Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - TRANSFORM YOUR DESTINY - Best Motivational Speeches Listen Every Morning

Episode Date: July 22, 2024

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." - Viktor Frankl Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube  In this episode, Eddie Pinero delves into the concept that the answers we seek are often within arm's reach, emphasizing the power of choice amidst suffering. Drawing on Viktor Frankl’s insights, Eddie explains how personal pain, regardless of its source, fills our consciousness completely. He cautions against comparing our pain to others, stressing the futility of blame and the importance of taking ownership of our circumstances. Eddie explores how harnessing internal strength and focusing on hope can transform suffering into a catalyst for change and growth. Tune in to discover how to turn rock bottom into a foundation for a better future.  

If you believe the answer is within an arm's reach, it is. Let me explain what I mean here. This is the closest I've come to in years of getting into kind of a back and forth on social media, on Instagram. But I thought, you know, let's not go down that road. Take a walk. Think about it. Play pros and cons with your point of view. and see if in an hour, hour and a half,

you still feel the same way. And I took my walk, and I came back, and I can tell you that I absolutely, unequivocally, still feel the same way. And I want to dive into it with you. See, anytime you talk about making the most of what you have, anytime you talk about not being a victim, anytime you talk about always blaming yourself

because no one else can fix your life. There's this sort of subtle, unspoken, unease. It's hard to almost articulate. You know, like, how can you tell people in adverse situations to go figure it out, right? Have faith. Go pick up the pieces along the way. You don't know what they've been through.

You have no idea, right? There are some people out there in immense pain and suffering. Who are you to advocate for internal strength in an unfair world? Which is basically the crux of that Instagram comment that prompted me to grab the mic and yap a little bit. And you know, in its own unique way, I think it's correct. There's merit to that, right? There's misfortune that I just can't and don't understand. Look, I grew up and live in the West.

The most difficult decision I made today was, do I make my own coffee or do I go to Starbucks? I'm just being real with you. I've always had running water. I have access to food and shelter. I grew up in a middle class family in the suburbs of L.A. and then Boston. Two parents in the home.

always had lunch in my lunchbox going to school. I'm relatively healthy, right? Minus the occasional injury or headache. You know, I don't know what it's like to open my eyes and hope I feel well enough to function that day. That's suffering that I cannot relate to. But I know that regardless of one's pain, this has to be true, right? A choice must be made. Perhaps the most important decision one is presented with,

that we are all during those times presented with. In the frame it, I'll start with a quote from Victor Frankel. He says, to draw an analogy, a man's suffering is similar to the behavior of gas. If a certain quantity of gas is pumped into an empty chamber, it will fill the chamber completely and evenly. no matter how big the chamber. Thus, suffering completely fills the human soul and conscious mind,

no matter whether the suffering is great or little. Therefore, the size of human suffering is absolutely relative. What he's saying there is that even though our suffering is not, quote, unquote, equal, and it's certainly not, in our own lives, in our own world, it feels the same, right? Which is a strange thing to even entertain, right, that my suffering or your suffering feels the same as Jeff Bezos is suffering.

It's like how, right? They're vastly different, different problems, different pains. So I think, you know, long story short, comparing is a fool's errand. We're not here to be judges of who's hurting more or why. No, I think the message is much simpler. When we're in those moments of pain, or look, maybe it's not even moments,

Maybe it's a continuation, right? For years, someone's been fighting or weren't given a great start. They don't have financial resources, family, friends not around, sick. You name it, right? There are a million things we go through. Question is, do you point out with anger or do you point in with hope? Do you look to transfer your pain to others or use your internal strength to build what was once not there? And this is the message, by the way, that I've pondered and contemplated over and over and over again.

It doesn't matter how I slice it and dice it. That's where I land, right? It's never beneficial to blame. Just like it's always detrimental when others clap along with you like baby seals while you're dodging accountability. It never helps for someone to say, hey, you know, this isn't your problem. This is beyond you. You're helpless. Let's be mad together.

Hey, we weren't dealt a good hand. I'm sorry, that's the way it is. That in the short term might feel good because you don't have to fix the problem. You can remove accountability. But in the long term, you are hurting yourself. You are disempowering yourself, disarming yourself. Removing the one thing that can change your life,

and that's personal agency. Again, when you're at that rock bottom, you have two options. Own it or blame, period. And you can hear that and think, what? It's not my fault he walked out of my life. Hey, I certainly didn't give myself this health problem. Hey, I didn't pick to be born or grow up in this neighborhood. True, true, true, true, check.

check, check. This is not about blame and it has nothing to do with blame. It has everything to do with ownership, with empowering yourself. This is about saying, I didn't put myself here, but I sure as hell can take myself there. Not enough people are comfortable with that message. Right? From every corner of life, you get the opposite. Right? You have politicians saying, hey, son, the deck is stacked against you. You're powerless. But, hey, vote for me and I'll help. You have, you know, the media, you have TV showing you tragedy after tragedy, pointing fingers, blaming others, right? Let's make sure people live in fear so they have no control over their own destinations.

So they feel small and helpless in a world that's bigger than them. You have social media algorithms, right? Positioning victimhood as currency. Hey, look how marginalized I am. Poor me, right guys? Clicks, retweets, likes. That's the magic. This way of looking at the world is destroying us.

It's destroying us personally. It's destroying our communities. It's destroying the fabric of society, right? You can't have a functioning society with no personal agency or individual accountability. There's just no foundation to build on. Everything starts with the individual. Everything.

As the saying goes, no one is coming to save you. No one's coming to fix all your problems. Even the ones you didn't create. No one's going to fix a cycle of poverty or crime or obesity. You have to want that. Now, is that complex? Yeah, absolutely. I'm not delusional enough to think.

enough to think that I can solve these things on a microphone. I'm not. But what I can tell you is I see its complexity the same way I see a car is complex. I can't put a car together. There's thousands of parts. But I can tell you with conviction, that car is not going anywhere without the engine or motor.

Just like your willingness to own the situation, your personal situation, your agency, is the engine or motor in your life. You go nowhere without it. There is no vehicle without that ownership. In other words, everything revolves around that phrase, what can I personally do about it? So when you're frustrated with the current moment

or the pieces you were given, and trust me, I can empathize, man. Life is unfair. It's brutally unfair. Remember those two options. Point out, blame, and beg to be saved. Or you can point in and find a way to capture light in darkness. Anytime you want to transfer accountability,

you are a thief robbing yourself of your own strength. Anytime someone tells you that the world is the problem and not you, They are a distraction pointing you away from the North Star you need to follow. If you believe the answer is within an arm's reach, you are correct. Because you are that answer. No, I'm not sorry. Sure, I was ignorant back then. No question, but ignorance is not a crime.

Ignorance is the foundation that we build upon. You can't be sorry for not knowing. You shouldn't be sorry for not knowing. The only real tragedy is to plant a stake in the ground and call the ignorance home. Then no, I'm not sorry that I found myself in places I didn't want to be, doing things that weren't me. talking every day with people who didn't fill my cup or push me forward. But it's not the end of the world when we find ourselves walking down the wrong paths with the wrong people.

It's just an invitation to step off and find the right one. In fact, the only real wrong path is the one you continue walking down knowing that it's not for you. And no, I'm not sorry. I was half the person I am now. Half is capable, half as knowledgeable, half as driven. But it's not a bad thing to look around and realize that you can be more. It's not a problem to see the reality you're living and deem it beneath your ideals. That's a beautiful thing.

What would be a shame is to never open your eyes and see the possibility. To see now as a permanent fixture. Not something you can control, but something you're confined to. That, well, that would be a shame. Never be sorry for where you came from. Never be sorry for what you went through. Never be sorry for the hell you're walking through now. and most importantly, never feel sorry for yourself, right?

These so-called inconveniences are the bridge to something better. They are the reason you will evolve and grow and expand. Don't be sorry. Be grateful. Be ready for the second act. Excited about what will become of you. See, often we have to find ourselves in the lowest of low places. before we learn to ask if there's a better view out there for us.

That's just the reality. Sometimes life is about touching the hot stove before learning to avoid it. You're never dumb or less than for finding yourself looking up at an ideal. For saying, hey, there's a delta between where I am and where I want to be, and I can obtain that. You know what one of my greatest strengths has become? It's not earlier mornings. or quadruple deficiency, not a biohack or a evolved daily routine.

It's learning to be kind to myself. And if that seems fluffy or unimportant, I want you to picture someone never running to, but always running from. Always motivated by fear. Endless examples. A mere jog on a summer afternoon was never fast enough. Other content creators, authors, writers, speakers,

were always better, always further along. Imaginary competition always seemed to move faster. Where they were always doing more. I used to call this perpetual state of lack a chip on my shoulder. This is what kept me going. The giant shadow of failure. I can't fail. I can't fail.

I can't fail. I won't fail. Not me. So I'll do more and I'll push harder. And I'm not sorry about that. In fact, it was probably what I needed for that season of my life. It hardened me up, made me tougher. I think most importantly brought me to where I am today, sort of inverse position, learning

to be just as motivated from a place of abundance. You can run just as ferociously towards something as you can from something. And guess what? When you reach the finish lines, you actually appreciate them. Running not away from what I'm fearful of, but towards what lights me up. True story, every time my YouTube channel hits some sort of subscriber milestone for years, I'd get a note from a good friend of mine, Dave, who'd say, hey, congrats, don't forget to celebrate the accomplishment. Every time.

And I'd be, you know, grateful for the message. But celebrate? That part I'd kind of overlook. That's nice, I'd think. But when I started to really understand the importance of that message, I started to see things differently. You have to celebrate. You celebrate because now is the magic.

If you can't appreciate now, you will appreciate nothing. Doesn't mean stop. Doesn't mean go easier or minimize the destination. It means remember to love the ride because you are, as the saying goes, in the minimum. of the good old days. Don't wait to be 90 years old to appreciate them.

And I'm not, again, sorry that it took me so long to get there. Perhaps that's why I've learned to appreciate this point of view so much. I've seen the inverse. You know, I'm not sorry I spent so much time running

away from what I fear and don't want. I'm grateful that now I've learned to live in abundance, to run towards what lights me up. Really focusing on each step, finding gratitude in all of it. And of course, it's not always easy, right? There are days where I have to really work to see the value, but when I try, which is the point, I eventually find it.

I learned this by stumbling into it. And so in your world, I have a request. Maybe you can frame it as an experiment. What if you completely cut all the sorry stuff? Stopped being sorry for your mistakes. Stop being sorry for the things you aren't happy about or the cosmic injustices you feel have occurred. And what if you started being grateful for the realization that you can change them?

You started being appreciative of the fact that you're on your way to something better. Maybe in your context, running from and running to are different. But I'd be willing to bet there's a rearranging that can transform life, as you currently know. And who would have thought, you know, that rearranging is what we come to value most. So don't be sorry about what's occurred or where you are. Be excited. Be grateful because life is about to begin. So imagine years from now.

Way down the road, you're older, sitting on your front porch, kind of fists propped up under your chin, you're staring out and thinking about your life. You're thinking about the decisions you made, the things you did and didn't do. What would you be thinking? What would you change? Would there be regrets? There's a lot of research around this topic in one of the most important books written on it by Brani Ware talks about the regrets of the dying.

One of them is wishing I had the courage to live a life true to myself. So you're sitting there, you're looking out and you're imagining what if you acted differently? What if you tried? What if you started? You go back to that moment where you were looking fate in the eye, and you had to make that decision, right? That singular decision. It showed its face repeatedly, but the decision more or less remained the same. It was vulnerability or safety.

Choose one. Vulnerability or safety. Safety, that innate desire to not disrupt or challenge the way things are. Even when you know in your core, there's more. out there. See, safety is the wolf in sheep's clothing. Watching life happen through a window is incredibly safe, but it means you're forfeiting the essence of life in exchange for a front row seat to watch others live it. It means you don't capture that adrenaline that drives us. You don't take part in the emotion that excites us. It means you don't meet.

the people who would change your life and you don't see the places that would take what you know of reality and transform it. No, equating safety with contentment is the product of outdated thinking, an outdated operating system. It's indicative of a way of looking at the world that used to be life or death. But now in 2020, in modern day society, it's regret. And the first step in changing something is to become aware of your current circumstance. It's to realize you're not wrong or guilty for thinking small or taking a backseat to fear. That's what humans do. It's our default.

setting. But it's your fault if you don't do anything to change it. It's your fault if once recognized you don't pick up the pieces and create a different narrative. You know, I always say the most important changes we can make. They're simple. They're not easy, but they are simple. And that road to something new always starts with seeing beyond the confines of the world that you've accepted for yourself. Understanding the reality that dictates your reasoning, thought patterns, and decision-making can change. Because my friends, if you can remember one thing and one thing only, it's this. Fear is not the enemy. It is the ally you need most. Inaction is the enemy. Doubt is the enemy, not fear. Seneca says we suffer more often.

in imagination than reality. Mark Twain says, do the thing you fear most, and death of fear is certain. It's like jumping into a pool on a hot day. You get a second or two of discomfort before you can acclimate into something better. See, people are stronger than they think they are. They are adaptable.

They are resilient. But to see this, we must move beyond the stories in our head. So back to that rocking chair, you're thinking back, that fork in the road, and maybe you choose the challenging path, the one that scares you, and maybe you fall flat on your face. But you get up a little smarter, a little better equipped, and you keep going. And maybe you fall and you fail again and again, and then comes the criticism. But you see that maybe criticism doesn't kill you.

In fact, it does nothing if you don't let it. And again, you pick yourself up and you carry on. And you pick up some allies along the way. You expand your skill set. You drive towards mastery. And day in, day out, you continue to fall to trip. But eventually you look back and you see something you haven't seen before. distance and you realize you are not the same person you once were you realize what you have

right now simply through a process of falling and rising again you have redefined your existence you've redefined what's possible you've redefined the people the places the things that matter and it dawns on you that falling that fear that the unknown wasn't the problem that that That's not scary. It's just part of being better. It's the cost of greatness. You've been looking at things wrong. Hiding from exactly the thing you should have been running towards. Allowing into your life the very things that held you down. Making you think comfort was the goal when it was shackling your feet to the ground

and advising that spectating was a good thing. No, not just. And when you sit down on that rocking chair and you look out, thinking of the life you made, let it be one of adventure, the failures that made you stronger, the wandering, that unveiled life's beauty and the ends that became beginnings, because that is the essence of a life truly lived. It was an ordinary run. on my ordinary loop

on an ordinary day right in the middle of an ordinary week. I rounded the last corner that I'd encounter before finally returning back to the street that I lived on. Beautiful sunny afternoon. I remember the sun bouncing off my skin, the sweat dripping down my face.

I was looking ahead, but not really at anything, more so lost in my thoughts. Then out of nowhere, this little butterfly kind of swooped in, appeared right beside me, and it seemed as it floated through the air to link its pace with mine, effortlessly gliding. I looked over at it and back at the ground,

over at it again, back at the ground. And for a second, I wondered what it would be like, to be one of those flying machines, the ones built for flight, navigating the sky with no restriction. What a feeling that must be. And as I looked over for a third time, it had slipped back into whatever types of things

are important to a butterfly on a warm June day, but realized, as I carried forward, alone again, that for a few seconds, We were side by side. It in the air and me on the ground. I hung in there with the flying machines. That's right. The creatures with wings designed specifically for flight.

I was for a time amongst them. So what truly separated us? See, my whole life, I have drawn lines. The lines that separate them from me. From can and cannot, from possible. and impossible. There have been times where I saw reality is pre-packaged. Basically as though you get what you get,

factory, stock, out of the box. It took a long time to see what I wanted. And instead of saying, hey, must be nice, or they have it made, to instead ask, how can I reverse engineer that outcome? What do I need to do now? to get what is ultimately available. Because it's very available and it's very real.

Just because you are not built like those flying machines doesn't mean you can't run alongside them. Join their ranks. Become one of them. The thing is, instead of drawing walls and building parameters, you have to give yourself permission to adapt and evolve. I was thinking about this the other day. day, as one of my best friends, was sharing some of the work he does with his real estate portfolio.

He was talking about some of the lessons learned on social media, and it was met with resentment, disdain. You have X, I don't. You make Y, I don't. You came from Z. I didn't. And I read the comments. I just shook my head and thought, they don't know.

They don't know he grew up on a farm in Michigan. spending a long time working for less than minimum wage. They don't know that he put himself through college. They don't know that he took out a loan, having no clue what he was doing and learned how to renovate a home by himself. See, here's what he didn't do. He didn't point up and say,

wow, look how free they are. Must be nice. No, he asked, how do I run alongside them? I am not an observer. I am a flying machine. Because the truth is, we can do so much, become so much. Once we've erased the mental lines that we've drawn over the years. Once we give ourselves permission to join that little segment of reality,

we've deemed to be ideal but have yet to walk towards. Nothing happens to the ordinary moments. ordinary days or weeks or months until you realize ordinary is just a label you've been placing on the pathway to extraordinary. Everything you need is there except your past willingness to walk through it. And today is a new day. You will take to the sky in your own life when you stop drawing lines around everything you want and compartmentalizing it is not for you.

and instead run alongside the life you want as though it was already yours. Life is not a game of those who are and those who aren't. It's a game comprised of those who will and those who won't. Those who see how they can and those who see how they can. You can wish, hope, and watch time fly by, or You can join the ranks of the flying machines that leave all that behind and take to the sky. What is the difference? When I think back to the first time I deviated from my comfort zone, my routine, I lost the certainty in my life.

And as much as I wanted to go back, I remember telling myself one more day. Just one more day until someday became the current day and that made all the difference. Day one starting my company. I remember turning the camera on and feeling so lost saying words into a microphone that I almost didn't press record. But I did. Until one day I realized not only was it bearable, it was my purpose. the vehicle that transported my thoughts to the world, and that made all the difference.

During the time when some of the projects I invested the most time and energy into flopped, I remember almost saying this isn't for me, but I kept creating. I kept creating until I found that intersection of what I love and what adds value to the world, and that made all the difference. What's crazy is how small a decision that difference seems in the moment,

how insignificant the decision feels as one stands and looks out from their doorway, the difference between going and not going, stepping out or staying in, making the move or waiting one more day. That difference is sometimes disguised in a cloak of triviality, but do not be fooled. The little decision to move forward, to hang on when your ego is screaming at you to just let go, walk away, find some semblance of comfort and predictability. Those decisions to endure in the moments of hardship are what we come to look back on as the turning points that reshaped and redefined life as we know it. The courage required to make the call, release the video, register the business, send the message, reconnect with that loved one, deviate from what your friends are doing,

all those things, they may seem small enough now to spend a minute or two thinking about before moving on to our routines and what we are comfortable doing. After all, it's easy to disregard the small things. But the acorn that becomes the oak tree is small. We must, along with the current reality, see the potential in what those things become. Ensure there are times where the present and the ideal are so different that it seems almost incomprehensible.

But how do we get there? We get there by making the little decisions that will ultimately make the greatest difference. You are always one decision away from that evolution. So next time you find yourself looking down at the step in front of you, the step you know in your soul is the right step. Reminds yourself, yes, it sure would be easy to walk away here. It sure would be easy to turn back. Yeah, it's just one tiny step.

But in totality, it's exponentially more than that. It's the lifeblood of your new reality. The water to your sea, the oxygen to your lungs, the crossroads in front of you will be, with your permission, the beginning of something larger than life. It will ultimately be the difference. There's an African proverb. every morning a gazelle wakes up and knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed and every morning in Africa a lion wakes up and knows it must run faster than the slowest

gazelle or it will start it doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle when the sun comes up, you'd better be running. Because stagnation is losing. Because wishing is a sealed faith. Because immobility is regret. As David Goggin says, you are either getting better or you are getting worse. And in a world comprised of no finish lines,

that really simplifies the picture. It's the picture, doesn't it? Because this has nothing to do with yesterday. Or the self-defeating stories you used to tell yourself. It's about what reality can become. And the best news you'll ever hear is that the steps that brought you to right now, they are not the same steps that will carry you forward. single sunrise is a chance to chase down that which sets your soul on fire.

Lion or gazelle, day or night, it is never too late to become what you have never been, to rewrite your story. Not for the doubters or the naysayers, but for you. See, they'll never get it. They'll never understand that your progress. is your happiness, why you'd endure the depths of hell twice to be five seconds faster, a little better, to build a little higher, it's not nuance, it is survival, woven into your DNA and just as much a part of you as the heart in your chest.

See, today is a currency, the most valuable entity you possess. Clay where dreams are molded, light that turns unknowns into outcomes, impossibles into stepping stones. It's why each step is so precious. Because each one is a bridge to a part of you yet to be explored. See, Nietzsche said it best, one must still have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star. It is why we build these metaphorical. arenas because without them there are no dragons to slay there are no mountains to climb or armies to conquer it is from chaos that order is born every crack of the sword brings understanding

when the sun comes up there is no wishing for a better world there is creating in yourself the one who will make it better the one who will lead himself and others who will find amidst the horizon the existence of a world with it.