“…helped grow my marketing agency to 7 figures, and led to big breakthroughs in my life and business.” – Ben Bader, CEO 94Marketing

​It’s time.

​
After four months of waiting…

​
​The Path is finally open to new members.​

​
This time is different, though…

​
…So before you jump inside, there are three things you should know:

​

1.

​
I’ve decided to re-open our founder’s discount one last time.

​
Which means, when you join before Thursday at midnight, your membership will be half price for life.

​

2.

​
After Thursday at midnight, The Path will remain open, but the price will be doubling permanently.

​

3.

​
As we spoke about last week…

​
​In the coming months, we will be specializing The Path for up and coming entrepreneurs.

​
Of course, all of our previous masterclasses, practices, and systems will remain in the platform.

​
But our new material will aim to help you build and scale your business…

​
…While also developing and mastering yourself, in the process.

​
​Entrepreneurs who are committed to building both outer and inner skills are exceedingly rare.

​
But somehow, we’ve managed to build an entire community of them, inside The Path.

​
And there ‘aint another one like it 🙂

​
​Come join us.

​

• T

​
​P.S. I want to make clear:

​
This pivot to entrepreneurship isn’t a replacement, it’s an addition.

​
Our usual material on self-development and self-mastery will continue to be added to the platform.

​
(and, will continue to grow and evolve as it always has)

​
But, as every experienced entrepreneur knows:

​
​The path of entrepreneurship is a path of self-mastery.

​
It is a path of channeling your inner skills into the outer world, and turning your most inspiring ideas into a living reality.

​
If you’re serious about that Path:

​
​Welcome to the right place.

“There is a saying that if you do what you love, you will never work a day in your life. At Apple, I learned that is a total crock. You will work harder than you ever thought possible, but the tools will feel light in your hands.” – Tim Cook, Apple CEO

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Another Monday. Another goddamn wrestling match with your email service provider…

There you are, bleary-eyed, first sip of coffee barely touching your lips, and already you’re navigating through seventeen different screens just to send a simple broadcast.

Click here. Scroll there. Wait for this page to load. Check that box. Uncheck the other one.

Why the hell is this button greyed out? Where did my draft go? Why does this platform hate me with such burning passion?

Meanwhile, the rest of the digital marketing herd is doing the same shuffle across their platforms of choice…

ActiveCampaign users are drowning in tabs.

Aweber folks are fighting with the template builder that somehow manages to be both overly simplistic and needlessly complex.

Drip users are watching that spinning wheel of death. (I used to love Drip back in the day)

You didn’t get into this business to become an amateur software engineer. You’re here to write emails that connect, persuade, and sell.

To craft words that make people feel something. To build relationships through the inbox that will eventually translate into cold, hard cash for your warez and service you provide. I mean you’re an artist after all. You don’t want tech to suck.

Me? My Monday morning looks different.

I roll out of bed, stumble to my desk with coffee in hand, and open BerserkerMail. Two clicks later, my broadcast is loaded. Another click and it’s scheduled. By the time you’ve navigated your platform’s labyrinthine dashboard, I’ve already hit send on an email that’s going to land straight in my subscribers primary inboxes.

Before my first cup of coffee is finished, I’ve completed what takes most email marketers half their morning.

No bloated features I’ll never use. No constant upsells for “premium” functionality that should be standard. No need to watch another 72 tutorial videos just to figure out how to edit a sequence. Just a clean, intuitive interface built by people who actually use email marketing to make their living.

BerserkerMail was built by marketers who were sick of the same bullshit you’re dealing with.

So they created what they couldn’t find.

An email platform that plays into the sexiness of email marketing while slapping the complexity completely out of it.

So if you wanna join me in the land of the living? Where sending emails is actually enjoyable again? Where you can focus on your words instead of fighting with your tech?

Go here and check it out: https://berserkermail.com/

Stephen Walker

P.S. Ben Settle is my boy and cause he used one of my testimonials in an email. I thought I’d give him some love, cause so far I haven’t been given the slap like I was given by an email service provider I shall not name…

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 your writing needs to be nice and polite and professional and all that responsible adult horsecrap…

Then sometimes it needs to transform like The Hulk and turn your restrained voice into a raging monster of hyperbole that grabs people by their eyeballs and drags them right down the page and into your world.

Exaggeration is one of those tools that are so far ignored that when you start to use it. The results were shock you.

Boring writers don’t want you to know that humans don’t respond to reasonable statements. We respond to emotion and intensity.

Now I’m not saying go over the top where you’ll be dancing that fine line where compliance might come back and bite you in your ass…

I’m talking about the type of exaggeration that amplifies your personality to make things more fun to read and ultimately more fun for you to write.

You think anyone remembers mild mannered Bruce Banner? Hell no.

They remember the raging Hulk smash machine that destroys everything in its path.

When you need to hook someone’s attention, subtlety is for suckers. You need to become larger than life. You need metaphors that would make English teachers weep with terror. You need adjectives that violate the laws of physics.

Don’t tell me your product “improves workflow efficiency.” Tell me it “obliterates productivity roadblocks like a tactical nuclear warhead.”

Don’t say your service “helps with stress reduction.” Say it “wrestles your anxiety to the ground and makes it cry uncle while your peace of mind does a victory dance.”

The world is drowning in vanilla content. Be the writer who shows up painted green.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

P.S. When people tell you you’re being “a bit much,” that’s when you know it’s working.

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

“Stop measuring days by degree of productivity and start experiencing them by degree of presence.” – Alan Watts

​Life goes by way too fast…

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…Most of the time.

​
But I’m two weeks into a solo retreat right now, and time is stuck at a stand-still.

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Two weeks ago feels like two months ago, and I’m staring down the barrel of seven more weeks of silence, which might as well be a year.

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​Time distortion. It’s a bxtch.

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Speed it up, and life becomes a blurry haze of day to day tasks, one after the other, not a single rose smelt.

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Slow it down, and, well, you find yourself sitting here writing this email whining that the clock won’t move.

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There’s gotta be a sweet spot around here somewhere…

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…But it’s damn hard to find, and I’m convinced the reason why is none other than:

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​Technology.

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Yes, technology.

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Screens, content, notifications, posts, podcasts, reels, likes, hearts, thumbs up, thumbs down, thumbs stuck sideways from swiping that damn infinite-scroll that sucks the brain right out of your head and the time right out of your life.

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Which is exactly what I’ve eliminated or minimized over the past two weeks, hence, the time distortion.

​
​It’s a bit scary, when you think about it:

​
If you’ve ever been laying in bed looking at your phone, only to snap out of the spell and realize it’s 1 AM and you’ve totally botched your bedtime…

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If you’ve ever binge-watched a show, only to pry your bleeding eyes away from the screen and look at the clock in shock…

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If you’ve ever disappeared down a YouTube rabbit hole and watched time disappear along with you…

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…And afterward, had that eery, sobering, way-too-familiar thought:

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​”Holy sh*t, that was a huge waste of time…”

​
…Well, here’s another one for you:

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We do that to ourselves, in small hits or big doses, continuously, all day long.

​
Every time our attention dances from one shiny notification to the next, time blurs and accelerates and then is gone.

​
Sometimes we get something in return for it:

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A new insight, a wave of inspiration, or even just some genuine, high quality entertainment.

​
​But more often, if we’re honest about it, we get nothing.

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We spend the two most valuable resources we have — our time and attention — on empty calories that leave us worse for having consumed them.

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It’s a raw deal.

​
I once heard Buddhist teacher Reggie Ray say:

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​”Modern technology is one of the most dangerous threats to our spiritual development that we face today.”

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And every time I reduce or eliminate it, I remember why.

​
I don’t think the solution is to throw away our phones and stare at the wall all day.

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But it also isn’t what we’ve been doing, which is playing our lives on fast forward while barely paying attention to the scenes because we’re too busy looking at our phone.

​
Let’s stop speedrunning and play this game right.

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We only get to play it once, after all.

​

• T

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I’m just gonna give a little shoutout to Jack Grapes

For years he’s been teaching a thing called “Method Writing” and one of his core techniques is the literary equivalent of streaking…

It’s basically you running naked through a field of words, while letting whatever bonkers thought nuggets tumble out of your skull meat and onto the page.

You don’t stop or edit. You don’t let your inner critic come say hello on your shoulder. You just keep writing.

And whatever comes out. Just stays. Could be about your breakfast. Could be about that weird dream you had where your teeth turned into tiny harmonicas. Could be any entire paragraph about how pigeons are secretly government surveillances drones (which they are…)

The point isn’t to write something good. The point is to write something true. Something raw and unfiltered.

All you need to do is a set a timer for 10 or 15 minutes or whatever you feel comfortable with and get to work.

If your hand starts to cramp? Tough. Keep going.

Running out of ideas? Write “I have no ideas” fifty times until new ideas burst out of your writer-ly chest cavity.

This exercise isn’t about craft or making art.

It’s a technique to get your brain to know that it’s totally cool to just spit out words of pure consciousness.

The good stuff? The real writing? That all comes later. The aim is to get your brain to produce words on demand.

If you want to go deep down this rabbit hole, jump onto Amazon and punch in Jake Grapes. Those two books are a MUST have if you have to produce loads of words or if you have days where you doubt yourself.

(…and remember: pigeons aren’t real.)

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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

Spoiler: We’re all douchebags within a various degree.

The world runs on a special fuel made from blended confidence and bullshit.

The most dangerous predator in the business ecosystem isn’t the smart person. It’s the certain person and this applies in every aspect of the world we’re so happily sucked in to.

Meanwhile, the person who actually knows what they’re talking about is usually the quiet one saying things like “I think we should test that assumption” or “the data suggests otherwise.” But nobody listens because uncertainty sounds like weakness to primate brains wired for tribal hierarchies.

(The little meat computer in between our ears can be an absolute bastard to deal with)

The Confidence Industrial Complex

The self-help industry is a $10 billion machine that sells confidence like it’s miracle-grow for success. “BELIEVE IN YOURSELF!” they shout, as if mere belief will transform your mediocre startup into Amazon.

Here’s what they don’t tell you though. The graveyard of failed businesses is packed with the corpses of ventures led by supremely confident CEOs. Their tombstones read something like this:

“HE WAS CERTAIN. HE WAS WRONG. NOW HE’S DEAD.”

How to Not Be a Confidence Drunk Moron

When someone never expresses doubt, run. They’re either delusional or lying.

Actual expertise looks like nuance and specific knowledge, not broad, sweeping certainty.

The phrase “I don’t know” generally comes from people who know their shit, or at least have battle tested it and survived the tale.

But if you look at the world now, especially in politics and business. The loud wrongness gets promoted over quiet competence.

The most dangerous words in life and business might just be “I’m absolutely certain.”

You need to doubt appropriately and be a little sceptical, otherwise you’re just going to get caught by the douchebags that are little more confident than you and that swing, is wild.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

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

Me being the incredibly high IQ person that I am.

Who everyone adores…

I’ve happened to have one of those days, where I ordered £60 worth of food

From a restaurant that is over 163 miles away, tucked away neatly in London.

Now my local place it’s usually around £25-30 and within a few minutes walk…

I should have noticed the price, but I was like “Well it’s probably just inflation or whatever”.

So when I got the message to collect I was like “Hell yea” and went off to get the goods.

I arrived and they were like “There’s no order for you. You might wanna check the app again”

And so I did and that’s when it hit me. Yep. I picked a restaurant with the same sounding name, based in London.

I laughed, they laughed and the owner gave me a drink cause we’re all good.

“It’ll take us 20 minutes to whip up your usual,” he says.

(Which is crazy if you’ve got a regular meal at a local restaurant and they all know you by name and/or beard awesomeness)

Anywho…

Long story long. I got my meal. I went hope and was just laughing at my own stupidity.

Life happens. Shit happens and you know? Not everything can be all peaches and cream.

And so when I got to thinking again about this who creative life most of us have decided to adopt. We know all too well that things aren’t gonna go smoothly.

Sometimes it’ll cost us money. Sometimes it’ll cost us relationships and sometimes it’ll cost us friends and family.

Will the outcome always be good? Hell no. Sometimes it’s bad and sometimes it’s just blasé with a side “meh-sauce”

But you know what we do?

We don’t cry about an order placed 163 miles away while being hangry.

We crack on and do what needs to be done.

We get some more food and we keep writing to our audience while sharing the wild and zany shit that does happen to go down.

And while I may be just shy of £100 out of pocket for a meal. Lessons were learned.

Well, it’s 22:20 as of sending this.

And the only real lesson is to re-read yo’ shit.

Pitches to clients, contracts or deals set up between you and someone else. Our brains do this magical thing where we gloss over comforts and that can sometimes bite us in 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

“To build product, make something people want. To create art, make something you want. The best do both.” – Naval Ravikant

​
​I’ve got three lessons for entrepreneurs — aspiring and experienced — today.

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So square up, strap in, and listen close.

​
Yesterday, we talked about the big, hairy problem with our membership, The Path:

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Ambiguity.

​

It’s tricky to say exactly what we do, here…

​
(self-development? spirituality? business? internal practice? …

​

…all of the above, hence the ambiguity)

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​…Which is the kiss of death for a business.

​
If you can’t say exactly what you do, and who you do it for, in clear, simple terms:

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It’s curtains for you.

​
Lock the doors and close up shop.

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​That’s lesson #1.

​
Thankfully, The Path has been more creative outlet than business, for me:

​
A transition point between businesses, while I figure out what I’m going to do next.

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But in the course of that creative process, clarity has emerged:

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Clarity on the direction of my work, and who I can help the most.

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​Which brings us to lesson #2:

​
If you’re looking for clarity in your own work, and trying to forge your own path forward…

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…Look first at the path behind you:
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Your unique life experiences
The skills you've developed
Deep interests and curiosities
What you feel naturally suited for
Your successes and failures

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Where do they intersect?

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​For me, the intersection point is clear and obvious:

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1. Entrepreneurship 14 years in online business
   8 figures in revenue generated
   Privately coached dozens of 6, 7, and 8 figure entrepreneurs

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2. Advanced Self-Development & Spirituality 12 years of intensive meditation and internal practice
   10 years in traditional plant medicine and over 500 healing ceremonies
   Completed over 2 years of formal solo retreats
   Currently running ~10 group retreats per year

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I’m a bumbling nitwit at many things…

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…But when it comes to entrepreneurship and self / spiritual development:

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​I’m don’t play at this sh*t.

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I’ve got serious skin in the game, deep experience, and a skill set I’d stack up against nearly anyone.

​
There are more successful business teachers, and there are more advanced spiritual teachers.

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​But put the two together, and I own that lane.

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And there is no more potent recipe in business than owning your lane:

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Your own unique intersection of the marketplace that you can serve better than anyone else in the world.

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​That’s lesson #3.

​
Which brings us to the big announcement:

​
Moving forward, The Path — and my work as a whole — will specialize in that unique intersection of:

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​Advanced Self Development for Entrepreneurs

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And, if you’re an entrepreneur — experienced or aspiring…

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…And you’re one of the rare few working to master both the outer business world and your inner world:

​
Welcome to the right place.

​
It’s an honor to share this path with you.

​

• T

​
​P.S. Speaking of The Path:

​

I’m gearing up to re-open our membership for the first time in four months.

​

I don’t have a set date yet, but it won’t be long — more details to come.

​
In the meantime, watch the new clip one commenter called:

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​”…the most important talk I’ve heard so far”

“What you seek is seeking you.” – Dune Prophecy

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

…and 103 emails since I’ve had to restart this wacky list of misfits

Getting my ass booted off a platform I enjoyed has definitely changed the way I view the whole online space.

But the main thing I took away was:

Nothing is promised and can be taken away without any explanation…

So where you can have a backup. Make as many as you can.

I won’t say I wasn’t pissed when it happened, but I was left more annoyed at my own stupidity to be honest.

Well. I was lazy.

Luckily I’m using a platform that sends me email backups often and don’t care about the spicy nature of some of my emails.

So looks like I’m in good hands.

So whether I’m ranting, sharing wild shit or just doing a little more of the “teaching” side of things.

I’ll keep on sending these daily emails.

I look forward to writing them and I know a few of you enjoy reading them.

With the warmer weather coming back, I’ll be able to share more too.

For now though. I have to get back to building something I’ve wanted to for a long time.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleaguea

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

A dead coffee shop is not a good coffee shop

(Even if the coffee is amazing)

So I go there to get my daily bean juice fix and it’s silent.

Like you can drop a pin silent.

So I ask the owner if they’ve got any socials set up and with a quick google I can see they have a facebook page and site that gives us that magical “This site can’t be reached” message, which is code for “we really don’t know what we’re doing and everything has gone to shit but hey at least our coffee is still amazing!”

So as any coffee lover who happens to know a few things about marketing and what not, I think it’s time to see if I can CPR this little slice of heaven and get some more eyes and feet going through their business.

I don’t know much about football but I did see that Garry Neville went there. So I might write a direct mail piece about that and riff on the viral “Come in and try the worst coffee one woman on trip advisor had in her life” angle.

Then I’ll see if I can revive their FB page and run a few bucks a day in local targeted ads/boosted posts off a few coffee memes and lastly see if she did what a lot of business owners do…

Collect emails to collect because they were told that’s what they had to do, but then they have been sitting in a file, dying and wanting to be emailed.

But first. I need to write up the pitch, bust out the old typewriter and type the letter, grab a stamp and post it out.

I’ve got my Friday cut out for me and this is just a glimpse of the daily shenanigans that flow through my mind.

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

Quote at the end, today…

​During our retreat last weekend, a friend dropped a line I won’t easily forget:

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​”Capitalism is noisy.”

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Hah!

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(let that one sink in…)

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Now, I won’t talk much about capitalism here.

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​It’s an obvious mixed bag:

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Not the best we can do, not the worst.

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It’s not quite an adult, but it’s probably a teenager.

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So that’s… Something.

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But for all the good (opportunity, freedom), the bad (inequality, oppression), and the ugly (environmental damage, discrimination) of capitalism…

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…One of the problems it poses to us — the self-mastery crowd — is far simpler:

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​It’s the goddamn noise.

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Ads. Content. Reels. Notifications. Sales.

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Urgency.

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Flashing screens. Status signals. Information overload.

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Gah.

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It’s practically in the air we breathe:

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Filling our mind and our nervous system with a chronic, buzzing static we can’t sleep off…

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…So loud, so overpowering, so overwhelming we barely even notice it anymore.

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We’re like a tinnitus sufferer who’s ears have been ringing so long he no longer hears it.

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Or a fish that doesn’t know it’s wet.

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​Also during our retreat last weekend, I entered into a solo retreat.

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I’ll be living in isolation for the next two months, eating an extremely restricted diet, avoiding all physical contact, and cutting inputs (social media, television, books, etc) down to a minimum.
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Which means I’ll be living mostly in silence.

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I’ve completed more than two years of this protocol throughout my plant medicine apprenticeship.

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And every time I do, the feeling is the same:

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​Like a fog clearing to reveal a bright, shining sun.

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The noise lifts.

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My mind goes quiet.

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And finally, for what feels like the first time in months…

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I can hear the signal beneath the noise:

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​The small, still voice within that always knows exactly what to do.

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(there are many other reasons for doing this type of retreat, but I won’t go into them now)

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That’s a bit freaky, since I live clean already:

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I don’t drink or use drugs. I don’t sleep around. I use very little social media, meditate 2 hours a day and do hard exercise 6-7 times per week.

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So I shouldn’t need to go to such extreme lengths just to return to the natural human state.

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But that’s the modern world:

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​It’s a spiritual sh*tshow.

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High in entertainment value, alarmingly low in just about everything else.

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And if you want to go beyond the level of superficial entertainment, to touch the deeper potentials of human life…

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(which, I promise you, are far more spectacular than TikTok)

​
…Taking back control of your mind is step one.

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You don’t need to lock yourself in your room and meditate all day, but you do need to unplug from the matrix way more often than you might think.

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So that’s what I’ll be doing for the next few months.

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Should be fun 🙂

​

• T

​
​P.S. Big announcement for Path members (and for those interested in joining The Path):

​

A brand new retreat recording…
​

Spirituality: The path of human potential​
​
…Just dropped inside the community, and in our private podcast.
​

This was our most surprising session of the year:

​

Most of the guys didn’t know what to expect, going in.
​
But afterward, many called it their favorite session of the week.
​
One called it:
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​”The session that changed everything.”
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​Another said:
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​”This one had me fxcked up.” ​
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(in a good way)
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Another simply said:
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​”I just got Tao’d.”

​

If you’re a Path member, log in now to check it out.

​

If not:
​
​I’m (finally!) re-opening The Path next week, for the first time since November. ​
​
Stay tuned…

“This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.” – Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

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There are no shortcuts.

None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

The tactics over principles mindset is a festering, pustulent lie that needs to be lanced and drained before it infects your entire writing practice.

Tactics are the junk food of the writing world. Quick, satisfying in the moment, and ultimately hollow as a politician’s promise.

Principles are the slow cooked meal that actually nourishes you.

It’s seductive, this tactical circle jerk we see online. It promises results without the sweaty, unglamorous work. It’s the literary equivalent of those ab machines promising washboard stomachs in just five minutes a day…

It’s basically absolute horseshit wrapped in shiny packaging.

And why do we fall for it? Because real writing. The principle driven kind, is hard. It’s messy.

It requires patience and persistence and pain.

Principles aren’t sexy. They don’t fit in a TikTok. They don’t promise overnight transformation.

What principles offer instead is something so much more valuable, which is sustainability, longevity and depth.

Think about the writers who endure and who produce work that outlives them, that stands against time’s relentless erosion.

Were they tactic chasers? Hell no.

They were principle embracers. They understood the fundamental truths of storytelling that transcend genre, medium, and era.

Whether they were writing advertising copy or cut to the bone storytelling from the pulp era…

They stuck to what worked.

Principles like:

Character drives story. (not the other way around)

Emotional truth trumps literal truth.

Specificity creates universality. (paradoxical but true)

Voice matters more than vocabulary.

Curiosity beats cleverness every bloody time.

The thing that makes your writing worth reading isn’t some tactical sleight of hand or formulaic approach.

It’s YOU.

Your unique perspective, your lived experience, your weird brain with its particular arrangement of influences and obsessions.

The tactics obsessed writer is like someone trying to build a relationship based solely on pickup lines.

Might get you through the door. Hell it might even get you lucky once or twice. But it creates nothing lasting, nothing meaningful, nothing that withstands the test of time.

And isn’t that what we’re after? Work that matters? Work that remains? Work that leaves a handprint on the reader’s soul?

You don’t get there with tactics. You get there with principles, applied consistently over time, with monastic devotion to the craft.

So what’s a writer to do in this tactics saturated social media hellscape?

Recognise the difference. Tactics tell you what to do. Principles tell you why.

Read like your writing life depends on it. Because it fucking does. Not just in your genre. Not just contemporary stuff. Read the classics. Read poetry. Read essays. Read weird experimental shit that makes you uncomfortable. WATCH THIS BUT BE WARNED

Write with your gut, revise with your brain. First drafts need primal energy and revisions need intellectual rigor.

Get feedback from readers who prioritise principles over tactics. The “this worked for me/this didn’t” crowd rather than the “you should do X” prescriptivists. (plus prescriptivists are lame)

Be patient, goddammit. (This one’s hard for me too) The principles based approach doesn’t give you overnight results. It’s slow. Painfully slow. But it builds something that lasts.

I get it. We all want the shortcut. We all want the magic bullet. We all want to bypass the decade of shitty first drafts and rejection letters and crushing self doubt.

But that’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.

So choose principles over tactics. Choose the long game over the quick win. Choose the fundamental over the fashionable.

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

P.S. It’s warming up around here again, so the I can guarantee the squirrels are gonna get up to no good…

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

Time is a finite resource. Not some magical renewable wellspring that gushes forth like a geyser of productivity while you smile beatifically at yet another “quick call” that stretches into the void of eternity.

NOPE. It’s more like a precious, limited-batch artisanal bourbon that everyone wants to chug like it’s discount swill at a frat party.

And in 2025? Holy mother of bullshit, it’s worse.

The always-on economy has evolved into something altogether more ravenous.

A many-tentacled beast slithering through every notification portal of your device-saturated life. The corporate world you escaped?

It’s still there, watching you with its beady little eyes, waiting for you to flame out spectacularly so you come crawling back, broken and compliant.

You don’t want that. I don’t want that for you. So let’s talk boundaries.

Not everyone deserves access to you. Not everyone who can fog a mirror should be allowed into your calendar, your inbox, your sacred creative space. Some people are time-vampires as my boy Ben Settle mentions.

They’ll drain you dry while complaining that your blood lacks adequate iron content.

Why you need boundaries? (a partial list of sanity preservation)

Because burnout isn’t just some cutesy buzzword of the day. (I hate LinkedIn for that shit)

It’s your nervous system setting itself on fire while your brain watches, while it helplessly eats stale cheese crackers.

Because “exposure” and “opportunity” are often code for “we’d like to harvest your organs while paying you in compliments.”

Because saying yes to everything means saying no to what actually matters… Like making actual money, or remembering what your family’s faces look like, or basic hygiene.

Because 2025’s AI-enhanced workflow expectations have created a hellscape where people think you should respond to messages within microseconds. As if you’re some flesh-puppet server farm instead of a human with bladder functions and occasional thoughts.

You need barriers…

Big, beautiful, fuck-off barriers. Not walls (we’re not monsters here), but well-crafted gateways that filter out the time-wasters, the energy-suckers, the “let me pick your brain”-ers who come wielding tiny forks and napkins tucked into their collars.

Send those assholes a paypal.me link for $99 that sets them up with a zoom calendar call for your time. The ones who respect it will pay and the ones who don’t won’t pay.

(And yes, I know your therapist told you to be “open to opportunity” But did they specify that this should include letting every random LinkedIn connection control your afternoon for their pyramid scheme pitch? I THINK NOT.)

Here’s what your boundaries might look like…

Application processes. Intake forms. Scheduled office hours. Tiered access models. Clear-as-a-freshly-Windexed-window pricing structures that don’t apologise for valuing your expertise.

Email autoresponders that don’t sound like they were written by an anxious Victorian butler.

Your corporate days taught you that accessibility equals advancement. That’s… and I cannot emphasise this enough…

Grade-A-Complete bullshit.

A carefully curated lack of accessibility is the hallmark of the successful independent professional in 2025.

Remember when the pandemic taught us about capacity limits?

Apply that wisdom to your professional life. Your time is a cozy neighbourhood bar with limited seating, not a stadium concert with general admission. And you’re the bouncer, the bartender, AND the talent.

Think I’m being dramatic? Hyperbolic?

THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

I’ve watched brilliant friends become hollow-eyed zombies shuffling back to the equivalent of corporate America (Here across the pond) because they couldn’t say no. Couldn’t build the systems that protected their time and energy. Their creativity and independence were consumed by the insatiable hunger of “just one more client” and “it’ll only take a minute.”

Don’t be them. Be the magnificent boundary-setting unicorn you were meant to be.

Your future self. The one who isn’t answering emails at 3 AM while quietly weeping into a cold cup of coffee, will thank you.

Set the damn boundaries. Protect your time like it’s the last roll of toilet paper in the apocalypse. Because it’s 2025, and the only thing between you and burnout is your willingness to say “that sounds like a you problem” to demands that treat your schedule like public property.

Go forth and filter ruthlessly,

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

“The path of true learning is strewn with rocks, not roses. Anyone who insists on taking the easier way ends up in a fools paradise.” – Jed McKenna

No promises, today…

​
But I think I can conjure the energy to write this email, and make it worthwhile for both of us.

​
Let’s see how it goes.

​
If we fall short, my excuse is that I’m still settling in back home after one of the most intense weekend retreats I’ve ever run.

​
​And, taking my first few steps up the mountain of a two-month personal retreat…

​
…Where I’ll be living in isolation, eating an extremely restricted diet, avoiding all physical contact, and most external stimulation.

It’s powerful and profound and boring and uncomfortable.

​
But I am experienced and ready and impossible to break.

​
​So bring it the fxck on.

​
There we go, the energy is moving now…

​
…And now that it is, I think what I want to say is this:

​
​To become a warrior, you need to go to war.

​
Why this is so hard to understand, I have no idea.

​
But it’s the clear and obvious truth that everyone seems to want to avoid.

​
We want strength without struggle.

​
Wisdom without scars.

​
Respect without worthiness.

​
​The fruits without the labor.

​
We want to make money without doing the painstaking work of becoming valuable.

​
We want to discover our life purpose without making the harrowing journey to find it.

​
We want to find the perfect partner without needing to become one, ourselves.

​
Which is why, over and over again…

​
We fail to travel the distance between who we are and who we want to be, because we want to move forward without taking a step.

​
​You cannot enjoy the view from the top of the mountain without making the climb.

​

And the climb is harder than you think it is.

​
But, as anyone who has made that climb will tell you:

​
That is exactly what makes it worth it.

​
There, I think we did it 🙂

​
Mission complete.

​
More tomorrow…

​

• T

​
​P.S. Yesterday’s video pairs perfectly with today’s message:

​

​Raw Advice For Young Entrepreneurs
​​
​
​
​

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

P.S. If this email made you uncomfortable, good. Discomfort is the feeling of your old people-pleasing habits dying a necessary death. Pour one out for them, then move the hell on.

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

Time is a finite resource. Not some magical renewable wellspring that gushes forth like a geyser of productivity while you smile beatifically at yet another “quick call” that stretches into the void of eternity.

NOPE. It’s more like a precious, limited-batch artisanal bourbon that everyone wants to chug like it’s discount swill at a frat party.

And in 2025? Holy mother of bullshit, it’s worse.

The always-on economy has evolved into something altogether more ravenous.

A many-tentacled beast slithering through every notification portal of your device-saturated life. The corporate world you escaped?

It’s still there, watching you with its beady little eyes, waiting for you to flame out spectacularly so you come crawling back, broken and compliant.

You don’t want that. I don’t want that for you. So let’s talk boundaries.

Not everyone deserves access to you. Not everyone who can fog a mirror should be allowed into your calendar, your inbox, your sacred creative space. Some people are time-vampires as my boy Ben Settle mentions.

They’ll drain you dry while complaining that your blood lacks adequate iron content.

Why you need boundaries? (a partial list of sanity preservation)

Because burnout isn’t just some cutesy buzzword of the day. (I hate LinkedIn for that shit)

It’s your nervous system setting itself on fire while your brain watches, while it helplessly eats stale cheese crackers.

Because “exposure” and “opportunity” are often code for “we’d like to harvest your organs while paying you in compliments.”

Because saying yes to everything means saying no to what actually matters… Like making actual money, or remembering what your family’s faces look like, or basic hygiene.

Because 2025’s AI-enhanced workflow expectations have created a hellscape where people think you should respond to messages within microseconds. As if you’re some flesh-puppet server farm instead of a human with bladder functions and occasional thoughts.

You need barriers…

Big, beautiful, fuck-off barriers. Not walls (we’re not monsters here), but well-crafted gateways that filter out the time-wasters, the energy-suckers, the “let me pick your brain”-ers who come wielding tiny forks and napkins tucked into their collars.

Send those assholes a paypal.me link for $99 that sets them up with a zoom calendar call for your time. The ones who respect it will pay and the ones who don’t won’t pay.

(And yes, I know your therapist told you to be “open to opportunity” But did they specify that this should include letting every random LinkedIn connection control your afternoon for their pyramid scheme pitch? I THINK NOT.)

Here’s what your boundaries might look like…

Application processes. Intake forms. Scheduled office hours. Tiered access models. Clear-as-a-freshly-Windexed-window pricing structures that don’t apologise for valuing your expertise.

Email autoresponders that don’t sound like they were written by an anxious Victorian butler.

Your corporate days taught you that accessibility equals advancement. That’s… and I cannot emphasise this enough…

Grade-A-Complete bullshit.

A carefully curated lack of accessibility is the hallmark of the successful independent professional in 2025.

Remember when the pandemic taught us about capacity limits?

Apply that wisdom to your professional life. Your time is a cozy neighbourhood bar with limited seating, not a stadium concert with general admission. And you’re the bouncer, the bartender, AND the talent.

Think I’m being dramatic? Hyperbolic?

THE EXACT OPPOSITE.

I’ve watched brilliant friends become hollow-eyed zombies shuffling back to the equivalent of corporate America (Here across the pond) because they couldn’t say no. Couldn’t build the systems that protected their time and energy. Their creativity and independence were consumed by the insatiable hunger of “just one more client” and “it’ll only take a minute.”

Don’t be them. Be the magnificent boundary-setting unicorn you were meant to be.

Your future self. The one who isn’t answering emails at 3 AM while quietly weeping into a cold cup of coffee, will thank you.

Set the damn boundaries. Protect your time like it’s the last roll of toilet paper in the apocalypse. Because it’s 2025, and the only thing between you and burnout is your willingness to say “that sounds like a you problem” to demands that treat your schedule like public property.

Go forth and filter ruthlessly,

Stephen Walker

https://stphnwlkr.com/theleague

P.S. If this email made you uncomfortable, good. Discomfort is the feeling of your old people-pleasing habits dying a necessary death. Pour one out for them, then move the hell on.

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