Category: Articles

Something was definitely in the water this morning.

I wake up, grab my coffee, make the classic mistake of checking Facebook while my brain’s still soft and undefended.

Big fucking error.

It’s like I stepped into some alternate dimension where everyone decided today was the day to settle scores and flex their intellectual superiority. People dunking on each other left and right. Everyone trying to out clever, out moralise, out everything each other in the comments.

The energy was so toxic I could practically taste it through the screen.

Wild thing was…

I almost got sucked in. I was about to type a response to some bullshit that wouldn’t matter tomorrow or next week.

Then I caught myself.

What the hell was I doing?

This is exactly how they get you. You scroll past three reasonable posts, then boom…

Someone says something that makes your blood pressure spike, and suddenly you’re ready to engage in digital combat with strangers who probably agree with you 80% of the time but are arguing about the 20% like it’s life or death.

Social media turns everyone into their worst selves. Reasonable people become keyboard warriors. Thoughtful individuals become reactive assholes. Everyone’s performing their outrage for an audience that’s performing their outrage right back.

A dude who I liked in my space has also unfriended me cause I posted a meme he didn’t agree with, AFTER he decided to tell me about what country I’m IN and can’t comment on other countries cause I don’t live there (Even though I have got friends and family that live there) Yes, very sad. Anyway…

So I did the only sensible thing I could’ve done that day.

I yeeted myself right off that platform before I could get dragged into the mud.

The algorithm feeds on conflict. Every angry reaction and the like.

Na, today I just wanted to chill.

I wasn’t about the digital self harm for the day.

It’s also weird that when you log off of those places for the day. That your mental health and productivity seem to shoot up massively. Who woulda thought?

Social media doesn’t have to be your whole personality.

The ones who are chronically online, genuinely need to go touch some grass and read a good book.

On that note of staying off of social media for the day. I’m gonna go carry on watching this gem of a series.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

As promised.

I’ve always said I’m going to do some more quick audio snippets.

So here’s the next short little ramble. It’s more about my process and how you can use it too if you’re interested.

Go here if you wanna listen https://stphnwlkr.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/prolificnessness.mp3

If not.

The regularly scheduled emails will continue tomorrow.

I’m heading out yet again to go enjoy the last few hours of this hot weather before we get rain tomorrow again probably…

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

John Kennedy Toole put a bullet in his brain in 1969.

Thought his manuscript was garbage.

Thought the world didn’t want to hear about Ignatius J. Reilly…

This sweating, farting, medieval philosophy obsessed manchild who rails against modern society from his masturbation stained bedsheets in New Orleans.

(The rejection letters piled up)

His mother, god bless her stubborn Southern soul.

She dragged that manuscript around for eleven years.

Practically holds a gun to Walker Percy’s head until he reads it.

And then? Pulitzer Prize…

Imagine someone today getting their sanitizing hands on Ignatius. This walking dumpster fire of toxic masculinity, casual racism, and weapons grade narcissism.

Imagine them trying to make him palatable.

You know what you get?

Nothing. A corpse dressed in Sunday clothes. A vampire with its fangs filed down to nubs.

Cause this is what’s happening in the literary world with all of these types of book burner folk. The ones who are trying to wipe away great work and not allowing people to read, understand and see how the world really works.

Books aren’t instruction manuals for living. They delve deep into the human condition.

Like in medicine. You sometimes need to see the disease to find and understand the cure.

Ignatius works BECAUSE he’s a monster. Not the fun kind with tentacles and teeth, the real kind. The kind you’ve met. The kind posting conspiracy theories on Facebook. The kind living in their parent’s basement at 35, blaming everyone else for their failures.

You’re supposed to recognise him.

But no. There come the protectors. The saviours. They’re the types of people who think you’re too fragile. Or maybe too stupid. Hell, too impressionable to handle what really goes on down the darker sides of humanity.

If censorship was a hammer they’d be swinging it all of the damn show.

Take Huckleberry Finn as example. Gets yanked from schools faster than you can say “that word makes me uncomfortable.” But strip out the racial language and you strip out the entire point. That’s a book about a kid unlearning his programming. About choosing humanity over society’s rules.

Anyways. The main point of this email is to just read the hard books. The ones that might make you wince.

If they’re banning it. It’s for good reason.

If you truly want to understand people. Those works will unravel everything at a visceral level for you.

Here’s a silly long link again that’ll take you to grab the book if you want it.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I came across this quote and if you let it.

It might slap you across the face and give you a different way of looking at things…

“What a beautiful gift it is to hit rock bottom. To be stripped of any and all pride, ego and false responsibility. To be left with nothing but possibility. A chance to climb upwards and make anew what once seemed impossible. Every man, at one point in his life, could benefit from the raw, pure, and radically humbling experience of being left with nothing to realise that everything is possible.”

Beautiful gift.

That’s what they called losing everything. And here’s the twisted part…

They’re absolutely right.

Most people spend their entire lives avoiding rock bottom like it’s some kind of creative death sentence.

They cling to mediocre jobs, toxic relationships, and half ass dreams because the alternative, losing everything and starting over…

Feels like failure.

But if you think about it. What if it’s actually freedom?

If you look around and find your favourite artists, creators or even entrepreneurs you admire. You can almost guarantee they’ll have their version of a rock bottom story to tell.

There’s that little blip of a moment where they knew that everything was going to get stripped away which left them naked, terrified and without excuses.

And scarily enough that’s where the real work begins.

When you have nothing else left to lose. You can finally risk everything. When your ego gets demolished, you can finally create without worrying about looking stupid. When all your “safe” options disappear, you can finally chase the impossible dreams you’ve been too scared to pursue.

Rock bottom burns away everything that isn’t essential. All the bullshit personas you’ve been maintaining. All the “shoulds” and “supposed tos” that have been guiding your decisions. All the fear based choices disguised as practical ones.

What’s left is pure possibility.

I know creators who spent years playing it safe, making work that was “good enough” to keep the lights on but not brave enough to matter. Then life kicked them in the teeth.

Divorce, bankruptcy, career implosion, health scare and suddenly they had nothing left to protect.

That’s when they started making their best work.

Desperation is a helluva motivator.

When you’re truly fucked, you stop asking for permission. You stop waiting for the perfect moment. You stop caring about critics who’ve never risked anything themselves.

You just create. Raw, honest, desperate, beautiful work that comes from a place most people are too comfortable to access.

And as someone who has been at the bottom of multiple occasions. There is beauty in the rebirth.

It’s completely democratic. Gravity doesn’t care about your background, your education, or your previous success. Everyone gets equal access to the bottom floor.

And everyone gets equal opportunity to climb back up.

There’s always a catch though. People would call you crazy if you said to them that rock bottom is a gift. It’s punishment. Or some wild detour. The type of setback where you scramble to come back from it ASAP…

They miss the point entirely.

Rock bottom isn’t something to escape. It’s something to embrace. It’s where you learn what you’re actually made of when all the artificial supports get pulled away.

It’s where you discover that the person you thought you were was mostly costume and performance, and the person you actually are is much more interesting and capable than you ever imagined.

So if you’re there now. If everything’s fallen apart and you’re sitting in the wreckage wondering what the hell happens next?

Congratulations.

You’re exactly where you need to be to create something that actually matters. The climb up is going to suck. But the view from where you’re going will be worth every scraped knee and bloody knuckle along the way.

I’ve always found the best stories always start with “I lost everything and had to build it all back from nothing.”

It’s a new book or a chapter 1 moving on to chapter 2.

And if you want a quick way to help slap you out of that bottom funk. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho will quickly drop you into a beautiful perspective which will change the way you see the world.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

This is basically about how I accidentally proved headlines matter more than everything else.

Which strangely also includes audio.

So yesterday I screwed up so spectacularly that I accidentally proved the most important copywriting principle of all time.

So I’m out walking, feeling inspired, decide to record a YouTube short. (Which is the new thing I’m doing with my walks/hikes and NO you can’t see them…yet)

Just me riffing on some random topic while wandering around like a philosopher hopped up on all of the caffeine…

I’m dropping what I think are absolute gems of wisdom into my phones camera.

Two minutes of pure brilliance. Or so I thought.

I wrap up, feeling good about the content. Upload it straight to YouTube with a killer headline that I spent actual time crafting.

Then I get a notification about an hour later. 200 views. Not bad for a random walking video.

Except when I check the video.

No audio. None. Zero. Zilch. Not even subtitles of me mouthing off or anything.

There I am, gesticulating wildly at the camera like a mime having an existential crisis, while viewers watch me mouth words they can’t hear for two straight minutes.

And yet… 200 views.

It’s weird that people clicked on a video that didn’t have audio but stuck around long enough for the views to count…

The headline did ALL the heavy lifting. Not my brilliant insights. Not my engaging delivery. Not even basic technical dumbfuckery.

Obviously I’m not going to make a habit of testing this but I thought it was pretty entertaining anyways.

But there it was. Just the promise in those few words at the top. Cause as far as I know YouTube shorts don’t really allow anything else from an optimisation point of view, other than a headline and maybe part of the thumbnail of the clip.

And so I’d probably say that this is the copywriting lesson every creator needs tattooed on their eyeballs.

Your headline is important but it’s everything else too, It’s the bouncer that decides who gets into the club. It’s the salesperson that gets people to stop scrolling and pay attention.

Without a strong headline, your content could cure cancer and solve world hunger, and nobody would stick around long enough to find out.

With a strong headline, people will apparently watch you mime your way through a walking meditation and somehow find value in the experience.

The funniest part? I’m going to re-record that video tomorrow and make the whole audio disaster part of the joke.

If you’re spending more time perfecting your body copy than your headlines, you’re doing it backwards. If you’re writing headlines last, you’re doing it backwards. If you think good content can overcome a weak headline, you’re definitely doing it backwards.

Your headline is the promise. Everything else is just keeping that promise.

And apparently, sometimes the promise is strong enough that people will stick around even when you literally can’t deliver on it because you forgot to press the record button properly.

So before you write another email, post, video description, or piece of content. Write the headline first. Make it impossible to ignore. Make it create a curiosity gap so wide that people have to click just to close it.

Cause if my dumbass can make a silent video get 200 views based purely on headline strength, imagine what happens when you actually include the audio?

Stephen Walker.

P.S. This is why I don’t really do video. I have a knack for breaking things. I’m writer dude. I write words and sometimes they come out okay.

P.P.S. This long link will take you to TSGS opt-in page where all of the silliness and seriousness will commence in the not so distant future.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

You are a detective.

Your mission is to document and observe the world around you.

As if you’ve never seen it before.

Take notes.

Collect things you find on your travels.

Document findings.

Notice patterns.

Copy. Trace. Make rubbings…

Focus on one thing at a time.

Record what you’re drawn to.

Don’t stop there though. Expand on it. Share it. Write about it in visceral detail. Extract every last ounce of emotion from it. Make a video of you explaining it poorly. Write a poem about it. Create a not so pretty dressed up PDF and sell it to the world. Hell…

Give it away.

Spark conversations. Drink bad coffee and drink even worse tasting beers.

Look up the sky and try count the stars or not.

You’re a fire filled soul. You’re not here to just fizzle out and die.

You are me and I am you and we are all supposed to be part of a community.

We are part of humanity in all of our little quirks and and imperfections…

That is it.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. Go here. Get ready.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

One thing I’ve become addicted to over the years is collecting domain names.

Not to flip them. Just to collect them for potential projects in the future.

Unfortunately today has been a very expensive lesson in not setting auto-renew on for a domain you’ve had for ages.

That lesson cost me 500 freedom doll hairs and frankly I can’t even be mad at myself for it.

I just re-frame it into a lesson.

This same domain name has caused me grief with what I wanted to do. Luckily I got around the shenanigans with an IP lawyer and I’ve got the green light to do what I wanted to do in the first place.

So there will be silly goose-ry returning in an improved and better way. My playful philosophy wrapped into the most angry creature known to man.

It hits all of the creative aspects while keeping this fun.

Things are too serious nowadays and while we want to do good work. We also need to have fun…

That being said. There’s also a lot of chatter about Alex Hormozi’s new launch for his new book…

I can respect the dudes hustle and the fact that he’s taken some old advertising principles and made it relevant to new people coming into the game.

If you’re seasoned and been around the marketing world for years. You’ll know a lot of this stuff is standard in the direct response sense.

Fun to watch and learn from so I’ll give him the props.

Now I need to vanish into the night with a coffee and go make some stuff.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

This isn’t going to be a massively long email.

I’m just giving a shoutout to the man whose book dragged me out of the darkest place I’ve ever gone to.

I made it out and hey, life is not too bad.

He’s started getting into YouTube and so if you can do me a massive favour and go check out his new video + subscribe if you dig it…

The link is here and 100% worth the watch.

Dan is an absolute lad, a great friend, coach and mentor and one of the handful of people who I look up to and admire.

So give that bearded hairy dude some loving by checking out his stuff.

If you’re reading this Dan. You’re the bestest influencer I know…

And off the back of that video, it gave me a little kicking cause I’ve been putting off doing something I’ve always wanted to do.

But that’ll be something for another email.

Now it’s time for a few slices of pizza and a new book.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

You need rules. Real rules. The kind that make people uncomfortable. The kind that separate the wheat from the chaff and leave the chaff standing outside in the cold wondering what the hell just happened.

Let me tell you about a rule that changes everything for me…

Once you’re in, if you leave, you can’t come back. Period. End of story. No second chances unless the universe literally catches fire and even then we’ll consider it on a case by case basis.

Sounds harsh? Good. It’s supposed to.

Here’s what happens when you implement this kind of boundary.

Suddenly your tribe becomes precious. Suddenly being part of your world means something. Suddenly people pay attention instead of treating you like background noise they can tune out whenever something shinier comes along.

I learned this from my pal Ben. 4 shiny quarters Vs 100 sticky pennies…

Think about it. Right now, your customers know they can leave and come crawling back whenever they want. They can ignore your emails for months, buy from your competitors, treat you like their backup plan…

It’s like the “You up?” booty call.

I’m not about being a booty call…

But when people know that walking away means walking away forever? Everything changes. They engage differently. They value what you’re offering differently. They show up differently.

Scarcity creates value. And permanence creates commitment.

The beautiful part? This rule filters out the wrong people automatically. The tire kickers, the bargain hunters, the people who were never going to be good customers anyway…

…they self select out.

They hear “no second chances” and run for the hills.

Let them run.

The people who stay? The people who think “holy shit, this person has standards”? Those are your people. Those are the customers who pay attention, follow directions, and don’t waste your time with endless questions they could have answered by reading what you already sent them.

I mean it can be part of your philosophy or rules of business.

I’m more of a creating a culture kind of person. A tribe. A place where membership actually means something because not everyone gets to be here.

Your email list becomes exclusive. Your products become sought after. Your attention becomes valuable.

And yes, you’ll lose people. Some will leave just to test if you really mean it. When you don’t chase them, when you don’t beg them to come back, when you let them discover what it feels like to be on the outside looking in. Some will realise what they gave up.

Too bad. They made their choice.

What most people don’t understand is the customers you lose by having standards weren’t really customers anyway.

They were tourists. And tourists don’t build businesses. Committed tribe members do.

Set your rules. Enforce them consistently. Let people know that being part of your world is a privilege, not a right.

A dictatorship if you must…

And watch what happens when you stop chasing people who don’t want to be caught.

Your tribe will tighten. Your engagement will skyrocket. Your revenue will come from people who actually give a damn.

Nothing makes people want something more than knowing they might not be able to have it.

Be exclusive. Be unavailable. Be the place people fight to get into and not the place they take for granted.

This is probably one of the most important things I learnt from my boy Ben Settle

I just do what smarter people tell me to do and hey, so far it’s been working pretty damn well…

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Whatever happens around you.

Don’t take it personally.

Nothing other people do is because of you.

Deeply…

It’ because of themselves.

Situations might feel so personal. It honestly has nothing to do with you.

What they say, what they do, and the opinions they give are only projections of their own internal thoughts.

We all have our own reality that unfolds daily. When we decide to take something personally, we make the assumption that they know what is in our reality, and we try to impose our reality onto theirs.

When we don’t take things personally, it gives us more power over our thoughts, feelings and actions.

When we don’t take things personally, we recognise the individuality of others and we can accept that other people are different from us.

We have little control over how others view us and relate to us and frankly, that shouldn’t concern you one bit.

We have more control over how we view ourselves and the situation, and how we respond to it.

The real truth is that we tend to make assumptions and judgements about other people without knowing the fully story. Their full story. And more often than not, what we assume about a person is wrong.

Life is tough. The world is unforgiving and finding a place for us to fit into as we grow, heal and learn gets difficult. We lost our friends and family. We lose the people close to us who were our home and we’re often cast aside to figure it out on our own.

And when we do pick ourselves up. Brush ourselves off and get back into the world. We look around and realise everything has become transactional.

As humans. We are not designed for the world built on transactions.

We are built for love and connection, which leads to growth.

I won’t pretend to know the answers, but I sure as hell know what I want.

Love and growth and becoming a safe space is the end goal.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. I was having a good chat to a friend of mine who lives in Wales and she was like “Why are all South African’s so stoic by nature?” and I just said that we’ve been part of a world that only shared unkindness and segregation and we decided we want no part of it. We might be tough but we are built on love, even if that love was cultivated on our own.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

My good pal Seneca once penned this…

(I’ve studied a lot of his work)

“Most human beings, Paulinas,* complain about the meanness of nature, because we are born for a brief span of life, and then because this spell of time that has been given to us rushes by so swiftly and rapidly that with very few exceptions life ceases for the rest of us just when we are getting ready for it…” *A friend of Seneca’s

Granted, Seneca wrote this letter to his buddy Paulinus about 2,000 years ago, and it might as well have been written yesterday about your sorry ass sitting there with all that creative fire burning in your chest, doing absolutely nothing about it…

Feels like a twist of the knife, right? Always getting ready. Always preparing. Waiting for the perfect moment. The perfect setup. A confidence level high enough, where you finally put your art out into the world.

Although right now. The timer is running out and we’re on our way to our final dirt nap.

You’ve got stories burning holes in your brain. Paintings that want to exist. Songs scratching at you. Ideas that make your heart beat while your hands sweat with excitement.

And what are you doing? You’re “getting ready”

You’re waiting until you’re better. Until you have more time. Until you have the right equipment. Until the stars align and your anxiety takes a vacation and your imposter syndrome decides to fuck off for a while.

Now I like Seneca. And he understood something that you don’t…

Life doesn’t give you a practice round. There’s no dress rehearsal. There’s no moment when you suddenly feel “ready enough” to put your work into the world.

You think Van Gogh felt ready when he painted Starry Night?

You think he thought, “Yes, now I’m finally good enough to create something beautiful”?

Hell no. He was broke, mentally unstable, and convinced he was a failure. But he painted anyway.

The alternative was dying with all that beauty trapped inside him, which was worse than any criticism or rejection.

That burning urge you feel? That desperate desire to create and share? Some call it artistic ambition, but we all know that it’s your soul trying to complete its assignment before the timer runs out.

Days spent “getting ready”, are days the day where your art doesn’t get to exist in the world. We don’t need permission, cause those are lost days people don’t get to experience what you have to offer.

You want to know what’s really mean about nature? It’s not that life is short. It’s that life is short and most people waste it preparing to live instead of actually living.

Art doesn’t have to be perfect. Hell, it doesn’t even need to change the world in its current state. It doesn’t have to make you famous or rich or validated by strangers on the internet.

It just has to exist.

The universe plays this really weird joke on us…

While you’re sitting there worried about whether your work is good enough, time is making the decision for you. While you’re waiting to feel ready, you’re getting closer to not having any time left to be ready for anything.

Start today. Not when you feel inspired. Not when you have more skills. Not when you’re less afraid.

Today.

Create something. Share something. Put one piece of your inner world into the outer world and see what happens.

The only thing worse than creating something imperfect is dying with it still trapped inside you.

Seneca knew this. He knew that most people spend their whole lives getting ready to live and then run out of time before they ever actually start.

Don’t be most people.

Your art is waiting. Your audience is waiting. Your future self is waiting.

And time? Time doesn’t give a shit about your preparation schedule.

Get to work. We’re a long time dead.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. I know this email might’ve felt like a bit of bullying but it’s the good kind. Get a bit of Seneca’s stoic messaging into your world…

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Your brain is a lying liar that lies…

So I’m not gonna pretend that I know everything but there are some common things floating about the interwebs right now and there’s a little heaviness about which is not good.

Life might feel like some hidden force is taking a steaming hot dump on your reality.

Hopefully you’re not sinking a bottle whiskey every night. Or maybe you’re stuck, scrolling social media until 3 am like it’s your job. Maybe you’re eating your feelings one take out meal at a time.

And then your brain keeps telling you this…

“This is just who I am. This is my life. I’m broken”

Your brain is a lying bastard.

Your habits aren’t carved in stone. They’re just stories you keep telling yourself. And stories can be rewritten.

But you can’t just think positive thoughts and expect magic. That Instagram influencer bullshit doesn’t work. You need to get dirty. You need to reprogram the narrative at a deeper level.

Let’s say you want to quit drinking as an example.

Your brain has spent years building this beautiful little fairy tale…

“Alcohol helps me relax. Alcohol makes me funnier. Alcohol makes everything better.”

Every time you pop the top and pour one into the glass. You’re reinforcing it.

So you flip the script.

“Alcohol is poison”

Not metaphorically. Literally. It’s a neurotoxin that slowly destroys your liver, fucks with your sleep, and turns your brain into mush.

When you look at that bottle now. There’s no relaxation. Only pretty little poison dressed up in a pretty little bottle.

You repeat this. Daily. Hourly if you have to.

Reframing isn’t a one and done deal. It’s a different kind of warfare. You’re literally fighting years of conditioning with new information. And your brain will resist like a stubborn toddler who doesn’t want to eat vegetables.

This is where it gets interesting.

You can use your awareness of the bad shit as fuel for the good shit.

Every time you feel that craving, that’s data. That’s your brain trying to run the old program. Instead of fighting the craving, you acknowledge it…

“There’s my brain trying to poison me again”

Then you reframe…

“I choose things that make me stronger”

This works for everything. Social media addiction? “This app is designed to steal my time and sell my attention to the highest bidder”

Junk food? “This processed garbage makes me feel like shit and look worse”

Toxic relationships? “This person drains my energy and adds nothing to my life”

It’s changing the fundamental story your brain tells you about these things.

And yes, it feels fake at first. Your brain will throw tantrums. It will try to convince you that the old ways were better. That you’re depriving yourself. That you’re being dramatic.

Let it whine.

Keep reframing. Keep repeating the new story. Keep feeding your brain better information.

Over time. The new narrative becomes automatic. You’ll look at that bottle of poison and feel nothing. You’ll see that toxic person’s name on your phone and feel relief that you don’t have to deal with their drama anymore.

Your brain will literally rewire itself around the new story.

But you have to be consistent. You have to be relentless. You have to treat this like the mental warfare it actually is.

Addiction is your brain running the wrong program. And reframing is how you debug it.

Start today. Pick one thing that’s fucking up your life. Write down the story your brain tells you about it. Then write down the truth. The real, ugly, uncomfortable truth.

And then repeat that truth until it becomes automatic.

Your brain is programmable. You just need to learn how to write better code and that’s something our robot overlord AI turd nuggets can’t do.

This might’ve been a little heavier than my regularly writer-ly shenanigans, but I’m sure someone out there might’ve needed this at this very moment.

Stephen Walker.

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

P.S. Feel free to come hit me up on Facebook Messenger and tell me I’m being full of shit.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

The most magnetic thing on earth is liking your own energy.

Or what the kids say nowadays; “Vibe”

I’ll stick to energy though because it’s a lot deeper than that.

Swami Vivekananda had similar notions in his teachings.

That were along the lines of “If you don’t befriend your own inner state, it’s hard for others to feel at ease with you”

“All power is within you”

“Strength is life”

“You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself”

He had a lot of themes that are interchangeable with what all of these new age western teachers are crossing into. I believe the sentiment is there…

Although personally I’m a mixture of all things philosophical and spiritual. I’ve dove into the religious areas of things and well…

The level of indoctrination wasn’t really my thing.

So what does liking your own energy mean?

It’s physiological:

Your baseline arousal. Your sleep. Your breath. Your posture. Your nervous system tone.

It’s emotional:

Your current mood and the way you relate to it. Resisting vs allowing it.

Interpersonal presence:

The nonverbal signals you broadcast. Eye contact. Pace. Voice. Your overall congruence.

Spiritual/Values:

Feeling aligned with what you hold sacred. Your purpose. Your integrity. Your service you’re giving out to the world.

Those key points over there can send you on a rabbit hole of self discovery and if you decide to go down that route. You’d be surprised at the person you could become if you start being a little more present.

That’s the thing with this whole always on internet life we live.

We forget about the inner workings of who we are and what we stand for.

This is part of what makes us creative and loving humans.

We pick up on each other’s states. If we are calm we co-regulate others around us. The opposite happens if we are in self contempt. That just spreads tension.

Congruence reads as trust. When your words, body and intent match up. People relax. If you do the opposite. People pick up on it.

Boundaries and generosity come into the mix too. Liking your own energy often comes across as narcissism (Which is such fun word to see people throw around on social media without knowing much about it…)

If you like your energy. It frees attention from your self monitoring so you can be more present, curious, kind and playful.

How many times have you either seen a group of people or couples sat around a restaurant table staring into the sadness rectangle in their hands?

A lot right?

If you truly liked your own energy or your vibe. You wouldn’t be in that position. You’d be wanting to get to know others and explore.

We want to be connected with ourselves and the others that are around us.

That’s what the true meaning of this all is.

As John Keating aka Robin Williams said in Dead Poets Society:

“We are food for worms, lads”

We are all going to die.

So while we’re here on this earth. We might as well get to liking our own energy. Fall in love with ourselves and if we can. Help others to see the beauty in it all.

It’s the most magnetic thing we can do.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. I know this was a little heavier than the usual silly goose type emails. Go make a cup of tea. You deserved it.

P.P.S. If you haven’t seen Dead Poets Society. Shame on you.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

My buddy called me last night. Said something that stuck.

“Just read your stuff out loud. Record it. Put it on YouTube.”

I laughed. Told him I sound like a dying walrus having an existential crisis. He said that’s the point.

This same buddy has nothing to do with the online space like I do. Marketing, copy and all of that crap. He doesn’t fully know what I do.

However to him. YouTube is his crack cocaine. He loves long form video essays on the wildest of topics.

He for some reason also loves reading my emails.

And then you look around and you notice that YouTube is drowning in AI garbage right now.

Faceless channels. Robot voices reading Wikipedia entries. Content farms pumping out soulless trash every six minutes.

It’s like watching the internet eat itself and shit out something worse.

Meanwhile, I’m sitting here with a twenty dollar mic I bought off of Amazon.

It’s the kind that clips to your shirt and makes you look like a budget news reporter from 1987…

Although that’s exactly what people want. (apparently)

Not perfection. Not some slick production with jump cuts and dubstep intros. Just a human being. Reading their own words. Stuttering occasionally. Clearing their throat. Being real.

The AI bros think they’ve won. They’ve got their tools churning out “content” faster than anyone can consume it. They’re turning creativity into a factory line. Art into algorithms. Stories into statistics.

And they’re wrong.

I know when it’s 3AM and I can’t sleep. The last thing I want is a robot to be reading me some bullshit bed time story. I want to hear another human being that is flawed, tired, maybe a little drunk that tells me something true.

Authenticity always wins. It might take time. It might look messy. But humans need humans. We crave that connection. You ever get punched in the gut? Words hit you like that you can’t help but think, “Shit, me too.”

Tech doesn’t give you that. It can’t. All these tools destroying what’s left of genuine human expression? They’re building their own grave.

So yeah. I’ve got a cheap mic and some words.

That’s enough.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. If you see random videos of a bearded looking hobo-dude pop up on youtube with a parrot on his shoulder. That’s probably me…

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

We are not machines.

We have souls.

We need little bits of music and connections and sunsets with laughter. Those little pockets of joy…

…we need to prioritise that.

Your life depends on it.

Life is not meant to be a cycle of stress and survival or flight or fight.

Pause.

Look up.

Inhale.

Sunsets should remind you to live.

Life isn’t a to do list or a sequence of check boxes.

It’s a precious gift.

Take slower steps and hug longer.

Laugh louder and love deeper.

As the clock ticks away…

Your presence needs to be timeless.

We’ve been conditioned to believe that constant productivity equals worth.

We humans weren’t designed for endless output. We need moments that leave us in wonder and awe and connection and rest…

Not as a reward for hard work but as essential ingredients that make for a meaningful life.

Stephen Walker.

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Okay not so great Scott Adams (Author of Dilbert) went a little off the deep end a little while ago.

I guess politics and other things just make people lose their minds and once they’re far gone, there’s no turning back.

Unless turning back is dragging them behind an old 7 Eleven and delivering 2x .45 ACP rounds to the skull…

Although as much as someone is an asshole. You can separate that from their art/knowledge.

So here’s 5 things he wrote/talked about and they do make sense. They will sound basic but often, it’s the basic that matters cause we like to chase fancy…

Goals suck. Use systems.

Goals are specific outcomes that often rely on luck and timing.

Where systems are repeatable processes that keep you improving and moving forward every day. Focus on daily habits, not distant trophies.

Strategically selfish.

Adams argues that taking care of your own health, energy and mental sate first, makes you more useful to others in the long run. We don’t need ego at there door. You want to go for sustainability.

Passion is overrated.

Passion often follows success. Not the other way around. Most successful people weren’t passionate about their field until they got good at it. Skill, not raw enthusiasm tends to win.

Maximise your energy. Not your schedule.

Managing time > managing your energy. When are you most productive? Take that time and that’s where you need to start your day. Make sure you sleep properly. Make sure your nutrition isn’t jumping off of the cliff. Don’t get me wrong. Eating 3 pop tarts and drinking a litre of coffee does sound good but it’s gonna ruin you in the long run. Don’t forget to exercise.

Failure is a necessary investment.

Every single failure carries knowledge and every attempt is a point of data.

He treats failure as normal, expected and beneficial. Provided you can extract a lesson and apply it forward…

IF YOU WANT TO READ HIS BOOK YOU CAN CLICK THIS OBNOXIOUSLY LONG LINK TO CHECK IT OUT

All of that said. Yeah he’s a bit of a dick and has said a lot of dumb shit but there’s a lot of wisdom in what he talks about.

It’s August now and I take it as my birthday month. So I’m still deciding if I’m going to hit you with one of those “X lessons I’ve learnt because I’m so old lol” posts/emails. I dunno.

I did manage to pickup some more books yesterday which I’m busy re-reading. So I’ll drop some info-nuggets here and there when I can.

Have a wicked weekend.

Go for a walk. Drink some water. Tell someone they’ve got a nice butt.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Let’s talk mindset. Not the Instagram kind. Not the “manifest your matcha latte” kind.

The real, ugly, under the fingernails kind. The kind your parents accidentally bent out of shape, out of love, sure, but still…

(Sorry, Mom. Sorry, Dad. It’s not your fault. Or maybe it is, but you probably meant well)

I’ll also preface that you don’t have to make this your whole personality.

If you try to keep at this practice 24/7 and cut EVERYTHING out. You will explode mentally.

So here’s a few lies you might’ve been told when you were a kiddo…

Hard work guarantees success.

If you’re struggling, try harder. (Or just be quieter about it)

You are what you repeatedly do. (But only if what you do is what everyone else wants you to do.)

Self deprecation is charming, and “tough love” is the best love. (Side quest: Your subconscious is an idiot. It doesn’t get sarcasm. It just eats what you feed it, no questions asked)

And sure, if you’ve got kids, you know the cycle.

You want them to be better, softer, safer.

You want to wrap them in bubble wrap and send them into the world with a pre printed apology note.

The most important thing though. The one nobody ever tells you…

…is how you TALK to yourself.

Remember…

Your brain is a sponge.

It soaks up everything, even the garbage. Especially the garbage, cause there’s more garbage than good in the verbal world.

If you call yourself a dumbass enough times, guess what? That voice sets up camp. Puts its boots on your coffee table. Wipes Cheeto dust on your soul.

The difference between a joke and a curse is repetition.

Your subconscious doesn’t know you’re kidding. It just gets the memo: You suck.

Daily affirmations? They sound like cringe, but they work. Because your brain doesn’t know the difference between fact and fiction until you make it learn.

The present tense is everything.

“I’m making $10,000 a month.” Not, “I will, maybe, if I’m good, if the algorithm is kind.” NOW. Speak like it’s happening. Because your mind listens. And then it starts looking for ways to make it true.

Reconditioning sucks.

It’s like trying to teach a stubborn, half feral raccoon how to use the toilet. Messy. Stubborn. Sometimes it bites.

But every time you catch yourself saying something self destructive, swap it out for the truth. Or at least, the truth you want to become true.

Soft language isn’t weak.

I don’t want you to turn into a marshmallow. But also there is no need to be an asshole to yourself. You wouldn’t call your kid a loser for dropping their ice cream. So why do you do it to you?

So here’s your challenge, because I’m not your guru and I don’t have a course to sell you…

Talk to yourself like you actually give a damn about your own future.

Use language that builds, not digs.

Speak in now. Not “someday.” Not “when I finally stop screwing up.”

Catch yourself in the act. Swap out the “I’m such an idiot” for “I’m figuring this out.”

The only thing standing between you and the life you want is the story you keep whispering to yourself when nobody’s listening.

Switch up the story. Make it present. Make it true.

You’ll be shocked at how fast the world changes when you stop feeding your subconscious the same old bullshit.

Mindset isn’t everything.

It’s the only thing you need to get right.

Now go say something nice about yourself. Out loud. (Your brain’s listening)

Stephen Walker.

P.S. If you catch yourself slipping. Don’t worry about it. It’s okay. We’re all reformed raccoons here. Just don’t set up camp in the dumpster.

P.P.S. Shad Helmstetter has a great book you can check out on self talk.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

There comes a time when we get so wrapped up in the real world.

We get so glued to our day to day routines, we forget about that child like spontaneity we used to have.

You ever stay in one place for so long that you want to combust into flames, because you feel like the art you’re meant to get out into the world is just sitting there slowly burning out?

This is your reminder that you need to mix it up.

Do something you’ve not done for a while. Book a train journey to anywhere and nowhere at the same time.

Reconnect with a friend. Get away from your industry for a week and take up Mongolian throat singing. You know?

What I’m trying to say is that we need to shift away from this chronic online life we live.

(Yes I know the irony is not lost on me by writing that, however I am sitting in Scotland right now, sipping on a nice cup of tea while recharging my emotional and spiritual batteries…)

And in a few minutes I’m taking a trip down to the beach. (I promise I won’t get swept away by some freak undercurrent or whatever…)

If you’ve got a bit of time. Hit reply and tell me about things and stuff going on in your world. Tell me about your last spontaneous thing you’ve done…

Catch ya later.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

So I’m on my way to Scotland for the next few days. So these emails might be early or late. All depends on the signal…

…cause out around this neck of the woods (While travelling on the train) I’d be lucky if I get anything that remotely resembles dial up speeds from the 90s.

Anyways.

Now I’ve noticed a lot of us creative types tend to agonise and go for perfect.

The perfect time to create.

The perfect time to post.

The perfect time to do anything that’ll move the needle forward.

We want the perfect audience, the perfect clients all wrapped up in our perfect little products that we can inject into their perfect little worlds…

But what we keep forgetting that nothing is perfect and that’s why they come to us. That’s why they’re attracted to us in the first place.

Cause we’re able to share what they wish they could share or do the work that we do.

They live through us and hopefully are inspired by us to follow their dreams too.

Yet here we are. Agonising. Waiting for everything to be perfect.

I know for years I got stuck on this whole perfection trap.

And I’ll tell you what…

It’s not easy to get over it. You must push. You’ll need to ignore the perfect lives of everyone else whose always talking about it online.

(Secretly we all know that things are not perfect)

But we’ve been stuck in a world of delusion that’s been fed to us by the lies of the perfect world shown to us on the internet.

I remember following Mel Robbins when she launched her 5 second rule.

The TL;DR version of it is: If you need to do something. No matter what it is. Whether you’re sitting down to write, draw, paint or gonna rush into a wedding venue to call it off and profess your undying love the bridge/groom or both…

You have exactly 5 seconds to make the decision to do it. To start. To crack on…

You count down mentally from 5 to 1 and go.

Anything past that and the brain automatically stops you from taking action.

I’ve adopted this practice for years now and even though I sometimes slip up and get kicked in the face by the brain. 9 out of 10 times it works.

Grab her book. Give it a read and stop waiting for perfect.

Done is easy and once it’s out into the world. We can always (If we have to. Go back and make it perfect)

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

You’ll find in this little passage over here:

“It was a pleasant café, warm and clean and friendly, and I hung up my old waterproof on the coat rack to dry and put my worn and weathered felt hat on the rack above the bench and ordered a café au lait. The waiter brought it and I took out a notebook from the pocket of the coat and a pencil and started to write. I was writing about up in Michigan and since it was a wild, cold, blowing day it was that sort of day in the story.” – Ernest Hemingway.

I’d say for decades everyone has tried to emulate Hemingway. Myself included. You see people in the marketing/copywriting world to this day, run their copy through the Hemingway editor.

(Which has sadly been bastardised even more cause they decided Hemingway needed to be A.I. integrated)

But as much as my days of trying to be the next Hemingway are behind me.

The last sentence hits one of the most important things…

“I was writing about up in Michigan and since it was a wild, cold, blowing day it was that sort of day in the story.”

Being present. Taking what’s happening to you or around you and incorporating it into the writing you’re doing there and then.

Your social media posts. Stories or even your ad copy.

This works especially well if you’re trying to talk about what prospects are going through in your ads. It takes a little digging and it’s not always going to be easy to hit them where they currently are.

If you’re writing songs or making visual art. Learn to add your day to day story snippets into your work.

If you want to get people addicted to your work, this is the easiest way to do it.

You don’t have to be incredibly detailed about it.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. Here’s a couple of examples just to give you an idea of what I mean…

Art Collection Release

” ‘Morning Rituals’ / Oil on Canvas, 36×48

Created during this winter’s first snowfall, while my hands were wrapped around a mug of chai tea. The steam inspired those ethereal wisps you see dancing across the top third of the canvas. You’ll notice the colour palette is unusually warm for a winter piece. That’s because I painted this in my sunroom, watching the cold world outside while basking in a patch of surprising January sunshine. Those who’ve followed my work know I rarely use such bold oranges, but sometimes comfort comes in unexpected places. Like many of you who’ve messaged me about your own morning rituals, this piece captures that sacred moment when the world is still quiet, and possibility hangs in the air like morning mist. Limited to 50 prints, each signed while listening to the same playlist that inspired the original work.”

(I remember having a chat with Colin Theriot. And as a fellow art nerd he always said. It’s not about the actual art. But being able to bullshit about your art is what got those art critics and professors interested in your work)

Pain Relief Product Ad Copy Example:

“It’s 6 AM. I’m writing this from my kitchen counter. Hunched over like I’ve been most mornings lately. My back is screaming. The same way yours probably is right now. The coffee maker is gurgling, but I can barely focus on the sound because of this familiar, unwelcome companion. You know the one. That constant, nagging pain that makes even reaching for your morning cup feel like a marathon. But here’s the difference between my morning and yours… Three weeks ago, I discovered [Product]. Now, I’m still at my kitchen counter at 6 AM, but I’m standing straight. The coffee maker isn’t just background noise to my pain. Now it’s just making coffee. Imagine that. Just a normal morning, being normal. Remember those?”

(These types of micro stories work well in direct response email format because you can just casually link them to the sales page of the product. You’re not really selling them anything you’re telling them a story and they’re going to investigate on their own. The product sales page will be doing all of the heavy lifting for you)

Learn to tell stories. Micro stories that include little bits of your day, or whatever it is that’s going on in your clients world into the work.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I’m prepping to vanish for a few days over the weekend, so I’m gonna leave you with another little piece you might find useful…

If you haven’t gotten where you need to be. Or you’re always seeing people overtake you.

Don’t let that stop you from outworking them. Our success happens when it happens.

Sometimes it’s faster than others. Sometimes it’s not.

But you have to be willing to work.

I mean put your nose down and do the work.

It’s all mental masturbation if you keep comparing yourself to others.

The thing you CAN control…

It’s your own work ethic. You show up. You do the work. Repeat until your fingers start to bleed.

Nobody. And I mean absolutely nobody, can stop you from outworking them. They can’t break into your house and tie you to your bed. They can’t force feed you Netflix. They can’t superglue your laptop shut.

The only person who can stop you from putting in the hours is the jackass in the mirror.

So focus on what you can control.

Your output.

Your consistency.

Your willingness to keep going when it sucks.

Everything else is just noise designed to keep you stuck in the comparison trap.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

We’re all dopamine junkies…

We have those days where we’re slumped over our desks like a sack of wet regrets, scrolling through the endless shitstream of notifications, memes, and rage bait that’s turning our brain meat into a dumpster fire.

I get it. The endless scroll fest, the notification orgies, the perpetual ping pong match between apps that are forever digging their fingers into our cerebral cortex.

So it’s time to yank the emergency brake.

We need a little bit of a factory reset and this is one of the many ways I’ve found it works:

Kill the notifications. All of them. Yes, even that “important” Discord server about optimising your morning routine.

Throw your phone in a drawer for 24 hours (or at least pretend it’s 1999)

Read an actual book. You know, those rectangular things made of dead trees. Nothing digital. No kindle or kobo or whatever.

Go outside and touch grass (bonus points if you talk to an actual human)

The first 6 hours will feel like trying to teach calculus to a goldfish.

Your brain will scream. It’ll beg. It’ll promise to be good.

Don’t listen.

By hour 12, something magical happens…

Your thoughts start flowing like actual thoughts instead of feeling like your drowning in quick sand.

Try it. What’s the worst that could happen?

(Besides missing another viral TikTok about a cat playing piano while making sourdough bread)

I actually have been enjoying learning to make sourdough bread though…

Thibuat Meurisse has a wicked sick book on helping you get rid of all of those distractions too

And if you want a guide to beat your phone into submission and make it the slave and you the master. Hit reply and I’ll send it your way.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. If you’re reading this while simultaneously watching YouTube and checking Twitter, you’re exactly who needs this message.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

“Of all the things I’ve lost I miss my mind the most” – Ozzy Osbourne

R.I.P to an absolute legend of the music industry.

It also got me thinking about how we all got to know about his antics way back before the internet really took off.

He was imho the poster child for virality back then. There’s a lot we could learn from the Prince of Darkness himself.

I’ll probably break down a few things in a future email.

That being said.

I’m heading to Scotland over the weekend. Which means I’m going to have a whole bunch of hours on the train to write and something that crops up a lot of the time is how did I get started in this whole game.

So instead of making some course. The next best thing is just a series of emails that’ll be talking about mindset, ideation, addiction (the good kind), what to sell or skills to develop and how I treat people who happen to come into my world.

Nothing I’ll be sharing is unique or new. It’s just things I’ve learnt from trial and error and from people much smarter than me.

That’s the plan in a nutshell though.

Write some emails and just get ’em out into this here list.

Whether you use it or not. It’ll be done and MAYBE…

I’ll flesh them out and put them into a paid for video sequence or whatever.

I’m not about that A.I. life.

And I definitely won’t be forcing any of that garbage down your throat. We’re about thinking and becoming good at our chosen craft.

If you want 1 prompt pack to rule them all. A quick google search will give you what you so desire.

If you want to shock the world like our main man Ozzy did. This is the place to be.

Now excuse me while I go re-listen to some of his classics.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

A few people have replied to my emails and asked why I don’t post my long form content and ideas on social media.

There’s a few reasons.

I use social media to find people who have a sense of humour and don’t take life too seriously.

They don’t have business or entrepreneurship as their whole personality.

They’re just good people trying to do good work. While making their mark and hanging their shingle for all to see.

So the stuff I post on social media is more for my own entertainment. I poke fun at the bullshit and rally people around a single message that I believe in.

I also have no interest in becoming a guru figure or an influencer. (Ugh I nearly got sick in my mouth writing that) yet I know that this will inevitably happen the more you post over time.

So I’m in two places about it.

Although I have been working on my outrageous community that should be finished up soon. Like I said in previous emails I’m going old school baby. Good old fashioned forums.

I want it to be for all the creative types. Writers, visual artists, musicians etc. Hell… If you sell pictures of your feet or your own brand of bathwater. You’re welcome to join too.

This next bit is stolen by my main man Dan Meredith

Life is about fun AND profits. So that’s where I want everything to be.

All of these social media platforms are incredibly loud right now. On top of that. The trends that are going on. Especially with AI… Are just plain old exhausting to witness.

I’m trying to keep things as human and fun as possible and if the by product is making some extra $. That to me is a win.

Lastly. If you’re still here reading. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to be apart of my world.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I’ve had a lot of new people arrive here recently.

And as much as I need to re-write my automatic email that goes out when you first join and fix the thank you page…

I thought it’d be a good thing to just give you the lay of the land.

I’m your friendly neighbourhood shitposter, professional writer, ad man and email connoisseur.

I’ve sold everything from vacuum cleaners door to door, landscaping, mobile tech and I.T. services.

I’ve translated apps and worked in big tech and lastly for the last few years I’ve acted as a ghostwriter for some pretty awesome folks and guru figureheads.

I’ve hung up my shingle on the whole ghostwriting thing and after having a consult call with my main man Ben Settle…

I’m becoming my own client and my own guru.

So if you follow along. I’ll be sharing my love for all things nerdy. All things writing/prose/poetry and every bit of copywriting and psychological shenanigan I’ve been subject too.

I’m also reviving the very project that got my ass booted off of my previous ESP and after having a chat to an IP lawyer. Things are all good on that end.

There will be shenanigans, swearing and silliness and a bunch of serious stuff too and while AI is being rammed right down everyone’s throat. I’m keeping everything 100% organic home typed human. Typos and all…

And as all marketing stuff goes there’s this thing called: WIIFM…

What’s In It For Me?

Well. This is the cool kids club, where we all hang and do cool stuff and If I learn something new. You’ll learn something new.

Enough about me though.

Hit that reply button and tell me a little bit about yo’ self…

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

“Your best men die in alleys under a sheet of paper while your worst men get statues in parks for pigeons to shit upon for centuries.” – Charles Bukowski

You know me. I’m a big ol’ poetry and prose nerd.

This quote from Betting on the muse (Page 70) hits pretty hard. Especially if you look at the shit show of the world right now with all the wars and terrible politicians hovering about…

Now chances are I’m going to upset someone because this isn’t written in a gender neutral tone and 2025 is just fucking wild about shit like that. I still can’t wrap my head around people who actively go out of their way to be offended.

(That’s at topic for another email)

So when you look at this quote. I’m just going to try and say what he must’ve meant…

The good ones? The real ones? (Men)

They die unknown, unpublished, unloved, maybe even unwashed. Buried under the weight of their own words

(paper as coffin, paper as shroud, paper as last will and testament written in cheap ink and cheaper blood)

The bad ones? (Politicians and shot callers, also them men BUT they are arseholes)

They get statues. Bronze. Marble. Pigeon loafed and sun bleached. Celebrated for generations. Their mediocrity immortalised in bird crap and civic pride.

Now. Why does this matter for writers?

It’s all algorithms and A.I. lately.

It feels like any form of creativity is being chewed up like there’s some sort of buffet at the end of the world…

The world has always celebrated the wrong people.

Ever walk past a statue and wondered, “Who the hell is that guy?”

Writers? The real ones? We’re the dirty faced, ink stained, word drunk weirdos scratching our life work on napkins and crumpled paper at 2AM while the world sleeps and the robots (who are slowly taking over the world) dream electric sheep…

What I’ve noticed is, A.I. doesn’t give you honesty. A.I. gives you consensus. Smooth, frictionless, algorithm approved slop.

Honesty? Honesty is gravel in your oatmeal. Honesty is ugly. Unmarketable. Human. Which also seems to be lacking in the marketing and advertising world since these theft machines have been slapped into our faces.

Brutal honesty is the only weapon we have left.

The job of the writer has always been to tell the truths nobody else will tell and that’s all gotten lost in the last few years.

Not the politicians.

Not the business bros. Thought leaders anyone? lol.

And definitely not the machines. At the moment they get everything and in a few years. They’ll probably get your soul.

We the writers out there are the ones left holding the torch.

We’re the ones who have to keep people on the straight and narrow.

We have to be honest, because nobody else will be. Honesty is a mess and if you look at the world right now. The world doesn’t seem to like honesty.

You gotta bleed on the page. Then everyone can stay clean.

We see the rot. We name the rot.

We don’t get statues, but we get the last word.

We’re the last line of defence against the comfort food that is A.I. slop.

I mean if you want a statue. Cool cool. Go be a politician.

You want the truth?

Follow the trail of blood, ink, and half finished stories into the alleys. Where the best people die, but the best words live.

We’re the last of a dying breed. We’re the bastards with a match lighting up the dark. Hoping and praying we don’t drop it…

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

So the last few days I’ve been watching some classic late 90s / early 2000s films.

It’s like getting hit by a freight train of nostalgia when you think that we did things like wait to record a song on cassette tape.

Or like when you had to choose which VHS tape you were going to tape over to catch something new.

What about when you went into a coffee shop and grabbed a drink and sat with your friends and there was nothing but a good time, giggles and catch up after school was let out for whatever.

I miss the days where you’d go to a cinema while you’d happily pay for the over priced snacks too…

But when went to grab your seat. There weren’t endless amounts of glow-y sadness rectangles lit up.

Maybe a little chitter chatter before the film started but as soon as the lights darkened. You were absorbed and present. Your ass was glued to that seat. Waiting.

We never rushed. We just embraced that period of time where we were sucked into the story.

What happened to that?

We’re always on but never present. We’re reactive to everything but never romantic about anything else.

Stop to smell the roses? Na. I’d rather scroll Instagram for a few minutes.

Do you ever slow down and turn yourself off from this always on world. Or are you addicted to chasing the next notification of dopamine?

Genuinely interested in finding out because there more I observe. The more I realise we’re all slowly going insane because of everything around us.

I haven’t read this book since 2016 but I think I need to go and stick my face inside of its pages again.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Peter picked a pack of perfect professional prompts…

(Or so he thought)

A mega pack containing 5000+ prompts to take your online business to the next level!

To save all of your entrepreneurial woes with a simple copy and paste!

It’s going to 10x his income when he gets to using it all…

…and it only cost him $69

“It’s a deal. It’s a steal. It’s a sale of the fuckin’ ” century as Tom from Lock stock and two smoking barrels would say.

Except it wasn’t.

Peter is now stuck with a pdf document filled with silly little phrases that do absolutely nothing when he throws it into his theft machine of choice.

I mean it spits something out that sounds and looks smart.

But honestly he doesn’t really know. It’s cause he has forever looked for shortcuts instead of doing what the kids would suggest.

Which is “git gud!”

So he snuck online and bought something that will just sit on his desktop and die a slow and painful death.

He got a little hit of dopamine as they all do when they get something that MIGHT make the difference.

But we all know…

He’ll rinse and repeat that cycle because everyone online are forever hyping the A.I. trash.

He’ll be looking for the next best pack.

He’ll become what I like to call;

Promptstitute

Aimlessly wandering the online spaces where the loudest guru’s shout about A.I. and how it’s an absolute game changer for all things business.

But we all know it’s not.

Now Peter can do the sensible thing and either hire someone like me to do all of what he needs doing for a hefty fee…

Or he could do the next best thing and pick up On Writing by Ernest Hemingway

I’ve said this for years that writing is thinking and good thinking becomes good writing.

We might not hit it out of the park all of the time, but when we do. The words wake people up and move them to action.

Anyone can learn to think like a writer but the ones who put their ass into the chair and bleed.

Those are the writers you need to look out for. They are the ones who will change the world.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

“Every day, bite off a little more than you can chew… And chew it.” – Michael Singer

Howdy 🙂

​

It’s been a minute.

​

Forgive me if these emails are a little inconsistent at the moment.

​

I’m in the dead center of the busiest summer I can remember…

​

Running FounderLab
Prepping a full week of fresh material for our August retreat
Coaching a group of one on one clients

​

…Plus all the usual stuff on top of it.

​

A few months ago, I was speaking to a friend about how crazy this stretch of time will be.

​

She listened calmly, patiently. Smiled. Looked me in the eye.

​

And replied, very simply:

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“Get bigger.”

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In other words…

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When you have no choice but to grow, something amazing happens:

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You do.

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Forcing yourself to chew what you’ve bitten off isn’t always comfortable, but damn it works.

​

There’s a trick to making it work, though, that most people skip because it’s the hard, scary part:

​

You can’t give yourself a way out.

​

I have no choice but to produce ~2-3 hours of fresh FounderLab course material every week…

​

(which takes ~10-15 hours to create)

​

…Because every Saturday morning, 15 hungry entrepreneurs will show up for our next session ready to work.

​

Meanwhile, I have no choice but to produce a full week of new material for our August retreat…

​

…Because, ready or not, the crew arrives in 3 weeks — and they expect me to deliver.

​

And you can be damn sure I will.

​

Same goes for one on one coaching:

​

There are people — people I deeply care about — who depend on me to do whatever it takes to guide them through the maze of growing their business.

​

And being “busy” is no excuse not to deliver.

​

In other words, I’ve given myself no way out.

​

I bit off more than I could chew, and now I’m chewing it.

​

And each day, I realize:

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I can chew more than I thought.

​

But if I didn’t have strict deadlines, and people who depend on me meeting them?

​

I’d almost definitely take the easy route and spit some of it out.

​

Which is the whole trick:

​

There can be no easy route.

​

No way around the mountain but to climb it.

​

So that’s what I’m doing this summer.

​

If you want to do the same, here are a few ideas…

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Organize a launch before you’ve built the product — with a date, a sales page, and people expecting delivery — and you will find a way to build it in time. 

​

Sign up for a Vipassana retreat where you have no choice but to meditate 10 hours a day, and you will meditate 10 hours a day.

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Sign a lease in a new city before you’ve found a job there — and you will find a way to make rent.

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Take on a client project beyond your current capabilities, and you will find a way to develop those capabilities. 

​

If this sounds risky, that’s because it is.

​

But that’s also the point.

​

Take the leap, and you’ll have no choice but to grow wings on the way down.

​

Apologies in advance. And, you’re welcome.

​

Godspeed.

​

T

​

P.S. Next week, we’re remixing one of our most popular series’ from last summer.

​

Stay tuned 🙂

​

In the meantime, here are…
​

​

3 things to make your weekend better

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​That Will Never Work​

Founder of Netflix tells his story. A little less dramatic than Shoe Dog (also highly recommended), but entertaining and very useful. I’m enjoying it.

​

​Her​

The first time I saw this trailer I thought: “That looks stupid.” But I’m doing a deep dive on AI right now, so I watched it — and turns out, I’m the stupid one. Completely understand why it won an Oscar and was nominated for four more. So, so good.

​

​The AI scientist shaping the world​

Speaking of AI… This short mini-doc on OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever was excellent. (don’t watch if you’re easily disturbed by AI-talk).

“Being lost in thought while you’re awake is like dreaming without knowing that you’re dreaming.” – Sam Harris

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​

​

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​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 5-420 Erb St. W, Suite 433, Waterloo, ON N2L6K6

Date: 11 July 2025

(Wait. Scratch that, citizen. It’s 2047 in the Reckoning of the Rain Lords. Time slips like a soggy teabag in this heat choked hellscape…)

You. Yes, you, hunkered in your fog shrouded flat, peering out at the sky like it’s personally betrayed you.

You sip your tepid tea, that bitter brew of empire’s ghosts and oversteeped regret, and what do you do?

Complain. Always complaining.

Too hot?

“Blimey, it’s a bleedin’ furnace out there. Feels like the sun’s gone rogue, innit?”

Too cold?

“Cor, this chill’s gnawing at me bones like a rabid fox in a snowdrift.”

Back and forth, a pendulum of piss and vinegar, swinging eternal in the gray void of British endurance…

If you’re reading this and thinking, “Oi, this email’s a bit much,” congrats…

You’re complaining again. Feed the machine, why don’t you?

We’ve all died a million times since the great heatwave of 2025…

Now we’re trapped in a future where we’re the fuel.

You think those complaints vanish into the ether? Nah. They’re harvested, you see. Sucked up by the Whinge Engines. Those hulking beasts squatting in the ruins of Big Ben, grinding your gripes into energy for the elite.

Your “too hot” moans power their air conditioned bunkers; your “too cold” curses stoke the furnaces that keep their champagne chilled. You’re the battery, luv.

A human Duracell dipped in perpetual dissatisfaction…

And then you snap away from this wild dream and realise hey. We can’t have it all.

Enjoy the weather while it lasts.

It’s the most typical British thing to moan about.

Stephen “The Overseer of Optimal Outrage” Walker

P.S. Recovery tip: Try smiling at the sky. It might not eat you. Today.

P.P.S. You can tell the heat has fried my brain and so you’re getting the whimsy of my writer-ly brain which was inspired by our old boy George Orwell.

And if you’ve learnt something from these emails. It’s all about having fun while writing them.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

My buddy Brandon runs a TikTok account which posts some incredibly unhinged satirical/parody/rage-bait posts.

You might’ve seen his videos do the rounds on all of the platforms because it shows you how easy it is to trigger people in general.

And triggering people seems to be the number one way to go viral.

And as much as I have a flaming hatred for TikTok.

He manages to show you the levels of insanity that people have hit.

Whether it’s gotten worse since 2020. I dunno…

I’ll leave that up to you to decide.

But I’d highly recommend you go watch some of his stuff though.

It’s been one of those weeks. So if you need a good chuckle go give his stuff a watch. Just don’t get sucked into the comments cause it’s a damn warzone.

(I’ve never given a bad recommendation too, right?)

He loves to poke which is exactly what I like to do too.

Lastly as much as I love his humour.

The saying here in England is;

It’s like marmite. You either hate it or you love it.

I’m confident you’ll at least snicker or chortle at how outrageously serious he comes across in his videos. You might love it too…

Check him out here

Stephen Walker.

P.S. I’m still wrestling with this forum software. I swear I’ve nearly aged another 10 years lol.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I was going to write an email about how entrepreneurship is just cleverly disguised personal development.

But when I sat down to write it. My brain decided nope. I don’t want you writing smart stuff right now.

I want you to talk about the cat that nearly followed you home this morning.

So this is the email…

I needed coffee. I ran out of milk. I had to engage in Mortal Kombat with Martha to get the best AND freshest of milk for my coffee.

Unfortunately. Martha won.

However. I was the true winner of the morning, cause as I was walking home…

This absolute menace of a cat decide it wanted attention and well. I just had to oblige. Pets and scritches were on the menu and as much as I would’ve happily stolen the kitty away. I chose not to obviously.

Then I also realised that no matter how caught up we get in our lives. Our animal counterparts are there to remind us to just take a little time to stop and enjoy whatever it is that you’re doing.

We’re too damn busy rushing around and honestly, who wants rush themselves into an early grave?

I also get that we use our constant busy-ness-ness as a coping mechanism. I mean I do it too.. (You’re not alone)

But every now and then. Just stop. Take a deep breath. Have a good coffee and if the opportunity is there to pet kitties… Well. Do that too.

Now it’s time to soak myself in a bath filled with epsom salts and think about that smart email for tomorrow.

Stephen Walker.

P.S. LOOK AT THAT KITTY

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

You wake up one Monday. Which is today…

Because time is a flat circle and you’re trapped in it.

You feel like Sisyphus with a French press.

There’s a meme making the rounds again. Something about how if you just stop buying coffee out, you’ll retire by thirty five. Maybe thirty six if you’re a slow learner.

The math is suspect.

The hope is infectious.

You stare into the existential abyss of your kitchen sink, which is to say: a chipped mug, a lone spoon, the ghost of last night’s dreams.

No barista in sight. No artfully poured milk foam.

A sad, blank canvas.

You went out to buy a bag of coffee. Not the artisanal stuff, but the kind that comes in a brick, vacuum sealed like a sci fi body bag. You open it and inhale. Regret and hope.

It’s just you and the beans (store brand, because “single origin” is for people who don’t have spreadsheets tracking their emotional debt)

But you’re gonna get fancy now. You’re gonna mash an avocado. No, not with a rustic pestle, but with the back of a fork you found under the couch. Extra crunch comes from mystery crumbs.

Next up. Toast. Ignore the fact that it’s two days past the sell by. Mould is penicillin for the soul, right?

A yuppie snack from home.

But what’s next?

So you calculate your savings…

And at this current period in time you’re practically Warren Buffett.

The final step…

Cackle. Loudly. The neighbours will worry, but that’s fine. You’re retired now. You have time for that.

You imagine a future.

One where you’re lounging on a beach, sipping home brewed joe from a mason jar, the sun bouncing off your SPF 70 slathered nose. You’ve hacked the code. You’ve won.

Except.

The money you save? It’s less “nest egg” and more “slightly larger pile of lint in your bank app.”

The avocado toast? It’s a metaphor for the what the world would call “The American Dream”

Which is green, slippery, likely to turn brown before you’re done…

Your soul? Slowly transforming into a brunch ghost, haunting your own kitchen, muttering about “mouthfeel” and “umami” like a Food Network reject.

And just for fun. Let’s throw in a little horror, shall we? Last night, you dreamt your hand turned to toast. Crusty, brittle, oozing green. You tried to scream, but only crumbs came out. (Don’t worry, Freud would’ve had a field day)

But this wouldn’t be one of my regular ol’ emails without slapping in some advice of the writers variety now wouldn’t it?

Retirement is a mirage.

DIY coffee is a coping mechanism.

Avocado, like hope, browns quickly.

The only thing you’re retiring from is the illusion of control.

You eat your toast. You sip your coffee. You stare at the spreadsheet.

You keep writing. You keep making art. You try your best to make people smile, laugh, cry or at least get off the couch with a bit of motivation. Cause as the years pass. You realise that the things you enjoy will keep you sane.

Memes floating around telling you to quit eating avocado on toast and drinking expensive coffees out can get bent…

I had my fancy coffee.

I had my avocado on toast AND I also got all the words done for the day.

Why? Cause I needed it.

Stephen Walker

P.S. It’s taking a lot longer than I thought to get this old school forum and community built. There are so many little buttons and tweaks and permissions to hammer down. Just so that people can’t come in and ruin shit from the get go.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Sometimes we need to sit down and have a proper moan.

Life is frustrating a lot of the times. Especially when things go wrong.

And as much as it’s good to think positively and be optimistic about things. We can’t ignore the negative and dark side of the emotions we feel. After all…

We’re governed by how we feel. Now usually the pendulum should swing in equal measures but always end up more on the positive side.

Lately though it’s getting stuck on the negative side a little more. I mean if you jump onto social media or turn on the T.V. or even pick up that old paper thing called a newspaper. It feels like every form of negativity gets shoved right into our eyeballs.

I mean we all know that negativity is a quick way to garner attention and that’s not the good kind.

So today I’m just going to slip in a little reminder that everything we do. Whether good or bad, positive or negative is a form of energy exchange.

Whether we want to land a new job. Pitch and win a new client. Sell our warez, make more money, Inspire someone or even become a leader to the ones who might want to do what you do. Energy has to be exchanged in equal measures.

And so like I said. Sometimes we need to moan and have a rant and set things on fire. Let that rage fuelled negative fuel us, but when the fire burns out and the ash settles. We need to start changing the type of energy we put out into the world.

The quickest and easiest way to do it (While sounding a little woo woo) is to write down what you’re grateful for and to write down your goals, wants and desires as if you already have them. Present tense baby.

It works like magic. When you start to feel the pull of negativity. Doing this can help flip you out of that mode.

But importantly, you need to balance it all. Feel the feelings even when they’re negative. Acknowledge them and then flip the switch. Exchange that energy and you’ll be good to rock and roll.

With that all said. I’m going into Mortal Kombat with the old school forum software I was talking about.

Gotta put some positive energy into that for the rest of the day.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

That’s the email…

Okay okay. Not quite…

So. You want to know about the Silly Goose Philosophy?

Keep reading.

Now before we get started you need to know something about Geese. They’re assholes.

Pure, unfiltered, honking chaos machines that’ll chase you across a parking lot for looking at them sideways.

But they’re also brilliant at what they do. They fly in perfect V formations across continents. They mate for life. They protect their own with the fury of a thousand suns.

That’s you, artist. That’s your path.

The Silly Goose Philosophy goes a little something like this:

You know what you love?

That weird ass thing that makes your brain light up like a Christmas tree soaked in gasoline? Make that. Make it with your whole chest. Don’t whisper your art into existence.

HONK it.

Scream it.

Let it rip across the creative landscape like a goose protecting its nest.

Authenticity is magnetic. People smell fake from miles away. But when you’re genuinely, unapologetically yourself? When you’re making the art that sets your soul on fire? That’s when your flock finds you.

Geese are also absolute menaces.

Geese don’t apologise for taking up space and neither should you.

Your art should be a little dangerous. A little uncomfortable. It should make people stop scrolling and go “what the fuck?”

It should lodge itself in their brain like a splinter they can’t stop touching.

It should also be beautiful. Not pretty. Beautiful. There’s a difference. Pretty is safe. Beautiful has teeth.

(Have you see goose teeth???)

You want a cult following? (Not the Kool Aid kind. The good kind) Then you need to understand something…

Communities form around shared obsessions. Around people brave enough to love something so hard it becomes contagious. But the thing with this is. Your job isn’t to please everyone. Your job is to be so passionate about your specific brand of weirdness that other weirdos can’t help but gather around you like moths to a flame.

It’s as serious as a heart attack (When it counts)

Here’s where the philosophy gets its teeth.

Silly doesn’t mean stupid. Fun doesn’t mean frivolous.

A goose will honk and waddle and be a general pain in the ass 99% of the time. But threaten its goslings? That bird becomes a feathered missile of pure protective rage.

Your art needs that same duality. Have fun. Be weird. Make people laugh. But when it’s time to say something real when the work demands depth and truth and raw fucking honesty. You better bring it. You better mean it with every fibre of your being.

The most beautiful thing about the Silly Goose Philosophy? The flock that forms around you might be passed off as just another audience, when it’s truly a community of fellow geese. People who get it. Who understand that life is too short for boring art and safe choices.

They’ll honk along with you. They’ll defend your work when the critics come calling. They’ll spread your weird gospel to other potential geese who just haven’t found their flock yet.

But you have to earn it. You earn it by showing up consistently.

Being vulnerable in your work.

Engaging authentically (no bot bullshit)

Supporting other artists in your flock.

Never, ever compromising your core weirdness for mainstream appeal.

The Silly Goose Philosophy is about understanding that you can be both a lovable chaos agent AND a serious artist. You can make people laugh and make them think. You can build a community around joy and depth, silliness and substance.

Most importantly? You can be yourself. Your full, unfiltered, honking, flapping, magnificent self and find your people along the way.

So whether you’re a visual artist, writer, make music, sell a product or a service or even a voyeur still trying to figure shit out. This will be for you.

But it’s going to be weird. Good weird.

I’m not going to get you to download yet another app like Circle or Skool or squish yourself into the many abandoned Facebook Groups. We’re going real old school.

We’re going back to 2000s era forums. Super not so sexy silliness.

But why you might ask?

People still want some sort of anonymity. Forums let you have that. You can create a wild username and participate in your own way. You can stalk and watch and be that voyeur if you want. Or you can join in and become a chaos agent too. On top of that. 100s of groups on FB have vanished the last few days.

They seem to be cracking down and forcing people to do what they want which is not cool.

I’ve also chosen to do it this way because those were the early days of true community. Where online discussions mattered and friends for life stuck around.

We’re so damn distracted by every app going. I can’t remember the last time I sat down at the computer and logged into a forum and got lost for hours having genuine chats or interactions on topics that interested me and the others there too.

There’s way too much noise out there and not enough signal and as we’re getting bombarded with A.I. bullshit and fakery. Being able to talk freely about what matters is important without some stupid algorithm limiting your reach.

Who knows though. Maybe I’m having some grandiose idea and people will look at me as if I’m crazy.

But between email and forums. Structured long form content will win any day of the week. I don’t care much for the copy paste prompt world we’re slowly being forced into.

Now if you excuse me. I have to slip into something a little more comfy and get cracking on this forum.

Stephen Walker

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

If you know anything about England.

You’ll know that we don’t have the luxury of walk in showers.

That being said. The bath that doubles as a shower is always good fun until it’s not.

Now most adults (definitely not me lol) would have one of those grippy mat things to stop you from slipping, followed by demolishing your skull against whatever hard object might get in the way.

I don’t like those grippy mat things because they’re fucking gross. I won’t go into details but all you need to know is they are disgusting. They’re horrifying petri dishes of doom that collect enough DNA samples to clone a small village. No thanks.

The again. Some of us (definitely NOT me again…) live life on the edge. I’ll surf that porcelain wave like a death defying idiot, one foot placement away from becoming a tale at the next family gathering or whatever…

(Luckily the majority of my family either hate me and/or don’t speak to each other so that’s not a big worry)

But with this near death slip hitting me.

It got me thinking.

Just like showing up to that soul crushing job or facing that google doc that’s mocking you from your desktop.

You’ve got to get clean. Every. Damn. Day.

Now I’ve made a promise not to talk about the stuff that girls who follow astrology talk about but… (Cause they’ve gotten me into trouble before)

The universe doesn’t care if your bathroom is trying to murder you.

The day doesn’t stop because you’re performing a one person circus act between the shower curtain and certain doom.

You show up, you do the dance, you try not to die. Sometimes that’s all life is. Just showing up and trying not to crack your skull open on the toilet and die.

Pretty morbid for a Friday night right?

Maybe life is just one big slippery bathtub?

Who knows? I certainly don’t.

Between me watching horror movies and watching people get murdered by a mother fuelled by revenge (cause her son drowned)

To me nearly existing this mortal plain because of my lack of grippy mat in the shower…

I really honestly don’t know what to make of the world sometimes.

Yeah life can be a bitch, but we just need to show up before we exit stage left.

It’s fun. It’s worth living and if we can tell silly tales (like this one) I’m sure people will at least remember you being entertaining and memorable.

We have to shower every day. We have to show up every day. Might as well stay consistent about it eh?

Stephen Walker

P.S. I’m cooking up something which is old school for all of us nerds to hang out in. Facebook just sucks a bag of dicks and I really don’t like the platform at all. I want that old nostalgia baby. Where we can rise up with our pitchforks and talk about things we are passionate about, while still having an anonymous presence.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Let me tell you about the time I watched a room full of marketing dickweasels discover that fear sells better than sex.

It involves summer camp murder and a metric fuckton of coffee because I got stuck travelling down to London and we stopped at Wolverhampton for an hour. Good old fashioned British transport lol.

Anyways.

So there I am, right? (Once we got to where this talk was)

Slouched in my chair like a half melted action figure, watching these “content strategists” circle jerk their way through another presentation about “engaging storytelling frameworks” and “authentic audience connection.”

The kind of shit that HR would smash into your face if you were stuck in a cubicle gargling on the balls of corporate whatever.

Because the universe has a sick sense of humour after I mainlined 3 espressos…

I had this moment of clarity.

“how do you grab someone by the eyeballs and make their brain beg for more?”

The answer was 200%…watch Friday the 13th.

The original. Not the remakes. Not the sequels. The 1980 masterpiece of murderous simplicity.

Here’s why…

The Hook: Two teenagers decide to play hide the salami. They die. That’s it. That’s the hook. No backstory about camp history. No character development. Just hormones and homicide.

(Your LinkedIn post about “disrupting the paradigm” is looking pretty flaccid now, isn’t it?)

The Questions:

Every good story is a meat grinder for your brain. It keeps churning out questions faster than answers. Who’s killing these kids? Why? What’s wrong with this place? Will anyone survive? What happened to the parents?

The Momentum:

Ever see a car accident? You’re trapped in this beautiful death spiral of “oh shit, oh shit, OH SHIT.”

And here’s the thing that’ll really bake your noodle…

The movie doesn’t give a single solitary fuck about your expectations. It’s not trying to be your friend. It’s not trying to teach you valuable life lessons about summer camp safety.

It just wants to drag you into the woods and murder your attention span.

There’s no elaborate setup, no justification for existing, no apologies for the violence. Just pure, uncut story mainlined into your eyeholes.

You know what modern content creators do?

They write fucking manifestos explaining why you should care. They craft “value propositions” and “content hierarchies” and other terms that make me want to gargle bleach.

But Mr. Voorhees? He just shows up and starts solving problems with sharp objects.

(There’s a marketing lesson in there somewhere, but I’m too caffeinated to find it)

This movie was made for what amounts to pocket lint and promises. They had about twelve dollars and a dream. But they understood something fundamental about human nature

So when you sit down and write again;

Don’t explain.

Don’t apologise.

Don’t waste time setting up your story’s LinkedIn profile.

Just grab your audience by the throat and don’t let go until they’re either dead or subscribed to your newsletter.

(Metaphorically. Please don’t actually strangle your audience. That’s what lawyers call “evidence.”)

And for fuck’s sake, stay away from summer camps. Nothing good ever happens at summer camps.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go write some horror stories about content marketing. Because after sitting through those meetings, I’ve got plenty of material.

(The real monster was ROI metrics all along, duh)

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Someone up there is using England as their own personal microwave.

Whether it’s Aliens, God or if we’re in some simulation like The Matrix.

It’s been hot.

Not nice hot.

Flesh is slowly cooking into a nice medium rare kind of hot.

And… as much as us Brits like to moan about it being too hot. It also gets too cold and everyone knows we wouldn’t be British if we didn’t whine about the weather every now and then.

Now as much as I was watching my laptop slowly transform into a makeshift George Foreman grill today.

My brain’s been about as functional as a chocolate teapot in this weather, and the only thought bouncing around my head was whether it was socially acceptable to work naked at my local Starbucks.

Sadly it was not.

But anyways. I’m trying too pool together some ideas and it just struck me. This is exactly what bad copy feels like to your readers…

When you blast them with the same tired, overheated bullshit that every other marketer is spewing. When you hit them with stuff like;

“Revolutionary solutions”

“Game changing opportunities”

“Market leading innovation”

Now as much as it feels like you’re forcing them to stand in this bastard heat wearing a three piece suite made of buzzwords…

There is a different play at hand.

Personally I’d like to be the ice cold bottle of whatever-the-fuck that your readers desperately need right now.

The kind that makes them go “oh thank fuck” when they find it. Gulp it down and can breathe a sigh of relief.

And so it just comes back to doing the basics and not sounding like some corporate shitlord.

And while it does sound difficult to do. It’s really not.

It’s as easy as writing like you’re sitting in their kitchen at 3 am, having a real conversation.

Not like you’re presenting a PowerPoint to a board of directors who stopped giving a shit sometime around slide two.

And even when my brain is shutting down cause of the heat. I’m reminded that the best writing, which is the kind that actually sells, isn’t about being clever or professional or whatever corporate buzzword bingo you’re playing.

It’s just the type that is raw and real and filled with genuine emotion.

And so with everything. Go back to the basics.

If you’re wanting brush up on how to write to sell.

Well… Write to Sell by Andy Maslen will give you a slap upside the head.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to stick my head in the freezer and contemplate whether this is what dinosaurs felt like just before that meteor hit.

Stephen Walker

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I wasn’t going to write an email today.

Truth be told this week has been meh at most.

Just loads of niggly bits of stupid shit cropping up that makes you want to opt out of doing anything productive. The kind of petty annoyances that make you want to crawl back into bed and tell the universe to go fuck itself with a rusty spork.

The thing is though. I have to show up regardless of whether or not I want to cause nobody is going to do it for me.

Nobody’s gonna swoop in wearing a cape made of solved problems and finished tasks.

(Would be epic if they did lol)

Life has a funny way of fucking with us and it’s honestly just the way we respond to it that sets us apart.

I could let it kick me right in the nether bits and have a day of whining and cursing…

(And believe me, I’ve got a colourful vocabulary ready to deploy. I could string together profanities that would make a sailor blush and a poet weep)

Or I could try and muster up a little bit of energy and turn it into a somewhat okay-ish post.

Every. Single. Day.

You’re making a choice.

You’re either obsessed or you’re average.

There’s no magical middle ground where you get to half ass your way to greatness while binge watching Netflix and complaining about how unfair life is. That’s not how this works.

And as much as I don’t really dig the next dude I’m gonna mention…

Grant Cardone nailed it when he said you gotta be obsessed or be average.

Average is the slow death of everything you could’ve been. Average is looking back at 80 and wondering what the fuck happened to all those dreams you had.

Nobody gives a shit about your bad week. The world doesn’t stop spinning because you’re having a moment. Bills don’t pay themselves. Dreams don’t manifest through wishful thinking and vision boards.

You want extraordinary? Then be fucking extraordinary about showing up.

Even on the meh days.

So yeah, I wrote this email. Not because I wanted to. Not because inspiration struck like lightning. But because obsessed people do what average people won’t.

And tomorrow?

I’ll be in your inbox again.

Be obsessed or be average and if you don’t have anything to obsess over. You best get looking, cause the grim reaper is coming for all of us…

Stephen Walker

P.S. I’d 100% recommend getting the audio version of Be Obsessed or Be Average cause Grant has the type of accent that just inspires you to get motivated.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Nothing sucker punches the dopamine goblin quite like dropping your carcass into a chair and wrenching the cap off a frost slick bottle of bubbly brain fuel…

(Iced latte before 8pm is a good idea lol)

Followed by reading, your very own, palm sweat absorbent printed thingamajig…

Magazine, book, ransom note looking love letter…

Anywho…

Being able to touch, clutch, and violently yeet yourself offline, if only for a heartbeat, is crawling back into fashion like I dunno? A zombie in fishnets?

One of my favourite word nerds Chuck Wendig just wrote a love letter about magazines.

Skim it if you dare.

But I’ve been talking about this for years (in emails, on the socials, tattooed on my left thigh, duh)

…nothing beats a slab of atoms you can actually grip, flip, and inhale like weird paper cocaine. Then slink off to your blanket fort and devour words in peace. Your world and your world only.

We used to do that often as kids. Why did we stop?

The thing is. Look around.

Brains = fried courtesy of TikTok jump cuts, Insta dopamine drips, and the looming possibility of WW3

(Politics? Pass me the bleach cocktail)

It’s exhausting and soul sucking-ly depressing to try and juggle all of this bullshit.

Nobody yanks their eyes off the their sadness rectangle long enough to meet another human.

When did we auction off our humanity for infinite scroll?

I hate that we’re all living 0 to 120mph in two seconds instead of taking the scenic route, sniffing a pine tree, maybe getting mildly possessed by forest gremlins and just letting our imagination take us anywhere but here.

Don’t worry. Irony noted. This email is being punched out via keyboard.

But the second I smack SEND.

I’m going back to pen and paper.

Yes. I know a heap of us keep the rent paid by flinging pixels at the internet and charging for it.

But we also need to look after our sanity. Best way? Write something analogue or, bare minimum, snatch a physical mag. Could be The Onion so you can ugly laugh, or a niche zine about cataloguing the 311 species of frogs in Madagascar…

Just do it.

Your dopamine receptors will build a tiny shrine in your honour probably.

Stephen Walker

P.S. Craving something hand written? I gotchu. Drop a reply with your details and I’ll make it happen even if I’ve gotta duct tape the note to a slightly unhinged carrier pigeon.

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Here’s one of my favourite poems by ol’ Bukowski

When you’re really in need of a little kick up the ass. Read this

if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start. 



if you’re going to try, go all the
way. this could mean losing girlfriends,
wives, relatives, jobs and
maybe your mind.


go all the way.
it could mean not eating for 3 or
4 days.
it could mean freezing on a
park bench.
it could mean jail,
it could mean derision,
mockery,
isolation.
isolation is the gift,
all the others are a test of your
endurance, of
how much you really want to
do it.
and you’ll do it
despite rejection and the
worst odds
and it will be better than
anything else
you can imagine. 



if you’re going to try,
go all the way.
there is no other feeling like
that.
you will be alone with the
gods
and the nights will flame with
fire. 



do it, do it, do it.
do it. 



all the way
all the way.
you will ride life straight to
perfect laughter,
it’s the only good fight
there is. 

A lot of the times I’ll just sit and go through his work.

He is my favourite poet and I’ve been reading his stuff on and off since I was a teen.

Love is a Dog from Hell is one of my favourite collections and you should definitely add it to your library.

Stephen Walker

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Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I’ve had enough espresso to stun a yak and I’m about to go off. So buckle up.

Today has been a day. And looks like it’s gonna be even MORE of a day with the pending war that’s about to unfold…

Don’t click a way though.

This isn’t another preachy “here’s how you 10x your dopamine” type post you’ll see all over the place.

I’m just going to lightly touch on Maslow’s Hierarchy.

Weird pyramid thingy we learnt about in school, right?

The one every self help bro brings up after their ayahuasca retreat…

Most people lately? They get stuck at the glittery bits. Wants, not needs. Sprinkles, not bread.

And it’s not even their fault, cause we all get suckered in.

IT’S THE SYSTEM or tHe aLgOrItHm

The “Hey, you’re missing out unless you buy this” dopamine drip marketing machine.

Especially the ones that have those massive fake timers that are gonna run out in 30 minutes but if you refresh the page 9 weeks later. Well well well…

It’ starts again lol.

Don’t get me wrong. We’ve all had that weird urge to buy a $97 course on underwater basket weaving because some guy with a rented Lamborghini says it’ll change your life.

Wants are easy. Wants are like sugar.

Needs?

Needs are like broccoli. They kinda try and keep us alive.

They sell wants. Wants are easy, fast, and dead on arrival.

Now like me. You’re a little cynical and with good measure.

That’s just cause we’re smarter than that.

(I mean you’re still here in my world, reading my ramblings and such)

And I know you didn’t come here for another dopamine hit. You came for the real shit…

So I’m gonna give my main man Drew Eric Whitman. The Ca$hvertising legend, possibly also a warlock a little love.

Now he has a little thing called “Life Force 8.”

They’re eight primal needs that actually move the needle.

Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension (aka “Don’t die, maybe even have fun”)

Enjoyment of food and beverages (carbs, glorious carbs)

Freedom from fear, pain, danger (no tigers, please)

Sexual companionship (swipe right, but for your soul)

Comfortable living conditions (not a cardboard box in a hurricane)

To be superior, winning, keeping up with the Joneses (Petty? Maybe. Human? Absolutely)

Care and protection of loved ones (cue the Pixar montage)

Social approval (like this post, validate my existence)

Now, if you’re selling “wants,” what you’re really doing is renting a customer’s attention for six seconds before they bounce to the next shiny thing.

But if you sell to their needs?

You’ve got them.

Not just for a day. Not just for a Black Friday blitz.

You become a staple. You become the bread, not the sprinkles.

Here’s a quick scene:

Customer A: Buys your course because it’s “trending.” Never opens it. Maybe uses it as a coaster for their third coffee of the day.

Customer B: Buys your solution because it solves an actual pain point. They stick. They stay. They tell their friends. (Maybe even their therapist)

You want the second one. The ride or die. The “holy hell, where has this been all my life” customer.

Going after needs wins every time.

You get more retention. Nobody ditches oxygen, right?

You get loyalty. Because you actually solved something real.

You get referrals. Real impact? People talk. (Sometimes too much. But, hey, free marketing and such)

So if I had to slap it together as some sort of writing advice and/or marketing shiz in bullet point list format it’d be something like this:

Wants = fidget spinner.

Needs = running water.

Wants = sugar rush.

Needs = complex carbs.

Wants = one night stand.

Needs = messy, real, “help me bury a body” type marriage.

You get the idea.

So next time you’re crafting your pitch, your offer, your “Hey, buy this thing!” email…

Ask yourself. Are you selling sprinkles, or are you selling bread?

Sell the bread.

Be the bread.

Or at least a damn good sandwich.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

I’ve just finished re-watching one of my favourite films with Robin Williams…

And as much as the world is going to hell in a hand basket in real time,

This scene always makes me sit back and reflect

We’re only here for a short time.

We need to find and do what makes us happy.

Order that extra dessert.

Wear that wacky outfit.

Asked that guy/girl out.

Make and share your art.

This experience on earth is beautiful but we have to be willing to risk it all.

Stephen Walker.

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Stephen Walker, Stephen Walker, Unit 146317, PO Box 7169, Poole, BH15 9EL, United Kingdom

Usually when I’m doing any type of writing.

The music I listen to hasn’t got vocals in it at all.

Why?

Cause when I get in the flow of things, then lyrics end up being peppered in and around whatever it that I’ve written.

But today was just a nice chill day going through an absolute gem of an album that I re-listen to purely because of the lyricism and word play.

Generally rap music gets a bad rap (lol) due to the nature of the lyrics and subject matter but honestly it’s just poetry with a beat.

Don’t get me wrong. You can’t slap a 90s boom bap beat on a Edgar Allan Poe poem and call it music but the sentiment is there.

Well. After I turned my brain into fantasy mush by re-watching all of the Lord of the rings and Harry Potter films, I had to just come back down to earth some way or the other.

And so Albert Einstein helped me out

There is no lesson here. It’s just music and something I thought I’d share.

Now go make with the Hip Hop and listen.

Cause when your head is stuck between Platform 9¾ and the dark and desolate realm located in the southeast, east of Gondor and the Anduin River aka Mordor.

And your attention is battling for Middle Earth.

Sometimes you just need a day to appreciate some music.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

We need to have a talk.

Not the kind of talk where I’m mad.

Though honestly, maybe mad would be easier. Mad burns hot and fast like a shot of cheap whiskey. Mad gets things off your chest and moves on.

No, this is worse than mad.

I’m just disappointed.

The kind of bone deep, soul crushing disappointment plops right down into your stomach.

Yesterday was Friday the 13th.

And not one of you beautiful degenerates made a single Jason Voorhees reference on my timeline.

Not one “ch ch ch ah ah ah” sound effect. No hockey mask emojis. No jokes about avoiding summer camps or crystal lakes or teenage counsellors with questionable survival instincts.

Nothing.

Radio silence from my fellow horror nerds I thought I knew and loved.

You start to wonder if you’re living in some parallel universe where the cultural reference points that make life bearable have just…

Anywho…

The Friday the 13th franchise that taught us valuable life lessons like “don’t have premarital sex at summer camp” and “maybe don’t split up when there’s a masked killer on the loose” and “seriously, why does anyone still go to Camp Crystal Lake when it has a 100% murder rate?”

Jason Voorhees is the persistent bastard who refuses to stay dead.

Which, honestly, is a mood we should all aspire to in 2025.

The man’s been shot, stabbed, drowned, blown up, sent to space (yes, that happened), and dragged to hell, and he still shows up for work the next day with his trusty machete and inexplicable ability to teleport behind unsuspecting teenagers.

That’s dedication to craft right there.

But apparently, we’ve all become too sophisticated for such simple pleasures.

Too busy doom scrolling through man made hellscapes and arguing about AI ethics to pause and appreciate the pure, unfiltered joy of a seven foot zombie in a hockey mask systematically working through a cast of characters who couldn’t make good decisions if their lives depended on it.

We live in an age of manufactured nostalgia.

Every streaming platform is desperately mining the past for content that’ll trigger some warm fuzzy feeling of recognition.

Hollywood’s rebooting franchises that should’ve stayed buried. Social media’s constantly cycling through “remember this?” posts about things that happened six months ago.

But when an actual, legitimate cultural anniversary rolls around…

One that deserves recognition, celebration, maybe a few poorly photoshopped memes.

Suddenly everyone’s too cool for camp.

I’m not asking for much here, okay?

A simple “Happy Friday the 13th” would’ve sufficed. Maybe a gif of Jason emerging from the lake.

Hell, I would’ve settled for someone just acknowledging that today was statistically more likely to result in machete related incidents than your average Friday.

But no. You all decided to spend yesterday posting about productivity hacks and coffee recipes and whatever other mundane Tuesday energy content fills the void where your sense of fun used to live.

So here’s where we stand…

(cause this place here is a dictatorship ya know?)

You’re all nearly dead to me. Not completely dead…

I’m not that crazy.

You could still make up for it.

You could start sneak in a Friday the 13th reference into your next chat.

Develop an appreciation for practical effects and creative kill scenes.

Recognise that sometimes the best way to deal with life’s existential horror is to embrace the fictional kind.

Or you could continue living your reference free existence, blissfully unaware that you’ve let down the ghost of every slasher film ever made.

Your choice.

But know this…

The next time Friday the 13th rolls around, I’ll be watching. Waiting. Ready to judge your commitment to the sacred traditions of acknowledging arbitrary calendar based horror celebrations cause I’m a nerd.

And if we can’t come together as a society to appreciate a good hockey mask wearing, machete wielding, summer camp terrorizing legend, then what’s the bloody point of civilisation anyway?

Jason deserved better from you.

And frankly, so did I.

Ch ch ch ah ah ah, indeed.

Stephen Walker

P.S. This isn’t a serious email. I am paying homage to Jason tonight by watching the OG Friday the 13th. But I will be watching you too…

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

It’s hard to do the things you love when life kicks you in the face.

But here’s a quick little permission slip to do the things you have put aside.

Tonight, just 5 minutes from my place I’m heading to a little gallery where a friend of mine. Rob, will be exhibiting his work for a few days. I’ve known Rob for probably going on 15 years since I’ve been back in the UK.

It boggles my mind that I’ve stopped doing the things I used to love. Which is going on little adventures out to art galleries and supporting the locals.

Maybe it was my GF at the time or some other life handed bullshit.

But I made an active decision this year to follow what I enjoy and love to do.

Be it obsessively write about everything I do. Or my hobbies I’m slowly getting back into.

Way too many people say you shouldn’t do XYZ cause it’s not professional.

Fuck that.

We are human. We need to chase the things that give us meaning and give us that little bit of connection we’ve lost.

I don’t want to be stuck scrolling this sadness rectangle in my hand. I want to go out and experience things like I used to. Make the type of memories that don’t need to be posted on social media (cause let’s be honest. if we had social media when we were younger, we’d all probably be in prison lol)

But the point is this. Do the things that light your soul on fire.

Whether that’s taking yourself out on a solo date to watch a film.

Picking up a hyper niche hobby and going balls deep with it.

Or supporting your local art galleries and artists do cool shit.

Now if you excuse me.

I need to go shower. Be somewhat presentable and go look at paintings while bullshitting others about art, cause hey, that’s what art really is. Standing around. Talking shit. Having a drink and bullshitting about the old masters who pushed paint around on the canvas.

If you want to tell me I’m wrong.

Drop me a message here: https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

Stephen Walker

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

Repeat after me.

I am a writer.

I am the fury and the fire.

I will finish the damn thing I started.

No pity parties. No snot nosed tantrums. No “oh, the words aren’t coming today” melodrama. That shit’s for amateurs. My resolve is forged from titanium.

These pants? They’re adult pants.

The diapers of my excuses? Reduced to ash. Scorched in the crucible of my own ambition.

I will light the match. I will burn the whole forest down.

And when my excuses come scuttling out like cockroaches on fire, their tiny legs sizzling…

I won’t flinch. I’ll stomp them flat. I’ll smash them with my wordhammer until they burst like overripe watermelons full of lies and self pity.

This blank page? It’s not my enemy.

The blinking cursor? Not my tormentor.

These characters? Oh, they’re mine. They scream when I tell them to scream. They bleed when I say bleed. They kiss, fuck, kill, cry, and collapse because I command it.

And if they give me any lip? I’ll send them to the gulag of forgotten side characters, where the marmots nibble toes and the plot holes swallow you whole.

This plot? Might be passed up as “just a story”

It’s a weapon. A noose. A steel trap.

I’ll use it to strangle my doubts, hang my insecurities, and watch them thrash until they’re silent, until every last whisper of “you can’t” is choked into oblivion.

The words?

Oh, they’re my army now. My mercenaries.

Tiny soldiers, built from 26 letters, carrying ideas too big for their brittle little shoulders. They march in formation, hauling metaphors and similes and bad ass imagery like ants dragging a goddamn mountain. Hell, sometimes they even surprise me, forming sentences no one else has dared to write.

Like:

“Gertrude’s haunted crockpot whispered forbidden recipes for demon soufflés, and every time she ignored it, a cat somewhere spontaneously combusted.”

That’s mine. I own that.

Because I am the captain of this absurd journey. The mad scientist of this laboratory of chaos. And yeah, it’s hard. It’s supposed to be hard.

If it were easy, every latte sipping poser with a Moleskine and a dream would be cranking out Pulitzer winning novels in between Instagram posts. But no. This is the mountain goat’s climb. The gauntlet. The hellish, glorious uphill march.

My hamstrings might snap under the strain and twang like broken banjo strings. My backbone might liquify into Jell-O.

My kneecaps might launch into the stratosphere like rogue champagne corks. And maybe, just maybe, a yeti will descend from the snowy peaks, rip off both my arms, and use them to beat me into a fine paste.

But even then. Even in the face of utter annihilation.

I won’t quit.

I’ll grab one of my severed arms in my teeth.

I’ll slug that yeti in his frosty balls until he howls like a banshee and tumbles into the abyss.

I’ll duct tape my limbs back on.

I’ll realign my spine with a wrench and a prayer.

I’ll puppet my busted legs like a deranged marionette master until I stumble across the finish line, bloody and victorious.

Because I am not weak.

I am not fragile.

I am a writer.

I will finish what I started.

I am the warlord of these words.

The architect of this goddamn chaos.

The ruler of this story.

Repeat after me:

I will write.

I will conquer.

I will burn the excuses.

And when I’m done, when the last word is written, I will look at the smoldering battlefield I’ve created and whisper,

“I did this. This is mine.”

Amen.

And good luck.

You got this.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

I’m a creature of habit.

And as always. Whenever I’m out and about, I follow my regular route.

On this regular route I always see two cats. At a quick glance they’re identical. Mother and kitten.

Now if you’ve ever seen The Matrix (1999) you’ll remember the scene where Neo sees a black cat meow, shake itself off and walk away.

He then carries on, turns his head and as he looks again, he sees the cat do the exact same thing before saying “Oh, Déjà vu!” which basically means “already seen”

And so here’s the micro lesson for today.

Already seen.

Artists of all shapes and genres, business folk and marketing weirdos ALWAYS worry about being unique and coming up with new ideas, concepts and what not.

They lie awake at 3am, staring at the ceiling, wondering if their latest project is just a rehash of something that’s been done before. They Google their ideas obsessively, searching for evidence that they’re either brilliant pioneers or complete frauds.

But the thing they forget about is that sometimes the audience just needs to see the same thing over and over again, cause they might’ve missed it.

Think about it. You’re consuming content, sucking down information from seventeen different platforms while simultaneously trying to maintain the illusion of productivity. Your attention is scattered across more surfaces than a broken mirror in a fun house.

What are the odds you caught that profound insight the first time it scrolled past your eyeballs?

Zero.

The odds are zero.

Your “groundbreaking” idea? Someone’s probably done it. Your unique angle? It’s been angled before. Your revolutionary approach? There’s a decent chance it revolutionised something back in 1987, and everyone just forgot because the internet wasn’t around to make it permanent.

And you know what? That’s exactly why it needs to exist again.

Because the person who needed to hear it in 1987 was probably in diapers. The audience who would benefit from your particular flavour of wisdom wasn’t ready for it when it first appeared.

They were busy dealing with other crises, consuming different content, living in different headspaces.

Personally I can’t even remember something I read a few days ago, unless I’ve actively saved it for later study.

We need to stop thinking that repetition invalidates value.

Every story is a retelling of older stories. Every business model is a variation on commerce that’s existed since humans started trading shiny rocks for food.

Every creative breakthrough is just someone taking existing elements and rearranging them in a way that resonates with their particular moment in time.

Shakespeare straight up stole most of his plots. Led Zeppelin built their entire catalogue on blues riffs that preceded them by decades.

Every startup pitch deck contains the same twelve ideas that have been recycling through Silicon Valley since the invention of venture capital.

And somehow, mysteriously, these “unoriginal” creators managed to build legacies that outlasted their original sources.

The cats on my route aren’t performing some weird glitch from The Matrix when they repeat their behaviours.

They’re just being cats. Consistently. Authentically. Without apologising for not being the first cats to ever exist.

Maybe that’s the lesson. Maybe the goal isn’t to avoid the déjà vu?

It’s to become the kind of person whose version of “already seen” feels necessary, valuable, and somehow inevitable.

Your voice. Your angle. Your particular way of explaining why the world is beautiful and broken and worth paying attention to.

The person who needs to hear it hasn’t heard it yet. And they’re walking their own route, following their own habits, waiting for their own moment of recognition.

Already seen. About to be seen again.

And thank god for that.

Finding the good stuff and being reminded of it when we needed it is always a good thing.

Unless it’s some asshole phoning us 4353 times a day wanting to talk to us about our cars extended warranty.

Fuck that.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

P.S. If you have a kitty. Show ’em to me.

If you’re not diggin’ these tasty little emails anymore you can hit the unsubscribe button right here >>> unsubscribe

Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom

“If your vision told you to choose a different path, then the right opportunity is waiting for you on the new one.” – Yellowstone

I’ve had two existential crises in my life.

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Real existential crises:

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Where my sense of meaning completely collapsed, leaving me lost, confused, and feeling like nothing that used to matter to me actually mattered, anymore.

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It was as though the color had been drained from my world, plunging my reality into shades of grey.

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These were two of the scariest times of my life.

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And I’d like to share the first one with you now, in case you’re going through a similar phase of your own life.

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It happened in 2009, when a career-ending hip injury forced me out of basketball and into a period of total uncertainty.

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Until then, my life had been consumed by basketball:

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By early mornings, empty gyms, dusty weight rooms, and the relentless pursuit of mastering my craft.

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But looking back, it wasn’t even about basketball, for me:

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It was about the feeling of purpose that came from pressing towards a distant mountaintop…

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…Testing the limits of my mind, my body, and my will against the highest goal I could imagine.

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It was about seeing how high I could climb:

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And, more importantly, who I could become, in the process.

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Then, all at once, it was gone — and with it, so was my sense of purpose.

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I tried to keep training, at first.

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But without clarity on what I was training for, all of my workouts felt flat.

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So I tried to pursue new goals…

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(powerlifting, bodybuilding, even academics)

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…But nothing gave me the feeling that basketball did.

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Everything felt lukewarm, so-so, kind of interesting but mostly not.

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Until late one night, sitting in my college dorm room, when I tumbled down the online business rabbit hole, and felt the color rush back into my life.

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Suddenly, I had a fresh new set of skills to learn.

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A new mountain to climb.

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And a new craft to master.

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This new craft, however, came with benefits that basketball couldn’t offer.

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Money was the obvious one (and it’s been a damn good one)…

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But even better than money was the feeling that I was finally in control of my own destiny.

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No coach could put me on the sidelines.

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No teammate could hog the ball and ice me out.

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No scout could decide he likes another player better, and kill my dream cold.

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It was all in my hands, now.

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For the first time, I was finally playing a fair game.

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And I could continue playing that game for as long as I wanted to — for the rest of my life, even, without needing to worry about age or physical breakdown.

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Of course, business came with it’s own challenges.

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But those challenges only amplified my sense of purpose, as I forged myself against a new mountain that could be scaled to seemingly limitless heights.

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Today, 15 years later…

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…That mountain continues to reveal new vistas, new potentials, and new opportunities that I never knew existed.

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And I know it will continue to do so, for as long as I continue to climb.

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If you’re currently standing at the base of that mountain, preparing to make your own journey…

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…It would be a pleasure to guide you inside FounderLab.

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We are closing applications at midnight tonight — so, if you want in:

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​Here’s where you can apply before 11:59pm EST.​

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I hope it brings new purpose, new meaning, and new color to your life, the way it has for mine.

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T

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P.S. If you have any final questions about the program, just hit reply. We’re less than 14 hours away from closing, so now’s the time to ask!

“To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.“ – Winston Churchill

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​Unsubscribe | Update your profile | 5-420 Erb St. W, Suite 433, Waterloo, ON N2L6K6

And live by them.

We give up whatever type of power we have over our own lives by giving people full control and access to us when they don’t deserve it.

I mean if you’ve been paying any attention to the clusterfuck of the world in the last 12 months.

You’ll know how bad it is.

Hard pill to swallow?

You don’t owe any anything at all.

The longer you keep bending your knee to other people’s will. The further back you’re going to get pulled.

I want to do great thing and I want you to do great things too.

You can great your own rules one by one and start applying them to your life. They can be in person ones or even ones you use online.

Yeah I might sound like a dick for creating rules like this but if you don’t make ’em. Well. People are gonna walk all over you.

If you’re meeting a client. If they’re late. You leave. Unless they’ve had the hindsight to tell you they’re gonna be late. There’s no need wait. As they say. Time is money and the way you treat your own time is a massive reflection on oneself.

I have a strict no phones rule too (Within reason) we’re out for a meal or drinks or whatever. Be present. If you’re going to be on your phone every 30 seconds. Well… That’ll be the last time I invite you.

This here list. If you’re here. You’re here. If you leave you’re dead to me. No coming back. No oops I accidentally unsubscribed.

Dickish? Of course. Do I have higher quality humans in my life because of it?

Yes.

There are too many time wasters and people who just want to take take take.

That shit needs to stop.

Respect yourself, your art and your love for all the things.

Keep the good ones close and vomit out the ones who just take the piss.

Stephen Walker.

If you’re not diggin’ these tasty little emails anymore you can hit the unsubscribe button right here >>> unsubscribe

Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom