Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Most People Quit Right Before This Happens

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Most people believe success happens suddenly, a breakthrough, a moment, a turning point everyone can see. But real progress rarely looks dramatic.It happens quietly… while nothing seems to be changing.In this video, Eddie Pinero breaks down the hidden phase of growth. The part where discipline feels lonely, effort goes unnoticed, and belief becomes your only evidence that you're moving forward.Using the powerful lily pad principle, this message explores why patience, endurance, and focus matter more than instant results and why so many people quit just before everything begins to change.If you’ve been working hard without recognition… if progress feels invisible… this message is for you.Keep going. You may be closer than you think.More from Eddie Pinero:Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletterYour World Within Podcast: https://yourworldwithin.libsyn.com/Stream these tracks on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2BLf6pBInstagram - @your_world_within and @IamEddiePineroTikTok - your_world_withinFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourworldwithinTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/IamEddiePineroBusiness Inquiries - http://www.yourworldwithin.com/contact#liveinspired #yourworldwithin #motivation

What are you willing to endure? Because to become something more is not to react to the world, but to create a new one, yours. As my dad explained to me when I was in grade school, it's taking initiative, right? Seeing what isn't there, what's needed, and then making it happen. And while the setting certainly changed, the situation is no longer about helping around the house so I could go to the concert with my friends. Right now, as we get older, our world, seems to get bigger along with us.

The stakes are higher. Now it's everything I see when I open the blinds and I look out that window. It's all there. We can have as little or as much of that as we want. But what we receive will always be directly proportional to what we're willing to endure. To how long we push forward before results arrive.

how long we can carry on with the sole company of our beliefs. It's about Bezos packaging and delivering his own books from a garage. Knowing it's not about today, it's about tomorrow if he can just hang on, if he can just endure, it's Tony Robbins with $20 in his bank account, knowing that has no reflection on him or what he's capable of, if he can just hang on, just keep pushing. It's not that they had the ability to bring their dreams to life, a lot of people do. They had more.

They had patience. They had the discipline, right? To remain calm and collected. That's nerve-wracking. That can be unsettling. They had the ability to be focused to remove all the noise around them. The doubt that stops people before that desired payout is achieved. And one of my favorite ways to look at this concept of growth.

is a little anecdote about lily pads in a pond. And basically, it's posed as a question, right? So the lily pads in this pond double in size every day. And by day 30, the pond is completely covered in lily pads. So then what day is it half covered? That's the question. A lot of people, you know, instinctually, they say, oh, okay, day 30, half of 30 is 50s? so on day 15 it was half covered, but that's wrong.

They're doubling every day, which means the pond wasn't half covered until day 29, and only a quarter covered on day 28. And the reason that's important is because that means on day 1 through 27. Those lily pads were growing, they were working, they were moving, yet they occupied less than a quarter of that pond. All that work for, for the lilypads were growing, a result that was barely visible. And then at the very end, right, the payout becomes exponential.

And that's what success is. That's what it means to pursue anything of significance. It's days, months, years of unrecognized work, of marching forward, covering ground when no one knows or cares or believes, except you. That visualization is your sweet spot. But like, we all know easier said than done, right? This is an incredibly challenging thing because we get impatient. And our pride starts to hurt.

We become tempted to jump to something different or easier. We don't hang on long enough to hit day 28 or 29 or 30. When things really start to evolve. It's like James Clears metaphor in atomic habits, right? Where you have an ice cube sitting in a room and it's freezing and you start slowly shifting the temperature up. You don't see anything going on with the ice cube. Not until you hit that 32 degree mark.

But there are things happening when it goes from 26 to 27 degrees and 27 to 28 and 28 to 29. Those little molecules are moving and bouncing around. But then boom, suddenly it hits that mark and it changes rapidly right in front of you. That's why this single shift in perspective changes everything. It's not about right now. You're doing this for the exponential growth to come.

You're believing. You're laying the groundwork. Until what I call the overnight success period. When the world finally recognizes and goes, who is this? Wow, that was quick. They have no idea about, you know, day one through 27. They don't know about the effort and the mental gymnastics. They don't know how many times you had to talk yourself out of quick.

or out of rationalizing a day off, they just don't know the road you took to get there, and that's fine. In fact, that's the beauty of it all. You not only saw it first, but you brought something beautiful to life. By enduring turmoil, by navigating discomfort and chaos, you have become the maker of a new universe. your universe because you stood there because when others would have ran turned back you endured what's up guys eddie here and before we jump into the next chapter just a quick note so as many

of you know every single video that i've ever put on this channel has been created with the intent of building momentum in your life if you want something physical to anchor that momentum we've created the brand AGNS or always grateful never satisfied for that exact reason. Athletic apparel that embodies the very ideas and concepts I talk about every day. Because you're watching

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gets you 20% off. the entire store. It's a great way to support the channel and also elevate your journey. Let it be a reminder to keep showing up. Appreciate your time. Always grateful, never satisfied. On to the next. You belong here. This was something that was said to the class during yoga the other day. As I've said before, yoga is something I'm really turning to as both a mental and physical approach to a lot of the injuries and imbalances I've been dealing with for a very long time. And part of that, you know, starting something new was obviously not knowing what you're doing. It's a willingness to play the fool to be this student.

It's signing up to be, you know, at times the worst in the room. And so I hear the instructor say this line, you belong here, and then kind of repeat it again for emphasis. It hit me hard, you know, and I'll never. know if this was prompted by me flailing around in the back, trying to do crow pose, or she just felt like, you know, it needed to be expressed in the moment. I'm not sure, but what I do know is that it was exactly what I needed to hear. And in fact, it's what I've needed to hear throughout many stages of my life, which is why I think it hits so hard. Now, I want to unpack it for a second. When I moved to Massachusetts, after spending,

the vast majority of my childhood in the Los Angeles area. I used to joke around with my friends back in L.A. I'm like, this is so different that it feels like a culture shock. It seems so little of the world. Why do these guys not where dickies are spiked their hair? Everyone has cargo shorts and new balances. What's happening here, right? But all jokes aside, when you're a freshman in high school,

that's a big deal. The differences were many. And it took a while. You know, but I acclimated. I made friends. I did the thing. But persistently, in the back of my head, I felt like an outsider, making my home somewhere that wasn't really mine. Like, I didn't really belong there.

Then came college. I went to a small private school where most of the students I knew came from prep schools, and I had somewhat of a more rigorous academic background than I did. And I decided to be a political science major, basically living in my professor's offices during their hours when they would spend extra time helping me write, showing me how to organize my thoughts and put together analytical papers. It was a long and stressful learning curve.

I mean, just like before, I figured it out, did fine academically, but again, never really felt like I belonged there. There were some of the same sentiments with, you know, walking on to the rowing team, where many of the recruits had been doing it all their lives. Same thing in the corporate world. Felt a little out of place. It was a feeling that never prevented me from starting.

You know, I'd dive in. I'd figure it out. But there was always this lingering fish out of water feeling that I couldn't shake. I'm kind of a tangent, but this is, you know, one of the funniest moments for me looking back. In my early 20s, I was at an interview at some insurance company in Boston.

and the guy interviewing me is sitting on one end of a desk, I'm at the other. He's holding a physical copy of my resume and cover letter, not saying a word, just kind of scanning them up and down. Then he slowly kind of drops them on the desk and goes, so Eddie, tell me more about, and pauses. Looks back down at my cover letter, back up at me, back down at my cover letter. Then he traces the first line of the cover letter, as his finger moves across the paper, he goes,

tell me more about how, quote, your lifelong dream is to become a data analyst. And I was like, oh my God, this guy sees right through me, Eddie, what are you doing, man? Like, this ain't it, you know? And I crack myself up every time my mind goes back there. It's the epitome of square peg round hole, and I would consistently find myself in that position.

Right? But, you know, I digress. The point is me feeling like I'm on the, the outside looking in has been somewhat of a theme. Even in the areas of my life where I was finding success, like I couldn't totally be there. Like find the things that are important to me and commit to them fully.

And I'd be lying if I said it didn't still exist today. I've worked like a madman for 10 years to build this company and this brand, and certainly I've seen some progress. In this industry, I've gotten a certain. surround myself with some incredible people. And every time I walk into a room with folks that I've looked up to for years, I'm grateful, which is good,

but sometimes too grateful, which is my entire point, right? At some point you have to transform from looking up to into being one of, to give yourself permission to belong. And yes, you need to do the work. And yes, confidence is earned. But if you don't give yourself permission to do a thing,

not kind of or sort of, but to fully with all your heart and soul be that thing, I think you'll always be leaving part of yourself on the shelf. It feels like, to me, a lingering defense mechanism. You can't be great if you're not all in. And part of growth has been reflecting and asking, hey, you say you're all in, but are you? Are you immersed?

And that's what I want. I think to some extent that's what we all want, to not just do it, but be it. In a million years, I don't think my yoga teacher would expect it. Or words prompted a 10-minute rant, starting with my childhood on the West Coast, but man, did that comment create a lightbulb moment for me. It's set this stage for such a beautiful epiphany.

It's like, you've been doing the thing. for 10 years. You've grown in so many areas, but have you given yourself permission to become what you're seeking? Not kind of, but pour yourself into it. It's who you are, the environment, the people, the variables, the ups and the downs, all of it is who you are. Just imagine what that freedom would allow. Go be the thing. More, more, more, more. fully all you have to give. So yoga class this morning showed up. Even though I suck, even though I'm learning,

decided, hey, little symbolism here. No more hiding in the back of the room. Step into those neon green lights. Move towards the front. You no longer do things, even the little things, to simply scrape by or exist. Do it to be it. If you're going to do anything, do it to be it.

You belong here. Help me realize what being it really is. That maybe I'd let my definition slip. Maybe my understanding wasn't wide or all-encompassing enough. And yeah, there's a line we need to walk, no question, we must be on the path to acquiring competency in something before we can make it our own. But the beauty of podcasts and audible and books, all our media outlets,

it's that other people's growth and understanding can fast track our own. I learn from this experience. Life is too short to always feel like you are on the outside looking in. It just is. If you earned a chair at the table, be at the table. If you were let into the room, work the room. If you're spending time and energy doing something. something, be that thing.

Don't deprive yourself of that precious alignment because it's such a beautiful thing when we allow ourselves to feel it and obtain it. But like so many things, it starts with you giving you permission. It starts with a simple understanding. You may be new. You may be struggling. Unsure. You might have a hell of a mountain to climb, a journey to track, and you may be

travel. You might have extra work to do. You might have to add some things and cut away others. You might have to ask yourself the tough questions and accept the difficult answers. But you do, my friend, belong here. I was thinking about something recently. Something we've probably all heard before and in some cases already know. But that's why it warrants a little bit. discussion. It's not about knowing, it's about executing, which are two very different things. And so, I'll start here with the idea that everything is relative. Someone who runs five miles a day and then starts hanging out with people who all run 10 miles a day is more than likely going to at least ask themselves the question, could I be running more?

Should I? Right, that's just human nature. One's perception of normality shifts when they're around people or circumstances that stretch it. And as far as I can tell, this can be applied to anything. I remember a friend of mine probably about five years ago now, asked me what my monthly revenue goal was. And I remember telling him,

and he paused and looked kind of puzzled and asks, you know, why only that? And I thought, only that, right? That's a big number. I was reaching there. But that encounter, I still remember, it rocked my worldview. It's like, okay, wow, I need to move some things around. I need to aim higher. This is an important convo for me. And I think, you know, there's often a negative connotation we apply to this concept, right? Comparison being the thief of joy. They're always being more to acquire. It's a tool. and but not utilized the right way or internalized the right way can be unhealthy. But there's also, when utilized correctly,

something not only healthy but incredibly powerful and advantageous about it. We need to be reminded that we're capable of more, otherwise our worldview can't stretch. We're able to extend far beyond the reality we find ourselves in, but that fact alone does us no good. We have to position ourselves to see, to feel, to believe the more. A good friend of mine and I

started reporting to each other daily the workouts we do now twice a day. And the funny thing is, it didn't start out twice a day. But just, you know, the nature of not wanting to be the guy who does less. You know, we've been friends for a while. We're all about helping each other

be better in business and fitness and you name it. And you can bet when I've been running around working all day and I'm tired, and the little voice in my head starts whispering, well, you already got a workout in earlier. Just go really hard tomorrow instead. You'll be fine. But then my phone buzzes, and it's a screenshot of his workout stats. It's like, nope, have to find time to do it.

He's tired. He has a job and a family. He wants to crack a beer or grab a burger, but he didn't. And the fact that he reached for more makes me realize, hey, so cannot. Makes me ask, what are my targets? Are they big enough? And that's been incredibly effective. Prompting this conversation, making me realize, you know, there's something to this.

How can I position myself so that I have line of sight to that precious abundance in the other areas of my life that I deem important? How can I nurture the relationships I have that serve as a reminder that there is always another level? How can I keep at the forefront of my mind that there are online creators helping millions of people a day? There are business owners making millions of dollars a month. And it's not that I'm not proud and grateful. I'm both of those things. Instead, I love the journey.

I love the challenge of seeing what I can become. And know that our default is to get so consumed by the current way of things, we start thinking, hey, maybe that's all there is. We forget to keep our eyes up. And so a few things I plan on doing. I'll share them and maybe they'll prompt some ideas in your head for whatever your values are, whatever you're trying to improve. Recently, I set up a mastermind quarterly

with some buddies I have that are investors and business owners. Simple to report growth, revenue, future plans. As someone who just loves to write and create, it's easy for me to put all that stuff second. So this is going to hold me accountable. Fitness, I already mentioned. This one's new.

I have a few friends that I started meeting up with just to get out, to unwind, do nothing business-related at all, which is just as critical as work, right? I have to make time to soak in the world around me. And there are others as well, but you get the idea, right? It's teaming up with those people in my life where our values overlap and we can help each other win. The saying goes, you're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

But now imagine taking that a step further. Reaching out to those people and teaming up to help position each other to succeed. You get the accountability, the camaraderie, camaraderie. You become a team looking to get the most of your time on this planet. I've stated many times that my belief is the pieces exist around us to do so many things, incredible things, monumental things. But how we mix, match, and utilize those pieces, the world around us determines that. So let's ask the question. What is a question? What is a lot? life well lived to me and how can I tangibly position myself to obtain it? How can I help those I care

about obtain them? Those are some powerful questions and will ultimately lead to some incredible growth. 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 going. 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, right? Like we've all felt nerves before a big event or an 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? 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 shaking, 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 a difference. 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. Jack Welch has said, control your own destiny or someone else will. And I'm passing this along today, as I believe it's one of the most important. important things to understand. Not a once-and-done thing, but a reoccurring question. Where have I relinquished control? How can I recapture what matters most? As the world around us shifts, slips, and slides, so does our grasp on it, which is why I find this continuous self-reflection so powerful. I have a flight this afternoon, which means I have a hard deadline, and a lot I need to do before I head down to the Miami Airport. I've been traveling a lot recently, which means I've been finding myself in this situation a lot

recently. And here's what to become abundantly clear to me as I work through the logistics. On travel days, I'm exponentially more productive than on my typical, quote-unquote, workday. I wake up with an urgency and sense of control over my time that apparently is lacking on, say, your typical Tuesday. And I'm shot out of a canon. Today, for example, I've worked out, written and recorded two speeches counting this one, recorded short video content sent to my editors, planned next week's topics, might even have time to go live and hang out for a few minutes. And I'm sitting here thinking, you know, dude, if I had a flight at noon every day, I'd be worth $500 million by June,

What is the different between today and every other day? Simple. My approach towards it. How I utilize and control the resources at my disposal. This is a powerful, powerful thing to realize. You know, it begs the question, how can this urgency be manufactured? Because that's what it's about, right? Setting up the parameters so that they are most conducive to our success.

Another life-changing quote I came across a few years ago was, you are your own experiment. Meaning life is about testing things, trying different methods, exploring different approaches, and also having the discipline to observe their outcomes. Why? So that you can use that information to position yourself for success. That info is as good as gold. One understanding and two, implementing so that we're not pushed back and forth by external factors like leaves in the wind, but are instead creating our own ideal circumstances. These, let's just call them, travel days have helped me realize how much power, energy, control I relinquish on a typical day.

And most importantly, how I can change that. Time for a new experiment. Let's try approaching every day like there's a hard cut off at noon. How? I'm not sure yet. I'll test and explore until something clicks. But there's definitely some information worth noting. I've picked up my phone zero times today, which is obviously valuable. I've second-guessed my messaging and communication a lot less.

Don't have time to waste on the small things. Nope, not when you fly out at noon. This is information I'll take with me. Little nuggets of wisdom that I've been able to collect. And so I'll finish with an important reminder that this is not so much about efficiency as it is about awareness and a willingness to adapt. Like becoming a robot is not the goal here. But the discipline to step outside yourself and look at how you're spending your time

so that you can make it more valuable and meaningful is. We let the outside world dictate far too much, and we don't even realize. We just sort of move through it. We relinquished control because we had no idea it was ours to take. We are very often unaware of the power that we have over ourselves, our circumstances, and our lives in totality. We're unaware of just how much value we walk right by. The opportunity is not days, weeks, or months away.

It lives with you now. Every breath, every step, every decision, you just have to open your eyes and invite it in. I was in Arizona last week. Got a chance to interview Joe Polish, bestselling author and founder of the Genius Network. As I was sort of making my way around the Genius Network office with my coffee that morning, I noticed in one of the meeting rooms

there were some quotes hanging on the wall. One of them was Joe's. It said, Be willing to destroy anything in your life that isn't excellent. That's certainly a big state. I started thinking about my little corner of the universe, running through all the things that might not meet that standard of excellence in my life. And a few certainly came to mind. It was freeing to think about.

But could excellence really be a standard for everything? I mean, that's a high bar. And so I wrote it down, a little reminder to bring it up later during the interview. Few hours go by, mics are rolling, and I asked the question. So, be willing to destroy anything in your life that isn't excellent. Beautiful quote. But how? And Joe smiled, kind of paused for a second.

It says, willing. Right, the key word there is willing. And I'm paraphrasing. but his point was essentially it's an acceptance of what is and a willingness to be rigorously honest with yourself because look there's not an athlete, entrepreneur, parent, or student who didn't have to at some point play broken.

We all do. But to live like that, that's not a life well-lived, that's learned helplessness. And that quote on the wall, is about taking a stand. It's the moment you say, I want a new standard for my life. I'm going to be more assert, more caring, more aware. Excellence is not a requirement per se,

because human beings can't be excellent all the time. We are flawed. We are trying. We are growing. But what you can do is look around you and start moving towards that version of yourself. start cutting away the metaphorical chains around your ankles. In his book, What's in It for Them?

Joe highlights British Olympic rower Ben Hunt Davis, who had one standard for the men in his boat, one question that would be asked every time they were confronted with the decision. The question was, will this make the boat go faster? If no, then it's not for, them. And this framework guided their journey. This contributed to their success, this clarity, this line of sight. It's an awareness we can all learn from. Understanding that we're not shackled to

yesterday. We're not tied to the old stories, the old relationships, the old ways of living. No, our paths are not dictated by what was, but rather our willingness to be aware to ask the questions that position us towards our North Star. And as the conversation was winding down, Joe pointed to a quote from the movie Vanilla Sky. It states, every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around. Change doesn't happen without the understanding that more is possible. That perhaps you'd been conceding too much while asking too little of yourself. Perhaps you've been surrounding yourself with inadequate resources.

Maybe you've been building walls that without your knowing it became self-induced limitation. And yeah, excellence in every single aspect of life is unobtainable. But what a beautiful standard. What a journey to embark upon. A horizon to chase down. And the point is not to recklessly destroy your cruxed. reality, but to build a bridge connecting what is to what can be. It's loving the reflection in the mirror enough to know you are better.

You can be better. You will obtain better. You need not be perfect or flawless, but you must be willing. Willing to destroy anything in your life that is an excellent.