Code 3: Life. Reinvented.

AJ Jones, Founder, MORE® — Aligned Reinvention Guide

I’m AJ Jones. Twice, a massive widowmaker heart attack nearly ended my life. Twice, I walked away with more than just a second chance. And twice I had to rethink everything. After a 20+ year career with firms like Schwab, BlackRock, and Wells Fargo, my cardiologist told me to retire. Instead, I doubled down on a new mission: to help people stop living on autopilot and start redefining what’s possible. Or put another way, with all due respect to my cardiologist I have unfinished business. Code 3: Life. Reinvented. is not another career podcast. It’s a wake-up call. Each episode is real and urgent. Hear conversations with bold pivoters who left comfort and “success” behind to pursue something meaningful, and with authors and experts who study transformation. We’ll emphasize bringing their stories and techniques into your reality.  And you’ll hear from me: unfiltered lessons, radical honesty, and a playbook for reinventing your life before it breaks you. If you’re a high-achieving professional who knows something has to change, this is your siren. Don’t wait for a crisis to force reinvention. This is your Code 3. Code 3: Life. Reinvented. is an initiative of MOREⓇ, an aligned reinvention company. Brought to you by The More Project, Inc.: https://www.bemorealigned.com

  1. Ep. 16: From Panic Attacks to Purpose: A Conversation on Anxiety, Trust, and Alignment

    6D AGO

    Ep. 16: From Panic Attacks to Purpose: A Conversation on Anxiety, Trust, and Alignment

    In this episode of Code 3: Life, Reinvented, I sit down with my friend—and MORE® coach—Jonathan Binder, joining us from Lisbon, Portugal, to explore a Joseph Campbell line that keeps resurfacing in both of our lives: “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasures you seek.” Jon shares his Code 3 moment: years of terrifying heart palpitations that looked physical on paper, but ultimately forced him to confront something deeper—an emotional and spiritual crisis he’d been trying to “handle quietly.” We talk about what happens when you’ve built a life around being the calm, capable one… while you’re silently suffering inside. We get into identity, success, and the trap of proving yourself—how chasing external validation can keep you performing instead of living. Jon opens up about the fear of being seen, the fear of being judged, and the “Russian nesting doll” reality of growth: you enter one cave, and then there’s another. Jon also shares the leap that changed everything: moving his family from Marin County to Portugal—sight unseen—and what it taught him about trust, timing, and the lie that it’s “too late.” To make it practical, he offers a powerful tool anyone can use: the Vision Letter—writing a letter from your future self describing the life you want as if it’s already real. It’s a simple exercise that helps you reconnect with what your heart actually wants, beyond the conditioning. This is a conversation about courage, trust, reinvention, and why the path to alignment often starts with telling the truth—out loud. If you'd like to explore what MORE® has to offer, please visit bemorealigned.com. Here's how you can connect with Jon.

    52 min
  2. Ep. 15: Urgent Authenticity: How to Stop Living on Autopilot and Tell the Truth in Time

    JAN 26

    Ep. 15: Urgent Authenticity: How to Stop Living on Autopilot and Tell the Truth in Time

    In this solo episode of Code 3: Life, Reinvented, I challenge the way authenticity has been turned into a vibe, a brand, or a someday project—and make the case for why authenticity isn’t cute or optional. It’s urgent. I unpack what I call urgent authenticity: the decision to tell the truth in time for it to matter. Not oversharing. Not blowing up your life. But refusing to quietly abandon yourself while waiting for certainty that never comes. Building on the idea of numb success, I explore how external validation can keep us stuck on autopilot, postponing honesty with phrases like “I’ll deal with it later.” I explain why later isn’t a plan—it’s a stall—and how authenticity delayed often turns into regret. Drawing from my own experience as a two-time widowmaker heart attack survivor, I share why waiting for a crisis is a dangerous strategy, and how bodies, relationships, energy, and options erode when truth is deferred too long. I offer practical steps to begin honoring your authentic truth now: identifying the truth you’re avoiding, saying it out loud before you feel ready, and making one aligned move within the next seven days. Because clarity rarely comes before courage, it comes after action. If numb success is falling asleep inside your life, urgent authenticity is waking up and refusing to roll over. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to stop pretending you don’t already know. If you'd like to explore MORE and how our platform can help you, please visit bemorealigned.com.

    20 min
  3. Ep. 14: The Day You Decide With Justin Schenck

    JAN 19

    Ep. 14: The Day You Decide With Justin Schenck

    In this episode of Code 3: Life, Reinvented, I sit down with entrepreneur, speaker, and Growth Now Movement host Justin Schenck to unpack what it really takes to reinvent your life, especially when your starting line is stacked against you. Justin shares his early story: a 1.7 GPA, a mother battling opioid addiction, a father in jail, and the heavy belief that his future was already written for him. His turning point came through a sales job that introduced him to personal development and a simple but life-changing idea: you can’t control what happens around you, but you can control what you do next. We talk about failed businesses, grief, and rock-bottom moments, and how launching a podcast became Justin’s “real-world MBA.” He explains how chasing external validation eventually pushed him toward deeper inner work — what he calls self-love, and what we at MORE® call self-compassion. Together, we dig into why pursuing traditional markers of success can leave people feeling hollow, and how redefining success around time freedom, relationships, and alignment changes everything. We also get practical: how to uncover your “superpower,” why consistency matters even when nobody’s watching, and Justin’s three-part framework for breaking through limiting beliefs: get uncomfortable, surround yourself with the right people, and take action. The episode lands on a powerful reminder: you don’t need to wait for a crisis to change your life. But if the wake-up call comes, don’t waste it. Choose the brave step. To learn about MORE®, check out our site: bemorealigned.com. Where to find Justin: Podcast: Growth Now Movement Live Event: Growth Now Summit Live (tickets at growthnowsummit.com) Instagram: @JustinTSchenck

    50 min
  4. Ep. 12: The Illusion of Safety: A Smarter Path to Career Reinvention

    JAN 5

    Ep. 12: The Illusion of Safety: A Smarter Path to Career Reinvention

    What if the move you’re craving isn’t a dramatic leap… but a measured, strategic shift you build step by step? In this episode of Code 3: Life. Reinvented., I sit down with Shannon Lundgren — a former Wells Fargo leader I worked with years ago (and always admired for her polish, presence, and leadership). Since then, she’s made a powerful transition from corporate success to entrepreneurship — and her journey is full of lessons for anyone who feels stuck in the “illusion of safety.” We start with Shannon’s unforgettable story about going after Warren Buffett while at Harvard Business School — and what happened when she followed a bold instinct, took action, and created an opportunity that didn’t exist five minutes earlier. From there, we dig into the real arc of her reinvention: Why corporate life slowly dulled her spark How her entrepreneurial side went dormant (and what woke it back up) Why entrepreneurship doesn’t have to be a trust fall with the universe How she “toe-dipped” for years, built proof, learned through a detour, and eventually made the leap with confidence Shannon also shares a framework that changed everything for her — a simple but powerful model that connects thoughts → feelings → actions → results, and how you can use it to shift your life starting today. If you’re an accomplished professional who’s feeling the pull toward something more — but you’re not willing to gamble your life on a wild leap — this conversation is for you. And if someone you know is single and looking for love, Shannon’s work might surprise you (in the best way). To learn more about Shannon please visit her site, ⁠Shannon's Circle⁠. To learn about MORE, please go to ⁠bemorealdigned.com⁠. Let’s get into it.

    35 min
  5. Ep. 11: Redefining Success: From Achievement to Alignment

    12/29/2025

    Ep. 11: Redefining Success: From Achievement to Alignment

    Success. We chase it, sacrifice for it, and organize our lives around it. And then—quietly, unexpectedly—it stops working. In this solo episode, I unpack the moment many high achievers eventually face: when the definition of success that once drove you no longer fits who you’ve become. I share my own story—golden handcuffs, external wins, relentless pressure, and the wake-up call that forced me to get brutally honest after a widowmaker heart attack. I talk about how success, as I was living it, was slowly killing me—and why redefining it wasn’t optional. We explore how culture, family, and industry scripts shape our idea of success… and why so many accomplished professionals end up overachieving yet deeply underfulfilled. Burnout. Numbness. Sunday dread. The quiet feeling that something is off, even when everything looks “good on paper.” I introduce what I call authentic success: success defined from the inside out. Alignment over performance. Meaning over optics. A version of success that doesn’t require you to abandon yourself. You’ll walk away with five powerful questions to help you rethink what “enough” looks like now, what you’re no longer willing to trade your life for, and who you’re actually becoming in this next chapter. This isn’t a midlife crisis. It’s a midlife clarifier. If your old definition of success isn’t cutting it anymore, this episode is an invitation to pause, get honest, and choose a version of success you don’t have to recover from. Life doesn’t wait for the perfect moment. It waits for the brave one. Let’s redefine what’s possible—together. To learn more, please visit bemorealigned.com.

    23 min
5
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

I’m AJ Jones. Twice, a massive widowmaker heart attack nearly ended my life. Twice, I walked away with more than just a second chance. And twice I had to rethink everything. After a 20+ year career with firms like Schwab, BlackRock, and Wells Fargo, my cardiologist told me to retire. Instead, I doubled down on a new mission: to help people stop living on autopilot and start redefining what’s possible. Or put another way, with all due respect to my cardiologist I have unfinished business. Code 3: Life. Reinvented. is not another career podcast. It’s a wake-up call. Each episode is real and urgent. Hear conversations with bold pivoters who left comfort and “success” behind to pursue something meaningful, and with authors and experts who study transformation. We’ll emphasize bringing their stories and techniques into your reality.  And you’ll hear from me: unfiltered lessons, radical honesty, and a playbook for reinventing your life before it breaks you. If you’re a high-achieving professional who knows something has to change, this is your siren. Don’t wait for a crisis to force reinvention. This is your Code 3. Code 3: Life. Reinvented. is an initiative of MOREⓇ, an aligned reinvention company. Brought to you by The More Project, Inc.: https://www.bemorealigned.com

You Might Also Like