Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE AND SUCCEED - Best Motivational Speech Compilation

Episode Date: July 19, 2024

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." — Winston Churchill Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube  In this podcast, Eddie Pinero explores the unwavering dedication needed for true success. If you leave the door cracked when things get difficult, you will kick it open. If you have a plan B, you will abandon plan A when challenges arise. Eddie shares his journey from zero subscribers to over a million, highlighting seven years of minimal growth from 2014 to 2021, followed by a sudden spike due to consistency, packaging, and branding. People at a retreat weren’t interested in the changes that led to his channel's growth but rather how he didn't quit during those lean years. Eddie emphasizes the importance of loving what you do, focusing on meaningful work, and refusing to quit despite minimal growth. He didn’t measure success by numbers but by the impact of his speeches. Eddie’s commitment never wavered, regardless of the circumstances, proving that to win means persevering through suffering. This episode is a testament to resilience, adding value, and the power of not leaving the door cracked.

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so you can work, create, and boost productivity all on one device. When the tech search for business PCs at Lenovo.com. If you leave the door cracked, when things get difficult, you will most most definitely kick it open. If you have a plan B, when things get too challenging or complex, you'll most definitely abandon Plan A. To truly succeed is to cut off the lifelines. It's to commit to the road filled with adversity and struggle and hardship,

but that leads to that with that, which is meaningful. Over the weekend, I was invited to join my friend Evan Carmichael and his mastermind to talk a little bit about YouTube and my experience with it, my progression over the years. And it was a blast, incredible group, some amazing conversation. And I want to share a moment in particular that stuck out to me. I was talking about essentially the journey from zero subscribers to where I am now,

some tips, inflection points along the way. And, you know, I pulled up behind me this chart that shows basically seven years of minimal growth, right, starting in 2014, going all the way up to 2021, where suddenly you see that flat line spike, right? The channel sort of leaps to the next stratosphere, 4x, then 5x, then 10x, then 20x. After years of consistency, you see this sort of exponential curve. And my point is, you know, I didn't change my craft at all. I was speaking and sharing stories the same way that I always had, right? The way that I'd love to do it. What changed was the packaging.

It was the titling and the thumbnail images and the branding, stuff that because I enjoyed and was immersed so deeply in the creative process that I kind of ignored, right? All that stuff was an afterthought, which is funny when you think about it, right, to work so hard on something and then to sort of mail in or not pay attention to the marketing component that opens the door

to what you're offering. So that would flip the switch. And, you know, I was thinking the group would want to dive fully into it. Okay, Eddie, what were those thumbnail adjustments? What was the titling? What was the branding that you did? But to my surprise, people were far more interested in, Eddie, how the hell did you not quit during seven years of minimal growth?

How did you do that? Were you tempted to quit? Did it cross your mind? And so I've been thinking more and more about the question. And I think there are a variety of reasons. Didn't really give an in-depth answer at the mastermind. So I'm going to share now and see if I can unpack this a little bit. First and foremost, I genuinely love what I do.

I saw those seven years every day getting up to dive into this as a chance to do something truly meaningful. I felt in my own personal world like I was doing something that mattered. And to me, that's foundational. My metric wasn't necessarily YouTube numbers. I mean, I was aware, don't get me wrong, but I would just be excited when I finished a speech if I felt it was powerful.

You know, my game was trying to move myself to tears playing back something I created. If it was powerful to me, that would be a W. Maybe it won't get millions of views, but I know this is good, right? It's like the Oprah metaphor I've used before. When Oprah walks into a bakery and declares it amazing, suddenly everyone hears Oprah

and wants the cakes and the donuts or whatever's in the bakery, that doesn't mean the bakery suddenly got amazing overnight. It just means it was discovered. The baker knew he or she was making good stuff. They've been following that course all along, and so that same idea pulled me through. Second, as I said in the intro, I didn't leave the door cracked at all.

I knew this is what I was going to do. This is the arena. I was going to continuously attempt to improve in, and I was either going to be poor doing this or successful doing this. but I was going to do it. And so that saved a lot of internal deliberation when something I created, quote unquote, failed,

or the result was underwhelming. There's nothing for me to discuss. I'd have bad days, absolutely. There were days where I felt so down on myself that, you know, I couldn't get out of bed, right? Few and far between, but it happened. Felt like I was letting my family down at times. I felt like I was a disappointment.

Felt like I was losing some imaginary race. All part of the process. but here's what I always did. I recovered and kept going. I regained perspective. I got on the phone with people that mattered to me. I recalibrated and I continued on, right? You take your L's.

That's life. You give yourself time to cope when you're down, whatever, right? But you carry on. You give yourself a chance. I think part of this mentality comes from being on the rowing team or crew team in college. I wasn't the greatest by any stretch. But I learned to suffer.

I learned that to win means you have to get your ass kicked. That's just how it goes. And I'm sure that was valuable, you know, when the race course changed from 2,000 meters on the water to the creative slash entrepreneurial space. Suffering does not mean you win, but a refusal to suffer ensures you will. lose. Next, I focused on adding value, right? You can't skip that. There has to be an exchange of

value. And I was getting messages from people saying, Eddie, your work, help me. Wasn't a substantial influx of people reaching out, but there's an idea that if you can help one person, you can help one million people. It's not a can I do it question. It's a logistics question. It's a scaling question, which means it's just a matter of time. Right? It was all just tying to the self-belief, understanding that there was a way to scale that value. When you approach your mission, not with is it possible, but how do I make it happen?

You drastically increase your odds in anything you do. Next, I believed, and this is perhaps the most important, you know, that I was always one decision away from a totally different life. one creation away from that change that I've been looking for. And, you know, when you believe this and failure occurs, the mind simply asks, okay, what's next? Almost like, you know, imagine you're shooting three-pointers. There's a rack of basketballs next to you. You miss a shot.

Okay, you're probably not going to break down, right? Start weeping, convince yourself to take up soccer. No, you're going to reach over, grab the next ball. and shoot again. The possibility of what's next trumps the previously missed shot because of the opportunity, because it's there, because it's tangible, because you just have to pick it up and fire away again.

And life provides, using the same metaphor, an endless rack of basketballs. It will allow you to shoot as many shots as you're willing to shoot. The next one could be the one that falls. And every rep increases that life. likelihood, just like your next creation could be the one that changes everything. Lastly, there was a continued commitment to adjust. See, if you're not winning, if you're falling short, yet you continue to do the same thing

over and over and over again, you're not going to improve, right? It's continuously showing up, its commitment, its consistency, but there has to be a willingness to evolve. There has to be some type of learned advantage. So next time you show up, you're a little bit smarter, a little bit more intelligent. It's that commitment to try adjust, try adjust, try adjust, that ultimately, you know, over time compounds into something bigger than the sum of its parts. There's just saying you can't stop someone who refuses to quit. I think that's right on the money. But it's important to note, I think implied in that quote, is that the person doesn't just keep trying to, you know, jam that square peg into the round hole. No,

they're asking every day, what's one little thing I can do better? When I re-approach it next time, how can I be a little smarter? That's the magic. So yeah, I totally get why, you know, that graph prompted so many questions. When you look back in totality, it looks huge. But really, It was just a dude every day doing what he loved, making little adjustments over time with no plan B. That's all. Taking the setbacks in stride, always thinking about the next creation. And what's even more exciting to me is that this is not some remarkable skill set. It's not some powerhouse ability I was born with.

Anyone can commit to a process. and even better news, right? If you utilize your resources, seek help and guidance from those who've been down the same road, your exponential growth can occur, you know, way faster than seven years. Just don't leave that door. Human beings don't see, we interpret. We don't take in what happens. We take in the implication of what happens.

Everything in our world is story. It's similar to the idea of two ideologically different news organizations, right, reporting on the same event. Neither will be completely factual. They'll both uphold their individual narratives. They're not black and white. They're interpreting gray space. And our individual lives are no different. We are our own broadcasting channels.

Using data to support our individual narratives. See, we know what the story's going to say before the story occurs. because we will make it so. We'll make life fit our beliefs. That's what means to be human. And so here's where the value lives in the context of this message when we find ourselves in a consistent state of despair or frustration or anxiety. It's a fool's errand to look for solutions in the external world.

Because everything we find, everything we come across, will support our current beliefs, our current story. That's what we'll keep playing in our heads, and it's why money can't bring fulfillment, and another person can't take you from incomplete to content. It's why status will never equate to happiness. Those acquisitions are like putting premium fuel in a car with a broken engine. It's not the answer that we hoped it would be. To change your world, you must change your story.

Whatever it is that needs to be changed. The location, the objective, the characters, maybe the journey altogether, but it's the neural network behind your eyes that must change, not the detail it takes in. And so if you feel stuck or feel like where you want to be seems unrealistic, you have to know right now that the very fact you think that way

is the problem. So ask yourself, not your girlfriend or your boss or your neighbor, but ask yourself what a turnaround looks like. Do you know? Or have you acclimated to being unhappy? Have you even asked yourself

what happiness looks like? Or is your personal broadcasting channel so hell-bent on ensuring your life outlook stays the way it is that it's not even paying attention to the data it takes in. See, I believe wholeheartedly that the first step in any facet of transformation is remembering that you have control, that things in your life that bring you down or hold you back can be changed. In fact, the very things working against you can work for you, but you have to be aware. You have to think about it. Now, I'm not a believer in magic, right?

I don't think you sit back, say, I don't want to be unhappy ever again, snap your fingers and smile until the end of eternity. But I do believe that once we're aware of our manufactured shackles and our self-imposed limitation, we can start chipping away, doing the one, two, or three small things every day, tiny swings at the tree until it falls. Right? If it's, I'm not happy with my work life, well, what does a better situation look like?

What bridges that gap? I'll wake up 20 minutes earlier on weekdays and master Microsoft Excel. I'll send one message on LinkedIn asking an expert about the field I want to move into. I'll read 20 pages a day in a book related to business. You think those things are small? See what they look like compounded in a year. Not only that, this is the most important part. You are taking the power back.

You're taking control. And that's what feels good. That's where we get our identity. You get a little disappointed at how you've let your physique slip when you look in the mirror. Don't be sad about it every day. Again, ask yourself what the inverse looks like and start doing small things.

Subtract one sports drink and add one green smoothie. Double your water intake. Do a 10-minute daily workout on YouTube. Like the pieces are out there. And to find yourself, again, is to realize that they're out there. Realize that you're playing a movie on loop in your head that isn't right. It's just not you.

And well, what movie do you want to be playing in an ideal world? Scroll through the library, find it, click play, and start doing the small things that make it real. There's so much power in progress. I've seen this unfold. in different areas of my life, but particularly as a writer, as a speaker, it's like you identify who you want to be, you start making tiny steps, and after a while, you're surrounded by the change that you've created. How can you not believe something that you're starting to live?

It has to become your identity because it is you. It's around you. You breathe it. So look around and realize the malleability of your situation. And if what you find is not you, good. Here is your opportunity to tear down the old and construct the new. You can do that because you have control. Because it's within your grasp. So start the new movie, story, make yourself the hero, and set out to find yourself again.

Hope. That bridge that connects the present to a more ideal world. The idea that no obstacle is too big to overcome, no situation too dire, to emerge victorious, and that you are never confined to how things are. FDR has said, we have always held to hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world beyond the horizon. Why does this matter? Well, to put it simply, before one can leave this situation they are in, they have to believe there is another path worth taking.

It's not always seeing, but trusting. It's a tale of two components. one, the belief that something better is out there and two, the belief that you are strong enough to bridge that gap to create that world. So let's start with number one. There was a study done by Kurt Richter in the 1950s and he used rats.

And it was kind of a gruesome experiment but definitely worth talking about because the takeaway is incredible. Right? And I kind of cherry-picked the relevant. parts of the experiment. Basically, he wanted to delve into the role that hope plays in our lives. And what he would do is he would drop rats into a jar of water and observe.

See how long they'd swim before they'd drown. And for the most part, these rats would swim for a minute or two and then ultimately give up, right? There was this innate feeling of hopelessness. But then he made a change, and when they were close to drowning, he'd reach in, he'd picked them up, he'd hold them for a little while. And then he'd placed them back in the water. And the results between the two groups were night and day. The rats saw in the second group that it wasn't over. And when they were placed back in the water, they had a reason to continue swimming.

And they did. Some of them did for hours. The only difference being that they had hope. They saw there was more. And I don't think that's too different from us. The situation may be different, but the rules generally apply. So much of conceding or giving up in life, accepting an existence that falls short of our ideals, it's when we don't believe in something more. We stop swimming. You don't give ourselves a chance.

Right? So instead of creating bridges to walk on, we make walls that lock us in. Hope is knowing all pain, all discomfort is temporary. And the second component is belief in yourself. Belief in yourself to traverse that space between current and the ideal. It's self-empowerment. You can be the difference maker in your life and others.

And it's funny, the other day after reading about the Richter experiment, I was sitting at a friend's house with my laptop, kind of trying to figure out what to make of it, right? Because the idea of hope I knew was powerful. And I wanted to share that story. I wanted to write something that would highlight it's very. but it seemed kind of unfinished or simply part of an explanation I'm sitting there thinking about it and I hear this loud bang over and over again and I get up and I run to the back

of the house right to make sure everything's fine see what's going on and my friend standing there with goggles on this this grin on his face and a sledgehammer and a huge hole in the wall in front of him and I'm like dude what are you doing you just knocked your wall down. He goes, yeah, I wanted to make another closet. His family's growing. He needs more space, and he just took it upon himself to make that happen. I just looked at him and walked back out. Start walking in the living room, and it hit me. This is a component of hope. Seeing what's not there and doing something about it. If the swimming experiment is step one, this has to be step two. in real time.

Step one, believing, seeing something more. Step two, taking action to change it now. Buying into the fact that you have the power to change your own world. And it's funny because any house or room I've ever lived in, my thoughts always, you know, you look around and this is it, right? This is the situation. This is what's being given to me. How do I make the most of it?

How do I play within these parameters? Not, okay, this is fine, but it could be better, you know, by smashing down the wall. the back over there, creating something new. And, you know, obviously the message here isn't about home maintenance. This is about taking a sledgehammer to the places in your life in which you are not content so that you can build in its place something that matters. You look around to your left, you're right, and you're unhappy. That's not the end of the story. That's the beginning of the story. That's where the wheels hit the road. In other words,

it's looking at life with the lens, with the freedom of knowing things don't have to be what they are. They don't have to stay the same until the universe changes them. No, they can be what you make them. And what life teaches us again and again is that walls can be stepped over. Noes can become yeses. Impossibles can become commonplace. but first, there must be hope. There must be an understanding that your world

is a 10,000 foot view of all the little stories you tell yourself and the narratives you believe. See, every day when you wake up and take your first steps, breathe your first breaths, know that nothing simply is. No, it is simply chosen and can be remade. That's what makes life such a beautiful thing. It's flexibility.

It's promise to provide what has been relentlessly sought out. So remember, it's when you can't find your answer. When the odds look grim, when the rest of the world tells you know that you most need hope. Hope, the power, the strength to look within yourself and remember that one life can change and two, you can change it. Armed with this understanding, nothing is impossible.

When others fail to see the answer, the light in themselves, in the situation, you become the reminder that light is internally manufactured. We aren't given answers so that we may believe them. We are given the opportunity to believe, and thus we create that ending we hope to pursue. And without this life is nothing more than a permanent status quo. It's holding our hands to the sky and receiving what life chooses to provide. But that's not why you're here.

It's not why you woke up today, not to accept, but to create. To find hope in the tragedy and the hardship and to find within yourself the strength to move forward with whatever you decide comes. Next. Ready to prioritize yourself in the new year? Your skin is a great place to start. Dime Beauty, founded by a master aesthetician, is more than just a skincare company. With four skin-conscious categories,

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make sure you show yourself some love too. Now through February 25th, shop in store and online and save on self-love items from Dove. Like Dove cucumber and green tea body wash. Dove deep moisture nourishing body wash. Dove antipers, Dove shampoos, and Dove Conditioners, Offer ends February 25th.

Offers may vary. Restrictions apply. Visit safeway.com for more details. A cheat code in life is understanding the significance of getting to one. Because if you can get one, you can absolutely get two. And if you can get two, you can get three, four, five, five thousand, five hundred thousand, or five million. Once you realize that something is possible, You're no longer the same person you once were.

Your hands need not be held to the sky as though the universe is going to drop something into them. No, you've cracked the code. You have the info. And the burden has now been placed directly onto your shoulders. That little question, is this possible, dissipates. Getting to one was your proof of that. And then the obvious accompanying question, Now what are you going to do about it? What are you going to?

Because the race isn't to one million, it's to one. One is the power, one is the reassurance, one is everything you need. If you can sell one painting, you can sell 50,000 paintings. If you can make one three-pointer, you can make thousands of three-pointers. If you can create one genius marketing video that goes viral, you can create hundreds, thousands, millions. Again, the evidence, you got one. Anything beyond one is procedural. It's a testing of methods.

It's becoming relentless in your pursuit to repeat the process with the pieces at your disposal. But make no mistake, those pieces are there, everything you need is there, so long as you. get to one? I had to recently break through to this realization. Like so many of us, I'm an ambitious person. I love the game. I want to add value to more people, reach more listeners, generate more revenue, scale impact, all that stuff, of course. But for a while I just couldn't figure out how. I became almost disillusioned. What am I doing wrong? Maybe, what if maybe, do Do I dare say, do I dare even think for a second that I've gone as far as I can go? But was ultimately rescued.

Rescued by the realization that I was asking the world for things I didn't have instead of leveraging what I did. I needed to separate the value I possessed from the logistics that would transport it. Because, and this is what we forget, I've already performed my miracle. I've added value to one person, and if you can add value to one, why not 10? Why not 10 million? It's not a product issue. It's a scaling question.

The car works. Figure out how to get it to the racetrack. The tool is effective. Now get it into the hands of the builders. You see the difference, the confidence that comes with that? Instead of doubting all that you bring to the world, asking yourself, more is possible. You say, yeah, of course it is because I've already done it. Here is my proof. Now what's around me that I can use to deliver it? How can I try things? Reposition things.

Figure out how to scale and get further, but I know it's possible. So many of us have already gotten to one. We're adding value. We're doing what we believe in. But we're asking the wrong question. We're still asking whether more is possible. It is. The burden is just on you to bring it to fruition. The burden is on you to find a way. To scale the value contained in your one thing. And by the way, if you haven't arrived at one yet, buckle up. Getting to one was one of the best periods of my life. Finding your value proposition, enjoying the process, exploring, finding that intersection of value and personal contentment, you'll eventually arrive there. But remember, for you, the goal is not one million, it's one, one idea that works, one approach that lights you

up, one action that opens your eyes to the upside, that makes the world better to those around you. When you've found your one thing, when you know what makes a difference, then, you move on to the scaling chapter, right? Then how do we turn one into one million? But there are two different questions. So remember that moving forward. No matter how stuck you feel, if you have one, you simultaneously have a little seed capable of producing infinity.

It just needs attention. Trust yourself to work through the logistics because that's all it is. transform the if into how and start building that staircase straight to the moon now I see the lessons the takeaways the value add

the things that we don't understand while life is teaching us the lesson it's like the value materializes after the course is over, right? After the storm, when we look back and realize, one, what we've been through and, two, what it all meant.

I can't emphasize enough how much patience and self-control it takes amidst those storms to trust that there's value. Sure, that value floats beyond, you know, your periphery while you're in the midst of it. but it's there. The same way that in the middle of the night, right, if I wake up and want to, you know, turn my light on, right, I can reach for it. I can't see it.

It's pitch black. It's dark. But history and repetition has shown me that if I extend my hand and I fumble around for a second, I will, one, find the switch and two, turn on the light that will then infiltrate the room. right and the same thing applies we have to hold on to that faith during life's turbulence during times of pain and discomfort because when things aren't their best we are presented what feels like that dark room at midnight empty space and unknowns but it's continuously flexing that muscle strengthening the understanding that light is in arms reach away and when the time is right it will illuminate exactly

exactly what we needed to. See, the truth is, everything I lost created space for the things I needed most. My deficiencies highlighted my strengths. My failures ended up showing me just how much I could withstand, right? And what's more powerful than being armed with the understanding that you can get through anything? human beings have the gift of engaging in delayed gratification, taking on difficulty now for a reward at a later time. The same thing applies to those difficult things, difficult experiences that we didn't ask for, right? The exact same idea.

Instead of intentionally going to the gym and suffering for a reward later, sometimes life brings the gym to us, right? We didn't ask for it, but there's the adversity. You're tired, you're hurting, you're a million things. But you won't see until later that what also happened is you were made stronger. That in the fighting, you were given something miraculous. Okay, so what? What's the point? Well, the point is, it's not natural to.

during our struggle, be uplifted by what the pain will become. We tend to forget about that. We forget about the gift that's put in the mail and addressed to a future you. The second life becomes difficult. But I want you to find comfort in that fact. I want you to battle harder because of that fact. I want you to show up for yourself because of that fact.

And remember that step by step by step you will get through. And when you do, you won't be empty-handed. You'll have something that you couldn't have even fathomed or comprehended prior to the chaos. And trust me, I get that it's tough. I get that it's easier said than done. But if you can find it within yourself to rise to the occasion here, you'll see that you weren't just enduring, you were growing, you were becoming. Just because you cannot see the value doesn't mean there is no value.

When you're fighting through, no one says, hey, in two years, you'll be a different man or woman because of what you're going through now. Hey, that hole you feel in your heart, that will be the exact same space. The best things in your world will occupy someday. Hey, the loneliness or exhaustion or fear will teach you to truly. appreciate the other side as soon as you emerge from this valley. You don't need to see it. You don't need to completely understand it. But you need to know it's there. And you need to know that the difficult times, more than any others, are taking you to where you need to be. So keep moving forward into the dark. Keep reaching out for that light switch. You'll find it. And when

you do because of the darkness from which you emerge, that light will never feel so bright and so beautiful. Because of the hell you fought through. The present moment will never feel so miraculous. It's all worth it. You just need to remember that. That thing that gives you butterflies, that lights you up, that world you see when you close your eyes, chase that. With all of your soul, chase it. It's easy to brush off life's potential.

It's just outside the realm of possibility. To see the ideal as some form of windows shopping that you can almost touch. A fantasy to be explored when you sit back in your office. chair or past time in the doctor's office waiting room. But I think these aspirations mean more than that. Not distractions, but a North Star. Not a diversion, but the path. And by the way, I'm not naive about this pursuit. And all that it entails, the truth behind it, I'd never advocate.

that what's possible or meant to be is somehow easy. In fact, I'd argue the only way something is meant to be is if you're willing to commit to the difficulty in bringing it to life. Otherwise, it wasn't meant to be anything but a missed opportunity because it surely will be a difficult road. And here's what we come to learn,

everything of value, is difficult. You know, in an attempt to oversimplify, I often break life down into the easy thing versus the difficult but meaningful thing, and in some ways, sure, that's true. But I can also honestly say it would have been more difficult

for me to have stayed where I was, not moved at all, to not have pursued what I believed in. It would have been more difficult thinking about that life I could have lived, the doors that could have opened, and that's just it. Life is about choosing your difficult. The difficult you seek out intentionally, or the difficult you come and let take control, render you helpless. And I think when we find ourselves in routines or we've built for ourselves, the world, you know, we know we don't want to live in anymore, or we've outwe've outed.

grown, it's not that the current is real and the future is not, it's that we somewhere along the way decided to face the wrong opponent. Some adversaries make us strong. They force us to be more to grow. Other adversaries or opponents, they sit back and they let us defeat ourselves, and that's what we don't want. See, when the world knocks you down, you get to rise again. Wiser, tougher, stronger. But when you keep yourself down, well, there's nothing to be gained from that. Those two opponents, they are not the same. I reference my speaking career because for me, it's where that transformation is most evident. It's where it all began.

My opponent was very much me. Avoiding opportunities, hiding from failure. I didn't give life a chance to knock me down. And so it didn't. How could it? I'd already placed myself in chains. And because of that, guess what? I stayed the same.

I couldn't evolve. My ideal future was an idea that would briefly entertain me from time to time and move right on. It wasn't until I found the courage to switch my opponents. From myself to the world, I let life humble me. I gave talks where I was nervous and had cold feet, keynotes where my delivery was mediocre at best, where I barely got by. But with these battles came metaphorical riches, came that trust that had to be manufactured, that confidence

that had to be earned. When I got out of my own way, I was able to let the trials and tribulations of life create a new foundation for me to stand on, to redefine reality. And the good news is that anyone can do that. Anyone can ask that question? Is something external in my way right now that I need to figure out that I need to solve? Or am I in my own way? Am I not even giving myself a shot? Have I settled for right now as truth?

When right now is just the less ideal difficult. When I was little playing action, with my buddy up the street, we used to think it was cool to see around corners, to see through walls, to know what was coming before it arrived. For action figures, absolutely. In superhero movies, why not? But in the journey through life, you don't need to see around corners. In fact, it's counterproductive because it is the interaction with the unknown that matters. It's adjusting amidst life's uncertainty that comes to make you who you are, transforms you and your reality. As far as I'm concerned, the only way to lose is to remain behind

that corner, peering out every now and then, hoping to get some kind of advantage or shortcut, willing to let life pass you by while you wait for the stars to align, thinking that that vision of an ideal life will stroll along the sidewalk, see you and reach out a hand, that weight will be a long one, unproductive and difficult, more difficult than trusting yourself to face whatever lurks around that corner. So remember that who you are is built. And every time you do something a little bit scary or unsettling, every time you wander a step or two outside of your comfort zone, The reward is not just the short-term triumph you feel as you leapfrog that obstacle and carry on. No, you are investing in a new you, a new reality.

You're investing in something changing before your very eyes, putting a little marble in a jar that is your potential, and you can't see it. Not now. No one's going to announce it to you. You might not even realize or understand until you look at it. back years down the road. But those little acts of courage, they matter more than you know. They're not trivial and they are certainly not insignificant. When that movie plays in your head and you think to yourself, I wish or if only, and the delta between that image and the reality on the ground disappoints you, gives you a little knot in your stomach or dissoning.

satisfaction that floats around in your thoughts. Remember that that feeling is transferable. That difficult can be exchanged for one that actually changes things. You can get off the merry-go-round and towards a new North Star. Difficult, yes, but we've seen the goal is not to avoid difficult. It's to pick the difficult that will transform your. life it's to find meaning in a world that if you do not pay attention will paint your landscape with routine and obligation and today can certainly be a continuation of

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Do you ever wonder how much of you has materialized? Like if what F. Scott Fitzgerald says is true, and our lives are defined by opportunity, even the ones we miss, then how much remains in the ether? And I don't think it's about playing a game of what if. You know, that would be endless. It would be self-defeating. No one's perfect.

I don't even really think it's about making a right turn instead of a left. Because as long as you're moving and moving with conviction, life ultimately brings you where you need to be. But more, my concern is the steps never brought to pavement. My ideas on the hatch, my opportunities I either knowingly or unknowingly left on the shelf. it didn't seem real enough. Like a Broadway play between my ears, that as a spectator I knew would end. After all, that's what stories do. How much of ourselves have we cast aside as simply the things we don't say out loud? At first, it's infinite. We've yet to be taught to limit because limits aren't things, their ideas, and ideas must be adopted. That's why they say some of life's best things

We're done by people too ignorant to know they were impossible, too naive of the notion that they couldn't say them out loud. Then it's comparison. They have what I want. But it was meant for them and not me. How delusional to think I could have it. How crazy to think that life has yet to be written. And I am an author. My date is with normalcy in the box where I keep those things we don't say out loud.

And then we look around and we see highlight reels. We see awards and vacations and smiles. But we don't stop to think maybe they're just like me. Maybe there are people who struggle and question themselves and doubt the road ahead. No, it must be the past diverged. They took happiness and I took those things we don't say out loud. And then there's everyday life when things don't go as planned. When the world presents curveballs and you haven't learned to hit off speed so you feel small

and you feel inadequate and ill-equipped and you could reach out, but that's not cool. That's not right. That's something that you don't say out loud. But we keep it in, like all in. And eventually it becomes the if-onlys. I wish I had, it's the quiet envy gazing longingly towards those who just cared less, who realized maybe life's not as serious as we make it out to be, who turn thoughts to things, not by burying, but by embodying them.

And maybe that's the trick to unlock the gate, keeping your perceived reality from the possibility of a new one. The one you could create, if only you promoted your fleeting thoughts to forward progress. See, dreams can fail to come to fruition in two places, in your head and out. outside of it. But at least outside it has a chance. At least outside, you can take the common, normal, everyday background and make it the backdrop to your movie where you play a lead role. But it must be accepted and acknowledged, not thought of or even whispered, but screamed so that the details and the trivialities that exist now work for you. That's right, they are now

yours. Not because you thought about it, but because you reached out a hand. And And you took, you ask the world for something. And in life, it will always be true that you don't get what you do not ask for. So when you find yourself staring up a wall comprised of self-defeating narratives and manufactured limits, be ignorant, be irrational, be the reason your dreams have a chance.

And when you look around and you see more and wonder why you don't have it, know that you can. You're allowed to. If you sacrifice, you will, but you must believe you are worthy of it. Not in the back of your head where you keep your locker combo in movie quotes, but in reality, where words bounce off lips. And when you feel like life is treating you unfairly, like they're happier or have it better, know that life is peaks and valleys, not just for you, but for everyone. And how you internalize that and carry on makes the difference. And when you feel

lost or stuck, you are not hopeless, but in progress. Being broken down so that you can be reconstructed, stronger, better. Victory is not in hiding those struggles, but accepting them as the difference, as the reason you created the miraculous. Not because you had dreams, but because you said them out loud. Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

Victor Franklin. So much of life comes down to how we arrange and internalize what we see. Our realities will always be comprised of what we choose to look at. Now that's not to say the unfortunate or quote unquote bad things aren't present, but whether or not you choose to keep them in your life, in your field of vision, that's on you. Here are two ways I like to explain this. The first was explained to me as a curtain hung from a stage, and this curtain has holes and tears all throughout.

on the other side of the curtain, there's an auditorium, some chairs, aisles, a few lights. But depending on which hole or tear you chose to look out of, you'd see a different piece of that picture. It can be said that the curtain is life, and the hole you choose to look through makes up your reality. The little piece of information you choose to consume. Because life is certainly complex, right? There are too many images and variables for us to notice all of them. That's impossible. We'd collapse in on ourselves.

We have to pick a few. Which means that our entire existence from the time we're born to the time we die is dependent entirely on which details we choose to focus on. Which ones we use to tell our story. Which leads me to the second example. Let's say you decide you're going to walk to your car, You open your front door, you walk down your driveway, right up to your car, open the door, and get in. Your story was, I'm going to my car.

And so everything you experienced was related to that. In the sense that you didn't notice the driveway of the person's seven houses down. You weren't looking for that. And you didn't notice the potholes across the street. You weren't looking for that either. You didn't think about the funny shaped cloud over your head. That wasn't on your mind. Why would it be?

All these things weren't part of the story, right? And the idea is we are very selective of the things we pay attention to. We use a small fraction of the world to tell our stories. And this matters because when we are down or stuck or disappointed or whatever it is, it's not that you don't have a reason to be where a moment. emotional creatures and things happen, but it is true that you don't have to stay there. That the little hole you are looking out of from behind the curtain may not be serving you. Your viewpoint may not be the best viewpoint.

But it's in your control, right? You choose what hole you want to look through and then use life to create supporting details. When you're focusing on the negative or why you aren't good enough, you'll find things that support that narrative. Choose a different story, and you'll start seeing different pieces that support it. I'm sure you've all heard how when you're looking to buy a car, you start seeing more and more of that car on the road. It's not because they suddenly appeared overnight on 95.

They've always been there. They've been in the mix. But now it's become a part of your story. You're looking through a new hole in the curtain. Therefore, your focus has changed. And that's what I mean when I say reality is a choice. The details will match your beliefs. Believe you are incredible.

You'll find evidence. Believe this is just the beginning of something beautiful. And you'll find the details necessary to bring it to life. You get what you focus on. So focus on the things that will propel you forward. because trust me, they're there. Normality is a paved road. It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow.

Vincent Van Gogh. What is normality? Well, according to the dictionary, normal is the usual average or typical state or condition. Common. Normal is also a decision. There's a quote by Robin Sharma, and I've looked to this for years. It states, if you want what the 5% have, you need to be willing to do what only the 5% are willing to do.

What they obtain is not, definitionally speaking, normal. It's uncommon. And what they do to arrive at that outcome is also uncommon. They play by a different set of rules, and in doing so end up with an entirely different outcome than most. To put it simply, we arrive at normal when our effort level is normal. You put in normal hours or give average effort at work. Most likely your results, career progress, compensation will be normal. You pay moderate attention to your fitness, your health.

Well, your level of physical fitness will be normal. You dedicate typical levels of effort to your relationships, your relationships will be normal. Not terrible, but not remarkable. I'm sure you get the idea here, the pattern. Generally, over time, what we get starts to reflect what we gave. And here's where the self-assessment comes in, the awareness. You have to ask yourself in pursuit of something greater

whether your actions are aligning with your goals and objectives. There's nothing so futile. is telling yourself you're going to achieve miraculous larger than life outcomes, and then putting in average typical normal effort. If normal goes in, normal comes out. And as I was thinking about this recently, you know, as it pertains to my life, I had a little epiphany. So fitness is a big area of focus for me.

I run or do some type of strength training six days a week. as far as I can tell, that level of effort is beyond normal. I go above and beyond in that area of my life. But even though I'm aligned on my mission to be the 5% there, I realized there was a gap. I realized my diet was very normal, completely unextorinary. It's just easy to convince yourself to eat whatever you want after a really long run, right?

Why not pizza? After all, it's the normal thing to do. But I had to remind myself that what I wanted in that area of my life holistically is not normal. Therefore, the inputs cannot be normal. It was time to start standing up to those things that are very easy to say yes to, to rationalize. And that's the idea here. I pick my 5% categories where I truly want to excel and make sure. There's nothing normal about their development.

You want top-tier results. You have to give top-tier effort. Make the sacrifices, map out the path. I've come to see this differently over the years. It's not an indictment against you as a person for choosing normal. But know that it is indicative of a choice. And the output eventually comes to align with the input. All the actions or lack thereof stack up to resemble something.

It's up to you to decide what that is. And so the next question, perhaps somewhat of an obvious one, is when it comes to the things that matter most to you, why stay confined to normal? It's the above and beyond, the peak experiences, the times we overcame. fought and won, took the risk and came out on top, that's when we are at our best. That's when we get the most from life. So is normal the end of the world?

No. It's just that abnormal is the beginning of one.