I used to mimic everyone else's goals, systems, and life philosophies.

For my entire life, I wanted to be like the people I looked up to.

In college, I converted from quarterback to slot receiver and tried to play in the NFL like Julian Edelman.

I started a podcast (and even buzzed my head) to be like Chris Williamson and Joe Rogan.

Then, I dropped out of a top-10 college to go on the Pathless Path like Paul Millerd.

I built a one-person creator business, embodied the 4-hour work day, and started getting into philosophy and metaphysics like Dan Koe.

These imitations served me well - for a while.

I was able to make relatively fast progress in work and in life by looking at what worked for those ahead of me, tweaking it slightly to fit my unique circumstances and personality, and creating what an outsider may call a “dream life” with an online business, social media following, and lifestyle design freedom.

But I had yet to evolve beyond the philosophies of others and develop a holistic approach to life and business that was completely my own.

Inevitably, I had a nagging sense of feeling subtly out of alignment with my highest self and ideal lifestyle.

Despite achieving everything 20-year-old Jack could have dreamed of, something felt off.

This feeling of “off” was a big reason I traveled Thailand this summer - with the intention to not work, write, build, or force myself to do literally anything.

I wanted to climb back down the mountain, get to know myself more intimately, and start back up the mountain from a more aligned place.

So I did…

For 2 & 1⁄2 months, I was one of thousands of 20-something-year old backpackers, adventuring, exploring, partying, loving, and surrendering to life.

It was magical.

I fell in love with a genre of electronic music (psytrance) and danced until sunrise multiple times at raves.

I became a volunteer at a youth hostel and led ice baths, breath work, meditation circles, adventure days, and bar crawls around the town.

I made lifelong friends from Germany, Israel, England, Australia, America, Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, and a handful of other countries.

I even spun fire in front of a few dozen people in a circus lmao.

At times, I completely forgot about the creator economy, social media, and the idea of business altogether.

I was starting to learn to love life simply for existing and myself simply for being, without needing to accomplish anything or get anywhere.

It was incredibly nourishing for my soul.

But after a few months of travel, in this state of complete non-doingness (and accepting this non-doingness), bigger, more playful, and more impactful ideas began to emerge in my mind.

I could create a school.

I could create in-person retreats and festivals.

I could start Dj-ing.

From this place of zero pressure and pure play, anything seemed not only possible, but also incredibly energizing and fun.

So, after 2 & 1⁄2 months of backpacking without building or creating, I shifted quickly into a 2-week sprint of intense inspiration, ideation, action, and iteration.

I shifted from staying up until 8am at raves to staying up until 8am designing projects, making videos, and writing.

It was like a literal fire was put under my ass that would not allow me to sleep because the ideas, creations, and projects were so exciting and energizing.

This feeling of “fire under my ass” can also be described as kundalini energy, which I will be writing more about in my next Asia Adventures blog.

From this place of heightened intrinsic inspiration, in these past 3 weeks, I’ve:

• Revamped my entire online business model - moving all of my digital attention to Conscious Creators.

• Restructured my entire digital ecosystem and nested everything inside jackmoses.co

• Entered the building phase of a Men's Retreat in Austin, Texas with my good friend Cameron Hogan.

Oh, and I moved back to Illinois for the next 3 weeks from Thailand. That's been an interesting transition, to say the least - haha.

This transition back into a building, creating, and writing phase has me feeling similar to how I felt when I landed in Chiang Mai with a backpack and no plan 3 months ago.

I feel out in the abyss.

Navigating uncharted territory.

Finding my way forward, one step at a time.

These projects require me to step into a new iteration of myself.

Back towards structure.

Back towards systems.

Back towards discipline.

I am observing myself shift back towards the middle way between the progress that comes from building projects and businesses and the presence that comes from free-flowing solo travel.

And this shift is not happening without growing pains.

Structure feels hard.

Redesiging systems feels hard.

Setting an alarm feels hard - haha.

But I feel I am coming back to this middle way from a summer that was very much lived completely in chaos.

I had to transcend the stage of hyper-masculine order and structure, navigate into the unknown to learn how to thrive in chaos and tap into my feminine, and now I am coming back full circle, like a spiral, to a more holistically integrated version of myself.

This summer, I learned how to play outside of structure.

The experience strengthened my antifragility.

I learned I can play both in and out of structure.

I can thrive in my ordered, structured, and focused masculine, as I did for most of my life.

And I can also thrive in my playful, spontaneous, flowy feminine, which I tapped deeply into this summer.

I can sometimes use Google Calendar.

And at other times, completely disregard it.

I can sometimes set an alarm.

Other times, I can stay up until 4am and wake up at noon.

No way is right or wrong.

What matters is alignment and integrity to both a vision for the future and the present moment.

The question I am coming back to is:

“What is this moment requiring of me?”

From here, the right action repeatedly arises.

You Must Create Your Own Life Philosophy

You cannot adopt someone else’s ideals, values, or systems and expect to live a perfectly aligned, harmonious life.

Just because it worked for them does not mean it will work for you.

You are a completely unique being, with a completely unique brain, and completely unique curiosities, talents, energy cycles, rhythms, and natural proclivities.

Yes, you can take inspiration from another’s way of living, working, and being.

But you must create your own life philosophy, construct your own goals, and develop your own systems to find what workflow, career, and lifestyle align with the most natural, authentic expression of you.

I’ve learned this lesson after getting really good at mirroring and intelligently imitating people I wanted to be like my whole life, from athletes to entrepreneurs to writers and philosophers.

But I’ve learned recently, on more of an experiential level than an intellectual level, that to become truly free, and to become the fullest, authentic expression of yourself, you must carve your own path.

You can learn from those ahead of you.

They can be lighthouses of truth and inspiration to guide you on your path.

But to truly walk your own path, you must blaze your own trail.

Thank you for reading (:

I will be sharing more updates on the lessons I am learning in real time as they arise in my consciousness.

I will also be sharing more details on the Austin retreat soon.

For now, if you’re interested, you can fill out the application form here - or send me an email (:

Until next time,

Jack

jackmoses.co