Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - WHY NOT YOU!? - Powerful Motivational Speeches for Success in Life

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

We often look at greatness and think, “That’s for someone else.” Someone with better timing. Better luck. More talent. More connections.But what if the difference between “them” and “you�� isn’t the world around you…It’s the story you tell yourself?In this video, Eddie explores the idea that success isn’t reserved for the chosen, it’s available to those who choose it.He breaks down why belief is the first step, how discipline is the bridge, and how the life you want begins with the question: “Why not me?”💬 In this episode:Why success is a decisionHow to rewrite your internal narrativeLetting go of excuses and claiming your powerRemembering that the door opens from the insideMore from Eddie Pinero:Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletterYour World Within Podcast: https://yourworldwithin.libsyn.com/Stream these tracks on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2BLf6pBInstagram - @your_world_within and @IamEddiePineroTikTok - your_world_withinFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourworldwithinTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/IamEddiePineroBusiness Inquiries - http://www.yourworldwithin.com/contact

Feeling stuck is a feature, not a bug. Having moments of doubt is a feature, not a bug. Losing perspective from time to time is a feature, not a bug. There's no way to step out into the world and avoid these things. Therefore, the question is not, will these moments arise? The question is, when they inevitably do, what will you make of them? And I think that fork in the road is often very misunderstood.

How you look at the world around you is everything. Not because, as the great Tony Robbins says, you close your eyes and chant, there's no weeds, there's no weeds, and they're suddenly gone from your garden, but because it's indicative of the choice we have. That when something happens, We don't always get to control how it unfolds before us,

but we do get to choose what it means. And that's it. A simple decision. And you can see how it's just as easy to go one way as it is to go another. Citing another brilliant voice in this space, Jim Rohn used to say something along the lines of success is easy. It's nothing more than a few simple decisions. every day.

Well, when asked, why isn't everyone successful, he'd say, because being unsuccessful is easy, too. Choosing not to do those things is easy too. Right? Everything is about your decoder. The world provides the pieces, but it makes you the architect. And so, what are you building? The ones who have had the greatest impact, designed beautiful change, added value to the world.

They did it through chaos. Yet, those who are the angriest who've done very little with the gifts allotted to them, they'll cite some variation of chaos for the reason they haven't succeeded. It's the lens, it's the decoder, it's the fork in the road, and you choosing which direction you will take. If you're feeling trapped in a routine, you have, in some capacity taken the pieces around you and created a story of limitation. You're forgetting that nothing is stopping you from trying something new today,

taking a risk today. When you're feeling insufficient or like everyone around you has it all figured out, you've taken the pieces and created a story of imaginary adversaries. This is not you versus the world, it is you versus you. This moment has given you fresh start, a chance to find alignment with that which is meaningful to me. One of my favorite metaphors, life is a staircase, where the chaos and the turbulence are

ultimately there for you to tame and then move on to the next step. In fact, that's the only way we climb. The world will consist of challenges and one of the most important gifts we can give to ourselves is to remove the notion that we can just waltz on through with zero problems. Having that as the benchmark sets us up for failure. There is no perfect path or pursuit. Instead, ask, where is the value? When we fall, ask, where is the value? How can I rise, grow, adjust?

That's why perspective is everything. One man or woman's business failure is the reason he says, ah, I tried, and talks about what could have been, over beer with his buddies for the next decade. Another man or woman's failure is the reason she's able to pinpoint

where the problems existed and come back stronger, wiser, armed with solutions. See, these aren't wildly different circumstances or initial occurrences. What has occurred are wildly different interpretations, wildly different reactions, wildly different reactions. Trust me, I'm human.

I get the instinct to point out at the world. To shake your fist at the sky, turn your back on the opportunity. But in truth, that's the only way to ensure values not obtained. There's a stoic anecdote about a teacher on a boat out at sea during a storm, and it's enormous, right? The waves are crashing over the side of the boat, rocking the boat back and forth. And that teacher turns pale just like everyone else. He freezes in fear just like everyone else. The only difference is the teacher is not crying out or screaming.

And the message here is that the initial reaction, that's human. It's human to feel anger. It's human to feel frustration, fear, doubt. The difference comes down to. to, can you pause? Can you collect yourself? And instead of immersing yourself in the emotion, ask, what can I become from this?

That is power. A relationship ended. Okay. How can I now plant a seed to greater fulfillment? The plan didn't work. Okay. Why? What can I learn that will be advantageous?

on the next approach. I'm lost. I don't know what to do. Okay? Instead of thinking less of yourself or the lack of knowledge, how about appreciating the fact that you've established a foundation

upon which a solution can now be sought? Losses do not exist so long as adversity is pointed out and transformed into value. And whether or not that happens is entirely up to you. When it hurts, there is, value. When you're down, there is value. There's always something so long as we learn to find it.

And that's what will make all the difference. Adversity is not avoidable, but living right means knowing it can't be avoided because it's a requirement. It's from the chaos that calm and order and meaning and growth and momentum are obtained. So even though you may be tempted to turn your back to run or cry out when the winds are strong and the waves come crashing down on your reality, remember that you can not only withstand the disarray, but you can come out on the other side stronger. The world, it needs you. But it needs the real you. Not the one with the mask looking to blend in,

nor the one making all those concessions to avoid being left out. No, the real you. With your flaws and your insufficiencies, your strengths and your gifts, your hopes and your dreams, it needs the you that's so, often hides away underneath that blanket of caution and skepticism. The you that's coupled with vulnerability. More easily ignored than brought to life with conviction, but that's the

you this world needs. When I was younger, I seemed to separate life into two categories. Me in one and everyone else and the other. And guess which of the two categories I assumed had it all figured out. In my mind, I was the one, the only one who didn't know. The one who was winging it, stumbling my way through each and every day. All those other people, though, they not only had plans, they had the right plans. They knew the right details. But I didn't.

And so in my head, me being right required, I had. necessarily look to them. I follow their lead. Since there exists an established correct path, that must be where I steer the ship. But then some time passes. You grow older, maybe pick up a little wisdom along the way. And you realize that no one really knows what they're doing. There are very few objectively correct roads that must be traveled. Life is not a paint by number, it's a blank canvas. And understanding this changed the image in my head from one of me knocking on the door of a party everyone else was at

to visualizing almost 8 billion individual souls running around trying to figure things out in the limited stretch of time they have here on planet Earth. I realized I had at times felt small only because of the gravity I attributed to people who were just trying to figure it out themselves. And the point, certainly not to diminish anyone else's journey, it was to give myself permission to embark upon my own. It's just hard to do that when you view everyone else as one collective, all-knowing entity, as opposed to 8 billion people just like you with thoughts, fears, hopes, and plans. The question is not what is the right thing to do here. The question is, when will you allow yourself to venture out into the world and find what

the right thing means for you? That's what's required. And the world will be better for you having found it. Because after all, no one sees life like you do. No one has the background or worldview. The universe has conspired to put you as you are here now. Almost an impossible occurrence in and of itself. How easy that is to forget.

We were born on the summit, yet the inclination for some reason is to keep our eyes closed. No, open them. Take it all in. Allow the view to propel you forward. The world needs you. It needs you with your mistakes that have helped you evolve into the person you could never have been without them. It needs you with your worries and your fears. Conquering them will be pivotal in your evolution.

It needs you with your flaws and blemishes. How else would life convince you that the things that make you different are the same things that make you strong? It doesn't matter how many people tell you or try to explain to it. you or try to explain to you the magnitude of what's at your feet. Life does not begin until you allow yourself to start living. Until you realize that yesterday does not define you. And the categories in which you've placed yourself, they're transitory. The past is not the reason you can or can't begin again. It's not who you are forever. No, it's the advantage you now possess. As you move forward, should you choose to move forward.

It's in realizing you are bound by nothing that you free yourself. And for the one wondering, why does it matter what I think? Why should I start or try or risk anything? Why should I pick up the brush and start painting on that canvas before me? Well, because that step is where it all begins, the meaning, the purpose, all predicated upon our willingness to pick that brush up and start painting. You ask what's the point? The point is everything.

One detail at a time, we dismantle our previously held notions about what life is supposed to be. And finally start living one that matters. No one's masterpiece will look like yours. No one's depiction of life will follow the same parameters you've etched onto that canvas. In fact, there are people that will be changed forever because you chose to live your life fully. There are lives of those around you that will be transformed because you picked up the brush. There are stories that will now end in triumph because you found the courage to start, to see light in yourself. You being fulfilled and the world being better off, they're not two different things.

When you live a life true to yourself, when you let go of the half-toes and step into the get-toes, the world experiences the luxury of the beauty that comes next. When you fill your cup up first, you're able to then replenish those around you. That's not nothing. So who are you? Beneath the characterizations, beneath the roles you've taken on, beneath what you feel, you're supposed to be. All that. Who are you and will you give life to that person? Will you be that courageous? After all, that's what life is. It's not a game of right and wrong so much as it's a game

of courage. The ones willing to take the leap end up worlds away from where they begin. So my ask of you is that you begin tearing down those walls, created in your head. The ones that accumulated over days and months and years. The ones that box you in or keep you out that suggest you are anything other than that one in 400 trillion miracle. Ready to embark upon the ride of a lifetime. And sure, it means shedding the comfort of obscurity, the safety of projection. Looking yourself in the mirror and saying, I am worth it. And there's more out there means without question you are taking off the training wheels, dancing with vulnerability. But it also means when that time comes and you look back on how you lived your days, you can say I truly,

you can say that the world needed me. And I had the courage to heed its call. Be you always. And you might hear that and think, well, that's obvious. That's simple. That's easy. Not if the world has something to say about it. In fact, Emerson is quoted as saying, to be yourself in a world that's constantly trying to make you someone else is the greatest accomplishment.

It's not always obvious, but rather the subtle erosion of ourselves. Perhaps not intentionally deciding to wear a mask. It's never taking the time to examine the reflection in the mirror and ask the right questions. Losing our intentionality means we end up wherever the wind blows us. And that could very well be a destination we aren't too happy with. Now this next part will seem a little trivial and insignificant. But bear with me, right? Because sometimes the most important lessons are small, but they become a point.

portal or a gateway to understand the bigger things. So for me, this started with a black t-shirt. Walking into a group meeting with some amazing people from all over the country and world doing different things and helping people in various ways. And all of them, as I entered the conference room, happened to be wearing business casual, which is great, except I haven't worn a collar in a pretty long time.

in a pretty long time. I've been doing my podcast, recording videos, building my businesses in a black t-shirt. And so that's how I walked into the room. And I found it interesting that almost immediately this self-talk emerged. It's like, you stand out right now. They're going to think less of you.

Is this disrespectful? Is this showing that perhaps I don't care, right? All of these things. And so I left that day and I sat with the thoughts. They bothered me, so I want to just spend some time with them. And here's where I landed, taking those same points one by one. Number one, if they think less of me for being me,

then that would be on them and not me. I gladly fight that uphill battle to earn people's respect in my authenticity. Number two, it's not disrespectful because I am happy to be there, proud to be there. I do take pride in my appearance. I just do it. my way. And number three, be you always. How you show up is what matters. Having the courage to live

in a way that aligns with who you are and what's important to you. And why do I say this? Because if we can grasp this idea with something as trivial and as small as a black t-shirt in a conference room, perhaps we can then push it into other areas of life. The bigger things, the more important things. Like who's in that room to begin with, who are we surrounding ourselves with? How do we spend our time? There's two ingredients to this recipe. One, who am I slash what matters?

And two, how can I position myself so that that is the arena I'm operating in? Sometimes we don't do it because we're scared, but sometimes we don't do it because we never ask the right questions. When you can find and hold your authenticity, you feel it and so will others. The question transforms from how can I blend in and not disrupt to how can I use the abundance that surrounds me to live a life that's meaningful. There's a lot of us metaphorically walking around in collared shirts when they're not what we're meant to be wearing. A lot of us asking, how do I not screw this up? Instead of asking, how do I go get what's mine and do it in a way that matters to me?

Be you always. And the closer you are to that, the more powerful you will be. It means understanding who in your life adds to that and who in your life detracts from it. It means looking around and asking, am I doing this for me or for others? It's that old airplane mantra. You have to put your mask on first before assisting others, or no one gets saved. No one gets the value. In a way, life is a beautiful pursuit of simplicity, of really distilling your world down to what matters and pushing away the rest.

Because like moths to aflame, the complexity and unnecessary minutia finds us. It latches on and becomes what we carry around. I better not let go, says the lizard brain. and this is how things are supposed to be. This is what everyone is doing. But when you find that clarity, truly capture it, yeah, you earn the respect of others around you in that metaphorical conference room,

but most importantly, you earn your own respect. You, to a greater extent, appreciate that face staring back at you in the mirror. Think about it this way. They do not build statues for those who blended in the best, who conformed. Right, no, we build statues for those who had the courage to live in their authenticity, to do things their way. Because we understand how unique, how powerful, how difficult that is.

Be you always. There's nothing more powerful than that. So the other day, I had a moment. I was walking out. of Walgreens, just grabbed some stuff, was, you know, moving through the parking lot. And I paused for a brief second and just looked at my car. Now, a little bit of a preface here so that you know I'm coming from the right place, right? I think those of you have been listening to me for a while.

You know, I really don't delve into like money or material things. not because I think they're bad, right? Or because I don't like them. Money is great. It makes life a lot easier. But more so because they're not really what lights me up, right? And in fact, I think they're a byproduct of the important things, right? It's like if you do the important things right, then the money usually follows.

And so I like to spend my time talking about the quote unquote important things. But for the first time, I spent a little bit of money on my car. I'd been investing everything back into the business for about 10 years now. And the convo with myself, it went like this. Eddie, you're in your mid-30s. When are you going to live a little bit? Right?

It's like, what are you saving for? And so I did. And back to the moment, I'm standing there in that Walgreens parking lot, looking at the car, and something dawned on me. And I think this is where the magic is. 10 years ago, I was worried about rent. I had very little, other than a laptop

and an old dynamic microphone that I would take with me into bars when I was playing my set with my acoustic guitar. And it's like, think about what you flipped that mic into. Because that little mic was just, your starting point. And here's, you know, where I think the value is. You can take that little

mic and see it as a piece of equipment, an amplifier of your voice, something used to record, a tool, right? Or you can see it as a portal to the universe, as something that can transform your reality as you currently know it. That mic was flipped into a recorded speech. My recorded speeches were flipped into a YouTube channel and a brand. The YouTube channel evolved into speaking opportunities. The speaking opportunities evolved into creating a supporting staff, placing incredible people around me.

right those people that team has helped me create scale and reach hundreds of thousands of people every day and on and on and on and from that continued evolution right that continued leveling up comes the car that I'm staring at in that parking lot a reminder of where I started I can draw a direct line from that cheap dynamic mic that you'd have to hit against the table to get to work to turn on to that moment in the parking lot growth is seeing value where you are and trading up it's looking around you and seeing not what is but what all that can become see I've used this metaphor before but I think it applies perfectly here right fantasy baseball.

I'm going to nerd out on you. After college, my friends and I played for a few years to keep in touch. And believe it or not, I learned a ton from it. So in a nutshell, this is how you win. You see the value where you are. Value that hopefully your opponents do not see. You find that value. You highlight it.

And ultimately, you trade up. Every player is an opportunity. a little dynamic microphone. The question is, can you turn each one into your dream car? So, quick example, player on your team is wildly overperforming. This person hit eight home runs in two weeks. But you know, this guy isn't a home run guy. He has a nine-year track record of not really hitting home runs.

So sure, there's a chance that he's suddenly improved. Possible. But more than likely, it's an outlier, right? So you seize the opportunity. You shop the guy to everyone around you while his values high. You try and trade him. See if you can get three players for him that are currently underperforming, right? Squeeze the value from the moment.

Take what surrounds you and trade up. And I won't go too far down the road on that example because I know how niche it is. But I want the concept to be clear. There's always an opportunity around you to identify value and transform it into the next stair of the staircase. It's always there. What you need is always around you. We just don't recognize it.

We forget to look. I heard Gary V. say years ago, or posed the question years ago, what is the ROI of a basketball? Gary said, well, for me, it's not very much, right? I'm a pretty short guy. I'm not a basketball player. What's the ROI or the vassq?

value of a basketball to LeBron James. Literally billions of dollars. But what's the value or ROI of a piano to LeBron? Not much. What is it to Alicia Keys? Again, a lot. Right? And so in our own world, it's looking around and identifying what those things are

and attacking them, capitalizing on them. Right? The mic, the basketball, or the piano. Maybe in your world, it's Microsoft Word. It's a paintbrush. It's the gym. Right. Could be an infinite number of things. But can you see it as not just minor detail in the great play of your life? But as your ticket to a reality, you dream of. Microsoft Word becomes where you tell your stories, which becomes your vehicle to connect with an audience, which becomes your incentive to write a book, which brings you to a book.

a speaking tour on and on. Like you get the idea. It's trading up from the little fragments of value that surround you. Because if you can recognize them and give them the respect they deserve, you'll see transformation happen. That little mic and the courage to pick it up drove me home from Walgreens that day. It's the reason I'll be speaking in multiple countries over the next few weeks. It's the reason I get to share stories and pour into others with the hope that they do the same

in their world. Look around you. There is value. But the question remains the same, right? Are you willing to, one, identify it and two, capitalize on it? Because a future you, walking out of Walgreens in a few years, will be grateful that you did. Life comes down to what you do with shaky hands. So one of my favorite stories was in South Florida, and there was an open mic night. And I just kind of wandered in there and went up to the front row and was observing. And essentially it was a bunch of poets walking up and kind of doing their stuff on stage. It was like open mic for poets. That's what it was.

And one after another, they're going up, they're reading their poems. Some of them are about love, relationships, other about politics, others about, I mean, the spectrum is really wide all over the place. And then there was this point where they called this girl. And she stands up from the back and makes her way through the room, steps on stage. And so she's right in front of me, right? I'm in the front row. And she grabs the mic.

And you can see her hands sort of trembling as she grabs it. She says, this is the first time I've ever done this. This is the first time I've ever shared my poems. And pulls out her notes on her phone. Again, hand shaking, clearly, clearly terrified. And she starts reading. And, you know, as far as the poem itself, it was good. She was talented.

But that's not even really the point. You know, as she's reading these and her hands are shaking, in my mind I'm just thinking, like, this girl's life is never going to be the same after this, ever. Because she's about to leave the stage and eventually the building, knowing that she could do the thing that terrified her the most and not only endure it, but become, energized by it.

You know, she that day just opened up a trajectory of life that otherwise she just wouldn't have had access to. It wouldn't have been available or possible had she not had the courage to go up there and do that. And it's like it was almost emotional for me because you can just see her fighting through that fear. And you know, your brain goes to maybe, I don't know, her. her in her living room pacing back and forth. Do I do it? Do I not do it? You know, there's a million

excuses, maybe even walking in, like just having the doubt and the insecurity. But to be that nervous that your body's reacting that way and still pushing through because you know changes on the other side is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. And I just think, like, we all have some version of that. It couldn't be a better metaphor. for a stage, right? The stage of life, we all have that next stage that we want to stand on.

And there's resistance, but we know in our hearts, in our souls, we want to be there. We know we'll be better off if we do it, and our life will change, and the trajectory of our lives will change, but it's just that resistance. And I think of her often,

and just if she could have the courage, to do that like we all can and you know when life is easy and we're in our comfort zones and things are normal you know it's great to have those routines and have a solid foundation but life doesn't change unless you do something with shaky hands unless you step onto a stage you know with shaking knees and your your palms sweating makes you ask the question what new stages have you stood on recently like how have you pushed yourself in in some new capacity to break out of normalcy and into something bigger and better because it's there you are the gatekeeper keeping yourself contained you built walls

around your own city. And we all do that. But imagine a world without those walls. Imagine a world where you have the courage to be a little bit bolder in your pursuits. Life is not what happens when things are easy. Life is about what you do with shaky hands. What exactly are you afraid of? What's holding you back? Is the giant rock you inhabit spins to the universe, a speck in a galaxy of stars. It's easy to look out and see the vastness of the world around you and forget entirely about the strength that you possess.

Forget entirely that the mind's capacity is as infinite as those same stars that surround you. I don't think it's that we definitively choose to sell ourselves short. I think we simply lose sight of the fact that we have a say in the matter to begin with. Our fears keep us wishing. Our insecurities keep us hoping. We stay standing still when we should be moving forward.

But truth be told, our pain comes from not doing, but wishing that we did. It's no coincidence that the more we fail, the more we realize life is a game that expands as we put. The power of making mistakes isn't the mistake itself, it's that when we get back up and brush ourselves off, our cognitive mapping of the world changes. We see that we can step out a little further. Our very definition of what's possible expands, and I believe that's what courage is. The willingness to step into that chaos of life, knowing that each time you're going to you find the strength to push forward, you are restructuring your reality.

The resources are there, the tools are there, the opportunity is there, how crazy is the fact that we just need to convince ourselves that more is worth it. That the difficulty of short-term vulnerability isn't an enemy. It's the very ticket required for admission to the show. And so I ask again, what are you afraid of? Falling? Because you will rise and you will rise stronger than you ever were. Is it criticism?

Because one, people are so focused on their own endeavors that they look up way less than we think they do. And two, other than the small group you surround yourself with, why would you care? Is it pride? Because building things of significance. requires starting on the ground floor, and there's no shame but honor in breaking down to build up. And when I look at my life in terms of chapters, right, childhood, high school, college, 20s, 30s, the things that were my biggest concerns during each chapter are now laughable. And maybe, just maybe, if I saw that, I could have lived a little free or been a little bolder.

What if we were to get ahead of that learning curve? What if we understood that life is beautiful and flexible and exciting? And what if we understood that now? Instead of looking at this chapter 15 years down the road and chuckling to ourselves for not having the courage to have made the lead, taken the chance to have moved out into an unknown. We cannot physically see that which doesn't exist, which is why it's so important that we know we are the architect.

That the fear pulsing through our veins is indicating that we are building, that we are choosing to step into a world that will give more if we find the courage to ask. So as this giant rock human habit spins through the universe, a speck in a galaxy of star, perhaps each little light up there exists not to remind you how, small you are, but to remind you that those same elements exist within you. To show you that the fire of a million suns sits in your soul, beats in your chest, waits for your signal now. So what are you afraid of? One of the more powerful realizations I've had, both in business and

life overall, is that what we do to win today and what we do to position ourselves to win tomorrow, they're often very different things. And we've probably all experienced this in some capacity. We get sucked into the cycle of doing, becoming so task-oriented that we don't make time to step back and ask, which direction do I want this ship to go? Because sure, we have to keep it afloat. and we have to keep it afloat now. But also, we have to navigate. The ship's role isn't solely to float, right? It's a transportation mechanism, a vehicle.

Where are we going? And so the question becomes, how do we balance the two? I came across an awesome book by Lee Benson called Your Most Important Number. And I'm about halfway through, but already finding a ton of value that I'll be sharing in the future, primarily around positioning your business for success. And one of the first things the book discusses is the difference between what Lee calls eating and dreaming. Eating being the things we need to do now

to take care of matters that are essential for today, the things that need to get done. So using the same metaphor, actions to keep that boat afloat. And then there's the dreaming, which is essentially doing things now, that help position the organization for success in the future down the road. It's asking, what can I do today that will ensure we are winning tomorrow?

So boat metaphor, it's planning for storms that may arise later in the journey. It's analyzing the best destinations and charting the course. And here's what really struck me. Lee suggests, based on his consulting, that ideally leaders should be, I believe the number was 80% dreaming and 20% percent. eating. So yeah, doing what has to be done today, obviously, but largely focused on positioning the organization and themselves for success in the days to come. And what he's found is that very often out in the world, that ratio is flipped. People are so consumed by the day to day that

the future takes a back seat to the nuance and the quote unquote putting out fires of the present moment. We're spending 80% of our time eating. Now, like most things, this is not one-size-fits-all. Say, front-line manager at a factory is not going to be 80% dreaming and 20% eating. Their task requirements are different. But the point remains, it's imperative that we, in some capacity, utilize our resources now to look ahead. I don't know if I've ever told this story, but I always joke around with my brother about it. When we were kids in Southern California, we'd have these...

basically battles on the beach, right, where we'd go down to the hard sand right in front of the water. And we'd each build these little wall slash fort type things, maybe 20 feet apart from each other. This is like emulating World War I type stuff. And then we'd make cannon balls out of sand and just throw the sand at each other. So in a way, this is a perfect metaphor because we would always be juggling on my one hand, building the fort that would protect us from the other person. So, dreaming. And then on the other hand, I mean, those things hurt, right? We'd have to in real time be dodging incoming sand simultaneously to building that wall. So the eating. And he's a bit younger than me, so admittedly,

this wasn't really fair. But regardless, you know, he would get so consumed with throwing sand that his wall would be really cheaply made. At the beginning, I'd be trying to make this really solid base foundation. He would just be pelting me with this stuff, and it was brutal. But as time went on, I'd build that wall higher and higher. Eventually, it would be lights out for him. He'd have nothing to hide behind. The young buck was doing, let's say, way less than 80% dreaming.

And so I'm no longer building castles in the sand. But as the rose said, now I'm looking to build them in the air, seeking to bring things into life that are merely ideas and concepts in my head. And naturally, this prompted me to ask, well, what's my ratio now? Because it sure feels like I'm doing a lot of eating. It sure feels like I spend a lot of time every day, you know, dodging Mikey peas, incoming sand cannon balls, right? Things are going to be different tomorrow than they are today. And to truly win, we need to be asking ourselves, how do we build that bridge from the present to the future?

How do we lay out stepping stones that will allow an evolution in what we're doing? And I'm thinking, if my day's 95% consumed with eating-type tasks, then I need to figure things out here, right? Is it automate? Is it eliminate? Is it delegate? It's something because the ship needs to be more effectively captained. And I'd love these epiphanies. Just a change in mindset that can completely redirect one's entire trajectory.

And it's funny, I was having a conversation earlier today with a friend about scaling and impact and growth. Another person I love to throw ideas back and forth to. And he asked me, well, Eddie, what are some of the ways your world within could make money? And I was like, oh, it's easy, right? And so I laid it all out in great detail, the ins and outs. And he says, that's awesome. But that's not the question I asked you. You answered a different question.

You answered, how is the business making money now? I asked, how can it make money in the future? Boom, another epiphany. One of those instances where you catch yourself thinking small. And this isn't a knock on the work I'm doing now or the systems in place now. They're great now. but again, now isn't forever.

If you have plans to add more value and create more impact, build more things, that has to be baked into your time and resource allocation. We all have to eat because we don't want to starve, but we also have to dream. Because if we're unable to look ahead, we simply will not be equipped to handle the turbulence of tomorrow. There's a duality to this game.

And I think the ratio with which we're juggling the two deserves consistent attention and examination. Now, yeah, life is seasonal. There are times where keeping that ship afloat takes everything we have, but it's understanding that that is a season and not the way things are.

Dreaming allows us to start moving in the right direction, even if it's one small step at a time. Building today piece by piece, something we can stand. on tomorrow, a staircase, to the version 2.0 and 3.0 and 4.0. The future depends on what we do today, and so we must create space for that seed to grow. We must chart the course and captain the ship to the next horizon. Stop protecting what you've built. Like what you've built is what holds the value.

No, the value is in the builder. His or her knowledge and ability to build again and again if they so desire. On an episode last week, I talked about a conversation recently had at a mastermind in Santa Monica. I want to pass along one more piece of wisdom from that day that I found to be incredibly valuable. This was just a random comment made by someone in the group. And so to kick off the scenario, someone asks everyone in the room, hey, but what if things don't work out? And it was more specific. I forget exactly what it was, something along the lines of what if the monthly revenue decreases, or what if my target or my intended outcome doesn't evolve or unfold the way I wanted it to? what then? Is it worth taking the risk? And this person stands up and says, listen, we need to stop

looking at our businesses like it is the only business, like it is something that needs to be protected, that if it falls down or if it's taken away, it's over, it's the end of us. We are entrepreneurs, which means the power and strength is in our ability to build again, not the thing that's built, right? Theoretically, we should be able to do this over and over and over again. And what we do, and obviously I'm paraphrasing all of this, right? But what we do is we put cages around ourselves and our potential. You know, we shackle ourselves to the current moment instead of taking the necessary risks

because we're thinking, what if we lose it all? Well, fine. It's the ability to build again. And I loved the idea because, man, it's relatable to me. I have three businesses I'm growing right now, and every single one of them, I find myself playing conservative at times, not wanting to break the momentum or what's going. I've spent a decade building this, and the most valuable thing I've acquired or produced is not the company. It's the ability to add value.

That's what's been built. And even if the physical company disappeared overnight, no one can take what's been learned. I think it was in the book The Happiness Hypothesis, which was one of the first books I read almost a decade ago prior to starting my personal brand and really beginning my journey. And the idea was, like, you could take everything away from the top, I don't know, two to five percent. Maybe it was all the way up to 10. And they would reacquire it in the next 10 years. Because it's not the stuff they had that made the difference. It was their ability to acquire it.

Their understanding of the world. Not looking at life through a scarcity mindset, but an abundance mindset, positioning themselves to build and grow. That's something that cannot be. taken away. This is all a message that is hitting at the exact time I need to hear it. Be bold. No,

that's not bold. That's maintenance. That's doing what you've always done. Plus, maybe a little extra here or there. Truly living is about uncapping yourself in totality. Really reaching. Because you know that it's not the entity that holds the value. It's the one

or ones who brought it to life. It's crazy to me. that even when you are aware of fear, when you understand our proclivity to play scared, right, you get it, it's something we need to look out for. Even then, do we still find in our own lives places where we're limiting ourselves?

As if the fear just hides in the shadows, controlling the subconscious from a distance, like a puppet master, strength, growth, evolution is the ability to find that fear and dismantle it. As was said to me a few years ago, most actions are reversible, right? Meaning you can make a mistake and it can be reversed. It can almost always be fixed, or at least re-approach from a more intelligent angle. But what certainly cannot be fixed or changed or adjusted are roads never walked.

Adventures never begun. And with a scarcity mindset, you spend your entire life in your corner protecting the little fragments of life you've collected along the way. That's it. But if you can flip that, if you can find a way to see the abundance, the value, the infinite opportunity, you realize it's not in those little fragments you've collected, but the understanding that you can always collect more, and not only that, build something beautiful with them. Not only acquire more, but use them to create a new reality.

Bend and shape the word normal like it's clay. Like the world around you is not giving orders, but taking them. You hold the value, not what you've made. You. We've all heard give a boy a fish, feed him for a day, teach him to fish, feed him for life. I'm going to give it my all, make it my priority to remember every step along the way that it's in my ability to fish that value exists. If I'm not able to catch anything on a particular day, life moves on and so do I. If what I've caught goes bad or expires, life moves on and so do I.

It's in the action. It's in the doing. That's not only why you can, take the risk and shoot for the moon. It's why you must. What if those less than ideal things in our lives? Right? So our limitations, our constraints. The aspects of life we consider to be, you know, a bad hand. What if they weren't just things we need to learn to accept

or little tragedies we have to live with? What if they were ultimately the aspects of our lives that create the best of us, the elements of our world that push us to our greatness. And this came to mind earlier. I was listening to a book called How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson. And he explores this point. He talks about Socrates in ancient Athens and how he lived in abject poverty, how according to the standards of ancient Athens, was not an attractive person by any means.

just seemed to have a lot working against him. And the question that's posed is whether these exact circumstances ultimately created the man that became one of the most important thinkers in history. He implies that his reality and his surroundings shaped his worldview, so it only makes sense for one to conclude that all of it contributed to the life he lived. If Socrates was born wealthy and attractive and all of him, all these things, could he have become the man that he became? Probably not.

And the reason I love this is because, to put it simply, it reframes those less than ideal circumstances in our lives. Whether it is a personal trait we have no control over or an occurrence we deal with. It's understanding that a lack of ability in one area helps guide us to that spot where we can thrive. A disappointment we encounter helps us regroup and make our way to the thing that

is ultimately best. The less than ideal, the things that at surface levels seem bad or problematic, they're always working for us to push us towards our contentment and our growth

to our greatness. I can say on my end, it was the turbulence I experienced in my life that created that sense of curiosity for me. It was a lack of understanding that pushed me to write about life. Explore the hardships we face

and the resilience of the human spirit through it all. It's a pretty famous stoic idea that states, we can't often control what happens, but we can always control how we respond to what happens. And there lies the power and the understanding

that when one door closes, as the saying goes. You are pushed closer to the one that will open for you. You have to decide whether you will find it within yourself to open it. Or will you focus on the lack,

the gap, what's not there, what you don't have, what went wrong. See, all those things, the things that most people use as their reason to stop or quit or not go,

they can be the reason you lose, or they can be the very reason you win, you find a way. But that means moving forward, trusting there is good to be had, understanding that everything that goes creates space for what truly needs to be there. I understand it's common, right? But it's not just a cliche that adversity creates us, that difficult times shape us. Why? Because we are transformed by the bad.

and the difficult, and that which in the moment does not seem ideal. Because they force us to move further into what we were meant to do and who we were meant to be. Just like Socrates was created from his adverse situation, his brilliance derived from his circumstance, your greatness will be derived from yours. So remember that next time you feel as though you've been slighted by life Or something's been taken away from you While it may feel negative and I get it from time to time it does It ultimately becomes the wind at your back

Bringing you where you most need