Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - You Don’t Need More Time - You Need to Stop Wasting It

Episode Date: June 13, 2025

We tell ourselves we need more time - that if we just had a little more space, we’d figure it all out. But more time isn’t the answer. It’s how we use the time we already have. In this episode, we explore the idea that for every reason to quit, there’s a reason to grow. For every excuse to stop, there’s a deeper reason to move forward. Life responds to how we choose to see it - whether as an obstacle or an invitation. This is your reminder that progress isn’t found in the margins - it’s created in the moments we stop running from ourselves and start choosing purpose over comfort.More from Eddie Pinero:Monday Motivation Newsletter: https://www.eddiepinero.com/newsletterYour World Within Podcast: https://yourworldwithin.libsyn.com/Stream these tracks on Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2BLf6pBInstagram - @your_world_within and @IamEddiePineroTikTok - your_world_withinFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/YourworldwithinTwitter - https://www.twitter.com/IamEddiePineroBusiness Inquiries - http://www.yourworldwithin.com/contact

What if things don't end up like they're supposed to? What if this work, this energy I've invested, doesn't pay off? What if I stay average? What if my story was never meant to be unique? What if I try and I fail? What if my friends stop calling? What if I let my family down? What if people don't like what I have to say?

What if my idea is a little too out there? if I'm pushing things too far too quickly? What if the worst possible scenario happens? What if I lose everything? What if success is for someone else? What if I'm meant to work, to pay bills, and to sleep? What if the starting role is just too much for me? What if I was a born follower?

What if I never find happiness? What if I don't choose the right path? What if I get lost? What if I can never be as good as the person standing next to me? What if a life of meaning will always be something I'll have to stare up at? Wishing, dreaming, or what if I just change the way I look at the world? What if today is just the beginning? What if I decide who I'm going to be and become it?

What if my actions can create a ripple effect that will transcend space and time? What if impossible isn't fact? What if it's opinion? And what if I don't buy it? What if this new world means that existence starts with me? What if I can be the one people look up to? What if my past got me here but has no one? effect on where I can go. What if every single day is a fresh start? What if I can be the one who defies

the odds? What if my dreams become the standard? What if my ideas change how people see reality? What if the term difficult is nothing more than a cop-out? What if my doubters ignite the flame that is my success? What if my fear of mediocrity overcome? my fear of the unknown. What if second place is no longer an option? What if I make the choice to live every second of my life like it's a miracle? And what if that's exactly what every second is? What if it's time to start living like it? To start thinking like it, to never sell myself short. What if nothing good happens until I believe it? What if I stop? wasting my time trying to convince others because I am the only one who must be convinced.

What's going on, guys? Welcome to the Your World Within podcast. I'm Eddie Pinero. And I hope you enjoyed that first segment, the power of the human mind. Before I leave you be for 50 minutes of uninterrupted content on this subject, I'd love to invite you to join my newsletter. Eddie pinero.com slash newsletter totally free. And I share, you know, some of my most powerful thoughts and insights there with thousands and thousands of others. The feedback have gotten is amazing. The community there is amazing. And I would just love for you to be a part of that. Again, totally free. Um, just some concepts that I think will change your life and ultimately change the world. Eddie penero.com slash newsletter. Enjoy the episode. Today, it can mean absolutely

nothing. Just one of many. Insignificant. Not so much good or bad is another X on the calendar. Or today can mean everything. And that's quite the contrast to hear me out. My point is you can right now make today matter. Like in this moment, you can bring significance to an unlawful. You can bring significance to an otherwise bland, monotonous endeavor. You can bring light to a dark room. How do I do this? Well, that's what's great. You already know.

I don't. You do. You know what's been calling you because you know that thing you've wanted to try, begin, or explore. You know that thing you've been putting off. You know. Because you think about it.

In fact, you probably think about it a lot. You close your eyes and you dream about a world where you had the courage to simply do that thing. We all do. The other day, I was sitting in the sauna listening to Sir Jordan Peterson's new book. Read all this stuff in my eyes. The man is legendary. But for some reason in that moment, I'm sitting there. I'm listening.

And it dawns on me, this is not what I need. right now. My brain just can't go there for some reason. My soul's trying to speak. So I convince myself to listen. Inputs become outputs. And what's lacking for me in this season of my life is excitement. It's adventure. It's inspiration. And so I point all the spotlights to this realization. For the next X number of weeks, I immerse myself in story. It's fiction. It's fiction. now for me. Leave home, do things, not forever, but break the cycle, rent a cabin in the woods, walk places you've never walk, run places you've never run, push creative boundaries, try new things. Listen, because you know what you need. And so I mentioned this to Ashley,

who's a big part of the team over here, send her a picture of some books I have on Audible that I've never read. You know how we do that? Most books are purchased and not consumed. Guilty is charged, And she says, oh, tale of two cities. I have that one, too. Let's both read it. And so it begins. It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

In the beginning of the book, there's this note explaining that Dickens didn't write this all as one book. No? He released it to the public as a series of individual pieces, one part at a time. Though they've obviously come together to comprise one of the great. novels ever written. And so I hear that, and I press pause. Whoa. What did you just uncover here?

How different this approach must feel? Setting aside the novel in totality to make each individual contribution impactful. I guess the same way a Netflix series is so intriguing. We're not watching one 10-hour movie. That would be absolutely brutal. No, but we'll sign the dotted line to watch 10-1-hour movies back-to-back-to-back-to-back-back,

It's back to back to back to back to back to back, no question. Each one with a different problem to be solved. Whether we realize it or not, each little episode, while contributing to the overall plot has its own beginning and middle and end, each one is a journey. Each episode contains a cliffhanger, a bridge to what's next, and how badly do we want to know what's next? So why we're so intrigued,

why we gladly jump from one chapter to the next. When something feels good, there's a reason it feels good. Maybe I need to stop looking at my life as a movie and start looking at it as a Netflix series, where my day is not some arbitrary chunk of time carved out to contribute to this nice, linear, long-term unraveling of a plot. No, let's give this baby a pulse. Let's make it mean something, a little hero's journey within the hero's journey. Let's give today life. As if I was planning to put a bow on it and share it with the world the second that sun's sets behind the mountains and stars trickle their way into the night sky.

Let's make today binge-worthy. I want to be screaming from the couch how badly I need to know what happens next. That's the world that must be created. Oh, but there's no Charles Dickens here. There's no Netflix producer. There's one author. And just like before, you know them well. And if you don't, go look in the mirror and introduce yourself.

That lovely face staring back will do more for you. than anyone you could ever meet. You want excitement, inject the excitement. You want more noise, make more noise. You want a reason to tune into episode two. Write that reason in. You can do that. I swear to you, you can do that in your own life.

And in the story of our lives, which sounds a lot like the soap opera, my mother would listen to when we were kids. But I digress. focus in the story of our lives. All that's beautiful must be cultivated by us, by you, by the doer. You have more control than you think you do. You have more control than you can even fathom. And from your end, it might be like, yeah, okay, I've heard this.

Sure, you've heard it, but have you heard it? Do you believe it? You're so much more powerful than you think. If you just drop a little more of that into every day, imagine what the product could be. And I'm not sitting here begging you to be more of someone else. I'm proposing, I'm showing you what could happen. If you gave a little more life to a little bit more of you,

it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Whatever. All of the time is your time. Every day can be your day. Just write it into the damn story. Let it be soul. Stop hushing your soul and let it drive your character arc. Today can be nothing or it can be everything.

Do with that information what you will. Simple truth. You don't need to get it right the first time. You don't. You don't even need to be close. You just can't do nothing. You need to convince your feet to start moving. You need to generate momentum for some type of outcome.

Because what that data, what that outcome will tell you is yes, keep doing more of that thing or no, reel it in and try something different. But either way, progress is reliant upon that information, going equals solutions, staying equals hoping, wishing, lost opportunity. Every journey is a long winding road. It's comprised of wrong terms and dead ends. There will be maintenance required issues to be resolved and narratives to be rewritten. None of which, by the way, is beyond you.

So long as you take these things as they arrive one by one, you open up your world to allow them in. And you might look at where you want to be and think that's a lot, right? That's a world away. No. It's a few tiny decisions away repeated daily. There's a Greek proverb that suggests beginning is half the battle. Why? Well, because convincing yourself you're capable is not easy.

Trusting yourself completely hurts. But it's not until we come around and greenlight the process. It's not until we give ourselves permission that life begins. How beautiful is the fact that we don't have to have all the answers. Not even close. We just need enough courage to step out into the storm, to brave the wind and the rain. I frequently allude to this transformation, right?

The first time I spoke in front of an audience was terrified, the first few times, actually. Then after showing up, getting reps in, and reflecting, I realized, okay, I've earned a bit of confidence here. I continue to go, to speak, more reps, more reps. Okay, now we're, well, I guess now we're getting comfortable with this. I'm not up all night the night before, rehearsing, pacing in hotel rooms, a little more trust in my ability.

I continue, more reps, more reps, more reps. Okay, now, now I kind of enjoy this. I've broken through. More reps, more reps, more reps. Now there's enough comfortability where I can look at what's in front of me and start asking, well, now, how do I refine this to stand out? How do I make this so valuable that it becomes the 1% of the 1% of the 1%? I've worked hard for my baseline.

I feel good. Now, how do I chisel away the little elements of mediocrity sprinkled in there? How do I pull them out one piece at a time? It is a testament to going, to allowing yourself to experience life and data points and ups and downs, all that help you refine the process. They are the journey. Can you do all that overnight? No, absolutely not,

but you can always meet yourself where you are and win that battle. You can always become a little bit stronger, setting the stage for the next level and the next and the next. In fact, when you're in it, it feels so intuitive that you don't even realize what you're doing.

One battle at a time. You're just stepping on the stone in front of you. Think about it. You don't defeat a storm. You simply navigate through each gust of wind and every drop of rain. You pick apart and outlast the pieces

that make up the storm, and you are capable of that. You're made for that. Again, when you give yourself permission to enter the arena that is adversity, that is the unknown, success is oddly intuitive. it just kind of appears in front of you one obstacle at a time,

or one opportunity at a time, depending on how you're looking at it. The problem is that too many of us stay on the sidelines. I think you know this, right? And when you wrap your mind around the fact that stagnation is the only adversary, you become free. You unlock what you grow. could be and always should have been. I mean, how brilliant the mind.

That incomprehensible network behind your eyes. Capable of both putting a man into orbit and navigating the depths of the vast oceans that surround us. It is in and of itself a miracle. But what if I was audacious enough to suggest, temporarily taking me? that miracle, that masterpiece, that network behind your eyes and shutting it off. For a moment, hitting pause on the defense mechanisms actively painting what-ifs and worst-case scenarios,

begging you to play small and seemingly always prioritizing safety over meaning. What if I made the case that the best thing you could possibly do is start now and ask questions later, begin the journey, start the ride, immerse yourself in the river's current. And sure, you don't know where you'll end up. But it won't be where you currently stand. And that new you contains wisdom. It contains that accrued data to improve upon.

It contains the two point low. And so the key now and forever is not to expect. all the answers before you step foot out the door. It's not to be sure everything will fall into place. It's simply to have the courage to move into the great unknown without any reassurance. It's you, your belief in yourself, and variables unknown.

You don't have to get it right the first time. You just can't do. Nothing. What is it that you carry around? The other day I was walking into a breath work session. It's the third session I've been to and every time I go, it's this beautiful perspective shift, this necessary recalibration. So I was super excited about this one.

My friend Lindsay Bell was putting it on and at some point during the session, she said these words. Just because you care doesn't mean you need to carry it. And it might not have been the exact words. I'm paraphrasing, but want to make sure I give credit where credits do. And I'm laying there on my back, you know, focusing on breath and, you know, couldn't really think at the moment. But I said to myself, come back to this later because it sounds profound, and I bet you'll be glad that you did. And I did come back to it later, and I'm very grateful that I did. See, one of the things that I took from the breathwork session was calm. It was managing my day-to-day, dealing with adversity, trying to keep it all together as I say yes and step into more responsibility. All that,

in my world, it becomes tension. Even when I don't realize it, you know, I can't. I can't carry it in my shoulders, in my muscles. I get tension headaches. Just carry it around physically. And so, perfect example. I was almost late getting to the session. My car is telling me that my backroot tire has 12 PSI. I'm putting air in it.

It's deflating. I'm like, do I need to patch it? You know, in worst case scenario, am I getting any tires? Is it okay? Is it going to explode on the road? All these things, right? So I drive it almost flat to the place and I run in. And, you know, it's just one thing among many on my mind, right?

Eight videos to make. I have a keynote speech in two days at a conference. All these things are sort of playing back and forth in my brain. And I lay down. I notice my body is literally pulsating. And I don't mean literally in the sense that's been, you know, hijacked recently. I mean, literally, truly, vibrating on the floor. And I'm just having a conversation with myself.

It's like, you think there are obstacles and challenges out there. This right here is your adversary. This is something you need to solve for. It almost felt like I was losing the plot, right? It's like, this can't be the baseline I exist on, sometimes navigating higher and lower, but that being normal. Like that type of tension should not be normal.

Even though, you know, I have things going on, despite the ambitions, despite the change, it's like you need to remind yourself that life is a game. And in the grand scheme of things, none of this. Like, zero percent of it matters. This is a little side quest to gain some perspective here. It's funny when the small things start to feel like the big things

were often too far in the weeds, right? We need to pull ourselves up and, you know, see the garden again in its totality. And so just moving back to the breath, separating myself from everything, it was amazing. You know, and as I took a walk later that night, Lindsay's saying, just because you care doesn't mean you need to carry it,

became more and more profound. I think the missing link there, and what it helped me in a sense rediscover, is that everything comes back to trust. You can care about not getting a flat in the middle of the road, and by the way, you should. You should care about your work on YouTube. You should care about crushing the keynote at the conference.

You should care about all those things. But you can also separate yourself from the outcome. And trust that you, day by day, minute by minute, are doing everything that's required to bring that ideal outcome to life. You have to trust yourself, right? Do the thing without carrying the pressure

of doing the thing. That's the goal. You can only control what you can control. And accomplishing this has been a lifelong journey, by the way. Like, sometimes I do great. Sometimes I temporarily lose sight of the big picture altogether, but I understand the value and the art of cutting away. And I would advocate everyone do the same.

We don't have to carry the weight of those things we're working towards. We don't have to carry the weight of the expectations or the hypotheticals. We don't have to carry the weight of others' opinions or those pieces of the past that we feel like we are tired. to all of that can go. If it matters, move towards it. Trust your ability to navigate. Trust yourself to conquer anything that comes at you

and let that be enough. It's been a great few days since that class because I feel like I was able to shake my life up like a snow glow. Rediscover that even with the chaos flying around, there are only a few things worthy of my life. attention. There's only so much I can do. It's like the metaphorical hand of God reminding me, dude, everything is going to be fine. When you simplify a necessary component of carrying less,

you force yourself to ask, hey, what really matters here? Right. And then, you know, you are able to chip away at those things. And chipping away is your superpower. Like, what else can you do other than ship away at the necessary things? Nothing. And by the way, you need nothing else. So why the extra clutter?

Why the chaos? Why the noise? Find stillness in the simple fact that everything is going to be fine and it's going to be fine because there's nothing you can't handle. There's nothing too big or complex for you. You might hear this and think, okay, that's obvious. That's simple.

I will never cease to be amazed how it is the simple rules of life that when we let them slip away, the wheels come off the wagon. It is the simple things we need to harness and keep by our side. Simple is the sun around which everything else revolves. Don't carry the weight of what can't be altered. Instead, fall in love with the current moment. Be proud of the trust you have in yourself. Know that the pieces will fall where they're meant to.

And they'll fall where they're meant to because rather than being chained to their outcome, you freed yourself. You focused instead on the brush-stress, being painted in real time. That is how a masterpiece comes to life. The freedom to care about the portrait without carrying the pressure contained in its materialization.

Care, but don't carry. At night, the sky becomes visible. The darkness, the muting out of everything else allows the stars to finally shine. finally shine through, to make their presence known. And during the day, conversely, one cannot see those stars, but the world around him on the ground becomes illuminated. It's a push and pull that seems to work perfectly,

and I think there's something poetic about the partnership existing between the big picture goal and the small steps required to bring it to life. As one of my favorite sayings goes, keeping your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground. Because here's what's interesting. If one were to only look up at the goal, she'd be consistently reminding herself of the ideal

without taking the necessary steps to get there. And if one were to only look down at her feet, well, her steps would eventually become aimless. And it's that duality, right? The need to both reassure yourself you can see the stars, as well as use the world around you to pull yourself closer to them that changes things. It's that beautiful dance that has to be maintained. And this is a balancing act that has certainly been challenging.

Sometimes the pendulum swings way too far one way, sometimes way too far the other. But in a perfect world, you know, you wanted gravitating towards the center. I remember just starting the YouTube channel almost a decade ago, having, you know, big multi-million subscriber goals, but completely lacking the systems and everyday practices in place that would walk me towards that finish line.

I mean, sure, something's better than nothing. I was working and learning, but the actions simply didn't align with the objective. I had to correct them. And then I've been on the other end as well. But I'd be doing things every day without knowing why. All steps, no goal. That sort of thing occurs when routine takes on a life of its own.

You start doing things because, well, it's what I do. It's what I've always done. You know, this is when one has to look in the mirror and ask the difficult questions. And look, anytime I can squeeze the complexities down into the simple, I try and do that. So with that in mind, my questioning goes like this. What do you want? No, the answer? Okay, good. Next question.

Is what you're doing, taking you closer every day to what you want? Asking that question in a serious way takes a spotlight to one's world. Using my previous metaphor, it shuts the lights off so the north star becomes visible. And then, right, turns them back on to ask yourself, if you're using your own. your resources to move there. And I've become pretty good at asking myself this question consistently, and still I find things that don't belong. That sort of, you know, they hide in plain view.

I have faith that I'll end up exactly where I need to be. But that faith is rooted in my commitment to continually assess, to scrutinize and adjust. There's very little hope and a substantial amount of trust in my ability to continue forward. There's an idea referred to as the Stockdale paradox, which states, and this is the first definition I grabbed from Google here, you must never confuse faith that you'll prevail in the end, which you can never afford to lose, with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. That's where the tough love thing comes in.

Be your biggest fan because no one will believe in you unless you do. It all starts with your trust in yourself to navigate the process and arrive where you must arrive. But it also requires you are your biggest critic. It means the reason you trust yourself to get there is because you know you won't just sit back and say, I'll win because I believe I'll win. No, you'll win because you will, while having your head in the clouds, be brutally pragmatic with the steps you're taking on the ground. You'll win because you're committed to learning and adjusting.

What of my favorite epiphanies when I started doing this full time was the realization, at a very small scale at first, that, whoa, someone can't fail unless they quit. You can't lose unless you stop. impossible, someone might think. Well, no, because when you miss the mark or you fall short, you take a second to understand why, and then you come back to the problem or challenge again, right?

This means life is a game of tenacity, of persistence, of commitment. The one who keeps adjusting and coming back is bound to connect the dots eventually, which makes failure the simple decision that, this isn't worth it for me. I don't want to continue adjusting and re-engaging with this. And look, hey, depending on the situation, that may be the move, right? There have been things in my life where, after sufficient trial and error, sufficient data,

I've said, this doesn't align with who I am or what I want. I'm going to walk away and pivot to something that does, right? But the key is knowing that it is a decision. To not reach a particular goal is a choice to no longer attack it relentlessly. And so when you feel lost or defeated or even frustrated with the process, try that line of questioning. What do I want? And is what I'm doing today bringing me there? This allows you to start taking a sledgehammer to the things that don't belong, refining the process. And yeah, sometimes walking away from the things that are no longer in the scope of who you want to be and where you're going.

But the power is in knowing, it's in understanding that your footsteps, the little actions of your, you know, your day to day, they are incredibly powerful. But most of all, when you are methodical with them, when they're pointed in the right direction. So pick your stars carefully and own those steps that take you towards them. Failure is not a sickness you catch. It doesn't fall on your head like a piano in those old cartoons. It's a choice. Meaning, in positive terms, as long as you are committed to learn, re-approach, and repeat, you will find yourself atop the mountain.

As long as you're willing to evolve, you will ultimately arrive. What is the complex, but an accumulation of that, which is, simple. What are big things, if not just a multitude of little things? There's comfort in the understanding that all we have in life, all there is, is simplicity. Easy to understand pieces. It's just that sometimes we stack them so high that they start to take a new shape. But like Greg McKeown references in his book Essentialism, the power isn't always in requiring answers. You already have them.

They're in front of you. The power is in cutting away the things that don't need. Removing all that stands between you and your ideal existence. And I think that's one of life's great misunderstandings. We don't need to find more. We need to remove that excess until we're face to face with what matters. And to adopt this principle, it's nothing short of liberating. Chaos, confusion, disorder, they don't imply that you lack the right things.

They suggest you haven't stripped life of the wrong things. You have not simplified. A thousand miles is intimidating when you look at it holistically. It's a long journey. But it's just a collection of steps and, well, should we we find solace in the fact that anyone can take one step. It's not a game of complexity. It's a game of understanding what's in front of you.

And what's in front of you is always manageable. So much of our stress stems from forgetting what that journey is made of. Whether it's a change in career, mastery of an art, some kind of personal transformation, the result we want. When looking at it from the starting line, it's too complex to understand too many pieces stacked up. So let's break it down. Let's find the foundation. What's really there? What are the one, two, three things we need to do? What is that golden question? What matters?

If you lose sight of that, then you will stumble through life. I've learned this. I've lived it. The time I take to myself every day is invaluable to me because I ask myself those two questions. What matter and what are the simple steps I need to take? What can I remove? I was talking about this during an interview this week, my personal growth. And one of the most important aspects has been the understanding and the zeroing in on what's important. And I used to take so much pride in composing the background music to these speeches.

End to end. I used to love to be able to say, I did it all. That was so I thought the great differentiator. But ultimately, I learned to take a step back and ask, what matters here? What do you care about? It's the storytelling that I love. It's the impact. And let's be real.

No one cares who wrote the background music. It's holistically. How does the piece make you feel? Right? And this understanding allowed me to cut away, license the music, save two days a week, acquire clarity, and realize my goal is not to be Mozart. My journey is to be one of the great communicators, storytellers of our time, and if a day goes by where I'm not taking a little step towards that, it's the wrong move. Small example in the grand scheme of things, but right on point. It's the power of the power of the world. in understanding what matters that makes a difference that allows you to grow, evolve. And I'm confident that this not only applies to long-term pursuits, but also our challenging times,

the dark moments, the periods of uncertainty and discontent. Same concept. Where do you want to be? And how do you get there? What's the simple thing you can do to close that gap? Because, because you are never helpless. You can always do something. And my friends, those little somethings ultimately evolve into everything. And when we put our phone away, step beyond the noise, spend time with ourselves, we can see how much of life is running in place. Stacking and stacking pieces that aren't even part of the masterpiece we're trying to assemble.

If you want answers, start with the understanding that they're buried under mountains of things you don't need. So cut away. Cut away the people and places and things that convolut your story. Cut away the exhaustion of time that provides no value in return. Cut away the thoughts that make life more complex than your journey from where you are to where you'd like to. be. As you stand right now, you have everything you need and there's nothing greater than that, nothing more powerful than that understanding. So why not step outside the complexity that you've manufactured that you're living in into a world of clarity, simplicity, and capture what matters?

What if those less than ideal things in our lives, right? So our limitations, our constraints, the aspects of life we consider to be, you know, a bad hand. What if they weren't just things we need to learn to accept or little tragedies we have to live with? What if they were ultimately the aspects of our lives that create the best of us? the elements of our world that push us to our greatness. And this came to mind earlier. I was listening to a book called How to Think Like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson. And he explores this point.

He talks about Socrates and ancient Athens and how he lived in abject poverty, how according to the standards of ancient Athens, was not an attractive person by any means. just seemed to have a lot working against him. And the question that's posed is whether these exact circumstances ultimately created the man that became one of the most important thinkers in history. He implies that his reality and his surroundings shaped his worldview, so it only makes sense for one to conclude that all of it contributed to the life he lived.

If Socrates was born wealthy and attractive and all of these, these things, could he have become the man that he became? Probably not. And the reason I love this is because, to put it simply, it reframes those less than ideal circumstances in our lives. Whether it is a personal trait we have no control over or an occurrence we deal with, it's understanding that a lack of ability in one area

helps guide us to that spot where we can thrive. A disappointment we encounter helps us regroup and make our way to the thing that is ultimately best. The less than ideal, the things that at surface levels seem bad or problematic, they're always working for us to push us towards our contentment and our growth to our greatness. I can say on my end, it was the turbulence I experienced in my life that created that sense of curiosity for me.

It was a lack of understanding that pushed me to write about life, explore the hardships we face, and the resilience of the human spirit through it all. It's a pretty famous stoic idea that states, we can't often control what happens, but we can always control how we respond to what happens. and there lies the power and the understanding that when one door closes as the saying goes, you are pushed closer to the one that will open for you. You have to decide whether you will find it within yourself to open it. Or will you focus on the lack, the gap, what's not there, what you don't have, what went wrong.

See, all those things, the things that most people use as their reason to stop or close. quit or not go. They can be the reason you lose, or they can be the very reason you win. You find a way. But that means moving forward, trusting there is good to be had, understanding that everything that goes creates space for what truly needs to be there. I understand it's common, right? But it's not just a cliche that adversity creates us, that difficult times shape us.

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

bringing you where you most need. Pressure, as in those burdens, we sometimes feel as we navigate life, it's complex, it's powerful, but like all powerful things, also delicate. That same pressure that creates diamonds and create diamonds it does, well, it can also remind you that in the meantime, you are beneath the surface, buried, away amidst that process of creation. In other words, pressure is a beautiful driver because it is, in many ways, a standard of excellence, of more. It pushes us towards a life of abundance like wind at our backs. But see, two things can be true at once. And it's impossible to look at the word

more without acknowledging that in order for more to exist, something must be lacking in the present. And there lies the challenge. Pressure gone too far becomes a feeling of inadequacy. The same driver to explore the depths of one's potential can also, if mismanaged, take them to the spiral of never enough. See, you are a brilliant human being with natural strengths and talents, and while certainly imperfect, we all have something to offer the world. This floating rock is a better place because you are on it.

And as we go about figuring out what it all means and how to bring it to life, we have to also understand the nuance. We want to get better every day, not because we lack valid. in the present, but because the journey is a remarkable adventure. Progress is happiness. Humans love and need progress. Growth and expansion and exploration inject meaning into life. They help us manufacture peak moments.

And it's taken me a long time to understand that distinction. I want to be more, not because I'm inadequate in the present, but because against all odds I'm here, and what a gift to be able to push that pedal to the floor. To squeeze from life as much beauty as I possibly can. The pressure doesn't say, because without it, you're less. It says, oh, but what a ride awaits if you're willing to step up and seek it out. I used to get so annoyed when I'd see stories or memes on social media that are anything along the lines of you're special just the way you are, right?

It felt tacky, it's lacking substance. And sometimes, to be honest, it just felt like a lie. But my thoughts on that have changed. I don't think it's a lie. It's just an extreme in one direction. Just like never being good enough is an extreme in the other. Look, you're not perfect just the way you are. We're all flawed, and we all have room for opportunity.

But you're also not very good enough. avoid a value until you reach point X, Y, or Z. If we're going to grow, we need to understand why we're growing. My favorite thing about this platform, you know, over the years has been trying to identify the obstacles in my life, understand them to the best of my ability, and then share that, hoping maybe there's a piece or two there that's relatable, that you can take value from. But this topic in particular, I've never really felt. like I've solved or been able to grasp.

This constant weight or pressure, I'd consistently feel to do more. And I know others feel it as well. I talk to them about it consistently. It can be almost suffocating. I do attribute a lot of good to it, right? It helps me get back up. It makes me want to be better,

find new ways to share, add value to as many people as I can. when I have my down times, that pressure says, hey, man, you're made for more. Lift your head up and go. I wouldn't be where I am without it. But then there's also the ugly side, right? Like I mentioned above, the cost of ambition is sometimes the inability to be in the moment.

Always reaching for more is the younger brother of never being enough. It can be exhausting. And so what to do, what to do, right? The question that I've been, playing in my head. And here's where I am in the present. I think this is an ever

evolving process. But as I mentioned above, I believe the answer is in why. The why is everything. There are no half-toes in life. Life is a collection of get-toes. We're not dipping

into life's infinite abundance so that we fill holes within ourselves. No, we're doing it to take in the show, to absorb so that we can consequently add our verse to the play of life. As the saying goes, the ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. And that's where the distinction lies, as far as I'm concerned. Where the ship is in the moment doesn't make it more or less beautiful or valuable,

but to deprive that ship of open water, to deprive its sails of the wind, while it just feels like a shame, like something's missing. And so with all that said, here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that as I move towards those distant horizons, I need to remember that the journey comes with a few understandings. I need to know that at times it will feel exhausting.

I need to know that while building you can become so fixated on the plans that, sure, you'll forget about your progress. I need to know how easily the future can steal from the present. But also, I know that taking in the best life has to offer comes with the price tag, and being tired from time to time seems fair. I know that the builder with the plans can ground him or herself by looking over their shoulder every so often and appreciating how far they've come. I know that the future is always out of reach, like that carrot hanging just beyond the grasp of the runner on the treadmill.

But the gratification can be both delayed and current when we're pointed to the right north star. So I invite you to reimagine the word pressure. Understanding the notion that you've already won the lottery, you're here on earth against all odds with your strengths and the greatness that makes you, you. Venturing deeper into life's potential,

asking more of the world and from yourself is not to compensate for anything. It's not an obligation, It's not even required of you. No, it's an extension of the human soul. The best of life. The magic all around us, an invitation to live fully. That pressure like water through a channel will flow in the direction you lead it.

It's nothing more than your vehicle to distant shores. Your process for crafting diamonds with the adversity most would refuse. That pressure doesn't always indicate where it's taking you or even guarantee that its destination will be preferable to where you are now. But it does promise quite the ride. And that, for me, is enough.