Wake up.
Catch the wave.
I'm Dave — a coach, writer, and speaker who walks alongside people in seasons of quiet drift, midlife questions, and the slow leak of meaning.
My work is simple in shape: help you see the wave that's already moving you — and learn to ride it on purpose.
David Phillips • Gilbert, Arizona
A life that actually reflects you.
For more than a decade I've sat across from people who looked, from the outside, like they had it together — and were quietly drowning. People in good marriages, decent careers, comfortable lives, who had lost the thread of why any of it was happening.
What I've learned, over and over again, is that most of us aren't broken. We're just out of position. The wave is still moving. The current of growth is still here. We've just stopped paying attention — or never learned how to read it in the first place.
My work is to help you read it again. To clear the noise, name what's true, and rebuild the kind of life you actually recognize when you look at it.
A few of the themes that keep coming up in the conversations I have:
- Reconnecting to a sense of meaning that doesn't depend on the next promotion or finish line
- The non-negotiable foundation of physical and mental wellbeing — what I call The Freaking Basics
- Sorting beliefs, values, and vision into the order that actually works
- The inner work of identity — who you are, who you're becoming, and what's standing in the way
- Goals that don't just stretch you, but transform you
- The quiet power of community, mentorship, and being truly known
- Navigating midlife, transition, and the seasons that don't have a clean name yet
A few doors.
One conversation to start.
I'm building each of these out intentionally — slowly enough to do them well. If anything here resonates, the first step is the same: reach out, tell me what's stirring, and we'll figure out the right fit from there.
1:1 Coaching
Slow, honest, focused work — usually over a season of months. We look at where you are, where the wave is taking you, and what it would mean to ride it on purpose.
Speaking & Workshops
Keynotes, retreats, and team workshops for organizations and communities navigating meaning, growth, and transition. Tailored to your room, not pulled off a shelf.
Courses & Cohorts
The Deep Dive companion course and future cohort programs that translate the book's frameworks into structured, group-based work. More to share soon.
Surfing The Invisible Wave
By David Phillips • Story Chorus
A transformative guide wrapped in the story of one man's motorcycle journey up the California coast — a journey that became something far more profound than he ever expected.
Part parable, part personal development roadmap. Everything I've come to believe about how a meaningful life actually gets built, folded into a story you can see yourself in.
This book addresses one of the greatest challenges facing people today: how to cultivate meaning in our lives so that our experience is infused with passion and purpose. At once a grand adventure and a tactical field manual, Surfing the Invisible Wave helps illuminate what matters most as you sort through the emotional equations of your own life. Take it from someone who caught their first literal wave in their fifties — it is never too late to learn to surf.
You ended up on this page because some part of you is paying attention.
Tell me what's stirring. We'll start there.
David Phillips · My Coach Dave