Dan Adams is a successful visionary entrepreneur, NCAA record holder, TV personality, and co-creator of the 2012 ESPY Award Winning Mission Kilimanjaro. In 2013, he co-founded The Higher Purpose Project after witnessing the need to empower young generations to be the change and evolve failing structures found in political, religious, educational, and financial sectors.
He has been featured on SpikeTV, NFL Network, TBS, and ESPN. In 2015, he will assist Kyle Maynard in reaching the top of the highest point in South America and will continue expanding the global impact of The Higher Purpose Project.
My Definition Of Success | I define success as living aligned with my highest aspirations. When I feel fear and anxiety when thinking of possibilities, I know that I have found my growth point. In the beginning, this become a constant seeking for the next big goal, however, I have learned to find enjoyment in the process and celebrating the small victories along the way.
I have learned to focus less on the external goals and more on the emotion I want to feel in different experiences I am attempting to build. Through the process of anchoring abstract ideas with concrete emotions, magic happens.
I Am Driven By | I want my life to serve as a reminder that we are the writers of our personal story. We are living in a time of tremendous change and it is time to remind people of their power to contribute on a global level. The smallest acts can create the biggest ripples and I am driven to lead by example on the largest scale.
My Highlights | At this stage of my life, I am proud that I have held to outlandish goals despite the views of those around me. Each one of these experiences has been uniquely different; however, it has built momentum to take bigger and bigger leaps.
- Setting Current NCAA Record For Most Unassisted Tackles In A Game
- Serving as member of the US National Team and competing on SpikeTV’s Pros vs Joes
- Co-creating the 2012 ESPY award-winning initiative, Mission Kilimanjaro, that enabled the first quadruple, congenital amputee to reach the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.
- Co-Founding The Higher Purpose Project that enables fellow outliers to connect and collaborate
The Difference Between Good And Great | Consistency and willingness to experience failure thousands of times. If you want to do things that have never been done before, you have to learn to develop consistent practices and refine them when you find that they no longer serve you. This can be an extremely frustrating process, however, the greats refuse to quit and are committed to finding the solution. It seems that everyone nowadays wants to be an entrepreneur; however, few are willing to fail forward to develop strong skill sets and unique insights.
A Key Talent | A key talent I have developed is the ability to tap into my own intuition rather than relying on outside perspectives. This ability isn’t something that can be obtained from books, but from taking action and learning from your direct experiences.
I have always had a passion to study the lives of “outliers” and have written extensively on characteristics that often define celebrated leaders of the past. Rather than becoming a historian, I have tried to integrate all of these principles into my life.
The Characteristics Of Success | At a young age I learned to not rely on modern education or the opinions of others that didn’t serve my vision. It can be really difficult to break the conditioning of these powerful influencers, however, if you are willing to be the “weird one”, over time it can really help in being able to take the leap in pursuing unconventional passions.
Critical Skills I Develop | The ability to communicate and build rapport are critical skills that I believe are the most instrumental in building a large-scale vision. If you want to get people excited and motivated, you have to possess an understanding of how to link the bigger picture to their personal goals and desires. When communication is a tremendous focus in your personal and professional relationships, creativity and enjoyment in your work expands exponentially.
Resources I Use To Stay Inspired | When first starting out, I was heavily influenced by the work of Joseph Campbell, Jiddu Krishamurti, and Carl Jung. After realizing that many books are composed of the same universal themes, I decided to become less focused on outside perspectives and more focused on attempting things I wanted to experience in my life. When you have money, time, and reputation invested in your goals, you seem to learn at a much quicker rate.
I really enjoy movies and have tried to mold my life after characters found in Legends of The Fall (Brad Pitt), Gattaca (Ethan Hawke), To Kill a Mockingbird (Gregory Peck), and Shawshank Redemption (Tim Robbins).
The Meaning Of Life | I believe the meaning of our life is to awaken to our power to create our reality based upon the different forms of expression we experience and give meaning to. As Viktor Frankl once state, “We aren’t in control of everything that happens externally; however, we are responsible for the meaning we give it.”
The Best Advice I’ve Received | The one thing that will dictate everything is the way that you feel in the present moment. At any time, we have the power to alter our “state”, which changes our focus, which affects our outcome.
Often in the pursuit of external goals, we lose the very things that make the human experience a worthwhile adventure.
I Am Inspired By | I am inspired by individuals who have confronted setback or adversity and have refused to settle. Through this painful process, a sense of compassion, intuition, and empathy is developed that can be felt instantly by those around them. The metaphor of the phoenix rising from the ashes has been a consistent theme in my life and I am drawn to those that have experienced the awakening out of autopilot that majority of the population falls into.
