Your World Within Podcast by Eddie Pinero - YOUR PATH TO GREATNESS | Powerful Motivational Speeches

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

"The path to success is to take massive, determined action" - Tony Robbins This episode features a collection of speeches by Eddie Pinero focusing on taking action and moving with conviction towards our goals. YouTube: youtube.com/yourworldwithin  

I saw a quote that read, people wait all week for Friday, all year for summer and all their lives for happiness. In many respects, waiting is what humans do. We wait to start or wait to stop, wait to go or wait to leave, we wait and we wait and we wait. And in doing so, fool not time but ourselves. That clock,

is going to tick away regardless of the IOUs we write to it. It will take those plans and dreams and ideas, and with its two hands, carry them away as part of the perpetual rhythmic march. See, one of the most dangerous words in our vocabulary is tomorrow. A concept, illusion, a hesitance that becomes oxygen to the eventual flame. of regret. It becomes the stories we tell about what could have been if only tomorrow

arrived a little sooner. But the problem with waiting for tomorrow, as Jim Rohn has famously said, is that when it arrives, it's called today. Tomorrow is the box in which we place the things we've not yet found the courage to start. But I want you to be that courageous. I want you to take the shot, to step out, to create momentum, knowing that your journey will be one of imperfection. But imperfect is how everything valuable begins.

Perfect, on the other hand. You know what's perfect? Tomorrow is perfect. Ideas that never start, that contain no mistakes are perfect, wishing is perfect, hoping is perfect. But capturing the beauty contained in today, that's not a perfection game. That's a willingness to start and adjust along the way.

It's a commitment to begin now. So let's disarm tomorrow by making our magic today. By pointing directly at all those things you've been worried or scared or intimidated by and simply taking one step towards them. Rather than waiting for life to push you forward, walk yourself there and let life react. Had a window seat on the plane a few days ago, and during the descent I watched as we lowered.

into a thin layer of clouds, which anyone who's flown before knows creates turbulence. The plane starts to shake. For a brief moment, can't see anything outside the window, only white. No matter how many times I've watched this happen, and at this point probably in the hundreds, I can't help but feel a little uneasy. Heart rate increases a little bit.

It's just an uncomfortable thing. And here's the deal. Not only is a plane going through turbulence safe, a quick Google search will explain to you that no plane was ever brought down by turbulence. They were built specifically for that to endure it. And I know that. I understand it. I believe it.

I guess that faint nervousness, I feel, highlights the divide between my mental capacity to understand something and, you know, my physiological reaction to it. It shows, to put it simply, that often what's necessary will be uncomfortable. We'll get easier over time, but the point is there's a very real biological resistance associated with doing what's necessary. Even when we know the necessary thing is the right thing, even when we know we're capable of enduring the journey, right, just like that plane was built,

specifically to endure turbulence. Well, in your own world, so were you. And yeah, that world might shake. Yeah, you might look around and see an unknown providing no clarity or visibility, at least in the moment. But that feeling of discomfort should not be interpreted as negative.

A sign to stop or turn back has a signal that the world is too much, No, it's where you close your eyes and remind yourself how much you can handle, despite life trying to make you feel to the contrary. You were built to overcome, made to push into uncharted territory, to take your losses and uncover the hidden away value within them. Sometimes to grow, it's required that we learn not to resist that trembling, but to see it as the courage to say yes,

when it would have been infinitely easier to say no. And that's what this is about. Nothing groundbreaking, no secret formulas, just the reminder we often need but don't hear enough. That during the ascents and descents of life, and there are and will be many, know that you were built for the turbulence. You can harness the chaos, you can get through to the other side.

What's required is simply the, that you remember who you are and what you're capable of. Because again, when visibility is limited and our world's shake, it's easy to forget. You will not lose because of the challenge. You will win despite it again and again and again. And sure, stepping up to face that adversary, you may never detach from that nervous feeling in your stomach

with a shaky hands, but that's okay. That's your indicator, that you're alive, that you weren't tricked into submitting to a very beatable opponent, that you didn't turn away from the things that meant the most. The difficulty we face in life is not personal. If you remember this, you disarm every adversary,

obstacle, every complication you'll ever face. So, quick story. Recently, I was renewing a lease for my apartment. Something that usually is pretty simple, right? Only this time things were not simple. Confusion, chaos, misunderstanding, after misunderstanding, I received emails and letters saying, you need to provide these documents

in order to renew, you need to have X, Y, Z information submitted to his ASAP. I'm sitting here thinking, guys, you have all this info. I've lived here a year, same guy, let's put two and two together. And after a while, I started to get truly annoyed, eventually to the point of taking it personally. So I stopped what I was doing and go down to the front office thinking I'm going to go scorched earth here. I really wanted to emphasize how absurd and ridiculous all this was. I opened the door, it just kind of stop in my tracks.

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

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

was building this up as a them versus me match in my head dumb and counterproductive. Yes, also true. The world will always provide adversity, right? That's not news to anyone, it's just what the world does. That adversity will take a thousand different shapes and appear an infinite number of ways. But here's the deal with you. life is neutral. Things just happen. They aren't good or bad. They just exist in the ether. We as

storytellers decide to put a charge into things. We decide whether it's happening to us or for us. We choose. And that's a takeaway here. There's power in remembering not to take things personally in any aspect of life. Because when we do, we actually lose our grip on reality. We become emotional and not rational. And this is visible everywhere. Take rejection, for example, something we all deal with. It's not personal.

The person on the other end is thinking about themselves. They're locked in on their own incentives. They're not thinking about you. And however you feel about this, it's just the truth. So assess the situation. Sure, maybe find some areas where you can and and carry on. Being mistreated.

Again, not about you. As the saying goes, hurt people, hurt people. Same goes for criticism and hate online. It's something that a lot of people truly fear. It will almost always be true that people who are more accomplished than you or further along in their career trajectory won't waste time bringing you down in the common sense. No, it's people saying things hoping that their comments will get approval and attention so they can feel validated. Their actions are being carried out for, ready for this, themselves.

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

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

Everyone has their expectations fall short. Everyone has pushback. It's not just you. It's the world doing what the world does. And there's 8 billion of us running around operating in our best interest, trying to navigate a big, crazy world that's often incredibly difficult to understand. So with this perspective, right, going forward, you know, my lesson from a few weeks ago, What would I have done differently during all that chaos with the apartment?

A handful of things. First of all, remind myself that in the grand scheme of things, it's trivial. It's just not that important. Two, understand incentives. These folks aren't trying to make things hard for me. They're trying to do their jobs well so they can live their best lives, which brought their attention to other things. It happens.

And three, when you're calm, you can actually solve the problem. problems at hand. When you don't stack your problems up to look like adversaries working against you, when you instead see them as merely a challenge or puzzle to be solved, life starts to look a lot different. It just feels different to walk around as though life is on your side, as though hardship is nothing more than the water necessary for the seed to grow. As though all those challenges you face are opportunities being presented to you.

Because I'm not sure you can simultaneously fight and solve. I think one of our most important decisions is to select one. You can make the rejection an opponent, the criticism, a rival, you can make the disorder your nemesis. Or you can realize that all of it falls squarely into the criticism. the box that is life. Pieces to be taken out one by one so that you can construct the ideal. Life comes down to the advantages that exist all around us, the choices we make, to live

freely with the wind at our backs or confined by the walls we build around ourselves. And sure, your current obstacles might be because of decisions you've made, maybe even decisions you wish you could take back. But the current moment right now in this second is neutral. It does not hold a grudge or have an agenda now, right now is simply right now. In the same way that two plus two is four. Four is not good or bad. It doesn't want you to win or lose. It's just four. Same goes for the crossroads before you. And that puts the onus entire on you to decide what you will make it all mean. Will you slow things down to find clarity?

Will you open your eyes to see the value? Because look, there will always be a delta between reality and the stories we tell ourselves about reality. That's just how human beings work. It's how we've managed to survive for millennia. So understand that and gift yourself the narratives that bring you closer

to the place you want to. be. The road before you will be challenging. Not because its pushback is personal, but because amidst the resistance, you'll find the components you need to live your very best life. I can't pinpoint what's uncomfortable. Everything just sort of hurts, almost hovering over me as I attempt to move forward into the desert. The problem seems to be some combination of the present in the future. Because sure, each step it tests my core, my knees, my ankles, my back. But worse than that, worse than the physical pain is the fear of what this discomfort

will become. Because if I'm suffering now, imagine. Imagine 5, 10 or 20 miles from now I can go 15 seconds Anyone can go 15 seconds But what if it becomes more than I can bear See nothing scarier than the road ahead

It may just be what does me in Tolerable now But will it always be Right, right foot, bruise Or maybe, maybe worse I don't know but lean left Adjust. Yeah, just like this, that alleviates the problem.

At least for now, it alleviates the problem. I can move forward. I think it's the downhill. The downhill puts pressure on the knee, shoots pain towards the shin, so we'll slow down. Slow here. We'll catch them on the uphill. That's where we'll make our move. Slow down, fast up equals less pain, equals manageable.

That's progression. This is 100% doable. Not rocket science. rearranging the pieces pain in the stomach Has anyone ever died from an upset stomach? Probably, will you probably not? You're not stuck, you're just scared.

See, running while feeling nauseous never put someone on the front page of the New York Times What types of stories are you writing for yourself? No victim. Stop casting yourself as a victim. This is small. This is nothing. This is trivial.

Peace. Find a rhythm. You're overthinking again. This is not complex. There's nothing to be discovered here. This is the easiest thing in the world. One foot in front of the other again and again. Guess how much thought that requires?

You guessed it, bud. Your foot matters not. Your knees are of no relevance. Why are you creating monsters? Oh, the sun, it's the sun. You're hot. Well, you can cry or get to the destination with a tan. Stop rationalizing.

Go. Mile marker. When I don't create reasons to stop, it's like, well, it's like they don't exist. Most accomplishments, most pursuits require a positive narrative and uplifting storyline. This seems different. This requires nothing, not a thing I have right now. And, well, it looks like we can always handle right now, can't we? The wind isn't resistance.

It's cooling me off, and the sun is not a barrier. It's lighting a path. The discomfort is not an enemy. It's a passive. and we're all going one way forward. Do not think about the road ahead. Count seconds, count steps, count breaths, preoccupy the mind because the reality is at some point

I will get where I'm going. That is fact. And the only way to lose is to manufacture future monsters and bow down to them before I arrive. I can always defeat the now. My feet write the story, they hold the pen, and once I arrive, only then will I enjoy the next.

Enjoy the ending. See, that wasn't so bad, was it? There's an African proverb It states every morning A gazelle wakes up And knows it must outrun the fastest lion Or it will be killed And every morning in Africa

A lion wakes up And knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle. When the sun comes up, you'd better be running. Because stagnation is losing. Because wishing is a sealed fate. Because immobility is regret.

As David Goggin says, you are either getting better or you are getting more. And in a world comprised of no finish lines, that really simplifies the picture, doesn't it? Because this has nothing to do with yesterday. Or the self-defeating stories you used to tell yourself. It's about what reality can become. And the best news you'll ever hear is that the steps that brought you to right now they are not the same steps that will carry you forward. Every single sunrise is a chance to chase down that which sets your soul on fire.

Lion or gazelle, day or night, it is never too late to become what you have never been, to rewrite your story. Not for the doubters or the naysayers, but for you. But for you. See, they'll never get it. They'll never understand that your progress is your happiness, why you'd endure the depths of hell twice to be five seconds faster, a little better, to build a little higher. It's not nuance.

It is survival, woven into your DNA, and just as much a part of you as the heart in your chest. See, today is a, currency, the most valuable entity you possess, clay where dreams are molded, light that turns unknowns into outcomes, impossibles into stepping stones, it's why each step is so precious. Because each one is a bridge to a part of you yet to be explored. See, Nietzsche said it best, one must still have chaos in oneself to give birth. to a dancing star.

It is why we build these metaphorical arenas. Because without them, there are no dragons to slay. There are no mountains to climb or armies to conquer. It is from chaos that order is born. Every crack of the sword brings understanding. When the sun comes up, there is no wishing for a better world. There is creating in your eyes. The one who will make it better.

The one who will lead, himself and others who will find amidst the horizon the existence of a world within. 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. Right? It can plant the seeds for. for such different outcomes. Like Yashimi and Koga mentioned in their book,

The Courage to be Disliked, well water is 60 degrees. And 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 a 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 forfeiting? 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.

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 see it I often ask myself what differentiates those who wish for better outcomes and those who do something about it what separates the dreaming from the progress and the wishing from the reality. Sure, life is complex. There are a lot of moving parts to understand. But I think this element is simple.

Those who build things in life are willing to not only see a reality that hasn't yet materialized, but they also understand that in a world of no, They have to be the yes. They have to believe in their ability to drive towards finish lines that no one else sees. And see meaning cannot come to fruition without that discomfort.

Or as Nietzsche put it, one must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. And that's just it. Most people see what is. Most people conform they do not create. To change something means you have to be the metaphorical eagle amongst pigeons, flying above all that, everyone, everything else, superseding the limiting beliefs that shackle others to their one-dimensional realities. But most importantly, it means you can see. You can see what no one else can.

You have line of sight to what no one else understands. See, in this world, no one walks up to you on the street, puts their arm around you and says, hey, kid, that dream, follow that, because I can tell you're going to do big things. No one says, hey, that business idea, you're going to thrive next year, I know it. That relationship, it's going to happen.

That level of fitness, oh, I can see it already. Nope. People see what's right in front of them. And as it pertains to you and your world, your life, people are those pigeons. And so that leaves you with a choice. Do you accept that? Do you blend in, take the scraps you're allowed to consume, the crumbs laid out in front of you? Or do you step back and acknowledge that this is going to be tough?

This is going to hurt. It's going to push me further as a person that I've ever been pushed. But you know what I get in return? That view. I get to live above the clouds with those who don't wait in line. No, they become the main attraction. They transform what is into what will be because the world, it has a way of ensuring that we really want what we see.

say we do, greatness in any area of life is reserved for those willing to carry forward when most would turn back. To build a bridge to something greater, when most people point out that your bridge is not connected to anything, that it's a waste of time, it's trivial, useless, irrational. Good. Changing your life in the world around you has to be irrational. Taking the status quo and shaking it, saying I'm going to alter this landscape is irrational. But from irrationality comes the future.

So when you feel like the world is against you, when you have an uphill battle to climb when there are a million reasons for you to turn around, understand that this is nothing more than an indicator, that you are right where you need to be. the current, bringing something new to life. See if it were easy, it would already exist. But changing your life, that makes you an architect of the unseen. So build. On the days you want to build. On the days you don't build. When they understand build, and when they assume you've all together lost your mind, build. Sure it's not easy, but it's worth it.

And when tomorrow comes and it looks a lot different from today, when you've grown, evolved, transformed, and you look back and don't even recognize the person you once were, that won't be because you listen to the chirping of the doubters and the naysayers. It won't be because when strangers told you to give up, you packed your bags and went home. It will be because you rose above all that. They saw empty space and you saw a world undiscovered. They saw your head in the clouds while you built those castles in the air. You were always on a trajectory to something greater.

You didn't need to convince them. You needed to convince yourself. To unlock the shackles and take to the sky, leave everything that once held you down behind. This isn't about anyone else. It's about the conversation between you and the horizon that await. Fall down. Only a few choose to get back up. A few depersonalized failure. A few understand that falling is the cost of greatness. Your reality is not what happens to you. Your reality is not what happens to you. Your reality is how you internalize what happens to you. Or obstacles stop signs, or are they checkpoints along the way to something greater?

Checkpoints that make you stronger, build you up, become your armor, that is ultimately the difference. What we misinterpret in life is the meaning behind that difficulty, that pain, that suffering. No one gets a pain-free life. No one gets a free ride. Suffering is inevitable. As Nietzsche says, to live is to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering. And what's changed my life, and I don't mean here and there, I mean truly transformed

the course and trajectory of what's possible is simply redefining that which is difficult. I grew up watching the Kobe's and the Brady's of the world. I remember thinking, how do these guys get better when things get difficult? I mean, as a kid, I could feel the pressure watching from the couch, but they somehow elevate themselves when the odds are stacked against them. Same exact situation that causes most to doubt, to run, to lose their self-belief. What they see that eludes most is that in every pressing moment, there's opportunity. Every loss has something to gain.

to gain in every failure there is victory everyone has the same rulebook it's just that some people only see what is right in front of others learn to read between the lines and create outcomes that have not yet arrived when things are hard or challenging or uncertain it's not that you should keep going it's It's that you must keep going. Everything good, everything rewarding, worth having is on the other side of that struggle. Everything meaningful is built from the days you felt like there was no possible way to move on, but did anyway. That is the core of greatness, carrying forward when it would have been easier not to.

When you feel the hurt, the emotional turmoil, and I get it, we all do. Beyond that feeling, what are you willing to see? Beyond the ashes, what are you willing to build? What are you willing to do with those pieces? Because it can be nothing or it can be everything. It all depends on how you choose to step back and look at the world. Your perspective becomes the roadmap for your reality.

So understand that feeling down or loss is normal, but staying down is a choice. There are no problems. There are stepping stones. The very situations that make you who you are. The little decisions that over time equip you to step up when it matters most, when the pressure's on, the odds are against you,

the rest of the world says no. no matter how hard it gets there is an answer rise above the emotion the chaos the present moment and see the big picture not only will you survive you will be better because of this because you kept moving forward when it wasn't easy no matter how hard life got you never lost sight of the opportunity and that made all The difference. That thing that gives you butterflies, that lights you up, that world you see when you close your eyes, chase that.

With all of your soul, chase it. It's easy to brush off life's potential. It's just outside the realm of possibility. To see the ideal is some form of window shopping that you can almost touch. A fantasy to be explored when you sit back in your office chair or pass time in the doctor's office waiting room. But I think these aspirations mean more than that. Not distractions, but a North Star. Not a diversion, but the path.

And by the way, I'm not naive about this pursuit and all that it entails the truth behind it, I'd never advocate that what's possible or meant to be is somehow easy. In fact, I'd argue the only way something is meant to be is if you're willing to commit to the difficulty in bringing it to life. Otherwise, it wasn't meant to be anything but a missed opportunity, because it surely will be a difficult road. And here's what we come to learn. Everything of value is difficult. You know, in an attempt to oversimplify, I often break life down into the easy thing versus the difficult but meaningful thing. And in some ways, sure, that's true.

But I can also honestly say it would have been more difficult for me to have stayed where I was, not moved at all, to not have pursued what I believed in. It would have been more difficult thinking about that life I could have lived, the doors that could have opened. And that's just it. Life is about choosing your difficult. the difficult you seek out intentionally, or the difficult you come and let take control, render you helpless. And I think when we find ourselves in routines,

or we've built for ourselves, a world we know we don't want to live in anymore, or we've outgrown, it's not that the current is real and the future is not, it's that we, somewhere along the way, decided to face the wrong opponent. Some adversaries make us strong. They force us to be more to grow. Other adversaries are opponents.

They sit back and they let us defeat ourselves. And that's what we don't want. See, when the world knocks you down, you get to rise again. wiser, tougher, stronger. But when you keep yourself down, well there's nothing to be gained from that. Those two opponents, they are not the same.

I reference my speaking career because for me, it's where that transformation is most evident. It's where it all began. My opponent was very much me. Avoiding opportunities, hiding from failure, I didn't give life a chance to knock me down. And so it didn't. How could it?

I'd already placed myself in chains. And because of that, guess what, I stayed the same. I couldn't evolve. My ideal future was an idea that would briefly entertain me from time to time and move right on. It wasn't until I found the current to switch my opponents.

From myself to the world, I let life humble me. I gave talks where I was nervous and had cold feet, keynotes where my delivery was mediocre at best, where I barely got by. But with these battles came metaphorical riches, came that trust that had to be manufactured, that confidence that had to be earned when I got out of my own way,

I was able to let the trials and tribulations of life create a new foundation for me to stand on, to redefine reality. And the good news is that anyone can do that. Anyone can ask that question. Is something external in my way right now that I need to figure out, that I need to solve? Or am I in my own way? own way am I not even giving myself a shot have I settled for right now as truth when right now is just the less ideal difficult when I was little playing action

figures with my buddy up the street we used to think it was cool to see around corners to see through walls to know what was coming before to rot right for action figures absolutely in superhero movies why not but in the journey through life you don't need to see around corners in fact it's counterproductive because it is the interaction with the unknown that matters it's adjusting amidst life's uncertainty that comes to make you who you are transforms you and your reality as far as i'm concerned the The only way to lose is to remain behind that corner. Puring out every now and then, hoping to get some kind of advantage or shortcut, willing to

let life pass you by while you wait for the stars to align, thinking that that vision of an ideal life will stroll along the sidewalk, see you and reach out a hand, that weight will be a long one. Unproductive and difficult, more difficult than trusting yourself. to face whatever lurks around that corner. So remember that who you are is built. And every time you do something a little bit scary or unsettling, every time you wander a step or two outside of your comfort zone,

the reward is not just the short-term triumph you feel as you leapfrog that obstacle and carry on. No, you are investing in a new you, a new reality. You're investing in something changing before your very eyes, putting a little marble in a jar that is your potential and you can't see it. Not now. No one's going to announce it to you. You might not even realize or understand until you look back years down the road. But those little acts of courage, they matter more than you know. They're not trivial and they are certainly not insignificant. When that movie plays in your head and you think to yourself, I wish, or if only, and the delta between that image and the reality on the ground disappoints you, gives you a little knot in your stomach or dissatisfaction that floats around in your thoughts, remember that that feeling is transferable, that difficult can be exchanged for one that actually.

changes things. You can get off the merry-go-round and towards a new North Star. Difficult, yes, but we've seen the goal is not to avoid difficult. It's to pick the difficult that will transform your life. It's to find meaning in a world that if you do not pay attention, will paint your landscape with routine and obligation. And today can certainly be a continuation of that script, a box that's checked, a calendar square with an X, or it can be the beginning of something that gives you butterflies, that lights you up, that brings you one step closer to the world you see when you close your eyes. There's something about the way we perceive success. that results in one of the greatest tragedies of our time.

And that's the belief that successful people, the ones at the top of their game, that talent is what punched their ticket, that destiny brought them to the finish line. And that's wrong. It's wrong because it takes the journey, the struggle, the scratching, and clawing that it took to get to the top of the mountain

and throws it out the window. It completely mitigates, what's most important. In the real world, the one we are living in, it doesn't matter who you are, you are never entitled to a result. Victory is a product of the fight. Biggest favor you can ever do for yourself

as you progress through life's up and downs through the good and the bad when things get rough is know that you are going through what every successful person, every champion, every innovator, has gone through in the history of mankind. Struggle is beautiful. It's a sign that you are in the midst

of what separates great from average. It's a necessary step, and it's the most important step you will ever take because 99% of people can't see past it. Right? The world sees struggle, sees hardship as a time to pack it up, to walk away, to be intimidated. But the best, I'm telling you, they look at struggle differently.

Just like you can't get fit without blood, sweat, and tears at the gym. You can't make deals without the hustle. You can't make things happen if you don't move forward in the face of adversity. When the word no is staring you in the eyes, it's all part of the process. Winners walk on. If you want something bad enough, You know that being uncomfortable is an ingredient. If you want to be the best, your mindset has to reflect the best.

Right, let others focus on the tip of the iceberg. You know excellence lies in everything underneath the surface, in what cannot be seen. So take mediocrity and make it excellent. Take what's yours and hold it up for the world. Because what hurts now in the present is the very same thing that will transform your world. life down the road. Never let yourself be the victim. If I could go back in time and have a conversation

with my eight to ten year old self, that would be the message I would give. Because when you think about it, you're a kid, things don't go your way. What do you do? You cry, you whine, you throw a fit, you want your parents to feel sorry for you. You feel sorry for yourself. It's how you deal with things at that age and then you grow up but you don't necessarily shed that habit that mentality and it becomes obvious right I mean you can talk to someone for 30 seconds and you know right away if they have that victim mentality the world's falling down they're tired they have so much to do they're so busy X Y and Z look having that mindset does two things for you one it makes you come across helpless and weak and no one wants to come across that way.

Two, it does not get you to where you're going. It does not change the situation. Here's the reality. There is always a way to get what you want. There is always a way to position yourself to move away from what you don't want. You can quite literally become what you want to become but you cannot look at life like it's this problem like it's against you the ball is in your court you know it wasn't that long ago two three years ago that I was not the happiest guy in the world right did not like what I was doing did not like how I was spending my time was not energized was not passionate about very much but the time came where I didn't want to live like that I had a conversation

with myself. I stopped being the victim. I stopped complaining and I asked myself, dude, what do you want? What is your purpose? What is your goal? Who do you want to become? And I literally made the decision and walked away a different person. And the things around me changed. My life changed because I made a decision to never be the victim again, to get what I want. I became the author of my own story. And you realize just how simple it is to transform your situation. Not easy, right? And it takes time.

But there's always a way to get from point A to point B. And this separates the world into two kinds of people. People who look at how things are, who accept reality as truth, who complain, and people who look at what can be. who make the most of any situation. Look at life as if it's clay, to be molded, to be shaped. It seems funny to me knowing what I do now, that I went through any of my life like a hamstrower on a wheel.

That I talk to people every day who didn't energize me, that I didn't want to be around, that I did things I wasn't passionate about. That is insanity. Because if you don't like something, but you do nothing to change it. What's left for you to do? Complain.

Wine. Stay where you are. That's it. See, one of the reasons I reference athletics so much is because they bring this mentality on you that when things become difficult, when things become challenging, your job, your one job is to find a way to figure it out.

And I always did. And I took that and I brought it to everything else I do. And now it's I always. to see people achieving success, financial freedom these things everyone wants, and know that the difference between them and everyone else is that they felt like they deserved it. A lot of the time they weren't smarter, stronger, they weren't more gifted starting out, but they moved toward what they wanted. They didn't cry or groan about the problems.

They didn't look for sympathy. Those at the top of the mountain are not victims. They would never let themselves be victims. It's about the other side, the opportunity, getting from where you are to what you want.