Chapter 2 – “Adulting: Putting on the Golden Handcuffs”

In Chapter 2 of the podcast, J. Thorn discusses the transition from being a non-conformist to becoming a practical and responsible adult. J. acknowledges that there’s no shame in being responsible and making one’s parents proud, but questions why this might not bring satisfaction. The episode encourages listeners to reflect on their core identity and potential, and to embrace their “Call to Adventure” at any stage in life.

In Episode one, we identified as non-conformist, independent types. Maybe that’s why we loved it when Pee Wee Herman uttered this classic line in his “Big Adventure” movie: “I’m a loner, Dottie. A rebel.”

But that was then, this is now. Nonconformist status aside, you probably found yourself doing some pretty conventional things, such as getting married or buying a house. You may have adopted pets or had kids, adopted kids or had… You get the point.

I want to acknowledge that there’s no shame in being practical, reasonable, responsible, and making your parents proud.

You earned money. You bought a living room set with the additional sofa. You bought a new car with the 5-year warranty.

So why are you adrift? Weren’t those handcuffs golden? Why doesn’t it feel right? Where is the satisfaction in all of this? What’s the point?

It’s never too late to make a change. At any given moment, you can look back and see when your core identity was shining through, regardless of your situation, because that light never goes out entirely. It’s always been there, even when you’re not looking for it.

You mourn lost opportunities. You think back to that 25-year-old version of yourself and all of your potential. Just because you’re not that future version of yourself doesn’t mean you’re not the future version of yourself you need to be.

You haven’t wasted any time because all of your experiences brought you to today—to this very moment. With deliberate intention, you see that your Call to Adventure has been waiting for you. It’s ready to go when you are.

Nothing is the end until the end. Colonel Sanders didn’t start franchising Kentucky Fried Chicken until he was 65, starting the business with his $105 monthly Social Security check.

You’re not a chicken. And you’re not waiting until age 65 to get started. Let’s go.

Obligation is a burden

I felt obligated to honor the sacrifices my parents made for me to go to college, so upon graduation, I immediately started sending resumes to hundreds of school districts.

In 1994, I followed the woman who would become my wife to New Jersey. I transferred to a Sam Goody record store in East Brunswick where I had to buy ramen noodles from the dollar store because minimum wage wasn’t enough to afford groceries at Shop Rite. In late summer of 1994, on the 137^th resume I mailed, I landed an intern position at a small private school—a salaried position for a whopping $19,500.

I taught at that school in New Jersey, then at a school in Nashville, then at a school in Cleveland until I left the profession in 2017 at age 46. I actively refused my Call to Adventure for almost 25 years. But it didn’t go completely silent. In 1995, I was teaching 5^th graders fractions by having them play the quarter-note bass line on my guitar to a Bush song. “Maybe I’ll fly to Los Angeles…”

It wasn’t until I was hired to become the Assistant Director of Entrepreneurial Education at a private school in Cleveland that I heard the Call to Adventure again—and the timing couldn’t have been worse. I was the primary wage earner for the family. Both of my kids were enrolled in a private school. We had a mortgage and two car payments.

But the Call to Adventure became louder when Steve Blank, invited our team to present educator workshops—in his living room—on his California coastal estate where our lectures competed with barking seals on the shore.

Blank created the customer development method that launched the lean startup movement. As Wikipedia states, “His Lean Launchpad class (taught as the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps, or I-Corps) has become the standard for commercialization for all federal research and has trained 1,900 teams and launched 1,000+ startups. His Hacking for Defense Class has been adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense.”

I co-designed and presented these two entrepreneurship workshops at Blank’s home in Pescadero, California. We sold them out, and in the process, gained national and international recognition, covered by publications such as Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, and EdSurge.

I was at the top of my profession in both salary and recognition. And yet it wasn’t enough. I felt guilty for even having that thought. How could I be so ungrateful for my lot in life when I’d been so fortunate?

I know you’ve asked yourself that same question. I was you not that long ago. I know what you’re feeling and why.

Men in Black Shirts // Episode 11 // April 3, 2023

This clip is from “Men in Black Shirts,” episode 11, first published on April 3, 2023.

In this episode, I explain how I met my wife to T.W. and Zach.

Keeping your ego in check is not something you think about doing, but it’s essential because it forces you to have empathy and makes you a better teacher.

My wife is not a romantic, but she has a great sense of humor.

You’ll discover that you can have wildly different experiences, and that your recollection of those experiences changes over time. You’ll also better understand early 90s grunge fashion.

Transcript:

Tyler: How about you, J.? What’s your story?

J.: So, I was in college when I met Joy. I was working at Camelot Music, and there were some very bizarre coincidences that we found out later. Like, our grandmothers were childhood friends and lived just a street apart. We didn’t know this for a long time.

She ran the desk at the Student Union where all the pool tables were, and I played pool three or four times a week. So, I’m sure we talked, you know, but didn’t realize it.

Anyway, she was a new hire at Camelot, and I was out with my buddy Jeff. We were getting ready to go drinking. This was around ‘91 or ‘92. I was full-on grunge man, like one of those dudes in “Singles.”

Zach: Grunge pool shark.

J.: Yeah! With the flannel on, ripped jeans, and bandanas in my hair. I was trying to be Eddie Vedder or something.

Tyler: So, “Grandma was taking you home,” right?

J.: Yeah. I was full-on grunge in my early 20s.

Jeff and I decided we needed some music to listen to because we were going to go drink and smoke. We planned to go in and buy some CDs.

I remember walking in; I hadn’t met her yet. I heard that they had hired a new girl, and I looked up to see her at the register.

Dude, she was stunning. You’re still stunning, Joy, but back then, she was 22, had long, dark, shiny hair, piercing green eyes, and wore red lipstick. She was all dressed in black, like a tight black skirt.

I couldn’t breathe. I didn’t even look at her. I didn’t introduce myself. We picked out a few CDs and checked out without talking to her. Once we got in the car, I told Jeff, “I’m going to marry that girl.” He said, “She is so far out of your league, dude. You’re high. There’s no way.”

So a few years later – we didn’t get together right away because I was seeing someone else – but we were in that phase of your early 20s where everyone’s hanging out together, working together, and sort of sleeping together. There’s that dynamic in your early 20s when you have a group of friends like that.

A few years later, we get together, and we got married. Years later, we were at a party or dinner when another couple asked us to tell the story of how we met. Everyone always wants to hear that story.

So, I told that story, and I mentioned that I knew right away I was going to marry her. There was no question about it. She was way out of my league, but I just knew it. I remember the woman saying, “Oh, that’s so romantic!” Then she turned to Joy and asked, “What did you think when you first saw him?”

Joy said, “I thought he worked at a gas station.”

Yep, that’s my wife. That’s Joy for you.

Teaching Transformations // Episode 16 // July 5, 2021

This clip is from “Teaching Transformations,” episode 16, first published on July 5, 2021.

I started “Teaching Transformations” with my friend and former colleague, Dr. Ryan Wooley. We worked together for years at an independent school in Cleveland, leading and training teachers in educational technology.

Ryan and I became fast friends and remain so even though we haven’t worked together since 2017. This short-lived podcast, although packed with insights, was my first attempt at addressing the “retirement crisis.” I’ve embedded many of the principles from “Teaching Transformations” into the “Profitable Sage.”

In this episode, Ryan and I discuss the stories we’re writing, living, and revising.

Dr. Wooley asks me to set the stage, to tell my story. We talk about the curse of the “golden handcuffs,” and how it’s far easier to claim victim than to do something about it.

Ryan asks me what made me what I am. I share aspects of my journey from rebellious teenager to compliant professional, with a hint of my current rebellious professional persona.

You’ll discover that even though you think you’re a finished product, you’re always a work in progress. Therefore, failure is always an option—necessary road bumps on the journey. What’s the worst that could happen to you?

Transcript:

Ryan: Well, I want to play on this theme of stories. Because we all have them. We’re all living stories and writing our life stories.

And so, I want to delve into some questions here, like, “What are the stories we’re living? What are pivotal moments from our life stories? How much of our stories are we writing and then enacting versus being written by others? How much can we revise our stories?”

So, to start, tell me your story.

J.: My story. So my story right now is I walked away from the golden handcuffs to take control of my time in my life. That’s my story right now.

Ryan: All right, well, can you take us back to the beginning? Go way back.

J.: How far back?

Ryan: All the way back.

J.: I will. I’m not being cheeky.

But like, I think there’s also sort of a context to this, because I’ve been thinking about this episode, what we’re going to talk about, and one of the things that I realized is that I think people who claim victimhood are not going to like this episode. If you like to blame other people, or other circumstances, for your problems, you should probably stop listening right now. And the reason I say that is, this is a challenge to see how you manifest things in life. I mean, that’s what we’re talking about with stories, right?

Like you create your own story, and then you enact it. You can choose.

Your story can be, the boss is a jerk. And if only that boss wasn’t there, I would be a superstar. And then you can live that story out. Or you can say, the boss is a jerk, and therefore I’m going to find a new boss or become my own boss, and you can live that story out. So there’s an element of choice here.

And I think there are people who get really entrenched in their lives and in their problems, who don’t see it that way. And I’m not talking about things that happen, bad things that happen to people, unexpected things. I don’t mean that. I’m talking about the reality that you create, is something you create, for better or worse.

It’s something I have to be reminded of, and it’s something I fall victim to quite often. So, even my story, I am where I am now. But if you asked me that question 10 years ago, my story would have been completely different.

Ryan: Right.

J.: So, going back to your question, what’s the beginning of the story? And I would turn it around on you and say, well, which story?

Ryan: Yeah, well, so what I’m trying to get at is, first of all, I agree with you. But secondly, it’s even that point of view, was informed by your life story, some of it chosen and some of it not chosen, you know.

So that’s what I wanted to get into is like, what made you who you are, how much of that is fixed, how much of it is malleable? How much of that can be rewritten?

And, since you had to jump to the punch line, I mean, the end of the story with all this. I mean, I’ll just say the reason that I think this is worth digging into, is because I think that second act, stages of lives, are opportunities to rewrite our stories.

But I think that happens best if we know who we are and how we got there. So that was my reason for wanting to get into this topic. And, I’m not a therapist, I’m not looking to be a therapist or anything, but I do think even your point of view has to, I bet there are strands of it that trace all the way back to when you were really young.

J.: Yeah, you know, I don’t know. It’s an interesting question because it gets to like, how much did you come into the world with and how much did you develop once you arrived?

I think about my childhood, I was incredibly compliant up until the time I was a teenager. I mean, I did everything my parents told me to do. I was extremely polite and respectful, quiet. And I’m not necessarily saying this is a good thing. I was a really, really good kid up until the time I was a teenager.

And I don’t know, so I can’t say like, “Well, I’ve always been a rebel. I’ve always had this streak in me that I was going to do what I please.” That was not the case. I was raised to be, you know, the old adage of children should be seen and not heard. And that was how I was raised.

And even when I started to rebel as a teenager, because my parents had such a strict idea of what children were supposed to do or say or be, those battles were even more intense. And I kind of dug my heels in even further, only to spite them, not for any moral high ground.

So I really don’t know, I don’t know where it started. I mean, I rebelled as a teenager, I almost dropped out of college. For many of the same reasons. I’m like, I’m doing this because my parents want me to. I don’t know why I’m here. My dad, he kind of talked me into staying and I did and then what did I do? Like, I turned around, and I immediately entered a profession full of very compliant people.

Like, I mean, let’s be honest, educators are not rabble rousers. We can’t be. We have to be nurturing and empathetic, we’re not, we’re not the ones who are supposed to be causing the problems.

And so, I spent decades as a very compliant, somewhat eccentric, and minor pain in the butt for my administrators, but not a troublemaker. And I stayed in conservative careers as a compliant employee.

Yeah, and I think that’s why it’s so important to have either friends or small communities of like-minded people, in those moments. Because I, I think about my own decision to leave my job and become a full-time writer and publisher. I didn’t do that completely on my own. I mean, I did, but like, I felt like it was the risk I was willing to take, because I was in a community of other people who were doing the same thing. I changed my story from, “Well, this is impossible for me, there’s no way I can do this.” To saying, “Well, other people around me are like me are doing this. So why can’t I?”

And that’s the power to change that story. To believe it or not believe it. And it doesn’t mean that there’s no risk, and it doesn’t mean that you’re guaranteed the risk isn’t gonna pay off. But it does allow you to change the story. And I think once you change the story, well, I think we’re constantly enacting the stories we tell. So as soon as you change one, then you’re immediately starting to take actions that are different than what they were before.

I don’t think I fully realized that until several years after I left the classroom and was no longer teaching. Because I think for years, what held me back was, well, “What would I do if I fail? What if I create the story and it’s wrong?” Like, and for some reason, I overlooked the idea that I could just write a new story. Like, literally, I look back now and I know like, from where you are, and if you’re currently in a full-time job, or if you’re currently teaching, walking away probably feels next to impossible. Like it just, I know, I felt those feelings.

And when I think what I failed to realize was, I was not going to end up under a bridge down by the river. Like, I just wasn’t. Maybe that’s some sort of false sense of myself. Or maybe it’s my own ego that won’t let me think that but like, I’ve never thought like, well, if I walk away from teaching, then we’re going to be homeless.

What I realize now is that I could rewrite that story so I could say okay, if next year my author business tanks, I’ll just go get another teaching job. Or I’ll go apply for like, and it now to me, it just doesn’t even faze me. I’m like, well, yeah, I’ll just, I’ll just go make money some other way if it doesn’t work, but it’s the inflection point of that decision. It seems overwhelming. It feels like you’re making a decision between your life, everything you care about, and you’re putting it all on the line and you’re risking your family’s well-being. And I think for most of us, that’s not true. Like I think the worst-case scenario is if you try something and it doesn’t work, you can just try something else or you can go back to what you were doing.

I think that’s what was lost on me and I think having a few years out now I can look back and see like, yeah, I was never really in the jeopardy I thought I was.

Doing School Better // Episode 7 // March 14, 2016

This clip is from “Doing School Better” season 1, episode 7, first published on March 14, 2016.

Doris Korda and I started and developed the aforementioned entrepreneurship program that eventually gained international recognition and caught the eye of Steve Blank.

Doris is an educational visionary and a brilliant educator. The core of her work evolved into the Korda Institute for Teaching, “a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose mission is to transform school. Korda Institute works with hundreds of educators globally to change the way teachers teach and students learn in urban & rural public districts, career tech programs, and schools of all types.”

In this conversation, we explore what it means to be an “outsider” in your profession and why your superiors will tolerate you even when they don’t understand you.

I own my restless spirit and how I thrive in environments of change. We discuss why learning by doing is the best kind of learning, and how, as an artist, musician, and writer, I developed the skill to convey a message in as few words as possible.

You’ll discover pockets within your job or profession where you can express your core identity, where you’ll start to hear the Call to Adventure again.

Transcript:

Doris: You came in with me to start to be my co-instructor in this class, and you had been teaching for several years. I’ve liked you to talk about what it was like for you to start teaching this…

J.: What was it like? That’s a good question. I think, like you, I’ve pretty much been an outsider in my profession, have always done things differently. Sometimes it’s been embraced, but most of the time, it’s sort of been frowned upon.

But, I’ve always had the best interests of kids at heart. I think that’s why I’ve been tolerated by so many administrators over the years, because I do have that as my ultimate goal.

In my personal life, and as an educator, I’m a risk-taker. I’m not afraid to try things and fail.

I’m also a bit of a restless spirit. So, I’ve moved through these phases of having taught middle school, been a director of technology, been an instructional technologist, and now, I’m a part of this entrepreneurial program. I really thrive in environments where things change.

When the opportunity came along for me to join this program, for many reasons, I jumped at it. One of those reasons was because it seemed so new, so different, and so frightening that I couldn’t turn it down.

Doris: That’s…boy, does that ever ring true? Knowing you as well as I do, everything you said is true in spades. What do you think are the most important elements of this?

J.: The most important element is learning by doing. That’s really, at the core of who I am. It’s what I’ve discovered over 20 years as a classroom teacher. More importantly, it’s also what I’ve discovered in my own life. I’ve had sort of this parallel existence as an artist, musician, writer and…

Doris: A very successful one, by the way, with your pseudonym, you’re a very successful author.

J.: Thanks. Yeah, well, I mean, but, I’ve…that’s only because that’s what I’ve done. I didn’t take classes on being a musician, or go to writing workshops, and call myself a writer. Those things are good, and they help prepare you, but they don’t make you what you are.

An artist creates art, a musician makes music, a writer writes. That’s how you learn how to do it. You can take classes all day long, you can read all kinds of books on something, but until you roll up your sleeves, and you get in and you do it, you’re not it.

So, I think that’s really at the core of this, and that’s what we do with our students. We don’t spend weeks preparing them for a business challenge, or introducing them to a company, or even an industry. They don’t even know where they’re going on the morning we take them there.

What’s exciting is that it’s not, and I think that’s what’s really appealing to the kids. It’s so different, and it’s so engaging, that we’re just saying, “We trust you, and we’re going to help you. But here you go, let’s do this, let’s not prep for it.”

Doris: I always am so amazed, by the way, you in a very concise way, are able to get students to learn about effective presenting, which is also writing. If you could talk a little bit about the trajectory of these students from the very first time they do a presentation to the end.

J.: Yeah. I was going to share a quote, but then I couldn’t remember it. That wouldn’t really be effective. My general approach, and this is for myself as well, and I think it’s the journey you’re speaking of for the kids, is this ability to let go of all the stuff they think they have to cram in, and get it to its core.

I think that’s really the essence of true writing. True, really good writing is getting your message across in as few words as possible.

Doris: That shows up in everything you do, yeah, yeah.

J.: I think, you know, it’s natural for kids to come in and want to throw everything against the wall to prove to you, the teacher. So in sort of backing them off that, saying that’s really not as important as getting your message across succinctly. That’s what matters.

Doris: Right, right!

The Horror Writers Podcast // Episode 4 // July 7, 2014

This clip is from “The Horror Writers Podcast” episode 4, first published on July 7, 2014.

My first foray into podcasting, the idea for “The Horror Writers Podcast” came out of a conversation I had with my friend Jim Kukral, who at the time was founder of Author Marketing Club and an influencer in the indie publishing space. Jim encouraged me to become the “go-to” guy for horror writers. I owe much love and respect to Kukral. If it weren’t for his encouragement and support, I never would have started podcasting all those years ago.

One of my earliest podcast episodes, I recorded this on an Amtrak train from somewhere in the Nevada desert, returning home from that first entrepreneurship workshop at Steve Blank’s house.

Although the “7 Things I Learned About Writing From Amtrak” aired on a writing podcast, now I clearly see how those lessons apply to everything.

For example, “being observant” is critical whether you’re a writer, an air traffic controller, or a professional poker player because observant people get more opportunities. They notice them when others don’t.

You’ll discover how changing your environment helps you gain clarity, as I discovered on my first cross-country train trip in 2014. Even when you’re not hearing the Call to Adventure, you’re still on the right track.

Transcript:

This podcast is being recorded live from the middle of the desert in Nevada, aboard an Amtrak train, the California Zephyr. I am in transit, coming back from California to Ohio.

And so, I thought I had to take this opportunity to do something really unique, which is to record a live podcast on a train. So, there are walking podcasts, there are driving podcasts. I don’t know, this will be a rail podcast, I guess.

The topic today is what I learned about writing from riding on Amtrak. If you pay attention, there are a lot of great things that you can pick up when you travel that will make you a better writer. And although I don’t spend a lot of time on the act of writing on the podcast, as it’s more about the marketing side, I did want to take this opportunity to share with you some of those revelations and ideas that I had.

So, you may hear some announcements come on the PA system, you might hear a train whistle, and you might hear some track noise. But hopefully, that won’t detract too much from the podcast.

The first thing that I have learned from this trip is that it’s really important to keep your pace slow and steady. Just like a train, we sometimes come to a crawl, sometimes we speed up a little bit. But for the most part, the speed is steady. And I think that’s a great…I can never remember if they’re metaphors or similes. But I think it’s a great way of looking at how you should be writing. I think it’s important to write every single day. And there are differing opinions on word count, how much, how long, when, and what you write. But I think the important thing is to exercise that muscle.

So, in the same way that you would want to exercise your regular muscles, if you’re a runner, you’re going to be running on a daily basis. Or if you’re a musician, you want to practice your instrument on a daily basis. I think writing is the same thing. The more you practice it, the more often you practice it, the better it becomes. So, that’s definitely the first lesson: slow and steady, write every single day.

The second one that I discovered came from purchasing a sleeper car. This is a 49-hour trip without delays to go from San Francisco to Chicago, and then another six or seven from Chicago onto Cleveland. And what I realized is that when I shut the door to the sleeper car and pull the curtain, it’s just me and the scenery. And that’s it. And if I turn that cell phone off, I am removing all distractions. There’s no Wi-Fi on the train. I like that.

I think you can create that kind of solitude. So, if you are not taking the California Zephyr from Chicago to San Francisco, you can still create that solitude. Some writers have a dedicated space, a dedicated time. I’ve never been a fan of writing in the coffee shop. I know there are people that do it. I’m sure there are people who are very successful with it. But for me, I need to remove the distractions. Being on a train and being in a sleeping car with the door shut and no internet is a great way to write. So, that would be number two: remove the distractions.

The third thing I learned about writing from riding on Amtrak is that the scenery is incredible. And if you’re observant, you will always find something to write about. I’m not sure if writer’s block is a real thing or not. I know I’ve heard people talking about it. Being stuck for ideas is not typically something that I have to deal with. I have a lot of issues as a writer that I want to try and fix, but writer’s block is not typically one of them. And I think if you struggle with generating ideas or if you struggle with trying to figure out what to write, just being observant, looking out the window, and paying attention to what’s happening will allow stories to emerge.

Clearly, being on a train provides an unending supply of visual stimuli. But even if you can’t be on a train, if you’re just observing and watching what happens, you will find a lot of inspiration. That leads directly into number four, which is: listen more and talk less. So, one of the things that you figure out when you’re on a train is that, for better or worse, you are stuck with a lot of the people on the train for a very long time. And I find it to be a much more interesting experience if I simply listen to other people’s stories. The urge to talk is there for all of us, but I found that if I listen more and talk less, I become more inspired, I get story ideas, and I just meet some really interesting people. Everyone’s got a great story, but if you’re talking, you’re probably not hearing it. So, that was number four.

Number five, the lesson I learned about writing from riding on Amtrak, is that it’s really important to appreciate what you have. I think a lot of times as writers, we like to focus on what we don’t have, whether that be sales, readers, social media platforms, or time. And being on a train in some way has reminded me that it’s important to appreciate what you have.

So, for example, in a sleeper car, you get hot meals, a shower, and a bed. Those are three things that a lot of people in this world don’t get on a daily basis, and I have it on the train. So, sometimes it’s important to really take stock and appreciate what you have, the resources that you have, and the skills that you have. That’s number five.

Number six, what I learned about writing from riding on Amtrak, is that sometimes the train has to switch tracks. We were delayed about four hours coming out from Chicago to San Francisco because of freight trains. We hit a deer and it threw some bones underneath the train. I hope you’re not eating dinner while you’re listening to this.

There are obstacles you have to go around. Sometimes you have to switch tracks, sometimes you have to make slight detours. However, your destination, your goal, should always remain the same. So we’re still trying to get to California, we’re still trying to get to Chicago and onto Cleveland. And we may switch tracks and we may go around obstacles, but the important thing is that the goal is still there. And that’s where we want to end up.

So, switching tracks is important. There’s a little whistle for you. I don’t know if you heard that in the background or not. I am staring out into the desert right now. It’s moving past my window. I kind of wish you could be here with me.

Number seven, this has to do with staying focused. The BIC method is something that’s very popular. BIC stands for Butt In Chair. It’s hard to write if you’re not sitting in a chair and writing, whether that be on a computer or longhand or whatever it happens to be. And being on a train, you’ve got to stay on the tracks.

And writing is the same way: you have to stay focused, you have to stay disciplined. Now, there’s a lot of talk and, to a certain degree, I believe in it, that says there’s no such thing as an overnight sensation, that you have to work really hard for a long time to get what you want. And I guess that’s true in a certain way. In another way, I kind of see it differently. If you’re doing what you really love, it’s not work. So, I would just keep that in mind.

There is no such thing as an overnight success, if you don’t consider what you’re doing work because you love it so much. In that case, you’ve been playing the whole time and you’ll find success before you know it. But for the train ride, we need to stay focused, we need to stay on track. The train certainly doesn’t go through the sands of the desert or the salt flats of Utah, which is what’s coming up next, by the way. Very exciting.

So, I think that’s seven things I learned about writing from riding on Amtrak.

I hope you enjoyed this somewhat different podcast. I don’t know if it’s a first, but I’m going to go ahead and say it is and hope. If it’s not, maybe someone will correct me. But, first podcast recorded live on a train!

Closing Thoughts

I don’t regret the decades I spent as an educator. I’m proud of the family I’ve raised with my wife, and those experiences as a teacher prepared me for my journey into entrepreneurship.

I didn’t accept the Call to Adventure until 2017, but I didn’t entirely refuse it either. I can now see how I was practicing for the next chapter of my story.

You haven’t been refusing the Call to Adventure. You’ve been listening to it longer and better than you realize.

As you’ll see, it’s never too late to fully embrace the Call to Adventure.

Question

Where in your life did you see evidence of your Call to Adventure? What jobs or responsibilities did you hold that gently pushed you toward your adventure?

Up next…

In the next chapter of the story, we’ll investigate the complex and mysterious task of decision-making, especially as we age and get more risk-averse. And we’ll see how you cross the threshold into a new world to leave the old one.

Credits

Mentorship by Brian Clark, Jerod Morris, and Trudi Roth

Podcast concept by Jerod Morris

Written, narrated, and produced by J. Thorn

Editing by Miranda Weingartner and Trudi Roth

Audio editing and production by J. Thorn

“Twisted” and “RetroFuture” courtesy of Kevin MacLeod at incompetech.com

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 at creativecommons.org