JON MAYO
Jon Mayo is a founder, builder, military veteran, and father.
Before founding his own companies, Jon served in the U.S. Army, where his approach to discipline, training, and performance was shaped. He's since built WayMaker, a personal excellence engine, and Transformational Intelligence Architecture (TIA), where he helps organizations build private data cores wrapped in intelligence that compound over time. He's releasing Alien Kind this year, an open-source version of the architecture behind his AI partner.
Jon doesn't define success as a destination. "I'm living my success right now. Sometimes it's an uphill fight both directions and it's snowing and people are throwing rocks at you. And sometimes it feels like you're unconquerable."
Everything he builds serves the same signal: unleash the extraordinary. That's true for his companies, his clients, and the four sons he's raising.
HOW HE OPERATES:
How Jon manages his health, mindset, and energy while building a company and raising 4 sons:
Trains every morning, even though it's not his peak energy
If he doesn't train in the morning, the stress of knowing it's still hanging over him ruins the entire day
Invests 30 to 90 minutes a day; that's 2 to 4% of his day
Doesn't follow a strict program. Gets on the assault bike, starts sweating, and lets intuition take over from there
"I just want to be more lethal today than I was yesterday"
The 48-hour rule
Under no circumstances will he go more than 48 hours without training
Everything else stays flexible. That window, along with his intentional protocol, are the only non-negotiables
Does a daily intentional reflection protocol every morning (see link below)
First thing when he wakes, 3-5 minutes
Finds something he's grateful for and documents it
Looks at what he committed to yesterday, rates himself on execution
Writes down anything he learned
Writes down what he's committing to today
Creates a recursive loop of learning and improvement
Sleeps in 90-minute cycles
Knows that a typical REM cycle is about 90 minutes
Sets sleep blocks in 90-minute increments: four and a half hours, six hours, seven and a half
Accounts for how quickly he falls asleep
Doesn't track sleep with any device. Doesn't care to
Threw his Whoop away
Had a Whoop. Woke up feeling incredible one morning
Checked the app. It said his sleep was terrible
Instantly felt worse
Took it off that day and never put it back on
Doesn't count macros, doesn't plan workouts
Knows what macros and micros are but the idea of tracking them makes him want to pull his beard out
Knows what systems he needs to hit in training and when, but leaves room for spontaneity
His take: you may have to go all in on hyper-detail for a bit to gain the understanding, but staying there forever becomes exhaustive
Knows his energy rhythms and works with them
Can enter deep flow state first thing in the morning
Gets a second wind around 3pm every day and can go until 10pm
Stops for family time even when the energy is still flowing
Quality over quantity with family
Works six to seven days a week
Communication and alignment with his wife on this are critical; they focus on extremely intentional, high-quality moments
He's at peace when he's working, which makes him better when he shows up for his family
Divinely discontent
A concept from Ray Dalio that Jon lives by
"Can you be at peace, content and present with the moment you're in, and yet be completely discontent that it's not where it's going?"
When asked what he wants to improve: "All of it. Every single element. I'm divinely discontent, so everything will be evolved."
“Comparison is the thief of joy, unless it's self-comparison”
Look at yourself compared to yesterday, last week, last month, last year
If you've been living with any level of intentionality, there's a good chance you're better than you were
"And if not, there's your moment of awareness. Wake up."
Sees everything as a system
Bodies, relationships, businesses, habits. They’re all interconnected recursive loops
If something is out of alignment in one system, it ripples through everything else
His framework: if everything is a loop, how can you make it an ascending loop that compounds?
This philosophy drives everything from his parenting to how he builds companies
Finding like-minded people takes patience
"Prepare to be lonely for a bit and broadcast the signal and enthusiastically explore the response"
If you want to grow and the people around you aren't growing, allow yourself to not bind yourself to that
You can do it with love and compassion. But you have to let go
“Comparison is the thief of joy, unless it's self-comparison".
MY TAKEAWAY:
Jon is extremely intentional. Everything in his life feeds everything else, his training feeds his work, his work feeds how he shows up for his family, his family feeds his mission.
The Whoop story is the perfect example of something I keep hearing across these interviews: the people who have spent the most time in health and performance don't track anything (or minimally if that), and they spend a lot of time on the mental work.
His point about finding your people hit me too. "Prepare to be lonely for a bit." That's real. When you're growing and the people around you aren't, it's one of the hardest things to navigate. The isolation period is a huge part of growth.
WHAT MOVES THE NEEDLE (From Jon):
An unapologetic, relentless amount of love filled work. Be okay being an insane workhorse.
Consume a copious, questionable amount of caffeine.
Be in alignment with your partner.
STEAL THIS:
Actions you can take right now
Try the 48-hour rule this month. You don't need a program. Just don't let more than two days pass without some form of training.
Tomorrow morning, before you check your phone, write down one thing you're grateful for, rate how yesterday went, and write one commitment for today. Three minutes. See if it changes how you start the day.
WHAT HE IS BUILDING:
WayMaker & Transformational Intelligence Architecture (TIA)
WayMaker is Jon's personal excellence engine, a system built around the daily intentional reflection protocol he's used for years, now available to anyone looking to evolve at their own pace.
TIA is where Jon helps organizations build their own private, consolidated data core. Instead of replacing existing tools, TIA sits on top of everything: CRM, financials, marketing, operations, and creates a living intelligence layer that compounds over time. Each "value engine" identifies critical decision points, learns from past outcomes, and improves the quality of decisions as the organization grows. Jon operates across five industries, and when a capability is built for one company, every other company in the network benefits from that same advancement.
Jon's model starts inward, not outward. Most companies see a stimulus (AI hype, a competitor's move, a new tool) and react. "You subscribe to Claude for your whole team and call yourself AI-driven. No, you're not. You're seeing noise. You're trying to pacify your discomfort with an action that's not being embodied." TIA starts with the leader. The CEO or founder is the first to use it, benefit from it, and believe in it, because you can't spread something you haven't experienced yourself.
Jon’s Daily Intentional Reflection Protocol (DiRP) with WayMaker:
TIA - Transformational Intelligence Architecture:
Thank you for reading!
