Jack Choros: The Man I Want To Be

Jack Choros was born with a physical disability called cerebral palsy. He uses a walker to get around and in the spring of 2010 he climbed all 1,776 steps of CN Tower to raise funds for the World Wild Life Fund. I first met Jack shortly after his monumental accomplishment in 2010.

Jack is a man of grace, humility and a world of big dreams and ambitions. He is an amazingly funny, entertaining, energetic and engaging speaker. Jack’s big dream is to one day work with a professional team in The National Hockey League (NHL) using hockey analytics and statistics to evaluate players’ performances and eventually work his way up to the role of team general manager. He is also learning to cook and hope to  one day have a family of his own.

Last week I called Jack to wish him a Happy New Year. We chatted about his goals for 2015. Below I share Part 1 of my conversation with the Jack Choros.

Tell me about your physical condition?

I was born with a physical disability called cerebral palsy. It is most commonly caused throughout the birth process and it’s more likely to occur in cases where there is more than one baby being born. I was born with a twin sister who does not have a disability.

Cerebral palsy is basically caused by a lack of oxygen to the brain. It can range from very mild to severe and I’m somewhere in between on that spectrum. It affects my muscle coordination and balance. I use a walker to get around.

In addition to having to overcome physical obstacles on a regular basis, like others, I’ve also had my share of social and career challenges as well. Having cerebral palsy hasn’t stopped me from doing the things I want to do, but it definitely presents its own unique challenges.

What are your key goals for 2015?

I would like to turn my freelance writing career into a financially viable business and as such I am working on improving my technical writing skills.

I am also currently working on improving skills that will allow me to live on my own in the near future. I’m coming up on my 30^th birthday this summer and I would like to be more independent. That means learning how to cook and other life skills. I am doing more networking for grow my freelance writing business.

Despite my disabilities in 2015 I will continually challenging myself to take risks and do things that I’ve never done before. Essentially I want to continue grow and developed as a person and become the man that I want to be. In general, I want to live healthier. I want to push myself harder and let my fears fall by the wayside.

I just want to feel freer and feel enthusiastic about life on a day-to-day basis. My long-term goal is to get more involved in hockey as a profession so I am building my writing business. I hope to hone my writing skills so that I can walk away and pursue my boyhood dream of working for a professional team in The National Hockey League (NHL) someday.

You mentioned that you are honing your writing skills, are you attending writing classes? Do you have a writing coach/mentor?

I am not attending any writing classes but recently I have looked into joining the Professional Writers Association of Canada. I have been told by many people in the business that this particular association is a great way to network and find writing opportunities with bigger publications. These are publications that not only pay more for a story or an advertisement, but also tend to go back to the same writers for further work in the future. Opportunities such publications would help me avoid the pitfalls of being an unemployed writer, something I’ve experienced on and off for the last two years.

I do have a mentor. Her name is Angela. I actually connected with her after I had been writing for a blog for two months and I became worried that I wasn’t going to be able to make enough money. I started joining groups for freelance writers on the social network LinkedIn and I noticed that she had a website for freelance writers that listed job postings. I sent her a message to thank her for posting them because I had found work that way. Now anytime I’m in a jam she’s the first person in the business that I call for advice.

Tomorrow Jack will share an amazing story about his passion for hockey and how he hope to work his way up using hockey analytics and statistics to evaluate players’ performances up to the role of team general manager in The National Hockey League (NHL).