This week I got to spend some time with Jim Curtis, a profound voice in the wellness world who has transformed adversity into purpose. I first met Jim at Jen Cohen’s house in LA when I was guesting on her Habits and Hustle podcast. As I was wrapping up, Jim was coming in to record. We chatted for a few minutes, and I began to dig into his story.
Jim’s been all over the news these days as he’s dating Jennifer Aniston. It was the one thing we did not talk about. He politely asked me not to bring it up during our interview, and I respected that request. What we did talk about, though, gave me real insight into how he approaches relationships, friendships, clients, his work, and his own personal confidence, security, and focus.
One of the things that stood out most to me was his commitment to being the elite version of himself. Often when individuals face disabilities or challenges, they see themselves as “less than.” With Jim, I found someone secure, confident, humble, and committed to being the very best he can be.
From contending with a debilitating spinal condition in his early twenties to guiding others toward emotional freedom through hypnotherapy and spiritual work, Jim has channeled his healing into powerful teachings. As a sought-after transformational coach, author of The Stimulati Experience and Shift, and a leader in the intersection of science, consciousness, and real-world living, he brings a unique perspective, especially for men navigating the midlife journey.
We’ll dive into his personal path, his philosophy of healing, and what midlife men can learn from his journey toward true transformation.
Watch ‘How I See It’ with Jim Curtis Here
On Hypnotherapy vs. Stage Hypnosis:
“There are stage hypnotists who can call you up on stage, usually looking for the person who’s most hypnotizable, and put you under so deep that you act like a chicken. When you come out, you don’t know what you did. Hypnotherapy doesn’t want you to be unconscious; I want you at a low level of trance where it’s therapeutic and you can receive a suggestion, because it’s a greater state of focus.”
On Manifestation and Assumptions:
“I believe that we manifest what we assume we are. If, from childhood, we have an assumption about ourselves, or a parent said, ‘Money doesn’t grow on trees,’ or we have an assumption about what we’re capable of, a Hypno realization will show we’re operating based on beliefs that aren’t real. Beliefs aren’t real; they’re just a thought and emotion.”
On Action and Manifestation:
“We have a reticular activating system that says, ‘I will go out and find those things I set my attention to.’ I talk about this like the Amazon effect. If you’re shopping on Amazon, you probably buy 100 products over and over, but Amazon has 169 million products—you don’t know they exist until you focus differently. That’s what your reticular activating system does.”
On Hypnosis in Everyday Life:
“We are being hypnotized all day, every day. If you go for a long drive and the highway is open, you can get into a state of trance, and that’s why you can flow with your ideas so well. Or when you miss your exit because you’ve been deep in thought, that’s a state of hypnosis.”
On Social Media and Suggestibility:
“The biggest times we’re hypnotized every day are when we’re scrolling on social media or watching TV. Those lights and changing images put us in a trance, and before you know it, an hour has gone by. When time dilation happens—meaning you think it’s 10 minutes and an hour has gone by—you know you’re in a trance. The problem is you become super suggestible because you’ve removed your critical filter.”
On Programming and Identity:
“The biggest point of being stuck is really believing that this thing is the Absolute Truth, when it’s not. If you had done something different, you could have something different. The biggest breakthrough I have with people is to say those are just thoughts, and you don’t have to believe every thought you have.”
On Flexibility and Reinvention:
“The most successful people have flexibility in their thinking. You didn’t say, ‘I am this identity and I have to stick to it.’ You had a throughline of being flexible, an entrepreneur, having many interests, and being able to make money. The results are what they are when you can go into many different industries and be successful.”
On Skepticism and Language:
“I do get people who are skeptical. It’s all the same stuff; I just change the terminology. If I have someone in finance who’s never experienced any of this, I don’t talk about quantum or source. We talk about conscious leadership, which is the same thing.”
On Service and Purpose:
“Stuck and disconnected because you’re feeling a lack of purpose. If you no longer feel purpose in what you do, or that you’re contributing to something greater than yourself, you’re just stuck. All of us, in particular men, are here to serve. If we don’t feel like we’re giving a contribution that derives purpose, then we’re just stuck.”
On Making New Connections:
“My biggest thing was, how do I get out of my insular, lonely kind of thing and go out and meet people? Being a little bit introverted, what it really took was finding something I was interested in, whether it was rescue dogs or whatever, and going to a meeting or group and actually speaking with people. I would go to a Joe Dispenza event, find guys I resonated with, get their numbers, and actually connect with them when I was back, instead of just flaking.”
On Motivation and Pain:
“The way I do that with people is I use some NLP tactics that get them familiar with the worst possible outcome, because we’re mostly motivated by fear and pain. We could have the most wonderful benefit and move towards it slower than we move away from fear and pain. I identify, if you don’t do this and your life persists as it is for another year, how does that feel? Then I go five years, and now this still hasn’t changed for you.”
On the “Aha” Moment:
“Mostly this is about getting someone into an aha moment. In an aha moment, everything changes. That’s the realm I work in. Once you have your realization with me, you move on to somebody else who’s going to keep you on track.”
On Self-Hypnosis and Audio Reminders:
“If there’s a reminder, an audio they listen to for 10 minutes—not a meditation, but an audio every day that’s either a reminder of what they’re avoiding or what they’re achieving—then I 100% agree that as part of your protocol, you give them that.”
On Coaching and Transformation:
“My role as a coach is to snap you out of your pain and suffering. People come to me who are stuck and in pain, and as I snap you out of that, it takes people eight weeks, once a week, and they have such a dramatic change. It’s not forever, but they have a dramatic transformation, because they’re now able to go on and open up all the other doors in their pathway.”
On Questioning Thoughts and Emotions:
“The best coaches in the world, like Tony Robbins, use NLP and hypnosis and talk. It’s about asking questions, and you can ask yourself, ‘Is what I’m thinking right now true?’ Most of the things that hold us back are fear and anxiety.”
In health,
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Greg Scheinman
Founder, Midlife Male
52. Husband. Father. Entrepreneur. Coach.
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