I’ll read a passage from my upcoming book Powered by Authenticity and walk you through one of the most powerful exercises I’ve ever created: the Mortality Motivation Exercise. You’ll write your current obituary, your ideal obituary, and uncover the gap between the life you’re living and the life you know is possible.

If you’ve been stuck in autopilot, feeling successful on paper but empty underneath, this episode is your invitation to stop waiting and start living now.

Please check out our site at bemorealigned.com to see how we can help you move into a new chapter full of meaning and fulfillment.

You did everything right. Built the career. Earned the title. Created a life that—on paper—looks like success.

So why does it feel… off?

In this episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I sit down with author Lorie Kleiner Eckert (Chai on Life) to talk about what really happens in a midlife transition—when success stops feeling like success.

This isn’t about blowing up your life. It’s about telling yourself the truth.

What We Cover:

• Why high achievers resist change even when something feels wrong
• The hidden cost of staying in a life that no longer fits
• What a real career pivot actually looks like (hint: it’s smaller than you think)
• Why purpose isn’t found—it’s built, one step at a time
• A simple, practical framework for reinvention that actually works

Lorie Kleiner Eckert is an author and speaker whose book Chai on Life explores gratitude, reinvention, and finding meaning in everyday moments.

👉 Explore Lori’s work: Etsy Shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/loriekleinereckert/

MORE® is the destination for high-achievers ready to move beyond “numb success” and into a life of aligned reinvention.

👉 Learn more: https://bemorealigned.com 📩 Connect directly: hello@bemorealigned.com

In this solo episode, I explore a state I’ve come to call Numb Success — when you’ve built a life that works on paper, but something inside feels off.

This isn’t burnout. It’s not failure.
It’s quieter than that.

It’s the slow drift that happens when you start prioritizing what you should do over what actually feels true.

In this episode, I share a passage from my upcoming book, Powered by Authenticity, and reflect on how easy it is to lose yourself gradually — not all at once, but over time, through small decisions that move you further away from who you are.

I also talk about why awareness alone doesn’t create change, and where the process of coming back to yourself actually begins.

In this episode:

• What “Numb Success” is and why it often goes unnoticed
• How high achievers drift out of alignment over time
• Why nothing has to be “wrong” for something to feel off
• The role honesty plays in creating real change
• A simple question to help you identify where you’re out of alignment

If you’ve ever had the thought, “Is this really it?” — this episode is for you.

🎧 Listen now and take an honest look at where your life feels aligned… and where it doesn’t.

Check out how we can help you at bemorealigned.com.

In this episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I sit down with Clarissa Louis—former asset management executive turned wellness entrepreneur—to explore what happens when high achievers realize that financial success alone isn’t enough.

After years in high-performance environments at firms like BlackRock and Schwab, Clarissa made a bold pivot into building The Iron Mat, a wellness platform focused on helping driven professionals reconnect with their bodies, mindset, and purpose.

We unpack:

• The critical difference between retirement wealth vs. retirement health
• Why success without alignment leads to burnout, numbness, and disconnection
• The myth of transformation—and why it actually happens in the “messy” moments
• A simple but powerful framework to assess your life: financial, social, and personal capital
• How high performers can break out of autopilot and start making aligned decisions today
• The concept of “fuel”—and why your energy, not your calendar, determines your future

If you’ve ever felt like your life looks successful on paper but doesn’t feel the way you expected… this conversation will hit home.

Because fulfillment isn’t something you arrive at it’s something you build, daily.

👉 This episode is for high achievers at a crossroads who are ready to redefine what’s possible—before burnout or crisis forces the change.

Please visit bemorealigned.com for more information about MORE®.

To follow Clarissa, please visit theironmat.com or visit her Instagram account.

I know that question well because I ignored it for years.

In this solo episode of Code 3: Life. Reinvented., I’m diving into something that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough: the cost of staying on autopilot.

Because autopilot isn’t failure.
It’s what happens when everything is working. You’ve built the career. You’ve created the life. From the outside, it looks like you’re winning.

But inside… something feels off. Not broken. Not burned out. Just… numb.

I call this numb success — achievement without aliveness.

In this episode, I break down the three forces that keep high achievers stuck there: identity, lifestyle gravity, and social validation. The things that make it incredibly hard to question a life that looks so good on paper.

But more importantly, I unpack the real cost of staying on autopilot:

• The time you don’t get back

• The health risks you don’t always see coming

• The slow loss of aliveness

• And the regret that builds quietly over time

This isn’t about blowing up your life or making reckless moves.
It’s about intentional movement—coming back to yourself, one honest step at a time.

Because in the end, success isn’t the goal.

Feeling alive inside the life you’re building… is.

Please visit our site bemorealigned.com to see how we can help you build a life that fits you now.

When I first met Matt Hunt, I was instantly drawn in by his story — a former banker who walked away from a stable, successful career to pursue something most people would never consider: diving offshore for prehistoric Megalodon teeth and building a life around it.

What started as curiosity quickly became something deeper. Matt wasn’t just chasing adventure, he was answering a calling. One that had been with him since he was a kid watching his father dive. One that never fully went away, even during 18 years in banking.

In our conversation, Matt shares what it really takes to leave behind the “comfortable cage” — the paycheck, the benefits, the certainty — and go all in on something that actually makes you feel alive. We talk about fear, risk, partnership, identity, and the quiet knowing that there has to be more than this.

And then… life delivered a moment none of us expect.

Shortly after recording this episode, Matt tragically passed away while diving in the ocean doing exactly what he loved.

I didn’t know Matt for long. But I knew enough to feel the weight of that loss.

This episode is now more than a conversation. It’s a reminder.

A reminder that time is not guaranteed. That the pull you feel toward something more isn’t random.
And that the greatest risk might not be failing, but never trying at all.

Matt said it best: You’ll regret the things you didn’t do far more than the things you did.

Merry’s “Code 3 moment” came when she was suddenly fired from a job she had held for just two months. As a single mother with two kids preparing for college, she woke up one morning with no income, very little savings, and no idea how she was going to move forward. What followed wasn’t a perfectly mapped-out plan — it was a series of bold steps fueled by determination, courage, and a refusal to stay stuck.

Instead of retreating, Merry started calling everyone she knew and scheduling informational interviews. Those conversations eventually led her to launch a business that would become Pearl Interactive Network, a company that grew to employ more than 1,300 people across 30 states.

But what made her company truly remarkable was its mission.

Merry intentionally built a workforce made up of people the world often overlooks: disabled veterans, people with severe disabilities, military spouses, and individuals living in the most economically challenged parts of the country. Through meaningful work and opportunity, she created not just jobs, but purpose, dignity, and community.

In our conversation we talk about:

• Why fear is not a reason to stop

• The importance of doing the inner work to discover your purpose

• How informational interviews can open unexpected doors

• Why choosing a job is often really choosing your life

• And how some of the most powerful reinventions happen later in life

Merry started her company at 46 years old, proving that it’s never too late to rebuild your life around what truly matters.

Her story is a reminder that you don’t need the entire roadmap to begin. Sometimes all you need is the courage to take the first step, even when you’re afraid.

Because as we talk about in this episode, fear may show up… but it doesn’t get to decide the direction of your life.

Check out our site bemorealigned.com for more information about how we can help you find your purpose and gain alignment in your life.

In this solo episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I break down what alignment really means — and what it doesn’t.

Alignment isn’t about quitting your job.
It isn’t about blowing up your life.
And it’s not about abandoning ambition.

It’s about removing internal conflict.

I share my framework around authentic truth, ambition, and action, and explain how misalignment happens when those forces fall into conflict instead of concert.

In this episode, I explore:

• Why high achievers override internal signals
• How external success can silence internal truth
• The hidden cost of misalignment — chronic tension, resentment, burnout
• Why alignment removes friction, not effort
• How to recognize when your ambition is asking you to betray yourself

I also share a personal story from my time in financial services — how ignoring my authentic truth created emotional strain, anxiety, and serious health consequences.

If you feel successful on paper but unsettled inside, this episode is for you.

And at the end, I make a major announcement about my upcoming book, Powered by Authenticity, where I go deeper into living and leading in alignment.

Because alignment isn’t about becoming someone new.

It’s about finally becoming honest.

Please visit our site: bemorealigned.com.

In this episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I sit down with Dr. Maureen “Dr. Moe” Gibbons, a former ER doctor who left emergency medicine after years in a Level II trauma center — not because she hated it, but because she didn’t realize how much it was costing her.

After being pushed out of her primary ER role, Dr. Moe faced an identity crisis many high achievers experience: Who am I if I’m no longer my title?

Together, Dr. Mo and I explore:

• Physician burnout vs. misalignment

• Compassion fatigue in emergency medicine

• Why high-achieving professionals stay in careers that no longer fit

• The fear of leaving a prestigious career

• Transitioning from ER doctor to entrepreneur

• Health freedom, time freedom, and income freedom

• How to move from feeling adrift to anchored

Dr. Moe shares how she built a telehealth practice, launched a coaching business for physicians and high achievers, and wrote Freedom to Shift — helping others navigate focused career transitions without losing themselves in the process.

If you’re a physician, executive, or high-performing professional questioning your current path, this conversation will challenge how you think about success, burnout, and reinvention.

Because sometimes the biggest emergency…
is the one happening quietly inside you.

Interested in going deeper?
Dr. Moe and I are hosting a live online masterclass for ER physicians exploring career alignment, identity shifts, and sustainable practice design on March 10, 2026.

To learn more or request an invite, email: hello@bemorealigned.com

In this solo episode, I explore a confusing and deeply common experience among high achievers: the moment when success keeps growing, but meaning quietly fades.

I talk about the paradox of “numb success” — how external wins can slowly pull us away from our inner truth, relationships, and sense of being alive. When achievement becomes our identity, the same momentum that once fueled our growth can start to feel like a trap.

In this episode, I break down the invisible trade-offs many high achievers make without realizing it:
• Safety over truth • Status over meaning • Momentum over reflection • Being admired over being alive

I also explore why emptiness isn’t a failure or a sign of ingratitude. It may be a signal that your growth is outpacing the meaning in your life.

We look at the ways high performers try to “optimize away” this feeling with productivity, perks, upgrades, and distractions — and why that rarely works.

I close with one powerful question to sit with:

What metric have you been optimizing at the cost of meaning?

If you’ve ever felt confused by your own success, this episode is for you.

To learn about what we do, please visit bemorealigned.com.

Together, we dig into the question that’s been driving my work: What actually happens when you live and work in alignment — and what does the science say about it? We break down what people get wrong about purpose (hint: it doesn’t have to be heroic), how I define alignment as when your authentic truth, ambition, and actions are in harmony, and why grounding this work in evidence matters — especially for high achievers who want more than inspiration.

We explore key findings from our research, including how alignment is associated with lower all-cause mortality, reduced cardiovascular risk, healthier lifestyle choices, and even increased cognitive flexibility. Then we go into the real obstacle: resistance. Birgit explains what’s happening in the brain when fear and uncertainty take over — the “amygdala hijack” — and how to work with fear instead of fighting it.

We close with practical tools for moving toward alignment through small, values-based steps, nervous system regulation (breathing and body signals), and why community support makes change stick.

If you’re a high achiever who looks successful on paper but feels something is off inside, this episode is for you.

Want the paper we discuss? You can find it at bemorealigned.com or email me at hello@bemorealigned.com with the subject line “paper.”

I changed my diet. I committed to exercise. I followed my doctors’ guidance and told myself things would be different moving forward.

For a while, they were.

But over time, life quietly pulled me back to normal. The stress returned. Old habits crept in. The environment that nearly broke me didn’t really change — and eventually, eight years later, I had a second heart attack.

In this deeply personal solo episode, I share the real story of what happened in the space between my two wake-up calls. The part nobody talks about. The slow drift back to the life that caused the crisis in the first place.

This conversation is about why major wake-up calls don’t always lead to lasting change, how environment shapes our behavior more than motivation, and why the real wake-up call isn’t the crisis itself — it’s the moment you realize you’re returning to the life that hurt you.

In this episode, I explore:
• Why most people don’t maintain lifestyle changes after major health events
• How stress and environment quietly pull us back into old patterns
• The reality of regression to the mean in real life
• Why survival alone doesn’t create alignment
• The three questions I now ask myself — and invite you to ask too

As I close the episode, I leave you with three questions:

What are you calling manageable right now?
What signal are you explaining away because everything still works?
If nothing forced you to stop, what would you keep tolerating?

If you’ve ever told yourself “I’ve got it under control” while quietly ignoring the signals, this episode is for you.

Jon shares his Code 3 moment: years of terrifying heart palpitations that looked physical on paper, but ultimately forced him to confront something deeper—an emotional and spiritual crisis he’d been trying to “handle quietly.” We talk about what happens when you’ve built a life around being the calm, capable one… while you’re silently suffering inside.

We get into identity, success, and the trap of proving yourself—how chasing external validation can keep you performing instead of living. Jon opens up about the fear of being seen, the fear of being judged, and the “Russian nesting doll” reality of growth: you enter one cave, and then there’s another.

Jon also shares the leap that changed everything: moving his family from Marin County to Portugal—sight unseen—and what it taught him about trust, timing, and the lie that it’s “too late.”

To make it practical, he offers a powerful tool anyone can use: the Vision Letter—writing a letter from your future self describing the life you want as if it’s already real. It’s a simple exercise that helps you reconnect with what your heart actually wants, beyond the conditioning.

This is a conversation about courage, trust, reinvention, and why the path to alignment often starts with telling the truth—out loud.

If you'd like to explore what MORE® has to offer, please visit bemorealigned.com.

Here's how you can connect with Jon.

I unpack what I call urgent authenticity: the decision to tell the truth in time for it to matter. Not oversharing. Not blowing up your life. But refusing to quietly abandon yourself while waiting for certainty that never comes.

Building on the idea of numb success, I explore how external validation can keep us stuck on autopilot, postponing honesty with phrases like “I’ll deal with it later.” I explain why later isn’t a plan—it’s a stall—and how authenticity delayed often turns into regret.

Drawing from my own experience as a two-time widowmaker heart attack survivor, I share why waiting for a crisis is a dangerous strategy, and how bodies, relationships, energy, and options erode when truth is deferred too long.

I offer practical steps to begin honoring your authentic truth now: identifying the truth you’re avoiding, saying it out loud before you feel ready, and making one aligned move within the next seven days. Because clarity rarely comes before courage, it comes after action.

If numb success is falling asleep inside your life, urgent authenticity is waking up and refusing to roll over. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to stop pretending you don’t already know.

If you'd like to explore MORE and how our platform can help you, please visit bemorealigned.com.

Justin shares his early story: a 1.7 GPA, a mother battling opioid addiction, a father in jail, and the heavy belief that his future was already written for him. His turning point came through a sales job that introduced him to personal development and a simple but life-changing idea: you can’t control what happens around you, but you can control what you do next.

We talk about failed businesses, grief, and rock-bottom moments, and how launching a podcast became Justin’s “real-world MBA.” He explains how chasing external validation eventually pushed him toward deeper inner work — what he calls self-love, and what we at MORE® call self-compassion.

Together, we dig into why pursuing traditional markers of success can leave people feeling hollow, and how redefining success around time freedom, relationships, and alignment changes everything.

We also get practical: how to uncover your “superpower,” why consistency matters even when nobody’s watching, and Justin’s three-part framework for breaking through limiting beliefs: get uncomfortable, surround yourself with the right people, and take action.

The episode lands on a powerful reminder: you don’t need to wait for a crisis to change your life. But if the wake-up call comes, don’t waste it. Choose the brave step.

To learn about MORE®, check out our site: bemorealigned.com.

Where to find Justin:

• Podcast: Growth Now Movement

• Live Event: Growth Now Summit Live (tickets at growthnowsummit.com)

• Instagram: @JustinTSchenck

  
  

Numb success is when life looks impressive on the outside but feels muted, flat, or hollow on the inside. There’s no crisis. No failure. No obvious pain. Just a quiet absence of signal.

I explore why numb success is so insidious: the more externally validated you become, the quieter your internal truth gets. Promotions, praise, and admiration can slowly drown out honesty, leading us to gaslight ourselves, postpone change, and stay on autopilot out of fear of looking ungrateful.

Rather than blowing up your life, or doing nothing, I outline a third path: intentional interruption. I share practical ways to break autopilot, reconnect with aliveness, and tell the truth before burnout, resentment, or forced change takes over.

This episode sets the foundation for the work I do through MORE®, helping accomplished professionals move from numb success into aligned reinvention — where authentic truth, actions, and ambitions are finally in concert.

Please visit bemorealigned.com for more information and to learn if MORE® can help you.

In this episode of Code 3: Life. Reinvented., I sit down with Shannon Lundgren — a former Wells Fargo leader I worked with years ago (and always admired for her polish, presence, and leadership). Since then, she’s made a powerful transition from corporate success to entrepreneurship — and her journey is full of lessons for anyone who feels stuck in the “illusion of safety.”

We start with Shannon’s unforgettable story about going after Warren Buffett while at Harvard Business School — and what happened when she followed a bold instinct, took action, and created an opportunity that didn’t exist five minutes earlier.

From there, we dig into the real arc of her reinvention:

• Why corporate life slowly dulled her spark

• How her entrepreneurial side went dormant (and what woke it back up)

• Why entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be a trust fall with the universe

• How she “toe-dipped” for years, built proof, learned through a detour, and eventually made the leap with confidence

Shannon also shares a framework that changed everything for her — a simple but powerful model that connects thoughts → feelings → actions → results, and how you can use it to shift your life starting today.

If you’re an accomplished professional who’s feeling the pull toward something more — but you’re not willing to gamble your life on a wild leap — this conversation is for you.

And if someone you know is single and looking for love, Shannon’s work might surprise you (in the best way).

To learn more about Shannon please visit her site, ⁠Shannon's Circle⁠.

To learn about MORE, please go to ⁠bemorealdigned.com⁠.

Let’s get into it.

In this solo episode, I unpack the moment many high achievers eventually face: when the definition of success that once drove you no longer fits who you’ve become.

I share my own story—golden handcuffs, external wins, relentless pressure, and the wake-up call that forced me to get brutally honest after a widowmaker heart attack. I talk about how success, as I was living it, was slowly killing me—and why redefining it wasn’t optional.

We explore how culture, family, and industry scripts shape our idea of success… and why so many accomplished professionals end up overachieving yet deeply underfulfilled. Burnout. Numbness. Sunday dread. The quiet feeling that something is off, even when everything looks “good on paper.”

I introduce what I call authentic success: success defined from the inside out. Alignment over performance. Meaning over optics. A version of success that doesn’t require you to abandon yourself.

You’ll walk away with five powerful questions to help you rethink what “enough” looks like now, what you’re no longer willing to trade your life for, and who you’re actually becoming in this next chapter.

This isn’t a midlife crisis.
It’s a midlife clarifier.

If your old definition of success isn’t cutting it anymore, this episode is an invitation to pause, get honest, and choose a version of success you don’t have to recover from.

Life doesn’t wait for the perfect moment. It waits for the brave one.

Let’s redefine what’s possible—together.

To learn more, please visit bemorealigned.com.

Steve opens up about walking away from the corporate mountaintop, the unseen emotional patterns that shaped his success, and the inner work that finally caught up with him. We talk about embodiment vs. intellect, the traps of achievement, the courage it takes to stop numbing, and why true transformation starts with radical self-honesty.

He shares his journey into functional medicine, spirituality, journaling, and deep personal reflection — plus the incredible story of how a 40-day road trip and a chance encounter led him to build transformational resorts in Shenandoah and Costa Rica.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt the quiet pull toward something deeper — a shift from performance to presence, from autopilot to awareness, from doing to being.

If you’ve ever wondered why the outer success still doesn’t touch the inner ache, Steve’s wisdom will hit you right where you live.

After surviving my second widowmaker heart attack, I doubled down on MORE®, thinking career wellness was the answer. But the real breakthrough hit me in a mastermind hot seat: people aren’t struggling with their careers — they’re struggling with misalignment.

That quiet ache.
That numb success.
That “this isn’t it” feeling you can’t shake.

I break down what alignment actually is — when your authenticity and ambition finally stop fighting each other — and why this shift led me to rebuild MORE® from the inside out.

It’s now a destination for high achievers who look successful on paper but feel empty in their soul. And it lives at BeMoreAligned.com.

If your outer life no longer matches your inner truth, this episode is your wake-up call.

Milan opens up about the moment he realized the corporate climb wasn’t his second-half game, why discomfort is a signal of metamorphosis, and how he de-risked his midlife career change with micro-actions, side hustles, and a realistic runway. We dive into the realities of ad-world drinking culture, building a business across supply chain, sales, and e-commerce, surviving a lender crisis, and redefining success as peace, purpose, and doing work you’re proud of.

If you’re feeling stuck in corporate life, curious about the sober movement, or ready to start something new, this conversation is a playbook for career reinvention, entrepreneurship, and the fast-growing alcohol-free cocktail space.

(Note: contains a little explicit language.)

To learn more about Free Spirits, visit drinkfreespirits.com.
To learn more about MORE®, visit morecareerwellness.com.

I reflect on how near-death clarity can reset priorities, strengthen relationships, and ignite resilience for real reinvention — on and off the career path. You’ll walk away with practical prompts to practice love and presence now, and to tap your inner resolve when life blindsides you.

If you're interested in learning more about MORE®, visit morecareerwellness.com.

Stephanie draws a clear line between transition (choice-driven and shorter) and Transformation (identity-level, low agency, and often disorienting) — and explains why surrender, not control, is what truly unlocks growth.

Together, we explore limiting beliefs, practical ways to reclaim choice, and how Ikigai — what you love, what you’re good at, what pays, and what the world needs — can guide your career change and sense of fulfillment.

You’ll walk away with actionable tools like call-a-friend reframes, values alignment, and deep-breathing resets — plus insights into why community is the secret ingredient to resilient reinvention.

If you'd like to learn more about MORE®, visit morecareerwellness.com.

I introduce the concept of Radical Honesty — not brutal truth-telling to others, but the courage to be honest with yourself. Through raw personal stories, including surviving two widowmaker heart attacks, I show how dropping your masks can help you rediscover authenticity, alignment, and fulfillment.

You’ll also learn two practical tools you can use today — the Misalignment Audit and the “I Want” Exercise — to uncover what’s real, what’s fake, and what’s next for you.

Because the truth is: your career is as unique as your thumbprint — and no one else’s mold will ever fit.

If you'd like to learn more about MORE®, visit morecareerwellness.com.

Michael shares powerful lessons from decades on stages and in schools — from anti-bullying programs to hospice and parolee work — along with a tender Robin Williams story and memorable “Pritch-isms” like “be the light in the tunnel,” “we is wellness,” and the dangers of blame-throwers and shame-throwers.

Together, we unpack how to find purpose through service, move from success to significance, and build a habit of “making someone’s day” as a daily practice.

If you’re seeking clarity, courage, and momentum, this conversation blends laughter with lived wisdom.

If you'd like to learn more about MORE®, visit morecareerwellness.com.

Drawing from my decades in corporate leadership—and two near-death wake-up calls—I share what I call The Achiever’s Paradox: that self-compassion, not self-criticism, is the true fuel for reinvention. Through stories, research, and practical exercises, I break down the three pillars of self-compassion — awareness, acceptance, and action — and show how this mindset shift builds resilience, courage, and lasting momentum.

If you’ve ever felt stuck in the cycle of “not enough,” this episode will help you lay the foundation for meaningful change, starting with kindness toward yourself.

If you'd like to learn more about MORE®, visit morecareerwellness.com.

If you'd like to learn more about what we're up to, please visit us at morecareerwellness.com.

If you're interested in learning about what we're building at MORE and how we could help you, please check us out at morecareerwellness.com.

I'm AJ Jones, founder of More, A Destination for Accomplished Professionals at a Crossroads and host of Code 3: Life. Reinvented., where I explore how you can stop waiting for your own emergency and start living the life you want.

I'll be interviewing professionals of all sorts who have made meaningful life transformations, as well as experts, luminaries, and authors who bring unique insights into the human potential and transformation space.

And you'll hear from me where I'll share hard-earned life stories, concepts, and advice.

Please join me on this journey when the episodes begin to drop in the fall of 2025.