Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - WHAT IF YOU CAN? | Powerful Motivational Speeches for Success

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

Life has a way of surrounding us with uncertainty, much like the hazy sky that once obscured the mountains in Scottsdale. In those moments, it’s easy to feel lost, frustrated, or stuck, but the truth is, clarity still exists—it’s just hidden for now. The unknown isn’t here to break you; it’s here to challenge you, to see if you’ll keep moving forward despite not having all the answers.When life’s fog sets in, you have two choices: resist what you can’t control or trust that beyond the haze, the path is still there. The key is to keep walking, to believe in what you cannot yet see. Little by little, the shapes of your next chapter will emerge, and what once felt overwhelming will become just another obstacle you moved through on your way to something greater.More from Eddie Pinero:Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletterInstagram - @your_world_within and @IamEddiePineroTikTok - your_world_withinFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourworldwithinTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/IamEddiePineroBusiness Inquiries - http://www.yourworldwithin.com/contact#liveinspired #yourworldwithin #motivation

Staring off into the distance and saw something that, at least from what I understand, is pretty rare in the Scottsdale area. The sky was so hazy that you could barely see the mountains. A blanket around the infinity that I was so used to staring out at. And what do I know for sure as I gaze into the distance? Well, first and foremost, this immersion into chaos is temporary. because behind that curtain of fog there exists clarity. There lives the pristine, there is calm. Just tucked away for the moment.

And this haze, it's not confined to the mountains of Scottsdale. In fact, this is the very same haze life has a tendency to drop us directly into the epicenter of the unknown. And here's the thing, when life presents us with this haze. We can be angry, but it won't care. We can scream and complain and project out, but it'll pay no mind. Our emotions and the motives of the haze that surround us are mutually exclusive. The only way to win here is to know that clarity exists behind the curtain and like a guided missile, walk through the mist until the little shape.

start materializing into the recognizable, into everyday life. See, some games are not chess. They're not complex, they are simple. They're about carrying on or not carrying on. Resilience, and that is all. Will you commit to hanging in long enough to capture the skyline that it's a lot

line that has gifted you peace so many days prior to today. It's not a weather question or a haze question or a visibility question. It is a you question. You get to choose how you'll answer it. Easy, you might think. No, sometimes putting one foot in front of the other is the hardest thing. shaking hands with the unknown is a taxing thing it's a courageous thing but sometimes it is also the only thing you have to know that right now no there is no validation but i will find some and sure there's no

road mapped out before me but i'll blaze my own and sure i don't have answers but the past has proven to me that i can collect them along the way in what you'll find is that haze that very cause for discomfort ends up being an ally because through it we affirm to ourselves that clarity is there and we are beyond capable of capturing it that when things are their worst we have the ability to rise to the occasion that when we don't know we become manufacturers of solutions. Getting what you want is not a story of navigating paved roads.

It's about stepping into the brush and finding away. Step by step, breath by breath, heartbeat by heartbeat. And so while the temptation may be to look around right now and say, I don't know how this story ends. I don't know how to handle this turbulence, therefore, problem. I invite you to use the unknown, the haze, the chaos, the turbulence as a portal to reality as you see fit. And I invite you through this quote unquote fog of war to begin again, to rediscover a life well lived. Because not only is it possible, it's who you are.

Sometimes we convince ourselves that right now isn't quite right. It's not the wrong time necessarily, but soon. We'll have that thing that will make the perfect launch point soon. So we'll wait. You hear it a lot with hopeful creators. Right? As soon as I get the camera, I'm going to start the podcast. As soon as I feel inspired, I'll start writing. Or how about this one we can all relate to in some way?

As soon as it's January 1, I'll start taking care of myself and my health. And I'm not talking about this because I read about it. I'm talking about it because I live it. It's an adversary I'm always up against. The allure of waiting for that perfect moment. But here's the deal. When you start now, the imperfections become part of the value. People see imperfections and become inspired by them.

He started getting in shape in his garage with two dumbbells. Look at that. She started writing her novel in a notebook waiting to pick her kids up from school. Going now not only destroys that enemy that is procrastination, it also gives you something of value in return. It lets the very fact that you found a way become a narrative in your story. It allows your imperfections to become your greatness.

I recently relocated my studio to Scottsdale, a move that, according to the moving company, would take seven to ten days. 24 days later, I realized that there are places in life where you can attempt to cut costs. moving companies should never be one of those things. I found myself with the recording equipment in my camera bag that I travel with and some empty boxes. I'm waiting for my stuff to show up one week, two weeks, three weeks, soon.

Soon it'll arrive. And I'll be able to record then. Because right now there's no lighting. Right now I don't have my tripod. I don't have anything to put behind me in the set. It's like, wait, wait, wait. Or, how about this? You take the empty shelves and you make them intentional.

You lean boxes against the wall. You have a life transition set, right? And not only can you make that work, not only will it look sufficient, but it's like you have a story now. We like to hear about the times others made something out of an apparent number. It's relatable.

And that's actually where the fun stuff is, in any conversation. I'm recording this in a hotel room, doing what I can with what I have. And so, when you find yourself feeling not quite ready and the temptation is to wait, rather than hold out hope for a fake perfection that never comes, why not unpack the beauty contained in the present moment? Or put a much more practical way, the opportunity contained in the present moment. Why not begin with less?

And tap into something that no other time in your life will have but now. Start your podcast using your phone. Mediocre visuals and echo-e-off. Let this be the beginning that you look back on and smile. Remember how fun those episodes were? That mediocre at best equipment and stories about where we were in life? You start working out now. Can't get to the gym, do it in your garage, in your living room.

Then you can point to where it would have been easy not to, but you built your physical foundation on the third floor of an apartment building in New York. People ask you, you know, what it took to get into the shape you're in now? Wait and a floor. Just start. I find repeatedly that it's not about perfect. It's about who we become in making progress with far less than the perfect we'd hoped for. That's what makes you realize, you know,

how much of what we tell ourselves is just rationalization. We're scared to not look good. That's all. We're scared of new things, worried about beginning. And so we convince ourselves that the camera angle will make all the difference. The expensive lens will be the differentiator. Again, I've lived this. And then you get it, and it's like, in truth, the new camera just sits there.

You're still the person in front of it. And what you say in front of your phone versus $2,000 Sony, is still entirely dependent on you. Surprise. The Sony doesn't have much say. And so I call you to think less about the set and more about what's going on within it. The amount you can do with what you have now will astound you. How little we need is truly magical. You know, in these last three weeks have emphasized that for me.

Two pairs of shoes, two pairs of jeans, some t-shirts. in a camera. I didn't miss much. Because my ability to think and share ideas didn't get packed away and put in the truck with everything else. That stayed with me. And we all have some version of that in our own lives.

That's what matters. You are LeBron at something. So cherish that. Bring that to the world, regardless of the circumstances. You can put LeBron on a broken down court with no nets he'd still be pretty good the environment becomes something different something enjoyable because of its novelty too often we miss the value you know because of the details so i'll end with this don't seek perfection seek to start now with what you have so that you can give more of yourself to the

the world. You can give more of yourself when you're unsure, give more of yourself when you're lost, give more of yourself when you're starting, give more of yourself when you don't have all the tools you wish you had. Give more of yourself at the beginning, give more at the middle and at the end. Anything that suggests you need some miracle in the mail before you can begin or tap into what matters is fear. It's nothing more and nothing less. So start. Start for the world and for the story you'll be able to share by simply initiating the climb. Standing on that ledge, staring out at what we know we need to do, at the moment we least want to do it, well, that's where the future is shaped. When procrastination feels like the answer or avoidance the optimal choice, where does one draw their strength?

They say routine is a powerful tool in this fight. And I believe that when something becomes habit or part of the process instilled in the day-to-day, there's just simply less room for negotiation. We show up with our eyes on the prize. But here's the thing. we are human. There's simply going to be days when the world pushes back. Life is a game of complexity.

It's unpredictable. You want to talk about the good days, fine. It's easy to show up when we're feeling good. And thankfully, those days outnumber the others, right? Creating the bulk of our consistency, 10,000 hours. But not all of them. Life is about momentum. Myself, after coming off a pretty terrible weekend for a variety of reasons, I found myself on that ledge again.

When the alternative route made itself known, where it felt mighty tempting to call it off, take a break where my worldview had come into question, I had to ask myself, who are you? Really? It's easy to rationalize walking away in these moments. In his book The War of Art, Stephen Presfield says, our job in life is not to shape ourselves into some ideal we imagine we ought to be, but to find out who we already are and become it. Well, who would have known how much goes into that process of becoming,

how committed we have to be to the road before us, and not only when it's sunny, but when the skies are dark and gray. And how if we allow ourselves in those difficult moments to say, sometimes it's okay to wave the white flag, it's okay to walk away, then you leave the door cracked to make that same decision at any other point in time.

Quitting, conceding can very easily become a habit. and a habit we want to avoid at all cost. I have this little rule that no matter what, I can never leave dishes in the sink overnight. Never. I treat this arbitrary little promise to myself, like it's life or death, which, again, random, but hear me out.

It's half practical, half symbolic. I know that if I say, okay, just this once, I've effectively removed the barrier separating order from chaos. If it's okay just this once, then it's okay 1,000 times. And a messy sink becomes a messy kitchen, becomes a messy house, becomes a cluttered mind. Extreme, maybe. But critical, right?

Here is where the symbolism comes in. I understand how fragile that divide. how when I'm tired or have a headache or I'm busy, it's still priority. Because I want to hammer my subconscious with the understanding that I show up when it's inconvenient. That very moment when, you know, I could easily trick myself into thinking it's small or dumb or arbitrary. It's a sink, who cares, right? That's the moment that I need to bleed into the rest of my life. And I think that's exactly it, right?

the floodwaters are always looking to come in and how many cracks until the room gives way. You know, when you've had a few rough days, when you've lost something important to you, when you're sad or disappointed about an outcome, what then? When life calls you to exceed expectations, what then? Because the world around you will always give you evidence, support dialing it back, right? selling yourself short if that's the case you're looking to make. But here's the deal. Should you choose the inverse, you are strong enough to be better than you've ever been in those challenging moments. You can show up when it hurts. You can reestablish your why and carry forward even after

the turbulence of yesterday. Life will never be easy. It will never all make sense. And this understanding has helped me to roll up my sleeves and continue forward. When I'm disappointed with yesterday or overwhelmed by the conditions or landscape of the moment when I question how much I have left. But I've found that when I look hard enough, there's always something to draw. And that's the message of note. That's what we must show ourselves. When you're on that ledge, this can be where you're at your best.

This is where you get to uncover just how deep rooted your greatness is. This is where you set the standard and the pace for everything to come. Fall down. But only a few choose to get back up. A few deep hurt. Personalize failure, a few understand that falling is the cost of greatness. Your reality is not what happens to you. Your reality is how you internalize what happens to you.

Or obstacles stop signs, or are they checkpoints along the way to something greater? Checkpoints that make you stronger, build you. up, become your armor, that is ultimately the difference. What we misinterpret in life is the meaning behind that difficulty, that pain, that suffering. No one gets a pain-free life. No one gets a free ride. Suffering is inevitable. As Nietzsche says, to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering.

And what's changed my life, and I don't mean here and there. I mean truly transformed the course and trajectory of what's possible is simply redefining that which is difficult. I grew up watching the Kobe's and the Brady's of the world. I remember thinking, how do these guys get better when things get difficult? I mean, as a kid, I could feel the pressure watching from the couch, but they somehow elevate themselves when the odds are stacked against them. Same exact situation that causes most to doubt, to run, to lose their self-belief.

What they see that eludes most is that in every pressing moment, there's opportunity. Every loss has something to gain. In every failure, there is victory. Everyone has the same rule book. It's just that some people only see what is right in front of them. Others learn to read between the lines and create outcomes that have not yet arrived. When things are hard or challenging or uncertain, it's not that you should keep going. It's that you must keep going.

Everything good, everything rewarding worth having is on the other side of that struggle. Everything meaningful is built from the days you felt like there was no hard. possible way to move on, but did anyway. That is the core of greatness, carrying forward when it would have been easier not to. When you feel the hurt, the emotional turmoil, and I get it, we all do, but beyond that feeling, what are you willing to see? Beyond the ashes, what are you willing to build? What are you willing to do with those pieces? Because it's It can be nothing or it can be everything. It all depends on how you choose to step back and look at the world.

Your perspective becomes the roadmap for your reality. So understand that feeling down or loss is normal, but staying down is a choice. There are no problems. There are stepping stones. The very situations that make you who you are. The little decisions that over time equip you to step up when it matters most, when the pressure's on, the odds are against you, the rest of the world says no.

No matter how hard it gets, there is an answer. Rise above the emotion, the chaos, the present moment, and see the big picture. Not only will you survive, you will be better because of this. Because you kept moving forward when it wasn't easy. No matter how hard life got, you never lost sight of the opportunity. And that made all the difference. Everyone wants to be great. Everyone wants to be the best, the top the 1%.

Or as the saying goes, everyone wants to be a beast. until it's time to do what beasts do. See, what life has revealed and continues to emphasize is that our most vital decisions, they present themselves in the dark of night. The chaos of the battle, they show up amidst our discomfort. We know these moments. The ones that seek to stop us in our tracks

and turn us around. They are what must be prepared for. They are the gateway to excellence. So let's look at the big picture for a minute. Life in totality. Because consistently doing this simple, easy things, they're important. Consistency of that which is simple

is the foundation. It's what we build the structure upon, but it is far from everything. Moving right along, we have the difficult things that push us to be more, that show us who we are, that hurt, that test us, the temporary storms. They are the armor we come to wear. They're what prepares us to endure the trials and tribulations of life like a muscle that must be grown and developed. But the difficult things are far from everything.

Because lastly, we have our death. defining moments. The moments that put it all together. When the sky feels like it's falling, the body feels like it's failing, the mind feels like it's dwindling. Presenting the question, will you do the hard thing

when you feel like you can't do the hard thing? It's doing what's difficult when the situation around you is screaming at the top of its lungs. You've gone too far. You've separated from normalcy. You are wandering into something

that can no longer be deemed predictable or safe. See, running is hard. But running when you're tired, when you didn't get a great sleep last night, you don't feel good, when you're busy, when your schedule's full, when you have things to do,

when you're in the midst of your, of your workout and your lungs are screaming for air, the cloud of pain is hovering over you as you make your way forward for no other reason than you told yourself you would. That's not hard, that's transformative. Going to the gym is hard. But going to the gym when you don't want to,

when you don't even feel like stepping into the car, when your mind is trying to rationalize a day off, when you're asking yourself what the point was to begin with, that's not hard. That's transformative. Growing your business is hard. But growing your business when you've experienced a monumental letdown, when you went all in and were left empty-handed,

when you were chewed up and spit back out, Yet you showed up, kept your eyes locked in on that win. That's not hard. That is transformative. See, these monumental moments, the ones that break so many of us that we've all come face to face with over the course of our lives, they're not about easy versus hard. They're about doing the hard thing when it seems as though you cannot do the hard thing. The world is saying no.

Your body is saying no. That chirping in your head is saying no. Can you separate yourself from that hurt and that anger and that disappointment? Can you segment the negativity knowing that you will do what you can to remedy this situation? But that life's curveballs can't stop you from moving forward for the simple reason that you won't let them. When life gets hard, you have to be harder. The one who gets bolder. You have to learn to surprise yourself.

Here is what I believe to be the goal. It's a pinnacle. It's what I aspire to become. When life puts me through hell to dig deep and find the emotional IQ, the awareness, to know that right now is the invitation I've been longing for. My chance to level up. See, you might be wondering what brought this concept to the forefront of my mind. And well, it was one of life's inevitable setbacks.

And I had to look in the mirror and say, I'm not going to think about the technical issues. It just cost me thousands of dollars and thousands of hours of my time. No, I'm going to one learn, but put parameters in place so it never happens again. and two, find the opportunity. See, when we build back, we tend to build back stronger, clean slate, new lease on life. Where can I be better than I was? Where can I pinpoint and capitalize on the value I once walked right by?

When we adopt this mentality, we become unstoppable. Someone on the outside looking in might say it's over the top. And it is. But so are the things that I want. They might say it's not that simple. Correct. Running away from our problems is simple. I'm not about that life.

They might say it's impossible to do all the time, to think that way every day. And perhaps so. But if we bow our heads and retreat, every time life isn't perfect, we'll never attempt anything. I'm not aiming for perfection. I'm aiming for progress.

Those who aim for perfection tend to spend the entirety of their lives doing exactly that. Aiming, planning, speculating. Wanting more for yourself means receiving more rejection from the world. It means elongated valleys of despair. It means deeper treks through the heart

of the vast unknown across distant lands and through turbulent waters, it means doing the hard thing when the circumstances are what mere mortals call impossible. At some point, we must transcend the versions of ourselves we once were. We must recategorize and redefine the adversity we face in life. Be the ones who find something where others see nothing. Find value in the seemingly valueless.

Let us start from the premonition that there is always a solution. And if there is always a solution, there is always a way to bring it to existence. Some will stop it easy. Fine, let them. Some will stop it hard, great to each their own. But if one dares to push further, to trudge forth into their own. Tonight, they will be tasked with doing the hard thing when the circumstances are devastating. They will be asked not just to sail the ship, but to sail it through the storm, to not just build the tower.

But to build as the skies open up, the wind blows and the ground shakes, that will be the difference. That has always been the difference. So what will you do when the time arises? Who will you choose to become? Good morning. Welcome to the Your World Within podcast. Today, we're going to talk about keeping your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Simultaneously managing the big picture and the small stuff.

non-stop belief that things will work, that there's an answer, that you're ultimately going to get there, and that you won't quit until you do, while also being brutally honest with the facts on the floor, the reality around you. A lot of times I think there's a tendency to conflate positivity with the detachment from reality. But they're very different things. You need them both for success to unfold. You need the big picture, and you need the minutia, the steps, the little things that add up over time. In the book, Good to Great, Jim Collins calls this the Stockdale principle.

Or Admiral Stockdale, I think at the time Commander Stockdale was shot down during Vietnam. He was prisoner of war for over seven years in Vietnam. And it was just obviously a brutal experience. And, you know, one of the things that helped him survive was being painfully pragmatic, while also knowing in his soul, right, with every ounce of his being that he would ultimately get out, that the men he cared about and helped so much would ultimately get out.

And so when Jim Collins is interviewing him, he says, Admiral Stockdale, what differentiated the ones that made it and the ones that didn't? And the answer is incredibly surprising. He says optimism, because the people that were overly optimistic said, we'll get out by Christmas. And Christmas comes and they don't get out. And then they say, okay, we'll find we'll be out. We'll see our families by Easter.

And Easter comes and they're still there. Okay, maybe next Christmas. Next Christmas comes, nothing changes. He says those are the people that died of a broken heart. There was too big of a gap between the reality, the components needed to progress the way they wanted to progress and the way they were thinking. You know, you have to be willing to look in the mirror

and diagnose a situation. You know, that's applicable to business. It's applicable to your personal life. Dream big, step small. Believe, but act. Be cognizant of the world around you, the reality that you're living in. You can't change something that you don't understand intrinsically. You can't progress if you haven't analyzed something.

And this is not about your capabilities. This is never a call to doubt yourself. It's to be strategic. This is just saying that you need to understand the reality so that you can improve upon them. If you want to be the next Michael Jordan, that's a huge ask. That's a lot. It's possible.

You can do it. And you need to believe with every ounce of you that if that's what you want to do, It's a pursuit, you know, worth taking. But you also need to know what it means to be Michael Jordan. You got to understand the commitment. How he sacrificed relationships. He sacrificed, you know, his friends, his love life.

He got up every single morning. All he did was basketball. How he took thousands of shots a day. how his mentality and his aggressive behavior, right, his mindset, the way he looked at life and approached life on and off the court, it required that he was so intense and so obsessed with winning that some people couldn't handle it. It meant that everything stopped except being the best. That's a big ask. A lot of people can't do that, don't want to do that.

But that's what it takes. And to think you're going to be Michael Jordan without understanding, one, the commitment that's required and how you stack up, it's going to be in vain. I remember the CEO of the company that I work for at a college, he used to say, look, you have to be able to be honest and say when your baby's ugly. Look at what you have and be able to draw a line from where you want to be. so you can fix it. So that's the point.

If you can juggle those two things, you'll be unstoppable. Unstoppable. If you can be the one to trust yourself enough, to know that there is a big picture, you will pursue it relentlessly and you will get there. If you can take that and you can marry it to the little things, right, to the awareness, to promising yourself that you will continue to continue to,

analyze, assess, and do what needs to happen on the ground, that you will be realistic, you will be pragmatic. When things fail, you won't sugarcoat it. You'll dive in. You'll look at why it failed so that you can pick up those pieces and build something stronger and continue to build and continue to build, stack, and stand on what you've made. Those are the people that change the world. Those are the people that get things done, that get results. Dream big, step slow. See you tomorrow.

So I'm going to share a life lesson with you, something that over the years has been a true game changer. Ready? It's simple. It's very simple. Like most things, it's easy. It's easy to understand. It's easy to comprehend. It's the implementation. That's the challenge, right? But it's the idea that progress is not always a visible step forward. Growth is not always a measurable inch or mile to feel good about it, to celebrate. It's not always a tangible victory or pat on the back. It's a smile about it. Sometimes it's sidestepping. Sometimes it's stepping backwards, reminding ourselves to look up and gain perspective because we are always in, to look at the immediate.

That's what feels good. And this lesson says, no, there's a big picture to keep in mind. It reels us in. The big picture is what gives us purpose. It drives our happiness. That thing we want on the top of the hill. The North Star, the X on the map, that's what's sustainable. And I say it's been a game changer for me because, you know,

one of my biggest adversaries over the years has been that voice in my head. Almost pleading with me to indulge in the thing that will be. bring that immediate result. It's money now, growth now, validation now. There's comfort there. Our minds want that satisfaction. That's why you see all those guys standing next to whiteboard saying they have the formula to make you rich tomorrow. We want tomorrow. We believe in some capacity that that can be real tomorrow. But that's what tends to lead us astray. And so I've spent a lot of time reflecting over the years on how to incentivize those steps that aren't immediately impactful. There's not the flashy metal you're going to get right now,

but I know that if I do it, it's going to bring me to my long-term goal. How do I incentivize that? Because, like I said, the natural inclination is to dismiss it. I'm walking laterally across the mountain so that ultimately I can find the most applicable path and ascend. And that's a scary thing. You know, building long-term gives you very little

to immediately slap on a resume, To brag or rant about at holiday parties. There's nothing flashy to impress with, but it's believing in a long-term game, doing what most people can't, trading that certainty that you could have had for an extraordinary later. It's never a loss to do what has to be done so that you can position yourself for the future. Sometimes you have to wade through the muck, work quietly in the dark, so that you can build something that you feel will have an impact. It's not a loss to step backwards to tweak the things you're not happy with.

a loss to explore or question or reinvent. It's true, those actions in and of themselves aren't going to put money immediately in your pockets. But if you find the discipline to see the big picture, you realize that long term, those things bring happiness, contentment, excitement, which guess what? Leads to accomplishment and progress and the financial stability that you're looking for.

Chasing flashy things, chasing the immediate moment, Yeah, I'd get you a quick rush, a nice blast of dopamine, but it's empty. Ultimately, it's unfulfilling because nothing worth having is quick. That's life. But it's often the illusion that guides us, right? You'll never see how many auditions the 33-year-old actor went through before he was cast in a major film. You don't see that.

You don't see the countless hours and shows and midnight gigs in front of three people that the rock star endured. You just don't. It's not celebrated. We celebrate what we see. And what I've learned is that the most important things, they're just not visible to the naked eye. And it's funny. It's like people, they're ashamed or embarrassed

by the fact that they're climbing to the top of their own hill to something truly significant to them because the person next to them is bragging about blindly leaping three steps. And that's great. Progress is great. But unless it's taking you to where you want to be most, is it a win?

I have many friends that have left six-figure or higher jobs to podcast or create or start their own businesses. And people's first reaction is always like, wow, look what you have. Look what you're walking away from. We see scarcity. We are naturally inclined to see life through a lens of scarcity. You need to remember that. That's what we do.

We establish and protect our well-being. That's why I've worked so hard to transform my thinking over the years. To look out and think, who cares what I had? Look what's out there. There are no limitations to what can be yours. If you're not on top of the world, make it happen. And I understand people are complex. Situations, they're not easy, they're intricate.

Everyone's different. Everything is different. But there's a principle that's consistent. And it's that you can always improve your situation. That will never be false. To some degree, you can improve your situation. There's always opportunity. It's just what you see.

A friend of mine sent me a text yesterday, saying the past and the future, they're just imagination. All you have is now. Everything other than split second is the story you're deciding to tell yourself. That's it. Think about that. We're operating off what we decide is real or imaginary, possible or impossible. We're living in a world that is our own.

There's no them or they are crowd, just individual people, all telling themselves some variation of a story. And so taking this back to the point, caving into that pressure, accommodating to the now so that we feel important, so that our self-worth sees that temporary spike. It neglects the opportunity. It makes us feel like we're stepping forward, that we're progressing, but in reality, are we? That voice, that pressure to conform to what will impress Richard next door will always lead to, it will always be to our detriment.

And it takes truly what I believe is the most pure, important aspect of life and sticks it in the closet so that we can feel like we're on par with everyone else. And I'll never forget starting out. And I bring this up a lot because it was one of those moments where I knew I recognized that a huge shift was happening in my life, went out with some friends from college. And one's working for a senator. One's at Goldman. One's a lawyer. And I'm thinking, well, you know, geez, I just quit my job.

But I have this really cool idea for a YouTube channel. And I just, you know, I don't think any girls are going to be swooning over that. And I struggled, right? At the time, it was difficult for me. And I look back and I'm just thankful every day that at the time I was able to be. to locate somewhere in my soul the courage to stick that out to believe that if I executed on this dream, I could have an impact. Because like I mentioned above, it was painful in the moment. But when you think big picture, bigger things happen. I'm doing things now that I never,

ever would have been able to do if I didn't have that desire to do the unconventional thing. If I stopped at sort of the discomfort or if I stopped when I felt like I was losing this imaginary race to those people around me, I wouldn't have the creative flexibility that I have now. I wouldn't be able to do what I do now. I wouldn't have the people in my life that I have now. You have to earn that every single day. And it makes me wonder how many people stopped when they could have taken their own path, brought their own unique vision into existence if they didn't retreat when they felt like they were a lone wolf, when it felt like they were losing a race that didn't exist, when they felt like their neighbors were getting ahead, or their

classmates, or their friends were doing the conventional things, so they had to. They were too scared to step backwards. And I'm telling you right now, I'm telling you that step backwards, that ability to temporarily find yourself, to create yourself, that will mean everything. That will open doors for you that would never have existed. You never would have come across them, because you would have been too scared to look for them. You have to make opportunities. Simple metaphor. Gumball machine.

Gumball does not come out if you don't put the quarter in and turn it. It's a price that has to be paid. Except in reality, the price is a lot higher than a quarter because we're conditioned to want to fit in. We're terrified to look like we don't know what we're doing. Every significant thing around you stemmed from someone pushing, into that unknown. It came from someone risking everything. It's not easy when your family doesn't know what you're doing, your friends don't know what you're doing, or you don't know what you're doing.

But if you want to have an impact, that is the road you have to take. That's the cost you need, the price that you need to pay. It'll be a hard year or two years or three years, but you won't regret it. So hopefully this can be a reminder to you. When I talk about lateral steps, that's the sentiment I'm trying to recreate. I think that's the great thing because it means the people who create, who build something meaningful, they've earned it. And that's what I tell myself every day. Earn that dream. Earn that change. Take that road less travel. What you're doing right now is not insignificant simply because it's not immediately bearing free. I think if you listen to this back from the top, you'll notice the constant theme, immediate.

present. These things are delusion. As far as results are concerned, the word immediately is a con artist. Action should be immediate, but results. No, they are gradual. They require persistence. Stick with it. Remind yourself to look up because that's what you're after. It's a pursuit. You're building a foundation. You're creating the things that permanently alter the artistic and political and social landscapes. That's remarkable. It's the road few have the patience to walk. Remind yourself why you're skipping the small stuff, brushing off the little winds and losses, and why building something substantial in silence is more powerful than gloating and screaming at the top of your lungs after every visible step. Look up. Remind

yourself that you are going to change the world and you can see it. Einstein said imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited. whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. There's a distinct difference between today and tomorrow, the real and the so-called imagined. One has already been created, and the other is in desperate need of a creator.

And see, until we learn that we can be proactive in this regard, imagination doesn't mean much. It's just a car without wheels. Plain without wings, it's more of an escape than a bridge to something better. But once we realize how much control we have over tomorrow, we become, in our own right, creators. Not just waiting to read and react to stories

already written and handed down to us, but possessing this incredible ability to pick up a pen and craft something new. Become agents of change. I recently came across an interesting article. Had some info that made me think. Basically, it said, if you take some domesticated animals like pigs or chickens and you place them back into the wild,

some of their previously repressed, biological tendencies come right back into play. So, for example, chickens change their breathing habits, how they take care of their eggs, pigs regrow their hair and that mane going down their back, and these old repressed kind of hidden away genes are reselected for again over time. And the animals begin to reacclimate,

as though that potential was never lost. It just needed to immerse itself in the right environment. And it's like, well, if we view ourselves in that same light, we might ask, what if we positioned ourselves to gravitate towards an environment that was best for us? What if I imagined a world? Not exactly like today, but one better conducive to me being me. A world where I'm set up to thrive. where sure there will be bumps and bruises and losses and lessons along the way

but where I'm immersed in a journey towards a destination that excites me that lights me up can I find the courage to not only imagine that finish line but also act accordingly move towards it you know I always say the hardest thing to do is to recreate outcomes that look different from the current moment Because, well, the current moment is all we know. It's all anybody knows. And by the way, it's all anybody wants to know, right? Until something new is placed right in front of them at their feet, until proof exists.

Changing your life or the lives of those around you means you have to literally look at the road before you and see outcomes that are not there. Then you have to believe in those outcomes. You have to drive towards those outcomes, have conviction in your ability to overcome obstacles on your way to those outcomes. Truth be told, chasing your imagination is simultaneously one of the greatest burdens one can endure, as well as a key to that which makes life worth living. There's something about being human that pushes us towards hope, towards the possibility of a tomorrow, better than today. And that's not to say don't be grateful. It's not saying don't see the beauty around you or appreciate the world you live in. But I believe we're here to take that torch from yesterday and move it one step forward. Maybe it's in our own lives, a small step forward

in our careers, a relationship, or our health. Maybe it's improving the lives of those around us, family, friends, maybe it's something larger, societal. Whatever it is, I'm convinced that true meaning in life is finding the courage to push one foot further down the path of possibility. To add one step to that ascending staircase, knowing that it will allow us to someday look back on today and be proud of what we faced and overcame. And as I wake up and I look around, I think to myself, that has to mean cherishing the ideas in our heads. It has to mean we understand the power of our instincts, of our beliefs, of hope. It means understanding that it justifies all the hardship that comes with taking those ideas and giving them life.

Because everything around us was built with the current. courage to take little nothings and make them something. And when we're lost or feel alone or for one reason or another forget that, we need to remember that right now is not forever, it can't be. It's a stepping stone to whatever you decide tomorrow is. And that goal isn't perfection. You don't need all the answers. You need the courage to take one little step in a new direction.

step in a new direction to write just one sentence on a brand new page. Because that imagination is not fiction. It's not the delta between the possible or impossible. It's not there to entertain. It's there because it's your map. And you may look at that map and think to yourself your loss. That it's unclear that the directions, well, they're incomplete. at best. But what I can promise you is the pursuit of this world you've imagined. It will bring you greater satisfaction than anything else could. It will remind you why you're here and show you that life isn't supposed to be easy while helping you appreciate it for being that way. See, your imagination is your path to that ideal state, where you can thrive, be you,

your boundaries and spread your wings, don't ever let the current state of today convince you that your hopes and your dreams for tomorrow are too big, that you've missed the mark or stepped out of the line. In a world of reaction, be one of the few who looks in the mirror and decides to live life proactively, take initiative. Be one of the few who stands wholeheartedly behind that world they've imagined.