I believe we all have an inner genius. A divine spark that resides in each and every one of us. One that when fully accessed from our hearts, leads us to living a more purposeful, inspired, and impactful life.
A life where we feel a deep sense of direction, that powerfully utilizes our innate gifts and truly brings out the highest level of our talent and skills out into the world.
A life where we truly choose to ‘be’ with all of our emotions, embracing all parts of ourselves and allowing a non-judgmental curiosity to be our anchor.
A life that’s rooted in inner peace, compassion, joy, and self-love. As from these states of ‘being,’ all of our ‘doing’ is infused and authentically expressed.
You’re going to dig it here if…
You’re a self-motivated leader, who’s inwardly driven to be the absolute best version of yourself
You value and recognize the importance of emotional intelligence
You desire to live a more mindful and peacefully productive life
You believe that the best way to predict the future is to create it
You’re a lifelong learner who’s highly self-aware, yet remains open to new life enhancing possibilities
You realize that genuine happiness is an inside job
You recognize that a goal is a place to come from, not to get to
The story so far…
On the surface I was living the American Dream.
I was a top producing executive for the #1 valued sports franchise in the world, the Dallas Cowboys.
I was making more money than I ever even had dreamed of, adorning an impressive assortment of custom-made Italian suits, with the brand of a business card that literally opened doors for me pretty much any and everywhere I went.
While this was now my norm, it was quite counter to my experiences growing up.
At the age of 11 years young, I had a near death experience, leading to an emergency surgical operation and removal of both a tumor the size of a grapefruit, as well as my left adrenal gland from my lower belly. A few weeks right after this and just a month past my 12th birthday, my father passed away from cancer. He was 40 years young. And shortly after this, I started the 7th grade, where I was on the receiving end of a great deal of bullying.
I felt very much off center - physically, mentally, and emotionally. This was a really challenging period for me, as my already sensitive and very empathetic nature didn’t feel safe.
Seeing this, my mother moved us out of the city and into the suburbs, 30 miles away from the only place and environment that I had knew beforehand.
I genuinely believe this move saved my life, as my previously overwhelmed nervous system began to settle into more of a sense of peace and ease. I began to feel safe.
Now here I was, again, in what I considered to be my dream job, but there was only one problem.
I was Struggling (with a capital S).
Mentally, emotionally, and physically. I was on the cusp of burnout.
Mentally I felt both anxious and overwhelmed. I felt like my mind never stopped and each day felt as if I was swimming upstream.
Emotionally I felt as if I was HOLDING the world on my shoulders. I felt the pressure to continue to perform at a high level within my highly competitive role, while at the same time I was in a place of needing to support my mother financially and emotionally, as she began having health issues which required me to frequently miss time at work around different doctor and hospital visits.
Physically I felt like I was a shell of my former athletic self. Tiredness and exhaustion became my new daily norm, and no matter how much I slept, I couldn’t kick the feeling of just being worn out.
When I think back to the moment things drastically shifted for me, the answer was obvious: hiring a coach.
At first, prior to doing so, I felt a TREMENDOUS amount of fear and inner resistance. A thought of “am I really that weak” replayed in my head like a riddle. And truthfully, for a time, I felt very defeated around this. I wasn’t accustomed to being vulnerable and sharing deeper parts of myself.
However, at the same time I knew could no longer hold it all together, solely by myself.
I had banged my head against the wall (figuratively), trying my damndest time and time again to create a change for the better, but no truly sustainable shift was occurring for me.
I was reading all the books I could (with the already limited energy I had), as well as maximizing my time via Google searches, in search for the answers. And while at times I would have a flicker of a positive change, nothing was working.
It was at this point where I had a flash of an insight. That insight being that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results” (shout out to the great Albert Einstein for coining this)
At this point I made the proactive decision to reach out to a coach for support.
I was tired of putting all of my faith into books and Google. I was finally done riding the hamster wheel of trying to be Superman to everyone outside of myself. I was ready to take off the uncomfortable mask, the one that was a mixture of me “pretending to have it all together,” with a side of me “knowing it all,” topped off with a serving of “pushing myself’ even harder.”
And even deeper than that, I was finally ready to open myself up and connect with an actual human being. Allowing the space for someone else to assist me in both a pure and non-judgmental way.
A place where all that person really wanted at their core, was to see me thriving and at my absolute best.
I’m glad I made that call, as I truly believe it saved my life.
My health, sense of clarity, and business transformed from it. I easily learned more about myself, including my mind, body, and emotions, within six (6) months than I had at any other point prior. Ultimately, I not only regained a sense of being back to my balanced center, I now also both had, and integrated the tools and systems in order to continue to build on that foundation.
Professionally, my overall sales more than doubled from the previous year, physically my energy and overall vitality for life was at an all-time high, and emotionally I gained a whole newfound sense of a deeper purpose within it.
It was at that point where I knew my greater calling was to be a coach and teacher.
I had experienced from a front row seat, not only the toll of what ongoing mental, emotional and physical health challenges had within my own life, but I also saw firsthand the pain endured by not only my father, but my mother as well (who also ended up passing away shortly around this period of time too).
From this place, I then proactively transitioned out of my previously successful corporate sports career, in order to step deeper into my mission as a Life and Leadership Coach.
While I’m a lifelong student of leadership and personal development, some of the modalities I’ve since become certified in and utilize within my coaching are:
- Holistic Health & Nutrition
- Mind-Body Psychology
- Mindfulness based Meditation
- Positive Leadership
To which my coaching is focused within these four pillars:
- Energy Management
- Body Intelligence
- Authentic Communication
- Mindful Leadership
Since 2017, I have coached highly-driven executives, entrepreneurs, and non-profit leaders in coming alive and actualizing their full potential.
To date, this includes fortune 500 executives, high-level sports business leaders within the NFL, NBA, and MLB, a US Govt official, top educators (including multiple ivy league graduates), small business owners, as well as people from all walks of life.
My mission in life is to be a stand for those who aspire to assess their inner greatness, and live a peaceful, powerful, and inspiring life, grounded in self-love while doing so.
Fun Facts About Me!
I met my beautiful wife, who’s from Finland, online….shout out to Tinder ;-)
I’ve traveled to almost 30 different countries throughout the world, including Spain, France, Croatia, Sweden, and Norway
I’m a 200HR Certified Yoga and Mindfulness Meditation Instructor, completing nearly two months of my teacher training in Ecuador
My first dream as a kid was to play in the NBA, and I actually played one year of college basketball, before gracefully bowing out to focus solely on my studies
I’ve run (well actually pretty much power walked after mile 20) two marathons #MyLeftHamstringWasLikeNoSirOnBoth
As a body awareness experiment, I’ve tried vegetarian, vegan, paleo, raw foods, carnivore and keto nutritional plans for extended periods of time (hint – there’s no one ‘perfect’ way of eating for everyone)
Two of my previous roommates from my first corporate sports job after college (with the Dallas Cowboys), both have Super Bowl rings (one from the Green Bay Packers in 2011, the other from the Seattle Seahawks in 2014). I on the other hand, don’t have any :-(
One of my favorite authors and mentors was Wayne Dyer, who I had the privilege of personally meeting just weeks before his passing in 2015
My first ever intentional meditation practice was to the Radiohead album, The King of Limbs
In 2023 I read 25 books (and so far as of October 2024 I’ve read 39 - the yearly goal was 25)… I LOVE being an avid life-long learner