ISSUE No. 01
My greatest failure came when I stopped being rooted.
I want to tell you something I don’t say lightly.
A few years ago, I was chasing a dream, it was a restaurant concept I had designed and sat with for a long time. I found a partner. We moved fast. I worked harder than I'd ever worked in my life: months without a day off, sun up to missed dinner after missed dinner, my family somewhere in the background of a life I told myself I was building for them.
I wasn't building for them. I was building for the version of myself I was trying to prove existed.
My wife said it plainly: it's either him or me. You need to get away from this partner or it's going to ruin us.
I heard it. I didn't listen, not immediately. I was too far into the chase to stop and I thought I could fix everything.
The partnership dissolved badly. The concept was taken. And the thing I kept turning over afterward wasn't the business loss, it was this: I had made myself easy prey by leaving my root. I was so disconnected from myself, from my family, from what actually steadied me that I couldn't see the obvious.
What I learned.
Many years later, A men's group…a small circle of honest men was the first place I could finally see it clearly. Not the business failure. The pattern underneath it.
When you're rooted, you lead from identity. When you're not, you lead from hunger. You chase. You justify. You miss the signals the people closest to you are sending because the chase is louder than the people.
THIS WEEK'S FIELD TOOL
One question to carry this week:
"What am I chasing right now and is it pulling me toward my root or away from it?"
You don't have to answer it perfectly. Just sit with it. If something tightens in your chest, that's the field note. Write one sentence or come up with one thought to carry your reflection.
Steady isn't an act. It's a rhythm. Start here.
— Jason