Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - MORNING MOTIVATION | Speeches to Start Your Day!

Episode Date: February 28, 2024

“Great things are not done by impulse, but a series of small things brought together.” - Vincent Van Gogh  

90 seconds is too much. It just is. I can't do 90 seconds. And I can't do 90 seconds because my brain can't compute 90 seconds. But I can do 30 seconds. And I can do 30 seconds forever. As we navigate our day-to-day, it's hard to see that. Because so often our day-to-day lacks clarity.

So what can we do about it? Well, we can place ourselves in situations where we are reminded. One of them, I've talked about before, being the cold plunge, immersing yourself in cold water. We're sure, there are health benefits, some of which are debated and disputed, but I certainly notice value in that department. But to me, that's not the biggest value at. Not even close. To me, it's simply the daily reminder that I can do hard things, that it's who I am. We need to reestablish that consistently.

Confidence is earned. And I know in my life I must earn it repeatedly. And when I'm immersed in the cold and shivering, there's always a point in my mind, however brief, that I'm thinking I want out now. The other day, I was at this point, looked at my watch 90 seconds left, and that day in that moment, it felt like an eternity, just too much.

And those of you who are endurance athletes, for example, you know that when your body's operating at max capacity, you're suffering, you're exhausted, 90 seconds is truly a lifetime. When you look at it like that, It's too much discomfort for a minute and a half. Your heart starts beating. Your mind starts worrying, right?

So what do we do about it? We look at it a little differently. Because from a different angle, you can skip it. You can do 30 seconds. The brain can grasp and digest 30 seconds. You can do anything for 30 seconds. So you start counting. All of a sudden, 30 gone.

Now what? Well, you just did 30. You see how quick that went? another 30. Okay, done just like that. Now what, 30 more? But this is the last 30. You don't even feel anything on the last 30, right? Come on, adrenaline's going. You can feel the finish line. This is free time. This is a gift. This is cruise control. And now you didn't have to do 90 seconds. You only had to do three by 30. And anyone's saying, come on, man, that's the same thing. Yeah, it's the same when you're not under duress,

but it's a miracle when you are. So why is running life? Why is cold plunging life? Why is putting your body through stress or difficulty life? Because you remember that life is taking big, difficult, seemingly complex, complex things and breaking them down into manageable tasks. That is life. The pieces are always manageable.

Now the monster we allow the pieces to become when we stack them up and give them an invisible face, that's not so manageable. That's self-sabotage. And so to arm yourself with the understanding that all big things must be broken down, is to green light the extraordinary. On day one in 2014, a YouTube channel with zero subscribers growing to help over 100,000 people a day, that's a 90-second cold plunge.

That's unfathomable, unthinkable, impossible. But one video weekly, at least for nine years, That's a 30-second cold. Standing in front of the mirror, practicing storytelling, speaking, it's 30 seconds in cold water. Reaching out to others to learn to get better, 30 seconds in cold water. It's like you look back and you see that you endured that 90-second plunge simply by breaking it down.

That's all growth is. That's all evolution is. finding the smallest piece possible in making it action. And then watching that transform, multiply, compound over time. In one of my favorite books, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand, this reminder comes through beautiful. Louis Amperini, an American prisoner of war in Japanese internment camps during World War. He basically experiences unimaginable hell and suffering.

He watches his friends die, he's beaten, he's starved, he comes close to death himself, and at the end when he's rescued, and I'm paraphrasing, but I remember this part incredibly vividly, he's asked if he could do that again, and he states he'd rather die. He's turning around and viewing it holistically like that is too much. It's unfathomable. that pain is bigger than one can even comprehend. But taking something like that, day by day, step by step, he did the unthinkable. He survived. In breaking the 90-second task down into 30-second pieces, he walked away, in breaking the seemingly insurmountable down into the manageable,

and looking at each individual step as a superpower. he emerged. You talk about perspective. His experience was as challenging as it gets. My cold plunge is laughable in comparison. But my mind doesn't know that. It's up to me to reinforce it. Building a business is nothing in comparison to Louis Zamperini.

But my mind doesn't know that. Healing my shoulder and getting stronger in the gym is nothing in comparison. but my mind does not know that. It's looking at the mountain and reminding myself, Eddie, you can't leap those. I've seen you jump, buddy. But the good news is, no mountains need be left here. We ascend this thing one rock at a time,

and mark my words, you conquer those manageable tasks day in and day out. You will find yourself. So when you feel stuck, feel stuck or too small for the task at hand. Remind yourself you're looking at a 90 second block here. Break that down. Ask yourself what your 30 is. Ask yourself what you can create that's manageable. It will create your momentum. That will shoot you into a trajectory. It will allow growth and position you someday to look back over your shoulder and go, wow, I endured all that. a transformation too big to understand on day one.

It's a beautiful thing watching all those little steps add up to create the extraordinary. There's a really cool clip of Steve Jobs in 1997. He's on stage at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. Back a little over a decade after originally being fired by Apple, he's taking questions from the audience. and this particular guy stands up and grabs the mic and asks a vicious question. He basically tears into jobs.

I'm plying that he doesn't know what he's talking about, questioning the value that he brings to the company. It's just super aggressive. And I think one of the reasons it stuck with me all these years is because upon hearing it, you know, my instinct, as an observer was to be insulted for Steve Jobs. The guy just got lit up. And you'd think he'd fire back,

defend himself and his accolades, of which there were obviously plenty to draw from, but that's not what he does at all. He instead does two things in particular that have, over time, added tremendous value to my worldview. The first thing, as I was kind of alluding to there, is he didn't at all get angry or defensive, which may seem like an easy thing to do,

but again, observing it, like you can feel the tension there. It's like Jobs saw the criticism as merely procedural. That's it, right? There's something to be expected as one builds. He completely depersonalized the attack as it was being fired his way. His exact quote was, you know,

You can please some of the people, some of the time. But one of the hardest things when you're trying to affect change is that people like this gentleman are right in some areas. And I'll explain what he means when he says the guy's right in a minute or two here. But that response totally reduced the tension by 90%. Understanding that there are going to be people who have things to say, some of it will question your ability and your effectiveness. And if you're looking from a 10,000 foot view, that's to be expected.

And this is a part that was shocking to me, warranted. He says the criticism is warranted. Growth is messy and sloppy and a work in progress. And so criticism will, from time to time, hit the nail right on the head. And you as a designer and creator have to know that you'll both make mistakes and be called out for them. That's the way it goes. That's the contract one signs with the world

in order to bring to life those things that are not yet visible. It's scary, it's intimidating, right? At least at first. Again, my reaction was to get defensive. But I think what made Steve great, as he smiled and jokingly said, here we go, made question,

was the reassurance that, look, I signed up for this. So in actuality, it's a good thing. It's not an attack. It is growth. And I try and keep that in my back pocket as I do my thing, right? It's sharing your thoughts. It's a vulnerable thing.

And if you are going to fall apart or crumble, anytime someone's not totally in love with where you are at the moment or what you're creating or your last piece of work, you're in for a, you know, a rude awakening. It's going to be a long journey. So that depersonalization is everything and incredibly valuable. And the second part brought a ton of value to me as a creator as well, just in a different way. And this is the part that I alluded to earlier when Steve said that his critic was in some way correct.

When he was being hounded about his knowledge gap in some specific technology, right? I'm not really sure what the technology was. But Jobs basically explain that you're right. I'm not an expert there, but it's not about the specific technology or the minutia. It's about giving your consumers, your audience, the world what it wants. It's about having a big picture, a vision. And that's what made Jobs so special. He didn't need to be involved at such a level of granularity.

The vision changed. It revolutionized technology. Because it was reverse engineered and brought to life. Here's this exact quote. Jobs said, one of the things I've always found is you've got to start with the customer experience and work backwards for the technology. You can't start with the technology and try to figure out where you're going to try to sell it. And I've made this mistake probably more than anybody else in this room,

and I got the scar tissue to prove it, and I know that it's the case. End quote. That was an incredible thing for me to hear. If anything, because so often we get caught up in the weeds, right, we let the details drive the decisions, whether it's technology or anything else. I often think of that, you know, in my world. Don't worry about what's in place right now.

Worry about where you need to be and then backfill to make it happen. And sure, you know, some people might not get it. And sure, it will certainly mean you'll have to delve into areas you don't quite understand as you seek to support that vision or bring it to life. But that's the price that must be paid because vision is king. And so, taking those two concepts I just talk about if you were to combine them, you'd walk away with the understanding that, one, growth is sloppy, criticism is inevitable. And two, don't forget that adding value to the world should light your path.

not the little details that peak your interest along the way, right? Not everyone is going to get it as you build, and that's okay. The way I see it, everyone is building something. And as they build, you know, we'll surely come face to face with some sort of resistance. And while it's not always easy, there's value in finding the strength to smile to yourself and understand that resistance is merely part of growth. It's a necessary component of your evolution. as you add value to the world,

as you seek to leave yourself and the world around you better than it was yesterday. Aristotle has a quote that states, to avoid criticism, say nothing, do nothing, be nothing. What a waste that would be of the potential and greatness contained within you to let it slip away for fear of what might be said. As Jobs explained, right, you can please some of the people, some of the time, but it's not about that. The benchmark is not being perfect and never making anyone angry.

No, it's seeking to bring to life that which does not yet exist. Trusting yourself and your vision. It's not taking personal that which is merely part of the process. Because when the storm arrives, that will ultimately carry you through to the most incredible things you'll have ever done. in your life. I've always been amazed at how much life can change with a small perspective shift. You hear something the right way,

maybe even something you've heard a thousand times, this time you just hear it differently, and suddenly the light bulb goes off. Suddenly, it all makes sense. I was talking to one of my friends recently about how he threw discus in high school, and he was incredible at the sport,

But for, you know, a long stretch, he was inconsistent with his release. And coach after coach, after coach would try and help him with it. But it wasn't until one said to him, hey, instead of sprinting to the release, think of it as a scissor motion. Right now, I don't know much about discus, but for whatever reason, that clicked for him. The gear started turning. He went to states. had the best performance of his life.

All because he looked at the same situation through a different lens. He found clarity in what was around him. Now, you might be thinking, what does that have to do with me? Well, I'm of the thinking that in our own lives, the battles we are all individually fighting,

the struggles we are going through, you know, amidst that storm, we are one little light bulb moment from the clarity we need to re-engage, to create momentum. We're never as far from what we need as we think, but what we do is we convoluted things. We tell ourselves that, you know, the change required is monumental. It's some larger-than-life transition. You look at my friend, the difference between a good season and an amazing season, it wasn't a year in the wait room away. No, it was a small mental shift.

And even in your world, if the shift is just the beginning, great. Everything of substance does in fact have to start. And it's arriving at that point. giving yourself the gift of clarity in a pursuit that becomes critical. I've always visualized that epiphany as me sitting in a dark room pitch black, which is intimidating, it's intense, feels even helpless at times, but understanding there is always a light switch and arms reach away. There's always the thing that will be transformative.

We just have to keep reaching, keep stretching, keep feeling around for it because it exists. And with an outstretched arm, the very thing necessary to get us out of the dark and into the light is waiting. And that's just it. You know, we can't conflate the goal with the delta between where we stand now and the goal. No one can run a marathon in one giant step. It doesn't matter how strong you are. You're not leaping the course and diving through the finish tape. No, you're running thousands and thousands of little manageable steps.

But we come face to face with situations in life where we know the finish line, whatever it is in your particular case, is way out there in the distance. And it's overwhelming. It's intimidating. It places us back in that dark room where we're surrounded by the unknown and inundated with stories we tell ourselves about how difficult life is.

This is where you need to reach out and look for the light switch. It's where you need to remember you're not responsible for the finish line because how could you be? Humans are only capable of moving forward one step at a time. It's where you have to understand understand that the greatest impact on the discus right now is a change to your release point, a perspective shift, something minimal, that gets you the distance.

Every time I've been stuck or lost, it has been an adjustment to the way I'm looking at the world around me that's ultimately made the difference. A little reminder to take the pressure off, at least in the sense that we can only control what we can control. And usually that's the step right in front of us. So my suggestion is to stop looking up at the mountain and look down at the very next step. Because from where you stand, there is a path to get you there. But the process calls for you to, one, believe it's possible and two, make the little adjustment in real time that will put you in position. to do just that.

You're never down and out. Not so long as there's air in your lungs and blood pumping through your veins. You are, rather, one decision away, one epiphany away, one flick

of the light switch away from recapturing momentum and finding yourself again. If you have the ability to love, love yourself first. Charles Bukowski. So last week I was in Utah, and while I was there, I did some guided breathwork, which had never done before.

And honestly, it was a little skeptical at first. But I try and keep an open mind and gave it a shot. I'm happy I did. It ended up potentially being one of the most important things I've ever done. And I want to share why. Because this breakthrough or aha moment, if you will, was exactly what I needed when I needed to hear it. So this episode's going to be a little different than usual, but I feel compelled to pass it along. So to set the scene, I arrived with a friend of mine to the instructor, Jen's location.

She gave us an overview, kind of explaining what the next hour is going to look like and handed me a notebook to write down my goal for this session. and the notebook becomes pretty important as the story goes on. But I opened it and I wrote what I'd like to use this session to reflect on. It happened to be the walls that I have a tendency to build around myself. That day that felt like the most pertinent obstacle of my life. I saw it as an opportunity to push back against that reality that human beings love to create normal

and then latch onto it. And that's not ideal because when we do that, we stop looking for places to grow. We stop pushing. We stop seeking to live life to the fullest. In other words, we settle. And so I wrote that down. I closed a notebook, laid back on this incredible fuzzy blanket

and the music got turned on. We began the breathing pattern in, in, out, in, in, out. Jen started guiding us, verbally taking us back to a conversation with our younger selves. The journey had begun. And this is the part where things get really interesting

because my thoughts really did feel like some strange mix of dreaming and hallucinating, just from breathwork. But at some point, she referenced the need to let go and said the words, you know, we weren't meant to suffer or hold on to suffering. And that really cut deep because I know there are so many places where I've rationalized continuous suffering in my life. I'd speculate that in some way we all do.

When the hard thing or the uncomfortable thing, you know, when they stop being stupperable, stepping stones and instead just become the way things are. Becomes a concession. Hey, this doesn't feel good, but it's my life. This person holds me down, but it's how things are. I don't like doing this every day. It eats at me, but hey, life, am I right? That's learned helplessness.

It hides in the corners and the nooks and crannies of life, subtle enough that we don't give it much thought. And I imagined very vividly climbing down a ladder placed on the edge of this dark canyon that went straight down. Down, down. Everything. My entire landscape was black and white. There was zero color, except for the rays of light barely visible at the bottom. all the way down as I descended into the canyon.

The colors they'd get a little stronger, a little brighter, as if every step put a little more vibrance into my life. Each moved down made things a little clear, the latter becoming quicker and quicker, eventually turning into a slide that brought me down to the base of the canyon where upon landing and standing up, Everything was illuminated. Fields of sunflowers, waterfalls, birds chirping, the sun shining,

and it was there in that moment I realized my intention for the class. The one I wrote down in that little notebook, well, it missed the mark. Not in the sense of being incorrect or wrong necessarily, but it simply wasn't enough. See, at the root of it all, or at the bottom of that canyon existed life with the courage to love yourself. Not just accept yourself, not just be okay with your existence, but love yourself. With all your faults and your struggle, with all your mistakes and your history,

became clear to me how much changes when you love with all your heart the person staring back at you in the mirror. The opinions of others, they do not guide your decision making. How could they? How could others know you better than you? In fact, those opinions are part of the black and white landscape to be left behind at the top of the mountain. the consistent suffering you've become accustomed to, the learned helplessness you endure, that's not acceptable to someone who truly loves him or herself. Loving yourself means pushing away that which is not you. It's finding that ladder down to the beautiful world of authenticity and truth,

the magic of being aligned with what really matters. And what's funny is, I can talk about breaking down barriers. They should be broken down. I can talk about stepping into fear because it should be confronted. I can talk about finding a way out when we're stuck in a way up when we're down. I can talk about all of that every day of my life.

But none of it matters if you don't learn to fully love the reflection in the mirror more, more than you ever thought you could. Think about the gift you could give to that younger version of yourself. Think about what you could give to those close to you, your family, your friends. think about what you could do for the world if you left those black and white concessions behind you and lived a life true to yourself. It is of course not always easy, but I learned that day that it is the North Star. It's what we build upon. So before we ask how to shape the world around us, maybe we should be asking how do we

embrace the one within us. Maybe we should learn to love ourselves so deeply that those walls don't need to be broken down. Because in time we'll learn not to build them up in the first place. We'll learn that in a world of black and white, it is acceptance and trust and confidence and love that gives it color. I put on my shoes, stepped outside, and as I made my way down the street for my midday run,

I felt the wind at my back, tailwind. My first thought, well, nice, this is convenient. Especially running along the beach where it can be pretty windy. It's definitely a luxury to have wind at your beach. back. Sure enough, my mind went, oh, but that leaves me a headwind when I turn around and come back up the coast. My mind started to wander. I started imagining what it was going to be like turning around at that 6.6 mile mark. I was doing a half marathon that day and knew that, you know,

the way back would require that I level up. And every once in a while, the thought popped into my head, sort of reminding me of the inevitable. And sure enough, you know, the way back would require that I level. And sure enough, the moment arrived. The sun pressing down onto my skin, the humidity wrapped around me like a blanket. I hit 6.6 miles, turned around on A1A, and there was that headwind. But the first thing I noticed was not the force pushing back against me. No, in that moment, I felt the breeze, the coolness. It was refreshing.

And there, underneath it all, was my light-bald moment. What we are presented with day in and day out is a question. It's a choice. Would the wind become my adversary? Something that, yeah, pushed me forward on the way down but then held me back on the way up? Or would it be what pushed me forward on the way down and then cooled me off as I made my way up? And if you think that mental alteration or perspective shift is just nuance or too small to matter, I suggest you give it a go when you're doing whatever your equivalent of total exertion is,

whatever your mental stressor is that pushes you beyond your state of usual comfort. When you're in the middle of, let's call it hurt, whether it be physical activity or a personal situation entirely unrelated to athletics, How are you internalizing the world around you? It's become clear to me over time that winning during our most trying moments comes down to mental shifts so small that they seem almost laughable in normal conditions. But your mind will always stop you before life will. So why not put yourself in a position to win?

Everything around you is trying to help you in some capacity. Allow that to be the case. Remember that what you look for, you'll find. So if you look for resistance and obstacles and adversaries, they'll be everywhere. But if you look for and seek out value, you'll see that you are surrounded by nothing but value. Even those metaphorical headwinds become hands reaching out, working to cool you off as you make your way to greater things.

So understand that when they arise, those headwinds, the ones that typically hold you back, they hide within them small winds, small winds that will be the difference. The deeper one descends into chaos, the more important it is to find those victories, the ones hidden in plain view. The ones that look to many like problems. but you'll know. You'll know just how malleable this world around us is. The world seems to provide not definitive but tools.

So which will you pick up? What will you build with them? See, life is never happening to you. It's happening for you. So keep your eyes open, keep your feet moving, and remember that you will win, not despite the headwinds of life, but because of them. Because you've trained yourself when those around you see can't and won't

to find a way, to pull from the chaos, the very thing you need most. Life gives you the canvas, but you are the one who must paint. They used to separate building up and tearing down, is if they were two totally different ideas rather than one perpetual loop. The energy can neither be created nor destroyed. Simply transfers from one thing to another. We are renting everything in this world,

grabbing little pieces of life as we run through it. And what we leave behind in the rear view has the potential to tug at our heartstrings as we see it collapse into the horizon, sure. But it also has to. Yesterday was in its own way the beginning, a nurturing parent, preparing you for the world of today,

pushing you out the front door and maybe you don't feel ready, we never do. But things have to go. in order for more to arrive, the tearing down is the building up. I have a significant relationship with this idea, letting go. I think because it's personally been one of my greatest adversaries. You know, and the words that escape our lips pull back the curtain on who we are. Humans are just projectors with eyes.

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

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

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

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

He mentions how a domino can knock over another domino 50% larger. So if you were to start with a two-inch domino and keep increasing the one next to it by 50%. The 23rd domino in the progression would be able to knock over the Eiffel's house. The 31st would be as tall as Everest. The 57th domino would be able to bridge the gap between the Earth and the moon. See, but it must be understood that it's the 50% growth from domino to domino that makes the difference. If each domino stays the same size, you don't get any remarkable transformation. And in many ways that's what we do. We will.

that's what we do. We want the moon, but we stay that two-inch domino. That's my example of holding on to perhaps too many aspects of the creative process. That holding on prevents the 50% jump. For you, the journey before you will be a different one with different characteristics. But the rule is the same. The old dominoes must fall in order to create something new. That energy must be passed on. And it is capable of transferring, this is the important part, to something much bigger than itself. That's why we allow the old to fall. It's not that it's valueless.

It's that its value was in setting up the brilliance that now awaits. You can't be afraid to tear down the old, right? We have to seek out that fearlessness that exists within us. It's crippling our growth, diminishing our capacity to live life to the first. life to the fullest. That's what's scary. Protecting that which no longer serves us is what's dangerous. So let yesterday fade into the rear view. It may hurt, it may tug at those heartstrings,

that when you look back years from now, it will be the reason, the very reason you'll have embarked upon the adventure of a lifetime. It's what you destroyed that will have opened the door for everything. Brought forth the manifestation of the beautiful life you ultimately came to build. Around 2011, I hurt my left arm and had to get surgery. So for a while, I was pretty limited as far as what I could do with my upper body.

And that's really when I fell in love with running. Started doing it almost every day. Sometimes those long runs outside, clear my mind, sort of reset a little bit, and sometimes I mix it up. Hop on the treadmill and do my favorite workout, which was a pyramid, right, where you break 10 minutes into four segments, four, three, two, and one, increasing in intensity with each segment, and then you start over. And that's where this whole idea comes from. It's this treadmill workout that I want to talk about because there's a little ritual I picked up that I still implement to this day,

and it was simple. At the very end of my workout or my run, I would always add 22 seconds, my lucky number twice, two and two. So, for example, if I told myself, you know, the workout's going to be, you know, three pyramids or 30 minutes, I would stop running at 30 minutes and 22 seconds.

And if I told myself it was going to be an hour, I'd stop at one hour in 22 seconds. Always tacking on that 22. And I don't really remember the first time I started doing it or even why. But like so many things, that 22-second period organically became a habit, sort of evolved to take on a life of its own and would come to symbolize for me a little challenge. The idea that the end is never really the end. and no matter how tired I was or how bad I wanted to stop, especially when you can see that finish line in reach,

I could always squeeze out a little more. But there's always something extra to give. And you could certainly go down that 22-second rabbit hole, right? Just 22 more seconds. And then you finish that and you realize you can do just 22 more and just 22 more. It's like this never-ending spotlight. into how incredible we are as humans,

that our stopping points almost always are constructed. Rarely is there not an extra 22 seconds or 22-somethings we can endure. And not only that, I think there's a case to be made that our growth occurs in that final push. There's a ton of value hidden away in there. the stretching of the mind and body, the last rep that breaks down the muscle, the last few seconds of that run that forced the lungs to work their hardest, exhausting that last bit of energy and focus, you know, studying for an exam.

Maybe that's where you confirm your comprehension and understanding of the subject matter. It's like when we are pushing ourselves, just outside the limits we drew up, we are simultaneously expanding those limits. And so over the years, I've adopted that mentality. And I look at myself in the mirror now and I can see it. I'm not the same person I was a decade ago. Those little decisions to add on 22 seconds, they stack up, and they stack up in a unique way.

Because it's not necessarily about the time. It's not the same benefit that, say, an hour every morning at the gym would bring. You know, obviously that would be incredibly valuable, but in a different way. I'm talking about mentally, an armor that we come to wear, an identity that gets materialized. It's how you see yourself and how you see the world. You understand how manufactured our parameters are. And I get it, we have to stop somewhere, sure. But it's an acknowledgement that those somewheres are fiction.

They are arbitrary. You weren't made to exist within them, but to stretch them, to recreate them. And that's an endeavor that is always uncomfortable. But as far as I can tell, always worth it. The strength to go a little bit further than initially intended or designed is what will place you in a league of your own. And that's where I wanted to start, by bringing attention to the idea

that there's always an extra 22 seconds and you are always capable of obtaining it. That is yours. Whether you choose to see it or not, it's an option, it's always an option. Which sort of connects us to my next thought. If I know that's who I am, someone that fights for that 22 seconds, if I know that's what I'm capable of, and that's what lights me up,

what about those times in my life when I had no desire to reach for the extra 22? Because sitting here, I can think of plenty. I can think of times when there was dissonance between my identity and my actions. Here's a quick story. Right, this was a shift in my life and my understanding of reaching for that little bit more. When people ask me about my process, right, what I'm building or where I see myself in X number of years, I tell them I'm playing the long game, right? Like, I'll sacrifice some short-term wins now to continue forward with a plan that I believe wholeheartedly

will transform from linear to exponential, right? It's like Gary V's motto, you know, you're young, you have time. And impact is not about succeeding at 34, it's about flourishing at 45 and 55 and 65 and 75, like that's fun to me. That's the exciting game to play. And it's methodical. The challenge is, you know,

as you're locked into this big picture playing, you have to pass a lot of shiny objects along the way. A lot of, hey, look at them over there. Maybe I should be doing that too. That worked for her. Will it work for me? Sometimes you forget to trust yourself and stay the course. And so a few years ago, I felt this pressure to pivot, to adjust focus.

I'd been talking with some mentors of mine who were very successful in their individual fields and passions. And I thought, hey, you know what, it's time for me to start focusing less on the craft and more on monetizing the craft, right? The De Niro side of things, which is great and it's healthy, but here's the catch. As long as you're doing it in a way that aligns with who you are. And so a few months go by, and I found myself living in this overly sized and priced condo on the beach that I was going to use to impress clients. You know, making products that didn't excite me, talking to people I didn't really want to be talking to, living a life that was not my own,

I'd lost myself, right? My love is storytelling. It's capturing life seemingly overlooked secret. That's what I get excited about in the morning. That's the value I want to share with the world. And look, money is important. It's necessary. It's freedom.

But for me, it can't be about the money or I lose the drive. Right? And here's the point I'm making where it all comes together. What I found is that when you're a stranger in your own body, there's almost no incentive to push for that little extra. It's like, who cares about fighting for 22 seconds? I'm so misaligned.

I don't even want to be here. Right? That is the red flag. That's the indicator that it's time to. adjust. Because if I'm someone who wants more, who pursues and acquires more, and I don't feel the urge to do so, you know, it's time to change. And I broke the lease, put everything I had in a car, went on a little three-month excursion, realigned. And if I'm not willing to suffer through that little extra, to go above and beyond, it's not for me. And so that's a big example.

but it obviously manifests in smaller ways as well. Yes, you are someone who can and will chase down the beauty in life, who will transform that little extra into something meaningful, but you also have to position yourself and the world around you to make it possible. And when you don't feel that hunger inside, and this is the point you need to understand, And it's not you. It's not broken hardware.

It's not that you innately lack drive or confidence. It's that you need to rearrange this scenario. You need to find alignment. Because I promise you if you want something enough, you'll be willing to fight for it, to hurt for it, to break boundaries for it. But you must first make sure that you're pointed at something you want,

something that moves you. And here's the part where I remind you of all those things you've already overcome in your life. Of all the times you thought your tank was empty, but you found away. All the times you were hurting but kept moving. All the times you were broken, but put yourself back together. We are not told in school or at work how resilient we are. We're not told that we often stop thousands of 22-second period short. We aren't told that we're living at a 30% capacity, operating at a fraction of our potential. We don't even realize the little miracles we've created along the way.

A strong purpose and a willingness to stretch yourself as you pursue it will change your life. And that's not hyperbole. That is fast. If you want what you've never had, then push yourself further than you've ever gone. And we're talking little stressors, expanding one step at a time, until you eventually look over your shoulder and see the miles you've traveled. Until you look at your reflection and see the evolution that has occurred. It was never just 22 seconds.

It was a consistent and sustained shot at the walls you placed around yourself for the opportunity to see them crumble. Most often, our greatest source of pain comes not from the moment, but what we suspect that moment will mean. It's not the situation, but in how we perceive the situation. And this is an idea or a concept that I connect pretty directly with fitness or running, simply because that's where to me it's most apparent. It screams at me. So being that I run quite a bit, let's dive into that. Most days when I'm out for a jog or I'm running it strictly for endurance, you know, cardio

base, chance to get out there, breathe or reset thing. But then there are times when I say to myself, this run's going to be a little different. It's going to be dedicated to seeing what I'm made of. I'm going all out, going to push. And what I find is I gradually increase my speed over the course of the eight-mile route is that my brain likes to focus on what's ahead. It becomes fixated on how much is to come, consistently warning, me about the distance yet to be traveled and asking whether I have enough left in the tank

to get there. It's most extreme in the last mile or so when my body is most exhausted, when I'm pushing as hard as I possibly can. It's a straight shot. I'm looking up at the road ahead. My eyes are constantly reminding my brain that I'm not yet done, that there's more, and creating an association between more road and more hurt. In a way, creating a little cycle of panic that sometimes appears and hangs out as I'm simultaneously talking myself out of slowing down. Now is not the time to pump the brakes

I've come too far and the finish line is so close. But it eventually dawned on me that while the adversity contained in this last stretch of the run is difficult, it's the idea that more weights ahead. That's what hurts the most. It's not the body, but the internal voice

that's creating the discomfort. In fact, I bet I could run for hours and hours and hours at this speed if it were a life or death situation. If I had to, it's not the task-lapse, laid out before me. It's my perception. And so this little line has helped me rethink and readjust my approach.

Not just in situations like this or when doing interval training or working out, but when trying to do everything else associated with my life. Grow my business, build a brand, nurture relationships. Push boundaries in any other aspect of what I do. Three words. Stay within yourself. It goes to the idea that your job is so incredibly simple that it's almost insulted. Put one foot in front of the other.

Sure, look up so you know where you're going. You don't need to analyze or interpret or dissect. There's no gap between there and here, then and now. There is only this moment. And so step. Again and again and again. When the brain starts thinking about how much is left to go, I've betrayed the mantra.

Nothing external is allowed. Stay within yourself. You have a job to do and you're capable, beyond capable of doing it. But the external must be kept out. The distraction must be kept at bay and sometimes when you get it right you hit this stride, this pace that is equivalent to flying, a rhythm that's unparalleled. Stay within yourself. step by step by step.

The air making its way into your lungs and then exhaled back out into the world when you simplify life down in such a way. Seemingly large things are exposed for what they really are, a mere commitment to do the little things consistently. It's funny to look back on all the places I've run over the years and identify or match the geography with the lesson, the routes with the epiphanies, the maps forever entwined in my life, what they gave me and what it meant as I took it all forward into the world. And here we are again, new chapter, new lesson.

Then after the shoes come off, the rest of the day commences this little stretch, this last A smile plays the role of mentor. Eddie's simplification is everything, it says. The hard thing is not that hard because it's not that big, it's not that complex. Your monsters are self-created. Your hurt isn't a spotlight on the now, it's pointed at the road ahead. It's asking what if things go wrong? It's asking how long can this be sustained?

It's asking whether I have the strength to endure this. Every question breathes life into an adversary that has no business existing in my world. They're not helping me get to any finish line. In fact, they're that negative self-talk I try so hard to mitigate. Here they are, very good at disguising themselves as reality, as just facts of the case, but they are not. They don't belong anywhere near me or around me. Breathe and step. In fact, I need to deconstruct the world around me down into one word now.

And what you find when you remove the emotion, the excess, is a lot of the way. is the simplicity of the task at hand. Maybe not easy, but simple, and complexity is the enemy of progress. Right now may not be comfortable, but at least you're operating with clarity, and that is always enough to simply carry on, to move forward, to stay within yourself.

And that's what this is all about, asking the question, where are you letting what's down the road get in the way of what you're doing now? Where are you letting the pain of what's not yet here? The pain of roads not yet traveled. Keep you from doing something that is 1,000% in your wheelhouse that you are capable of. See, in this example, it's to breathe and step. It's to, in a sense, turn the mind. off and go into autopilot, find the pace and hold the pace.

But the question is, what is your last mile? What metaphorical race are you running? Have you identified, one, the finish line and two, what needs to happen right now to get there? Forget about the gap right now. What is the simple solution? is required of you in this moment. And perhaps most importantly, what needs to be pushed out and mitigated. It's often true that we stagnate, not because we don't have the tools or ability,

but because we're oversaturated with the wrong things, the wrong routines, the wrong thoughts, the best way to break through that self-imposed wall. To actually build walls that will prevent complexity from even attempting. to rear its ugly head. What is your run, breathe cycle? So stay within yourself because when you do, you see how strong you are. Stay within yourself because you are the author of your story.

Stay within yourself because all you need is now to push forward. Stay within yourself. because that is where the power lives. Stay within yourself because the only way to lose is to let the external end. Stay within yourself because at some point that road will have been traveled down. The finish line will have been crossed. And it will have been precisely your ability to condense it all down into the simple, the ground under your feet that allowed you to get there.

Life tried to pull you 1,000 different directions, tell you 1,000 different stories, but you pushed it all away, found that power within the moment and stayed within yourself.