Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - YOU CAN'T DEFEAT ME | Powerful Motivational Speeches | Listen Every Day

Episode Date: September 15, 2023

“What hurts you blesses you.” - Rumi

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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 will 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 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 time. 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. 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. Its 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. It's 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'm a lot of you. But I 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. 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 Kirkagard 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. Sometimes when you don't know where you're going, the best thing to do is go there. A wise man once stated that an object at rest stays at rest.

And while his rationale is a little different than mine, I'm going to borrow from his premise. Right? Because when you moot, even if you don't know where you're going, you put yourself on a collision course with something. You put into existence an entity to react to. Some call it destiny. Others call it fate.

I call it simply initiative. Because if your journey is hypothetical, you have nothing to celebrate nor correct. A sailboat can adjust its sails once it leaves the harbor, right? they can learn from and manipulate its surroundings, make sure it arrives at a destination, right? It learns and adapts along the way. But from the harbor, it speculates.

It expounds upon a path that might be straighter, might be faster, might be more thought out and tied together than the crazy sailors who took off for the horizon, but in actuality, it goes nowhere. In the real world, it is stagnant, and I could be wrong, but I'd make the argument 10 out of 10 times

that the real world is where we want our results. And my proof? Well, a journey that started with insurance and evolved into music, in songwriting, in audio production, then video production, then creative writing, then a sweet spot that kind of combined everything. A spot that didn't make its way to my inbox

with an exact address. A spot that required a lot of failure and lessons learned and disappointment, but man, more than that, so much fun. My proof is sitting down right now in real time, letting my fingers create a bridge from nothing to something of value. By the way, after sitting here staring at a blank screen for hours, it's just starting. Could I be wrong?

Could I screw up? Could I wildly miss the mark? Yes. In fact, it happens more than I'd like to admit. But here's the beauty, even if I am wrong. I now have something to work with. Something has been brought into existence. And well, that means I'm officially further along than I once was.

And I've heard over and over again that there is no perfect moment, that you have to just go. And the idea, I mean, it makes sense. It's impossible not to understand, but it's one of those things that until you feel it, it doesn't mean anything. How can you miss something you've never experienced? Well, to put it in a way that help me understand,

you aren't going because, eh, what do you have to lose? You're going because everything is to be gained. The answers that you pick up along the way, like a little coins you pick up in Super Mario, right? You have to start collecting pieces of a pocket. puzzle that you can then arrange. I truly believe that one of the most important ideas we need to hold on to moving forward as personal agency, self-belief.

And I say that because I feel like I'm watching it slip. There are cases where we literally don't know or understand that it's within our own ability and control to change our lives. No person or group or letter in the mail is going to come along and green line. your idea. In fact, you might not even really know what your idea means or how it will look. And that's not only okay. It's amazing. It's the marble that you get to chisel away at to create something. See, life is not the perfect execution of a plan. Life is the courage to make your way into a world that no one really understands or knows anything about.

And I'm not talking physics or biology or quantum mechanics. I'm talking about the real life that is emergent from those areas of study. Right? There is no perfect formula for happiness. But it will always be true that immobility or standing still is antithetical to progress. And there is plenty of data. There is plenty of data that supports the idea, progress equals happiness. We want to move towards something. So that's what this is about, right?

Here's to not being scared of what we don't know. Because somewhere in the realm of what we don't know exists what we need most. So yeah, stop waiting for the perfect moment. And yes, begin. But not because it's an ultimatum. It would because the things that make life fun and intriguing and exciting and ultimately worthwhile, they live on the other side of your front door. Dear younger me, there's a lot that you don't know.

A lot you're pretty sure you understand but couldn't possibly wrap your hands around. Because the most important things in life, the things that you'll remember, They're the very things that seem like footnotes in your story. Background noise, hidden in plain view. So Younger Me, hear me out because time goes by quickly. And we only get one opportunity to do this dance, one chance to do this thing right. Younger me, when you wake up, be thankful for the shoes on your feet, the house you live in, the life you lead, because if all you do is focus on what you don't have or the next milestone, happiness becomes a mirage.

Younger me, the world as you know it isn't something that was destined to be. It's here because people know smarter than you have the courage to build it. Never be scared to challenge what is. This place will be better because of it. And younger me, it will always be easier to play it safe, to stay comfortable. But I want you to understand something. That's not where you'll find the good stuff. If you don't take chances, you'll spend your time wondering what could have been.

Younger me, believe in your greatness. This world can be a tough place. And if you don't believe in yourself, no one will do it for you. No one will hand you the sky. Earn excellence every day. It's there, I promise. Younger me, don't get distracted by the small stuff, the little things that so easily consume our energy and emotions.

Don't lose sight of who you are and what means the most to you. Everything else washes away. Younger me, you didn't have all the answers, but somehow you were exactly what I needed you to be. You created a map. You showed that change can't happen until one falls victim to life's imperfections. That risks aren't taken until you've experienced regret, that confidence isn't acquired if you don't learn to play the student. And most importantly, if you don't allow yourself to get, lost, you will never discover who you truly are.

20 years from now, when we meet again, younger me, I know you'll do the same. I know you'll have given me everything I needed, nothing more and nothing less. Because time goes by quickly. And we only get one opportunity to do this dance, one chance to make this right. And I promise you, younger me, that it won't be wasted.

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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 dimebeautic.com. That's dime beauty co.com. Your best skin awaits. Hey there, it's Ryan Sechrest for Safeway. Now through February 25th, stock up on your favorite self-care items and save up to $3. Shop in store or online for items like Old Spice Deodorant, always ultra-thin pads,

Gillette Fusion Razors and Refills, Old Spice Total Body Spray, Tampax Pearl, and Jolette Mach 3 Razors and Refills, and Save Up to Thirteen. $3. You won't want to miss out on these deals. Offer ends February 25th. Offers may vary. Restrictions apply. Visit safeway.com for more detail. The sunrise is not the best part. I want to explain something I've tried to articulate over the years, but at least in my mind, have never quite captured how I feel or what I mean, because I think it's important. Now, a tad trivial, or could be seen. that way. In fact, I picture one of those memes where the top says nobody. The bottom would say

Eddie's screaming about the sunrise for 10 years. Whereas a buddy of mine recently said, you know, a bird flies over my right shoulder and I want to go home and write a novel about it. But, you know, truth be told, there's beauty in the mundane. And I think when looked at correctly, some of of our greatest lessons about ourselves, about the world, and about how those two things often aren't as different as we might be inclined to think, shine through. So we're going at this again one more time. The beginning, 4 a.m., couldn't sleep last night.

So I got up, I got dressed, went to the Dunkin' Donuts, tried through around the corner, I was sitting there, right as it opened at 5.30. Got my French vanilla coffee and headed to the beach to see night turn today. And here's an interesting thing. If you were to search sunrise, Pompano Beach, on that particular day, it would have told you 6.28 a.m. I got to the beach around 5.40.

And this will become more and more relevant as I sort of progress here. But when I arrived, it was dark. It was not a soul outside. except for a man with a dog who for some reason warned me that he had a dog and another man twirling around a glow stick. Listen, Florida's the best place I've ever lived by far, but it keeps you on your toes, man. So I walked by them and found a spot by the water. I sat down and it was truly theatrical.

It's almost hard to find the words for the South Florida sky in the morning as night turns today. And as I'm sitting there looking out over the Atlantic, you can see right where the ocean and sky touch these little patches of teal and orange and pink that start to slowly break up the darkness. Almost like someone's dipping their brush in paint and just flicking it at a canvas.

Random assortments of colors. And it's very interesting because it happens subtly and somehow all at the same time. Piece by piece, these little neon strips start making their way over the horizon. I just sat back with my coffee and I watched the world around me come to life. Birds start flying over the water.

The sand rake, if that's what it's called, started driving around, preparing the beach for everyone that would come visit that day. You start to hear voices and laughter, infiltrate. the beach around you. And here's my thing. Here is that thought that I truly feel is important

but have a hard time with the why. It's how people show up at 615 and make their way to the sand to watch the sun come up. Obviously, understandable. It is an incredible sight. To see that giant ball of fire emerge in the distance seemingly make its way up into the sky. I get it. I just can't help but feel like in some way, you know, it's similar to fast forwarding

a movie to the point where the villain's already been defeated, where the problems already been solved. It's like it's the post-game interview after the Super Bowl. The magic in my eyes, eyes, is the before. Before the sun rises, it's watching something so dark, so empty, so hopeless, replaced by a masterpiece that takes your breath away. It's seeing out in the distance the light that was coming, it was always on its way, make itself known to you for the very first time. And as that extravagant march from nothing to something takes place above and all around you,

suddenly you can see your hand in front of your face. It's like you blinked and night became day. That type of transformation, that journey from one extreme to the other, it's so incredible, so emotional, it screams hope. It makes it that much harder for me to say, I can't. I can't change. I can't let go. I can't build.

It's like, look, you just watched the black of night become day. It's a reminder that things are always dark until they're not. We can never see until we can. It's just make-believe until it's real. It's a process of holding on. Sometimes it's just holding on. until that paint begins to color in the world around you. So it's not that the others are wrong.

Again, I totally get it. I get the appeal of putting the beach chair down at 615, snapping some pictures of the sun in its magnificence. I get it. It's real. It's tangible. It's the shiny object. Theoretically, it's what we should be looking at.

But let's not forget that magic. in its infancy. Because for everything that is, for every sun that rises, its origin was once darkness. It's beginning so convoluted and so bleak that it's only logical one would look around and fail to see reality stretching

beyond those desolate confines. The world seems to like pointing out the shiny things and the obvious spectacle. But if you ask me, the power precedes that sunrising. The power is navigating through nothing, knowing that things will not only be different, but that a light show is soon to emerge. That the line between possible and impossible between heaven and hell is showing up. It's settling in and hanging on as the day.

darkness fades and gives way to mourning. It certainly reminds me to hold on. It reminds me that amidst every storm, I'm living moments that when zoomed out, comprise the masterpiece. It reminds me to hold on, to find color, to see the beauty, to appreciate the journey because the sunrise is not. Not the best part. There's a saying that some people feel the rain.

Others just get wet. I've always found this interesting, this idea how the same subject, same situation, or occurrence, can be interpreted so differently. It can plant the seeds for such different outcomes. Like Yashimi and Koga mentioned in their book, The Courage to be disliked, well water is 60 degrees. It's always 60 degrees in the summer and the winter, but depending on what time of year, right, the makeup of the outside world, that 60 degrees feels different.

The water didn't change its circumstances did, and our thoughts are no different. It's not the world that writes the story. We do. And every second moment day is merely an interpretation. Does time tick by? Or is it driven? into a state of flow, is it transformed into something more?

Was losing an indicator that, hey, maybe you're not good enough? Or is it your motivation to be better than you've ever been? Is your day an allegiance to the present or an invitation to chase down tomorrow? See, the world doesn't get to tell the tale. The world is paper, it's ink, it's ideas. The world is everything. you need to decide how your story's going to go. How does he see the world?

How does she define reality? That's the question. Because you don't need to change the world. You need to change the way you see it. And you don't need to change who you are. You need to change the imaginary shackles you've placed around your ankles that are limiting the heights you could reach. In fact, the world as far as I'm concerned,

is an accumulation of thoughts, ideas. It's 8 billion individualized movie screens, attempting to interact, to coexist together. And when you look at it like that, it's not that your mindset plays a role or it's kind of important. No, it's that it narrates the play. It's the glue that ties everything together.

What you see is what you get. And this isn't a one and done thing. It's an everyday thing. Because there's always going to be occurrences in our lives that challenge us, to threaten our understanding of who we are and what we're capable of. There will always be the temptation to make the opportunity into the problem and the hero, into the villain. But why forfeit that control? I remember hearing that if you find time to be grateful,

both in the morning and at night it changes your life. Not because the world transforms, but because it reinforces the perspective you need. We are lucky to be here. We're lucky to have challenges that push us forward. Lucky to have ups and downs that bring us closer to the people in our lives. We're lucky that chaos and discomfort open a door for transformation on the other side. And look, I get life isn't perfect. And not everything can be great all the time. But I do believe that if we can bring ourselves to stop, to breathe, to even focus briefly,

we can find value in any situation. What's in front of you, it exists, right? It's the well water. You can't go back in time or remake the obstacle at your feet, but you can always decide how to make that work for you. And that's a superpower. And I use that. I use it when my short-term ideas or videos or projects underperform.

I use it when people let me down. I use it when in the moment I'm either under or overwhelmed. The question, where is the win? In this spot, this situation where most would hang their heads and let the outside world rewrite the story, how can I find a way to hold mine high and maintain my own accountability? Extreme differences in life outcomes are so often prompted by such subtle realization, subtle decisions. Their reason to stop could be your reason to not only carry on but thrive. And the best news is you don't need approval or authorization.

You don't need the stars to align or doors to open up. You just need to give yourself permission to see the sun amidst the clouds, the hope amidst the doubt. You have to remind yourself that there is always something to cling to, always a second chance. There is always a win. All you have to do is choose to choose. to see it. I was thinking this morning about a conversation I had with my grandfather.

This particular example, I was living in LA at the time. My grandmother and my grandfather, they flew in from Boston. And I think we're doing some family stuff, but I wanted to hang out with my friends down the street. I wanted to go to Kyle's house, play Star Wars, whatever it was we were doing. And that felt like the world to me. Like I didn't want to miss out on that because I felt like I'd lose it. If I wasn't there, I'd lose something.

And I remember him taking me from the kid. kitchen to the living room being like, Eddie, you have to relax. He's like, that stuff, I promise you, will always be there. The fun, the escape, the metaphorical going to Kyle's house will always be there. You have to do what's right for you. And then when you need that, it's there. It's almost like all the nuance and the detail is reacquirable. And why I'm bringing this up, and it's a little bit of a pivot.

But, you know, I've seen throughout my life, Personally, this sort of loss aversion, like I mentioned a few days ago, where you don't want to leave a bad situation because you fear that the very basic boxes that you've checked, you can't get them back. Right. It's like you can have a job that you're not satisfied. You're unfulfilled. There's nothing great about it. You've lost your sense of self, your purpose, but you're getting a paycheck. Right.

Or, you know, at least you have some direction in the day or in your life. You can say who you are. There's some identity. There's some very basic boxes. You're not happy, but the basic boxes are checked. And what you fear is if you leave in pursuit of something different, maybe you can't check those boxes again, right? Or you're in a relationship and it's like, it's not right.

And you know in your core it's not right. But there's very basic boxes that are checked. Right? You're not alone. You're with someone. There's some predictability in your life. Like, it'd be tough to lose those things. And so that's really the essence of what I want to say, right?

Having the self-belief and the self-trust, because that's really what it comes down to, to understanding that if you move into the unknown, you can recreate those things. You can check those basic boxes off. but if you don't have the courage to move out of that situation, you'll be shackled to a world that's not really meant for you. Right?

So like, the job thing. And by the way, I always worry about saying this because there are people that love their jobs. I'm never, ever knocking a nine to five. Like, it's just my thing, right? That was, for me, I felt so constrained and I'm just such a, like, I love to be creating and sort of out on the,

the fringes, that's just like what motivates me. That's not how everyone works. So I don't want this to be interpreted as me bashing a nine to five. It's just my story. But like, I realize that I could have walked away, come back in a year after living in, like Thailand, and things would have been exactly the same when I got back. Right? I could have got a similar job.

I could have found ways to check off those same boxes, right? Those foundational things, they're reacquirable. Just like the relationship thing, right? It's like if it's not right for you, there's 8 billion people in the world. 8 billion. You think one of those doesn't share your value system, one of those you can't have fun with, hang out with, relax, enjoy yourself, improve your life.

Like, of course you can. But you're worried about losing the very basics, the very basic boxes that you've checked. And it's like you have to have the courage and self-pourable. belief to walk away from those things. You have to believe in yourself enough to know that you can recreate a reality, right? With a similar foundation, but with the things on top of that that make you happy, make you feel alive. Um, you know, like I'm, I'm prone to do. I found a random internet quote today. It says, I am learning to love the sound of my feet walking away from things that are

not meant for me. And it's that simple. You can never get where you're going if you're shackled to the things that don't move you. If you're staying in a place of discontent. And the message is simple, right? Believe in yourself. Trust yourself. There's nothing in your life that you can't reacquire or rebuild. But what you'll miss if you stay in that place is the opportunity, the upside, the people that will change your life.

the places that you've never seen, the experiences, the journeys that make life worth living. The upside is just too high. Someday, the things that you currently don't understand will make sense. Someday the big things you're dealing with won't seem so big anymore. Someday the doubts you have about yourself

will be revealed as fun. as false. Someday you'll see that the things you worry about didn't matter at all. Someday you'll see that the road before you wasn't something you had to walk flawlessly, but rather something you had to trust and believe in. Someday you'll look in the mirror and see that you had it in you the entire time, that there was nothing you needed or should have been hoping for. Yeah, someday. Someday that will all be true.

But what about some days from the past? I remember years ago thinking someday I would venture out into the world. Someday I'd speak my mind. Someday I would start my own business. I would surround myself with people who believed in what I believe. Someday I'd make a little more money, have a little more time to do what I love. Someday I'd have all that. And as I look around, I realize it looks a lot like someday.

But guess what? As we grow, so do our some days. It's a chase that never ends. There's always something more. There's always something bigger and better. And the problem is not the ambition. The problem is forgetting that in so many ways, you've dreamt of being where you stand right now.

You have arrived. You're not the same person that 10 years ago was throwing some days out into the universe. No, you have grown. You have learned. You have evolved. Why does this matter? It matters. Because without acknowledging how far you've come,

you cannot acquire the strength needed to go where you must go. When you don't feel good enough, it's often because you haven't looked over your shoulder and opened your eyes. The evidence is right there. It's hiding in plain, There's proof that you've been there, that you faced demons and conquered them, endured your battles and overcame. You did that.

And at one point not that long ago, you couldn't say that you had. You weren't yet that person, but things are different. Now, what you have today was once only that hopeful someday. It was a fleeting thought. It had no merit and no value. Yet you brought it to life. Look what you've done. Understand how far you've come, how you ran when you could, you walked when it was possible, you crawled when you had to. And continued on to arrive at a someday that is right now, you, my friend, are a maker of things unseen, an architect of a, of tomorrows and some days, so don't you dare, don't you ever entertain the delusion that this gift suddenly stops now.

Suddenly the burden is too much. The mountain is too tall. No, what you do is overcome. That is who you are. You've done it for you. You've done it for the ones you love. And in some cases, the ones who didn't even understand, but you are. You kept going, marching through the fires of hell to turn some days into right now.

And I get that the road before you is uncertain. There's no way to know exactly how life will unfold. But that's besides the point. A bird can't predict every gust of wind it's going to encounter. It spreads its wings, takes off, and adapts because it can, because it always has, because that's what it does. I'm not advocating that you should have all the answers. No, I'm suggesting that you trust yourself to find them. To move forward into the haze that surrounds you,

to make sense of the seemingly illogical, bring about reality from the make-believe. Someday you will have what you're aiming for. But here's to never letting a today go by without realizing that you are always living out a someday from your past, you are always arriving and leaving simultaneously. The accomplished and the student, crossing a finish line and on the starting block,

with another race around the corner, another chance to stretch your legs and reach for the heavens. If you ever forget that, I ask that you find it within yourself to look over your shoulder, to remember what you once asked for, and to appreciate the journey that you have undertaken. You did that. Now onward you go,

you have more some days to bring to life. 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 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 dime beauty co.com. Your best skin awaits. Hey there, it's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway.

Now through February 25th, stock up on your favorite self-care items and save up to $3. Shop in store or online for items like old spice deodorant. Always ultra-thin pads. Gillette Fusion Razors and Refills, Old Spice, Total Body Spray, TanPax Pearl, and Gillette Mach 3 Razors and Refills, and save up to $3. You won't want to miss out on these deals. Offer ends February 25th. Offers may vary.

Restrictions apply. Visit Safeway.com for more detail. One of the more powerful realizations I've had, both in business and life overall, is that what we do to win today and what we do to position ourselves to win tomorrow, They're often very different things. And we've probably all experienced this in some capacity. We get sucked into the cycle of doing, becoming so task-oriented that we don't make time to step back and ask,

which direction do I want this ship to go? Because sure, we have to keep it afloat, and we have to keep it afloat now. But also, we have to navigate. The ship's role isn't solely to float, right? It's a transportation mechanism, a vehicle. Where are we going? And so the question becomes, how do we balance the two? I came across an awesome book by Lee Benson called Your Most Important Number.

And I'm about halfway through, but already finding a ton of value that I'll be sharing in the future, primarily around positioning your business for success. And one of the first things the book discusses is the difference between what Lee calls eating and dreaming. Eating being the things we need to do now, to take care of matters that are essential for today, the things that need to get done. So using the same metaphor, actions to keep that boat afloat. And then there's the dreaming, which is essentially doing things now that help position the organization for success in the future down the road. It's asking, what can I do today that will ensure we are winning tomorrow. So boat metaphor, it's planning for storms that may arise later in the journey.

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

People are so consumed by the day to day that the future takes a back seat to the nuance and the quote-unquote putting out fires of the present moment. We're spending 80% of our time eating. Now, like most things, this is not one-size-fits-all. Uh, say, front-line manager at a factory is not going to be 80% dreaming, and 20% eating. Their task requirements are different. But the point remains,

it's imperative that we, in some capacity, utilize our resources now to look ahead. I don't know if I've ever told this story, but I always joke around with my brother about it. When we were kids in Southern California, we'd have these basically battles on the beach, where we'd go down to the hard sand right in front of the water. and we'd each build these little wall slash fort type things,

maybe 20 feet apart from each other. This is like emulating World War I type stuff. And then we'd make cannonballs out of sand and just throw the sand at each other. So in a way, this is a perfect metaphor because we would always be juggling on one hand, building the fort that would protect us from the other person. So dreaming.

And then on the other hand, hand. I mean, those things hurt, right? We'd have to in real time be dodging incoming sand simultaneously to building that wall. So, uh, the eating. And he's a bit younger than me. So admittedly, this wasn't really fair. But regardless, you know, he would get so consumed with throwing sand that his wall would be really cheaply made. At the beginning, I'd be trying to make this really solid base foundation. He would just be pelting me with this stuff. And he would just be pelting me with this stuff and it was brutal. But as time went on, I build that wall higher and higher. Eventually it would be lights out for him. He'd have nothing to hide behind. The young buck was doing,

let's say, way less than 80% dreaming. And so I'm no longer building castles in the sand. But as the Rose said, now I'm looking to build them in the air, seeking to bring things into life that are merely ideas and concepts in my head and naturally this prompted me to ask, well, what's my ratio now? Because it sure feels like I'm doing a lot of eating. It sure feels like I spend a lot of time every day, you know, dodging Mikey Peas, incoming sand cannon balls, right? Things are going to be different tomorrow than they are today. And to truly win, we need to be asking ourselves, how do we build that bridge? From the present to the future?

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

Another person I love to throw ideas back and forth to, and he asked me, well, Eddie, what are some of the ways your world within could make money? And I was like, oh, it's easy, right? And so I laid it all out in great detail, the ins and outs. And he says, that's awesome. But that's not the question I asked you. You answered a different question. You answered, how is the business making money now?

I asked, how can it make money in the future? Boom, another epiphany. One of those instances where you catch yourself thinking small. And this isn't a knock on the work I'm doing now or the system's in place now. They're great now. but again, now isn't forever. If you have plans to add more value

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

with which we're juggling the two deserves consistent attention and examination. Now, yeah, life is seasonal. There are times where keeping that ship afloat takes everything we have, but it's understanding that that is a season and not the way things are. Dreaming allows us to start moving in the right direction,

even if it's one small step at a time. Building today piece by piece, something we can stand. something we can stand on tomorrow, a staircase, to the version 2.0 and 3.0 and 4.0. The future depends on what we do today, and so we must create space for that seed to grow. We must chart the course and captain the ship to the next horizon.

This weekend, I needed to shut off for a little bit. So I got some Chipotle. Yep, big night. Picked a random episode of Game of Thrones, sat on my couch, and I put my feet up. Apparently, though, the universe had other plans for me because I swear I was a few minutes in, and I heard one of the most incredible quotes I've ever heard,

which sent me in 400 directions thinking about how to share it and delve into it with you guys on the podcast. So, hey, sometimes you plan to sit there and watch make-believe armies fight, and you end up instead putting together an essay. Life in the big city, right? But the scene I'm talking about, there's a character named Sansa Stark,

for anyone who hasn't seen it. And at this point in the show, you know, she's lost her family, been away from home, essentially on the run for a long time, sitting by herself kind of sulking, reminiscing, building a little replica of her old home in the snow,

that was on the ground as she sat there. And basically just to set the scene, this little kid comes up, stomps on it, Sonsa gets mad, hits the kid, she's just devastated by everything. Exhausted by it all. And roughly that time a second character walks up, a guy named Peter Baylish.

And Sonsa, standing up over her broken snow castle, says, I was trying to remember what everything looked like. I'll never see it again. To which Peter replies, A lot can happen between now and never. If you want to build a better home, first you must demolish the old one.

He's implying that Sansa might think she wants to go home, but home is essentially gone. That place she knew, that place she wants to go back to, it's destroyed. The people she loved are no longer there. She thinks she wants to go back to that place because she's lost. and scared and alone,

and the human condition is always to return to the comfort of what we left, to recapture that feeling of clarity. But to truly find herself, what she needs to do is destroy that version of home and build a new one. To start again. To become something worthy of a new home, one that's more conducive to life now, which is her character arc for the rest of the show,

slowly evolving into that person. See, life is this interesting cycle of dying and being born again. Of leaving old things behind in order to build anew. The old you can only give what the old you always gave. So when life demands more of us, we have a real problem on our hands. What you knew is now insufficient. It's not enough. Sure, it was enough yesterday, but today is a different story.

And we're always put in this situation, where the road before us is asking more of us than we've ever given. It demands more than we know how to accommodate. This is when it becomes very easy to misdiagnose home. To think the answer is behind us. What we need is buried beneath what was. When in reality what was is no longer sufficient. What we really need is to set the past ablaze in order to create space for what must be brought to life. Home is an evolution, a cycle. As our world changes, we evolve right along with it. As old beliefs fall, new ones are built. As the old way is lost, a new way is found.

By clinging to old, you sentence yourself to the never, Sonsa was so adamant about it, that the expense of the infinite abyss. infinite abundance and opportunity that's out there. It's worth noting that the phoenix does not descend from the clear blue sky, he rises from the ashes. It's after the old world falls that the new one emerges. I'm not the same person I was in 2014 when I left what I was doing to do what I'm doing now. That version of me died. And then again, when I packed up my things and relocated my life and business,

to South Florida. And then again, when I changed how I positioned myself, how I thought of myself in the world, and again and again, and a multitude of time since then, this current version of myself is dying as we speak, making room for the new. Every time I find myself at a transition point, it's pain, it's unlearning things I knew to be true, I was sure of. It's time. It's to taking a sledgehammer to the old realities so that new ones can take their place. So that saying, a lot can happen between now and never. Yeah, anything can exist between now and never. The world is limitless between now and never if you understand what never means.

Because the old you could never have the things meet the people, go the places or become the person that you will be someday. The old you could never see the world the way you do or the way that you will, but the old you was never supposed to. What we once called home, our past, our understandings of life, they were critical. They set the stage for now. They brought us this strange intersection of who we once were

and who we now need ourselves to be. It's not that crawling on the ground was wrong. It's that we are now required to grow our wings, to set ablaze the previous parameters so that new rules can be written. Change hurts, but it hurts far less than carrying the old you into eternity while infinite possibility is left on the shelf.

It hurts far less than equating your life now to what's been taken away or lost. Rise from the ashes of what was. Life will ask you to be better, more capable, it will ask you for more. Meet its call. Over and over again, meet its call. For anyone willing to let go of the old and give life to the new, a lot can happen between now and never.

Everyone wants to be great. Everyone wants to be the best, the top, the 1%, or as the saying goes, everyone wants to be a beast until it's time to do what beasts do. See, what life has revealed and continues to emphasize is that our most vital decisions,

they present themselves in the dark of night. The chaos of the battle, they show up amidst our discomfort. We know these moments. The ones that seek to stop us in our tracks and turn us around. They are what must be prepared for. They are the gateway to excellence. So let's look at the big picture for a minute. Life in totality.

Because consistently doing this simple, easy things, they're important. Consistency of that which is simple is the foundation. It's what we build the structure upon, but it is far from everything. Moving right along, we have the difficult things that push us to be more, that show us who we are, that hurt, that test us, the temporary storms. They are the armor we come to wear.

They're what prepares us to a lot endure the trials and tribulations of life like a muscle that must be grown and developed. But the difficult things are far from everything. Because lastly, we have our defining moments. The moments that put it all together. When the sky feels like it's falling, the body feels like it's failing, the mind feels like it's dwindling. Presenting the question, Will you do the hard thing when you feel like you can't do the hard thing? It's doing what's difficult when the situation around you is screaming at the top of its lungs. You've gone too far.

You've separated from normalcy. You are wandering into something that can no longer be deemed predictable or safe. See, running is hard. But running when you're tired, when you didn't get a great sleep last night, you don't feel good, when you're busy, when your schedule's full, when you have things to do, when you're in the midst of your workout and your lungs are screaming for air, the cloud of pain is hovering over you as you make your way forward for no other reason than you told yourself you would. That's not hard. That's transformative. Going to the gym is hard. But going to the gym when you don't want to, when you don't even feel like stepping into the car,

when your mind is trying to rationalize a day off, when you're asking yourself what the point was to begin with, that's not hard. That's transformative. Growing your business is hard. But growing your business, when you've experienced a monumental, mental let down.

When you went all in and were left empty handed, when you were chewed up and spit back out, yet you showed up, kept your eyes locked in on that win. That's not hard. That is transformative. See, these monumental moments, the ones that break so many of us that we've all come face to face with

over the course of our lives, They're not about easy versus hard. They're about doing the hard thing when it seems as though you cannot do the hard thing. The world is saying no. Your body is saying no. That chirping in your head is saying no. Can you separate yourself from that hurt

and that anger and that disappointment? Can you segment the negativity knowing that you will do what you can to remedy this situation? but that life's curveballs can't stop you from moving forward for the simple reason that you won't let them when life gets hard you have to be harder the one who gets bolder you have to learn to surprise yourself here is what I believe to be the goal the pinnacle it's what I aspire to become when life puts me through hell to dig deep and find the emotional IQ, the awareness,

to know that right now is the invitation I've been longing for, my chance to level up. See, you might be wondering what brought this concept to the forefront of my mind. And well, it was one of life's inevitable setbacks. And I had to look in the mirror and say, I'm not going to think about the technical issue that just cost me thousands of dollars.

and thousands of hours of my time. No, I'm going to one learn, but put parameters in place so it never happens again and two, find the opportunity. See, when we build back, we tend to build back stronger, clean slate, new lease on life.

Where can I be better than I was? Where can I pinpoint and capitalize on the value I once walked right by? When we adopt this mentality, we become unstoppable. Someone on the outside looking in might say it's over the top. And it is. But so are the things that I want.

They might say it's not that simple. Correct. Running away from our problems is simple. I'm not about that life. They might say it's impossible to do all the time, to think that way every day. And perhaps so. But if we bow our heads and retreat

Every time life isn't perfect, we'll never attempt anything. I'm not aiming for perfection. I'm aiming for progress. Those who aim for perfection tend to spend the entirety of their lives doing exactly that. Aiming, planning, speculating. Wanting more for yourself means receiving more rejection from the world. It means elongated valleys of despair. It means deeper trek.

Through the heart of the vast unknown across distant lands and through turbulent waters, it means doing the hard thing when the circumstances are what mere mortals call impossible. At some point, we must transcend the versions of ourselves we once were. We must recategorize and redefine the adversity we face in life. Be the ones who find something where others see nothing. Find value in the seemingly valueless. Let us start from the premonition that there is always a solution. And if there is always a solution,

there is always a way to bring it to existence. Some will stop it easy. Fine, let them. Some will stop at hard, great to each their own. But if one dares to push further, to trudge forth into the night, they will be tasked with doing the hard thing when the circumstances are devastating. They will be asked not just to sail the ship, but to sail it through the storm, to not just build the tower, but to build as the skies open up, the wind blows and the ground shakes,

That will be the difference. That has always been the difference. So what will you do when the time arises? Who will you choose to become? All you need in life is ignorance and confidence and then success is sure. That's a quote from Mark Twain talking about success and sort of the polarity of the process. and, you know, anyone who knows Mark Twain who's read his stuff, you know, he's a witty kind of sarcastic guy,

so I'm sure he meant that with some humor, but there's a lot of truth to that quote. You know, I talk about a lot the truth so many times being in the middle, a combination of, or a multitude of different ideas. And when we think of, you know, confidence and ignorance, they're very different, right? Why would we want to be ignorant at all? Well, in a way, we need to be. And let me explain why, ignorant, in the sense that we need to be willfully dismissive of the things that are not conducive to our success, to our growth. We need to build walls, mental walls, that stand between what's good for us and what's not.

You know, the odds, for example. don't do anything to help us get where we need to go. The negativity, the doubt from others, don't push us forward at all. The self-talk reminding us that, hey, we've tried this before and we've failed before. Remember that one time you gave this a shot and it didn't work out?

That's going to happen again. All that stuff, it needs to be drowned out. Again, a willful ignorance of the odds. coupled with confidence, understanding that the road before us will be difficult, we won't understand it, we won't get it all, it will be far from perfect.

But none of those things matter to someone who's willing to adapt along the way. Right? It's like the ultimate Trump card. If the world's going to throw things at you, but you're willing to adapt and continue forward, then it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. Because again,

need the straightest path. You don't need perfection. You need to believe and be confident in your ability to rearrange the pieces as they come. And that's why I love that quote. It is a reminder. We need to be ignorant and confident. You can be too self-aware. You can be too overly analytical. There is a middle ground there that I think is incredible. And I got an email that, today that was kind of documenting in a few senses, some recent success stories where people were completely oblivious, completely disregarded the negative feedback the world was giving them. Right. So for example, Jack Canfield, his idea of 100 short motivational stories in one book, Chicken Soup for the Soul, was turned down by something like 130 publishers. There's a willful

ignorance and certainly a confidence there. Howard Schultz, looking to start Starbucks. He tried to get a loan or secure a loan that he needed for the company. Like over 200 times was turned down for this loan, but kept looking, kept looking, kept looking, I think it was number 242 that said yes, that finally gave him the green light, mentioned Walt Disney, who was fired for not being creative, tries to make it in Hollywood has a rough start there and you just can't help it think like particularly with Walt Disney right he's he's trying to sell an idea of a mouse that that moves and walks like a human being that can get you a billion dollars or it can get you in an insane asylum right there it's very hard to sell that and all of these people continually moving through this adversity what makes it

real is in our world, you know, one rejection feels like our cage is rattled. It can be a big deal, right? If you're applying somewhere and you get told no, or a person turns you down, you don't get accepted to something. You get denied somewhere. Like the first instinct is to look in the mirror and say, man, am I not good enough? Am I missing something here? And why? Why? these stories are so precious because when you put yourself in Howard Schultz's shoes and the 120th bank tells you to go, you know, take a long walk off a short pier, how do you think he felt? Like, how did he internalize that? How did he pick himself up and go to Bank 121? Still have a hundred more to go till he got that, yes. I think it puts into perspective

the world we live in and the reality of getting things done. You know, we want things to be easier and the idea in our head is that it is it should be but it never never will be right it's Darren Hardy knocking on doors doesn't care about how many yeses he gets he doesn't leave until he gets turned down by X number why because in the rejection is what we need if you're looking at doors you know the the idea is not a world where every door opens for you the ideal is no that life is about most doors being locked and having the courage and the conviction to continue forward until one opens up. You've turned that handle, you walk through, and you enter a new chapter on your life, the next thing. That's very hard to comprehend. I've lived it. You know, I've lived it

as an entrepreneur. Can't do this for a decade without coming face-to-face with rejection repeatedly. It's just something that you learn to live with and not personalize. It's not a referendum on me. It doesn't mean the other person or the organization. The company hates me or thinks less of me. Sometimes it's not even worth a second thought. It's okay, next door. If you can find a way to flip that perspective,

you don't need all yes is you need one. You need one person or entity or company, organization. You need one to work out and things change. Most people don't get there because most people, by bank 20, right, by publisher 20, they're saying, well, this is not for me. It's not true. We live in a world of rejection where the victories are sprinkled in. They're sparse.

They're there for the people that can hang on. long enough to get there.