Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Stop Letting Your Past Control Your Future | Best Motivational Video

Episode Date: October 22, 2025

This episode explores the idea that the wake doesn’t drive the boat, that your past, no matter how turbulent, doesn’t have the power to steer your future unless you let it. We often drag old mistakes, failures, and regrets into the present, forgetting that they’re behind us for a reason. The wake is evidence you’ve moved...not proof of where you’re headed. Today is a clean horizon, and you decide the direction from here.More from Eddie Pinero:Wear the Lifestyle: https://www.agns.lifestyle/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

Sometimes I think of life like a boat cutting through water. Behind it, as we all know, awake forms. Loud, messy, sprawling. It looks alive. Almost as though it's pulling the boat forward. But it's not. The wake doesn't drive the boat. The wake is simply proof of where the boat's been.

Now the question is how often do we confuse that boat, aka our past, for the thing that controls where we're headed. We often look backwards and think it dictates our future. We see a failure behind us and think failures ahead. We look at heartbreak yesterday and tell ourselves we are broken for good. We replay mistakes, convincing ourselves that they are. what's to come. They are who we are. But they are the wake. And again, the wake is not the driver. It is only the record, a reflection, a footprint dissolving into water. Your mind will try and tell

you that history is prophecy. But that's not true. History is what it is. History. The past is not a compass, it's an echo. Every single reinvention, every transformation, every comeback story is born when someone realizes this. The past doesn't determine the path forward. That boat is moved by the motor, by the present moment, the person holding the wheel making decisions right now. What matters is the courage to put your hands on the wheel now and say, this is the path I'm taking. This is the direction I'm headed. Yes, the wake will always exist. People will remind you of it. They'll point to it. Reference it. Your thoughts will often circle right back to it. But the churn behind you does not dictate the direction ahead. I can give you plenty of examples of this, right? Both personally

and also anecdotally out there in the world, right? It's the athlete who missed the game-winning shot. And yeah, that moment is forever in highlight reels, but it does not determine whether the next shot goes in. It's the entrepreneur who lost everything in their first venture. As many do, by the way. The scars remain. But that situation doesn't dictate whether the next idea takes off or not.

It's the person burned. in a relationship, right? That heartbreak shapes memories. But it doesn't prevent them from finding something new, right? Something real, something better. It's easy to conflate the two. What happened and what can happen, right? Because the wake is real, but it's not destiny.

And here's the real twist. I would argue that that wake is actually evidence of courage. It's not a chain. It's not something keeping you in place. It's proof that you've moved, that you've lived, that you have been bold enough to try. So instead of being haunted by it, why not celebrate it? The wake shows that you've dared.

It shows that you've entered the arena. You've risked that you've had the courage to begin. You might think that's nothing. Well, you'd be shocked to know how many people never do step out their front door. You'd be shocked to know how many dreams die in people's minds before they've ever had a chance to see the light of day. So the real question, I'll echo,

is not what happened behind me. The real question is, where am I steering now? Every second your boat cuts through new water, every second is a chance to turn and redirect to set a new course. In the past, as beautiful or as, painful as it may be to think about, it's indifferent. Doesn't care whether you turn north, southeast, or west. It only records what you've already done.

That's why you are free. You're free to reinvent yourself. By the way, which you can do at 25, 45, 45, 65, or 85. Free to rewrite your story today. Free to steer toward a horizon that once felt impossible. Make believe. So keep your head up. Look ahead.

Out there. Beyond the bow of the boat is the horizon. Endless, unbroken possibility. That is the truth about your life, not the wake. The echoes behind you. The open water ahead is what matters. But as you know, the past will whisper. It will remind you of those old mistakes.

It'll talk about your old failures, your old pain. It'll ask you, hey, remember me. And most importantly, remember those times you fell short, that's where you have to step up and be your greatest ally. You have to remind yourself the wake does not drive the boat. Your mistakes don't define you. Your failures don't define you. Your heartbreaks, your wrong turns, your scars, none of them control what happens next. They are that wake contained in a single stream disappearing into nothingness.

It's proof that you were bold enough to set sail, and that's all. What drives the boat is where you choose to go now. The courage in your heart, the decisions you make today, the wheel in your hands this very second. So stop staring at what's behind you and look ahead. Because that ocean is vast and that horizon. Life is about duality. It's about being grateful for the road behind you, but also excited and hungry for what's ahead.

That balance is where our growth lives. It's why we created AGMS, always grateful, never satisfied. More than just an apparel company, it's a reminder that there's always another hill to climb. And if you go to AGNS.org lifestyle and you sign up for the email list, You'll get daily inspiration right to your inbox.

Latest updates on all the new merch drops, as well as a 20% off discount code. Hope to see you there. It's better to believe. Because where there's belief, there is a seed of possibility. Tiny flame that can set your world ablaze. And you might hear that and think, oh, but I've believed. Eddie, you have no idea. I've believed and I've, I've wished, and I've hoped, and I've dreamed, and I've prayed for more, and I've meditated to be content with less. Oh, I've believed. And let me tell

you, there's no certainty attached to me. Well, I think that's true. In fact, I think it's one of life's most important truth. The only certainty in life is unambority. But without belief, it's guaranteed that what you want will not be brought to life, that there will be no potential, there will be no journey, that what matters most will not materialize. Sure, belief is not a guarantee you'll get there, but a lack of belief is a guarantee that you won't. Without the creation and faith in a target, well, obviously there's no target for you to hit, at least not a target of your own. Belief is the fuel required to navigate life's uncertainties.

It's often treacherous ups and downs. It's your lantern in the dark and fire on a cold winter's night. Believe takes the probability of reaching your moment. mountain top from essentially zero all the way up to, well, let's see how bad he wants this. I once heard the idea that if you don't believe in and pursue your dreams, you'll spend your days bringing to life someone else's. And most likely those two things are not the same. If you don't believe in a world where when that sun comes up and your eyes open, you are content and driven and inspired, then it will always remain as real as it is now.

It will appear only as an illusion. To believe is to begin. To believe is to plant the seed. To believe is to greenlight your journey. If you do not believe you don't go, and if you don't go, then you will never arrive. So here's an anecdote for a quick story to bring this home. Imagine with me a runner, very on brand. And this runner is not extraordinary.

In fact, if you'd ask anyone who knew the guy, they'd have said he's average at best. Wasn't the fastest, wasn't the strongest. But deep down, he just had a dream to run a marathon and not just run it, but conquer it. He could visualize himself crossing that line, arms raised, crowd cheering. But every time he got that email about signing up,

the doubt crept in. too big. Who do you think you are? They would whisper. You've never run more than two miles in your life. A marathon, that's some people, but it ain't you. And for years, he'd listened to this. For years, he stood still while that finish line stayed a distant dream.

Until one day. A very average run-of-the-mill day, he decided to make a decision, not a grand proclamation or some, you know, dramatic event. It was simple. He told himself, I don't have to finish today. I mean, I don't even know if I can. But I do have to start.

That vision of me holding my arms up after 26.2 miles. Time to take an axe to that tree, because I believe that I can. And just like that, the idea went from imaginary to tangible. He put on his shoes, he ran one mile. and when he finished he didn't feel like a marathon runner but he believed himself to be someone

who soon could be and that belief as small as it was became everything day after day he showed up two miles three miles ten miles 15 right each step forward built on the last and before long he found himself the starting line of that marathon that once seemed too

far away to be real. And here's the thing. You know this. I know this. But it's got to be said, he did not cross that finish line because he was special. He didn't cross it because he was the strongest or fastest. He crossed it because one day he decided simply to believe. And that belief was the ticket. It was the beginning. It was the green light. It was the quiet, powerful permission to start, even though he was scared and uncertain, completely unsure of what the road would bring. One of my guiding mantras has been confidence is earned.

It's the reminder that you don't necessarily have to know what the future looks like or what the next day or week or month looks like, But you have to have the confidence in yourself to be able to navigate as it comes. It's the silent power that turns I can't into, well, maybe I can. And maybe I can becomes the crack in the door that lets you kick it open. It's a process where every victory, every transformation, every mountaintop begins. So all I ask of you is this. Will you give yourself that permission?

Who cares about tomorrow? Because who knows about tomorrow? But right now, in this moment, will you believe enough to start? Will you give your future self that gift? Because the finish line is out there. It's waiting. And the only thing standing between,

you and that moment is your belief you deserve. There's a quote attributed to Lincoln. He says, Be sure to put your feet in the right place, then stand firm. The other day I was listening to Dan Carlin's podcast called Hardcore History, which, side note, is an incredible podcast.

Guys, a brilliant storyteller. And as I was listening, there's a specific idea that I wanted to die into an idea that I believe if we make an effort to understand and fully commit to is capable of changing our lives. But first, some quick context, right? So Dan starts off this episode called King of Kings talking about the Battle of Thermopylae in the year 480 BC in ancient Greece.

It's that famous story that a lot of us know where King Leonidas leads that small army, which includes 300 Spartans against this massive Persian military force that's invading. And the quick version is essentially Xerxes, who's the king of the Persian Empire, and in charge of that massive army, tells the much smaller Spartan force that if they lay down their weapons, if they submit to him and let the Persians pass, no harm will be inflicted upon them. They'll be free to go, go about their lives. And here's the famous line. In response to the Persian command to lay down their weapons, the Spartans respond, Milan-Labé, which means come and take them. It's a Spartan's way of saying, look, the only way we're laying these

weapons down is if you rip them from our cold dead hands, right? With everything on the line, the odds stacked against them, the ground beneath them, basically shaking from the march of a far superior fighting force, moving directly towards their location, they would not let go of their principles. They were fighting for something bigger than them. And I couldn't stop thinking about this idea long after I hit pause on the episode. I guess I was awestruck by the power of living life with that type of conviction. Because I know in my soul that's a North Star I should be gravitating towards. We all should. The strength to be unrelenting with regard to that which we care about.

The aforementioned quote from Lincoln about finding the right place for our feet and then holding steady. With everything you have, all that you are holding firm. I just couldn't get that out of my head. And then it came to me that that invading force represents so much in our personal lives. So many things. One example, being the difficult or adverse circumstances, our trying times. When you're most likely to concede that perhaps you're no bigger than that world around you. Maybe life is a movie and I'm merely the audience.

my job is to clap, laugh, gasp, or cry and my cog in a wheel, a line in a script, powerless. In which case, you should be reminded of Victor Frankel's famous observation that everything can be taken from a man but one thing, the last of the human freedoms, to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances,

to choose one's own way, In other words, the outside world may change. It may evolve, but it will never have power over how you choose to internalize and view what's happening. That's innately yours. So when the circumstances feel like they demand more than you can give, when they suggest you leave your interpretation of life behind, the correct response is, as the Spartan is, as the Spartan, defiantly said, come and take it. That army could represent a pushback against your values,

the pillars of your individual foundation that you feel amidst all the pressure tempted to let go up. After all, it's easier to retreat than stand toe to toe with others. It's easier to abandon than it is to defend, at least in the short term. But as victory, it's victory Mr. Hugo writes, you have enemies good. That means you've stood up for something sometime in your life. The enemies, obviously not being the point. I'm a believer in the conservation of enemy approach to life. Allies just pragmatically get you a lot further.

But here's the reality. Anyone who stands for something will undoubtedly create divide. They'll be criticized and condemned. And when one feels the pressure of that criticism, they must understand that it does not invalidate who they are or their worldview. That is yours. You are the only one who can give up or relinquish that control. So as the Spartans said, come and take it. And then lastly, my thoughts went to little things that make us who we are.

those tiny pieces of ourselves that we little by little one by one over time give away the concessions that fade into the background as we evolve to fit in so that we don't stand out as emerson beautifully put it to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment and so that attacking army just might be the universe to mold you to it, perhaps not all at once, but more like that frog placed in water and put on the stove, with the heat increasing so slowly over time that he doesn't realize the heat will soon overtake him. Externalities do not dictate.

They are objects in need of meaning and you are the architect here. If it means something to you, it's worth holding on to during the difficult times and the easy time. When it's popular and when it's not, there is value within you specific to you, a value that must be nurtured in order to expand. Others can't and won't see that. The world around you may even with all its complexities seek to suppress it, but that flame is there. It's there and it's yours. And to anyone or anything looking to extinguish its light, come and take it. After all, what is a life if not one lived on your own terms? The goal is not to simply exist, but to define the plane on which you'll evolve, to devise your own parameters. Be yourself

as that world looks to make you something else. So here's to date. digging deep, to finding within yourself the courage to stand up to the great armies of chaos, conflict, adversity, and their perpetual conquest. To remember how strong you are, how much control you have as you navigate the unknowns and redefine the right nows. Don't let your strength be the thing you give away. Don't let your heart be what gets left behind. Don't let your thoughts become illusions of what could have been if only you'd held on.

And look, I'm not saying it's easy. In fact, I know that the meaningful road will necessarily be the one that requires the most of us. That makes us question who we are and where we're going. will ask that when our minds race with doubt and our knees shake with fear, we find a way to stand regardless. To walk to our demons, look them square in the eye and proclaim that whatever it takes we are willing to give. That we will fight until there's nothing left.

Go until we can go no further and hold with conviction all that matters most. So the next time light demands that you fall back or bow down, the next time chaos emerges in the distance and asks only that you lay down your arm. Here's to being strong enough, certain enough, courageous enough to say one thing and one thing only. Come and take them. So I wake up, my feet hit the ground, I get out of bed, walk into the bathroom, turn on the sink. I look up, you stare at the reflection in the mirror. It's time to rise, the voice says.

I stop, I think about it for a second. The reflection continues to speak, so I listen. It says, Eddie, life has placed some obstacles before you. some valleys. Some of it was your doing. Some of it's just life. But all of it is yours now. We get in life what we allow.

And pain, the internal turmoil, that's a sign that you may just be letting the wrong things live alongside you. The wrong thoughts, actions, ideas, stories, people in places. That reflection, he continued to share. So I listened. Eddie, here are some reminders. Take note.

One, time is the most valuable currency you have, period. Bar none. Be more methodical about how you use it. This is not new, but rather a recalibration. That little thing in your pocket, that phone, that portal. Yes, the same one you use to share, conduct business, get your thoughts out into the world, the same one that's changed your life. It's also crushing you. If you don't reel in your time on that little device, the consumption, the mindless scrolling, the time that you do have,

you'll be fighting for mere adequacy. Shut it off, go reread-lead-read Cal Newport's Deep. work. Re-read Relentless by Tim Grover. Remind yourself what greatness truly requires the concentration, the focus, the effort. Go. Remind yourself. Number two, there are seasons of life. There are times to sprint and there are times to pace yourself. Times to explore and times to plant a stake in the ground, times to tear down and times to build up. Don't define yourself by the season you are in. You just walked away from a lot. You in many ways are restarting.

You, as the saying goes, step back to leap forward. And now you're here. So remember, you are not the struggles of the past month or two months. You are where you go from here. You are your very next step. You are all of the opportunity before you. Number three, ambitious people tend to look forward. Often, they live in that gap between where they are and where they want to be.

Sometimes they only see the road ahead, and this can be good because it's a motivator. It contributes to one's growth and mastery of a craft, that competition in the soul, that mastery of self that pushes one forward. but it can, if left unchecked, be just as dangerous as it is valuable. Look over your shoulder. Remind yourself how far you've come. Compare yourself to that. Compare yourself to eight years ago and how bad you wanted to be where you are now.

See what happens when that's the focal point. Number four, when you're first, frustrated about an outcome or how far you have to go. Remember, you're never as far away as you think. It's about reworking the minor details. No wheels need to be reinvented here. Breathe. Collect yourself.

Ask yourself which dots need to be connecting. Because you're closer than you think to recapturing momentum. You're always an arm's reach away from that light switch that will illuminate the path you need. Just reach out and find it. Number five, simplicity. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. Stop making the simple things complex.

You'll find yourself pulling your hair out about problems that are tangential at best to what really matters. The right things are simple. A happy, healthy, effective life is minimalist, protected, preserve it. Keep the complexity out. Remove the clutter in your environment.

Clutter in your thoughts. Revert back to what's simple because there, everything of value will emerge. And number six, it can be right, but wrong for you. That means, in your case, it's wrong in totality. Look, there will always be available off-ramps. There will always be heated this and it works. She did that and it worked.

Stay true to you, in your world, your North Star. Even the people trying to help you, right? They can only advise on what they know. Their experience. Their experience is not yours. This is the evolution of insanity. It calls for one to be crazy until they are quote unquote experts, to be lost until they are found.

And if you avoid pointing to other people for the answers, find the courage to carve out your own path, eventually people will point to you for the answers. And number seven, as a friend of mine once said, walk into every room like God sent you. You are there for a reason. You have something to offer, something to give, something precious. The world won't know that until you know that, until you live and breathe that, until you operate with conviction. Give yourself the respect you hope to be granted by other people.

The reflection pauses. One more time looks at me through the mirror and says, it's time to rise. Life has given you some obstacles. It's placed some valleys before you. Some of those were dictated by life. Some of them are your fault. They are all, all of it.

Every single piece, yours now. We get in life what we allow. And pain, the internal turmoil, that's a sign that you may just be allowing the wrong things to exist alongside you. The wrong thoughts, actions, ideas, stories, people, and places. So Eddie, I hope those reminders provided some clarity. I hope they reminded you who you are. and that you already have what you need. It's time to rise.

So go. Behind our house, there were rolling hills. As far as the eye could see. And we would run them, we would run up and down until the sun disappeared over the horizon. And we couldn't see our hands in front of our faces. In a sense, it bothers me that 25 years later, I even have to ask why something so small.

simple and elementary could be fun. How something so out in the open could be profound, something so basic. Oh, how we've flipped the script. Now, today I build and scratch and claw and fight and chase and seek and climb. But my soul just wants the hill. And you might hear that and think, well, how tragic to live in that gap. to exist without that which you so deeply desire. But let me reframe the scene.

I never gave up the hills, and neither did you. They're there. Covered in complexity, deemed at some point to be just a little too simple, a little too elementary, so we built on top of them. We laid a foundation of external expectations. We erected structures that would bring us validation. In other words, we built someone else's world on top of our own. Called it a day.

And as one of my favorite sayings, two things can be true at once. Moving into the world means responsibility. It means more complexity. But it doesn't negate the fact that the point. precious things are the simple things. And while we often spend our days fixated on distant horizons, looking for those things, I continuously find that they're often under our very feet. The ground we walk on.

It might be more conventional to look back on those moments as childish. As kids doing what kids do, but I see it as more. In fact, I see it as the essence of life. The reason we're here, it needs. not be abandoned. And when you close your eyes, I wonder what that looks like for you now. The air cycling through your lungs, a smile on your face, your hair blown back by the wind, what is that moment? See, because when that's yours, you ignite. And if you think that's selfish, I have news for you, you pass that light right on to those around you. It comes through in the world

you build and the structures you make. When you find those hills again, you give meaning to the meaningless. It's paint on the canvas. It's a melody to the song. And to say, oh, I don't have time for that. It's like saying, I'll breathe later while your head is being held underwater.

No, it is the oxygen you need. We get one chance to do this, one ride here. And your gift need be presented to the world. Your heart should race just like it did when the setting sun was calling you in. And nothing else mattered in the world. The entire universe is rooting for you to find those hills. You have everything. You are everything you need.

I just hope you'll summon the courage. grab it. Sometimes moving forward takes courage. Like a lot of courage. Like more courage than you even think exists within you. But here's the deal. Courage you have and you have it in spate. I was recently after a long networking event having dinner with my friend Salara and Eli and both incredibly kind, generous, successful people. And we're kind of catching up as we're eating. And suddenly from across the table, Eli says, Eddie, you know, I feel called to share this story with you.

And, you know, obviously I said, please, I'm all ears. And his story started well before he was a mover and shaker in the realist. state world well before he was as confident and polished as he is now. And he talks about his mid-20s being homeless, right? Living in a hammock behind the local convenience store, scraping together quarters for food, you know, and how some days it was incredibly difficult on his pride. You know, being handed changed by pastors by, of them he knew, you know, were struggling just like he was. And one day, Eli decided, you know,

I just, I don't want to do it anymore. The pain was too much and hope felt like a mirage. And so that night, he planned to take his life. And he said he probably would have, had it not been for a call with his sister, who convinced him on the phone to say, he said, he probably would have had it not been for a call with his sister who convinced him on the phone to see just one more sunrise. One more sunrise. So he does the next morning, he wakes up. He's walking through a parking lot. Someone walking by said to a friend, I love my life.

And he said he remembers hearing that. You know, kind of scoffing and in a mocking manner repeating it back. You know, yeah, I love my life. But as he did, he noticed something. As he repeated those words, he felt good. For the first time in a long time, even if it was only for a few seconds. But sometimes a few seconds is enough. And this time, a few seconds was.

enough enough for him to say you know one more day we'll give this one more day maybe tomorrow tomorrow as the sun came up turned into one more day which turned into another day which turned into weeks months and years where he exists today not only incredibly successful but a sharer of the message he had a sign made that said I I love my life as a reminder to himself and to help others in the same spot. I love my life, he said again at the table, looking up with tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. See, when you're in those moments, and trust me, I know how dark they can be, it feels like life is asking you to do more than you can to pull a rabbit out of a hat or create.

some unheard-of larger-than-life solution. But the truth is, in those moments, you simply need to find the courage to continue forward. Into the chaos, one more time. One more day, one more sunrise. Not for what you might find, but for what you might remember, what you already know.

That life is beautiful. That sure, sometimes the skies are painted gray and the horizon's just not visible from your vantage point. But that isn't an indicator that reality is void of meaning. It doesn't suggest there aren't better days ahead. No, it means you have to put your head down and keep walking. Right into the storm. Right through the chaos. Blazing your own trail through the abyss.

like you own it. And you won't know why. It'll feel stupid. At times, yeah, you'll feel alone and helpless. Life will feel desolate. But here's the thing. You can. You are equipped with the courage to count those sunrises.

You're armed with the strength to simply walk into the night. Because here's what will happen. There's going to be a point. where the rain stops and the sky's clear, where everything opens up, the path will make sense and you'll trust more than ever to walk it. You'll have earned that confidence. You'll have seen firsthand that you are capable of moving mountains,

not by performing miracles, but by placing one foot in front of the other. Sometimes it's that simple, not easy, but simple. I love my wife. life. Say it. Even when you've forgotten, even when you can't remember why, I love my life. Say it when hope is lost, when the path is unclear, when you look around and wonder if there's anything even worth pursuing, say it, because it will take your hand and lead you forward. That's your Super Bowl. Not a miracle, but that step forward. One more sunrise. And if you can do it now,

when the walls feel like they're caving in, when the sky feels like it's crashing down. If you find the courage in this moment, you'll begin that journey into the depths of your soul. The ride to what's ahead. The better days assembled just beyond the confines of the present moment. Often courage is required of us when it's most difficult to reach. Reach in and find it. But it's there. So take it.

Allow yourself to be that person you were meant to be. I love.