Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - The Most Underrated Power You Have - Motivational Speeches for Greatness

Episode Date: September 18, 2024

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others." – Cicero In this episode, Eddie Pinero shares a heartfelt story about a conversation with his aunt and brother, reflecting on the wisdom of his late uncle. When asked in hospice how he wanted to be remembered, his uncle responded with one simple word: "grateful." Eddie dives into the power of gratitude, exploring how it can be a guiding force in our lives. He reflects on the choice we all have to embrace gratitude and how it can shape our perspective, reminding us that gratitude isn't a small thing—it's everything. Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

I want to share a story with you. The other night, my brother was in town. So he's in Phoenix. We're hanging out with our aunt, who's also in Phoenix. And she actually hasn't seen my brother in a very long time. So we're all catching up, having a nice dinner. And she tells us the story about my uncle, her husband, who passed away. And when she was with him in hospice, I guess one of the things

they do is sort of some type of checklist with questions and different things to just discuss and go over. And one of the questions for my uncle when he was sick was, how do you want to be remembered? And she said, you know, she remembers vividly asking him that question and him pondering it for a few minutes and saying one word, grateful. And I thought that was one of the most powerful beautiful tributes to just life itself to the people in his life to everything. I don't think Hollywood script writers could come up with the more perfect answer, a more ideal answer. And, you know, it's something that I've been thinking about a lot, just gratitude in general, that sort of perspective, that power we all have to choose.

and how that sort of reinforced the gravity, the importance of having gratitude as a North Star. You know, we all have the ability to choose gratitude. And the older I get, the more I learn that it's not a small thing. One of the most important books I've read by Dan Sullivan. and Benjamin Hardy. I've referenced it a few times. It's called The Gap and the Gain. And it talks about this sort of binary,

this ability we have to either look at the gap, right? What's not there in our life that we want to be there, the things that are missing, the things that hurt us, versus the gain, which is how far we've come in what we do have.

have and how lucky we are. And it's funny, it doesn't matter the situation. There's always both. There's always a metaphorical shelf right in front of you and you can choose which one you want to take and how you want to see the situation. You know, I think something that I'm learning as well is that we all have natural predispositions. We have biological tendencies. How you view the world innately is not.

going to be the same as I do. Nature plays a role, right? I need personal development. That's why I love it. That's why I've, in a way, made it my mission. I love philosophizing and diving into it. It helps me. Without it, I wander.

Because my instinct is not, I am so happy. Let's find the positive here, right? It's training the mind. to say, ouch, this might hurt, but where's the value? And at the end of the day, that's fine.

Because I get there, ultimately, right? And I scream that from the mountaintops because we can all do that. We can all look around and say, hey, there's something to be grateful for here. There's value here. Even in the darkest moments,

even in our suffering, there is value. You know, and in that book, The Gap v. The Gain, that's what Dan Sullivan says. you know, especially as entrepreneurs. It's like if you're ambitious, it's very hard to see anything but the gap

to where you want to go. Right? We're impatient. We want it now. But how lucky are we to even be afforded an opportunity to bring something into existence? It's not lost on me that so much of what I talk about

is first world. Right? It's like if you're not happy with your life, fix it. You can. That's a luxury to be able to do that. There's a time and place where it's like, I just need food.

I need water. I need shelter. I need to hide from violence or to be violent myself, whatever it is, right? And so we're in this sort of place in time. where we can really make the most of life and why shouldn't we? But I think, you know, with that comes the reminder,

we have to understand how lucky we are and how much we have. And, you know, I've said it before, that is, it's armor. To choose gratitude is to choose armor. It's to make yourself stronger. It's to strengthen yourself. I was with my brother the other day. We were in Sedona, Arizona.

And I just found out that my car, when we were in Sedona, some rodents got under it and chewed the front trunk sensor and some wire harness. Clearly, I don't know much about that stuff. And so with Teslas, when something's wrong like that, an alarm goes off. like just an obnoxious alarm, and it doesn't stop. It just goes until, you know, you can get some type of, you know,

you have to bring it to a mechanic. You have to bring it to one of their folks who can take care of it, but there's no way to override it. And I'm on the phone with them. I'm doing sort of the restart on the computer, on the car, nothing. So that means every time we got in that car for that entire road trip and beyond, there's this just obnoxious alarm. That, by the way, when you turn the music up, the alarm goes up to me.

match the music. It was almost comical, right? But at first, it's incredibly frustrating. And especially because, you know, they were saying that I couldn't get an appointment for like 45 days. I'm like, so you want to tell me for 45 days I'm going to be driving around with a siren going off in my car? We got it taken care of sooner. But it brought me to that moment, right? The gap first, the gain, because you feel angry. It feels stupid and unnecessary. Why is this happening? This is obnoxious. Then you think, what a problem to have. Poor me. My Tesla is making a sound while I'm on a road trip with my brother

in one of the most beautiful places in the world soaking in the scenery. This is when you're going to throw a tantrum, right? And it's that same idea. There's just, it's so easy to be angry and overlook the good. And I say that, not that. to be cliche. I say that because it's really become a superpower for me. And I want to share that with you. That's what I do. I share my wins. I share my losses. When I discover something that I think is meaningful or powerful or impactful, I want you to know. Because some of the biggest changes

we make are little alterations to our perspective. And so every time you're angry, picture that shelf right in front of you. And there's the gap and the gain. Two things, right? There's a reason to be grateful or resentful. There's the choice to move forward or to be slowed down. And you reach out and you pick up the one you want to pick up. They'll always be there. And so if you start becoming accustomed to picking up the gain and the gratitude and the value, you'll see that,

you know, in this game of life, you're not a puppet. You're the puppet master. You know, Victor Frankel talked about in his book, the one thing that can't be taken away from us is our attitude. It doesn't matter what's going on around us, what life is presenting. Attitude can't be taken away. Your gratitude is always there. Whatever you're going through, good, bad, in the middle.

Think of that shelf. Think of the value that you can pick up. at any moment and use to better yourself as opposed to these narratives that we create that hold us back or make things seem harder or put us in that gap unnecessarily. In a world where you can be anything, choose to be grateful. Standing at the edge of the pond, looking down at my reflection, I asked the man looking back at me if he was willing to make a deal. What kind, he asked, seemingly intrigued. Well, I need you to be there. See, I have big plans and big aspirations, and sometimes things get really hard.

Sometimes I feel lost and confused and overwhelmed, and I need you to be there. I need to know you'll always be. I see, he said. I'm shifting up towards the sky as he thought through my request. This is doable, but I'll need something of you in return. Of course, I responded. Anything. Okay, you replied, do I have your word that when you fall, that when you don't succeed, you'll get up until you do?

Yes, you have my word, I replied. Do I have your word? He asked. That when you're lost, when the world shakes beneath you, you will continue on until you find steady ground. Yes, you have my word. Do I have your word?

That when you feel life's resistance like wind pressing against you with all its might, you'll keep pushing into it. Not hoping it gets weaker, but knowing you'll get stronger. Yes, I said for a third time, you have my word. Then I'll be there. I'll be there every step of the way.

I'll be your biggest fan. I'll have your back when you feel alone. I'll remind you how strong you are when you feel weak. I will point to the upside when you have a hard time seeing it. But you have to keep moving forward. That's your end of the bargain. I'll open those doors for you. I'll be your light in darkness, but listen to me.

It will all be in vain if your feet are not continuously in motion. It will all be for not if you don't, regardless of what life throws at you, commit to carrying on. So for the last time, look me in the eyes and promise me, promise me that you will not stop. Yes, you have my word, I said. Then my friend, we have a deal, and I will be there for you. Always. When the ground beneath us shakes, we crave stability. When the heavens open up and rain pours down and we run for shelter.

When life presents us with vagueness, with flashes of possibility, we long for mastery. It's more instinct than anything else. But could it be that that instinct that we run to, like moths to a flame, is leading us astray, that it doesn't have our best interests at heart? Could it be that we're so worried about protecting and maintaining an acceptable image for the world that we forget to build something internally that's worth protecting? What if that's shaking is what brings down the foundations that held us back? What if that rain washes away the limits of yesterday as we evolve into something more?

And what if those flashes of possibility require of us not mastery, no, not yet, but a willingness to be the fool? And what if that willingness isn't an unfortunate dead end but a beginning? In one of his lectures at the University of Toronto, Jordan Peterson said, if you are not willing to be a fool, you can't be a master. In the cycle that is self-discovery, that is growth, we have to at some point step into an arena that's foreign to us, that we don't yet understand. We have to be willing to operate with inadequate resources, trusting that they'll be picked up along the way.

And that's a lot to take in. It's painful to know that others are going to have knowledge and skills and competencies that you won't. that you'll willingly inject yourself into the bottom of some hierarchy with nothing more than aspirations. But that willingness is your vehicle. And what's clear is that everyone wants the moon, but very few people have the courage to start constructing that spaceship. Very few have the courage to be the student.

That's why our inclination is to quit when we can't snap our fingers and magically beyond, our way when we can't leap past that wandering around the unknowns. The reality is we have to fight to scrap to obtain that sense of belonging in a particular competency. And just talking about it brings me back. It's an obstacle that we all face. It's super real to me. I remember being featured on a podcast where the host literally asked me, why should I listen

what you have to say? Right. Like who are you? Why are you road mapping your journey? Right. for relevance in an area in which, you know, at the time I knew almost nothing about. And I love how Peterson articulates this battle. He says at some point you'll want to make a change and you'll feel like an imposter. And guess what? You are. But you have to be.

You'll ultimately feel worse if you don't do it. That's imposter syndrome. Feeling like a stranger in your own body. And guess what? It's not wrong. It's just a beginning. I like explaining it like jumping into a cold pool. It feels uncomfortable at first. It feels out of place, but then things normalize. They become comfortable. And what's the other option? To fear that minute of discomfort and never jump in?

It's what we need to tell ourselves when we want something but the climb seems too steep. That climb is manageable. You'll acclimate. The adversary is pushing beyond that fear of stress. that fear of starting anew, taking your limited understanding, bringing it to the base of that mountain,

a new Goliath, and looking up with confidence. And the question is, can you be foolish enough to do that? And once you've made that ceiling, your next floor, will you be foolish enough to do it again and again and again? And breaking through that fear, knowing that stumbling around for a period of time doesn't kill you, it's required. It's the inability to show weakness or appear vulnerable.

That's what chips away at you for a lifetime. If you want more, immerse yourself in that cycle of mastery. Start at the bottom and ascend. And when you approach the top, separate yourself and find another ceiling to chase. Replant a seed. Play the role of the fool again. This is the formula for a single.

growth, for prosperity, for fulfillment. This is the pathway to anything of substance. You take your ls, you embrace your critics, you swallow your pride, and move towards a tomorrow that far exceeds today. As your reality changes, your perception changes, the company you keep changes, you'll start to see that what's around you is made by people who are willing to fail and fail often. Our world is one deviant. advised by those who could put pride on hold. By those who were humble enough to crawl through the unknown long before they ran anything. Who knew that before they played for any title or championship, they must first play the fool?

In 1519, Ernan Cortez arrived on the shores of Mexico with roughly 600 Spaniards, all of whom quickly realized that a mighty empire. The Empire waited for them not too far inland. And Cortez, inspired by Spain's current golden age and the encompassing sense of ambition and adventure that gave life to the whole journey to the new world, he pushed his men forward into the unknown ordering them, as Winston Reynolds writes in Hispania, to destroy the ships behind them. Symbolizing the valiant push forward with no return. Everything would be on the line. And over the years, this act has become folklore,

evolved into the famous phrase we all know, burn the boat. Burn the boat. Why is this an important idea? Well, I look at it in very simple terms. Doing anything meaningful is hard. Not planning on it. or hoping to do it, but actually doing it.

And when you're in the heat of metaphorical battle, right, when you're on your way facing the adversity and the challenges and the hardships, whether it's social, physical, or mental, that growth comes with discomfort. Our instinct is to want out. When we are in pain, our brain's default is, How do I stop the pain? And what I've learned is that if you give yourself off ramps, you'll take them. If you allow for a plan B, it will become more and more appealing. If the mentality is give it your all until it's inconvenient, well, we all know what happens,

since excellence doesn't allow for skipping the inconvenient. When you can't turn around and get back on those boats, you're forced to create outcomes. Because suddenly everything depends on it. Does this mindset come easy? No, I don't believe it does. Took me into my mid-20s to realize, hey, I'd never done anything without a life-wrapped or a safety net. I always carried option B, C, and D around with me in my pocket. And the result was above-outhing.

average at plenty of things was great at none. But when your back is to the wall, and those demons are closing in, it's incredible what you can do, which you can create. You will shock yourself with your competence and your ability, waiting to be unlocked. Now, I'm not saying keep jamming this square peg in the round hole

if you know something's not for you. I'm simply saying if there is something you want, something that you know in your soul is pulling you in, and you really want to see that thing come to fruition, you can't have pre-made off-ramps for yourself when the inevitable difficulty comes in. Because it will. It always does. I refer to those moments as checkpoints,

areas of internal deliberation, high security, guarded gates, where many arrive, but few get to pass through. Not because they couldn't, but because the cost of access was expensive, too expensive, mentally, physically, and socially expensive, taxing. Most simply say no thanks. They get back on that boat, waiting for them by the shore they arrived on and returned to the world they've always known. The way I see it, this is not about right or wrong.

No, that's missing the point entirely. I see the question being, how bad do you want it? A little? A lot? How about enough to go all in? Because if you want to see levels of yourself, you never thought possible.

You need to kick the ladder down behind you. Force yourself to rise to the occasion amidst the chaos. Map your path straight into the darkness of night. Not because it's the most convenient, but because you gave yourself no other choice. You burned the boats and are content to watch their flames slowly disappear behind you. As you go, where few have gone.

Pressure, as in those burdens we sometimes feel as we navigate life, it's complex, it's powerful, but like all powerful things, also delicate. That same pressure that creates diamonds and create diamonds it does, Well, it can also remind you that in the meantime, you are beneath the surface, buried away amidst that process of creation. In other words, pressure is a beautiful driver because it is, in many ways, a standard of excellence, of more. It pushes us towards a life of abundance like wind at our backs. But see, two things can be true at once. And it's impossible to look at the word more without acknowledging that in order for more to exist,

something must be lacking in the present. And there lies the challenge. Pressure gone too far becomes a feeling of inadequacy. The same driver to explore the depths of one's potential can also, if mismanaged, take them to the spiral of never enough. See, you are a brilliant human being with natural strengths and talents, and while certainly imperfect,

we all have something to offer the world. This floating rock is a better place because you are on it. And as we go about figuring out what it all means and how to bring it to life, we have to also understand the nuance. We want to get better every day, not because we lack value in the present, but because the journey is a remarkable adventure. Progress is happiness, humans love and need progress, growth, and expansion, and exploration inject meaning into life. They help us manufacture peak moments.

And it's taken me a long time to understand that distinction. I want to be more, not because I'm inadequate in the present, but because against all odds I'm here. And what a gift to be able to push that pedal to the floor. To squeeze from life as much beauty as I possibly can. The pressure doesn't say, because without it, you're less. It says, oh, but what a ride awaits if you're willing to step up and seek it out. I used to get so annoyed when I'd see

stories or memes on social media that are anything along the lines of you're special just the way you are right? It felt tacky, it's lacking substance and sometimes to be honest it just felt like a lie but my thoughts on that have changed

I don't think it's a lie it's just an extreme in one direction just like never being good enough as an extreme in the other Look, you're not perfect just the way you are. We're all flawed, and we all have room for opportunity. But you're also not void of value until you reach point X, Y, or Z. If we're going to grow, we need to understand why we're growing.

My favorite thing about this platform, you know, over the years, has been trying to identify the obstacles in my life. Understand them to the best of my ability, and then share that, hoping maybe there's a piece or two there that's relatable, that you can take value from. But this topic in particular, I've never really felt like I've solved or been able to grasp. This constant weight or pressure,

I'd consistently feel to do more. And I know others feel it as well. I talk to them about it consistently. It can be almost suffocating. I do attribute a lot of good to it, right? It helps me get back up. It makes me want to be better. Find new ways to share.

Add value to as many people as I can. When I have my down times, that pressure says, hey, man, you're made for more. Lift your head up and go. I wouldn't be where I am without it. But then there's also the ugly side. Right? Like I mentioned above, the cost of ambition

is sometimes the inability to be in the moment. always reaching for more is the younger brother of never being enough. It can be exhausting. And so what to do, what to do, right? The question that I've been playing in my head. And here's where I am in the present. I think this is an ever-evolving process. But as I mentioned above, I believe the answer is in why.

The why is everything. There are no have-toes in life. Life is a collection of get-toes. We're not dipping into life's infinite abundance so that we fill holes within ourselves. No, we're doing it to take in the show, to absorb so that we can consequently add our verse to the play of life.

As the saying goes, the ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. And that's where the distinct, as far as I'm concerned. Where the ship is in the moment doesn't make it more or less beautiful or valuable, but to deprive that ship of open water, to deprive its sails of the wind, well, it just feels like a shame, like something's missing.

And so with all that said, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that as I move towards those distant horizons, I need to remember that the journey comes with a few understandings. I need to know that at times it will feel exhausting. I need to know that while building, you can become so fixated on the plans that sure, you'll forget about your progress.

I need to know how easily the future can steal from the present. But also, I know that taking in the best life has to offer comes with the price tag and being tired from time to time, seems fair. I know that the builder with the plans can ground him or herself by looking over their shoulder every so often and appreciating how far they've come. I know that the future is always out of rage, like that carrot hanging just beyond the grasp of the runner on the treadmill. But the gratification can be both delayed and current when we're pointed to the right North Star. So I invite you to reimagine the word pressure.

Understanding the notion that you've already won the lottery. You're here on earth against all odds with your strengths and the greatness that makes you you. Venturing deeper into life's potential, asking more of the world and from yourself is not to compensate for any, It's not an obligation. It's not even required of you.

No, it's an extension of the human soul. The best of life. The magic all around us, an invitation to live fully. That pressure like water through a channel will flow in the direction you lead it. It's nothing more than your vehicle to distant tree. to distant shores. Your process for crafting diamonds with the adversity most would refuse. That pressure doesn't always indicate where it's taking you or even guarantee that its destination will be preferable to where you are now. But it does promise quite the ride.

And that, for me, is enough. There's a saying that will always be true. It will be true on your best days and your worst. It will be true after victory and it will be true after defeat. It will be true when you have momentum and it'll be true when you're down on your luck doing everything in your power to create momentum. That saying is your future begins now. Hey, on the surface might not seem like much.

Sure, my future starts now. I know that. Everyone knows that. Well, if that's true, if everyone does in fact know that, why do we spend so much time stuck, reliving our past unable to break free? Why do we remain terrified to change? Why do we feel such a connection to who we were, how others saw us? Why must we remain loyal to the character we've been playing in our mental autobiographies?

biographies. See, here's the thing about the past and the future. One is fixed, can't be changed, and the other, well, it's waiting for you to tell it what it is. One is expired time. One is planned to be determined. And it's interesting how we continue to conflate the time. Epicetus has said that the more things we value outside of our control, the less control we have. Well, I'm going to be the messenger here.

relaying the precious truth that yesterday is in fact out of our control. What can be controlled is where we go from here, the next step. Meaning today is not your failures. It's where you take those lessons. It's not your mistakes, but it's what the stronger you can now endure because of them. It's not the dreams you let slip away, but where your pursuit might take you Now. And yeah, yesterday certainly contributes to your outlook, as all information does. It's value considered, its impact assessed. It guides you, but it's not you. And that difference is astronomical.

There's a question about the role the past plays in our lives. That has to mean something, right? Your past is in many ways your story. It's why you think the way you do. It's contributed to your understanding of the world. It will always be a part of part of you, and I believe that. But I also believe the past is a story. And just like reading one chapter in a book simply sets the stage for the next one without controlling its direction, so does every day that has led you up to now. Life gives us the tools to experience, to grow, learn, and then shed that which does not coincide with what's important. Your failures are not you.

But they are precious and that they push you towards what you'd like to be. See, you can experience something and not be that thing. As Kirkagard says, if you label me, you negate me. If you proclaim me to be X, you're essentially stealing from me the infinite possibility that is the future. has nothing to do with what I can become. And so taking it a step further, never mind being labeled by someone else, how could you label yourself and see it as anything but self-sabotage?

See, you're never defined by your past, but always learning from it. It's not who you are. It's the cheat codes for what you can be. Without that winding road of misfortune and mistakes, the incredible expansion we long for doesn't materialize. Imagine if everyone who ever felt down in life felt like a loser who temporarily lost hope. Imagine if they looked in the mirror and said, okay, this is who I am now. There would be no triumph in the world because anything meaningful requires the resiliency to map our way from the hell that was our darkest moments to what will become our proudest moments,

Destiny, destiny, destiny means that you separate the finite from the infinite. What you used to call yourself has prepared you to move towards the horizon. But what you used to call yourself is also as irrelevant now as those seconds that you watch tick away. Seconds that maybe you're not proud of. seconds that perhaps taught you about the world, seconds that gave you a glimpse of what's possible, unveiled the happiest of times, all of it. In its own unique way, it brought value,

but none of it is your future. Why? Because back to that beautiful, all-powerful sentence, your future begins now. Your destiny is a way. Your destiny is awaiting its marching orders and all you have to decide as you stand today is where that ship will sail. I walked up to the canyon's edge and I looked. I remember thinking this is my moment. I took a breath, I stepped back and I screamed.

At the top of my lungs, I screamed and out came my plans and my hopes and my dreams. dreams, I let the world know everything I've been building and everything I plan to build. Everything I knew and everything I intended to learn. I explained everything. I felt all of me turn messenger packaged into these tiny airwaves and dispersed to the sky. Echoing one more time as they left as if for approval. And then... Nothing.

No problem. I thought I'll just wait. But the second hand kept ticking and still... Nothing. No answers and no approvals and no guarantees. Huh. What was left to do, but stand up and scream again, and I did, and all I got was my own voice pushing through the canyon.

Canyon. Did I say the right thing? Did I make the right plan? Can you be right and alone at the same time? I don't know. I'll wait. Because surely someone cares. Someone has to care. Don't people care? At that moment, a tear rolled down my cheek as I sighed, sat down, exhausted, tired, tired of screaming and not being heard, tired of swinging and missing, tired of Every attempt being the one that might change everything, I was tired of it all. Forget it. Time to go somewhere else. I wasn't sure where, but let's face it. It doesn't really matter when the only way to go is up.

So I turned around and took my first few steps. Defeated eyes down at my feet as they marched me away unceremoniously. But then, then I heard it. Something in front of me. I immediately lifted my gaze from my shoes and stopped dead in my tracks. I couldn't believe what I saw. A sea of people standing there.

People that had been gathering this whole time making their way up the canyon as my back was turned as I yelled and yelled. Some I knew. Some I didn't. Some who cared so much that my pain was essentially their pain. Some I've helped along the way and some who have helped me. Some I've laughed with, some I've cried with, some I've learned from, some who have learned from me.

Some who felt exactly as I had, alone, tired, exhausted, some who felt lost but found their way. Others who thought they had everything figured out but for that moment were lost. Some who felt like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders, others simply looking for anything to carry. All there, not to hand me answers or a shortcut or any perfect solution. But apparently to remind me that when the answers aren't in front of you, And trust me, they won't be more than they will be. You have to trust what's behind you. What brought you to that canyon's ledge?

You have to believe in the things you cannot see. Because you can think you're alone and be loved by many, and you can feel like you're losing and be right where you need to be. Life can seem like it's over when it is in fact just beginning. Those words bouncing off your lips, they don't disappear. In fact, by speaking them, you are giving them life. They become as real as the hand in front of your face, and it's up to you to never let that blank space make you think otherwise.

To never let what you don't have minimize or mitigate what you do. Because the tricky thing about that abyss beyond the canyon's ledge is that it's not or reassurance or compliments or ego boosts. No, it's the real deal. It's for carving away at who you might be. And that's, well, that's never going to be easy. In fact, it's always going to make you ask yourself the tough questions. And the hardest part is it will often leave you alone to answer them.

But alone for the moment, not for the journey. The echo through the canyons highlights the power of what what you have to say and the river down below emphasizes how high you've already climbed and those people behind you they are your strength. You're a reminder that even in the darkest of moments the most trying of times you are not alone. Let those dreams leave your lips and fly off into that abyss. Because as hard as it may be to understand in the moment they are in fact making their way back to you.

Montesquieu once wrote that we received three educations. One from our parents, one from our schoolmasters, and one from the world. The third contradicts all that the first two teach us. That thing called life, right? And the more I think about this, the more I get it. The most important rules are the unwritten rules. The most significant boundaries are the ones we learn to ignore. The greatest tests don't concern what we know, but our ability to move forward when we don't.

It's the real world that shows us we only get meaning through sacrifice and discomfort. That shows us the homes we lived in and the classrooms we learned in were meant to block out the uncertainty and unpredictability of life. They were meant to draw a line directly from effort to result and cause to effect, but the line that the real world draws, well, it isn't so straight. At least not all the time. And it's this third education that shows us how powerful we truly are. Sometimes I think back to the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, that first year, the writing, the recording, the producing, the editing. the beginnings of a pursuit that I believed to be so important. Looking around and just seeing no result, like none,

and thinking, how could this be? You know, I worked so hard, suffered so much, I put all of me into this, only to realize I had no clue what all of me meant. And what I thought constituted life was really just the tip of an iceberg that extended so far underwater that it was, It would take a lifetime to uncover.

The real world upon introduction always starts by showing you how much you don't know. And I look back and I don't really think about the financial concerns, although they were very real. I don't remember much of the everyday worry and anxiety bouncing around in my head, although it was definitely there. I remember learning one of the greatest lessons I've ever learned that life is hard. but it's supposed to be and it's not standing in front of you

hands on hips saying you can't have this it's extending its hand out saying my friend if you want this it's yours but understand what that means understand that you'll spend a good portion of your time unsure about your path that you'll exhaust energy that will a lot of the time go unappreciated. That the easy road is fine, but it caps you way before your best. And if you want to take this on, this road before you, you have to pay a higher price. They can have

predictability and peace of mind and comfort, but this path it takes you to purpose and meaning and an evolved self. And you may think you understand what it means to be proud now, but But wait until you touch these things. Wait until you look at your reflection knowing that the person staring back at you could have said no time and time again, but didn't. Just wait, my friend, until you feel what that is like. Your parents and grandparents can't tell you. No book can't explain it for you.

It's the curriculum of life, the real world education. the tuition is temporary discomfort and graduation isn't one but a million little evolutions it is the stage that's calling your name the one you're ready for whether you know it or not I was walking to my apartment last week and I had a realization made my way across the street looked up at the seventh floor of my building where I live and the elevator there is obnox And being someone that hates waiting, I've come to realize that I can actually make it to my door in the same amount of time, if not a little bit quicker, by taking the stairs. But that particular night, as I looked up, maybe because it was late and the stairway lights were more visible than I'd ever seen them, it felt for the first time like a big deal.

It was the first time since I'd been there that I felt annoyed with having to climb those steps. It was the first time I'd ever really seen or examine or thought about the gap between where I start and where I finish every time I take those steps. Usually I just go. Right? It's just one step at a time. No production. It's not a chore. That's how I get home.

It's how I skip waiting two minutes for that elevator. 30 seconds up. Slips by in the blink of an eye. Sometimes things just come to you at the perfect time. I needed to be reminded of that at this point of my life. Some big projects coming up. making an effort to pivot, push harder than I've ever had, things sometimes feel bigger than they really are,

more complex than they need to be. And I believe this was life telling me the only way to lose is to be intimidated by the top of those stairs, by the road to be traveled. I've done things in my life that felt crazy or complex from the outside looking in. But every time I just kept going,

focused on the task in front of me, the thing I need, sure enough, presents itself. It appears. It may be that simply going is the ultimate strength. That when you don't give yourself the opportunity to look up in awe or bow down to something's perceived stature, you outrun its grasp. When you stop looking up at the top flight

and focus everything you have on the actual ascent, those demons, they don't get a seat at your table. They can only watch as you go. And I find it humorous that perhaps the greatest gift we possess is the ability to think. Yet 99% of the time we don't get where we want to go, it's because, well, we've thought too much. It's amazing what we can do when we let go of the ifs and the maybes and the over-analysis. When we trust ourselves to adjust, to grow, to learn, break, and change.

the rules, and I would propose when you feel like your feet are stuck to the ground, like you haven't moved in too long, like you're wondering what you've missed. Perhaps it's worth examining whether you're spending far too much time looking up and not nearly enough moving forward. Whether you're staring in awe of something you've already climbed, you're rationalizing another route, taking yourself away from where you need to be simply because you forgot your power, the power to move, to go, to test, experiment, evolve, the ability to climb. Who cares how far or how much? Who cares what you don't have? You do have another step, another day, another choice. Don't think yourself out of a dream that can be made one step at a time. Don't let the lack of a

finish line, prevent you from moving towards it. See, some things require strategy, introspection, a map, a plan, and some require that we just shut off the internal dialogue and trust ourselves to go. So as we fly through this game of life, let's find the courage to control that which we can and let go of that which we can. To see what we need and disregard what we don't, let's remember that human beings are capable of the extraordinary. Things that the courageous never got the privilege of marveling over or bowing down to, because they weren't on the outside looking in like everyone else. They weren't screaming about the odds.

They were in the chaos, in the thick of war, building, moving, creating, apparently too ignorant to know that each swing of their hammer was building everyone else's impossible.