Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - You Become What You Think About | Fix Your Mind | Best Motivational Speeches

Episode Date: October 27, 2023

"What you think you become. What you feel you attract. What you imagine, you create" - Buddha

I think a substantial amount of life comes down to self-trust, to believing in yourself. But here's the thing, it's not blind belief. It's not toxic positivity where you close your eyes, cross your finger, shut the world off, and just assume things will work out because you're entitled to a great result. No, what I'm referring to is an active and deliberate. trusting of yourself to learn, to make the necessary adjustments, and to keep moving forward. When we have faith in our ability to step forward and improve simultaneously, there is no defeat. When you know you won't stop until you land where you want to land, then limitations become a choice.

Success in any capacity is a you thing, not an outside thing. And this popped into my head a few days ago during, of all things, a game of axe throwing. So, quick story from last weekend, a friend of mine and I, after a day of working on the podcast, went down to Fort Lauderdale to this axe throwing place, which is, it's random, but it's a great time, simple concept. There's this giant target, and you take turns throwing little axes at the target, basically darts, right? If you think along those lines. And there were eight of us in the group. They divide you into two teams of four and you play various games until the end. The end, there's this final session where it's every person for themselves.

It's like a free-for-all. Each person gets three rounds to throw axes at the target and whoever has the best score wins. So think of the target just in a traditional way, right? The bull's eye or the little point in the middle is worth five. Then the next smallest circle outside of that is four. Then three, then two, and then the biggest circle along the edge is worth one. So whatever you hit with the axe, that's the point you get. Except they put these two little blue dots on the top third of the circle.

And they say, if you can hit one of the. these blue dots you get 10 points. So high risk, but certainly high reward. And my friend and I is super competitive, right? He looks at me, starts telling me how he's already got this in the bag, and I'm like, all right, we'll see. And it's been arguable, but I probably had been the more consistent of both of us up to that point in the night.

Nothing fancy, just straight away aiming at the middle, aiming for those bull's eyes and fours. even attempting to go for those, you know, hard to reach blue dots, no need straight up the middle. And here's why this is important. We step out to take our first shots of the finale here. My friend goes first, immediately hits one of those little blue dots. Boom. Already, I'm down 10 points.

So what do I do? I completely leave my strategy. And I start thinking, no one behind, I can't let this happen. I spent my next nine shots, and the only nine shots I had, right, trying to hit those blue dots and missing every time, just get killed, right? He won handedly. And then I realized when the scores were read out at the end, that if I just ignored everything my buddy had done and stayed true to my game, aimed for the center of the board, average 3.5 or 4 points of throw, I would have won. and by a substantial margin. But I let the outside world impact my strategy.

I started chasing those long-shot blue dots when I knew they were a distraction. Now, I'm sure the last thing you expected to hear today was the recap of an axe-throwing contest. But if you bear with me, there's value here. So let's step beyond the axe-throwing. Let's take it up a level. Let's talk about when you know what's best for you.

You know where you want to be and what's working, but you're pulled out of your lane because of what someone else says or does. You hear him or her over there accomplish something great. You look in the mirror and go, man, I haven't accomplished anything like that. Maybe I need to change what I'm doing, my approach. Maybe I'm wrong. See, in the beauty. of that little game was that it reminded me that there will always be outside circumstances

trying to redirect my course. But we have to trust in ourselves that we are doing what's best. We have to know our own game and our own strengths. Now, don't conflate this with the stubbornness. It's not about never adjusting. No, we need to adjust. But adjust when it's best for you. Not simply because other people are taking a different approach. It's hard to stay consistent with the world pushing other options consistently. People finding success in various ways, taking other paths, talking about their incredible strategies

and how great X, Y, and Z is. But it's all noise. You have to trust you. And again, not blind faith, but an understanding of who you are and a willingness to continue to grow with every step forward. There has to be some element of understanding that, sure, things will get challenging,

life will push back. But that doesn't mean you are wrong or in over your head. It's a compounding of little actions and trust in yourself. If you can do that, the world remains yours. It's day by day, or in my example, throw by throw, knowing your bull's eye and aiming steady up the middle. We all know how hard it is to see results before they exist. The mind tries to find every example out there

depicting why you're wrong. Why the finish line is too far away, life is constantly creating off-ramps, saying, hey, if you don't want it that bad or you're unsure of yourself, here's a way out, come with me. It's constantly sowing seeds of death, which is why we must dig deep for that strength.

Life is a game of you versus you. If those around you win, good for them. And if they lose, well, hey, wish them well, hey, wish them well on the next go-around. But none of it has any bearing on who you are and the race you're running. Are you going to show up for you? Are you going to be your biggest fan when it takes every single single thing? part of you to keep going. Don't let the loudest voices in the room dissuay you from what you know to be right. Don't let the blue dots hinder your direct line to the bullseye, right? Block out that noise,

block out the distractions and do what is required of you. Win your race because that's the only finish line of value. Walk your piece. because that will bring you where you need to be. And when you question the pursuit, remember what you've overcome, all the steps that brought you to right now and how, yeah, maybe they weren't flashier over the top, but they were consistent. They've given life to the present moment. What you do is succeed.

What you do is overcome. Just don't lose your bullseye. 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. I think there's immense value in understanding that each and every. 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 decided.

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, it is your day, 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 unwatched, 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. Ready to prioritize yourself in the new year? Your skin is a great place to start. Dime Beauty, founded by a master aesthetician, is more than just a skincare company, With four skin-conscious categories, skincare, beauty, body care, and fragrance, Dime offers simple, spa-worthy products that will help you enter 2025 with confidence.

Whether you're revitalizing your regimen with nourishing products or building one from scratch, Dime makes it easy. The work system, our all-in-one best-selling routine, includes a cleanser of your choice, toner, serums, and moisturizers, taking the guesswork out of skin care for your healthiest, happiest skin yet. Dime's commitment to clean ingredients and sustainable packaging,

The packaging ensures every product is as gentle on your skin as it is on the planet. With thousands of glowing five-star reviews and a loyal community, the results speak for themselves. Revive your skin and give yourself the routine refresh you deserve by visiting dimebeautyco.com. That's dimebeautyco.com. Your best skin awaits. The world, it needs you.

But it needs the real you. not the one with the mask looking to blend in nor the one making all those concessions to avoid being left out no the real you with your flaws and your insufficiencies your strengths and your gifts your hopes and your dreams

it needs the you that so often hides away underneath that blanket of caution and skepticism. The you that's coupled with vulnerability. More easily ignored than brought to life with conviction, but that's the you this world needs. When I was younger, I seemed to separate life into two categories. Me and one and everyone else in the other.

And guess which of the two categories I assumed. had it all figured out. In my mind, I was the one, the only one who didn't know, the one who was winging it, stumbling my way through each and every day. All those other people, though, they not only had plans, they had the right plans. They knew the right details, but I didn't. And so in my head, me being right required I necessarily look to them. I follow their lead. Since there exists an established correct path, that must be where I steer the ship. But then some time passes.

You grow older, maybe pick up a little wisdom along the way. And you realize that no one really knows what they're doing. There are very few objectively correct roads that must be traveled. Life is not a paint by number, it's a blank canvas. And understanding this changed the image in my head. From one of me knocking on the door of a party everyone else was at to visualizing almost 8 billion individual souls running around trying to figure things out in the limited stretch of time they have here on planet Earth.

I realized I had at times felt small only because of the gravity I attributed to people who were just trying to figure it out themselves. And the point, certainly not to diminish anyone else's journey, it was to give myself permission to embark upon my own. It's just hard to do that when you view everyone else as one, collective all-knowing entity, as opposed to 8 billion people just like you with thoughts, fears, hopes, and plans. The question is not what is the right thing to do

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

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

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

forward. Should you choose to move forward? It's in realizing you are bound by nothing that you free yourself. And for the one wondering, why does it matter what I think? Why should I start or try or risk anything? Why should I pick up the brush and start painting on that canvas before me? Well, because That step is where it all begins, the meaning, the purpose. It's all predicated upon our willingness to pick that brush up and start painting. You ask what's the point? The point is everything. One detail at a time, we dismantle our previously held notions about what life is supposed to be.

And finally start living one that matters. No one's masterpiece will look like yours. No one's depiction of life will follow the same parameters you've etched onto that canvas. In fact, there are people that will be changed forever because you chose to live your life fully. There are lives of those around you that will be transformed because you picked up the brush. There are stories that will now end in triumph because you found the courage to start, to see light in yourself. You being fulfilled and the world being better off, they're not two different things. When you live a life true to yourself, when you let go of the half-toes and step into the get-toes,

the world experiences the luxury of the beauty that comes next. When you fill your cup up first, you're able to then replenish those around you. That's not nothing. So who are you? Beneath the characterizations, beneath the roles you've taken on, beneath what you feel you're supposed to be. All that. Who are you and will you give life to that person? Will you be that courageous?

After all, that's what life is. It's not a game of right and wrong so much as it's a game of courage. The ones willing to take the leap end up worlds away from where they begin. So my ask of you is that you begin tearing down those walls created in your head. The ones that accumulated over days and months and years. The ones that box you in or keep you out that suggest you are anything other than that one in 400 trillion miracle. Ready to embark upon the right of a lifetime. And sure, it means shedding the comfort of obscurity.

the safety of projection. Looking yourself in the mirror and saying, I am worth it. And there's more out there means without question you are taking off the training wheels, dancing with vulnerability. But it also means when that time comes

and you look back on how you lived your days, you can say I truly lived. You can say that the world needed me And I had the courage to heed its call. 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 why, at least in that moment, making this question all the more important. 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 I'd 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 the 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 excites 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 able to be. You can be a lot of you. You can deliberate. No more shooting targets in the dark because life is too short. Our days numbered, our 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 unlocks infinite possibility.

It's knowledge that opens the door to life on your terms. Ready to prioritize yourself in the new year? Your skin is a great place to start. Dime Beauty, founded by a master aesthetician, is more than just a skincare company. With four skin-conscious categories, skin care, beauty, body care, and fragrance, Dime offers simple, spa-worthy products that will help you enter 2025 with confidence. Whether you're revitalizing your regimen with nourishing products or building, building one from scratch. Dime makes it easy. The work system, our all-in-one best-selling routine,

includes a cleanser of your choice, toner, serums, and moisturizers, taking the guesswork out of skin care for your healthiest, happiest skin yet. Dime's commitment to clean ingredients and sustainable packaging ensures every product is as gentle on your skin as it is on the planet. With thousands of glowing five-star reviews and a loyal community, the results speak for themselves. Revive your skin and give yourself the routine refresh you deserve. by visiting dime beauty co.com. That's dime beauty co.com. Your best skin awaits. This podcast is sponsored by Talkspace. You know when you're really stressed or not feeling so great about your life or about yourself, talking to someone who understands can really help. But who is that person? How do you

find them? Where do you even start? Talkspace. Talkspace makes it easy to get the support you need. With Talkspace, you can go online, answer a few questions about your preferences, and be matched with a therapist. And because you'll meet your therapist online, you don't have to take time off work or arrange child care. You'll meet on your schedule, wherever you feel most at ease. If you're depressed, stressed, struggling with the relationship, or if you want some counseling for you and your partner, or just need a little extra one-on-one support. Talkspace is here for you. Plus, Talkspace works with most major insurers, and most insured members have a zero-dollar copay. No insurance, no problem. Now, get $80 off of your first month with promo code Space 80 when you go to

Talkspace.com. Match with a licensed therapist today at Talkspace.com. Save $80 with code space 80 at talkspace.com. Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom. Victor Frankel. So much of life comes down to how we arrange and internalize what we see. Our realities will always be comprised of what we choose to look at. Now that's not to say the unfortunate or quote unquote bad things aren't present, but whether or not you choose to keep them in your life, in your field of vision, that's on you. Here are two ways I like to explain this.

The first was explained to me as a curtain hung from a stage, and this curtain has holes and tears all throughout. On the other side of the curtain, there's an auditorium, some chairs, aisles, a few lights. But depending on which hole or tear you chose to look out of, you'd see a different piece of that picture. It can be said that the curtain is life, and the hole you choose to look through makes up your reality. The little piece of information you choose to consume. Because life is certainly complex, right? There are too many images and variables for us to notice all of them. That's impossible. We'd collapse in on ourselves. We have to pick a few, which means that our entire existence from the time we're born to the time we die

is dependent entirely on which details we choose to focus on, which ones we use to tell our story. Which leads me to the second example. Let's say you decide. you're going to walk to your car. You open your front door, you walk down your driveway, right up to your car, open the door, and get in. Your story was, I'm going to my car. And so everything you experienced was related to that. In the sense that you didn't notice the driveway

of the person's seven houses down. You weren't looking for that. And you didn't notice the potholes across the street. you weren't looking for that either. You didn't think about the funny shaped cloud over your head. That wasn't on your mind. Why would it be? All these things weren't part of the story, right?

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

You choose what hole you want to look through and then use life to create supporting details. When you're focusing on the negative or why you aren't good enough, you'll find things that support that narrative. Choose a different story, and you'll start seeing different pieces that support it. I'm sure you've all heard how when you're looking to buy a car, you start seeing more and more of that car on the road. It's not because they suddenly appeared overnight on 95. No, they've always been there.

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

Believe this is just the beginning of something beautiful. And you'll find the details necessary to bring it to life. You get what you focus on. So focus on the things that will propel you forward. because trust me, they're there. Use what you have where you are. A friend of mine at one point found himself in his mid-20s, fighting his way back from what he refers to as a pretty substantial setback that had occurred.

He was basically rebuilding his life. Okay, he found himself looking up at an enormous mountain to climb. unsure what he would do for a living, how he would make ends meet, very much lacking direction. And as he pondered, he got a job as a pizza oven repair guy. Learn the ins and outs of the craft as he showed up every day. I still focused down the road, still contemplating what would be the best move for his future. And as some time passed, he started to realize he was mastering the very niche craft. that he was showing up to do every day, right?

Was acquiring a very specific competency in quickly becoming great. After a little bit of time, he started thinking, hey, I could branch out on my own here. I could start my own pizza oven repair business. And he did. And after not too long, hired an entire team to work with him,

then progressed into delivering and installing new ovens, ovens all over the country and is currently working on some new technology as well to supplement the install and repair part of the business. The guy's doing incredibly well. And it's interesting because you're having a conversation with him about his success and it's like how on earth did you find yourself doing what you do? It's so specific. And he'll tell you he worried, he pondered, he thought about.

business degrees and career trajectories and all that. But the difference was that he didn't take the moment for granted. He saw the value where he was with what he had, where he could have seen it as a bridge job or a chapter in the story or however you want to describe it. He saw it as an opportunity. He saw the present as the answer, show up and give everything you have to being great now.

Because when you're competent in a craft and ambitious, as he is, that's a scary combo. The world becomes yours. Use what you have where you are. And you will, because of this monster, see doors unlock that perhaps you never thought possible. There are pieces around you now that will push you to grow and evolve. The problem is we very often dismiss. What my friend turned into an empire, a success story, could just as easily have been an obligation while he waited for the world to give him something different.

And sure, I think it's important for me to emphasize the point isn't to stay where you are forever if you're unhappy. Of course not. The point is that there's value in aiming to be exceptional at whatever it is you are. are doing, whatever you are committing to, even if it appears mundane. The point is that so much potential is sewn into our day to day, it just tends to blend in and not feel important, at least at first glance. You know, doors open for people who are great at what they do, and people who are great at what they do live with a curiosity, consistency, and intensity

that others might not. It's amazing how when we feel that we are gaining competence in something or excelling in something, it becomes enjoyable. Which highlights the fact that so often our stagnation is a byproduct of us standing in our own way, choosing not to grow.

I mean, I can't explain how trivial what I do now felt when I first started in 2014. Sharing my thoughts into a microphone, making little three-minute videos, uploading them to the internet, right, to an audience of my immediate family for zero dollars. You know how dumb my rational brain was trying to convince me that was? You know how easy it would have been to move on

and simply look back on that period of time as my little YouTube experiment? But again, there is this strange phenomenon that when you inject yourself into something and vow to get better at it, It lifts you up, it excites you, it brightens your world. I had, as I've talked about, so many times found that intersection of what I love and what adds value to others. And that was everything.

And the solution appeared not because, you know, I bumped into someone that had some life-changing opportunity for me. It wasn't because I found this shortcut or secret formula. No, I just used what was already sitting in my little apartment on Comav and Boston. It's incredible how often our answers are right where we are. That's why as I've progressed through this journey, I understand balance. I understand the value of sure, looking at that horizon, having big plans and ambition, but also cherishing the opportunity at our feet now, looking around because again and again and again the opportunity is disguised as triviality is the stuff we walk right by always remember that there's something around you that can be transformed into opportunity even if it's small

and if you choose to look for it you will empower yourself everyday things i can throw off examples for days the internet incredible resource leverage it whether it's connecting or sharing or creating or learning your day-to-day effort like my friend with the pizza oven installation repair company that world doesn't exist if he doesn't take the little things incredibly seriously show up to whatever you do with the tenacity that will propel you to new height whether it's in that same field or it carries you over to another or utilizing your network there are people you know today right now that can contribute to your momentum, seek them out.

Time, the 30-minute blocks that we deem insignificant or downtime between one event and another. Think of the compounding of turning that into a push-up session every day or your 30-minute audiobook time. And sure, all of these examples are sort of sporadic, they're contextually different, but they have one very important common theme, and that's, opportunity being squeezed out of resources that we already possess. It's instead of walking by the pile of bricks every morning, picking one up at a time and beginning to stack them. I'm a firm believer that the difference maker for so many is not IQ.

It's not going to this or that college. It's not your background. It's, did you recognize the opportunities surrounding? you? Did you find the value or the excuse? Because both will always exist. And that's what we have to understand. The details around you can be your reason for staying right where you are or for doing the unimaginable. So understand the power of utilizing what you have where you are. Make a point to look for the tools within reach. They say what's trash. or junk to one man can be treasure to another.

We'll understand that your eyes are capable of seeing both. You have to leave them to the value. You have to become comfortable with pausing, letting the emotions subside and asking, how can I win here now with the pieces that are available to me? Because they are available. And if you're willing to pick them up, You can undoubtedly, as the rose said, build your castles in the air.

Normality is a paved road. It's comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow. Vincent Van Gogh. What is normality? Well, according to the dictionary, normal is the usual average or typical state or condition. common. Normal is also a decision. There's a quote by Robin Sharma, and I've looked to this for years, it states, if you want what the 5% have, you need to be willing to do what only the 5% are willing to do. What they obtain is not definitionally speaking normal, it's uncommon. And what they do to arrive at that

outcome is also uncommon. They play by a different set of rules, and in doing so end up with an entirely different outcome than most. To put it simply, we arrive at normal when our effort level is normal. You put in normal hours or give average effort at work. Most likely your results, career progress, compensation will be normal. You pay moderate attention to your fit your health, well, your level of physical fitness will be normal. You dedicate typical levels of effort to your relationships. Your relationships will be normal. Not terrible, but not remarkable.

I'm sure you get the idea here, the pattern. Generally, over time, what we get starts to reflect what we gave. And here's where the self-assessment comes in, the awareness. You have to ask yourself, in pursuit of something greater, whether your actions are aligning with your goals and objectives. There's nothing so futile is telling yourself you're going to achieve miraculous, larger-than-life outcomes, and then putting in average typical normal effort. If normal goes in, normal comes out.

And as I was thinking about this recently, you know, as it pertains to my life, had a little epiphany. So fitness is a big area of focus for me. I run or do some type of strength training six days a week. As far as I can tell, that level of effort is beyond normal. I go above and beyond in that area of my life. But even though I'm aligned on my mission to be the 5% there, I realized there was a gap.

I realized my diet was very normal, completely unextorinary. It's just easy to convince yourself to eat whatever you want after a really long run, right? Why not pizza? After all, it's the normal thing to do. But I had to remind myself that what I wanted in that area of my life holistically is not normal. Therefore, the inputs cannot be normal. It was time to start standing up to those things that are very easy to say yes to, to rationalize. And that's the idea here.

I pick my 5% categories where I truly want to excel and make sure there's nothing normal about their development. You want top tier results, you have to give top tier effort. Make the sacrifices, map out the path. I've come to see this differently over the years. It's not an indictment against you as a person for choosing. normal, but know that it is indicative of a choice, and the output eventually comes to align with the input. All the actions or lack thereof stack up to resemble something. It's up to you to decide what that is. And so the next question, perhaps somewhat of an obvious one, is when it

comes to the things that matter most to you, why stay confined to normal? It's the above and beyond, the peak experiences, the times we overcame, fought and won, took the risk and came out on top. That's when we are at our best. That's when we get the most from life. So is normal the end of the world, no. It's just that abnormal is the beginning of one. What is failure? Perhaps when the plan falls apart, maybe when the project results are underwhelming. No, not quite. When your heart breaks, momentum stops when your world is shaken at its foundation. No, to put it. But it's simply failure is not going. Failure is the plan never falling apart because you were too scared to make one.

Failure is never being underwhelmed by the results of that project because you couldn't find the courage to start. Failure is no heartbreak, no setbacks, no challenge to your worldview because you stood still. I see life's disappointing occurrences as a sort of transaction. Some temporary discomfort, in exchange for the very wisdom you were looking for, placed in the palm of your hand. You endure the pain to get the answers. You accept chaos today in exchange for the map that enables you to know. navigate the terrain.

How can something be a failure if it places you right where you need to be? How can something be a failure if it brings you closer to the life you dream of? Maybe we don't look at life as failure versus success, but rather as being stagnant versus being in motion, immobile versus mobile. Maybe it's that simple. If you are moving, regardless of how fast, you're giving yourself a chance to overcome, to collect wisdom and pick up armor.

You're giving yourself a chance to be more tomorrow than you are today. And that means we stop accepting the notion that we are standing still. for our benefit. Justifying that we're only stationary because we're waiting for the right moment. We're here because we need this to be perfect. No, there are a million different ways to get what you want out of life.

A million different paths to get you there. None of them require standing still. I already cringe at the amount of time I've wasted waiting for the right time. How I would sit on releasing this or starting that. Oh, it's because I'm a perfectionist, only to learn that perfectionism is really just fear in disguise. You can sit there and wait and refine and refine and refine. But I'll tell you what, the one who moves, who creates, shares, collects feedback, adjusts, and repeats,

will have achieved that level of quote unquote perfection before you feel prepared to acknowledge and share your prototype. It was simply by going that evolution took place. It took me a long time to grasp this, to understand it, and a part of me didn't want to believe it. I found it inherently uncomfortable, but life rewards the bold. It always has and always will, calling for a sort of calculated recklessness.

Great things are achieved by doers who can put their egos aside and let the world humble them on their way to the next attempt. In Ron Cherno's biography on Washington, one of the common themes which I've been. believe made Washington one of the most influential people in the history of mankind was his ability to think, analyze, seek out the opinions of people around him, and then once decided that was that, he was all in, the rubber had met the road, this was now the way. And I find power in that. As overthinking is so often our undoing, right, weighing out worst-case scenarios, contingency plans, this versus that. When progress requires that we, sure, spend a little bit of time deciding which general

direction we go, but most importantly, that we start. And I think we've all been guilty of this. over-analyzing, over-planning. But just like a sailor can't predict the winds, we can't predict all life's variables. Again, it's deciding on a general direction and then trusting ourselves to navigate life's obstacles as they arise. It's finding trends and patterns along the way in doing our best to utilize them as we move forward. There will be points where the road ahead seems overwhelming.

seems overwhelming, the obstacles too abundant to make sense of, where the mind compels you to stay where you are and stare out in awe. It will suggest that what's behind you is safer, that the worlds you know contains fewer monsters than the worlds you don't. It might even convince you that whatever ambitions you had weren't really that important that you could easily live without them. The longer you stand there, the longer you listen to that voice, the louder it gets. You dismiss it with every step forward.

Your momentum is a dagger through the heart of any doubt that once tried to occupy the precious real estate behind your eyes. You don't have to outthink it, outsmart it, you just have to move forward. And what you find is that the mountains you once peered up at weren't all that they seen. A culmination of little hills that can be climbed, manageable rocks that in actuality can be used to propel yourself up the mountainside. There was never a perfect path up. No magic transport to the summit. You might even think to yourself, what a shame that so many are still in the summit.

So many are still on the sidelines waiting to devise their perfect approach, making plans and drawing maps. But that's not how any of this works. To win you go, to make progress, you move. Knowing full well that you'll find your dead ends, you'll spend time and exhaust energy going down certain paths that don't ultimately lead you where you wanted to go. What a gift the ability to reverse course and take the right at the fork instead of the erroneous left you previously took. Your errors are not permanent.

Your errors are correctable. Stagnation is what's permanent. Wishing is permanent. Someday is permanent. But right now, that's pure value. So next time you find yourself looking out, as we all do, Remind yourself that there are many ways to transform your reality for the better. Many paths to the mountaintop.

But there is only one way to assure you never get there, and that is standing still. So trust yourself to figure life out as it comes. To take the pain and extract from it wisdom. To find the strength beyond the uncertainty. Life is giving you everything that is required. Not some things or a few things, everything. All it asks of you is that you dismantle the delusion of perfection and begin.