Your Invitation to The Adam Experiment

If you’re reading this email, it means that you’re someone that I care deeply about. You’re someone who’s had a significant impact on my life and I am extremely grateful for your presence and contributions.

The significance of this year has been building and today felt like the perfect time to share the beginnings of what that might look like.

You see, something has been calling to me for longer than I'd like to admit. I suspect you’ve experienced this phenomenon at some point as well. For me, that voice took me on a journey around the world, called me to quit jobs and launch new careers, begged me to end a major relationship, and challenged me to explore my mental and emotional health. This voice has guided me to meet my wife, and now it's calling me to write to you today.

This voice has long scared me because when I start to hear its whispers, it generally means massive change is on the horizon. Eventually, the voice gets so loud that I can’t ignore it. It becomes too painful not to heed its calling so I lean in and let the magic happen.

Elsa said it best, “I'm afraid of what I'm risking if I follow you…Into the unknown!”

As I’ve gotten older, the voice has gotten harder to hear, quieted by the thoughts, beliefs, and experiences that have accumulated over the years. But eventually, it breaks through. I’ve learned it's easier to act on the whispers rather than wait for the shouts, and that involves taking the time to remove whatever might be holding it back.

So what exactly is this voice?

Meet True Adam

I think of this voice as my true self. Others have called it the higher self, the soul, or something even bigger like the messages from the universe or God.

Sometimes I hear that voice inside myself as a thought or sensation (intuition?); other times it comes to me externally in a conversation with a friend, a line in a TV show, a question from my coach, or a random chat at the gym. A recurring theme that can’t be ignored.

Last Friday, my coach said, "I had a feeling we need to revisit the fear of owning who you really are. Does that resonate?"

Yes, and it’s exactly what True Adam has been whispering about it. It’s time.

This is quite possibly the hardest challenge, biggest opportunity, and wildest adventure of my life - to own who I really am, not just in parts but in everything.

That’s when it hit me…

My highest purpose is to radically own who I am.

I believe that’s true for all of us and is the key to unlocking our full potential and wildest dreams. From that place of truth, what you choose to do with it is your mission, and how you do it is your special sauce that only you can share with other humans. No one can take that from you and the world needs it.

Embodying this purpose and living it daily is the single most powerful way I can help others do the same. This is reflected in one a quote I review daily:

My 37th birthday felt like as good of a time as any to commit myself to the quest of owning who I am, being fully alive, and guiding others to do the same.

This is the year.

Shadow Adam has entered the chat

Later in that session, my coach asked, "What would it mean to own who you really are?"

The immediate insight initially scared me as I felt a new kind of power become available to me. I had the strangest blend of fear and possibility.

Then Shadow Adam wanted to chime in with thoughts like, "You're not ready," "People will think you're crazy," "This won't work," and “You’ll have to do some hard painful things.”

He kept rattling on but this time, True Adam stepped into his power and simply replied, "Know that you are safe and supported."

True Adam is always right while Shadow Adam is louder and much more persistent. Shadow Adam wants to keep me safe and tends to get all of my attention. His job is to keep me from feeling pain and struggling even though they both play a key part in growth and transformation.

It’s up to me to find harmony with my inner voices.

Playbook for success

I’ve done incredible things when I radically trust my intuition, listen to true Adam, and explore what comes up freely. With that faith in mind, I reflected on how I showed up during those periods of success and transformation. What exactly was I doing or embodying? Here’s what came up:

• Radical self-trust and faith in my intuition and higher self, even when it felt scary or uncertain

• Free-form exploration of ideas, people, concepts, places, and experiences

• Uncapped creativity in the form of writing, video, photography, experiences, and pursuing my ideas

• Rapid experimentation and testing to find what works for me

• Vulnerable storytelling of the process and outcomes, especially when it’s messy and before it’s ready

• Taking massive action

Once again, I felt this deeply. I know these things to be true and I trust in my ability to do them because they come naturally to me. Hiding from them is what takes all the work even though Shadow Adam would have me believe otherwise!

The next question I turned to was much harder. What's kept me from owning myself up until now? In other words, what keeps me safe?

Answering this question will require challenging major aspects of my life - my beliefs, behaviors, values, and relationships. I will do this by asking myself, "Does this serve my higher purpose?" If not, it’s time to let it go to make space for what will.

I want to share this journey with you.

An invitation

You’re formally invited to join The Adam Experiment - a backstage pass and first-class ticket on my journey of unleashing my full power and potential as a means to guide others to do the same.

I’ll be sharing personal learnings, stories of how others have navigated their adventures, conversations with experts when I want to go deep, and whatever else emerges on the trail.

I intend to share something daily - some longer, some shorter, across various platforms and mediums. We'll figure the rest out as we go.

I don’t have all the answers, but I know the first step starts by sharing all of me, even when it feels messy and too early. When I do this, it creates the space for others to have their own insights which in turn unlocks more of my potential. It’s a beautiful flywheel.

To kick things off, I invite you to reflect on a few questions:

• What would be possible if you truly owned who you are?

• What keeps you from owning who you are? Where are you playing it safe?

• What’s one thing you can do right now to “test out” being fully you?

I’m glad you’re here and thanks for venturing into the unknown with me.

With love and power,

Adam