Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - What are you grateful for? UNLEASH THE POWER OF GRATITUDE

Episode Date: August 28, 2024

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive—to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." — Marcus Aurelius In this episode Eddie dives into the transformative power of gratitude and how it can reshape your life. Learn what it truly means to embrace gratitude and how this simple yet profound shift in perspective can bring more fulfillment, purpose, and resilience into your everyday experiences. Discover how gratitude can open doors to new opportunities and a richer, more meaningful life. Start your journey toward a brighter future—begin with gratitude. Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

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Sometimes we don't understand how much we appreciate it or value. something until it's gone. And until it's outside of our lives and there's a space where that thing used to be. And we think, man, I just want to return to normalcy. I want to go back to how things were, to baseline. You know, and there's a million practical examples of that. Health is an easy one. Physical fitness.

You hurt your knee and you're a runner. Man, two weeks for this to heal. I just want to be able to do what I did yesterday. For me, I used to get crazy my mind. migraines, right? And I'd wake up some days and, like, wouldn't be able to open my eyes. And I'd just be in bed, like, okay, clear the schedule. And I'd be thinking, I can't wait for normalcy to feel how I felt yesterday. People coming and going. Man, I loved this person. I missed this person. Yesterday when they were here, I didn't think anything of it. That return to

normalcy. There's a saying that a healthy person wants a thousand things. A sick person wants only one. And I think it speaks to the world that exists just beyond our periphery. It's very hard to see the good because human beings are wired to focus on the negative. To avoid pain, to avoid suffering, to avoid loss, we're wired for safety. Negativity bias. That scenario, two people at dinner, 99. times. It's the best dinner they've ever had. They go to the restaurant all the time. They rant

and rave about it. But on the hundredth time, there's a cockroach on the plate. Now what? That dinner is forever tainted as the cockroach place. The negative thing outshines everything else. And in a way, that's how we are wired. We don't wake up every day and go, man, I'm so lucky. Think about how much I have. Think about how good life is. Now, we don't appreciate or value things so much of the time until they are gone. And there's something that, you know, as I've learned over the last couple years, is gravely missed. And that thing is perspective.

How do I get perspective? Gratitude. It forces you to appreciate how much you have in a way that, you know, in the cyclical, fast-paced nature of life, you just wouldn't. You would skip it. And so what do I mean when I say gratitude? Here's the beauty. Nothing crazy.

Very simply put, carving out time to say what's on your mind, to say what you appreciate, to look around. Yeah, I'm grateful for that. You know, I'm excited about the things I have to do for work today. How lucky am I that I get to do what I love for work?

Or that there's people that I know if I call them, they'll pick up on the other end. And I can have a conversation. with them, you know, the people I get to work with, family, friend, like that's, that's insane, that's crazy. That's such a beautiful thing. You know, living here, shelter, food, things that we never think about, particularly being in the Western world. There's not power outages every hour, right? But that's not the case for everyone. Like, it's a blessing. And, you know, it can come across is corny and cliche, but what I've learned is it's not. It's truly armor. Because when you

inevitably hit those challenges and those obstacles, they just seem smaller when you're grounded and understand how much you have and how lucky you are and who's around you and how far you've come. Life is a perspective game. You know, and so you have to manufacture that perspective. It's not what exists. It's how you see what exists. And I'm going to give you an example. So let's say I had a partnership with the social media company. And I'm super excited about this partnership.

So locked in. Love the brand. Love their story. And I want to take that and inject my creativity into it and create lots of awesome content and create a campaign. You do all these things and it's like, this is going to be amazing. And then I find out, for whatever reason, not happen. Right?

Parties can't agree, whatever it is. Done. So naturally, the rugs pulled out from under my feet. I'm going to feel disappointed. I'm going to feel sad. Going to feel lost. Going to feel like, you know, I had it all figured out and now I don't. That little cycle of thing.

Now take that exact same scenario. But before I find out the news, I'm outside, my notebooks open, and I'm spending five minutes talking about or thinking about how lucky I am, to be able to tell these stories, to be able to help people, to be able to connect with an incredible community, to be able to call friends and family when I need to, to be part of a team, to live where I live, all these things, right? sigh, smile, close the notebook, walk inside, and then I find out, yeah, Eddie, that partnership's not happening. Okay. It seems way less monumental when it's put next to the thoughts that I just documented on that page.

You know, I love what I do and I have the ability to do more of it, so who cares? learn and move on. That perspective is everything. It's so much of life I find, and it's why obviously I'm so fascinated with mindset is because our external reality is so often predicated by how we think, the stories we tell ourselves, how we position ourselves to walk through chaos and the unknown.

Someone sent me, I think it was from Brad Lee, a little video of him speaking, and he says, you know, how many of you want a million dollars? Everybody. Everyone wants a million dollars. Okay, what would you do for a million dollars? People would do a lot.

They'd give up a lot. A million dollars would be a real nice thing. Okay. What if I'd give you a million dollars, but tomorrow you wouldn't wake up again. No one wants that. No one would take the money. Couldn't use it, right?

Which, by default, means every morning when you open your eyes, it is worth more than a million dollars. It's worth more than any sum of money. It's invaluable. Yet we are not wired to think that way. We don't get out of bed in the morning and go, what a gift.

We get out of bed and go, what do I have to do today? What's on the agenda? What's the plan? How long till I have to go to work? Right? And it's this reframing of life that positions us, not only to be more content, but also to experience more of life.

So I scream from the rooftops about practicing gratitude because that perspective shift, again, has been armor for me. It's given me so much momentum and clarity as I push through life. And I want to share that with you and offer or suggest that you do the same. And the beauty is it's so simple and it's so quick. And it doesn't need to be complex. You don't need anything fancy or any tools. You just need to close your eyes and think for two minutes.

And that little internal dialogue will become pretty powerful as you make your way through life. I'm going to take a second and thank the sponsor of today's podcast episode, Pro Compression. Coined the best compression socks you'll ever wear, they're a big part of my running, my lifting, as well as my recovery. For those unfamiliar with compression socks and the value that they bring to your fitness journey, you know, they're known for a few things. One, alleviating swelling and soreness after a workout, boosting blood flow, energy, and also enhancing performance and recovery. So being as into fitness as I am, become a big part of my routine,

and I'm happy to pass that along to you guys. They're currently offering 40% off their entire website if you use the, code EP40. The website is pro-compression.com. And again, that's code EP40. When I was younger, I want to say maybe third grade. I remember reading this poem by Shel Silverstein called Where the Sidewalk ends. This place where the cement stops and the grass begins.

An inflection point of sorts. And I obviously don't remember what we talked about. you know, back then, but I certainly remember the book. And a few weeks ago, I happened to be at the airport. I was walking through, and I saw a bookstore and a Shell Silverstein book propped up in the front. And I couldn't stop thinking about it. I had that title stuck in my head, right, playing on loop where the sidewalk ends. Some things just hit you, like that title sounds perfect to me, this larger-than-life,

transitionary place. It feels like some sort of graduation. But graduation from what, to what? That's the question. Is it simply checking off the current box before moving on to the next one? Is it the end of a paved, calculated path and the beginning of something a little less defined, a little more free? Is it the point? Is it the point of a little bit of a little bit of something? place where you step away from what's expected of you and instead do what you are called to do, what you know when your soul is right. I guess depending on who you are and what you need, it could be any and all of those things. But as I sat 36,000 feet in the air, it kind of dawned on me, not necessarily what Shell Silverstein wanted the takeaway to be. Fair, right? I mean, it's a famous poem.

there's a lot of analysis and writing on this, but I'm more interested in the question, what do I need personally? Now, with everything going on in my life, what would I want that place to be, where the sidewalk ends? And the more I thought about it, the more I realized it's not a transition.

I don't think where the sidewalk ends is where you step out from one place and arrive in another. But I think what's more applicable in this moment is a perspective shift. almost a lifestyle invitation to straddle that line, where you have one foot on the cement, right, the stable ground holding onto that structure we need

to maintain healthy lives, to build, to take who we are and effectively share it with the world, and one foot on the grass, unpaid, no parameters, where our childlike curiosity runs rampant and reminds us that life is no standardized test. Right? Like if the cement represents the frame, the capsule, that rocket going to the moon,

the grass represents the precious cargo. It will be taking into orbit, that substance that must be found. And I think the reason my mind goes here is because in my life, I've swayed too far in both directions. You know, I've spent entirely too much time on the sidewalk. where I've limited myself, my beliefs in my trajectory.

I've abandoned what I wanted to do because I was terrified to stray from what I was supposed to do. I've let routine kill creativity, I've let plans suffocate freedom and exploration. But I've also spent too much time entirely in the grass, beyond the structure, dreaming but aiming for no target, free but not grounded. perhaps at times having worked so hard to tear down the parameters and the structure in my life

that I found myself with no foundation to build upon. And I think the deal is sometimes we need more sidewalk than grass, and sometimes we need more grass than sidewalk. There are times in our lives that call for exploration, and there are times in our lives where we put our heads down and build. But the critical thing is, we remember that beautiful balance between the structure that's ultimately imperative and the freedom to step beyond it so that we can pull in more life. That when things feel too stiff or constrained, maybe you lean more towards the edge of that unkempt, undefined world. And when you crave structure, when you've been wandering too long,

when you want to build something with the pieces of life you've been casually collecting along the way, you lean in towards that foundation, towards that which is both known and dependable, and maybe that's where we leave it. As you navigate each segment of your life, it's knowing that you have your hand on the dial, The dial that will allow you to be your best at that particular moment in time, something no one knows but you. So think of that spot.

What are you going through now and how can you best position yourself to handle it? This awareness is a power, it's a strength. It's not merely passing through that place where the sidewalk ends. But I think it's an opportunity to embody. to adapt and carry on as each new chapter begins. There was a point a handful of years back where I had one of the most important breakthroughs of my lifetime. And I've talked about this with people close to me, family and friends, to clients, business

associates, and it seems like there's a commonality amongst all of us. And maybe, depending on the person that happened in a different way, certainly at different times, but everyone at one point or another comes face to face with the realization that they have a tremendous amount of control over their lives. And it's at that moment where one becomes empowered. It's like you realize you have the key to the cell you've been locked in this whole time. at that moment, one is prompted to ask, well, why not start living like it? You know, there will always be responsibility and sacrifice in life.

But that awareness makes one ask, well, what am I sacrificing for? Where am I going? Am I spending time with people that lift me up? Am I doing things that contribute to a greater vision? And perhaps most importantly, it might be. Why even living a life that is true to myself? Because I'll tell you something, our time here flies by. Not only will next month, next year, next decade be here before you know it, but it's not even guaranteed.

And if one doesn't take the time to look in the mirror and ask the tough questions, life will keep on ticking. Time will not stop. No one's going to walk up to you and point out the fact that you. you're just going through the motions here. No, that one's on you. You have to see that this world can become what you decide it will be. That you are presented the tools, but tools require an architect and a creator.

Tools require someone in seeing what is not yet there to pick them up and build. And so maybe this is the table. time for you to ask what am I building? Where am I going? And when my day starts, both feet hit the ground and I walk out the door. What am I moving towards? Maybe today is the day you realize that there are parts of your life that don't need to be there, that you can cut away. People that don't deserve your time, that don't elevate you, or contribute to your well-being. Maybe there are places you're going because that's where you've always gone.

Things you're doing because that's what you've always done. But you don't need to live life on repeat. If you're not happy about it, how about doing something to change it? There is nothing in your life that can't be adjusted or altered. Just like yesterday is now a story. So is the idea that you are confined to a specific set of parameters. Break down those walls. See things not as they are, but as they can be if you have the courage to walk away from old stories and characters.

What if today you created a new ending, one that lights you up in the morning, contributes to your sense of purpose when you close your eyes at night? Again, remember, no one will come up and hand that to you. No one will let you know you're selling yourself short. That transformation must be internally prompted. And so I hope you'll ask.

I hope you'll ask the questions that you've been neglecting for far too long. I hope today can be the first page in an entirely new chat. A chapter in a story that is truly and entirely yours. What does it mean to be a little better every single day? James Clearers noted that if each day you improve by only 1%, you'll be a full 37 times better in a year. That's an almost unfathomable number. Unbelievable transformation.

Imagine being 37 times better at what it is you're looking to improve on. 37 times more efficient or skilled. All because of a 1% per day commitment. Almost sounds too good to be true. Here's the catch, though. 1% doesn't seem like much. Which is good, one might think. You know, that should make it easier.

Well, sort of. The easier and more seemingly trivial something is to accomplish, the easier it is to dismiss it as well. We've all been there that, maybe not today, maybe tomorrow. No big deal. We don't lose anything. And that's what we must learn to wrestle with. Jim Rohn puts it this way.

He says, being successful is easy. The issue is that being unsuccessful is easy. easy too. Saying yes to the little things you know you need to do is easy. But so is saying no. Putting your phone away to work on something of substance, yeah, that's pretty easy. But watching just one more TikTok or Instagram or YouTube video, that's easy too. Putting your shoes on, going for a walk or run, heading to the gym. Hey, procedurally, pretty easy. not that complex but talking yourself into just going tomorrow instead also a rationalization that's pretty easy

and that's essentially the question which easy are you going to go with how do you put yourself in position to select the right easy well like so many things it's starting starts with the worldview and flows out to the tangible actions we take in support of that worldview. First things first. We have to know that the biggest advantage available is seeing the small things as so much

more than small things. It's refusing to fall victim to the disappointment and burnout associated with hoping for one huge jump, a miracle solution, the answer that will change everything. That's deceiving. Winning looks small and consistent. Progress is boring. It's mundane. It looks like deciding on what matters and then making a pact with yourself every day to keep your own promises. When most would fall off or push things to tomorrow, it's seeing your commitment. as everything. Knowing that the people who manufacture significance in their lives,

they treat what others would call silly and trivial as life and death. They make the details into the whole storyline. So yeah, it might be easy for someone else to walk away. But when you have given yourself no other option but to succeed, the little steps to make it happen require zero thought or in place. thought or internal deliberation. The person who gets into shape over the course of six months, they're not going to be the one who found a secret diet, bought a piece of equipment on Amazon. They didn't do the necessary thing here and there when they had their fleeting moments of

inspiration. No, they made better, consistent decisions. No to the soda, yes, to the water, no to the alarm, yes to the run, no to the Netflix, and yes to the gym. Both options were easy in the moments in which they arose. But each time only one option mattered. And that's what it's about, tying the prolonged gratification to something that means the world to you, where each step is not just a step, but one step closer to the moon.

So no, it's certainly not that a can of Coke or dessert or the day off will kill you. But flip the narrative. It's that when you do stay true to your mission and the promises you make to yourself, you get something so much more back. It's not, oh, what will I lose by skipping this 1%? No, in a world where excellence compounds, it's look what I am becoming.

And this decision is an investment too good to pass up. and every decision to move forward, to embrace the things that align with your true North, is a nod to that future self. Not too long ago, I shared a few thoughts related to Stoicism with one of the most important messages in my eyes being, you can't always help how you feel. There are biological elements, there are emotions that we as humans simply consider. cannot escape. But what we have control over is how we act, right? What we do amidst the feelings of sadness or anger or despair. Well, as it happens, fate brought me face to face with that lesson

once again. And one of the most interesting aspects of life is that the lessons often have to be relearned, right? As the context around us changes, we are forced to draw from that well, to take what we knew and transform it and level up. And so, quick story. Two weeks ago, ish, my Facebook account was hacked, which happens to a lot of people. It's not uncommon, and to be honest, I'd never really thought much about it.

But I'm sitting there, and I start getting these emails coming in, telling me my phone number's changed, my email address has changed, my username's changed. All this stuff is changing. I'm like, what's going on? And before I could do anything, I go to look and realize I'm locked out of the account, right? Then I go from my personal page to my business page, where I share thoughts like these, these episodes, videos, writings. And basically, you know, stuff I've been working on for years and realize I'm locked out of there as well.

So whoever has the account is now operating it and for whatever reason posting, like spammy, image. images and videos, replying to people pretending to be me. And there's just nothing I could do, right? I'm just locked out watching this happen. And when I say I felt angry, it's probably an understatement. I was surprised at how furious I was. It was a rage that I wouldn't have anticipated in a million years. I could not help it.

And, you know, maybe it was vulnerability. right, that feeling of helplessness that some stranger had access to, you know, around 100,000 people that trust me. They had no idea what was happening, right? Or maybe it was anger at whoever it was doing this, anger at Facebook for being non-responsive,

maybe a fear that, look, you can work so hard for so long and have something taken away incredibly quickly. Whatever it was, I was distraught for like three hours. and eventually I calmed down a little bit. And I remember just sitting there being so disappointed in my reaction. I hated that I felt the way I did because leaders, and that's what I consider myself, that's what I aim to be in the world,

they have to be more composed than I was, period. I thought about that story about the ship at sea. that was trapped amidst the storm or everyone was terrified, the ship's going to sink, people were pale, you know, just frantic, screaming, except for the professor who, although he felt the same fear and was overcome by the same biological characteristics, he was not crying out,

indicating that, you know, emotions often can't be avoided, but the response is what carries the weight. And I just think it was a great lesson for me because for a quick period of time, I definitely, using the same metaphor, cried out. Right. And if that intrusion on my work and privacy was a ship amidst the storm, it's okay that I felt the way I did. But now we have to work on the reaction.

And by the way, I've gotten plenty of opportunity to, right? The account's still hacked. There's still weird posts going out under my name. but I manage it way differently. There's a calmness that I've managed to acquire and maintain. We're done complaining about problems here. We're looking for solutions amidst what we can control and letting go of what we cannot.

Look, I know it's a cliche that our most important lessons come from our moments of duress, but this is exactly what I believe that phrase refers to, right? You need to be hardened by the adversity to change yourself. You need to be able to look in the mirror and go, ooh, I didn't like that. I'm not doing that again, right? And it took an embarrassing three hours of me being furious

and acting irrationally, okay, fine. But that's a small price to pay for the lesson that I acquired. So I think for someone listening to this, my hope is twofold. One, don't forget that the initial reaction is often sewn into your DNA. It's okay to feel what you feel when things don't go your way. But also, as you sort through the chaos, know that you have the ability to not only tame it, but make something from it, right?

Truly. So that next time something similar arises, you have a blueprint. You'll be a step ahead. You'll find that perspective. probably realizing as I have that it's just not the end of the world anyway. When you're able to eventually step outside your emotions, operate from a point of clarity, a reshuffling of priorities always seems to take place.

Look, the storms will come. And if you're pushing and growing and trying to take risks, those storms will be numerous. The question isn't, will you feel that? the question is can you get a little better each time at not crying out? Can you improve the reaction? Can you regain composure and stay locked in on what truly matters? Being lost is not about what you don't have.

It's about temporarily forgetting what you do have. Forgetting that contained within a lot. every dark room is a little light switch that hangs within an arm's reach. And see, the reason this is so powerful, the reason it's been so important to me, is because every time I'm in a lull or navigating a low point like we all do, I remember something that acts as that hand to pull me back up. I remember that everything I need I have. See, I used to use the word stock as to imply immobility, being powerless to the outside world when, in reality, I just had to remind myself that the path to recreation is always in front of me.

And the map needed to navigate is always folded up in my back pocket. In essence, what I learned is that helpless is not a situation. Helpless is a decision. And one I'd simply never choose. Life's challenges, they are not a display of your insufficiency. No, they are a reminder of just how powerful you are. If you never let yourself fall, hit a low, or lose your way. your way. You'd never get to see the miracle that is your resiliency. You'd never get to look in the

mirror and see the reflection that is the conqueror of worlds and the slayer of dragons. You'd never get to climb the mountain from which you'd ultimately look down and see a world of your making. The miracle isn't that I've finished. The miracle is that I've finished. The miracle is that a that I had the courage to start. John Bingham. We all share a commonality, the runner on the starting blocks, the one at work, the one studying,

the one trying to create the best life possible for their family. See, we are all at a beginning, looking up at an idea. Nothing given, nothing to adjust or react to, no just an idea. And ideas when we are at the bottom looking up, they're deceptive in nature, their size, their weight, their breadth.

They like to present themselves as much more than they actually are. And so, to turn ideas into things one needs see themselves, not as some descendant of Mount Olympus tasked with lifting that 2,000-ton boulder before them, but As one armed with an understanding, the awareness that the 2,000-ton boulder before them can be broken down, piece by piece, that it is nothing more than a facade, and while it may stop most in their tracks, you are simply not most. Not because the world treats you differently, but because you see the world differently. By knowing you are bigger than the sum of its parts you have deep,

fanged this wolf, you have put yourself in position to do that which makes the world tremble, that which causes even the most confident to doubt. You have put yourself in position to begin. See, there is a time to look at the top of the mountain, breaking through the clouds, powerful and majestic. And then there is a time to look at your feet. And right now is the last. You're not concerned with the big things. No, not right now. Your job is to move forward into this haze, to not see but adapt, to not know but trust. Things will materialize and you know that. But at the same time, you can't control the future. Your battle is right now, and it's with the space immediately in front of you. It's with the thoughts attempting to deceive you. It's with the things the out. outside world will tell you, but forward motion is the antidote to all of that. And so forward you must go. The beginning is always the hardest because our thoughts are a mightier foe than life's obstacles. Thoughts take on lives of their own. They become monsters, demons, dead ends, obstacles.

On the other hand, just ask that we adjust. There is no obstacle that can't be addressed by stepping into it. And so while the temptation is to sit thinking, speculating about how challenging the road ahead, this is where you think less and move more. Harness the world as it comes, because the truth is nothing is as big as it appears to be. Life is incredibly solvable. Every problem has a solution. Every bad chapter ends. Every setback is a chance to be more than you've ever been. but how would you know that if you bowed down to the mountains in your head? How would you know that if you never began? So let today be the dotted line you sign with your future self.

A promise to be aware that the mountaintop peers over you, but to not be distracted by its shadow. To take the climb one rock, one step, one second at a time. Let it be an acknowledgement that nothing light throws at you can't be broken down and conquered so long as you don't get in your own way. Gone are the days of being held captive behind steel bars of self-doubt and fear. That road ahead is not the problem. It never was. Refusing to give yourself permission to travel down, it was the problem.

So without constraints, meet life head on. Let the trials and tribulations emerge because they will, but know that you will rise to meet them. Let the unknown highlight all that you don't know. You can't see. Fine. The one thing you are sure of is that you will, one by one, transform the unseen into strength.

And when those thoughts emerge, telling you that you've gone too far, that you're in over your head that this isn't meant for you, know them, not as truth, but as the only obstacle that can derail and distract. You don't have time for make-believe monsters. No, not today. So onward you go. To map the unknown, to tame the untamed, to live your life the way it was meant. to be left. We are the stories we tell ourselves. I used to tell the maybe someday story

until I saw the value contained in the why not today story. I was a main character in the how do I not mess things up story until I pushed my way into the how about capturing life's upside story. I believed wholeheartedly in the what will my friends, acquaintances, people I used to know think of me's story. Before I felt the freedom of the you don't live life for them, you live life for you, story. My scarcity story preceded my abundance story. my bowing before the odds story preceded my simply do not stop story my you don't deserve them story

preceded my if you're not a net positive on my life i don't want you around story my maybe i can be that impactful add that much value make that much money have that much fun story preceded my, I'm going to do all those things. Now how do I arrange these pieces to support my mission story? As I've grown and learned and changed, so of the stories that I've told myself. And I can look back and always draw a direct line from the stories I was telling and the life I was living.

We get in life what we allow. And our narratives, our stories happen to be the gatekeepers. If you want to change the situation, change the story, right? If you're telling yourself the world is against you, you'll live like the world is against you. If you're telling yourself the world is conspiring to help you live your best, you'll find the opportunity where you otherwise would. And you'll find it, not through magic, but because you're looking for it. It's that simple. We don't look for things that go against our narratives.

We don't seek things out that we don't believe exist. Those internal stories prompt our action, and our action changes our reality. Since finding this a few weeks ago, it's become one of my favorite ideas. Alan Watts speaking to a classroom of students, he says, when a flag is flapping in the wind, is it the wind or the flag that moves?

Neither. It is the mind that moves. Our minds are moving, they are internalizing, and painting the portrait that becomes our reality. If you don't like the reality you're seeing, guess what? It's not the world. It's how you're viewing the world.

It's what you're doing about your world. And I understand how hard it can get. how we all oscillate between periods of struggle and contentment, how low the lows can feel, I get it. But the truth is the wrong stories will simply keep you down, hold you there. They'll ensure blinders stay on as life rotates around you and the opportunity dissipates. We are the stories we tell ourselves. And that's beautiful news because it means

the reflection in the mirror holds the key to transformation. Life can give you the details, the context, but it can't write the script. That, my friend, is all you. Today belongs to the architect. He sees towers before they pierce the sky, an opportunity before it transforms into the extraordinary. He knows that what he wants most cannot be given. It must be sculpted. So he builds. He builds because those skylines don't raise themselves from the earth. The extraordinary does not appear on its own.

They are dreamed into existence by the architects of reality. The ones who seek not to take from the world. but to contribute to me. Today is the beginning of something new, something better, something worth remembering. And it's existed long before the present moment waiting for your vision, your courage, your persistence to bring it to life. Too many times we fail to reach into the realm of what we know and get more of ourselves. It's okay to struggle, to be wrong, to have to run, to have to run. rebuild a thousand times but the great tragedy is closing our eyes and walking by

life's opportunity everything you need to rebuild the life you dream of is around you your every move if only you'd reach for it see it before your eyes do become the architect of change Nothing is impossible when you are the one setting the rules when your hand draws the guidelines. You are not at the mercy of the world. You are creating it. This is yours. And there will never be a moment like it again. So don't run from it or hope life gives you what you want.

Take the pieces in front of you and construct. Your masterpiece. There's a quote attributed to Seneca that states no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself. Meaning it's in pursuing the difficult thing that we obtain meaning.

Recognition that we prove ourselves. But prove ourselves to whom. This is the same Seneca who famously stated that we suffer more in imagination than we do in reality, that he is most powerful who has power over himself. And that's one of the beautiful things about stoicism. It makes us ask a very simple but often overlooked question, who's really the adversary here?

Who's the opposition we're dealing with as we fight our battles? What is it that must be transformed? Is it the outside world? or the way our eyes view the outside world. What's really holding us back? The circumstances? Or our own personal thoughts about the circumstances? And I think this is where we misunderstand the challenges before us.

I want to delve into this power of perspective to explain that we are the gatekeepers between our state. ourselves in our ideal lives. And very often we do a good job of ensuring that gate stays closed. We sabotage our own goals, our own dreams, our own happiness, while simultaneously pointing the finger at a million externalities. See, when we look at the difficulties of life, and there's no doubt that life can be a very difficult thing, it's easy to look at the world as this binary playing field, right?

me versus the world. And in fact, we often visualize the world as the enemy pushing back against us, as if its motives were counter to ours. So many of these narratives, these stories, they actually say nothing about the outside world. And when we look deeper, it becomes apparent that they actually say a whole lot more about us. It's the one viewing that gets to decipher what the circumstance means. And so all narratives are reflections of the observers. Jim Rohn used to tell a story about two brothers who had an alcoholic father.

He'd come home drunk, he'd abuse his sons. They had a terrible childhood. And as they each grew up and had families of their own, their paths, they'd have. kind of diverged, right? One became abusive, and the other was kind and loving and caring. And when confronted, the now abusive brother stated, well, look, how can you blame me? Don't you see how I was raised? But the kind, loving and caring brother, stated, of course I'm like this. I could never put my family through what I went through as a child. Same circumstances. Different lenses, interpretations, which means different real world result. And the idea here is to emphasize

how one of the most important abilities a human being possesses is the ability to interpret the world around him. I think of us as subjects navigating a world of objects, as though the things around us don't have meaning until we place meaning upon them. That's what we're what humans do, create narratives out of objects. And that often overlooked, seemingly insignificant ability, places a lot of power in our hands. Very rarely is it what we see, it's what we think and what we do about what we see.

You ever hang out with people that just tend to be happy, upbeat, positive energy. I have a very good friend like that where his first inclination is always to find the positive. In moments where I've sort of trained myself to pause, take a second, sift through the emotion, uncover the value in a tough situation, refocus, and take a strategic step forward,

I look over at him and he's already arrived there. He's been there for three minutes, right? Eliminated the negativity. his first instinct. He's the metaphorical kid hopping around in puddles, whistling at the top of his lungs, while everyone else is hiding out from the rain, or at least trying to find the courage to run out onto the street with. Then there are people who seem to always find the negative. It doesn't really matter what this situation is. Happiness is fleeting, only to reveal the negativity that never seems to go away, right? The kind of person that if they won the lottery, their first thought

might be, oh no, but what if I lose it all? Both examples are people projecting themselves onto the world around them. The same way that smoke covers and consumes an entire room. It's not the room that's the culprit. Here's another example from Jim Rohn, since we're on a Jim Rone kick. He's making a similar point, and this is all from a collection of speeches. He has on Audible comparing humans to oranges, which is probably not a comparison you've made. recently, but he said there's consistency to an orange and that it can be filled with one thing. When you squeeze an orange, orange juice is coming out, period. It will never be apple juice or grape food juice.

It will only emit what it has inside, which is orange juice. And while here's the connection, when life pressures us, challenges us, and it will or metaphorically squeezes us, we only emit the emotions that are contained and available, that are alive and well within us. If there is no jealousy contained in our thinking, we're not going to project jealousy out into the world. If there is no hatred within us,

we will not project hatred onto others. Why is that powerful? It's powerful. Because, again, it's one of the most important things you can do. Certainly one of the most important things I've learned to do is take that finger pointing blame at the outside world, slowly turn it around and point it back at myself, and ask what thoughts, what emotions, what ideas am I letting live inside my head that's altering the narrative, the story I'm telling about myself and the world that I live in. And while one might think, well, that's uncomfortable, that's unfair, a little extreme.

Why should I point at myself? It's not my fault. I would challenge you, at least for the sake of the next few minutes, to see such a change as empowering, as your advantage, as the bridge from where you are to where you want to be. See, if you always have feelings of, let's say, jealousy around a particular person, that feeling in your stomach, like, oh, they have it all. They're ahead.

They live how I want to live. They're this and that and I kind of hate them for it. You're naively giving the external world the power. You're saying I feel the way I do because of that out there. Some cosmic injustice. You are powerless because you're neglecting your personal agency as a factor. But when you turn that finger around and say, I only feel this way because I'm allowing myself to, then you can ask the question.

So many never think to ask. Why? Why do I feel this way? Which lights a path to how can I fix it. See, the key to a better life is realizing you don't have to be in the passenger seat pointing at and blaming the driver, complaining about the road being taken.

No, you can get into the driver's seat. You can take the wheel. you can take control, inherit responsibility. And there's more at stake, there's greater vulnerability. But the upside is unfathomable. And I find myself thinking all the time, man, people are blaming the wrong things. They're shifting blame to the wrong adversaries.

The real villain here is not the driver or the road or the weather. The real villain is the voice in your head pleading with you not to take the wheel. Pleading with you to ride shotgun and complain as the world passes you by. And of course it makes sense to qualify that. With the inevitability that there are some things placed upon us that are just bigger than us, that we can't control. And you can make a list however long you want to. Natural disasters, decisions, and actions of others, health problems.

We don't often get to choose the landscape. So as the Stoics would say, understand that. Understand what you can't control and what you can. Because the beauty is that you can control how you navigate that landscape, and that is power. That is what makes the difference. See, the two brothers, I mentioned a few moments earlier, same landscape. Different navigational tactics. Different view of what it all meant.

One took the wheel and one did not. So that Seneca quote. That states, no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity. For he is not permitted to prove himself. Well, it's perfectly clear as far as I'm concerned. The question is not whether or not to face adversity. I think we all understand that. What I hope we take from today

is a better understanding of what the true adversity is. A better understanding of the fact that in front of us there is always an answer, a key to every lock. Some people just don't think to look. They're so busy peering around every corner for external energy. and scapegoats that they don't give themselves permission to succeed.

Maybe unfortunate, but it's true. You can hit the bull's eye over and over again. But if it's the wrong target, it won't do much for you. You might as well have missed by 50 feet. And I think that is what we overlook. You can't always fix the outside world. You can't change the unchangeable, but you can always change yourself. You can always fix.

always fix you. His Tolstoy said, everyone wants to change the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. You're capable of being both your greatest adversary and ally. So choose wisely. Because the world around you will do nothing more than respond accordingly to your decision.