Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - STAY FOCUSED | Powerful Motivational Speeches For Success

Episode Date: February 1, 2023

“Success demands singleness of purpose.” – Vince Lombardi

Today is not an obligation. Today is a gift. Why is it important that this distinction comes through loud and clear? Because the same action can differ wildly, depending on what brought it about. Was it an order or a choice? Were we told or did we arrive there ourselves? And we know this innately from a child being told to go to

his or her room for punishment, that place where they'd gladly be if it wasn't being mandated by angry parents. When we're instructed, being told to, mandated, when we're doing something because we have to, we process this differently than a choice or a conclusion we came to on our own. We think about it differently when it's something we get to do. When I talk about transformative perspective shifts. This was one for me, going from what's expected of me. How do I not mess this up? What would make me look like the person I'm supposed to look like? To instead understanding that, listen, today is a gift and I'll never get it back, a series of opportunities and decisions, a choose-your-own-ending story waiting for me every day as the sun comes up in my eyes open.

To me, the difference is more than semantics. The difference is between feeling free and going into autopilot so that I mitigate mistakes and blend in. That's not freedom. That's becoming a prisoner of your own making. You can walk the same road and see it differently every time. You can take in the same event and come away with very different interpretations of it. All depending on the role you chose to give yourself as you walked down the path or peered in at the event. Were you the hero in the story or an extra?

Someone who capitalizes on all to be gained or someone who hides from the fear that they might misstep. Obligations are about minimizing risk and doing what is merely required. An opportunity, on the other hand, asks, what more could you do with what you have? How could you take what you love and multiply it? How could you capture your inspiration and delve further into it? The one living out of obligation will always find the problems and the negative. But the one who knows they have in their midst the greatest winning lottery ticket of all time, well, they'd be foolish not to cash it in.

And so look, you might be going through some problems, as we all do. You might have your challenges and your struggles. They're unavoidable. But these are part of a greater narrative. They're what will build you up and push you forward as you move deeper into the miracle that is your life. And that's the difference. The first step in being able to capture the opportunity is understanding that you are living in one. Life is not obligatory.

It is a giant get-to. And when you realize that, you are truly... Normality is a paved road. It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow. Vincent Van Gogh. What is normality? Well, according to the dictionary, normal is the usual average or typical state or condition. Common.

Normal is also a decision. There's a quote by Robin Sharma, and I've looked to this for years, it states, if you want what the 5% have, you need to be willing to do what only the 5% are willing to do. What they obtain is not... definitionally speaking normal, it's uncommon. And what they do to arrive at that outcome is also uncommon. They play by a different set of rules, and in doing so end up with an entirely different outcome than most. To put it simply, we arrive at normal when our effort level is normal. You put in normal hours or give average effort at work? Most likely your results, career progress, competition,

compensation will be normal. You pay moderate attention to your fitness, your health. Well, your level of physical fitness will be normal. You dedicate typical levels of effort to your relationships. Your relationships will be normal. Not terrible, but not remarkable. I'm sure you get the idea here, the pattern. Generally, over time, what we get starts to reflect what we gave. And here's where the self-assessment comes in, the awareness. You have to ask yourself in pursuit of something greater whether your actions are aligning with your goals and objectives. There's nothing so futile is telling yourself you're going to achieve miraculous larger-than-life outcomes and then putting in average typical normal effort. If normal goes in, normal comes out.

And as I was thinking about this recently, you know, as it pertains to my life, I had a little epiphany. Right. So fitness is a big area of focus for me. I run or do some type of strength training six days a week. As far as I can tell, that level of effort is beyond normal. Right? I go above and beyond in that area of my life. But even though I'm aligned on my mission to be the 5% there, I realized there was a gap.

I realized my diet was very normal, completely unextorinary. It's just easy to convince yourself to eat whatever you want after a really long run, right? Why not pizza? After all, it's the normal thing to do. But I had to remind myself that what I wanted in that area of my life, holistically, is not normal. Therefore, the inputs cannot be normal. It was time to start standing up. to those things that are very easy to say yes to, to rationalize.

And that's the idea here. I pick my 5% categories where I truly want to excel and make sure there is nothing normal about their development. You want top-tier results, you have to give top-tier effort. Make the sacrifices, map out the path. You know, I've come to see this differently over the year. over the years. It's not an indictment against you as a person for choosing normal,

but know that it is indicative of a choice, and the output eventually comes to align with the input. All the actions or lack thereof stack up to resemble something. It's up to you to decide what that is. And so the next question, perhaps somewhat of an obvious one, is when it comes to the things that matter most to you, why stay confined to normal? It's the above and beyond, the peak experiences, the times we overcame, fought and won, took the risk and came out on top.

That's when we are at our best. That's when we get the most, from life. So is normal the end of the world? No. It's just that abnormal is the beginning of one. The same is never extraordinary. It's never remarkable or memorable. We'll never be talked or written about. So why then is it so frequently sought after? What compels us to wander down the this path of familiarity. The same path covered up with the footprints of millions who have already been there before you, who have done it before, who've been deceived by it before. Following the footsteps of the majority, it guarantees one thing that you will get what

the majority has. You'll get their comfort, their reassurance, their sense of belonging, that's half the deal. Because the path also comes with unanswered questions. It comes with never knowing what's possible or could have been or your potential. See, being the same is like ibuprofen. It addresses the symptom, not the root cause. It fulfills an immediate need. But like a dwindling flame, you'll see more and more every day that it's not capable of keeping the root. room lit. The same means you didn't ask yourself what's right. You ask the world around you. And contrary to what most believe, these answers are not congruent. You can't follow the crowd and follow your heart. You can't be what's popular and be what's true to yourself. You can't be

the same and be significant. If you want to achieve, think differently. Stop waiting in lines for things you don't want. They will not bring you fulfillment. They will not lift you up or set you apart or give you meaning. Conformity has a ceiling. And your potential does not. This creates conflict. It breeds missed opportunities and wasted potential.

If there is one thing I want you to take away from this, one thing. thing. Understand that the size of a crowd is not proportional to the value of the decision it's making. Millions and millions can miss the very opportunity that one person saw. The whole world can turn away from the answer that one person believed in. To mindlessly join the march is to forfeit that opportunity to be that one person to bring something to the table to change the world and redraw the lines around humanity that box so many of us in the temporary comfort of belonging it's a false god it brings you nothing but away from where you want to be from where you can be the

goal is not to be them it's to be yourself and in turn create a better world for them for yourself, for your dreams, for what's possible. To get something different, you have to do something differently. Don't conform to what's there, find what's not. Don't listen to what's said, write new words to be spoken. Don't follow yesterday's path. Pave a new path for tomorrow. What's standing, it already exists. Your treasure lies. in the gaps and blank spaces between them. The things that people walk right by. That's what you need.

That's what the world needs, even if they don't know it. Look, you may not be understood now, but like anything of value of true meaning, that time will come. Just at a cost, the majority is not willing to pay. But if you are, are your path will lead you past mediocrity past conformity past the average and towards the best things this world has you didn't see what is you saw what could be and you created it and there is nothing more

powerful than that good morning welcome to the your world within podcast today we're going to talk about keeping your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground, simultaneously managing the big picture and the small stuff, non-stop belief that things will work, that there's an answer, that you're ultimately going to get there, and that you won't quit until you do, while also being brutally honest with the facts on the floor, the reality around. A lot of times I think there's a tendency to conflate positivity with a detachment from reality. But they're very different things. You need them both for success to unfold.

You need the big picture and you need the minutia, the steps, the little things that add up over time. in the book good to great Jim Collins calls this the Stockdale principle where Admiral Stockdale I think at the time commander Stockdale was shot down during Vietnam he was prisoner of war for over seven years in Vietnam and it was just obviously a brutal experience and you know one of the things that helped him survive was being

painfully pragmatic while also knowing in his soul, right, with every ounce of his being that he would ultimately get out, that the men he cared about and helped so much would ultimately get out.

And so when Jim Collins is interviewing him, you know, he says, Admiral Stockdale, what differentiated the ones that made it and the ones that didn't? And the answer is incredibly surprising. He says optimism because the people that were overly optimistic said, we'll get out by Christmas.

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

the components needed to progress. the way they wanted to progress and the way they were thinking. You have to be willing to look in the mirror and diagnose a situation. That's applicable to business. It's applicable to your personal life. Dream big. Step small. Believe, but act.

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

That's a lot. It's possible you can. you can do it and you need to believe with every ounce of you that if that's what you want to do it's a pursuit worth taking but you also need to know what it means to be Michael Jordan you got to understand the commitment

how he sacrificed relationships he sacrificed you know his friends his love life If he got up every single morning, all he did was basketball. How he took thousands of shots a day. How his mentality and his aggressive behavior, right, his mindset, the way he looked at life and approached life on and off the court, it required that he was so intense and so obsessed with winning that some people couldn't handle it.

It meant that everything stopped except being the best. That's a big ask. A lot of people can't do that, don't want to do that. But that's what it takes. And to think you're going to be Michael Jordan without understanding, one, the commitment that's required and how you stack up, it's going to be in vain. I remember the CEO of the company that I worked for at out of college, used to say, look, you have to be able to be honest and say when your baby's ugly.

Look at what you have and be able to draw a line from where you want to be. So you can fix it. So that's the point. If you can juggle those two things, you'll be unstoppable. Unstoppable. If you can be the one to trust yourself enough to know that there is a big picture, you will pursue it, relentlessly. endlessly and you will get there. If you can take that and you can marry it to the little things, right, to the awareness,

to promising yourself that you will continue to analyze, assess, and do what needs to happen on the ground, that you will be realistic, you will be pragmatic. When things fail, you won't sugarcoat it. You'll dive in. You'll look at why it failed. So that you can pick up those pieces and build something stronger and continue to to build and continue to build, stack and stand on what you've made. Those are the people that change the world.

Those are the people that get things done, that get results. Dream big, steps small. See you tomorrow. When you find the courage, you walk out your front door and realize darkness is not a permanent state, but the absence of light. And you have within your soul, fire, sufficient to set the world ablaze. You don't make what you need, you are what you need. A piece of the infinite, descendant of stars, proof of the impossible. When you find the courage, you alter the very story being etched into the sands of time. An undertaking that makes one's knees shake and hands tremble, a decision that costs the ability to avoid discomfort.

When you find the courage, living is at the expense of that which must now die. And to turn the door handle in front of you means closing the one from which you came. Courage is deciding that watching life through a window is no longer sufficient. that what you have is not a product of the way things should be but how you've allowed them to unfold see a choice is not a thing a choice is an action a deliberate decision to see life differently to see your circumstances differently to see your outcomes differently to see your trials and tribulations differently what you don't know is a gift willing to reveal itself and lift you up should you find the courage. This world has seen empires rise and fall. It's brought in the new, cleansed itself of the old, and chapter by chapter the present becomes the past, culminating

into the laws by which we operate. All of them stand upon a foundation of courage, conscious decisions for more, to change things, to be better, do better, to advance the rate in which better is obtained. In a world of noise, clutter, if you remember one thing, remember this, you have nothing to lose. How could you when we operate in an arena that simply waits for us to inject meaning into it? Just like the chapter before you, your last page will ultimately turn, but what do you want those words to say? What stories do you want told? How much meaning do you want to pour into the words that will forever emanate off the lips of those that come after you. Because the day you're experiencing, the thoughts dancing around in your head, the air pouring

through your lungs, they are zero obligation and 100% opportunity, a thing of beauty. That is why we must find the courage to step out. To see what we can pull from the universe. It's not greedy or selfish or irresponsible. It's why you were put on this planet. To make the most of your ride, to create magic. So leave the excuses. Stop thinking through a lens of scarcity and find the courage to redraw reality's parameters. Push them further and further back until nothing is out of the realm of possibility. Until you've realized the control you've had From day one as you watch life through a window and wonder what it could bring you,

find the courage to answer that question and never look back. When the run got difficult, I would often count streetlights. Why? Because at some point, I realized that it wasn't so much the immediate moment that was painful, as it was the idea that I had to continue. on, a fear of the unknown. Our minds are brilliant because they have the power to gaze into the future, to anticipate, to predict, and sometimes that prediction materializes in the form of stress and pain in the present. A pain that, let's face it, is manufactured. See, the present

moment may be uncomfortable, but it's manageable. It's always something we can harness and adapt ourselves to. But make-believe scenarios, the imaginary monsters we let in, well, I don't know how well-equipped we are to handle those, so I've found solace in simply keeping them out. See, counting streetlights, it brings me to the now. I can always get to the next street light. In fact, it's always visibly in front of me. It's tangible. It's real.

There is no space for tricks or scary stories when I count streetlights. My mind's job is to focus on those tall metal fixtures. and the body's job is to listen and move accordingly. And while sure, there is pain, it is manageable. When you look it directly in the eyes, not with regard to what it can be, but as it exists now in this moment, we can always rise to be more than we once thought possible.

These streetlights simply remind us of that fact. And so beyond this moment, when the running shoes are off, long after the finish line crossed, it's imperative that the idea remains that, yes, life will be painful and life can hurt, but it never gives you in one instant more than you can handle. And sometimes it might seem so. Sometimes it might appear overwhelming, but when we remind ourselves that we're simply borrowing pain from a future that has not yet arrived. When we refocus on what is within our control, we empower ourselves.

Our greatness expands and our strength intensifies. Because look, there's a time and a place for everything. And in our moments of duress, when the world is weighing down on us, I've found the answer to be thinking less and trusting more. And the next footstep transforms into not the detail but the story in its entirety. Sure, sometimes life is about planning and calculating and strategizing, but sometimes life also calls us to put our heads down, shut our minds off, and find a way to find a way to move towards something greater.

It's step, step, light post, step, step, light post. Demoting the discomfort from the star of the movie or the main character to a subtle observer. Sitting quietly in the background as you do what you were going to do anyway with or without it. forget how much control you have over the current moment and that our greatest pain is often masked in a fiction, a delusion when we find ourselves stuck. It's because of a future that has one not arrived and two is outside the scope of the task at hand. It's not because of what's around the corner that we survive life's trying times, it's because we dig deep enough to get to that next light post.

That next day, that next stop, that next chapter. Look, you will emerge victorious. Not because of the future, but the now. Because you realize your strength, shut off the world and conquer. your next step. When our backs are against the wall, we're forced to become more. When the clock is ticking, we are tasked with finding answers that hide among us.

It's in the darkness, we find light, and while lost, we find ourselves. The paradox of life is that from our pain comes our purpose, our evolution, and our greatness. I love thinking back to about 2014, making my way around Boston, having just quit my job, essentially purposeless, clinging to a YouTube channel and a podcast idea that I would name your world within. And why?

Why do I think back? Why does this mean everything to me? Well, because at the time, I knew nothing. I understood nothing. Nothing about speaking or media, audio, video, nothing about running a business. But more importantly, I knew very little about life and what's truly required to progress in a world

with infinite moving parts. I didn't know that my lack of understanding is what made everything feel overwhelming and complex, and that it was up to me to simplify. I didn't know the extent to which I'd have to befriend failure. And that was the most eye-opening realization. Because when you gravitate towards a risk-free existence and you box yourself in as I had for so long,

of course you don't get the upside, but you also don't fail as dramatically either. Life was a simple game of cause and effect. Do work, get result. Not much room for more than that. And so stepping outside that box in the way that I did, change some rules. I learned some things.

First, you can spend time on something. You can exhaust energy on something and get nothing in the short term for your efforts. And I mean nothing, unless you count getting your pride stomped on. Unless you count your friends disappearing when you need them most, unless you count self-doubt in a constant worry about not amounting to anything. I mean, these are very raw, very real human emotions.

They tend to arise when we start something new, but in them is also the power. This is where the light bulb turns on and the path emerges. It's where I learn that we only get what we want when we endure or what we don't. And what a foreign concept when you think about it, right? It's like, Eddie, take this mic. Go stand in front of this audience and pour your heart out. Your knees are shaking, chest is pounding, but dude, trust me, it'll be good for you.

And funny enough, it was. It was because the fear in my stomach became the indicator that something not. something exciting, something more was around the corner. Like Pavlov's dog hearing that bell. Any time the fear kicked in, I could feel myself getting closer to something meaningful, to a higher version of myself. The pain is an invite, the sheer terror.

And let's face it, that's what it feels like sometimes. It's an upgrade. Disguised is the monster that you think you should be running from. When it is, as I recently mentioned, the adversary you should befriend. We have to change our relationship with discomfort because our initial understanding, the one that comes stock in our minds, is never sufficient to build anything of significance. Its default setting is to preserve the now. the now, not expanded.

And so just like those stock speakers that came in my 1999, Ford F-150 when I was in my early 20s, let's rip it out. Let's customize. Let's upgrade the quality of the sound we hear and the things we say to ourselves. What an advantage it is to know that the hard things are what make us level up.

to find that awareness. What a blessing that when life's difficulty startles and scatters the masses, you could be the one that remains. Standing tall, seeking out the advantage amidst the commotion, every little act of courage becomes more and more meaningful, powerful. But we must lose ourselves to find ourselves. We must embrace our fears if we are to become courageous. We must fail in order to succeed.

And sure, sometimes the price seems steep. But I promise not going costs more. Wishing costs more. If only's cost more. So maybe for you it isn't a YouTube channel or a speaking career. Maybe it's something totally different. But it is something. And should you bring yourself to pursue that which your heart pulls you to pursue,

you'll have those moments of defeat, where you're mad at yourself for leaving the comfort and safety of your previous world. You'll have times where you have no idea what to do, where you feel alone or stuck or unsure. The difference will be whether you see this, as the invite you've been waiting for or the reason to turn around and settle for less. That's the question.

How do you internalize all that emotion that will feel like it is consuming you? I couldn't believe how strong that temptation was to go back, nagging at me every day. Just come off the edge. Just be comfortable again. But as my old coach would say in college, when we're doing wall sits or something physically taxing.

15 seconds. You can do anything for 15 seconds. And isn't life just a culmination of 15 second windows? It's compartmentalizing the process. It's turning the difficult into the advantageous. You have the ability to not think like everyone else. You have it within you to rewire your previous conceptions of the world, to see darkness not as your reason to hide from conjured up monsters,

but as your invitation to become the light. Remember that the best way to be more is to have the courage to put your back against the wall. And you won't want to in the moment. There will never be a perfect time. But committing to that vulnerability will relate. release from within you the power, the strength, the greatness that has been for so long tucked away. By moving into the chaos, you are simultaneously creating the calm you always dreamed of. You're realizing the possibility that just needed the door left ajar to make its way into your world.

Our lives require failure. Like our lungs require oxygen. And when I find the world around me lacking in the resources that I need, it's because in so many ways I have forgotten to breathe. To step out my walls of comfort and breathe in lessons waiting to be taught by the greatest of teachers' life. Life, the unpredictable and often unremarkable miracle, the book that reveals itself through experience, that tells tales only in hindsight,

our world is a book in which we choose our own ending, and so we must fail. Because failing means living, and we were meant to live. We must fail because every failure is the mark of a poet, an artist, or an author bringing this story one step closer to its resolution, continually walking up to a blank wall and making a mark, a single trivial mark, a mark that's misunderstood at best, but likely scoffed at, ridiculed. But each mark gives meaning to the one before it. These marks, they become.

chapters, become narrative shifts, become stories. Every failure you throw against this wall becomes part of a mural. It's an element of beauty before the work can even be deemed beautiful. Yet we continually misunderstand. When you hang your head in disappointment, when you see only the smudge of paint you through against that wall, you are oblivious to the fact that you're making something meaningful. So here is my challenge to you. I dare you in the midst of the Mona Lisa you are creating to see it before it's done. I dare you to be strong enough to fail not just once, but over and over and over again. I dare you to keep your eyes focused locked in on what's in front of you.

When everyone you know hides their failures, when they scream of every little wind for all the world to hear, I dare you to understand what they do not to cherish your failures. To maintain trust in the unseen. And when all you want is to get there, I dare you to see your greatness

before you arrive. I dare you to look in the mirror and see the hero inside you right now. I dare you to do that. I dare you to take your struggle and see amidst the pain your purpose, your purpose that will lift you up when you've fallen and will carry you forward when you're lost. I dare you to see light when there appears only darkness and when none presents itself, I dare you to light the spark, to be the answer you need. I dare you to stand up to the human tendency to embrace security over adventure and predictability over growth.

I dare you to walk into the darkness of night knowing that today's unknown becomes tomorrow's foundation. And when it hurts, like truly hurts when you look around and go. I can't remember why you began or what's pulling you forward. I dare you to close your eyes and imagine looking back and thanking yourself for taking this path. Every low is a courageous step towards transformation and if you've forgotten that, I hope this reminds you why it all matters. I hope you remember why this mark, the one you're making right now, is part of the masterpiece you've been longing for. It's taking you exactly where you need to be.

Sometimes I wonder why. Why does this season of life feel like it's one undesirable outcome after another? What happened to the law of averages? When is the wind? Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? Why would I continue going? continue going in this direction. When it feels like that spot on the horizon I've been chasing has alluded me. Why?

Why are my results not aligning with my output? It's hard to wake up and do this. It takes all of me to give this much. Sometimes I wonder where is the delayed gratification everyone speaks of? Where's the fruit of my labor, the arm on my shoulder that says this is why it was all worth it? Why hasn't the payoff shown itself? Why? And why does it seem like every curveball materializes at the worst possible time?

Why won't my body cooperate now when I need it most? Why does my mind play with the worst-case scenarios? Why does an already challenging path have to be more difficult than it is now? How many ways do I have to feel pain? Why does discomfort follow me around? Why won't life let me shake this? Why? Just maybe it's to show you how strong you are.

What you can endure. Because deep down, In your soul, you know you are the 1%. Because if you can push through this, you can push through anything. And I don't know why life gives us its lessons when it does. Why the world seems to stack it on when we're at our most vulnerable. When the ground beneath us is most unstable. But if you can find the courage to step back and step back

and see this for what it is. If you can hold on to the idea that this is happening for you, you'll come out of this a different person. You don't need to perform a miracle when you're at your lowest. No, the courage, the power, the strength is in showing up. You need to continue forward. Let go of the week, the month, the year. Sometimes we are tasked.

with pushing through the moment, the hour, surviving the day. And sometimes there is nothing more courageous than that, nothing more powerful than seeing what it turns into down the road when we look over our shoulders and are grateful we never stopped. So yes, this season might seem like a non-stop barrage of obstacles and misfortune. Why? Why? Perhaps because it's life allowing you to plant your seed now.

So that when spring comes around, you are provided something you've never had before. You arrive at that spot in the horizon you've been aiming at. And yes, the results might not feel like they're aligning with your output. Why? Perhaps because when the compounding reaches that magical point, that point of statistical significance, And the desirable things happen then, as quickly as the difficult ones do now, it'll all make sense. You'll appreciate it, value it, and be equipped to handle it. And yeah, life might seem to be throwing you curveball after curveball.

Why? Perhaps because if you can trudge forward now, when your body's tired while navigating the trivary, and tribulations of life. When you can bring greatness into existence under duress, just imagine what waits around the corner. Imagine how you'll perceive those seemingly impossible obstacles that slow everyone else down. There'll be nothing more than a cool breeze and a sunny day

as you move towards your best self. Look, it's hard to understand when we are in it. It's hard to make sense of the dark and the chaos and the hurt, but find a way to remember. No matter how hard it seems that this life is happening for you and not to you. This is the seed in the palm of your hand that will mean something that matters. So hold on. Hold on to see that seed begin to rise from the ground. Hold on to feel the warmth of the sun.

Hold on through the storms of life. They will be why when you look back years from now. You'll have gotten from life that which was once merely a dream. A life well-lived is a dance between having the strength to walk away. and having the courage to go all in. It's juggling the idea that absolutely nothing matters, and the idea that every second is a blessing beyond which I'm capable of even explaining or articulating.

Nothing matters, so live without limits or constraints, like you're on a once-in-in-a-lifetime journey, but everything matters. So know that every second along the way is perfect. A building block. A microcosm of the universe resting in the palm of your hand. And I think about this push-pull from time to time. I play with the idea that nothing matters when I need courage,

when I need to convince myself to be a little bolder, Reenforce the understanding that there is no pressure here. Life can only give what I'm willing to carve out. And as that clock ticks away in the background, what do I have to lose? As Mark Twain put it, it's the things we don't do that we come to regret. And then on the other side,

when I need a little discipline, I play with the idea that the little things are everything. After all, two things can be true at once, and the details matter a lot. For me, getting up two hours earlier does make a difference, that pushing a little harder will add up. The little things become everything. And painting that portrait that had been tucked away in my imagination, well, that's done one very real, very tangible brush stroke at a time. It's participating in that dance between nothing and everything. everything, the real and the imaginary.

But for the time being, let's leave those very important little things and focus on the divine big things. Those nothings that with some vision and concentrated effort become some things. I have a friend that says to me all the time, nothing matters. Not in a nihilistic, you know, throw your hands up and stay inside until the end of time type way. But in a way that poses the question, why wouldn't you risk it all? Nothing matters. Why wouldn't you risk seeing how far you could push, how long you could run, how much you could become?

Because maybe, just maybe, this whole thing isn't as serious as we'd like to think it's. is. And instead of feeling confined and scared, what if you felt alive, blessed to even be here? And I think realizing that we build these imaginary boxes around ourselves and live within them is a huge step, that awareness that we spend so much time reaching out for things that will save us when in reality we simply need to set ourselves free. We need to open the gate, build bridges to the infinite opportunity that surrounds us. And when I think about this, a feeling that still comes to mind, a feeling I had after 2K tests in college.

Those of you that have been on the rowing machines, I'm sure you get it. But if not, picture a feeling. similar to an all-out sprint for roughly six or seven minutes, depending on when you cross the line. And when it was over, after I'd finished picking myself up, I would just sit in the hallway, cherish the feeling of being done.

After pushing my body to its maximum, I'd appreciate the nothingness, the same nothingness that I'd never pay attention to at all otherwise. But in that moment, it was everything. What a gift. As you regain your composure, as your heart rate comes back down to earth, to just be still. I still love that feeling after physical exertion, the reminder to just be thankful for a moment of serenity. A reminder that life can and will inflict upon us these periods of absolute chaos, of turbulence.

And often they're very necessary. They harden us. They shape us, but they also remind us to appreciate their absence. Same thing goes, and a lot of you, I'm sure we'll be able to relate to this for something like a headache or a migraine. You know, when they come and go in my life, it's like the second a brutal headache dissipates, that nothingness is the greatest gift I could ever imagine. The absence of pain, infinitely more valuable than any tangible acquisition. And I think in those moments, we get a glimpse of the world in its purest, simplest form,

where all the nuance and detail we worry about doesn't matter much. Because look at what we have. Look how much surrounds us when we position ourselves to notice, when we simply pay attention. Tolstoy said, if then I were asked for the most important advice I could give. That which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say, in the name of God, stop a moment.

Cease your work, look around you. An incredible reminder to never forget where we are or what we were given. To remember that by breathing in the error, around us we have in a sense already one. And I love this because for a brief moment in time, it swings that pendulum to the nothing matters side of life. When you're living a miracle, why sweat the small stuff? And I can ask myself, why do I get so worked up?

It's no big deal. Why not take the risk? What's the worst case? That I fail and have to backtrack as a now more informed and not. knowledgeable person, why not stand in the face of my fears? The upside is consistently enticing. It consistently rewards. Look around and see what life has provided. How dare we waste it. And with that said, I'd also be remiss not to include this little caveat. You know, I'm careful with the words, nothing matters. Because even though in the context I've been using it for years,

It's a positive, empowering thing. It's my reminder to push boundaries. I could also see how it begs the question, well, if nothing matters, why should I care? And so, let's reframe. Because it's not that nothing matters. It's that nothing outside the scope of your worldview matters. It's the acquisition of freedom, addition,

by this attraction of all those externalities we let hold us back. Because you know as well as I do, it's not really the externalities that shackle you. It's your thoughts about them. So open the gate to your mind, let the detrimental out, and keep the necessary and the ideal in.

Nothing matters if it doesn't align with your values and your destination. I know I say in every video, speech, podcast episode that we are the authors of our own stories. And it's because we craft our nothings and our everythings. It's because your universe, the one behind your eyes, it needs a maker every morning. And if you allow it, each sunrise,

This can be your genesis, your own beautiful creation story. You have your hand on the dial. And so amidst this world of infinite beauty and opportunity, look around you, soak it all in, ask yourself, what does freedom look like, feel like? Because you were put here to pursue that. outside of those parameters, I believe that nothing matters. So why not live like it, dream like it? Use the little thing in front of you to build the big things that have not yet arrived. Walk away when it's misaligned and go all in when you know in your soul it's right.

There is everything to gain and nothing to lose. Thank you.