THE UNBREAKABLE MIND | Best Motivational Speeches | Listen Every Day

foreign lessons I've learned is that I already have what I need most now as I unpack this think of it not in a fluffy uh sort of your magical just the way you are context and instead let's look at it through a truly practical lens hey life is about connecting dots and I personally believe there's a way to make almost anything happen you just need to figure out what dots have to be connected to get there and you know even if this message isn't true 100 of the time me believing in it believing it so has pushed me to find ways to succeed when I otherwise would have walked away to me it's a 100 value add so let's dive in let's say you're you're currently going through a rut in life just not feeling good about yourself how things are okay we've all been there in some capacity you might think about your ideal life and think well I have none of that I have none of those things I'm not any of those things right that's just a different world altogether and when you look at it in one giant leap like that you're correct but again your job is not to wake up tomorrow and be perfect open your eyes and be a god or goddess jump out of bed with a PhD and have your life all figured out right now there's none of that your job and this is the the point here is to Simply connect dots from one little thing to the next so again you're stuck let's say theoretically the the road to something better starts with energy having to feel good right otherwise doing anything is is difficult Feeling Good Feeling energetic is a baseline so draw a DOT at waking up at a reasonable time right breathing in the morning air letting the sun hit your face as it comes up in the morning boom dot connected you did that you're a little bit better next make a DOT at groceries what are you taking in how are you fueling yourself make a few changes that will have you feeling good about how you are taking care of your body boom you just connected another Dot next dot at gym three days a week you get the point right these little changes you're starting to feel like a different person and you can see how this upward spiral Works none of those three things was a Monumental transition they were small manageable tasks and everything of substance is a little change like this sometimes that's just hard to see right when you're frustrated when you're looking at what you don't have when you're comparing yourself to others when all you see is the Delta or the gap between where you are and where you want to be [Music] all that is poison but true change is about connecting little dots making little road maps being consistent but patient expecting more of yourself but also giving yourself love and grace as you make the journey and it's from this vantage point that you truly do already have everything you need it doesn't matter the goal objective or Pursuit you have exactly what you need to win why because you have everything you need to connect that next dot always if only we would stop wasting time looking out wishing and chasing things we think will solve our problems when in reality we walk around with the solution every single day you know Jim Rohn used to say it's not where you're going it's who you become along the way I think this is because as we seek to evolve and grow we learn to create and connect those dots We Trust ourselves that look we don't need one giant leap we need to step we need little consistent action and we're more capable of that than we could ever imagine and I'll get personal for a second a goal of mine I want to be one of the most impactful thinkers and Orders of Our Generation that invigorates me it also is a lot right even saying it feels like a lot as the words come out of my mouth it feels pretentious right who am I to categorize myself with the best of the best the nerve right but I believe and I believe it wholeheartedly to the point that I've bet my life on it why because I don't need to wake up tomorrow and write like Ralph Waldo Emerson or speak like MLK I don't need to think like nietzscho or Inspire like Churchill nope not tomorrow creating those little dots that will bring me closer and closer I need to find ways to connect them in real time one day at a time one dot at a time and I will do that and the best part so can you I'm not special no not in this regard what am I I'm a decade into connecting dots a decade in understanding that I have everything I need to take one step and another and another and my friend you are capable of the same so understand that strange dichotomy of thinking big and small simultaneously you have to dream big otherwise what's the point you dream big because it forces you to ask big questions pushes you to arrange and rearrange until you have evolved but when we get caught up in the end result we forget how to get there you don't transport to Greatness in your Endeavor no you follow that road map that road map of consistent steps you connect the small immediately achievable they are the formula to outcomes that exceed expectations and bend reality so what do you need to ultimately arrive where you most want to be not a miracle you need a simple understanding you need to acknowledge that right now In This Moment you have everything required to build and connect the next Dot and that will always be enough [Music] so life is the sum of the decisions we make but which decisions how am I supposed to know [Music] or maybe a list will help some pros and some cons list one finding the courage to do something new okay cons or it could be a waste of time could embarrass myself could lose money could get criticized [Music] Pros could be life-changing finding the courage to go somewhere new okay cons might not like where I go might not know how to get that that might regret going Pros could end up being the best decision I've ever made finding the courage to change myself okay cons might not like who I become might try fail and feel worse than I did to begin with it's possible Pros well I might become exactly who I need to be so looking at this it essentially comes down to conserving the old or making the new maintaining or capturing the upside but it isn't quite delineate my problem okay so different angle lists too finding the courage to do something new if I fail is it reversible yes I can fail and if I do I'll simply go back to doing that which I had been doing all right finding the courage to go somewhere new if I don't like the destination is it reversible yes change my fights grab a train turn the car around I decide where I go finding the courage to change myself if I don't like the trajectory is it reversible yes if I don't like how I'm evolving I can stop I can start back at the beginning who you are is in your control okay so after two lists the pros have immense upside in the cons well they have relatively minor downside and they are reversible meaning if I try something I've always wanted to try go somewhere I've always wanted to go become the person I've always wanted to be things could fall apart but the damage is more annoying than it is life-altering it's not forever it's fixable on the other side if I hit that home run my life changes my world evolves what's possible expands and it's not that I will it's that I could and doesn't everything start with could a seed of possibility an idea that plants roots and when merged with courage and action takes shape of course but most importantly this information in front of me tells me something pretty incredible a story with few words and infinite meaning the key that unlocks some of the most important doors to be opened and it's this most of our inaction most of our regret most of our almost come from cowering amidst possible outcomes that are reversible running from potential consequences that we could wipe clean like a dry erase board and try again the downside it Hills in comparison to the upside we're running from a slap on the wrist or the momentary anxiety associated with turning down the wrong street right that's the takeaway here that's where the magic lies not in the possibility that everything could work out but the realization that if it doesn't life moves right along that contrary to the narrative so often making its home in the back of our minds life has reduced you can screw up you can reverse track and start again the only action you can't fix is the one you never take and well I'm looking at this list and I just don't see any upside in that living is easy it's my inability to die that kills me my hesitance to lock my old Persona up and place it within the ship's cargo hold watch it sail away to some far-off place maybe for a minute maybe forever but the bird has to be uncaged it must unlearn its constraints it must metaphorically die to transcend that which it knew itself to be I think we all have wings I think very few of us put them to use and isn't that the challenge perhaps we're too busy living I've always had the ability now I've captured the fleeting awareness next I must obtain the courage because the rule the truth the beacon of light to be followed is we're always one decision away from a totally different life if dare I decide to take the mask off it's been so effectively fooling others that have begun to fool myself dare I decide to play new games with new rules to see life with new eyes perhaps upside down [Applause] but when your sight is finally finally set on Infinity when you're looking at the clouds while lying on your back who's right them or you who gets the honor of deciding and sometimes I wonder how far we need to walk to understand that the danger isn't stepping into a new pair of shoes it's thinking you need to walk the same path down the same street in the same pair of shoes you've had on your entire life strange right peculiar according to previous cognitive mappings but maybe they're crazy is your oxygen maybe crazy is pure it's desirable it's been the goal all along and well where I thought I dedicated my life to its Pursuit I see how wrong I was to think something new could emerge no not without the death of the old not without that caricature of myself slipping away not without that ship taking everything every last thing I want Roots ripped from the ground I want new Heroes and new villains new street signs telling of New Roads new tears from eyes stimulated by that which I've never seen the increased rhythm of a new heartbeat in anticipation of all that lies ahead New Beginnings maybe for a minute or maybe forever I'll let you know once I learn to die [Music] yesterday I drove out a little bit into North Carolina parked the car found a path and went on a long hike to take in some scenery you think about life holistically kind of contemplate where I'd go from here and why it matters which is always funny to think about right the idea of having to carve out time amidst our frantic and often chaotic journey to get somewhere to well Define where somewhere is but I think about that a lot our days consist of so much running around that I can easily forget what even my calculated decisions add up to why it's a simple enough question perhaps one I could ask more why what's with this whole get comfortable with discomfort thing why do I place so much emphasis on the quote-unquote path Less Traveled which is a term that you know one of my buddies was recently giving me a hard time about using in all my speeches right it must mean something to me it's got me here but is here better than over there after all it's not out of the realm of possibility that I'm the one who's missing the mark and it's okay to examine that possibility in fact that's why I'm here and I bounce this around in my head and I made my way up the trail and noticed as I looked around everything just felt perfect have you ever had one of those moments where it just seems surreal the morning was incredible I loved this sound of the Earth under my my feet as I took each step the chirping of the birds in the early morning the sun making its way through the trees and I thought it's amazing that you can live 20 minutes from this feeling and just never I guess proof that a decision did not go to do nothing is still very much a decision and in this case would have been the less desirable one I'm glad I went my phone was in my backpack and for the first time in a while I didn't even think about it my mind was stimulated my senses were taking into something new something different something not my studio or laptop or social media analytics pages in fact all that stuff felt kind of trivial now that I was removed from it and I wondered why don't I do this more the thought popped into my head earlier that morning I thought hey that's a cool idea I just had to get through that initial pushback the hesitancy of well what's the point what's the desired outcome of a hike and after all this little jaunt just gonna distract you from your work and your progress but at that moment I think you have to just shut out reason for a second you have to remind yourself that there's value period otherwise we open the door for rationalizing we talk ourselves out of some of life's beautiful secret sometimes you have to just go and as I made my way down this Trail further and further I started to feel better I felt reassured had something that I otherwise wouldn't have had something that's my own and maybe that is it maybe that alone is the reason for everything to collect those incredible things large and small that we might not have had after all isn't life just an accumulation of memories of experiences that are spread out like a choose your ending children's book [Music] and with so much control over the outcome I think that matter deserves my attention in order to acquire the good stuff whether it's in a different location or context or a time in my life I still learn again and again that to get that we have to leave some things behind and that's the essence of life you usually get out what you put in and I think about that a lot I think about the forks in the road I've come across those same ones the life-altering decisions it's only human walking away from that promising career that I spent my whole life building towards every once in a while sure I miss the security leaving this city and the people that made my life what it was it just haunts me from time to time trading permanence and structure for the freedom to condense my life's work into a laptop take it anywhere in the world empowerment can be lonely right and I guess I can't help that in the midst of those situations the easy decision always feels like the wrong one just been pulled by the upside I gravitate towards this grandiose version of what life could be on the mark that I hope to make and to me the scariest thing has always been Not Having the courage to see more to explore the phrase what if has always been my adversary the monster in the closet and it's a costly one to slay right but life is both suffering and infinite Beauty and it's like you have to choose where you're going to endure pain and why that matters so that you can climb the mountain that means everything to you that makes life worth it in other words meaningful discomfort now or painful regret later and I strongly believe that life is about pursuing something meaningful and even the triviality of a hike wants to remind me of this truth and I could be at home playing guitar watching Netflix relaxing I mean that would have been easier but there's only one way to catch that sunrise over the trees and that way is not Netflix all those beautiful views they require an output of energy to reach them they come with fear of something going wrong and in doubt that perhaps the turn you made wasn't the best one and that's okay but I believe that happiness to be truly fulfilled requires trade-offs with each step it becomes easier and easier to understand for the gym rat it's the discipline and the belief knowing that muscles break down so that they can be built up for the relationship to flourish its overcoming disagreement accommodating the needs of that person that you love so that they can be the last thing you see before you fall asleep for the free spirit it's walking away from what you know in pursuit of something that excites and invigorates even if you're not entirely sure what it means it's about enduring one so that you can collect the other not what you choose to endure what you choose to collect is up to you but that's what makes life such a beautiful ride a roller coaster taking you through lows to reach highs Into Darkness to see how life-changing the light is when it pushes its way through little decisions that become the collage that explodes off the paper when you step back and look [Music] that's what you get back when you make a point to see more that's why my love affair with the trivial and the mundane lights my path it's not just a little thing it's a microcosm of my everything it's my saying yes to the opportunity that we work so hard to ignore in an effort to avoid inconvenience but a life worth living is not always convenient you could even argue at times it should be inconvenient because the higher the climb the more we give of ourselves the more precious the world looks from the top down in the challenging times the things we sacrifice and leave behind they're not so much a part of the pictures the paint on your palette that in breaking down you can now recreate using your own ideals metrics and guidelines a world that you now have the ability to transform that's why life to me is nothing more than color decisions nothing more than paint steps nothing more than brush strokes and life life is nothing and everything which has the morning Breeze reminds me [Music] is a decision that is entirely my own [Music] [Music] it's not about what happens to you no one escapes adversity no one lives free of discomfort or Misfortune or struggle no it will always be about what you do with what happens to you in other words it's not the event it's the response not the obstacle but the ability to navigate around it not the wave but the ability to ride its momentum to something greater it is not what happens to you it is what you do about what happens to you the famous Roman Emperor and stoic philosopher Marcus Aurelius said you have power over your mind not outside events realize this and you will find strength and I think this realization comes down to the fact that there is always a way buried Underneath It All something powerful to Leverage but getting to the value calls for rewiring a change in the questions that we ask not how could this happen to me but how can I be better tomorrow than I am now because of what happened to me not can I still be that person or accomplish what I set out to but I am that person now how will I adjust my path so that I get there we're operating within a world of value Limitless opportunity the difficulty simply pushes us to that value faster expedites the process it forces us to open our eyes and see that the world works for us so you take for example the fear of starting something new it doesn't have to be an end point or a red light indicator fear doesn't mean you're not qualified or prepared or equipped it simply lets you know that you have finally acquired the courage to step out of the safety of the only world you knew and into the turbulence of growth onto the path of something better and where it's easy to move away from that feeling to turn your back on the chaos and Retreat to something simpler maybe something more predictable or contained what if you viewed the fear as the price that we all have to pay to pull the curtain back on the best things life has to offer changing the question from will I be afraid to instead this is important this is Meaningful therefore it's inevitable that I will experience fear but what will I do about it will I conduct myself amidst the fear will I continue forward those are the questions that contain the value right I can't keep the water from rising or the walls from caving in no that's an inevitability where I'm going the worthwhile Road always has its adversity but will I use that water to learn to swim the walls to climb to adapt and scale what will I make of this that's the question that becomes the difference and sure you could stay away you could choose not to take the path that presents the danger and the turbulence you could attempt to contain the World Around You by simply refusing to experience it but then of course you become presented with the question why intentionally refuse to cash in a winning lottery ticket do I diminish your gift in such a way if it's not what you look at it's what you see why see the world as an adversary well I see yourself as less than you are the saying goes when you fight for your limitations you get to keep them you'll never exceed the person you've decided yourself to be and yes the world can feel intimidating it's unknown you in many ways can't control the characteristics that make life what it is but you can always control you just like you can't control the wind but you can adjust your sales you can't control the ties but you can predict and plan and execute accordingly you control you and that is where the power is and of course there's going to be times where that's hard to see when it's not your first instinct to find the value take for an example a change a loss the end of a relationship the point where people tend to feel their lowest it hurts to have something and lose it to have what you were once so sure about challenged what you once believed in called into question but this doesn't have to be a referendum on you as a human being right sure you made your mistakes but you have opportunity to dwell on them or to acknowledge them and ask the question I know what I know now how can I be better than I've ever been in my life how can I position myself to get more of the good and less of the bad same idea different context when those walls feel like they're crumbling down you have to know there is more on the other side just beyond what the eye can see and this isn't just an idea I play around with in my head I make a concentrated effort to think this every time something goes wrong when my first reaction is emotional my first emotion is anger or frustration it's like take a breath compose yourself and start looking for the value foreign because here's the truth the world is not going to end today there's going to be a time down the road when I look over my shoulder and right now is a distant memory what will I have done with it it's the times that might have broken you that contain the greatest transformation I like to say the greatest tragedies are the hardest times made me who I am today the losses taught me that I had everything I needed failure showed me what I'm capable of enduring the times I was let down taught me to de-personalize the shortcomings of others but to simultaneously hedge against them to times I was lost showed me we only discover or meet our potential when we leave the little day-to-day realities that we create why why because we are in control not of the external but the internal and that ends up being a bridge to a reality that means something so when you find yourself at the base of a mountain looking up understand that there are two ways to perceive The Climb you can see it as the gravity pushing down on you as Earth's standing in your way or as an opportunity to ascend to a version of yourself that previously not only didn't exist but wasn't available this is your opportunity the same opportunity that the vast majority of the world would disregard or misinterpret [Music] that most would feel fear of and be dissuaded by most would live in the stories about who they aren't and what they aren't capable of but not you [Music] placed that mountain before you but you sure can extract the value from it all you have to do is decide that you're capable at the meaning and the value and the freedom of Tomorrow means more than the discomfort of today foreign [Music] not because the path simplified or got easier but because the traveler trusted himself to walk down it [Music] [Music] oh [Music] when our backs are against the wall we're forced to become more when the clock is ticking we are tasked with finding answers that hide Among Us it's in the darkness we find light and while lost we find ourselves the Paradox of life is that from our pain comes our purpose our Evolution and our greatness I love thinking back to about 2014 making my way around Boston having just quit my job essentially purposeless clinging to a YouTube channel and a podcast idea that I would name your world within and why why do I think back why does this mean everything to me well because at the time I knew nothing I understood nothing nothing about speaking or media audio video nothing about running a business but more importantly I knew very little about life and what's truly required to progress in a world with infinite moving parts I didn't know that my lack of understanding is what made everything feel overwhelming and complex and that it was up to me to simplify foreign failure and that was the most eye-opening realization because when you gravitate towards a risk-free existence and you box yourself in as I had for so long of course you don't get the upside but you also don't fail as dramatically either you know life was a simple game of cause and effect do work get result not mushroom for more than that and so stepping outside that box in the way that I did change some rules I learned some things first you can spend time on something you can exhaust energy on something and get nothing in the short term for your efforts and I mean nothing unless you count getting your pride stomped on how much you count your friends disappearing when you need them most unless you count self-doubt in a constant worry about not amounting to anything I mean these are very raw very real human emotions [Music] they tend to arise when we start something new but in them is also the power this is where the light bulb turns on and the path emerges it's where I learned that we only get what we want when we endure or what we don't and what a foreign concept when you think about it right it's like Eddie take this mic go stand in front of this audience and pour your heart out your knees are shaking chest is pounding but dude trust me it'll be good for you funny enough it was it was because the fear in my stomach became the indicator that something new something exciting something more was around the corner like Pavlov's dog hearing that Bell anytime the fear kicked in I could feel myself getting closer to something meaningful to a higher version of myself [Music] the pain is an invite the sheer Terror and let's face it that's what it feels like sometimes it's an upgrade disguised as the monster that you think you should be running from when it is as I recently mentioned the adversary you should befriend we have to change our relationship with discomfort because our initial understanding the one that comes stock in our minds is never sufficient to build anything of significance its default setting is to preserve the now not expanded and so just like those stock speakers that came in my 1999 Ford F-150 when I was in my early 20s let's rip it out let's customize let's upgrade the quality of the sound we hear and the things we say to ourselves what an advantage it is to know that the hard things are what make us level up to find that awareness what a blessing that when life's difficulty startles and scatters the masses you could be the one that remains Standing Tall seeking out the advantage amidst the commotion [Music] every little Act of Courage becomes more and more meaningful powerful but we must lose ourselves to find ourselves we must embrace our fears if we are to become courageous we must fail in order to succeed and sure sometimes the price seems steep [Music] but I promise not going costs more wishing costs more if onlys cost more so maybe for you it isn't a YouTube channel or a speaking career maybe it's something totally different but it is something and should you bring yourself to pursue that with your heart pulls you to pursue you'll have those moments of defeat where you're mad at yourself for leaving the comfort and safety of your previous world you'll have times where you have no idea what to do where you feel alone or stuck or unsure the difference will be whether you see this as the invite you've been waiting for or the reason to turn around and settle for less that's the question how do you internalize all that emotion that will feel like it is consuming you I couldn't believe how strong that Temptation was to go back nagging at me every day just come off the edge just be comfortable again but as my old coach would say in college when we're doing wall sits or something physically taxing 15 seconds do anything for 15 seconds and is in life just a culmination of 15 second windows it's compartmentalizing the process it's turning the difficult into the advantageous you have the ability to not think like everyone else you have it within you to rewire your previous conceptions of the world to see Darkness not as your reason to hide from conjured up monsters but as your invitation to become the light remember that the best way to be more is to have the courage to put your back against the wall and you won't want to in the moment there will never be a perfect time but committing to that vulnerability will release from within you the power the strength the greatness that has been for so long tucked away by moving into the chaos you are simultaneously creating the calm you always dreamed of you're realizing the possibility that just needed the door left a jar to make its way into your world [Music] [Music] [Music] recently I was thinking about something a friend of mine named Tom told me a few years back he owns a company in Oklahoma City and was telling me about how someone he'd hired essentially stole from him and the first question that came to my mind as he was telling the story was okay what are you going to do about it and I asked him the question and he was kind of quiet for a second and then asked in his southern accent Eddie if a snake bites you are you going to chase it into the woods to get your revenge are you going to get the medical attention required to save yourself basically you're going to focus on the past [Music] or on what to do from here forward right basically he cut ties with the person but had moved on was already thinking about next steps that were best for him his family and his business and I can tell you since hearing that it's become an incredibly valuable idea in my life especially as you realize that there will never be a shortage of problems you do what you can to avoid them you try to steer clear when possible but adversity will always be a factor it's about knowing that and and stepping into it regardless it's just it's something that's always intertwined in our development and I find Value and asking myself is this action I'm about to take conducive to my growth and my happiness or am I just chasing snakes does this just feel good in the short term because I'm angry or I've been wronged or something along those lines especially since most harm inflicted on others derived from incompetence not malice and I truly believe that I think very frequently we attribute Sinister motives to others when 99 of the time it's you know you know sheer stupidity it's imperfect humans trying to navigate an often complex world we make mistakes now I'm not suggesting you don't stand up for yourself when you've been wronged or slighted of course you should but the magic is in not personalizing the situation like possessing the emotional IQ to understand Hey look it's not about me but whether I can salvage this situation from here and that depends solely on how I choose to look at it Emerson wrote people do not seem to realize that their opinion of the world is also a confession of their character and what a powerful point the flexibility and the leeway available to us when it comes to making sense of the world speaks to not how the world is but how the onlooker thinks and interprets a deep personalizing the situation is one of the greatest superpowers that are disposal when you're angry and accusatory you will as Tom put it end up chasing snakes you'll end up breaking things that will need to be rebuilt then uttering words You'll wish you'd never spoken but the five seconds required to pause to collect yourself and realize that you're in control is everything the ability to see the person the situation or the world not as an adversary stacked against you but as an inevitable challenge that must be managed so how will you choose to manage it how will you choose to arrange the pieces and by the way I'm a constant theme for my speeches and podcasts and videos is the act of pointing not out at the world but in at ourselves my responsibility my fault my problem to deal with I understand just how heavy that is how hard that can be especially when deflecting blame often feels like it would just be a tremendous weight off of our shoulders when Revenge feels like the easy intuitive move but again it's short-term relief to truly grow to find the calm and happiness and meaning we long for it's the internal relationship with ourselves that matters most it's the ability to say I may not have created this or even you know I may have made the mistakes that brought this to life but I can't fix it until I look at both the situation and my own reflection and Proclaim it's mine now let the past be the past now it's me and the present and as far as I'm concerned the present and opportunity they are always one in the same so long as we choose to see it that way [Music] it's not what you look at it's what you see over and over and over again is it happening to you or for you is it a problem or an opportunity a setback or a chance to reset [Music] I want to bring to light a story one that I've told before but it's so perfectly representative of the conversation you know Jim Rohn talking about two brothers in an abusive household alcoholic father terrible childhoods you know they grow up in both of the Suns have families of Their Own one is the exact same as his father he's abusive and he's angry and the other one is a great father he's kind he's loving he's supportive and when asked why the abusive brother replies look at my childhood right how could you blame me for this the other brother when Ash responds look at my childhood right how could I let myself treat my family the same way and in a way one spent his life chasing snakes bitter resentful the other one asked well that was terrible but what can I do to right the wrong one personalized it the other used it as a lever or stepping stone [Music] and this is of course a simplification that I believe every struggle we face in our lives at its core contains some element of this Choice from the little things to the big things where do I go from here it's mine now and I can choose whether to make it better or worse chase the snake into the woods or March forward to find the value and write the ship remember that when it's hardest when you least want to remember that the present contains every single thing you need to begin a journey to recovery to grow to contentment and meaning who on your end though need to be willing to slow down the moment need to be willing to collect yourself and give yourself permission to take that necessary and appropriate step [Music] enough there's a quote attributed to Lincoln he says be sure to put your feet in the right place then stand firm [Music] the other day I was listening to Dan Carlin's podcast called hardcore history which side note is an incredible podcast guy's a brilliant Storyteller and as I was listening um there's a a specific idea that I wanted to dive into an idea that I believe if we make an effort to understand and fully commit to is capable of changing our lives but first some quick context right so Dan starts off this episode called King of Kings talking about the Battle of Thermopylae in the year 480 BC in ancient Greece it's that famous story that a lot of us know where King Leonidas leads that small army which includes 300 Spartans against this massive Persian military force that's invading and the quick version is essentially Xerxes who's the king of the Persian Empire and in charge of that massive Army tells the much smaller Spartan Force that if they lay down their weapons if they submit to him and let you know the the Persians pass no harm will be inflicted upon them they'll be free to go go about their lives and here's the famous line in response to the Persian command to lay down their weapons the Spartans respond Milan Labay which means come and take them Spartan's way of saying look the only way we're laying these weapons down is if you rip them from our cold dead hands right with everything on the line the odds stacked against them the ground beneath them basically shaking from the march of a far superior fighting force moving directly towards their location they would not let go of their principles [Music] they were fighting for something bigger than them and I couldn't stop thinking about this idea long after I hit pause on the episode I guess I was awestruck by the power of living life with that type of conviction because I know in my soul that's the North Star I should be gravitating towards we all should the strength to be unrelenting with regard to that which we care about the aforementioned quote from Lincoln about finding the right place for our feet and then holding steady with everything you have all that you are holding firm I just couldn't get that out of my head but then it came to me that that invading Force represents so much in our personal lives so many things one example being the difficult or adverse circumstances are trying times when you're most likely to concede that perhaps you're no bigger than that world around you maybe life is a movie and I'm merely the audience my job is to clap laugh gasp or cry my Cog in a wheel a line in a script powerless in which case you should be reminded of Victor Frankel's famous observation then everything can be taken from a man but one thing the last of the human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances to choose One's Own Way in other words the outside world may change it may evolve but it will never have power over how you choose to internalize and view what's happening that's innately yours so when the circumstances feel like they demand more than you can give when they suggest you leave your interpretation of life behind the correct response is as the Spartans defiantly said come and take it that Army could represent a pushback against your values the pillars of your individual Foundation that you feel amidst all the pressure attempted to let go of after all it's easier to retreat than stand toe-to-toe with others it's easier to abandon than it is to defend at least in the short term but as Victor Hugo writes you have enemies good that means you've stood up for something sometime in your life the enemies obviously not being the point I'm a Believer in the conservation of enemy approach to life allies just pragmatically get you a lot further but here's the reality anyone who stands for something will undoubtedly create divide they'll be criticized and condemned and when one feels the pressure of that criticism they must understand that it does not invalidate who they are or their worldview that is yours you are the only one who can give up or relinquish that control so as the Spartans said come and take it and then lastly my thoughts went to little things that make us who we are those tiny pieces of ourselves that we little by little one by one over time giveaway the concessions that fade into the background as we evolve to fit in so that we don't stand out there's Emerson beautifully put it to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment and so that attacking Army just might be the universe attempting to mold you to it perhaps not all at once but more like that frog placed in water and put on the stove with the heat increasing so slowly over time that he doesn't realize that he will soon overtake him externalities do not dictate they are objects in need of meaning and you are the architect here if it means something to you it's worth holding on to during the difficult times and the easy time when it's popular and when it's not there is value within you specific to you a value that must be nurtured in order to expand others can't and won't see that the world around you may even with all its complexity seek to suppress it but that flame is there it's there and it's yours and to anyone or anything looking to extinguish its light come and take it after all what is the life if not one lived on your own terms the goal is not to Simply exist but to define the plane on which you'll evolve to devise your own parameters be yourself as that world looks to make you something else so here's to digging deep to finding within yourself the courage to stand up to the great armies of chaos conflict adversity and their Perpetual Conquest to remember how strong you are how much control you have as you navigate the unknowns and redefine the right nouns don't let your strength be the thing you give away don't let your heart be what gets left behind don't let your thoughts become illusions of what could have been if only you'd held on and look I'm not saying it's easy in fact I know that the meaningful Road will necessarily be the one that requires the most of us that makes us question who we are and where we're going it will ask that when our minds race with doubt in our knees shake with fear we find a way to stand regardless to walk through our demons look them Square in the eye and Proclaim that whatever it takes we are willing to give we will fight until there's nothing left go until we can go no further and hold with conviction All That Matters Most so the next time life demands that you fall back or bow down the next time chaos emerges in the distance and asks only that you lay down your arms here's to being strong enough certain enough courageous enough to say one thing and one thing only come and take them [Music] thank you [Music] [Music]

Channel: Eddie Pinero

Views: 64,875

Keywords: live inspired, motivation, your world within, Eddie Pinero, inspiration, running motivation, motivational speech, motivational video, best motivational video, best motivational speech, morning motivation, motivational speeches, motivation compilation, motivation for success, powerful motivational speech, success motivation, motivational speech for success in life, morning motivational speech, change your life, start your day right, best speeches, best motivation

Id: QD8pEwRXO9E

Length: 63min 50sec (3830 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 05 2023