From Panic Attacks to Purpose
How One Dad Started a Movement by Sharing His Story
Jon Hord was VP of IT at a beer and wine distribution company, a role he’d climbed to after leaving art school and trading his creative passions for promotions and paychecks. But the weight of responsibility was crushing him. The constant worry. The anxiety about whether he’d made the right hire, whether systems would break, whether he could handle it all.
Then came his first panic attack.
“It’s terrifying to physically lose control of your body,” Jon told me during a LinkedIn Live event. “That was an undeniable moment where I needed to stop and evaluate what was going on.”
But Jon’s story doesn’t end there. It begins.
The Moment Everything Changed
After that panic attack, Jon found himself in an unlikely place: working with a life coach. He’d never considered coaching before. In fact, he’d thought it was “for somebody that just wasn’t a self-starter, not a hard worker, not disciplined.”
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Through his work with coach David Ellzey and learning the Sedona Method, Jon experienced what he calls “a profound change” in how he saw life, the world, and his experience in it.
“Before that, I was kind of just inside of a bubble where it felt like everything was happening to me,” Jon explained. “Working with him changed my perspective. What used to feel so heavy didn’t anymore.”
But the real revelation came when Jon looked at where he was spending his time and energy.
His number one priority wasn’t spending meaningful time with his kids. It wasn’t being the dad he wanted to be, the dad he knew he’d be proud of later in life.
It was work. Status. Proving himself in a role that was slowly destroying him.
“I tied my value as a father directly to my ability to be a provider,” Jon said. “An opportunity came along that would pay more money, and subconsciously I thought, ‘Okay, well, you can be a better father if you do that.’ So I gave up my passion for money and responsibility and status.”
Drawing a Line in the Sand
Jon refused to continue to carry the weight of prioritizing work over time with his family.
“I’m not willing to live my life in a way that I’m trading things now and I end up holding that regret later on,” he said. “My priorities have officially shifted.”
So Jon made a decision that looked crazy to almost everyone around him: he left his VP role to become a coach specializing in helping fathers.
He launched The Engaged Father Project.
And then he faced a new challenge: How do you get this message out to the dads who need to hear it?
The Dark Box of Podcast Guesting
When Jon and I first connected in August, he knew he had a story worth sharing. He’d already started building on Instagram (which has now grown to 11,000 followers in just seven months), but he wanted something more.
“I wanted a megaphone to get this message out there,” Jon said. “But podcast guesting felt like this big dark box that I was almost afraid to look at. How do I go get booked on podcasts that are going to have reach?”
What Jon didn’t realize was just how many father-focused and parenting podcasts existed, and how hungry their hosts were for someone with his authentic, vulnerable approach.
In the months since we started working together, Jon has been booked on over a dozen shows, including Real Men Feel, Menfolk Journeys, Dad Hat Shenanigans, Imperfect Dads, Raising Men, Young Dad Podcast, and Strong Dad Show.
The results have gone beyond just exposure:
Meaningful connections that turned into friendships
An invitation to speak at a summer camp
Podcast hosts joining his new community on Skool
Fathers finding him and enrolling in his coaching program
“Working with you took something that felt terrifying and daunting…something I knew nothing about, and made it so simple,” Jon told me. “I’m just answering some yes or no questions and picking the time I want to show up and record. You made it so I didn’t have to learn all this myself, which would have taken way too long. More than likely it would have been one of those back burner ideas I just didn’t ever get to.”
The Power of Just Being Yourself
One of the things I’ve noticed about Jon, both on podcasts and in his content, is his refusal to hide behind a polished persona.
He talks about his panic attacks. His anxiety medication. The version of himself that wasn’t showing up for his kids the way he wanted to. He cries at commercials and America’s Got Talent auditions, and he’s not ashamed to admit it.
“I don’t have to be this really strong, macho version of a father,” Jon said. “For a long time there was a version of me that I wanted to present to the world. But I’m just letting that go. Now what you see is what you get.”
I asked him about his preparation process for podcasts. His answer was simple:
“My wife said to me one time: F it, let it fly. And honestly, that’s it. Just not being afraid to be yourself and being really open and vulnerable.”
That authenticity is what makes Jon such a compelling guest. It’s also what’s driving the growth of The Engaged Father Project.
Building Something That Matters
Earlier this year Jon launched The Engaged Father Project community on Skool, and within just two weeks, 25 fathers joined. It now has over 100 active members. The engagement has exceeded even his expectations.
“I’m blown away at the things people are sharing, the real differences they’re making at home with their families,” Jon said. “There’s real things that are changing.”
One member texted him: “I’m not usually a social media guy, but I’m kind of hooked on this now. I have to be careful not to overdo it and be glued to the phone, but I’m trying to carve out at least 10 to 20 minutes each night to the group. I find myself looking for ideas and seeing what other dads are doing, but also finding a lot of value in giving advice to other people.”
That member had been in the group for five days.
This is what happens when you combine a powerful message with the willingness to share it authentically, and the right platforms to amplify it.
The Message That Needs to Be Heard
Not long after launching The Engaged Father Project, Jon heard from five fathers in their 60s and 70s. Every single one shared the same story: they wished they had spent more meaningful time with their kids before they grew up.
One man said it simply: “I’m in my seventies right now. And I can tell you that when you get to be my age, you will not wish that you had more stuff. And you won’t wish that you had more me time to yourself. What you’d give anything for is more time with your kids.”
Jon turned that story into this video that went viral on Instagram. His challenge at the end was simple:
“Commit right now to spending five quality, uninterrupted moments with your kids tonight. Put the phone away. Don’t be distracted. Don’t be half present. Just be there with your kids. Because let’s be honest, we don’t want to be in our 70s wishing that we could go back and do it different.”
What This Really Shows Us
Jon’s journey illustrates something I see over and over: the people with the most important messages often feel the most hesitant to share them.
They worry about judgment. About whether they’re “expert” enough. About whether anyone will care.
But here’s what I’ve learned working with people like Jon:
Your lived experience IS your expertise. Your vulnerability IS your superpower. And your willingness to be authentically yourself (flaws and all) is what will actually resonate with people.
Jon didn’t need to become someone else to be an incredible podcast guest. He just needed to stop trying to be someone else.
As he put it: “I think authenticity and vulnerability and just being open and honest, it’s really refreshing. Especially now that people are questioning whether something is AI or not. The value in real, honest, emotional communication is going to go way up.”
The Invitation
If you’re a father who’s burning the candle at both ends, spending most of your energy on work and giving your family whatever’s left over, Jon wants you to know you’re not alone.
Find him at The Engaged Father Project on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. Join his Skool community. Or just take his challenge: spend five quality, uninterrupted moments with your kids tonight.
And if you have a message that needs to be heard, if you’re sitting on a story that could help others but you’re not sure how to share it, I’d love to talk.
Because telling your story effectively doesn’t require polished perfection. You just need to be willing to be real about the messy, beautiful, challenging work of becoming who you want to be.
The full conversation with Jon Hord is available on LinkedIn here.
You can learn more about The Engaged Father Project at [theengagedfatherproject.com], find Jon on Instagram [@theengagedfatherproject] or join the Skool community here.
What a moving story, so many of us have experienced the anxiety, the stress, the overwhelm and it can feel like it's "normal" and that something is wrong with you. It helps so much to know that you aren't the only one.