A Day Late but Exactly on Time

Hi there,

Sorry this is coming a day late. The past week, we packed up our entire home and kicked off a 3-month trip across three continents to visit family and friends.

We’re celebrating big things:
– My brother-in-laws wedding
– My little brother graduating college
– One of my closest high school friends getting married next weekend
– Kaia’s first trip to the motherland (Mongolia) meeting great-grandparents

But more than celebration, we’re testing a deeper commitment:
To build a life of real freedom.

Not just financial freedom (common misconception) the version that gets peddled on every podcast and post that is selling you a way to make passive income.

I mean freedom of time, location, and resources. → This is our North Star

And I’ll be honest: behind every clean post on IG or LinkedIn, there’s been a mountain of pain. Tears, friction, self-doubt, so much doubt...

We’re not “there” yet.
But every day, we show up and build the dream anyway.

So today, I want to share a reflection on why I coach.

This strange, human-centric profession that gets side-eyed by strangers and even doubted by me, sometimes, in my lowest hours.

Here’s why I come back to it: My goal is to unleash as much hidden potential as possible.

Not in a motivational quote way. In a truth hurts, growth heals kind of way.

Self-actualization (the full expression of our inner potential) has been at the center of my mind and heart since I left college.

That inner pull.
The desire to become what I knew I could be.
But felt so far from…

At first, I thought that meant chasing big goals:

• Run a marathon.

• Found a company.

• Lead large teams.

• Travel the world.

• Run a company that made $1,000,000

And I did it. But what came after wasn’t joy… it was the hangover.

The emptiness.
The burnout.
The frantic search for the next high to keep the fire alive.

Time taught me something I didn’t want to learn: What I called “drive” was often just stress. What I thought was self-actualization... was just me hooked on cortisol and adrenaline.

Here’s the truth that reshaped everything:
There is no finish line.

There’s no “there.”

Our potential doesn’t announce itself.
It doesn’t arrive with a gold medal or a job title.

It’s asymptotic
always just ahead,
always inviting us closer,
never quite fully reached.

and I find that to be terrifying…

Because it means: You can always choose to become more yet default to be less.

And choosing takes energy, energy that most of us don’t have because we face so many daily battles. Because we’re wired for energy conservation, not expansion.

We’re designed to survive, not thrive.

So the path of least resistance (the comfort of the now) will always feel safer than the stretch of becoming.

And we are amazing at finding excuses of why we are “correct” in wanting to stay where we are.

Which brings me to The Gap:

________________________________________ Capable

This is YOUR Gap

_______________________________________ Actual

The top line? That’s who you’re capable of being.
The bottom line? That’s who you’re currently being.

And the space in between? YOUR GAP

That’s where your regret lives.
That’s where the anxiety creeps in.
The restlessness. The shame. The disillusionment.

Through coaching, through writing, through the way I live... my mission is to help you close that gap.

So that who you’re actually being matches who you’re fully capable of being.

No fluff.
No filler.
No pretending.

Just you: aligned, powerful, present.

You might be wondering if that’s even possible…
You might be asking: what does that feel like?

Let me tell you— It feels f*cking great.

Your friend and coach,

Carlos