Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - Win the Morning, Win the Day: Daily Motivation to Transform Your Life

Episode Date: January 17, 2025

Stop apologizing for being you. In a world that often pressures us to fit molds and follow paths not meant for us, this episode is a powerful reminder to embrace your individuality. Your failures are stepping stones, your unique perspective is a gift, and your courage to take the road less traveled is a testament to your strength. This isn’t about conforming—it’s about standing tall in your truth and letting it light up the world. You don’t need permission to want more, to challenge norms, or to pursue what sets your soul on fire. Your differences are not flaws; they’re your superpowers. Let this episode inspire you to unapologetically own who you are and live boldly, authentically, and without restraint. The world doesn’t need more replicas—it needs more of you. Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletter Free Ebook: www.eddiepinero.com/ebook  YouTube: www.eddiepinero.com/youtube 

Stop apologizing. Stop apologizing for who you are, what you believe and how you see the world. Stop apologizing for your failures. They lift you up. They push you to be more. Stop apologizing for being different, unusual or unique. There's a saying that if you are lucky enough to be different, don't ever change. embrace that, hold it. Stop apologizing for taking a path less traveled for breaking away from the pack.

It's not an insufficiency. It doesn't mean you couldn't go their way. It means you had the courage to be yourself in a world trying to make you someone else. Stop apologizing for words that don't align with someone else's ideology or worldview. Your job is isn't to appease or conform, is to grab hold of what lights a fire in you and use it to brighten the world around you. Stop apologizing for your dreams. It's okay to not be content where you are.

It's okay to want to grow, to become more. The roots planting them to the ground, they are not yours. And why waste the opportunity beyond the horizon of your current existence. See, having the courage of your convictions is like unlocking your mind. Realizing that, yeah, you have the key

and you've had it all along. No one else gets to set your parameters. They don't get to tell you what's right or what to believe. The people around you are not moral arbiters. They're not protectors of truth. Remember that. Remember that no one. knows better than you what's best for you. That's why there's power and intuition in following your

beliefs, your strengths, in doing what makes you happy, relentlessly pursuing what makes you feel alive. The thing about dreams, ideas, potential, they're always meaningless until they're not. See, everything is crazy until it exists. So protect it. Don't bow down to pressures of now simply because you have not yet built tomorrow. You will. If you want it, you will. Some messages, they are incredibly simple, and this, my friends, is one of those. You have everything you need to become who you want to be right now.

As you listen to this in real time, you don't need approval or permission or acceptance. need to belong or be told it's normal, you simply need to start to know that you will pick yourself up when you fall and keep going. Not apologize, but continue placing one foot in front of the other. Not look externally for a will to carry on that only exists within you. See, the second you begin rewriting the rules, changing the game, you put yourself in position to emerge victorious. If you have built your castles in the air, your work need not be lost. That is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them. A foundation is not made in a day. It's not flimsy or weak. It's what holds everything together and without it you have useless pieces. Thoreau mentions a castle in the air, a goal.

The answer resting above us, hovering over everything and everyone. But until we put life into it, that castle remains four walls and empty space. It stays part of an imaginary world. See, most people never get there because they don't understand. They have complete authority over what's real, They set the guidelines with a magic that looks a lot like a single step forward, with fiction that very closely resembles progress. Edison said opportunity is missed by most people because it's dressed in overalls and looks like hard work.

It's not that people are lazy. It's not that they're incapable. It's that they don't realize how small a step is required to build momentum. to turn a snowflake into an avalanche. See, you look at that castle in the sky and you shake your head. You think how nice it would be. You flip on the TV. Fantasize about million-dollar homes.

Debate whether athletes are officially elite. When you could be building a foundation for yourself, doing something for you, all those things you want can be realized, every one of them. But the road to excellence means nothing if you don't believe you're worthy of it. You are. Start building.

You will be blown away by where this life can take you where you can end up. Your goals take shape the minute they enter your brain. Never has there been such a powerful tool as the human mind.

The same entity that can build a bridge to anything in the world can shackle you down. Listen, that visualization, that dream is there. It's there. There and it's very real, not to keep you out, but to invite you in.

And you will see that the only true fiction in your life is the narrative you use that hold you back. You want that castle in the air, get it, stop dreaming about it, wishing for it, and make it happen. There's an old quote that stays 80% of life is showing up. Now, showing up means many different things to many different people, but the idea is not complicated. You can't do anything of significance unless you have first and foremost arrived. Which brings me to today. See, I had a list of concepts I've been excited to talk about, things that I've either read or have been recent epiphanies in my life, and I can't wait to

share those with you. But this morning, oh, let me tell you about this morning. I'm Finding the energy to do anything. It felt like trying to squeeze blood from a rock. I woke up with a headache, exhausted, because I didn't sleep at all the night before. And you know that feeling. Like, when you didn't sleep at all the night before, you're oddly constantly reminding yourself

the next day that you didn't sleep. And everything just felt off. And really, as I'm speaking now, things still kind of do. And so I got up and I sort of played with the idea of taking the day off altogether. Maybe I'm due for one anyway. I thought about resting. The little devil with the pitchfork on my shoulder

continuously reminded me how great sleep would feel. And I was sitting there kind of weighing my options. Took some ipuprofen, started the coffee, sat down on the couch, just kind of looking at the wall, what to do, what to do. But realistically, I knew. And I want to explain why. Over the years, I've taught myself through repetition that sitting down and writing and recording, unless I plan intentionally to do otherwise, is it non-negotiable. It's helped me see that the goal, in any meaningful pursuit, should be getting to the point where despite the circumstances, you show up.

Stephen Presfield, whose voice often echoes in my mind when I come face to face with these situations. He wrote, art is war. Between ourselves and the forces of self-sabotage that would stop us from doing our work. The artist is a warrior. Artist being anyone bringing something to the world that does not yet exist. And he goes on to describe the battle with the mind over city. sitting down in that chair and writing when we know we must write but don't want to. When a tired or distracted mind begins looking for off-ramps, as mine clearly started doing this

morning. These seemingly trivial moments, when any rational soul could argue for the validity of postponing their date with Microsoft Word, will they come to matter more than ever because greatness is a byproduct of intentionality? If you become accustomed to breaking promises to yourself, if you leave that door cracked for exceptions here and there, it will ultimately be kicked open. And that's why I inject little reminders like that into my life

to keep that mental muscle working. For example, there can never be dishes left in my sink when I go to bed. Why? Because if I skip it once, there will always exist reasons to skip again. It's a very easy thing to not care about. Because here is the reality. Progress is a lifestyle. Growth is a lifestyle.

At least if we're talking about any meaningful type of evolution. I just finished reading, It Takes What It Takes, by Trevor Maud. One of those three to five hour listens on Audible, depending on how fast it's playing, really packs a punch. And I'm going to be diving into a few of his concepts a little more in the coming weeks. But one thing he discusses that I found incredibly valuable is the illusion of choice.

And what the illusion of choice highlights is that there are a set of behaviors that must be carried out to be effective. The idea of alternate roots is an illusion. There are no choices when it comes to what's necessary. We know what must be done to win. Now, knowing that is one thing. Knowing that and having to propel yourself to action when you feel like garbage is something different entirely. But that's why it's so valuable to get to that place

where you can take the emotion out, remove the internal deliberation, and automate the things you know are going to help push you to be that better version of yourself. In other words, you show up for you, period, and that is a non-negotiable. That's the level we all need to get to. And I'm thinking about this drawing parallels to a lot of different aspects of my day, right, the interval training I have this afternoon.

When you're exhausted, 40 minutes in and are switching from squats to mountain climbers or whatever it is, right, instructor makes the announcement, I don't think about anything. I don't give myself a chance to try and rationalize any weakness. I know. If this is important to me, keep that door shut. No thinking just doing next. Simply doing what you always do, what you've signed up for,

cannot be self-perceived as some monumental sacrifice. No, it's just what you do. It's neutral. Sometimes you feel like it. Sometimes you don't. But you do what you do. you do. And that puts you on track to accomplish some incredible things. And so remembering this, ultimately pushed me through that studio door this morning and placed me down right in front of my

mic. Sure, I had to adjust some things. Definitely picked some, you know, mellower music, there's going to be no crescendos today or my head will explode. But this is not torture. In fact, I'm really happy with the way the episode's turning out. I would have missed it out on something that I think is going to be pretty valuable in a variety of ways. But what I'm telling myself is that this is not a victory. It's certainly not defeat. It's just what I do. And so the question worth asking yourself, when facing the adversity life presents,

in whatever arena you were in, is are you willing to show up for you? Can you turn that internal deliberation switch off when it comes to the necessities before you? Minimize that rationalizing that I battled with this morning. We don't need or want that. There should be no thinking, no crack doors, no metaphorical dishes in the sink. If you decide something is important and you sign that dotted line when it's time to execute, you act. And then you move directly onto the next. The goal is to not even negotiate with weakness.

Now that's not to say Pressfield's aforementioned War of Art won't rage on as you journey to the new horizons you've set out for. But just like anything, it's an understanding that will help you focus. It will help you say no to the distractions and the minutia and continue writing your story, constructing your reality line by line and piece by piece. Strong enough is all life asks of us.

Strong enough to carry on. Strong enough to take an uncertain step forward. Strong enough to be better than we were yesterday. Everything starts with strong enough. The decision to make a single move towards an existence that is not yet yours, not yet. But it's arguable that understanding it could be yours is a greater accomplishment than making it so. As the old Latin proverb states, once you've started, you're halfway there. Halfway, not because you found a shortcut or some previously undisclosed path,

but because convincing yourself that you have everything you need is the greatest barrier to entry. It's the wall around the castle. And once you scale that, well, everything else works itself out with time. But life asks that we be strong enough to start the clocks.

It asks that we have the strength to begin. See, because just as things start with strong enough, well, they could just as easy, find their end there as well. How many journeys weren't started because we forgot that our responsibility wasn't to suddenly arrive at the destination, but rather find the courage to take a small step in that direction. How much of ourselves do we leave on the shelf because we forgot that transformation overnight wasn't the goal but rather a trust in the process, the heart to paint

a first stroke, make a first call, walk out the door, strong enough can be an ending or a beginning. It's a fire that can enhance, it can nourish, or it can burn out. And that is perhaps the greatest question of our lives when the time approaches. When life demands more of us, will we only see the finish line, the mountaintops, the vastness of the terrain, will we feel small and inadequate? Or will we remember that we are strong enough to advance to push back against the chaos of life? And that's not only all that's required of us, but it's the key to everything worth doing. The start of transformation, the seeds of beauty, the foundation of impact. That is our challenge. Where some,

down to the impossible. You have to see it for what it is, the many possibilities that comprise it, the hope, the understanding that an improved existence is about having the strength, not to change reality in one foul swoop, but to carry on to take another step and see

that as time unfolds, those steps become the blueprint to a better tomorrow. Those steps, that courage, That strength is everything you'll ever need. The difficulty we face in life is not personal. If you remember this, you disarm every adversary obstacle, every complication you'll ever face.

So, quick story. Recently, I was renewing a lease for my apartment. Something that usually is pretty simple, right? Only this time things were not simple. Confusion, chaos, misunderstanding, after misunderstanding. I received emails and letters saying, you know, you need to provide these documents in order to renew. You need to have X, Y, Z information submitted to as a sap. I'm sitting here thinking, guys, you have all this info.

I've lived here a year. Same guy, let's put two and two together. And after a while, I started to get truly annoyed, eventually to the point of taking it personally. So I stopped what I was doing and go down to the front office thinking I'm going to go scorched earth here. I really wanted to emphasize how absurd and ridiculous all this was. I opened the door.

It just kind of stop in my tracks. First thing I see is a crowded room filled with tenants, asking for things, making requests, looking for info. And the people that worked there were so patient and kind, running around doing their absolute best to make everyone happy and get everything done. And almost immediately I realized, Eddie, you made this about you. This is not in any way about you. Basically, I created this fallacy that because things weren't working the way I wanted them to,

then there must have been some universal resistance, right? There's an idea I heard a while back that very rarely steers me wrong, it's that two things can simultaneously be true at once. So in this case, is there opportunity for these guys to tighten up a bit, bring more clarity to their operations and best practices? Yeah, certainly true. But on the other hand, was building this up. up as a them versus me match in my head dumb and counterproductive.

Yes, also true. The world will always provide adversity, right? That's not news to anyone. It's just what the world does. That adversity will take a thousand different shapes and appear an infinite number of ways. But here's the deal. Life is neutral. Things just happen.

They aren't good or bad. They just exist in the ethereal. We, as storytellers, decide to put a charge into things. We decide whether it's happening to us or for us. We choose. And that's a takeaway here. There's power in remembering not to take things personally in any aspect of life. Because when we do, we actually lose our grip on reality.

We become emotional and not rational. And this is visible everywhere. Take rejection, for example, something we all deal with. It's not personal. The person on the other end is thinking about themselves. They're locked in on their own incentives. They're not thinking about you. And however you feel about this, it's just the truth.

So assess the situation. Sure, maybe find some areas where you can improve and carry on. Being mistreated. Again, not about you. As the saying goes, hurt people, hurt people. Same goes for criticism and hate online. It's something that a lot of people truly fear. It will almost always be true

that people who are more accomplished than you or further along in their career trajectory won't waste time bringing you down in the comments section. No, it's people saying things hoping that their comments will get approval and attention so they can feel validated. Their actions are being carried out for, ready for this, themselves. And to misdiagnose or take it as a shot to the heart,

well, that's creating a battle scenario that doesn't need to exist. It's not them versus you, it's them versus them. You're just in the crossfire. Now, does this perspective or point to not take things personally, mean that we abdicate personal responsibility. Does it mean we say, well, it's not me, it's the world, so not my problem? No, of course not. This perspective gives you the power to do the right things and the necessary things

because you understand that the problems you face are not a giant indictment of you as a person. Getting angry creates a scenario where, you know, you really, reallocate your energy from doing what's best for you to instead being mad at him or her or this group or that circumstance or the world in general. You know, bad things happen. And by the way, they happen to everyone. Everyone gets rejected at some point. Everyone gets let down by people close to them at some point. Everyone loses their way at some point.

Everyone has their expectations fall short. Everyone has pushback. it's not just you. It's the world doing what the world does. And there's 8 billion of us running around operating in our best interest, trying to navigate a big, crazy world that's often incredibly difficult to understand.

So with this perspective, going forward, my lesson from a few weeks ago, what would I have done differently during all that chaos with the apartment? A handful of things. First of all, remind myself that, In the grand scheme of things, it's trivial. It's just not that important.

Two, understand incentives. These folks aren't trying to make things hard for me. They're trying to do their jobs well so they can live their best lives, which brought their attention to other things. It happens. And three, when you're calm, you can actually solve the problems at hand. When you don't stack your problems up to look like, adversaries working against you.

When you instead see them as merely a challenge or puzzle to be solved, life starts to look a lot different. It just feels different to walk around as though life is on your side, as though hardship is nothing more than the water necessary for the seed to grow, as though all those challenges you face are opportunities being presented to you. Because I'm not sure you can simultaneously fight and solve. I think one of our most important decisions is to select one. You can make the rejection, an opponent, the criticism, a rival, you can make the disorder your nemesis.

Or you can realize that all of it falls squarely into the box that is like pieces to be taken out one by one so that you can construct the ideal. Life comes down to the advantages that exist all around us, the choices we make, to live freely with the wind at our backs or confined by the walls we build around ourselves. And sure, your current obstacles might be because of decisions you've made, maybe even decisions you wish you could take back. But the current moment right now in this second is neutral. It does not hold a grudge or have an agenda now, right now, is simply right now. In the same way that 2 plus 2 is 4. 4 is not good or bad.

It doesn't want you to win or lose. It's just 4. Same goes for the crossroads before you. And that puts the onus entirely on you to decide what you will make it all mean. Will you slow things down to find clarity? will you open your eyes to see the value? Because look, there will always be a delta between reality and the stories we tell ourselves about reality.

That's just how human beings work. It's how we've managed to survive for millennia. So understand that and gift yourself the narratives that bring you closer to the place you want to be. The road before you will be challenging. Not because it's pushed back, personal but because amidst the resistance you'll find the components you need to live your very best life you're right where you need to be sure you have your doubt perhaps you feel tired alone

fearful maybe you're trying to make sense of a world that feels too complex Or all you see and here are reasons to turn back, to find shelter, to run, don't. Regardless of how hard it seems, don't. You are right where you need to be. Turning thoughts to things, making life from dreams, what makes change so interesting. So powerful yet deceptive. is that it comes to us in small doses. Not a tidal wave of transformation, but a slow,

steady, rising tide of progress. No one feels the tug of erosion, yet it chips away. And so do you. Removing piece by piece behold you. The world you're moving away from, and piece by piece, you unveil the promise of your becoming. You may not see the whole picture. You may not understand the whole story, but right now, in real time, it's being told.

And you are right where you need. We just weren't equipped to understand what that looks like. It's never been what you see that makes you uneasy. It's what's missing. That's what hurts. The solutions you wanted. The changes you accept. expected the finish lines you envision.

It's the wondering, how long must I wait? Did I make a wrong turn as the joke on me? But it's this line of questioning that causes so many to stop. Unaware of how close they were, ignorant to the foundation they were standing on. What you need is not a miracle. It's to simply carry on. To keep laying those bricks because not a one is wasted. And sometimes you don't realize you're on the 80th floor until you look down.

That climb can be frustrating, exhausting. It isn't always glamorous, but it's necessary. and strength comes from understanding that truth, you are right where you need to be. The world, it can't take what you refuse to give it, and self-belief is non-negotiable. It's off the table, your most prized possession. So hold it tight,

because it'll be needed when the journey feels long and the road impossible. You'll know that you can always take one step forward, and that is the essence of life, of growth, of progress. Think about the steps, the lessons, the self-discovery that led you to this intersection of now and forever. This beginning of whatever you decide comes next. You are right where you need to be because you are armed with the decisions that brought you to today and the courage to let them carry you into tomorrow.

You could be anywhere. But you're here. And as you strap up and settle in, you'll see that right here is everything. When the path is uncertain. We seek out footprints from journeys that occurred long ago. Opinions from people who know no better than us. We look for things that can't be given but must be made. I once heard Charlie Munger say that we are our own experiment.

Life is the extraordinary, arranged in infinite pieces and placed inside a box, waiting for us to uncover and unfold parts that contain no meaning until we place meaning upon them. And the danger of looking externally for answers is that no one knows you better than You. Life is a playground, an experiment, a place to try new things, push, boundaries, build, fail and ultimately build again. This is the process from which we see what we're made of. Who we really are, uncover what the best book, the most intelligent being on the planet

can't give to you. It's where you learn that wandering is not the same. same as lost. See, we must retreat to the depths of vulnerability in order to come back stronger than we've ever been. We must self-examine in order to find our wings. The Bill Gates of the world, the Picasso's of the world, they disappeared for 10 years until they came back equipped to transform everything around them to explore, build,

create themselves, to acquire something that mere and... Advice is incapable of providing. Don't deprive yourself of that because of the pressures right now. See, when we realize that falling 10 times brings us contentment on the 11th, falling is nothing to be ashamed of. It's something to be sought out. By falling, I learn to succeed. By losing, I learn to win.

By looking like the fool I learned to lead. By wandering off the paved road, I created the map from my soul to where I was meant to be. Mark Twain said the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why. The first gets you into the show. And the second asks, what will you do with your time here? What will you make of this sunrise? because we only get so many

and I think there's immense value in understanding that each and every one of us are here to lead this place better than we found it to stand up when we could be sitting down, step out, and make something of the chaotic and often hard to understand world around us. When you realize the miracle that is your existence, when you understand the almost impossible odds of you being here,

thinking, feeling, breathing in the air around you, you begin to see the value of today. Because it's not an obligation, it's a currency, the most precious of commodities. Today is your time to step into that new version of yourself. to see something more so that you can begin the process of creating something more. Because the truth is life will always be what you decide it is. If you walk up to your window, look through the blind and decide what you see is the finale,

the final script, that's exactly what it will be. But if you see right now as a beautiful beginning, the initiation of the ride of a lifetime, a transport to the next version of you and the next and the next, then you are signing up for a world without limit. A world where you can feel what it's like to be tested and endure. To be lost, but finds your way. To build something meaningful out of the seemingly meaningless.

That's why you're here. That's what it means to truly live. Today is your day. Your chance, don't let it slip away from you, don't be fooled into thinking it's less than it really is. It is your ticket to infinity. A journey that starts when you decide it does. When you look out at that vast unknown and say, I'm not going to settle for anything less than a life of adventure. I want the challenges, the turbulence, the losses and the battles, they will bring me to a place. I could never have arrived at otherwise. You get from life what you give. So give it all. Leave no path unwalk, no stone unturned. Today is the most important day of your life

because it will connect the you of yesterday to the limitless you of every day that comes next. We have a desire to define that which is a desire define that which is often undefinable. When it comes to life and its highly coveted outcomes, assessing the things that we want, we use probability to solidify things that are entirely fluid. For example, you often hear about the odds of becoming a professional football player, the odds of becoming a CEO of going to Harvard, making six or seven figures, numbers that often paint a picture of why you can't.

When you hear only one in however many millions of people accomplish something, the intent is to show you that you're more likely to fall into the millions bucket than the one bucket. To show just how rare or difficult or out of the ordinary achieving that thing would be. Almost like they're being compared to a lottery, a random number generator, luck, a pursuit in which you have zero control. Think of a huge glass jar, right? one red marble, three million green marbles, and it's like you close your eyes and you better pull out that red one, otherwise you won't become the Oscar winning actor that you dream of being.

And the problem with looking at life that way is that it overshadows the most important element of success, understanding just how much control you have. The one in however many hundreds or thousands or millions wasn't born that red marble in a double. jar full of three million green ones. No, he or she just did things differently, live differently. They didn't relinquish control. They took control. And that's the difference. That's what matters. The lottery is sitting back and hoping your numbers pull. In real life, you create your own probability every day, every minute that goes towards working towards a goal. That means you get closer. Why would you take a snapshot of the present moment in time and use that to define the

likelihood that you'll live out your dreams someday down the road? It doesn't tell you anything. It's the steps along the way that make your vision a reality. Using the same metaphor, every step, every decision to push forward, every time you dig deep and find a little advantage, you're replacing one of those green marbles with the red one. Maybe you can't quantify that numerically. Maybe you You can't see the progress, but it's there. In fact, numbers should never scare you because they're an indicator that the vast majority of people aren't prepared to go all the way, aren't willing to do what it takes, and that you, by simply not stopping, by thinking that you can, by giving more than the person next

to you, have a tremendous advantage over the rest of the world. When you hear only a small number of people make it or graduate or get accepted or win, Your thought process shouldn't be, oh no, it should be perfect. This is my opportunity. Of course the number of elite people in any arena is going to be small. Think of what it takes to get there. Think of the sacrifice needed to make it happen, the costs that must be paid. The only odds that warrant attention are the odds that you will continue forward and you

should know that they are 100%. Because when you trust yourself to find a way, when you focus on how to make it happen, you have an advantage. The world around you, they focus on why things can't happen. They see what can go wrong. They harp on the fact that it's not easy. Remaining fixated on why you can, on finding a way means you most likely will. The terms difficult or demanding or even unlikely, they have nothing to do with you crossing that finish line. If you are 100% convinced, you are going to do just that. Words like difficult, they just imply that there's going to be plenty of opportunities to quit and turn around along the

way, a temptation that must and will be ignored. They mean that you will be tested, that you will have to ask yourself potentially numerous times if this means something to you, if it's truly worth it. And if the answer is yes, then the numbers, the probability, the odds, they are not an adversary, they are an ally. You can allow yourself to be distracted. Or, as Robin Sharma suggests, you can do incredible things, but you can't do both. You can stay where the safety and security is, or you can risk what you have in pursuit of your dreams, but you can't do both. You can remain the character depicted in yesterday's story, or you can take those lessons, experiences and craft a new story.

But you cannot do both. Life is a game of trade-offs. Where any decision to go in one direction is a simultaneous decision to not go in another. A commitment to X is necessarily a rejection of Y, at least in that moment. Making this question all the more important, And what is your North Star?

I ask, because everything you do is bringing you closer to or holding you back from capturing it. One of my lifelines over the years has been clinging to the quote or idea that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Consistently trying to arrive there. Why? Because when things get complex in my life, I don't know what I'm choosing. Clutter means I've lost sight of what's necessary versus what's trivial. I become unclear on those critical trade-offs I'm making. And we've all experienced this, right?

The simplest questions are always the hardest to arrive at. We can talk in circles about the details. But how often are we honest with ourselves about the why? I remember job interviews in college going on and on about the books I read, the papers that written, current events. but then falling flat on my face when asked So who's Eddie Panero? A dude doing an interview?

Like, what do you want from me? My brain had never gone there. Or even less formal. I'll never forget a friend of mine a few years back asked me what my perfect day was, just casually as we're driving. I said, I don't know, Tom. I've never really thought about that.

He goes, then how are you ever supposed to have a perfect day if you don't know? And how simple? Simple and simultaneously incredible. Who wants a life without perfect days, right? Like, what is all this for? The world is infinite. And you can be ruled by its variability and its complexity.

You can run around adhering to all its rules, hoping you're doing the right thing, whatever that is. Or you can identify, carve out, and rule over your own little piece of it, your own kingdom. You can choose you if you take the time to uncover who you are, what lights you up. And then, as Emerson advocates, hits your wagon to that star. The best investment of our time is to truly understand and decide what we should be saying yes to. Because if we don't know what matters, then nothing does.

Here's a famous dialogue from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Alice, would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here? That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the cat. Well, I don't much care where, said Alice. Then it doesn't matter which way you go, said the cat. Well, so long as I get somewhere, Alice added as an explanation. Oh, you're sure to do that, said the cat. If only you walk long enough.

Beautiful passage. If you don't care where you go, any road will take you there. And see, it's not wrong to not know. It doesn't make you bad or mean life is a waste of time. It just means you're taking a large portion of control, which is one of your superpowers and tossing it up into the ether. It means you are bowing to hope. And I know that no one here wants to live every day merely clinging to hope.

This is not a we'll see how it goes, channel or podcast, right? This is about the little changes that take life from a six out of ten to a nine or a ten out of ten. It's about using what's around us to maximize the miracle we are living and breathing every day. Again, life is complex. So for you to take the time and simplify to remove what's unnecessary, what an advantage. Yeah, I could do this or that. I could go here or there. But guess what? I've spent the time thinking, asking myself the tough questions, and now I can be more deliberate in choosing my path so that I arrive at a correct destination. A destination that belongs to me, that means something to me, that lights me up and excitement.

me. That's living. And of course this isn't a one-time lightbulb moment, a permanent move. No, as we grow, we change. What we want shifts. Hey, sometimes the current path even reveals itself to be the wrong path. It's happened to me plenty. But when you're consistently in tune with what matters to you, who you are, you can make the adjustments. You can be deliberate. No more shooting targets in the dark because life is too short. Our days numbered are arrows finite. Live life like each day means something. Because each day is transporting you to your something.

Let's use the pieces around us to build our own skylines, etch our own stories into the sands of time. If a decision to do one thing is a simultaneous decision to not do something else, make sure to have that North Star in scope so that you don't amidst that chaos of life, unknowingly turn your back on it. Ask yourself who you are. And be as patient as possible working for that answer. Because as far as I can tell, that information is the key that unlock

This infinite possibility. It's knowledge that opens the door to life on your terms. Invision a boat making its way through the water. Moving further and further from sight, just a tiny object amidst an enormous ocean. Its journey comprised of endless possibilities, unlimited potential. Its destination could be anywhere in the world. And while observing this boat as it glides over the water, nothing is more apparent than the freedom it contains.

The beauty in knowing that it can follow its soul into the sunset if it so desires. If you look on to this phenomenon, you'll notice that it sheds no light on where the boat has been, nor on what has brought it to this point. You won't see the wrong turns taken, the mistakes made, nor the obstacles that were overcome to get here. What you will see is a seemingly fresh start, where every second of every minute is a new opportunity for the boat to go where it wants to go. To be what it wants to be. Its wake has no impact on its course.

This is one of the most beautiful things about being alive. Every single day provides a blank page in your story for you to fill out as you see fit. Old habits, friends, mistakes, expectations, they exist in whatever capacity you allow them to. But they are not you. They are not indicative of your potential. You are the captain of your ship. Always barbarians at the gate. And I mean this in the sense that the second we give less than our best, the second we let up.

It's not just that we allow the important things to fade. No, we let the outside world infiltrate our existence. In the history of civilizations by Will Durant, he said something that I found incredibly interesting. He's talking about the fall of the Assyrian Empire, and he says barbarism is always around civilization, emit it and beneath it, ready to engulf it by arms or mass migration or unchecked fertility, barbarism is like the jungle. It never admits its defeat. It waits patiently to recover the territory it has lost.

See, in those civilizations, Durant speaks of, they knew they were always living with a threat of an attack by outside forces that oppose it, knowing that calm and quiet wasn't the rule, but the exception to the rule. And in its weakest moments, it crumbles. In fact, Durand says societies are born stoic and they die Epicurean, right? Created from discipline, but fall apart when people take what they have for granted, when pleasure and leisure become the standard.

It's almost like society is a submarine keeping out the ocean of human nature, constantly putting pressure on it, right? And why does this matter? Well, this is what's interesting. Compare it to this idea that I found in Jim Rohn's collection of lectures, where he's talking about life's concessions. He says even small compromises with regard to your goal matter. Giving in, even a little bit, can be dangerous. Saying, oh, it's just one time is a wolf and sheep's clothing.

Because it begins the process of the downfall. plants a seed, it cracks the door for those barbarians waiting patiently outside the gate. The ones who know discipline is not guaranteed. Discipline is built, manufactured, it must be protected. It is the exception to the rule, and they are chomping at the bit. Given the slightest opportunity, they will bring it to ashes. And this matters because it's up to you to protect that which is worth protecting. You ever have one of those days or weeks that are insanely productive or enjoyable and you just think this is great, I need to do more of this, I need to sustain this.

And then time goes by, the outside world sneaks in and the prospect of continuing that routine slips away. Crashes. Because parameters were not created. Because you let it slip once. And once doesn't mean you'll pick up where you're. you left off. No, once is whispering to your subconscious that it's okay to concede. It says, oh, it's all right. I'll stray from my path just for the important things. I'll only crack the door for the barbarians when I need to. But now you're in an interesting situation.

How do you measure when it's important enough to quit or stop or cheat? And trust me, I understand that life is complex. It's not black and white, but the areas we grow the most are the same areas where we leave no room for negotiation. X, Y, or Z is going to happen because it is who you are. In that door, it stays shut to the outside world. The mediocrity is telling you your plans don't matter. To the barbarians outside looking for any excuse to infiltrate or destroy. And see, the point is not to avoid fun or leisure or the enjoyment of life. No, of course not. What I'm advocating is that we highlight the aspects of life that are non-negotiable, the things that mean a lot and are therefore subject to the ever-reaching arm of retreat.

You don't have to do this, the barbarians will tell you. Once isn't the end of the world, but what life shows us is that greatness isn't one crazy or monumental action. It's keeping the intruders out where they must be restrained, remaining diligent in one's pursuit towards something more. Yes, there are always enemies at the gate, but there is also within you the ability to keep them in check, to tame them, to differentiate between your world and theirs.

And in your life, your world, your empire, you are the gatekeeper. Time waits for no one. Look, the earth will continue to spin, the sun to set, clocks to tick. There are no perfect moments, only moments, waiting to be interpreted by those passing through them. And as a raindrop in this thunderstorm, an actor in this play, the only rational question in my mind is if time will not wait, why should I? If time will continue It's steady march, why let it leave me

behind? I'm in my mid-30s And here's what I've already seen. I've already seen songs I grew up with referred to as classic rock. I've seen some of my childhood sports heroes struggle to throw a first pitch before a baseball game. I've seen a substantial portion of my social interaction

become digitized. I've seen once forever people in my life fade away and become memories. I've audibly laughed at the ridiculousness of things that at one point I was sure were important. I've redefined the meaning of the word home in my life more times than I can count. In fact, the way I see the world and the way I see myself operating, and it continues to change. As the saying goes, the only constant in our lives, is that things change, evolve. Why does this matter so much to me?

Well, because when I look back, the single thing that would consistently keep me from truly pushing that pedal to the floor to truly capturing all life has to offer was a fear, a very specific fear, the fear of losing what I had at that moment. I was scared to death of loss, as we all tend to be to varying extent.

In fact, we're biologically wired to respect the fear of loss to a greater extent than the prospect of acquisition. There's humor in all this, though, a deeply rooted irony. It emerges when we discover that we lose everything. It all goes. The song that's playing ends for each and every one of us. And is this a sad thing? No. No more than the credits to your favorite movie rolling after the final scene.

It was the show, the experience that meant the world. It's a beautiful thing if you let it manifest in all its beauty. If you move along with it, immerse yourself in its brilliance. My point is that the only way to lose is to wait. It's to not realize that you're starring in your own cinema, masterpiece, and those credits will at some point roll. It's to sit in a chair on the side of the gym while the rest of the room dances. Life is finite, and the power is not in a flawless existence.

It's an understanding to our core that there is nothing to lose, that the window is small, that we should carry out the human equivalent of a fire work show. We should be obnoxiously bold, absurdly courageous. We should go, live, try, experiment, explore, build, create. And yeah, sometimes you'll fail. And sometimes you'll fail spectacularly. But sometimes you'll triumph. And along the way, the mistakes, they become wisdom. They become courage, both of which are integral to any meaningful grand finale. And as I make my way around the sun for the 36th time, the priority is to remember that these rides are not forever.

They are precious. And that I have the strength to live accordingly. Fearlessly, courageously. courageously, my hope is that you find it within yourself to do the same. To pull back the curtains and see now that failure was never the adversary. No, not even close. The adversary is an unwillingness to make the most of your moments. The adversary is freezing amidst the constant.

hammering away of ticking clocks. The adversary is the prospect of removing failure's mask years down the road, only to stare directly into the eyes of regret. These outcomes constitute your greatest adversary. So for the sake of all that is meaningful, go push into the questions and the risk and the risk, and the curiosity that makes life worth living. After all, it is not about failure.

It's about time. So this morning, I was listening to one of my favorite artist. Her name's Rory, and she had this little segment of a song. She floated out there. And over coffee, I could not stop listening to it. And in this song, she talks about giving up the ghost inside. Right, that voice in your head. that says, you're not a good songwriter.

Or it talks about the age, tightrope, where you're too old and you've missed your chance, or you're too young, so you're not ready yet. You're an imposter in your own body. It's everything. Everything you fear kind of rolled up into one entity. The ghost, as she put it. Not unlike Carl Jung's idea of this shadow.

It's everything we don't want to be, but fear we are. There's a saying I came across. It said, in every story there's a hero and a villain and in your story you are both. Which is interesting. You have contained within you everything that will equate to your growth and your success and your happiness. You are your own knight in shining armor. But also within you exist the very fear and the doubt that could cripple that evolution. It could take down all those things that make you beautiful,

or at least be detrimental to their evolution. And why I love this particular message, why it felt so beautiful and real, was because it felt to me, not a denial that our adversary exists within us, but that it feeds off of the energy that we give it and that we can minimize its control. We can be stronger than those.

Those thoughts that attempt to weigh us down, those ideas that try and lessen our self work. In the book The Tools by Phil Stutz and Barry Michaels, they talk about this. The understanding that that fear of being what we don't want to, the ghosts and shadows, it's not just you, but in every single one of us, and that repressing it or pretending it doesn't exist, ignoring it just allows it to survive underground. It allows it to continuously slip through into every thought, every decision, and every action. But they ask the question, what if we call it out? What if we change the narrative from trying to capture the approval of the audience?

And instead, focus on winning the approval of ourselves, taking those fears and insecurities. And instead of running from them, staring at them, accepting that they will always be there because we're human. They don't control us, we control them. And according to Stutz and Michaels, that's what inner authority is about. Oh, hey, here are my insecurities.

Right there, I see them. I understand what they are. But guess what? They don't get to drive this ship. Sorry. Every athlete comes face to face with the idea that they might not be good enough. Every creative or entertainer

sometime along the way worries they don't have what it takes. Students worry about not being smart enough or tough enough. I mean, like I said, one of my favorite artists was literally capturing her experience with doubts about being a good artist, right? We all have that. We all have the shadow or the ghost or the voice in your head that comes to light every once in a while and suggests that you might not be who you want to be.

And so the point is don't think you're alone in those emerging thoughts. And most importantly, understand that they don't have control over you. They exist. They always will, as long as we're human, they'll emerge. So don't be ashamed or repress them or hide them. Most importantly, don't doubt yourself. Smile and understand them. You have so much to give to the world.

A world, that, by the way, is challenging. It will push back. Present hardships. Progress is tough, and before you can cope with the external, you have to understand the internal. You have to accept the shadow and reacquire control from that lowly ghost inside. Realize they're not deciders of fate.

They're spectators. Watching your journey, not mapping it. And when we get that, once we are free of those constraints, we are free to be ourselves and enjoy the ride. You can be your greatest fan and also your biggest critic. In fact, not only is it healthy, it's necessary.

to be there for yourself, celebrate that commitment to show up, but also to hold yourself accountable for growth. Because to be great is to know there's more in you, to understand that there's greatness waiting to be extracted from the miracle that is you. Here are two words. I want to take a look at both of them. Consistency and adaptation.

Consistency first. Why? Because consistency gets you in the door. It's the cost of admission. Consistency is you showing up for yourself. Day in and day out. Creating mastery and competence through repetition. Manufacturing a data set that will be used to guide your journey, taking a once stagnant idea,

and putting it into motion. Consistency is doing what you promised yourself you'd do when you said you'd do it. Why? Because that's who you are. You create goals and then conquer those goals. When your head hits the pillow at night, you may be tired, you may have struggled. you may have swung and missed, you may be wondering how things unfolded the way they did, but you showed up. So celebrate that. Celebrate yourself, be your biggest fan.

Because the world can't take your will to step forward and cannot seize your consistency, not without your permission. So other than part one, let's call consistency the commitment to show up for you. Now the second piece. Consistency's older brother, adaptation.

See, that consistency, like we just talked about it, will get you in the door. It signs you up for the game, but it guarantees nothing. See, where consistency, Consistency puts that pen in your hand, paper in front of you, patch you on the back where consistency gives you a chance to write your story.

One's level of success or achievement relies on their ability to adapt. To do the thing that's so hard for people to do, look in the mirror and ask, how can I be better? I've been consistent for 30 days, sure. Here's what's right, here's what's wrong, now it's time to adjust, to be critical, to understand that expecting more of the self does not in any way diminish the task at hand. It gives you room to expand into that next version of yourself in a way that simply showing up doesn't. Without a willingness to adapt, you get Einstein's definition of insanity, right? the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.

You get day after day of wondering why this square peg won't just save us all the trouble and go into the round hole. Without a willingness to adapt, we move for the sake of moving and we work for the sake of working. But if we could find it within ourselves, to look at the data that's been acquired day after day, and use it to help guide ourselves to that North Star, we'll find strength. To seek out the delta between where we are and where we want to be, that is power. But it calls for more than just showing up. It calls for looking around. It calls for observing and then adapting. So yeah, your greatest fan and your greatest critic.

Be there for you, but don't let yourself get away with good enough. Showing up is critical, it's powerful, but it's just the beginning. If your eyes stay open, if you're willing to both love yourself and improve yourself simultaneously, all the world becomes available to you. There are no mountains you can't climb or oceans you. You can't cross. And sure, the world will do what the world does. It will place challenges before you.

But rather than those challenges being the reason you can't, rather than accepting those challenges as a permanent reality, they become nothing more than the next puzzle to be solved, the next little adaptation that's required of you. You show up, you self-assess, you adjust, and carry right on towards that horizon again and again. So when you find yourself frustrated or up against that wall, remember, you are building your ideal reality. Be proud of yourself for showing up, for being consistent. Because as dire as it might seem, you overcame a lot to get here. But also know that the challenge at hand is not an indictment of.

of you or your goals, it's your chance to review the game plan and adjust. Your opportunity to do what so many fail to do, not shrink from the world but adapt yourself to it. Grow because of it. Today is your opportunity to take what the world gives you and build something new. A lot can change with the words, it's okay. My moon is not the same as their moon and that's, well, it's okay. Same playing field, just different rules.

Same sky, different constellations, same clouds, different shapes. We need not permission to follow that star that lights up our world, just a willingness, a comfortability, just a curiosity. where the right path provides clues, the wrong one gives instructions. And over time, the difference between the two accumulates. It becomes substantial. Your journey should give you just enough. The moon's radiance should highlight the hand in front of your face, reveal that potential next step. It should expose the options right in front of you and And that is enough.

And sure, sometimes it feels like it would be nice to know, to walk an easier path, one that's not your own, have everything lit up, no questions, no mystery, and while there's comfort in taking this path, it's not yours. It's not your journey, it's not your moon, it's not your light, and it won't reveal your answers. So feel free to leave, to walk away because... It's okay. It's okay to not have the answers.

It's okay to follow a gut feeling. It's okay to leave the old in pursuit of the new. It's okay to want more, and it's okay to not know where more is. It's okay. I often think if a courageous few are the reason that I'm not writing these words out with a quill pen by candlelight, then think about what my own small acts of courage could be come. Why not believe, start, try, put myself out there? Why change or concede or surrender to a set of standards that aren't mine,

put in place by people who warn me? Their moon is not the same as my moon, their path is not my path. And if I'm choosing between seeing a world that I've settled for in its totality or seeing one that actually means something as it's slowly pieced together, Together, I'm taking the ladder every time. Well, how do you know it will work out? The brain asks, the heart you don't. And I think that's exactly how you know you're in the right place.

It's when you have all the answers, the certainty, and the reassurance in the world, that, well, something may be missing. Not missing from the external, but missing from within as you move through the external. It's the classic square peg in a round hole. In the very reason we should carry on is because it's better to be a square peg in search of a home than to be whatever it is that would keep us safe, quiet, and securely contained within a square box. It's not that my way is right and your way is wrong, it's that for me to live I must live

find my way and you, yours, because a life lived according to someone else's rules is a house built on sand. It may be stunning, extravagant, it may not warn a second look from someone passing by, but it only takes time to reveal the inherent flaw. It doesn't matter what you build if it's on top of a bad foundation, it will ultimately come down. Time will take it down. So be weary of where you decide to plant your stake in the ground. Be thoughtful about where your feet take you and the concessions you allow in your life.

We often think permission is what separates the present from the ideal. What I've learned is that time keeps coming, permission does not. To live fully is a self-appointment. There is no letter that comes in the mail explaining this. Although, sometimes I catch myself waiting for its arrival. Where the crowd goes, my instinct begs me to follow.

Where the comfort lives, my predisposition is to knock on the door. I'm human. But I know that to resist what comfort offers is the battle of a life. lifetime. Their moon is not mine. Their solutions will not fix my problems. I have a puzzle to put together, a masterpiece to assemble as do you. So embrace your world. Follow your rules. Howl at your moon. Because if you do it right, it will be different. It will be different. It will will be yours. And that's not just okay.

It's what makes life worth living. Show them who you are. As Emerson said, to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment. It is nothing short of courage. walk into that dark cave that is your potential, to become a pioneer of uncharted worlds in search of who you might. It is courage to leave what will be accepted

for an idea that will certainly be misunderstood. At least initially, that means you're playing by new rules using new metrics, not the rubric that's already, been handed out, now anything but that. And that is the fundamental difference between those who create and those who react, those who fight to discover who they are, and those who hide behind the mask of acceptance. It's courage. See, anyone can criticize. Anyone can condemn

or tear down. But who's willing to run the gauntlet? Who's willing to subject themselves to that hell? Who wants something better so bad that they trade comfort and the reassurance of now for a life to ultimately be proud of? To be excited when the sun comes through the window and they jump out of bed in the morning. There are most definitely complexities in life. And we do our best to understand them, to navigate through them.

But that question, that particular question in my mind will always be simple. Do you have the courage to show them who you are to make that decision? Not reflect back their wishes and their reality like a mirror, but create your own. Harness it. Carry it up the mountain like a torch through the night. See, what I've come to understand is that knowing simply is not enough. Understanding is not enough. Replicating is not enough.

What these things lack is you. And if I had to best represent this understanding, it would be like this. If you take a musician, a technically sound musician, she can play. A student of music. Well, he can understand and recite. an expert in the craft, well, she can teach. But it's only someone who injects their authentic self into these abilities that can touch the hearts of people around them,

change their lives, fill minds with wonder and awe. Because when you take a step back and really see what's going on, the songs that are sung, well, they're not sung because they are the most technical are most advanced because they followed the rules. No, we sing them because they meant something when we heard them. Their authors had the courage to move a step beyond understanding and into the vulnerability that is self-discovery. That is creation.

It is a microcosm of life. And in a world where comfort is not only pushed, but it's the essence of what makes us human. Saying no, well, it feels like running uphill. When you blend in, you can't be questioned. When you blend in,

you rarely lose. When you blend in, there is no risk, but when you blend in, there is no you. And I'm not suggesting you missed the mark, or you lost the battle. I'm suggesting that everyone Once in a while, we need to be reminded that the journey has not even begun.

That down the road you'll see those people around you, they weren't so much concerned about you as they were themselves. That everyone is scared, everyone is unsure, no one knows or has the answer. But man, to see that, to feel that and move forward anyway, to know that you're worthy of a tomorrow. greater than today, that is the courage rarely understood. And Emerson gives us with that message everything we need. The wisdom to know there's more and most importantly, the courage to show yourself and the world who you are. A little girl walked up to the edge of a river,

took a piece of paper out of her pocket, folded it into a little boat, and pushed it out into the open water. The little boat made its way with the current, kind of unsure where it would take him or what it would ultimately mean, and for days he felt helpless, lost. Until one day a storm pushed him to the edge of the riverbank. A man picked up the little boat and began examining it.

Is this my home? asked the little boat. Well, wouldn't you be the only? one who knows the answer to that, the man asked? I suppose so, said the boat. It doesn't feel like home. So the man nodded, started to put the boat back in the water before the little boat cried out. Wait, I don't want to go back in the water. I'm scared. I'm lost. I'm alone. The man, with a reassuring smile, pushed the boat back out into the water and said, look, I've felt how you feel. And I've been where you are. I know what it's like to not know where home is. But the only way to find it is to carry on.

That water is your path and little boat you're not alone. So the little boat kind of gathers himself, starts making his way down the river. A few more hours go by. Suddenly he runs into some plants that are popping out over the surface of the water. He realizes pretty quickly he's stocked. He can't move. The panic starts to set in. He's freaking out.

He's thinking now I'm never going to. to find home, right? All these terrible thoughts start going through his mind. He's screaming for help. But then he sees a mom with her son over on the shore. The child points to the little boat, says, Mom, look, another one's stuck. We need to help it. The mom says, no, this one will break free to, just like the last one did. Give it some time. The little boat hears them and starts thinking, wait, someone else got out of this situation. The thought never really crossed. his mind that it was possible. So he takes a breath, starts walking from side to side, building momentum. A few seconds later, the plant's grip starts to lessen. He nudges his way to the

front of the brush, and sure enough, slips back into the flow of the stream. The little boy points his mom, look, the little boat got out, she says, he sure did, baby. He just had to realize that he could. So the boat, again, collects himself, keep making his way down the river proud now, right? Feeling accomplished growing into a paper boat of his own making when sure enough, that wind shifted direction. Suddenly he's not able to go where he wants to go, starts drifting towards the muddy riverbank.

How could this be happening again, he thinks to himself? But see, that little boat started to learn a thing or two about life. That it wasn't all smooth sailing, that it would present its obvious. but that contained within that little paper sea vessel was far more power than he knew. So he unfastened the excess paper on the back and the sides of the boat and created a little sail and at first nothing happened.

He waited. Knowing that this was it, this was make or break for him, he adjusted one more time. He could see the shore, feet from where he was. And then suddenly he felt himself turned. felt himself turned. The boat started making its way back downstream. Against all odds, he had managed to get back on track. And he was so excited about this that he didn't even notice the water had cleared out and led him to this giant opening. It took him a second to adjust, but when he did, he saw boats of all shapes and sizes from paper to the largest boats he'd ever seen.

So he went up to the first one he saw, a little red. red and white canoe drifting around. He said, I can't even believe this. You have no idea what I went through to get here. I almost landed in the wrong place. Then I got stuck in some brush. I thought it was over for me. Then to top it all off, I started drifting towards the muddy riverbank,

and I barely adjusted course. I'm talking seconds. The red and white canoe smiles and says, well, so did I. And that's just it. That's the magic of it. of this place you can't even get here until you learn that the wrong stops are inevitable but that they don't define you that you have the strength to keep searching until you learn that you have the ability to get yourself unstuck that life setbacks aren't forever that you can find a way

until you learn that some things you can't control but how powerful are the ones you can as the saying goes you can't change the wind but little boat you can all always adjust your sails. These are the things we all had to learn. Little Boat looks at him and says, but how was I supposed to know that? That I wasn't the only one. Well, that's the thing. You don't really find out until you arrive. I guess it's just one of those funny aspects of life. Well, I'm going to tell the world, said the little boat, that no one is alone. That we all get off at the wrong stops. That we all get off at the wrong stops.

That we all get stuck, that we all have to adjust course, but the trick is to keep sailing downriver, no matter what. Keep sailing down river. I'm going to tell everyone that they are not alone. That's a brilliant idea, said the red and white canoe. Now come on, I'll show you around. You're going to really like this place. Your existence is derived from how you choose to look at the world around you. Your outlook is either creating you or destroying you.

And we have to be cognizant of the reasons, the explanations, the stories we tell ourselves. We have to be aware of how we rationalize everyday occurrences. We have to ask, am I seeking out solutions to the right problems? What's the root cause? What's the actual reason? And we all find ourselves in ruts from time to time right. We all have low points. low points. For me, when I'm struggling, it's usually creatively. Drawing a blank or writer's block or whatever the case is. And it's funny, my mind always goes right to the external excuses. Instinctually,

I start to think, well, maybe I don't have the right technology. Maybe I'm not in the right place. Maybe the right circumstances aren't occurring. But when I force myself to step back, right, and dig deeper and really ask myself, what's the reason? Which is sometimes an uncomfortable thing to ask, I always come to the same conclusion. It's not the camera in my hands or the recording software or the mic. It's simply the temporary disappearance of self-belief. Temporarily, I forget that I can make magic,

that I can change the world with what I have right now. And so can you. That is the actual reason, but I have to peel back the surface. Because the truth is, if you don't have a good story to tell a $10,000 camera is not going to help you. You gotta learn what captivates, what inspires, learn how to articulate your thoughts and ideas, learn how to bring what's in your mind to life. See, people want to put band-aids on bullet wounds, and that's not going to fix a thing. An interesting thing people come to me with.

You know, they're building brands, creating social platforms, building businesses, which is great because it means exposure, but it also means you're susceptible to negativity and criticism and haters. And how particularly initially, it's emotionally taxing, seeing that stuff, right? Seeing people criticize your creativity. And they come to resent the comments.

They come to resent that interaction. But again, I always go to what is the reason? And I ask because if you don't go deep, if you don't find the root cause, you don't fix a problem. The problem is not the 53-year-old in his mother's basement trashing your work or your ability. He has nothing to do with this.

The problem, when you're really honest, is confidence. It's the ability to understand that a life of no risk or criticism is a life of very little reward. And with that realization, the solution changes. It's not what can I do to avoid the criticism. It's how can I stay true to myself and have that be enough, where I can rise above shatter, where I can be indifferent to naysayers,

because look, expectations don't matter. What matters is your happiness. What matters is your progress. So fix that. You know, we spend a lot of time adjusting our sails, worried about catching the right breeze, getting the logistics right, when there's a hole in the center of the boat

that's taking in water. Let's find out where that is. Let's fix that. Figure out what the actual area of improvement is what's the actual reason for not being where you want to be. And sometimes it's hard, sometimes it's humbling, but guess what? It creates the long-term solution. Last year was one of the most challenging of my life. Spread very thin, trying to do a lot, write speeches, give keynotes, capture video, create music, make marketing content to the point where I just felt lost for a while.

and an easy escape, right? The way I rationalized it was, well, you feel like this just because you're doing too much, right? It's a great thing. You're ambitious. No, that's a mask. When I became vulnerable, when I asked myself the difficult question, when I humbled myself,

dug deeper, realized that maybe you're not doing the right thing. Maybe you're doing more of what you already know because recreating yourself is absolutely terrible. Because you need to take that next step and subconsciously you don't want to. You're scared to Now I know what to address right reasons help shape answers It's not more and more and more of what's been done, but it's reshaping your life not once or twice or three times But constantly that creates bigger targets that changes things

You know, always dive deeper than the surface level. Because usually your problems are not the world around you. It's not what you don't have. It's not externalities holding you back. It's a refusal to look yourself in the mirror and ask difficult questions. You are not a victim. You are equipped with every single thing you need. You just need to zero in on your actual inhibitors and eliminate them one by one.

I've always said success is three steps. It's recognizing there's better out there, recognizing you're worthy of pursuing it and taking the leap. So what's keeping you from leaping? What's keeping you grounded? It's not money, it's not tech, it's not where you started, it's your mindset. So change how you see the world around you. I was walking to my apartment last week, and I had a realization.

made my way across the street, looked up at the seventh floor of my building where I live, and the elevator there is obnoxiously slow. And being someone that hates waiting, I've come to realize that I can actually make it to my door in the same amount of time, if not a little bit quicker, by taking the stairs. But that particular night, as I looked up, maybe because it was late, and the stairway lights were more visible than I'd ever seen them, it felt for the first time like a big deal

it was the first time since I'd been there that I felt annoyed with having to climb those steps it was the first time I'd ever really seen or examine or thought about the gap between where I start and where I finish every time I take those steps usually I just go

right it's just one step at a time no production it's not a chore that's how I get home it's how I skip waiting two minutes for that elevator 30 seconds up slips by in the blink of an eye. Sometimes things just come to you at the perfect time. I needed to be reminded of that at this point of my life.

Some big projects coming up and I'm making an effort to pivot, push harder than I've ever had. Things sometimes feel bigger than they really are, more complex than they need to be. And I believe this was life telling me the only way to lose is to be intimidated by the top of those stairs, by the road to be traveled. I've done things in my life that felt crazy or complex from the outside looking in. But every time I just kept going, focused on the task in front of me, the thing I need, sure enough, presents itself. It appears.

It may be that simply going is the ultimate strength. That when you don't give yourself the opportunity to look up in awe or bow down to something's perceived stature, you outrun its grasp. When you stop looking up at the top flight and focus everything you have on the actual ascent, those demons, they don't get a seat at your table. They can only watch as you go. And I find it humorous that perhaps the greatest gift we possess is the ability to think. Yet 99% of the time we don't get where we want to go, it's because, well, we've thought to.

much. It's amazing what we can do when we let go of the ifs and the maybes and the over-analysis. When we trust ourselves to adjust, to grow, to learn, break, and change the rules. And I would propose when you feel like your feet are stuck to the ground, like you haven't moved in too long, like you're wondering what you've missed. Perhaps it's It's worth examining whether you're spending far too much time looking up and not nearly enough moving forward. Whether you're staring in awe of something you've already climbed, you're rationalizing another route, taking yourself away from where you need to be simply because you forgot

your power, the power to move, to go, to test, experiment, evolve, the ability to climb. the ability to climb. Who cares how far or how much? Who cares what you don't have? You do have another step, another day, another choice. Don't think yourself out of a dream that can be made one step at a time. Don't let the lack of a finish line prevent you from moving towards it. See, some things require strategy, introspection, a map, a plan.

And some require that we just shut off the end. internal dialogue, and trust ourselves to go. So as we fly through this game of life, let's find the courage to control that which we can and let go of that which we can. To see what we need and disregard what we don't, let's remember that human beings are capable of the extraordinary, things that the courageous never got the privilege

of marveling over or bowing down to, because they weren't on the outside looking in like everyone else, they weren't screaming about the odds. They were in the chaos, in the thick of war, building, moving, creating, apparently too ignorant to know that each swing of their hammer was building everyone else's impossible. If it means something to you, it's not wrong.

I'm talking about different roads, going to different places, different ways at different times, none more or less important than any of the others. It's an amazing thing that a perfect life can mean something so different to each and every one of us. You know, I get asked quite a bit about my decision to do what I do, as far as what prompted the journey, the process of turning a page, beginning a new chapter, and in essence leaving what didn't serve me to pursue. What does? And what I realize is that a lot of these conversations

are with people that have an outlook very similar to mine. We value a lot of the same things. But there's a distinction between what you see every day and what truly reflects reality. Is what's around you the only option? Is it the real deal or is it a part of the puzzle? Right? Like if you look at Twitter, for example,

you have 20% of Americans supposedly used Twitter. And of the conversation on Twitter, 80% of it comes from 10% of the users, right? So it's a subset of a subset, but how easy is it to open the app and think that's a reflection of the world and how people think and what's going on? It's not. It's a very small fragment. And the reason I bring it up, the reason it's important is because we tend to look at what we see around us as the right way or the instruction manual. You know, I've talked a lot about the corporate world, like it was essentially a prison for me, right? And in many ways, it was because of the way I think, how I get fulfillment, right?

There was a predictability and a straightforwardness that just doesn't mesh with my personality, but that's me. And I had the realization the other day when I was on someone's podcast, and they asked me, well, how come some people don't get it? How come some people don't understand the entrepreneurial spirit or that sort of adrenaline that comes with the high highs and the, low loads and I spent some time thinking about the answer and I think it boils down to something simple it either pulls you that way or it doesn't right it's it's the thought process isn't the right way to live or the wrong way to live it's one of many ways to live it depends on what you gravitate towards you know I like to reference one of my best friends Chris because we couldn't be more

different right he has a nine to five he loves the structure he's immersed in it. And because of that, he's moved up the organization very quickly, comes home, spends time watching TV with his beautiful kids, cooks with his wife, sends the group chat shots of the, you know, the smoked pork or whatever the hell he makes. He's in heaven. He loves his world. You know, but then he looks at, you know, my world. He sees the unpredictability of my life, my choices, traveling, moving around all the time, the financial oscillation, where it's like one month is great financially, the next it's underwhelming, it's up and it's down.

And he goes, how do you live like that? You know, and I could ask the same of him, where's the rush, where's the uncertainty? You know, it's two very distinct ways of looking at the world, and I think that's incredible. But I also think it's easy to miss. You know, like Twitter, you sort of think what's around you,

what you see is the real deal, is the path, is where you should be. And it's why a lot of people are concerned or question themselves. It's like there's this invisible metric, whatever side you fall on, there's a right way or a wrong way, and that's not true.

There's your way. If it means something to you, it's right. And that's the standard, period. It's where you need to be, right? Who is anyone else to set those standards? No one knows you. And I think the question is twofold.

One, have you taken the time in your busy life to identify what that is? Whatever it may be, have you thought about it? I'll never forget a friend asked me once, you know, what my perfect day look like. He asked me to describe it in detail. And I looked at him like a deer in headlights. I'm like, I don't know. I've never thought about that, right?

He could tell me when he got up from when he went to bed what his perfect day was. He goes, well, how could you ever have one? By accident? Right? So do we take time to think about what matters? And number two, are you willing to drive towards whatever that is? whether it's entrepreneurship or athletics, being a rock star in the corporate world,

being a world-class painter, an amazing dad, some combination of some or none or all of these things. Like, what are you aiming for? But it's nice sometimes to get that reassurance that your path, regardless of how different or quote-unquote normal it is, if it's right for you, it's right. And that's something that no one can tell you.

You know, so much of life is a conversation with yourself. It really is. You have to give yourself permission to live. And I've spoken about it. You know, I've spent a lot of years at that intersection of what I thought was right because others were doing it. And what truly made me happy. Waiting for the light to turn green before realizing that that moment doesn't come. You need to be the one to change it.

Life is a beautiful experiment. But it is an experiment, which means you need to get to work. You know, it's testing what you love, what you don't, where you want to be, where you have interest in being and embracing that right discovering what you love what's meaningful and then trusting yourself to get there I put on my shoes stepped outside and as I made my way down the street for my midday run I felt the wind at my back tailwind my first thought well nice this is convenient especially running along the beach where it can be pretty windy. It's definitely a luxury to have wind at your back. Sure enough my mind went,

oh, but that leaves me a headwind when I turn around and come back up the coast. My mind started to wander. I started imagining what it was going to be like turning around at that 6.6 mile mark. I was doing a half marathon that day and knew that, you know, the way back would require that I level up. And every once in a while, the thought popped into my head. sort of reminding me of the inevitable. And sure enough, the moment arrived. The sun pressing down onto my skin, the humidity wrapped around me like a blanket.

I hit 6.6 miles, turned around on A1A, and there was that headwind. But the first thing I noticed was not the force pushing back against me. No, in that moment, I felt the breeze, the coolness. It was refreshing. And there, underneath it all, was my light bulb moment. What we are presented with day in and day out is a question. It's a choice.

Would the wind become my adversary? Something that, yeah, pushed me forward on the way down but then held me back on the way up? Or would it be what pushed me forward on the way down and then cooled me off as I made my way up? And if you think that mental alteration or perspective shift is just nuance or too small to matter, I suggest you give it a go when you're doing whatever your equivalent of total exertion is, whatever your mental stressor is that pushes you beyond your state of usual comfort. When you're in the middle of, let's call it, hurt, whether it be physical activity or a personal situation entirely unrelated to athletics,

How are you internalizing the world around you? It's become clear to me over time that winning during our most trying moments comes down to mental shifts so small that they seem almost laughable in normal conditions. But your mind will always stop you before life will. So why not put yourself in a position to win? Everything around you is trying to help you in some capacity. Allow that to be the case. Remember that what you look for you'll find.

So if you look for resistance and obstacles and adversaries, they'll be everywhere. But if you look for and seek out value, you'll see that you are surrounded by nothing but value. Even those metaphorical headwinds become hands reaching out, working to cool you off as you make your way to greater things. So understand that when they arise, those headwinds, the ones that typically hold you back, they hide within them small winds. Small winds that will be the difference.

The deeper one descends into chaos, the more important it is to find those victories, the ones hidden in plain view. The ones that look to many like problems. but you'll know. You'll know just how malleable this world around us is. The world seems to provide not definitive but tools. So which will you pick up? What will you build with them?

See, life is never happening to you. It's happening for you. So keep your eyes open, keep your feet moving, and remember that you will win, not despite the headwinds of life, but because of them. Because you've trained yourself when those around you see can't and won't to find a way, to pull from the chaos, the very thing you need most. Life gives you the canvas.

But you are the one who must paint. Life's best kept secret? Simple. Show up. Show up when you're just. tired, you're down, show up after defeat. Show up when you're stressed, when you're worried, show up when you don't feel like it. In fact, that's when it's most important to show up. That becomes the great differentiator. See, a lot of us somewhere along the way we adopt

this idea that winning is about the home run. It's stepping up to the plate and swinging so hard that the ball leaves the park and it never comes back to earth. And while, yeah, that's a fantastic sentiment. And if or when that happens, that's great. But sustained success isn't one monumental occurrence. It's little victories consistently occurring over and over and over. Very small. In fact, to those walking by, they're probably too ordinary. to be considered successful or acknowledged. They're too mundane. They're only victories because you decided they are.

And when you think about it, the evidence is out there. Successful teams don't build game plans around the hellmary with no time left on the clock. No, they show up every day and master the task in front of them. They compound the opportunity available on a daily basis because it's there. and that puts them in a position to execute. However, the situation unfold. They showed up when it, quote, unquote, didn't matter. And that, of course, means everything when it does matter.

And something I remind myself every day and something I think everyone should hear, those waiting for life to hand out miracles will always be left behind by those willing to, well, show up. when it's not fun, not sexy or exciting, days when you're tired, when you're weak, when you feel like the weight of the world is on your shoulders because, well, we all know that happens. We all know how easy it is for that to be the excuse or become the free pass, especially when you know in the back of your head this is practice, right?

This is a rep. The world won't end if you sit this one out. But if you wouldn't sit out the real thing, the Super Bowl of your pursuit, Then we have to understand the value of the mundane staircase leading to that event. Each seemingly insignificant step is your Super Bowl. It's not that it's close to the same, it has to be the same. It's the old saying, you play the way you practice, but turned way up.

Now we're saying there is no difference. And when the lights are turned on and you're saying, and you're standing on that stage. It's not some new experience you have to figure out and navigate. It's the continuation of that staircase, of the old, of the familiar. You showed up then and you'll show up now. When you were unsure of yourself then, you didn't hide. You trusted yourself and now that same trust stands by your side.

When you were tired, weak, when you had nine million things on your mind, you didn't fail. You blocked out the world and you found clarity. And now that same clarity simplifies what lays before you. When you felt discouraged where the finish line felt too far away, you reacquired your meaning by simply executing, by being there. And now every part of you will execute. here just the same so while it's their Super Bowl their championship their one shot this is your every day it's your DNA it's watching that ball roll down the hill

that you created pushed by momentum you brought to life you'll do what you came here to do because you made that decision every step along the way every single day leading up and now. There's a saying that will always be true. It will be true on your best days and your worst. It will be true after victory and it will be true after defeat. It will be true when you have momentum and it'll be true when you're down on your luck doing everything in your power to create momentum. That saying is your future begins now.

Hey, on the surface might not seem like much. Sure, my future starts now. I know that. Everyone knows that. Well, if that's true, if everyone does, in fact, know that, why do we spend so much time stuck, reliving our past, unable to break free? Why do we remain terrified to change?

Why do we feel such a connection to who we were, how others saw us? Why must we remain loyal to the character we've been? been playing in our mental autobiographies. See, here's the thing about the past and the future. One is fixed, can't be changed, and the other, well, it's waiting for you to tell it what it is. One is expired time. One is plans to be determined. And it's interesting how we continue to conflate the two. Epictetus has said that the more things we value outside of our control, the less control we have. Well, I'm going to be the messenger here relaying the precious truth that yesterday is in fact out of our control. What can be controlled is where we go from here, the next

step. Meaning today is not your failures. It's where you take those lessons. It's not your mistakes, but it's what the stronger you can now endure because of them. It's not the dreams you let slip away, but where your pursuit might take you now. And yeah, yesterday certainly contributes to your outlook, as all information does. It's value considered, its impact assessed. It guides you, but it's not you. And that difference is astronomical. There's a question about the role the past plays in our lives.

That has to mean something, right? Your past is, in many ways, your story. why you think the way you do. It's contributed to your understanding of the world. It will always be a part of you, and I believe that. But I also believe the past is a story. And just like reading one chapter in a book simply sets the stage for the next one without controlling its direction, so does every day that has led you up to now. Life gives us the tools to experience, to grow, learn, and then shed that which does not coincide with what's important. Your failures are not you.

But they are precious and that they push you towards what you'd like to be. See, you can experience something and not be that thing. As Kirkugard says, if you label me, you negate me. If you proclaim me to be X, You're essentially stealing from me the infinite possibility that is the future. Yesterday has nothing to do with what I can become. And so taking it a step further, never mind being labeled by someone else. How could you label yourself and see it as anything but self-sabotage?

See, you're never defined by your past, but always learning from it. It's not who you are. It's the cheat codes for what you can be. Without that winding road of misfortune and mistakes, the incredible expansion we long for doesn't materialize. Imagine if everyone who ever felt down in life felt like a loser who temporarily lost hope. Imagine if they looked in the mirror and said, okay, this is who I am now. There would be no triumph in the world.

Because anything meaningful requires the resiliency to map our way from the hell that was our darkest moments to what will become our proudest moments. Destiny, destiny, destiny means that you separate the finite from the infinite. What you used to call yourself has prepared you to move towards the horizon. But what you used to call yourself

is also as irrelevant now as those seconds that you watch tick away. seconds that maybe you're not proud of, seconds that perhaps taught you about the world, seconds that gave you a glimpse of what's possible, unveiled the happiest of times, all of it. In its own unique way, it brought value, but none of it is your future.

Why? Because back to that beautiful, all-powerful sentence, your future begins now. Your destiny is awaiting its marching orders and all you have to decide as you stand today is where that ship will sail. There are no wrong terms in life. What do I mean by this? Well, our problem is often not that a mistake was made, but rather we didn't see the value in that quote unquote. mistake. We stop, we lose faith, we question ourselves, even though we actually got what we needed.

It was there. We just couldn't see it in the moment. And so the question is, why look for what you don't have? Why always be searching for the delta when every decision hands you something new, something powerful? Almost like we're walking on this path. And every time we do something, not necessarily the perfect thing or the thing we drew up, but something. As long as we do something, we get to put a brick down, another step to walk on in the path before us. We get to expand in some way. We're wiser, stronger, capable of more.

And where sometimes we think we need to wait for that perfect brick to take that perfect step. But if we can get beyond that and focus our attention on just getting more bricks out in front of us, we allow the answers to materialize. The question is, will you let them? You take this podcast, for example. Just to be where I'm at right now has been a roller coaster ride. Started out five days a week, wake up, write an episode at 5 a.m. for 100 episodes, and then I tried the weekly interview, and then it was a few days a week,

and then back to five days. and then I realized I didn't even need to create new content. If I take the YouTube stuff and make that the podcast as well, I get 10 times the result with less work. That's like a content creator's dream, and I can focus on making that one thing amazing. And so it's easy to look at the whole process and say, man, those 5 a.m.s were a mistake.

They were a waste. That decision to interview once a week was a waste. All that fluctuation was a waste. That's not true. You don't realize how much you learn. I don't get where I am today without scrambling at 5 a.m. to create content.

It is not what it is now, right? Just like a year from now. I won't be where I am without the mistakes I make today. So the goal is not to be perfect. In fact, it can't be. It's to allow yourself to make those mistakes because they have the answers contained within them.

And that's my point. I've found the greatest outcome are derived from not always trying to do the right thing, but rather promising yourself, you'll do something. When you expect to look like a fool, you can then relish in all the wisdom that comes with it. Those wrong turns, they'll always take you where you need to be if you don't abandon the journey. That's what it's about, sticking with it, not abandoning why you're there.

You know, there's a saying that really stuck with me, and it's that you are your own experiment. meaning life isn't about getting it right. Life is about trying and pushing and adjusting and eliminating the things that aren't quite you until you're able to refine the world around you. And I make that distinction because getting it right implies that if the answer you're looking for or the answer you think you need doesn't fall right into your lap,

then it's a loss or you've done yourself a disservice. And it's like, no, the greatest things we create, the greatest things we become. They're all derived from embracing those wrong turns because they show us something new, a new route, a quicker way, maybe a scenic path. Maybe you pick things up along the way that redefine the context of the whole journey. Maybe you even find in your detour

a destination better than the one you were headed toward. So you cut ties with plan A. That's experiment. That's growth. That's what you cannot be scared to do in life if you want to make an impact. And so I'll end with this life. It doesn't stop until you do and that will always be the case for pursuits big and small far and wide the right thing isn't found But discovered by willingly undertaking many wrong things by not being so results oriented

that we ironically enough ignore what brings the result. Life is a process and one in which the picture isn't always clear right away. But if you hang in there long enough, if you're willing to adapt and adjust and grow, that picture ultimately will take shape. Remember, there are no wrong turns in life. Only turns not taken. Come take a look.

through my telescope. It shows things as they really are. See that road that leads from the beach to downtown? That's where I walk so that I can clear my head. That road in its own unique way is symbolic of progress. It makes me feel good. See, most roads they're for coming and going. They're of temporary use, but for me,

this road here is a check against my ambition. It reminds me that not all all roads need to move or change or transform us and sometimes the path can be the destination. Ah, that, that's the sunset. Yeah, that's really something. That's my reminder that life is more than the role we play in the coordinates of our existence. It reminds me of the infinite. In a way, its magnificence is like watching the godlike characteristics we all possess exploding.

right in front of our eyes. It's leaving our physical restraints and entering the impossibles, the dance around in our head. It's an invitation for a few minutes to step outside of myself and feel the splendor of my being. Yeah, that is the sunset. Over there, that's a palm tree, but not just a palm tree. It's actually pretty incredible when you think about it. It's like a 20-foot billboard. conveying to us the power associated with flexibility,

of bending but not breaking, of adapting to life's mystery and unpredictability, not fighting against the wind, but seeking to understand it. And I could use more understanding in my life, particularly when it shakes my foundation. We probably all could. And I could go on and on,

but I sense that it wouldn't quite get us, where we need to go. Because for you, it's possible that that road, the one I walk down every day, isn't for contemplation. Maybe it represents a hiatus from your journey, from the fast-paced nature of the bustling city. Maybe for you it's an opportunity to let silence speak.

And maybe for you, that sunset isn't some metaphysical fireworks display. Maybe it's a reminder of how far you've come. Maybe it's a hand resting on your shoulder explaining to you that you've come this far and going forward, well, you're going to be just fine. In those palm trees, well, it's quite possible you don't think about them at all. Maybe it's equivalent to the God knows how many things I walk by every day without so much as a single thought. It sounds reasonable to me. Perhaps if our telescopes highlight anything, it's the enigma that is the phrase as they really are. See, tilt your telescope up a little bit.

See that over there, yeah, that boat sailing off. What is that, that new shiny boat? Is that freedom? Is it an opportunity to get away for family time? Maybe it's some sort of finish line after achieving a financial goal. a status symbol. Could it be human advancement? Is it technology?

Or perhaps fiberglass and steel? Is it the molecules that bind it all together? The physics that propel it into the distance? Is it particles? Is it electromagnetic waves? Well, I guess it all depends on what you want it to be. My telescope. And man, do I love this telescope?

It's not what I originally thought it was. In fact, none. In fact, none of our telescopes are what we think they are. We've been fooled into thinking their input. But no, they are output. We think the objects tell the story. No, the subjects tell the story. We think the world is defining.

No, our megaphones are explaining. This telescope is a messenger from our minds to the world. It shows us things as they really are. But that's just it. as they really are to whom and why and for how long. See, I certainly hope that the way things really are for me changes and continues to change my whole life. I hope that I'll be cognizant of the fact that how things really are for you

is not how they really are for me and vice versa. Not only is that fine, that's ideal, that's beautiful, but most importantly, I hope to be led. by the brilliance contained in the idea that the telescope does not tell the story I do. And my story, it's a living document. It's ever evolving. So here's to not merely interpreting, but creating all that it unveils this telescope of mine, depictor of things as they really are.

Hope. That bridge that connects the present to a more ideal world. The idea that no obstacle is too big to overcome, no situation too dire, to emerge victorious, and that you are never confined to how things are. FDR has said, we have always held to hope, the belief, the conviction that there is a better life, a better world beyond the horizon. Why does this matter? Well, to put it simply, before one can leave. this situation they are in, they have to believe there is another path worth taking. It's not always seeing but trusting. It's a tale of two components. One, the

belief that something better is out there, and two, the belief that you are strong enough to bridge that gap to create that world. So let's start with number one. There was a study done by Kurt Richter and the the 1950s and he used rats and it was kind of a gruesome experiment but definitely worth talking about because the takeaway is incredible right and I kind of cherry picked the relevant parts of the experiment basically he wanted to delve into the role that hope plays in our lives and what he would do is he would drop rats into a jar of water and observe see how long they would swim before they

drown and for the most part these rats would swim for a minute or two and then ultimately give up right there was this innate feeling of hopelessness but then he made a change and and when they were close to drowning he'd reach in he'd pick them up he'd hold them for a little while and then he'd place them back in the water and the results between the two groups were night and day the rats saw in the second group that it wasn't over and when they were placed back in the water they had a reason to continue swimming and they did. Some of them did for hours. The only difference being that they had hope. They saw there was more. And I don't think that's too different from us. The situation may be different,

but the rules generally apply, right? So much of conceding or giving up in life, accepting an existence that falls short of our ideals, it's when we don't believe in something more. We stop swimming. You don't give ourselves a chance. Right? So instead of creating bridges to walk on, we make walls that lock us in. Hope is knowing all pain, all discomfort is temporary. And the second component is belief in yourself. Belief in yourself to traverse that space between current and the ideal. It's self-empowerment. You can be the difference maker in your life and others. And it's funny, the other day after reading about the Richter experiment, I was sitting

in a friend's house with my laptop, kind of trying to figure out what to make of it, right? Because the idea of hope I knew was powerful, and I wanted to share that story. I wanted to write something that would highlight its value, but it seemed kind of unfinished. Or simply part of an explanation. I'm sitting there thinking about it, and I hear this loud bang over and over again. And I get up and I run to the back of the house, right, to make sure everything's fine, see what's going on. And my friend's standing there with goggles on, this grin on his face and a sledgehammer and a huge hole in the wall in front of him.

And I'm like, dude, what are you doing? You just knocked your wall down. He goes, yeah, I wanted to make another closet. His family's growing. He needs more space. And he just took it upon himself to make that happen. And I just looked at him and walked back out. Start walking the living room and it hit me.

This is a component of hope. Seeing what's not there and doing something about it. If the swimming experiment is step one, this has to be step two. In real time. Step one, believing seeing something more. Step two, taking action to change it now. Buying into the fact that you have the power to change your own world. And it's funny because any house or room I've ever lived in,

And my thoughts always, you know, you look around and this is, this is it, right? This is the situation. This is what's being given to me. How do I make the most of it? How do I play within these parameters? Not, okay, this is fine, but it could be better, you know, by smashing down the wall in the back over there, creating something new. And, you know, obviously the message here isn't about home maintenance. This is about taking a sledgehammer to the places in your life in which you are not content.

so that you can build in its place something that matters. You look around to your left, you're right, and you're unhappy. That's not the end of the story. That's the beginning of the story. That's where the wheels hit the road. In other words, it's looking at life with the lens, with the freedom of knowing things don't have to be what they are. They don't have to stay the same until the universe changes them.

No, they can be what you make them. And what life teaches us again and again is that walls can be stepped over. Knows can become yeses. Impossibles can become commonplace. But first, there must be hope. There must be an understanding that your world is a 10,000 foot view of all the little stories you tell yourself and the narratives you believe. See, every day when you wake up and take your first steps, breathe your first breaths, know that nothing simply is.

No, it is simply chosen and can be remade. That's what makes life such a beautiful thing. It's flexibility, it's promised to provide what has been relentlessly sought out. So remember, it's when you can't find your answer. the odds look grim when the rest of the world tells you know that you most need hope. Hope, the power, the strength to look within yourself and remember that one life can change and two, you can change it. Armed with this understanding, nothing is impossible.

When others fail to see the answer, the light in themselves, in the situation, you become the reminder that light is internally manufactured. We aren't given answers so that we may believe them. We are given the opportunity to believe and thus we create that ending we hope to pursue. And without this life is nothing more than a permanent status quo. It's holding our hands to the sky and receiving what light chooses to provide. But that's not why you're here. It's not why you woke up today, not to accept, but to create create to find hope in the tragedy and the hardship and to find within yourself the strength to move forward with whatever you decide comes next.

I walked up to the canyon's edge and I looked. I remember thinking this is my moment. I took a breath, I stepped back and I screamed. At the top of my lungs, I screamed. screams and out came my plans and my hopes and my dreams I let the world know everything I've been building and everything I planned to build everything I knew and everything I intended to learn I explained everything I felt all of me turn messenger packaged into these tiny airwaves and dispersed to the sky echoing one more time

As they left, is it for approval? And then, nothing. No problem. I thought I'll just wait. But the second hand kept ticking, and still, nothing. No answers, no approvals, and no guarantees. Huh. What was left to do, but stand up and scream again,

and I did, and all I got was my own. voice pushing through the canyon. Did I say the right thing? Did I make the right plan? Can you be right and alone at the same time? I don't know. I'll wait. Because surely someone cares. Someone has to care. Don't people care? At that moment, a tear rolled down my cheek as I sighed, sat down, exhausted, tired, tired of screaming and not being heard, tired of swinging and missing, tired of every attempt being the one that might change everything. I was tired of it all. Forget it.

Time to go somewhere else. I wasn't sure where, but let's face it. It doesn't really matter when the only way to go is up. So I turned around and took my first few steps. Defeated eyes down at my feet as they marched me away unceremoniously, but then... Then I heard it. Something in front of me. I immediately lifted my gaze from my shoes and stopped dead in my tracks.

I couldn't believe what I saw. A sea of people standing there. People that had been gathering this whole time, making their way up the canyon as my back was turned as I yelled and yelled. Some I knew, some I didn't. Some who cared so much that my pain was essentially their pain. Some I've helped along the way and some who have helped me. Some I've laughed with, some I've cried with, some I've learned from, some who have learned from me. Some who felt exactly as I had. alone, tired, exhausted, some who felt lost but found their way. Others who thought they had

everything figured out but for that moment were lost. Some who felt like they had the weight of the world on their shoulders, others simply looking for anything to carry. All there. Not to hand me answers or a shortcut or any perfect solution. But apparently to remind me that when the answers aren't in front of you, and trust me they won't be more than they will be, you have to trust what's behind you, what brought you to that canyon's ledge, you have to believe in the things you cannot see. Because you can think you're alone and be loved by many, and you can feel like you're losing and be right where you need to be. can seem like it's over when it is in fact just beginning. Those words bouncing off your lips, they don't disappear.

In fact, by speaking them, you are giving them life. They become as real as the hand in front of your face and it's up to you to never let that blank space make you think otherwise. To never let what you don't have minimize or mitigate what you do. Because the tricky thing, about that abyss

beyond the canyon's ledge is that it's not for reassurance or compliments or ego boosts. No, it's the real deal. It's for carving away at who you might be, and that's, well, that's never going to be easy.

In fact, it's always going to make you ask yourself the tough questions. And the hardest part is it will often leave you alone to answer them. But alone for the moment, not for the journey. The echo through the canyons

highlights the power of what you have to say and the river down below emphasizes how high you've already climbed and those people behind you, they are your strength. You're a reminder that even in the darkest of moments, the most trying of times you are not alone. Let those dreams leave your lips and fly off into that abyss. Because as hard as it may be to understand in the moment,

they are in fact making their way back to you. Eight lessons to live by. Number one, remind yourself to see those things we've taught ourselves not to see. The things that don't directly correlate to money or status or ascension up some social hierarchy. underneath those things are what keeps us alive. Keep our souls lit, our eyes open, our days meaningful. We don't think we need music to invigorate the soul. We don't think we need wind on our face or sand on our feet.

We don't think we need to shut the world off so we can hear ourselves think. Now, we fall into the trap of believing that beautiful is a luxury. It's not. It's why we're here. And it's not about being anti-money or status or whatever your goals are. But it is about realizing that those things without beauty and art and nature and calm are empty. There are a plane without wings, lungs without air, the things we have taught ourselves not to see. are the things we need above all else.

Number two, you are stronger than you think you are. You are made to endure. It's a pave, a path, find a way, rise to the occasion. And we know this when it's easy, but we forget when it's not. When the world feels stacked against us. When you're writing things, no one reads, saying things, no one hears, making things,

no one sees. When you know you have somewhere to go but aren't sure where that is, know you need to evolve into something but have no idea what. This is when you need to know that you have everything you need. It's not about finding new pieces. It's about arranging the ones in your hand. Like smoke expands to fill any room, your potential can expand to conquer any obstacle you.

any obstacle you are stronger than you think you are. Number three, some things are beyond our control. But being ready for the opportunity when it comes our way is very much in our control. And maybe it takes a day, a month, a year longer. You can't control that. You can't control the path of that firefly, but when it lights up and comes your way, you can have the jar ready and the live, and the lid off, you can be well read, well prepared, rehearsed to the point of confidence, reliance on repetition and not hope.

No endeavor is a coin flip when you use a double-headed quarter. One of the most valuable questions I've learned to ask is when and where in my life can I create those magic coins. Number four, we are at our best when we are moving towards something. Inaction has an opportunity cost that is more expensive than anyone wants to pay. Places I haven't gone, risks I haven't taken. They're the loss. The dragon has the gold for a reason, and to avoid the former is to forfeit the latter. If we are not growing, we are dying.

So as Emerson suggested, find a star, to hitch your wagon too. And even when the world forces detours upon you, inserts roadblocks, or temporarily covers that star up altogether. Remember that it's still there, shining as bright as it ever has, waiting for you to reorient yourself. Remember who you are and carry on. Number five, when it's your fault, you are in control. I used to hide behind the notion that bad grades were because of a bad teacher, that missing the promotion was because of the boss, that an inability to influence was because the world didn't understand. And to whatever degree these things may be true, we win when we dial them back to zero.

If your bad grades are completely your fault, you'll better prepare. If your lack of promotion falls entirely on your shoulders, you'll find ways to add more value. If your inability to influence is because you're missing the mark, you'll stop projecting yourself onto the world and start asking the world how you can serve. Before it can become an opportunity, it has to first become your responsibility. To grow, we have to plant roots where it hard. hurts where the ego lives, where we have to first be humbled, then we can accelerate vertically. Number six, if it means something to you, there is value. It's not stupid. Just because they don't get it doesn't mean that they shouldn't. Just because it's not happening today, doesn't mean it won't be

tomorrow. Life is a lot like six-year-olds playing soccer. Everyone chases the ball because that's what we're told. That's where the attention is. That's what's flashy. But as an outside midfielder, most of my life, I know that some of the most potent attack sequences manifest on the outside of the field and then are re-centered.

To run up the sideline without the ball is to see what happens before it happens. The magic is created in the empty space before it translates to the high traffic, high reward areas. And just because you're metaphorically running without the ball doesn't mean you're not in prime position to have monumental impact. You're not reacting. You are creating. Don't forget that. Number seven, nothing is mandatory. Everything we do, we choose where we are, who we are, who we are, we're with how we spend our time and it's easy to look around and think we are programmed to

exist between specific parameters we're not and often we don't see until life forces a change upon us how much flexibility we have in life now sure change obviously brings with it its challenges new questions uncertainties new places to map and people to meet but as mark manson says there is no problem-free life. No, the beauty of life is that we get to choose which problems we will spend our time solving. Problems to solve are what make life meaningful. So if you're looking around and not seeing what you want to see, you're not stuck. You're simply solving the wrong problems.

Perhaps it's time to find some new ones. In number eight, tomorrow is not your answer. It's your problem. Tomorrow is your excuse to wait. To hold off, to rationalize stagnation. Tomorrow is the status quo. It's a fresh new coat of paint on a car that won't run. We're a new roof on a house with a cracked foundation.

Tomorrow can only tell the story that has acted out today. That means without step up. into the limelight right now, in the immediate, in the present, there will be no story. Because stories aren't made tomorrow, they're made now. So let's stop expecting the messenger to be the author. And let's take fate into our own hands, write our own headlines, during the only moment we'll ever have. The present line. So let the rest of the world dance around tomorrow.

That's not where your mind should. should be, you should be working on the melody of today. Hope. Such a beautiful thing. I love that we want more. I love that we're able to look around and see the opportunity and the possibility. I love that we know we can pick up a pen and change the script, rewrite the ending. That's why the new year is so powerful.

Because with it comes hope. It forces us to sit down and think, reflect on the delta between how we're living and how we could be living. And anything that sparks a light in us is worthy of our attention. But also worth examining. Because here's what I want. I want those resolutions and those plans to materialize. I want the new you to start its incredible evolution.

I want the journey to begin. But I also want you to understand why we so often miss the mark with this vision for tomorrow. Because the truth is you will wake up January 1st and everything will, for a moment in time, feel new. As we turn the page, we are refreshed and invigorated. But new has a short lifespan. New eventually gives way to the same realities we've dealt with in the last chapter, the

same struggles, the same obstacle. So no, the answer to change is not novelty. It can't be. Let's not latch on to something that will slip through our fingers, like grains of sand on the beach. Let's change the way we look at sustainability. Let's take the complex and make it bite-sized. See, there's nothing more discouraging than wanting the moon and realizing every day that although you're climbing and climbing continuously, you have no moon to show for your work, for your assent. That mentality takes your progress and dresses it up as a loss. It

disguises your gain is not good enough. In fact, it makes it easy when life starts suggesting other plans, pointing to old routines to wave goodbye to that moon and jump right back into the chapter you thought you left. To truly change, it's not to focus on the outcome, but rather on the little steps that make the outcome possible. Your New Year's resolution is not to be the fittest guy or girl at the gym. It's to say yes to the physical activity every day. When you don't want to and when you do, when you're busy and when you're not. It's saying yes every time you're called to duty. It's looking like a model next week is impossible. But saying yes when the world is begging you to say no, now that's doable.

Resolutions fail because we resolve to be the hero but omit. the hero's journey. Wanting more is beautiful. Thinking bigger is incredible. But this year, let's remember that those who obtain big things don't think of them as big things, but as little consistent commitments as showing up and saying yes.

Look, life will never change just because the calendar flipped. No, life is going to change because with the refresh button came the yes. The yes every day to one or two small things. And while most drop out, while most eye the discrepancy between where they are in the goal, you'll move forward, knowing that the only goal is do not quit. As Eckartoll says, do not be concerned with the fruit of your action, just give attention to the action itself.

The fruit will come of its own accord. So no, I don't believe in the New Year, New Year. But I do believe that if you're serious about change, the current you already has everything it needs. It's just waiting on you to look at the little things differently, to realize that when you're always focused on the finish line can do more harm than good. And your results, they will come. But not because you said yes to the finish line, no, it will come because you said yes

consistently to each step that brought you there. And that's what's been missing. That's what matters. And that's why this year, this new year, will be the gateway to something spectacular. As our lives evolve, as our experiences accumulate, the way we look at life changes.

That's part of getting older and seeing the world. So long as you allow your ideas and perceptions, to be malleable, as long as you're looking to grow, you most definitely will. And for me, one area that is truly transformed is my relationship with luck. What it means, how it's relevant, and most importantly, what do I do about it? I created a little book of anecdotes last year, and one section was called the Luck manufacturer. And it says commitment, her hammer, resiliency, her nail, she used.

manufactured luck every single day. Before most awoke and long after they were asleep, she tirelessly sketched and built and created until at last she was done. Taking a step back, she stared in awe of the luck she constructed and knew it would change her life. And the takeaway of this passage is luck is made, not given. And as I was making my way through these little chapters in the book again, I stopped and thought, well, wait, you know, it's an important idea. One I believe in. It's not wrong, but also it's kind of half the story. There's a lot missing there. What I had done was essentially paint something black and white when there's a ton of gray area. No sane person completely discounts the role of luck in our lives. It plays a role.

very significant role. The question, again, is why does this matter? Well, because maybe we don't make luck like a carpenter in his shop, but catch it like a fisherman at sea. Because standing on the deck of the boat, he can't control the fish that swim into the net, but he most certainly is responsible for finding a location with good odds, for being consistent. in his attempts for mastering the craft and improving the skills. You can't control external factors, the weather, the storms, the tide, the location of the fish on that particular day, but you can control you, and that is your power. And I think the progress I've made is understanding the danger with looking at luck is something that is entirely self-made

and thinking that if you do X, you will be rewarded. Why? Because that's how it works. I put in the work. There's going to be an outcome. I take the boat out. I'll be having fish for dinner. But that's tricky, right? Thinking something is owed to in any capacity, it breeds resentment. Because for whatever reason, when it's not provided life suddenly seems unfair, it creates a scarcity mindset. And to truly progress is to endure that balancing. act of what we can control in one hand and what we can't in the other. That quote, you can't control the wind, but you were given the power to adjust your sails accordingly.

And for those who hang in there and adapt long enough, well, it seems as though luck tends to find them at some point. And this occurrence seems to unveil itself in a million different ways. after example everywhere you look. Yesterday I was reading John Adams' biography. Those of you who like history will enjoy this, kind of making my way through the American president. And just started, John Adams being one of the greatest minds

behind America's founding. And, you know, what's obvious, as I'm sure you'll all remember from history class, is the extent to which the French helped bring America to victory. I mean, without the French, most historians say that the war doesn't end the way it did. And you'll see my point here in a second. I promise this won't be American History 101, but the idea is it's very easy to take this info in, to be an observer from the outside looking in and say, you know, the Americans were lucky. They were lucky to have

French support, to have been supplied much-needed resources. They were lucky that the French fleet arrived from the West Indies to Yorktown, Virginia, just in time to block the British in and ensure there's surrender? I'd say there's certainly some luck there. But isn't that half the story? How about the courage it took the founding fathers with everything to lose, with death assured if they fail,

to stand up to a king? Or colonists with no military experience to go toe to toe with the most powerful military in the world? To adapt and utilize the minimal resources they had. To think enough of their pursuit to travel to France to request support, to scrap together a win in Saratoga to be considered just legitimate enough to obtain some international recognition. So the idea is yes, yes, yes, they were lucky. But without those things, the action and persistence and self-belief and the tenacity with which they moved into that great

unknown, there is no luck to be had. It's true then, it's true now. The effort never guarantees success, but the lack of it guarantees failure. You can't ensure that those fishing nets will be full after your expedition, but keeping the ship in the harbor ensures those nets will be empty. I guess that's why that period of American history is so moving to me. It's people who gave everything for an outcome that was anything but guaranteed. Planting a seed and hoping that years later, others could eat the fruit. He's a pretty cool part. He's writing a letter to his wife, and he says, I must study politics and war, that our sons may have the liberty to study math and philosophy.

Our sons ought to study math and philosophy and geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce, agriculture, in order to give their children, a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, etc., etc. Is any of that guaranteed? Absolutely not, but nothing is. It's why progress and courage are so inseparable. Because there will be times in our lives when we fall short, when the pursuit feels in vain, when the odds are small. And yes, you have the option to look at the road in front of you and see all that you don't have, how ill-equipped, how ill-prepared, how not ready for what's to come. But you also have the option to start moving, creating, believing, preparing your net, building yourself up.

Because when luck presents itself, you'll be as ready as you can possibly be. And if you swing and miss, not personalize the result, but adjust the pieces and be ready for the next time. So no, going back to that luck manufacturer, we don't create luck, but we do have the power and the ability to create ourselves. And if that's a pursuit you're willing to commit to to immerse yourself in, you will have, in essence, established a relationship with chance, not making luck but receiving it. because you anticipated its arrival long before it materialized and worked to make yourself its most appealing suitor. One of my favorite quotes is by Oscar Wilde. He says that an idea that is not dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all.

How perfect. Ideas should invigorate your soul. They should excite, propel you. But there's a critical distinction, in my view, a fine line between ideas and identity. Bringing an idea to life is not the same as building your entire life around one idea. And the danger is that that worldview creates self-imposed restriction. As Carl Jung says, it's not that people have ideas,

that ideas have people. And that's a problem. It inhibits our greatest power, the ability to think. It means we're walking through life blind. Oscar Wilde says to define is to limit. Kirkagard says, once you label me, you negate me. When what you believe becomes your identity, you have no choice but to perpetually believe it,

to always defend it. defend it it is as much you as your reflection and when answers have to support your beliefs well then their accuracy becomes relevant doesn't matter you'll find a way to make it fit you'll put that square peg in the round hole one way or another because the end has triumphed over the truth I like to look at ideas this way a world of trains all next to each other close going thousands of different directions, different ways, carrying different cargo, going different speeds. And you can hop on and off these trains as you see fit.

If you no longer like the speed or the direction, then you change trains. You don't like the destination it dropped you off at. Maybe it wasn't all you imagined it to be. Get on another train. Go some other place. That's the freedom of life. That's the exploration. The scenario to be avoided is clapping, cheering, holding a banner, proclaiming the train you're on.

engine number nine is the right train, the virtuous train, the only train that should be taken, as it makes its way off a cliff, but you never took the time to look out the window. And to be clear, I'm not advocating that the goal is to have no principles, to remain forever neutral, or be this perpetual switchelin, know the exact opposite. Have ideas, have beliefs, stand for things that you care about, but care about them because they mean something to you. Because in your heart and soul they align, because you know the alternative viewpoints,

you understand and appreciate the opposing ideas, but they're just not you. They may be, but they're not now. And you're okay with the train you're temporarily on, not because you put a blindfold on, sat down and called engine number nine home, which is what human beings seem to perpetually be tempted to do. It's in our nature.

So here is a reminder that a successful, life is an aware life. It's understanding how prone human beings are to dismiss reason and abandon logic, how quickly life can become a team sport, because that feels so much better than being someone who says, wait, maybe we miss something. Perhaps there's a chink in the armor or a flaw in the logic. What's interesting is one does not need to look hard to understand that history isn't defined by what happened. It's defined by how people interpreted and reacted to what happened, how they

molded events into their personal narrative, like a potter making dishes out of clay. We live not in a world of facts, but a world of perception or lack thereof. Human beings who blindfolded themselves and make every account fit that narrative. See, data can tell you any story you wanted to tell. Events can be attributed to any cause. Our world is is not black and white, it's very much gray. But we don't want to hear that as we attempt to make sense of what is. It's much easier to be for or against. Over there or over here.

Yes or no. They say that if you follow the crowd, you will get lost in the crowd. And while that's because the crowd eliminates the burden of having to think, to make difficult decisions, a crowd simplifies. A crowd is emotional, void of the thinking needed to change your life and the lives of others. The world should be explored. And one's quest to understand it should never be limited to the phrase, it is what it is. Nothing is what it is.

The world is a collection of stories, ideas. Or as I like to put it, almost 8 billion movie screens playing as we make our way through it. Life isn't a three-course meal, it's a buffet. where you choose, where you're aware of what serves you, where you put what matters to you in front of you. And when life becomes too straightforward, it's often because we missed a turn. When it becomes too easy to dismiss an opposing viewpoint,

it's often because we don't understand it. When anything outside of a court or a field becomes a team sport, it's very likely that we stopped listening, that we left the train with logic and reason and are taking a nap on the one carrying emotion. There's so much power, there's so much beauty in simply being yourself.

But permit yourself to understand who you are. Allow yourself to step outside of the box and access the gray area where life is better understood. Have your beliefs. Have the courage of your conviction. Seek out what truly is. matters in life. But don't ever let those ideas have you.