I spent 4 hours journaling last week.

I had a few difficult moments where I didn't want to be honest with myself. And a few where I actually cried from either joy or sadness.

It's the kind of journaling you'd prefer nobody ever sees.

But that's not my style, so I'm gonna share:

I've been measuring myself against a version of me that doesn't exist anymore. Trying to "recapture" my former glory.

• The former Men's Health fitness model.
• The #1 Tonal coach.
• The entrepreneur that could grind for 12+ hour days.
• And the guy whose abs had their own fan club.

I've been miserable lately because of it.

The irony is that I talk to clients all day long about the importance of shifting their identity when on a fitness journey.

But like most things, it's harder to turn that lens on yourself. This is a classic case of me needing to take some of my own advices.

(Anyone catch the Arnold joke?)

Anyway, I've been grieving the loss of the man I used to be instead of building something new.

I'm a father now. A husband. CEO of a coaching business that serves a few hundred clients a year and several employees...

I can't be the 5% body fat model anymore. And I can't fix every business problem by outworking the other guy.

At least, not with a 10-month-old at home. Not unless I want to be an absentee father.

So instead of recapturing what I had, I need to create something that's never existed before.

A version of me that's strong but doesn't need a magazine cover to feel worthy. A business owner who builds systems instead of grinding 14-hour days.

And a father who's actually present.

That's scarier than any comeback. Comebacks have a blueprint. Building something new means you don't know what it looks like yet.

If you're 45 and still chasing your college body, you know this feeling. You're not 25 anymore. You can't train like it, eat like it, or recover like it.

But you can be stronger, sharper, and more consistent than you ever were at 25... if you stop going back and start building forward.

So I'm done. No more comeback story. This is a beginning.

CEO of Action Jackson Fitness. Husband to Anya. Father to JB.

That's not a consolation prize. It's an upgrade.

Let's dive in 🚀

🍽️ 3 Chick-fil-A Orders That Won't Sabotage Your Progress

I was reviewing a client's MyFitnessPal logs the other day. She'd been traveling for work and stopped at Chick-fil-A in the airport.

No problem, I'm not anti-fast food. But I am anti-bad strategy.

She ordered the Jalapeño Ranch Club Sandwich. A cool 720 calories, 36g of fat, and 58g of carbs.

Then added waffle fries. Another 420 calories, 24g of fat, 45g of carbs.

Grand total: 1,140 calories. Before she sat in a middle seat for four hours doing absolutely nothing.

That meal makes sense if you're running a marathon in the morning or getting on stage for a bikini competition the next day after depleting carbs for two weeks...

It doesn't make sense before you sit in seat 7B and send emails for 3.5 hours.

You can find "healthy" (at least macro-healthy) options at any fast food restaurant if you know how to order correctly.

Here's 3 macro-friendly options I recommend to clients:

🍗 The Brotein Bodybuilder Special

• Grilled Chicken Sandwich + Grilled Nuggets (8-count)
• 520 calories | 53g protein

High protein, moderate everything else. This is my order.

🧀 Chicken Bacon Ranch Mac & Cheese

• Small Mac & Cheese + Bacon + 8-count Grilled Nuggets + ½ Ranch
• 520 calories | 50g protein

Yes, mac and cheese. You're welcome. This one surprises people but the macros hold up and 50g of protein is 🤌🏻

🥬 Spicy Protein Kale Crunch Salad

• Kale Crunch Salad + Grilled Filet + Sweet & Spicy Sriracha
• 355 calories | 38g protein

Optional adds: sliced egg (+60 cal) or bacon crumbles (+50 cal) if you need more fuel. This one is light on calories, but still solid on protein.

The point isn't that she made a "bad" choice.

I don't believe in labeling food choices as "good" or "bad." Call it semantics, but I'd classify it as simply uninformed.

When you're traveling and sitting for hours, you don't need 1,100+ calories of low-protein energy you can't use.

Screenshot this next time you're at the airport.

🧠 Stress Isn’t the Enemy. The Story You Tell About It Is.

Most people think stress is a problem. It’s not.

In a Harvard study, two groups experienced the same level of stress. The only difference was what they believed about it (Crum et al., 2013).

One group was told stress was harmful. The other was told it was their body preparing to perform.

That’s it.

Same stress. Completely different outcomes.

The people who feared stress struggled more more anxiety, had worse performance, and even poorer health.

The people who saw it as fuel handled it better and recovered faster.

Nothing changed… except the meaning.

That’s the stress shift I teach to my clients.

Stress isn’t a signal that something is wrong. It’s a signal that something matters.

• You feel it before a big presentation because you care about doing great work.
• You feel it during a tough conversation because you care about the relationship.

No stress usually means no stakes. And it means you're either a sociopath, psychopath, or simply don't care.

None of those are good.

I felt a tremendous amount of stress during our IVF journey.

Watching Anya go through it was brutal. At one point, we went through an egg retrieval and got zero healthy embryos. Nothing.

I felt completely helpless.

But then I caught myself. This is what I signed up for when we got married. During the wedding, I vowed to stay true “in good times and in bad.”

That stress wasn’t something to avoid. It literally was unavoidable if we wanted to have a family.

But it was also proof of our commitment to creating a family. And now our son, JB, just turned 10 months today.

So, maybe the question isn’t how to eliminate stress...

It’s this:

What if stress isn’t happening to you… but for you?

Ask yourself that question next time you feel stressed and use the stress as fuel to push yourself forward toward your intended outcome.

I go into a lot more detail in Episode 14 of Taking Action with Coach Jackson: From Stress to Strength: How To Use Stress To Your Advantage.

References:

1. Crum AJ, Salovey P, Achor S. Rethinking stress: the role of mindsets in determining the stress response. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2013 Apr;104(4):716-33. doi: 10.1037/a0031201. Epub 2013 Feb 25. PMID: 23437923.