Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - I WILL RISE | Morning Motivation | 1 Hour To Start Your Day

Episode Date: April 8, 2023

"The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus" - Bruce Lee

If there's time, then there's time to turn things around. If there is a tomorrow, then there is hope today. The only half-to-bees in life are the ones we prop up and adhere to. And how interesting that oftentimes we don't even realize we're the ones holding them up. There's a simple question that I like to ask as the sun comes up in the college. coffee bruise, am I living today like it's an obligation or something more? Is it an automatic continuation of the past or a methodical move towards a future that lights me up? And these aren't small distinctions, right? I've lived both ways, I've felt what it's like to feel both.

I remember going to work and joking around that a flat tire would be a real treat. That's not accountability. That's not control. That's essentially living life as a jellyfish floating along with the tide. And while the lack of required output, innovation, and planning may have felt like a win in the moment or a burden lifted off my shoulders at the time, Deprived me of that which resides in the soul of every human being alive. Purpose. Personal agency. See, you can only go so far, so long being the spectator of your own journey.

You can only go so long looking out the window before you wonder just what it'd be like to be behind the wheel. When we put our actions up against the question why, it astounds me how many things are done because it's what we've always done. We act like we're expected to act. Think like we're expected to think, see who we're expected to see, but expected by whom? Some of my greatest breakthroughs in life emerged after being asked, why? by people I look up to or respect. Why have you accepted that?

That's your income? Okay, great, but why? That's how you spend your day? I see how calm. And when one is tasked with looking at their own life through a magnifying glass, some hidden truths always emerge. It shines a spotlight in the corner of the room,

illuminating those shadows where one can, if they look hard enough, make out the wolf in sheep's clothing that is the phrase, because that's how I've always done it. We get in life what we accept. We are what we allow ourselves to be, and if we don't ask ourselves which mountain is worth climbing, which ocean is worth crossing, we simply float.

with the tide. We're at the mercy of the winds. We forfeit the mastery over our own lives that await if we're willing to take that wheel and navigate. So here are a few things to take with you. First is you are bound by nothing. The parameters you exist between are of your making. You can get in that car and drive.

You can walk away and begin something. new. You can entertain that vision that's been conveniently tucked away in the back of your mind. Understand that to not go is fine, but it's a decision. And perhaps a decision you'll wish you made differently. And second, difficult today liberate you tomorrow. It's easier to observe. It's easier to say how you wish things were. After all, stepping out into the fast-paced chaotic world is tough. It's scary, it's unpredictable, but it's where you find yourself and the path that's calling your name. It's beyond the pins and needles, emerging as one jumps into the cold water, that they're able to find that evolution. If there's time, then there's time to turn things around.

If there is a tomorrow, then there is hope. I'm going to make everything around me beautiful. That will be my life. Elsie DeWold. Changing for the better is not about the creation of miracles. It's about choosing to see the ones that already exist. Life is hard, but coincidentally, hard things tend to be the gatekeepers to the important ones. We are let in when we bring our own.

ourselves finally to shake hands with and embrace the very things we once saw as the problem. Whereas Ryan Holliday has famously put it, the obstacle tends to be the way. How funny, how counterintuitive, how upside down life can see. But I think that's it. Sometimes it's not even that we're looking at the wrong things. So we're looking at the right things the wrong way. Avoiding the call to step further into the world and deeper into ourselves. Terrified of scraping our knees on the climb, we burden ourselves.

With a much more painful choice of staying at the bottom of the mountain and looking up. But the scars we've collected and will continue to collect on the way up, They do not make you less than. No, they are what make you beautiful. You see yourself and those scars is imperfect. I see someone who has lived, who has taken risks, fallen, and bounced back. I see character and wisdom and elegance and boldness. In an imperfect world, those quote-unquote flaws and scars,

may, funny enough, just be the closest thing to perfection we'll ever experience. It's from our courage to step out, our willingness to crack that we flourish. Living necessarily includes a deterioration over time. But a deterioration of the external, because the internal, the soul, it stays young. It's underneath that forever crumbling world around us that we find the divine.

It is because of our scars, not to spite them, that we grow our wings. They aren't to be feared but coveted. You are more because of the mistakes you made, the challenges you face, the adjustments you had to see through. And I believe our value increases with each tear. and break, resembling the Japanese art of Kinsugi, where a pot that breaks and is put back together with golden lacquer holds more value than the original unblemished piece. See, Wolf says, I'm going to make everything around me beautiful.

And I think this simply calls for an optical adjustment. A shift in relations between things and how you perceive those things. Me, I don't want the whitest, cleanest, newest shoes. As far as I'm concerned, there's very little beauty to preserve there. I want shoes with worn souls from the miles and miles they carried me. holes from the distance I had to walk to find the people who add joy to my life. Cracks from running in the rain while the rest of the world stayed inside. I want my imperfections to show that I lived while I was here.

So from now on, let's stop conflating perfect and beautiful. Perfect is no skin in the game. Perfect is standing forever in the doorway looking out. Perfect is dreaming and wishing and hoping, but never leaving. Because leaving is where our vision brushes up against a reality we may see as too big. No, we want not perfect but beautiful. We want scars and flowers. and flaws and lessons and loss,

because from those things as difficult as they may be, were born again. Imperfection is life, and life is beautiful. So here's to more scuffed shoes and scrape knees, to walking an imperfect yet beautiful road. beautiful road ahead. Sometimes success is merely hanging on when others would let go. Not doing anything spectacular or out of the ordinary, not leaping a mile or jumping over

a mountain, but simply carrying on. Thomas Edison has a famous quote that's really stuck with me over the years. He says many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up. Right? How close they were to the finish line when they turned their back and said it wasn't worth it. It's really an interesting thing to grasp. Success is seeing what others can't. It's believing when others don't.

It's taking the abstract, those visions, those pictures in your head, the make-believe in finding the courage to make them real. Bring them to life. It's this constantly evolving process, and it grows a little bit every single day. Sometimes we feel that progress. We feel the momentum. We do something big, and it's exciting. And sometimes the progress feels small.

And there are times when we get knocked down And we don't see it at all We feel like Because we weren't validated that we lost That we failed, that it wasn't enough We forget that's part of the process That progress is a journey And it goes when you go

And it stops when you stop Just like that famous Dalai Lama quote The only way to fail is to quit, period. No one ever stops because they can't. They stop because they decide to. They stop because they see that huge mountain and they think that's impossible. They forget it's only made of little rocks. They stop because they get so disheartened by the distance of the finish line

that they forget it only takes a collection of little steps to get there. You don't have to leave it. leap the entire distance. You know, I've been there. This is me speaking from experience. It took me years to figure it out. And even now, life is rapidly evolving. I've poured my heart into things that, let's be honest, no one cared about.

I've invested in opportunities that fell apart right in front of me. And each time it felt like the end of the world. I've been lost, I've been unsure. I've gotten up after things didn't come. as planned and it felt like a loser. I had to look myself in the mirror and pick myself back up off the floor. But there's one thing that I kept doing that I never thought twice about. And that's continuing on. Whether life lifted me up or it beat me down, my plan for tomorrow was always the same. Get up and try again. Keep going. And as I sat down,

this morning with my pen and a piece of paper I thought what's the one thing I would want to be told if I started out again what's the one thing that people need to hear most and it's to simply keep going keep taking because one day the world will start to make sense and you'll look around and you will be thankful for one thing that when most would have stopped you didn't When the world said no, you said yes. There is nothing so powerful as a soul that refuses to back down. See, persistence is not an important thing or an essential thing. It's everything. So live as to see. Not what can be lost, but what will be gained.

Find that light in darkness, even if it's a, a, flicker, even if it's a spark. See, every loss makes you a little tougher and every instant of sadness uncover something beautiful. Every moment of fear teaches you to be a little braver. Every broken heart opens the door to a new connection. Instead of doubting yourself, feeling inadequate in life's darkest moments, know that you need what you are going through. You are uncovering the little victories hidden in plain view. So when the world feels like too much and your patience is thin, be stronger than that voice in your head, begging you to think small.

Stand on every experience, the good and the bad. Let it elevate you to a beautiful tomorrow. Time waits for no one. Look, the earth will continue. to spin, the sun to set, clocks to tick. There are no perfect moments, only moments, waiting to be interpreted by those passing through them. And as a raindrop in this thunderstorm, an actor in this play, the only rational question in my mind is if time will not wait, why should I? If time will continue its steady march, why let it leave me behind?

I'm in my mid-30s, and here's what I've already seen. I've already seen songs I grew up with, referred to as classic rock. I've seen some of my childhood sports heroes struggle to throw a first pitch before a baseball game. I've seen a substantial portion of my social interaction become digitized. I've seen once forever people in my life fade away and become memories. I've audibly laughed at the ridiculousness of things that at one point I was sure were important.

I've redefined the meaning of the word home in my life more times than I can count. In fact, the way I see the world and the way I see myself operating and it continues to change. As the saying goes, the only constant in our lives is that things change, evolve. Why does this matter so much to me? Well, because when I look back,

the single thing that would consistently keep me from truly pushing that pedal to the floor to truly capturing all life has to offer was a fear, a very specific fear, the fear of losing what I had at that moment. I was scared to death of loss. as we all tend to be to varying extent. In fact, we're biologically wired to respect the fear of loss

to a greater extent than the prospect of acquisition. There's humor in all this, though, a deeply rooted irony. It emerges when we discover that we lose everything. It all goes. The song that's playing ends for each and every one of us, And is this a sad thing? No. No more than the credits to your favorite movie rolling after the final scene. It was the show, the experience that meant the world. It's a beautiful thing if you let it manifest in all its beauty.

If you move along with it, immerse yourself in its brilliance. My point is that the only way to lose is to wait. It's to not. realize that you're starring in your own cinematic masterpiece, and those credits will at some point roll. It's to sit in a chair on the side of the gym while the rest of the room dances. Life is finite, and the power is not in a flawless existence. It's an understanding to our core that there is nothing to lose, that the window is small, that we should.

carry out the human equivalent of a fireworks show. We should be obnoxiously bold, absurdly courageous. We should go, live, try, experiment, explore, build, create. And yeah, sometimes you'll fail. And sometimes you'll fail spectacularly. But sometimes you'll triumph. And along the way, the mistakes, they become wisdom. They become... Both of which are integral to any meaningful grand finale. And as I make my way around the sun for the 36th time,

the priority is to remember that these rides are not forever. They are precious. And that I have the strength to live accordingly. Fearlessly. Courageously, my hope is that you find it within yourself to do the same. To pull back the curtains and see now that failure was never the adversary, no, not even close. The adversary is an unwillingness to make the most of your moments.

The adversary is freezing amidst the constant, hammering away of ticking clocks. The adversary is the prospect of removing failure's mask years down the road, only to stare directly into the eyes of regret. These outcomes constitute your greatest adversary. So for the sake of all that is meaningful, go push into the questions and the risk and the risk, and the curiosity that makes life worth living.

After all, it is not about failure. It's about time. As you open your eyes, your feet hit the ground, you step out of bed, maybe as you sit and reflect with your coffee at the kitchen table. I want you to do me a favor. This is something that brings me substantial peace of mind. And I'm thinking it could be a value to you as well.

I want you to take those things that you consistently think about, right? The ones that have been bothering you or troubling you consistently come up in your mind. The ones that you thought about yesterday and the day before and the day before, you know, the so-called problems. Not so positive narratives. Stories about why you can't. And instead, think about each one's corresponding. ideal. What the perfect situation would look like if you could turn each quote-unquote problem around. The perfect story, the most exciting narrative. And then ask what can you do today

to move one step closer to the place you want to be? How can you make those ideals real? And the reason this is valuable is because it reminds us that we are not powerless. Quite the opposite. It shows you how new and exciting and untapped your future is. This is your opportunity to remind yourself that you are not yesterday. You are not your past, you are not your mistakes. You're not any of those things, even though our minds often trick us into believing it's so. It's kind of like running around the same block over and over again.

You become so accustomed to it that you forget you can take a right out of your street and go anywhere you want to go, see anything you want to see. Every morning is a fresh start. An opportunity to connect new dots. And you can point that compass, any direction you choose. You are shackled to nothing, bound by no one. And admittedly that can be hard to hear. I remember the first time I had that realization that most of my limits were self-imposed.

That I was complaining about the work I did. The places I spent my time and who I was spending it with. It bothered me from the second I opened my eyes in the morning until I closed them at night, until I realized that I had more control than I could even imagine. And that detaching from the past, yeah, it would hurt, it would be scary, sure, I would lose some things. But what a world to gain. What a story ahead. For some reason, things seem so messy and complex that we overlook our ability to simplify and change them.

If it doesn't bring value to your life, you have the power to fix it. and maybe not overnight, but human beings are resourceful, resilient. If you have an outcome in mind and you believe in it, a step in that direction every day will come to mean everything. It's defining. So no, this is not just an ordinary morning. This is the beginning. This is where you are blessed with the opportunity

to move away from the old and towards the ideal. I find it interesting that what we want most is often brought about by the inverse of what we'd expect. It's a paradox that's amazed me for much of my adult life.

And what do I mean? Well, here are a few examples. The best way to achieve freedom in your life is to be incredibly disciplined. Two things that are seemingly opposite in a sense. Or that the worst of times often open the door to the best of times. Or it's from a position of strength that one is best able to ensure peace. Or from our suffering, our pain comes our purpose and contentment.

And you get the point I could go on and on and on. But the reason this is so important, why I think it's worth discussing, is that it sheds light on the value hidden within our struggles. You know, when you realize the paradoxical nature of growth, the discomfort makes a little more sense. It's easier to wrap our hands around. So let's say getting up early. Perhaps you weren't a morning person, but you're trying.

You're trying because you think those few extra hours in the morning will add some lift. The alarm clock goes off. The last thing you want to do is open your eyes. Maybe you even start thinking, who cares, right? This isn't that important. You begin rationalizing ways. You'll go back to bed and just make up for the time throughout the day. But when you simplify the equation,

you realize what you have is an opportunity and you're either going to say yes and capitalize on that opportunity or say no and stay where you are discipline even with the small seemingly trivial stuff becomes freedom and if you want to position yourself for a life on your terms where you're at the wheel on your schedule it means facing demons just like this. It means you fight your fight now so that you can mitigate it later. Rather than

saying, I wish, or beating yourself up for not being a little bit tougher in the moment, you instead get that sense of accomplishment. You get the luxury of time and freedom. And I think that's a simple but perfect example of how discomfort in one moment becomes contentment in future. moments. Not a very intuitive trade-off. Or how about our low points? We all know no one escapes low points. I've always found them easier to handle and internalize when I know that it's bringing me closer to something valuable. When I know that there's something good on the other side and that the pain I'm feeling, the thoughts that are inevitably going to pass through my mind, like clouds on a windy day. They're obviously not ideal, but they're not a waste either

because something will come of them. And the goal in that moment under the duress is not to move the immovable. After all, you can only control what you can control. But it's to simply put one foot in front of the other until you emerge from the storm because we all eventually emerged from that storm. It's when we get into the habit of trying to do what is outside the scope of our control that we do ourselves a disservice. Because look, we're human. Equipped with human biology and human emotions, navigating a tough world that is indifferent

to how we feel or what we think. And while we can certainly strengthen and fortify that emotional IQ, the reality is no one is on a high all the time. Life is ups and downs. And when we realize our superpower is not to fight the down times, but to accept them, take them in stride, learn from them, and extract the value we empower ourselves. We're giving ourselves permission to live life just a little fuller after what we've experienced. The human experience requires. requires many seemingly contradictory puzzle pieces, all working together in unison

to create that final illustration we're looking for. Not just discipline and freedom, not just low points and high points, but countless others. Jordan Peterson, of course, famously discusses chaos and order and how both not only exist, but are pivotal to a fulfilling life. We are designed for chaos. We must step out into unknowns, situations that feel bigger than us.

The courage to do so ultimately becomes the pathway to order. As we get used to the change, we acclimate, we find our answers, and ultimately create a sense of fulfillment. The challenge being that now we have conquered our demon, we must prepare for the next. Because just like too much chaos isn't good, too much order is equally destructive. Right? Another example of something we'd assume as negative. Chaos. Being the thing in actuality that paves the way for better days.

It's a staircase. I've heard Tony Robbins say something similar when talking about our need for both certainty and uncertainty. We must have some elements of everyday life. life mapped out, but too much creates a mundane existence without the adventure and growth we've been looking for. It's from the unknown we capture more of ourselves. It's from the uncertainty we get growth. And I say all of this, not just because I think it's fascinating in and of itself, but because it's incredibly easy to forget, especially in the thick of things, that it's all essential to life working the way it should work. Those losses become gains. The disappointment

becomes growth. The downtimes become launching pads to evolve experiences, greater adventures, and new chapters. It's certainly not intuitive to look in the mirror when amidst life's chaos and say thank you to the universe. I get that. I'm not implying that you should. But I am saying it helps to know, it helps to be aware of the paradoxical nature of your journey. I look back at the times I was most fearful or angry at myself. And if I could go back and tell that version of me one thing, it would be that all that adversity is going to push me forward. That I'd never have the things I wanted most if I didn't step into all that discomfort.

That it's going to be okay. that I'm going to be incredibly thankful for it all, and so will you. This is the push-pull of life, the chaos and order of the day. It is not in spite of, but because of those moments, you'll be more than you've ever been.

The human experience is a paradox, and the quicker we get that, the quicker we let it work, for us. No more fighting unwinnable wars, but rather taking all that we can control and using it to lift ourselves up to be our best selves to make tomorrow the miracle that it can be. What is the difference? When I think back to the first time I deviated from my comfort zone, my routine, I lost the certainty in my life. And as much as I wanted to go back, I remember telling myself one more day, just one more day until someday became the current day and that made all the

difference. Day one starting my company. I remember turning the camera on and feeling so lost saying words into a microphone that I almost didn't press record. But I did. until one day I realized not only was it bearable, it was my purpose. The vehicle that transported my thoughts to the world, and that made all the difference. During the times when some of the projects I invested the most time in energy into flopped, I remember almost saying this isn't for me, but I kept creating. I kept creating until I found that inner state. of what I love and what adds value to the world, and that made all the difference.

What's crazy is how small a decision that difference seems in the moment, how insignificant the decision feels. As one stands and looks out from their doorway, the difference between going and not going, stepping out or staying in, making the move or waiting, one more day. That difference is sometimes disguised in a cloak of triviality, but do not be fooled. The little decision to move forward, to hang on when your ego is screaming at you to just let go, walk away, find some semblance of comfort and predictability. Those decisions to endure in the moments of hardship are what we come to love.

look back on as the turning points that reshaped and redefined life as we know it. The courage required to make the call, release the video, register the business, send the message, reconnect with that loved one, deviate from what your friends are doing, all those things. They may seem small enough now to spend a minute or two thinking about before moving on to our routines and what we are comfortable doing. After all, it's easy to disregard the small things. But the acorn that becomes the oak tree is small. We must, along with the current reality, see the potential in what those things become. Ensure there are times where the present and the ideal are so different that it seems almost incomprehensible. But how do we get there? We get

there by making the little decisions that will ultimately make the greatest difference. You are always one decision away from that evolution. So next time you find yourself looking down at the step in front of you, the step you know in your soul is the right step, reminds yourself, yes, it sure would be easy to walk away here. It sure would be easy to turn back. Yeah, it's just one tiny step. But in totality, it's exponentially more than that. It's the lifeblood of your new reality. The water to your sea, the oxygen to your lungs,

the crossroads in front of you will be, with your permission, the beginning of something larger than life. It will ultimately be the difference. There are a handful of recorded lectures online by Jim Rohn, who has definitely become one of my favorite thinkers over the years. And I found this little nugget the other day that I wanted to share. He says, there are four emotions that will change your life. Disgust, decision, desire, and resolve.

And I want to talk about the first one because I found the story to be incredibly powerful and also relatable, right, in various aspects of life over the years. So he frames it by talking about a Girl Scout walking up to his front door to try and sell him some Girl Scout cookies when he's 25 years old. And he's broke, doesn't have any money at the time, and tells her what I assume to be a white lie, as to why he can't buy the cookies at that particular time. Right, so he tells her that he can't, she walks away.

He says after he closes the door and goes back inside, he felt something that completely changed his life. Disgust. An overwhelming feeling that he simply didn't want to live like that anymore. He didn't want to lie. He didn't want to be broke. And I'm quoting him. He says,

the day you can say I've had it may not be the day it ends but the day it begins and that feeling which of course on the surface seems like a terrible thing right no one wants to feel disgust with their circumstance but it's ultimately one of the most powerful indicators

life can present to us there has always been and I assume will continue to be that point in many different facets of my life where I say enough is enough. I just never thought to categorize it and label it like he did, but that's what it is. You know, getting to a point where you look around and realize you've conceded too much. You've strayed too far beyond what matters to you. You've left too much on the table.

That feeling, again, well, uncomfortable, is often what becomes the first. step towards that which is truly meaningful, a better version of yourself. A realization, by the way, that's not some denunciation of who you are, right? It's not saying, I'm not good enough, or I'm inadequate. I would describe it as the exact opposite. It's thinking enough of yourself to acknowledge that you're better than this. It's saying, yeah, there's a reality where I stay the same where I don't change, where I allow this to just be my life. But that's not the reality I'm going to choose, because I respect myself too much to continue living with that dissonance between my actions and who I know I truly am. And I think at a deep level, we all understand this.

So many times in life, funny enough, we don't change until we have to, until our backs are completely against the wall. It took me years in my previous professional life to say enough is enough, but ultimately got to that point. I've been there in relationships, been there with my creative work, been there with my finances.

And what's especially interesting is that as you grow, evolve, and your goals change, what you expect of yourself changes, grows along with you, you'll find yourself at that place again. And again, and again, and that's good. Listen to it.

That's your intuition telling you you're ready for more that something else awaits, that the status quo is no longer sufficient. And there lies the opportunity, to recognize and associate that feeling of disgust, as Rohn calls it, with a need to change or an opportunity to change before things blow up

or become more difficult than they need to be. everything in your life has been allowed by you to some extent. You know, that's an important thing to understand. If there's someone in your life that's making it hell, you, to an extent, are responsible for that, right? No one gets your time without your permission. If you're doing things that don't move, motivate, or inspire you, well, the reality is you're choosing those actions.

Now, the circumstances may be specific to you, They may be difficult, and I understand that, but are you asking yourself how you can begin moving away from it? How you can put walls between yourself and the things that drag you down? Because the bottom line is it's very easy to become accustomed to things that are a drain on our lives. The old frog in the boiling water, right? You throw a frog in a pot of hot water or jump right out. But you put it in a pot of cool water,

and you slowly but incrementally increase the temperature until it's boiling, the frog won't realize it's burning alive. I think in the same way we learn to live with that situational disgust. The things we're unhappy with just become the baseline or normal. It becomes regular. And what I love about this Girl Scout cookie story is that light bulb moment where it's like, no, I don't have to accept this. I can take back control.

I dictate how I'm going to live, and I know this isn't it. Now, you don't need to have all the answers right away. In fact, you most certainly won't have them. But every journey, as the saying goes, begins with the first step. That's precisely why the moment is so powerful. You don't start moving to that new place until you realize that you want to start moving away from where you are. Roan talks about disgust being a powerful motivator, that's why.

It's the initial leverage you need to create that momentum. To see the gap between where you want to be and where you are. And this is ultimately a call to that realization. Do an audit on yourself and your contentment, the places you find lacking. They're calling for your attention. and it's normal, it's okay, it's part of life, but it's also your opportunity to begin making that change. I like very simple, very straightforward notes

to help me parse through this. Simple list, two columns on the left, everything that brings me some level of anxiety or that is a drain on my piece. And on the column on the right, directly across from it, simply what I plan to do about each item. them. Nothing major, but a tangible, manageable step. Because as Jim Rohn says, you begin to utilize that feeling of disgust or discontent to act. You turn that message into something beautiful,

an adventure, some variation of growth. That's where the good stuff is. By the way, it also changes our relationship with those emotions when they emerge. It's no longer, poor me, I'm stuck, My life is hard, and the list goes on and on. No, it's, oh, this doesn't feel good. How can I use it to connect me to something that does? Let's listen to that. I don't like the feeling of making excuses as to why I can't buy the cookies. I don't like the feeling of not having the financial resources.

Obviously, can't fix it overnight, but let's make a plan. Let's allow the wheels to hit the road, right? Which, hey, who knows? Might be more than I've ever done. done. This is the magic beginning, he alludes to, the confidence being earned, the purpose, the meaning, and ultimately being that we only get results will replace our attention, the outcome we've been looking for. So when you find yourself at that point, when you experience a repetition of disappointment or frustration with your circumstance, let that be the gift it's trying to be.

Let it be the reason you will soon wake up a different person, moving towards that which aligns with who you are.