The Spark

On August 01, 2017 as I stood overlooking the L.A. Skyline I had a moment of absolute silence while my mind was crowded with loud thoughts at the same time.  I had just finished the life changing two-day Worldz 2017 conference and my mind was racing with thoughts of a future without limits; simultaneously, I was attempting to be reflective on everything I had witnessed.  Worldz is unlike any conference I had ever attended.  If you are serious about doing something wonderful with your life, you must attend.  Picture spending two days interacting with the world’s most creative and inspirational  people…people that don’t know the meaning of the word impossible.  My attendance at the conference would prove the turning point of my creative journey, as it would spark my sense of urgency, especially after hearing one particular speaker who would crystallize EVERYTHING!

The speaker was a fiery and highly spirited young woman by the name of Claire Wineland.  If you haven’t heard her story, don’t worry neither had I at the time, check out this link: Claire Wineland Shows That It’s Possible to Live a Full Life With Cystic Fibrosis.   When I heard her speak on stage that day EVERYTHING changed for me.  I had to evaluate my life and how I was living.  This young lady with a terminal illness had lived a fuller life than most healthy people I knew, including me.  She found her life’s calling through the crucible of suffering and a near death experience…and I was still out there waffling over what I wanted to do at age 40.  That night in L.A., as I gathered my thoughts, I knew I had to get serious about what I wanted to do.  I had existed for 40 years but never truly lived.  I had to get a sense of urgency, focus on my passion, and execute violently on my purpose.  It was on!

My Why

While 3AM creatives was designed to spark a creative revolution, it was only intended to spark that revolution, there was still so much more for me to do.  While most companies are driven by profits, which are necessary, I’m driven on a mission to change the world.  In order to change this world, to get people to chase their passions and live their dreams, I had to go after them in a big way.  Because something inside me was pushing me to be bolder and more vulnerable than I had ever been before, I had to think and reveal myself in ways that made me uncomfortable.  It was in that spot of vulnerability and honesty that I discovered my Why!

The best way to describe the state of my life before I discovered my Why, would be to understand the famous 1990’s movie the Matrix.  In the movie, the main character, Neo,  was awakened to the fact that the world in which he lived in was a not real.  Everything he thought to be real was not reality but in fact a product of a computer simulation known as The Matrix.  If you know the movie, you know what happens next, he is offered a red pill (which represented the truth) or the blue pill (which represents ignorance or conformity).  The Matrix is described as a system designed to keep people comfortable with the status quo, to remain ignorant of who they really are, and to ensure total compliance with the rules (Dogma) of society.  As I would later discover, The Matrix was real, it is the mentality of the rejection of change and new ideas, and it was very much alive in our real world.

THE MATRIX HAD ME.  For so many years I was restless and adrift just like the character “NEO” in the movie Matrix…for most of my life I felt like my life was incomplete…like was waiting on something.  Although I had what most would consider a very successful career, I was very unhappy professionally.  I was working 12 hour days for a corporation that cared little for the workers…but my pay was good.  Far worse than uncaring leadership, I worked for corporate “Yes” men that lacked any imagination and could only operate in very narrow confines of corporate rules/regulations…but my pay was good.  I was not challenged intellectually or creatively, quite the contrary, I was stifled and suffocated….but my pay was good.  For years I existed this way, taking vacations sporadically, spending time with family, my life was boring and predictable, my dreams sedated by the comfort of a well-paying and stable job.  I was a normal person, living a normal life, but I was slowly dying inside.

One night, as was often the case, I was up at 3am wide awake.  For the past few years sleep had eluded me at 3am.  I used to think it was work related stress but I soon came to realize I was waiting on something.  It was not until I was up one morning at 3am reading a book called “The Alchemist” that I understood I was not living in my purpose…I was adrift and just existing.  Reading that book proved to be the spark that ignited something inside me…it awoke me to the fact I needed to make a change.  That book awoke my soul and made me realize I was living the life of a prisoner.  I was getting paid and had upward mobility but I wanted to be free of The Matrix.  I wanted to be free to change the world for the better by unleashing the imagination, embracing new ideas, and sparking creativity.

Once I had found why, my mind was clear, and I understood what my heart was telling me for the last 40 years.  I was tired of living in a world of “yes” men, a society that frowned on new ideas, and people hell-bent on returning us to the past.  My purpose on this earth was to help people escape the Matrix mindset.  My mission was to change conventional thinking on mindsets, passion, and purpose through my gift, the ability to inspire others.  Once I understood my why,  I knew I was going to disrupt the system,  break the rules, all the while being bold and unapologetic.  I was driven with the urgency to disrupt everything, now!

3AM Trinity Chimerical Life

I wanted to create a visual symbol of a daring mindset, something people could readily identify with.  Something that represented freedom from the Matrix, an acceptance of becoming fiercely unbothered by society’s dogma for your life.  3TC Life is that symbol.  3TC Life is exclusive to those that have an audacious mentality and while they have fears, they choose to ignore those fears to chase their purpose.  3TC Life is a visual symbol for the transformation in your life…it’s meant to be an acceptance of a mindset of unchecked imagination.  If you are wearing the brand, you have made the mental shift from just existing to pursuing your purpose….you are a badass in your own right.  You are driven and believe that no excuse will stop you from being the catalyst for change in this world.

3AM- The Hour Everything changed for me. It is described as the hour of Creatives.  The hour that God Speaks to people.

TRINITY- Trinity is a representation of the three fundamental ideas that will free you from The Matrix:

1). Always be yourself. 2). Fuck the rules and status quo 3).  Always follow your heart

I discovered that by following these three hard truths, I would become who I was destined to be.  By being myself, ignoring the rules/limitations people placed on me, and following my heart to my own truth…everything opened up for me.

CHIMERICAL-  When I followed the rules of Trinity I became Chimerical!!!! Chimerical is unreal, imaginary, fantastically visionary, it is to be wildly fanciful and highly unrealistic, existing as the product of imagination unchecked!!!!

Chimerical is your imagination unchecked…to live your own truth and create things only you could ever dream of.  To be Chimerical in your thinking you  must let go of everything else and live your truth.

When I embraced the 3TC mindset I was free to live my own truth and nothing would be the same again….