It starts like every other day.
You wake up. Brush your teeth. Open the shades. And take a shower.
But imagine if, unbeknownst to you, it’s not like every other day. And an exhilarating challenge to step DEEPLY into your purpose is just a few hours away.
If a thrilling dream of yours had the potential to become real, but forced you to step WAY out of your comfort zone — possibly even in front of 1,000s of people — what would you do?
Would you risk ostracism with the intention of being self-expressed while supporting other people in living more fulfilled lives?
Hold up. You don’t know any of this is about to happen yet.
Everything Seemed Normal
With bed-head and rubbing my eyes, I woke up last Thursday the same as every other day.
I banged out my AM meditation. Fed the cats. Hydrated. And was getting ready to rock my two morning coaching calls.
I had no idea of what was about to happen.
Quickly glancing over my inbox, I saw an email from the Huffington Post which said they had published a blog post of mine:
12 Things Happy People Do Differently — And Why I Started Doing Them
Yeeeeeeeyuh!
Now, this may sound a little douchey, but it wasn’t really a big deal.
The reason why I was most interested in getting a blog post published on the Huff Post was so when our newly designed Sensophy website launches in November (!!), we can say “As Seen In” the Huff Post.
More credibility to help grow the community. :o)
A small celebration for the 2 months of maneuvering it took to get that post published, and now back to our regularly scheduled program, folks.
It’s 10:30am and your boy drops into the zone. Laser-like focus and 2 hours of coaching calls begin.
And by the time I wrap up the sessions at 12:30pm, I’m pretty damn beat.
Beat or not, I have an interview with my buddy Andy Drish in just 30 minutes at 1pm. So I do a quick 15 minute meditation to reboot my brain. And right before we jump on Skype, I check the Huff Post article and see that it’s starting to spread — like fucking wildfire!! The post had been live for just 4 hours and had been “liked” on FB over 900 times!
Well, that’s fun.
But back to business. Interview time with by Burning Man buddy, Andy. And by the time we wrap it up, the clock ticks 1:45pm and I’m trying to talk myself out of a run and into a nap. I’m shot.
In a desperate attempt for a dopamine shot before I drop, I quickly glance at my email and see that Rebecca, who handles most of Sensophy’s emails, had forwarded me something from Huff Post Live which went something like this:
My Stomach………. Dropped.
For just a quarter of a second, this feeling of “I so wish I was in a cubicle right now” swept over me.
The call to adventure, my friends. Ringa. Linga. Ring.
It’s the path with a heart that most scares us, yet it simultaneously offers a gateway to step deeply into our purpose with the potential to metamorphosize into a person whose head and heart are congruent.
It’s a death and a rebirth. The pain, suffering, and angst of giving birth precede the joy, fulfillment, and love of this new life. To channel a little Joseph Campbell, we have to be willing to let go of who we are in order to become what we’re capable of being.
Michael Bernard Beckwith says, “Rudimentary spirituality is theory; advanced spirituality is practice.”
Well, for everyone who’s wondering, here’s one of the things that REALLY sucks about being a coach:
You can’t just theorize! You have to actually live the theory.
But that’s also the blessing because this is how we continue to grow and live life authentically aligned with our hearts and dreams.
So with less than 2 hours to prepare, I tell Huff Post Live, “Screw it – I’ll do it!“ and the games begin.
(FYI – I didn’t actually say “Screw it” to the Huff Post.)
I decided to throw the webcam on as the escapades unraveled. I could tell you theory for years but I think there’s something so humanizing and relatable in welcoming you into my actual experience that day.
Gandhi says, “My life is my message” and I say, “Word up!”
My Shirtless State of Mind Before the Interview
A Short Clip From the Interview
–> You can see the full extended version here. <–
My Dancing State of Mind After the Interview
There you have it, folks. No one died. No puppies were put to sleep. And although I may or may not have lost circulation in my hands at one point in the interview, the magnetic polarity of the planet has not been reversed. All is good. And the article continues to be spread virally. It currently has more than 30,000 likes on FB and that’s just after 4 days of being live.
But the story doesn’t end there.
The Thing We All Fear — It Came True!
After 3.5 years in the game, it’s the first time in my “wellness career” that I’ve ever had to deal with this “thing”.
This “thing” is one of the main reasons why we’re reluctant to actually be ourselves.
It’s also one of the main reasons why we stay complacent in our jobs, suck it up, and don’t follow our dreams.
And it’s also the thing which you might view as a sign to run back to your safety blanket the moment you’re faced with it.
Any idea what I’m talking about?
The………. HATERS!
(AKA progress!)
If you check out the “favorite” comments in the article, you’ll see things along the lines of:
“I for one am tired of rich white men quitting their job, going off on some vision quest, and returning home to tell the world how easy life is.”
LOL.
I told that to my mom and she belly-laughed.
And while a small (okay, medium-sized) part of me wanted to go back and write something like…
“What if the author of this article was on welfare as a child? Parents divorced when he was 5? Grew up in a 1-bedroom basement apartment that flooded? Made $12 per hour out of college? And grew his business over the course of 3.5 years on sweat equity?”
…I didn’t respond.
Most of the people who left those kinda comments are SO far removed from our tribe here at Sensophy that it doesn’t feel like they deserve our time or energy.
I’m interested in serving YOU — creating a space where you can be yourself without being wrong and live with a greater sense of authenticity, growth, purpose, and connectedness.
I want to support you in getting to know yourself. I want to support you in finding people you can connect with on a soul level. And I want to support you in creating your most ideal, fulfilled life possible.
I wish the best for the haters. After all, hurt people hurt people. And they don’t need 12 things to do which will make them happier. They need a hug!
Besides, they missed the whole point of the article — that these are specific ACTIONS we can take RIGHT NOW to create a better life, instead of blaming others for our misfortunes and complaining that others have it easier.
I hope you’ll take a moment to celebrate this milestone with us as a community, and relish in the fact that we can be ourselves here without being wrong for it. No shame in our game.
And the next time you’re called into a path with a heart, take a jump knowing that you can overcome the fear of judgement and uncertainty by being yourself without being wrong for that.
Big love, homeboys and girls.
-Jacob
PS: Be Yourself Without Being Wrong!
If you want to be yourself without being wrong for it, I highly, *HIGHLY* suggest that you join us for our Sensophy’s Inner Circle call.
We have these calls every Tuesday at 5pm EDT and it’s a place where you’ll hear the most authentic stories of people just like you who are working through the challenges of uncertainty, judgment, and striving for something better in life. Then we add a little mentoring, coaching, and a private FB community to the mix and that shit is like Miracle Grow(th)! :o)
It’s only $25 per month, and if cash is tight, please let us know so we can hook you up for free! Any questions, hit us up with those, too!
29 Comments
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SOLID words. I stumbled across this interview a few days ago, exposing me to what you've created. Our generation NEEDS this. Its entirely to tedious to describe in words how much gratitude and admiration I feel for it all. Thank you. Hope to meet you one day, meanwhile I'm ecstatic you've put all this into action. A wonderful visionary you must be. It has incredible potential to get through to many, and it will.
Thank you, Vanessa! Thrilled you've joined our community. And would love to meet you as well. :o)
Go J!!!! rnExtremely proud of you and grateful for your experience :))rnThis is exactly what I needed to hear today… Amazing :))rnrnWith love,rnThe other J lol
LOL. Big hug! :o)
Congratulations!!! Really big step for you. It was awesome. 🙂
Good looking, homegirl! Appreciate you rocking with us!
well done!!! im proud of yoouu! im really do!, thx for being you!!! you are not pretending to be perfect , you are JUST YOU and thats why people like you;)
Hehehe… What are you saying I'm NOT perfect?!?!? Pfffffffffffff…. n nKidding. Thank you! And that was my suspicion as well. :o)
Wow Jacob totally loved your message. I only signed up to your newsletter about a month ago and I really respect your vision and what you are doing with your life. So many people around the world are yearning for more and want to shake their lives up but don't know how. I loved to see how you took us on a journey of post interview, interview and your interview high woo hoo – which is what its all about. In life we only want people to see our success and I thought it was lovely for you to show your nerves before doing the interview. We went on that rollercoaster with you and it was fab. High five and peace all the way baby!!!!!! ;o)
Ahhhhh – that was exactly my intention and it's so cool to hear reflected back to me. n nThank you for sharing your experience of it — and stoked that you're now apart of the family here. :o) n nWelcome home!
This is legend, so refreshing and inspiring to see your before, during and after and so real to know that we all get pre-game nerves and that we have to take a breath and just go for it to truly live our potential. Well done for stepping up and for living your reality and for sharing this with us. Good work coach! 🙂 r xxx
Hehehe.. good looks, Rachel. Thrilled it touched ya!
This was great Jacob. Wisest, "richest white man, who quit his job and went off on a quest with ALL the answers"- that I ever had the chance of speaking with.
LOL — thank you, bro!
YaYuH! nJacob, from someone who was here to witness the birth of Sensophy, this is a DEFINING moment. Not because you got validation from the Huffington post, not because a post went viral ('cause that's happened before 🙂 ) but because you had the PRESENCE & mindfulness to CAPTURE this before & after experience *real time*….facing down the resistance, naming that nervous fear/excitement, putting words and video to being confronted with a "walk-your-talk" moment, and giving the play-by-play that even when we DO THE WORK and get a cool opportunity, we still have to RISE up and be brave enough to SHOW UP FULLY. nStephen Pressfield (War of Art) would be SO PROUD! You could have just let the post speak for itself, you could have chickened out for the HuffPost Live, but instead you gave everybody a front row seat on this journey- nerves and all- and then even offered the few misguided haters a hug afterwards…this is why your tribe loves you. You are unapologetically, authentically, perfectly-imperfect & not afraid to show it, YOU! nHigh fives & hugs…I'm like a proud Mama over here, nE
Aghhhhhhhh… aren't we all. :o) n nThis style of post reminded me a little of the Gary-Vee challenge. n nAppreciate you stopping by and dropping one of your signature soul-sister shot-from-the-heart comments. n nLots of love, E-boogie!
Jacob, you are such an inspiration! Really exciting to see you share your authenticity so transparently. I totally get what you're saying here. But the doing is another thing, right? We are either expanding through love or contracting through fear, as David Allen would say. And you leaned into expansion, which serves everyone. I have been following your work for some time now and never knew about the Inner Circle. I'm on it! See you there, K
Yeeeeeeeeeeah!! So stoked to introduce you to the gang! n nThanx for the warm words and looking fwd to connecting more deeply soon!
Beautiful as always bro!
Thanx homey!
Love it. Thank you for being you. And for supporting us. It's never easy, but it's always worth it.
Hehehe… Where have I heard that before? :o) n nMy pleasure — and thank YOU for being you!
This is exactly how I felt before I went on The Raw Truth About Entrepreneurship. That was my first time doing video…and it was live. n nJust like you, I was scared shitless. But there is no better indicator in the world that you are doing something right like being that scared. n nUltimately, as long as we go into these scary endeavors with the proper mindset everything will go so freakin well. And who knows how many people's live just took a drastic turn from your words. n nEpic stuff. Keep it up bro.
Right on, yo. n nCongratz on your appearance and way to embody this wisdom! n nKeep in touch. :o)
Hi Jacob, so excited you will be taking part as a guest in Mentor Masterclass with Jeannine Yoder, I can't wait! I just visited your site today for the first time and my story in quiting my job and deciding to become a Life coach after travelling is quite similar, I also love that you mention the haters, it's something I've gotten a glimpse of (not through a viral post but from starting my weekly emails )and as Jeannine said, when that starts to happen you know you are doing something right 🙂
Hey Terena! n nYayayuh!! I'm stoked to be a part of it too — and thanx for sharing your experiences. :o) n nTalk soon.
Hey Jacob! You continue to inspire me with your truly authentic bad self!!! I have learned sooooo much from you since finding you earlier this year. What I appreciate the most, though, is that you show the ENTIRE journey – the good and the not-so-good and that's what keeps me coming back week after week. I have learned to enjoy the freaking process and the journey, instead of once being focused on the destination. I'm so excited to be a part of this! THANK YOU!! 🙂
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[…] all guarded and boarded up in some way or another. Reading this post and watching these videos that Jacob Sokol posted after his article went viral on the Huffington Post was both inspirational and refreshing. There’s always so much more that goes on behind closed […]