm a tiger, you know, those lows, those setbacks, and perhaps even the personal anguish, one would assume would accompany those things. They've given him the gift of now. And he recognizes that. Just like everything that has paved the way for you has done the same. It's created the conditions from which you can now grow, further evolve.

It's providing a little nudge towards those things we need to do, but maybe sometimes drag our feet a little too long. So when the world throws you curveballs, how about seeing this situation as a chance to hit off speed? to step up to the plate and make something of what we thought was misfortune. When one trades, it's happening to me, for it's happening for me, you're presented advantages that were previously unavailable. They weren't there, and not because they didn't exist.

They weren't there because they weren't recognized. Because perhaps you saw the very very, everything that could help you as the thing that would hurt you. But regardless, here you are. Sharpened by the mistakes you made and shaped by the lessons you learned, you are here. Not to relive the past, but to create a new reality, write a new chapter, walk a new path. You are here. And wherever next happens to be...

Let it unfold because you chose it. Let it evolve because it's who you are. Leave the stands and make your way to this stage. We're sure the stakes are higher, but so is the upside. I often talk about the power of looking over our shoulders at those highs and lows from time to time. Not because they have power over us, but because they have made us powerful. Look at all you've endured. See all that you've overcome.

And for what? Well, to put it simply, for the gift currently at your fingertips. The chance to say years from now, that sure you lost your soul. Things became chaotic, confusing, convoluted. Maybe you were unsure, maybe at times you even felt alone, but those times, the same times that could have kept you down, instead reminded you what you were capable of becoming. You don't get the light at the end of the tunnel without walking through the darkness. the darkness. And so to remember that, that all this has unfolded to bring about something beautiful

on the other side, well, that just might be the perspective that you've needed, that you've left behind. The world will only give you what you ask for. And so right here, right now, instead of accepting a continuation of your past. How about demanding an evolution of yourself? That game of life awaits. And so for your sake and the worlds, don't be afraid to play.