Daily Inspiration: Meet Jason Walley

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jason Walley

Jason, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up in a small farming town in Central California to parents who were born during the Great Depression. I am the youngest of three kids. My brother and sister are both Baby Boomers while I am a Gen Xer. My parents modeled how to succeed by working hard, investing, and saving. While they encouraged education it was never demanded of me or my siblings. My first real job was at McDonald’s during HS. But, before that, I pushed a lawn mower for miles knocking on doors and asking if I could mow their lawn for $5. Of course, I immediately put all that revenue into video games at the local arcade. But, so did every other kid I knew back then.

I had a few jobs in restaurants, convenience stores, gas stations, construction, and finally, I managed a hardware store. I also attended community college and eventually completed all the coursework necessary allowing me to apply and successfully transfer to UCLA. I graduated with a degree in history after 2.5 years at UCLA. One of the biggest drivers in my life has always been curiosity. Studying history at UCLA helped me satisfy some of that curiosity and whet my appetite for more. I still love studying history because it helps me better understand how we got to our current place in time.

After graduation, I moved to Long Island, NY working for a student travel and education company after backpacking around Europe for about a month. My only previous International travel was crossing the US/Mexico border in Tijuana. I have now visited 29 countries (a few of them multiple times) and have much more to see. I’m heading to Peru this year.

I met my future wife on Long Island. Eventually, we moved back to LA, married, bought a house, had three kids, and later divorced. There is a lot more to that story, but I’ll save that for another time. During that time, I started a career at UCLA. I’ve now worked there for 21 years and this year will be my last year, I will re-invent myself again. I have had 5 major transformations in life; I went from a kid to an adult in my hometown. Then, from small town to big city living. Then, from single to married with kids, and a career at UCLA. Then, to single fatherhood juggling all the priorities and responsibilities by myself. And, this next phase is professional storyteller and content creator.

I think my passion for learning history led me to be a decent storyteller. And, to tell great stories you need to have mastered the art of listening. I love meeting people and hearing their stories and this past year I learned that I enjoy telling those stories on YouTube. My channel “The Curious Life”
(https://www.youtube.com/@doingithere), has grown to 7K subscribers in 10 months. It has been a fun learning experience learning the art of storytelling in this format. While I’m far from mastering this skill, I’m trending in the right direction.

The stories I document along the way are becoming a part of my story, too. I started with a local glassblowing shop in Pasadena. And, since then I have published stories featuring furniture makers, chocolatiers, a farrier, gym owners, a sawmill owner in DTLA, a desert backpacking adventure with my son, and I the most recent project I’m working on showcases the electric guitar factory Doing It Here in LA. Watch for that to come out soon.

I’m excited by this next phase of my journey. I’m an amateur woodworker, a DIY enthusiast, a backwoodsman, a traveler, a father, and an armchair philosopher. I am a simple man with depth and complexity who strives for continuous improvement. I’m unique and yet just another human grounded by gravity to this rock revolving around the sun trying to understand my place in the universe.

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 achieved all the goals I set for myself. Those goals didn’t all work out the way I planned. But, as I reflect on my life I realize that I am this man today because of the obstacles and challenges. My choices good and bad led me here. Not always fair. Not always the way I envisioned things going. But, my regrets are few and I wouldn’t change anything. A person’s life decisions are made with all the knowledge and wisdom you can summon on that day and in that minute. The outcomes that feel like failures in a moment become life’s great lessons.

If you study the Stoics, Buddhism, Christianity, and every other repository of ancient wisdom you learn that humans have dealt with challenges and obstacles all along the way. The fact that I am here now writing this and you are here now reading this means that our ancestors, our parents, and ourselves have survived wars, plagues, famine, and wild animals so that we could inhabit this space at this moment together. Who we are in this moment reflects the dreams of brave, courageous, and beautifully flawed humans who persevered in the face of challenges so that we could be here now.

Being a single dad has been the hardest challenge but has brought me great joy. I’d sign up for that challenge again today, knowing that my amazing kids would be the reward. I also learned a lot about my inner strength and resilience. No one succeeds or grows without life’s challenges. Many humans past and present have endured far more hardship and pain. So, I’ll gladly embrace mine and carry on.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve always been entrepreneurial. From pushing that lawnmower around at the age of 9 to starting solo businesses to running businesses within larger organizations. I continue that entrepreneurial journey in a more creative space as a storyteller. My leap of faith into an unknown world following my passions.
The freedom is divine the uncertainty is frightening. My new goal involves growing my YouTube audience and helping entrepreneurs tell their stories. I don’t know where that will take me. I’m doing my best to remain untethered to a particular outcome. I trust that by being a service to others I will continue to find fulfillment.

I’ve been creating content my whole life. I wrote poems and song lyrics as a teen. I discovered a passion for drawing and photography. I was always drawn to the creative side of business, too. Creating content for websites and print media allowed me to utilize this passion for the arts in commercial pursuits. Now, I’m packaging content for new audiences. I approach my new content more organically and conversationally, less scripted. My content is more authentic but still easy to follow the arc of the hero’s journey.

What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Not being tied to specific outcomes. Don’t get me wrong, we all need goals to work toward. But, if you only accept the vision of success you conjured up in your head 1, 5, or 10 years ago you will be disappointed when it doesn’t look the same. My faith has always carried me through difficult periods in my life. But, changing my mindset to embrace the suck changes that faith journey, too. Instead of relying on faith after something goes off course, I maintain faith that I will be OK regardless of what comes next. I may not understand how this moment gets me to my next goal. But, it might just be the universe preparing me (or the people around me) for something better. I’m far from mastering this skill, too. But, now I define success as achieving goals with a growth mindset.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leaderdad/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@doingithere