How He Uses Space and Time to Put His Life in Perspective
Brad Jacobs stretches his attention to the multiverse, then narrows it to strings, for context, humility, and inspiration.
David Senra · Brad Jacobs, QXO, XPO, United Rentals & United Waste | David SenraBrad Jacobs, the founder behind XPO, United Rentals, and QXO, uses meditation to see life in general with more context.
He says that shift came with age. When he was younger, he says, he was ambitious and focused on getting things done in the moment, and that growing older has meant optimizing more for the long term and gathering context.
His practice starts with space. He moves his attention outward step by step, from Earth to the sun, then to the solar system, the galaxy, clusters of galaxies, the universe, and then the multiverse.
Then he reverses direction. He brings his attention back down through molecules, atoms, protons, and the nucleus to strings, the tiny structures proposed by physicists. He describes the motion as like an accordion, stretching very big and then very, very small.
He treats time the same way. He looks back across his own recent decades, then keeps going back across centuries and thousands of years, back 13.8 billion years to the universe's beginning, before picturing time running far forward.
What he reports getting from that comparison of scales is both humility and energy. He feels small inside something enormous, and at the same time uplifted and motivated to be part of it, with more meaning, purpose, understanding, and wisdom. He adds that different approaches work for different people.
To try his version, start where he starts, by leaving the view of right here and right now and naming the outward stops in order, before turning inward and backward.
Questions people ask
What does he mean by the multiverse and strings?
The multiverse is the idea that our universe may be one of many separate universes or bubbles. Strings refer to string theory, which proposes that the smallest bits of matter are tiny vibrating threads or loops. Both ideas are unproven, and Jacobs uses them as the farthest-out and farthest-in markers to stretch his sense of scale.
Why 13.8 billion years?
That figure is the current scientific estimate for the age of the universe. It comes from several lines of evidence, including leftover heat from the Big Bang and the rate at which distant galaxies are moving apart. Jacobs uses that number as the farthest-back point in his time exercise.
How long does he do it, and does posture matter?
He does not give a length or posture in this account, so there is no set rule to copy. A practical way to borrow the method is to sit quietly for a few minutes and move through the sequence in order. Name each scale silently, without rushing to interpret what comes up.