Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - TO GROW, YOU MUST SUFFER | Powerful Motivational Speeches | 3 Hours

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Where will your next step take you? When life feels the heaviest and the path ahead seems impossible, that's precisely when we must keep moving forward. Strength isn’t the absence of doubt, and courage doesn’t mean never feeling fear — they are the decision to rise despite them. As Ernest Becker wrote, we are both "worms and gods" — mortal and vulnerable, yet divine in our ability to transcend. It’s in life’s darkest moments that we discover the power to create light, to see opportunity in chaos, and to turn pain into purpose. Every challenge, every fall, is not proof you’ve failed but an invitation to grow beyond what you’ve ever been. The world will test you, it will tell you you’re small, but your strength lies in knowing you are more. When most would retreat, you can take that step forward, embracing your resilience, your purpose, and your unshakable will to transform struggle into meaning. Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

It's when we most want to turn around that we must keep going. When all we see is darkness, that we must have faith in the light, it's when we feel most vulnerable, that we must become unshakable. See, there's a misconception that strength implies a total absence of weakness or doubt that courage means never feeling fear or uncertainty. When in reality, these things are human. They've been wired into us, as Ernest Becker has said, we are simultaneously worms and gods. Worms in that, sure, we're animals, flesh and bone unable to avoid death or misfortune or tragedy in life.

But most importantly, gods, in that we have the divine ability to transcend these inevitable circumstances, to find hope in this seemingly hopeless, to see opportunity in life's obstacles and growth when we fall, to take the meaningless and give it meaning. And one of the most important things I've learned is that when life knocks me down, pushes me to my limits, it's not some indication that I walked the wrong path.

It's no referendum on who I am. No, it's a hand-extended offering the chance for me to be more than I've ever been. And in a world of delusion and distraction, it's a reminder that we have the capacity to turn life's hardship into a better tomorrow. The difference between fact or fiction, possible or impossible success or failure, is the decision to get off. when life knocks us down. This world, it's not easy. It tests us, challenges us. It makes us think we are but a cog in the wheel of life.

It can be tough. But your weapon, your strength is knowing that you are tougher. And look, I know that adversity hurts, but I also know that you're capable. You are strong enough to turn that struggle into something meaningful. Where most would turn back, you have it in you to take one step forward.

Let the walls crash down. The skies open up and the ground shake. See, this is minor detail in your world. Transcend. Transcend the average. The earthly constraints and the mental limitation. Remember who you are. why you started. Remember that when your surroundings attempt to pull you back down to earth,

you have no interest in the narratives they offer to you. You are unshakable. The thing about storms is that they all have one thing in common, they pass. And once gone, they leave you as a person different than who you were before you stepped in. Before you found yourself consumed by its adverse conditions, they are disruptors, breaking down and shaking up, but not for the sake of chaos itself. No, storms break us down so that we can build again,

so that we can find within ourselves the power, and the strength that simply remained tucked away during those sunny days. And so walking up to the storm, what you'll immediately notice is a break from the normal. The every day. An obvious detachment from the standards by which you had been living. But don't be fooled into thinking those dark clouds and heavy winds have nothing of value for you. Don't be tricked into thinking the rain will consume all the good in life. Because at the end of the day, it's that very rain that washes away the excess and leaves the meaningful.

We don't grow despite the storms. We grow because of the storms. So compose yourself and embrace what's around you. Amidst the storm, you might realize that you don't. don't want some of the things you thought you did. You might realize that life contains variables that make it incredibly unpredictable. And when old plans meet new variables, sometimes we learn that the path we were walking down requires adjustment.

It needs change. Not because we were wrong. The dream was wrong, where the path was wrong, but because life is an experiment. are meant to test hypotheses and support exploration. Without the storm, sure, everything seemed fine. Everything was flawless, but in the thick of it, when the variables, the multiplicity of factors present themselves, it often paints a picture for us

that we previously weren't able to see. That's okay. Ideal, even. It's life. So when amidst the storm, and presented this new information, this new portrait, pivot. Grow with your understanding and newly acquired knowledge. There's no point in remaining tied to the ideas, the people and the places that once served you,

but have since run their course. Right? Growth is perspective and awareness, and as the storm shakes your foundation, it also hands you a clarity that those blue skies simply could not. So adjust, adapt, and move further into the person you are destined to become. You can't learn that on a sunny day.

No, that's what storms are for. And amidst the storm, you might find yourself scared, nervous, unsure. You might even look back and wonder what life would have been like been like had you not stepped in. Perhaps you're angry with yourself for not navigating around the inclement weather. Maybe you'll find yourself asking, how did I let myself end up in such a situation when there were visual indicators and weather forecasts?

People warned me about moments like this, yet here I am. You might find that the drop in temperature is uncomfortable. The rain, difficult, the wind, annoying. But here's what they don't tell you. There's something innately powerful about proving to yourself that you can move forward despite those things. That when you're scared and step forward anyway, when you're lost but maintain your poise and trust in the process, when you're down but cling to hope to that light at the end of the tunnel, You emerge with a different understanding of who you are.

You end up stronger because you've allowed yourself to become stronger. And you don't get that on the sunny days. No, that's what storms are for. And amidst the storm, you might feel like the sacrifice required in life is more than you want to endure. Maybe even more than you can. indoor. After all, it's during our trying times that we're forced to make some of our most difficult decisions. We might be forced to let go of some things that had been staples in our

lives. That in order to say hello to some things, we must necessarily say goodbye to others. And this hurts, especially while it's happening, it hurts. But we're not. But we're going to What you're really doing is learning to identify what matters and mitigate the things that don't support that journey. Sometimes storms teach us that growth is not about acquisition and obtaining more, and they show us instead that we've been carrying too much, that we become accustomed to surrounding ourselves with things that no longer elevate or inspire or push us.

And the best way to evolve is to move forward with less. So when you see parts of yourself fade away or dissolve, hold your head up. Because when you get to the other side, you just might see that cutting away those things was more liberating than anything you could find or pick up along the way. And we're not taught this lesson on those sunny days. So that's what storms are for. And amidst the storm, it's quite possible that you'll feel lonely from time to time. Maybe misunderstood.

Perhaps like the whole world has everything figured out. They're moving single file through the correct door while you wander around aimlessly. That's not true. No one has all the answers and everyone has their storms. The question has always been, as far as I'm concerned, what will you make of yours? Because we're always presented with the decision to let our adversity define us or to find something of value in it. The opportunity hidden in plain view.

You're never alone in your pain or your distress. Those things are an inevitability tied to the miracle. that is life. But what you are is powerful. Powerful enough to learn in your solitude and bring that understanding back out to the world. Powerful enough to let the lessons guide you to something beautiful. Powerful enough to find the meaning underneath the turbulence. We often confuse our times of greatest transformation with setbacks. We often forget that the darkness cannot withstand a single flicker of light,

and we can be that light when we trust ourselves. It's a lesson that can't be taught on sunny days. No, that's what storms are for. And that storm, that very thing you want with all your heart to avoid, it's not antithetical to your happiness or your prosperity. No, ultimately, it's how you create those things. things. The trials and tribulations help us look at life from different angles. They remind us what we are capable of. Show us we can do so much more than we thought that we have in many cases been

accepting a reality that is not our own. That is just the beginning. And so whether you were on the outside looking in or at this very moment in the heart of chaos, remember this is making you who you need to be. And sure it never feels good in the moment. It's never exciting when it's happening. But there will be a point when you look around and see a world unlike the one you stepped away from. One in which you are stronger, bolder, wiser.

One in which you have greater clarity and understanding, a better sense of who should be with you and where you are going. It's not despite, but because of the storm that you'll rise from the ashes and from the quote unquote misfortune to find yourself and your way. I was watching a masterclass by author Margaret Atwood. It was on storytelling. And, you know, I knew going into it, it would be interesting. I'm not a particular fan of her work, at least from a content perspective. But look, we're talking about someone who's truly made a mark on the world. Right? There's a lot to be learned from her, so I buckled in and listened to what she had to say. And unsurprisingly, there was a lot of wisdom there. And there was one idea in particular that really resonated with me.

Both as a writer, yeah, but also outside the quote unquote creative space, which I'll get to in a second. The idea was centered around finding the moment to begin, a story's true starting point. And it was interesting. She said, you know, people think stories start on page one, but she'll pick up a book. And I don't remember if she was referencing new authors or maybe someone, a book just off the shelf at a bookstore. But she'll be reading it and she'll think, ah, okay, so this story really begins on page 10. That's the starting point. I think she even referenced her own writing process, being a few chapters in and thinking, ah, this needs to be the starting point.

Got to cut away the other stuff and move this up to page one. And, you know, understanding that's obviously important for those looking to entertain and captivate an audience. You need to give the reader a reason to stick around. But I could also very easily draw a parallel from that to, you know, a bigger picture, our real world. All I could think about was, you know, what story are you telling yourself and where did it start? Or more importantly, has it even started? There's something both liberating and beautiful about the fact that all of us in the stories we are living could at any moment recreate that metaphorical first page. And I believe that with all my heart.

Like we think, oh, page one started years ago. This is how things are now. This is where I exist in life. But what about the idea that beginnings don't have to start on page one? What about the idea that you can cut away as much as necessary to create the right beginning? The story that feels right to you. We don't know anything to the words that we don't know. were written leading up to now. We're not beholden to the chapters that came before.

Robin Sharma talks about the idea of killing your darlings, which is an old saying that refers to that very challenging task, writer's face, of cutting away the things that aren't absolutely essential to the story's main narrative. It's hard to do. We place value and importance on these things because they feel like a part of us. We feel like they're too significant to dismiss. But in reality, the act of letting go is ultimately a value add because it ensures that what matters is what stays. The ability to understand that the story doesn't begin when thoughts become words.

It begins when there's alignment. When the story captivates, inspires, and in the one you're writing, the one that is your life, you can always make that moment right now. There's always a new novel that can be written with new objectives and characters and storylines. It's okay to chop anything that led to this moment. It's okay to create a beginning as you stand here today, right? It's the idea of sunk costs that changed my life years ago.

Just because you spent a long time making a mistake doesn't mean you need to continue making it. Just because you've been writing this story of your life for years doesn't mean the beginning is behind you. You can start this novel here. You can begin this epic adventure now. And I think there's tremendous power in looking at life like that. It's never too late for a new beginning. it's never wrong or impossible to, even at chapter 4, put your finger down on a new starting point and say, this is where it all begins.

Where the new ideal takes shape. We are all authors. And if authors have anything, it's control over the narrative. It's the ability to design a world that aligns with the one they imagine. Dear younger me, there's a lot that you don't know. A lot you're pretty sure you understand, but couldn't possibly wrap your hands around. Because the most important things in life,

the things that you'll remember, they're the very things that seem like footnotes in your story. Background noise, hidden in plain view. So Younger Me, hear me out, because, time, time goes by quickly. And we only get one opportunity to do this dance, one chance to do this thing right. Younger me, when you wake up, be thankful for the shoes on your feet, the house you live in, the life you lead, because if all you do is focus on what you don't have, or the next milestone, happiness becomes a mirage. Younger,

me, the world as you know it isn't something that was destined to be. It's here because people know smarter than you have the courage to build it. Never be scared to challenge what is. This place will be better because of it. And younger me, it will always be easier to play it safe, to stay comfortable, but I want you to understand something. That's not where you'll find the good stuff. If you don't take chances, you'll spend your time wondering, what could have been. Younger me, believe in your greatness. This world can be a tough place,

and if you don't believe in yourself, no one will do it for you. No one will hand you the sky. Earn excellence every day. It's there, I promise. Younger me, don't get distracted by the small stuff, the little things that so easily consume our energy and emotions.

Don't lose sight of who you are and what means the mind. and what means the most to you, everything else washes away. Younger me, you didn't have all the answers, but somehow you were exactly what I needed you to be. You created a map. You showed that change can't happen

until one falls victim to life's imperfections. That risks aren't taken until you've experienced regret, that confidence isn't acquired if you don't Learn to play the student, and most importantly, if you don't allow yourself to get lost, you will never discover who you truly are. 20 years from now, when we meet again, younger me, I know you'll do the same.

I know you'll have given me everything I needed, nothing more and nothing less. Because time, time goes by quickly. And we only get one opportunity to do this dance, one chance to make this right. And I promise you, younger me, that it won't be wasted. Remove the lifelines. Eliminate plans B, C, and D. Let the curtains close and the lights dim.

See, the beginning of something new requires the ending. of something current. So make life propel you into chapter two. Let the door slam and lock behind you throw away the key. With the boats burned and turning back off the table, we have to make it work. We have to figure it out. Well, how, we might ask, with only these pieces,

with only this circumstance, with only these resources. Well, it's funny how when walking away is no longer a possibility, so many other possibilities are born. When we're stuck between the wall and our demons, we roll up our sleeves and do that which we have been, let's face it, running from. We fight. We become proactive.

take initiative, it was always there. We just never had to. So if you can't do it on your own, make life make you. Because the bottom line is there are new horizons that await your arrival. They are always there, but they require you to make the trip, to look out over the vastness of what's before you and convince yourself that what's ahead can be. become your new normal. And oh, how I wish we weren't biologically preconditioned to preserve, to stay safe, to stay the same. How I wish we weren't constantly being pulled to stay right where we are.

Our minds, they love it here. With the rest of the world, the change, the hope, the progress, all on the other side of that window, all outside, all foreign to us. You don't need any of that, it'll tell you. Or maybe, after you conjure up a little courage, it might compromise. It might say, fine, it's worth a try. Put one foot out the door, but don't forget, you can always come back to me.

You can always retreat. It's warm here, safe here, it's predictable here. The mind wants you to know that when things get tough, mediocrity, and comfort are always right behind you, ready to embrace you with open arms. And it's for this reason that those boats must be burned, that the door must be locked, and that chapter must be closed. The journey before you, it's going to be difficult. There's no question about that.

Anything of value brings difficulty. And when faced with the adversity, the only way to defeat it is to know, No, there is only one way. One option available to you. And that one option is forward. It's through. There is no backwards or compromise. There is no safety.

Not if you want from life, that which is extraordinary. Not if you want the things we covet dream of. Whether they're interpersonal, financial, career-oriented health-related, Maybe you just know in your soul that right now ain't it. Any move to something better will present to you its obstacles. And my advice, if it's what you really want, is to have decided before you started that there is no other way. There's no negotiating with yourself.

Because if you allow that door to be cracked, life will kick it open. So point the compass north and dismiss any notion that what's comfortable is more important than what's meaningful. When you're cold, nothing is more appealing than that warmth, but warmth is deception, a short-term ploy for you to forget what really matters. An illusion. See, cold subsides, but victory is forever.

Knowing that you pushed forward when most wouldn't is forever. transforming potential into strength when your knees shook is forever. So burn the boat. For no other reason that there is no way forward so long as there remains a way back. Make life make you win. And where most would look around and see evidence of defeat, you'll find again and again in the same quote unquote evidence. the tools to build ladders to new beginnings and bridges to new worlds, there's a saying that I love

that most of life's successful people were too ignorant of the odds to know their accomplishments were considered at one point impossible. And I love it because it highlights that there was never a fallback option, a concern for the statistics. There was no worry or exhausted energy on what if, rather it was constant building and adjusting, finding ways over, through, and around the walls that inevitably stand before us. There was no way home, so they pushed forward into their greatness. And so can you, whatever shape, form, or color greatness looks like in your eyes, whatever mountain top appeals to you if you want it. If you're willing to decide before you go that you will

one day stand amongst the cloud peering out at that world you deemed wasn't against you but for you, anything is possible. There has to come a time when it's now or never. Well, you look at your reflection and realize that the cost of waiting is far more expensive than the cost of stepping out into the vast unknown. In every journey, that's when life effectively starts. But here's why this is so tricky. What's caught me off guard so many times in my life, it's the many shapes that wading takes. See, waiting is not always sitting there and doing nothing, not at all. Sometimes waiting is just, just the bare minimum.

It's moving forward so slightly and so slowly that you can essentially trick yourself into thinking that you're progressing, into thinking you're making it happen. When, if you really stopped and looked, if you were honest with yourself, if you really took a second to review, to analyze, you'd see that you're leaving almost every, you'd see that you're leaving almost everything on the table. You're not creating progress. You're dancing with the idea of progress. Sometimes waiting can mean just going fast enough

to not have to look at the fear you're hiding behind. And it's reality, right? I think it's a very normal thing, but I also think life is too short for normalcy. I think we can do better than normal. And I believe with all my heart and soul that the world has for us the spectacular, sitting there on the top shelf, waiting for those who can acquire the self-belief and the awareness to reach out and grab it, in how crazy a thought, to realize that we could have been sitting

next to the very thing we've needed for days, months, years, but never taught ourselves to extend our hands and reach. When I look back the most important moments in my life were not tangible acquisition and see the flashy things that try and capture our attention, right? The money, the condos, even social media growth, business growth, whatever it is you're working towards. Those things are wonderful. They are benchmarks that hopefully align with your North Star, but they are not the difference

not at all, right? They were the byproduct of what really mattered. They weren't the moments that moved the needle. My greatest moments were mental shifts, cognitive transformations. That's why I do this for a living. I see how much can change when we step back and look at life just a little differently. It was my realizing that I was demanding too little of my life. that the world won't see greatness in me until I see it in me. That shift that pushed me to demand more of myself. Seek bigger challenges. Value my work to a greater extent.

Charge more for my services. And that mental shift is what made some of those externalities possible. It's realizing that if you want it, more is on the table. That yesterday doesn't define you. That it's never too late to begin again. that everything you need you have, right? These are the ideas that truly change lives. They make the difference.

And if we don't become aware of these things, we leave them in the rear view. We walk right by them. In other words, the most important moments of my life were when someone or something shook me and effectively said, hey, look around you. If this is what you want, fine, enjoy.

Right? But for your information, there is more out there. And if you step up just a little, if you do just a little more, if you pivot and come at this thing a little bit differently, you will further that reach. You'll create another ripple effect that will transform your life.

but we must stop and look around. A good friend of mine, and this is just the other day, right? We're having lunch. We're talking about marketing, and we always joke that marketing is just a part of the business that I don't particularly enjoy, right? Necessary, but not my favorite. And we're going through kind of different strategies, ideas, and he presents one, and I say something like,

eh, you know, I don't need to do that. It seems a little over the top. And unfiltered, he goes, man, you're hurting your reach. Like, what good is that metaphorical restaurant that's not on anyone's radar? You're going to be the best pizza shop that no one knows about. And it just kind of hit me, right? It's like, man, I needed to see that differently. Maybe there's room to be a little more aggressive.

Again, one example of many. And not every time is the idea or opportunity the right one or necessary one. Right? But at least you stopped. At least you thought about it. At least you contrasted where you are with the potential upside of doing something differently. That is where we leave opportunity on the table. You know, we most often, myself included, paint regret as this, the result of this blatant walking away from something. A deliberate declaration. Sort of a, oh, no, I'm not doing that. No way. And sure, sometimes that's the case. Sometimes we're cognizant of our fear and decline to move forward, but I wonder how often our neglect or refusal is softer, more subtle. I wonder how much of our regret comes from simply not stopping and looking around, not letting in alternative points of view that challenge us and force us to level up.

how much of our regret comes from simply not understanding how short life is and how quickly time passes us by. And if we don't create some abrupt change in our day to day, if we don't manufacture some momentum in our lives, even when it feels least ideal to do so, the ship we needed to be on will sail away without us. back to your hardest days. Even the ones that took you out, that brought you to your knees, and realized that you survived every single one of them.

You have, for years, been acquiring the armor piece by piece to move into something bigger. You've been learning. You've been evolving. But today, what about sitting down with yourself? and having the discussion you don't want to have, but need to have. What about asking if it's time to leap where you once step? To run where you once walked? What about taking a good look around and asking why you're living in ways that don't serve you?

Why you're conceding so much of what matters? Again, the evolution you want and need is there. there and that's the key takeaway here. It will always exist. But the question is, will your commitment to stop, to think, and to reach for it be there? Years from now, looking back, I think we'll find that our willingness to ask those questions mattered more than we could have ever imagined. That silence often implies the lack of adversity needed to evolve. Because the reality you want, it doesn't come to you. You must go to it.

And that means re-approaching today's normalcy and comfort, seeing those things for what they are, a continuation of the status quo. Nothing changes until you change. So take a look around, examine those pillars holding up your worldview. Not once, but over and over again. And if one, many, or all of them must be knocked down, then so be it. The point here is that you can build.

The point here is that life happens on your terms, whether you realize it or not, that doing nothing is accepting what things are. It's a head nod and a thumbs up to reality as is. So again, ask yourself what you want out of life. And if you are missing that mark, tear down. what must be torn down. It might be hard now. It might hurt now.

It might be uncomfortable now. But when you're eventually standing upon an existence that aligns with who you are and what you want, you'll see how necessary it all was. How it was there the whole time. And thank God you found it within your name. found it within yourself to reach out and take it. If there's time, then there's time to turn things around.

If there is a tomorrow, then there is hope today. The only half to bes in life are the ones we prop up and adhere to. And how interesting that oftentimes we don't even realize we're the ones holding them up. There's a simple question that I like to ask as the sun comes up in the coffee brews. Am I living today like it's an obligation or something more? Is it an automatic continuation of the past or a methodical move towards a future that lights me up? And these aren't small distinctions. Right?

I've lived both ways. I've felt what it's like to feel both. I remember going to work and joking around that a flat tire would be a real treat. That's not accountability. That's not control. That's essentially living life as a jellyfish floating along with the tide.

And while the lack of required output, innovation and planning may have felt like a win in the moment or a burden lifted off my shoulders at the time deprived me of that which resides in the soul of every human being a lot. Purpose. Personal agency. See, you can only go so far,

so long being the spectator of your own journey. You can only go so long looking out the window before you wonder just what it'd be like. to be behind the wheel. When we put our actions up against the question why, it astounds me how many things are done because it's what we've always done.

We act like we're expected to act, think like we're expected to think, see who we're expected to see, but expected by whom? Some of my greatest breakthroughs in life emerged after being asked, why by people I look up to or respect. Why have you accepted that?

That's your income? Okay, great, but why? That's how you spend your day? I see. How come? And when one is tasked with looking at their own life through a magnifying glass, some hidden truths always emerge.

It shines a spotlight in the corner of the room, illuminating those shadows where one can, if they look hard enough, make out the wolf in sheep's clothing that is the phrase, because that's how I've always done it. We get in life what we accept. We are what we allow ourselves to be, and if we don't ask ourselves which mountain is worth climbing, which ocean is worth crossing, we simply feel. float with the tides. We're at the mercy of the winds. We forfeit the mastery over our own lives that await if we're willing to take that wheel and navigate. So here are a few things to take with you. First is you are bound by nothing. The parameters you exist between are of your making. You can get in that car and drive. You can walk away and begin something new. You can entertain that vision that's been conveniently tucked away in the back of your

mind. Understand that to not go is fine, but it's a decision. And perhaps a decision you'll wish you made differently. And second, difficult today liberate you tomorrow. It's easier to observe. It's easier to say how you wish things were. After all, stepping out into the fast-paced chaotic world is tough. It's scary, it's unpredictable, but it's where you find yourself and the path that's calling your name. It's beyond the pins and needles, emerging as one jumps into the cold water,

that they're able to find that evolution. If there's time, then there's time to just to be able to find that evolution. Then there's time to turn things around. If there is a tomorrow, then there is hope. The other day I woke up with a plan. Three things I had to do. So I wrote them on my whiteboard. They were essentially my objectives for the day.

But it ended up being one of those days where things didn't unfold the way I anticipated. And for a variety of reasons, curveball after curveball, with some sloppy decision-making sprinkled in there. Eventually, morning became afternoon, afternoon became evening. I found myself exhausted and looking up at a whiteboard that was showing me I had accomplished none of the things listed. And I hate that feeling.

Having clear objectives and not meeting them. And so after dinner, I got a phone call and I found myself talking about how I fell short, Getting it all off my chest, letting it all out there. And I got that reassurance that I wanted without even realizing that I wanted it, right? The voice said back to me, Eddie, this happens. It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. No one's perfect. You put a lot of pressure on yourself.

Tomorrow's a new day, right? That type of thing. And it's like, okay, exhale, time for bed. And the next morning, I was outside relaxing, doing some thinking, and came to this point. And you'll see how these dots connect here in a second. But essentially, I see life as a staircase, right? Where we thrust ourselves out into discomfort, into chaos. And then amidst the storm, we're forced to grow.

We step into shoes. We were once unable to fill. And what was once bigger than us is now normal. It's every day. It's ordinary because we fought for it. We pushed ourselves through. That's evolution. But now,

guess what? That old ceiling has become the floor. It's time to evolve. It's time for that next step in the staircase. Time to thrust ourselves back into the chaos of life so that we can again tame something bigger than us. Take the next intimidating thing and make it commonplace. And as I sat there outside thinking, I found myself to be at that next step, ready to leap out again into the tumultuous winds of life.

But this time it felt different. There's an intersection, and I talk about it often, of doing what adds value to the world and doing what makes you content personally. Okay, I think where those two things meet is peak living. That's where the magic happened. And I'm fortunate enough that these thoughts, speeches, episodes, videos, whatever you want to call them, on some days, literally reach over 200,000 people. And that's not meant to be a humble brag or anything like that. It's just to me so incredible that I can't process it, right? I get emotional thinking about it.

My dream is to add value to other people. Provide that little lift that might help someone look at their own problems differently, maybe see a path when before they were unable to. That's what it's all about. And then, in addition to that, a parallel track, on a personal level, feeling like I'm growing and evolving as well, constantly stepping up those stairs one by one, having the courage to continue fighting those unknowns and making sense of life's complexities.

That's why so many of you were on this journey with me. And so as I looked up at that next step, and it felt bigger than it ever had before, I knew the task needed to be bigger than it's ever been, which would require of me one of the biggest changes I've ever made, and that scared me to death, knowing that in order, for something to be born, something must die. Something must be left behind. I'd been stepping forward for years and thank God for that, but now it was time for a leap. And so back to that whiteboard I mentioned earlier. If you hang in with me long enough, I usually come full circle.

Right, back to the list of goals I miss, the bad day. Why am I so fixated on that? Well, it has nothing to do with the day itself. Everyone swings and misses from time to time. It has nothing to do with those three goals. Everyone falls short here and there. That's part of life. It's about the person I want to be as I endure those turbulent times. It's about the strength to handle my own chaos and battles differently. Before you can lead others, you need to lead yourself. And that means being vulnerable. It means being honest. It means looking in the mirror and asking yourself the tough questions. It means being stronger than I've ever been. There will be times that require of me that I push forward without having to hear from my parents or girlfriend

or buddies that everything's all right. The next step, requires that I trust myself to be the guy in my own life. To have impact in the world, one must find strength within themselves where they didn't know it existed. This is a leveling up that I know is required for me to be more than I've ever been, stronger, bolder, more confident when I'm most fearful. There was a line I used to draw separating me in the people I look up to.

And the moment for me was a message. I knew it was time for me to mentally remove that line. You'll never be more than you envision yourself to be. It was time to be my own answer. Promote myself to that next level. From the kid with a dream to the man

that makes it happen, it's time. It's just simply time. Even the ones I love, the ones closest to me, they can't provide that. It has to be internally derived from a place so deep that come hell or high water, it's happening. In telling people about my little misfortunes so that they can pat me on the head and tell me things are great, that's antithetical to what is required of me next.

There is a level of courage and strength and excellence in all of us that lives at the bottom of this abyss that we must pull up. with everything we have until it becomes intertwined with who we are and where we're headed and as I sat there, I knew it to be true. I couldn't help but feel that change was about to happen and it would stem directly from how I see myself.

It would be the product of who I knew myself to be and so now, most importantly, I present this question to you. Are you at that next step? Are you looking at a chasm that must be crossed? Were all your little decisions, all the courage and discipline and strength that you utilize to get here, that has positioned you for this moment, is it telling you something is next? Is it time to dig deeper and be more than you have ever in your life been?

In my example, by the way, was not about holding in our problems or dismissing those around us. Asking for help and we need help is courage. The small circle we surround ourselves with is a direct reflection of who we are. No, for me, it was about being the type of person who trust myself to weather those storms. About moving with greater conviction. Graduating from going to be to is currently. That whiteboard, that phone call was the turning point and nothing more. And my example may fit your life like a glove.

You may think, wow, that's exactly the lens I need right now. But maybe it's not. Maybe your situation is a little different. Maybe the road you're on is newer, less traveled. Maybe it's the courage to take that first step, to play the student. Perfect. Because whatever it is, as you look up at that next step, what matters is that you know in your heart and soul that you have what it takes to become that person. It's not bigger than you.

It is you. Someone once told me that the world will not believe it until you do. So believe. Believe it like your dreams depend on it because as it turns out they do. As it turns out everything about your future is make believe until you breathe life into it. Look around you at your current reality. Remember that it is a product of what you've allowed and that at any time you can up the ante Climb the step, reach a new level.

You have it within yourself to do that. Just give yourself permission to be that person. And it will be scary. It's going to hurt at times. But let's be that vulnerable. Let's show the world what we can create when we move into it as though it's ours. As though destiny isn't assigned but written one. one beautiful act of courage at a time.

There are a handful of recorded lectures online by Jim Rohn, who has definitely become one of my favorite thinkers over the years. And I found this little nugget the other day that I wanted to share. He says, there are four emotions that will change your life. Disgust, decision, desire, and resolve. And I want to talk about the first one because I found the story to be incredibly powerful and also relatable, right, in various aspects of life over the years. So he frames it by talking about a Girl Scout walking up to his front door to try and sell him some Girl Scout cookies when he's 25 years old. And he's broke, doesn't have any money at the time, and tells her what I assume.

to be a white lie as to why he can't buy the cookies at that particular time. Right. So he tells her that he can't. She walks away. He says after he closes the door and goes back inside, he felt something that completely changed his life. Disgust. An overwhelming feeling that he simply didn't want to live like that anymore. He didn't want to lie.

He didn't want to be broke. And I'm quoting him, he says, the day you can say I've had it may not be the day it ends, but the day it begins. And that feeling, which of course on the surface seems like a terrible thing, right? No one wants to feel disgust with their circumstance. But it's ultimately one of the most powerful indicators life can present to us. There has always been, and I assume will continue to be that point in many different facets of my life where I say enough is enough. I just never thought to categorize it and label it like he did, but that's what it is. You know, getting to a point where you look around and realize you've conceded too much.

You've strayed too far beyond what matters to you. you've left too much on the table. That feeling, again, well, uncomfortable, is often what becomes the first step towards that which is truly meaningful, a better version of yourself. A realization, by the way, that's not some denunciation of who you are, right? It's not saying, I'm not good enough or I'm inadequate. I would describe it as the exact opposite.

It's thinking enough of yourself to acknowledge that you're better than this. It's saying, yeah, there's a reality where I stay the same, where I don't change, where I allow this to just be my life. But that's not the reality I'm going to choose, because I respect myself too much to continue living with that dissonance between my actions and who I know I truly am. And I think at a deep level, we all understand this. So many times in life, funny enough, we don't change until we have to. Until our backs are completely against the wall.

It took me years in my previous professional life to say enough is enough. But ultimately got to that point. I've been there in relationships, been there with my creative work, been there with my finances. And what's especially interesting is that as you grow, evolve and your goals and your goals change, what you expect of yourself changes, grows along with you, you'll find yourself at that place again and again and again. And that's good. Listen to it. Right, that's your intuition telling you you're ready for more that something else awaits, that the status quo is no longer sufficient. And there lies the opportunity, right, to recognize and associate that feeling of disgust, as

drone calls it, with a need to change or an opportunity to change before things blow up or become more difficult than they need to be. Everything in your life has been allowed by you to some extent. You know, that's an important thing to understand. If there's someone in your life that's making it hell, you to an extent are responsible for that, right? No one gets your time without your permission. If you're doing things that don't move, motivate, or inspire you, well, the reality is you're choosing those actions. Now, the circumstances may be specific to you. They may be difficult, and I understand that, but are you asking yourself how you can begin moving away from it? How you can put walls between yourself and the things that drag you down, because the bottom

line is it's very easy to become accustomed to things that are a drain on our lives. The old frog in the boiling water, right? You throw a frog in a pot of hot water or jump right out. But you put it in a pot of cool water and you slowly but incrementally increase the temperature until it's boiling, the frog won't realize it's burning alive. I think in the same way we learn to live with that situational disgust. The things we're unhappy with just become the baseline or normal. It becomes regular. And what I love about this Girl Scout cookie story is that light bulb moment where it's like, no, I don't have to accept this. I can take back control. I dictate how I'm going to live, and I know this isn't it. Now, you don't need to have all the answers right away. In fact,

you most certainly won't have them. But every journey as the saying goes begins with the first step. That's precisely why the moment is so powerful. You don't start moving to that new place until you realize that you want to start moving away from where you are. Rohn talks about disgust being a powerful motivator. That's why. It's the initial leverage you need to create that momentum.

to see the gap between where you want to be and where you are. And this is ultimately a call to that realization. Do an audit on yourself and your contentment, the places you find lacking. They're calling for your attention. And it's normal, it's okay, it's part of life, but it's also your opportunity to begin making that change. I like very simple, very straightforward notes to help. help me parse through this. Simple list, two columns. On the left, everything that brings me

some level of anxiety or that is a drain on my piece. And on the column on the right, directly across from it, simply what I plan to do about each item. Nothing major, but a tangible, manageable step. Because as Jim Rohn says, you begin to utilize that feeling of disgust or discontent to act. You turn that message into something beautiful, an adventure, some variation of growth. That's where the good stuff is. By the way, it also changes our relationship

with those emotions when they emerge. It's no longer, poor me, I'm stuck, my life is hard, and the list goes on and on. No, it's, oh, this doesn't feel good, how can I use it to connect me to something that does? Let's listen to that. I don't like the feeling of making excuses as to why I can't buy the cookies. I don't like the feeling of not having the financial resources.

Obviously, can't fix it overnight, but let's make a plan. Let's allow the wheels to hit the road, right? Which, hey, who knows? Might be more than I've ever done. This is the magic beginning, he alludes to. The confidence being earned, the purpose, the meaning, and ultimately being that we only get results where we place our, attention the outcome we've been looking for so when you find yourself at that point

when you experience a repetition of disappointment or frustration with your circumstance let that be the gift it's trying to be let it be the reason you will soon wake up a different person moving towards that which aligns with who you are lead yourself first Before we can influence, before we can ever persuade or change anything externally, we have to first lead ourselves. And that means delivering on the promises we make to ourselves. It means showing up when we tell ourselves we're going to show up. It means putting ourselves in an environment conducive to growth. There's an old metaphor from Wayne Dyer about an orange where he essentially says that it doesn't

matter what you do to an orange. It doesn't matter how hard you squeeze it or how many you have or how you manipulate it. Grapefruit juice will never come out of an orange. Only orange juice can be emitted and similarly we can never give or control. contribute what we do not have inside ourselves. We can't expect our lives to look like anything other than a culmination of the tiny action, steps and decisions we make on a daily basis. The external world is a product of the internal world, and the internal world is not realized

until we learn to rule over ourselves and our lives with conviction. You can break this down in many different ways. Jacco Willink says discipline equals freedom. John Maxwell talks about a leadership lid where success levels can never exceed leadership capability and sure it applies to teams but it also applies to self leadership. Are you searching for and committing to the little hinges in your life that as W. Clement Stone says, swing big doors that make the difference. Are you taking responsibility for your shortcomings like leaders do?

Are you learning to trust yourself? Are you seeing past the trap of perfection and committing to progress? Are you taking the little things seriously? Because at the end of the day, all things are comprised of little things and only little things. The bottom line is that we master nothing until we master ourselves. Trust ourselves. The bottom line is that we win when we lead ourselves, to hold ourselves accountable for the little things that matter even when it hurt or retired, even though no one's going to come up and reprimand us for falling short. There are often no visible consequences when we let ourselves down, so let's manufacture that urgency.

If you promised yourself you'd get up when that alarm clock goes off, it becomes no longer optional. If you promised yourself you'd go down the road that scares you, it becomes no longer one road of many, it is now the only road. Even though it may be scary or intimidating, it's the darkness that must be confronted. You are more powerful than you know, you are more capable than you understand, but you must lead yourself to your potential. Those little things matter.

And so while the temptation is to brush them off is insignificant, while the rest of the world ebbs and flows through life like jellyfish with the tide, your superpower will be to sea, harness, and multiply those little decisions like they are gold. Your strength is that when it's easier to run, you'll be the one. that instead stands up and lead yourself to greatness. Our lives require failure.

Like our lungs require oxygen. And when I find the world around me lacking in the resources that I need, it's because in so many ways I have forgotten to breathe to step out my walls of comfort and breathe in lessons waiting to be taught by the greatest of teachers. Life.

Life, the unpredictable and often unremarkable miracle. The book that reveals itself through experience that tells tales only in hindsight, our world is a book in which we choose our own ending and so we must fail. Because failing means living and we were meant to live. We must fail because every failure is the mark of a poet, an artist, or an author bringing this story one step closer to its resolution. Continually walking up to a blank wall and making a mark. A single trivial mark.

A mark that's misunderstood at best, but likely scoffed at, ridiculed. But each mark gives meaning to the one before it. These marks, they become chapters, become narrative shifts, become stories. Every failure you throw against this wall becomes part of a mural. It's an element of beauty before the work can even be deemed beautiful. Yet we continually misunderstand. When you hang your head in disappointment,

when you see only the smudge of paint you through against that wall, you are oblivious to the fact that you're making something meaningful. So here is my challenge to you. I dare you in the midst of the Mona Lisa you are creating to see it before it's done. I dare you to be strong enough to fail, not just once, but over,

And over and over again, I dare you to keep your eyes focused, locked in on what's in front of you. When everyone you know hides their failures, when they scream of every little wind for all the world to hear, I dare you to understand what they do not, to cherish your failures. To maintain trust in the unseen. And when all you want is to get there, I dare you to see your greatness before you arrive. I dare you to look in the mirror and see the hero inside you right now. I dare you to do that. I dare you to take your struggle and see amidst the pain your purpose, your purpose that will lift you up when you've fallen and will carry you forward when you're lost.

I dare you to see light when there appears only darkness, and when none presents itself, I dare you to light the spark, to be the answer you need. I dare you to stand up to the human tendency to embrace security over adventure and predictability over growth. I dare you to walk into the darkness of night Knowing that today's unknown becomes tomorrow's foundation. And when it hurts, like truly hurts when you look around and can't remember why you began or what's pulling you forward,

I dare you to close your eyes and imagine looking back and thanking yourself for taking this path. Every low is a courageous step towards transformation, and if you've forgotten that, I hope this reminds you why it all matters. I hope you remember why this mark, the one you're making right now, is part of the masterpiece you've been longing for. It's taking you exactly where you need to be. What exactly are you afraid of? What's holding you back?

Is the giant rock you inhabit spin? to the universe, a speck in a galaxy of stars. It's easy to look out and see the vastness of the world around you and forget entirely about the strength that you possess. Forget entirely that the mind's capacity is as infinite as those same stars that surround you. I don't think it's that we definitively choose to sell ourselves short. I think we simply lose it.

I think we simply lose sight of the fact that we have a say in the matter to begin with. Our fears keep us wishing. Our insecurities keep us hoping. We stay standing still when we should be moving forward. But truth be told, our pain comes from not doing, but wishing that we did. It's no coincidence that the more we fail, the more we realize life is a gain. that expands as we push. The power of making mistakes isn't the mistake itself, it's that when we get back up and brush ourselves off, our cognitive mapping of the

world changes. We see that we can step out a little further. Our very definition of what's possible expands, and I believe that's what courage is. The willingness to step into that chaos of life. Knowing that each time you find the strength to push forward, you are restructuring your reality. The resources are there, the tools are there, the opportunity is there, how crazy is the fact that we just need to convince ourselves that more is worth it. That the difficulty of short-term vulnerability isn't an enemy. It's the very ticket required for admission to the show. And so I ask again, what are you afraid of?

Falling? Because you will rise and you will rise stronger than you ever were. Is it criticism? Because one, people are so focused on their own endeavors that they look up way less than we think they do. And two, other than the small group you surround yourself with, why would you be? care? Is it pride? Because building things of significance requires starting on the ground floor and there's no shame but honor in breaking down to build up. And when I look at my life in terms

of chapters, right, childhood, high school, college, 20s, 30s, the things that were my biggest concerns during each chapter are now laughable and maybe, just maybe, if I saw that, I could have lived a little freer, been a little bolder. What if we were to get ahead of that learning curve? What if we understood that life is beautiful and flexible and exciting? And what if we understood that now? Instead of looking at this chapter 15 years down the road and chuckling to ourselves for not having the courage to have made the leap,

taken the chance to have moved out into an unknown. We cannot physically see that which doesn't exist, which is why it's so important that we know we are the architects. That the fear pulsing through our veins is indicating that we are building, that we are choosing to step into a world that will give more if we find the courage to ask. So as this giant rock you inhabit spins through the universe, a speck in a galaxy of star, Perhaps each little light up there exists not to remind you how small you are, but to remind you that those same elements exist within you. To show you that the fire of a million suns sits in your soul, beats in your chest, waits for your signal now. So what are you afraid of? In 1519, Ernan Cortez arrived on the shores of Mexico with roughly 600 Spaniards,

all of whom quickly realized that a mighty 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. But the mentality is give it your all until it's inconvenient. Well, we all know what happens, right? 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 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 your soul. 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 return 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. I was recently in Dallas visiting some old friends and was chatting with someone that I've been friends with for a long time. And he was mentioning that he's gone through some pretty big light changes over the past few years.

and was excited about the fact that after a pretty rough stretch, he had recovered or found his workout routine again, sort of a revival in his old identity. Because for context, he'd always been a pretty athletic guy growing up. But just like it happened to anyone, you know, other things emerged and took priority, right? They swept in and, you know, kind of consumed him for a period of time. And I guess, you know, in a way,

That part of him that used to fire on all cylinders was buried. He lost him. And so anyway, we're talking, and he's saying that he had been a little down, you know, put on a little weight. And the struggle was, according to him, making time for fitness in his now incredibly busy life. He's got a toddler running around, a very time-intensive job. On top of that, he's remodeling houses.

He's doing a lot. And this is the part that stood out. To me, he said, Eddie, I've tried everything. I went through, you know, quick phases where I was motivated, but I couldn't, you know, maintain that consistency. I was working, and then after work, I'd be with my son, who was, you know, just too little to leave alone for 45 minutes. And this is what's funny because it sounds so simple,

but, you know, he says, I found a gym with a daycare so I could bring my son and work out for 45 minutes. And that's when I was able to establish a routine. And that one action or decision allowed my entire life to get back on track, right? That was the rock I had to move, which is the phraseology that I want to focus on here. I think it's brilliant the way he said it. You know, basically once I could figure out how to work out on afternoons when he's with me,

I was able to make it go from sometimes a thing to always a thing. That was, again, the rock that had to be moved. And now I can clearly see from the conversation, right? The guy's happier, feels better about himself. And you know how it is when you're in that space. It starts to carry over into all aspects of life. And I'm thinking, this is so powerful, right? I told him I'm going to steal this rock metaphor and share it on the podcast on YouTube

because that, in my opinion, is the way to look at meaningful change. He nails it. It's not what do I need to get or acquire. or add, like, you know, we tend to think in those situations. No, it's what's preventing me from leveling up. What do I need to move to get rid of? Where is the boulder I have to push out of the way? And sure, there's a temptation to perhaps oversimplify,

but I think that's exponentially better than the alternative, which is making things unnecessarily complex. And in a way, that's what humans do best anyway, right? The world is infinite numbers and data points and variables. Humans just pick a few and create stories with them. So to me, there is value in truly simplifying and saying, okay, that's where I want to be. What's the one thing I could remove that would free me up to start moving that way?

Where is my rock that has to be relocated? And it's funny when we find those things, right? It's like turning on the light in a dark room. Everything begins to make sense. You feel momentum. You feel like you're in it. And again, how you feel when you go to bed at night becomes your identity. It's not because you're solving the problem right away, but because you feel that progress.

Progress equals happiness, right? Human beings are invigorated by meaning, the pursuit of purpose, when we're stuck. the painful part isn't necessarily being stuck as much as it's that we're not moving towards what matters. We need that growth. And for my buddy to see that, it was moving the mental rock of, I can't have a good workout when I'm watching my son. Those two things are mutually exclusive.

Remove that limiting belief and boom. And maybe in your particular situation, you know, there are numerous rocks that need to be moved. Incredibly plausible, right? but we can only move one at a time. And like Domino's, you have to push the first one down before the other start to fall. So where can you push?

Which I also like because it emphasizes the power and control we have in our own lives. Again, situations are messy and complex. I get that, but if you can simplify it down to what is one thing that's preventing me from going or changing or stopping or whatever it is for you, What's the big obstacle? Okay, there it is.

Let's chip away. Let's move this thing. It's as if your frustration over immobility is a dam. And what you need to do is an add more water to the reservoir, but find out what you can remove to start letting that water flow. Right? You want it to move freely. Because I believe life is a momentum game.

It really is. Like you win when you feel like your room. progressing when you feel like you're taking steps. That's when you're excited. That's when you jump out of bed invigorated. That's where you look for solutions. So look around you. There's always a step to be taken. In fact, I simplify to the extent that my mantra is, number one, know that change is possible. And number two, know that the next move is within an arm's reach of where you stand right now. Understanding and believing those two things is power. Right? Don't get disillusioned by how far the top of the mountain feels or how long you've been in one place wishing things were different.

None of that matters. The goal is to manufacture momentum and that's what you do. So do it by initiating one small action that frees you up to start walking that way. And it's amazing when you're in motion, things seem to make sense in a way that they simply didn't when you were stationary. That's why it's important to understand that you don't need to. to have all the answers. In fact, it's impossible to have all the answers. The journey provides them, right? The path contains the secrets. Therefore, the goal should be to get yourself stepping down that path. No overly harsh out of this world unrealistic expectations. No, simply be your

own biggest ally here. Remove what you don't need and free yourself of that unnecessary minutia. It's go time. And I go back and forth often, as you've heard me do here, right? It's like, yes, life is messy, it's complex. That's true. It's a culmination of infinite variables and data points. But guess what our job is? Guess what your power is to hone in on the select few of them necessary to tell your story. Human beings have survived for thousands and thousands of years because we are masters of simplification. Masters of simplification. Masters of of ignoring what we don't need and distilling the complex

down into what's actionable. And perhaps that's where you are now, what you need to do most. It's like I'm not where I want to be. Okay, in simple terms, where do I want to be? What does my mountaintop look like? What am I doing now that's getting in the way?

And what rocks do I need to move that will get me started down that path to something new? There are some pretty basic themes that consistently reemerge in most of my videos and podcast episodes. The idea of us having control, agency. The idea that fear can be an ally. As Joseph Campbell states, the cave you fear holds the treasure you seek. The idea that you're not your past, right? And there are a few more.

But essentially, today's episode takes them all and places them in the palm of your hand. It reminds you that in totality, this is all about you being the author of your story. And you don't need the whole book written. Ideas, character development, and all that stuff will come into your head as you write, as the pen hits the paper. You just need to find that starting point. Self-assess. Identify that little piece of opportunity that was hidden beneath the first.

the excess and begin. That morning, as I looked out the window, I could feel my increased heart rate, a sense of both excitement and anxiety that you can only really understand if you've lived it. I was worried about what people might think, what I might lose, what life might have in store for me, because that was all I knew to focus. I'd programmed myself to do one thing worry. And when your one thing is worrying, it's inevitable that you see life through a lens of scarcity. Your setting is on maintain, meaning you protect the little you have as opposed to seeking more.

You play defense to keep the world out as opposed to the offense required to bring the world in so that it may be reshaped. That morning, cold, wet, gray, I was numb. But deep down, completely oblivious to me, there was a little fire too small to record. A spark of courage in its infancy. See at that moment, if someone asked me, can you even be scared and courageous at the same time? I would have said those two words do not go together. Right? We're talking night and day, fire and water black and white.

But time's job is to reveal, and it has shown that there is no courage without fear. without fear. There is no fire, no matter how bright or powerful, that doesn't, by default, bring about those mysterious shapes, dancing in the shadows. If you want fire, great. But you must learn to dance with what hides in the periphery.

You must learn to go where your impulse begs you not to. And so that morning, I went to dance with my demons. What if the one thing holding you back in your life was you? And look, I know the world is a complex, multivariable, unfair, sometimes even cryptic place. I've never said anything to the contrary. But what humans do so well, sometimes for good and sometimes to our detriment, is see life through stories, ideas. Whether you know it or not, you are playing by a set of rules.

Right now, as you take this in, you have defined a set of parameters and deemed them acceptable. Decided they are what you deserve. You've allowed for yourself a certain level of growth, a certain amount of happiness, a certain amount of time to do what you love, to do what you love. A certain expectation around the role of work in your life,

a certain window of income you've identified as reasonable. Overall, a certain feeling you get when you look in the mirror. And my objective is not to tell you that any of the above is good or bad. It's to remind you that they are all stories. Our current state is not etched in stone. it's clumsily drawn on a dry erase board. Clumsily because how could we know everything? We learn along the way in a dry erase board

because there's never a moment in time in which you cannot begin again. Think about that. Never. Good, bad, or in between, there is never a situation from which you can't emerge as something different, from which you can't choose to take a different path,

change the narrative around you, your relationships, your job, your goals. But like the elephant tied to the chair with the rope, one must learn that it is not the chair holding them back, but their perception, their understanding of a supposed role in life. So as I drove away that morning, I wasn't leaving a physical place, but a mental constraint. Turning my back on a manufactured idea about who I was and what life would allow.

Not in a snap. No, not all at once, but an adventure that would begin pulling back the curtains one by one. on all that I'd walked right by. See, the first step to getting more is understanding you've been accepting less. That is where new roads present themselves, and it is that new road that I want for you. That understanding that so much will be given to those with the courage to ask. So as you stand now, examine what you've been asking, of life. My hunch is that perhaps it's not enough.

Perhaps there's more. Perhaps a new chapter is waiting to begin, and right now is when that first page gets turned. Joseph Campbell says that the cave you fear holds the treasure you seek. Why? Because to face the dancing shadows is to gain power over them. It shows our mind that reality is far less scary

than our perception of reality, that no chain or lock or wall can be more debilitating than the mental constraints we create by ourselves in our heads. It shows that the man guarding the door can just as easily be the one who unlocks it. And so what better a time than now to turn that key? To step out and confront what was once nothing more than a vast empty.

Jump into the cold water of opportunity that shocks us at first. Creates pins and needles and discomfort, but ultimately provides a chance to acclimate to and navigate a foreign world. You, you just need to jump and not a mountain but a foot. Enough to start earning that confidence, creating that self-trust, believing in yourself. So drive away. To the understanding that there is always another level if you want it. To the belief that nothing is outside the realm of possibility, those balance. boundaries can be redrawn.

To the idea that no one tells you who you are or what you're capable of, the world doesn't give orders, it reacts to who you decide to be. To the awareness that possible victories always outweigh in magnitude to possible defeat. To the realization that who you were yesterday is in no way related to who you can be tomorrow. All chapters end, and you decide when that happens. Everything else belongs in the rear view. Success is knowing this. It's believing it, holding on when others would let go.

Be reassured by the incremental nature of what's ahead. Zero miracles. Just the courage to begin. Just push the ball down the hill. Give life a chance. to help you create momentum. No more thinking, worrying, procrastinating, just go. It's incredible how fast things change

when we grant ourselves that freedom, when we see all of the world is open to us. But will you open your mind to that opportunity? I've said this before, and I'll say it again, nothing is sure in life. But you are guaranteed to lose if you don't, go. It's to let falsehoods and debilitating stories guide your way. So stop letting these narratives tell you who you are and create reality with your feet. Why? Because you can,

because you were meant for more and because more starts. When you're at your lowest point, you are often without realizing it, positioning yourself to arrive. I your highest point, potential energy accumulating to propel you through an atmosphere of new beginnings. See, I believe our adversity is life asking that we submerge and dive deep, sometimes very deep, just to remember how badly we need that oxygen above. So that when we again come up for air and we will, We notice the warmth of the sun on our face and the calming sound of the waves crashing on the beach. You don't make the most of what's around you until you recognize that what's around you is the opportunity.

And so life reminds us. A taxing reminder. Right? It rarely gives without first taking away. It rarely opens. new doors without closing old ones. And that, to put it, simply, can hurt. They don't teach you in school that growth is painful, but as it turns out, a life without

growth isn't much of a life at all. And so we must dive deep. We're given no other choice. Without night, there is no day. Without suffering, there is no beauty. Without those depths below, there is no surface above. Our submergence is our transformation. The cocoon that separates who we were from who we will be.

But unlike the butterfly, it doesn't just evolve once. Our journey requires that we are continuously growing a new pair of wings. Life is chaos. Life is unpredictable. Life is hard, but you were built to not only endure in its arena. You were put here to excel, to learn the rules and then expand upon the rules. Sometimes break the rules. You were put here to take the difficulty and provide meaning to it.

Peace by piece is if it were the construction of a rocket to the moon. Little pieces of at one point frustration and confusion and chaos combined, reused, and transformed into exactly what you need them to be. Emergent properties. You just have to be willing to see beyond the now and assemble to come up for air and soak in all that awaits at the surface like you've never done before. The other day, I was texting with a friend of mine. Out of nowhere, she goes, what's wrong? And I'm thinking, nothing, right? I haven't said anything.

You know, what do you mean? She's adamant, right? She goes, something feels off. I thought about it and realized, yeah, she's pointing out something I've known for a little bit here. Something is off. I'm hiding from myself. Feel a little burnt out, a little tired. Certain areas of my life had become unevenly distributed.

In fact, I was flirting with that thing. I've always feared doing most, simply going through the motions. That scared me. I don't want this, right? I've come too far to feel like this. I'm better than this. How do I fix it? How do I solve it now?

Figure it out now. But eventually came to realize the now part just might be the whole problem. Fix the now, like it's a headache, and me shaking my fist at the sky will be ibuprofen. No, battling imperfection is a fool's errand. It's setting yourself up for disaster. We are humans, not gods.

We are perfectly imperfect. And when something is off, don't fight, listen. don't retract expand here is the opportunity I'm under the surface diving down into the depths of my own soul hear what it has to say

so that when I come up for air and I will the sun will warm my face like it never has the crashing waves will offer a symphony to my ears that I've never heard and I'll see that the world I'm taking in is more a reflection of me than of it. As that saying goes, you don't see the world as it is. You see the world as you are. And how lucky to have taken a step back, a trip below the surface,

to realize again that I am the painter, not the critic. My world had become black and white. not because we live in a black and white world, but because sometimes we forget to put the color in. Sometimes we don't give ourselves permission to expand beyond the parameters we've created for ourselves. So with the breath and the oxygen will come a new appreciation, a liberating gratitude.

There's nothing so sweet as remembering that both the castles in the air and the chains at our feet are imaginary. And hey, you get to choose which one to believe in. See, what time has taught me is that there is strength in our vulnerability. In the times we fall or lose ourselves. And I know the inclination is to panic, perhaps assess too quickly, to not hear but talk,

to not listen but attempt to solve, which leads to the application of band-aids on bullet wounds. When we are low, when we are lost, it's our chance to better understand ourselves. It's the metaphorical equipment room where we stock up prior to our next descent. And if I could emphasize one thing, it would be that our perceived understanding of life,

it oscillates. Sometimes we feel like we get it. We do. And sometimes we feel like we're sprinting with our eyes closed. It's a riddle we will never fully come to solve. But I do know one thing. We can't change the unpredictability of the world. But by observing, by listening, by getting back up, we can change ourselves.

By recognizing our strength, we can utilize the downtime. as they are the education we've been longing for. Remember, the world does not and will not ask perfection of you, so don't ask perfection of it. You were built to endure, to overcome, and to recreate yourself. Losing your wings will never be the problem. It's forgetting that they must be regrown. That is the problem.

So step out. rise to the surface of your world and breathe. Take in the surroundings that will become your resurrection story if you let them. We all enjoy the prospect of perfection. Everyone has an ideal outcome. We all make plans. But very rarely do they unfold as they were drawn up. Why? Well, because life is predictably unpredictable. It's mysterious.

Yet for some reason, we march on toward the acquisition of a flawless existence. Scared of anything but an undamaged, untarnished, immaculate reflection staring back at us in the mirror. But in the real world, you know, our happiness. contentment, growth, progress that are not a product of perfection. They're built from the imperfections that we collect along the way. The trials, the tribulations. You know, when you piece all that together, like little puzzle pieces, they depict the beauty.

They show the image that's always been so highly coveted. In other words, the process of reaffirms. rebuilding create something more valuable than the same pieces before they were broken down, when they were untouched. In Japanese philosophy, there's a concept known as Kinsugi, which is the art of repairing broken pottery with a golden lacquer. It's the idea that we don't want to hide the damage, but we want to rebuild it into something more meaningful, more valuable,

embrace the imperfect. own and cherish it. There's an old story about a tea master known as Rikyu. And he was attending a Japanese tea ceremony with one of his followers. And the follower tries to impress Rakew by buying this fancy clay jar and making it visible during the meeting. But Rikyu never, you know, once acknowledges it. The praise never comes.

So the student, you know, obviously upset by the lack of recognition, he pushes the jar off the counter at fault. Off the counter, it falls to the floor, it breaks into a bunch of pieces. And another student ultimately repairs it using Kinsugi. He puts the pieces back together with a gold lacquer. And next time, Rikyu attends the tea ceremony as a guest of honor, he sees the jar, rebuilt, and says, now it's beautiful. Now it has character.

He acknowledges its value. And this story reminds us about the myth of perfection. Life's not about dodging and avoiding the difficulty. It's about facing it head on. Because when we come out on the other side, we transform into something that was previously unobtainable and rise to a world beyond imagination. See, we change not by running around life's obstacles,

but by running directly through them. Like a muscle being repeatedly broken down and built back up, the pain, the exhausted energy is the vehicle. The micro creates the macro. The difficult becomes the exceptional. We need the very things we're inclined to avoid. Our shortcomings, they not only precede and establish our greatness, they are our greatness. Being broken is not a tragedy. It is a step along the way. It's the beginning of something new, a launching pad, a chance to be better than you have ever been. Because look, here's the reality. If your status quo has never been shaken at its foundation, if you've never stopped and questioned the way things are, reality as it is, if you don't take risks, there will be no fragments to take and rebuilt.

You won't have the tools or capacity to change the world around you. And that is the thing of note. Beauty is not fearing the rebuild. It is the rebuild. It's not feeling sorry or hopeless, but hopeful. Seeing your situation for what it is, an opportunity. It is what you need, a blank canvas, your chance to make art while redrawing creative boundaries. If perfect is the goal, why take the step?

Why take the chance? Why risk messing things up? It's never been about perfect. It's about picking up the pieces and rising again. Freedom lies in being bold. Robert Frost. Something caught my eye on Twitter not too long ago. It was a headline referencing the boldness of wolves in the wild.

So I clicked it to delve a little deeper. It took me to an article by Emma Maris. And here's the summary at like a 10,000-foot view. Okay, basically there's a parasite called T. Gondi that infects animals and then causes those infected animals to act bold, perhaps even reckless in some situations. And the article states why, and goes into some great use. detail, but for now I'm going to jump right to a specific point, because there's a part where the article mentions how two wildlife ecologists, Meyer and Cassidy, studied wolves at Yellowstone

for 27 years. And upon studying them, they find something very interesting. After taking blood samples from 229 wolves, they found that wolves infected with that T-Gondii parasite, that again makes them act bolder, were 11 times more likely than uninfected wolves to leave their birth family and start a new pack. The infected wolves were also 46 times more likely to become pack leaders, which Maristates are often the only wolves that breed. And so this appears to portray a direct link from boldness to increased social status and possibly, even even reproduction rates. With that boldness comes risk, sure, but with risk comes reward upside.

Now, obviously, the day-to-day actions of wolves at Yellowstone is not an apples-to-apples comparison with human beings functioning in society. But personally, I can't help but feel the value contained in the case study. In fact, it was my thinking about it while falling asleep that prompted me to find the article again and share it for the simple reason that I know there are places in my life that I can be bolder. I know there are places in my life where I can dial up that risk factor in exchange for results that supersede what I have now. You don't get more without giving more. And I know there are places I can give more.

In fact, I'm pretty confident there are places every single one of us can give more. See, here's the thing. Being bold means drastically different things to different people. And it's in this truth that the magic is found. Boldness for one person might be completely different from someone else. It might be more travel. For another, it might be taking on a project at work. For another, it might be leaving a detrimental situation.

For someone else, you know, going through a low point or deeply challenging time, It might be simply getting out of bed. We are all operating on different planes at any given time. My bold today won't be my bold next week. That's just the way life works. But here's what I do know. We can all find within ourselves that courage to be bold in whatever arena we are in. And every once in a while someone will say to me,

yeah, but Eddie, can't you just be happy where you are? Why does it always have to be the next thing or bigger or better or more? To which my response is, look, of course we should be grateful for what we have. Of course, we should appreciate the gifts and the beauty that surrounds us day in, day out. Because it's there and it's infinite. But, and you knew there was a but. Human beings are purpose-driven. Our happiness is often derived.

from our progress. Our journey is the destination. And we often find when we look around that we have given pieces of ourselves away, sometimes without thinking about it. Perhaps we become stagnant with areas of ourselves that can be elevated, that are destined to evolve. I love looking back at those courageous moments in my life. They mean everything to me. You know, I like to say, it's the small things repeated day in and day out that make us who we are. The vast majority of the time, I believe that to be true. But those pivotal moments, those opportunities that our consistency creates for us, well, boldness in those instances, changes everything.

Walking onto a stage when you've never spoken before, when your body is physically rebelling and you don't want to walk on a stage is everything. Calling you all, packing up and leaving a situation that's no longer in your best interest is painful, it's instantaneous, but is ultimately everything. Making an investment that you believe in. Deciding to hire someone with incredible vision and talent, being vulnerable enough to share your thoughts with the world, these things are risky, they are bold, but in your world, they are everything. And so the obvious connection here is our desire to lead in a world seemingly void of adequate leadership.

It's setting an example. It's not settling for the ground floor when the sky is the limit. Yes, on all counts. But it's also leading yourself. At times, we forget just how important that is that you need to lead yourself to something meaningful. Significant change does not come along without your initiating it. No doors open if you don't knock. The world will only give you what you ask of it.

And I'm here to remind you that asking more of the world, yes, it's hard, it's uncomfortable, it requires you to be more today than you were yesterday. But you are capable of that. You are bold enough to be that. that. Robert Frost says freedom lies in being bold. I believe that's because in your courage lives the infinite. Upside so powerful that one simply cannot grasp it while standing still. So go. Go find those areas of life, your life, where you know you're holding back, where you know when

your soul you have more to give. And breathe life. into them. Knowing that sure, and being bold, missing the mark is a possibility. But in never leaving, it's a certainty. If you never go, you will never arrive. So find the courage to ask more of yourself. Because more there is.

Hold the vision, but trust the process. An idea that should act as our North Star, right, as we make our way through life, it proposes believing in a goal, but at the same time understanding that its manifestation will be unpredictable, challenging, it may not unfold the way we thought it would. To me, though, the most challenging aspect of personal growth, of building the things that matter, creating realities we dream of, It's the mandatory dance we must do with time. The patience that's woven into the equation, it's the empty spaces that we tend to use for manufacturing doubt and disbelief. When life is given us nothing to react to, it's like we create monsters in our heads. And it's really an incredible thing when you think about it, right?

I look back on the past decade of my life and the hardest part. and some were excruciating. They were pain derived from what I knew I hadn't yet accomplished. It was a feeling like I wasn't moving fast enough. Like the winners in life had that over there, and all I had was this over here. Completely nonsensical narrative, but one that certainly felt real.

Discomfort from the delta or the gap between what I wanted and what I had. had a feeling that would randomly dip in and out of my conscious mind as I sort of chipped away at my goals day in and day out. And I started to wonder, how can I better position myself to grow, to maintain that ambition, but also to do it with less anxiety, right? As I stated a few seconds ago, hold that vision, but perhaps improve my trust and relationship with the relationship with process. My ability to immerse myself in various pursuits without dwelling on the fact that I hadn't yet arrived. Because look, I know this game. We all know this game. There's always going to be another

finish line to cross. That's a great thing, but can also when we're not looking at it correctly be to our detriment. There are always higher numbers to achieve. Again, incredible opportunity, but with the wrong perspective, dangerous. If you can't find a way to appreciate the now while you climb, you will be forever lost. There will always be a hole that's never filled. I think we need to be better about supporting ourselves along this journey. No one can be there for me like I can.

And I think that's true for everyone. We need to be our greatest allies. So I brought this question up, as I tend to do, with a few of my friends, with different perspectives. They look at the world a little differently. And basically ask, you know, how can we get out of our own ways? Is there a lane to both be tenacious in our pursuit of evolution to continue doing the things that excite and challenge us, while also being a little easier on ourselves, trusting that dance we do with time as the process unfold. And so I present this question to one of my friends sitting across me at the table and he thinks about it.

He says, Eddie, well, that's what's got you where you are. That feeling like there's always more. It's the reason for the success you've had and the success you'll have in the future. It's what will push you. It's why you will succeed. People that accomplish things are never satisfied. Jordan was never satisfied. He was never happy.

And in that context, greatness and happiness. not compatible. And, you know, I took it in. I certainly appreciated the perspective, right? In many ways, I think he's right. Sort of reminded me of the idea behind Tim Grover's book, Relentless, that it's an obsession that must take place. It doesn't leave room for much else, right? Incredibly valuable to understand, if anything, just to see, just to grasp what it means to achieve in a world of obstacles. But truthfully, I wasn't, um, in a world of obstacles. But truthfully, I wasn't, um, entirely satisfied. How can we better visualize the process so that we're more powerful allies to ourselves? That's what I wanted to understand. A short time later, I'm at the kitchen table,

kind of going over some analytics for social media, like YouTube channel podcast, stuff like that. And my father, who happened to fly in from Boston, he's at the kitchen table with me, we're having some coffee, and I made a comment about the trajectory of, the numbers. You know, I forget that particular week, maybe it was higher or lower than expected. I don't really remember, but he made this comment about the patience that I've had with the channel over the years, just an offhand remark. You know, he said the numbers are like the SMP 500, right? The stock market. There are days when it drops. There are days when it rises. But over the long haul, it steadily pointed up and it continues to point up. And I found that so interesting.

You know, I harp on the small things a lot on this channel, the little breakthroughs that paid the way for larger transformation, ideas that change the way we look at things, which ultimately change the way we act, which change the results we get, and this happened to be one of them. You know, it hit me just right. What is perhaps the most important piece in the famous book, The Intelligent Investor? What is the idea that made Buffett a billionaire? It's that you invest in things you believe in and you remove the emotion. You hold the dips, right?

When the stock market takes a hit and everyone's panicking and acting emotionally and selling, you don't sell. You buy more, right? When the world emotionally rushes out, you rush in. And when the world emotionally rushes in, you step out. Well, in life, there will be days when your metaphorical stock drops, at least you feel like it does. Right? Those YouTube numbers, perhaps numbers in the old bank account, maybe fitness goals fall flat.

Maybe you're just not seeing a return on investment. But we are never defined by the events of the day. Even the worst of days, they're merely a small part of a much larger pattern. And the truth is sometimes success is so small you can't. see it. Of course you're going to be anxious if you think every day should be comprised solely of mountaintops and finish lines, if you're always looking, comparing, contrasting. But sometimes success is 0.0001% better. Sometimes success looks like the S&P 500 taking a hit, dropping for a day, a week, or a month. Sometimes growth doesn't look like what we want growth to look like. But

Just like intelligent investors, you are putting your money in the belief that at a certain point down the road the value will be higher then than it is now. And this idea has been everything to me, particularly on the days when it feels like things are going backwards over periods of time where I feel like I've been standing still where the voice in my head is presenting all kinds of scenarios that I could have been better or done more and maybe so. But these times are nothing more than data points. They are steps along the way.

And knowing this, it essentially frees me from the delusion that growth is always visible, that I can always look around and see visible triumph. It allows me to march towards my goals and my dreams, having a renewed relationship with each step. There's a saying that we need to keep our head in the clouds and our feet on the ground, life is a continual juggling of extremes,

and I think this gets it right. Our strength is in the ability to take those steps, each one a message to the universe that we are stronger than we were yesterday. But what makes our journeys truly divine is that they aren't comprised of or built with those steps like a house of cards, where one wrong move or a way

or some delay will cause the whole thing to fall to come crashing down. No, what makes the journey divine is the infinite number of paths that can bring about its materialization. There are no wrong paths. Some arrive sooner. Some arrive later. Some mid-jurney causes to realize that the compass wasn't even pointed in the right destination, right?

They change what it means to arrive. But the point is every step is required, every step is a miracle, but the power is not contained solely in one step. But rather, what we choose to make of all the steps combined, the dips, the lows, and the losses only have significance if we give them significance. Otherwise, there are just a few stops along the way to something beautiful. So why exhaust energy on data points that haven't arrived yet, on destinations in the future? Destinations that we trust ourselves to figure out anyway. Our emphasis should be on the present moment, on gratitude for the fact that we get to wake up and choose the pursuits that we've chosen. In some days, those pursuits will feel like the miracles that they are.

We'll see the finish lines, the mountaintops, we'll feel triumphant and some days those victories will be hidden in plain view, but they are there nonetheless. As we make our way into the great unknown that is life, piecing each second, each minute, each hour together to become the path leading us where we need to be most. where you are. A friend of mine at one point found himself in his mid-20s, fighting his way back from what he refers to as a pretty substantial setback that had occurred. He was basically rebuilding his life. He found himself looking up at an enormous mountain to climb. Unsure what he would do for a living, how he would make ends meet, very much lacking direction. And as he pondered, he got a job as a pizza oven repair guy. Learn the ins and outs of the craft

as he showed up every day. I still focus down the road, still contemplating what would be the best move for his future. And as some time passed, he started to realize he was mastering the very niche craft that he was showing up to do every day. It was acquiring a very specific competency

in quickly becoming great at him. After a little bit of a very niche craft that he was showing up to do every day. time he started thinking hey I could branch out on my own here I could start my own pizza oven repair business and he did and after not too long hired an entire team to work with him then progressed into delivering and installing new ovens all over the country and is currently working on some new technology as well to supplement the install and repair part of the business the guys doing incredibly well. And it's interesting because you're having a conversation with him about

his success and it's like, how on earth did you find yourself doing what you do? It's so specific. And he'll tell you, you know, he worried, he pondered, he thought about business degrees and career trajectories and all that. But the difference was that he didn't take the moment for He saw the value where he was with what he had, where he could have seen it as a bridge job or a chapter in the story or however you want to describe it. He saw it as an opportunity. He saw the present as the answer, show up and give everything you have to being great now. Because when you're competent in a craft and ambitious, as he is, that's a scary comment.

That's a scary combo. The world becomes yours. Use what you have where you are. And you will, because of this monstrosy, doors unlock that perhaps you never thought possible. There are pieces around you now that will push you to grow and evolve. The problem is we very often dismiss them. What my friend turned into an empire, a success story, could just as easily have been an obligation. while he waited for the world to give him something different.

And sure, I think it's important for me to emphasize the point isn't to stay where you are forever if you're unhappy. Of course not. The point is that there's value in aiming to be exceptional at whatever it is you are doing, whatever you are committing to, even if it appears mundane. The point is that so much potential is sewn into our human,

day to day, it just tends to blend in and not feel important, at least at first glance. You know, doors open for people who are great at what they do, and people who are great at what they do live with a curiosity, consistency, and intensity that others might not. It's amazing how when we feel that we are gaining competence in something or excelling in something, it becomes enjoyable, which highlights the fact that, you know, so often our stagnation is a byproduct of us standing in our own way, choosing not to grow. I mean, I can't explain how trivial what I do now felt when I first started in 2014. Sharing my thoughts into a microphone, making little three-minute videos, uploading them to the internet, right, to an audience of my immediate family for zero dollars. You know how dumb my rationality?

brain was trying to convince me that was. You know how easy it would have been to move on and simply look back on that period of time as my little YouTube experiment? But again, there is this strange phenomenon that when you inject yourself into something and vow to get better at it, it lifts you up, it excites you, it brightens your world. I had, as I've talked about, so many times found that intersection of what I love and what adds value to others. And that was everything. And the solution appeared not because, you know, I bumped into someone that had some life-changing opportunity for me. It wasn't because I found this shortcut or secret formula.

No, I just used what was already sitting in my little apartment on Comav in Boston. It's incredible how often our answers are right where we are. That's why, as I've progressed through this journey, I understand that's how I understand. I understand balance, I understand the value of, sure, looking at that horizon, having big plans and ambition, but also cherishing the opportunity at our feet now, looking around, because again and again and again, the opportunity is disguised as triviality, is the stuff we walk right by. Always remember that there's something around you that can be transformed into opportunity, even if it's small.

And if you choose to look for it, you will empower yourself. Everyday things. I can throw off examples for days. The internet. Incredible resource. Leverage it. Whether it's connecting or sharing

or creating or learning. Your day-to-day effort. Like my friend with the pizza oven installation repair company, that world doesn't exist. if he doesn't take the little things incredibly seriously. Show up to whatever you do with the tenacity that will propel you to new height. Whether it's in that same field or it carries you over to another.

Or utilizing your network, there are people you know today right now that can contribute to your momentum, seek them out. Time, the 30-minute blocks that we deem insignificant or downtime between one event and another. Think of the compounding of turning that into the way. of turning that into a push-up session every day, or your 30-minute audiobook time. And sure, all of these examples are sort of sporadic,

they're contextually different, but they have one very important common theme, and that's opportunity being squeezed out of resources that we already possess. It's instead of walking by the pile of bricks every morning, picking one up at a time and beginning to stack them. I'm a firm believer that the difference maker for so many is not IQ.

It's not going to this or that college. It's not your background. Did you recognize the opportunities surrounding you? Did you find the value or the excuse? Because both will always exist. And that's what we have to understand. Understand the details around you can be your reason for staying right where you are or for doing the unimaginable. So understand the power of utilizing what you have where you are.

Make a point to look for the tools within reach. They say what's trash or junk to one man can be treasure to another. We'll understand that your eyes are capable of seeing both. You have to leave them to the value. You have to become comfortable with pausing, letting the emotions subside and asking, how can I win here now with the pieces that are available to me? Because they are available.

And if you're willing to pick them up, you can undoubtedly, as Thoreau said, build your castles in the air. Hardy fiber cement siding handles conditions that can cause damage to vinyl. From fire to hail, Hardy siding stands tall through it all. Helping trade professionals look their best when they recommend Hardy siding and trend. See the proof at James Hardy.com. All you need in life is ignorance and confidence and then success is sure.

That's a quote from Mark Twain talking about success and sort of the polarity of the process. And, you know, anyone who knows Mark Twain who's read his stuff, you know, he's a witty, kind of sarcastic guy. So I'm sure he meant that with some humor. But there's a lot of truth to that quote. You know, I talk about a lot the truth so many times being in the middle, a combination of or a multitude of different ideas. And when we think of, you know, confidence and ignorance, they're very different, right? Why would we want to be ignorant at all? Well, in a way, we need to be.

And let me explain why, ignorant, in the sense that we need to be willfully dismissive of the things that are not conducive to our success, to our growth. We need to build walls, mental walls, that stand between what's good for us and what's not. You know, the odds, for example. don't do anything to help us get where we need to go. The negativity, the doubt from others don't push us forward at all. The self-talk reminding us that, hey, we've tried this before and we failed before. Remember that one time you gave this a shot and it didn't work out?

That's going to happen again. All that stuff, it needs to be drowned out. Again, a willful ignorance of the odds. coupled with confidence, understanding that the road before us will be difficult, we won't understand it, we won't get it all, it will be far from perfect. But none of those things matter to someone who's willing to adapt along the way. It's like the ultimate Trump card. If the world's going to throw things at you, but you're willing to adapt and continue forward, then it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Because again, you don't know.

need the straightest path. You don't need perfection. You need to believe and be confident in your ability to rearrange the pieces as they come. And that's why I love that quote. It is a reminder. We need to be ignorant and confident. You can be too self-aware. You can be too overly analytical. There is a middle ground there that I think is incredible. And I got an email that, today that was kind of documenting in a few senses, some recent success stories where people were completely oblivious, completely disregarded the negative feedback the world was giving them. Right. So for example, Jack Canfield, his idea of 100 short motivational stories in one book, Chicken Soup for the Soul, was turned down by something like 130 publishers.

There's a willful ignorance and certainly a confidence there. Howard Schultz, looking to start Starbucks. He tried to get a loan or secure a loan that he needed for the company. Like over 200 times was turned down for this loan. But kept looking, kept looking, kept looking, I think it was number 242, that said yes, that finally gave him the green light, mentioned Walt Disney, who was fired for not being creative, tries to make it in Hollywood, has a rough start there.

And you just can't help it think. like particularly with Walt Disney, right? He's trying to sell an idea of a mouse that moves and walks like a human being. That can get you a billion dollars or it can get you in an insane asylum. Right? It's very hard to sell that. And all of these people continually moving through this adversity, what makes it real is in our world, you know,

One rejection feels like our cage is rattled. It can be a big deal, right? If you're applying somewhere and you get told no, or a person turns you down, you don't get accepted to something, you get denied somewhere. Like, the first instinct is to look in the mirror and say, man, am I not good enough?

Am I missing something here? And why these stories are so precious? because when you put yourself in Howard Schultz's shoes and the 120th bank tells you to go, you know, take a long walk off a short pier, how do you think he felt? Like, how did he internalize that? How did he pick himself up and go to Bank 121?

Still have 100 more to go until he got that, yes. I think it puts into perspective the world we live in and the reality of getting things done. You know, we want things to be easier and the idea in our head is that it is, it should be, but it never, never will be, right? It's Darren Hardy knocking on doors. Doesn't care about how many yeses he gets,

he doesn't leave until he gets turned down by X number. Why? Because in the rejection is what we need. If you're looking at doors, you know, the idea is not a world where every door opens for you. The ideal is knowing that life, is about most doors being locked and having the courage and the conviction to continue forward

until one opens up. You've turned that handle, you walk through, and you enter a new chapter on your life. The next thing. That's very hard to comprehend. I've lived it. You know, I've lived it as an entrepreneur. Can't do this for a decade without coming face to face with rejection repeatedly. It's just something that you learn to live with and not personalize. It's not a referendum on me. It doesn't mean the other person or the organization. The company hates me or thinks less of me. Sometimes it's not even worth a second thought.

It's okay, next door. If you can find a way to flip that perspective, you don't need all yes is you need one. You need one person or entity or company, organization. You need one to work out and things change. Most people don't get there because most people, by bank 20, right, by publisher 20, they're saying, well, this is not for me. It's not true.

We live in a world of rejection where the victories are sprinkled in. They're sparse. They're there for the people that can hang on. long enough to get there. Someday the things that you currently don't understand will make sense. Someday the big things you're dealing with won't seem so big anymore. Someday the doubts you have about yourself will be revealed as false. Someday you'll see that the things you worry about didn't matter at all. Someday you'll see that the road before you wasn't something you had to walk flawlessly,

but rather something you had to trust and believe in. Someday you'll look in the mirror and see that you had it in you the entire time, that there was nothing you needed or should have been hoping for. Yeah, someday. Someday that will all be true. But what about some days? from the past. I remember years ago thinking

someday I would venture out into the world. Someday I'd speak my mind. Someday I would start my own business. I would surround myself with people who believed in what I believe. Someday I'd make a little more money, have a little more time to do what I love. Someday I'd have all that.

And as I look around, I realize It looks a lot like someday. But guess what? As we grow, so do our some days. It's a chase that never ends. There's always something more. There's always something bigger and better. And the problem is not the ambition.

The problem is forgetting that in so many ways, You've dreamt of being where you stand right now. You have arrived. You're not the same person that 10 years ago was throwing some days out into the universe. No, you have grown. You have learned. You have evolved. Why does this matter?

It matters. Because without acknowledging how far you've come, You cannot acquire the strength needed to go where you must go. When you don't feel good enough, it's often because you haven't looked over your shoulder and opened your eyes. The evidence is right there. It's hiding in plain sight. There's proof that you've been there. That you've faced demons and conquered them.

endured your battles and overcame. You did that. And at one point not that long ago, you couldn't say that you had. You weren't yet that person, but things are different. Now, what you have today was once only that hopeful someday.

It was a fleeting thought. It had no merit and no value, yet you brought it to life. Look, what you've done. Understand how far you've come, how you ran when you could, you walked when it was possible,

you crawled when you had to, and continued on to arrive at a someday that is right now. You, my friend, are a maker of things unseen, an architect of tomorrow's and some days, so don't you dare, don't you ever entertain the delusion that this gift suddenly stops now. Suddenly the burden is too much.

The mountain is too tall. No, what you do is overcome. That is who you are. You've done it for you. You've done it for the ones you love. And in some cases, the ones who didn't even understand, but you kept going. Marching through the fires of hell

to turn someday. into right now. And I get that the road before you is uncertain. There's no way to know exactly how life will unfold. But that's besides the point. A bird can't predict every gust of wind it's going to encounter. It spreads its wings, takes off, and adapts because it can, because it always has, because that's what it does. I'm not advocating that you should have all the answers. No, I'm suggesting that you trust yourself to find them. To move forward into the haze that surround you, to make sense of the seemingly illogical, bring about reality from the make-believe. Someday you will have what you're aiming for.

But here's to never letting a today go by. Without realizing that you are always living out a someday from your past, you are always arriving and leaving simultaneously. The accomplished and the student, crossing a finish line and on the starting block, with another race around the corner, another chance to stretch your legs and reach for the heavens. If you ever forget that, I ask that you find it within yourself to look over your shoulder, to remember what you once asked for. and to appreciate the journey that you have undertaken. You did that.

Now onward you go, you have more some days to bring to life. So much of life comes down to control. Understanding what we cannot control while simultaneously capitalizing and making the most of the things that we can. A constant awareness that's critical to our evolution. Epictetus wrote, We must be at once cautious and courageous.

Courageous in what does not depend upon choice. And cautious in what does. And this idea has been shared many, many times in many ways over the centuries. Another of which a lot of folks have heard is the serenity prayer. Right, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. But regardless of how it's said and who it's said to,

the point is the same. There are things we cannot control that we must find a way to stop exerting ourselves, stop exhausting our energy on. They are, as the saying goes, what they are. These obstacles are immovable. And rather than continue to push and push and push with all our strength and energy,

our time is best suited, learning to effectively navigate them. And then there exists those things that are in our control. I believe it was the power of now by Eckhart Tolle. He said, and I'm paraphrasing, if something cannot be changed, stop thinking about it, right? The future represents anxiety. It's worrying about things that haven't happened yet. The past is essentially depression.

It's worrying about things that already happened. We can't do anything about the world. the past or the future, all we have is now. And if it can be changed, then act now in bringing about a desired result. Take that first step, create some semblance of momentum, no matter how small. But to worry about what is behind you or in front of you is actually insanity. I remember loving the simplicity and pointedness of that message. Accept it.

eliminate it or adjust yourself to it. Sometimes it helps when I think about things in metaphors, and I tend to do it often. This morning I was drinking coconut water, right, of all things. And I was thinking, man, it'd be nice. You know those little pieces of coconut that float around in there? It would be great if they were not in there, right? So I have this idea, just grab a strainer,

pour it through the strainer into the glass. I'm leaning over the counter, watching the pieces of coconut collect in the strainer and I'm just thinking, sort of zoning out. Like imagine if those were my problems, just being separated out of my life just like that, how nice it would be. Captured in a little net and then, you know, discarded, thrown away. But, you know, it didn't take me long to realize a couple things. One, such an idea would never happen. Life will always have some obstacle to place before us.

That's what light does. After all, the word is predicated upon the avoidance of death. It's a struggle and a necessary one. Which leads me to the realization number two, we want hardship. You know, purpose and meaning, they're derived from our willingness to overcome adversity and transform because of it. A life without struggle is a car without wheels. And sure, you might avoid the fender benders, but you're not leaving the greatest.

So that's a thumbs down. So I thought, okay, well, what if I slightly adjust that thinking? What if it's a subset of problems that I can remove? That's when it kind of hit me, the opportunity at hand, right? Not the so-called problems, but my thoughts about them. There are the real difference maker here. The negative storytelling that can be removed, pushed through the strain. Again, not novel or groundbreaking.

Like I said a few minutes ago, this idea has been around for thousands of years, but sometimes things land perfectly, right moment, right time. And I knew what I needed to do was remove the worries and concerns pertaining to the events that I could not change, yet I exhaust my energy dancing around and around with my thoughts about them.

You cannot change. the future. You can change right now, which ultimately becomes the future. And there's a difference. I had to, you know, pull that back in. See, I think most of our problems are derived from anger or emotional attachment to the immovable, the unchangeable. One of my favorite sayings is, you can't change the direction of the wind, but you can always adjust your sails. And see, when you remove the self-tormenting you have going on about your past, things you wish you did or didn't do. When you remove the concern

that the future won't be exactly what you want it to be, which tends to be where I lean of the two, you're left with one thing. The present, right? Clarity. You have officially empowered yourself because the things you allocate your energy to can be changed, can be made better or adjusted.

And that's really what it's all about. You can't change the fact that someone you loved or cared about let you down. But when you dwell on it, you're now giving up the present as well. You're preventing yourself from doing what is required of you now to make your life better. You can't control the fact that your company is reducing its size and your department is being eliminated. Can't control the fact that 8% of you. get accepted to whatever you're applying to. Can't control the fact that you will be criticized for doing the unpopular thing, the thing that you believe to be right. And I say these things not to be a downer. I actually don't think there's anything sad about this to the contrary. Now that you've accepted these truths, accepted this as reality, now you can move toward what's best for you. No more dwelling on the unchangeable. No more fighting unwinnable wars.

No, it's time to go put yourself in position to conquer whatever mountain is next. By straining out the things that cannot be changed, you are left only with what can. You can't change your company's personnel reduction, but you can find something else, something better out there. You can set the stage for a new journey. You can't increase the acceptance rate,

but you can increase your value. Go above and beyond. Put yourself in position to succeed. And if you don't, they're lost. Continue learning. Continue growing. Continue moving forward. You can't stop the world's criticism.

But you can learn to toughen up emotionally. Learn to trust your intuition and decision making. Surround yourself with people you trust who lift you up. See, when you stop wasting time and energy on the wrong thing, you get the right things. Like Greg McKeown says in essentialism, it's now but we can acquire. But often what we cut away,

removing the things that weigh us down, that we're dragging along with us everywhere we go. They don't need to be there. I say to myself often that I have everything I need. It's there. Some of it's materialized. Some of it exists as a seed that I need to identify, and water and nurture, but it's all right here. Which means the problem will never be that I'm incapable.

It will never be that I'm not good enough. No, when I'm in the wrong, it's because I've forgotten to see it. I've either become consumed with the wrong things or lost faith in myself to do the right thing. And knowing this has been a gift. It's been tremendous. It's helped me even during the darkest moments to reacquire what matters most.

Sometimes it takes hours, sometimes days, even weeks, or longer, but I get there. Eventually, I arrive and so can you. You have the ability to parse out why you feel the way you do. To categorize the thoughts in your head. Can I change it? No, okay, gone. And with all that's left, begins the journey, the good stuff. The adversity and the problems that will make you who you are. And don't misunderstand me.

I'm not saying it will be easy, but I'm saying it will be worth it. And that's critical to understand. Your world is there to maneuver and adjust to reshape. But its transformation depends on a laser-like focus on that which is malleable. That's saying, do what you can, where you are with what you have.

It will lead you to exactly where you need to be. even if you don't trust the road before you, trust yourself to walk down it.