Category: Articles

“The mystery of human existence lies not in just staying alive, but in finding something to live for.”

Which is a rough quote and an attribution to famous Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky.

I went deep on Russian literature for year and yes. With everything going on in the world via Russia and Ukraine. Anyone who sings any praises about Russia are quickly shunned while being called a Nazi too.

Which is wild but expected, especially in 2025.

However back in 2020 when the world was going to shit.

A young lad. Probably about early 20s asked me how to fix his situation in life. Now usually places like Twitter are known to be a cess pool of epic proportions because there’s no real structure of what is being shared there. So you can easily get sucked into the many sub groups or niches of Twitter.

Anyways. I recommend he strapped himself in and read The Brothers Karamazov.

The sentiment certainly aligns with major themes in his work, particularly in The Brothers Karamazov where characters grapple with finding meaning and purpose in life.

The novel explores similar ideas through characters like Alyosha and Ivan, and their discussions about faith, suffering, and what makes life worth living.

And so the quote about is often also wrapped in the way Dostoevsky saw the world.

Basically what I said was he needs to find a purpose to become attached to. Something that’ll add meaning to his life. I mean when we were raised by our parents we were, unfortunately lied to a lot of the time.

Not by their own faults and beliefs. Just by how everything back then was “sold” to us.

The hardest thing to do nowadays, is to stand on your own two feet while battling through your own demons and going against what society deems “normal”

So if you’re feeling stuck. If people are trying to get you down and belittle your goals and dreams.

Lock yourself away for a few days and read The Brothers Karamazov.

It may not give you all of the answers.

But it’ll wake you up enough to the point where you’ll tell the ones who are trying to hold you back to fuck off.

Stephen Walker

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

“Find something you love and let it kill you.”

That quote is famously said to have been written by Charles Bukowski.

Bukowski was genius in his own right and it was disputed for decades that he didn’t write it.

Although it does align with his overall philosophy and style.

You can’t do any wrong by reading his work and finding small truths that can apply to your life.

This is something I see all the time.

People complaining about their lives (They’re allowed to) but unwillingly wanting to change things for the better.

It can be hard to make that switch when it’s so easy to look at everything that sucks, but you need to dig a little deeper and find out what you truly love. Then give that your 100% undivided attention.

Even if its something you truly pursue until you die.

Art is art and finding that thing that lights your soul on fire is something a lot of people don’t ever get to experience, cause the people they trusted. Lied to them and told them this is how life should be.

So this is a little love note from me to you. Giving you permission to find that thing and pursue it.

(It helps if that thing can also be sold/monetized) cause then you won’t really work a day in your life. However that saying goes…

But yeah. You need to stop being scared to chase your long lost dreams. Follow your heart, art and soul.

We’re only on this planet for what is considered a blink of an eye.

Might as well have fun, right?

And success will eventually come.

Stephen Walker

P.S. If you wanna go down the Bukowski rabbit hole. I’d start with this…

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

So there’s this thing about human nature that productivity gurus will never tell you in their $497 courses about “optimizing your potential” and it’s this…

We’re fundamentally hedonistic creatures pretending to be rational ones.

Stick with me here. This isn’t going where you think it’s going.

Last Tuesday, I was having one of those days. You know the type of brain fog thick as London smog, motivation flatlining like a heart monitor in a morgue, and the prospect of doing anything productive felt about as appealing as volunteering for dental surgery without Anesthesia…

But then I got a text. Mate’s birthday. Drinks at the local. And despite every fiber of my being wanting to stay home and merge permanently with the sofa, I went.

Today was that day.

Why? Because it felt good. Because I like my friend. Because birthday drinks are inherently more appealing than staring at a blank Google Doc while my cursor blinks judgmentally at my creative inadequacy.

On top of this week being an absolute shit show of epic proportions…

I chose the path of immediate pleasure over the “responsible” choice of forcing myself to work.

But here’s where it gets interesting and this is the bit that’ll make you rethink everything about motivation and goal setting.

That night out? It led to conversations about projects I’d forgotten I was excited about. Connections with people who ended up collaborating on work that actually mattered. Ideas sparked by alcohol lubricated discussions about everything from horror films to the psychology of email marketing.

Yeah it’s not even 10pm here as this email goes out, but all of the effort was made.

Plot twist… Hedonism might be the most underrated productivity hack on the planet.

Think about it. When was the last time you forced yourself to do something “good for you” and it actually stuck?

How’s that gym membership working out? That meditation app you downloaded with such optimism? The morning routine you swore would transform your life?

Now compare that to the things you do consistently without thinking about it. Checking social media. Watching Netflix. Grabbing coffee with friends. Meeting deadlines when there’s actual consequence (and thus actual motivation) attached.

We follow pleasure. Always. Even when we think we’re being disciplined and rational, we’re usually just finding ways to make the “right” choice feel rewarding enough to pursue.

So here’s the radical idea. What if instead of fighting your hedonistic nature, you weaponised it?

The Strategic Hedonism Playbook (Totally not made up lol cause I’ve drank enough Guinness to kill an elephant…)

1. Make the path to your goals inherently pleasurable.

Want to write more? Don’t force yourself to write in some sterile productivity environment. Write in cafes where you enjoy the atmosphere. Write about things that genuinely fascinate you, not what you think you “should” write about.

2. Attach social rewards to solo work.

That friend’s birthday that got me out of the house? It worked because humans are social creatures who derive pleasure from connection. So build social elements into your goals. Join writing groups. Find accountability partners. Make your progress visible to people whose opinions you value.

3. Embrace productive procrastination

You know how you suddenly become incredibly motivated to organise your entire life when you’re avoiding one specific task? That’s not a bug. It’s a feature. Use it. When you can’t bring yourself to work on the big scary project, do smaller adjacent tasks that still move you forward.

4. Follow your genuine curiosity, not your “should” list

The things that naturally capture your attention aren’t distractions. I’d hazard a guess and say that they’re breadcrumbs leading to work that won’t feel like work. That random rabbit hole about Victorian funeral photography might seem unproductive, but it could spark the creative project that changes everything.

5. Make rest genuinely restful.

Stop treating downtime as something to optimise. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is absolutely nothing. But do it properly. Not scrolling-while-feeling-guilty nothing. Actual, unapologetic, restorative nothing.

The beautiful irony? When you stop trying to force yourself into someone else’s definition of productivity and start working with your actual human nature, you end up getting more done and enjoying the process.

Because here’s what the hustle culture evangelists won’t tell you and it annoys the shit out of me…

Sustainable success isn’t built on willpower and discipline. It’s built on creating systems that feel so naturally rewarding that you’d choose them even when you don’t have to.

It’s built on strategic hedonism.

So the next time someone tells you to “just power through” or “find your why” or whatever other motivational platitude is trending this week, remember this…

The most successful people aren’t the ones who’ve conquered their human nature.

They’re the ones who’ve learned to work with it.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to follow my hedonistic impulses and grab another pint with a friend. Purely for productivity purposes, you understand. It’s nearly 22:00 and well… I got shit to do.

The work will still be there tomorrow. And I’ll probably be more excited to do it.

Hoping I don’t have a massive hangover on top of it all…

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

Bear with me.

I’ve ended my day with a few Espresso Martini-zzz cause this week has been a rollercoaster. There has been some epic wins and some epic losses.

Like I always say…

There is balance in all things.

Now you’ll know I am the one person who will honestly say that they are far from having their shit together.

In actual fact. My shit is far from being together.

(I can’t think of a witty metaphor or analogy right now but whatever. You get the point)

But just to remind you… I’m not your favourite guru who pretends that everything is perfect 100% of the time.

And as always. I choose progress over perfection.

Now I had a short call with an ex client and friend and they wanted to know how I dealt with burnout.

Now there is no magic fix. Or pill, potion or some weird hack that’ll remove it but there are some steps you can follow.

Here’s a little context.

From 2005 to 2010 (When I found myself back in the UK)

I was a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. Well before social media kicked off and well before I knew better. I made my art my whole personality…

Now don’t get me wrong. If you’re learning something new. You’re gonna have to make some sacrifices to get good and in my cases. Going balls deep was the way it had to be done.

Sadly what people don’t tell you, is that there is this thing called burnout which will come for you. Just like DEATH.

Burnout will find you and he will fuck with you in such a spectacular fashion, that he lies to you and makes you believe it’s all your fault.

It’s not though.

We’ve been pre-programmed to give to others and not look after ourselves. You put your family and friends first and well…

You? Meh. I’ll get there eventually.

(Which is the worst thing you can do)

and so when you get close lined by burnout because you ignored the warning signs. The recovery process can takes days, weeks, months or even years and even in some cases decades OR never.

We don’t want that at all.

So how can we stop this little shit from ruining our lives?

It starts with you and you alone.

You need to CHOOSE yourself.

You need to be selfish. You need to say no to everyone and everything else.

You need to step back and do the things that set your soul on fire.

If that means staying up till 4am binge watching the worst shit ever while eating a tub of ice cream for 3 weeks straight. Well then yeah. Do that.

It means saying no to family and friends when they want to suck the energy right out of you.

You don’t have to go out. You don’t have to meet friends for a meal.

The only thing you need to do is pick you.

You need to go back and do the things that weren’t tied to anyone else, your income or any other expectations that society holds you down to.

The all work and no play is true. It’s doubly true for when you neglect who you are as a person.

If you want to finger paint a wall. Do it.

If you want to dance naked in a forest while it’s pissing down with rain. Then do it.

We’ve been boxed in too much and told how to dance and who to serve and that shit needs to stop.

We’re about love and art and all the things that make use uniquely human.

We need to go back and play.

And has my home boy Piccaso once said:

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

So picture this nightmare…

King couldn’t write a better horror novel tbh.

You’re innocently scrolling through Twitter.

Sorry, “X” cause apparently we’re all living in Elon’s mid life crisis now.

Christ knows how the algorithm works its magic but all of a sudden. Right in front of my eyeballs, are literal pages of Alpha Male bullshit.

It’s basically where grown men with profile pics of wolves or themselves in poorly fitted suits spend their days dispensing “wisdom” about how real men should behave.

It’s like stumbling into a self help seminar run by people who’ve clearly never helped themselves to anything except delusions of grandeur.

The urge to punch myself in the face was immediate. And persistent.

Here’s a sample of the profound insights I witnessed during my accidental deep dive into this testosterone soaked hellscape…

“Real alphas wake up at 4am to dominate the day.” Man, you know what waking up at 4am actually means?

It means you’ve got insomnia, a newborn, or you work shifts. It doesn’t make you a wolf pack leader.

And in my case it makes me tired.

“Women are attracted to men who display high value.”

High value? What are we, cryptocurrency? Last I checked, humans aren’t trading cards you collect and upgrade through gym selfies and dubious investment advice.

But here’s the bit that really made my brain try to crawl out through my ears for the second time in the last 3 months…

The endless threads about “female nature” written by dudes who clearly haven’t had a meaningful conversation with a woman since their mom asked them to take out the bins on a Friday night.

These are grown adults.

Presumably with jobs and responsibilities, spending their time crafting tweets about “maintaining frame” and “passing shit tests.” It’s like watching someone cosplay as a human being based entirely on pickup artist manuals from 2003.

There is some tragedy there too.

Some of these guys probably started out just wanting to feel better about themselves. Maybe they were lonely, insecure, struggling with confidence. All completely normal human experiences that deserve compassion, not exploitation.

But instead of finding genuine help, they stumbled into this ecosystem of grifters selling them a fantasy of masculine dominance that’s about as authentic as a three dollar note. It’s self help for people who think emotional intelligence is a character flaw and vulnerability is a marketing weakness.

You want to know what actual confidence looks like? It’s being secure enough to admit when you don’t know something. It’s treating people, all people as complex individuals rather than NPCs in your personal success story.

It’s understanding that relationships aren’t chess matches where someone has to win. I mean I see that all the time and it’s exhausting just watching people fight those types of battles.

What happened to just being a good human?

I can write a lot more about this topic but it’s just mad to see this still being pushed as hard as it is. Between A.I. and Alpha Bro Bullshit, it’s like the cycle is never going to end.

Anyways.

I’m about to go inhale a pizza because that’s the second most Alpha thing you can do.

The most Alpha thing you can do is share this email with a friend and then tell them to massage this link:

https://stphnwlkr.com/list

Stephen Walker

P.S. This is the place where all the cool kids hang out. We still beers from our parents and smoke cigarettes behind the school gym.

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

“Be humble or get humbled.” – MindTraps

I got schooled.

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Clowned, exposed, humiliated — embarrassed as badly as I’ve ever been, in my career…

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…All while standing in front of a group of the most successful entrepreneurs in my industry.

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​The year is 2011, and the place is Las Vegas.

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The setting is a rented conference room at the Wynn hotel, and the group is 12 of the heaviest-hitters in the sports training industry.

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(including ILoveBasketball, JumpUSA, Alex Maroko, Todd Herman, and several others)

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​We’re here for a mastermind meeting:

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To network, cut deals, share what’s working in our businesses, and maybe, if there’s time…

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(there’s always time)

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Get a little twisty.

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So there I am, up at the front of the room, giving a presentation on what I called:

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​”The ultimate online business model.”

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What was so ultimate about it, you ask?

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Well, everything.

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Literally — it included everything:

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Paid ads, emails, micro-sites, affiliate marketing, blogging, webinars, SEO, SLOs, OTOs, cross-sells, upsells, front-ends, back-ends, you get the idea.

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Beaming with pride, I display my brainchild for the room to see:

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(real screenshot of the funnel I sketched out in 2011)

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​”I’ve done it,” I thought to myself.

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“I’ve revolutionized marketing forever.”

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Never has there been a business model…

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…Nay, a business masterpiece…

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…So glorious, so disruptive, so utterly game-ch —

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— “What the hell are you building, the Pentagon?”

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My body stiffens.

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​Who said that?

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My eyes rapidly scan the room, anxiety welling up and becoming panic as I recognize the voice:

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​Craig Ballantyne.

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I don’t even know why he’s here, honestly:

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​He’s way too big a fish for our little pond.

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Craig is an OG of the fitness industry, and had been running a multi-7-figure fat loss empire since I was in middle school.

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He rarely spoke…

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(no joke, I think he was actually reading a book during my presentation)

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​…So when he did speak up, the room went dead quiet.

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The silence hit me like a gut punch.

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Craig continued:

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​”I know businesses doing a million a month sending paid traffic to a VSL — nothing else.

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Do you really think your little 10k/month business needs all this crap?”

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As the color drains from my face…

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(probably, I couldn’t actually see my face)

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…Craig softens — slightly:

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​”Listen man, all you need is: ​
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One offer.
One way of getting traffic.
One funnel that converts traffic into customers.

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That’s it. None of the big boys do any of this fancy sh*t.”

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​Time moves in slow motion as I thank him for his advice, and drag myself back to my seat feeling three feet shorter.

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As the weekend continues (along with the “Pentagon” jokes), I begin to digest what Craig said:

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​One offer, one traffic source, one funnel.

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And slowly, as the shock of embarrassment gives way to acceptance and understanding, his message begins to sink in:

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Maybe business doesn’t need to be so complicated.

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Maybe I’m making this way harder than it needs to be.

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Maybe trying to be smart is the dumb move.

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And maybe, just maybe:

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​Scaling this basketball business can be a lot easier, and a lot more straightforward, than I think.

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I flew home on Monday morning with renewed hope, and — not quite clarity, not yet…

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…But the quiet sense that clarity would soon come — and that, when it did:

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My business and my life would be unlocked in ways I could not yet imagine.

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I was right.

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​Tomorrow, Part 2…

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• T

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​P.S. It’s almost time.

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Tomorrow, I will begin accepting applications for FounderLab:

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​A live, 6-week incubator for early-stage online businesses who want to scale to 10k/mo, and beyond.

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I am only accepting 15 founders.

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And the first to apply will get first priority.

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So if you’d like to join our early-invite list, reply with the word “interested” and I’ll make sure you hear about it first.

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In the meantime, here’s where you can catch up on earlier parts of this series:

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​Part 1: This advice could ruin your life​

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​Part 2: The business I never told you about

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More to come…

“More companies die of indigestion than starvation.” – Bill Hewlett

​

​

​

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

I’m off to go watch Final Destination Bloodlines again.

Yeah yeah I know. I’m a nerd.

Even though the majority of horror films are considered B rated garbage.

I have always been a fan of horror because of how versatile the genre can be.

I wrote a massive post about this years ago about how you can have everything inside of a horror film from romance, action, mystery and drama. With everything in between and still end with incredible horror and it just felt okay.

Now if you take any of the other books/movies out there and tried to mix some horror into it. It just wouldn’t land.

It’ll feel out of place. Imagine trying to take Pride and the Prejudice and horror-fy it.

Holy shit would it be bad. There’s no swinging that back around into some romantic/drama after people were brutally savaged.

The point is. We’ve all got some horror in our lives. The extent of it won’t be as wild as the movies make it out to be (unless it is, cause damn, you should probably write more about it tbh) but we can always turn it around to share an uplifting message or at the very least. Inspire someone.

And in Bloodlines. Tony Todd did just that. From Candyman to The Crow to Final Destination his presence was felt.

He made those films great, no matter how wild they were at the time.

And while I’m watching it again. I’ll have to try my best to not shed some tears as the dedication from the team and the message he had via his final bit hit hard.

R.I.P to the legend himself.

I’ll catch you all later.

Stephen Walker

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

Pull up a chair.

The slightly wobbly one that makes you wonder if it’s gonna collapse into a million pieces if you lean back too far.

I’m not going to blow sunshine up your ass about how everything’s brilliant and we’re all crushing it in 2025.

Cause let’s be honest, are we? Really?

You know that feeling when you wake up and your brain immediately starts doing that thing where it catalogues everything that’s wrong, broken, or slightly off kilter in your life?

It’s like it’s doing some morning inventory of personal failures and mounting anxieties?

Yeah. That one.

I want to know how you’re actually doing. Not the LinkedIn version where everything’s “exciting opportunities” and “grateful for the journey.” The real version.

The one where you admit that sometimes you stare at your phone for twenty minutes pretending to be busy because engaging with actual productivity feels like climbing Everest in flip flops.

I’ve noticed and tell me if I’m full of shit or if I’m just projecting my own existential nonsense out into the internet…

Everyone’s running on fumes and pretending it’s premium unleaded.

We’re all out here performing competence while internally screaming at the joke of modern existence.

Social media algorithms feeding us the same recycled content and it makes it feel like it’s some super charged Groundhog Day.

A.I. grifters promising solutions to problems they created. Corporate overlords monetising our attention span until it resembles a goldfish with ADHD.

And through it all, we’re supposed to just… cope?

Optimise? Find our passion and turn it into a side hustle?

That’s some bullshit.

Here’s what nobody talks about in the productivity guru circle jerk…

Sometimes the most radical thing you can do is admit you’re tired. Not the cute kind of tired that gets fixed with a good night’s sleep and some expensive coffee. The bone deep exhaustion that comes from existing in a world that treats human attention like a commodity to be strip mined.

So today is about the real talk, no filters, no Instagram worthy wisdom.

How are you holding up?

Are you sleeping?

And I don’t mean the sleeping bit where you just doom scroll tiktok for another 3 hours before your alarm shouts at you.

When’s the last time you felt excited about something?

Are you eating actual food or surviving on whatever requires the least effort to consume?

(I’m a professional 2 day old pizza enjoyer…)

When someone asks “how are you,” do you give them the automatic “fine, thanks” or do you ever tell the truth?

Here’s what I’m learning. The people worth knowing are the ones who’ll sit with you in the messy, uncomfortable honesty of admitting that sometimes everything feels a bit much.

They won’t try to fix you or offer unsolicited advice about meditation apps. They’ll just nod and say “yeah, man, it’s been a weird one.”

Look, I don’t have answers all the answers.

I’m not gonna go all Tony Robbins on your ass and tell you to unlock the power within or some shit.

I’m not about that life.

This is about checking in. Really checking in.

The world’s going to keep being chaotic and overwhelming and occasionally brilliant despite itself.

The algorithms will keep serving up the same bullshit. The grifters will keep grifting. The endless content carnival will keep spinning.

If you’re struggling.

I got you.

If you’re tired.

It’s not a personal failing.

There’s always a reasonable response to unreasonable circumstances. And if you’re just trying to figure out how to keep going without losing yourself in the process, well… join the club.

The membership’s free, the meetings are irregular, and the only requirement is showing up as honestly as you can manage.

So, seriously, how are you doing?

And don’t give me the polite version. Give me the real one.

The wall of text ugly crying as you bite into a block of cheese version.

We’ve got time.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

“Sometimes our misfortunes are the sails that take us to the shores we are meant to be on.” – Dune Prophecy

I don’t think I’ve ever told this to anyone.

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(it was so long ago I’d basically forgotten)

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But my first business was not EGTBasketball.

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​And it was not a success.

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The time is October, 2009.

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I’ve locked myself away in my university dorm room as a party roars outside my door.

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My eyes are wide as I sit, hunched over my laptop, waves of excitement washing over me.

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​I’ve just stumbled upon the underground world of online business…

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…A world that, at the time, was almost entirely unknown.

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Twitter and YouTube still felt brand new.

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I hadn’t even heard of Instagram, yet.

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​And if someone called you a “creator” you’d assume it was slang for “broke art student.”

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But as I tumbled down the online marketing rabbit hole…

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…Eyes bloodshot, neck straining, frantically clicking through the 17 open tabs on my screen as I maniacally consumed every back-alley blog post, video, interview and e-book I could get my hands on…

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…A single question dominated my mind:

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​”Where the hell do I even start?”

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Even back then, the number of opportunities was dizzying.

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One expert maintained that blogging was the holy grail.

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Another insisted “blogging is dead!”…

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…And that eBay reselling was the NEW, cool, so-easy-even-your-dog-could-do-it way to make money from your kitchen table in your underwear.

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SEO was the content play-of-the-day.

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And selling e-Books and membership sites actually seemed pretty viable.

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But of all the options available…

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…The one I chose was…

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…Wait for it…

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(God help me)

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…Affiliate marketing.

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Yep:

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Affiliate marketing.

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It seemed easy enough:

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Just send traffic to other people’s products, and they’ll pay you for every sale!

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No need to:
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Build your own website
Create your own course
Change out of your pyjamas in the morning before going to work.

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​Fool-proof!

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​Only, I was a bigger fool than I thought.

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Affiliate marketing, it turns out, is like doing math for a living.

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Analyzing numbers, data, spreadsheets, CPCs, CTRs, CPMs, CP-holy-sh*t-this-is-not-what-I-signed-up-for.

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For a kid who failed 11th grade math…

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(turns out skipping class to shoot extra shots in the gym is not a good study strategy)

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…Affiliate marketing was about the worst business model I could have chosen:

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​One that played to all of my weaknesses, and none of my strengths.

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Thankfully, the story has a happy ending.

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After a few months of failing as an affiliate, and feeling like my head was made of cement…

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…A lucky sequence of events led me to launching my own basketball shooting program (Prolific Shooting).

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This new model — online courses — played to all of my strengths, and none of my weaknesses.

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Instead of drowning in data, I was teaching what I already knew, and allowing my natural creativity to flow.

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​For the first time in my life, work didn’t feel like work.

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It felt like play:

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Like something I’d already been doing my entire life, for free — but now I was getting paid (and paid well) for it.

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The rest, as they say, is history.

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15 years and 8 figures in revenue later, that one lesson…

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​Build a business that matches your natural strengths

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…Has been like a shining light, guiding me through the maze of online business:

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A labyrinth with endless tunnels, each one shiny and shimmering and full of voices that call to you, insisting their path is the best path…

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…The one that will finally lead you through the dark, twisting chaos and into the light of lifetime financial freedom.

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This maze was daunting to navigate back in 2009.

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​But it is exponentially more complex today, in 2025.

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The online world has never been noisier, more confusing, or more overwhelming than it is today.

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​But it has also never been so full of opportunity.

​
And, those who are able to…
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Cut through the noise and chaos
Find the business model that matches their unique strengths and personality pattern
Focus relentlessly on that one business model, blocking all distractions for as long as it takes to break through

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​…Will gain access to a world of opportunity that has never been seen before in human history.

​
The question now is:

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How do you match your natural business strengths to your best-fit business model and growth strategy, so you can finally achieve real liftoff?

​
That’s exactly what we’re going to focus on this week.

​
Stay tuned.

​

• T

​
​P.S. This Thursday, I will begin accepting applications for our FounderLab program:

​
A live, 6-week incubator for early-stage online businesses who want a proven system for scaling to $10k/mo and beyond.

​
However, please note:

​
This is not a passive course, this is an incubator.

​
We aren’t window-shopping business opportunities…

​
​We’re building in real time, using a combination of personal coaching and proprietary AI tools.

​
Since I’ll be giving everyone one on one attention, I’m only accepting 15 founders.

​
So please only consider applying if you’re committed to building, launching, and scaling a real business:

​
​Now, not someday in the future.

​
First to apply will get first priority.

​
If you want to get on our early-invite list, reply with the word “interested” and I’ll make sure you get first crack when the doors open.
​
​P.P.S. If you missed yesterday’s email, please read it now.​
​
There is an important message in it, and I don’t want it to get lost as the excitement builds for FounderLab.

“I have led a toothless life. A toothless life. I have never bitten into anything. I was waiting. I was reserving myself for later on — and I have just noticed that my teeth have gone.” – Jean-Paul Sartre

​

​

​

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

So here’s the thing nobody wants to tell you about mastery, and especially nobody wants to sell you a course about it…

It’s boring as hell.

Sitting here this morning, coffee getting cold while I bash out my thousandth email about whatever’s rattling around in my brain, and it hit me.

This daily grind of putting words on a page, is the least sexy part of writing. But it’s also the only part that actually matters.

You want to know why every guru, coach, and “thought leader” (Christ, I hate that term) is peddling shortcuts, hacks, and “revolutionary methods”?

Because repetition doesn’t sell. Nobody’s going to pay $297 for a course called “Do The Same Thing Every Day For Three Years Until You Stop Sucking At It.”

But that’s literally what works.

Malcolm Gladwell got rich telling people about the 10 000 hour rule, but he conveniently left out the most important bit. Which is those 10 000 hours are mind numbingly repetitive. It’s not 10 000 hours of inspiration and breakthrough moments. It’s 10 000 hours of doing the same fundamental thing over and over until your muscle memory takes over and your conscious brain can finally focus on the interesting stuff.

I’ve watched this play out everywhere. Musicians practicing scales until their fingers bleed. Writers churning out garbage daily drafts until something readable emerges. Comedians bombing night after night with the same material until they find the rhythm that makes people laugh.

Progress feels like stagnation most of the time.

You sit down to write and the words feel exactly as clunky as they did yesterday.

You practice that guitar riff for the hundredth time and it still sounds like a dying cat.

You work on your sales pitch and it’s still awkward as shit.

But somewhere around repetition number 847, something shifts.

Not dramatically.

You probably won’t even notice it at first. But other people will. They’ll start saying stupid shit like “you make it look so easy” or “you’re just naturally talented.”

Natural talent. Right.

What they’re really seeing is the compound effect of a thousand small improvements, each one so marginal you didn’t notice it happening.

Like interest in a savings account, except instead of money, you’re accumulating competence.

The dirty secret of every expert you admire? They got bored. Really, properly bored. And they kept going anyway.

Because repetition isn’t sexy. It’s not marketable. It doesn’t promise instant results or overnight transformation.

It just works.

And now with the world obsessed with hacks and shortcuts, maybe that’s the most radical thing you can do.

Show up. Do the work. Again. And again. And again.

Until you git gud or die. Whichever part comes first.

Here’s Malcolm’s book if you’re interested in it too.

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

Like a parrot scorned…

Now you know the parrot that so happily runs my life has on a few occasions made a cameo in my emails…

And he is a little shyt. Albeit a cute one. (When he wants to be though)

So today as I waited for my favourite amazon delivery driver to drop off a package I’ve been waiting for.

Not even 30 seconds after placing it on the dining room table, did he swoop down from the top of the cage and viciously attacked it, cause he definitely has some hidden agenda against cardboard or whatever.

I mean as soon as there is a box or anything that is remotely chewable.

He is like “ABSOLUTELY NOT!” and decides to go to town on it.

And so it’s safe to say that he has his own rules he lives his life by.

Which is something we can all take into consideration. Especially with the way everything is going right now.

The world is a dumpster fire.

Yes we might not hate cardboard as much as Alf does but I’m sure there’s things we just can’t deal with.

So this is where the power in picking what stays and what goes will come into play.

It can be habits, hobbies or the way we do things. We need to pick what is a priority and then get rid of what is not.

It’s why even though I use social media within certain limits. I treat my email list like the holy grail.

This is why I ALWAYS tell people to build a list.

Mainly because it’s not as difficult as everyone makes it out to be, but cause it can be a great asset for you in the long run. Whether you’re a creative person who sells their art of services. Or a regular person who just wants to share their thoughts with the world. An email list is what you need.

Yeah it might feel like you’re trapped in the 90s. Yet this is where a lot of people make friends, clients and customers that last a life time…

And just like Alf. I have a few rules that I stick by when it comes to this here neck of the woods.

If you’re in. You’re in. If you leave. Well, you’ll probably be banished for life. (There are exceptions) but this is just the way it is.

I don’t have a hatred for cardboard. I do have a hatred for people who think they can jump in for a little while. Get what they need and then bounce, while later coming back for more…

It doesn’t work like around here.

This little ̶c̶u̶l̶t̶ community has grown pretty quickly again and my promise was always to be upfront and honest about what goes on.

Whether you’re here for the shenanigans, the marketing wisdom, the off the cuff writing advice or the way I’m seeing the world change. I know I’ll keep doing what I do.

As long as you show up. Read the words and take action on the things I suggest. You’ll be cool.

Even if you just want to hit reply and rant, that’s okay too.

I just want you to know that here. You’re not just some random number on the internet. I consider you part of my world and hopefully I’m part of your world in a small way.

Cause when shit goes tits up and social media dies out because it’s overrun with A.I. – Well…

Email and the 90s style communication will come back even stronger before.

I’m not one to say I told you so, but…

I’ll be the first one to do it when it all happens.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

Right, so I did something mental a few weeks/months back.

Deleted all the apps. Cold turkey.

Not because I’ve become some internet based monk who’s discovered the ancient art of mindfulness.

Just because I was tired of feeling like my brain was being slowly liquidised by an endless stream of… well, nothing, really.

12 weeks. That’s how long I lasted before curiosity got the better of me.

You know what I found when I came crawling back to the glowing rectangles of perpetual distraction?

The exact same bloody content. Same videos, same takes, same manufactured outrage cycles spinning like a washing machine stuck on the same setting since 2019.

It’s like the internet pressed pause while I was gone. Waiting for me.

But here’s where it gets properly weird…

And this is going to sound like I’ve been reading too many conspiracy theories at 3am (guilty as charged)

That content wasn’t just similar. It was identical. The algorithm hadn’t moved on. It hadn’t learned anything new. It was just… there. Waiting. Like it knew I’d be back.

You’ve heard of the dead internet theory, yeah?

The idea that most online content is now generated by bots, for bots, with us real humans just caught in the crossfire of synthetic engagement farming. Used to think it was paranoid nonsense. The kind of thing you’d dismiss after your second pint.

Now? Not so sure.

Think about it. When was the last time you saw something genuinely original on your feed? Not a remix, not a reaction to a reaction, not another take on the same twelve topics that have been cycling through the content machine since TikTok learned how to monetise our shortened attention spans.

I’m talking about something that made you stop scrolling and think:

“God damn, I’ve never seen that before.”

Can’t remember, can you?

Maybe that’s because there’s nothing new. Maybe we’re all just watching the same performance, over and over, while the bots in the audience clap politely and the real humans slowly forget what original thought looks like.

Or maybe I’m just overthinking it because I spent 12 weeks in the real world and forgot how to speak internet.

Either way, I’m keeping the apps for now. But I’m watching differently. Looking for the glitches in the matrix. The tells that remind you there are still actual humans behind some of these screens.

You should try it too. Take a break. Come back. See if anything’s actually changed.

(Side Quest: it hasn’t)

Anyways.

I’ve got a Stephen King book that needs finishing.

And if you’re new to these here parts and want to go read past emails…

They’re on the site here: https://stphnwlkr.com/

Also feel free to tell people to go sign up there, cause that’s what all the cool people are doing.

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

“Find the part of yourself that always knows the answer, and let it be your guide.” – The Path

Happy Friday.

​
Before we deep-dive into business stuff next week…
​
(more on that in the PS)

​
…I wanted to share a powerful exchange from our Path community about finding your life purpose:

​

And, why your “purpose” might not be what you think it is.

​
Read below:
​

​
​Original post by @Marek

​
Developing opinion:

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Our life purpose is not about what we do, it’s about the state of consciousness we bring to what we do.

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When you live from that state of consciousness, you can do whatever you want.

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You can be a garbage man or work on Wall Street and still be living your purpose — as long as your actions come from being aligned with the right state of consciousness.

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It’s about who you’re being, not what you’re doing.
​

​

Taylor’s Response

​

I mostly agree, and your insight is a valuable one.

However, I will add this:

​
The “state of consciousness” you’re speaking of tends to manifest in specific ways, not random ways.

​
So while being is the source, there is a specific doing that naturally arises from each individual’s state of being.

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This “doing” is what we call a life purpose.

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Christ was never gonna be a garbage man.

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Elon was never gonna be a suit on Wall St.

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Steve Jobs was never gonna be a librarian.

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We each have our own unique pattern to carry out, and our job is to settle into our “being” (ie. who we most naturally are), let go of the agendas of our ego, and allow that pattern to be carried out through us.

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The only thing that blocks this process is wanting to be something other than what we are…

​
(ie. wanting to be an athlete when we’re really an entrepreneur; wanting to be a scientist when we’re really a writer; wanting to be a teacher when we’re really an engineer, etc)

​
…And the only thing that wants to be something other than what we are is ego.

​
Once our social / egoic programming is stripped away, no role is better or worse than any other, just more or less aligned with who we are.

​
There is a person for every role, a key for every lock.

​
Our task is to stop trying to jam our key into the lock we think we want to open, and open the one we’re designed for.
​

​

I hope that lands for you 🙂
​
If it sparked any questions, just hit reply.

​
Otherwise, I’ll see you back here next week for the biggest event of our summer calendar.

​
More on that below…

​

• T

​
​P.S. Next week, we will officially begin accepting applications for FounderLab:

​
A 6-week LIVE incubator for early-stage businesses who want to scale to 10k/month and beyond.

​
This is the first time I’ve ever shared the system I’ve used to generate 8 figures in revenue since 2010.

​
(and over $85M collectively between myself and my coaching clients)

​
So, if you’re:
​

Stuck between 0-10k/month
Just getting started, OR started but struggling to gain traction
Committed to making this damn thing work, no matter what it takes

​
​…Hit reply with the word “interested” to get on our early-invite list.

​
I’m only accepting 15 founders, and will be accepting in order of application.

​
Stay tuned.

​
In the meantime, here’s…

​
3 things to make your weekend better

Bangers across the board in this one.

​
​Bill Burr: Drop Dead Years​

A-tier comedian showing his mastery of his craft. So good.

​
​Your Friends & Neighbours (Apple+)​

I was kind of shocked at how good this is. The premise seemed silly to me, at first. But the show turned out to be a powerful, flawlessly-written commentary on the dangers of hollow success. Highly recommended.

​
​Maggie Rogers @ NYU​

Maggie doesn’t miss. Absolute gold.

​

“When the spotlight hits you, and the house goes dark, all you can see are the exit signs.” – Maggie Rogers

​

​

​

​

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

We need to talk.

(ooof I know hearing that sucks if you’re in a relationship)

You know that feeling when you open your phone and suddenly three hours have evaporated like spilled vodka on hot concrete?

Yeah. That one.

The one where you started checking “just one thing” and ended up doom scrolling through seventeen different flavours of god knows what.

And as one of my close friends have often said to me: “The internet’s on fire, mate. Properly ablaze.”

Social media platforms have mutated into these grotesque breeding grounds for toxicity.

Like petri dishes left under a heat lamp by some sadistic lab tech who really, really hates humanity.

News outlets are cranking the doom and gloom dial to what I’d call “level 32 on the gloom-O-scale”

(and honestly, that scale only goes to 10, so we’re in uncharted territory)

Everyone’s either looking to fight each other or one up each other.

So we need to tackle Intent

Deep breath. This is the important bit and stay with me…

I can confidently say that 95% of people jump on the internet or social media platforms as a form of distraction from the dumpster fire of their own lives. I get it. It’s not like the world’s gotten measurably better since 2020.

We’ve been collectively marinating in uncertainty like some kind of anxiety flavoured I don’t even know.

Misery loves company, right? And don’t get me wrong…

We’re allowed to have a little moan once in a while. We need to acknowledge the suck fest that is modern existence. But there must come a time when we stop.

When we decide, with actual, deliberate intent, that we’re gonna make some changes to our lives.

THAT is the part that’s not easy. Before you know it, you’re binging Netflix for the next 72 hours like some kind of entertainment addicted zombie, shuffling from one auto playing episode to the next.

(I’ve been guilty of this. We all have. Don’t pretend you haven’t)

But what if…

What if instead of using the internet as comfort food (empty calories for your brain), you used it with intent?

What if every time you opened that glowing sadness rectangle of infinite distraction, you asked yourself:

“How is this going to make my day better? My ideas sharper? My business stronger?”

Take my approach as an example. I’ve built a wild audience by being intentionally opinionated, deliberately thoughtful, and strategically entertaining. (some people dislike me, especially in the marketing space but they still read all of my stuff to this day)

I craft silly emails that people like to read because it keeps their brain meats working…

I don’t have some wild content plan. I just write about what I enjoy and the way I see the world and people like. Which to this day is still wild.

That’s intent in action.

With that all being said. Do these things:

Every time you reach for your phone, pause.

Ask yourself: “Am I about to feed the fire, or am I about to build something?”

If you’re scrolling for business intel. Great. If you’re looking for inspiration. Brilliant. If you’re connecting with actual humans who add value to your existence, carry on…

But if you’re about to dive headfirst into another argument about pineapple on pizza (for the 9462th time this year), or get sucked into whatever fresh drama is trending. Just… stop.

Use the internet like a research library, not a entertainment center. Follow creators who challenge your thinking.

I like to read widely, thinks deeply, and share about as authentically as I know.

Which is super not so sexy. It’s just me in these emails and the back and forth I have with you.

I’d say find your version of that. Whether it’s following weirdos who you dig, joining a cul-community, or just looking at what others are doing that you want to do.

If you read something. Make sure it teaches you something fresh, maybe even inspire you a little or even point you to someone who might be able to help you get your thing out into the world.

Use the internet to understand your people, not to escape from them. Engage in conversations that matter. Share insights that help. Build relationships that last longer than an Instagram story.

The internet doesn’t have to be this soul sucking, attention harvesting machine.

But remember it all requires intent.

Curating what you feed your brain takes intent. It’s not easy but it makes a difference if you do it little by little.

The internet’s on fire, sure.

You can choose to be the person who builds something better.

The internet is what you make it and even if that means animal videos and memes, well then that’s cool too.

Make it better.

(Now stop reading and go do something intentional with your day)

Stephen Walker

P.S. No links. Just words. I love you. Go be awesome.

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

Now I’ve had a lot of micro conversations about A.I.

Some of them good and some of them bad.

Like I’ve said in the past. I’m not strictly against it. There’s a use case for it and it’s good for crunching data, especially if the people using it have a specialist knowledge in the topic.

Then GenAI side though. The bit where people pretend to do the creative work like writing, making music or art…

That’s the side I have mega issues with. It stems mainly from theft and the fact that these tech billionaires think it’s okay for them to pirate peoples content, their intellectual property and their hard worn, suffered and over time…

Identity because “hey capitalism is fine for the greater good of the economy” or whatever other delusion these clowns are floating on a day to day basis.

But hey. If you’re a regular person who wants to find that niche horror movie that you can’t stream or buy, but it’s hosted on some dodgy website built in 1996…

Well listen here buddy. We know you would’ve bought it but because you’ve pirated it for your own sadistic niche purposes. We’re gonna fine you and potentially put you in prison for 3 years.

Ahhh capitalism…

But see this is only the width of the issue.

But what about the depth and also what do you mean by depth Stephen, I’m confused!

Glad you asked.

Depth is the long term effects (globally) it has on the planet and also the long term affects (human cognition / physiology etc) it has on us meat puppets.

We all know that the growth of the A.I. tech is completely screwing with power grids in some countries. It’s ruining water supplies and even forests are starting to get the brunt of it too. While all of this is turning us into a cooked planet a lot quicker than our other capitalistic adventures.

It’s the mental/spiritual/physical side in humans that is taking the knock.

We all know that we can be lazy as shit. We’d rather do the things that make our lives easier and in this case. Tools like ChatGPT are making it easier by doing the thinking for us. That thinking is not accurate at all, unless you’re able to source the research and cite those ideas to make sure they’re cool.

And so now we’re witnessing in real time. People becoming dumber. People almost losing cognitive control over the decisions in their lives. Hell they’re happily using A.I. to tell them how to respond to their boyfriends, girlfriends, wives and husbands etc.

In the next year or two. If you happen to remove the brain from a human it’ll probably be as smooth as a bowling ball because they’re not thinking at all, on top of that there are even studies that suggest that the brain has the ability to atrophy over time when difficult things are not embraced.

That’s the type of depth I’m worried about.

The depth of what makes us human is slowly getting eroded by all of these tech overlords.

And while I can always argue a good use case for it. That creative side is what keeps you going. Keeps you, well being you…

This also popped up on my feed today and it was an interesting watch, purely because someone took the effort to compile a lot of the crap into a well thought out thinkpiece styled documentary…

Watch it and just head the warning.

Cause trust me when I say this. Once this “tool” takes over every aspect of our lives. The ones who can think and write and discern all the bullshit…

We’ll be the ones ahead of the curb.

Stephen Walker

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

I had a few replies over the last few emails, especially the last one with the audio and where I just asked how everyone is.

Like some internet vibe check or whatever you want to call it.

Surprisingly. Everyone’s a little tired.

Tired of the uncertainty with all of these grifters peddling A.I.

Tired with all of the divides with politics and wars.

I mean we all know the world is absolutely upside down right now and it almost looks like nothing is going to go back to “normal”

1 humble disciple of yours truly asked me about what I do when it comes to turning off the noise and all that jazz.

And honestly. I really don’t do anything special. I don’t meditate. I don’t do any of these introversion type of spirit animal focus.

All I do. Which is very boring on the front is write.

I sit down and put words on paper. It’s one way I find to just get out all of the crap. The stresses and potential ideas.

Funny thing is though because we’re in an always on society. We’re looking for things online to better our lives. To take us to a place or nirvana where we can be free and all of that.

And when we are looking online on social media and all other platforms, we get lied to.

We compare our chapter one to the others and their chapter 72.

So we spiral and feel deflated on all fronts.

But when you sit alone with no distractions and write. Whether it’s pen on paper (Preferable) or you’ve got a word doc with all your notifications/phone turned off. That’s where you can do some serious soul searching for lack of a better phrase.

And as cliche as I know that answer is. It works like magic. I’ve even said in past emails that writing is the closet thing we have when it comes to magic and manifestation.

The downside is. It takes a fudge load of work. Like having those hard conversations with the gf/bf or husband/wife etc.

It also doesn’t happen over night. It takes weeks/months/years to slowly find out who you are. It’s no TikTok over night fucker-y.

And so it is in the mind of how I figure these things out. One sentence at a time.

Whether I’m selling something with words, or entertaining my fellow nerds. It starts with a page and some thinking.

Appreciate everyone who listened/replied to the last voice tape email. I guess I’m not too bad eh?

Stephen Walker

http://facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

I just read this article and my brain is currently doing that thing where it tries to crawl out through my nose.

I posted about it on FB but I thought eh, you love a bit of my rant-y type posts, but let me re-write it cause why not?

“Nick Clegg: Artists’ demands over copyright are unworkable”

“The former Meta executive claims that a law requiring tech companies to ask for permission to train AI on copyrighted work would ‘kill’ the industry.”

Do I have this right? (With all sarcasm intended)

Some college kid torrents The Mandalorian? PRISON!!!11!

Tech billionaire builds entire empire on wholesale intellectual property theft? “Too complicated to prosecute, uwu”

That’s the take?

Now usually I’d love to speak to someone who makes some stupid statement like that.

Like “I’m gonna need you to walk me through this real slow like because right now my neurons are staging a mass die off event” kind of thing.

You’re telling me. You’re actually telling me, that we should crack down on individuals but when Richie Rich McMoneybags does it at scale, suddenly the law becomes “unworkable”?

Like some kind of legal Schrödinger’s Cat where crimes both exist and don’t exist depending on your net worth?

And this “industry” they’re worried about protecting?

Which one?

The one where:

Regular people get cease and desist letters that read like death threats?

While billionaires get think pieces about how prosecuting them might be “too hard”

Where theft is only theft when poor people do it?

Where “innovation” is just rich people speak for “I took your shit and made money”

That industry?

Because from where I’m sitting (currently in a puddle of my own confusion), it sounds like you’re defending the Theft Industry. The Grand Fucking Larceny Industry. The “Rules for Thee But Not for Me” Industry.

Sir Nick Clegg can get fuxed.

But honestly. Someone explain this to me like I’m five. Or drunk. Or a drunk five year old. Because right the logic is making about as much sense as a meat bicycle in a vegan parade.

If you want to read the article. I’ve slapped it into a google doc cause all of these paywalled B.S. peddlers need to get bent.

Stephen Walker

P.S. If Nick’s next thinkpiece contains the phrase “it’s complicated,” I’m gonna need you to know that my laptop might spontaneously combust from the sheer concentrated bullshit radiation.

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

Years ago when I was living in London.

Every Friday we’d have what we like to call a Drink and Draw.

Very long story short. We’d go to the local Wetherspoons (back when it wasn’t completely ass) cause we knew the owner.

When the time came to kick everyone else out. A bunch of us would be invited to stay over for a few more hours, go upstairs and push a couple of tables together.

Then we’d roll out this massive piece of industrial sized roll-y paper across the table. We’d grab our drinks and then for then next few hours we’d chat some shit, draw penises and write poetry on this massive wad of paper and have a good old time.

In between that. I’d be balancing a whiskey sour in my hand, after getting up and huddling over the sticky bar top to grab another round, on top of tapping out hints of an email while balanced precariously on a rickety barstool.

(I could swear it was about to collapse, but hey, that’s was half the fun during that night)

Some of us worked in advertising. Some of us were artists and some of us were students. It was one of the best times we had as we all had this thing we were doing. There was chaos and there was shenanigans…

So one night, after we’d thrown back one too many tequila shots. I mentioned Gary Provost’s quote about creating music with your sentences…

The quote went something like this:

“This sentence has five words. … So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. … Write music.”

And a couple of the younger lads in who were fresh in the advertising game were like:

“Why can’t we just do that modern copywriting thing? One line. Then another. Then another. Forever.” Because it’s easy?

Sure I said but it just sounded robotic and the same and because everyone else was doing it. It all blended in.

I suggested a bit of variety.

Don’t get me wrong. Single sentence paragraphs have their place. But it’s sure as hell not everywhere. Jump from short to long. Slip in a mid length drift. Make your reader’s brain cells stand up and do the cha cha instead of lulling them into a trance.

There needs to be a little bit of rhythm.

Sentences can punch like a boxer or roll like an orchestral swell. You get to decide which vibe each paragraph unleashes. One liners are the perfect jab. But follow with a flourish that draws out the tension, letting your words ring in the reader’s ears, building up to that big, satisfying knockout.

And I’ve always been about music, dammit…

If you stick to one repetitive beat, your “song” (a.k.a. your writing) is just a funeral dirge of blandness. You want a soundtrack with cymbals, strings, maybe a moody synth or two. Think of each sentence as a note and you’re the DJ mixing them into a banger.

Now, look, I’m not saying never use single sentence paragraphs. Hell, they can be as cinematically thrilling as an action movie’s final showdown. But like Gary Provost says, you gotta keep things fresh. Turn those words into music, not white noise.

All I’m saying is give this writing approach a shot. Vary your sentence length.

Embrace the short, the medium, and the extravagant. Make the prose sing, dance, and occasionally cackle with unhinged glee.

We’re not about sounding boring unless that’s the way you want to be…

Now if you excuse me. I have to go grab a pint and watch grown men kick a football around for 90 mins…

Stephen Walker

And if you wanted to see Gary P’s famous little quote. Go here: https://stphnwlkr.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/garyp.jpg

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

I’ve taken a pretty decent break from Twitter.

A lot of my writer-ly friends hang there and hidden in the trenches of #WritingCommunity and various other self pub hashtags and crying about being an indie writer, the common thing that comes up is:

“I haven’t sold any books!” or some variation of writing service they offer alongside selling their own warez.

But what makes me want to punch a wall is the whole “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” thing.

If people don’t know what’s on the menu. How are they gonna know what’s available to order?

You don’t want to be seen as one of those video game NPC characters that offer nothing but a “hey” when you talk to them…

And with A.I. taking over every platform with people posting the same old generated bullshit in MASSIVE quantities…

1 meek little post won’t cut it if you want to be seen, heard and bought from. Let alone taken seriously.

I honestly don’t care if you’ve been thinking about starting a thing. Whether you sell feet pics to the degens or want to sell your creative musings to the world.

The most important thing you need to do is show up daily and just be you.

Yeah people are going to start giving you shit, but the cool thing is. Those are the types of people who aren’t gonna support you and would probably never buy from you (Unless they have some weird rage-buying fetish…)

And that’s okay. Not everyone’s gonna be a fan.

I can yap on about this all day but it just needs to be raised every now and then.

You’re an amazing creative human and the world deserves to see, appreciate and buy your art.

So maybe this email will find you well and you’ll decided to get that idea that’s been swirling around inside of your brain meats, throw out into the world and finally get the good humans on your side, while filling your pockets with a few coins…

But for now if you need a little kick up the ass. You know what to do.

Hit reply and I’ll give you the medicine.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

I was lucky to sit down have a consultation with the man himself, Ben Settle.

Ben is like marmite as they say here in the UK.

You either love it or your hate it and the same goes for him.

His ways are deliberate and they all make sense.

So there’s no secret that I write short stories in a range of genres, across different pen names and it’s something I don’t usually talk about. Mainly because I was never sure where I wanted to take it.

The call I had with Ben today has straightened out where I need to be. Especially with the way the whole creative / writing industry is heading, especially with our A.I overlords…

And to sum up the call it was really like with a lot that he teaches…

You need to do more to build out your world and get the right people in while keeping the ones you don’t want at bay.

And with all the research I’ve done on my market/genre there’s a lot of lack in that industry for someone to step in and be a “guru” figure head.

So yeah. I’ve got the rest of 2025 mapped out and now I need to get to work.

I’d highly recommend checking out his stuff. Jump on his list and learn from him.

It doesn’t matter what you do. His ways make sense because they are rooted in old school principles.

Stephen Walker.

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

I gave myself a little talking to today.

“Sit down. Wipe the Cheeto dust off your fingers if you must. We gotta talk.”

Me to my 18yo self basically.

As much as I could go back to my younger self and instil whatever wisdom I have painfully obtained over the years.

It still leads me back to the shitshow of 2020.

Because as much as I hate to admit it. We’re still up to our eyeballs in the same entertainment hell loop we fell into when 2020 rolled around. Remember it?

The world hit pause, and we all hit play.

Streaming became a lifestyle.

TikTok became a verb.

Zoom meetings became the place where your soul goes to die, even to this day.

(I’ve got one tomorrow and it’s the only one I’m actually looking forward to haha)

And somewhere, in whatever online wreckage came about, you and I became… content consumers.

Like rats pushing the dopamine lever. It all started to become weirdly addictive.

Everything evolved. (Like COVID, but less respiratory failure and more terminal cringe)

Now, you can’t just passively scroll, doom or otherwise.

You gotta be a guru.

A Thought Leader™.

A “personal brand.”

Which, let’s be honest, is just a fancy way of saying “the internet wants you to cosplay as Tony Robbins with an Instagram filter and a newsletter.”

But why?

Because the internet is bubbling over with festering A.I. generated slop.

Articles that read like a blender full of SEO keywords and corporate word salad. Shiny LinkedIn posts with zero actual human fingerprints (or, hell, fingerprints at all. Just smooth, uncanny valley language that makes you want to delete your brain for 48 hours)

“Experts” who’ve never done anything except regurgitate ChatGPT’s last meal.

So people…

The real, squishy, flawed, eye twitching people… are hunting for something else.

You can feel it, right?

That hunger for (and as much as I am in deep pain as I type the next word…)

Authenticity…

For the kind of artist who actually gives a damn about the craft, not just the clicks. For someone who bleeds on the page, who cares about the people they influence (even if they’re just yelling into space some days, like me, like you, like all of us)

And the thing is. There’s a craving for connection.

Being a “guru” is just the latest side quest.

You don’t need to be the all knowing oracle on a mountaintop. You just have to be the least bullshitty person in the room.

And if you’ve seen what’s passing for that online. It’s a low bar. So step over it.

Share your screw ups. Your weird hobbies. Your unhealthy obsession with Inbox Zero or Days Gone.

I’m still not over that post apocalyptic video game. It’s a support group at this point…

A.I. is the new gluten.

Everyone’s either allergic to it or pretending they are.

So what do you do?

You write like a human.

You bleed, sweat, and occasionally cry into your keyboard.

You call out the fakes, the flakes, the “look at me, I’m a thought leader because my bot said so” types.

And the real sauce is:

You don’t have to be perfect. You just have to be real.

You have to give a shit about the art, the audience, and the impact.

And if you’re worried about being too much, too weird, too honest? Just lean in.

So, yeah. We’re still stuck in the entertainment era. A hamster wheel powered by memes, robots, and the occasional clown with a chainsaw, but now, if you want to survive, you have to be the human in the room.

The one who cares.

The one who creates, not just for the bots, but for the person on the other side of the screen.

Be the anti-bot.

Be the artist.

Be the kind of “guru” who admits they’re full of shit sometimes, but keeps showing up anyway.

TL;DR version:

We’re still in the content circus. Now, more than ever, being a real, messy, passionate human is your only ticket out of the A.I. funhouse. So grab your chainsaw. Let’s go cause some trouble.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

You know the drill. You’re sitting there, staring at the blinking cursor.

The coffee’s cold, your brain feels like a sad lump of potato salad left out at a barbecue, and the only thing you’re creating is a growing sense of dread.

Then it happens. Your body betrays you.

You blink. Maybe just a little too slow. And BAM. The Sandman sucker punches you, dragging you into the abyss of an unplanned nap.

When you wake up. Disoriented, drooling, and for a minute or two you think you’re either back in 1996 or the middle of an apocalypse…

You think, “Well, that was useless.”

But oh, my sweet, groggy friend, you couldn’t be more wrong…

Nap are the secret sauce to my creativity.

I always think of naps as some sort of mental car wash.

Power washing off all the grime of overthinking. You wake up with that weird, half dream haze, where ideas start connecting in ways they wouldn’t when you’re awake.

(Why does the villain in your story suddenly need a pet ostrich? Who cares. It’s genius. I’m gonna run with it)

There’s also this post nap weirdness.

That foggy, groggy state? Pure gold. It’s like your brain hasn’t quite reloaded all its filters yet, so your thoughts are raw, unpolished, uninhibited. You’re too disoriented to judge yourself, which means you’re primed to create something unexpected.

We don’t want perfection cause that is boring. Chaos is where all the good shit lives.

You know how your computer works better after you reboot it?

Same deal with your brain. That short nap hits the reset button on your mental processes, giving you a fresh perspective. Even if you wake up feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck driven by a drowsy clown.

So keep a notebook handy. When you wake up, write down whatever weird ass thoughts are floating around in your head. Don’t worry if they make sense. “Purple cactus apocalypse” might not mean anything now, but it could be the seed of your next big idea.

People on social media are trying to tell you not to lean into the weird.

I say do the opposite.

That post nap haze is where the good stuff lives. You’d be silly to fight it…

Embrace it. Write the things, draw the things, create the things.

Keep the naps short. Preferably 30-45 minutes. You don’t wanna be dancing with Sleep Purgatory. There is no creativity there. Only grumpiness…

I guess I could say this is some sort of self care routine too.

Self deprivation does the same thing too but that is not something I’d recommend. Unless you want think up some genuine nightmare fuel for your next horror story.

Well. It’s just after 9pm here now and that nap served me well.

Stephen Walker

https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

Heading into a nice little sun filled weekend.

I just wanted to take the time to say thank you and how much I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read and reply to my shenanigans.

I’ve made people laugh, cry or irrationally angry over technology, business, psychology and even books, movies and series.

I don’t do it to be malicious. I do it because I care about all of those things that line up in the creative world and all of the shifts that are happening.

And if I can give you a little option to think differently about a topic. I’ll write about it here.

I’ll keep showing up daily as always.

I appreciate you for sticking around and I’ll catch you later.

Time to go soak up the last little bit of Sun of the day…

Stephen Walker

P.S. If you want to keep up with my random memes, shit posts and occasionally wisdom drops. Come say hello over here: https://www.facebook.com/stphnwlkr

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

Check this headline out “Netflix will show generative AI ads midway through streams in 2026”

Netflix (and every other corporate shytlord) is doubling down on ways to distract you, monetise your attention, and make “content consumption” your default state.

Meanwhile, social media feeds you carefully curated highlight reels of others…

Making it easy to feel like you, raw, real, and unpolished aren’t enough.

And the crazy thing is. The more the world tries to homogenise, commodify, and shrink you into a “target audience,” the more powerful it becomes to show up exactly as you are.

Authenticity is genuine rebellion, like going back to the punk days.

And consistency is your superpower.

Cause showing up in the way you want is what’ll set you apart.

You remember when we used to sit around the campfire when we were younger and technology wasn’t all in your face?

We’d shoot the shit, tell stories, laugh and even fall in love.

Those were the simpler times. (The better times imho)

And the thing is. People are now slowly looking for it in the online space too.

Blogs, forums and shitty sites built by solo folks and yes…

Email too.

There is a shift happening and when it takes off. If you’re showing up as your weird self every day. People we see you as the “campfire” they want to hang around.

So if you haven’t written that blog post, email or built a terribly shitty site to sell your warez…

Get to it.

Stephen Walker

Obnoxiously super long hyperlink to the article that did this write up if you’re curious to read it…

P.S. The next time Netflix tries to sell you a mid roll ad for something you don’t need, remember this… Your attention is valuable. Spend it on things (and people) that deserve it. Starting with you.

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

So a few days ago I wrote about watching some of the classic Final Destination movies.

And tonight I thought I’d treat myself by taking myself on a date to watch the new Final Destination Bloodlines…

Let me tell you. It was equal bits cheesy and great all wrapped into one.

The thing with these types of movies is that yes they may be predictable and the characters easily guessed in terms of the roles they play…

But there is equally a reason behind why such cult fanbases emerge for the genre of these types of films.

Yeah it’s B rated horror thriller trash. But it’s my kind of trash and to be honest it’s a treasure in and of itself…

They’re easily predictible.

They always show up and are consistent throughout their genre and they always keep you guessing.

That is why from a writers POV – I love these films.

If you can show up every day.

Show your imperfections.

And show your audience your true character.

You will always win.

And so it is with these types of films and how it should be with your work.

That is it.

Follow this “pattern” and your audience will love you for it.

Stephen Walker

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

So we all get caught chasing micro hits of dopamine while doomscrolling our way through another social media hellscape of the day…

Similar to how a rat would inside of a Skinner box except the box is your phone, and the cheese is that glorious, glowing red notification.

And so this whole “you gotta do a dopamine detox” thing pops up every now and then.

No, not the kind where you go live in a cave and eat moss until you hallucinate a spirit animal.

I mean the kind where you pry your eyeballs off whatever internet hamster wheel we’ve created since the 90s and try to…

Wait for it… (In my best Barney Stinson impression)

…be a person again.

The internet is broken. No, not like “404 error” broken.

Like “Twitter is now X, Elon is cosplaying as Emperor Palpatine, and everyone is arguing about whether pineapple belongs on pizza while Rome burns” broken.

Also just a sidenote: Pineapple belongs wherever the hell you want it. Also, stop fighting about it, you beautiful weirdos.

But why you might ask?

Well sometimes your brain resembles a microwave burrito left on high for too long.

Every dumb argument you avoid = one more neuron that survives the gladiator pit of internet discourse.

You might just maybe remember what it’s like to enjoy things without needing 12 strangers to validate you with heart emojis or that obnoxious little fucker cry face emoji.

You get to watch your sanity crawl back from the abyss, middle finger raised at all of those politically bent algorithms trying to mainline outrage straight into your cortex.

Generally speaking. Social media is a dumpster fire, and you’re the raccoon poking around for scraps of validation and memes. (No shame. We all love a good meme. But raccoons get rabies)

You don’t want rabies, right?

You don’t have to quit everything. (cue dramatic Hans Zimmer score)

Because the only thing you’re not allowed by law, by blood oath, by whatever eldritch contract you signed when you landed here…

Is to quit is these emails. My emails. The ones you’re reading right now.

Because unlike the endless scroll of “who wore it better” and “your uncle Gary’s political meltdown,” this is the good stuff. The dopamine you want. Not the kind that makes you want to bleach your brain with off brand tequila.

Stay subscribed, and I’ll keep showing up in your inbox like a friendly poltergeist with stories, rants, the occasional existential crisis, and zero pineapple on pizza debates. (Unless I’m feeling spicy. Then all bets are off)

Unsubscribe? That’s banishment, friend.

Exile. You’ll be cast into the outer darkness, where there is only weeping, gnashing of teeth, and endless TikToks about air fryers.

So again your prescription for today:

Detox from the social media platforms you dont need to be on.

Take a walk. Eat some real pizza. Hug a tree. Scream into the void or whatever.

But keep these emails. This is your lifeline. Your golden ticket. Your permission slip to sanity.

Stephen Walker

Thibaut Meurisse has a slew of productivity books and his dopamine detox book is spot on.

P.S. The unsubscribe button is a trap. Don’t touch it.

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

Hey you. Yes, you.

The one reading this email instead of working or whatever…

I get asked this occasionally and so I thought I’d just give you the down and dirty way of making coins on the internet.

And like everyone now in this space we’ve all started off by googling something like “how to make money online” only to then be bombarded with penis pills and shitty adverts on shitty blogs selling crap.

I actually miss the early 2000s internet tbh.

Anyways here goes…

You don’t need a degree, a trust fund, or the charisma of a golden retriever. You need a page.

Just like the one that landed you on this email list. Yeah, that one. The sneaky little opt in that promised forbidden knowledge and delivered, well, me. The one with the words and the things and the stuff.

And so it is with step 1.

The Page is the Thing

Call it a sales page, a landing page, a digital mousetrap. The goal? Catch eyeballs. (Not literally. Please don’t go all Cronenberg on your audience)

Write like you’re having a 1 on1 with your reader. Not a speech. Not a TED Talk. More like, “Hey, I see you. You want this thing? Here’s why you need it. Here’s why you’d be a fool not to click buy.”

Don’t overthink your first offer. Ebook? Mini course? Niche templates for left handed underwater basket weavers?

It does. Not. Matter.

Just pick something. Ship it. (Perfectionism is a corpse in a clown suit. Leave it behind.)

And if you see the things that are floating around on the internet now…

There is a market for EVERYTHING.

And so it is with a simple process.

If you’re good at a specific thing you can teach others how to do it. Let’s just for interest say you do Yoga and have done so for years.

You can jump onto Amazon and search for anything and everything Yoga related. Read some reviews, especially the terrible ones and see if there something that is missing. A likely problem that’s not specific.

So you’ve found the problem and you know how to solve it because hey you’ve been there.

So you spend a few hours writing a little guide or a mini book on the topic. It doesn’t have to be hundreds of pages. Just short and sweet and to the point.

So you’ve got your thing and you’re setting up your page to sell that thing. You’re basically in business.

Now you just need to get eyeballs on it.

Where do those eyeballs come from? Anywhere where people talk about Yoga.

Pinterest. Reddit. Facebook Groups and Pages, Twitter etc.

The thing is. It really is this simple. It’s not easy because you have to do a bit of work and learn a whole bunch of new things but once you make that first sale.

That’s when the shift inside happens.

And when you’ve got them on an email list that is just about Yoga and yoga best practices, guess what?

You can talk about Yoga and sell them more stuff about it too.

This is the type of thing I do and it’s fun.

I’ve also recommended this book in the past. It goes more into concepts of direct response marketing which applies to old print styled marketing and selling, but this all applies online too.

Now go make a thing and go sell the thing.

Stephen Walker

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

Here’s how you can build a “voice” so entertaining even your inner critic will shut up and listen…

But first let’s hit a little truth.

Not everyone’s born with the electric charm of a stand up comic.

(R.I.P George Carlin)

And you? Maybe you’re about as riveting as a beige wall at dusk.

Maybe you have the personality of cold oatmeal.

Maybe you’re convinced there’s a secret gene for “entertaining writer” and, oops, you missed the distribution line.

But there is some good news. It’s not the end of the road for you just yet…

The lies you’ve been told are all total bullshit.

Entertaining voices aren’t just something you’re born with. It takes years of being exposed to other people’s parts.

(Woah that sounds a bit pervy lol but I’m not rewriting it cause it’ll make sense in the next sentence)

Mix that in with some weird obsessions, and a dash of unhinged self awareness and you got something that is wildly Frankensteined together that even Mary Shelley would’ve been proud of.

The thing is. You can build yours, right here, right now. No sacrificial goats required (unless you’re into that, in which case, yikes, but also: we’ll need to talk)

How do we do it?

Blatant Outright Theft

Yep that’s right. No we aren’t going to prison but keep reading…

Consume: Read, watch, listen, scroll. Devour writers with voices you wish you had. Chuck Palahniuk, Samantha Irby, that one unhinged TikToker who reviews haunted dolls. It doesn’t matter. Drown in their cadence, their metaphors, their attitude.

Dissect: What makes their voice work? Is it the cussing? The pop culture deep cuts? The way they break the fourth wall and slap you with a joke? (The answer is yes, yes, and hell yes)

Remix: Grab what works. Stitch it together with your own weird quirks. Like that time you ate an entire pizza alone while doom scrolling Twitter. Mash it all up until it sounds less like “carbon copy” and more like I dunno? A casserole?

Sneaky Pro tip in Italics: The only original thing in art is your voice. Everything else is recycled. So steal. Steal with style.

Write Like Nobody’s Watching (Because Nobody Is, Yet)

…and you’re not going to have some writer-ly committee peering over your shoulder and watching you type words…

So get to it.

Break grammar rules. On purpose. Sentence fragments? Do it. Em dashes like you’re fencing with punctuation?

Hell yes. Parentheticals (like this) to whisper secrets to the reader? Don’t just allow it. Use it like a weapon.

(Tbh I used to love a good Em dash, but since A.I. has shit all over the internet while using it incorrectly, I’d maybe give that one a little bit of a swerve for now)

Talk to the reader. Second person isn’t just a POV.

When you think of second person. It’s more of a direct line. A psychic text message, straight into their brain.

“You ever feel like your writing is a cardboard cutout? Yeah, me too. Let’s set it on fire.”

Get weird. Use metaphors that make people squint and then snort.

“My prose was so dry it could sand the paint off a car. Time to lube it up with some personality.”

If you feel slightly embarrassed hitting “publish,” you’re probably on the right track.

Why? Because that shit is entertaining. I’m here to entertain myself firstly and if I’m entertained. You’re entertained.

Turn Up the Volume on You

1) Mine your flaws. Are you anxious? Chronically sarcastic? A recovering perfectionist who alphabetises their cereal?

Good. That’s fuel.

The world doesn’t need another slick, sanitised “personal brand.” It needs the real, raw, slightly unhinged you.

2) Embrace the cringe. Your inner critic is a gremlin that lives under your desk, gnawing on your confidence.

Give it something spicy to chew on. Like a story about the time you peed yourself in third grade.

(No? Just me? Moving on)

3) Make lists. (See what I did there?)

Bullet points and numbered lists are dopamine for the ADHD riddled TikTok internet brain.

Use them. Abuse them. Break up your text like it owes you money.

Bonus Round: Horror, Humour, and Heartbreak. Mix It Liberally

Nobody wants oatmeal. They want something electric, something that makes them laugh, wince, and maybe clutch their pearls. So throw in a little body horror

“My first draft was a shambling zombie, missing half a face. Beautiful in its grotesquery”

A little gallows humour, and a little raw, emotional honesty, bleeding right through your lines.

And if it gets a little messy? Good. Messy is memorable.

TL;DR:

Your voice isn’t missing. It’s just waiting for you to get weird, get real, and stop trying to be “professional.”

Break stuff. Eat the paint chips. Write something so entertaining, your inner critic will slink back into its lair, too stunned to complain.

We only live once, so we better make it memorable and entertaining.

Stephen Walker

P.S. I’m not gonna make you click any links today and do my bidding and if you’ve made it this far. I appreciate you sticking around and reading what pours out of my skull cavern.

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

You ever get that itch?

Not the “should probably see a doctor” kind.

But the one where you want something gloriously dumb, gory, and absolutely unapologetic in its pursuit of fun?

Yeah. Here comes Clown in a Cornfield.

Cause sometimes you want a clown with a grudge and a combine harvester and not some prime hollywood masterpiece.

Not everything needs to be high concept.

Not every story needs to be a tortured maze of literary ambition.

Sometimes you need… cheese.

Sticky, neon orange, slasher movie grade cheese.

I want to see Clown in a Cornfield because it promises exactly that.

Kills you can cheer for.

Characters you can root for (or at least bet on in your group chat)

A villain so ridiculous and on the nose, it circles back around to genius.

A plot that’s basically “adults are mad, teens are madder, and somewhere in between, a clown is out for blood.”

Cause if you don’t. You get stuck.

You freeze up, overthinking, overengineering, turning your brain into a lukewarm bowl of mashed potatoes.

You forget that joy is allowed. Especially in horror. Which I know is probably the weirdest thing I’ve said.

Joy in horror.

But having a bit of cheese in a creative sense isn’t the enemy.

Cheese is the glue that holds the slasher sandwich together.

It’s the reason we remember the fun stories, not just the “worthy” ones.

So, yeah, I want to see Clown in a Cornfield. Not just for the blood and the banter.

Cause sometimes the best kind of art is the kind that makes you grin, groan, and fist pump at a well timed decapitation.

Stephen Walker

The silly review is over here if you’re interested

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

Pull up a chair. Wipe off the mysterious pub goo first, unless you want to lose a hand to the sticky abyss.

Settle in, because I’m about to drop a couple truth bombs with the grace of a Final Destination premonition meaning, zero grace, and a fuckload of broken glass.

So…

Final Destination: Bloodline. (Holy shit I can’t wait to watch it)

The franchise that’s been teaching us, since time immemorial (or at least since Devon Sawa was a thing), that DEATH is a petty, vindictive bastard with a flair for the dramatic.

You think you can outmaneuver the Grim Reaper?

Please…

You can’t even dodge a pool noodle at your nephew’s birthday party.

Death has rules.

Death has a list.

Death doesn’t care about your feelings, your TikTok, or your self care Sunday.

(Death probably is the algorithm, honestly. The original shadowbanned content creator.)

You know what else has rules?

This email list.

That’s right. Once you’re on, you’re on.

Blood pact. Digital soul-binding-cult-initiation or whatever…

You unsubscribe? That’s it. You’re dead to me.

Not in the “oh, I’ll miss your warm presence” way. more in the “your inbox is now haunted by the ghost of emails past and no, Karen, you can’t come back because you regretted rage-unsubscribing at 2am.”

And so with this here list here are some things:

1. You sign up? You’re family. (The kind that might eat you if the apocalypse comes, but hey, family.)
2. You leave? You’re gone. No zombie resurrection, no phoenix-from-the-ashes bullshit.
3. (Fine, sometimes I let people back in. But only if you bribe me with artisanal gin/whiskey/cheese, a mixtape, and a signed confession that you once cried at a Fast & Furious movie.)

Why so harsh? Because rules are the only thing standing between us and total fucking chaos.

Look at Final Destination.

Every time someone tries to bend the rules, people end up as human origami in a hardware store.

You want that? I don’t want that.

Existential writing advice time (because I’m generous like that)

Death is coming. For me. For you. For that weird guy who always microwaves fish at work.

You can’t unsubscribe from mortality, either.

The universe is a vending machine filled with expired snacks and every slot is marked “SURPRISE BITCH.”

We’re all just meat puppets doing the cha cha at the edge of the void.

But I’ll let you in on a little secret:

If you’re gonna dance with DEATH. Or my email list. At least do it with style. Don’t unsubscribe. Don’t look back. Don’t try to cheat the system, because the system has teeth. And they’re hungry.

You stay, you get the goods. You leave, you get nothing.

And if you come crawling back, well…

Maybe I’ll let you in. Maybe I’ll send you a single, cryptic email: “Too late. DEATH’S already in your inbox.”

Now. Buy me a drink. I’m thirsty, and I hear the bartender’s got a mean existential crisis on tap.

Stay alive,

Stephen Walker

P.S. If you really need to cheat death, try unplugging your router and hiding under the bed. It won’t work, but hey. It’s worth a shot? Here’s the new trailer that dropped yesterday too for Final Destination: Bloodlines. It’s wild.

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

When you’re online.

Your life is usually run by some internet algorithms force fed into your eyeballs on whatever platform you use.

They’re cleverly tailored to the posts we interact with, the things we share and where exactly we’re interacting from.

Usually when I’m researching ideas or concepts I’m all over the web. From Youtube to Reddit to Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

It all gets a bit exhausting sometimes and yes. A lot of people are like “Just use ChatGPT bro”

And tbh the only GPT I will use is the one I’ll leave at the bottom of this email which I know you’ll read because you’re awesome and I’m awesome.

Anywho…

So I’m creating a document of ideas that are linked to what I do. Writing. Copy. Sales. All the creative stuff etc.

Those are the things I’m going to expand and create micro books on that are roughly about 15 pages long (give or take)

But then Youtube hit me with a music set recommendation that just had such a good vibe. It had sound bites from fellow South Africans. A deep house-y mix and it just lifted my mood. The last days have been a rollercoaster but this set came in clutch.

I guess the point of the email is that sometimes things come into our lives, be it algorithms sending us what we need, people or something as silly as a day where the sun is awesome and the coffee is good.

So while I’m doing all this research.

I’m listening to this magical set right here and thought you’d enjoy it…

And if you want to know my GPT recommendation.

You definitely don’t want to click on this obnoxiously long link that will take you to the best tool ever.

Stephen Walker

P.S. The sound bite around 09:00 on that set is true about us Capetonians.

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

We’ve all been there…

Brain turned to lukewarm, lumpy potato slop, thoughts dribbling through your mental colander like sad, watery starch.

You’re staring at a blank page that’s staring back with all the silent judgment of a disappointed parent.

The cursor blinks. And blinks. And blinks.

And you? You got nothing.

The brain tank is empty.

That well of creativity doesn’t exist anymore. Well for today at least.

We always talk about muse around these parts and how it’s not true.

But in this case. Your muse? She’s in Tahiti with your ex and they’re laughing at you.

Now usually this is the part where you’ll drown your sorrows in strong coffee or any of your favourite alcoholic beverages of choice…

(Kavalan Ex Sherry Oak Single Malt Whisky anyone?)

But the brain isn’t broken. It’s just temporarily stuck in potato state.

When this happens to me, and sweet crispy Christ, it happens a lot.

I don’t try to force anything from the mashed potato. It’s kind of like trying to squeeze blood from a turnip or whatever the saying is and now you’ve just got turnip mush all over your hands and that’s worse.

But I’ve got this unholy trinity of brain-de-potatoization that works pretty well:

GET WEIRD INPUT: Read something so far outside your comfort zone it makes you itchy. Taxidermy manuals. Medieval cookbooks. Technical documents about sewer systems. The stranger, the better. Your brain needs to be ambushed by weirdness.

NOTICE THE FUCKED UP DETAILS: That weird stain on your ceiling? The way your neighbour always walks their dog at precisely 4:17 PM? The inexplicable noises your refrigerator makes at 2 AM? PAY ATTENTION.

RAID YOUR PAST SELF: Dig through your old notes. Your past self might have had better ideas than potato-you. Steal from that smarter version of yourself shamelessly…

And if you’re like me who likes truth that is wrapped in bacon and deep fried?

Originality is mostly bullshit. Everything’s been done. What makes your work yours is the unique clusterfuck of influences you’ve absorbed and how your particular brain vomits them back out onto the page.

There’s no need to wait around for the perfect idea to descend from the heavens like some divine turd of inspiration. Feed your brain weird shit. Notice weird shit. Remember weird shit you already thought of.

Then write. Even if it’s garbage. Especially if it’s garbage.

Garbage can be composted. Mashed potatoes just congeal.

And now we go write some more, damn it.

Here’s what you can read to level up your weird when your brain isn’t doing the thing…

Stephen Walker

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

I’ve been on a Hemingway kick again and so I thought I’d write a little prose the way he would’ve…

I think I nailed it but hey, it’s the message that counts.

On Sensitivity

Don’t apologise for being sensitive. It’s not weakness. It’s strength.

A leopard never apologises for sharp hearing, night vision, or keen smell. It uses these gifts to survive.

Leopards weigh less than men but drag prey three times their size up trees. They can reach forty miles per hour from a standstill. They stalk. They outsmart.

Your sensitivity is like this.

The world lies. It says sensitivity makes you emotional, manipulated, broken, burdensome. Not true.

Your sensitivity is night vision in a world of the blind. You notice tone shifts. Family tensions. Beauty others miss.

It’s not just for enduring. It’s for using. While others play checkers, you see the whole chess board. You detect lies. You read rooms instantly.

Don’t hide it. Don’t numb it. Sharpen it.

Sensitivity is dangerous as a black widow in a glove. Dangerous as a knife in darkness. Dangerous as a watching leopard.

It makes you a better friend, lover, artist, human.

When someone calls you “too sensitive,” don’t smile politely. Smile like a leopard before it rips your face off.

Your sensitivity isn’t your burden. It’s your weapon.

Use it.

Stephen Walker

This collection of Hemingway shorts are my favourite and you can learn a lot about writing tight copy and prose if you go through it.

P.S. The most dangerous people I know are the ones who feel everything and have learned not to apologise for it.

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

So I’m sitting here in my Vader socks (the ones with the little capes on the back) and my ancient Empire Strikes Back t-shirt that’s barely holding together, thinking about what Star Wars has meant to me over the years.

Not just the movies. The whole damn universe, the fandom, the arguments about whether Han shot first (he did), and that weird period where we all pretended the prequels didn’t exist before eventually embracing them like the problematic family members they are.

(Just kidding about having Vader socks and my old Empire Strikes Back t-shirt, but I needed to give you that visual. They got lost into the aether many years ago but I do still think about them and I really need to get them again)

But when it comes to this thing. Finding something to love this intensely? It’s not just for fun. It’s necessary.

We all need our Star Wars. Or our Marvel. Or stamp collecting. Or whatever weird niche thing makes your heart beat faster when you talk about it for too long at parties. The thing that makes people say “wow, you’re REALLY into that, huh?”

(Translation: please stop talking about lightsaber physics.)

Because these fandoms save us from ourselves.

Remember when I went through that apocalyptically bad breakup in 2019? Who pulled me through? Not therapy (though that helped eventually) It was the Star Wars marathon weekend at mates place where we argued about Kylo Ren’s redemption arc until 5AM. It was the Discord server where strangers became friends because we all collectively lost our minds over The Mandalorian.

Community is everything. It’s oxygen, it’s connection, it’s belonging. Even when that community is arguing about whether Rey’s character development was butchered in Rise of Skywalker (it was)

I’ve seen this pattern everywhere.

Someone falls in love with something, anything and suddenly they’re not alone anymore.

They’re part of something bigger. They have people who get their references, who speak their language.

Who understand why they cried when Luke showed up in The Mandalorian (I’m not crying, you’re crying)

So today.

This holiest of nerd holidays. I hope you’re indulging in whatever fandom lights you up. Whether it’s Star Wars or something else entirely. These passions are lifelines we need to hang onto.

I’m off to rewatch Rogue One for the 87th time and pretend I won’t sob uncontrollably at the ending.

The Force will be with you. Always.

Stephen Walker

P.S. If you tell anyone I got emotional writing this email, I’ll deny it harder than George Lucas denies the existence of the Star Wars Holiday Special.

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

I don’t very often get sucked into vidyagame

But while taking some time off. I got sucked into Days Gone and today I needed to write about it.

And if you know me, you know how I get with these post apocalyptic survival games (obsessive, slightly unhinged, definitely sleep deprived)

Starting off. The game isn’t perfect. The pacing sometimes feels like a drunk guy trying to ride a motorcycle through a horde of freakers. (Zombies for the uninitiated)

BUT…

The storytelling? The characters? That’s where this shit shines.

Deacon St. John could’ve been Generic Gruff Protagonist #457, but instead he’s this beautifully broken mess of a human who somehow makes you root for him while he’s literally setting people on fire.

His relationship with Boozer?

(And when I first heard the name I just pictured some old alcoholic dude sitting at the edge of a smoky bar)

The relationship is pure gold. It’s that ride or die friendship that doesn’t feel forced, you know?

The kind where they’d literally take a bullet (or a freaker bite) for each other.

And just cause my brain works this way. Here few lessons from a writer-ly if you like to spin a story…

1) Imperfect protagonists are your friends. Deacon’s got rage issues, trust problems, and the emotional processing skills of a constipated toddler and it works. Your characters should be messy. They should make decisions that make readers scream “WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” at the page. You can do that in your marketing too. The whole when they zig you zag or jump off a cliff. I dunno?

2) Environmental storytelling is underrated as hell. The abandoned Nero checkpoints, the hastily evacuated camps. Days Gone lets the world tell half the story. You don’t need to explain everything through dialogue when a child’s abandoned teddy bear next to an empty bottle of pills can punch your audience right in the gut.

3) Relationships are what hold apocalyptic stories together. Not the zombies. I mean, “freakers.” Not the cool bikes. It’s watching Deacon and Sarah’s love story unfold in those flashbacks. It’s Iron Mike’s stubborn pacifism against the brutal world. These connections give weight to all the throat slitting and molotov throwing. Which is also probably one of my favourite parts to this game. That and I like to watch things burn in person and in a vidya game too.

Remember how we talked about my zombie fatigue in the past? This game somehow made me care about another fucking zombie apocalypse in 2025 which is basically a storytelling miracle.

The way they handle the biker culture stuff is surprisingly nuanced too. You get this whole code, this brotherhood thing that’s simultaneously toxic and life saving.

(Side note: I would 100% die within the first 15 minutes of any apocalypse scenario, but playing this game made me briefly consider whether I should buy a motorcycle “just in case.”)

Anyways. You playing anything good lately? I need something new before I start a second playthrough and completely destroy my sleep schedule again.

Check it out over here on steam or if you’ve got one of those fancy console types I’m sure you can find it on their own store or whatever…

Stephen Walker

P.S. Now I’m about go indulge in a fancy IPA and watch that new MobLand series on Paramount+

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

“To anyone I’ve offended, I just want to say: I re-invented electric cars and I’m sending people to Mars in a rocket ship. Did you also think I was gonna be a chill, normal dude?” – Elon Musk

Normally, I like to think I’m a pretty chill dude.

​
Agreeable. Easygoing.

​
Even downright pleasant, on a good day.

​
And I think the entrepreneurs I coach would agree.

​
​Normally.

​
But sometimes…

​
Once in a while…

​
Easygoing just don’t get the job done.

​
​Sometimes, the only answer is violence.

​
Here are three of those times, pulled directly from real client interactions over the past few months.

​
(coaching clients in bold)
​

​
​”My team is pissed at me, Stripe just held a huge payout, and a client just quit. I feel really overwhelmed.”

​
“You gonna pack it in and go back to school?”

​
​”Hell no.”

​
“Then shut the fxck up and get back to work. This ‘aint cuddle-your-feelings time, this is war.”
​

​
​”I’m doing well but my mind keeps saying ‘oh shit this could blow up at any moment.’ How do I get rid of those thoughts?”

​
“You don’t. You listen to them.

​
Your business could blow up at any moment, and it likely will, unless you patch the vulnerabilities that could make it blow up.

​
Your mind is telling you something you need to hear…

​

…And just because it doesn’t feel good doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
​

​
​”My family has been calling me all week, asking me to stop because they know I’m really stressed out.”

​
“Get out of here with that family shit.

​
If they’ve never run a business, they don’t get a seat at the table.
​

Men in the arena don’t take advice from spectators.”
​

​
​I share these examples for two reasons:​
​

I find them entertaining.
Most people radically underestimate the violence involved in high-level entrepreneurship.

​
I’m not saying you need to Goggins yourself.

​
(you don’t, and you shouldn’t)

​
But I am saying that if you enter the arena:

​
​Be prepared to fight.​

​
I hope these examples help fuel your own fight, whatever it may be.

​
Happy Friday.

​

• T

​
​P.S. In case you missed it earlier this week, here’s…

​
​How To Build A Business While Working 9 to 5​

​

And, here’s…

​

​

3 things that will make your weekend better

What to read, watch and be inspired by this weekend.

​
​Lamb: The gospel according to Biff​
The story of Christ, as told by his childhood best friend… Who also happens to be a hilarious twat who punches angels in the face, hits on Jesus’ Mom, sleeps with the concubines of one of the Three Wise Men, and much more. A damn good time.

​
​Naval on Modern Wisdom ​
Finally making my way through this beast of a podcast episode, now that I’m out of my solo retreat. Naval’s first appearance on Rogan (in 2019) is often called “the best podcast episode of all time.” I have no doubt this one will hit just as hard, if not harder.

​
​OCEAN: John Butler (66M Views)
So glad I stumbled back across this video earlier. This song carried me through some wild backpacking adventures in my mid-20’s, and is one of the best displays of mastery of a craft I’ve ever seen (wait ’till you hit the ~5 minute mark).
​

​
​”Children see magic because they look for it.” – Christopher Moore, Lamb

​

​

​

​

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

“You did it. You’ve finally scaled the Everest of modern technobullshit…

Inbox Zero.

And not the fake kind, where you just archive everything and hope no one notices.

No. You fought the beast. You unsubscribed. You purged. You deleted.”

This was the my day. I kept telling myself some wild heroes journey story like above.

At first, it was simple. A couple of newsletters I vaguely remember signing up for when I was a little drunk.

“Oh, I should really read more about productivity hacks,” was a thought I had six months ago…

Just put all of those bullshit emails in the bin.

Then the whole “We Miss You! Here’s 20% Off That Thing You Looked at Once in 2017.”

No, you don’t miss me. You don’t even know me. Delete.

Next was the:

“Your Horoscope Says You Need This Essential Oil Set!”

My horoscope says I need less stress, not a lavender scented pyramid scheme, Barbara.

And don’t even get me started on the brands that think every single click is grounds for a lifelong relationship.

You bought one pair of socks, and suddenly they’re acting like you owe them joint custody of your inbox.

Fuck that noise.

The best though…

Were the ones that played dirty. “Are you sure you want to leave? We’ll stop sending emails, but we’ll miss you!” Oh, spare me the guilt trip, Brenda. You’re a bot.

Okay well it’s not really a love story but I’m sure you get the drift.

I’ve actively been looking for cool people and cool brands to subscribe to, cause who knows? In the future we might do a little joint venture or even just shoot the shit.

This was probably the most adult thing I’ve done on a Friday before sinking a bottle of whiskey.

And I’m going to be extra mega blatant.

Forward this email to someone you know who might like to read some words from your favourite unhinged bearded hobo and tell them to click on this super mega obnoxiously long link here.

They may learn a few things about:

Life

Marketing

Psychology

Writing

Bare knuckle honey badger boxing

Cheese

Stephen Walker

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

Today your favourite degenerate is in mourning over Twitter.

POLITICO wrote a magically glorious meltdown piece about about Elon Musk’s hostile takeover. Sorry, “acquisition” of Twitter.

Some people call it “X,” if they’re feeling masochistic.

But holy mother of slow motion funeral marches, it’s like watching a once mighty beast, now wheezing and dripping social media gunk all over the place, especially in Europe. They lost 11 million European users.

That’s like the population of a small country, all sprinting away and leaving Musk to scowl forlornly at his rocket ships.

And here’s where I’m going to get on my high horse again…

Which I’ve preached a thousand times. From the mountaintops of righteous marketing mania…

Never trust your entire brand, your sweet lifeblood, to a platform that some random shitlord can gut in a hot second. Because right now, that’s exactly what’s happening.

It’s like someone microwaving leftover sushi at 3AM and hoping it doesn’t become sentient and eat them first.

Europe’s saying “Au revoir” and “Auf Wiedersehen” and “G’bye, ya wankers” to Twitter, and Musk is sacrificing the golden goose for a stack of rancid memes.

Anyway, I still love that bird err, X and maybe I’m just a masochist who enjoys those sweet, sweet micro dopamine hits of retweets. But you can practically smell the decay, can’t you? Like rotting fish heads wrapped in day old newspapers. Because, my fellow email friend, I can’t say it enough…

Own. Your. List.

Start hoarding those email addresses like they’re precious glow-in-the-dark Pokémon cards from 1999.

Build your own ding dang list that no rich overlord can nuke from orbit. Because someday, maybe tomorrow, maybe next Tuesday at 3 PM. Elon might push the big red button (likely labelled “CHAOS?”) and poof, your entire audience disappears into the vapour.

Consider these bullet points (because yes, that’s how outraged I am, I’m bullet pointing my inner meltdown)

Twitter: Slipping deeper into Musk’s rabbit hole, shedding European users like a wet dog shakes off fleas.

You: Laughing maniacally from the safety of your own email fortress.

Email lists: The real superhero no capes, just open rates and good words.

Musk: Possibly too busy fuelling midnight rocket rides to notice his platform hemorrhaging folks.

I swear, time to get out the metaphorical defibrillator and jolt procrastinators into building that newsletter, that blog subscription thing, those monthly digital whatevermajigs, whatever it takes.

In a year, the only folks left on Twitter might be Elon’s bots and that one uncle who thinks everything is a conspiracy (and that birds aren’t real, ironically)

Anyway, if you see me scuttling around the charred remains of that once bustling social birdhouse, feel free to nudge me (gently) I’ll be the one whispering “Gather your emails, gather your loyal minions, run free from the meltdown.”

The article is here if you’re keen

Stephen Walker

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

It’s that time of the year when I get some blood work done.

Just to make sure everything is ticking over and still working.

One thing I never tested before was Testosterone.

And so today I found out that the reason for my sleep issues aka not being able to sleep properly is cause my body is pumping out 1097ng/dL of this sauce.

They said it was high but not dangerously high. They asked stupid questions like “Do you take steroids?” and I told them I just take regular vitamins and supplements. Nothing wild. Copper/Zinc/Magnesium and I do eat a fair amount of steak. I’m not a gym nerd and I do spend a lot of time hiking and I’m also not against smashing a large pizza while binging a new favourite series.

All in all, just a regular dude who likes to talk some shit on the internet and write stuff.

So maybe it’s genetics and luck but hey I’m not dead. My body seems to be working but they want me to do another test in 6 months and see where I’m at.

Now if only I could bottle this excess sauce like Bell Delphine did with her bathwater and sell it to the angry men on the internet who are always raging at something stupid. I could change the world…

On that note though…

I’m gonna go for another hike now as it’s 23c degrees out or 73.4f for my friends who use freedom metrics, cause I’ve got some research and ideation to do for a micro business I’m going to build using Instagram and reels.

So I’ll keep you posted once it’s all in motion and you can either follow along on the adventure and watch many micro failures happen.

Stephen Walker

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

One of my favourite marketers/guru’s are moments away from taking their group and nuking it.

Why? No engagement.

It’s all bullshit though.

Engagement exists.

It’s just been microwaved into a soggy, dopamine starved husk by the brain rot hordes.

(You know the ones. The “Why isn’t this free?” crowd.)

The “TL;DR” legion. The “But what about my feelings?” death cult.

This dude?

He was giving away gold. Actual, no bullshit, “holy fuck this works” knowledge.

For free. And still…

Crickets. The equivalent of a graveyard.

The thing is. They’re also the problem.

There’s this ego trap though.

1. He’s a genius. No, really. The man’s got receipts. His shit works. But…
2. He’s also a fucking tyrant. Someone posts something dumb? (And oh, they will and do often.) Instead of guiding them, he atomises them. A verbal smackdown. A “How dare you?” wrapped in a “You moron.”
3. Newbies? They don’t learn from that. They flee. They crawl back to their safe space echo chambers where everyone gets a participation trophy for breathing.

And look, I get it. You want to scream. You want to shake them by their slack jawed faces and yell, “THIS ISN’T PRIMARY SCHOOL. THE WORLD DOESN’T CARE ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS.”

Although if you treat your tribe like idiots, they’ll either leave or become idiots.

THE RYAN HOLIDAY SOLUTION

• Ego is the enemy. (Yes, that book. Read it. Burn it into your skull.)
• Correction ≠ crucifixion. You can educate without eviscerating. (Wild concept, I know.)
• Newbies need scaffolding, not a guillotine. They’re babies. Soft, squishy, stupid babies. But babies grow. If you let them.

The hard pilll…

Changing platforms? Won’t help.

Charging for everything? Won’t help.

But in this instance the reactive, hair-trigger, “I AM THE LAW” bullshit and the inability to separate being right from being useful will slowly erode this group.

(I’m hoping he doesn’t close the group. It’s one of the rare ones I enjoy seeing pop up the feed when someone isn’t posting some dumb shit)

But there’s always a choice if you were found in this position.

1. You can keep being the smartest asshole in the room. (You’ll eventually be alone.)
2. Or you can learn to teach without turning every interaction into a fucking gladiator pit.

But they’ll need to pick fast.

Cause the clock’s ticking.

And the brain rot hordes?

They’re not waiting. They’re running around the internet with their umbilical chords out waiting to plug into the next great guru.

Stephen Walker

P.S. I’m not your next great guru. I’m a dude who writes email.

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

Hey man. It feels like yesterday when we were going on about that stupid dress.

Now here’s another fun little debate that’s popped up on the ‘ol internets…

And Look, I know we usually talk about real stuff. Like your boss who is actually a hairball with a personality or my ongoing battle with existential dread at the grocery store cause I have to fight the old people for the milk at 8am, but I need you to focus up.

Because there’s a debate raging across the internet and it’s just silly fun.

What is it?

100 men vs. 1 gorilla.

Yeah. That one. The one that keeps popping up on Reddit, in group chats, and probably in the background of every failed first date in America.

I mean, this is it: The apex of human intellectual achievement.

Plato’s Republic? Pfft. Try Chad from accounting versus a silverback on a bad hair day.

Here’s the premise, in case you’ve missed the memes (in which case, are you okay?)

100 regular dudes. Not action heroes. Not guys with weird survival skills. Just…guys. The kind who think “hydration” means a third beer.

1 gorilla. Not just any gorilla. The kind of gorilla that could bench press your car and then use your femur as a toothpick.

And the question?

Could those 100 men, unarmed, actually take down the gorilla?

Let’s break it down. Because apparently, I have nothing better to do and neither do you.

Team 100 Men:

“Just dogpile it, bro. Simple math.”

“We’d use tactics, like ants. Or the Avengers, but with more sweat and less charisma.”

“Sheer numbers, man. The gorilla can’t punch everyone at once.”

Team Gorilla:

“Have you seen a gorilla? Google it and then apologise to the concept of hope.”

“One swipe and you’re a human Capri Sun.”

“The gorilla could probably unlock a car door with your ribcage.”

Real-world test?

Gorilla: Allegedly deadlifts cars.

Men: Deadlifts a pizza box if there’s motivation.

Gorilla: Pure rage. No taxes. No rent.

Men: Lose morale the minute someone gets a papercut.

Tactics?

“Zerg Rush”: All 100 men charge at once.

Half trip on their own shoelaces.

The rest become gorilla confetti.

“Surround and Poke”: Try to flank it.

Gorilla spins like a murder blender.

“Sacrifice a Greg”: Distract the gorilla with a Greg.

Greg’s last words: “Tell my memes I love them.”

Honestly, this isn’t Planet of the Apes.

It isn’t Home Alone with 100 Kevin McCallisters.

It’s Battle Royale meets Donkey Kong on bath salts.

So, who wins?

The gorilla. Every time.

The 100 men would realise too late that “strength in numbers” isn’t a cheat code for “immune to getting turned into a human smoothie.”

The only real winners are the internet trolls who keep this debate alive and everyone who gets to watch the chaos unfold from a safe, gorilla free distance.

Is there a moral to the story?

Don’t underestimate gorillas.

Definitely overestimate the stupidity of groups of men online.

And hey, next time I’m bored, I’m starting a “100 toddlers vs. 1 goose” thread.

(The goose is basically a winged demon.)

Alright, that’s my brain dump for the day, I’m out to go get some sun which is a rarity up north.

Let me know which side you’re on, or just join me on Team “Why Are We Like This?”

Stephen Walker

Interesting image for contextual numbers but probably won’t make a difference…

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

Picture this… it’s midnight, I’m three cold slices of pizza deep (still greasy, still judgmental), and I decide to check out this new series.

The Bondsman. Why? Because Kevin Bacon.

Because I have a soft spot for undead weirdness and because my brain craves some weird shit because everything lately has been a snooze fest.

I’m trying to make this as spoiler free as possible, but also, you know me. No promises.

So here it is…

Kevin Bacon is a backwoods bounty hunter.

Who just so happens to be dead.

But not dead dead. Like the undead, but with a job and a questionable sense of style.

I’d say it’s like if John Wick got run over by a combine harvester.

Then woke up, and decided to keep hustling souls for the DEATH himself.

There’s grit. There’s blood. There’s a chicken that may or may not be possessed (Okay it’s not but I thought it would’ve been cool if there was.)

But here’s where it gets all meta and useful, because I know you always on the lookout for a way to make your writing less oatmeal and more, I dunno, spicy meat tornado.

Lesson 1: Character Agency Is Everything Even If You’re Dead

Bacon’s character? He’s got problems. Big, existential, death flavoured problems. But he chooses to do something about it. He doesn’t just shamble around whining about the afterlife like a sad sack of expired deli meat. He hustles. He fights. Sometimes he loses (spectacularly), but dammit, he tries.

Takeaway: Don’t let your characters be human shaped paperweights. Give them something to want. Give them something to do, even if it’s just revenge, redemption, or more pizza.

Lesson 2: Genre Mashups are your friend.

This show? It’s horror. It’s comedy. It’s a little bit Western, a little bit “what if the Coen Brothers made a zombie flick.” And it works because it doesn’t apologise for being weird. It just is.

Like, one minute you’re laughing at a fart joke; the next, you’re staring down the barrel of existential dread and a shotgun made of bone.

Takeaway: Don’t box yourself in. Mix genres. Throw in a curveball. Your story doesn’t have to fit in a neat little Amazon category.

Lesson 3: Dialogue. Make It Snap, Crackle, and Bleed.

The Bondsman is packed with dialogue that’s sharp enough to slice bread. Hell, sharp enough to slice you. Minimal tags. Maximum punch.

People talk like people. Or, at least, like people who have had a few concussions and a run in with the supernatural IRS.

Takeaway: Don’t let your dialogue die on the page. Make it do push ups. Make it bleed. Make it say more with less. If you can cut a tag, cut it. If you can make it weird? Even better.

Bonus Round: Writing Advice, Stephen style.

Write what scares you.

Write what makes you laugh and cringe.

If you get stuck, ask yourself: “What would an undead Kevin Bacon do?”

(Usually, the answer is: “Something reckless, something funny, and probably something illegal.”)

Alright, enough rambling.

Go watch The Bondsman.

Then go write something that makes you feel alive.

Or undead.

Or at least less bored than you were five minutes ago.

Buy yourself some pizza. You’ve earned it.

The Bondsman is here

Stephen Walker

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

I posted this on the old book of faces and thought it would be of value to my favourite people…

It’s also one of the most underrated ways to get higher quality people into your world too.

And as you all know email for the most part is just text. (Well. The way I do it.)

People who buy books are generally readers, right and I’ve always found that people who like to read are generally just better humans overall. Call me biased but it’s just the way it is.

So this is where Amazon can be the answer you need.

Yes it needs work.

No it’s not an over night fix, but when done right and consistently you can easily get a couple hundred new people onto your list every few weeks.

The more you do. The more you’ll get back.

Take a single idea or concept and write about it. Add your own sauce. It doesn’t have to be tens of thousands of words. It just needs to be done.

The next step is just prettying it up and adding a few sections strategically and this is generally how you’d want to do the thing…

Format the “book” and set the expectations straight up.

Make the cover look good/bad. Hell it doesn’t matter. Keep it on brand or whatever.

Let the reader know that this “book” is short, to the point and easily actionable.

Add a disclaimer page.

Create an introduction to who you are and what the purpose of these “micro books” are.

Put in an Opt-in link to your list with a little bonus/freebie. Think of it as a one page mini sales letter.

Content / meat of the one thing you’re sharing.

Closing additional thoughts.

Opt-in link to your list with a little bonus/freebie.

Final page where they can either buy other products or check out what other micro books you’ve made on topics that are tied into this one.

That’s it. Nothing magical. Nothing sexy. Just something that works if you put in the work.

Think of it as a fancy-ish blog post on steroids.

Pricing can be free if on kindle unlimited or you can start it at 99c to $1.99.

We’re not out here writing war and peace. We just want to get simple concepts and ideas out there for people to read, action and get some results on.

The reason we do this is if we can give them a quick win. They’ll get more of our stuff and then later on happily give us more money for being more awesome.

The wheels of commerce don’t have to stand still if you’re willing to put out unique to you content which get people moving whatever needle it is they’re struggling to move.

Here’s an example from my boy Ben Settle

Granted a lot of his stuff on Kindle are just transcripts from podcasts/interviews he has done. If you pretty up your writing and do what I’ve mentioned you’ll be able to knock out more of these and they’ll be high quality. Which will also naturally build your presence and authority out in the whole book writing world.

Non-fiction is great for introducing people to the way your mind works and how you overcome challenges and apply lessons and when you create that level of buy in, it doesn’t matter what you share in the future. You’ll have fans that’ll pick up what you do because they just like you. Just make sure you don’t steer them wrong and do right by them and you’ll be golden.

Stephen Walker.

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

Sometimes you need to shut off and do a little of what the kids call bed rotting.

Stay in bed. Watch trash and eat pizza.

I’ve done a little bit of that today but when it comes to movie time. Tonight I’m watching The Amateur.

If you liked The Bourne films, this is like the nerdy hacker version with an all-star cast.

I don’t take cinema trips often but when there’s hot dogs, beer, popcorn and good movie in the mix, well today just needs to be one of those days.

I won’t bore you with the details but the weather has been ass and as a little treat to myself I made sure I do as little as possible today.

When’s the last time you treated yourself?

Here’s the trailer if you’re keen.

Now it’s time for me to vanish.

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

“Blame is the coward’s solution to failure.” – Pat Riley
​

A well-known business guru just dropped a post that made me want to reach out, pull him close, and give him a warm, compassionate kick in the teeth.

​

Here’s what it said…
​

​
(post is shortened but all words are his — if you want to see the full post hit reply)

​
​”I parted ways with 90% of my staff this week.

​
People in this industry don’t know sh*t. I’ve hired people that worked that worked for big names, but they couldn’t even set up an automation without it breaking.

​
Total trash. From now on everything will be built by me.

​

Starting with these garbage reels I put out. I’m putting a FULL STOP on all IG posts by my team.”
​

​
​And, as a hollow chorus of cheers rose from the comments section, I couldn’t help but think:

​
You’re screwed, dude.

​
You’re screwed, and you haven’t even realized it yet.

​
Not because you’re stuck building everything on your own now (tough, but it can work)…

​
…But because somehow, after all these years, you still don’t know what you signed up for when you became an entrepreneur.

​
‘Cause here’s the deal:

​
​When you become an entrepreneur, everything that goes wrong is now your fault.

​
Period, full stop, end of story.

​
If you’re in charge, you don’t have the luxury of pointing the finger at anyone else, because everyone else is your responsibility.

​

If your employees aren’t performing, it’s your fault for hiring and/or mis-managing them.

​
If your customers are complaining, it’s your fault for selling a product they complain about.

​
If the market is changing and sales are slowing down, it’s your fault for not adapting fast enough.

​
​The buck stops with you, bucko.

​
Nobody else.

​
After all, isn’t that why you became an entrepreneur in the first place?

​
To take your future into your own hands, and step fully into your own creative power?

​
If it is, then just remember:

​
​Power follows responsibility.

​

Whoever we point the finger at, we give power to.

​
And pointing it at others leaves us powerless, because we don’t control others.

​
So I recommend turning that finger back around, pointing it where it belongs, and stamping two simple words into your mind ’till they stay there:

​
​”My fault.”

​
Then, get back to work.

​

• T

​
​P.S. This just dropped:

​

​5 Ways To Signal Confidence Without Saying A Word

​

Banger clip from our Advanced Communication & Charisma session, on how your body, energy, and attention are silently speaking to everyone you meet.

​

If you want more, the full 3 hour session is available to watch now inside The Path.​

​

P.P.S. I’m still playing with the format of these weekly emails.

​
I want to include the section below but I’m not sure where to put it yet, so I’m just gonna stick it here for now:
​

​
​3 Things To Make Your Weekend Better

What to watch, listen to, and be inspired by this weekend.

​
​Chris Williamson: Why we really do this work.​

This entire vlog is beautiful… But 18:30 is a moment I hope every entrepreneur gets to experience: The moment you realize you’ve built something you’re truly proud of, and in the process have become someone you’re truly proud to be.

​
​The Brutal Truth About Running a $100k/mo Startup

A very real, very insightful, and very endearing story of two founders who are deep in the trenches right now… And winning.

​
​Theo Von Bought A Katt Williams Statue​

Theo remains undefeated.
​

“Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden maybe get so boring that eating the apple was justified?” – Chuck Palahniuk

​

​

​

​

​

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

Many moons ago I was a programmer.

Some would say hacker because of the work I used to do.

I was just a dude who looked at terrible code and logic and then simplified it.

Just like in writing. I try to say the most with as few words as possible.

Is it art, science or witchcraft? I’ll let you decide.

Although there was one part of programming that I still use to this day and that is conditional logic.

And the easiest way for me to ‘splain it is like this:

IF you read my emails it makes me happy.

Else I will get sad.

If-else statements.

When we write code a lot of the functions and operating aspects of it all are built around those statements.

If a user clicks and does this give them X else give them this.

But you should 100% be doing this in your personal development side of life too.

If I send a daily email. My readers will bond with me and buy my warez (insert else clause)

Which is if I don’t email them daily, they’ll forget about me and my list dies.

If I go to the gym 3x a week and eat healthy I’ll get jacked as hell but if I don’t then I’ll probably die from health related bullshit.

If else loops are a pretty good way to tie in wins and losses with shit that needs to get done while also bullying you the right way if you don’t do it.

Just one of the many nerdy ways I know how to write the words to keep me on the straight and narrow.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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

“Blame is the coward’s solution to failure.” – Pat Riley
​

A well-known business guru just dropped a post that made me want to reach out, pull him close, and give him a warm, compassionate kick in the teeth.

​

Here’s what it said…
​

​
(post is shortened but all words are his — if you want to see the full post hit reply)

​
​”I parted ways with 90% of my staff this week.

​
People in this industry don’t know sh*t. I’ve hired people that worked that worked for big names, but they couldn’t even set up an automation without it breaking.

​
Total trash. From now on everything will be built by me.

​

Starting with these garbage reels I put out. I’m putting a FULL STOP on all IG posts by my team.”
​

​
​And, as a hollow chorus of cheers rose from the comments section, I couldn’t help but think:

​
You’re screwed, dude.

​
You’re screwed, and you haven’t even realized it yet.

​
Not because you’re stuck building everything on your own now (tough, but it can work)…

​
…But because somehow, after all these years, you still don’t know what you signed up for when you became an entrepreneur.

​
‘Cause here’s the deal:

​
​When you become an entrepreneur, everything that goes wrong is now your fault.

​
Period, full stop, end of story.

​
If you’re in charge, you don’t have the luxury of pointing the finger at anyone else, because everyone else is your responsibility.

​

If your employees aren’t performing, it’s your fault for hiring and/or mis-managing them.

​
If your customers are complaining, it’s your fault for selling a product they complain about.

​
If the market is changing and sales are slowing down, it’s your fault for not adapting fast enough.

​
​The buck stops with you, bucko.

​
Nobody else.

​
After all, isn’t that why you became an entrepreneur in the first place?

​
To take your future into your own hands, and step fully into your own creative power?

​
If it is, then just remember:

​
​Power follows responsibility.

​

Whoever we point the finger at, we give power to.

​
And pointing it at others leaves us powerless, because we don’t control others.

​
So I recommend turning that finger back around, pointing it where it belongs, and stamping two simple words into your mind ’till they stay there:

​
​”My fault.”

​
Then, get back to work.

​

• T

​
​P.S. This just dropped:

​

​5 Ways To Signal Confidence Without Saying A Word

​

Banger clip from our Advanced Communication & Charisma session, on how your body, energy, and attention are silently speaking to everyone you meet.

​

If you want more, the full 3 hour session is available to watch now inside The Path.​

​

P.P.S. I’m still playing with the format of these weekly emails.

​
I want to include the section below but I’m not sure where to put it yet, so I’m just gonna stick it here for now:
​

​
​3 Things To Make Your Weekend Better

What to watch, listen to, and be inspired by this weekend.

​
​Chris Williamson: Why we really do this work.​

This entire vlog is beautiful… But 18:30 is a moment I hope every entrepreneur gets to experience: The moment you realize you’ve built something you’re truly proud of, and in the process have become someone you’re truly proud to be.

​
​The Brutal Truth About Running a $100k/mo Startup

A very real, very insightful, and very endearing story of two founders who are deep in the trenches right now… And winning.

​
​Theo Von Bought A Katt Williams Statue​

Theo remains undefeated.
​

“Did perpetual happiness in the Garden of Eden maybe get so boring that eating the apple was justified?” – Chuck Palahniuk

​

​

​

​

​

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

I’ve had one of those days where I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus.

So a little TLC was had. I woke up. Did a few things and then got back into bed and got watching one of my many favourite films.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s/Sorcerer’s Stone.

(Yes people are still mad to this day because of the swap of names)

Anyways.

With the doom and gloom of the internet at the moment, where everyone is worried about A.I. taking over their souls (It’s already doing it tbh)

Us creatives need to be looking to build a world people will throw their money at faster than first years rushing the Honeydukes Express cart. Chocolate frogs anyone?

And as it pains to be type this… There’s blueprint hidden right in the first film.

Buckle up. We’re getting a little sweary.

LESSON #1: THE DRAMATIC FUCKING ONBOARDING EXPERIENCE

Remember Harry’s journey from miserable cupboard under the stairs kid to actual wizard? That’s customer onboarding done right.

Hagrid didn’t send a goddamn email newsletter. He kicked down a door during a lightning storm on a remote island and said “YER A WIZARD, HARRY” Then whisked the kid to Diagon Alley. A hidden world of wonder where even buying a stick (wand) feels like a religious experience.

Business translation:

Make your customer’s first experience with your brand memorable as hell.

I get that we have to sell a product or a service but you need to initiate people into a world they didn’t know existed.

Create “Diagon Alley moments” where ordinary transactions feel magical and think to yourself how can you make that first purchase amazing. What else can you give them to make them feel special.

When someone discovers your brand, are they getting a form letter or are they getting Hagrid? Are you selling wands, or are you selling “the wand chooses the wizard” moments? The difference is everything.

LESSON #2: HOUSES, LOYALTY & TRIBAL PSYCHOLOGY

In the business world when someone is coaching someone or whatever people are always referred to as “Students”

When you attend Hogwarts you think just a typical school with students and magic, but what they actually have is Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Each with distinct values, aesthetics, and a built in rivalry system that makes people care about arbitrary differences more than they care about their actual blood relatives.

The Sorting Hat is low key the most brilliant customer segmentation tool ever created and you might just think it’s there for sorting but it gives them identity. Something to defend, represent, and wear on everything from scarves to underpants.

Business Translation:

Create tribal identities within your customer base.

Develop clear value systems that people can self identify with.

Foster friendly competition that drives deeper engagement.

People will forget what you sell them, but they’ll never forget what team you put them on. What’s your version of “house pride”? How can you make customers feel they belong to something bigger than a transaction?

Find that, and you’ve found brand loyalty that’ll stick no matter what it is that you do.

LESSON #3: ACCESSIBILITY LAYERED WITH MYSTERY

The brilliant thing about Hogwarts isn’t just that it’s magical it’s that it’s knowable magic with unknowable depths.

First years understand classes, points, and Quidditch immediately. But what’s in the forbidden corridor? What’s Nicolas Flamel’s deal? What’s with Snape’s whole… everything?

Rowling created a world with clear entry points and hidden trapdoors. You can enjoy the surface and be rewarded for going deeper.

Business translation:

Make your core offering immediately understandable.

Layer in mysteries, insider knowledge, and discovery paths.

Balance accessibility with the thrill of exclusivity.

Your business needs its own version of “restricted section in the library” energy.

Something customers can discover after they’ve mastered the basics. The goal is to create both casual fans and obsessives who will fight a mountain troll to learn more about what you offer.

The real magic of Harry Potter wasn’t just wizards and wands. It was creating a world so immersive that people would rather live there than here. Your brand doesn’t need actual spells (though if you have them, call me), but it does need to feel like a place worth visiting, again and again.

Do it right and you won’t only have customers. You’ll have first years arriving wide eyed at your platform, ready to spend seven years (and their Gringotts vault) exploring everything you’ve built.

And a lot of the way I’ve started to think about this is because of my main man Ben Settle

If you’re wanting another look into it all grab his book here

It’ll get you thinking about worlds instead of just offering your things and stuff.

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

So a little while ago I happened to participate in the weirdest threesome of my life.

NOT THAT KIND

You perverts.

I don’t mean anything sexual.

I mean from a friendship and relationship point of view, the kind that makes you question if the sky daddy up there is just playing out some reality show for bored interdimensional teenagers or whatever…

But as the kids say nowadays.

Let me spill the tea.

It’s more of a clusterfuck but I’m sure you’ll find it entertaining cause it involves yours truly.

WOMAN #1: The one that got away, then came back, then nuked everything from orbit.

We reconnected after months of radio silence.

And I shit you not. It’s like someone out there has a voodoo doll of me and out of the blue it’s like “hey remember that person you adored? HERE THEY ARE AGAIN, SUCKER.” and so the messenger icon lights up and low and behold I get a message from her.

The thing is. We had history. Like a punch to the gut type of history.

WOMAN #2: Industry adjacent cool person with gaming cred and cheese opinions. NOT ROMANTICALLY INVOLVED WITH ME. I repeat for the people in the back.

JUST. FUCKING. FRIENDS.

ME: The idiot standing in the blast radius with a “this is fine” coffee mug.

Here’s what happened.

Woman #1 and I rekindled whatever smoldering ember remained of our previous connection. It felt good. Like finding that one sock you thought the dryer demons had claimed for their cloth sacrifice ritual. Meanwhile, I’d made friends with Woman #2

(who is well known in my industry and once dated someone in our mutual circle because life loves a good six-degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon situation)

Woman #2 and I just hit it off. Pure platonic chemistry. The kind where you find yourself sending World of Warcraft memes at 2 AM and having existential debates about whether Gouda is overrated. (It isn’t. Fight me.)

Just two humans enjoying each other’s company without the complication of wanting to see each other naked.

(And yeah yeah, I hear you. “Men and women can’t be friends without sexual tension!”

That’s some When Harry Met Sally bullshit we can dissect another time. The 1980s called, they want their heteronormative assumptions back.)

But here’s where everything went sideways fast.

Woman #1 developed thoughts (the dangerous kind)

Insecurities bloomed like toxic flowers.

Woman #2 got dragged into our emotional shit show.

Things escalated from “slightly awkward” to “probably gonna bomb Russia if they had the chance”

Despite my honesty with Woman #1 Because I’m a grown ass adult who uses words instead of passive aggressive Instagram stories and Facebook posts, everything went full nuclear. The emotional equivalent of Chernobyl, except instead of radiation it was just hurt feelings and misunderstandings spreading through the atmosphere.

It’s sad really, because if anything had progressed further with Woman #1 and we started actually dating, Woman #2 would have been the first to know. I would have sent her a formal notification, possibly via carrier pigeon or one of those singing telegram gorillas. That’s how fucking clear I would’ve made it.

So while everything went to hell in a handbasket. A particularly stylish handbasket with flames painted on the sides

Woman #1 vanished from my life like she entered the witness protection program.

Meanwhile, Woman #2 stuck around, still sending memes and occasionally mentioning that Woman #1 was “stupid to let it get to this point.”

And I’m trying to pull some creative / marketing / magical lesson here…

But there’s no fortune cookie wisdom to wrap this shit show in a bow.

Sometimes people’s insecurities just get them.

I don’t hold it against them. I wish them happiness, success, good hair days, and whatever else people wish for others they once cared about.

But damn if it doesn’t sting watching something pretty amazing get discarded like that.

That’s just life I guess.

Stephen Walker

P.S. Feel free to buy yours truly a couple of Guinness to wash away the ugh from this clusterfuck you’ve just put yourself through. I guess I’m better off sticking to what I’m good at. Writing and reading books.

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

An ex client hit me with the question the other day and this seems to be a recurring theme for anyone who slides into my world.

“How do you do what you do?”

And I could feel it.

This little flicker of hope in their voice, like I was about to drop some ancient, mystical wisdom on their head.

Maybe I had a secret formula. A magical ritual. A holy grail of productivity that only the chosen few could access.

But here’s what I told them as I tell everyone…

I just show up.

That’s it. That’s the whole thing. I show up and do the work. Day in, day out. Rain or shine. Whether I feel like it or not. Whether it’s fun or it’s hell.

It’s not original advice, by the way. I didn’t invent it. Smarter people than me figured this out a long time ago.

People who’ve built empires, written masterpieces, created works that make the world stop and feel something.

And they all say the same damn thing. You show up and do the thing.

Even when it sucks.

Even when you’d rather be anywhere else.

Even when you’re sure it’s not good enough, or smart enough, or whatever enough.

I always wished that improvement would be like a strike of lightening. I’d be walking around outside and then bam all of a sudden I’m the best at whatever it is I’m doing.

And as much as I’m not a fan of the hustle grind culture I’m annoyed to say that it happens in the grind.

Like me, writing this email right now. Cause, trust me, I didn’t wake up today with fireworks in my chest and a hot muse sitting on my lap and whispering in my ear. But I’m writing it anyway.

Or when I’m teaching myself some absurdly complicated piece of music software that feels like it was programmed by a sadistic robot… but I keep poking at it, learning one thing at a time, because that’s how you get better.

Every time you show up, you’re turning the wheel. Maybe it’s a tiny turn. Maybe it feels like nothing’s moving at all. But it is. I promise you, it is.

And one day, you’ll look back and realise you’ve been doing the thing so long, so consistently, that you’re good at it. Maybe even great. And the people around you will ask, “How do you do it?”

And you’ll tell them the same thing…

I just show up.

So, go. Do the thing. Do it good or do it bad but as long as you’re doing it. You’ll get to where you want to be.

Even if you don’t feel like it.

That’s little Monday kick up the ass.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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