Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - MORNING MOTIVATION - Wake Up Early, Start Your Day Right! Listen Every Day! - 2 Hour Motivation

Episode Date: November 8, 2024

Today, we’re digging into those moments that feel uncomfortable—the times we feel stuck, question our path, or lose perspective. Here’s the thing: those moments aren’t mistakes or signs that something’s wrong. They’re features, not bugs. They’re a part of stepping into life, and they’re here to challenge us, to ask: What will you make of this? When life presents a fork in the road, we get to choose the story we tell about it. It’s not about perfectly controlling outcomes, but choosing what each moment means. Jim Rohn often said success is easy—a few small choices made each day. But what’s just as easy is choosing not to take those steps. Every decision, big or small, is a brick in the world we’re building for ourselves. So, the question becomes, What are you constructing? Life will give you the pieces. It’s up to you to turn them into something meaningful, something uniquely yours.

Oh, oh. Shop Superstart Premium, Extreme, or Platinum Batteries at O'Reilly Auto Parts and get up to a $15 gift card after rebate. O reward members can also get a $5 reward with their battery purchase. For power, performance, and reliability, choose Super Start. Only at O'Reilly Auto Parts. Feeling stuck is a feature, not a buck. Having moments of doubt is a feature, not a bug. Losing perspective from time to time is a feature, not a bug.

There's no way to step out into the world and avoid these things. Therefore, the question is not, will these moments arise? The question is, when they inevitably do, what will you make of them? And I think that fork in the road is often very very, very misunderstood. How you look at the world around you is everything. Not because as the great Tony Robbins says, you close your eyes and chant.

There's no weeds, there's no weeds, and they're suddenly gone from your garden, but because it's indicative of the choice we have. That when something happens, we don't always get to control how it unfolds before us, but we do get to do get to control. choose what it means. And that's it. A simple decision. And you can see how it's just as easy to go one way as it is to go another. Citing another brilliant voice in this space, Jim Rohn

used to say something along the lines of success is easy. It's nothing more than a few simple decisions every day. Well, when asked why isn't everyone successful, he'd say, because being unsuccessful is easy too. Choosing not to do those things is easy too. Everything is about your decoder. The world provides the pieces, but it makes you the architect. And so what are you building?

The ones who have had the greatest impact, designed beautiful change, added value to the world, they did it through chaos. Yet those who are the angriest who've done very little with the gifts allotted to them, they'll cite some variation of chaos for the reason they haven't succeeded. It's the lens, it's the decoder, it's the fork in the road, and you choosing which direction you will take. If you're feeling trapped in a routine, you have in some capacity taken the pieces around you and created a story of limitation. You're forgetting that nothing is stopping you from trying something new today, taking a risk today.

When you're feeling insufficient or like everyone around you has it all figured out, you've taken the pieces and created a story of imaginary adversaries. This is not you versus the world, it is you versus you. This moment has given you a fresh start, a chance to find alignment with that which is meaning. with that which is meaningful to you. One of my favorite metaphors, life is a staircase, where the chaos and the turbulence are ultimately there for you to tame and then move on to the next step.

In fact, that's the only way we climb. The world will consist of challenges, and one of the most important gifts we can give to ourselves is to remove the notion that we can just waltz on through with zero problems. Having that as the benchmark sets us up for failure. There is no perfect path or pursuit. Instead ask, where is the value? When we fall, ask where is the value? How can I rise, grow, adjust? That's why perspective is everything. One man or woman's business failure is the reason he says, ah, I tried, and talks

about what could have been over beer with his buddies for the next decade. Another man or woman's failure is the reason she's able to pinpoint where the problems existed and come back stronger, wiser, armed with solutions. See, these aren't wildly different circumstances or initial occurrences. What has occurred are wildly different interpretations, wildly different reactions. Trust me, I'm human. the instinct to point out at the world. To shake your fist at the sky, turn your back on the opportunity. But in truth, that's the only way to ensure values not obtained.

There's a stoic anecdote about a teacher on a boat out at sea during a storm and it's enormous, right? The waves are crashing over the side of the boat, rocking the boat back and forth. And that teacher turns pale just like a boat. everyone else. He freezes in fear just like everyone else. The only difference is the teacher is not crying out or screaming. Right? And the message here is that the initial reaction, that's human. It's human to feel anger, it's human to feel frustration, fear, doubt. The difference comes down to can you pause? Can you collect yourself and instead of immersing yourself in the emotion,

ask, what can I become from this? That is power. A relationship ended. Okay. How can I now plan to seed to greater fulfillment? The plan didn't work. Okay. Why?

What can I learn that will be advantageous on the next approach? I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Okay? Instead of thinking less of yourself or the lack of knowledge, how about appreciating the fact that you've established a foundation upon which a solution can now be sought? Losses do not exist so long as adversity is pointed out and transformed into value. And whether or not that happens is entirely up to you.

When it hurts, there is value. When you're down, there is value. There's always something so long as we learn to find it. And that's what will make all the difference. Adversity is not avoidable, but living right means knowing it can't be avoided because it's a requirement. It's from the chaos that calm and order and meaning and growth and momentum are obtained. So even though you may be tempted to turn your back to run or cry,

out when the winds are strong and the waves come crashing down on your reality, remember that you can not only withstand the disarray, but you can come out on the other side stronger. Just imagine if we implemented into our lives, all those things we already knew would make us better. Imagine if we became masters, not just of knowing, but of transforming knowledge into motion. A friend of mine, Tyler, will reach out every once in a while after listening to one of the episodes, and we'll just kind of riff back and forth on the content, chat about the overlaps, the differences. Most importantly, you know, how we can each in our own world be a little better, happier, and healthier. Tyler recently built and sold a tech company and is now transitioning into a new chapter

of his life. And in essence, starting over, which is something I can in many ways relate to. And this morning I got a voice note and said, man, imagine if we implemented wholeheartedly the things we knew to be true. Imagine if we could execute for ourselves. with the same advice that's so obvious when looking out at the world, at others. And I thought, oh, man, as someone who's spent a decade thinking and philosophizing about this stuff, this is a very real and valuable question. Not only that, sort of comes at a perfect time. And here's why.

Those of you have been listening to the channel or podcast for a long time, you know this for me has been one great adventure. Documentation of a journey. Starting with the first video I ever released, Ode to Excellence, which was essentially me promising myself just to give this creator thing a try and I'd go back to what I knew to be safe.

To videos like Running in the Rain, where I discuss my coming to understand the value of identifying as a person who does the hard thing. To speeches like, make you proud, where all I'm really doing is during hard times assuring myself that things will be fine. To more recently, we're sure I'm finally seeing some of that growth and 10 years of effort compounding, but now grappling with brand new challenges. Since day one, I've been coaching myself through the ups and the downs,

but what are these stories? What do they provide for me or for those who listen to them? Well, in a sense, they're the lessons. learned. They paint a portrait of the ideal. They're merely information. Yes, life gives you more when you ask more of life. And yes, discomfort is often the cost of admission. Yes, you can get through life's greatest storms if you take it one step at a time. And yes, the challenges we face evolve and the context changes, but we are equipped to confront and handle them. Guess what, though?

None of that information matters if we don't act on. If we're not using the past to recreate the present, those stories are my map. But even the best map in the world is meaningless unless it's being utilized. And Tyler's very simple and direct question, was valuable to me and that it did two things. First, it made me think,

Eddie, look back at your journey. Look what you've overcome. In a number of ways, you've learned. You know what needs to now be done. And simultaneously prompted me to ask. And so, now, this very moment,

what are you doing about it? I love the lesson. I think there's art in our our struggle and beauty in the overcoming of our suffering. But if all those lessons, if the ideal remains stagnant like a caged bird, what's the point? That wisdom must be set free, and that only happens with a targeted, deliberate effort. I felt this sense of excitement, in invigoration in asking myself, how can I highlight the doing?

Where can those wheels hit the road faster? How can I delve further into those very epiphanies I love to explore? Something that I'm encountering now that's both fun and challenging is the transformation from, I mean, really being a solo creator, speaking, writing, producing in his studio to seeing the process as a business owner.

to building a support structure and systematizing workflows, right? As a friend has said to me before, a little less Mickey Mouse in order to be a little more Walt Disney. And it's happening, but the truth is, right, you don't get where you're going the same way you arrived where you are. So how can the old lessons be turned into action now? Knowing my world changes the second I decide to act as like having an unused arsenal of my disposal.

Knowing my foot is barely touching the pedal is power. And we can all focus on that actualization of our knowledge. We can all ask, what's one thing I can do today that I need to? I know that I need to. Perhaps I wouldn't have, but didn't give myself a little push. I love the idea of that simple diagram, where you draw a line straight down a page, and on the left side you're listing your current obstacle.

the things that are really bothering you or the reasons you're stuck, and then on the right one single thing you're going to do about it. All it does is reinforce action, and action is everything. Because to Tyler's point, you know, I really know what needs to be done. We all really know what needs to be done. Not how things will end, or maybe what the finish line looks like, but we know now we have a gut sense of what we need to do and where the opportunity lies.

We're aware. We understand. So a world where we become masters of doing is a world where we transform beyond our wildest imagination. And the things I talk about, they can ultimately in my life become everything or wither away into nothing. They can sit there as a supposed to, an ideal, and ultimately, I wish I did. All that depends on what I do with it and how I choose to act when I'm uncomfortable, moving into a new space. The same can be said for anyone listening to this. You're equipped with at least a starting point.

You probably know what you don't like. You're probably aware of some things that must be eliminated or left behind. But knowing that is only as good as your first step. So are you willing to partake in the doing? In taking the little pieces of wisdom and breathing life into them by walking out your front door, by looking in the mirror, entrusting in your ability to adapt, to change, to grow, in a world of complexity, let's simplify. We know what must be done, so let's focus on the doing.

And on the journey, if we misstep or miss the mark, adjust and move again. because we know there's nothing more tragic than doing nothing at all. Do something today that takes an axe to the tree of stagnation. Not everything, but one thing. When you are in motion, that world seems to conform, to rearrange around you. So here's to giving life the opportunity to make that happen, to giving yourself the opportunity to experience it.

As Tyler stated, just imagine if we implemented wholeheartedly the things we knew to be true. Not kind of, or sort of, but with the same or greater intensity, and in many cases intentionality, it took to acquire the knowledge. What would that look like? Let's move now. swing away, let's uncover that world where your lessons translate to feet on the pavement and reality in the palm of your hand. We are the stories we tell ourselves. I used to tell the maybe someday story until I saw the value contained in the why not today story. I was the main character

in the how do I not mess things up story, until I pushed my way into the, how about capturing life's upside story? I believed wholeheartedly in the what will my friend's acquaintances, people I used to know, think of me's story. Before I felt the freedom of the, you don't live life for them,

you live life for you, story. My scarcity story preceded my abundance story. My bowing before the odds story preceded my simply do not stop story. My you don't deserve them story preceded my, if you're not a net positive on my life, I don't want you around story. my maybe I can be that impactful add that much value make that much money have that much fun story preceded my I'm going to do all those things now how do I arrange these pieces to support my mission story as I've grown and learned and changed so of the stories that I've told myself and I can look back and always draw a direct line from the stories I was telling and the life I was living.

We get in life what we allow and our narratives our stories happen to be the gatekeepers. If you want to change the situation, change the story, right? If you're telling yourself the world is against you, you'll live like the world is against you. If you're telling yourself the world is conspiring to help you live your best, You'll find the opportunity where you otherwise wouldn't. And you'll find it, not through magic, but because you're looking for it. It's that simple. We don't look for things that go against our narratives.

We don't seek things out that we don't believe exist. Those internal stories prompt our action, and our action changes our reality. Since finding this a few weeks ago, it's become one of my favorite ideas. Alan Watts speaking to a classroom of students, he says, when a flag is flapping in the wind, is it the wind or the flag that moves? Neither. It is the mind that moves. Our minds are moving, they are internalizing, and painting the portrait that becomes our reality. If you don't like the reality you're seeing,

guess what, it's not the world, it's how you're viewing the world, it's what you're doing about your world. And I understand how hard it can get, how we all oscillate between periods of struggle and contentment, how low the lows can feel, I get it. But the truth is the wrong stories will simply keep you down, hold you there. They'll ensure blinders stay on as life rotates around you and the opportunity dissipates.

We are the stories we tell ourselves. And that's beautiful news because it means the reflection in the mirror holds the key to transformation. Life can give you the details, the context, but it can't write the script. That, my friend, is a little. all you. It's impossible to know how the story ends. I don't think we're expected to, nor do we need to. But we do need to be willing to light up the 10 feet in front of us. We need to be willing to illuminate the now. It's how little nothings transition into those very meaningful somethings. One illuminated piece of the puzzle at a time.

They say that complexity is the enemy of progress. Things seem too big, too far away. When all the world appears dark, we pause. We become crippled by how much we don't know. We hide in the shadows of life's unknown. But I have, and hopefully will, until my final days, hold on to the idea that we have within us enough light, just enough light, to brighten up the path before us, directly in front of us.

It's always been just enough to get through anything. When the world is dark, you can't see the hand in front of your face. It will always be true that you possess the ability to cut through that darkness. to highlight the next stepping stone. There's just enough light to collect the data and information sufficient to make one more logical decision. One more. To take one shaky and uncertain step,

it's amazing what they become over time. See, I've spent some time in that metaphorical darkness. I've also been in the light. I've believed, I've had all the answers and been brutal. humbled by life. There have also been times where I bet on myself when the odds were small and emerged victorious, whether up, down, high or low, the saving grace was remembering that if I turned the light on, the headlamp initiating from my eyes and projecting out into the world, it would always provide enough for me to do perhaps the most important thing

I'm capable of doing, moving forward. There's no skipping in life, no jumping races to arrive at any particular finish line. But there is always enough to carry on. This realization has been interesting to me. Our struggle when it emerges, it's usually not derived from an inability to do the right thing. It's not like we're missing something. Now our struggle comes from thinking we need more than we do. It's frustration that our goals are so big and so far away and so out of reach.

We lose sight of what we can control, blinded by a standard that no human can live up to. Stop beating yourself up for not being a god. No mere mortal ever leapt a mountain. Everything is not the goal. One thing is the goal and you are capable of one thing. Everyone is capable of one thing. One little action to initiate momentum and push you further into that unknown. But where?

You might wonder, I need to know where. To which I say, breathe. Because the wares make themselves known when you're in motion. As you move forward, the wrong destinations. prompt you to learn and then self-correct. And the right ones inspire you to push further in their direction. Both valuable, right? The only way to lose is not go.

The only way to lose is to say, because I don't have it all figured out, I'll remain right here. Like a toddler refusing to put a puzzle together because he can't see the completed mural in each individual piece. The whole point is to put it together. The fun is to put it together, the growth, and the value isn't putting it together.

And I get it. We want to know, right? Humans want to know. That's why evolving is hard. We have to be okay with not knowing. And that's what life is about, formulating your hypothesis, and then letting the data derive from your progress alter your approach. That data is not gifted to you while you stand stacked. So the question is, will you sign that dotted line?

The one that says, when you can't see the mountaintop, what you will be left with is solely trust in yourself that you can bring it about. It's easy to say yes when the sky is blue and the birds are singing. But amidst the storms, when your mind begins to whisper that perhaps it will never end, When it begins to ask you if there was ever even a point, after all, look around, there's nothing but gray. That is when you have to remember the rules of the game. That's when you have to remind yourself, it's not about knowing, it's about trusting, about creating puzzle pieces, not finishing murals. Anyone can create just one puzzle piece.

and then just one more, and just one more. Because yes, it's difficult, as is life. But you'll remember why, as you move into the storm, and watch all those little pieces connect around you. Find something to make yours. I connect every few months with some of my good friends to strategize, kind of reflect back on the previous quarter plan for the new one, with each of our businesses, kind of share ideas, stuff like that.

And I was chatting with my friend Keith about life before he found success in what he's doing now, the struggle and the turbulence he faced, as well as ultimately his decision, and that's entirely what it was, to turn things around. And I've talked about his backstory before, so I'm not going to get too much into it, but essentially he grew up in a very negative environment. Dealt with a ton of adversity, but got through it. Started his own national business, installing and repairing commercial pizza ovens,

and the guy's just crushing. And, you know, our conversation in that moment wasn't so much about the doing. It was more on the overcoming and how mentally we had to recreate ourselves to have any chance of moving beyond what we knew. I've talked about it a little before. Kids are simply not taught in school how to thrive, how to build, how to ask more of themselves in the world.

They're taught to follow instructions, to do what they need to do in order to pass the exam, to progress to the next level. Then there's a gray area, because I'm not saying this is totally valueless, but I am saying that anything beyond that requires a reworking of sorts. You ask anyone who stepped out of that cycle, and they'll tell you the mental and psychological, shift that needed to take place, it was almost overwhelming, right? It's a lot, but it's imperative. I recently looked up the word entrepreneurship, and this is the definition. The activity of setting up a business or businesses taking on financial risk in the hope of profit. And in my mind, it is the risk precisely that's challenging, that brings us so much pain, but also contains within it the reward.

It's one of the craziest dilemmas we face. You know, you'll have to endure some of the worst times of your life, but because of that, you'll get to experience highs that would otherwise have been almost completely improbable. We have to rework the thinking that says discomfort equals run away. It's like, no, discomfort equals the price of something better, and sure it's by no means mandatory. but it's where the upside lives.

You have to train yourself to step out into the chaos with the expectation of taming it. And yeah, everything could go wrong, but also everything could go right. And just imagine. Imagine what that would look like. That possibility alone validates the risk. We just need to convince ourselves. And that risk, by the way, is not just financial. In fact, most of the time it's not. It takes a variety of shapes in our lives.

You run the race, you risk losing. You go up and talk to the girl. You risk rejection. You pick up and move somewhere new. You risk winding up somewhere you don't want to be. And maybe temporarily things do fall apart. But maybe you win the race. Maybe you find the love of your life.

Maybe you relocate to the happiest place you've ever called home. Calculated risk is the beginning of everything that matters. And so back to the convo. We were talking about the different risks we've taken. How some chapters were fun, some were challenging, and some were both. And how, for me, there was even, from time to time, a conversation where I was asking myself, whether it was really worth it. You know, when you're uncomfortable, the mind wants to do one thing.

Get rid of the discomfort. And I had to convince myself, remind myself, that I'm someone who risks good to pursue great. Risk hurts. And somewhere in that conversation was when Keith said, he remembers the exact point the risk became worth it. The discomfort became easier to manage. We're so used to taking it.

orders to playing scared that the incentive just wasn't there until Keith's words, it became mine. The most invigorating thing he ever did was find a pursuit to call his own. That's powerful. His business injected him with a new energy and in essence a new life because he suddenly had a stake in the game. And I think that's what so many of us in so many areas are missing. The risk appears bigger when it's not counterbalanced by something meaningful. So find something to make yours. The simplicity there is beautiful. Complex ideas expressed in simple ways are always worth holding on to, right?

We are programmed to lose because we are programmed to live according to someone else's standard, to think small, to ask ourselves how do we not screw up? But when you can step outside that little self-imposed circle, and instead ask yourself what's something I can create that is my own, something I care about, that I can nurture, invest a part of me into. That's when life really starts paying dividend. You're not existing, you're living. Or as I've recently discussed, you're empowering yourself to not just sit in the room,

but be in the room fully. I use entrepreneurship as the model for this discussion because that's been such a huge part of my life where I've been injecting my time and attention and yeah, risk. But the point is not that everyone needs to stop what they're doing and become an entrepreneur, that's one path of many, obviously. The point is that there is a risk-reward dynamic in entrepreneurship that we should all understand, extract, and inject into our own lives

where it best applies. We've learned to settle in so many ways that we must know there is tremendous value in asking, what is it in my life I want to invest in? Make mine. Give myself the opportunity to experience the excitement of defining the things I care about and watching them grow.

Whether your current arena is entrepreneurship or motherhood, fatherhood, academics, a particular relationship, some combination of these, or anything else. To make magic out of the mundane requires we first make it ours. We take ownership, responsibility for the journey, we accept the risk and chase down the rewards. You can do amazing things when you realize what you're capable of and commit to its manifestation. So in a world where, yes, we are conditioned to fail, step out from those subtle shackles of learned helplessness. You are anything but helpless.

It's just that you've yet to reach out and pull your dreams into your orbit. You've yet to put a stake in the ground and say this matters and it's time to see it through. Because once you do that, the good stuff begins. Here's to going even when you don't want to go. To moving forward when you're uncomfortable, to stepping up when you're fearful. Here's to courage. I was talking to a friend of mine earlier today about understanding the difference between two things. On one hand, the fear that presents itself when we're growing, leveling up.

Like we've all felt nerves before a big event or an important. important life change, things like that. Then on the other hand, the emotions that arise when we start to feel like something isn't right for us, similar discomfort, but not quite the same. We feel nervous or uneasy because we know we're misaligned. And where we landed in our conversation was that when you were on the edge of that metaphorical cliff, and your body's pushing back, your heart's pounding, your mind is racing, you're nervous, you're fearful. The question worth asking is will I be disappointed in myself if I don't go through with this?

Will I be letting myself down here by turning back? You have to jump into the future and imagine, you know, future you sitting at the table reflecting on this. If you see yourself as regretful, wishing you pushed through, then it's not an alignment issue. It's a matter of courage. And when you think about it, it usually feels obvious. looking back. Like I can easily recognize in hindsight the things I stopped doing because they weren't aligned with who I wanted to be. When you stop doing the wrong thing, it feels like a breath of fresh air. Like a step back to leap forward. Those decisions create a more fulfilled life. But those times I stopped

because I let the moment get bigger than my end goal. Those times I caved and decided I didn't want to pay the price solely because of the temporary discomfort. I remember those two. That's a different feeling altogether, a not so good feeling as we all know. Jim Rohn says it like this. There's a pain of discipline or a pain of regret. Choose your pain.

One of the things that makes life challenging is that we have to be open to some level of discomfort in our lives. That's just what it is to be human. Now our power is that we get to choose where we let that pain in and what it means, what it will do for us? Will it be the type of pain that grows us or the type of pain that reminds us what could have been? And I really think most of the time we stop, not because the path was wrong for us, but because we somewhere along the way forgot that most of life's best experiences and circumstances and opportunities

come with a hefty price tag. They demand a lot of us. And in those moments when the lights shine the brightest, when we feel the weight of the world coming down on us, it's easy to misdiagnose that discomfort as a stop sign. It's like, oh, I feel alone, I feel unsure, I don't have any validation, my pride hurts, my confidence is shaken, whatever it may be. These things just, you know, even as I'm saying them out loud now seem awful. When in reality, they're just,

The cost of admission. It's like you have to not know before you can ever know. But try telling yourself that as you're wandering around feeling nothing but pressure. It's a different story altogether. It's a challenge. But here's the good news. It's a challenge you're capable of handling, of overcoming. Life is about stepping into things we don't feel ready for.

And then learning repeatedly. that we can piece together the knowledge along the way. It reminds us that fear is going to show up regardless of what we do in life. But to grow into the people we are capable of becoming, we have to understand that fear is in its own unique way an invitation. The discomfort doesn't mean something's wrong. Often the opposite. It's letting you know that more is available.

that you are right where you need to be, but you have to change in order to become worthy of what's on the other side. Life is not saying no, it's merely demanding of you courage, and courage you have. I was having dinner not too long ago with a friend of mine. I see him as somewhat of a mentor as well. He's a bit older as a couple decades on me as an entrepreneur. and we were talking about personal development,

different ways to invest in yourself, what has the most ROI kind of throwing ideas back and forth. And I started talking about different coaches I've linked up with some of my observations on that. And he jumped right into this story, says Eddie, way back in the day, I paid a huge amount of money to spend the weekend with someone that I had,

as an entrepreneur, as a business mind, with the intent to learn about him, his systems, his approach to his business and life, the whole thing. It was basically an investment into my journey. And he went on to say, I arrived for the weekend. Didn't take me long to feel completely underwhelmed, completely let down. Everything about the guy in his organization was sloppy, nothing seemed to be methodical, very little was extremely. extraordinary or groundbreaking, he said, I couldn't believe it, you know, especially after tens of thousands of dollars spent, right? He spent a lot of money. Couldn't believe that someone he looked up to it, so little to offer. And I'm sitting there just kind of like a wide-eyed.

Like, oh, man, and almost instinctively, I said, man, you must have been so angry. And he goes in this cheerful voice, oh, I wasn't angry at all. This is a direct quote. He says, it was the best money I've ever spent in my life. I said, oh yeah, how? He says, it was that day I learned that, hey, if this clown can do it, if this guy can pull it off, what in the world is stopping me? What's my excuse?

Basically said that day has been directly correlated to the success he's had since. Wow. Right? To which I responded, hey, thank you for the theme to what will become this Monday's YouTube video, right? Because the world needs to hear this message. So many of us need this. There's a tendency to put other people, people we don't know, people we know nothing about, right, on a pedestal, and see ourselves as perpetual outsiders looking in.

this notion that they have what I don't. When so often that thing they have is simply, even solely, self-belief. I know so many competent people that second-guess themselves out of starting or growth or progress. They see their inadequacies as substantially greater than their strengths. They don't go because they contemplate. They don't speak because they internalize. They don't create because they worry. And it's like if you don't, someone else will.

And that someone else could very easily be less suited for the job. But they did the thing that you wouldn't. The thing, as it turns out, that matters most. They trusted themselves to give it a shot. They understood that nothing starts, until one looks in the mirror and believes in the pair of eyes staring back. And I look back and it just all makes perfect sense. You know, I think of the frustration in my parents' faces when I was a kid.

It would say, I can't do that. It was the frustration of people who care deeply about me watching me get in my own way. Yes, you can, Eddie, you are the one stopping you. You know, my grandfather's saying everyone puts their pants on one leg at a time. No one is that special. And I think it's a critical reminder. It's not to say that success isn't warranted, that people who have done great things aren't qualified or talented or haven't earned it.

No, not at all. The opposite, in fact. Time plus effort plus consistency tends to land people in pretty remarkable places. But it's like, no one takes that path or starts that journey unless they see this. themselves as worthy of it until they give themselves permission. It makes you wonder how many people are simply too intimidated to lace up their shoes and walk out the front door. Don't even give it the thought.

Hey, that's someone else's reality. I'm confined to this space right here. Think back to the early days of any incredible transformation. Right, I'm gonna use a pretty cliche. example, but I think it will do a great job of demonstrating my point. Think back to Michael Jordan playing JV basketball in high school, his sophomore year because he didn't make the varsity team. Okay? And at that point, if he was looking for evidence as to why he wasn't quite good enough, there it was. He could have easily found it. Not skilled enough, not quick enough, lacks vision.

Certainly, as his coach pointed out, not tall enough, right? What in the way? What in the way? gave him the right, despite his circumstances, to think he was good enough to ultimately play at a high level. Who gave him permission to be that guy? He did. And it's just that. We don't see or think about any of that now. We see the NBA legend, the greatest ever, forgetting that at one point, he wasn't.

And his life continuously consisted of crossroads where he had to bet on himself. times where instead of accepting outcomes that weren't ideal, he sacrificed. He said, I do not accept that. He put in ours, which is a concept that we take for granted, right? People don't sacrifice unless they believe something will come from the blood, sweat, and tears. He believed that it would. You have to believe that it will as well. In fact, your life, if you started right now, made a little dot or mark on the present moment,

then you could live two simultaneous existences at once. One track where you saw yourself as something extraordinary and sought to live that out. And the other track, where the same you saw greatness as some intimidating, larger than life, reality reserved for other people. the few. You viewed yourself as an outsider. Average, incapable, undeserving. The difference between where those tracks would end up would be worlds apart. Again, because humans follow through on who they believe themselves to be.

We don't do things unless we believe they're possible. We don't sacrifice unless there's some sort of delayed gratification. We don't climb unless there exists a sense. summit. What makes life both beautiful and mysterious is that we have to arrive at those outcomes before they exist. As Babe Ruth famously said in that article in the 1940s, it's hard to beat a person who never gives up. And it's hard to beat them because they believe themselves worthy of what they are chasing. So when will you? When will you find yourself worthy of that next level? When will you find yourself worthy of the financial success, the physique, the significant other,

growth in your business? When will you let yourself be more or different or happy or whatever it is that seems just outside the scope of your reality? This world is built by people who understood what they wanted and granted themselves the freedom to pursue it. No superhuman strength required to place greater value on yourself. No record-breaking IQ necessary to live life on your terms, just a choice. Truly a decision. And sure, it will be strange and awkward at first. You'll feel like an imposter in your own body at times.

After all, getting what you've never had means doing what you've never done. But this is par for the crux. course this is life and life cannot give you what you don't ask for you can't arrive at a destination you're not traveling you can't be who you don't believe you're capable of becoming so know that that aforementioned reflection in the mirror has a depth to it that must be explored And that what separates immobility from infinity is the understanding that, hey, if it's possible, then it is most definitely possible for me. You know, one of the hardest things to do is to walk away from a situation that's just okay.

That's fine, it's doable, livable. there's an idea that the enemy of great isn't its inverse. The enemy of great is not average or insignificant or, I don't know, throw in any similar word. No, the enemy of great is good. Why? Because it's incredibly easy to rationalize good. It's incredibly easy to sit back and tell yourself, hey, things aren't currently broken. so why touch them, leave it alone. It's why it's a dangerous place to be.

Comfort doesn't, on its own, initiate action or evolution. There has to be some sort of stressor to ignite the flame. And I'll get a response, you know, every now and then, truly in good faith, asking, well, what's wrong with average? Why can't I just be? Not everyone can be LeBron James or Adele or Denzel. Zelle Washington. Eddie, this convo sends people down a path of false hope. Well, hear me out, because I'm certainly not saying everyone can be LeBron James, but they can most definitely be LeBron

James in their own world, and instead are settling for some sort of bench roll. I'm not saying if you're not a movie star making $20 million a film you've lost, a mirror. I'm merely, really pointing out that perhaps you haven't even found the courage to star in your own movie, the one that is your life. And I can't speak for every human being on the planet here, but I most certainly can speak for myself. The easiest thing for me, the temptation I always find myself grappling with, is the temptation to stay where I am. To accept things as they are, pass change off as something that's just a little bit out of my control.

that's what my lizard brain always seems to want. It's really nice to not have to feel the burden of knowing I can change things around me. That prospect of creating my own friction, my own chaos, so that I can, in a sense, tame it and elevate myself. That can be overwhelming. That's stressful. But you know what it is at the end of the day? It's thrilling. It's meaningful.

And it may have taken me. me years to understand, but I'd trade a safe life for a meaningful one any day. It was my coming to understand that statistically we should not be here. The odds are so small that you're alive listening to this, that the word improbability doesn't do it justice. It's a miracle in every sense of the word, and so what do we do about that? How do you explain a feeling? How do you explain the cost of not going, of fewer sunrises, less laughter, untapped creativity? Unwalked paths, journeys never started.

You can't. Which is why you have to go. Good is not detrimental because it's insufficient. It's detrimental because it gives you just enough to make stepping out into the world feel illogical. It's a warm blanket keeping you comfortable enough to forfeit that feeling you truly crave. And I hope it's clear my take in this is not that we aren't enough. It's that we have to be reminded that our biological compass points towards survival. And survival is a game of stagnation.

Our souls, on the other hand, they need to run. To seek out the magnificence of life. And the more times we can be tapped on the shoulder and reminded of this, the better. See, I don't dream of new horizons because I'm ungrateful. I've learned to chase them down because I'm so grateful that I refuse to forfeit the gift. To leave my curiosity packaged and confined, I want to bask in life's abundance before my time here is up. And that's just it.

That's the whole point. The friction between the knowing and the doing. Making that happen, physically bringing yourself there. It's not an easy thing. Certainly not as easy as putting your feet up and rationalizing the status quo. That's why I listen to voices that inspire me, read stories that teach me, I talk to people who lift me up. Going is harder than staying, but meaning resides in the going.

So no, it's not about being LeBron James. It's about getting off the bench and at least shooting a shot. Whatever a shot means to you, wherever you are. Because if you don't, you'll never experience the thrill of having made one, of having felt that success. It's not about what you're doing. It's about what you're leaving on the table. Is average terrible?

I don't know. Is a Ferrari never taken out of its garage terrible? Not really, it's still a Ferrari, but it won't experience the very thing that Ferrari was designed to experience. Again, how do you quantify that? You can't. Not until you go. So here's the stepping out of whatever the present definition of normalcy is in your world.

Maybe not frantically changing the world around you, but certainly questioning the good, questioning yourself, questioning the rogeron. Has the routine overshadowed the reason you put the routine into place? Has the way things are come to outweigh the way you'd like them to be? Has good become a distraction, misdirecting you away from both life's brilliance and your own? The other day, I heard someone say that they've found some of the most important things in their life. in places where 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. 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 to's 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 cruxed. 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 survival. which we are 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. And 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 lived there. But I 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 everyday life? I love the notion that there's always more 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 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 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. 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 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 Tolley 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. But 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.

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, that 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, that you're If mountaintops were the goal, we wouldn't climb, we would get dropped by helicopter. This journey, with all its ups and downs, his 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. The Rose said that most men lead lives of quiet desperation and go to the grave with the song still in me. Probably an astute observation as most death is potential put to rest. Most stories were stories about what could have been. Perhaps simply because it's easier on the ego to talk about what life could have looked like if you cared enough to shape it than to have actually put skin in the game and fallen short.

But there lies the misconception. To step into life's chaos with the hopes of taming it is why we're here. And yeah, obviously it hurts to fail. It hurts to be vulnerable, to put yourself out there. Especially when it seems as though all eyes are on you. But that hurt is a fraction of the hurt the road describes. Falling hurts, but it hurts less than wishing you had the courage to fall. Ridicule, it hurts.

But it hurts less than being the one on the sidelines, pointing the finger and simultaneously longing for the courage to take action in their own life. What keeps us from going? What keeps us from building? building. We know life is short. We know regret is the ultimate pain. We know how much opportunity is out there. So why? Why would we not go? Why would we designate dreaming to sleep? In his famous man in the arena speech, Teddy Roosevelt said this. It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming. But who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at worst if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor to.

defeat. No one who is content in their own life will go out of their way to bring you now. There was never a critic deeply immersed in their own journey who took the time to mock or scoff at the man in the arena. I think our fear is pointed in the wrong direction. It shouldn't be concentrated on or focused on the opinions of those who have not yet themselves walked through those doors. doors. No, the fear should be letting life go by without ourselves walking through. The fear should be contributing to Thoreau's statistic of quiet desperation. The one most men face. But you are not most men or most women.

Not because you were given some special power or status, But because you decided, you can choose not to be like most people. Basic math, taking into account the number of people in the stands versus the number of people on the stage or court or in the arena, well, it tells a tale of courage. Anyone can sit in the stands. Anyone can. Anyone can from the nosebleeds decide whether to clap or point or boo or cheer. but who suits up and enters the game? Who looks at the finitude of life and says,

this is my reason to start building, to put it all on the line? Because if I fail, it will mean I was one of the few who looked around and said, this isn't bigger than I am. This world is not predefined, It's being built in real time by those willing to walk through the doors and step into the arena. Not the critics, but the doers.

And look, everyone has a thing, right? I don't know what that thing is for you, but you do. You probably think about it all the time. Dream about it every day. You probably know it's where your heart is pulling you. Do not let your life become a detective. Don't you dare go to that graveyard having been someone who held on tighter to excuses than to what mattered most in your life. So go.

Step into the arena and if they point, let them point. If they criticize, let them criticize. Your concern isn't with those wishing they had the courage to step through those doors themselves. It's not about them, it's about you. It's about understanding the beauty and the opportunity and the freedom contained in life. For those who find the courage to reach out and take it. The saying goes, sometimes success is simply hanging on when others would be letting go. And that's it, holding on.

I've spent a lot of time focusing on what I need to do, worrying about what must happen in order to bridge the gap. But there comes a point where the difference comes down to what you won't do, what I refuse to do, where the true victory will be not in saying yes, but in saying no. Simply standing tall when the world demands I bow down, Success will be predicated upon where I build and defend my walls, refusing to be intimidated by the road ahead.

I've actually come face to face with this adversary before. In fact, I meet him almost every day. And not on accident. I hunt him despite his strength. I pursue him. even though he has the potential to harm. I do this again and again. Now certainly sometimes amidst the turbulence,

I lose myself. Forget. Maybe ask myself why. What a strange dotted line to sign, right? Why volunteer to fight this battle? The questions will bounce around in my head momentarily. But ultimately, I remember why. I sign up to face this demon because if I can beat him, I can beat anyone.

In fact, if I can learn to consistently show up and prevail here, the rest of the world becomes a lot less intimidating. Little pawns on my chestboard, if I prevail here, I become the type of person who prevails, period. There's power in that. You seek out the monster to destroy the monster. And in doing so, reminds yourself that destroying monsters is what you do. Life is full of them. In fact, we can't help but come into contact with them as we ascend to greater things.

But those moments end up being much bigger than we may have initially expected. It's during these confrontations that we map out our understanding, of the world, it's here we decide which rules govern our existence. See, when we seek out, confront and defeat our monsters, two things happen. We show ourselves, one, that we can, and two, that it's who we are. So, you finish the dance with your demons. Conquer them, reach your finish line, take off those running shoes, decompress, and And that's that.

So you think. But life says, no, not so fast. It says just because you're not running or in self-initiated combat with the monsters of your choosing doesn't mean they go away. It doesn't mean life is going to be smooth sailing. No, sorry, this world is tough. It's ups and its downs. and those who successfully navigate its turbulence must be capable of handling that.

And so the question inevitably becomes, are you? Are you capable of handling that? And there might be a world where you're unsure, but in this world, you've seen too much. You've earned your confidence. There was nothing trivial about all those steps you've taken, all those footprints in the sand footsteps on the pavement. You weren't learning to win a race.

You were learning to win at life. You were teaching yourself that context aside, things you don't love will from time to time be dropped in front of you. And when the inclination is to run or retreat, you won't be lured in by fears false promises. Temporary discomforts. Because the world has been dropped in front of you before and you've found your way through it. When life feels like it's collapsing in on you, the walls crumbling down. The instinct is to let all the destruction impact yourself work.

to see it as an indictment or referendum on you as a person. But no, you've felt the walls crumbling before, and all you did was run harder. When it hurt, you wrote. When you were tired, you found more. Your suffering mile after mile was not an indication that you weren't enough. It was merely an invitation to be better. better. After all, that's how you defeated those monsters time and time again. So here's to all those

monsters we will face in life. The ones we seek out and the ones we don't, the ones we plan for and the unexpected, they're all the same. They all have the same vulnerability, same kryptonite, your mind. And your exposure time and time again. to the self-induced depths of hell has made you invincible. The world only stops people who know no better, who haven't seen themselves brush up against the demons who stand guard protecting those coveted finish lines, but you have.

And where many bow down and declare their discomfort a catastrophe, you smile to yourself and call it just another Tuesday. It's been said that humans always follow through on who they believe themselves to be. Well, you have made yourself in your mind a slayer of dragons, conqueror of worlds, and that's why those steps matter. That's why all this matters. So next time you go hunting for that overly ambitious adversary of yours, and you've

find yourself face to face with him, tired, weak, maybe even temporarily unsure, remind yourself why you're here. Remind yourself that each step forward is a proclamation to the world, that it's not about the here and now, it's about life. It's about defining who you are and ripping apart the world's limitations one by one. If you move forward here, You move forward anywhere. If you stand tall now, you bow to no one. And when the time comes, life hands you its problems and its obstacles, you'll stack them up and stand upon them.

And so it's into the darkness of night. The chaos of battle you go. Because that is... was and always will be who you are. Came across a quote recently that said the road to success is dotted with many tempting parking spaces. I thought this demonstrated or captured a realization that's pretty hard to articulate. And that is just how tempting it is to rationalize stopping or discontinuing your journey when life gets tough. How much sense it always makes to want to call it quits when things get uncomfortable.

It's like it's not just that doing something valuable is hard. It's that it's hard and every three feet there's an invitation to not have to do it anymore. There's an endless supply of exit signs and escape routes. Therefore, accomplishing a goal is simultaneously saying yes to the challenging things, while also saying no to the comfortable things. It's fighting off two demons at once. The good news, though, is that you were made to do just that.

You just have to change the way you internalize the process. You have to change what you see along the way. I talk a lot about perfection as the enemy. And that's something I wholeheartedly believe to be true, But I generally talk about it in the context of perfection keeping us from starting. Right? I try and unveil perfection as this defense mechanism that it truly is. Oh, things aren't perfect.

I'll wait. Things aren't exactly where I want them to be. Then I won't go. Emphasizing that it's in going that perfection is crafted, like a statue being chiseled from stone. You fall, you get back up and find that in doing so, you end up with a little more clarity than you had when you started. You let the trials and tribulations of the journey refine the product. And so that's the beginning, right?

That's finding the courage to start, removing the idea of perfect, when really it's just our fears masked. But what about when you've already started? What about when you're underway, when you're in the midst of those trials and tribulations? Because we all know this. When you're in pain, your body wants one thing to remove yourself from the pain. When things are uncomfortable, your default is to seek out those aforementioned parking spaces. Reprieve from the grasp of the unknown. things aren't perfect then I'm done here things feel awkward or uncomfortable

or unclear then why bother but I want to do right now is make the argument that it's most important to continue forward when we're in these moments it's most critical to move forward when the road is unclear and those tempting parking spaces start revealing themselves things are not perfect maybe even far from perfect And this is right about the time when we forget why we started. I've run into this in my past, right, particularly with injuries. There was a period in my not too distant past when my ankle and shoulder were simultaneously messed up, right? So couldn't run, couldn't really do any upper body work.

My physical activity really took a dive. Right, so I'm a little discouraged. And sure enough, I found the eat whatever you want. parking space. It's like, who cares? You're not working out. What's the point? Just focus on the business. Put a pause on all that stuff. And then eating whatever I wanted became, well, what's the point of getting up at five when I could just get up at seven? I sleep two hours longer is how I rationalize it. It's not like I'm going to be running. And then there goes some very important alone time, thinking time, and you can see how easily the wheels sort of fall off the wagon.

Not because you're a bad person or don't want the result, but because the second thing stop being perfect or working the way I wanted them to, I found a parking space. There will be few stretches of time in life when everything's perfect. Things going exactly how you want them to. It will simply be the exception, not the rule. And then the question becomes, can you put your head down and continue for? forward knowing that life will call for adaptation and adjustment. But that those tempting exit signs are not for you.

They are weakness. They are for those who forget their strength and their courage. I mentioned a little while ago that growth is fighting two demons, saying yes to the mountain ahead and no to the off-rams. But when you step back and look at things different, you're going to you. You change the dynamic. You put the odds in your favor. When the off ramps become reminders of your strength

as you pass them one by one, indicators of your commitment to move forward. And when the mountain ahead becomes merely the way, not some giant sacrifice or monster, but merely a path, things simplify in a way that empowers you on your mission. There is no perfect or imperfect. There is adjusting when necessary and taking the next little step along the way.

And using the previous example, it's like, I'm injured, okay? This will definitely be a time for adjustment. Maybe it's yoga, stretching, practicing being more patient, maybe greater emphasis on meditation, mental strength, whatever it is, but we don't stop. We continue stepping forward. The next step will look a little different, but that's all. If perfect is a standard one seeking to maintain, they'll always be pulling over, they'll always be backing off because very rarely do we have stretches of perfection.

Life is an adjustment game, not a perfection game. Life asks, what can you do when your hands are tied behind? your back. What can you do when you're tired? What can you do when you've just endured loss? When your pride hurts, your plans fail. And trust me, that's when you see all those off-ramps. That's when something in the back of your mind says, hey, all this goes away if you just throw in the towel. Just go seek perfection somewhere else. You'll find it there. But you can chase that rabbit down a million paths, there is no perfection waiting for you and there is no flawless pursuit. Life comes down to what will you do now? Where you are with what you have, can you find a way

to win when it hurts? Look, we all need to understand that life is innately difficult. And success calls for a simplification that is adapting and stepping forward. That's all. Things are hard, you step. Things don't go as you planned, you adapt, and you step. But you are always moving towards that North Star, whatever it is for you. It's deeming those parking spaces insignificant with regard to your life and your journey. Quitting is not brought about by the external world. No failure is a danger. decision. Failure is saying, you know what, this costs more effort than I'm willing to pay. Those parking spaces have become more tempting than the top of this mountain. Failure is a choice.

And so, for one to succeed, they must simply stay in motion. Choose adaptation over a self-imposed end. Yeah, enjoy those moments of perfection. The time, the stars do align. But see them as the exception, not the rule. We are not defined when things are great. We are defined by our ability to pick up the pieces and keep moving forward when they're not. Our lives are shaped by the exits.

We don't take the parking spaces. We don't even notice as we ascend the mountain that is life. Because anything other than the road ahead, was never an option. You didn't succeed because things were perfect. You succeeded because you found a way to win when they weren't. The other day, I went to check out an open mic. And basically people sign up to share their short stories, their poetry, stuff like that.

And I'm sitting there soaking it all in, enjoying each one as they went up on stage. And eventually this girl makes her way up. The first thing she does is she tells the room, hey, I've never done this before, but I've always wanted to, so here I am. She takes out her phone and begins reading some of her poems. And pretty quickly, two things stuck out to me. One is she was brilliant.

It's just so incredibly talented that I'm thinking, man, if she keeps doing this, she's going to find herself in some crazy, easy places. She's really going to make an impact. That was the first thing and the second, as I sat there and watched, was that I noticed that her hands were visibly shaking. I was pretty close to this stage. And I could see this happening to the point where she had to place one on top of the other, right, to keep the hand that was holding her phone from bouncing around while she read. That's how visibly nervous she was. And immediately my mind went

down this road, reflecting back on the moment I've had it. just like that because, man, I've been there where you're both determined and terrified at the same time, but somehow the desire to try outweighs the fear just enough for you to find yourself in that exact situation. Just enough that you step into a foreign world, still wondering whether you made the right move, you know, every step of the way from the car, the building onto this stage until you hit the point where, okay, well, now you can't turn back. Now you're here. You can't leave.

And the thing is, and this is what was so beautiful to me, she was never forced to do this at gunpoint. No one made her step into that chaos. It was self-created. She could have stayed home. She could have closed her journal or the notes app on her phone, and that would have been the end of that. But no, not today. Today, one yes would lead to another, would lead to another and another, and despite the nerves, the sweaty palms and shaky hands, she would open a new chapter in the story of her life. Proved to herself that she's bolder than she thought she was just a few hours

ago that there's upside when you confront those unknowns in life and as I sat and watched I was so incredibly moved so proud so impressed partly because I know that to many of the people in that room it might not have looked like much you know it's like okay great round of applause for the new artist or poet welcome but I knew the gravity of the moment I understood how big it truly was in regards regardless of what words came out of her mouth or how well they were assembled. That night was not about the performance. No, it was about new beginnings.

It was about outstretched wings, opening one's eyes to the learned helplessness and pinpointing the opportunity that was simply waiting for that first step to occur. And see, that's what I want to emphasize. That's what I believe every single one of us needs to understand, to fully get the biggest moves we make in life, well it's easy to convince ourselves that they aren't necessary or worth it. The things that transform us hide themselves.

A lot of the time they don't feel urgent, they aren't life or death decisions. They can be the stages we never step on, the people we never talk to, the chances we never because, well, what happens if we simply stay right where we are? Say thank you, but no thank you to those fleeting opportunities. Nothing. Nothing happens, more of the same, and realistically nothing is far less scary than all that other stuff. We don't fear nothingness. We don't intrinsically fear more of the same. No, we fear stepping onto the same. stepping onto the stage, we fear vulnerability, we fear messing up, looking stupid, being judged.

And yeah, when you do nothing, you get to skip all that, avoid all that discomfort and that potential pain. But you also miss the feeling of victory. Of closing your eyes at night knowing how badly you wanted to just let that ship sail, how terrified you were about what could go wrong, but you did it anyway. You get to feel you have earned the rush of stepping into a chaotic world. And even if temporarily, you tamed it.

That's what life is about. Always remember that we have a natural proclivity to avoid pain, not to pursue the things that make us feel alive. Deep down in our DNA, there exist instructions, instructions to run away from the things that could hurt us, embarrass us. Our minds will race, our bodies will kick and scream, our hands will shake, that's just the way it goes. And so we prove to ourselves that it's all conquerable, that reality can be relearned. It's a layer of resistance that has to be faced and then dismantled.

Why was I so moved that night? Because I got to watch in real time someone dismantling that fear on their way to something incredible. It's courage. Stepping into the arena. Not for the people next to you or anyone else, but for you. Because you know there's more. You know that where you are pales in comparison to where you can be. I'm definitely one to look back from time to time and reflect, and I'll tell you what,

I'm incredibly thankful for the hard times that shaped me, the challenges that were forced upon me and made me who I am. But beyond that, and perhaps even more so, the times I stepped out on my own accord, terrified and manufactured change, the times that the fear of staying the same eclipsed the fear of failure. The times I could have stayed home, woken up the next morning and lost nothing, but instead saw what there was to be gained and threw myself into that metaphorical fire so that confidence could be forged and new chapters could be written.

Let's all remember how out of focus the present most. moment looks. Remember how inclined we are to look at life through a lens of scarcity. We are trying to avoid, avoid, avoid. But if you can even briefly find the strength to step back and ask, what is there to be gained? You see that not going is the real danger. And those stages that seem arbitrary, that seem like optional, stops along the way while they're just as imperative as the air you breathe. They are not some things, they are everything. We all hit a point where we look back on the roads we traveled and see the culmination

of footsteps that have come to constitute our lives. And we want that moment to feel full. Like no stone was left unturned, like we put it all on the line. So will you step onto this stage of life? Stand your ground as the curtain opens, read your poems to a foreign audience. Will you share your voice even though it trembles? Because if you do, you're giving yourself permission to truly live, to feel. Look, we're not here for a long time.

This is a very short ride. So why not give as much of yourself to the world for as long as you possibly can? Why not step out knowing that the difference between nothing and everything is what you do with shaky hands? What is failure? Perhaps when the plan falls apart? Maybe when the project results are underwhelming. No, not quite.

When your heart breaks, momentum stops when your world is shaken at its foundation. No, to put it simply, failure is not going. Failure is the plan never falling apart because you were too scared to make one. Failure is never being underwhelmed by the results of that project because you couldn't find the courage to start. Failure is no heartbreak, no setbacks, no challenge to your worldview, because you stood still. I see life's disappointing occurrences as a sort of transaction, some temporary discomfort, in exchange for the very wisdom you were looking for placed in the palm of your hand. You endure the pain to get the answers.

You accept chaos today in exchange for the map that enables you to navigate the terrain. How can something be a failure if it places you right where you need to be? How can something be a failure if it brings you closer to the life you dream? Maybe we don't look at life as failure versus success, but rather as being stagnant versus being in motion, immobile versus mobile. Maybe it's that simple. If you are moving, regardless of how fast you're giving yourself a chance to overcome, to collect wisdom and pick up armor. You're giving yourself a chance to be more tomorrow than you are today. And that means we stop accepting the notion that we are standing still for our benefit.

Justifying that we're only stationary because we're waiting for the right moment. We're here because we need this to be perfect. No, there are a million different ways to get what you want out of life. a million different paths to get you there, none of them require standing still. I already cringe at the amount of time I've wasted waiting for the right time. How I would sit on releasing this or starting that. Oh, it's because I'm a perfectionist, only to learn that perfectionism is really just fear in disguise. You can sit there and wait and refine.

and refine and refine. But I'll tell you what, the one who moves, who creates, shares, collects feedback, adjusts, and repeats will have achieved that level of quote unquote perfection before you feel prepared to acknowledge and share your prototype. It was simply by going that evolution took place. And it took me a long time to grasp this, to understand it, And a part of me didn't want to believe it.

Because I found it inherently uncomfortable, but life rewards the bold. It always has and always will. Calling for a sort of calculated recklessness. Great things are achieved by doers who can put their egos aside and let the world humble them on their way. way to the next attempt. In Ron Chernoe's biography on Washington, one of the common themes, which I believe made Washington one of the most influential people in the history of mankind was his ability to think, analyze, seek out the opinions of people around him, and then once

decided that was that. He was all in. The rubber had met the road. This is. This is a This was now the way. And I find power in that, as overthinking is so often our undoing, right? Weighing out worst case scenarios, contingency plans, this versus that. When progress requires that we, sure, spend a little bit of time deciding which general direction we go, but most importantly, that we start. And I think we've all been guilty of this. Over-analysing, over-planning. But just like a sailor can't predict the winds,

we can't predict all life's variables. Again, it's deciding on a general direction and then trusting ourselves to navigate life's obstacles as they arise. It's finding trends and patterns along the way in doing our best to utilize them as we move forward. There will be points where the road ahead seems overwhelming, the obstacles too abundant to make sense of, where the mind compels you to stay where you are and stare out in awe. It will suggest that what's behind you is safer, that the worlds you know contains fewer

monsters than the worlds you don't. It might even convince you that whatever ambitions you had weren't really that important that you could easily live without them. And the longer you stand there, the longer you listen to that voice, the louder it gets. You dismiss it with every step forward. Your momentum is a dagger through the heart

of any doubt that once tried to occupy the precious real estate behind your eyes. You don't have to outthink it, outsmart it, You just have to move forward. And what you find is that the mountains you once peered up at weren't all that they seen. A culmination of little hills that can be climbed, manageable rocks that in actuality can be used to propel yourself up the mountainside. There was never a perfect path up. No magic transport to the summit.

You might even think to yourself, what a shame that so many are still on the sidelines waiting to devise their perfect approach, making plans and drawing maps. But that's not how any of this works. To win you go, to make progress, you move. Knowing full well that you'll find your dead ends, you'll spend time and exhaust energy, going down certain paths that don't ultimately lead you where you wanted to go. But what a gift, the ability to reverse course, and take the right at the fork instead

of the erroneous left you previously took. Your errors are not permanent. Your errors are correctable. Stagnation is what's permanent. Wishing is permanent. Someday is permanent. But right now, that's pure value. So next time you find yourself looking out, as we all do,

remind yourself that there are many ways to transform your reality for the better. Many paths to the mountaintop, but there is only one way to assure you never get there, and that is standing still. So trust yourself to figure your life out as it comes. To take the pain and extract from it. wisdom to find the strength beyond the uncertainty. Life is giving you everything that is required. Not some things or a few things, everything. All it asks of you is that you dismantle the delusion of perfection and begin.