Jason Drees (00:45.24)
Hi, I'm Jason Dries, welcome to the Orientation Project. Today, we are gonna be talking about becoming whole, unleashing your full power, playing at the highest level, because we have patterns as human beings. And these patterns that we all have are, they're built in survival mechanisms, and these survival mechanisms run our entire life.
And the thing that actually starts happening is we start with fragmentation. What do I mean by fragmentation? What I mean by fragmentation is that we end up fragmenting ourselves as a form of protection anytime we have an experience that is emotionally intense or traumatic or sometimes even positive as well.
Because we may have a belief that we don't deserve that, earn that.
And what ends up happening is over time we get fragmented into quite a few different pieces. We play different roles. We wear different hats. We become the achiever. We become the entrepreneur. We become the husband, the father, the brother, the sister. So we have roles that we play.
And over time, we end up breaking ourselves into pieces that we're not really aware of.
Jason Drees (02:22.102)
And some of us continue with this pace our entire life, fragmenting, protection. And if you think about that, what type of confidence and certainty are you gonna have if you're fragmented in quite a few different pieces? And it starts happening when we're very young. It starts with some parts of ourselves are unacceptable.
They are not appropriate.
So the performance starts.
And I'm curious, when do you remember when you started performing?
I remember I started performing in junior high and high school. It was very clear, eighth grade, I was doing my own thing. I was the most authentic version of myself I ever remember.
Jason Drees (03:15.362)
There was this thing, Domino's Pizza had this marketing campaign with this little animated character called the Noid. And he had like long ears that were stretching and he pulled on them. And for Halloween, my mom and I worked on a costume. You know, even put like macaroni in the ears and it could stretch. And I get to Halloween on my, in eighth grade, and I'm the only kid in my entire class dressed up in a costume. Just imagine how that felt.
And then we get to the end of the year, you our first yearbooks were signing in eighth grade and I start looking through mine and it says, the majority of the people signing my yearbook said, you're weird, you're strange, have a cool summer. And I was like, wait a second, what do you mean weird? I'm like being myself, why would I be weird, strange? And what I didn't realize to almost two decades later was that I started to hide that part of me.
And I started to literally fragment myself into pieces and started performing a different version of me to the world because that version got a better response. And I wanted to be accepted. I wanted to be liked. I didn't want to be stand out. I wanted support, all of that stuff. So for years I performed and wear masks. So I'm curious for you specifically.
Do you have a relative experience when you started to perform?
Because every one of us performs, every one of us fragments ourselves as a safety mechanism.
Jason Drees (04:54.86)
And the worst thing we can do in our life is continue to fragment ourselves as we grow older and wiser. The path moving forward to greater success and happiness is actually defragmentation.
I'm going through a radical defragmentation right now. The defragmentation I'm going through right now is massive. I went through this period of a divorce from a long-term partner, mother of my four children over the past two years. And I've been writing a book about it as well, many formats. I wrote a book halfway through, got a fable. Apparently now I'm writing poetry. The content is flowing out in different ways. And what I'm realizing as I go by is that,
This process is less about me recovering from a divorce. It's really the kickstart, the catalyst for me to start reclaiming the parts of myself. And if you listen to the episode of the orientation project last week, I talked about reclaiming the champion, letting the champion out. What about the dreamer who dreams big?
and believes anything is possible. And then there's the jokester, because I remember I used to be a lot funnier than I am now, a lot happier, playful, and also the little boy that just little loved to play. And I realized I had put him, put those characters away. And they weren't really characters, they were parts of me. They were pieces of me. And you put all those together, you can call those archetypes or whatever you want to call them, but those pieces together make up me.
Jason Drees (06:28.382)
And as I've been going through this healing, growing process, I'm really going through a process of defragmentation. The challenging about the process part of the defragmentation is when we start to connect to those old pieces that we fragmented ourselves into.
There's a lot of emotion that's trapped in those pieces. So when you start connecting those pieces, you have to feel the emotion that goes with them. And most of us aren't ready to dive into that level of emotion, so we continue to avoid that.
But the thing is, the world is changing radically. Especially with AI, AI influencers, propaganda marketing, like there's so much conditioning going on we can't even see it. And the thing that stands out today, the thing that stands out in the world, the thing that's gonna beat AI is authenticity.
Jason Drees (07:31.394)
And authenticity is being yourself, it's being who you are. And it's also one of the hardest things to be because being authentic basically means you're open to the world judging you for who you are.
Jason Drees (07:46.774)
as opposed to presenting a mask or a performance, and if they don't like the performance of the mask, well, that doesn't matter because it wasn't really you. Authenticity is the thing. That's why I always say, and what's also with, what also is gonna stand out in the world, at least the social media today, is being polarizing.
Because, you know, but we've been conditioned over this crazy, woke nonsense over the past 10 years of trying to get everybody to like you and make everybody be happy. But that's not how life really is. Everybody's not gonna like you. And for what I found in myself and a lot of people is we tried to get, we kind of dim ourselves or shape ourselves to try to get more people to like us versus being our authentic self when the right people like us.
So I'm curious how much you're feeling fragmented right now. What's coming up for you?
Because this is the real work. Of course, success in business and money feels good, but nothing feels as good as getting yourself back. And I always say, if you're not offending anyone, you're not being authentic enough.
Jason Drees (09:08.513)
So.
We start to, so if you understand the concept of fragmentation, the way we start reclaiming those parts is we start to get clear on times when we were at our best in different modes. And when did you stop? Was there a judgment, was there a failure?
Because what I do professionally is I wake people up to play at their full potential because most people have numbed or dimmed themselves down because...
because the last time they went full 100%, it was too much or they weren't liked or they stood out.
And then we end up kind of dimming our light a little bit. And then we end up just kind of drifting and we blink our eyes and like three years goes.
Jason Drees (10:05.762)
Maybe now is the time for you to reclaim yourself.
Step into that.
And the obstacles you have against you are true, right? Success makes it worse. What do you mean success makes it worse? Well, success makes it work. Why? Because achievement rewards the performance, right? If you can play the performer and do the act and do what you're supposed to do, you will be successful. You'll be average. But if you work hard, you'll be the average of a higher level group.
Most people don't realize they're running their business from a fraction of themselves.
What would happen if all of you was on deck? Like all of you was on board. What would happen if like 100 % of you was in? Now you may say, well, I don't need the playful one that plays with my kids in my business. Well, why not? That's a part of you. I may not need this guy over here. Why?
Jason Drees (11:09.758)
And I'll give you an example. Like you have absolutely met someone who is fake before, right? You can spot somebody fake a mile away. They're a mile away you can spot fake. You totally can.
Jason Drees (11:28.642)
So to think that you can be fragmented and hiding parts of yourself and have other people not see it, well, you're just daydreaming.
And the thing you have to get past, one of the obstacles is achievement rewards performance. The other obstacle is the gatekeeper.
There is a filter within you that was created when you were younger. And that filter, that gatekeeper is to keep you in line so you don't get results you don't want.
Jason Drees (12:06.574)
And I'm curious, when did that gatekeeper show up?
And that gatekeeper keeps you from the edge of that authenticity, keeps you from that edge of the discomfort. Don't stand out. Stay safe. Don't risk it.
Yeah, that's the voice.
In fact, what is that gatekeeper saying to you right now that I'm calling him out?
just don't listen to Jason. You've got success. You'll be fine. Because that gatekeeper is the ceiling. The ceiling on your revenue, the ceiling on your relationships, the ceiling on your impact, the ceiling on your life.
Jason Drees (12:51.81)
Like just think like when were you playful and bold? you maybe your three or five or seven?
Because I bet you if that version of you got to set the goals right now, that version would set radically different goals and would not care what everyone else thinks.
Jason Drees (13:16.482)
How much do you think you're adapting your targets to fit in?
How much do you think you're adapting yourself in your workplace to fit in?
How much are you playing a role that you would rather not play at all?
because the, I know they're there. You know they're there.
Jason Drees (13:45.698)
And to change those and replace those, have to approach that edge.
That edge, my God, that edge is the challenge. That edge is the edge of growth, the edge of discomfort. It's where almost everybody backs down.
because that edge is the most painful, terrifying, frightening place you can go because on the other side of that edge is nothing.
because that edge you have to cross, that edge and that vast valley of nothingness in the dark is what you have to walk through to leave the old identity behind and to become the new identity.
Your gatekeeper is keeping that old identity intact. The validation of your success, of your performances is keeping that old identity intact.
Jason Drees (14:43.852)
Now, I'm not saying you need to throw away your skill set and what you know to be true about being successful. I'm saying we need to remove all the stops. You're not getting any younger. You could get hit by a bus and die tomorrow. And we're so worried about what everyone else thinks when the reality no one else gives a shit because they're all caught up in their own shit anyway. Honestly. And if you're listening to this,
You are actually radically ahead of the curb because you're doing the work like you're following a mindset coach. You're doing the work to grow it and enhance yourself, involve yourself. So you're already in a single digit percentage of the population. Everyone else is so consumed with their own stuff. They can't even think about it. So the reality is we're all out here scared of other people not liking us.
wearing these masks we don't wanna wear, thinking everyone else is gonna like us, when in reality no one else is even paying attention, because they're all stuck up in their own, they're all caught up in their own stuff. my God, it's so ridiculous when you put it that way, isn't it?
Jason Drees (15:56.354)
And you ever notice that the haters that come out, like I remember when I got my first haters, I was doing Instagram lives with Brandon, Brandon Turner. He put them on his YouTube page and somebody on his page said under the YouTube reviews later, which Brandon said, don't ever read the comments. He said, the comment says the videos that Jason does with his, the Brandon does that with his mindset coach are his worst content. And I was like, somebody's hating me.
But one thing you'll notice about the haters, the haters are all below you. You will never find a person who's at a higher level of success or growth than you give you hate. That's not how it works. So all the hate that you're trying to avoid by performing and playing small and staying fragmented.
is literally everyone else who's stuck being average and is too much of a coward to do anything about.
Jason Drees (17:02.85)
When are you gonna let the real you out?
Jason Drees (17:10.808)
Let me ask you this, how much value do you get from listening to me? Have I made an impact on you? Have you been listening to me for years? Have you been listening to me for days? There was a point where I had to throw caution out the window and follow my path. And because of that path, I have personally impacted thousands of people.
Jason Drees (17:38.176)
If you have not done that work, there's thousands of people that you haven't impacted because there are people out there that will only do that type of work for you.
Jason Drees (17:50.956)
And if you think about it, what is the world's population, seven billion, eight billion people right now?
It's really funny because we're all trying to do what's right, well, as best we can. Some of us aren't, but we try to do what, we try to do the best we can. We try to do what's right. We try to fit in. So we're literally all trying to be the same thing instead of being unique expressions of ourself.
If we were supposed to be the same, don't you think we'd have the same brains, the same mindsets? But we're not the same, and we're not the same because we're supposed to be a unique expression of you, and that's where your power comes. That authenticity is your power. Haven't you heard that authenticity is a higher vibrational frequency than love?
Jason Drees (18:38.754)
Because authenticity is your soul shining through past the mind, past the ego. So letting it shine through, you worried about AI? Am I worried about AI? Not one bit. Why? Because you cannot clone me. There's only one Jason Dries. I'm excited about AI because it's an amplifier for me. Because I have come to understand that my unique voltage is my competitive advantage.
And I've lived a lot of time in my life trying to prove my voltage is, I'm worthy of it, my power, it's safe for me to wield it. Who am I to coach these people? I don't know what I'm doing. Who was I to start coaching somebody making seven figures when I hadn't done it myself? Those are questions I had to deal with.
the breakthrough I had this week was that my voltage is mine.
I had been dimming it and running from it for so long because our power is so great and so immense, it's radically overwhelming to almost everybody.
Jason Drees (20:02.818)
And this week, I felt a new appreciation for that voltage. And I so grounded in my own unique voltage, my frequency, the frequency of Jason Paul Dries, this guy right here, the voltage of him. And when I started to sit in that voltage, I felt happier and more complete than I've ever felt in my entire life.
And also the lessons I've had from dating women in relationships and not working over the past handful of years has also taught me that the love I've felt in those relationships that was amazing was coming from me.
Jason Drees (20:43.01)
not from somebody else.
Yes, I've had probably more work done than you. I've done more work. Yes, that's because it's my professional career. Yes, it's an obsession I have.
And yes, it gets harder because the higher I climb that mountain, the fewer and fewer people can meet me.
Jason Drees (21:04.748)
So when you climb that authentic path to greatness, it is a lonely road. It is a lonely route to the top because so many people have chose to stay in the valley where it's comfortable versus to climb the mountain.
Jason Drees (21:22.168)
But the greatest capacity, the greatest power is our own frequency, our own voltage, our own wholeness radiating the love that we're after. It comes from within.
And when you start to walk that path of authenticity, when you start to reclaim the parts of yourself that have been fragmented off by fears, by doubt to fit in, you stop living in a land of hope.
You start living in a reality of commitment, basically meaning this is all in.
and one of the costly.
words I have ever experienced in my life is integrity.
Jason Drees (22:11.362)
Because when you become a man or even a woman who does what they say they're gonna do, you stand out like 10 big toes, like a sore thumb. It is shocking. You know, I'm 52 years old. I've been in the corporate, I got my first corporate job in 96. So I've been in the corporate world for like 30 years. The most surprising thing to me from being in the corporate world,
is how many people don't do what they say they're gonna do. Like it's, it's astronomic. It's like 98 % of the people. Now, I would say there's a, there's maybe a higher percentage of that in business do what they say they're gonna do. But do it across the board? I guarantee if we start viewing all the top influencers, all the people who are at the height of their success, one of their top values is integrity.
But integrity has a cost. Authenticity has a cost. Defragmenting yourself has a cost. As I put all my pieces together and found my voice and found that I...
The best way for me to move through my growth and processing and healing and transformation is with writing and communicating. And there are people in my life, in my past, who are part of those experiences. And do they like it when I write about that stuff that they did? No, they don't. Is that my responsibility? No, I didn't do it. And I don't do that to punish them.
I do that to share my experience. I do that to process. I do that to move through. So my question for you to take away today, I think the first question was, when did you start performing and fragmenting yourself?
Jason Drees (24:07.598)
Another good question is, what is that gatekeeper blocking you back from right now? What is the false fear the gatekeeper is blocking you from stepping up your game?
And then the third question I would look at would be is like, what cost are you avoiding right now?
Jason Drees (24:33.282)
because if we were to transport that fun, playful, bold, unstoppable version of you, was he two, five, seven, 12, 20, 30? If we brought that version to you forward right now and that version got to set all your goals and your targets, what would that version say to you?
Jason Drees (25:04.044)
And the best part of all of this, as difficult as this work feels, the best part about all of this is the only thing you have to do.
Jason Drees (25:17.634)
to do this work is feel the emotions involved.
Jason Drees (25:24.854)
And I've got, and I've learned recently this week that I've had emotions all wrong my entire life. I've spent the past 25 years trying to turn them off.
trying to make my emotions all happy.
and not enjoying the negative emotions. I spent so much time doing that, I've been unhappy most of the time, this obsession. And that's why my brain has got to this level of personal development. That's why I created the belief change process. That's why I created all this other stuff, was to change those beliefs I didn't like. Change the beliefs so I wouldn't have the emotions I've liked.
And then I had a new perspective this week.
Is that
Jason Drees (26:12.384)
Almost everything that comes into your life can leave your life.
Jason Drees (26:19.104)
Even things that you think could be, they're gonna be there forever, aren't always there.
Jason Drees (26:26.03)
So we end up living this life where almost everything is temporary. Whether temporary is a day, a week, or for 50 years. Everything will eventually leave us.
which leaves us with what actually stays. And the only thing that really stays with us forever.
Jason Drees (26:51.498)
is the emotional experience. The emotional experience is what's permanent. And I've spent decades.
trying to avoid the negative emotional experiences. And life finally gave me so many negative experiences, I literally could not avoid them anymore. Like literally, it's impossible.
Jason Drees (27:18.262)
And I started to make peace with the negative emotions. I started to make peace with my pain, my trauma, my fear. And I started to feel a richness of life that I had never felt before.
Jason Drees (27:41.303)
And as much.
as challenging and as difficult that it's been.
That was my life.
And I remind myself that grief is the cost of love.
And I would rather loved and end up with grief than to never loved at all.
Jason Drees (28:07.01)
So today.
I hope I've given you a little injection of a kick in the butt, pat on the back, new point of view, new breakthrough. I would invite you to do something with today.
Jason Drees (28:27.042)
because we can blink our eyes.
and be through the next 10 years in a blink of an eye.
And it's very easy to get stuck avoiding with things we don't want. It's easy to get stuck in work thinking that we need to deprioritize our entire lives because of work.
The reality is you are more powerful than this.
You are more capable than this.
Jason Drees (29:01.696)
Your voltage, your unique power, your unique vibrational frequency, the voltage of you is your competitive advantage.
If you want to expand your success community impact, crank up your voltage. Stop dimming it. Stop hiding it.
Let you out.
And if you just stop for a moment, you may just feel how beautiful and amazing it feels to be engulfed in you.
It's the most complete I've ever felt in my entire life.
Jason Drees (29:53.24)
So.
Thank you for listening.
I hope to see you again sometime. Hope this was of value. Thank you for listening as I share my message, my words. I hope you have a wonderful afternoon. I'm Jason Dries. This is the Orientation Project. Take care.
