How does a notorious NYC graffiti writer
escape the criminal underworld and become
a life-coach who’s helped millions of people?!
My name’s Jacob Sokol.
Let me tell you a story about turning
your pain into purpose by
trusting your own unique path.
My name’s Jacob Sokol.
Let me tell you a story about turning
your pain into purpose by
trusting your own unique path.
When I was 4 years old, my pops would wake me up in the middle of the night…
“Jacob, JACOB, wake up… We’re going to the bodega to play video games!”. He was the coolest dad ever.
It was the late 80s in NYC, and while I never gave much thought to our midnight adventures…
It turns out we were really going to buy drugs.
The crack epidemic hit NY hard and a nuclear-bomb exploded smack in the center of The Sokol’s living room.
After 20 years together, mom moved out and dad’s drug crew moved in to help raise us. We got by on welfare, food stamps, and whatever street-smart hustling my dad was pulling off.
I was too young to remember the details of those days. But what I do remember is that I’ve always felt different…
I went to school in Harlem, and besides my big sis, I was the only white kid in my school.
Around 6, me and my momz landed in a basement apartment of a middle-class neighborhood called Flushing, Queens.
But as a tiny jew rapping Onyx lyrics, I still didn’t quite fit in.
I HATED school. I had seen too much of the real world to believe the bullshit Disney story that my teachers were trying to sell me about the way life worked.
While they were enjoying their weekend BBQs in suburbia, I’d head off to the hood in Washington Heights where my pops now lived.
Big sis would bring me to hang on the block until 3am.
The same blocks your favorite New York gangsta rappers rapped about doing drug deals on.
Little Jacob saw some shit.
My big sis loved me, and she’d bring me to hang with her on the block until 3am!
The same blocks your favorite New York gangsta rappers did drug deals on.
Little Jacob seen some shit.
I used to think the theme of my childhood was drugs. But I now realize the drugs were just a coping mechanism for the underlying issue: PAIN.
Pain can lead you toward addiction. But pain can also lead you toward your life’s purpose. More on that later…
When I was 4 years old, my pops would wake me up in the middle of the night…
When I was 4 years old, my pops would wake me up in the middle of the night…
“Jacob, JACOB, wake up… We’re going to the bodega to play video games!”. He was the coolest dad ever.
It was the late 80s in NYC, and while I never gave much thought to our midnight adventures…
It turns out we were really going to buy drugs.
The crack epidemic hit NY hard and a nuclear-bomb exploded smack in the center of The Sokol’s living room.
After 20 years together, mom moved out and dad’s drug crew moved in to help raise us. We got by on welfare, food stamps, and whatever street-smart hustling my dad was pulling off.
I was too young to remember the details of those days. But what I do remember is that I’ve always felt different…
I went to school in Harlem, and besides my big sis, I was the only white kid in my school.
Around 6, me and my momz landed in a basement apartment of a middle-class neighborhood called Flushing, Queens.
But as a tiny jew rapping Onyx lyrics, I still didn’t quite fit in.
I HATED school. I had seen too much of the real world to believe the bullshit Disney story that my teachers were trying to sell me about the way life worked.
While they were enjoying their weekend BBQs in suburbia, I’d head off to the hood in Washington Heights where my pops now lived.
My big sis loved me, and she’d bring me to hang with her on the block until 3am!
The same blocks your favorite New York gangsta rappers did drug deals on.
Little Jacob seen some shit.
My big sis loved me, and she’d bring me to hang with her on the block until 3am!
The same blocks your favorite New York gangsta rappers did drug deals on.
Little Jacob seen some shit.
Big sis would bring me to hang on the block until 3am.
The same blocks your favorite New York gangsta rappers rapped about doing drug deals on.
Little Jacob saw some shit.
I used to think the theme of my childhood was drugs. But I now realize the drugs were just a coping mechanism for the underlying issue: PAIN.
Pain can lead you toward addiction. But pain can also lead you toward your life’s purpose. More on that later…
By the time I turned 10, I had been in 10 fist fights.
By the time I turned 10, I had been in 10 fist fights.
I didn’t know what to do with my pain. But I spent my teenage years trying to figure it out.
By 13 years old, I was smoking weed 4 times a day. By 14, I was doing bumps of cocaine in my girlfriend’s basement. But it’s not even close…
BY FAR the biggest addiction of my teenage years was GRAFFITI.
I spent my teens scheming and dreaming about everything graffiti related.
Picture me 5’3 with a red bubble jacket, wobbling out of a hardware store like a penguin. Why? Because I had tucked my baggy jeans into my socks so I could stick 14 cans of spray paint down my legs and in my jacket without them falling out. A true graffiti writer never pays for paint.
But that was just the beginning… 😈
Back in the early 2000s, I created “The Official NYC Graffiti Website”, first-handedly documenting a legendary era of NYC graffiti (before it went pop!).
With my state-of-the-art floppy disk camera (tucked into my red bubble jacket so I wouldn’t get robbed), I traveled all throughout the different hoods of New York taking flicks.
As the site grew famous, it gave me the notoriety needed to enter into the deep graffiti underworld and interview the most notorious graffiti writers from that era – these supervillain type characters!
Despite being so young that my voice kinda sounded like a girl in the interviews, these thugs, drug dealers, and career criminals took a liking to me and mentored me on the tricks of the trade.
While you were sleeping, I was spending 100s of nights climbing onto NY rooftops, running across highways, sneaking through subway tunnels, and breaking into truck yards… all to spray paint my shit. I FUCKING LOVED IT.
Graffiti was therapeutic for my pain. It gave me purpose, community, adventure, and self-expression.
But just like the drugs, it was a short-term fix leading toward long-term trouble. And by the end of my teens, I could sense a catastrophe coming…
I had been arrested multiple times for writing graffiti and picked up a bad coke habit along the way.
One more arrest could send me to Rikers Island. And one more night of partying with the white girl could send me to an early grave.
The future was not bright, my friend. I had no sense of direction. No life ambitions. No real knowledge of self. And let’s just call it, subpar mental health.
What I DID have was a whisper of inner-wisdom telling me if I didn’t get my shit together NOW, life would never be the same.
I like to think of our inner-wisdom as being our “future successful self” giving us clues how to get there.
Most of us are so bombarded by the noise of our monkey-mind that we have a hard time trusting our gut.
Part Two:
False Success
By the time I turned 10, I had been in 10 fist fights.
I didn’t know what to do with my pain. But I spent my teenage years trying to figure it out.
By the time I turned 10, I had been in 10 fist fights.
By 13 years old, I was smoking weed 4 times a day. By 14, I was doing bumps of cocaine in my girlfriend’s basement. But it’s not even close…
BY FAR the biggest addiction of my teenage years was GRAFFITI.
I spent my teens scheming and dreaming about everything graffiti related.
Picture me 5’3 with a red bubble jacket, wobbling out of a hardware store like a penguin. Why? Because I had tucked my baggy jeans into my socks so I could stick 14 cans of spray paint down my legs and in my jacket without them falling out. A true graffiti writer never pays for paint.
But that was just the beginning… 😈
Back in the early 2000s, I created “The Official NYC Graffiti Website”, first-handedly documenting a legendary era of NYC graffiti (before it went pop!).
With my state-of-the-art floppy disk camera (tucked into my red bubble jacket so I wouldn’t get robbed), I traveled all throughout the different hoods of New York taking flicks.
As the site grew famous, it gave me the notoriety needed to enter into the deep graffiti underworld and interview the most notorious graffiti writers from that era – these supervillain type characters!
Despite being so young that my voice kinda sounded like a girl in the interviews, these thugs, drug dealers, and career criminals took a liking to me and mentored me on the tricks of the trade.
While you were sleeping, I was spending 100s of nights climbing onto NY rooftops, running across highways, sneaking through subway tunnels, and breaking into truck yards… all to spray paint my shit. I FUCKING LOVED IT.
Graffiti was therapeutic for my pain. It gave me purpose, community, adventure, and self-expression.
But just like the drugs, it was a short-term fix leading toward long-term trouble. And by the end of my teens, I could sense a catastrophe coming…
I had been arrested multiple times for writing graffiti and picked up a bad coke habit along the way.
One more arrest could send me to Rikers Island. And one more night of partying with the white girl could send me to an early grave.
The future was not bright, my friend. I had no sense of direction. No life ambitions. No real knowledge of self. And let’s just call it, subpar mental health.
What I DID have was a whisper of inner-wisdom telling me if I didn’t get my shit together NOW, life would never be the same.
I like to think of our inner-wisdom as being our “future successful self” giving us clues how to get there.
Most of us are so bombarded by the noise of our monkey-mind that we have a hard time trusting our gut.
My inner-wisdom led me to a minimum wage job.
My inner-wisdom led me to a minimum wage job.
I was 21 years old and the job was perfect.
It was for a tiny IT consulting shop in Times Square where I got my hands dirty learning in the field. Although I hated school, I loved learning things I found practical.
My boss was incredible. He was a street dude turned tech wizard who had a similar upbringing as me. He spent years in prison in his teens and then came home to create a beautiful service-based life. His mentorship was quickly transforming my life…
I started that gig with no credentials making 12 bucks per hour. And within 3 years, I had amassed a skillset that got me an offer for nearly $100K at the age of 24.
I had beat the odds. With long hours, an open mind, and incredible mentorship, I reinvented myself as a young tech wiz managing the computer networks of 50+ companies in Manhattan.
I proved to the world, and myself, that I could get my shit together and be successful. But as I’d soon learn, there are many definitions of “success”.
Underneath the prestigious job, fancy Amex, and baller bachelor pad, my childhood trauma was throwing a houseparty inside of me.
I started that gig with no credentials making 12 bucks per hour. And within 3 years, I had amassed a skillset that got me an offer for nearly $100K at the age of 24.
I had beat the odds. With long hours, an open mind, and incredible mentorship, I reinvented myself as a young tech wiz managing the computer networks of 50+ companies in Manhattan.
I proved to the world, and myself, that I could get my shit together and be successful. But as I’d soon learn, there are many definitions of “success”.
Underneath the prestigious job, fancy Amex, and baller bachelor pad, my childhood trauma was throwing a houseparty inside of me.
I’d wake up in the morning and be terrified of my first thought, immediately bracing to get sucka-punched by the shame goblin.
As my day went on, I’d ride an emotional rollercoaster of high-highs and low-lows that could plummet my self-worth in an instant.
When I wasn’t distracted by work, I was constantly questioning everything: Who am I? What’s my purpose? Why am I so fucked up? Am I gay? How come I’m not in a relationship?
It’s like there were 2 Jacobs. The successful me that I showed to the world. And the inner me that had a vault of secrets I wasn’t willing to share with ANYONE.
How could I expect people to understand me when I couldn’t even understand myself?
After all, coming from the crazy life I came from, I felt guilty and ungrateful that I couldn’t just be happy with my newfound success.
So, I decided to do the most reasonable thing you can imagine…
I bought a motorcycle and swerved it through bumper to bumper New York City rush-hour traffic to go KICK-BOX after work!
Now I know you’ll be surprised to hear this, but that didn’t fix much.
I was still stuck in my head. Stuck in a job I should have loved but didn’t. Stuck in a life of secret suffering pretending it was all good.
Thankfully, my inner-wisdom once again whispered to me: “You need a change… Take a trip to Europe.”
I could barely figure out how to spell Europe, no less plan a trip there, but deep down I knew I had to go.
What was my other option? Continuing to quietly kill myself on the torturous Time Square treadmill? I’d take my chances in Your Up.
That trip changed me forever. Because when I changed my environment, my thoughts changed too! And my inner-wisdom knew: If I could change my thoughts, I could change my life.
Realizing “I am not my thoughts” was the most liberating experience of my life.
It meant that just because I had a crazy thought, didn’t mean I was a crazy person. And just because my thoughts said fucked up shit to me, didn’t mean they were actually true.
Who knew all that European boozing and hooking up could lead to enlightenment?!
I came back to NYC, stacked some doe, and quit my job 6 months later.
To be great at IT, you’ve gotta train yourself to know that with enough patience and experimentation, any problem is solvable – even if it requires getting help.
I figured I’d apply that same mindset to my life.
Part Three:
The Treasures Of Pain
Part Two:
False Success
My inner-wisdom led me to a minimum wage job.
My inner-wisdom led me to a minimum wage job.
My inner-wisdom led me to a minimum wage job.
I was 21 years old and the job was perfect.
It was for a tiny IT consulting shop in Times Square where I got my hands dirty learning in the field. Although I hated school, I loved learning things I found practical.
My boss was incredible. He was a street dude turned tech wizard who had a similar upbringing as me. He spent years in prison in his teens and then came home to create a beautiful service-based life. His mentorship was quickly transforming my life…
I started that gig with no credentials making 12 bucks per hour. And within 3 years, I had amassed a skillset that got me an offer for nearly $100K at the age of 24.
I had beat the odds. With long hours, an open mind, and incredible mentorship, I reinvented myself as a young tech wiz managing the computer networks of 50+ companies in Manhattan.
I proved to the world, and myself, that I could get my shit together and be successful. But as I’d soon learn, there are many definitions of “success”.
Underneath the prestigious job, fancy Amex, and baller bachelor pad, my childhood trauma was throwing a houseparty inside of me.
I started that gig with no credentials making 12 bucks per hour. And within 3 years, I had amassed a skillset that got me an offer for nearly $100K at the age of 24.
I had beat the odds. With long hours, an open mind, and incredible mentorship, I reinvented myself as a young tech wiz managing the computer networks of 50+ companies in Manhattan.
I proved to the world, and myself, that I could get my shit together and be successful. But as I’d soon learn, there are many definitions of “success”.
Underneath the prestigious job, fancy Amex, and baller bachelor pad, my childhood trauma was throwing a houseparty inside of me.
I started that gig with no credentials making 12 bucks per hour. And within 3 years, I had amassed a skillset that got me an offer for nearly $100K at the age of 24.
I had beat the odds. With long hours, an open mind, and incredible mentorship, I reinvented myself as a young tech wiz managing the computer networks of 50+ companies in Manhattan.
I proved to the world, and myself, that I could get my shit together and be successful. But as I’d soon learn, there are many definitions of “success”.
Underneath the prestigious job, fancy Amex, and baller bachelor pad, my childhood trauma was throwing a houseparty inside of me.
I started that gig with no credentials making 12 bucks per hour. And within 3 years, I had amassed a skillset that got me an offer for nearly $100K at the age of 24.
I had beat the odds. With long hours, an open mind, and incredible mentorship, I reinvented myself as a young tech wiz managing the computer networks of 50+ companies in Manhattan.
I proved to the world, and myself, that I could get my shit together and be successful. But as I’d soon learn, there are many definitions of “success”.
Underneath the prestigious job, fancy Amex, and baller bachelor pad, my childhood trauma was throwing a houseparty inside of me.
I’d wake up in the morning and be terrified of my first thought, immediately bracing to get sucka-punched by the shame goblin.
As my day went on, I’d ride an emotional rollercoaster of high-highs and low-lows that could plummet my self-worth in an instant.
When I wasn’t distracted by work, I was constantly questioning everything: Who am I? What’s my purpose? Why am I so fucked up? Am I gay? How come I’m not in a relationship?
It’s like there were 2 Jacobs. The successful me that I showed to the world. And the inner me that had a vault of secrets I wasn’t willing to share with ANYONE.
How could I expect people to understand me when I couldn’t even understand myself?
After all, coming from the crazy life I came from, I felt guilty and ungrateful that I couldn’t just be happy with my newfound success.
So, I decided to do the most reasonable thing you can imagine…
I bought a motorcycle and swerved it through bumper to bumper New York City rush-hour traffic to go KICK-BOX after work!
I’d wake up in the morning and be terrified of my first thought, immediately bracing to get sucka-punched by the shame goblin.
As my day went on, I’d ride an emotional rollercoaster of high-highs and low-lows that could plummet my self-worth in an instant.
When I wasn’t distracted by work, I was constantly questioning everything: Who am I? What’s my purpose? Why am I so fucked up? Am I gay? How come I’m not in a relationship?
It’s like there were 2 Jacobs. The successful me that I showed to the world. And the inner me that had a vault of secrets I wasn’t willing to share with ANYONE.
How could I expect people to understand me when I couldn’t even understand myself?
After all, coming from the crazy life I came from, I felt guilty and ungrateful that I couldn’t just be happy with my newfound success.
So, I decided to do the most reasonable thing you can imagine…
I bought a motorcycle and swerved it through bumper to bumper New York City rush-hour traffic to go KICK-BOX after work!
Now I know you’ll be surprised to hear this, but that didn’t fix much.
I was still stuck in my head. Stuck in a job I should have loved but didn’t. Stuck in a life of secret suffering pretending it was all good.
Thankfully, my inner-wisdom once again whispered to me: “You need a change… Take a trip to Europe.”
I could barely figure out how to spell Europe, no less plan a trip there, but deep down I knew I had to go.
What was my other option? Continuing to quietly kill myself on the torturous Time Square treadmill? I’d take my chances in Your Up.
That trip changed me forever. Because when I changed my environment, my thoughts changed too! And my inner-wisdom knew: If I could change my thoughts, I could change my life.
Realizing “I am not my thoughts” was the most liberating experience of my life.
It meant that just because I had a crazy thought, didn’t mean I was a crazy person. And just because my thoughts said fucked up shit to me, didn’t mean they were actually true.
Who knew all that European boozing and hooking up could lead to enlightenment?!
I came back to NYC, stacked some doe, and quit my job 6 months later.
To be great at IT, you’ve gotta train yourself to know that with enough patience and experimentation, any problem is solvable – even if it requires getting help.
I figured I’d apply that same mindset to my life.
Part Three:
The Treasures Of Pain
I decided to bet on myself and went all-in on my happiness.
I decided to bet on myself and went all-in on my happiness.
50-cent said he’d get rich or die trying. I was gonna get happy or die trying.
My family and friends thought I was crazy, but my gut said if I was willing to trade my short-term ego for my long-term fulfillment, I could figure shit out.
So I went full mad-scientist and studied EVERYTHING I could find…
I’m talkin, positive psychology, ancient philosophy, modern neuroscience, mental toughness, emotional mastery, tantric lovemaking, esoteric spirituality, and so much more.
Like an unfathomable magic trick unfolding before my sweet mother’s eyes, the kid who HATED school transformed himself into a fucking personal development encyclopedia.
I couldn’t shut up about what I was learning. Nine members of my extended family received Eckhart Tolle books in the mail. 🤷♂️
But it didn’t stop there…
I started learning that the most important thing to study was right here the whole time: MYSELF.
What were my strengths? My values? My passions? Shit, even getting into relationship with my fears, OCD, and craziness was helpful in taking my power back from them.
For the first time in my life, I knew I was on the right path.
And as I started living true to myself, my self-worth became less negotiable. External events stopped having so much power over me. I was able to take risks without it jeopardizing my value as a person.
I finally felt like I knew who Jacob really was.
Suddenly, it became clear to me: The most meaningful thing I could imagine would be helping other people the same way this life-changing wisdom was helping me.
So back in 2010, I started one of the first personal development blogs on the internet and called it Sensophy.
It’s a word I made up that means “the feeling of wisdom” (Sense + Sophy). My viewpoint was that INFORMATION is overrated – we’ve gotta focus on TRANSFORMATION. That’s when we’ll feel the power of this wisdom.
After a year of pouring my soul into the Sensophy community for 40-60 hours per week for free, I needed a way to support myself financially.
And there you have it…
That’s how an ex-graffiti writing criminal, turned IT tech-wiz, became a life-coach back in 2011, before the industry even existed.
I decided to bet on myself and went all-in on my happiness.
I decided to bet on myself and went all-in on my happiness.
50-cent said he’d get rich or die trying. I was gonna get happy or die trying.
My family and friends thought I was crazy, but my gut said if I was willing to trade my short-term ego for my long-term fulfillment, I could figure shit out.
So I went full mad-scientist and studied EVERYTHING I could find…
I’m talkin, positive psychology, ancient philosophy, modern neuroscience, mental toughness, emotional mastery, tantric lovemaking, esoteric spirituality, and so much more.
Like an unfathomable magic trick unfolding before my sweet mother’s eyes, the kid who HATED school transformed himself into a fucking personal development encyclopedia.
I couldn’t shut up about what I was learning. Nine members of my extended family received Eckhart Tolle books in the mail. 🤷♂️
But it didn’t stop there…
I started learning that the most important thing to study was right here the whole time: MYSELF.
What were my strengths? My values? My passions? Shit, even getting into relationship with my fears, OCD, and craziness was helpful in taking my power back from them.
For the first time in my life, I knew I was on the right path.
And as I started living true to myself, my self-worth became less negotiable. External events stopped having so much power over me. I was able to take risks without it jeopardizing my value as a person.
I finally felt like I knew who Jacob really was.
Suddenly, it became clear to me: The most meaningful thing I could imagine would be helping other people the same way this life-changing wisdom was helping me.
So back in 2010, I started one of the first personal development blogs on the internet and called it Sensophy.
It’s a word I made up that means “the feeling of wisdom” (Sense + Sophy). My viewpoint was that INFORMATION is overrated – we’ve gotta focus on TRANSFORMATION. That’s when we’ll feel the power of this wisdom.
After a year of pouring my soul into the Sensophy community for 40-60 hours per week for free, I needed a way to support myself financially.
And there you have it…
That’s how an ex-graffiti writing criminal, turned IT tech-wiz, became a life-coach back in 2011, before the industry even existed.
Fast forward to today and I’ve spent the last 10+ years living a life I couldn’t have dreamed of.
Fast forward to today and I’ve spent the last 10+ years living a life I couldn’t have dreamed of.
My work has reached millions of people. I’ve become friends with authors I used to idolize. And I’ve done it all by doubling-down on my authenticity, trusting that I’d attract the exact right people meant to be in my life.
As a kid, I didn’t know what to do with my pain. But as a man, I’ve turned my pain into purpose, and my purpose into profit.
Thousands of coaching sessions later, I’ve developed a masterful ability to help people KNOW themselves, LOVE themselves, and TRUST themselves – so that ultimately, they create careers, relationships, and lives that are TRUE to themselves.
I’ll admit it to you. I love the fact that a blunt blazing teenage truant who barely got his ass through high-school has gone on to coach Harvard graduates, Google executives, Supreme Court lawyers, and so many more.
Who knew that street-smart wisdom could be just as valuable as what they teach in academic and corporate institutions?
I DID. Deep down. But I had to quiet the noise of society and follow my own truth.
My adventurous spirit from my teenage years still lives on in me. But instead of running from the cops, I now run yearly retreats from the jungles of Bali to the mountains of Mexico. Retreats that people have told me was the single greatest experience of their lives!
I no longer interview New York’s most notorious graffiti supervillains. In my adult life, I took that same thirst for wisdom and interviewed the world’s leading experts in the field of Positive Psychology about the science of happiness.
Think about it… Based on how my life started, I could have been dead, in jail, or making repeat runs to the rehab center right now. SHIT, out of all the possible ways my life could have gone, I’d say this is a damn good multiverse to end up in!
But I didn’t just “end up” here, I fucking worked for it.
I’ve meditated everyday for over 10 years straight. I’ve sought out the best coaches on the planet and invested over $100,000 into my own inner-work. I’ve learned the hidden art of rewiring my nervous system, healing my generational trauma, and courageously trusting my own inner-wisdom over society’s expectations of me.
I’m thankful to the field of personal development for helping me to create a life infinitely better than society’s default path.
But after a decade of working in the field, I can also say there’s just as much dogma on the path to “enlightenment” as there is living in the matrix. Too many people become othadox about self-improvement, like: “This is what personal development says so you must follow that.”
They go from following society’s rules to following Deepak Chopra’s 7 Spiritual Rules For Not Being A Numb-Nutz.
Sure, we can learn from scientists, stoics, shamans, and everyone in between. But at the end of the day, there is no RIGHT way. It’s YOUR way. Whatever the fuck you want that to be.
Fast forward to today and I’ve spent the last 10+ years living a life I couldn’t have dreamed of.
Fast forward to today and I’ve spent the last 10+ years living a life I couldn’t have dreamed of.
My work has reached millions of people. I’ve become friends with authors I used to idolize. And I’ve done it all by doubling-down on my authenticity, trusting that I’d attract the exact right people meant to be in my life.
As a kid, I didn’t know what to do with my pain. But as a man, I’ve turned my pain into purpose, and my purpose into profit.
Thousands of coaching sessions later, I’ve developed a masterful ability to help people KNOW themselves, LOVE themselves, and TRUST themselves – so that ultimately, they create careers, relationships, and lives that are TRUE to themselves.
I’ll admit it to you. I love the fact that a blunt blazing teenage truant who barely got his ass through high-school has gone on to coach Harvard graduates, Google executives, Supreme Court lawyers, and so many more.
Who knew that street-smart wisdom could be just as valuable as what they teach in academic and corporate institutions?
I DID. Deep down. But I had to quiet the noise of society and follow my own truth.
My adventurous spirit from my teenage years still lives on in me. But instead of running from the cops, I now run yearly retreats from the jungles of Bali to the mountains of Mexico. Retreats that people have told me was the single greatest experience of their lives!
I no longer interview New York’s most notorious graffiti supervillains. In my adult life, I took that same thirst for wisdom and interviewed the world’s leading experts in the field of Positive Psychology about the science of happiness.
Think about it… Based on how my life started, I could have been dead, in jail, or making repeat runs to the rehab center right now. SHIT, out of all the possible ways my life could have gone, I’d say this is a damn good multiverse to end up in!
But I didn’t just “end up” here, I fucking worked for it.
I’ve meditated everyday for over 10 years straight. I’ve sought out the best coaches on the planet and invested over $100,000 into my own inner-work. I’ve learned the hidden art of rewiring my nervous system, healing my generational trauma, and courageously trusting my own inner-wisdom over society’s expectations of me.
I’m thankful to the field of personal development for helping me to create a life infinitely better than society’s default path.
But after a decade of working in the field, I can also say there’s just as much dogma on the path to “enlightenment” as there is living in the matrix. Too many people become othadox about self-improvement, like: “This is what personal development says so you must follow that.”
They go from following society’s rules to following Deepak Chopra’s 7 Spiritual Rules For Not Being A Numb-Nutz.
Sure, we can learn from scientists, stoics, shamans, and everyone in between. But at the end of the day, there is no RIGHT way. It’s YOUR way. Whatever the fuck you want that to be.
That’s some of my curriculum. What’s yours?!
My coaching isn’t about telling you the right way to live. It’s about living the way that’s right for YOU.
You can be deep AND superficial. Do breathwork AND get botox. Follow your purpose AND watch porn. Meditate on non-attachment AND prioritize making lots of money. Consciously pursue your most unenlightened goals. Who cares!
When deep down in your heart you realize that nothing is wrong with you, and you do the inner work to know you’ll be okay no matter what, then BOY does life get a lot more fun!
If you’re inspired to play the game of life by your own rules – in your career, relationships, and lifestyle – and would like me on your
team, hit me up! I work with people 1-on-1 and also run an
incredible group journey called The Cave & The Clouds.
Much love,
Jacob
If you’d like to keep in touch, or you’re curious about working together, Reach out and say what up! Or, apply to join me and an incredible group on a sacred adventure called The Cave & The Clouds!
Much love,
Jacob