Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - KILL THAT WEAK VERSION OF YOURSELF | Best Motivational & Inspirational Speeches

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

This compilation is built around one idea: kill the weak version of yourself. Each speech explores a different angle of resilience, from remembering that failure isn’t final unless you quit, to the rain-dance metaphor proving that persistence guarantees results, to stories and lessons that show hardship, uncertainty, and doubt are just gateways to strength. Every segment reinforces the same message: the stronger version of you is forged the moment you refuse to stop.More from Eddie Pinero:Wear the mindset: agns.lifestyleMonday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletterYour World Within Podcast: https://yourworldwithin.libsyn.com/Stream these tracks on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2BLf6pBInstagram - @your_world_within and @IamEddiePineroTikTok - your_world_withinFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourworldwithinTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/IamEddiePineroBusiness Inquiries - http://www.yourworldwithin.com/contact#liveinspired #yourworldwithin #motivation

What is defeat? In other words, what does it actually mean to lose? My buddy sent me a post today from X that said simply, until death, all defeat is psychological. Why? Well, because if there is air in your lungs, there's an opportunity to find a solution, to move forward,

to connect all those dots that, will ultimately change your life. But here's the catch. This is the part that I think we often miss. We think defeat is something life gives us. It's stowed upon us by the world. It's a letter we get in the mail. When in reality, it's much simpler than that.

Defeat is an internal decision. Defeat is looking around in quite simply saying no. It's saying, sure, I could have this. I know I'm capable of it, but I don't want it. I refuse to march on. Defeat is saying the prize or mountaintop or victory. To me, it's just not worth what it costs. And when you believe that, that's when you have officially created

and allowed defeat into your life. It's a willingness question, a how bad do you want it question. Because here's the deal, the road to anything meaningful is difficult. A willingness to pivot, to pick yourself up off the floor and continue into an unknown that, let's be real, owes you nothing. Well, that can hurt. That's not a comfortable process. But the truth is, it hurts less than defeat. Waking up two hours earlier to find a way, to build yourself up, to get ahead,

that's far less painful than looking in the mirror and saying, yeah, I could have, but I didn't. I could be there, or at least on the way, but I'm. I'm not. And it's amazing to be how the mind will rationalize. We can convince ourselves of anything, which is great when you're your own ally, but it's simultaneously devastating when you're your own worst enemy. The same circumstance that tells you to go can be interpreted as a reason to stop. The brain knows it's been two years since you started your business. It knows that it knows. It knows. you've been working on your health for six months.

It knows the process is taking longer than expected. And so you're tasked with the interpretation of these data points. How do you interpret that information? What do you make of it? I've been at this for two years now. Think how far I've come. Think how much I've learned. I've positioned myself for success.

one decision away from massive momentum. It's not validation, but continued dedication that will carry me home. This is the path. Or is it, well, it's been two years. And if I can't do it in two years, then maybe I just can't do it. Maybe I should look for something easier. My pride hurts. I'm letting myself down.

I look dumb, right? And the list goes on. that is the fork in the road that means everything. That's the maze that few find a way out of. Not, as previously said, of an inability to find the exit, but because of a lack of commitment to the twist and the turns. Is it, I've been working on my health for six months. Look at the foundation I've built.

When I look in the mirror, sure, I don't necessarily see the results I wanted now, but the habits are there. I've made some progress. I've lost some weight. My ability to run has improved somewhat. Now it's a matter of carrying on to that exponential growth. That may be just around the corner. Or, just as in the previous example, is it,

if I can't do it in six months, then maybe I can't do it. Might as well go back to McDonald's for lunch and ice cream after dinner every night. It's over. This is not for me. You see how both ways of talking are at surface level perfectly reasonable. Both make sense, complete sense. But life is not predetermined. It's a choose-your-own-ending story book.

The story you tell yourself becomes the story you live. And if you hear that and think, ah, cliche. Live news. You're overlooking the magnitude and capability you have with regard to controlling your life and your destiny. Something like five years ago now, I created an e-book with some thoughts. And this is one that I continuously go back to. Quote, when I make myself the victim, I become resentful.

When I make myself the hero, I become empowered. With such an array of outcomes, I am forever grateful for the ability to shape my own legacy. And it's summed up with the quote, if you aren't happy with the role you're playing, change it. Right? You don't have to be the one who gives in, who throws the towel or walks away. There's more around the corner

if you're willing to walk around the corner. If you're willing to find it. See, we are in life who we believe ourselves to be. And you can take that greatness on. You can become the person who looks in the mirror and sees determination staring back, sees resilience looking you in the eyes. You can be that.

You can become the person who finds the upside, and I promise you that's an incredibly small group walking this earth. Most people do the inverse of that without realizing it, either projecting their inability to move forward onto the outside world. We've all heard this, right? It's her fault, his fault, their fault, my boss's fault, the government's fault. Or it's simply not realizing that doing nothing is in fact a decision.

When we make constant concessions, when we think the current moment was fate or destiny and not an invitation to something better, we are choosing to be less than we can be. And so my point here is pretty simple. Doing things that matter is hard. And it's hard because ruffling the feathers of the status quo comes with unknowns and obstacles.

It provides a million off-ramps, reasons to settle or turn around. But to succumb to these outcomes is your decision, not the world. Life isn't a treadmill with an off-switch. If your feet stop moving, it's because your brain told them to stop. So as you make your way into the next unknown,

all I ask is that you remind yourself how powerful you are. Not because you were granted that power, but because you have always been that powerful. An author of the greatest story ever told. Where perhaps, sure, you can't control every variable that's dropped in front of you, but you can control what those variables mean.

You can't control all the factors that comprise the world around you, but you can control where your focus will be allocated and what you will build with what you find. Until death, all defeat is psychological. Until there is no more air in your lungs. Stagnation is a choice. Until there is no more blood pumping through your veins. Quitting is a decision. So ask yourself, what do you want to become? How far do you want to go? And then commit to the journey of arriving at that destination.

Maybe it takes days, weeks, months, maybe years longer than you anticipate it. But it will always be true that if you want it, it's yours. The key is in your pocket, the map is in your hand and the road at your feet. Arrival at the destination means giving yourself permission to climb that mountain until you arrive at its peak. It's not letting go until you take in the view. Life is about duality. It's about being grateful for the road behind you, but also excited and hungry for what's ahead. That balance is where growth lives.

It's why we created AGNS. always grateful, never satisfied. More than just an apparel company, it's a reminder that there's always another hill to climb. And if you go to agns. Dot Lifestyle and you sign up for the email list, you'll get daily inspiration right to your inbox, latest updates on all the new merch drops,

as well as a 20% off discount code. Hope to see you there. Rain dance is work 100% of the time. if you dance until it rains. Someone kind of jokingly said this to me recently at an entrepreneur event, and I thought, man, I get it, it's clever, but there's actual genius behind that.

You tend to get what you're looking for if you don't stop looking. Right, like you eventually arrive where you need to be if your feet don't stop moving. The question we often find ourselves asking is, did the dance work? But the real question, the question of value, is how long are you willing to dance around that fire?

How much of yourself did you put into the pursuit? You know, it's both liberating and terrifying to find out that there is no failure in life. There's simply the permission we give ourselves to move forward. That trajectory we continue on up until we reach a point where we look around and say, no, thank you, I'm done. Because if you're moving forward, you haven't failed. You have not lost.

If you're moving forward, everything is possible. If you're moving forward, you are creating reality. The question is not have you failed. The question is, are you still willing to move forward? It's not did the rain dance bring the rain. It's were you willing to dance around that fire until the sky's opened up. I often think about the stoic idea that there are things we can control and there are things we can't. And knowing that difference is wisdom.

The same idea that has become, as many people know, the serenity prayer. God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference. It's certainly powerful to understand the difference between what we can control and what we can't. But it's also worth noting that those things we cannot control, even when they seem to make life harder, when they're not what we want, when they're frustrating and difficult and exhausting, they can be brought into your world and leveraged as tools to ultimately get you where you need to go.

slingshot to something better, right? There's value in all of it. And if you're looking at life through the lens of, I'm not stopping until X happens, well, then everything that occurs around you is just a vehicle taking you closer to X. Put simply, you can't always control what happens. But you can always control what you do with what happens.

And that's power. That is strength. So using a tangible practical example, right around the time COVID emerged in 2020, I was speaking about five or six times a month. I had video production clients. And my own personal content creation was relatively minimal. And so that hit to our way of life, the one we all endured, took a lot of companies' budgets. right, that uncertainty prevented a lot of people from spending the marketing money they were spending and on its face, it's a bad thing, right?

It took a lot of business for me but I look back now and I'm like that pivot you know, 10xed, 20xed my digital footprint. I was able to reach more people from my home studio. I adjusted, right? And that was the beginning of the most important

transition of my business. To be honest, perhaps even my life at that point. You can't control a virus. You can't control the public's reaction to it. But you can take the pieces and make something with them. You can dance around that fire until it rains and dance around it I did. And by the way, so many people I know today did the same thing. Adversity has created more masterpieces, more miracles than calm ever could. Because it makes a step back and look at our creation in a new way. Remember, quitting is not something that the external world projects upon you.

Quitting is looking around and saying, wow, this is a lot. This is more than I can handle. I'm done. This is the end. I don't want to walk into the storm. I'm not interested in embracing the chaos. And I want to take a second to remind you that if you put your head down and just continuously step into it, if you can remind yourself, I didn't make this situation, but day by day I can make something valuable from it,

you're making yourself powerful beyond measure. It's not superhuman strength or some godly intellect that makes the difference at the end of the day. It's a willingness to understand, right, that if you do not stop, if you're willing to adjust and keep moving forward, you become invincible. There's a lot you can't control,

but you can control what it all means and how you'll navigate it. That understanding is greatness. So dance around that fire until the rain falls, because if you dance long enough, it surely will. On that long drive, in the middle of the night with headlights and endless road in front of me, everything I knew in the rearview mirror, I learned the value of making the difficult decision. During the times of disappointment, being let down by the ones I counted on I believed in, I learned the importance of loyalty, the power of being there for those who mean the most to you.

Through the failures, the stress, the uncertainty, I learned that life goes on. That when you allow yourself to fall, you build an immunity to the fear associated with hitting the ground. You get back up stronger. Through the heartbreak, the loss, the pain I learn to appreciate every moment. To look around and not take any of this for granted. To both recognize and appreciate the fragility of the present because with the snap of a finger, life can change. In the wake of past anger and conflict, I learned

to pick my battles, that rarely is it worth my time, that our vantage points are merely a reflection of our backgrounds and understandings, and even the slightest effort to understand the person staring back at you can be the difference between building up and tearing down. From being overlooked, disregarded, the smallest person in the room, I learned the value of true leadership, the benefit of empowering those around you and making them feel appreciated, that walking alone may sometimes be necessary, but that building a vision that those around you believe in is unparalleled. Life is a teacher, and only through its toughest tests can its curriculum be understood. Can its ideas and lessons take shape?

What you need exists so long as you open your eyes. You'll find an inevitable truth that this universe, it wants you to win. It's holding its hand out, providing you everything you need. Just understand. Understand that the lows prepare you for the highs. The losses set up the gains, the mistakes, build a foundation for the greatest things you will ever do. Life is a teacher.

And should you listen, you'll see that it has no bounds, no restrictions, just the next chapter. A tree grows, not because it wants to, but because it was created to. It's a story about potential, right? And about a decade ago, right, right when I started writing, speaking, creating content online, I came across that message, and it was transformative for me, right? The idea that human beings are the only life form that will do less than they possibly can. The full quote, by no surprise, Jim Rohn, he says, every life form seems to strive to its maximum except human beings.

How tall will a tree grow as tall as it possibly can? Human beings, on the other hand, have been given the dignity of choice. You can choose to be all or you can choose to be less. So why not stretch up to the full measure of the challenge and see what you can do? Beautifully said, right? Imagine every night of your life going to bed knowing that there was more inside of you. Imagine running a race, knowing there were other levels that you could have reached for, but didn't. Imagine looking back on a life of infinite possibility and knowing you created finite parameters.

Now, I'm not saying you have to live every waking moment obsessed with always being better than you currently are. Right? I'm merely asking you a question. Aren't you curious? Don't you want to know what that ceiling is, that space for which excellence has been reserved? I often think every time I hop on a rowing machine at the gym, that, you know, it highlights the gap in black and white between what I'm doing and what I'm capable of. Love-hate relationship with that machine. It brings me back to my college days, the days I first learned to truly push myself. I get on it now for one minute sprints as part of a sort of a workout program I'm doing.

And I just think there's no evading that concrete number the screen gives me. Exactly how many meters I went in 60 seconds. Right there, right in front of me. And then I ask, imagine if the stakes were higher. Imagine if this wasn't just a workout. Imagine if someone said, on sprint number four, Eddie, if this is not your fastest sprint of the day you lose X or Y is going to happen to you. Whatever those variables may be, Eddie, if this isn't your fastest sprint, insert worst fear.

What's going to happen? I'm going to break that record. I just am. My body is going to find a way. And that's what's interesting. That's the point. Okay. What this metaphor is not an indicator that you need to go around.

scaring yourself into personal best. But what it is is a reminder that there's always more right there, right in front of you, if you want it. It's a pointing out that we all live somewhere under what our best could be. And knowing that is such a powerful tool.

It's powerful because there's no screen showing you the meters you traveled. when it comes to where you are with your work, where your health, or your relationships. There are indicators, sure. But so much goes unmeasured. How much did you do today? Did you feel good about your output?

How good? Because there's always another level. And maybe the solution is more. Maybe the solution is an audit of time spent. Maybe it's adjusting your compass altogether, but there exists a best in you that is untapped always and the question remains aren't you curious aren't you curious what that next level looks like that should make you feel good because your current circumstance is as permanent as

today's weather what you don't like can be changed what isn't aligned can be adjusted if it's not good enough you can can make it so. One of my favorite ideas, life is a game of adjustments. The question's how far are you willing to push, to grow, keyword willing. Some people decide to stop at point A, others stop at point B, others point C. And that's for them to decide, that's a decision, a personal decision they've made. But the million dollar piece of knowledge is that in all cases, that landing spot was

a decision. It was not fate. It was not handed out by a stranger on the street. You choose how hard to pull and you decide which levers are worth pulling. See, we are the only living beings capable of underperforming. And that's amazing. Take that. Run with that because it also means we are the only living creatures capable of rationally looking around, assessing the situation and saying, I don't like this reality. I'm going to rebuild my own. The world is yours. You just have to decide which world you are willing to accept.

Which world are you willing to fight for? Which world are you going to call your own? I'm going to share something that over the years I've come to know to be true. And that's that generally the answers that we look for tend to fall, between the extremes. So for example, you have two people, one person is adamant that option A is right. It's a no-brainer, that'll take you to the promised land.

Then on the other side, the other person saying, no, it's option B, and it's not even close. Option B is the way to go. And well, generally speaking, the answer we're looking for falls somewhere right in the middle. That's where the winning formula lives. Not always, but most of the time. The other stuff, the detail, the A's, B's, and C's, the stuff that gets the flash that we spend most of our time talking about, it's unnecessary noise and nuance.

To win is to trust your instinct. It's being comfortable with your authenticity as the foundation. And then once you have that, you can choose to sprinkle the other stuff on top as flavoring. But I want to talk about this idea because I've fallen into the trap, and I think others do, of looking for answers in the wrong places. Of trying so hard to replicate success to meet other people's guidelines. We're so busy asking what the other people want to hear that we're not asking ourselves, hey, what do I want to say? And in the process, we lose what's most valuable.

We end up rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Imagine if Malcolm Gladwell only wrote about what was trending on Twitter. Or what was popular? It's like, no, he writes about what he's interested in. That's why he's so fun to read. His curiosity and passion always comes through. Or if J.K. Rowling spent her time researching, what works? What sells books?

What do I need to buy? What's been done before me? Before she created Harry Potter? We probably wouldn't have it. Her brilliant imagination wouldn't have been shared with the world because, let's be real, wizards and boarding school weren't exactly on everyone's radar. There was no roadmap to that.

Or I think of Jordan Peterson's lectures. Imagine if he crafted his message around YouTube or Instagram algorithms. We'll lose all its power and meaning. He's authentic. He's raw. He's real. That's why we watch him. But the reality is every day we're told in Taylor Made, strategically located advertisements

that, hey, John Smith achieved success, happiness, and fame with this product or this service. And without that, you can't get what you want. Or we turn on our phones. we go on social media and it's hearts and likes and double taps, and we're not saying what we want to say. We're reverse engineering how to get that validation. For those with brands or those in the marketing space, I mean, you know it's always about trying to understand

this mysterious algorithm where your posts will be buried. What we're being asked to do overall every day is manipulate ourselves to meet the demands of the platform or of the external criteria. I'm not saying it's morally wrong. There's no atrocity being committed. Part of life is adapting. But what I am suggesting is there's a danger that we're not aware of.

Amidst all this chaos and confusion and manipulation, we tend to lose ourselves. And when we lose ourselves, it doesn't happen all at once. It's gradual. It happens little by little, one concession at a time. We don't snap our fingers and disappear. We slowly slip away. not by what we do, by what we don't do, in order to fit in. Do you know how everything in our solar system orbits around the sun?

Well, what if you thought of that sun is who you are, right? When you're with your friends or family, when you're writing, saying, thinking what matters to you. Without social media, without brands and marketing and societal pressure, just simply who you are, that should always be the nucleus of your world. Your North Star, that should be the measuring state. to whether you're on the right track, not the externalities that ask you to change your key so that it fits their lock.

What have you re-engineered the way we look at things? What if we built a world where people expand upon who they are and what they care about, where we have the courage to say no to the latest trend or item or advice because it's just not who you are? What if you were that confident?

And then, if we think some of those external, Internalities will help us, then sure, sprinkle them on top. But they rotate around you. You don't rotate around them. That's the difference. To be content, you have to be the center of your own universe. Living by your guidelines. So instead of looking around and trying to decide your strengths,

you know, based on what will be accepted or promoted or what's been done before, do yourself a favor. Take a deep breath. Step back and just simplify. You know what matters. And that's enough. You don't need the world to tell you that. So while the masses fight over solution A or solution B,

maybe you'll understand that both of those solutions solve the wrong problem. And while the masses argue, you know, which car goes zero to 60, the fastest scream about the features, debate which brand is the most reputable. Hey, you'll at least know why you're driving, which is more than most of the world can say. You'll know where your car is headed before you upgrade to that sunroof and those top-of-the-line speakers. I think a substantial amount of life comes down to self-trust, to believing in yourself. But here's the thing.

It's not blind belief. It's not toxic positivity where you close your eyes, cross your fingers, shut the world off and just assume things will work out because you're entitled to a great result. No, what I'm referring to is an active and deliberate trusting of yourself to learn, to make the necessary adjustments, and to keep moving forward. When we have faith in our ability to step forward and improve simultaneously, there is no defeat. When you know you won't stop until you land where you want to land, then limitations become a choice.

Success in any capacity is a you thing, not an outside thing. And this popped into my head a few days ago during, of all things, a game of axe throwing. So, quick story from last weekend, a friend of mine and I, after a day of working on the podcast, went down to Fort Lauderdale to this axe-throwing place, which is, it's random, but it's a great time, simple concept. There's this giant target and you take turns throwing little axes at the target, basically darts, right? If you think along those lines. And there were eight of us in the group. They divide you into two teams of four and you play various games until the end. The end, there's this final session where it's every person for themselves.

It's like a free-for-all. Each person gets three rounds to throw out. axes at the target and whoever has the best score wins. So think of the target just in a traditional way, right? The bull's eye or the little point in the middle is worth five. Then the next smallest circle outside of that is four. Then three, then two, and then the biggest circle along the edge is worth one. Right?

So whatever you hit with the axe, that's the point you get. Except they put these two little blue dots. on the top third of the circle. And they say if you can hit one of these blue dots, you get 10 points. So high risk, but certainly high reward. And my friend and I is super competitive, right? He looks at me, starts telling me how he's already got this in the bag. And I'm like, all right, we'll see.

And it's been arguable, but I probably had been the more consistent of both of us up to that point in the night. Nothing fancy, just straight away aiming at the middle, aiming for those bullseyes and fours. Not even attempting to go for those hard-to-reach blue dots. No need straight up the middle. And here's why this is important. We step out to take our first shots of the finale here.

My friend goes first, immediately hits one of those little blue dots. Boom, already, I'm down 10 points. So what do I do? I completely leave my strategy. And I start thinking, no, I'm behind. I can't let this happen. I spent my next nine shots, and the only nine shots I had, right, trying to hit those blue dots and missing every time, just get killed, right?

He won handedly. And then I realized when the scores were read out at the end, that if I just ignored everything my buddy had done and stayed true to my game, aimed for the center of the board, average 3.5 or 4 points of throw, I would have won. And by a substantial margin. But I let the outside world impact my strategy. I started chasing those long shot blue dots when I knew they were a distraction. Now, I'm sure the last thing you expected to hear today was the recap of an axe throwing contest. But if you bear with me, there's value here.

Right? So let's step beyond the axe throwing. Let's take it up a level. Let's talk about when you know what's best for you. You know where you want to be and what's working, but you're pulled out of your lane because of what someone else says or does. You hear him or her over there accomplish something great. You look in the mirror and go, man, I haven't accomplished anything like that. Maybe I need to change what I'm doing. My approach. Maybe I'm wrong. See, and the beauty of that little game was that it reminded me that there will always be outside circumstances trying to redirect my course. But we have to trust in ourselves that we are doing what's best. We have to know our own game and our own strengths. Now, don't conflate this with the stubbornness. It's not about never adjusting.

No, we need to adjust. but adjust when it's best for you, not simply because other people are taking a different approach. It's hard to stay consistent with the world pushing other options consistently, right? People finding success in various ways, taking other paths, talking about their incredible strategies and how great X, Y, and Z is. But it's all noise. You have to trust you.

And again, not blind faith, but an understanding. understanding of who you are and a willingness to continue to grow with every step forward. There has to be some element of understanding that, sure, things will get challenging, life will push back, but that doesn't mean you are wrong or in over your head. It's a compounding of little actions and trust in yourself. If you can do that, the world remains yours. It's day. It's day, day, or in my example, throw by throw, knowing your bull's eye and aiming steady up the middle. We all know how hard it is to see results before they exist. The mind tries to find every example out there depicting why you're wrong, why the finish line is too far away. Life is

constantly creating off-ramps, saying, hey, if you don't want it that bad, or you're unsure of yourself, here's a way out, come with me. It's constantly sowing seeds of doubt, which is why we must dig deep for that strength. Life is a game of you versus you. If those around you win, good for them. And if they lose, well, hey, wish them well, hey, wish them well on the next go-around. But none of it has any bearing on who you are and the race you're running. Are you going to show up for you? Are you going to be your biggest fan when it takes every single part of you to keep going? Don't let the loudest voices in the room dissuay you from what you know to be right. Don't let the blue dots hinder your direct line to the bullseye, right? Block out that noise,

block out the distractions and do what is required of you. Win your race. because that's the only finish line of value. Walk your path because that will bring you where you need to be. And when you question the pursuit, remember what you've overcome, all the steps that brought you to right now and how, yeah, maybe they weren't flashy or over the top, but they were consistent. They've given life to the present moment.

What you do is succeed. What you do is overcome. Just don't lose your bullseye. Infinite means no bounds. Which is kind of an abstract comment. Forever is difficult to grasp. But I want to explain to you why in my life it's prevalent in something I truly need right now

in terms of a deeper understanding and I'd be willing to bet that in some capacity, a better relationship with the word forever or infinite would benefit your life as well. Let's drop into a very specific mental state. See if it rings a bell, you know, that feeling of depletion, that feeling of being stuck or feeling lost, just total helplessness, you know,

whether it's over a long period of time or sort of temporary helplessness. Whatever the context is, right? This feeling is a product of a scarcity narrative playing in your head. Finitude. Amidst a forest of abundance, it's like staring at a tree from one inch away.

All you see is that single fragment of tree bark. You don't see much. It looks pretty bleak. But then you take a step back. and you go, okay, right, you see the shape of the tree. Go, I get it. Take another step back, maybe two or three feet back. And you start seeing how these trees come together.

You step back even further. You go, okay, I get it. All these trees comprise the forest. Maybe you continue to step back. You turn around. You see a totally different view. The landscape, the skyline. You see birds flying overhead.

All that stuff that was always there. You just couldn't see it. not from your vantage point, not that close to the tree, which is going to be for us, metaphorical for a problem or obstacle that we are immersed in or trying to overcome. There's an idea that there's no situation that cannot be rectified, right? Or put in the positive, every situation can be resolved. There's no hole you can't climb out of. There is always more.

There is always a solution. And this little tidbit, you know, it might not mean much when you're feeling good. You have momentum. You know, the stars feel like they're aligned for you. But I'll tell you, it can be your saving grace when you are trudging through the valleys of life. The inevitable, difficult periods. For me, it's been everything, right? It's reminded me that there is a way.

I just need to find it. It reminds me that I'm capable of solving and conquer. even life's greatest tasks. I just need to move into the night with conviction. I need to remember how close I am to that tree, right, and create some sort of separation there. Because look, sometimes life is complex. You know, sometimes it's nuanced and in detailed.

And then sometimes the opposite is true. Sometimes it is very simple. And one example of that is that there is always a way and you are always capable of finding that way, of arriving that solution. Understand that, and you'll see how abundant this dance through life really is. Truth is, personally, you know, sometimes the fear I experience, even about trivial things. Just navigating life, it can hit heart. I think it's a visceral reaction, like involuntary. It just, it happens.

You know, podcast numbers dipping. Business deal falls through. Maybe a riff with a family member or friend. My brain walks right up to that metaphorical tree, stands there and says, hey, there's nothing you can do. This is it. This is the end. You are stuck.

You are lost. You are defeated. You are hopeless. You are all these things. None of them are good. But what makes human being special is by understanding there is more, we empower ourselves to create more.

We empower ourselves to step five feet back, to see the forest, the view of the valley below. Don't settle in the finite. Dive into the infinity that surrounds you. You know, I think sometimes, you know, we become so pulled in to a specific problem or situation that it never even dawns on us to think, okay, you know, this is life, it happens, but you don't have to stay where you start. You are not confined to where you are. Because if it's not pushing you forward, it can be altered, mitigated, transformed.

It's not an if question. your assent is a how question. And one of my favorite ideas, it states that many of life's greatest accomplishments were carried out by folks too ignorant to understand the odds. When you feel stuck, it's not because you are. It's because your human brain is in default mode.

And it's like, no problem. Override. There's a way to turn every single predicament into a strength. As Jim Rohn has famously stated, it's not the mountaintop that holds the value, it's who you become along the way to the mountain top. And that climb consists of a multitude of these seemingly dead ends. But in recognizing their inability to hold you back,

yourself grow. You arm yourself with that knowledge. And to sum up, you know, the entire message here in its entirety, it's that in a world of infinite possibility, there is a way, right? I challenge you to find it. The same challenge I look in the mirror and present to myself when I feel stuck or helpless or hopeless. I challenge you to look at your reality in the same challenge. I in a different light until the light bulb goes off. And it's like, oh, this wasn't assigned to me. I'm choosing this. I'm creating this.

And as the architect of my own world, I can recreate the story in its entirety. You know, people just don't go around in life telling us that. It's not normal to hear, hey, buddy, you have more control than you think you do. Hey, you're accepting some things that you don't need to accept. Hey, step back, five more feet and build again from a different angle, right? Just like all the money in the world doesn't do much good, stacked up in a warehouse that's never touched or utilized,

you know, all the opportunity doesn't matter if you can't see it. If you're blinded by the tree, the downside, the limitation, none of that means anything. If your vantage point is one of confinement, infinity is always there. So step back, turn around, and walk directly into it. Use the resources to build reality, not as it is, but as you want it to be, a world on your terms.

People always follow through on who they believe themselves to be. If there's no other way to put it, that simple idea has drastically changed. my life. It doesn't matter what season of life I'm in or what path I'm walking down. How I view myself at that time is always directly proportional to the outcome. And when you think about it, it's not magic. You can unpack it in a very practical, pragmatic way. How you see yourself determines how you act and how you act shapes your reality. Runners don't break weightlifting records, and bodybuilders don't break running records.

These characters identify themselves a certain way, and so every day breathe life into that identity. They follow through on who they believe they. So quick personal anecdote. I've started calling myself the best speechwriter on planet Earth. You could hear that. and think, well, how audacious, how pretentious. Really, dude? You've never written speeches for presidents or world leaders.

The reach of your words pale in comparison to even some current podcasters and YouTubers, public speakers. But here's the deal. If you don't believe yourself worthy of something, if you don't pick out the shoes that are, let's say, a few sizes too big, you'll have nothing to grow into. See, there's power in saying you're the best because, again, we tend to hit the targets

that we aim for. I don't have time for this crossed my fingers and we'll see stuff. And this is, in my mind, incredibly relevant to you and your pursuits, whatever they are. Because when we're not yet there, we tend to be timid in our approach, right?

It's like, who am I? I to do X? Why should I think I'm good enough to do Y or Z? Stop and own it. That's perhaps the most important thing I've learned over the last 10 years of life. And I'm not talking about feigning competency. I'm talking about simply owning the pursuit and acknowledging that you will be where you most need to be if you trust yourself. If you show up like you are that person, like you are working. One of my favorite sayings. Walk into every room like God sent you, and why shouldn't you? Way back, maybe 2014, I heard Tony Robbins say,

if you believe yourself a smoker, you'll never quit smoking. Period. And to be clear, I'm paraphrasing, I don't ever want to misquote someone, but think about the idea, right? It's like, I'm a smoker, but man, I'm hoping this patch will work out. No. If you believe in your mind that you're a smoker, guess what you'll do this second things become challenging.

Revert back to your old ways. That is, after all, who you are, right? Or another relatable one, that phrase we've all heard it, I'm not a morning person. I don't wake up early. I don't do mornings. Sure, there are some biological preconditions, right? For those who perform best in the a.m. versus the p.m.

But let's be real. If your life depended on it, are you telling me you couldn't wake up early? If everything was on the line, would 5.30 or 6 be an impossible task? Of course not. It's just that when that alarm goes off, and you view it as a reach or a stretch or an I hope so or out of character, forget about it. Your brain's going to remind you you don't do well in the morning anyway. You'll roll over and the rest will be history.

See, the point is... It matters how you see yourself. I get asked about college quite a bit, funny enough, from young people, sometimes even parents looking for an opinion on it. Is it a necessity? And the answer is, of course, it depends. But I can speak personally. And I'm grateful for two things.

I learned to analyze slash write. And I learned as a D1 athlete to become the type of person who finds a way. That may seem obvious. But the weight was dropped in front of me was revolutionary. My epiphany was freshman year on that rowing machine doing 2,000 meters sprints, hurting, and the coach being like, you don't understand. You don't get it. It doesn't matter that you're in pain, right?

Because the Georgetown guy right now at a gym 500 miles away is suffering too. but his little screen says he's going faster. So that means you find a way or you lose. And it was like, my world opened up. You don't stop when it hurts. You stop when you figure it out. Regardless of what happens on race day, you show up the next day.

You find a way to make that screens that you're pulling faster than you were the day before. Be the type of person who continues to show up. up and evolve. That's not what you do. That's who you are. That's why transformation with health generally doesn't occur until you make an overall lifestyle change. Because you're not just a guy or gal going to the gym. No, you are a healthy person living a healthy life. Of course you're going to the gym and eating well and surrounding yourself with other healthy people. That's what healthy people do. That is your identity.

Remember, people will always follow through on who they believe themselves to be. And so in a world with infinite upside, be someone who finds a way. Always. I have long believed that the solution to even our biggest problems, right? Our toughest tasks, our greatest challenges, they can be solved. or at least the process of solving them can begin exactly where you are using only what you already have. Right? Meaning the solution to your problem exists in the room with you an arm's length away.

And you might hear that and think, dude, you know, that's way too good to be true. That's too idealistic. It's too simple. But what I want to try and explain over the next few minutes is how the most important changes we make in life. The things that matter the most, they're simple. Incredibly simple. And it's only our tendency to make things unnecessarily complex that becomes the problem. One of my favorite thinkers, Thomas Sol once said, you know, people who pride themselves on their complex.

and deride others for being simplistic should realize that the truth is often not very complicated. What gets complex is evading. And he's coming up this more societally from a political angle. But I think so many of these things in the big picture and the macro, they make sense in the micro. Like I hear this and I think at a personal level, this is so true. You should see the things I come up with in my mind when I'm procrastinating. or dragging my feet on something. This angle, that angle, what if this happens or that?

Have I thought about A? What about B? What about C? And I usually dance around these things until I remember, Eddie, we've been here before. No. Turn the internal dialogue off and start. Go. Put the project into motion. Breathe life into the pursuit. Then it's off to the races.

It's not that complicated. You go before you're ready. and you adjust along the way. That's one example. And a few weeks ago, this was sort of reinforced to me in a funny way. It's a seemingly trivial metaphor

that I think in its simplicity can be truly valuable. So picture this, right? I was on a train in Venice, Italy, big family trip. And so we'd all been overseas for about five weeks, so we're not exactly traveling light. We have pretty big,

big suitcases, the standard size you'd have to check if you were at an airport going on to an airplane. But we weren't on an airplane. We were on a train with tight quarters and big suitcases. Big crowds, right? So we board this train. People start piling into their seats. And I'm like, okay, what do we do with these things? And I'm looking around, seeing if I could find a place to store them, I point to one of them and, you know, one of the folks working there kind of just scowls and walks by. And it's like, okay, I get it. We're the Americans in Europe with the big suitcases. And it just becomes a circus, right? Now, there's an overhead compartment where you can put bags above the seats, but it just, it looks small, looks tiny. My brother and I were peering

around. We both see it immediately go, no, no chance that's fitting. So I'm like, okay, we'll put the bags on our seats and either stand by them or sit on the suitcases, let the people board the train, and then when everyone's sitting, we can move all our bags to the aisle, and, you know, we're solving this thing in real time. And suddenly, I just get this jolt of,

why not? Pick up one of the massive bags, and I just start jamming it into the overhead compartment. and, you know, people all the way up and down the aisle are staring at me like I'm losing my mind. I'm trying to condense the suitcase as much as I can. And after about 30 seconds, the thing somehow fits. My brother jumps up out of his seat. We start grabbing the bags and jamming them all in this overhead compartment.

Now, I need you to trust me. I feel dumb as I sit here even speaking this. Imagine how dumb I felt in that moment, right? This whole little traffic jam and commotion was avoidable. Didn't even really want to rehash this. I just want to let it fade into history. But it's one of those things where it's like, the more you think about it,

the more the seemingly obvious solution is the point. I'm drawing up a plan to sit on a 55-pound bag and all this unnecessary nonsense. when the thing just fit where bags are supposed to go. And maybe it didn't seem like it at first, but regardless. You know, the solution was right there in the overhead compartment. You know, that's like dying of thirst right next to a lake. You're not too far from what you really needed there, pal.

So now, let's take this to where it really matters, our personal lives. The things that weigh us down, the obstacles that feel big and I'm ominous and intimidating. Resolving them must call for some larger-than-life response, right? There must be some 5,000-page answer book to encompass my solution here. Nah, not true. What's the simple, singular root of the issue, and how can you attack it head-on? There's an idea I've talked about before, but I want to bring up again about the idea of little hinges.

W. Clement Stone once said little hinges swing big doors. Meaning there's certain small things we do that have just this monumental impact. It's just we aren't looking for them. We're not thinking about them the right way, as simple and obvious as it may seem. I'll give you a few personal examples. Headaches. Talked about them before. I've battled with them plenty. they've almost completely disappeared from my life, knock on wood. If that was my suitcase scenario, right?

I was doing everything but addressing the root cause. Ibuprofen every day, seeing doctors, different medicines, cat scans, you name it. What helped? Electrolite tablets. It's like I did everything but that. Sports injuries, right? Constantly dealing with stuff. And I still am to some extent, but stretching has made a monumental difference.

Just waking up in the morning and stretching for 10 minutes. Or my writing output. Having a block of time in the morning where every day I write no matter what. Diet. Here's the magic solution. Don't have bad stuff in the cabin. I'm looking at you, flaming hot chitos. These aren't of little consequent.

They're decisions that have drastically changed my life. And I know they're right, because I look at them now and it's like, it just feels so obvious. Oh, look at the, you know, the rocket scientist over there. He started stretching more, and now he doesn't pull his back every Thursday. But they only seem obvious in hindsight. When you're moving forward, they feel complex and messy and impossible. You know how difficult life feels when you can't open your eyes because of a headache? The ass thing I was thinking was get some electrolyte tablets off Amazon.

It was way bigger than that. It was I hope whoever has to cut my head open and perform surgery knows what they're doing. We think the solutions need to be as painful as the problem. No. The reason we're still there stuck in the issue is because we put the problem on a pedestal. And I firmly believe that. And so my ask of you is to take a second and think about your life, truly. Think about where you are and the so-called obstacles before you.

And pretend you had to distill life down into its simplest form. If you had to, and I mean had to find a solution right now where you are, where would you start. If you had to do one thing today that would give you. the biggest bang for your buck, what could that look like? Solutions are not as big as the problem. And I think that's why they're hidden in plain sight. I think that's why we walk right by them. We think we need a team of Harvard neurologists when we need electrolyte tablets.

We're running around trying to camouflage five cases of luggage when they can be squeezed in the overhead department labeled. Yeah, I know. Use what you have where you are because where you are answers live. And maybe it doesn't fix the problem overnight. But I promise you it'll get you closer to a solution than the obstacle you've unknowingly transformed into a seven-foot-eight four-handed monster with razor sharp teeth. You have this. you can slay this dragon and come out on top.

Just one, believe it, and two, open your eyes. That combination seems to work. Miracles. You were made to break. To be imperfect, intentionally reckless, you were made to break. And thank God. Because I want you to imagine a world where you never cracked. Imagine a world where you never had to pick yourself up and put yourself back together.

How truly tragic that would be. Why? Well, it's in the tearing down and building up that we sculpt the beauty, that we chisel away the monotony and create a meaning of sorts. Like muscles at the gym, stressed, taxed, intentionally. put through the rigors of resistance, micro-tares that teach it, ah, I can not only endure, but I can strengthen.

That by challenging the status quo, I get a tomorrow that promises more than today. So break. Allow yourself to crack. In fact, there's a saying that it's from our cracks that the light shines through, that meaningful things, more often than not, we're born of broken.

things, that it wasn't being sheltered from life but thrust upon it that the true magic materialized. It took me years to learn this. And it is, I've been surprised to discover, something that must be relearned every day. My mind resists and my body fights back. It doesn't want me to be broken. My head wants to navigate away from broken things because broken is flawed, right? is imperfect, you know? And isn't perfect the goal? Getting a 10 of 10, highlight reel, filters,

elevator, speeches, accolades, who the hell has time to crack in a world that demands smooth edges and shiny surfaces? So I asked myself. At least until about 26, when I first learned that cracking, breaking, disassembling is the precursor to all excellence, the precursor to progress In and of itself, the precursor to anything other than staring out a window and hoping life presents you what you want. One of the most dangerous words I've come to know is perfect. Because perfect is a defense mechanism. Perfect is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Show me perfection and I'll show you fear.

Show me someone who won't go until it's flawless and I'll show you someone who is deeply, deeply afraid. I think our default setting positions is to seek the wrong things, because beauty is not perfect. Beauty is bruised knees, scraped elbows. Beauty is hurt pride in a crushed ego. Beauty is getting it wrong, not just once, but over and over again. Because these things allow for the breaking down,

and the breaking down is the only thing that invites the building up. So you fear cracks and jagged edges? I fear lacking the courage to let life humble me. I fear clean shoes, predictability, and a life void of criticism. I fear a world where I stay right where I am, untarnished, and perfectly assembled. Today and every day after, the goal is to let life crack me. wide open. Let the light shine through. Let me build again and again and again from the pile of broken things that I have made. Let me take them and assemble a world that means something like a

phoenix rising from the ashes to start anew every day. Forget the illusions of perfection. Forget the off-ramps and false security interwoven into what you know now because you were made for more you were made to stretch explore to live or made what if i fall the man asks looking nervously over the edge oh but my friend a voice responds back what if you fly a little quote heard not too long ago demonstrating our proclivity to maintain to preserve, to protect, to move away altogether from the risk for fear that we might lose our grip on the status quo. Completely forgetting to think about what life could become if things worked out. Forgetting that life is a game of trade-offs.

And to fixate on never losing what you have means forfeiting the possible. It is that simple. To stay is a refusal to go. We need to constantly reinforce the idea, the truth, that what we aren't doing is a decision. And while we place our energy and efforts on minimizing the falling and the failure, someone else is stepping into it. They're capitalizing on it. Falling again and again and again until they can't. fly because the danger is not in falling. It's in never taking to the sky. It's becoming only a fraction of the person you are capable of becoming with the required sacrifice and courage. It's an understanding that we're not wrong for initially thinking small, playing to not lose, thinking only to protect, protect, protect. That's how human beings arrive out of the factory, right? Stock. And you can thank millennia of evolution for that. You're not weak for being scared.

You're not less than for shaking when you stand face to face with the adversity of life. Again, this is what being human is. But what we also possess is the ability to understand these default limitations and transform them. To understand being scared of the world around us was incredibly valuable forever ago. right, when we roamed around hunting and gathering, it made sense not to inquire further when there was a shaking in the bushes. It made sense not to rashly run into the cave. It made sense to fear deeply the prospect of being abandoned by your small tribe that was the only reassurance separating you from the vast unknown lurking in the darkness, the wilderness. But anyone

listening to this today must also understand that these biological drivers are outdated. The lions in the bushes are no more. The caves are generally metaphorical, and one's quote-unquote tribe should be carefully and methodically chosen, right? Civilization provides that cushion, and what a luxury. So when life pushes back, and it will, and you feel like you're on the that ledge, you will want to turn back. Not because you're weak, but because you've forgotten that the voice in your head screaming in fear can't see the upside. It's blind to the possibility. It only sees downside. It only says, hey, this might bring about discomfort. There are things out there you don't know, foreign entities, possibly adversaries. Why would you even contemplate

taking that leap. And that's where you step in and provide reassurance. Yeah, things could go wrong, but the wrong steps are one, usually reversible and two, provide the wisdom that I need. It gives you a chance to inject into the conversation that if things go right, your life changes, that this could be the beginning and that we don't live until the excitement about what life can become, if things work out is greater than the fear of what life would regress into if they didn't. Without upside, there's no hope. Without hope, there is no purpose. And as Victor Frankel has said, life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose. We're all operating within the same parameters, same playing field. But the difference is

We have different soundtracks, interpretations, and narratives playing behind our eyes. He may see the world collapsing and spend the rest of his life mourning what is gone, while she may see this same devastation and bring herself to wonder, well, what can I build in its place? What can arise from the wreckage? Same circumstance, different storyline, different result. I often cringe when I hear mindset misinterpreted as this magical thing that becomes reality the second you close your eyes and make a wish. The law of attraction, as far as I'm concerned, is not magic.

I think this whole song and dance is much simpler than that. We act in accordance to the things we believe. And if you believe you're not good enough, if you believe you're not worthy, if you believe more is out of the question, what incentive do you have to change? None. It's much easier to default to hating the world when that's your perspective. But when you can find the discipline, even for a moment, to pause and ask, well, what if things got better? What if my life could be more? That spark has suddenly given you a reason to take another step forward. It's made an argument as to why that discomfort just might be worth it.

The magic isn't that you wished for it, and so it was. The magic is that you saw it as a possibility, and in doing so, incentivize yourself to move towards that outcome. It's hard to gravitate towards something that has not yet been built. It's hard to stand with conviction in defense of a life that hasn't yet materialized. But that, my friends, is the beauty and mystery of life. You don't get what you want until you start living like you already have it. Like you can touch it, taste it, like it's real.

So when the journey feels impossible, know that you are on the right track. You're competing against some very formidable adversaries, your very DNA. You're competing against the people around you that don't understand. You're competing against the obstacles that make you question whether that conjured up castle in the air existing only in your head could ever come to fruition. That is some resistance. But as you step forward into the haze, your single, solitary acts of courage will begin to tell a story, to take shape. The ones make-believe will become tangible. You'll see the pieces coming together and you'll see yourself as the one capable of

assembling them. An architect of sorts, a designer, one with courage and self-belief. The truth is, you will never completely mitigate fear. That will be with you forever. It's par for the course. You just need to remember that the power of purpose of meaning, the value of upside and opportunity is greater than that nagging voice of fear. It's not about closing your eyes to who you are or where you've been. There's beauty and all that. It's merely about opening them to all you become. Sometimes the difference between what you have now and what you want most is just a little bit of crazy. And so let me explain. I was having an awesome conversation with a friend of mine named Nico. And he was kind of reminiscing a little bit. So he lives here in Arizona. And before, you know,

he was running his businesses and doing this sort of content creation and all that stuff, he was in a transition phase driving Uber. And he said there was a situation where the company threw out, I believe it was like a 24-hour window. And I'm going to butcher this. I don't remember the exact metric. But let's just say it was whoever drove the most in that 24-hour window won a cash prize.

And obviously that enticed him, right? So the clock starts and he begins. And he's driving people around. Let's say day turns to evening, turns to night, turns to late night. And Nico makes a decision. He says, you know what? I think I'm going to go through the night. I don't want to, but I think I could win this.

And just like that, he does go through the night. and the morning all the next day completes a full 24-hour stretch, and this is going to be no shocker, he wins. He wins the cash prize. And, you know, he'll make a joke now that probably wasn't the safest or, you know, whatever. The reality is he did it and he won. And in that simplicity, to me lies a simple, a simple truth, a power. a strength.

It's the reminder that when you give a little more, you get a little more. Sometimes you have to sprinkle in crazy to normalcy in the mundane to get a result that you truly want. And it's very easy to forget this, right? At least for me, when he told me this story, I thought, like, one, of course you won the prize.

and two, where in my life should I be metaphorically driving through the night? And I asked that question because life is seasonal, right? It's more of a wave than it is a straight line. You know, I can think back to times in my life where it was go, go, go, right? You attack. If you listen to a speech from 2014 that I did, it's very focused on mitigating excuses, digging deeper, finding a way, figuring it out, emitting, you know, moving beyond any type of victim mentality.

It's just trudging through mud. And there's a time and a space for that. You know, I think it's incredibly important. And then there are times where I'm, you know, in a season where I'm writing about, hey, look around you. Enjoy it. Appreciate it. And I think a life of contentment requires both. but depending on what you're doing, the pendulum is going to be one way or the other.

And hearing that inspired me because I'm like, you know, I'm in a season where I want to press the pedal to the floor a little bit here. So where? Where can I do that? And I started thinking, you know, about a particular example. And by the way, those of you who listen more than others to this podcast or this YouTube channel, Which, fun fact, about 75 to 80% of the viewers on every video are new. They have no idea who I am. They've never been here before, never heard my voice. So often I speak as though I'm talking to, you know, a moving parade and not a standing audience.

So if you've heard this example before, hopefully the difference in context will add some value. But, you know, we're talking about Nico's metaphorical riding through the night, being a little bit crazy, finding your own. edge or your advantage. You know, a lightball moment for me was in college. As a rower, D1 sport, I'd never done it before, and we were doing a 2K test. It was one of my first 2K tests. And the rowing machine is a tough machine. I mean, it beats you up.

Like a lot of cardio machines, but this is, has a special place in my heart. I'll put it that way. And I just remember being on the machine. and suffering through it. And just feeling all types of sorry for myself. It's like, poor me. You know, I have buddies in the dorm, you know, drinking beers, having fun, and I'm up here. You know, it's like, I thought the suffering in itself was the accomplishment.

Like, look at how proud I should be of this. And I'll never forget my coach walking by and simply being like, yeah, but look at the screen. You're not going fast enough. That's not good enough. Figure it out. So I'd pull harder for a little bit and, you know, being new to the sport, no stamina, right? It would just sort of drop back down to what I was doing and he'd come back and he'd be like, look, you need to figure this out because you're hurting, you're suffering.

I get it. The rowers at Georgetown are suffering, right? The rowers you're going to race at Wisconsin, in Harvard, in Penn, and all these schools. that are way bigger and theoretically way better recruit internationally. Like, they're hurting too, but they're going faster. So showing up and hurting is not enough. Being the guy who's not down at the dorm drinking is not enough. You need to find your edge.

You need to find you're crazy. You need to sprinkle in something that'll set three boats essentially full. of walk-ons apart from these people and other schools that have been rowing all their lives. Right. And that was the moment where I'm like, I get it. Showing up is not enough. You need to be different. You have to find a way to be better and set yourself apart. And I took that with me into life. I always talk about college. You know, people ask me a lot. Do you value college for some people? For me, it was valuable. I learned to write well, but also because of crew, because of that mindset.

And so, fast forward 14 years, right? From that day, I am speaking of my friend Evan Carmichael's mastermind, he asked me to talk a little bit about YouTube. And so I go in, the presentation prepared on titles and thumbnails and, you know, the first one minute of the video and how important it is. And what I learned is no one cares. No one cares. They wanted to know how the hell I kept doing what I was doing from year one to seven

without seeing substantial validation, without making any type of meaningful money, without a huge, wide-ranging audience. What kept me going? And I'd never thought about it like that. until, you know, that experience. And I look back now and I'm like, yeah, years one through seven, the door was shut. Like, for me, it was like, I'm either going to help millions of people doing this,

make a substantial amount of money, create an impactful brand, or I'm going to be poor doing this and fail doing this, but I'm going to do this, period. And I look back now, I'm like, that is my edge. That is my driving through the night. That is my Nico advantage. It's my find a way to row faster, to be better mindset. Because I don't think many people would do that. In fact, I know most wouldn't.

And it took seven years to get that sort of exponential growth curve. And so I say all of this to ask you, one, what season of life are you in? are you right now? Are you thinking about what matters and where you want to press the pedal? Are there levers you want to pull? And two, when it comes to those things, where can you be just a little bit crazy? Where can you find an edge? Where can you be outside the box? Where can you do something different for you in your life, right? A variation from how you've always done it. and also a variation from how your competition would do it, or outside of quote unquote normalcy in the real world.

You know, sometimes life is complex, sometimes it's nuanced, and sometimes it's insanely simple. Those races you're running, those things that are meaningful to you, when you give more, and not always just effort, effort, effort, but intelligent effort, you get more. And I think it begs the question, what's important and how can I be tenacious there? How can I squeeze more out of it?

I'm incredibly grateful for that conversation because it just made me think. I have a really cool opportunity on this YouTube channel and podcast, to be part of what I think is the best community in the world. The messages I get from you guys is insane. It's incredible. And it's just a heartwarming thing.

It's a satisfying thing. And, you know, perhaps that needs to be doubled down on my end, right? Maybe there's room for more, for more long form, for more creativity. Maybe without realizing it, things have gotten a little routine because that happens. That's life. And so you need these moments to step back and go, okay, well, how can I regroup and re-approach? How can I be better? A little crazy.

So I hope you got something from this episode. Now, I want to remind you to find your crazy. What makes human beings different from birds, cats, dogs, and chimps is that we understand the finitude of life. We get it. how temporary, how fleeting it all is. But we do, however, as we get caught up in the trivialities of our day-to-day, need to be reminded of that fact. That there is no forever in this world.

Because sometimes we wait like we can afford to wait. And we drag our feet like there will be a next time. There are no next times. For me, especially when it came to doing the, things I knew I needed to do, but was worried about or nervous to begin. I had to adjust my mindset. I had to learn to see missed opportunities as tangible, as though they're real. And that's the hard part.

It's easy to dismiss something that never happened. Oh, I didn't go. End of thought, end of story. It's easy to rationalize that as insignificant. How could something you didn't do be important? That when you view what you need to do or where you want to go as an already existing path, then to not walk down that path is very real. It's a decision.

The next question is, well, what if I'm not ready to walk down that path? I'd catch myself thinking that all the time. Right? Well, here's the deal. For the big things in life, we simply never feel ready. There is no fully prepared. There will never be a fully prepared because we learn as we go. How could we know all there is to know and understand all there is to understand when the path is the teacher?

It's like expecting a seed to grow without ever having planted it. Life is about being in motion, letting the world shape you. It's less about being handed a map as it is about being the Lewis and Clark of your own story. Understanding that what awaits is intimidating, it's unknown, sometimes terrifying, but simultaneously, the adventure.

That thing in your heart and your soul that pulls at you, that asks you to be a little bolder, a little stronger, asks you to unshackle yourself from the worry and begin your pursuit, that is your first. frontier. And sure some will simply watch that clock tick away. They'll never set out on the journey. They'll stay where they are, citing the difficulty, maybe the irrationality of that which they don't know. It's all crazy, right? They'll sit. They'll spend their days a little safer every step, a little more predictable,

but they'll also never truly see the show. They won't understand how beautiful those views are and how the darkness of those valleys become our strength. Time should have been their reason to go, and instead it was the story that never came to be. Like Jim Rohn has alluded to, you think going is expensive, wait until you see the cost of not going, of not trying, of not walking down the path

that will unlock your mind and change the way you see the world. You know what that is for you. Let's be honest, we all do. It's not about answers, it's about commitment to willfully embrace that which we do not understand. We don't get how those pieces stack up. But it's about letting yourself be the student and life, the teacher. This, I believe, when our finite time is up on this rock rotating around the sun, will be what makes us smile, makes it all worth it.

The memories we made, the adventure, the times we thought we were done but somehow kept moving, thought we'd lost, but somehow found away. That's our power. And if we're the authors of our own stories, the only thing truly unimaginable is the refusal to pick up that pen and open the book. Don't deprive yourself of the opportunity to explore the depths of your imagination. Don't hide from your greatness. Don't let what could go wrong cheat you out of all. that can go right. As the saying goes, you only live once, but if you live it right, once is enough. So don't stay because of the clock, go because of the clock, live because of the clock.

Its hands are pointing you to that place you most need. 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. Right, 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, it'll 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. Rhone 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. 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. This is the magic beginning, he alludes to. The confidence being earned. purpose, the meaning, and ultimately, being that we only get results where we place 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. There's a Latin phrase pronounced Amor Fatih. It's one of the more powerful ideas I've come across. Its translation means love. It implies everything that happens is good, with the very least necessary. And I think we need that reminder from time to time.

Because, funny enough, it is one of the first sentiments to leave us when we're in trouble. when we're down or lost, the idea that everything has its value. And sure we don't always understand it in the moment or when we're fighting through it, but that circumstance or even tragedy, and the great play of life has a crucial role. Someone recently sent me a beautiful clip from Stephen Colbert interview. I want to dive in, but there's a caveat.

ask that you listen to this in a vacuum. For our purposes, not going to be the Stephen Colbert who mocks half the country on live TV every night. This is the wise Stephen Colbert with a lot of value to add because he can be both. To frame the interview, he's sitting across from Anderson Cooper and Anderson's asking him about something he said a while back. Anderson reads the quote, I've learned to love the things I'd most wished had not happened. What punishments of God are not gifts? Anderson then looks up from the paper, looks over at Stephen, asks, do you really believe that? To which Stephen responds, yes. It's a gift to exist, and with existence comes suffering. There's no escaping that. You can't pick and choose what.

what to be grateful for. A truly incredible emotional moment. It is the realization of Amor Fati. Even the most trying of times are a bridge to something. Even that which is taken away creates a space for one to ultimately find what they need. A couple years ago, I did a keynote in Hollywood Beach talking about those difficult situations.

Some of them are external, but some of them we create. like chaos, self-induced, that opens the door to the most precious of occurrences. Things that I never would have had or arrived at, if not for the pain, the sadness, the confusion. It truly all fits together. And so I basically take a trip down memory lane, talking about the physical duress of a cold morning run. Wouldn't you know it? Strengthens one's conviction and belief in themselves. Or the sadness in leaving someone you.

care about, someone you love, knowing it's no longer what's best for either of you but was necessary. Touched on the fear. The physical resistance I felt walking onto stages in 2015 and 16, dreaming of off-ramps, thinking of excuses in my head all the way up until the mic was in my hand on stage and words came out of my mouth that propelled me to comfort and confidence and sharing my voice. Again, it's all one big puzzle. Every piece matters. You don't get ups without downs.

And as you push forward into the next thing and the next, as you see the breadth of the unexpected and the power of the unknown, you learn. You learn that the so-called lows aren't the exception. They're not a problem to be solved. be solved. And as I sit here now, I even view them less as a cost than I once did, a pain that must be endured. No, it's all worthy and deserving of our gratitude. It all matters. It's all precious. I talked about on a recent episode, getting migrants. And one of the days I remember

more than any other in my life, and I'm 36 now by the time this episode, released. I have a few days under my belt. This one was truly memorable to me. I was having a debilitating headache and a ton of pain finally able to fall asleep. And I remember waking up, opening my eyes and realizing that the night had finally slipped by. Morning arrived and I felt good again. I slowly got up, kind of tilted my head back and forth, testing the waters. All clear, and walked outside, down to the beach, and as the sun came up, I sat on the lifeguard stand and just looked out in awe. The sand, the waves, the seagulls, the sky. It all meant more in that moment than it ever had.

I was just beyond grateful to be there. And so you talk about the lows being gifts. You know, I get it. It sounds cliche at best, maybe even ridiculous. But those lows, I swear by it, always seem to give me the things I'm most grateful for. It's a pattern that constantly repeats itself. They always remind me that the magic is the stuff I walk right by. They put me in hell for a period of time so that I understand to exist,

Beyond that space is a mirror. Without Lowe's, life's beauty becomes a baseline. When something is a baseline, it's definitionally average, or regular, it's mundane. I've learned to love all the things I'd most wished had not happened. What punishments of God are not. It all matters. It all brings you something.

And if you're at a point where you're so deep in the weeds, or so far in the trenches that you've forgot, I hope this finds you and lifts you above it all. I hope it reminds you that you will arrive at the place you most need to be. And it will be not despite but because of this path you walked that you arrived there. Some people live their entire lives waiting for miracles. And some people realize they're already in one and act accordingly. I hope today you choose the latter because it is a gift.

A gift.