Our story - to help you change your story!
Life is a journey and we should all make the commitment to ourselves to be the captains of our own lives. Those who don't, tend to regret it later on in life.
My life has definitely not always been on my terms. Some time back, I did'nt even know what my terms were. Now that I do, I am hoping I can add some value to your life so you don't have to make the same mistakes I have done. By using my story and background, you can save yourself a lot of pain and potentially a decade of your life but still accomplish much much more!
My desperation became my inspiration!
About a year ago I decided to leave my very well paid office-job to do something else as I felt I was not growing as a human being. I wanted more out of life than having a "good" and "secure" job, living a "good" life and then potentially dying without actually really having lived life on my terms! The old me in the old "box" I used to live in has since completely changed and I am currently on a long trip, working from wherever I happen to be (the place where I choose to be)!
I have always been extremely competitive, keen on sports and finance and the last decade I spent in a highly competitive environment with lots of very smart and driven individuals. My competitiveness and dedication unfortunately took it's toll on my body and that was my first big awakening. I whish I could say my life changed because of inspiration but it was not, it was desperation. Unforutnately this seems to be the case for many but it doesn't have to be like that....
In hindsight, I can say that this episode of my life was probably the best thing that could have happened as it paved the way to where I am today. The place where I truly want to be, and that is here to help you on your journey in life so that you can be the captain of your ship.
So how did I end up here?
Let me start with a little bit of background to give you an idea of who I am. For as long as I can remember, sports (numerous) and money have always been my two biggest interests. I bought my first briefcase when I was about eight years old and I wore a tie to school as I was going to become a bank branch manager. I knew this and was determined to get there. As a young boy I loved accompanying my mother when doing our weekly grocery shopping and afterwards I always asked her to test me if I could recall all the individual prices of our shopping and most of the time I could.....I loved numbers!
My interest in money and finance led me to the stockmarket when I was 13 years old and that's when I knew I wanted to become a stockbroker. Fast-forward a decade and a bit and I am working for an investment bank in London, creating investment solutions for large institutional clients. I had used all my drive, hunger, ambition and dedication to get there, as I had no previous relationships or contacts I could "use". This was the first time in my life I really hit "the wall" of a challenge (partially through my naivity). No one seemed to want to buy what we offered, we were too expensive and people had hardly heard about us in the region I was covering.... And in this business, you either deliver or you are fired on the spot.
I worked like a machine with razor-like focus and dedication, prioritising my clients and my work before anything else as I was NOT going to fail. I had erased that word from my vocabulary a long time ago! The pressure was on, I went all in and eventually managed to get a big breakthrough when I sold a sophisticated investment which made my employer multiples of my annual salary in profit. I was back on track! I then got caught up in the momentum and when you have momentum, you push fucking harder (that was my mantra)!
Hitting the bottom
I worked hard without paying much attention to my body and mind. Sure, I was exercising regularly but not taking proper care of myself. This lifestyle along with partying, stress, poor diet etc. eventually lead to me being diagnosed with an illness in 2011 (this same year I was doing long distance racing (biking, cross country skiing, running and swimming) as well...). I was told it was a very uncommon autoimmune disease and the doctors had no idea how I had gotten it (but uh, I knew!).
This definitely threw me off guard and I started questioning things a lot more and yes, it became a challenging period (mostly mentally). What did I really want out of life, how did I want to live and how did I want to spend my time if we only really get one shot at life? The more I contemplated these questions, the more lost I got... What did become extremely clear though, was that I wanted more out of life than what I was getting at the time and I started to feel more and more "trapped" into conformity of life.
It still took a couple of years before I made some real changes in my life. The first big step was to resign and to move back to Sweden and wow, the pace was so much different (for good and for bad) in the work place. The move, new job, new company etc. was great at the beginning and we were growing and expanding our business area (yes it meant heads down and hard work again). However, when things started to calm down, the old questions popped back up in my head. I guess I had just opressed them for a while... What did I really want out of life, could I really see myself in the same place over a very long period of time?
My logic, rational and analythical brain was clearly telling me YES! It would be very comfortable and secure with long nice vacations, fancy restaurants etc. But that happened to stand in deep contrast to what every ounce of my existence was telling me (when I was paying attention...). My body was shouting out a loud and clear HELL NO! I was litterally dying on the inside... I knew this was not the place where I could add the most value to the world, but what was and who knew? Well, in the end I realised that the only one who could answer that question was me!... That realisation took me a long time to reach, as I guess I had not been properly listening to myself and my own body for years!
Making some hard decisions...
Resigning from a very well paying, secure job with 30 days paid holiday per year, great pension benefits etcetera is still not that easy... It was my whole life, career and personality I was questioning at the same time! It took some mental work and I used my own technique of "brainwashing" myself into finally taking the step and to ignore what "everybody else" would think and say etc. The change was taking place without me having any clear idea of what I wanted to do instead. The only thing that was clear was that I wanted to add much more value to other people's lives in one way or another.
I will never forget that feeling of liberation once my decision was taken and communicated to my boss. It was like a big weight just fell off my shoulders and I knew with 100% certainty that resigning had been the right move. Lots of things have happened since then but the pieces have started to fall into place of how I really want to spend my time and this platform is the result of that.
A great confirmation of my decision came from a colleague who said to me: We all want to do it (get out of the rat race), few have the balls to do it but you do, congratulations!"
I don't want anyone to have to go through what I have gone through, physically nor mentally (in particular mentally). I want you to learn from my mistakes (and those of other people) and make use of all the knowledge I have gained during my life so far to make your journey somewhat more comfortable at least.
I'm not alone and neither are you!
Thankfully my journey has not been travelled alone. I have been fortunate enough to have my girlfriend by my side for a very long time. She both has been and is a very big part of this journey and in particular the health area. It is her research, persistance and knowledge which has actually helped me cure my "incurable" disease. Together we hope to inspire you to make your health a priority in your life as well. It is just not worth sacrificing your health for any money in the world. If you don't have your health, you have nothing and you get to know that for a fact when you are really sick.
One of the challenges in life is finding that balance and that is what we want to achieve with our platform. We all need Visions & Goals if we want to get somewhere specific (not just ending up somewhere by chance) and Money is a great tool for sure. I have realised that my whole life has mostly been about these two areas and I think I know a thing or two about them. However, both of them are pretty worthless if you don't have your Health...
Visions & Goals, Health and Wealth are the building blocks of this platform and so they should be of you life as well. I truly believe that if you use it the way it has been designed, your life will never be the same!
Start using our platform today and if we can help in any way, please reach out and we will do our best to help you on your path towards a life on your terms!
Let's Dare, Care and Share!
- Jakob Palmqvist
