Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - GROWTH REQUIRES COURAGE - Best Motivational Speech

Episode Date: June 12, 2024

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail." – Ralph Waldo Emerson Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube  In this episode, Eddie Pinero dives into the importance of embracing your strengths and recognizing when you're in the wrong spot in life. He discusses how our ability to positively impact the world decreases when we operate outside our zone of genius. Eddie shares insights on focusing where your happiness and strengths intersect, rather than acquiring arbitrary skills. Key topics include: Understanding the power of working within your strengths. Recognizing when you're in the wrong spot and making a change. Balancing the things you love with necessary tasks. Surrounding yourself with people whose strengths complement your weaknesses. Freeing yourself to excel in what you're great at to reach your full potential. Tune in to learn how to create a life where your true potential can shine.

I've been listening to Charlie Munger quite a bit recently. Kind of, you know, going back down memory lane, listening to some old lectures, small videos. The guy was brilliant. I had a ton of quotes. And one of my favorite, I'm paraphrasing here, but the idea is that we shouldn't dwell so much on our, we'll call them, faults or weaknesses, but rather we should be diving fully into our strengths. And this is one of those things that on the surface probably makes sense right away, but the reality is we don't always do it. We spend so much time stuck on the things we aren't good at,

or that we're not drawn to, that we forget to nurture the things that separate us and make us unique. I like to joke around about Microsoft Excel. Microsoft Excel used to haunt me. I hated it. I hated opening it. I hated the formulas. was like to me, the seventh letter of hell is someone with a sweater vest on asking me to find trends in an Excel spreadsheet.

And so going from school to a job as an analyst, obviously, you know, the circumstances didn't care whether I liked it or not. That was the vehicle through which we had to arrive at a lot of important outcomes. So the deal was figured out, you know, and I did. And I got better. But like, the same way. a blind person on a park bench would get better at identifying people walking by. They're just operating with less than ideal tools. Right and that was one of many indicators it was like bro you are in the wrong spot. Not spot in the building but spot in life. And as I continued the process of navigating towards my strengths,

I saw more and more the value of exactly what Charlie Munger was referring to. The further I stepped outside my zone of genius, the less likely I was to have a positive impact in my own life and the lives of those around me. And again, when you think about this or even talk through it like you're explaining it to a fifth grader, it makes perfect sense. So an example, you're an athlete, it's your gift, you love it, you thrive on it. Okay, in this example, would you rather spend 90% of your time focusing on the athletics you love and becoming the 1% of the 1% uncommon amongst uncommon men or women, as Goggins

would say? Or would you rather be that incredible athlete who instead of spending 90% of his time nurturing the gift felt bad about being terrible at chess? And so practice chess every day in an effort to go from terrible to meet. mediocre. It's like, who cares? You suck at chess. You don't need it.

Let chess go. Unless you're getting personal enjoyment out of it, which is a different story altogether, but let it go. Focus on where your happiness and strengths intersect. That's where you'll get the most joy. That's where when the sun comes up in the morning, you jump out of bed, feeling invigorated, ready to take on the day. Too many of us using the same example are athletes

trying to become mediocre at chess. For what reason? I personally am a creator, a writer, a speaker. It's what I love and it's what I'm good at. So I should be doing creator, writer, speaker things. And so the question I'm gonna pose to you is what is that for you? What are those things in your world?

And lastly, you know, Because life is not always black and white, there's one more caveat that I think needs to be addressed. There's something you don't love doing, but it's required to help you do more of the thing that you do love doing, then at least for a period of time, you have to suck it up and find balance, right?

So a few examples, easy one for me, my company was a one-man show for a long time. A lot of you know that, I've talked about it. It wasn't just creating writing and speaking. It was learning how to use a camera, it was learning how to edit audio, learning how to edit video, it was strategy, it was understanding social media platforms. It was, believe it or not, going through YouTube's data, some of which exports to Excel. But I survived, right? And I still do. And here's what I've learned and where the spirit of Charlie Munger's message has been critical. I surround myself now with people who not only do things I don't like or, you know, take care of my weaknesses, but they're amazing at it.

You know, our zones of genius are different. My weaknesses are their strengths. That's Team 101. And that understanding, it frees us all up to do what we're great at as much as possible. Ideally, 100% of the time. In fact, one of my biggest breakthroughs was talking to, you know, my now business manager about value ad. He's sort of analyzing the situation over here and he goes, hey, the thing that you can do that no one else can is be sharing your story in front of the camera. We can get an awesome group of people around you to analyze trends on YouTube, to create

thumbnails, to answer email, to edit audio and video. to schedule things. In a perfect world, you're doing zero of that. Why? Because your zone of genius is speaking and storytelling. And I got excited thinking about how far that concept could go. It's like, imagine? Imagine a world where I wake up

and only do the things I love doing that fall within my zone of genius. That to me was groundbreaking. It's like Charlie's comment isn't just about going, you know, from the minefield of Excel to creating my own business. No, it takes it further. It's shedding things until all that's left is the stuff that makes a difference. That's how you create greatness.

And I'd advocate, you know, that's the mental shift we should all be making. Stop feeling like, you know, we owe it to someone or something to go from a zero to a two in a certain category, when we can change our lives in the world by going from an 8 to 10 in the things that mean the most to us. You have that ability, right? It's a cutting away process, understanding what moves the needle and going all in there. So if you're looking around and realizing, you know, hey, I'm fighting every day to go from bad to proficient, particularly in an area I don't care about, then odds are you're in the wrong. arena and I think the best advice is to seek out the right one to find a place

where that exhausted energy lights you up it'll be life-changing experiencing the power that a move in that direction it always gets worse first I was recently at a mastermind where someone made this point and as hard as I tried I couldn't really poke holes in it for the simple fact that everything new requires some vulnerability, some discomfort that was previously non-existent. Or in other words, you have to endure turbulence prior to calm. So imagine a wavy line on a piece of paper or whiteboard where the top of each wave is slightly bigger than the one before it. Right? So right before that new wave occurs, there is necessarily a low point or a trough,

a point that's absolutely, without a doubt, lower than the top of the previous wave. And this, to me, summarizes the battle we fight, right? When you're comfortable, when you're at the top of the little wave you're currently riding, it almost feels self-defeating to willingly jump off and land yourself at the bottom of some new, soon-to-be future wave. Every new mountain means starting at the bottom, a new base. Every acquisition means letting go of something we once knew and understood. The question is, are you willing to fight through? Are you willing to hang out in the trough at the bottom, right?

wander that valley of despair. And that's, by the way, what we're talking about when we talk about, for example, Walt Disney being fired, being called unimaginative, and struggling to get the world to understand his Mickey Mouse cartoon. That's what we're talking about with Steve and Was with Apple. That's what we're talking about with Lincoln and the constant political rejection before finding stability and success, right? These stories have become almost folklore. And all of them share the same characteristic, that the main players willingly accepted the fact that it would

get worse before it got better. All of them were willing to make a trade. The bottom now for a chance at the top later. Not only is this pragmatic, but it also aids the mind throughout the process. It helps us understand and internalize what we're going through. You know, that initial instinct to think, why mean, to shake our fists at the world and fall into the role of victim? That goes away when we know that, you know, we're enduring turbulence now for something better. When we know that this is merely the cost of admission.

You're not at the bottom of the world. wave because you have to be or even because it's fun to hang out there you're there because something greater is coming and a human's desire to delay gratification is a superpower we all know that things get worse before they get better so remember next time you're out in the world right dealing with adversity technically you don't have to be there. You could be hiding away, letting life slip by, but instead you've made the decision, the courageous decision to better yourself. What you're enduring will ultimately become your strong point. And so don't villainize or demonize that, cherish it, hold on to that, because we

need to get beyond the notion that discomfort is weakness. Discomfort is a decision. A bold decision that you should be proud of. Again, you could live your entire life running from the painful things, hiding from the discomfort of growth. But then you'd also be forfeiting that next wave. You'd be so hell-bent on escaping the notion that it always gets worse first, that instead you never let your life get better to begin with. There is no bottom or trough on earth more detrimental to the human soul than static. We need to be moving, marching forward, even when we don't know, right, into the unknown, into the night, fighting to get to the ceiling, then gladly allowing that ceiling to become our next floor.

It always gets worse and thank God. That's where we are made. Conditioned. That's the buffer that separates mediocrity from greatness. that forces us to ask the important questions. Do I really want this? And if the answer is yes, let it get worse first. Let it be tough out of the gate.

Grant yourself that gift of vulnerability. Because if you waves from now, you'll be on a different level. Physical, spiritual, personally. A few waves from now, the quote-unquote worst parts will be what stand between who you are and who you were. And that decision, the decision to step out and face them, will have been perhaps the best decision you've ever made. This has been on my mind recently. The things happening around us that go unnoticed.

The work that's unseen. Let me explain. There's an idea that a fish has no idea it's in water, as the water is all it's ever known. And I like to draw parallels to this frequently because I think it's representative of the human condition in so many ways. It has to be. We necessarily block out an infinite number of things in order to focus on what we've decided matters most. In other words, our eyes are spotlights. And the beauty is that this allows us to say yes to that, which will push us in a given direction, disregarding everything else.

The challenge is that sometimes what's disregarded has value. We can't see the progress we're making as we're building because to build we have to be focused on the very next brick on what's in front of us. Step by step, day by day we see what's next. But what often lives outside that field of vision is what we're becoming. The foundation we're building. That's why the journey can feel frustrating and feel helpless. A lot of the real value kind of floats overhead unnoticed. Now I have infinite examples here.

I'll give you one of my favorites. Almost a decade ago, I wanted to make a little acoustic album, singer-songwriter stuff, and I called it Painting the Mississippi, which if you're ever gonna come up with a band name, make it something people can spell, just a side note. But I was locked in. My heart at the time pulled me in this direction, and I thought of nothing but writing songs.

Recording, learning pro tools, how to edit edit and mix music, I thought about promotion, designing album covers, making videos. I'd never done anything like that in my life before. It was all new. And because of that, I'm sure it's no surprise that it was bad. Reality was about to confirm this. I didn't know it yet, but it was coming, right? And I sent it everywhere all over Boston.

It got no traction. I remember just being baffled. My mind went to all those little steps. all the time, all the commitment. I would just sit there thinking, you know, what about all that effort? My eyes were focused entirely like a spotlight on making this happen for months and months and months. And now, what do I have to show for?

Nothing. Maybe even worse than nothing, embarrassment, a bruised ego, fear of what comes next. If I were a fish, that process was the stream I'd been living in. Not only that, my understanding of life was effort and validation having a one-to-one relationship. Long-term value was something I understood less than Mandarin. It just wasn't something I thought about. But here's what lived outside my field of vision, all that I was becoming. Listen, I know some of these things are said so often that they feel cliche.

I get that, right? The classic, well, son, at least you learned. But this, quote unquote, loss was truly the foundation I would build the next decade on. Here's what younger me learned. Sometimes you work and you work and you work and you work and the results are not there. See, reality is a free market. It'll let you know if you're adding value and if you're not. And what I saw is that sometimes you swing and miss, and it's not personal.

In fact, learning to depersonalize these outcomes is what separates the true winners and losers in life, because winning requires taking that data and info and going back to the drawing board. Losing is derived from looking at that result and saying, oh, I must suck then. I must not have what it takes. It was the hardening that I needed. Impossible to see that in real time, right? That was life outside the stream I was swimming in. But oh, how grateful I am for it.

To ultimately learn that life does not give charity. No one deserves anything. You either evolve until you can get what's yours or you miss out on all of it. And see, what I'd love you to do as you march forth into your next unknown is understand that so long as you are humble enough to adapt and learn and grow, there is value happening in real time. And I only remind you because it's very likely that, right now in this moment, you can't see it. You can't see how what you're going through now

will make you stronger. How the setbacks will ultimately make all the difference. You can't see how strong you are because all you're looking at is what's next and you have to. You're not thinking about what you've conquered or how far you've come. No, that somehow eludes us. So don't let the disappointment of the no results now intimidate you. This is the good stuff, the meaningful stuff. If you're willing to learn as you go, I promise you, even when life seems to be at its darkest, you are ascending a staircase that will bring you where you need to be. As the saying goes, sometimes the quote unquote wrong choices bring us to the right places. Trust in the value you cannot yet see as you make your way through life, trust that the dots will connect, that this

will all make sense. You simply cannot be effective without some trust in the process. The reason life is not a standardized test with true and false questions, because it's figured out as we go. So don't deprive yourself of that beauty when the reward is delayed because my friend, the magic is now. It's in the will to move forward and the courage to keep your head up. It's in what all this becomes. So believe in you. Trust in yourself. Have the patience to walk that path and see it all materialize.

Sometimes we convince ourselves that right now isn't quite right. It's not the wrong time necessarily. but soon. We'll have that thing that will make the perfect launch point soon. So we'll wait. You hear it a lot with hopeful creators, right? As soon as I get the camera, I'm going to start the podcast. As soon as I feel inspired, I'll start writing. Or how about this one we can all relate to in some way. As soon as it's January 1, I'll start taking care of myself and my health. And I'm not talking about this because I read about it. I'm talking about it because I live it.

It's an adversary I'm always up against. The allure of waiting for that perfect moment. But here's the deal. When you start now, the imperfections become part of the value. People see imperfections and become inspired by them. He started getting in shape in his garage with two dumbbells. Look at that. She started writing her novel in a notebook waiting to pick her kids up from school.

Going now not only destroys that enemy that is procrastination, it also gives you something of value in return. It lets the very fact that you found a way become a narrative in your story. It allows your imperfections to become your greatness. I recently relocated my studio to Scottsdale, a move that, according to the moving company, would take seven to ten days. 24 days later, I realized that there are places in life where you can attempt to cut costs. Moving companies should never be one of those things.

I found myself with the recording equipment in my camera bag that I travel with and some empty boxes. I'm waiting for my stuff to show up one week, two weeks, three weeks, soon, soon it'll arrive. And I'll be able to record then. Because right now there's no lighting. Right now I don't have my tripod. I don't have anything to put behind me in the set. It's like wait, wait, wait. Or how about this? You take the empty shelves and you make them intentional. You lean boxes against the wall. You have a life transition set, right? And not only can you make that work, not only will it look sufficient, but it's like, you have a story now. We like to hear about the times others made something out of an apparent nothing. It's relatable. And that's actually where the

fun stuff is in any conversation. I'm recording this in a hotel room, doing what I can, with what I have. And so when you find yourself feeling not quite ready and the temptation is to wait, rather than hold out hope for a fake perfection that never comes, why not unpack the beauty contained in the present moment? Or put a much more practical way, the opportunity contained in the present moment. Why not begin with the moment? less and tap into something that no other time in your life will have but now. Start your

podcast using your phone. Mediocre visuals and echo-e audio. Let this be the beginning that you look back on and smile. Remember how fun those episodes were? That mediocre at best equipment and stories about where we were in life. You start working out now. Can't get to the gym. Do it in your garage, in your living room. Then you can point to where it would have been easy not to, but you built your physical foundation

on the third floor of an apartment building in New York. People ask you what it took to get into the shape you're in now. Wait and a floor. Just start. I find repeatedly that it's not about. about perfect. It's about who we become in making progress with far less than the perfect we'd hoped for. That's what makes you realize how much of what we tell ourselves is just rationalization. We're scared to not look good, that's all. We're scared of new things, worried about beginning.

And so we convince ourselves that the camera angle will make all the difference. The expensive lens will be the differentiator. Again, I've lived this. And then you get it and it's like, in truth, the new camera just sits there. You're still the person in front of it. And what you say in front of your phone versus $2,000 Sony is still entirely dependent on you. Surprise. The Sony doesn't have much say.

And so I call you to think less about the set and more about what's going on within it. The amount you can do with what you have now will astound you. How little we need is truly magical. You know, in these last three weeks have emphasized that for me. Two pairs of shoes, two pairs of jeans, some t-shirts, and a camera. I didn't miss much. Because my ability to think and share ideas didn't get packed away and put in the truck with everything else. That stayed with me.

And we all have some version of that in our own lives. That's what matters. You are LeBron at something. So cherish that. Bring that to the world, regardless of the circumstances. You can put LeBron on a broken down court with no nets. He'd still be pretty good. The environment becomes something different, something enjoyable because of its novelty.

Too often we miss the value, you know, because. of the details. So I'll end with this. Don't seek perfection. Seek to start now with what you have so that you can give more of yourself to the world. You can give more of yourself when you're unsure. Give more of yourself when you're lost. Give more of yourself when you're starting.

Give more of yourself when you don't have all the tools you wish you have. Give more of yourself at the beginning, give more at the middle, and at the end. Anything that suggests you need some miracle in the mail before you can begin or tap into what matters is fear. It's nothing more and nothing less. So start. Start for the world and for the story you'll be able to share by simply initiating the clon. As many of you know, the great Charlie Munger recently passed away. And a friend of mine sent me a video of his most powerful quotes, soundbites.

And as I was listening, one stood out to me that I really wanted to share. Charlie Munger said that the acquisition of knowledge is a moral duty. Basically, it's our responsibility to capitalize on the, opportunity presented to each and every one of us. We owe that to ourselves and we owe that to the world. And it just so happened that this particular message was said during a commencement address, talking to an audience of students who weren't ending, but rather were beginning the greatest undertaking of their lives. They'd be released beyond the confines of the campus to go navigate the world. I remember being in the

that position, right? Asking myself the question, well, what do I do now? Felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. And actually, beyond that point, I've found myself at that crossroads many a times. But being that there are really no right answers in life, I find Charlie Munger's advice here even more meaningful. Because it's not about what you're supposed to do, at least not when we zoom out. It's about a willing to to step forward and continuously pursue knowledge. Your personal evolution. It's to try things you've never tried so that you can learn from them.

It's going where you've never gone so that you can stretch beyond the boundaries you previously existed in. You owe it to yourself and the world to find what you love and shake that tree until all its fruit is gone. And that's an advantage. not a right or wrong question. Life is not a checklist. It is one great journey. A journey in which we acquire knowledge we never had and become the people we knew we could be. It's a moral duty not to get it right because again there is no right. It's a moral duty because you have it within you

to change things, to make an impact, to better the people around you. It's a moral duty because you will be a difference maker in whatever arena you choose to step into. And just imagine forfeiting that. Imagine the greatness that would be wasted. If you looked in the mirror and thought to yourself, yeah, I don't know what that future looks like,

so I'll stay here. I don't understand, so I won't go. I'm not where I want to be right now. So hey, this is where we'll close the book. See, endings are just beginnings in disguise. Because they set you free to start writing a new chapter, to adjust and reimagine the impact that you can have on the world. students, the ones that Charlie Munger was talking to, they aren't done learning. They're merely

at an inflection point. And by the way, I think that's why it's so painful to feel stuck, to feel lost. Because our souls want growth, but don't know where to go. We feel confined because the target is uncertain, but I can tell you this. Sometimes knowing that the current chapter is over is enough, is all you need. Sometimes knowing that you no longer need to be where you are is plenty, because it prompts movement. One who is willing to keep their feet going, who's willing to try, make educated guesses, and adapt. That is someone who is constantly learning. Someone who's realized that the only way to assure success is not achieved is by standing still. Worrying so much about losing what you currently have that you disregard the infinite upside.

It is a moral duty to grow because you are a game changer. You have perspectives and ideas and abilities that will make this place better. And when you look around and think, me? No, you've got the wrong guy or gal here. That just means it's time for you to walk, to move, to create momentum, to stumble into life until you find a little portion of it. You want to put a stake in and call your own. And please, this isn't a life is rainbows, butterflies, and everything's magic message. This is a find your thing and give it to the world message.

This is a you can always be evolving message. And most importantly, this is a progress is happiness message. Because a life lived to the fullest is one where we are stretching and exploring. We're stepping out into the vast unknown and mapping it for ourselves and others. It's your duty to acquire knowledge and allow that acquisition to propel you into the ether. It's your responsibility to not sit on your gifts, but bring them to life and create that ripple effect that will change the world. Reality is a mirror. Reflecting back at you not the world as it is, but the world. as you are. The idea here is that if you don't pause and remind yourself how much control

you have over your own reality, over what you're seeing, you start thinking you're at the mercy of someone else's story, a character in a play that is not your own. You forget that in your own movie, you're the scriptwriter. Or as Marcus Aurelius wrote, you have power over your your mind, not outside events, realize this and you will find strength. I recently heard this referred to as the mirror principle. But really for obvious reasons, I'm more partial to calling it your world within. An echo of Tolstoy's classic line, everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

And that is where our power lies. Or using the same example, you can't change the reflection you see by shaking the mirror. You change the reflection by changing your relationship with yourself, by changing how you treat and view yourself, which not only alters your actions, it alters how the world views you. One of the first things we notice about someone is whether they are confident, whether they operate with conviction and self-belief. We notice how they view themselves immediately. The greatest gifts I've been given from mentors and people I look up to in life, they haven't

been material. No, they've always been subtle reminders that I set the guidelines and the world conforms. It's always been, hey, Eddie, if you only view yourself as someone who charges a little bit of money to clients, that's how potential clients will view you. Eddie, if you surround yourself with people who think small, that's exactly what you'll become accustomed to doing. Eddie, if you don't believe you can do amazing things, people won't walk up to you and believe it for you. All of these have been reminders that the reflections that I'd created for myself at those points in time were limiting.

The reflection I was allowing was narrow in scope. It was safe. It was small. And if I wanted more, it wasn't up to the world. It certainly wasn't a matter of crossing my fingers and hoping that that mirror would randomly tell a different story. It was seeing myself as someone who creates a new picture altogether. And that could be a difficult thing to grasp.

Right? Like, you can't change the mirror at all. You can only change what you bring to the mirror. So what are some examples? What are some pieces in the past that I've worked on? One, first and foremost, imposter syndrome. One of the cool things about having speeches blow up on YouTube before I ever gave a keynote speech on stage is that I started getting invites to speak all over the place. The flip side to that is that I felt like someone who didn't belong there. It happened too quickly. It was outside the comfort of my studio.

It was like, oh no, the world's going to find me out. And that's what I brought to the mirror. And of course, for a while, that's exactly what the mirror showed right back. I had to convince myself that I could speak anywhere, through practice, through affirmation, trudging through the mud of doubt and uncertainty, and earning a lot of doubt. a different reflection. I say that not to pat myself on the back, but to demonstrate a battle fought mostly in private, where I had to rewire how I saw not the world but myself, how I saw my ability to navigate

seemingly insurmountable things. It always amazes me how so much of any battle is merely confronting it with confidence. It's knowing that, hey, difficult or not. not, I belong here. And I'm going to figure it out. That's what I do. I think we all need to find a way to bring that to our personal mirrors. And again, it'll feel weird.

Good. It'll feel inauthentic at first. Perfect. Change requires a breaking down and building up. and breaking down never feels good. I can give you another example, and I think this will certainly be relatable to most of you. Not being able to see the gratitude in my life

over the small annoyances, like something stupid or not ideal or disruptive would just prompt the spiral. My Facebook getting hacked is a great example of this. I've talked about this before. My world ended for a few hours. I was so angry until I got it together and composed myself. It's like, Eddie, you need to be the type of person who observes,

who calmly collects the data and then makes a productive decision. Now, clearly, I wasn't that. And in many ways, I'm still working towards it. But I know that's part of the reflection I want. That's something I'm working towards every... day. And you know what's helped me? Gratitude. Seriously, that's simple. Three things in the morning I feel grateful for. People I have in my life. Things I get to do, the work that I love. Whatever it is that day, I write it down. Because just thinking that way elevates my baseline to not just

existing but realizing how lucky I am. And I start from a place not of lack, but of abundance. And that puts things into perspective. So that when, you know, things do go wrong or the wheels do fall off the wagon, it's not the end of the world. It's one little trial or tribulation in the great play of your life, one that you're very happy to be in. And I could go on and on. Whether we want to call this the mirror principle or the creating of your world within or just merely obtaining perspective, the idea is simple. What the reflection shows you is directly correlated to the things you've accepted or allowed in your life.

And if you don't like the view, well, then adjust what you're allowing. Give yourself permission to level up, to be more, take more risks, to chase down the upside. Reality is a mirror, and a mirror is an output. You are the input. You are where it all begins, where everything in your world takes shape. So give yourself permission to fight for a reflection. that you're proud of it. I used to separate building up and tearing down

as if they were two totally different ideas rather than one perpetual loop. The energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Simply transfers from one thing to another. We are renting everything in this world, grabbing little pieces of life as we run through it. And what we leave behind in the rear view has the potential to tug at our heartstrings as we see it collapse into the horizon, sure.

But it also has to. Yesterday was in its own way the beginning, a nurturing parent, preparing you for the world of today, pushing you out the front door and maybe you don't feel ready. We never do. But things have to go in order for more to arrive. The tearing down is the building up. I have a significant relationship with this idea, letting go. I think because it's personally been one of my greatest adversaries.

You know, and the words that escape our lips pull back the curtain on who we are. Humans are just projectors with eyes. As my words escape, the hope is something beautiful will be let in. As I'm sitting here, writing, speaking, I'm thinking about how exciting the prospect of scaling this message, growing this brand, helping more people, adding more value, while simultaneously dancing around the terror of relinquishing some level of creative control with my work. You can't, of course, grow and still do things how you did them in a one-bedroom apartment in 2014.

This isn't new. They've been grappling with it in different contexts for years. It's so personal to me, but the reality is there's no grace space here. This situation is clear as glass. You have to let go in order to acquire. You have to tear down those barriers in order to make room for more. This is and always has been a me conversation. I'll look at myself in the mirror conversation.

Eddie, what are you willing to let go of because there are ropes that must be cut? See, these conversations hurt, but they are the transfer mechanism to all that is beautiful. Being self-aware hurts. But I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that it hurts less than operating in a state of consistent delusion. So I offer this question to you. What was the last conversation you had with yourself? When was your last is what I want and what I'm doing, aligned conversation? When was your last?

Am I holding on to too much conversation? Your last, if I want parts of me to be reborn, am I willing to let the unnecessary things die conversation? Life is a cycle. and we forget that. As we get comfortable, as we become accustomed to routine, it's easy to forget. Are we shedding the old or hiding within it?

And Gary Keller is one thing. He mentions how a domino can knock over another domino 50% larger. So if you were to start with a two-inch domino and keep increasing the one next to it by 50%, The 23rd domino in the progression would be able to knock over the Eiffel Tower. The 31st would be as tall as Everest. The 57th domino would be able to bridge the gap between the Earth and the Moon.

See, but it must be understood that it's the 50% growth from domino to domino that makes the difference. If each domino stays the same size, you don't get any remarkable transformation. And in many ways that's what we do. We want the moon, but we stay that two-inch domino. That's my example of holding on to perhaps too many aspects of the creative process. That holding on prevents the 50% jump. For you, the journey before you will be a different one with different characteristics. But the rules the same, the old dominoes must fall in order to create a different jump.

something new that energy must be passed on and it is capable of transferring this is the important part to something much bigger than itself that's why we allow the old to fall it's not that it's valueless it's that its value was in setting up the brilliance that now awaits you can't be afraid to tear down the old right we have to seek out that fearlessness that exists within us It's crippling our growth, diminishing our capacity to live life to the fullest. That's what's scary. Protecting that which no longer serves us is what's dangerous. So let yesterday fade into the rear view.

It may hurt, it may tug at those heartstrings, but when you look back years from now, it will be the reason, the very reason you'll have embarked. upon the adventure of a lifetime. It's what you destroyed that will have opened the door for everything. Brought forth the manifestation of the beautiful life you ultimately came to build. 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. Taking 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. 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 is not 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. could repeatedly amaze myself. I talk a lot about earning confidence, and oh, how I earned it. Step by step, mile 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 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 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 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 Paolo Quoilo 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 and 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 move 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 best but as Emerson has said by hitching your wagon to a star and pulling yourself towards its light a little bit and