Code 3: Life. Reinvented.

In this episode, I’m joined by someone who was my very first guest on Code 3 — Dr. Birgit Rauchbauer — and I’m excited to share a big announcement: she’s officially joining MORE as our Head of Research. 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.”

After my first widowmaker heart attack, I truly believed I had my wake-up call. 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.

In this episode of Code 3: Life, Reinvented, I sit down with my friend—and MORE® coach—Jonathan Binder, joining us from Lisbon, Portugal, to explore a Joseph Campbell line that keeps resurfacing in both of our lives: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasures you seek.” 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.

In this solo episode of Code 3: Life, Reinvented, I challenge the way authenticity has been turned into a vibe, a brand, or a someday project—and make the case for why authenticity isn’t cute or optional. It’s urgent. 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.

In this episode of Code 3: Life, Reinvented, I sit down with entrepreneur, speaker, and Growth Now Movement host Justin Schenck to unpack what it really takes to reinvent your life, especially when your starting line is stacked against you. 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

In this solo episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I unpack numb success — the most dangerous place to live, because the world rewards you for staying there. 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.

What if the move you’re craving isn’t a dramatic leap… but a measured, strategic shift you build step by step? 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.

Success. We chase it, sacrifice for it, and organize our lives around it. And then—quietly, unexpectedly—it stops working. 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.

In this powerful and deeply human episode, I sit down with Steve Haggerty — former Hyatt executive, private-equity partner, and now a builder of transformational wellness retreats — to explore one of the biggest truths high achievers avoid: we spend our lives doing while barely learning how to be. 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.

In this solo episode, I pull back the curtain on a huge truth I’ve been avoiding: I wasn’t building the wrong business — I was solving the wrong problem. 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.

In this episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I sit down with Milan Martin — advertising veteran and former President at Grey — to talk about how he walked away from a high-profile agency career to launch Free Spirits, a leading non-alcoholic spirits brand. 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.

In this raw solo episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented (⚠️ contains brief explicit language), I recount the day a mountain bike ride in Marin County ended in the ER — and the three thoughts that crystallized while I was rushed to the cath lab: love (not wanting my wife to fly home a widow), presence (never leaving without telling my kids “I love you”), and will (a defiant decision to walk out on my own terms). 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.

In this episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I sit down with Stephanie Goodell — a MORE® coach and corporate talent leader — to unpack what most people get wrong about transformation. 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.

In this solo episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I explore one of the hardest truths for high achievers — the cost of wearing masks. From playing the perfect employee to the invincible leader, I share how years of pretending nearly cost me everything, including my health. 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.

In this episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I sit down with Michael Pritchard — Emmy Award-winning comedian, former California Probation Officer of the Year, and longtime youth advocate — to explore how humor heals, why servant leadership builds real resilience, and how everyday acts of kindness create stronger communities. 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.

In this solo episode of Code 3: Life Reinvented, I explore a truth most high achievers avoid: the harder you are on yourself, the faster you burn out. 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.

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Birgit Rauchbauer to explore the fascinating role of the amygdala in processing fear and emotions. Together, we uncover how understanding this crucial part of the brain can help us better navigate life's challenges, manage stress, and embrace change. Through personal stories and expert insights, we share practical strategies to validate and tame fear, fostering emotional resilience and personal growth. Join us as we delve into the intersection of neuroscience and everyday life. If you'd like to learn more about what we're up to, please visit us at morecareerwellness.com.

In this solo episode, I, Adrian Jones (or AJ), share my journey as a two-time widowmaker heart attack survivor and introduce "Code 3: Life. Reinvented." This podcast is deeply personal, focusing on transformative life changes and the urgency of living authentically. I discuss my experiences and the importance of moving from autopilot to alignment. Through candid conversations with bold pivoters, authors, and experts, I aim to inspire you to pursue meaningful change and embrace your true self. Join me as I share hard-won lessons and frameworks to help you navigate your own path to a fulfilling life. 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.

Twice I've survived a massive widowmaker heart attack. Twice I've touched death's door and twice I've had to reevaluate everything. When my cardiologist told me to retire, I said, "No way! I have unfinished business." I asked the universe what I should do with this precious gift of life that had been bestowed upon me, and the message I received was loud and clear, and it was to help and inspire others to get more out of life. And my new mission in life was born. 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.