Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - MORNING MOTIVATION | Best Motivational Speeches of 2023 (So Far)

Episode Date: November 10, 2023

“What I know for sure is that every sunrise is like a new page, a chance to right ourselves and receive each day in all its glory. Each day is a wonder.” — Oprah Winfrey A collection of morning motivational speeches by Eddie Pinero (the best of 2023 so far) meant to inspire and get you ready to take on the day.

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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 narrative.

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 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 civil. 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 was in the middle of a workout the other day

and right before things got intense, right before we picked it up a level, I heard someone say, brace yourselves, your minds are about to start lying to you. Now note, the message The message was not brace yourselves, you're about to lose focus. Brace yourselves, things are going to get challenging, the path's going to be unclear.

No, the message was much, much simply. That we would be told lies, objectively. And who would tell them, well, the adversary within each of us, the dark side of the moon, right? Just as there's light, there's darkness, just as we have the tools to build, We have the tools to tear down. In fact, our life trajectories hinge on whether we find those reasons we can or we find reasons we can't. Whether we push those so-called lies away or embrace an adopt.

But here's what I loved most about that comment. Why I found it so moving. You know, I'm someone who's fascinated by the power of mindset, obviously. I read about it, I experiment with it, I talk about it almost every day. But I guess in my head, I'd compartmentalized it as something slightly more subjective, right? We'll call it negative self-talk as an obstacle. As chaos we have to learn to navigate. And while that's not wrong, there's something about the simplicity of you can do this

and any thought in your head that says otherwise is a lie that's freeing. That message is like removing shackles. Because that voice in your head, you can call it a distraction. A battle, you can call it the unknown, you can call whatever you want. But the bottom line is it's an untruth. You're strong enough to handle the now period. You are strong enough.

Because the liar in you says, you need to know what X minutes, X hours, X days down the road will look like. Oh, you don't? Well, then you can't handle this. It says, you need to sustain this pace or maintain this momentum.

Imagine how bad that will hurt. You see that? You can't endure that. The liar in you says you're not as strong as the ones who did it before you. You see them? They're better. The liar in you will do whatever it can to protect your ego at the expense of your growth. It wants to push off any type of pain because the liar in you knows one thing and one thing only safety.

So as you put your head down and embark upon the journey of life, Remember that when things get tough, much of what you will be told will be untrue. And the vast majority of that won't be external. It will be derived from whatever entity manufactures the thoughts floating around in your head. Winning is calling that liar out, stopping it in its tracks. Winning is saying there's no proof on earth

that suggests I can't take another step forward. and then another and then another. There's absolutely zero evidence that you can't take what's being given to you and not only survive the moment but thrive. See, when you hold the pen, anything seeking to tell you how the story ends is simply,

definitionally, unequivocally, not true. Not unless you want it to be. be. Because the story and its ending are yours. What will become truth is what you write down. Line by line, moment by moment, day by day. So when the liar speaks, understand what she is and keep writing. And when the liar cries out, understand his intentions, and keep building. If you want this moment, it's yours. And that is truth. Ready to prioritize yourself in the new year? Your skin is a great place to start. Dime Beauty, founded by a master aesthetician, is more than just a skincare company. With four skin-conscious categories, skin care, beauty, body care, and fragrance,

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Visit Safeway.com for more detail. The other day, I heard someone say that they've found some of the most important things in their life in places where they're... they weren't supposed to find them. Which is interesting to me. One, because that seems to happen a lot. And two, because it's like, who creates the parameters around what we're supposed to do?

Who sets the rules to begin with? I'm continuously blown away by our tendency to create imaginary walls and then live within them. to build steel bars around ourselves that separate the now from future opportunity. In one of the first videos I ever made, I talked about this nagging feeling of discomfort that occurred right after I left the corporate world and started my own business. And at that point, to call it a business, I was giving myself a lot of credit. I was basically just starting to make videos and put them out on social media.

But I would run in the middle of the day. right, that was my thing, right through Boston along the Charles River, I loved running. But I couldn't help feeling this guilt like I wasn't supposed to. Like I was doing the wrong thing, doing what I was taught not to do. My whole life, I learned that you go to school or work during the day. That's the right thing. In a decade removed, I've grown and I've learned. I know how crazy it sounds now.

But it took me a long time to even enjoy it and not feel like some devian who was leaving everything he'd worked for up to that point to go and fail spectacularly. The supposed to followed me around like a shadow. Constantly trying to pull me back in. Freedom to me is separating oneself from this exact sentiment. It's doing what's best for you, exploring your own worldview, blazing as the saying goes your own trail, because you'll find very few supposed tos there. I think this is a microcosm of a greater truth.

The most important things we do in life, our pivotal moments, our epiphanies are found where we weren't supposed to find them. Because what we're supposed to do is very rarely methodically thought out. It's simply the norm. It's marching orders. It's what the crowd is doing, it's what will help us blend in. And it's interesting, as I've pushed further and further into life, I've come to believe that rarely is what's best all one thing or all another. It's working to find a balance that supports your ideal life trajectory. That balance will lean substantially more one way or another, depending on who you are

and what's important to you. And so, I'm not suggesting one always needs to be different, or if something is common it's wrong. No, thousands of years of evolution and societal stressors have in many ways narrowed down for us what's effective and efficient. It's helped us survive. And to dismiss this outright is obviously counterproductive, but it does explain why any break from these norms physically hurts.

We associate them with survival. And here lies the divide between surviving, which we are supposed to. supposed to do and excelling, which is to embark upon a different game altogether. Survival is mitigating risk. Excelling is hunting down the opportunity. Survival is blending in. Excelling is asking, what about me is unique and how can I dive into that fully? Survival is not having to innovate on any large scale because the instructions are clear and laid out for you. Excelling is asking, now that I know the rules,

how can I bend and maybe even break them so that I can improve my life and the lives of those around me. Now, I'll continue with the same example, because I know a lot of folks find themselves in a similar situation now. I wasn't supposed to deviate from my previous life trajectory, my education, my career track, my 401k, but I did, and I found something I otherwise would never have, an ability to work on what I enjoy and share that with others. I wasn't supposed to leave home, the Northeast, the most important people in my life live up there, but I've found comfort, peace, and new beginnings down here that I never would have experienced. I wasn't supposed to do many of the things I'm doing today.

It was a genuine curiosity and a willingness to chase down what's meaningful, and the beautiful thing is, anyone can do that. Every single one of us can detach and depart from the supposed tos in our lives. And hey, maybe some of them should be there. Maybe some are adding value and stability that you need and maybe even cherish. But I can promise some of them aren't. And it's worth a look. It's worth thinking about those things.

Where can we be a little braver, a little more courageous? Where can we venture outside the scope of what we've subconsciously deemed every day life? I love the notion that there's always more in you. You just need to give yourself permission. to pursue it. It only makes sense that no journey begins until we give it the green light. The world is yours once you give yourself permission

to pursue it. So what are you conceding? What have you accepted as fact that upon further review you might find to be fiction? There's a world of infinite opportunity waiting for you. Just past your acceptance of the way things are, just beyond all those supposed to. 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, to 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 then 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, right? 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 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. gotten up after things didn't go 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 steps. 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. game. Find that light in darkness even if it's 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, and 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. I was taking a walk a few days ago and was listening to an audio book called 10X is easier than 2X by Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy. And this is a book essentially about how exponential growth requires a reframing. A change to the way we think about ourselves and the journeys that we're on. And in it, Sullivan states, and I'm paraphrasing, the things that brought you to the current moment will keep you there. powerful. In a lens through which I hadn't really looked at my personal growth or journey before,

I've always thought of progress as a stacking of repeatable habits over and over again. And while this may not be wrong, Sullivan and Hardy make a pretty effective argument that it's only part of the story. See, if you show up and you do the exact same thing every day, you'll get growth, no doubt, but it will be linear in nature. Exponential growth requires instances of self-recreation, of evolution as we make our way forward. It's a continuous pushing aside of things we don't need to be doing and a simultaneous deep dive into the things that bring us the most return. They use the example of the famous Michelangelo, who is known for his painting.

And then some time goes by and he produces a 17-foot statue of David. And then he pivots again, as he's commissioned by Pope Julius II, to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. And then moves on to direct even larger projects. And each example here is a 10x evolution. Certainly not a road that could have been mapped out from day one. How would he ever have known? But it's a series of sometimes even lateral moves. Instances of following your intuition, your strength, doing what felt right,

instances of breaking down and building back up the self. Same foundation of talent and skill, same general competency, but he continuously stacked new and enhanced versions of himself on top of one another. Sometimes reminders hit you exactly when you need to hear them. You know, personally, I loved everything about this message. The idea that there should be more emphasis and courage, for that matter, on one's 10-X trajectory, multiplying my strengths, on taking the value I bring to the world and putting it through some stressors,

seeing what comes out the other side. because the danger in playing it's safe, which the second we stop being intentional about things is ultimately what we tend to do, it's that you don't experience that transformation. It was not safe, using the same metaphor for Michelangelo, a painter, to create David.

The safe thing would have been to keep doing the same thing every day. but you have to trust your skill, your heart, and your intuition. There's immense value in all of us understanding that, and to some degree emulating it. There's value in all of us finding our David. Stepping into that, which is a little unclear, makes us a little nervous, but at the same time allows us to take the skills and talent

to parts of us that are most meaningful and inject them into the world, in a bigger way, which would never have been possible had we stayed the same. The things that brought you to the current moment will keep you there. Well, here's defining your 20%, that which matters and using it as the template with which you paint. Not getting so stuck in the routine that you forget, the routine is a means, not an end. You have the ability in your own. unique way to change the world around you. The question is, do you have the courage to reach for it?

Ready to prioritize yourself in the new year? Your skin is a great place to start. Dime Beauty, founded by a master aesthetician, is more than just a skincare company. With four skin-conscious categories, skin care, beauty, body care, and fragrance, Dime offers simple, spa-worthy products that will help you enter 2025 with confidence. Whether you're revitalized, your regimen with nourishing products or building one from scratch, Dime makes it easy. The work system, our all-in-one best-selling routine, includes a cleanser of your choice, toner, serums, and moisturizers, taking the guesswork out of skin care for your healthiest, happiest skin yet.

Dime's commitment to clean ingredients and sustainable packaging ensures every product is as gentle on your skin as it is on the planet. With thousands of glowing five-star reviews and a loyal community, the results speak for themselves. Revive your skin and give yourself the routine refresh you deserve by visiting dimebeautic.com. That's dime beauty co.com. Your best skin awaits. Hey there, it's Ryan Sechrest for Safeway. Now through February 25th, stock up on your favorite self-care items and save up to $3.

Shop in store or online for items like Old Spice Deodorant. Always ultra-thin pads. Gillette Fusion Razors and Refills. Old Spice Total Body Spray. Tampax Pearl. And Gillette Mach 3 Razors and Refills. up to $3. You won't want to miss out on these deals. Offer ends February 25th. Offers may vary. Restrictions apply. Visit safeway.com for more detail.

One day, it will all make sense. As one Steve Jobs said during a Stanford commencement speech, you can't connect the dots looking forward. You can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. Your job isn't to know, but to trust that someday you will. It's to have the courage to paint in real time a portrait that will be ever evolving. It's the strength to be wrong, the resolve to rise to your feet, time and time again, because one day it will all make sense. And you'll see.

You'll see that the roundabout, often confusing, unpredictable road you walked, was the road you had to take. It made you who you are. And you'll see that all those challenges forced you to become someone that you, at one point in your life, never dreamed you could become. You'll see that those people in your life, the ones you clung to, the ones you saw as permanent fixtures in that ever-evolving story, they were merely temporary, supporting characters. There to teach you about yourself and the world before exiting stage left. You'll see that the scariest things weren't the failures looming around every corner. They were the magic never created for fear of what lurked around those corners.

You'll see that dropped into the heart of even the moment. most violent storms. The darkest of nights, you always had enough to get out. Sometimes the steps were too small and the progress too unremarkable to notice, but those clouds at one point or another always ended up. In life, the game itself becomes the instruction manual. To understand, you have to play. to learn you have to go. Therefore, a life well lived can't be about having all the answers. You're crafting them with every step you take. It's about trust, it's about belief.

Not in a defined trail, but in your ability to blaze your own. I encourage you as you navigate the day-to-day unknowns to remember how strong you are. When you're frustrated at the hand you've been dealt, when you're hurt, when you're saddened by something that's transpired, remember that you can handle it, that there's meaning in the pain, in the chaos, right? Because I know our default isn't to smile

and mentally transport to the value that the pain will someday bring, right? I get it. But you have to know that you can, one, make it through the chaos, and know that too, there will be a point in your future when you look over your shoulder and appreciate the turbulence you endured. You'll be grateful because of the beauty, the meaning, and the happiness it ultimately brought to fruition.

That's what makes life worth living. You'll be grateful for the struggle because it empowered you to push further into life. It taught you to not only endure, but to find meaning in suffering, to ultimately create something beautiful out of the very thing you wanted to run away from but didn't. See, life is not all one thing. It's an oscillating wave of circumstances.

And you'll see at some point that every second matter in the sense that it gave you exactly what you needed most when you needed it. So trust that the road will be unpredictable because that's exactly what the road is. road will be. But also trust yourself to be someone who navigates the foreign waters ahead. Someone who points the compass straight towards the horizon, because regardless of the world around you, that's exactly who you are. I woke up this morning with two thoughts. One, you can make today whatever you want to make it. And two, one, one, you can make today whatever you want to make it. And two, one of my usual reminders,

life is not that serious. Now, why is this important? Why is it the framing I so often need? Well, to put it simply, I put a lot of pressure on myself, right, as many of us do, these deadlines and these goals, they hover over me, they guide my decision-making.

And, you know, while that allows me to operate at a high level, there's also a flip side. From time to time, it makes me feel like I'm navigating a maze. I slip into this tunnel vision that makes life seem almost procedural. And every so often, the freedom and the beauty slip away. I forget they're there. So to be reminded of life's abundance, its breath is healing. like step outside your day to day. Try something new. Lose yourself in something. Undergo that

audit that cuts away the things that have made their way into your life that add no value. The day is yours and no one else's. Life's not grading you on a one to 10 scale. So give yourself permission to explore, green lights to make mistakes, to adventure, right, for the soul's sake of the ride. And it's not even a me thing. When I live with an abundance mindset, I'm able to be a better version of myself, which means I can better help others. It means I can show up the right way for the people in my life. See, we need to remember that we are freer than we think. and why we need to be perpetually reminded of this, I'm not sure, but we do. It's incredibly easy to fall in line and turn autopilot on.

Then the situation becomes mundane, even counterproductive, and we just submit to it. We say, oh, this is life. No, it's not life. And in fact, by adopting that mindset, you're forfeiting the greatness within yourself, and the greatness that surrounds you. You're ignoring the very reason you are here, bowing to the dictator that is safety and monotony. Are you personally growing, progressing?

Are you challenging yourself? Are you finding the courage to step outside the box, the walls you've built around yourself? Are you spending time with the people who matter? Are you seeking out peak experiences? Because you not only can do those things, you should. And every morning that sun coming up should be a reminder that all of this in life is available to you. The caveat being no one gives you permission to pursue it.

As the saying goes, no one comes along and saves you. It's up to you to look out your window. and see not confinement, but possibility. To inject yourself into the meaning that is available to you. Today is yours. So long as you find the courage to make it so. If you want to be empowered, understand this. The world is indifferent to you.

It's not an enemy. me, but it's not a friend either. It's a tool. The same way that attributing any type of motive to a hammer would be ridiculous, right? I've seen hammers build things and I've seen hammers destroy things. Well, the same can be said for the world around you. What it becomes is determined entirely by how you choose to utilize it. You know, there are things we learn as we navigate through life that change us. And one of the most of the most of the most of the most of the critical for me was understanding that, yes, the world is indifferent to me and no, I am not special. Doesn't mean I can't go do amazing things, help people, change the way things are.

But if those results materialize, it will be because of what I made with what surrounds me. Not because of what the world owed me. or because I was special or deserving. No, it will be because I set my sights on something and pursued it. And so you ask, why is this empowerment? It's empowerment because it puts things into perspective, and perspective is power. It simplifies the road ahead.

The bad things that happen, they are not personal, they don't mean the deck is stacked against you, and those good things, they are never guaranteed. Everything's a question of grit, of depersonalizing the lows in an effort to capture those fleeting highs. Life is not predetermined. Life is a game. A game that you have the ability to win, to leave this place better than you found it. But you're also capable of taking a different path.

It's just as easy to highlight the flaws, to take on the role of a perpetual victim. The tools are there to do both. And so the question is, what will you do with what you have? Because it's not about where you start. It's not about where you came from. It's about choosing to look around you and say, I choose to be an architect. From this reality, I will build.

I will contribute. I will go forth and conquer. When the walls cave in, It's not because you can't or shouldn't. It's because sometimes in life, walls cave in. And now you choose whether to lay in the rubble or rise from the ashes. And this fork in the road, it's going to present itself many times. The ones who get angry, who point out, who project blame,

who will live very different lives than the ones who brush it off as an obstacle on the windy road that is life and press forward. You did not arrive here special, but you sure as hell can leave here special. The world may be indifferent, but you are not. If you're passionate, if you move forward with conviction, you'll become friends with the trials and allies with the tribulations. You'll see that growth only stops,

Not when an angry world around you decides it's so, but when you do. When your feet stop moving and your heart longs for the horizon no more. But until then, it's all systems go. Until then, you build. You know what one of the best things to ever happen to me was? Migraine headaches. Yeah, I know. Those excruciating, debilitating, sometimes can't get out of bed that day, headaches.

Because when the pain in the chaos would ultimately subside, it always left me with something I didn't have before, which is an appreciation for the baseline. Gratitude for the absence of pain. And I'd understand what a gift it is to be able and capable, living, breathing, functioning. In its own unique way, it made me realize that we only appreciate things when they're taken away. And if you can only ever love what's gone, you never really love at all. See, life goes fast, right? I'm watching it spin around me in real time. We all are. And I believe we need to

manufacture some sort of perspective pertaining to the beauty of the now. We have to go. We have to build. We have to start the company, send the message, take the chance, not because we are obligated, but because our souls want it. They need it. See, our minds just don't understand. We've already been admitted to the show. It's hard to fathom just how precious each trip around the sun truly is.

And if it takes pain to understand the value of its absolute, I'll pay that price, gladly. Because personally, I've wasted too many sunrises. I've told my heart know and my soul to be patient too many times. Life is happening now. It's here now. And so if your eyes can open and your feet can move, let the former guide and the latter carry you.

Don't leave your dreams for something. because the show is now. The beauty is here. And the power is within you to capture it, all of it. So give yourself that permission. Go forth into the night and light it up. I promise you the alternative is wishing you had. It's realizing that ship already left port and that's not where you want to be.

to be, that's not why you're here. You're here because right now, not tomorrow or the next day, but right now, the world is yours. The show starts now. And lucky for you in the palm of your hand is the ticket to entry.

When you're at your lowest point, you are, often without realizing it, positioning yourself to arrive at your highest point. Potential energy accumulating to propel you through an atmosphere of new beginnings. See, I believe our adversity is life asking that we submerge and dive deep, sometimes very deep, just to remember how badly we need that oxygen. above. So that when we again come up for air and we will, we notice the warmth of the sun on our face and the calming sound of the waves crashing on the beach. You don't make the most

of what's around you until you recognize that what's around you is the opportunity. And so life reminds us. A taxing reminder. Right? It rarely gives without first taking away. It rarely opens new doors without closing old ones. And that, to put it, simply, can hurt. They don't teach you in school that growth is painful. But as it turns out, a life without growth isn't much of a life at all. And so we must dive deep.

We're given no other choice. Without night, there is no day. Without suffering, there is no beauty. Without those depths below, there is no surface above. Our submergence is our transformation. The cocoon that separates who we were from who we will be. But unlike the butterfly, it doesn't just evolve once. Our journey requires that we are continuously growing a new pair of words.

life is chaos. Life is unpredictable. Life is hard, but you were built to not only endure in its arena, you were put here to excel, to learn the rules and then expand upon the rules. Sometimes break the rules. You were put here to take the difficulty and provide meaning to it. Piece by piece, as if it were the construction of a rocket to the moon. Little pieces of at one point frustration and confusion and chaos combined, reused and transformed into exactly what you need them to be. Emergent properties. You just have to be willing to see beyond the now and assemble.

To come up for air and soak in. and all that awaits at the surface like you've never done. The other day, I was texting with a friend of mine. Out of nowhere, she goes, what's wrong? And I'm thinking, nothing, right? I haven't said anything. You know, what do you mean? She's adamant, right?

She goes, something feels off. I thought about it and realized, yeah, she's pointing out something I've known for a little bit here. Something is off. I'm hiding from myself. I feel a little burnt out, a little tired. Certain areas of my life had become unevenly distributed. In fact, I was flirting with that thing.

I've always feared doing most. Simply going through the motions. That scared me. I don't want this, right? I've come too far to feel like this. I'm better than this. How do I fix it? How do I solve it now?

Figure it out now. But eventually came to realize the now part just might be the whole problem. Fix the now like it's a headache and me shaking my fist at the sky will be ibuprofen. No, battling imperfection is a fool's errand. It's setting yourself up for disaster. We are humans, not gods. We are perfectly imperfect. and when something is off, don't fight, listen, don't retract, expand.

Here is the opportunity. I'm under the surface, diving down into the depths of my own soul. Hear what it has to say. So that when I come up for air and I will, the sun will warm my face like it never has. The crashing waves will offer a symphony to my ears that I've never heard. And I'll see that the world I'm taking in is more a reflection of me than of it. As that saying goes, you don't see the world as it is. You see the world as you are.

And how lucky to have taken a step back, a trip below the surface, to realize again that I am the painter. not the critic. My world had become black and white, not because we live in a black and white world, but because sometimes we forget to put the color in. Sometimes we don't give ourselves permission to expand beyond the parameters we've created for ourselves.

So with the breath and the oxygen will come a new appreciation, a liberating gratitude. There's nothing so sweet as remembering that both the castles in the air and the chains at our feet are imaginary. And hey, you get to choose which one to believe in. See, what time has taught me is that there is strength in our vulnerability. In the times we fall or lose ourselves.

And I know the inclination is to panic, perhaps assess too quickly, to not hear but talk, to not listen but attempt to solve, which leads to the application of band-aids on bullet wounds. When we are low, when we are lost, it's our chance to better understand ourselves. It's the metaphorical equipment room where we stock up prior to our next ascent. And if I could emphasize one thing, it would be that our perceived understanding of life, it oscillates. Sometimes we feel like we get it. We do. And sometimes we feel like we're sprinting with our eyes closed.

It's a riddle we will never fully come to solve. But I do know one thing. We can't change the unpredictability of the world. But by observing, by listening, by getting back up, we can change our world. ourselves. By recognizing our strength, we can utilize the down times as they are the education we've been longing for. Remember, the world does not and will not ask perfection of you, so don't ask perfection of it. You were built to endure, to overcome, and to recreate yourself. Losing your wings will never be the problem. It's forgetting that they must be regrown. That

is the problem. So step out. Rise to the surface of your world and breathe. Take in the surroundings that will become your resurrection story if you left them. I could walk. But what if I ran? I could learn the rules, dedicate myself to efficiently following them. But what if I learned the rules to break them? What if I created a new game entirely? I could take who I was, polish it up, change my approach. But what if I completely recreated myself? What if I pushed yesterday out to sea like a paper boat in a storm and watched it sail away? Life is a game of levels. And believe me, no one understands the importance of showing up more than I.

Fulfilling that promise to yourself that you'll be there for you. Standing tall and ready, willing to take the world on. But isn't it logical once showing up has been instilled into one's DNA? Once stepping forward has become second nature. to look around and ask, how can I show up in an even more powerful way? How can I take this walk to a sprint? Turn the few into many.

How can I transform the I participated into I dominate? Because it's subtle. Right, moving from one level to another. There's no indicator. When does the right thing suddenly become not enough? When are we ready for more? It's a tough one. But for the few who really, truly, with all their heart, want it,

it's a question that must be asked. Perhaps it's when the hard thing becomes, well, routine. When you find yesterday's ceiling under your feet, perhaps it's when the excitement has subsided. So look around and ask, is it time? Is it time to find a new level to elevate yourself to? Is it time to open the cage and let yourself further into the world? Because few find the courage to go,

but even fewer find the courage to repeatedly ask more of themselves when life is heavy, when the road is untravelled. So yes, you could walk. But what if you ran? if you ran? What if you gave every ounce of yourself to the journey so that when it ends, as all journeys do, you can say you held nothing back.

You conceded zero. Life is a game of levels, and should you decide the ascent is where the magic lives? You'll find yourself with a view that only the few will ever get the luxury of laying their eyes up. You'll find that every time you were tired, or depleted or unsure, and you stepped forward anyway.

You were creating the life of your dreams. Bray Brown has said, courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen. It's one of my favorite ideas, because to me it's symbolic of a building process. Taking what would otherwise be blank space, nothingness, and stepping into it. and stepping into it, believing yourself enough to say,

there's a void here and I can fill it. I'm strong enough to show myself to the world, my ideas to the world, my work to the world, I have, in Brené's words, the courage to be seen. Seven years ago in 2016, I wrote about my first experience with this epiphany in a video called, fittingly, courage. I talk about my light bulb moment

where I'm walking down the street and realize everything around me, all of it was built by people with enough self-belief to think I can add value to the world. I can, in one form or another, take a blank space and create within those parameters something beautiful, something meaningful. I, not him or her, I, can be the reason things change for the better. You know, it's a hard notion to grasp. Because it's overwhelming to put faith or stock into ideas.

You're just writing yourself IOU notes. And it's particularly difficult when things take time or don't go the way you want them to. Immediately, you start to feel crazy. And you know for a fact those around you can't see it or understand. How could they? This is a you thing, right? It exists in your head and your head only. But that building to your left, that song you're listening to, the book you're reading, that car you're driving,

these things exist because those who brought them to life survived the storm. They believed and hung in long enough, pushed beyond the self-doubt. They escaped that maze that chews up and spits out so many. And a few weeks ago, I was in Vegas for a podcast and doing some marketing for a new venture. It's with a friend and business partner. We're on the balcony looking out over Vegas. And we're both inspired in that moment because we're reminded how big the world is and how everything below us is a product of courage.

Opportunity captured and acted upon by those who believed in themselves to do it. And Tyler's pointing down to different things. Those offices were built by someone. Every light built by someone. Every car going down the road, built by someone. Emphasizing just that beautiful reality, it's all possible, but you have to initiate it. And it's incredible how things come full circle. Seven years ago, the scary thing was putting my voice out there.

You know, fast forward a little bit, same game, just different stakes. It's like it will always be true. If you want to increase your impact, do not forget two things. One, it's possible for you, and two, it takes courage. Sure, self-belief alone, it won't get you through the finish line. But without it, there is no race to begin with. There is no starting point. Only dreams, only wishing, only hoping.

Courage says everything around me was brought to life by people with the strength to convert nothing into something. And those people, they are not gods. They are no different or better or greater than you or I. They see blank space and ask why not me? Why couldn't I leave a mark or make a chance? And that's just it. You can be the one. Not some other guy, not your neighbor, not the folks on social media, you.

But you have to believe it and be willing to trudge through the storm. You have to be willing, as difficult as it might seem at first, to be seen. To step out of the darkness and into the light, you have that courage within you. So remind yourself that, one, it's the dark. there and two it's who you are and I promise you the world will change around you. Often you can't change the way of things. And by things, I'm not referring to the day to day. I'm not referring to your goals and aspirations, how you spend your time or who you spend

it with. So I'm referring to the big picture, larger than life, cosmic truths. The unavoidable reality that things will happen beyond your control. That things come and they go. That as much as we want to understand it all, life in actuality is comprised of unknowns and inconsistencies. What you can change though is the meaning of those occurrences. You can change how you view them and what you become in their presence, and that, as it turns out,

is an almost incomprehensible strength. See, nothing is so futile is trying to push over a mountain with your bare hand. Growth requires that you climb it or go around it, or even when life permits through it. But to stubbornly stand in place outstretched arms, hoping that Newton was incorrect and waiting for that 10,000-foot pile of rocks to budge, well, that doesn't do you any favors. And actually, it meets Einstein's definition of insanity, right, where one does the same thing over and over and over, expecting different results.

And look, I've spent many a days knocking on doors that weren't meant to be opened. And when I finally did pull it together and walk away, it wasn't because I quit, at least not in the traditional sense. It was the opposite. It was because I found the strength to continue, right? The courage to look around and find a way forward, not defeat, but a decision to grow wings, to level up. Because I'll tell you, it's easy when one isn't paying attention to be pulled into the depths of irrationality by their pride, a place where many people stay and knock forever, hoping that one day they'll wake up

and that door will open or that mountain will move. No, winning requires adjusting. It requires intricate paths and side entrances. It requires innovation. And when life says no, it's not a no to you, it's in reference to the door you are standing in front of. I think maturing is depersonalizing the do not enter sides. They are not about you. They are a call to growth. We often can't change the way of things. But we can change ourselves and the paths we walk and that means just as much.

In fact, one of my favorite ideas is that there is no failure. Failure, in that sense, it gives too much power to externalities. It says, oh, the world said no, then I guess the journey ends here. It says, oh, this door is locked. Then I guess forget about what would have been had it been open. No, as long as you are moving forward, looking for a way through, you have not failed. Which means failure only occurs when one decides that it's. does. When one looks around and says, no thanks. There are no more doors here worth knocking on.

No more paths worth taking, I'm done, right? That is failure. That is quitting. And the world does not mail you that notice. That doesn't arrive from any externality. That is self-generated. That is a letter from you to you. Because if you're willing, the world will keep conforming. And if you keep seeking that unlocked door, you will ultimately find one. And this is why we have to explore. It's why we need to push against life. Because whether we realize it or not, we dictate more than we could possibly imagine. You know how many of my locked doors brought me somewhere better? You know how many of my valleys of despair were admission tickets to breathtaking views? You are not where you land.

You are where you choose to go from that point. You're not what you are given. You are what you do with what you are given. So don't fight the way of things. That mountain will not be moving. But the beauty is in the fact that you don't need it. to. You can still conquer it. You can still get everything you need by placing not hope in the mountain for a miracle, but trust in yourself to find a way. Lock doors, they only stop those who

lack the courage and vision to move on to the next. But that's not you. And therefore, the locks won't keep you out. They'll make you stronger. They'll broaden your horizons. And the mountains won't keep you grounded. They'll prompt you to climb higher and farther than you ever have. We often can't change the way of things. But the way of things can't hold a candle to the strength you possess as you navigate them. When I first started my podcast, and at that point it wasn't technically a podcast. It was only YouTube videos at the time.

I would sit down. I would open my notes and start planning that particular video. And sometimes things would come to me. Sometimes they wouldn't. And when they did, I would turn on the mic and I would go. And when they didn't, I would shut down the computer and say, well, some other day then, right? Not today.

And in theory, there's nothing wrong with this. I've always considered myself an artist, and while you can't force art, or can you? Because there is most definitely a shift that occurs when you look at this situation from a different angle. It's not about, quote, unquote, feeling it today, as much as it's about getting done, which you have to get done in tight windows. because sometimes that's all life gives you. A narrow window of opportunity to go or not go. To start or not start.

To create or not create. There's an idea that's admittedly a tad cliche here, but it says you practice how you play. And I've spoken about this before. I think there's a ton of truth to it. Because those big picture values, they're hard to flip on and flip off. Most likely you either do them all the time or you don't.

They're either indicative of who you are or they're not. If your house and car and closet are a disaster, probably accurate to say that your Google or Apple calendar, if you even have one, probably isn't pristine. It's most likely in disarray mirroring everything else in your life. I'm not saying it's impossible. but it's not likely. Same thing with health.

When I'm not eating healthy and trust me, I've gone through periods where I've just mailed that in, right? I give a little less on my workouts. Place a little less emphasis on my sleep. It snowballs, right? You get the idea.

It's all related. And that's why I can honestly say in my personal and in my work life, how I do one thing is generally how I do all things. And this brings me back full circle to those writing and recording sessions. If I can close my laptop and go, eh, not today, the muse, as Stephen Pressfield calls it,

just isn't flowing through me. Maybe tomorrow. It's setting a precedent for everything. If you train your mind to create off-ramps, it will gladly take them. Because oh, how our minds love off-raps. And this reality, it highlights the power of shutting down that possibility altogether, stopping it in its tracks, making it simple.

This is a window of opportunity to execute. So execute. And will it be the best thing you've ever done? Maybe not, but maybe. The reality is you condition your mind to show up for yourself. There's a shift that occurs when one looks at the task in front of them and asks, not can this be done today, but rather it will be done, how do I execute to the best of my ability? Not I hope I have it this morning, but rather good ideas flow through me. So sit down and string a few of those ideas together. The expectation that you will produce something valuable, it has a way of ensuring you do exactly that. My personal best for a half marathon was run with the flu.

I could have closed that metaphorical laptop and said some other time I don't feel well. But I repositioned the question to how do I find a way to execute in this window of opportunity before me? Lo and behold, it was the right move. I've gone to events where I had a million other things happening in my world. Right? I wasn't particularly thrilled about going, but I did because I committed. And met some people that changed my life, right? Small window execute.

When there is a task before you and you have committed to it, when leaving or turning around isn't even an option, that is a superpower. Now obviously there's a line reaching that sunk copy. fallacy. I'm not advocating you continuously hit your head against the wall, you know, when something's bad for you or you should be doing something different. I'm talking about those things we know we should be doing, right? The ones we're better off for, but life has presented friction in one form or another. It's very easy to identify that friction as an enemy, as a reason you can't. It's tempting to say, you'll wait until things are better or easier or perfect.

But life doesn't provide those situations. It gives windows to execute. So train your mind to identify and capitalize in those moments. Understanding that, well, technically, yeah, you could walk away. That option is no longer available to you. Some people do what they feel like, they do what they want to, and others do what must be done. And it's the latter that creates meaningful, sustainable progress in life.

As far as I'm concerned, it's the ladder that brings about contentment. You could have waited for a perfect moment, but instead you said yes, consistently sat down and in the meantime chipped away at something more important, something real. And that real thing is exponential growth. Exponential growth waits for you to capitalize. It waits for you to commit. It waits for you to sit down and execute. It doesn't wait, though, for you to feel ready. You don't owe it to them. You owe it to you. To that 10-year-old version of you, staring out at a world of infinite possibility. You owe it to the person you can become inside your soul

waiting for permission to emerge. Because who cares about the externalities? What he'll say or she'll do, this isn't about them. This is about that feeling that arises from asking the world for more and then stepping out and answering the call. See, we talk a lot about life without actually experiencing it. We're here, we're breathing, but life isn't something guaranteed to materialize. No, life is the product of a deep breath in,

a head nod. It's a willingness to take a step forward into that adventure that awaits. Life is fighting for that which is meaningful to you. When it's hard, when it hurts, when you could look around and easily justify the comfort of the mediocrity that surround you. Life is asking for the road less traveled and finding the courage to walk down it. That's life. And see, many will attempt to tell you what's right, to sit you down, explain to you what's meaningful, to point and show you where you belong. But this is your church.

which means it's up to you to identify that North Star. It's up to you to find the courage to carry forth into the night. Not because you owe it to them, but because you owe it to you. And in a world where people so easily outsource personal agency, where they outsource strength, outsource heroism, you owe it to you to become your own hero. and in the process embark upon the greatest story ever told. One of my favorite ideas by legendary author and speaker Jim Rohn was,

it's not that it costs too much, it's that you can't afford it. And whoa, what a flipping of this script. It doesn't cost too much to someone else out there. There are people who can afford it. You're just not one of them. At least not right now. Why has this had such an impact on me?

Well, it's my reminder, first and foremost, to take that finger pointing out at the world, turn it around and point it directly at my chest. It says, maybe the variable here in need of change is me. Maybe if they can afford it, so can I. Maybe it's not the price that needs to come down. Maybe it's that my value in the marketplace, my skill set, my abilities need to rise. That's not too expensive. I just need to level up.

There's nothing like taking what would be a gripe with the world and transforming it into the very reason you're going to be better. Because really, we always have that choice. We can project out and complain about the ones who scratched and clawed their way to the top, who have more than us, or we can join them. Option one keeps you down, on your back looking up at the sky. Option two places the world in the palm of your hand. So given the choice, don't complain about the price.

become someone who can pay. Don't envy their success, drive yourself to stand atop a podium of your own making. Don't throw stones, stack them, and make them your foundation. Life is a game of bettering yourself, especially when it's not easy to. You know how much easier it is in the short term

to put your feet up and list off all the people who slighted you along the way, refer to them as the problem. You know how easy it is to find reasons you can't? To paint worst case scenarios into the sky? Incredibly easy. It's temporary weight off your shoulders. It's oh, I can't get to the moon, so hey, no need to build that rocket ship.

What's for dinner? Yeah, that's what we call the easy way out. And while it may feel good in the short term, it doesn't bridge that gap between the cost of what you want and what you can afford to pay. What it does is justify and rationalize not enough because when you fight for your limitations, as the saying goes, you get to keep them. And in a world where victimhood is becoming currency,

the more and more people are falling for the illusion of short-term gratification, the temporary peace of mind we get when we deflect, When you call yourself a victim, it's not your fault. But when it's not your fault, it's not yours to fix. And there lies the issue. The name of the game is betterment. It's progress.

That's not too expensive. I just need to increase my worth. I need to put myself in a position where I scoff at what was once considered too expensive. I need to build my self. not wish the world around me was pulled down. And when this switch occurs, life changes. You realize the fluidity of things,

that everything is relative. You can't change the price, but you can change you. And you can do so in a massively substantial way. You can build yourself up so high that the old you becomes unrecognized, unrecognizable. But the first step is realizing that personal agency opens the door. Accountability and dedication push you through it.

That's where the magic is. Becoming so valuable that the externalities are minor details, observers of your assent. It's time to take the ideal and chip away at it like an axe to a tree. It's time to look at the world, less from a lens of what am I allowed to do, and more from the perspective of it's all mine if I find the courage to grow into my potential to capture and cash in on my value. Every day you choose to become more valuable and skilled, every time you do the hard thing today for a greater you tomorrow, expensive means less and less.

less. The price tag is fixed. Your potential, your greatness is not. So rise to the occasion. Tap into you 2.0 and prove just how relative cost really is. There's a Latin phrase pronounced Amor Fatya. It's one of the more powerful ideas I've come across. Its translation means love of fate. 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. I ask that you listen to this in a vacuum. For our purposes, I'm 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 had. What punishments of God are not gifts?

Anderson then looks up from the paper. then looks up from the paper, looks over at Stephen, and 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 to be grateful for. A truly incredible emotional moment.

It is the realization of amorphati. 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. 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 in sharing my voice. Again, it's all one big puzzle. Every peace 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. 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's 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. I 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 see. 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 mirroring. Without Lowe's life's beauty becomes a baseline. And 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 somewhere. And if you're at a point where you're so deep in the weeds or so far in the trenches that you've forgotten, 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 arrive 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 to be here. There are two kinds of crossroads. First, the external. The crossroads at life beyond your control places before you. The abrupt changes, the sudden twists, the tragedies, even the occurrences we don't quite understand, and so chalk them up as fate. And then there are the internal, the crossroads that you manufacture, the ones that are self-create, self-induced. The, you know what, I've had enough of this crossroads. The I deserve better crossroads.

There's more out there and today I'm going to find it. Crossroads. And I don't think the two are mutually exclusive. In fact, I think sometimes when we wait too long to manufacture our own crossroads, life steps in and gives us a little nudge. The universe pushes us towards that. change like a wind at our back. Doesn't quite make things black and white.

Doesn't always put a catastrophe in front of us. Sometimes it's the mere whispering that, hey, you're accepting more pain, more friction than you should be. It reminds us to take accountability, to take control of life, something that we seemingly forget more often than we should. One of my favorite stories is Jim Rohn's famous epiphanyph. famous epiphany or light bulb moment. The point where, you know, he basically realizes enough's enough, right? I'm creating a crossroads here and going down the road that I've known

for a long time I should have walked down. And it all starts with a knock at his door. It's a Girl Scout, like trying to sell him cookies. He walks up, opens the door, and just desperately, with all of his being, wishes he could buy a girl. cookies from this Girl Scout, but he can't because he's broke. He doesn't have the money to buy a box. So to save face, he tells her, you know, I'm sorry, but another Girl Scout was just here. You know, you just missed her and I bought a box of cookies from her. And she smiles, says thanks, walks away. He closes the door and, you know, upon closing it, says, never again. never again will I have to turn a Girl Scout away because I cannot afford the cookies

never again will I be in this place of lack never again right that's the beginning of a transformation he points to that moment as the day that changed his life he built a crossroads and changed direction in real time now is this an oversimplification sure Massive transformations are complex, no doubt. They require a reworking of many things. But they all start with a decision, a decision to manufacture that change in your life, to take the road you are not currently taking,

to walk down a new path. These decisions can hurt. They force you to become something you've never been, to do things you've never done. That's no cakewalk. But it's a different kind of hurt. It's the short-term discomfort pushing against friction. It's the building of muscle, which is way different than the psychological hurt of knowing that you're out of alignment.

Knowing deep down there's more in you and that it's fading away with each passing day. That's hurt. And we all know in some capacity that life doesn't always create circumstances. that move us. Life waits for us to move ourselves. It waits for the I've had enough moment. It waits for us to see the present not as all there is but rather a doorway to the next thing. There are two kinds of crossroads and I'm a believer that a meaningful existence means not waiting for the external to push you but allowing the internal to drive you. It's the classic like stands or the stage, where do you want to be?

You can sit and watch, clap when you're happy, boo when you're mad, but ultimately not be in control. Or you can choose to perform, to be on stage, to narrate, to choose your ending, elevate your character, become the hero of your story. And I say this as someone who, at points, has simply waited too long. Looking around, praying for the gust of wind that would propel me to the place that I needed to be.

Essentially, you know, not understanding that life was waiting for me to greenlight my own journey. Life is about the turns we take at the crossroads before us. And so never underestimate your ability to create that intersection most truly. And never underestimate your courage to take the turn that you. You know when your soul needs to be taken. There's a mental shift that's provided me with some clarity, particularly when things don't happen right away. As we all know, the good things don't.

Validation is stubborn. It'll take its time. So positioning for that, putting yourself in the right mental state as you chip away, is huge. And the idea is every day you move forward. It's not about the revolutionary life-altering change in the now. It's about the continuous building up and positioning of oneself for an opportunity to come. In other words, the monumental opportunity is out there. It does exist.

And you will inevitably cross paths with it. The question is, will you have grown as a person? Will your skills have been sufficiently developed? Will your overall competency have been elevated enough so that you're ready to receive it when you do? That's the thing about opportunities. They only matter if we put ourselves in position to receive them. And part of what motivates me every day is the fact that I'm chipping. away at those opportunities to come at some point in the future.

Opportunities I can't even, you know, understand or fathom in the moment. But the reason I'll be able to capitalize on them is because of today's groundwork. And that's the point here. That's often when life feels heavy, what pushes me through. One of the most spectacular things about human beings is that we can delay gratification. And I don't mean in order to live a miserable existence. I mean, putting in work, knowing that one, three, five years down the road, you know, there's going to be things available to us that otherwise wouldn't be.

That's why one of my favorite conversations was, you know, around my friend Evan saying he hates being asked what his five-year plan looks like. What will life look like, Evan, five years from now? It's like, I don't know, right? I have a direction I'm pointed at. And I'm working every single day to bring that to life, but who knows how many twists and turns life will take? Who knows about the opportunities that will present themselves when they align with my goals

and my competencies at a future date? I'm not going to limit myself or deprive myself of those. You build the man, build the woman, hour by hour, day by day, and know that life, rewards capable individuals. That means the power is in making yourself more capable. Probably my favorite quote, Nietzsche. Those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who couldn't hear the music is about that very idea.

Trusting that if you build yourself up, you stay focused. You take an axe to the tree that is your purpose every day. By the way, to the sound of no applause, to no awards or pats on the back, you will ultimately succeed. Because in doing so, you position yourself to receive opportunities, opportunities that otherwise would have passed you right by. Sure, they would have been there, but they would have been beyond the scope of what you could handle.

That's just the reality. Building oneself up is like an all-access pass to the show that is life. in becoming more, you can see more, you can do more, you can access more. That's why, as the saying goes, it's not about getting what you want. It's about the person you become along the way. Becoming the type of person who can do those things, who is deserving of those things. So when you're frustrated or down, when you're looking around and saying to yourself, you know, there's still a substantial gap here

between where I am and where I'd like to be. Know that you showed up. You did the work. You stacked another sheet of paper on that pile. At the time, right, not enough to make a visible difference. But over time, sufficient to stand on. You win the day by stacking that sheet and moving forward. You win the day by understanding that you are more capable, more knowledgeable than you were yesterday.

You've taken another step forward in positioning yourself to receive those opportunities that will come. If you hang in long enough, they always do. And when they do, you'll think back to all those days of frustration, those seemingly anti-climactic occurrences. And you'll be grateful that you saw it through. that you weren't frustrated or discouraged by the now, but rather saw it as the bridge to infinite opportunity. What goes into your decision making, particularly the big decisions, the important ones? I heard a quote that moved me from Jeff Bezos. It was a video on Twitter, and he said,

my best decisions in business and in life have been made with heart, intuition, and guts, but not analysis. He continues, when you can make a decision with analysis, you should do so, but it turns out that in life, your most important decisions are always made with instinct, intuition, and taste. And that connected some dots for me. Because I think the big decisions, the life-altering decisions, where we are pointing this ship, should be made via intuition. Data can't tell you which direction is most important to you. And even if it could, if your heart's not in it, if it's not aligned with who you are and where you feel you need to be, it wouldn't really matter anyway. The most important decisions we make, even right out of the gate, there's this feeling of it's aligned or it isn't.

We know right away. We feel it right away. Someone once said to me, if you can't decide if something's good or not, fill the coin. Because you'll know while that coin is in the air, what side you want it to land on. And we do. We know. And so after deciding, after letting intuition guide us, then and only that, then, in my humble opinion, of course, do we calculate the how? That's the analysis part. Once we've committed and our hearts are aligned, yeah, you use the data all around you, the evidence collected along the way to map an efficient path. I think people tend to put the heart in the brain against each other as though they're

rivals, I know I certainly have, but I think they need to coexist together. about it if you select your North Star based on analysis you'll probably lack the drive to get there and conversely once decided if you map the course based solely on heart or feel you'll be operating blind limiting your ability to make accurate adjustments based on real-life circumstances you need both I'm making some pretty substantial changes here in my life I'm moving again this time to Arizona starting up some new ventures, placing myself in a few situations that weren't even on the radar six months ago.

I can't explain my rationale using mathematical models. I just know deep in my soul that it's where I need to be. It feels right. It's calling me. The same way 10 years ago, writing speeches in a small Boston apartment for no revenue at the time couldn't be explained. Can't show your work on a decision like that. right it's just something that feels good and you know once you jump in then yeah you start relying on

the brain the analysis to grow and improve and evolve but i do believe if we made the big decisions based only on the things we could prove or the things we're sure of the biggest and most important leaps would never have been made risks wouldn't be taken i mean you don't take risks because you run the numbers and the odds work. You take risks because life is when you break it down, remove the nuance and details about the journey. It's about the ride. And so you jump.

You commit to a path. And maybe you realize it's not the path for you. Let's say things don't work out. Well, now you are gifted that wisdom. Understanding. You previously never had. And you can take that all with you onto the next venture. How do you put a price on that?

How do you quantify lessons of that magnitude? What data tells you how important that courage was? We all know the answer. Now of course, again, data has a story to tell and numbers don't lie, but they also never tell the whole story. They can't paint the picture in its entirety. Which is why I'd scream from the mountaintops. If it means something to you, it's worth exploration.

If it matters, try. If it lights up your curiosity, give it attention. Maybe it doesn't work the way you thought or hoped. But it will lead you to the next thing. And then the next, and the next, it will provide the type of value that simply can't be quantified or even understood in the moment. The story of your life must be written by you. It must align with the person looking back at you in the mirror. That's the litmus test. That's the benchmark. So trust yourself and your intuition to write it. Today we're going to talk about keeping your head

in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Simultaneously managing the big picture and the small stuff. Non-stop belief that things will work, that there's an answer, that you're ultimately going to get there, and that you won't quit until you do, while also being brutally honest with the facts on the floor, the reality around you. A lot of times I think there's a tendency to conflate positivity with a detachment from reality.

But they're very different things. You need them both for success to unfold. You need the big picture and you need the minutia, the steps, the little things that add up over time. In the book, Good to Great, Jim Collins, calls this the Stockdale principle, where Admiral Stockdale, I think at the time commander Stockdale was shot down during Vietnam. He was prisoner of war for over seven years in Vietnam, and it was just obviously a brutal experience. And one of the things that helped him survive was being painfully pragmatic, while also not.

knowing in his soul, right, with every ounce of his being that he would ultimately get out, that the men he cared about and helped so much would ultimately get out. And so when Jim Collins is interviewing him, you know, he says, Admiral Stockdale, what differentiated the ones that made it and the ones that didn't? And the answer is incredibly surprising. He says optimism because the difference. the people that were overly optimistic said, we'll get out by Christmas.

And Christmas comes, and they don't get out. And then they say, okay, we'll find we'll be out. We'll see our families by Easter. And Easter comes, and they're still there. Okay, maybe next Christmas. Next Christmas comes, nothing changes. He says, those are the people that died of a broken heart. There was too big of a gap between the reality,

the components needed to progress the way they wanted to progress and the way they were thinking. you know, you have to be willing to look in the mirror and diagnose a situation. You know, that's applicable to business. It's applicable to your personal life. Dream big, step small. Believe, but act. Be cognizant of the world around you, the reality that you're living in.

You can't change something that you don't understand intrinsically. You can't progress if you haven't analyzed something. And this is not about your capabilities. This is never a call to doubt yourself. It's to be strategic. This is just saying that you need to understand the reality so that you can improve upon them. If you want to be the next Michael Jordan, that's a huge ask.

That's a lot. It's possible. You can do it. And you need to believe with every ounce of you that if that's what you want to do, it's a pursuit, you know, worth taking. But you also need to know what it means to be Michael Jordan. You got to understand the commitment, how he sacrificed relationships. He sacrificed, you know, his friends, his love life. He got up every single morning.

all he did was basketball, how he took thousands of shots a day, how his mentality and his aggressive behavior, right, his mindset, the way he looked at life and approached life on and off the court, it required that he was so intense and so obsessed with winning that some people couldn't handle it. It meant that everything stopped except being the best. That's a big ask. A lot of people can't do that, don't want to do that. But that's what it takes. And to think you're going to be Michael Jordan without understanding, one, the commitment that's required and how you stack up, it's going to be in vain.

I remember the CEO of the company that I work for right out of college, he used to say, look, you have to be able to be honest and say when your baby's ugly. look at what you have and be able to draw a line from where you want to be so you can fix it so that's the that's the point if you can juggle those two things you'll be unstoppable unstoppable unstoppable if you can be the one to trust yourself enough to know that there is a big picture you will pursue it relentlessly and you will get there. If you can take that and you can marry it to the little things, right, to the awareness, to promising yourself that you will continue to analyze, assess, and do what needs to happen on the ground, that you will be realistic, you will be pragmatic. When things fail, you won't sugarcoat it. You'll dive in. You'll look at why it failed.

So that you can pick up those pieces and build something stronger and continue to build and continue to build, stack, and stand on what you've made. Those are the people that change the world. Those are the people that get things done, that get results. Dream big, step small. See you tomorrow. What can you be the best in the world at? Life is a complex place.

Complexity sometimes means confusion. It means we forget the big. picture. What's our purpose? What are we chasing? What are we bringing to the world? What can you be the best in the world? That's a little question I try and ask myself every day because I know if I stay close to it, my decision will have far greater impact. There will be more meaning in life. See, it pushes away the things that are appealing in the short term but really don't take us anywhere in the long term. Because one of the cool The coolest aspects of human nature is our ability to illuminate what matters and, well,

mitigate what doesn't. Helps us focus on what's important. We need to go to the grocery store while we step out the front door, paying attention to nothing but the task at hand, not the objects to our left or right. We don't know what colors the cars are where that passes by or the plants we walked by. We don't think about the blood pumping through our bodies, making it all possible as we walk to the car. We don't even see the car as its metallic components, as it really is.

We see it as our portal to a place that has the food. See, we are blind. But at the same time, have this beautiful gift of vision. We see the path right to what's most important. So let's leverage that. And what I think we need to remember is to identify in our own lives what that means with regard to our purpose and the context of what we are becoming. See, every day I hear people talk about followers on social media, right?

How do I get attention? How do I get noticed? How do I market myself or my brand to the world? How do I stand out? And every time I hear that I always have this little internal reaction, like a voice saying that's just so wrong. It's so backwards. You stand out by adding value to the world, by being good at what you do. It's that simple. And so look at it like this. We'll take a specific example. To worry about the marketing and the attention and the followers first is like worrying about the transportation of something. you don't have yet or that's incomplete. It's like spending all your time worrying about the logistics of a cargo van and having no idea what that van is going to transport. Isn't the product the most important thing? And that's the question I ask myself when I'm caught up in something flashy or maybe out of line with my big picture.

To make sure I'm on track in this crazy world, if social media disappeared tomorrow, are you good enough at what you do that you could take that product or service or skill set to another platform? and start again. And if you're not, fine. But are you working towards it? Those are the parameters that we should all live between. Everything else tends to work itself out. Steve Martin's quoted as saying, be so good they can't ignore you. And that's what I find so exciting, the opportunity, the chance to build something sustainable. That's why this is a long-term play. And in a world where so much emphasis is put on perception, what's the reality? What's the story? The pictures are great on the surface, but what's the value that resides below that underneath? What are you working tirelessly

day and night to be exceptional at? What are you leading to build yourself up as a force to be reckoned with? As a powerful, valuable individual. See, my world, a lot of what I do is immersed in social media, which is why it's so important that I remember the perspective that I step out. Social media is not the product. I'm thinking much bigger than that, and I hope you are too, whether it's academics or sports or art, what is your thing, what's going to be your arena? Where are you unstoppable?

Where you add so much value that the world has to stop? We're sure you can capture it on social media, but you can talk about it face to face with clients and family and friends and strangers on the sidewalk. can write about it, teach about it, where it's so much a part of you that the phrase competent doesn't even do it justice. That's where greatness lives. Not in screaming for attention or creating a facade. Those things don't stand the test of time. I'm talking about being truly remarkable. And we all have that ability. We're all capable of mastery in some area,

moving towards something that matters. We just have to make the choice to own it, to see the world and all its opportunity for what it is, to begin. And what better a time than now. 22 lessons from 2022. Number one, life has hidden costs. This is an idea that Jim Rohn spoke about a lot,

really resonates with me. And it's something that I tried to keep front and center in 2022. Here's a quote from him. He says, it isn't what the book costs. It's what it will cost if you don't read it.

In other words, sometimes in an effort to avoid a price up front, we end up paying a greater price on the back end. Along the lines of if you think going is expensive, wait until you see the price tag. associated with not going. Missing that opportunity is what's expensive. But he also comes at it

from another angle. He tells a story about his friend who bought a TV. And Jim asks him, hey, how much did that TV cost? His friend says, $400. Jim says, I don't think so. Try again. And his friend says, Jim, I bought it. It was $400. And Jim says, no, I think it's cost. you millions. Referring to the amount of time that he wastes sitting in front of that TV when he could be improving his life, his business, his relationships, his health. The moral of the story is sometimes what we don't do costs us more than we can imagine and we have to be aware of those hidden costs. Lesson number two, find the good. So this Christmas, I just got back from spending it with my family up in Boston.

And while I was there, our cat that we've had for 20 years since I was a kid basically, you know, passed away. And, you know, when we went to put her down, I was definitely sad about it. But it was even harder for me to see my mom and my sister, you know, really devastated by it all. you know, having to say goodbye to fuzzle, right? It's hard to see people you love in a dark place. And so as we walked out of the vet clinic the day after Christmas, I thought to myself, what's interesting is this whole thing was unavoidable. Obviously, 20 years alone is a very long time for an animal or a cat to live.

Our time here is temporary. We're passing by. And death aside, there are devastating things in life that are unavoidable, but you can't miss them, right? Pain is very good at making itself recognizable. We always seem to see it and feel it. But contrast that with the happy things, the meaningful things, the things that we appreciate.

For some reason, they tend to be better at going undercover. Right? Like, we don't realize some of our most important moment were our most important moments until they're gone. And I look at this and it's like, okay, Fuzzle wasn't just our cat for 20 years. She was her childhood. And in a unique way, she represented the Christmases and the birthday parties, the sports games, the friends graduating high school, going to college, moving to new places. A lot of things along the way.

And I use this quote all the time because I just think it's so perfectly captures the essence of what I'm trying to say here. Ed Helms' character in the office, Andy Bernard, says, I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them. In other words, we can't be reminded enough to look for the meaningful things, the happy and beautiful things. I believe they're more numerous than the painful stuff. They're just so well camouflaged that we walk by them. We don't realize until 20 years later we look over our shoulder and go,

yeah, that was special. 2022 taught me to be better at recognizing and appreciating those good things. Lesson number three, sometimes progress is unremarkable. I was going through some older videos on my YouTube channel, and I found a few that I couldn't help but cringe watching back. And just to be clear, I'm proud of everything I've done. Everything played a role in getting me to where I am now. It's all a journey, and I did a lot of experimenting and pivoting and trying things,

and I'm proud of that, right? But I took a little trip down memory lane to roughly 2017 to 2020. I was really experimenting, trying to craft my style. And I remembered how during that time the viewership had dropped pretty substantially. Finances were inconsistent. I was looking ahead and starting to worry, right?

And a lot of the time, I just felt embarrassed to still be going. like my ego hurt when I woke up in the morning. That's just me being truthful. I was working so many hours, more hours than I'd ever worked, and was just seeing things slip. And looking back now, I realized how easy it would have been to quit during that stretch specifically,

to have walked away and done literally anything else. But I didn't. I made adjustments. I got better. ultimately pushed through it. But the most important thing I've done in my life was keep going during that stretch. A powerful reminder of just how unremarkable

the most important progress we're making can seem. James Clears ice metaphor. Water placed in a freezer doesn't immediately turn to ice. No, things are happening. Transformation is occurring long before we see. that physical confirmation. It takes a while to hit that 32 degree mark. And I hope everyone is aware of that.

Every step counts. And I learn this again and again. Lesson number four, find and push out the negativity. In the book, it takes what it takes. Author Trevor Mollad performed an experiment where he made a point for 30 days.

And actually, I think you only got to maybe day 27. or 28, but regardless, he made a point to listen to and consume negative media. His list included country music, which was eye-opening for me. I listened to it all the time, but he references that joke, you play a country song in reverse, you get your wife, your trailer, your dog, and your job back, right? A lot of it's inherently sad stuff. He listened to national news nonstop, sad movies. And the list just goes to. on and on. And he said, the change was so drastic that it was hard for him to function. He stopped feeling good about himself in social settings. He stopped early because it was so

debilitating. And this got me thinking about what I consume. Let me tell you, there's a lot of negativity that creeps in there from a wide variety of places. And this is number four, because I think we can all be better at recognizing and mitigating those things. Number five, it's not about you. Or at least it's rarely about you. This is a quick reminder I picked up while working through the end of a lease for my apartment. A couple months ago, I decided I was going to renew for another year. But it just so happened that the process was a nightmare.

right? Everything seemed to go wrong. Eventually I got to the point where I started to get angry and took the situation personally. Enough was enough, right? So I went down, kind of barged into the office to ask what in God's name was going on, only to find the people that work there running around, trying to put out fires, help a bunch of folks with all these questions, and they were being patient and kind under the circumstances. And in that moment, I was reminded that I made something about me that has nothing to do with me. Like, was it annoying? Sure.

But chill on the emotion. It's like detach yourself from the problem and instead of throwing a temper tantrum like a seven-year-old, reallocate the energy to finding solutions. That was a great reminder at an important time. You know, it goes for so many things. Stop taking things personal that are in actuality, not personal at all. Lesson number six, it's okay to say no. All right, and this applies to a variety of areas.

When things aren't right, a lot of the time you know immediately. Whether in my case, it's a project I said yes to, but felt burdened by and not excited about. Maybe a relationship that felt like a chore, but instead of walking away, you tried to negotiate with the pragmatic side of your brain. Or something you're spending a lot of time doing that you know isn't pushing you, closer to where you want to be, you know, a lot of life is being able to break the complex down into the simple. And while immersed in these situations or situations like them, you know, I frequently saw them as more complicated than they were, right, rationalizing, well, maybe it's

right, maybe I'll see down the road, you know, whatever the situation is. But there's a pretty simple rule here. If you get that feeling in your stomach that what you're doing is, not aligned with who you are or something isn't right, probably isn't. And at the very least, it requires some thought. I think we need to be better about trusting that intuition. The things you spend your time doing, the people you spend your time with, they shouldn't feel like a burden or a chore. They shouldn't break you down. No, they should more often than not light you up. Lesson Number seven is hope versus pragmatism. This year, both personally and professionally, I grew in a few areas.

One of them was keynote speaking. It took part in some of the biggest speaking engagements of my career so far, and it was really cool to have taken part in them. But here's what I find interesting. Things seem to have happened so incrementally that I didn't even realize each event was an accomplishment or the completion of a personal goal until after. after the fact, like on the car, on the way to the airport, or on the plane, thinking, nice, that was awesome, right?

Each event just seemed like the next logical thing. And that's one of my biggest lessons. When you're ready for something, it doesn't feel like the universe is doing you a favor. There is no hoping. There are no crossed fingers. It's just you doing you. It's the compounding of effort. And when I go back to some of my previous New Year's Eve thinking, it was, man, I hope this is the year I get that big break.

I hope this is the year I reach more people. Everything happens. It all changes. But at the time, I wasn't ready for any of those things I was hoping for. What we get is proportional to the value we add, and I had a lot to learn. The overall point being, don't ask the world to give you. you anything. Ask yourself to live your life in such a way that you are ready for it. Build yourself up in such a way that you don't even notice the transformation. Lesson number eight, turn your goals into a lifestyle. There are things that I wanted to change in 2022. I wanted to stay healthy and that meant less injuries. It meant cross-training, diversifying my workout. It meant eating healthier. And where I saw the most progress was when I stopped looking at each of those changes as one-off alterations

and saw everything in totality as a lifestyle change I was making. One of my favorite quotes is people follow through on who they believe themselves to be. Well, when I started thinking of myself as a healthy athletic person, living a healthy athletic lifestyle, not only did things feel right, but I found everything easier to maintain. When something's your identity, almost subconsciously, you push out the things that don't fit that personal identity. You invite in the things that do. And of course, our lives are the manifestation of the little things we do, right? The compounding of habit. But to me, this highlights the value of creating an umbrella for those little things to fit under. Human beings are storytellers. So tell yourself the right story. Reverse engineer the

big picture goal. When you adjust and create a lifestyle, change is inevitable. Lesson number nine, make it count. So this is about the sharp. Charlotte Airport. Someone once asked me if I'd been to Charlotte. And I thought, not really, right? The airport doesn't count. I didn't see any of the culture or the food or the sports teams or any of that stuff. Which got me thinking, what does make you present? What makes anything count? Did you really have dinner with someone? If you were both on your phones the whole time? I'm not so sure. Did today count? If every second you were consumed with worries about what's coming in the future, constantly replaying the past? Maybe. Who's to say?

Obvious gray area here. But I'd like to more frequently and definitively move the needle in 2023 to the It Counts category of life. Now, I still have to figure out exactly what that means and how it will play out. But I know I can't let my time on this. this planet be a metaphorical passing through the Charlotte Airport. In a world where distraction seems to be everywhere, I want to position myself to live fully.

Lesson number 10. First, find faith in yourself. One of my favorite stories this year was when I was having dinner with a friend of mine, and he was reflecting back on an investment he made to be mentored by someone he thought very highly of. It was like a two-day job shadow. And he's going through the experience, telling me how he flew over there, met up with the guy. And the entire thing was underwhelming.

He was unorganized, seemed to be winging it, wasn't a very nice guy. And my natural reaction was to say, man, I'm so sorry to hear that. And I'll never forget him pausing and saying the line, oh no, Eddie, that was the best investment I ever made. I learned that if this guy can do it, then so can I, right? What's my excuse?

So much of our success is predicated upon us giving ourselves permission to achieve it. Step one is always believe yourself worthy of the journey. Lesson number 11. What you do speak so loud that I cannot hear what you say. That's a quote from Emerson. And this one's short and sweet. Remember that what people in your life tell you is one thing. But it's what they do that means the most.

The way I see it, words are meant to supplement action and nothing more. Lesson number 12. The old way is in always the right way. Something that stuck with me is a creator and a business. owner was someone telling me that I had to make some substantial changes to the way I approached my business. And after explaining that, hey, this approach has been incredibly valuable to me in the past, they responded, well, if where you are is where you aim to stay, then, yeah, of course, don't change. And that simple statement helped me gain some perspective. As the saying

goes, what got you to where you are is not the same thing that's required. to get you to where you need to be next. You don't climb a 1,000-foot mountain the same way you climb a 20,000-foot mountain. You don't make six figures the same way you make seven figures. Adjustments have to be made. And that's not a referendum on your previous approach.

That's just evolution. You have to evolve along with your ambition. Lesson number 13. Embrace the turbulence. I was on a flight and we hit some turbulence at some point. And no matter how many times I go through this, I can't help but feel that unease in my stomach. When I got home, I actually googled the question,

how many flights have crashed due to turbulence. Surprising to find that answer to be zero. No plane has ever crashed because of turbulence. Still, even after that, right? When I sit through turbulence on planes, that same feeling surfaces. Fear. No matter what we're doing in life, we'll never completely detach from fear. The unknown is an innately scary thing.

Now, this is not that feeling of moral or personal conflict I mentioned earlier. When you know in your heart, you're stepping into shoes that aren't your own. I'm talking about knowing something is right, but fearing the road before you, a very human thing. Change comes with turbulence. It's inescapable. It's unavoidable. But down the road, we often find it was a small price to pay for the new reality we've just made for ourselves. Lesson number 14. Expect a lot of yourself, but give yourself grace.

Life is often a dance between extremes. Aim high, but step small. Hold a vision, but make, you know, tangible, pragmatic moves. There's something I'm guilty of doing. It's setting the target incredibly high, and then when the swings and misses inevitably happen, you know, being very upset with myself. You know, sometimes you don't get through everything you plan to do.

Sometimes the outcome falls short, and that's okay. You know, make the adjustments, be proud of yourself for expecting great things of yourself and come back better tomorrow. Being your own toughest critic only makes sense if you are your own greatest ally. Which leads perfectly into lesson 15. Yesterday is merely a data point. There's a quote that states the windshield is bigger than the rear view for a reason. Well, one thing that life has emphasized this year is that when you attempt to innovate and try new things, you'll make mistakes.

You just will, that's how it goes. It can be frustrating, you know, replaying the story in your head again and again, the if-onlys and I wish I had. But there's no sense in doing that because life gave you something valuable. It gave you a data point. So take that and use it to guide and shape future decisions. The rear view gives you a condensed depiction of what's behind you because its role, while valuable, is nowhere near as powerful as what's before you in the present. Lesson number 16, distraction versus achievement. This is another quote I came across in 2022 that is extraordinary.

It's Robin Sharma. He says you can either be distracted or you can do incredible things, but you can do incredible things. You cannot do both. That is everything. And it's something I come face to face with every day. You know, to the point where, as I've said before, I have to put my phone in a different room, sometimes even cut the internet when I write.

Because if there's room for distraction, it always seems to find a way. You know, when there's so much distraction in our world. A very obvious example, right? I post my work on like nine or ten different social media platforms. It would be crazy for me not to care at all about them once I send it out there. Of course I'm intrigued and curious. I want to see how it affected people, what they're saying, right?

But being better at emotionally detaching once I hit that upload button has been incredibly valuable for me. As well as like I alluded to before, creating boundaries between my and the technology that houses that back and forth. You know, and it begs the question, what are your distractions? What can you do to mitigate them? Deep Work by Cal Newport is an amazing read for those looking for strategies on this topic to build upon. I cannot recommend it enough.

Number 17, you're never alone. I've noticed that when we feel most vulnerable, we feel the most alone. Those two things, in my experience, always seem to go hand in hand. But I think it's a feeling that's detached from reality. We are all working, fighting, climbing. So many folks out there are battling their own private hell.

In fact, I hear every day from so many incredible people overcoming such a variety of obstacles that it's changed the way I look at the human experience. I see how powerful human beings can be on a daily basis. How we all have our own battles, but we are also all equipped to persevere. And sometimes I imagine in our darkest moments how incredible it would be to jump into this instant conversation or Zoom call with millions of others going through something similar, similar, everyone feeling like they are the only ones until they see that reassurance,

until they hear the voices of others battling as well. Because half the fight is knowing that you are not alone, and I can assure you, you never are. Lesson 18, it isn't until it is. Remember that everything is crazy until it's not. Everything is imaginary until it's in front of your face. It's the ability to, as many people describe it, play the fool that changes things. To do big things, you have to start at square one.

You have to be vulnerable enough to step out, to see the unseen, walk the path untravelled. And it's a gauntlet that, while not fun to run, is the only way to get to innovation and change. You have to step into a world that is not yours in order to make it so. Everything isn't until it is. Lesson number 19, invest in yourself. Often effort brings tangible results, right? But sometimes the most important investments don't pay dividends immediately.

It's a long-term play on our personal capability, right? Like reading every day, for example, doesn't bring a tangible result. You don't close the book and see more clients or a bigger bank account. But when there are one or two ideas or strategies from that book that you can now implement into everything you do moving forward, those hours spent reading become truly invaluable. And that's just it. We want results and we want wins, but we have to remember that investing in ourselves positions us for an unlimited tomorrow. Lesson number 20, life is an adjustment game.

is an adjustment game. As I've been trying to expand what I'm doing, I consistently find standard operating procedure being something I stumble into. Basically, things rarely work flawlessly the first time, throwing things against the wall,

picking up the pieces, adjusting, and repeating. That's how you learn, oh, wow, okay, this works. Let's do more of that. And that's an entirely different philosophy than expecting excellence out of the gate. In many ways, I don't even aim for the bull's eye. I aim to be near it, with the trust and understanding that I'll get there in due time.

Life is not a perfection game. It will never be a perfection game. It's an adjustment game. Lesson number 21, you are always one decision away. Once you understand this, you understand that you're never down and out. It's never the end. You've never lost. No, it's about using what's around you

to make the decision that will change your life. There's change you can make right now in this moment that will redirect your life trajectory. There's something you can do in this moment that will make you better, happier, more fulfilled. Step one is understanding that. Step two is seeking that decision out. No matter how lost or stuck you feel, I wholeheartedly believe this to be true.

And lastly, lesson 22, you can often get two for the price of one. This is the ever-relevant idea that although we feel like working harder is the answer, it's often working smarter. It's utilizing what's around us. And I'm speaking after a year of primarily being in the digital space, but this applies to so much more. There are so many ways to utilize and streamline what we do. To repurpose our effort. To take our work and utilize it in a slightly different way.

Take a concept and share it to a different audience. Maybe in a different place on a different platform. I've noticed that so many of my greatest wins come from very small alterations to something that already exists or repurposing an idea. Maybe the story is slightly off. Maybe the delivery needs a little bit of a change, or maybe it just wasn't the right time the first time. You know, I catch myself looking outward for never-before-seen solutions when what I need is already in the palm of my hand. Start from the premise that you have everything you need and work backwards. You will be amazed at what you find.

I hope these lessons will bring you as much value as they brought me, and that next year, We will all be better off because of it. Wishing you a safe, happy, healthy, prosperous, 2023. We're not looking for mountaintops. We may be unaware. We may forget. We may be misled. But in our hearts and souls, we know we are not looking for mountain tops.

What we're seeking is different. What we're seeking is the space between the top of the world and its baseline, the ceiling and the floor. Sure, we may trick ourselves into thinking it's the top or the finale or the view, but as has been said before, if the goal were truly the top, we wouldn't bother ourselves by climbing, we'd be dropped off at the top by helicopter. No, we aren't looking for mountain tops. What we want is undoubtedly the climb.

We live for that climb. That immersion into life where we are alive, awake, that quest for purpose where humans are transformed and life adjusts to stop feeling like a standardized test and start feeling like a canvas waiting on a masterpiece. Simple. Yes, easy. No. It's Nietzsche and Frankl's meaning through suffering. It's Peterson's choosing your sacrifice.

Simon Sinek's finding your why. It's Gaghan's staying hard. Grover's becoming a cleaner. These aren't parts of the journey. They are the journey. Mountaintops are meaningful, simply because they remind us that we could have said no and didn't. They allow us to remain conscious of our courage. What we over? overcame and who we became along the way. And the view, it allows us to hold on to that realization just a little longer before setting out for new mountains to climb. But knowing the person embarking upon the next journey will be a little wiser, a little stronger,

a little more polished. As Jim Rohn said, it's not success we're after. It's what the pursuit makes us along the way. That's why Eckert Tolly says the adrenaline-seeking pursuits such as a climb are so powerful, because we're forced to be in that moment. To understand what living is, we can't be pulled down by the past or diverted by the future. We are immersed in what matters. Transformation happening in real time, because something can be made out of nothing.

Mountain tops don't do that. Elevation through blood, sweat, and tears does that. Mountain tops are symbolic of what we become. Every time we pull ourselves a little higher, they stand for a million little yeses in a world of nose, just like the trophy, is nothing more than a celebration of trials and tribulations. Hearing the crowd roar when you rose to the occasion, finding ways to win when the odds were stacked against you, becoming more, when it felt like there was nothing left. Don't let life trick you into thinking it was ever about the hardware or the trophy case. It's not.

Any more than swimming on a beautiful day is about drying off. No, it's the middle. It's where we are forged from fire. It's where we map our destinies. It's the game of life. So remember when you do feel tired or weak or lost or can't seem to find your reason to carry on. But you can't see it now because you are entrenched

in the most meaningful of experiences. You are, in fact, at the heart of what you'll look back on and realize to find you, the center of transformation, of meaning. Remember that idea that if mountaintops were the goal, we wouldn't climb, we would get dropped by helicopter. This journey, with all its ups and downs, is life at its fullest. It's why you're here. It's why you must keep going. In a commencement speech, Ed Helms referenced his character from the office, Andrew Bernard.

And his perhaps most defining quote, I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you've actually left them. Well, my friends, we are right now in the business of making good old days. Don't wait for any metaphorical mountain top. To look back and realize how precious, how powerful, how perfect the ascent truly was. That was at the Heat Celtics game with my brother a few days ago. And the Celtics at the moment are the best team in basketball, which is fun being that we're from Boston originally.

And, you know, right now the team has a handful of really good players. But one of them, Jason Tatum, has essentially separated himself as one of the most dominant players in the game. He's a superstar. And as we watched him play from the stands, we were talking about a narrative that I don't hear mentioned a lot. And maybe it isn't like basketball, circles, but I don't hear much out and about. I think it's incredible. It's the fact that Boston's

general manager at the time, Danny Aange, saw value in Tatum way before everybody else. Now, don't get me wrong, he was always elite. But the Celtics GM saw superstar potential in Tatum to a much greater extent than everyone else, right? In fact, in the 2017 draft, the Celtics had the first overall pick. And, you know, for those unfamiliar, it's usually pretty obvious how the first handful of picks are going to go, right? The players are all ranked before the draft, and the team with the first pick is going to select the first best player, obviously.

The team with the second pick is going to select the second best player. And while it was sort of known that Tatum was the agreed upon third best player in the draft, but the Celtics didn't want number one and two. even though the scouts and draft boards and, you know, the talking heads all around the country saw them as better. Right? So here's Danny Aange with that coveted number one overall pick, which in basketball is so valuable. And he's like, I don't care. I want the guy who's projected number three. So he trades down. He gives Philly his number one pick, basically saying, hey, if the guy I want is going to go third anyway, might as well trade. to weigh the first pick and get a little extra value, right?

And still get Tatum at number three. And that's exactly what they did. And here we are, watching him as one of the best players in the game. And by the way, the guy who went first overall is relatively underperformed, given where he was picked. The guy who went number two overall, same. It's been up and down, constant injury issues. And I look back at how that played out. And I just think, like, the pressure, the weight of having this.

coveted pick and being like, no, I don't want it, right? The guy that I want is number three, right? Being so confident that you see value where others don't. It's hard to do that with conviction. You know, so I look at this and sure he made some mistakes, as all GMs do, you can't predict the future. It's a numbers game, right? But the ability to spot value, particularly in places others seem to disregard, is what I see as the difference between excellence and and mediocrity. Life is always trying to give us the equivalent of a draft board, right, in some capacities.

Like, here's what's normal. Here's what's projected. Number one, two, and three options are the quote-unquote best options. For the most part, sure, it's a decent guideline, but it's not enough. It's not enough. I think we need to train ourselves to be asking, yeah, but where is the move that manifests into that game-changing difference? Where in my life is the move that pushes me over the top, the action that sets me apart?

As staying on the basketball theme, one of the most inspiring things I'd ever heard was Kobe in an interview. Talking about the extra value he'd capitalize on throughout the day, being the difference in his career, saying, look, if I get up two hours before everyone else and I get a workout in, not once in a while, but every day, that's the difference. Why? Well, in a week, it's nothing. In a month, it's not much. In six months, it creates a gap. In a year, that's quite the advantage. In five years, you're not even on the same level. In a decade, he is now untouchable to his competition. Yeah, it's just the morning. Everyone has the morning, but Kobe sought and recognized it as opportunity as his value. The consensus out there in the world is that the morning is when you ease into your day.

It doesn't put what you're doing at 6 a.m. high on that metaphorical draft board. Who cares? Well, to Kobe, ah, perfect. There's the value that I can spot, that I can utilize, that most people will not even think about. And in totality, I believe that to be the truth. You can do fine, simply anticipating and living in and around the value as identified by the majority, by following their blueprint. But to separate, to move from adequate to excellence, you need to find those places where you can squeeze more out of life. You need to dive deeper into what's around you than, ah, that's what's expected, or that's what everyone else is doing.

That's what's perceived as valuable. Be your own GM, right? Question the way of things. Not just out in the world, but in your home, in your day-to-day. Where are the moves that can take you from, I don't know, a six inefficiency to an eight? What ways can you be unconventional? Flip the script to unveil the value you've been walking by for months, years, maybe even your whole life without realizing.

There are always pieces around us to be great. And not just get by or survive, but thrive. There are the necessary ingredients to our right and left, always to astound ourselves. We just have to arrange them in a way that allows us to maximize their value. It's a constant moving of parts. Trying again and again, but not settling for a ranking system to life,

to life as prescribed by the outside world. There's more if you're willing to find it. It's been almost two years since I first read it, and still the main idea from the book, The Courage to be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi deeply resonates with me. The idea that being happy is essentially dependent upon the courage to be disliked.

And at first, it might not seem like the two, you know, whatever be related. Happiness and being disliked, an odd pair, maybe even seemingly counterintuitive. Until you realize that happiness comes from such a personal, authentic place that allowing the expectations of others to chart your course means that you'd probably never arrive there. You have to do what's best for you. And doing what's best for you is going to create a divide somewhere. Why? Because everything creates a divide. Everything is subjective. I knew I wanted to dive into this topic, but wasn't sure the best way to do it. So the other morning, I was trying to think of like an objective truth, something that no one could disagree with. They're sitting on my balcony

and pointed up towards this guy. I thought, let's start there. Simple as it gets. Hard to refute that, right, I am pointing up. And I remember, we're floating on a globe, a giant sphere. There is no up. Up is perspective. Everything is perspective. What's the difference between one and two? Some might say it's one.

But technically, there's infinity between one and two. You can have infinite decimals. 1.999.9 goes on forever, right? Point being, there's subjectivity when we do. drill down into even the seemingly obvious truth. Now, the value here is not to go running around, you know, arguing with everyone that there's infinity between one and two. No, there are certain aspects of society that we must adhere to, otherwise we couldn't

function together, right? But it's simply to show that you following the path you believe is right for you cannot be rightfully assessed by someone else. it's a place trust in your internal personal judgment. And when people don't understand your infinity, that doesn't mean it's wrong. And by the way, I don't have blinders on to the fact that it's hard to do. In many ways, it goes right up against our lizard brain biological wiring. We're fitting and equates to survival, an ostracization becomes a death sentence.

But we are, fortunately, beyond. that. It's in our interest now, and in fact, I think the courage to be disliked is a critical lifelong journey. I'm better at this than I was 10 years ago, no question, but do I still have a ways to go? Absolutely. There are still things I'm working on every day to let go of. I remember reading in Jefferson's biography about how it was so hard for him to be demonized in the press all the time that it almost dissuaded him from jumping back into politics before his presidential run. And being attacked is a hard thing. But ultimately he let his beliefs and personal values drive him, his ambition in a lot of ways,

and came to see the scrutiny as a cost, decided it was worth the price. Or like I use this all the time, take one of the biggest pop stars of our day, say Justin Bieber. You look at what people are saying about him in the comments of his video. A lot of it's wonderful, some of it's great, sure, but some of it's awful. And that's just the price of anyone putting themselves out there. And again, you think of an inverse scenario. Imagine if he didn't. Imagine if he limited himself or didn't dive fully into what he does

because he knew some folks out there would have some bad things to say. Now, we are, for the most part, neither famous politicians nor pop stars. But our worlds contain the same elements at different scale. There are things we're all scared to do or say because of how it will be received. There are parts of ourselves that we repress because we don't know what the feedback will be. We're all scared to fail in some capacity because of how it will look or what others will say about it, which is why being disliked is courageous. As Aristotle has said, the only way to avoid criticism is do.

to do nothing, to say nothing and be nothing. The opposite of being fully, truly yourself is becoming the manifestation of that quote. It's never pushing yourself, never seeing what you're capable of, never exploring or executing on your dreams, your ambitions. Now this is speculation, but if I were a gambling man, I'd place everything I own on the idea that when we're old, looking back on our lives, we'll spend less time thinking about who criticized us or disagreed with us than how we spent our days and who we shared them with. Did we live in a way that made us happy that was meaningful? Because on a sphere, everyone

believes they are pointing up. But in actuality, none of us are. We're all merely navigating the subjective universe behind our eyes. So why not truly explore? Why not capture the magic out there before the hourglass runs out of sand? It's hard, sometimes it hurts, it takes all we have, it requires courage. But I think we'll all come to find that the decision to live fully in our authenticity, regardless of whether others agreed, disagreed, or were indifferent, It was the best decision that we ever made.

I wouldn't make excuses for you. I wouldn't look you in the eye and tell you everything is great when in actuality the wheels are falling off the wagon. No, I'd point to the insufficiencies and remind you that you're capable of chipping away at them. I think that pragmatism can save someone's life. someone's life. But guess what? Being human is knowing there are things you don't know. Realizing that growth is picking up little understandings along the way and bringing them with you into the future.

Allowing them into the evolution that is you. And part of my personal evolution was coming face to face with the fact that looking forward isn't all of it. It's part of it. It's part of it. Yeah, we need to be better, of course. Yeah, we can always squeeze more value out of the time allotted to us. 100%. This forward progression, as far as I'm concerned, is intertwined in human fulfillment. But we are, in this moment, the manifestation of the obstacles we've already overcome. We are the times we wanted to stop and didn't.

We are the losses we bounce back from and the adversity we forged into opportunity. We're the endings that we melted down into beautiful beginnings. We are the mistakes, the obstacles, the little encounters with hell that didn't define us, but instead changed us. And that matters. So quick story time. For about five years after I graduated college, some of my friends and I have this fantasy baseball league we'd used to stay in touch.

And I think even they would begrudgingly admit that I was oddly good at it. I won like three or four out of the five years or something like that. And you know what my strategy was? It was simple. I picked players based on who they were over the course of their career, not based on how they performed last year, which is a trap. people seem to fall into.

So a guy that hits 30 home runs six years in a row, and then last year suddenly only hits seven, it's not out of the question to think he'll hit 30 again, revert back to the mean, to his average, his track record. That to me is more meaningful than some recent struggle, and I took that bet every time. Now, as you can imagine, the point I'm making here has nothing to do with baseball. It has everything to do with life in general. So much of the time, we completely focus on the current insufficiencies. The bad things happening now, the misfortunes in our lives.

We're striking out, and our brain goes into panic mode. It says gap, gap, gap, how do we fill it? And again, yes, that's important. And our plan for resurgence is necessary, but we can't forget who we are and what we've done. we can't overlook our track record. As the saying goes, you've survived 100% of the bad days. You've lived through countless struggles.

You've climbed out of many catastrophes, at least I have. And it seems as though it's when we need that reassurance most that we are most inclined to forget. It's when we, more than any other time, need to prove to ourselves that we are unconquerable, that we question our ability to persevere. I'd never say to you the road ahead will be easy. I'm not saying it won't suck at times.

I'm not saying it won't take all of you. I'm merely saying that you are equipped to emerge victorious, to handle not some of it, but all of it. I'm saying that the person in the mirror is stronger than you can even imagine. But understand you're not operating. on blind faith here. You're not hoping for some miracle.

You're operating on your own record of success. What you do is find a way. What you do is win. You don't believe me? Look over your shoulder. Take a trip down memory lane. Glance back

at all the mountains you've already climbed. And life, it won't be smooth sailing all the time. You'll have your slumps and your adversity, no question. But they're not you. They are what you were made to navigate. Everything has brought you to this point.

And it's great to focus on this point, but don't lose the everything. Sometimes it's not about who you will be someday. Sometimes it's about what you've already become. It's about who you are. Now