THIS IS YOUR TIME | Best Motivational Speeches Of 2021 | Motivational Video Compilation

so much of Life comes down to control understanding what we cannot control while simultaneously capitalizing and making the most of the things that we can a constant awareness that's critical to our evolution epicus wrote we must be at once cautious and Courageous Courageous in what does not depend upon choice and cautious in what does and this idea has been shared many many times in many ways over the centuries another of which um a lot of folks have heard is the Serenity Prayer right God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change the

courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the [Music] difference but regardless of how it's said and who it's said to the point is the same there are things we cannot control that we must find a way way to stop exerting ourselves stop exhausting our energy on they are as the saying goes what they are these obstacles are immovable and rather than continue to push and push and push with all our strength and energy our time is best suited learning to effectively navigate them [Music] and then there exist those things that

are in our control I believe it was The Power of Now by echar tole he said and I'm paraphrasing if something cannot be changed stop thinking about it right the future represents anxiety it's worrying about things that haven't happened yet the past is essentially depressing it's worrying about things that already happened we can't do anything about the past or the future all we have is now and if it can be changed then act now and bringing about a desired result take that first step create some semblance of momentum no matter how small but to worry

about what is behind you or in front of you is actually Insanity I Remember Loving the Simplicity and pointedness of that message accept it eliminate it or adjust yourself to it sometimes it helps when I think about things in metaphors and uh I tend to do it often this morning I was drinking coconut water right of all things and I was thinking man it be nice you know those little pieces of of coconut that float around in there I was like it'd be great if they if they were not in there right so I had

this idea just grab a strainer pour it through the strainer into the glass I'm leaning over the counter watching the pieces of coconut collect in the strainer and I'm just thinking sort of zoning out like imagine if those were my problems just being separated out of my life just like that how nice it would be captured in a little net and then you know discarded thrown away but you know it didn't take me long to realize a couple things one such an idea would never happen life will uh always have some obstacle to place before

us that's what life does after all the word is predicated upon the avoidance of death it's a struggle and a necessary one which leads me to the realization number two we want hardship you know purpose and meaning they're derived from our willingness to over come adversity and transform because of it a life without struggle is a car without wheels and sure you might avoid the fender benders but you're not leaving the garage right so that's a that's a thumbs down so I thought okay well what if I slightly adjust that thinking what if it's a

subset of problems that I can remove that's when it kind of hit me the opportunity at hand right not the so-called problems but my thoughts about them there are the real Difference Maker here the negative storytelling that can be removed pushed through the strainer again not novel or groundbreaking like I said a few minutes ago this idea has been around for thousands of years but sometimes things land perfectly right moment right time and I knew what I needed to do was remove the worries and concerns pertaining to the events that I could not change yet

I exhaust my energy dancing around and around uh with my thoughts about [Music] them you cannot change the future you can change right now which ultimately becomes the future and there's a difference I had to you know pull that back in see I think most of our problems are derived from anger or emotional attachment to the immovable the unchangeable one of my favorite sayings is uh you can't change the direction of the wind but you can always adjust your sails and see when you remove the self tormenting you have going on about your past things

you wish you did or didn't do when you remove the concern that the future won't be exactly what you want it to be which tends to be where I lean of the two uh you're left with one thing the present right Clarity you have officially empowered yourself because the things you allocate your energy to can be changed can be made better or adjusted and that's really what it's all about you can't change the fact that someone you loved or cared about let you down but when you dwell on it you're now giving up the present

as well you're preventing yourself from doing what is required of you now to make your life better you can't control the fact that uh your company's reducing its size and your department uh is being eliminated can't control the fact that 8% get accepted to whatever you're applying to can't control the fact that you will be criticized for doing the unpopular thing the thing that you believe to be right and I say these things not to be a downer I actually don't think there's anything sad about this to the contrary right now that you've accepted these

truths accepted this as reality now you can move toward what's best for you no more dwelling on the unchangeable no more fighting unwinable Wars no it's time to go put yourself in position to conquer whatever mountain is next by straining out the things that cannot be changed you are left only with what can you can't change your company's Personnel reduction but you can find something else something better out there you can set the stage for a New Journey you can't increase the acceptance rate but you can increase your value go above and beyond put yourself

in position to succeed and if you don't their loss continue learning continue growing continue moving forward you can't stop the world's criticism but you can learn to toughen up emotionally learn to trust your intuition and decisionmaking surround yourself with people you trust who lift you up see when you stop wasting time and energy on the wrong things you get the right things like Greg MCU says in essentialism it's not what we can require but often what we cut away removing the things that weigh us down that we dragging along with us everywhere we go they

don't need to be there I say to myself often that I have everything I need it's there some of it's materialized some of it exists as a seed that I need to identify and water and nurture but it's all right here which means the problem will will never be that I'm incapable it will never be that I'm not good enough no when I'm in the wrong it's because I've forgotten to see it I've either become consumed with the wrong things or lost faith in myself to do the right things and knowing this has been a

gift it's been tremendous it's helped me even during the darkest moments to reacquire what matters most sometimes it takes hours sometimes days even weeks or longer but I get there eventually I arrive and so can you you have the ability to parse out why you feel the way you do to categorize the thoughts in your head can I change it no okay gone and with all that's left Begins the journey the good stuff the adversity and the problems that will make you who you are and don't misunderstand me I'm not saying it will be easy

but I'm saying it will be worth it and that's critical to understand your world is there to maneuver and adjust to reshape but it's transformation depends on a laser likee focus on that which is malleable that's saying do what you can where you are with what you have it will lead you to exactly where you need to be even if you don't trust the road before you trust yourself to walk down [Music] [Music] it today is not like any day I've lived before and why should it be this very second there are roads to be

explored that I've never before walked down there are actions to take that I've never before taken and ideas to bring to life that I've never before given the respect they deserve that saying my Golden Rule you are always one decision away from a totally different life you are always one realization from pulling the lever opening the door finding the answer you've been walking by all your life the problem is you don't see today as today you see it as a continuation of yesterday the same movie with the same characters and same rules without without even

realizing you need to change the script Emerson said write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year why because it can be your job is to remember that things will continue on and on and on until we give them an end we must manually close the book on yesterday's story and start a new because we can we often don't realize but we can and that is why the morning each new day is so precious it's taking the mistakes and sometimes disappointments of yesterday and transforming them into today's lessons and

the opportunity to begin again A New Journey seen through a new lens walk through a new pair of shoes a new sense of self so here is here is your reminder that the words were and are they're very different that's why each Sunrise transcribes into the sky the hopes and dreams of the you that you've always wanted to be it's not a crazy formula or some secret code it's simply untying your boat from the harbor that is yesterday and moving towards tomorrow's Horizon 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 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 was wasn't something you had to walk flawlessly but rather something you had to trust and believe [Music] 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 someday 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 somedays 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 [Music] 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 sight there's proof that you've been there that you've 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 tomorrows and someday 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 one you love and in some cases the ones who didn't

even understand but 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 go you have more sum days to bring to life [Music] I was 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 you know I think we're doing some family stuff but I wanted to hang out with my friends down the street right 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 cuz I felt like I'd lose it if I wasn't there I'd lose something and I remember him taking me from the 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 um 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 was almost like all the nuance and the detail it's reacquired 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 right 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's 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 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 or you're in a relationship and it's like it's not right and you know when you're cour it's not right but there's very basic boxes

that are checked right you're you're not alone you're with someone um there's some predictability in your life like it'd be tough to lose those things and so that's really the 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 uh 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 9 to5 like it's just my thing right that was for me I felt so constrained and I'm just such a like I I love to be creating and sort of out on 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 9 to5 it's just my story um but like I I

realized that I could have walked away come back in a year after living in you like Thailand and things would have been exactly the same when I got back right I could have got a similar job I put a fun ways to check off those same boxes right those foundational things they're reacquired 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 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 you have to have the courage and self-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 right you can never get where you're going if you're Shackled to the things that that don't move you right if you're staying in a place of discontent um 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 uh that you've never seen

the experiences the journeys that make life worth living the upside is just too high [Music] there's a quote attributed to senica that states no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity for he is not permitted to prove [Music] himself meaning it's in pursuing the difficult thing that we obtain meaning recognition that we prove ourselves but prove ourselves to [Music] whom this is the same senica who famously stated that we suffer more in imagination than we do in reality that he is most powerful who has power over himself and that's one of the

beautiful things about stoicism it makes us ask a very simple but often overlooked question who's really the adversary here who's the opposition we're dealing with as we fight our battles what is it that must be transformed is it the outside world or the way our eyes view the outside world what's really holding us back the circumstances or our own personal thoughts about the circumstances and I think this is where we misunderstand the challenges before us I want to delve into this power of perspective to explain that we are The Gatekeepers between ourselves and our ideal

lives and very often we do a good job of ensuring that gate stays closed we set sabotage our own goals our own dreams our own happiness while simultaneously pointing the finger at a million externalities see when we look at the difficulties of life and there's no doubt that life can be a very difficult thing it's easy to look at the world as this binary playing field right me verse the world and in fact we often visualize the world as the enemy pushing back against us as if its motives were counter to ours but so many

of these narratives these stories they actually say nothing about the outside world and when we look deeper it becomes apparent that they actually say a whole lot more about us it's the one viewing that gets to decipher what the surf circumstance means and so all narratives are reflections of the Observer Jim rone used to tell a story about two brothers who had an alcoholic father he'd come home drunk he'd abuse his sons they had a terrible childhood and as they each grew up and had families of their own their paths kind of diverged right one

became abusive and the other was kind and loving and caring and when confronted the now abusive brother stated well look how can you blame me don't you see how I was raised but the kind loving and caring brother stated of course I'm like this I could never put my family through what I went through as a child same circumstances different lenses interpretations which means different real world result and the idea here is to emphasize how one of the most important abilities a human being possesses is the ability to interpret the world around him I think

of us as uh subjects navigating a world of objects as though the things around us don't have meaning until we place meaning upon them them that's what humans do create narratives out of objects and that often overlooked seemingly insignificant ability places a lot of power in our hands very rarely is it what we see it's what we think and what we do about what we see you ever hang out with people that just tend to be happy upbeat positive energy I have a a very good friend like that where his first inclination is always to

find the positive in moments where I've sort of trained myself to pause take a second sift through the emotion uncover the value in a tough situation refocus and take a strategic step forward I look over at him and he's already arrived there right he's been there for 3 minutes right eliminated the negativity it's his first instinct he's the metaphorical kid hopping around in puddles whistling at the top of his lungs while everyone else is hiding out from the rain or at least trying to find the courage to run out onto the street with then there

are people who seem to always find the negative it doesn't really matter what this situation is happiness is fleeting only to reveal the negativity that never seems to go away right the kind of person that if they won the lottery their first thought might be oh no but what if I lose it all both examples are people projecting themselves onto the world around them the same way that smoke covers and consumes an entire room it's not the room that's the [Music] culprit here's another example from Jim ran since run a Jim ran kick he was

making a similar point and this is all from a collection of speeches he has on Audible um comparing humans to oranges which is probably not a comparison you've made recently but he said there's consistency to an orange and that it can be filled with one thing when you squeeze an orange orange juice is coming out period it will never be apple juice or grape food juice it will only emit what it has inside which is orange juice and while here's the connection when life pressures us challenges us or metaphorically squeezes us we only emit the

emotions that are contained and available that are alive and well within us if there is no jealousy contained in our thinking we're not going to project jealousy out into the world world if there is no hatred within us we will not project hatred onto others why is that powerful it's powerful because again it's one of the most important things you can do certainly one of the most important things I've learned to do is take that finger pointing blame at the outside world slowly turn it around and point it back at myself and ask what thoughts

what emotion what ideas am I letting live inside my head that's altering the narrative the story I'm telling about myself and the world that I live in and while one might think well that's uncomfortable that's unfair a little extreme why should I point at myself it's not my fault I would challenge you at least for the sake of the next few minutes to see such a change as empowering as your ad Vantage as the bridge from where you are to where you want to be see if you always have feelings of let's say jealousy around

a particular person that feeling in your stomach like oh they have it all they're ahead like they live how I want to live they're this and that and I kind of hate them for it you're naively giving the external world the power you're saying I feel the way I do because of that out there some Cosmic Injustice you are powerless because you're neglecting your personal agency as a factor but when you turn that finger around and say I only feel this way because I'm allowing myself to then you can ask the question so many never

think to ask why why do I feel this way which lights a path to how can I fix it see the key to a better life is realizing you don't have to be in the passenger seat pointing at and blaming the driver complaining about the road being taken no you can get into the driver's seat you can take the wheel you can take control inherit responsibility and there's more at stake there's greater vulnerability but the upside is is unfathomable and I find myself thinking all the time man people are blaming the wrong things they're shifting

blame to the wrong adversaries the real villain [Music] here is not the driver or the road or the weather the real villain is the voice in your head pleading with you not to take the wheel pleading with you to ride shotgun and complain as the world passes You by and of course it makes sense to qualify that with the inevitability that there are some things placed upon us that are just bigger than us that we can't control and you can make a list however long you want to natural disasters decisions and actions of others health

problems we don't often get to choose the landscape so as the stoics would say understand that understand what you can't control and what you can because the beauty is that you can control how you navigate that landscape and that is power that is what makes the difference see the two brothers I mentioned a few moments earlier same landscape different navigational tactics different view of what it all meant one took the wheel and one did [Music] not so that's senica quote that states no man is more unhappy than he who never faces adversity for he is

not permitted to prove himself well it's perfectly clear as far as I'm concerned the the question is not whether or not to face adversity I think we all understand that what what I hope we take from today is a better understanding of what the true adversity is a better understanding of the fact that in front of us there is always an answer a key to every lock some people just don't think to look they're so busy peering around every corner for external enemies and scapegoats that they don't give themselves permission to succeed maybe unfortunate but

it's true you can hit the bullseye over and over again but if it's the wrong target it won't do much for you you might as well have missed by 50 ft and I think that is what we Overlook you can't always fix the outside world world you can't change the unchangeable but you can always change yourself you can always fix you his tolto said everyone wants to change the world but no one thinks of changing [Music] himself you're capable of being both your greatest adversary and Ally so Choose Wisely because the world around you will

do nothing more than respond accordingly to your decision [Music] just go sure things will feel strange at first abstract at first wrong at first it's incredibly difficult to separate from the past it's hard to detach from the deeply rooted biological Whispering of hey at least you knew what to expect back [Music] there but that whispering has preservation in mind not happiness and at some point we need to stop preserving bring that which is not ideal so go the walls that once existed they'll crumble and this will be startling at first shocking at first intimidating at

first it's incredibly difficult to watch foundational structures crumble around us especially when you know you are the the one that Lit the fuse it's hard to walk away from the faint murmur stating hey this was your home how dare you leave it but those words they have status quo in mind not growth and home is an idea you take with you it's no set of parameters just go the stories you told yourself the narratives you thought were forever will prove to be nothing more than the end of an underwhelming chapter this will feel abrupt at

first unfair at first will leave you deeply unsatisfied at first it's incredibly difficult to realize that happily ever Afters aren't linear they're cyclic it's hard to walk away from the voices pleading with you not to turn the page stating that because their realities will remain the same so must yours but those aren't the characters with whom you'll emerge Victorious some movies must be recast the setting reimagined the hero reinvented and so it should be known that your greatest strength is the little steps that you are capable of taking the little decisions you are capable of

making remember safety is not safe when it keeps you from what you need and the wrong Nows have a tendency to evolve into the wrong Forevers the small concessions well they become the big mistakes so if it's a sign you're hoping for let this be it if there's a time you're waiting for let now be that time if it's someday you are dependent upon let today be that day as doing nothing is in fact a decision but only one of many One path laid out before you one single grain of sand where the edge of

today's world touches the shores of tomorrow's sometimes it's about the ability to stand up face The Horizon and just go go because it's only upon going that you realize you're capable of the journey you finally see in yourself the strength you've longed for it's ingoing that you realized yesterday's situation wasn't even really the problem it was your fear of the unknown of leaving that situation it was living with the devil you knew instead of potentially having to face the devil you didn't that's what happened to your wings they just felt safer tucked away but it's

in goinging that we acquire perspective the tragedies the devastation the things that kept us awake at night they really weren't that bad but how are we to know when you build walls around yourself what's within them becomes your entire world it's in goinging that you create yourself and while everything you need is already beating in your chest the great unknown before you is the water to that seed the key to that door what you fear is exactly what you need and so the beautiful dance through life goes on not beautiful because of it to Elegance

it's rarely that but beautiful because of its promise its malleability beautiful because we get to move without answers in order to find answers beautiful because what we become is directly proportional to what we're willing to [Music] endure and that means that the universe doesn't judge doesn't know us by our failures or our mistakes but by our courage our courage to face all of these things and move forward anyway to relentlessly explore the resilience of the human Spirit an infinite light in an otherwise finite World a bridge that is built beneath our feet in real time

what a a weight off of our shoulders to know this we don't have to get it right we just have to step out the door trusting that we will pick up enough pieces to put together something meaningful we just have to go and then the world it opens up just like that leave the old embrace the new simple you think to yourself well yeah of course the best things in life are always simple always have been always will be we just imagine them to be difficult we have a a knack for making simple decisions into

complex matrices of cause and effect pros and cons wins and losses we learn to think for years until we finally come to the brilliant realization that happiness that meaning that a life well- lived comes when we think less ready fire aim there is no perfect path just an adjusted course an endless series of change of learning that falling is just a road sign indicating where we need to go next you can't plan for that you can't chart a course that doesn't exist no you you leave who you were yesterday behind and you set sail they'll

ask you where do you see yourself in 5 years and you'll think who knows but not here it couldn't be here it must be somewhere evolved where pieces of the world shaped your outlook and became the armor that you now wear new game new rules new expectations new people new places and what really changed well how you view yourself it's funny how it all works how things come together when we look over our shoulders like it was meant to be as if this had to be the way things are no you could very easily have

stayed dreaming looking out that window wishing you could leave hoping for answers that didn't exist [Music] and so the complex now feels as simple as we meant it to we move forward not knowing but trusting and we look back with the sense of understanding and a confidence that was built over time in the game of life there are people who go and people who stay people who build and people who don't and I'm not saying everything will be perfect or everything will immediately snap snap into place how could I but what I am saying is

that in moving forward we pull back the curtain on the opportunity that is available to us we move from the physical limitations of the bodies we walk around in and towards the infinite power of the mind that powers them we become who we were always meant to be how do we know what that is well not until we look over our shoulders of course so go go make your mistakes go learn your lessons feel your moments of pain and your moments of bliss your times of doubt and your times of certainty because in doing so

you will have done the very thing so few people get to do with their limited time on this planet truly live so go just go [Music] sometimes it's what we don't say that Echoes the loudest what we don't do that has the greatest consequences where we don't go but ultimately gets us lost I remember as a teenager applying to college I was working on the admissions essay was brainstorming with my grandmother um talking over possible topics and approaches and she read me this quote that's sometimes attributed to Mark Twain uh but that's beside the point

the quote States 20 years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do so throw off the bow lines sail away from the Safe Harbor catch the trade winds in your sales explore dream discover I thought this was the perfect bridge to the next chapter of my life the latest Horizon the newest Adventure I thought it was incredible and it was it was exactly what I needed and so onto that next adventure I went but here's the thing as life unfolded this equation some somehow transformed

from exploration and dreaming and Discovery into the question well what am I supposed to do somehow without my paying attention life turned into a checklist a question I couldn't get wrong a test I needed to make sure I didn't fail it's amazing how quickly we forget the infinite Breath of Life life because we're focusing on the dotted line before us the one we're supposed to walk sometimes we're so fixated on what the expectation is that we don't ask ourselves where these expectations are coming from who is so significant and wise that they know what's best

for you to a greater extent than you do see how that's an important question and also one you can lose in your periphery as You Follow That dotted line before you when you have a destination in mind hopes dreams Ambitions well that's an adventure when someone else has a destination in mind for you whether this Authority is imaginary or not that's obedience and sometimes the greatest disservice we can do to ourselves is to not stop and think to not stop and ask ourselves where we're going and why do you remember when you were a child

and you got into trouble right sometimes you'd get sent to your room and for me this was Agony when it was punishment I wanted to be anywhere but confined within those walls I hated being sent to my room and then finally the door would open my parents would say Eddie you come out now I'd go outside play basketball for a little bit and then often times I'd find myself right back in my room happy you know playing with my toys whatever I was doing not a care in the world and it's like what changed nothing

but the context same me same room same toys same whatever I was doing it was however no longer a punishment and I think this realization is worth exploring we may not realize we may not even be able to articulate it but I think we long for control over our lives we long to walk our own path and in this situation the path led me right back to where I was sometimes though the path leads us in the opposite direction far away to Distant Worlds the end destination is not as important as the fact that we

chose it that we asked ourselves why and that we believe in the answer and immerse ourselves in its [Music] execution so when Mark Twain talks about the things that we don't do holding more weight in our hearts it's because those things we tend to skip over are often the very things that breathe life into our souls we'll go to school to get good grades to get a 9o5 to get a promotion to get a mortgage on a home but the audacity to open that photography studio the nerve to think you could rent a van and

travel the country the delusion to think you could start that routine that will get you in the physical shape you've always dreamed of see we're lucky and fortunate to have the things that we have the quality of life we lead now far exceeds those that came before us life is convenient incredibly convenient but what is convenience if it comes at the expense of purpose of meaning in life because that's what steers the ship a crisis of meaning ultimately mitigates everything else there is no exploration without meaning and without exploration tomorrow becomes a repetition of today

not an EV evolution of today and what's incredible truly incredible is that our purpose can be rediscovered our paths redefined how by having a long conversation with you guessed it yourself by putting the phone in another room by disconnecting the Wi-Fi and spending time with you something along the lines of dear self what matters to me in this world where am I going right now is where I'm going right now aligned with what matters to me in this world and sometimes the answer is yes sometimes no great but what we have now is a foundation

to work off of an awareness that should be celebrated that you created it's so easy to walk through life and never have that conversation it's so easy to sleepwalk to the tune of someone else's song the beat of other people's drums but when you open your eyes you see the correlation between your thoughts and your actions your actions in your reality you realize that when you wake up that tendency to ask yourself what you have to do today to reflect on your problems those questions you assumed were normal that you never gave much thought to

well now you'll see you can dismantle that notion now you'll see that if you can ask yourself what you have to do you can just as easily ask yourself what you want to do what you get to do what life is inviting you to do if you can reflect on your problems you are just as capable of reflecting on the opportunity at your fingertips if you can spend time dwelling on whether you're walking the obligatory dotted line that's been laid out in front of you you're just as capable of redwing that line and allowing it

to pull you into a new dimension listen again 20 years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do so throw off the bow lines sail away from the Safe Harbor catch the trade with in your sales explore dream discover explore but for you wander down those paths that have for so long pequ your curiosity try things you once felt like other people were entitled to but you'd never given yourself permission be that for yourself because no one will come up to you and randomly

give you that green light dream because without building your Castles in the Air as thorough calls them you live your entire life on the ground you'll never hit targets that you don't create and sure there'll be a time that only you see the destination great that's life but with each step forward as it becomes more real for you it will make sense to others as well trust each step like it is in and of itself a miracle and you'll find in time that that's exactly what each step was and lastly discover discover who you are

what you're capable of becoming as Emerson said to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment to forge your own path build your own life stay true to your own heart is courage so sail away because you have the ability because you are strong enough and because the story you're about to write doesn't continue on until you turn the page on today's chapter [Music] many of life's failures are people who didn't realize how close they were to success when they gave up Thomas Edison a quote

I go to when I've lost my why when my frustration over the lack of a a particular result overshadows everything I don't think we realize how transformative these moments are when confronted by them or presented two options give up or emerge better than we were it's not intuitive right it's not normal to think I know this is hard but hey I'm one adjustment away from getting it right one move away from uncovering momentum that's why in such moments I rely on others to remind me and it's why I remind you now to reiterate how small

a push is required to Simply get things moving to remind you that you do want this it does mean something to you and you know what these are the moments you'll look back on with a tear in your eye a smile on your face and you'll be grateful you push through these moments the darkest of nights the lowest of lows when we're lost we're stuck unsure they are the ones that matter so Shake It Off see the difference the reason so many people turn around is because they don't know the secret I'm about to tell

you the very same secret those before have passed on to me you don't need to do anything but not stop and if that seems too obvious or cliche let me explain to you that it's in goinging that we're forced to find Solutions we're forced to become more it's incredibly hard to stop an object in motion but the question is can you move forward when you don't have the answers when you're tired when what you've been looking for is nowhere to be found can you imagine at that moment what the other side will be like looking

back on your journey knowing that where others stopped you hung on where the cost was too much for so many you laid it all on the line these are the decisions you have to make now so so don't listen to that voice rationalizing begging you to take a down a notch or return to the normal sea of yesterday let this message resonate hear me embrace the fact that you are always one move away from recapturing momentum from finding yourself again it's there everything you need is there have the patience to find it the patience to

do what you do best find a way [Music] [Music] I'll never forget listening to Jim ran was taking a walk in the middle of the day I needed to get out decompress rethink realign and this message came through my headphones he said we must all suffer from one of two pains the pain of discipline or the pain of regret the difference is discipline weighs ounces while regret weighs tons and I needed that I needed that because sometimes we forget why in the midst of the daytoday the trials and tribulations of life we forget why we

endure and there's a a strange dichotomy that exists because you know you can't measure dis comfort that hasn't arrived yet you can identify regret that hasn't materialized yet in a way you have to you have to somehow make that tangible you have to know that sacrifices of today deliver you from the anguish of I wish or if only or maybe I could have I've heard it said that human's ability to delay gratification is what makes us so unique incredible even but that doesn't mean it comes easy so as I walked I became reacquainted with the

trust that I had in myself in the future in the steps I was taking it wasn't that I'd reached some Grand finale but that I gave myself permission to stop constantly expecting one worrying when things didn't go as planned feeling disgusted with myself when I fell short this is after all part of a process and if one stays the course builds a foundation of discipline to guide them towards what they believe in things will Evol [Music] we feel uncertain because new things don't have a precedent at least not a personal one and that feeling of

know I wish I knew or had some predictability it's real it's common but if minimizing regret is what means the most then it also means that we must have the discipline to walk steady steadfast into the unpredictability of Tomorrow a long-term sustained discipline in one of my favorite interviews bronnie wear who wrote the top five regrets of the dying was talking about surrender and how she mentioned in her book letting go and I asked her can you explain that what's the angle because the way I look look at life there's always something you can do

you can always improve your situation somehow and she basically said it's not about what you can control what you can do it's about putting yourself in position to live the life you want to live and then letting go of that which you cannot control it's about not worrying over external forces as you walk your path because all you can do in life is walk your path and that became the marker or the question am I walking my path right and I look at it like this first a vision gives you Direction purpose keeps you excited

injects meaning into life [Music] second discipline keeps you moving becomes the Tiny Steps that transport you through your pursuit of meaning and third trust in the process that you are here to give everything you have to give and then the rest as bronnie says must be [Music] surrendered but the reason I I bring this up is because all of it fits together like a puzzle like three pillars of a Parthenon you when people reach out to me all the time they're upset that they're not as disciplined as they'd like to be and they're listening to

the speeches they're watching the videos they're absorbing the content trying to improve but nothing seems to get the engine going and I'm wondering what is your North Star what are you aiming for because as far as I'm concerned it's impossible to be disciplined if you don't have a reason you know when Jim ran states that the pain is in ounces now well there's an implicit compared to what being asked right compared to that top of the mountain that you'd presumably miss out on so if the mountain Top's not defined you're on a Fool's errand it's

why I had so much trouble with my old career for example it's hard to be disciplined there's no buyin on the purpose right using my previous metaphor it's Little Steps sure but towards what if you don't know it's only practical then to look around and ask yourself why am I taking them why not go drink with my friends why not stream this series on Netflix until 4:00 a.m. why not skip the workout you can listen to people on YouTube scream at you to do more and be more and try harder all day but without that

peace it will not get you very [Music] far a vision the discipline to pursue it and a trust in the process and you could say the same with someone who might have a Clear Vision a dream a perfect idea of what they want but never take action right the discipline never materializes makes the Endeavor just as meaningless things don't change until you take that big picture that vision and you break it down into little things you can do every day that's it and isn't that amazing the greatest most influential people from the friends and family

that Inspire us to the greatest athletes and entertainers to our greatest thinkers creators world leaders all they do is a handful of things consistently every day in the direction of something that is Meaningful to them a process that has been talked about since the beginning of time The Compound Effect is Darren Hardy calls it that breakthrough is huge for me the realization that I don't need to LEAP any mountain I just need to ascend one tiny rock at a time and that is not a superhuman ability that is a single [Music] decision so here the

question isn't can you be more disciplined of course you can the question is which few things are most meaningful to you which will you be focusing on every day so that they expand and inject value into you in the world and then lastly there is trust sometimes the most difficult seeing the Unseen maintaining confidence in that which is unknown an incredibly challenging expectation in an instantaneous world a world where things are immediate feedback is immediate messages are sent across the planet instantaneously goods and services arrive within ours we have forgotten patience because it is disintegrating

before our very eyes we are a society of [Music] now but the best things in life they take time they require that we hold up our end of the bargain and that we trust life will fall into place [Music] belief in a process that will come to mean more than anything that arrives in 30 seconds ever could a vision the discipline to pursue it and a trust in the process so perhaps you're overdue for your midday walk your little Excursion into the soul to ask yourself what is it you are moving TS why are you

doing what you're doing does it mean something and if not perhaps some adjustment is in order perhaps you've lost sight of that North Star that lights up our lives and illuminates the way take solace in the fact that life is not as serious as we make it out to be we don't live in a world of right and wrong good and bad yes and no but a Continuum an opportunity to seek out and find the beautiful ups and the meaningful Downs to set our sights on the horizons that matter see when the little things feel

too complex or burdensome it's because the big things are misaligned and that is a powerful idea to grasp it's never that life is too difficult it's that we have closed our eyes so don't be fooled by those selling you reality as some problem some obligation that must be dealt with no today is the greatest gift of your lifetime and the same will be true every day moving forward and to Echo Jim rone absolutely it is a gift comprised of sacrifice discomfort along the way but that's a small price to pay for entry to the show

for the ability to embrace the mystery and Embark upon the adventure when you're pointed to the right North Star well the road it feels less treacherous on your feet the hills less strenuous on your legs what we often deem to be a lack of preparedness ability strength well might just be a lack of [Music] alignment so adjust because this world flexible and Limitless invites you to do just that it invites you to explore until you've uncovered your vision to pursue it like nothing else matters to Sid step the obstacles invert the setbacks and lastly to

find hope when there appears to be none to set your sails walk your path run your race and surrender to that which is beyond your control and you'll find that with a vision with discipline with trust in the process there is no situation or circumstance outside the scope of what's possible for you [Music] the little e on the car dashboard reminds me that I'm pointed East as I sit at the red light perpendicular to Ocean AB staring out at the water this is it this is as far as I can go there are no more

streets or towns or cities there can't be any more stops along the way just miles and miles of ocean it's interesting for me to think about all the changes I've made up to now growing up outside of Los Angeles on the opposite Coast relocating again and again sometimes very targeted methodical moves sometimes just just for the sake of change but always moving always going there's a saying that wherever you go you take yourself with you right you can change the scenario the circumstances the surroundings but ultimately you can never outrun yourself you are accompanying you

on whatever Journey await and it's often not until you run out of real estate until there's no more Road or options that you're forced to look in the mirror and acknowledge that it is you who must change it's you who must evolve and become that person that you need you to become and that can be a scary thing after all anyone can get in a car and head east anyone can point the compass away from the chaos of now move away from their demons but how many of us can find the strength to look those

demons in the eye how many of us can make ourselves bigger than what attempts to weigh us down all of us can but how many of us do are we running to something or from something because there is a difference and that difference is not small one of my favorite speakers Jim ran when referencing our Journeys through life our push to make more of ourselves he essentially said it's not what you get at the other end it's who you become along the way and I think like everyone I've forgotten that from time to time over

the years forgotten that value is not simply in going but in becoming in the courageous little steps that accumulate over time forgotten that the external world might Inspire or excite that change might invigorate the soul that the road un traveled might remind me of life's Beauty but these externalities are only as valuable as you allow them to be there are only opportunities if you decide them to be so change inspires but will you let it inspire you to do that thing you know you need to do but are terrified of doing and that road it

might remind you of life's Beauty but will you let that reminder be your invitation to share your own Beauty with the world whatever that means for you can you be that vulnerable can you take that leap in the story of your becoming see it is incredibly easy to look out at the world and pinpoint its flaw all those little problems and Imperfections they tend to jump out at us but can you identify what you yourself need can you be courageous enough to ask those questions of yourself what matters to me what does a meaningful life

look like to me where am I falling short that is a conversation that needs to be had and it needs to be had often and otherwise we will drive and drive and drive until we hit water and are forced to ask that question because it's interesting that when we don't pause and make the changes that need to be made life has a way of ensuring that we do but when it's mandated by life it tends to be a lot Messier a lot more chaotic at least then when we make the decision ourselves but either way

we cannot run forever either way we must step into a new pair of shoes and learn to walk confidently with them into the [Music] night there are plenty of little mantras floating around out there little pieces of advice and perhaps it's best for us to weigh them each individually see what meets our needs and fits our criteria after all life is not one size fits all but one of my favorite among these is to do one single thing that scares you every day and I'll tell you why because when we become conditioned to turning our

backs on all the uncomfortable things in life we our prospects of a better tomorrow it's synonymous with the seed refusing water saying no to the very thing it needs most and what should be noted here one of the reasons it's so dangerous is that saying no is incredibly subtle it's not some big event or explosion there's no firework show that occurs every time you walk away from what you need no it goes unnoticed and again one of the greatest challenges is quantifying that which we don't do how do you measure that thing you walked away

from well UNT fortunately you can't you can't at least until you're staring out at the Atlantic with Nowhere to Run no more escaping on the agenda you don't know until you're forced to pick the pieces up and make something of them and I say this so that hopefully it can ignite that spark in your soul that you need most whether you previously recognized it or not I say this to remind you how much bigger you are than your problems how you have the ability to transform all that exists around you when you transform yourself there's

a certain inevitability associated with how we see ourselves and I believe this to be true at both the personal and the societal levels anyone can look in the mirror and see the past where they've gone wrong how inadequate and Ill prepared they are but the courage to look in the mirror and see strength to both identify and understand one's shortcomings but know that you have the power to do something about it to know that the times you fell or didn't make the cut they don't indicate that the Endeavor was all for not or unequivocally wrong

no there is is so much good tied into your Pursuit so much Beauty and courage ingrained in your soul but imagine imagine a life where you no longer run from the gaps but close them imagine finding it in yourself to begin that hero's journey in where you used to run to protect yourself now you take the offensive to grow yourself where you used to avoid the possibility of failure now you chase the possibility of [Music] Victory you can have that if you want to you can be that if you choose to and sure you may

never be able to outrun yourself but you can always adapt yourself to be that person you always needed you to be sometimes we just need the reminder that we are strong enough we do have what it takes and that the thing that hurts us most in the short term not only saves us pain in the long term but it becomes what we live for it is where we find our meaning and so perhaps this ocean before me is not there to remind me of my constraints that I have no Road left but a reminder of

just how often we measure using the wrong metrics perhaps I needed to see again that it's not where I end up but who I become along the way that when the internal self steps into the shoes it's been too intimidated to wear that when the world within then becomes the beacon you need it to be the roads and the stops along the way they matter a little bit less than the eyes that process it all that decide what it means how it will be utilized in The Game of Life and so yes the little e

on the car dashboard it says that I'm pointed East but as I sit at this red light perpendic to Ocean ABS staring out at the water I know this is only the beginning [Music] 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 the 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 end endure the trials and tribulations of life like a muscle that must be grown and developed but the difficult things are far from everything cuz 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 normal CA 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 letdown 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 dis disappointment can

you segment the negativity knowing that you will do what you can to remedy the 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 it's a 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 issues 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 worlds it means elongated valleys of Despair it means deeper TRS 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

want 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's always a solution and if there is always a solution there is always a way to bring it to existence some will stop at easy find 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 this 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 [Music] in his play measure for measure Shakespeare wrote in 16003 a line that I think adequately sums up the reason so many of us fall short of what we are capable of

becoming he wrote Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt our greatest tragedies and regrets in life tend not to be our mistakes they're not when we try and we falter now the vast majority of the time they arise when we do not even attempt because fear has prevented that very first step it's when we have that Perpetual light shined on all that can go wrong while the upside and the opportunity sits in the dark just out of frame and in a world where you get

what you focus on to only focus on the worst possible outcome it's a death sentence it's debilitating the way I see it there are a million ways to improve something there are infinite roads and paths and possibilities none are certain but what is here's the interesting thing though the only certainty the only thing that is for sure is that if you don't go you will not arrive one will never finish what they do not start listen to this quote from thorough it's from his book Walden uh which he wrote after about 2 years and two

months of living in the Woods by Walden Pond and conquered Massachusetts he wrote I learned this at least by my experiment that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and Endeavors to live the life which he has imagined he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours he will put some things behind we pass an invisible boundary new Universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him or the old laws be expanded and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense in other words the world

does not dictate it reacts it becomes what we decide it will be and I was thinking about this recently uh have you ever thought about the utility of water just water and how it is obviously essential for Life specifically humans can't live longer than about 3 days without it yet we can also very easily drown in too much of it the same thing that's required for life can easily take life away it all depends on how it's being utilized and so when I think about this my mind goes to Shakespeare's message on our doubts making

us traitors if we let them oror Ro's passage about moving with conviction towards the things that matter towards our dreams and what I see is an intentional restructuring of the world around us the idea that life can work for us or work against us it can be our headwind or our Tailwind the reason we stay or the reason we leave and who decides that you you decide that I often think back to my first creative project once I I took the entrepreneurial route years and years back I referred to the project as quiet desperation in

reference to actually another thoro quote most men lead lives of quiet desper ation um because I realized around that time how easily that could become reality and decided to do something about it for me it was a huge step out of the routine and the cycle I finally finally asked myself who I was living for where did I lose myself or had I simply never bothered to find myself and I don't know the answer to that but I know at the time if you ask me you know Eddie what are you truly excited about probably

be a lot easier for me to tell you about the things I didn't like I was afraid of that I was unhappy with that's what I saw that's what I focused on and that's the point until then I was immersed in Theo's dreaded common hour thinking and so used to it that I thought nothing of it there was no next step or other side and then I arrived at that moment that moment I hope we all get to at some point realizing there's very little to lose and everything to gain and it drives me crazy

how hard we have to fight for this understanding how much easier life would be if it was intuitive but it's not it's a journey a muscle that must be built and so we must build we have to prove to ourselves that what's big and int intimidating can be broken down that what we visualize can materialize that will always be true but we we need to make ourselves believe it identity is scripted confidence is earned not once but every day and we must understand the pain associated with staying far exceeds the pain associated with moving to

towards our dreams the former is destructive and the latter is what we need they are not the same so being as we choose what we see how about a commitment not a commitment to be perfect not a commitment to have all the answers or avoid mistakes no how about a commitment to allow ourselves the courage to be imperfect a commitment to go when we don't have the answers a commitment to see mistakes as a necessity instead of a catastrophe in this world of subjectivity make sure that movie playing in your head illuminates the opportunity not

the loss so that when you fall the inclination isn't to run from the bad but to look for the good because I promise you you will get what you look for that perspective will alter your actions which will alter how you see yourself which will alter the trajectory of your life let's leave that mediocrity that common our thinking behind as we head for Higher Ground commonality being average it's a wolf in sheep's clothing it seems simpler sure it seems easier but the ones immersed in that world they're depriving themselves of the answers they desperately need

they're refusing the hand that is perpetually reaching out when we turn our backs on the extraordinary it is because fear has gripped the wheel and we are now passengers along for the ride but you have the ability to be more you you have the ability to move towards what matters to you to take the steps one at a time bear the discomfort one second at a time acclimate one day at a time this is a journey dependent entirely on you and your willingness to step out the front door to finally see the things you previously

disregarded and when your eyes open you'll see that you can be your Ally or your enemy this can be the beginning of a new chapter or the continuation of a current one this is your story and by the way that doesn't mean others wouldn't love to make it theirs wouldn't love to tell you that life is beyond your control wouldn't love for you to think that you are dependent on the outside world that you need them and what they are willing to provide for you but no this is about you understanding that the first steps

start with you your decision that your autonomy is a strength and a chance to Begin Again change the way you think and what you get changes it's not magic but practical Evolution when we force ourselves to see the positive when we look for a way we find it that's reality changing because you decided that that it should and that's what the power of perception is nothing more than unlocking the gate that was previously placed before you there's no better time than this very moment to walk through it and rewrite your story as it should be

written here's an idea that's changed my life right as uh has been attributed to Nelson Mandela uh the the saying goes everything is impossible until it's done right we view impossibility as this abstract scary uh concept implying that something cannot happen that it's it's not reality it's outside the scope of what we are capable of doing or creating and we feel that we feel that uh when we're we're in the middle of life's trials and tribulations and we feel that push pull you know we feel that when we're working on something and we feel unvalidated

we feel like everything's in vain like we're putting in time and energy where is life rewarding ing us where is that uh you know the the top of the mountain the metal where's the Applause I cannot find it when we feel that you know the the solution seems impossible nothing short of impossible and what I want to do is kind of debunk that idea and show you how that abstract notion of something that just seems too big it seems it just seems insurmountable how you can take that and break it down into very very doable

manageable daily uh uh tasks that change your life and your relationship with the word you know there's uh I want to give you two examples of books that I've read and and I've talked about them a little bit uh on the channel before um but I don't think in this context of uh how human beings have done impossible quote unquote impossible things and not even realized it until they stepped outside right until they crossed some Finish Line some abstract marker or looked back and went oh my God and the rest of the world went oh

my God that's not that's not realistic you know and what's incredible is as the impossible was being done the steps to get there were so small and so commonplace that that uh the people carrying out the impossible acts didn't even understand and know they were just putting one foot in front of the other and so both stories are uh are related to War uh and and I feel like when you take sort of the darkest elements of mankind um stuff that's inconceivable to a lot of us and you you see how uh people were able

to uh get through those situations it puts things into perspective right we're not dodging bullets here in our own world um and and and that idea you know it helps ground us right so the first is Laura hillenbrand's book Unbroken and uh Louis Zamperini is the main character in that book it's one of my favorite books and he is a a track star that uh ultimately goes to fight in the war and his uh plane is shot down he goes to a Japanese internment camp and just endures hell mental and physical torture he's beaten he's

starved uh he's he's isolated um just goes through a a mental hell from Camp to Camp to Camp uh day by day um some sometimes thinking he would die really not knowing malnourished uh watching people around him die get beaten like it's it's a an environment that um it would be hard for us to to comprehend and one part really struck me in this story it's when at the end of the war uh the prisoners are set free and he's talking to someone about the trip and looks back and says I'd rather die than do

that again like I couldn't do that again it's quote unquote impossible and I don't think he used that word but that's the implication right there's just no way and it's like as as even as the reader as you look back you're like there's that is is not something a human being can endure it just seems like too much when you look at holistically but what the prisoners did was take it one day at a time one awful horrific grueling unfathomable day at a time for years and then when the point finally came you know they

looked back and realized that what they had done was unbelievable one day at a time and it was just it was heart-wrenching it was so powerful to have him look back on his own journey and say that's impos like I could never do that again I would rather die than do that again that's how hard it was that's how just traumatic it was yet here he was standing tall another example is in the book Lone Survivor right uh mark Latrell is a Navy SEAL and you know he's he's in Afghanistan with three other Navy Seals

um who are killed in action and there's a point where he is by himself um bit through his tongue he had a broken back he was mangled and he crawls 7 miles through the mountains in Afghanistan while being shot at and taking enemy fire and the portrayal of just slowly moving your body forward inch by inch to safety again is something that's unfathomable that's impossible that's not something that we can comprehend I don't even think it's something he can comprehend right and I'm certainly not going to speak for for for a a Navy seal but

the the the idea is it's it's just [Music] unfathomable but one step at a time one movement at a time you can create a different reality so when you take these examples and and you pull them back down to earth uh you know Victor Frankle has a uh you talk about in his book how suffering is like a gas that will fill any room right it's like everyone's suffering uh consumes them to some extent and so you may not be at War but we are all fighting our own battles and when we are in the

midst of the difficult times it's easy to not think about uh getting to tomorrow but think about surv riving uh the whole War metaphorical War right not just crawling one foot but looking at the seven mile marker and thinking it's outrageous so much of life is convincing yourself to move forward one step and it's it's just it's such a trivial thing to discuss it's it's not sexy it's not uh on its face heroic or exciting it's the mundane compounded over time and we need to remember it most when it's hardest to understand and I talk

about it all the time right that n quote those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music it is very difficult to uh stay fixated on a result that is not there it's one of the most challenging things about changing your life in the world around you you know dreaming is putting things on earth that are not yet on Earth that takes mental fortitude because each step you take you have to remind yourself that it's for something that it means something when you desperately want Applause cuz

look it's human you exert yourself you exhaust enough energy any rational person is going to say why the hell have the Stars not aligned yet I don't understand what I need to [Music] do that's what's interesting people don't talk about the fact that it makes more sense to quit than to carry on on like to the rational brain it makes sense that we would say no more right I want to deal with the world that I'm in not one that isn't built yet but it's why we celebrate we celebrate those times that we move forward

anyway that we had the vision to see the Unseen and do what so few people can do that's what makes life beautiful that's what makes human beings beautiful you know we see life through stories well the ones that can write and craft narratives that have not been heard or watched or explored that's [Music] magic know I talk about the evolution of Insanity I uh I wrote about this years ago and it it continues to be one of the most important things I think uh that I've written you know this idea if you take a woman

who leaves her everyday life right for for example and she has this this passion this sense of purpose and she wants to bring breathe life into it so she leaves her Ordinary World and she starts building and she becomes obsessed with this idea and people around her by the way who know her as what she was and what she did right they know her uh based on what they saw yesterday they say this is weird but she's locked in and she gets up and she makes it her focus in life and she continues forward and

continues forward and nothing happens and people point to her they say look at her wasting her time right she had it all before this is crazy and she continues and continues and builds and adjusts and throws her her understandings and her knowledge and her experiences against the wall and when they shatter she picks them up and builds again and again and again and people say she's illusional she's insane she has lost her mind but she hangs [Music] in she dances without the music long enough to get there to wherever there is she gets [Music] there

and now the perceptions different now it's exciting now she's not insane to the world around her now she's propped up on a pedestal now people want what she has they want to understand how to build what she built how can we make what she made how can we do what she did right they call her lucky and she says no for you to call me lucky is insane what she did was build the impossible with very ordinary very mundane steps never losing faith and remembering and this is the key concept remembering that all those little

trivial steps mean something and when she steps outside because we all get there will step outside and look back and reflect we'll look back on the impossible that we built on the magic we created the thing is the thing we need to remember that magic is manufactured with very real practical uh components of Life simple decisions it's like the human brain is so much more than the sum of its parts right you can take any element uh you know physically of the human brain and it it doesn't seem that extraordinary we can't even explain or

understand it but you put it together and we we have something that transcends uh the the the biology in the physicality uh that we look at under a microscope it doesn't make sense we haven't quite figured it out right all those little pieces become something meaningful and my point is we all have our own Journey we're all fighting our own battles we all are going to get to a point because it's human and in a way it's required where we look around and we question ourselves and we question the process and we don't know if

it's worth it we forget why we started we can't see the Finish Line because it's not there yet and we'll only see it if we continue to to uphold that Vision in our heads that's when it's important to remember what impossible is and how it's made and every simple decision to step forward is crafting The Impossible I had a call with someone today very successful individual right uh very um skilled and respected in his field brilliant platform Great Communicator just an allaround impressive human being right says yeah but I want to be one step further

I'm getting frustrated right I don't know like what can I do to get there and it's like I've been in that spot in fact I find myself there a lot and I think it's incredible that you're looking out and asking what pivots can I make what a adjustments can I make but sometimes what you don't do is more important than what you do and what you shouldn't do is lose sight of how much you've built what you shouldn't do is forget that one step at a time creates Miracles that you are well on your way

to where you want to be and yes ask that question ask how can I evolve ask how can I level up [Music] but never let impatience Trump the big picture never at the expense uh of who you are and what you've made because sometimes life is about just moving forward sometimes it's about the trivial sometimes it's about the mundane that's what hurts that's what gets you most people don't quit because of a traumatic experience most people don't quit because they took a Monumental l they quit because the little thing doesn't reveal its value it's very

hard amidst the the the chaos of day-to-day life to remember what you're building to remember each little step is a brick that will come to uh evolve into the [Music] impossible dance before the me in place believe in the song Believe In The Melody believe in yourself because there will be a point where you get there and there is a very abstract thing and it means many different things to many different people but there will be a point when you arrive you'll exhale look back on what you've done and be thankful so wherever you are

when you lose sight of your journey think about that moment think about how that will feel looking back on what you've made and all those times you could have stopped and didn't all those times you wanted to say no but you said yes they mean something I'm telling you they mean something but that is not half as important as the fact that you you know it means something you just need to remind yourself of that fact so here's to One Step more in building The Impossible What if I told you that you already know what

must be done you just need to put yourself in position to do [Music] it you need to unlearn the rules that crippled you the ideas that confined you we are in constant pursuit of the thing that will magically write all our wrongs the answer that will give us something we've never had no everything you need you have now you just need to allow it to flourish declutter simplify remove all that unnecessary stuff and walk your path Einstein once said everyone is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree

it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid and what's great about this is the idea that who we are is not found it's acknowledged it's accepted and I think in our world there are so many fish as Einstein says trying to climb trees that it creates a sense of learned helplessness we are judging ourselves using the wrong metrics equipped with the skills the characteristics and and the abilities to win in our own Arenas but playing in someone [Music] else's how loyal are you to your own instincts do you do what you know

is right or what you feel obligated to pursue when was the last time you listened to you in Tim Grover's Relentless he introduces a brilliant metaphor he says a lion doesn't have to be taught to be a lion it just is it hun hunts runs roams explores lives life the only way it knows how now if you capture a lion bring it to the zoo or put it in a cage it will carry itself differently will lie down move around lazily sluggishly navigate its little space to passers by they'd never know what that lion really

is they' never know what it looks like in its element but despite all this it is still in fact a lion it maintains that Killer Instinct his characteristics haven't disappeared and if it were released from the cage it would go right back to doing what lion do being what lions are meant to be it just has to ditch the cage and the point is perhaps so do you there's a little light in your soul that Waits day and night to explode into something meaningful where your nature meets your environment where the I shouldn't do this

the odds are impossible the I'm not good enough I can't lose what I have now where all that Fades away where it's left behind you and you're finally free to R over your own territory your own life your own [Music] Empire see we constantly feel like our glasses are empty like we're missing pieces in need of something just one more thing that will be our answer that's all we need and I can say with confidence it's not about what you need it's about what you no longer need it's about mitigating the noise so what matters

can shine through removing those people in your life that drag you down or ADD no value it's about getting rid of the things that make your world unnecessarily complex removing the need for immediate validation success and accolades and instead embracing the little hinges in your life that as W Clement Stone said will ultimately swing the biggest doors we all have the lock the key and the map right there amidst the trivialities of our daytoday and we walk right by them look right at them we pick them up and put them down but have we learn

to truly see them everything starts with that awareness and my life did not change until I recognized that until I began asking myself questions i' never asked before big picture questions obvious questions but just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's always intuitive right what do I want out of life what is important to me what's something I love doing that I can dedicate myself to that I can commit to being great at long term that I'm so immersed in that when the inevitable down times arrive the losses when the doubt and insecurity Creeps in I

can keep moving forward because I'm so in love with the process that I don't let the little things like that toine me as Jordan Peterson famously puts it choose your sacrifice a life of meaning isn't easy but there's nothing more fulfilling because when you Embark upon that Journey it allows for the evolution of the self we can become something more as n says those who have a why to live can bear almost any how we equip ourselves for anything the universe can throw at us we position ourselves to evolve Victor Frankle says man's main concern

is not to gain pleasure or to avoid pain but rather to see meaning in his life to align yourself with and pursue that which is your reason for living that's how we trans send to daytoday life we've come to know when we breathe in possibility dance with the infinite and of course something of this magnitude it consists of ups and downs it's not the easy road but it's the one worth taking our metaphorical lion doesn't succeed every time he's prowling for food but he doesn't roll over and die he doesn't receive or quit being a

lion he gets up tomorrow and does it again because it's who the lion is and well life doesn't unfold until you find that same thing for yourself and people say well I don't know that's the problem I have no idea that's not the problem that's the essence of life that's the beauty you're here to explore and find that for yourself but the power is no knowing you're not looking for something or someone to save you you're looking for an environment in which you can best be you you're looking for the right terrain to share your

gift with the world if you have what you need then you're not looking for the product you're looking for the delivery mechanism the vehicle to nurture and transport your value to a world that desperately needs it you're to build yourself up and in the process Amaze yourself look what you're capable of is beyond comprehension it's Limitless almost unfathomable but it is as Ryan holiday says a confidence that must be earned so start now earn it let yourself succeed your intuition knows what feels right and what doesn't but the seed must first be planted so make

today about setting yourself up for Success turning off the idea that you're one piece away from completion 1 minute away from starting that you're almost ready no you are ready now you have what you need now you know what's necessary now you just have to be your own Ally put yourself in position to be yourself let your Valu shine double down on what matters to you look it's it's not a game of acquisition it's a game of Courage do you have the courage to be who you are to follow that potential that possibility into the

great unknown [Music] [Music] sometimes what we need most is not what we think we need most it's not that break we've been waiting for the universe to provide or the answer we've been Desperately Seeking no sometimes we need only three words don't give up Don't Turn back now and see I know you want to and that the meaningful thing the right thing requires we give all of ourselves it metaphorically speaking is the most expensive exhausting sometimes disheartening [Music] but this is your reminder that there will come a point when you look back on this moment

and the best thing you'll have ever done will have been continuing to put one foot in front of the other continuing forward despite the circumstances towards that which means something to you I remember in South Florida a hand handful of years ago I just moved down here and uh was exploring the area a little bit looking for a place to live and I found this kind of odd little Park in between a parking lot and the beach and I pulled over just started walking around and ended up sitting down on this bench that faced the

ocean and just looked out for a while I remember looking at the people who all seemed so happy they all seemed fulfilled looked like they had it all together I looked at the ocean that was so much bigger than me so vast so powerful at the nonstop stream of planes flying overhead that all seemed to have a direction a purpose they had their courses mapped and I think I remember it so vividly because I'd never felt more alone than at that moment like deeply painfully alone and it's not that I enjoy bringing up these types

of experiences I bring them up because time has revealed repeatedly that from these moments of doubt and sometimes even despair come what we need most so long we don't run from what the world is trying to provide us it's as though we must experience emptiness before we can become fulfilled we need to be overcome with this Sensation that there's no way out before realizing that there is always a way so long as we're willing to find it and the pain associated ated with that willingness while it far outweighs the alternative I often break things down

into this dichotomy of the easy meaningless way versus the hard meaningful way but that may be oversimplified right easy compared to what hard compared to what it's easy to shut down when we're at our lowest it's easy to stop when it hurts but easy now if evolves into what's actually incredibly difficult tomorrow a difficult heart-wrenching regretful forever admittedly a controversial figure but regardless one of the most important quotes I've ever read was by Lance Armstrong in his book it's not about the bike he says pain is temporary it may last a minute or an hour

or a day or a year but eventually it will subside and something else will take its place if I quit however it lasts forever see the easy thing versus the hard thing is too simplified void of imperative context the question is in our darkest moments will we stand up when it hurts so that we can walk run and ultimately Sprint towards what matters [Music] there's a realization that helped me because when we're in these situations the thought goes like this things are wrong things are broken my life isn't what it should be I need to

fix this and make it whole make it right so I can live a good life like everyone else like there's a deep loneliness associated with that misconception as though the world is put together but I I am not well let me dispel that notion and end that narrative the world is a series of objects that mean nothing other than the value we placed upon them 7 billion people all fighting their own battles all trying to make sense of things all pretending like the little fairy tale they've manufactured in their heads is the real thing or

the right thing when in actuality we are all just passengers Along on a ride we do not understand fighting battles that we don't often comprehend and cannot grasp but you are not broken you are human Perfectly Imperfect equipped with the tools to take another step forward despite the chaos and the uncertainty steps that become in the end everything I remember reading about Jefferson how he had migraines so severe while president that he would do most of his important work in the morning because of the high probability he could literally be incapacitated from noon on and

I just thought man we are all fighting battles we're all doing what we can to make the most of our circumstance to redirect discomfort into opportunity and pain into progress and what's most incredible is that we can there's a saying that it's not supposed to be easy the getting where you need to go requires the treacherous path associated with a hero's journey the vast unknowns the questions that remain unanswered for extended periods of time the villains that seemingly inject themselves into our lives please understand that this is not a reflection of of you who you

are and your capabilities this is The Game of Life this is today's difficulty in exchange for tomorrow's meaning the pressure that creates the diamonds and you don't have to be sure of anything other than that you know you will continue stepping [Music] forward because you can things won't always go right but in the failures are the new tools to grow and redirect you won't always feel on top of the world but it's in The Valleys of Despair that we're forced to truly analyze to think deeply reapo and perhaps most importantly you may have days where

you let yourself down fall short perhaps lose sight of the courage to which you have attached your dreams but that's okay you are defined not by your mistakes but by the present moment not some impossible expectation of perfection but by your ability to rise and rise again when it requires all of you to lift your head up and carry on so go into that unknown where fear is transformed into courage and doubt to strength go because if not here where and if not now when go all you need you have and when life finds you

sitting down on a park Ben staring out at a world that feels too big and too complex that seems impossible to navigate find it within yourself to smile smile because of what you've already overcome what you've been through who you are remember that you are exactly where you need to be staring up at the meaning in life as opposed to down at your feet now go no Miracles here no mountains need be jumped or oceans crossed but if you one step forward and two believe in yourself to put the pieces together as they arrive there

is nothing you can't do or be there is no obstacle before you that is insurmountable just keep going and sure sometimes that's all we can do but it also happens to be true that it is your greatest superpower to simply find a way to run if you can crawl if you must but find a way because deep down in your soul the pieces are there and it will be at some point as you look back the greatest decision you've ever made [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] hold the vision but trust the [Music] process an idea that

should act as our North Star right as we make our way through life it proposes believing in a goal but at the same time understanding that its manifestation will be unpredictable challenging it may not unfold the way we thought it [Music] would to me though the most challenging aspect of personal growth of building the things that matter creating realities we dream of it's the mandatory dance we must do with time the patience that's woven into the equation it's the empty spaces that we tend to use for manufacturing doubt and disbelief when life has given us

nothing to to react to it's like we create monsters in our head [Music] and it's really an incredible thing when you think about it right I look uh back on the past decade of my life and the hardest parts and some were excruciating they were pain derived from what I knew I hadn't yet accomplished it was a feeling like I wasn't moving fast enough like the winners in life had that over there and all I had was this over here completely nonsensical narrative but one that certainly felt real discomfort from the Delta or the gap

between what I wanted and what I had a feeling that would randomly dip in and out of my conscious mind as I sort of chipped away at my goals day in and day out and I started to wonder how can I better position myself to grow to maintain that ambition but also to do it with less anxiety right as as I stated a few seconds ago hold that Vision but perhaps improve my trust and relationship with the process my ability to immerse myself in various Pursuits without dwelling on the fact that I hadn't yet arrived

cuz look I know this game we all know this game there's always going to be another Finish Line to cross that's a great thing but can also when we're not looking at it correctly be to our detriment there are always higher numbers to achieve again incredible opportunity but with the wrong perspective dangerous if you can't find a way to appreciate the now while you climb you will be forever lost there will always be a hole that's never filled I think we need to be better about supporting ourselves along this journey no one can be there

for me like I can and I think that's true for everyone we need to be our greatest allies so I brought this question up as I tend to do with a few of my friends right with different perspectives they look at the world a little differently and basically ask you know how can we get out of our own way is there a lane to both be tenacious in our Pursuit Of Evolution to continue doing the things that excite and challenge us while also being a little easier on ourselves trusting that dance we do with time

as the process unfold and so I present this question to to one of my friends sitting across from me at the table and he thinks about it he says Edie well that's what's gotten you where you are that feeling like there's always more it's uh the reason for the success you've had and the success you'll have in the future it's what will push you it's why you will succeed people that accomplish Things Are Never Satisfied Jordan was never satisfied he was never happy and in that context greatness and happiness are not compatible and you know

I I took it in I certainly appreciated the perspective right in many ways I think he's right sort of reminded me of the idea behind Tim Grover's book Relentless that uh it's an obsession that must take place doesn't leave room for much else right incredibly valuable to understand if anything just to see just to grasp what it means to achieve in a world of obstacles but truthfully I wasn't um entirely satisfied right how can we better visualize the process so that we're more powerful allies to ourselves that's what I wanted to understand and a short

time later I'm at the kitchen table kind of going over some analytics for uh social media like YouTube channel podcast stuff like that um and my father who happened to fly in from Boston he's at the kitchen table with me we're having some coffee and I made a comment about the trajectory of the numbers you know I forget that particular week maybe it was higher or lower than expected I don't really remember but um he made this comment about the patience that I've had with the channel over the years just an off-hand remark you know

he said uh the numbers are like the S&P 500 right the stock market there are days when it drops or days when it rises but over the Long Haul it's steadily pointed up and it continues to point up and I found that so interesting you know I harp on the small things a lot on this channel the little breakthroughs that uh paved the way for larger transformation ideas that changed the way we look look at things which ultimately change the way we act which change the results we get and this happened to be one of

them you know it hit me just right what is perhaps the most important piece in the famous book The intelligent investor what is the idea that made Buffett a billionaire it's that you invest in things you believe in and you remove the emotion you hold the dips right when the stock market takes a hit and everyone's panicking and acting emotionally and selling you don't sell you buy more right when the world uh emotionally rushes out you rush in and when the world emotionally rushes in you step out well in life there will be days when

your metaphorical stock drops at least you feel like it does right those YouTube numbers perhaps numbers in the old bank account Maybe fitness goals fall flat maybe you're just not seeing a return on investment but we are never defined by the events of the day even the worst of days they're merely a small part of a much larger pattern and the truth is sometimes success is so small you can't see it of course you're going to be anxious if you think every day should be comprised solely of mountain tops and Finish Lines if you're always

looking comparing contrasting but sometimes success is .1% better sometimes success looks like the S&P 500 taking a hit dropping for a day a week or a month sometimes growth doesn't look like what we want growth to look like but just like intelligent investors you are putting your money in the belief that at a certain point down the road the value will be higher then than it is now and this idea has been everything to me particularly on the days when it feels like things are going backwards over periods of time where I feel like I've

been standing still where the voice in my head is presenting all kinds of scenarios that I could have been better or done more and maybe so but these times are nothing more than data points they are steps along the way and knowing this it essentially frees me from the delusion that growth is always visible that I can always look around and and see visible Triumph uh it allows me to March towards my goals and my dreams having a renewed relationship with each step you know there's a saying that we need to keep our head in

the clouds and our feet on the ground life is a continual juggling of extremes and I think this gets it right our strength is in the ability to take those steps each one a message to the universe that we are stronger than we were yesterday but what makes our journey is truly Divine is that they aren't comprised of or built with those steps like a house of cards where one wrong move or or some delay will cause the whole thing to fall to come crashing down no what makes the journey Divine is the infinite number

of paths that can bring about its materialization there are no wrong paths some arrive sooner some arrive later some mid Journey you caus us to realize that the compass wasn't even pointed in the right destination right they they change what it means to arrive but the point is every step is required every step is a miracle but the power is not contained solely in one step but rather what we choose to make of all the steps combined the dips the lows and the losses only have significance if we give them significance otherwise they're just a

few stops along the way to something beautiful so why exhaust energy on data points that haven't arrived yet on destinations in the future destinations that we trust ourselves to figure out anyway our emphasis should be on the present moment on gratitude for the fact that we get to wake up and choose the Pursuits that we've Chosen and some days those Pursuits will feel like the Miracles that they are we'll see the Finish Lines the mountain tops we'll feel triumphant and Som days those victories will be hidden in plain view but they are there nonetheless as

we make our way into the great unknown that is life piecing each second each minute each hour together to become the path leading us where we need to be most [Music] there has to come a time when it's now or never where you look at your reflection and realize the cost of waiting is far more expensive than the cost of stepping out into the vast unknown and in every Journey that's when life effectively starts but here's why this is so tricky what's caught me off guard so many times in my life it's the many shapes

that waiting takes see waiting is not always sitting there and doing nothing not at all sometimes waiting is just the bare minimum it's moving forward so slightly and so slowly that you can essentially trick yourself into thinking that you're progressing into thinking you're making it happen when if you really stopped and looked if you were honest with yourself if you really took a second to review to analyze you'd see that you're leaving almost everything on the table you're not creating progress you're dancing with the idea of progress sometimes waiting can mean just going fast enough

to not have to look at the fear you're hiding [Music] behind it's reality right I think it's a very normal thing but I also think life is too short for normaly I think we can do better better than normal and I believe with all my heart and soul that the world has for us the spectacular sitting there on the top shelf waiting for those who can acquire the self-belief and the awareness to reach out and grab it in how crazy a thought to realize that we could have been sitting next to the very thing we've

needed for days months years but never taught ourselves to extend our hands and [Music] reach when I look back the most important moments in my life were not tangible acquisition and see the flashy things that try and capture our attention right the money the condos even social media growth business growth whatever it is you're working towards those things are are wonderful they are benchmarks that hopefully align with your North Star but they are not the difference makers not at all right they were the byproduct of what really mattered they weren't the moments that move the

needle my greatest moments were mental shifts cognitive Transformations that's why I do this for a living I see how much can change when we step back and look at life just a little differently it was uh my realizing that I was demanding too little of myself that The World Won't See greatness in me until I see it in me that shift that pushed me to demand more of myself seek bigger challenges value my work to a greater extent charge more for my services and that mental shift is what made some of those externalities possible it's

realizing that if you want it more is on the table that yesterday doesn't Define you that it's never too late to begin again that everything you need you have right these are the ideas that truly change lives they make the difference and if we don't become aware of these things we leave them in the rear view we walk right by them in other words the most important moments of my life were when someone or something shook me and effectively said hey look around you if this is what you want fine enjoy right but for your

information there is more out there and if you step up just a little if you do just a little more if you pivot and come at this thing a little bit differently you will further that reach you'll create another ripple effect that will transform your life but we must stop and look around a good friend of mine and this is just the other day right we're having lunch we're talking about marketing and uh you know we always joke that uh Market is just a part of the business that I don't particularly enjoy right necessary but

not my favorite and we're going through kind of different strategies uh ideas and uh he presents one and I say something like eh you know I I don't need to do that seems a little over the top and unfiltered he goes man you're hurting your reach like what good is that metaphorical restaurant that's not on anyone's radar you're going to be the best pizza shop that no one knows about and it just kind of hit me right it's like man I needed to see that differently maybe there's room to be a little more aggressive again

one example of many and not every time is the idea or opportunity the right one or necessary one right but at least you stopped at least you thought about it at least you contrasted where you are with the potential upside of doing something differently that is where we leave opportunity on the table you know we most often myself included paint regret as this uh the the result of this blatant walking away from something a deliberate declaration sort of a oh no I'm not doing that no way and sure sometimes that's the case right sometimes we're

cognizant of our fear and and decline to move forward but I wonder how often our neglect uh or refusal is softer more subtle I wonder how much of our regret comes from simply not stopping and looking around not letting in alternative points of view that challenge us and force us to level up how much of our regret comes from simply not understanding how short life is and how quickly time passes Us by and if we don't create some abrupt change in our day-today if we don't manufacture some momentum in our lives even when it feels

least ideal to do so you know the ship we needed to be on will sail away without us so think back to your hardest days even the ones that took you out that brought you to your knees and realize that you survived every single one of them you have for years been acquiring the armor piece by piece to move into something bigger you've been learning you've been evolving but today what about sitting down with yourself and having the discussion you don't want to have but need to have what about asking if it's time to LEAP

where you once stepped to run where you once walked what about taking a good look around and asking why you're living in ways that don't serve you why you're conceding so much of what matters again the evolution you want and need is there it's always there and that's the key take away here it will always exist but the question is will your commitment to stop to think and to reach for it be there years from now looking back I think we'll find that our willingness to ask those questions mattered more than we could have ever

imagined that silence often implies the lack of adverse needed to evolve because the reality you want it doesn't come to you you must go to it and that means [Music] over and over again and if one many or all of them must be knocked down then so be it the point here is that you can build the point here is that life happens on your terms whether you realize it or not that doing nothing is accepting what things are it's a head nod and a thumbs up to reality as [Music] is so again ask yourself

what you want out of life and if you are missing that Mark tear down what must be torn down it might be hard now it might hurt now it might be uncomfortable now but when you're eventually standing upon an existence that aligns with who you are and what you want you'll see how necessary it all was how it was there the whole time and thank God you found it within yourself to reach out and take it [Music] h [Music]