Hi, I'm Mike.
Here's a little bit about me...
Since I was very little, I’ve always been curious about people, but terrified by people. I was shy, observant and deeply curious. Much of the richness of my life was in my inner world. I had 2 places where I could be the real me: sports and math.
I was allured by the aliveness and authenticity of sports, especially basketball. I would play in my driveway almost every day for hours on end, having to wash the filth off my hands when I came inside. Shooting hoops outside was my safe place and was where I came most alive. I’d narrate my own games out loud, and make up scenarios where I’d hit the game winning shot as time expired. “Crowd goes wild! Knicks win by 1 after a thrilling buzzer beater by Trugman!”
Academically, I was drawn to math as a map for absolute truth, analyzing my way to definitive answers. These 2 qualities - truth and aliveness - slowly drifted out of my life and were barely considered as my career began.
I followed my way of being a numbers guy into accounting, but there was always a tiny nagging in me that accounting wasn’t the right field for me. I did not have the confidence to confront that until 6 years into my career, when I hit 6-figures for the first time, and was promoted to the title of Manager.
It was then that I realized I was more miserable than I had ever been, and I needed to do something about it. I started listening to podcasts for the first time, and for the first time ever, I started to see myself in successful people - people who were sensitive, caring, thoughtful, and of deep service. Their insights helped me to better understand myself and gave me really practical ways I could better my life.
As a result, I started to make incredible changes, losing 40 pounds, reinvigorating my curiosity and zest for life, and facing lifelong fears like public speaking head-on..but I still felt hollow and empty in my career.
I don’t even know how it occurred to me to look into life coaches, but I started working with one in January of 2019 and by April of 2019, I made the first huge shift in my professional and public identity: I started a blog called My Trug of Choice that spoke about my journey with nutrition, fitness and mindfulness.
It was terrifying for me. I remember being in my accounting office the day I posted my blog, feeling so naked and vulnerable in front of all these people who think I’m just a “regular guy”. My first post revealed my deep fear and shame around public speaking (and how I’ve grown), my weight loss, and how good it felt to make changes in my life, going from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset and starting to believe that so much more was possible in my life.
After just 3 months of working with a life coach, I enrolled in a coach certification myself because I couldn’t believe that I could get paid to help transform people’s lives. I believe that coaching creates magic, and have experienced that as both a client and a coach. These days, I support people who are looking to work, and live, with a sense of freedom, purpose and meaning. I believe that when we tune into our desires and slow down to connect with what’s holding us back, we can create results we only previously dreamed of.
This perennially scared, shy guy who spent the first 25 years of his life hiding now has a top 3% podcast, a coaching business, and the ability to speak in front of large audiences without losing a second of sleep, simply through repeated work on myself.
If you feel called to something more in your life; if you are waking up to what could be possible, but feel trapped in the corporate 9-5…I get it, and I’ve been there. It doesn’t have to stay that way. Your dreams are possible. Let’s talk.