Nobody Is Coming To Save You (Motivational Speech)

➡ This video emphasizes the importance of being true to oneself, even if it means not pleasing everyone. It highlights the story of a man named John who, despite being controversial and not liked by everyone, is valued for his unique contributions. The video encourages viewers to embrace their individuality, take risks, and not suppress their true selves for the sake of fitting in. It also stresses the importance of showing up and pushing oneself beyond comfort zones, as there’s always room for improvement and growth.
➡ This text encourages us to view challenges as opportunities for growth and improvement. It emphasizes that our thoughts and perspectives shape our reality, and that we have the power to overcome any obstacle. It reminds us that we are capable of more than we think, and that even in the darkest times, there is always hope and potential for a brighter future. It also highlights the importance of balancing optimism with a realistic understanding of our current situation.
➡ The text emphasizes the importance of being realistic and strategic in pursuing big dreams. It suggests that success comes from understanding the realities of your goals, making small steps towards them, and learning from failures. It also highlights the power of our mindset in interpreting life events, suggesting that we can control our narratives and turn obstacles into opportunities. Lastly, it encourages self-awareness and the belief that we can change things that hold us back.
➡ Taking control of your life is about making small, daily changes that add up over time. It’s about understanding that you have the power to shape your own destiny, regardless of where you started. Blaming others or seeking victimhood only holds you back. Instead, focus on what you can do to improve your situation and make progress towards your goals.
➡ Life is not always easy or fair, but we have the power to shape our own futures. We shouldn’t let our past dictate our present or future, but instead, we should learn from it and move forward. It’s important to let go of things that no longer serve us and embrace the opportunities and possibilities that lie ahead. Remember, every day is a new chance to start over and create the life we want.

This video is sponsored by Chakra 17 Anti Aging Coffee. You are not for everyone. And that’s okay. That’s a simple truth, we’ll call it, that I’ve picked up over the years. And it’s had a pretty profound impact in not only how I look at the world, but how I view myself as I navigate the world, Right? It’s particularly useful when you’ve lost faith in the path you’re walking. You’ve. You’ve sort of forgotten your power. And I want to share with you a pretty cool reminder. This very thing. A couple days ago, having lunch with a friend, very charismatic guy.

For the sake of this little story, we’ll just call him friend. And he’s telling me about someone that he’s now working with in his business. We’ll call that person John. He. And, and my friend says to me, you know, Eddie, I am learning so much from John. He’s adding so much value to what I do. I can’t even describe it. But he’s loud and he’s controversial and he rubs some people the, the wrong way. And not everyone loves John, right? So I’m sort of connecting the dots as he’s saying this. I’m like, okay, clearly John pisses a lot of people off, right? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out.

Putting two and two together here. But my friend goes, but, you know, he’s exceptional at what he does, maybe the best in his lane. And so I don’t care, because John’s not for everybody, but he doesn’t have to be. And you might hear that and initially think, yeah, okay, where’s the value, right? Some jerk is helping your friend at work. Well, to me it felt bigger than that. It felt like fate was screaming that ever important reminder to focus more on extreme authenticity than trying to reverse engineer what other people might say or think. It’s like, stop trying to manufacture their reaction because when you’re you, the reaction is out of your control and not your problem.

Love John or hate John, he is 1,000% John. And because of that, he’ll find his people. Because of that, he won’t dull himself down or dim his light. Because of that, John is free. Quick, dive into my mind. I certainly have areas of my life, let’s say, particularly with my brand and my content creation, where I can be bolder, where I can take more risks. That’s. Everyone’s got their personal arena that feels like mine, right? That’s absolutely, unequivocally true. I’d be lying If I said my brain doesn’t try to reverse engineer stories and topics that will have an impact, like, I understand what works, and I roughly stay within that framework that in and of itself can be restricting, never reckless.

But, like, I don’t know, maybe there are places I should be or could be more reckless. That’s what makes this journey so fun. You are your own experiment. You’re always learning about yourself. You’re always growing. And the more ought to’s you shed, the closer you get to your power. And by the way, I know not everyone here has a business or brand or posts on YouTube or Instagram. Wonderful, right? Those are just a few examples of many. Right? This applies across the board, you know, because I do wonder whether we all have parts of ourselves that we dull down.

And that’s the question, right? Are there pieces of ourselves that we don’t share? Because one third or one half or, hell, three quarters of the people we meet will say, nope, not for me. Are there things you want to talk about, hobbies you want to try, places you want to go, art waiting to be made, stories waiting to be told that are ultimately never brought to life because we’d rather be half of ourselves for a majority of the crowd than be all of ourselves for the right minority of the crowd. It’s a button that I’m always pressing, I guess, because I see, and I’ve seen firsthand how much time talent lays dormant.

People I know, people close to me, old friends, acquaintances. There’s just so much there, so much in the tank, so much canvas left blank. So maybe, just maybe, this is finding you at that perfect moment, or at the very least, prompting the thought, acting as a little reminder that you weren’t put here to be for everyone. You weren’t put here to be for anyone. You’re here to be you. Not a little bit you, but as much you as you can possibly give to the world. You’re here to continuously uncover what your authenticity is and with each step, attract those who belong in your orbit.

It’s like not only do you get to live a life on your terms, but you get to do so with those who value what you’re bringing to the world. He’s not for everyone, thank God. That’s how you know he’s really making a difference. 80% of life is simply showing up because no matter what you do, and this is such an interesting truth, it’s like no matter how much you love what you do, there are days where you just aren’t in it. You just mentally and maybe even physically, you’re just not there. And those are the days when it’s most important to start.

And the expectation doesn’t need to be the world. The expectation doesn’t need to be that it’s something game changing or revolutionary. But the expectation has to be that you are the kind of person that even when you don’t want to, you sit yourself in front of that computer and you just start typing. And maybe nothing comes from it, maybe something does. But you showed up, you know, when it was most difficult, you showed up. And the interesting thing is that sometimes that situation is exactly when the best stuff comes, comes. You know, believe it or not, when we don’t want to be there or we’re really using, you know, all the discipline we have left in our body to make it happen.

Great things come from those moments. You know, it applies to every single thing we do. Like all of these concepts, you know, we’re all different. We’re all, you know, in different worlds with different narratives, different stories, different priorities. But, you know, that will always be a commonality. There are times when you don’t want to do what you most need to do and the ability to. And actually, I’m going to backstep. Like it is an identity thing. It is seeing yourself as that, you know, the person that makes it happen, the person that finds it within themselves to show up, to be there, to just do something, to get the ball rolling.

Let’s look at this one simple, singular concept. You can always be doing more than you’re doing. Whether you’re sitting there or whether you are in a world of hurt going through hell. There is a way to level up. There is a next level. There’s something more. There is the next stair in the staircase. And sometimes we just simply need to be reminded that because the default is comfortable, even when you push yourself, you push yourself to a level you’ve never pushed before. Well, guess what? The ceiling becomes the floor, your new normal. You adapt very quickly.

And sometimes you need that whispering in your ear, hey, you’re comfortable, you can do a little bit more. You can always do a little bit more. There’s no rule that says you can’t be one second faster. There’s no rule that says you can’t push a little bit harder. And you know, that message I keep in my back pocket because every time I draw from it, I improve. My life improves. And you know, if you have aspirations, which I know everyone listening to this or watching this does, right? That’s why we watch this content that’s why I create it.

That’s why you guys do what you do. We want more. We know what we can get from life. We know that infinite pool of possibility to draw from, so why waste it? And the more you get that reminder, no matter what you’re doing, hey, there’s more in you, period. That will never be a false statement. There is more in you. And. And I’m really implementing that right now into the creative aspect of my life. I went from one video every 10 days to one every day. And there’s a growing pain. And, you know, sometimes it’s difficult.

Sometimes it’s. You know, it’s. It’s. It’s tough to be able to create at that level, but the reward is through the roof. And, you know, the change, it occurs quickly. And I was talking to someone about it, and he says, well, that’ll be nothing when you’re doing three a day, and it’s like, that’s the way you need to look at the world. There’s always more in you. And if you don’t remind yourself of that, it just goes untapped, right? Like, again, I could easily see a situation where I just put out one video a day or one video every 10 days for the rest of my life.

I’d never know. I’d never know what that other door could unlock. So whether it’s running, whether it’s work, whether it’s at home, whether it’s a relationship, whether it’s something you’re building, whether it’s something you want to create. Create, whether it’s something you want to stop doing, you can always be doing it a little bit better, a little bit faster. And that’s what this video is about. And I hope you remember that. I hope this is that whispering in your ear that you need, you know, to remind yourself, hey, you know, I’m operating here at a fraction of what I could be doing.

I’m tiptoeing right now. I could be sprinting. It’s in our moments of greatest distress that we must find it within ourselves to see that which is difficult to see. It’s when things seem hopeless, tragic. It’s when we feel lost that we forget a universal truth behind every struggle, no matter how big, there is a win, an answer, an opportunity for recreation. See, it’s very easy in the midst of a storm to forget that it will pass. Pass. The dark skies block out the light, so we forget the warmth of the sun and the wind and the rain.

It forces us inside so we forget the perfection that is simply breathing in the cool air. We forget that all storms have one thing in common. They come and they go. They are temporary. And what they leave is hope. Answers. The clearest, brightest of skies. See, I’m not asking you to see something that’s not there. I’m not asking you to imagine or live a life of make believe. I’m reminding you of what you already know exists behind those clouds. Better days. Your solution, your victory. I’m asking you to look to precedent. Because every day leading up to now has had its adversity.

The road to the current moment was paved with trials and tribulations. And what you’ve done every day until now is figure it out. Find a way. How many times do you have to pray? Prove to yourself that you have what it takes. That you’ll be okay. That within the depths of your soul are answers to any and every problem that you face. I know things aren’t easy. Maybe they even seem bigger, scarier, more overwhelming than they ever have. But as adversity grows, so does your resilience. And I’m not sitting here giving you something new or an answer you didn’t already possess.

All I’m doing is reminding you how incredible you are. How much you’ve already overcome and how capable you are of conquering whatever is next. Sometimes in life, the difference between okay and great or stagnation and growth, it is only a change in perspective. It is how you look at the world and your place within it. That little voice in your head reminding you that you are capable of things beyond your current comprehension. That your perceived best is a fraction of what you’re capable of. Reality is manageable. It’s always manageable. It’s the fear that if we let, it will be our demise.

And life’s too short to bow down to a monster that doesn’t even really exist, that we created ourselves. So let’s commit to being the ones who find calm when others panic and see opportunity. Where others see hardship and see what can be gained when others remain fixated on what has been lost. I love to simplify, to find clarity in that which appears overwhelming and complex. So here’s a formula. You minus negative thoughts equals infinite possibility. You are capable of. Of handling anything life throws at you in terms of potential and resources and ability. You are. You can overcome.

The only thing that can make a situation debilitating or permanent is you deciding it. So therefore, the obstacle will never be life. It will be your thoughts about life. Your thoughts determine how you react. That is, reality is It a lost job or an opportunity to begin again, to grow, to fall in love with something you’ve always wanted to do? Is it lost time, loneliness, tragic seclusion? Or a chance to write Chapter one of your book, scene one of your movie lay the first brick of what will become your empire. I’ve been sad and I’ve been happy and I’ve been broke and I’ve had money and I’ve felt alone and I’ve felt loved.

But through it all, every step, every trial, every tribulation, I’ve come out stronger, battle hardened, cognizant of the fact that happiness was a choice. Money is reacquirable, that some people go, but the ones that matter stay apart, part of you forever. Life is a gift. It’s a gift. When things are hard, it is a gift. When they are easy, it is always a gift. So don’t let your losses define you. If you get back up, it is nothing short of a victory armor that you now wear as you make your way into the world. A world that can push you down, but it certainly, certainly can’t keep you there.

Not if you don’t let it. For your mind, your body, your soul, made of the same elements that surround you, the same stars comprising the universe, they have equipped you to weather any storm, outlast any earthly dilemma, do anything and be anyone. Never forget that. Never forget who you are. You weren’t put here to live in the shadows of life, to exist beyond the sun’s grasp, to stay on the outside looking in. No, you weren’t put here to live in the shadows of life. It’s important to remember the difference between now and. And forever, the distinction between today and tomorrow.

Because from time to time they look deceptively similar. Especially when we inevitably find ourselves in the darkest of times. When, despite our best efforts, our world is reduced to shadows, void of hope. When tomorrow and today have merged into one endless entity. It always seems to be in these times that we forget that right now is just a moment, not an assigned permanent, but a bridge to something great. As Victor Frankl says, if there is meaning in life at all, then there must be meaning in something. Suffering. We all suffer, we all hurt. We all go through periods of time where we can’t see or hear or feel anything beyond the darkness we find ourselves in.

But it’s there. Darkness cannot be defined without light. It’s in the definition. Darkness is a partial or total absence of light. They need each other. Darkness and light. The one thing that can bring darkness to its knees is out there, everywhere, all around it. And if there was ever a reason to be hopeful, enthusiastic, if there’s ever a reason to believe, it’s that a new life is always a light switch away. It’s that darkness is as temporary as the day. And the antidote requires only that you believe it to be true. Only that you find the resolve to reach one foot out, to remind yourself of the sun’s warmth and the infinite beauty of a world beyond this temporary darkness.

Because you. You weren’t put here to live in the shadows of. Of life, but to re emerge like a rocket through the Earth’s stratosphere. To swing from star to star. Like life is a playground and you make the rules. And I think when we look back, we’ll be nothing but grateful for those times of darkness. They, in a sense, prepared us for the road ahead by giving us what we need most. Perspective. Life lessons. A roadmap to follow. Because you don’t appreciate the light, the sun, the clear blue skies, the wind on your face, the sound of the waves, the chirping of the birds.

No, you don’t see the beauty in any, any of that until even if for a moment it is taken away. You don’t learn about life’s abundance until you come face to face with scarcity. You don’t learn to give until you’ve had your world taken away. You don’t learn to love until you’ve experienced heartbreak. You don’t learn courage until you’ve been overcome by fear. You don’t learn to grow until you’ve been truly stuck. You don’t learn to believe until you’ve looked in the mirror and doubt peers back. You don’t know who you are until you learn what you’re not.

See, everyone finds themselves themselves having wandered into the dark. Sometimes of their own volition, sometimes of fate. But like leaves changing color in the fall, the earth on its journey around the sun. A wave emerging and falling back into that which it came. It is not an end, but a beginning. Life’s way of preparing us for what’s to come, introducing us to the infinite power possibility of tomorrow. Because you weren’t put here to live in the shadows of life, but to emerge from them, to light up the world. No, you weren’t put here to live in the shadows of life.

Today we’re going to talk about keeping your head in the clouds and your feet on the ground, simultaneously managing the big picture and the small stuff. Non stop belief that things will work, that there’s an answer, that you’re ultimately going to get there and that you won’t quit until you do, while also being brutally honest with the facts on the floor, the reality around you. A lot of times, I think there’s a tendency to conflate positivity with a detachment from reality. But they’re very different things. You need them both for success to unfold. You need the big picture, and you need the minutia, the steps, the little things that add up over time.

In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins calls it the Stockdale Principle, where Admiral Stockdale, I think at the time Commander Stockdale was shot down during Vietnam. He was prisoner of war for over seven years in Vietnam. And it was just obviously a brutal experience. And, you know, one of the things that helped him survive was being painfully pragmatic while also knowing in his soul, right, with every ounce of his being, that he would ultimately get out, that the men he cared about and helped so much would ultimately get out. And so when Jim Collins is interviewing him, you know, he says, Admiral Stockdale, what differentiated the ones that made it in the one ones that didn’t? And the answer is incredibly surprising.

He says optimism, because the people that were overly optimistic said, we’ll get out by Christmas. And Christmas comes and they don’t get out. And then they say, okay, well, fine, we’ll be out. We’ll see our families by Easter. And Easter comes and they’re still there, okay, maybe next Christmas. Next Christmas comes, nothing changes. He says those are the people that died of a broken heart. There was too big of a gap between the reality, the components needed to progress, the way they wanted to progress and the way they were thinking. You know, you have to be willing to look in the mirror and diagnose a situation, you know, that’s applicable to business, to applicable to your personal life.

Dream big, step small. Believe, but act. Be cognizant of the world around you, the reality that you’re living in. You can’t change something that you don’t understand intrinsically. You can’t progress if you haven’t analyzed something. And this is not about your capabilities. This is never a call to doubt yourself. It’s to be strategic. This is just saying that you need to understand the realities so that you can improve upon them. If you want to be the next Michael Jordan, that’s a huge ask. That’s a lot. It’s possible. You can do it. And you need to believe with every ounce of you that if that’s what you want to do, it’s a pursuit, you know, Worth taking.

But you also need to know what it means to be Michael Jordan. You got to understand the commitment, how he sacrificed relationships. He sacrificed, you know, his friends, his love life. He got up every single morning. All he did was basketball. How he took thousands of shots a day. How his mentality and his aggressive behavior, right, his mindset, his. The way he looked at life and approached life on and off the court. It required that he was so intense and so obsessed with winning that some people couldn’t handle. Meant that everything stopped. Except being the best.

That’s a big ask. A lot of people can’t do that, don’t want to do that, but that’s what it takes. And to think you’re going to be Michael Jordan without understanding one, the commitment that’s required and how you stack up, it’s going to be in vain. I remember the CEO of the. The company that I work for at out of college, he used to say, look, you have to be able to be honest and say, when your baby’s ugly, right? Look at what you have and be able to draw a line from where you want to be so you can fix it.

So that’s the. That’s the point. If you can juggle those two things, you will be unstoppable. Unstoppable. If you can be the one to trust yourself enough to know that there is a big picture, you will pursue it relentlessly and you will get there. If you can take that and you can marry it to the little things, right? To the awareness, to promising yourself that, you will continue to analyze, assess and do what needs to happen on the ground that you will be realistic. You will be pragmatic. When things fail, you won’t sugarcoat it. You’ll dive in.

You’ll look at why it failed so that you can pick up those pieces and build something stronger and continue to build and continue to build, stack and stand on what you’ve made. Those are the people that change the world. Those are the people that get things done, that get results. Dream big, step small. See you tomorrow. The world is a culmination of mirrors that reflect right back at you the stories you’ve already told. It doesn’t seek to change, alter or adjust. In fact, it doesn’t do anything. It’s not neutral. It is simply a collection of parts waiting to be put together, a series of characters awaiting a story.

If you’re hopeful, you’ll find contained within your surroundings hope. If you’re hateful, you’ll find hate loving. You’ll find love optimistic you’ll find optimism and skeptical. You’ll find doubt. Life reflects your preconceived notions back at you. Which is technically great news, right? I can’t think of anything more empowering than the idea that we decide what the occurrences around us ultimately mean. And I’m not suggesting that if one closes their eyes and dreams, life becomes free of problems or obstacles. I’m suggesting saying when our walls fall, we get to decide what that means. If, when and where we build again.

And this is evident in the fact that some don’t look for value, hence the proclivity to walk right by. Others teach themselves to seek it out even in the most unlikely of places. We’ll never be able to control the weather, but as Bob Marley famously put it, some people feel the rain, others just get wet. In a lot of ways, we don’t get to choose what the world around us looks like, but are given the power to decide what it all becomes, which is the precursor to change, to a life of freedom and abundance. The ability to interpret is monumental.

Mental. It is strength. Because there will be a time when life becomes difficult, when you lose your way. And it becomes evident in those moments just how easy it is to find the negative, to see why you can’t go on, why your adversaries are too strong and too numerous. But it’s also when, if you can dig deep and find within yourself a reason to. To not shrink because of it, but grow despite it, your potential becomes limitless. If life’s obstacles become opportunities and its supposed problems empower you, then you have made allies with an otherwise hostile world.

You have disarmed the only thing capable of slowing you down. You. And open the door to a world of possibility. Human beings don’t see. We interpret. We don’t take in what happens. We take in the implication of what happens. Everything in our world is story. Similar to the idea of two ideologically different news organizations, right, Reporting on the same event. Neither will be completely factual. They’ll both uphold their individual narratives. They’re not black and white. They’re interpreting gray space. And our individual lives are no different. We are our own broadcasting channels using data to support our individual narratives.

See, we know what the story’s going to say before the story occurs because we will make it so. We’ll make life fit our beliefs. That’s what it means to be human. So here’s where the value lives in the context of this message. When we find ourselves in a consistent state of despair or frustration or anxiety, it’s a fool’s errand to look for solutions in the external world. Because everything we find, everything we come across will support our current beliefs, our current story. That’s what will keep playing in our heads. And it’s why money can’t bring fulfillment and another person can’t take you from incomplete to content.

It’s why status will never equate to happiness. Those acquisitions are like putting premium fuel in a car with a broken engine. It’s just not the answer that we hoped it would be. To change your world, you must change your story. Whatever it is that needs to be changed. The location, the objective, the characters, maybe the journey altogether together. But it’s the neural network behind your eyes that must change, not the detail it takes in. And so if you feel stuck or feel like where you want to be seems unrealistic, you have to know right now that the very fact you think that way is the problem.

So ask yourself. Not your girlfriend or your boss or your neighbor, but ask yourself what a turnaround looks like. Do you know? Or have you acclimated to being unhappy? Have you even asked yourself what happiness looks like? Or is your personal broadcasting channel so hell bent on ensuring your life outlook stays the way it is that it’s not even paying attention to the data it takes in? See, I believe wholeheartedly that the first step in any facet of transformation is remembering that you have control. That things in your life that bring you down or hold you back can be changed.

In fact, the very things working against you can work for you. But you have to be aware. You have to think about it. Now, I’m not a believer in magic, right? I don’t think you sit back, say I don’t want to be unhappy ever again, snap your fingers and smile until the end of eternity. But I do believe that once we’re aware of our manufactured shackles and our self imposed limitation, we can start chipping away, doing the one, two or three small things every day. Tiny swings at the tree until it falls, right? If it’s I’m not happy with my work life, well, what does a better situation look like? What bridges that gap? I’ll wake up 20 minutes earlier on weekdays and master Microsoft Excel.

I’ll send one message on LinkedIn asking an expert about the field I want to move into. I’ll read 20 pages a day in a book related to business. You think those things are small? See what they look like compounded in a year? Not only that, this is the most important part. You are taking the power back. You’re taking Control. And that’s what feels good. That’s where we get our identity. You get a little disappointed at how you’ve let your physique slip when you look in the mirror. Don’t be sad about it every day. Again, ask yourself what the inverse looks like and start doing small things.

Subtract one small sports drink and add one green smoothie. Double your water intake. Do a 10 minute daily workout on YouTube. Like, there’s the pieces are out there. And to find yourself again is to realize that they’re out there. Realize that you’re playing a movie on loop in your head that isn’t right. It’s just not you. And, well, what movie do you want to be playing? Playing in an ideal world? Scroll through the library, find it, click play, and start doing the small things that make it real. There’s so much power in progress. I’ve seen this unfold in different areas of my life, but particularly as a writer, as a speaker.

It’s like you identify who you want to be, you start making tiny steps, and after a while, you’re surrounded by the change that you’ve created. How can you not believe something that you’re. You’re starting to live? It has to become your identity because it is you. It’s around you. You breathe it. So look around and realize the malleability of your situation. And if what you find is not you, you good. Here is your opportunity to tear down the old and construct the new. You can do that because you have control, because it’s within your grasp. So start the new movie, the new story, make yourself the hero, and set out to find yourself again.

What’s one thing I wish I knew when I was younger that I think people could benefit from today? What single piece of information could have the biggest impact? I spent some time thinking about this question, and the more I think about it, the more the answer becomes incredibly apparent. It’s that you are in control of your own life, your own destiny, your own future. And when you take accountability for yourself, life changes. Period. And if you thought that was obvious, I would advocate taking a look around, maybe a stroll through social media, the Twitters and Instagrams and Tiktoks of today.

And no, that’s not the real world, but it’s certainly a microcosm of the real world. What do you see? Well, you see chronic blame. I don’t like where I’m at, or things are. So that must be your fault or their fault or someone else’s fault. You see people looking everywhere, but in the mirror actually seeking out victimhood because that’s what brings the attention, that’s today’s currency. It’s much easier to be the victim than the hero because being the hero means you have to sacrifice something. It’s people saying the news or some institution or the financial federal government is the problem.

And if those things would only change, then we’d be good. Let me explain why I think this mentality is self sabotage and why I would take younger me by the hand and I would say, listen to what I’m about to tell you. Where you start is often outside our control. Let’s be real, life is not fair. We don’t all get dealt the same hand. But this next part, as I once heard Will Smith articulate beautifully, is the same for everyone. What you decide to do about it right now is what matters and that is the control that we all have.

It’s not your fault where you start, but it’s your responsibility to choose where you end up. You can shake your fist at the sky or you can start building a life that matters to you. It’s easy to blame the world to be the victim, at least in the short term. But a fulfilling life is about meaning, about fighting for something valuable, about evolving into the version of yourself that you always knew in your heart you could be. You just had to unlock. See, no one down the road was ever happy with themselves for blaming the world while they bitterly remained stagnant.

I would say to a younger me, worry less about how you perceived and thought. Think more about who you are, what you’re capable of, because that you can always control. Stop losing yourself in the news or whatever the narrative of the day is that has nothing to do with your progression, has nothing to do with your very next step. So sure, be informed, but do more, consume less, because by and large it’s a distraction. And I would say the government which has become the crux of our discourse today, transforming into a modern day religion. Look, the government’s job is not to give you anything.

It’s there to protect what’s inherent to you already. Your right to live life on your terms, see satisfaction. It will come from good habits. It will come from self belief. It will come from taking risks and failing and learning. It will come from the courage to step out into a world that’s completely unknown. It will never come from a self interested politician or body in Washington, red or blue. So stop whining about political optics and focus on where your two feet are taking you right now. Because I promise in the grand scheme of things, that’s what matters.

That is your strength. Expecting someone else to come along and change your life is like screaming into an abyss. I would say to my younger self, when you start looking around and seeing what everyone else has and beating yourself up for not being as good or feeling like you’re behind, look, it’s great that their success motivates you, but dwelling on it won’t make your life better. Life is a race between you and you. It’s a fight between yourself and those thoughts that constantly knock on the door looking to settle into your psyche. If you defeat that demon, you’ll be where you want to be, regardless of where others are.

You’re right where you need to be. So keep your head up and keep moving forward. How to explain that? To become something more, to change requires a sacrifice that feels so substantial, so big at first, that it bullies most people into staying right where they are. That to become something new, you have to learn to play the to get humbled, you have to change your relationship with short term failure. And that’s not easy. But taking control of your life is not supposed to be easy, only worth it. They’re different. And I can certainly look back at my own life, think about the times where I was so busy pointing out that I didn’t even think to point the finger at myself.

I was so worried about life being unfair that I existed in this temporary state of paralysis the whole time, not knowing that I could have been stepping forward, could have been tapping into the single greatest power I possess, control over my own life. See, every time you feel anger or the need to blame those around you, you’re taking the spotlight off of what matters and placing it on things detrimental to where you want to be, to your journey and your future, even the most unjust, arbitrary things. Let’s say you didn’t get that promotion you were beyond qualified for, or you were mistreated by someone, or things didn’t go the way you wanted them to, you can fill in that blank.

But refusing to blame others and immediately taking responsibility again, even in a situation like that, it gives you one of the greatest advantages in life. It gives you that gift of control. You can now assess the situation. You can now ask yourself, hey, what can I do to change this? You can delve into the why, find the lessons and the value. You can come back and re approach this thing stronger. Because to blame others, to take on that role of victim, it’s essentially living life in the passenger seat. It might be easier, might be less Work less responsibility.

But what you never have is control over where that car goes. But when you own it, when you say, hey, maybe it’s not my fault, but look, it’s mine now. It’s my responsibility. The good, the bad, every aspect of my life, it puts you in position to change things, to take the wheel and reroute to a destination of your choosing. So that would be my message to the world. I know it’s not an easy road. I know life is unfair. I know things aren’t perfect. But the first best thing you can ever do for yourself is say, you know what? This is mine to own.

And I’m going to look around for that light switch that will create momentum, that little decision that will get the ball rolling. I’m not going to sit back, shake my fist and blame life. I’m going to walk out that door and create life. That’s where you’ll find what you’re truly looking for. One of life’s greatest lessons is that yesterday is only as powerful as we allow it to be. Yesterday is an idea, a story, a movie that started and ended. Now it’s quite possible that story or that ending is disappointing or it hurts to look back on.

Perhaps a reminder of something that wasn’t ideal, something you want to break away from. So the question is, why do we give that old story power? Why do we relive it? Create this self inflicted wound? See, the past undoubtedly played a critical role. It brought you to where you are now. It in many ways shaped your worldview, constitutes your beliefs. It was the very road to this moment. And there’s value in that. But imagine this scenario. Imagine stepping into your car, turning the keys and thinking to yourself that you can in this very moment only drive down the roads you drove on yesterday.

Only associate with the street signs you know the places you’ve already gone. Your reality now is determined by what you’ve already done. So adjust and get used to it. You would say that’s outrageous, right? Yesterday’s path has nothing to do with where I’m going now. Just like a boat’s wake trailing off behind, it has nothing to do with where it’s going next. The person holding the wheel controls that. We are saturated with freedom. There is so much opportunity and possibility and potential in front of us that we fail to see because we can’t stop thinking about that free fictitious story we call yesterday.

We confuse the path we took then for the one we need now. The wake from the steering wheel. What is. And that story about what was the Gateway to change is unshackling ourselves from those imaginary monsters. And more often than not, the answer isn’t in finding some solution. It’s in cutting ties with those things that no longer serve us. Then we see the world as it truly is. Then we see the magic laid out before us. And I get that it’s easier said than done. Leaving a part of us behind hurts. Looking in the mirror and being vulnerable enough to say, I can be more than this.

It’s not easy, but it’s possible. And everything starts with how we see ourselves. And when we remain captives to the past, everything about who we think ourselves to be is outdated. We’re neglecting one of our superpowers, the perpetual ability to restart. One of the most important conversations I’ve ever had was on this topic. Seemed trivial at the time, but I was having lunch with a friend, and we’re talking, and I mentioned to her that I was full. And she goes, well, then why are you still eating? And I’m like, because I paid for it, right? I wanted to get my money’s worth.

And she says, in a very, you know, pragmatic way, eddie, just because you paid for it doesn’t mean you need to eat it, right? It’s a sunk cost. Why don’t you move on? And the whole thing seems silly, right? It’s like, yeah, if you’re not hungry, don’t eat. Move on. But in the grand scheme of things, how many of us keep on consuming that which doesn’t serve us? How many of us stay too long when we should be letting go? We let the path behind us dictate the one before us. See, there’s a tendency to overvalue what we know, to feel so invested in how things are, even when we’re not happy or it’s not healthy that we’ll take the pain of now over the potential for something greater.

And that’s precisely why the unknown is so terrifying. It’s not concrete. It’s a world unsettled. And, man, do we hate being unsettled. But what we fail to realize is that every time we close our eyes, take a breath, and work up the courage to step into that unknown, to leave yesterday behind us. Life gives us new pieces. It resets the stage. It provides new tools to build something incredible, something more ideal, more convenient, conducive to our goals, our hopes and our dreams. And the thought is, well, but what if things become worse than they are right now? What if I move forward and I find myself more confused, more lost? What if Things are.

Are more chaotic. And that may for a moment be true. But what we do is we adjust. We learn things we never knew. We see things through a lens that we never could touch, things that we never thought existed. It wasn’t in staying, but in leaving that we rediscovered who we were meant to be. That we allowed our truest selves to flourish. In worst case scenario, contrary to popular belief, if it’s not that the world ends. No, the worst case scenario, should you find the courage to move forward, is that you end up right back where you started.

A little more confident, a little bolder, and better prepared to live this life like you never had. All that’s needed is for you to convince yourself that there is more. You just need to taste the fruit. Step into the sunlight. That’s the difference between reality and the story in your head. Reality is that this world has for you everything you need to change, to grow, explore, build a life that means something. It has the support structures and the resources for you to pull yourself back up every, every time you fall, to say, okay, that hurt. But now let’s try a different angle.

There is undoubtedly what you need. And the question is never whether the X on that treasure map exists. Trust me, it’s there. The question is whether you can pause that story in your head. The tales of a dark, mean and scary world trying to hold you down. Pause the idea that you’re nothing more than the you of yesterday. You’re nothing more than how people knew you to be. Paused the idea that you’re nothing without that job title or that relationship. Pause the idea that you need him or her or them in your life. Every day you wake up, you are a blank canvas.

Who cares about yesterday? What do you want to paint now? When you walk out your front door? Where do you want to go now? Step outside that circle of familiarity. See how artificial and in some cases, ridiculous these boundaries are that we place around ourselves. Life is an invitation, not a set of requirements. And when you free yourself of the that, not only will you feel like someone new. Not only will you experience life as it was meant to be experienced, but you’ll see that this world will conform to your new definition. This world wants to support you.

It wants to lift you up. And yeah, it may be challenging and strenuous, it may force you to work harder and be braver than you’ve ever been. But it is, at the end of the day, your ally. You just have to see your future self before it materializes, when no one else gets it. So move on from all that does not serve you break away from the old rules, regulations and guidelines. Maybe you exhausted time and energy into creating this reality. Maybe it feels like a monumental piece of your identity. Maybe right now is the only security you have.

Fine, but my hope is that you can respect it and walk away. See it as the sunken cost that it is. Just because you paid to get there doesn’t mean you need to keep paying to make wrong decisions. Just because it took your time doesn’t mean it’s entitled to keep stealing your time. Just because it’s part of your identity now doesn’t mean it must be tomorrow. Just because it creates a surety doesn’t mean it’s right. Jails and steel bars are also incredibly secure. No? Today we are breaking free, leaving the past in the past and setting our sights on the horizon.

Today is the end of yesterday and the beginning of the rest of your life. Sa.
[tr:tra].