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Why Moving 800 Miles Didn't Fix His Life Crisis with Jake Kennington
23rd January 2026 • Modern Masculinity • Hector Santiesteban
00:00:00 00:34:26

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Jake Kennington is a structural engineer, children's book author, and founder of Actively Human who discovered that achieving his career goals left him feeling more lost than ever. After moving his family 800 miles for what he thought was his dream job, Jake realized his priorities had fundamentally changed—but he was still living a previous version of his life. In this conversation, Jake shares his framework for redefining success (REDAC: Redefine, Realign, Reconnect), why working on yourself isn't selfish when you have a family, and how a simple morning routine transformed his marriage. He opens up about the uncomfortable moment when he saw his own bad behavior mirrored in his son, why creating something and sharing it is the key to human connection, and what 15 years of fatherhood has taught him about growing up alongside your kids. This episode is for any man who feels like he's checking all the boxes externally but struggling internally, wondering if there's more to masculinity than just providing and performing.

Chapters:

  1. (00:00:00) - The Moment Everything Changed: When His Son Mirrored His Worst Behavior
  2. (00:01:00) - Jake's Current Challenges: Balancing Fatherhood, Engineering, and Entrepreneurship
  3. (00:04:00) - The Children's Book: Writing Life Lessons for His Unborn Son
  4. (00:07:00) - Growing Up Alongside Your Kids
  5. (00:10:00) - When Your Kid Mirrors Your Worst Behavior
  6. (00:13:00) - The 800-Mile Move That Didn't Fix Everything
  7. (00:16:00) - Redefining Success: The REDAC Framework
  8. (00:19:00) - Why Your Definition of Success Must Evolve
  9. (00:22:00) - The Morning Routine That Saved His Marriage
  10. (00:24:00) - Why Working on Yourself Isn't Selfish
  11. (00:27:00) - What 40 Roommates Taught About Human Connection
  12. (00:30:00) - The Simple Recipe for Human Connection
  13. (00:33:00) - Modern Masculinity: Becoming a Man of Value

Links And Resources:

  1. Website
  2. Jake Kennington on LinkedIn
  3. Hector Santiesteban on LinkedIn
  4. Hector Santiesteban on Twitter

Thanks so much for joining us this week. Want to subscribe to Modern Masculinity? Have some feedback you’d like to share? Connect with us on iTunes and leave us a review!

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