Ep 14 Turning Down the Noise A Conversation with Jim Swan

Welcome to Remembering the Forgotten, a space where leaders think out loud without polish or performance. No scripts, no personas, just the quiet clarity that emerges when the noise drops and the mind is free to speak for itself. And today I'm joined by Jim Swan, a growth strategist who doesn't just advise founders, he accelerates them. Tim builds momentum where others build meetings. He operates at the intersection of leadership, tech, and capital, plugging in as the fractional force that turns clutter into clarity and strategy into execution. He's the guy you call when the next stage of growth can't wait. and the margin for error is gone. A survivor of both failure and success, Jim brings a steady intensity, and I can prove to that, the kind that gets teams aligned, barriers removed, and businesses moving with purpose. And today we meet the operator behind the outcomes and the fire that helps companies scale without losing themselves. With that, welcome Jim to the show and thank you for taking the time.

My pleasure. Glad to be here, Markus. Thank you.

You're welcome. So before we begin, when I say stillness, I don't mean peace or quiet. I mean the place in you untouched by pressure, Noise or performance. The place that knows before the mind thinks. That's the layer I'm inviting you to speak from today. So here's my first question to you. Where in your life do you meet the you untouched by expectation?

Wow, that's an interesting question, Markus. Where in life? So I'd like to think that it's a pretty regular daily thing. Mm-hmm. Probably not quite there yet. It's a goal, something, something I'm shooting for. You know, I try to start each morning with— there's lots of things to do around the house. There's animals to care for. There's the house to get open and all of those, those things. But I always try to carve out 30 minutes of time, a little reading, a little meditation. a little contemplation. I was reading something from Marcus Aurelius, another Marcus that I'm getting to know. I've been trying to make my way through his meditations.

And they are fascinating.

It's fascinating. It's not an easy read, I have to say. There's something about the syntax that is for me and my It's sometimes it's a little hard to follow, but I do find these gems that I like to hold on to. But there was this idea that was put out, something I was reading just today on the idea of taking one thought each day and holding it and my interpretation, peeling the onion a little bit further than I've ever peeled it before. So yeah, I think that's— it's in that moment that I try to frame my day by being— by touching that quiet place. Yeah. And then there's days when it doesn't happen and I think about it, you know, at lunch or at dinner or something. And then I just decide or recommit to to try to accomplish it the next day as life goes on.

So what I slightly hear, Tim, is if you miss it, something is missing. Is that correct?

Oh yeah. Yeah. I'm—

Tell me a little bit about that, please.

Well, it's a journey and it's where I happen to be on that journey. You know, had we been having this conversation, well, had you asked me this question 15 years ago, I might not have understood what you were asking. Mm-hmm. I might have tried to scrap around and intellectually parse it out.

Mm-hmm.

But I don't think I really would have understood the question or the topic for that matter. So in The time since then, through lots of ups and downs, lots of probably more failures than successes, but nonetheless, we're still plugging away. I find myself aware that there's so much more to this life than just the physicality, the things that I can touch, hold, see, smell. And that they're very important, that, that other world is very important. So today, that's, that's what I know about this journey. That's where I'm at in this journey. You know, I, I hope that I will be better at it. I hope that it will be more— I will be able to carry that consciousness with me through more of the minutes of my day than I do today, if that's any kind of gauge for— Mm-hmm. success. I don't think it really is, but we, we tend to want to frame things that way as humans. So yeah, it's, it's where I'm at in my journey.

It's beautiful. Thank you for sharing. So let's take what you just said for a moment and, and stay with it for a bit. How does your day change when you actually do take consciously time for that contemplation and being in stillness versus you're not taking the time due to whatever distractions you have.

So there's, there's a principle. First of all, caveat, I'm not an athlete. I played some sports in high school, and that's probably about as close to athletics as I've ever come in my life. But I, I read a lot, and I have friends who are athletes, and they talk about this idea in training of speed to recovery, that when there's exertion, when the body is tested and pushed to its limit, and then that exertion stops, they time how, how long it takes their body to return to a normal heart— heartbeat.

Mm-hmm.

To, to equilibrium. And I'm fascinated by that concept, when it comes to this conversation that we're having, because when I do take that time in the morning, when I do try to center myself and become more aware and conscious, I think, maybe haven't done an exhaustive study, but I think I say that this is true, that My speed to recovery, my time to recovery, that when I'm knocked off balance or when something unexpected comes up that maybe throws me, maybe I get angry, maybe I get distracted in some other way. I mean, this long list of ways I can get distracted, but that I catch it. So what, how long does it take me? Is it a minute? Is it an hour? Is it a day? God forbid, is a week or more. I mean, all of those things are possible because I'm still, you know, learning. But I, I like to think that when I start the day off, I stand a better chance of keeping that time to recovery on the lesser side rather than on the large, the greater side.

Why do you think that is?

Well, age notwithstanding, we're forgetful creatures. I mean, I'm getting more forgetful all the time, and I say that somewhat jokingly, but I actually— so some— there's some family history. I lost my mother a couple of years ago to Alzheimer's and was greatly concerned It was even before her, her passing. And I went, I was having a conversation with my doctor and I was concerned because I found myself, I mean, you hear people talk about this, you walk into a room and you can't remember why you walked into the room and everybody laughs. Well, I was experiencing that. And he asked a few questions, which turned out was sort of like a little mini test.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, and then he sat down and as he's wont to do, because he's a very gentle soul, He just sat down and looked me right in the eyes. He said, the only thing that you're struggling with, it's— I'm not concerned about Alzheimer's. I'm not concerned about this for you at this moment. You're just distracted. It's a human condition. If you're not— if we're not paying attention to the thing that we're doing, I mean, I've read that the mind generates up to over 10,000 thoughts a day, whether we're doing anything or not. The mind just is creating this. So how could we not be distracted? How could we not remember why I walked into that room? Or so, so for me, when I start the day that way, it's a reminder. It's a prompt. For myself. Okay, try a little more today. Try, try better today. Try to remember as you move through your day the things that are really important.

So. Beautiful. Let me take you on a little journey. I just welcome you to join me. What if the source of what you're actually tapping into is your core identity? What if what you're actually tapping into when you do take time in the morning for contemplation, or just for being with yourself, not rushing into the day, that you're actually nurturing your executive functions, which interesting enough, so many people tell me, Markus, that's all up here. But I was just on a beautiful conversation. I believe it's someone you know as well, who started showing me that all the creativity comes from here and then it bubbles up, right?

Mm-hmm.

And I said, I'm so surprised. A little bit cheeky. I said, I'm so surprised. Why didn't you show it's all up here? And then it comes down and he stopped and he thought and he realized, makes sense. Creativity doesn't come from up here. Here is this unconscious. What do people say? 97% something is unconscious what we think.

Yeah.

And the maximum of that is negative against us. So there must be a core that is basically hidden Or probably even, how do you call that in English when you have something and then there is a, you know, when a landslide comes down, how do you call that situation in the end? Like you had a house and then the landslide comes and what is that thing called?

A catastrophe, a disaster.

Yeah, let's say Let's say you have something nice and then you put a lot of dirt on it. So it's basically not there anymore because the dirt came on it. And this is what happens with us human beings. When we were born, Jim, think about that for a moment. We came as fully fledged individuals on Earth. We have these executive functions, creativity, intuition, whatever you want to call it. We had it, we used it. And especially as long as we couldn't talk, people let us alone. You see where I'm going, right?

Yeah.

So as soon as people believed Jim actually seems to understand what we're talking about, which was probably around 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, that's when they started putting their concepts into you. And then they basically started— let's use piling up— they started piling up the actual executive function, which is who you are initially. So what if every single time when you actually do go into contemplation, you start unearthing more and more of who you are. So what if that actually gives you the energy to go through your day, starting to act from that source more and more and more? So you see, it's not just the distraction goes away, but actually you get a whole new arsenal Which puts you in a whole different league. Isn't that incredible?

Yeah.

And you see, this is why I love what I'm doing.

Yeah.

Because I believe that stillness is nothing else than the path of remembering who you once were before the world taught you who you had to become. And I would like to share something I only figured out this morning, Tim.

Hmm.

When I realized what I've done is I went on this journey and I got back to my executive function where my intuition and everything just functions ideally. And I realized, no, it's not becoming the boy who I was at 9 and a half. When this pileup started badly, it's the innocence of that 9-and-a-half-year-old boy combined with my entire journey that made me the guy who I am at 53 equals ideal mix.

And may I throw one more concept?

Please. Absolutely.

Into that mix. And I'm still working on this one, but with the idea that energy is constant. Energy never evaporates. It never vanishes. The idea that as humans, we are made of stardust, connected to the universe on a much vaster scale. I think we're tapping into that also. into the knowledge and the wisdom and experience and creativity of the universe. And I'm going to apologize for the barking in the background if you can hear that.

I can't.

You can't? Okay. Just in case, I thought I'd mention it.

But if he or she wants to join us—

She's a beautiful senior girl, senior dog that I'm fostering. And she's lovely, but every once in a while she wakes up from a nap in the middle of the afternoon. And it looks to me like she's barking at ghosts. You know, she's not quite sure who she's barking at, but That's

interesting.

Yeah. So anyway, oh, there, there she goes a little louder. Anyway, you can't hear, I think. The, um, the idea of the connection to the, to the infinite source of the universe mixed in with all of that, it's fascinating to me.

I'd like to add something to that. It just came to mind.

Sure.

You're familiar with fractals? Now I heard her. So fractals, for somebody who doesn't know fractals, you can cut them in pieces and you still keep the entire picture intact. So what if— and just so everyone understands, Jim and I, we have not even talked about what we're going to talk. This is absolutely unrehearsed, unscripted, as I said it. Because it sounds so synchronicity, what we're doing right now. So what if, yes, the core material is the exact same one as the stars? So what if, Jim, we are actually all fractals? So we don't need to be connected to the universe or outsource our power to a higher deity. What if we actually inherit the entire universe, the entire core DNA of creation in us, and that our journey actually consists of tapping more and more into that? Think about that for a moment.

I like that. Yeah, I'll sit with that one a little bit more. So it, well, it moves it into the conversation of quantum, the whole quantum world and all of the literally mind-bending concepts that are associated with that. So yeah, fascinating stuff.

Yeah, because you know what's interesting? Um, I just basically ended a cycle of 12 months and It was fascinating. I went through myth, I went through symbolism, only to learn that everything I had outsourced into a source out there was actually a scaffolding for me to even grasp with my mind now in hindsight. Because if somebody had told me that I believe what I believe now about myself, which is so simplicity, nothing else simplicity, it's I am and that is enough. I don't think I would have been able to cope with it. So I literally created a mind journey and took myself on a mystical, only to find out, wow, it was all you all the time. Yeah. So I believe this is what being human is all about. So if you think about it for a moment, that we are all more or less, you know, from a certain age, programmed, conducted, directed by our mind. And our mind is a script. And the script comes from outside. Do you remember a time when you realized, hmm, is this my script or am I living someone else's script? Do you remember that time? Yes. When you consciously figured that? And what was it that cracked it open?

Yes, I do remember the period of time in my life when I first sort of saw the inauthenticity of what I up to that point had put so much importance behind. And it was when it was shaken, in some ways taken from me. And, and it, you know, some people talk about hitting rock bottom. It would, it would have been one of my rock bottom moments. And, and for the first time in my life, I had, I experienced a pers— a perspective on my own life Looking at it as an, from an, as an outsider.

Mm-hmm. That must have been interesting.

You know, almost, almost, and I don't, it wasn't an out-of-body experience. It was just a consciousness where I was looking over my own shoulder and observing me and the things that I was doing. And I didn't know who that person was. I didn't, I didn't like that person. I didn't resonate with the things that that person believed were important. And for the first time, I, I saw the dissonance, and I knew that, you know, something needed to change.

That's deep. That is deep. Wow. Without going into details, was that something— was there something that cracked it open?

Uh, it was a, it was a bit of the domino effect for me. It wasn't one moment in time. It was probably 6 months. 5 months of time where things started to topple and then toppled the next thing and toppled the next thing and toppled the next thing. And by the time I got to the end of that 5 months, I was— it was 3 in the morning. I was sitting on the rooftop of my high-rise building in Los Angeles looking out over the Sunset Boulevard and was trying to find a good reason not to jump. And I hadn't realized that my 2 dogs had followed me up the stairs that morning, that night, or night, it was early in the morning, 3 in the morning. And they were barking behind me. And that's what sort of snapped me out of that moment. And I realized that I couldn't go through with what I was contemplating because Who would take care of the dogs. So my dog saved my life that night, or that morning. Yeah.

So for other people, you could literally say your 2 kids followed you.

Yeah, yeah, very much.

They called you and said, Daddy, Daddy,

yeah, what about us?

And you snapped out of it.

Yeah.

Wow. What was that feeling when You snapped out of it.

I think, I think the, the best way I could describe it would be of being awakened out of like a, a deep, deep sleep. Or even better, we used to laugh at my grandfather in church on Sunday mornings because he would inevitably fall asleep at some point during church, and then he would have that startled moment where he would wake up and kind of jump a little bit. It would embarrass my grandmother immensely, and we would giggle. We thought it was the funniest thing ever. But it's that kind of, ooh, you know, like cold water in your face. It just snaps you into consciousness. That's, that was what it was like. It's like, oh, what am I doing here? No, no, no, no, no, no, this is not. I need to take care of the boys.

Thank you for sharing that, Steve. Basically, this was the moment when you realized living someone else's script actually led me to the point that I go on a sky racer and decide I can't go on like this. And then your voice came.

Yes.

Woke you up. What was the feeling when you realized, I'm still here? I assume the script was pretty much gone at that moment. And you had almost like a blank canvas in front of you for a moment.

I suppose on some level, yes. I don't, I don't think I was— if I was aware of the canvas, I, I wasn't aware of the whole canvas. I was aware of just that one little dot that I could be conscious of right immediately in front of me.

Mm-hmm.

I just have to get through the next moment or the next hour or the next day. And for a long time, it was just that kind of slogging along just with that very, very narrow focus because that's all I could— it's all I could handle.

Mm-hmm.

And, um, and as time has gone by, I think I'm more aware of more of the canvas. And find that thrilling, you know, find that incredibly thrilling.

Isn't it beautiful? It wouldn't ever be needed to go that far, right? Like, it would have been nice to understand it before.

Yes, but some of us have to learn things the hard way. So,

uh, you know, the hard part— I got to that point where a cancer doctor told me If you continue that pace, within half a year, you'll be in a wheelchair paralyzed. So I didn't go your way. I went the other way.

Yeah.

And, you know, the amazingness is I'm pretty sure that in hindsight, you heard that little wee voice saying from time to time, whispering, whispering, Jim, Is this as good as it gets? Isn't there more to your life? So noisy that we don't even hear it anymore. And guess what? It literally sent your voice to bark it in a language you could not freaking misunderstand.

That's right. Yeah.

Wow. That is so incredible.

Yeah, life has a way.

Yeah.

Wow.

So was that a moment when you say all the noise fell away for a moment?

Um, no, I actually— I mean, that wasn't my experience in that moment. I was much more Hmm, let me think about this. I don't think the noise fell away. I think for the first time in my life, I was aware that I had control over the volume knob that controlled that noise, and that for the first time, I wanted that noise off.

Wow.

And as it turns out, that's kind of a daily momentary— I mean, circling back to what we started talking about, that's a daily commitment, recommitment. Stay focused, keep the volume down. Because, you know, I mean, my God, the world today, you know, it can get awfully noisy if we let it. But—

Yeah,

you know, Probably one of the— if I have had any wise moments in my life, I'd like to claim maybe one, and that was about 6, maybe it was more than 6 years ago now. Maybe more, maybe it's closer to 8 years ago. I stopped watching broadcast news.

Mm-hmm.

Just ripped it right out of my life. And I was a— we used to keep CNN on at the office. Back in the day, just because we wanted to stay abreast of what was happening in the world, and it felt very—I don't know—somehow hip to do that. You know, anyway. Oh my God! I—I can't sit through broadcast news anymore. I'm—I want nothing to do with that. Do I stay connected to the news? Yes, I have sources, and I make a point of educating myself. But to sit and be bomb. Bombarded with that noise. Oh my God, no, no thank you.

And in the end, it's basically all opinions, and those opinions are the ones that program you.

Yeah, they're, they're, they're junk. It's, it's like living on a diet of junk food, you know. At some point, that diet will kill you, and not, not a question of if, it's really just a question of when. And so, yeah, so I— that's one area where I was very clear in my life. I had control over the volume associated with that and connected with that. And there's still other areas where I'm having to be reminded every day, turn the volume down, stay conscious, stay aware, focus on the things that really matter. So yeah, the journey continues.

Just been putting myself into the shoes of our viewers, and I think it's quite a high task to always have the volume down because that itself can become really pressure. I feel only having or just having the understanding that I actually do have the control to reduce the noise.

Yeah.

I think that itself is the first start.

Absolutely.

You know, when people ask me about the script, and I talk a lot about the script, I say, look, the script, if you're not aware of the script, that means you are living under a script. Because when you have come off the script, you know it. And so most people, they don't even understand what it actually means foundationally when I talk about noise because they're so used to it.

Yeah.

Literally so used to it. Yeah.

Yeah. It's normal for many, many people. Yeah, it was for me for years. Absolutely.

In fact, I wrote this. Yeah, please go ahead.

Just a quick aside. I guess almost 15, maybe it's closer to 17 years ago now, a friend in LA, which is where I was living at the time, gave me a book. And he said, I think you should read this. And I trusted him and I went home and I curled up and I started reading and I got 2 pages in and I was like, It might as well have been in Latin. I had no idea. It was like, this is just gobbledygook. I don't even understand the syntax, let alone the content. And I put it away. And fast forward, probably 8 years later, maybe a little bit more than that. I saw it on the shelf one day and I picked it up and it made perfect sense to me. I understood exactly. And much of the book was talking about this very, this very thing, the noise, the thoughts that the mind generates, whether we want it to or not. And how do we manage this?

Isn't it amazing?

Yeah.

And it literally comes to you at the right time. So it's ready, available when you're ready.

Yes. Yeah.

This is something that always fascinates me.

When the student is ready, the teacher appears. It really is true.

Absolutely. And you know, this is one of the reasons, Jim, why I decided to start this show. Because it will be readily available for anyone at the time when they need it. Yeah. And to be honest, I wished to have had a collection of conversations like you and I are having right now. And my goal is to have 100+ in a year because I really feel that this stillness you and I are talking about Is so missing today. And the fact that people do not talk about it is proof, literally proof for what I just said.

Yeah.

It's not even missing because people are walking around like zombies. And let's be honest, when you were in LA, you were not working as a lumberjack somewhere. I assume you have been in executive positions, absolutely on track in your career, focused as much as you can be. And that's when it hits you.

Very true. Yeah.

So imagine most managers. I'm not sure whether I shared that with you in a private conversation so far, but I was on a call with a female manager and she suddenly said, Markus, Let me add something to your theory. My theory was that everyone is running in a hamster wheel. I believed as a human being. And she said, Markus, let me add something to that. Especially in the United States, humans morph into hamsters so they fit into the hamster wheel. So the noise diminishes you from a human being into a hamster that does human performing, that has human doing, that does human having, and furthest away from human being and furthest away from being human because it becomes a little animal. Yeah. So think about that. If that is only the slightest true, look at the potential. If you look at the flip side.

Oh yeah.

Don't mess with me. And this is one of the reasons why I ask every guest if they can, they ask me, you know, what can I do? I said, share this conversation and share the channel with as many people as you can. Because there is a clear need. I rarely watch news as you do, probably a little bit more than you. I haven't watched it for years. And when I watch it now, I literally have to walk away because my mind starts almost hurting. Yeah. Not to even talk about the underlying emotions these people have when they present the news and when they have their panels and everything. It's all programming in the end.

Yes.

Crazy. So here's one question, Tim, and I want to bring it slightly to an end. It's a beautiful conversation and we could speak for hours. I know that. Yeah. If someone who listens feels lost in the noise, and in your case, I add a little bit more, Because we know that, especially in manager leagues, suicide and suicidal thoughts and suicidal attempts are probably more prevalent than anyone else believes. What is the one thing, Jim, you'd want someone like that to remember is still true?

That they're not alone, that there is another human being somewhere in the world who cares about them and who their absence would. Be deeply meaningful to. I think one of the, one of the most powerful dynamics that happens to someone in those moments is the isolation, because you start shutting yourself off from your world. And you, you do that so well and so thoroughly that there's no more— why would I want to go on? I have no connections. I have nothing, no one in this world that I mean anything to. But if you can just hang on to a thought, you know, there are phone numbers you can call. There's, you know, even if it's a friend you haven't talked to for months or years even, Pick up the phone, make that call. You don't even have to explain to them what's going on. Sometimes just the voice on the other end of the phone can be enough, can be a bit of a lifeline. So just, just remember that you're not alone.

That's so beautiful. So with that, Jim, Heartfelt thank you for coming on my show and taking the time. And I know this has taken a different direction, as we probably anticipated, but it has taken the exact direction it had to.

Exactly.

And I'm sure it will be a deep blessing for anyone who listens to it.

So thank you. Appreciate the opportunity.

Beautiful. So this was Remembering the Forgotten, a conversation held in clarity, not performance. If something in this exchange helped you see differently, carry that forward.