Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - THE COMEBACK IN 2025 IS PERSONAL - Best New Year Motivational Video Speeches Compilation

Episode Date: January 1, 2025

What does it mean to create authentically, free from the weight of external validation? This episode explores the power of creating as though it will all be discarded, embracing the raw, unpolished process of self-expression. It’s not about crafting perfection for others but about stepping into honesty and confronting our own shadows. By embracing both our hopes and fears, we unlock a world of freedom where authenticity reigns. Excellence isn’t a static concept—it evolves. It’s the courage to begin, to persist, to stop what no longer serves, and to walk away when necessary. Sometimes, excellence means donning the armor, but perhaps the greatest courage is learning to shed it. This episode invites you to embrace flaws, cracks, and imperfections, knowing that true bravery lies in baring yourself fully to the world. Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

Create like you're going to throw it all away. Like not one word matters. Like there is no audience. Because when you do it for yourself and yourself only, you can finally do it honestly. In so many ways, courage is just honesty. I think the inclination is to hide from our shadows. To attempt to outrun them, leave them behind.

But the world I want to live in is a product of dancing with those shadows. It's in bringing them in and not keeping them out. A world with no separation between your hopes and your fears is one of freedom. See, throughout each chapter of life, excellence has evolved, and it's evolved along with me. Like a chameleon of sorts changing, bending, transforming to fit the time. Excellence has looked like the courage to start at times, to continue at times, to not stop the right thing at times,

and to walk away from the wrong things at times. It's been learning to put the armor on, and now perhaps it's learning to take it off, to step out and present that same message to the world, unpolished, Less thought through More flaws, more cracked. See, to be pristine is to be admired.

To be brave enough to be flawed, though. To be so honest, it increases your heart rate, to be so much of yourself that it creates a seismic shift, that's excellence. And we know excellence seems to always require of us what hurts the most in the moment. It demands we become what we most fear. It makes floors out of us.

ceilings does excellence as it lifts us up each new stair in the staircase and it's always amazed me looking back how while the context has changed so much over the years the premise has remained consistent do that which you are most scared to do it's Joseph Campbell's quote that the cave we fear to enter holds the treasure we seek well one can only peer into that black abyss for so long before the anticipation grows worse than the discomfort of the darkness itself. And so it has become time. Time to dance with the shadows, not to destroy, but to make them mine. And so dance we will round and round the flames, casting shadows and reeling them in. This moment is an infest.

reflection point. It's an inception. The first crack of sunlight at dawn. The first step of a journey to the stars. It is the day you transformed and excellence right along with you. Look, the truth is that what got you here is not always sufficient to get you there. That what's made you will not sustain you. And so the question is what lives beneath the surface? What lives under the hood and behind the curtain? And will you dig deeper? Will you allow your younger self to follow you into the abyss? Even if out of sheer curiosity, will you step up and heed the call?

perhaps to be less produced, rehearsed, packaged. And in the wake of these things, become courageously you. Where courage and authenticity intersect, excellence is born. So what better time than now, to rise again, to start anew, and I know you've pushed. I'm aware you've fought.

But for what? To lay down here? To give up now? When the greatest story is yet to be told? When the finale still lies ahead, when all that is meaningful waits just around the corner. No, move further into the darkness. Push higher into the night.

Release more of the darkness. yourself to the world go until you can go no longer do until you can do no more fight until there is no fight left in you that is your ode to excellence that spot where you're most scared to go and go there and i promise you two things One, that it will be painful, at least to some extent. And two, most importantly, it will be worth it. It will burn down the old you so that the new you can rise. And I'm speaking from nothing but experience.

Every word derived from the delta between how I used to live and how I live now. I'm referring to all the good that came from finding the courage to let my old self die, a recreation of sorts. And I'll tell you what happens. Your mind, your body, at least initially, start to panic. They say, wait, this is not you. Go back to how things were. You, you followed orders. You did what you were told.

You were linked to predictability. Remember how great that felt. Many of the people in your life, they won't like it either. For various reasons, perhaps it reminds them of their own limiting beliefs. Perhaps it shines a spotlight on the fact that most people in your life, yeah, they want you to do well, just not better than they're doing. And so you'll get resentment and gossip and a very obvious tension. But just like your mind and body seek to hold you to the status quo,

So does the world around you, what I'm asking you to do is to stretch beyond it. To reach for it anyway, to know, to see, to understand that there is chaos around you and embrace it, enter into it, right? Because that is the second piece. The predictable, unavoidable friction that the unknown creates. We want to know. We want predictability. We want safety. But the truth is, everything of value,

everything meaningful in the world started with the process, disconnected from a result. It's like, how can you be sure how things will end up? How can you be sure this will work out? How do you know for certain that the hero wins? You don't. And that's naturally scary, disconcerting, but you have to be okay, dancing to the music before it plays. You have to place enough trust in yourself to let the wheels hit the road.

And you may be thinking, my God, that's a lot, man, that's heavy. Sleepless nights, the risk, the judgment. You want me to invite all that into my life? just open the door and wave the chaos in? Yes, because as hard as it might be, nothing is as beautiful or as meaningful as becoming an individual capable of slaying dragons. Suffering is inevitable. And look, you can either let the suffering come to you and hold you down, or you can go to it.

Face it head on. propelled by its turbulence. I was recently at a live podcast where a man named Akshay Nanavadi was being interviewed and he's taking 400 pounds and he's pulling it across Antarctica. Obviously an insanely challenging feat and someone asked him about suffering. He says you know I'm paraphrasing but I need suffering in my life because because it's what brings me closer to God. It's in those moments where we immerse ourselves into an unknown, something way bigger than us, way outside of our day-to-day lives, right?

The normalcy of waking up and going through the motions. That's where we transcend who we were. That's where we get to find answers to questions we otherwise never would have asked. We learn about the world and ourselves, how capable we are, how much we can do. We get to touch the infinite. But the infinite does not come to us.

We have to go to it. See, most people, they accept what is. They look around and see not tools for building, but a reality already constructed, a rulebook of sorts. But imagine with me the freedom in knowing that life, this little experiment we were just dropped into, has infinite potential, infinite space, infinite room for the assembly of dreams. There are infinite games to be played and paths to be walked,

just because most people refuse to walk down them. Just because most people only ever know a fraction of themselves, just because most people never embark upon the adventures hidden in plain view doesn't mean you should do the same. Everything in life has a price tag attached to it. Everything. And I'm not here telling you what is or should be important in your life. You already know that. In your world, you're well aware.

I'm just here to remind you that when you close your eyes and dream of a life lived on your terms, when you can see fragments of a world different than this one, and you're playing with the idea of reaching towards it, maybe even digging deep to find the courage. I want you to know that price tag, the one so expensive you're tempted to move on, to deem it too much, that it's not only worth it, it's a bargain.

That once you've fought through the change, move beyond the reliance on what your old friends and acquaintances think or thought, Once you've redefined the standards in your life, you will find a contentment otherwise unreachable. You'll have arrived at a state beautiful beyond comprehension. So if you're scared, good. Good. Be scared.

To let your old self die is a terrifying proposition, right? After all, your old self is all you've ever known. But ask yourself this. Could it be that your old self fought and scrapped and fell and endured so that your new self could emerge? Is it time to climb the ladder? See that next level. Feel the sun on your skin, wind on your face, air in your lungs,

from the perspective of someone who's not a cog in the wheel of life, but someone making the most of the masterpiece peace they are in. Feel it. Let it scare you. Own it. Fear is the cost of admission, right? And when you see how incredible the show truly is,

you'll understand fear was not this stop sign. It was an invitation. Don't walk towards that which scares you run. It's not you against fear. Fear is an ally. It's you against ticking clocks. You against the sands of time. So take fear by the hand.

Not tomorrow or next week, but today. Now, we don't know true silence. And this came to light a few weeks ago during a trip with family and friends. We stayed in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere, but an hour from Zion National Park in Utah. And Ashley, a friend of the family, mentioned that even though our little sanctuary was quiet compared to our normal everyday lives, the airways were still inundated with noise. And so we sat there for a little while, paying attention and listening in on all the sounds that surrounded us. You know, planes as they went overhead,

it seemed like every 10 minutes or so. And I realized for the first time that even 10,000 feet up, you could hear a plane's engine echoing through the canyons. Cars from the two-lane road out in the distance could be heard as if they were a few feet away. It was fascinating. Even while staying in a location as remote as ours, we weren't alone. We never experienced total silence.

Apparently, there are only a few places in the world where this type of silence exists. Ashley briefly mentioned them, citing an article she'd recently come across. I just found the whole thing more and more interesting. It never dawned on me before. You know, the extent to which noise and complexity surrounded us.

My normal is one of chaos. Subtle chaos, sure, but chaos nonetheless. You may be wondering, you know, where am I going with this idea? Well, I found value in the understanding that we consistently operate in such an extreme level of commotion. We've learned to navigate consistent noise penetrating our existence in our lives, But we haven't really learned how to separate ourselves from it. There is always buzzing, humming, and shaking as we go about our day to day.

We're so intertwined with our surroundings that even when we seek solitude, we're unable to totally remove ourselves or pull ourselves from the noise. And to me, that weekend was just an incredible reminder of the importance, the significance, of remembering to separate ourselves from the world from time to time. The value of truly being alone with our thoughts, shielding ourselves from the externalities. It's not that we have to exist in total silence and solitude, somewhere like Northern Washington,

which I believe is one of the locations from the article Ashley cited as one of our quietest locations, It's more so that we must realize the world around us is constantly seeking to inundate every thought with impressions and ideas and stories and other noise. The world around us is constantly seeking to influence. That's the million dollar point. Even when we don't realize it, we are navigating ideas, engines, and electronics. There is always something placed between who we are and what's most important to us. And it's imperative that we recognize that.

See, peace will never fall out of the sky and land at our doorsteps. It must be sought out. The curtains covering who we truly are must be pulled back. And without this concentrated effort, life simply moves us down. this dream of life, while we assume it was our own swimming that created the change. Control requires separation from the everyday. So here's to making time to truly separate ourselves from what doesn't matter so that we can focus on what does, to identifying the noise so that we can, when necessary, remove ourselves from it. It is by knowing true silence that we

truly know ourselves. And that's a relationship that is invaluable. The world reflects back at us what we currently are, like a giant mirror projecting the movie that's playing in our heads. We lay on the horn in traffic, not when we're at peace with ourselves, but when we're in duress. We gravitate towards the negative, not when we're living in abundance. but when we're living in scarcity. We quit, retreat, contract, not when we're confident in the road ahead, but when we're doubtful, alarmed.

In other words, we find out in the world what already lives within us. Life in many ways is not absolute. It's evidence. It's evidence that we'll use to justify the things we already believe. Wayne Dyer used to use the metaphor of an orange. It can be squeezed and squeezed and squeezed,

but there will never be grapefruit juice pouring out of an orange. No, grapefruit juice doesn't live there. You can only find on the outside what lives in the inside. You can only extract from the orange orange juice. Recently a good friend of mine said to me that they'd like to change their financial situation. To which my response was perfect. You most certainly can, right? Like anything, yeah, it'll take work and some planning and some restructuring, all that good stuff, but you most definitely can. And his response was, sure, that's what all you motivational people say.

Okay, smart guy. Now you're an example on a podcast episode. Congrats. Why? Because you want the people around you to realize how much is possible for themselves. It's not sorcery or witchcraft to believe something better is possible. In fact, if one doesn't believe it's possible, they're effectively cementing their feet to the ground, at least with regard to that particular pursuit. Let's face it, you don't begin journeys that are not possible. We don't allow ourselves to do that. And so, to not believe in an outcome and somehow still wish for that outcome will,

that's essentially our orange metaphor. Can't squeeze financial freedom out of a mindset that only sees monetary constraint. Believing it's possible starts the journey. See, there's so much pragmatism in growth. You know, people talk a lot about the law of attraction, and yeah, I get it, right? It sets targets.

But the picture of, let's say, a dream house on your wall is not why you'll eventually have the dream house. The picture of the dream house on the wall reminds you. It helps you believe that you're someone capable of someday acquiring that house, obtaining that type of success, which results in you, wait for it,

doing things that help bring that to life. It is the doing. But that doing must be connected to belief. Mid-20s. I was unhappy, wanted more, but didn't really believe myself capable of obtaining more. Right, that was the issue. Back to the old orange expecting grapefruit juice. Can't get results in an area not conducive to their creation, right?

It wasn't until I said, you know what, maybe, not definitely, but maybe it could happen. Maybe I can take control here. The odds have to be greater than zero percent, right? It's Jim Carrey and dumb and dumber, so you're saying there's a chance. Yeah, it's like starting out, that's all you need, a chance, the door cracked. In the beginning, I just needed to convince myself something different was possible. The beginning of transformation and that internal change prompted how I interacted with the external world. You do things differently when you believe differently.

Or, if you want to phrase it another way, believing that you can bring something to life doesn't guarantee that you actually do. But believing you can't guarantees that you won't. And why not stack the odds in your favor? I often juggle back and forth between the philosophical and the tangible or the tactical, right? Three ways to do X.

Life hacked to change Y. Yeah, of course. Life does in so many ways come down to the tactics, to the how, to the steps. But does that even matter if you don't believe in the pursuit? Does it matter what Google Maps says if you never step out your front door? You have to convince you. You have to create an environment in your world where change isn't crazy, more isn't absurd. It might be challenging. But it's possible. And possible is enough. It is enough to begin.

Enough to step out. Enough to see the trivialities as tools and the resistance as part of a beautiful game. Remember that the world is a mirror. Reflecting back at us our worldview. We find what we look for. So give yourself permission to look for. things that make life beautiful. Give yourself the gift of believing change is possible. Courage is designed to move, which is why one bold action can completely transform your

life. It's why one step forward can create space for you to experience and obtain things. you've never had before. I've been sharing with you quite a bit lately how I've essentially rediscovered Greg McCune's idea of essentialism, redefining focus, cutting away access, refusing to operate at 65% on many things, right? And instead, focusing 100% on the thing that means the most to me,

right, going all in on the right thing. Might seem small. But I promise you, in our worlds, it's not. And the other day, I was in the car talking about how, basically, when you go all in, on that thing that feels right, alignments, the word I've used many times, but that thing that's right for you, when you give it the attention and time and energy deserves, the universe seems to hear you. It's like it gives you strength back. And obviously there's a pragmatic element to it, right?

It's like what you water is going to grow. You can only improve what you focus on. But that relationship between attention, effort, and life seeming to help pave away for you when you go all in, it's so strong that it makes me think there might be more to it than that. It blows my mind how quickly after realigning things happened that haven't happened in years. It's like you commit to something and life arms you for the journey. You lock in and you are in your own way, provided wings.

And I'm explaining this to Jules, who's riding shotgun. She goes, I love when that happens. It's like courage creates vibration. One of those light bulb moments, right? Exactly the vibration of courage. Courage creates space for everything you need. That courageous act. And by the way, everyone knows what that is in their own world.

that thing they should be doing or that thing they've wanted to do. Depending on the season of life, maybe it's going faster towards something. Maybe it's slowing down a pursuit that isn't quite right. Maybe it's less, maybe it's more. Maybe it's solitude. Maybe it's putting yourself in more social situations.

Locking in on one thing or exploration and discovery. It's different. It changes. But you know what that is. Because you think about it. Because your soul communicates with your mind. Whatever it is, it's an arm's length away. The extended hand of courage doesn't mean the pursuit or task before you will be easier. In all honesty, it's probably the opposite.

You are voluntarily stepping out into the storm. But what courage does, despite the chaos, or voluntary turbulence, courage gives you a chance. It puts you in the game and allows you to tell and show the world who you are. I sometimes laugh at the disconnect that once existed between my actions and who I wanted to be. Big plans, big goals. But I was only willing to take minimal risk.

The world simply can't hear you from inside your house. It can't translate a dream into a reality or transform hope into tangible progress if it remains tucked away in the back of your mind. Not until you find the courage to set it free. To give it to the world. To start that ripple effect or vibration that will lead you hand in hand into the unknown.

When you own that for yourself, the lens through a world, which you look at life adjusts alongside you. Everything is now in the context of how to create that storyline. The same things you once walked right by become props in the play of your life. The right people become wind at your back and the wrong ones fade back into yesterday's chapter. Life wants to push you forward. It wants to be an ally.

So let it. Allow it to be the wind at your back. You have incredible thoughts, brilliant ideas. There are game-changing opportunities that need you to breathe life into them. So here's a thought. I want you to wake up a few minutes earlier this week. If you're a coffee drinker, get yourself a nice cup, sit in a comfortable spot, and for those few moments, get out of your head and into your heart.

Paint a picture of what lights you up, a could-be reality, and then choose one courageous act that will take you to that day, that will bring life to that vision. Not tomorrow or the next day, but today. Right now, this very moment, and watch how that consciousness, that decision infiltrates all areas of your life. Watch how it acts as a brush painting, you know, seemingly a black and white landscape and puts color into it. It's the start of everything.

The power you've always had, the sound of strength, the heartbeat of your future self. It's the sunrise before a new day and the sunset that gives way to a sky full of stars. It is the vibration from your fingertips to God's ears. from your soul to the world, it's where you were meant to go. So my friend, go there. Life is perspective. So during the good times, find gratitude,

and during the difficult times, find the opportunity. When you have the answers, when you know, be proud of your knowledge. And when you don't celebrate all the wisdom to come. When the sun is shining, cherish the warmth on your skin, and when it's not, learn to run in the rain. When you're focused, appreciate the clarity.

And when life feels chaotic, embrace the chance to manufacture order. When people come into your life, value the ride that you'll share. And when they leave, take note of all they gave along the way. When you win, reflect back on all the hard work that made it possible. And when you lose, take in the lessons that even winning can't provide. When things go as planned, revel in your ability to execute. But when your plans and life's plans diverge, remember that some things are simply outside of your control.

And now, this moment, is a chance to identify and utilize the things that are in your control. Henry David Thoreau, it's not what you look at, it's what you see. So see the world as you'd like it to be. Never turning a blind eye to reality, but realizing how much control you have over making reality your own. We are the builders. The world around us merely provides the components and the pieces. And if one were to live as though there were value in every moment,

they would inevitably find themselves looking for that value, perhaps even when it was difficult to find most elusive. most elusive. When most would hang their heads and walk right by it, I look out my window and see a world that is neither valuable or valueless, I see a blank canvas in which we are tasked with making that decision. Life is a roller coaster ride. It has ups and downs, the obvious and the unexpected, and while some think nothing of the high points and dwell on the low points, it's up, and points, there are an abundance of resources, of beauty, of joy reserved for those who understand how great the highs are and how valuable the lows, who take what comes, not as walls

walls to live within, but as parts to assemble, not as antithetical to their hopes and dreams, but as the very foundation they will build those hopes and dreams upon. This world is not for you, just as much as it is entirely yours. It calls for you to be that arbiter. For what you decide will inevitably take. I think a substantial amount of life comes down to self-trust, to believing in yourself. But here's the thing, it's not blind belief.

It's not toxic positivity where you close your eyes, cross your fingers, shut the world off and just assume things will work out because you're entitled to a great result. No, what I'm referring to is an active and deliberate trusting of yourself to learn, to make the necessary, adjustments and to keep moving forward.

When we have faith in our ability to step forward and improve simultaneously, there is no defeat. When you know you won't stop until you land where you want to land, then limitations become a choice. Success in any capacity is a you thing, not an outside thing. And this popped into my head a few days ago during, of all things, a game of action. So quick story from last weekend, a friend of mine and I, after a day of working on the podcast, went down to Fort Lauderdale to this axe throwing place, which is, it's random, but it's a great time, simple concept. There's this giant target, and you take turns throwing little axes at the target, basically darts, right? If you think along those lines. And there were eight of us in the group. They divide. you into two teams of four and you play various games until the end right the end there's this final session where it's every person for themselves it's like a free-for-all each person gets

three rounds to throw axes at the target and whoever has the best score wins so think of the target just in a traditional way right the bull's eye or the little point in the middle is worth five then the next smallest circle outside of that is four, then three, then two, and then the biggest circle along the edge is worth one. So whatever you hit with the axe, that's the points you get, except they put these two little blue dots

on the top third of the circle. And they say, if you can hit one of these blue dots, you get ten points. So high risk, but certainly high reward. And my friend and I is super competitive, right? He looks at me, starts telling me how he's already got this in the bag, and I'm like, all right, we'll see. And it's been arguable, but I probably had been the more consistent of both of us up to that point in the night. Nothing fancy, just straight away aiming at the middle, aiming for those bull's eyes and fours.

Not even attempting to go for those hard-to-reach blue dots. No need straight up the middle. And here's why this is important. We step out to take our first shots of the finale here. My friend goes first, immediately hits one of those little blue dots. Boom. Already, I'm down 10 points. So what do I do?

I completely leave my strategy. And I start thinking, no, I'm behind. I can't let this happen. I spent my next nine shots, and the only nine shots I had, right, trying to hit those blue dots and missing every time, just get killed. He won handedly. And then I realized when the scores were read out at the end, that if I just ignored everything my buddy had done

and stayed true to my game, aimed for the center of the board, average 3.5 or 4 points of throw, I would have won. And by a substantial margin. But I let the outside world impact my strategy. I started chasing those long-shot blue dots when I knew they were a distraction. Now, I'm sure the last thing you expected to hear today was the recap of an axe-throwing contest. But if you bear with me, there's value here. So let's step beyond the axe-throwing.

Let's take it up a level. Let's talk about when you know what's best for you, you know where you want to be, and what's working, but you're pulled out of your lane because of what someone else says or does. You hear him or her over there accomplish something great. You look in the mirror and go, man, I haven't accomplished anything like that. Maybe I need to change what I'm doing, my approach. Maybe I'm wrong. See, and the beauty of that little game was that it reminded me that there will always be

outside circumstances trying to redirect my course. But we have to trust in ourselves that we are doing what's best. We have to know our own game and our own strengths. Now, don't conflate this with a stubbornness. It's not about never adjusting. No, we need to adjust. But adjust when it's best for you. Not simply because other people are taking a different approach.

It's hard to stay consistent with the world pushing other options consistently, right? people finding success in various ways, taking other paths, talking about their incredible strategies and how great X, Y, and Z is. But it's all noise. You have to trust you. And again, not blind faith, but an understanding of who you are and a willingness to continue to grow with every step forward. There has to be some element of understanding that, sure, things will get challenging, life will

push back. but that doesn't mean you are wrong or in over your head. It's a compounding of little actions and trust in yourself. If you can do that, the world remains yours. It's day by day, or in my example, throw by throw, knowing your bull's eye and aiming steady up the middle. We all know how hard it is to see results before they exist. The line tries to find every example out there depicting why you're wrong.

Why the finish line is too far away. Life is constantly creating off-ramps, saying, hey, if you don't want it that bad, or you're unsure of yourself, here's a way out, come with me. It's constantly sowing seeds of doubt, which is why we must dig deep for that strength. Life is a game of you versus you. If those around you win, good for them.

And if they lose, well hey, wish them well on the next go-around. But none of it has any bearing on who you are and the race you're running. Are you going to show up for you? Are you going to be your biggest fan when it takes every single part of you to keep going? Don't let the loudest voices in the room dissuay you from what you know to be right. know to be right. Don't let the blue dots hinder your direct line to the bull's eye. Right. Block out that noise. Block out the distractions and do what is required of you. Win your race because that's the only finish line of value. Walk your path because that will

bring you where you need to be. And when you question the pursuit, remember what you You've overcome all the steps that brought you to right now and how, yeah, maybe they weren't flashier over the top, but they were consistent. They've given life to the present moment. What you do is succeed. What you do is overcome. Just don't lose your. We only go as far is our ability to adapt.

Meaning, our lives aren't shaped by the plans we make. Our lives are shaped and defined by how we adapt and evolve and overcome when those plans fall through. And you might hear that and think, well, that's a pessimistic take. Well, let me tell you something I've learned. Over the years, I've seen again and again that a life worth living requires two things. It's the ability to dream far beyond what currently exists, and second, the ability to tie the implementation of that dreaming into something real and tangible and pragmatic. It is the head in the clouds and feet on the ground philosophy.

Be dreaming, be stretching, but be real in the approach. See, life is both a beautiful opportunity and insanely challenging at times, right? It's the idea that two things can simultaneously be true at once. Anyone can make a plan. Anyone can come up with an idea. But how many of us are right? willing to get back up when that idea falls apart. How many of us keep trudging into the storm after a year or two years or three years of not

quite getting that reality we're longing for? Of not experiencing that validation that we're craving. Are you one of those people that amidst that lack of validation can keep moving forward? Again, it's not about making the plan, it's about adjusting, adapting and growing as life throws everything it has at you. Not because life is an adversary or the deck is stacked against you, but because life has a way of ensuring you really want what you say you do. It has created checkpoints where you have to look around and ask, do I want to pay for this? not financially, but with time, with energy. Are you willing to make the social sacrifices?

Are you willing to commit and dedicate yourself to the game? Because most, by the way, say no. Most look at the cost. They look at what it takes to get to the other side and say, hey, this is not worth it. I'm going to find something easier. I'm going to find a different path. And you can look at those odds as a problem

or a reason that you'll never get where you want. want to be, or you can see it as a tremendous opportunity. A lot of times it's not so much an ability as it is a willingness. Will you pay that price? Again, not financially, but with your time, with your energy, with your ego, will you be the student? Will you humble yourself and move further into the storm when most look around and say, this is not for me?

the saying goes so much of life is simply hanging on when others would be letting go. It's not seeing the result as, you know, final, but making an adjustment or a pivot. And all of this leads me back to the main premise, right, that there is zero friction involved with making a plan. Anyone can make a plan, anyone can dream, anyone can hope. But when the wheels hit the road, will you adjust? will you navigate through the chaos? It was never about the perfect map or the perfect anything, for that matter.

It's do you have the courage to be imperfect, to start without all the answers and collect them along the way? Can you find what doesn't work and turn that into your advantage, into the next building block? You know, sometimes it is that simple. It doesn't mean it's easy, but it's simple. We have to jump before we have wings.

Because life is about learning to fly while you're free falling through the air. And trust me, I wish it wasn't that way. But it is. So go. Step out into the world and be okay not knowing. Be okay out in the dark because armed with the certainty that you will pay. You can pivot until you find the key required to unlock the door. It makes you invincible.

The plan gets you started. The dream gets you through the door. The same way that an entrance fee gets you into the race. But guess what? You still have to run it. And when you're cramping, when you're tired, when you feel weak, what do you do? Do you still pursue the finish line?

Can you find a way to step? That's what ultimately means everything. Our lives are not shaped by the plans we make. Our lives are shaped by how we act when those plans fall through. So carry forth into the night, into the darkness. That same darkness that makes your palms, sweat, and your knees shake. You just might be the very light required. to illuminate the path.

Before you think about acquiring more, first adjust your normal. Before you think about reaching out into the ether for solutions, ask yourself, what's the condition of the space I currently occupy? Is it what I want it to be? Because without that foundation, every house is built on sand. You simply cannot build unbroken things. So story time. I've documented over and over and over throughout the years the injuries and physical limitations I face

when it comes to lifting at the gym, right? It's been this kind of giant puzzle for me. I've tried different things, approaches, you name it. I still am. But the situation basically can find me, to cardio and interval training, right? Lightweight because anything beyond that ultimately results in shoulder injury. So continuing to look for answers, I connected with a trainer and corrective exercise specialist recently. His name's James and day one, I'm in his office.

And I'm kind of giving him the lay of the land. My issues, what I've seen over time with my shoulders, we map out a game plan. And as we're doing, doing so, I asked him about what I should do the days we're not meeting, right? Should I keep doing the hit classes? Should I be lifting lighter weight? Should I be swimming? Like, what should I be doing on those days? And he said something that I thought was incredibly powerful. He said, I don't want you to do any hit or lift any kind of weight, even small weight at the moment, because your normal isn't ideal. And we need to fix your normal before you add more to it. It doesn't matter how much weight if you're lifting with restriction in your shoulders, you're going to exacerbate issues.

We need to go down to the roots and correct the problems, right? So let's step back. Let's increase mobility, flexibility, range of motion, and then we start putting on muscle. Patience and an acknowledgement that things need to change are required. It's stepping back to leap forward, right? And I walked out of the gym feeling excited about the prospect of recreation, like, enough, right? Let's go. I think we've got this. But also thinking about that philosophy and all the times that I have tried to add more on top of broken things.

How instead of fixing, I tried disguising. Instead of confronting, I walked away from. Instead of pulling apart and rebuilding, I would attempt to fix the cracks with duct tape, or band-aids on bullet wounds, as the saying often goes. Because, look, it hurts to build from the ground up. That requires looking in the mirror and acknowledging that something is wrong.

It means more work. It means patience. It means dedication. But it also means if you acknowledge it, there will be a point in time where the ground you're building on supports your plans for growth. And this isn't a gym lesson.

This is a life lesson. I thought about one of my good friends who years back dealt with substance abuse issues, trying different things over and over again, doing whatever he could to get sober but couldn't quite make it happen until he uprooted and changed his environment where he lived what he did who we saw on a daily basis he changed his normal and my mind flashed back to him saying proudly that his recreation started with that very difficult tearing down in order to rebuild I thought of a past relationship in my own life

one that I truly wanted to salvage. But no matter what I did, I couldn't make it feel right. Because the issue wasn't about what we did on the weekends or trying to find remedies to the little things that we thought about. I needed to step aside and personally evolve. I needed to create in myself a new normal. Or even something a little less deep, right? The everyday occurrences.

Just my productivity and ability to write. With the internet, distraction, posting, and then trying to manufacture the discipline to not check analytics or DMs or comments on the seven different apps that I'm constantly working on. I can attempt to navigate this minefield all day trying to trick myself into greater productivity,

but that's a losing battle. To win there, I need. to redefine normal. Shut the internet off when writing. Put the phone in a different room. Become the person who distinguishes between the chaos of being online and the valuable deep work that only occurs when you remove yourself from it. My normal wasn't working, right?

It was time to delete the productivity apps and just shut the internet off when writing. It's a simple rewiring of normality. And I think we aim to build on broken things because when we do, we can put pause on what our souls know will be difficult work. We're scared. And so we try to trick ourselves into thinking we're doing enough. And what I've found is, you know,

you may once in a while get away with tricking other people. But you can't trick yourself. You can't lie to you because you know and your soul knows. Sometimes life simply asks that we step back. We put the weights down. We increase our flexibility. There's no strength without a solid foundation. So don't seek out the new without auditing the old.

What is your normal? If it's not where you want it to be, congrats. Right? You've acquired an awareness that few seem to grasp. Now you can green light the operation. Now you can chip away at what will be the reason you are at some point in the not too distant future stronger than you've ever been.