We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jacob Thompson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jacob below.
Jacob, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
To make a long story short, I was born with a rare disease that’s slowly been taking away my physical abilities for my whole life. I now have a physical disability called Ataxia that affects my balance, coordination, energy, speech, and strength. I grew up as an athlete but slowly lost my abilities and thought my athletic dreams had died. It turns out, they were not dead, just dormant! About a year ago I learned that para-climbing was an international sport with a USA National Team. I started training right away and have been doing so since.
I am currently working on what’s called a “dynamic move” which is a move that involves risk. It is a move where you are making a dynamic movement rather than a static movement; if you miss, you are going to fall (and get caught by the belay ropes of course). I’m realizing that I much prefer to feel comfortable and balanced before making my next move and eliminating risk. However, I have to get over this mental barrier if I want to go to the next level.
Working on this for climbing has reminded me of this truth in life and business. We often want to feel comfortable and not make any moves that involve risks or unknowns. However, we must go out of our comfort zone if we want to grow; there’s no alternative.
As a speaker, author, and content creator, there is always risk involved; there is the chance that you will be rejected or even insulted. In order to have an impact on the lives of others, though, this is a risk I must continually take. As I learn to take risks in my climbing, I hope to continue to translate this skill to life and business in order to grow to the next level!
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
When I was 11 years old, my baseball coach told me I could go pro someday. This ignited my athletic dreams and led me to pursue sports with everything I had, while also attaching my identity, purpose, and value to sports. Fast forward to the end of high school and instead of getting stronger, faster, and better, I got slower, weaker, and worse; no one could explain why. During this time of confusion and loss of my identity, I was fortunate to have mentors and coaches speak into my life and show me that I had a bigger purpose in life: God had made me to be a light in the world and impact others to do the same.
Fast forward again to 24. I had devoted myself to mentoring youth, coaching sports, and performing inspirational music and spoken word poetry. I had married my wife and bough our first house. All seemed well! Except for one thing: my physical decline continued leading me to seek medical attention. I was eventually diagnosed with Friedreich’s Ataxia or FA. FA has slowly been taking away my physical abilities for my entire life. I was told that I will end up in a wheelchair and have a shortened life expectancy. There was no cure or treatment.
Though this was obviously devastating and has provided many challenges in my life, I decided that I was going to make the most of my life regardless of the difficulties. This has led me to speak around the country and world and reach hundreds of thousands online with purpose-driven inspirational content. I have also written a book and published many songs and spoken word poems. Most recently I am training with the goal of making the USA Para-Climbing Team and competing in the 2028 Paralympics. My main goal is to inspire others along the way to persevere through their challenges and pursue their purpose.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
The greatest tragedy to me is to see someone give up on life, whether they choose to keep living or not. My hope and prayer for everyone that hears me speak or sees my content is to be inspired to never give up and to make the most of their situation.
Have you ever had to pivot?
With my physical condition I had to eventually step away from coaching high school football. However, my passion for youth mentorship through sports never left me! Now I have partnered with 30+ high school and college teams and athletic departments as an inspirational speaker and interviewed 25+ coaches on my faith-based sports mentorship podcast, “DEAR YOUNG ATHLETE,”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jacobthompson.org
- Instagram: @ten20words and @dearyoungathlete
- Facebook: @ten20words and @dearyoungathlete
- Youtube: @ten20words and @dearyoungathlete
- Other: tiktok: @ten20words and @dearyoungathlete
