John Stevenot came into the world on a cloudy midsummer morning in 1990.
From the start, he was a special kid. As a newborn, he had radiant blue eyes, and we wondered whether he would be lucky enough to have them keep the color. It turned out he was. How John could look at you with those eyes! It was captivating – like he could see into your soul.
As he grew, John was ahead of his age. He walked early, talked early, and was uncommonly athletic and sports minded. As a toddler, he could throw a ball (and sometimes a baby bottle) with remarkable speed and accuracy. He spent hours swishing basket after basket on his kid-size basketball hoop and, as an early preschooler, he developed the ability to swing a golf club with extraordinary grace.
Throughout his life, John gravitated toward the older kids and the adults. When we used to take miles-long treks at the beach to net blue crabs and fish in the tidal creeks and surf, John always kept up with the “big people” and never complained. In fact, far from it. He couldn’t wait to get out there and get fishing!
John was ingrained with a fiery and competitive spirit. At times, this made him a handful to raise. He used to say he hated losing far more than he enjoyed winning. This led to a few post-game drywall repairs over the years. Despite his hotblooded inclinations, his coaches always loved him. He had an intuitive ability to understand direction and strategy.
John never had to be told the play twice.
He “got it” and was always a solid contributor to any team. John carried his intensity and forward outlook into adulthood. He sought advice from mentors and respected leaders. He also read hundreds of books and consumed countless hours of instructional podcasts and videos.
As such, he avoided many of the errors in thinking from which so many people needlessly suffer. He habitually questioned the status quo and oriented himself toward the pursuit of higher truth. His most valued goal was to live life as fully as possible.
While still in college I encouraged him to learn about websites. At the time, he had an interest in “mashup” music, and he started a review site on the topic. He turned out to be a natural in the arena of digital outreach. In no time, his site was throttling my host account and racking up millions of views.
When he graduated from college with honors and a double-major in business, he could have gone to work for any number of great companies. However, I encouraged him to come back home and try to start something of his own. At the time, in addition to my regular business, I was highly involved in grassroots politics. I invited John to help where he could, and he eagerly got involved.
We went on to establish dozens of websites, reach millions and millions of people online, and collect tens of thousands of email subscribers. His early successes with online work eventually inspired John to pursue a career in digital marketing.
Years later, when I finally decided to swear off politics, John did too.
Around that same time, and again, in addition to our regular work, John and I started a commercial real estate business that we worked on together part-time. Later, we kicked off a weekly podcast on sales and marketing called, Sales Prospecting School. On the show, we discussed various ways to mix old and new-school marketing techniques for effective business development.
During his post college years, John maintained a keen interest in health and exercise. He even got me going back to the gym and in the habit of being in better shape. For several years, John was a CrossFit devotee and frequently took part in local competitions. On a late-September Saturday in 2018, John tied for his first, first-place finish in a CrossFit competition.
Later the same week, we were scheduled to record the 47th episode of our weekly podcast together. Then, without warning, symptoms, or the slightest indication of any ongoing problem, in the early hours of October 5, 2018, John died quietly in his sleep.
Just like that…he was gone.
Months later it was determined that the cause of death was an extremely rare and asymptomatic condition impacting the interior of his heart which caused it to stop.
The posts you are about to read are based on a manuscript John completed in the summer of 2017. I remember him coming into my office and putting it on my desk soon after it was done. He said, “Well, there it is.”
I guess I was supposed to proof it for him, but I felt reluctant to do so. We had worked on writing projects together before, and I remember thinking our writing styles were quite different. I didn’t want to disturb his way of saying things.
So, I left it be.
For a variety of reasons, he never pursued taking the manuscript much beyond that point. I sometimes wonder whether he was depending on me to take it from there. If so, I let him down. It is one of my only regrets from our time together.
Sometime after he died, I got the idea to locate his manuscript and see it through into final book form. During this time, I kept our podcast running on Soundcloud. Even though there weren’t any new shows being uploaded, it continued to receive thousands of downloads.
In John’s writing, there is a directness and honesty that mirrors his personality.
Beyond a few light edits, I made every effort to leave his voice intact. At a few spots, it is not the easiest read and will require the reader’s close attention to make the most of it.
However, I find John’s raw will to assemble and confer his deepest truisms to the reader to be stirring.
Particularly powerful are his exhortations to live fully in the present because no one knows how much time he or she ultimately has.
Please enjoy the words and wisdom of this remarkable and beautiful young man! It is my sincere hope that you feel the presence of John’s spirit in these pages.
Though John’s life ended too soon, I am forever grateful for having known him. He will remain a source of pride and inspiration for me, from now and until the end of my days.
Ted Stevenot
March 2020