Exploring Life & Business with Jodi Wellman of Four Thousand Mondays

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jodi Wellman.

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I’m a corporate executive who smartened up and became an executive coach, and then really smartened up and became a “stop squandering your life” speaker and coach. I started Four Thousand Mondays, where I tinker with the lively topic of mortality to inspire people to live life like they mean it … helping people make the most of their lives while they’re still lucky to be above ground. I gave myself permission to dive into this “mortality as a motivator” topic when I was in grad school (at the University of Pennsylvania for the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program); when I realized this carpe diem stuff was actually empirically based, I couldn’t NOT start Four Thousand Mondays. I knew I’d have deathbed regrets if I didn’t pursue this path!

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I started Four Thousand Mondays while I was still doing corporate consulting and executive coaching, so it made it easier than just starting a brand from scratch (although it was at the start of the pandemic, so there was some tumbleweed blowing around …). My main hurdle to overcome is that people think I talk about death, death, and more death. (In reality, I talk about death, life, and more life.) I need to be mindful of how I deliver my “memento mori” message (which translates to “remember we must die”) because while I don’t want to turn people off, I DO want to wake people up to live like they mean it. I won’t get to fulfill this mission of mine if no one wants to put me up on their stage for a keynote presentation, right? So positioning is key, and I’m trying to strike the right balance of gravity with levity. We can have fun with the fact that we’re finite.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
Four Thousand Mondays is for people who are interested in adding more life to their lives. We know life is short and that we’re going to die (gasp!) someday, but we do a fantastic job of avoiding that fact and then taking life for granted … slipping into autopilot and then wondering where all the time went. By consciously reflecting on “the big end,” we can wake up to the lives we really want to be living. I help people by delivering keynote presentations and workshops. I offer an online course called “How to Live Like You Mean It” and also do some one-on-one coaching. I want us to live regret-free lives, so whatever it takes to snap us to attention and live wider + deeper!

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Renting a movie with my family (remember when we used to go to the store and rent movies?!) and cozying up in our den to watch it on a Saturday night. So much of the work I do is about encouraging people to live wider with vitality, and that doesn’t have to mean through taking fancy trips to far-flung corners of the world (although I won’t stop you from doing that) or doing YOLO things like skydiving (although that’s totally fun, too)… reveling in the special, seemingly mundane things can add up to a life well-lived, too. I still look forward to movie nights :).

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fourthousandmondays.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fourthousandmondays/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FourThousandMondays