“We all want to be healthy, normal, and acceptable. We seek to shroud the shame of truth of our existence in the coping, reactional facade that is the story we tell ourselves.”

Lay the evidence and execute the volume that will give courage and resolve for those to come.

CONQUERING THE MORNING This is not an installment of the perfect morning routine, because one doesn’t exist. I know this may come as a shock to your daily systems at play. But it’s true. You are a human, not an automation machine. Structure is a sound way to give yourself guard rails so you are able to dial in and accomplish a few key items but they are not the end all be all to your value and to the value of your day. So, how do you conquer the morning? According to Tim Ferris, “It’s easier to act your way into a new way of thinking instead of thinking your way into new acting.” This is confirmed by Neuroscientist and Ophthalmologist Andrew Huberman, who is additionally quoted saying, “You can’t change the body with the mind, you must change your mind with the body.” The key principle of a productive morning is FORWARD MOMENTUM to accomplish the most important tasks first. Both the undesirable and the Refreshing. The beauty of this is it threads the needle of generalization and specification, because we are all different and need different approaches for the different lives that we lead. On the practical end, for myself, this looks like setting everything out the night before and following the automated steps I have in place to propel me to get the ball rolling even when I don’t feel like doing them. But that may not be what you need. So in all of your searching, listening to podcasts, reading articles, and 100s of drafts for your morning, find the one thing that gives you life and the one thing that is the most undesirable to do and utilize that as a cascading effect so the rest of your day is of the framework you desire in the cultivation of your maximization. The perfect routine on paper will not give you the tools to act and experience in this experiment we call life. It is the daily rhythm of trial and error, cause and effect, and that is okay. So, do the thing. Set the tone. Shift the perspective. Accomplish the goals. Have fun. Push your limits. And all of the rest of the one offs I could provide you. Conquer the morning, and so maximize yourself, your community, and for the generation to come.

MEMENTO MORI “Remember, you must die.” At times Life is an ugly lie but death is an undeniable truth. We get one go at life. But is this not what makes life beautiful in a remarkable way? It is constrained and causes us to contemplate its limits and the potential of what it could be. It requires us to cherish each moment well. It keeps us sober to the fact that one day, what we know as existence will end. But, it is not to be feared. But welcomed. Death is a gift to be free from the toils and burdens of life and to propel us to live excellently and rightfully. To tend to our bodies well. To accrue resources and invest time properly. To prioritize good relationships. To vastly expand our understanding and experience. To align ourselves to a worthy aim. While sounding potentially morbid, utilize maximum quality of self even when facing death. Look it in the face, recognize your days are numbered, therefore propel yourself to soberly assess what truly matters and what type of person you will be. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It doesn’t matter about your shortcomings. It only matters if you will let your death be the mark of having made the most of who you are and what you were supposed to do. “My death for the living.” This is an excerpt from my poem ESSENCE. It reminds me that in all things, I want to maximize myself so that even when I go people will still add value to their lives by what I left behind. This happens with each micro moment I am granted by heaven until that day when I am no more present in this world. Having this vantage is a privilege, not a curse. We die knowing that we lived, but truly lived and existed for the welfare of all that was meant to be in our time. You will die. Own it. Know it. Use it. Maximize yourself today. Maximize your effectiveness. Your community. Your world. Your capacity for to propagate a better future for those will live beyond you.

THE BIG 5 are all essential to your daily existence for the maximal enjoyment and effectiveness of your life, your community, and the generations to come.

Faithfulness is the virtue that curates the outcome of wise living and the fruits of a longevity in maximizing oneself to their full potential.

Setting cultural dynamics for each domain of life you are in utilizing Accountability, Respect, Community, Honor.

Our sins bear the reproach of the injury that we incur. A tactical guide to transparency and integrity.

Isaak McCammey is a father of two with an associates degree in Biblical Studies. He’s been married to his lovely wife Rachel for six years. He’s a coach, youth pastor, and loves to learn about leadership. His hobbies consist of playing the occasional video game, working out, and flying model airplanes with his son. This conversation is an integral part of living out the concepts that have been at play. While more straight forward, less semantic, Isaak provides a framework to traverse fatherhood in the practical, every day aspects of fatherhood in a utile way.

Influence: According to the Oxford Dictionary, influence is: “the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.” One of the most potent examples of this was my fourth semester in university. I was a dorm steward (commonly associated with an RA). I led the room, I enforced the order, I was there for these men daily. Weekly dorm cleaning was mandatory. We all knew it was a drag and not the most enjoyable aspect of sharing a room with an additional seven other fellas (as one could imagine). Yet, I wanted to make it as enjoyable, approachable, and automatic as possible. So I curated a playlist that had specific songs to emphasize specific things. Initially it was an upbeat soundtrack for whilst we were cleaning but slowly, overtime, it morphed into something even more. As soon as the playlist began, I would hear audible groans from the other roommates as they could no longer sleep since the playlist was on. Further, the playlist would end with the star spangled banner and other rooms would hear our playlist and proceed to join us in honoring the flag each week as the semester transpired. While I’m not suggesting that conditioning is to be equated to influence, understanding that the outcome produced by the playlist in the men was what influenced them to wake up, know what time it was, clean, and end on a note of purpose. It’s important then, to analyze what subconsciously drives us. What content, behaviors, beliefs, relationships do we allow to directly shape the way we orient ourselves and our purposes? Dr. Healthy Gamer, as his profile is listed, was featured on the Modern Wisdom Podcast this last week, and pertaining to our response to things that have the potential to influence us, he suggests the following, “You can only control your actions and reactions.” W can’t control outcomes or the situation we may walk into, or the consequences of actions that we may have to process from the past. We can only control how we react to them and how we act in the world. This was profound as I reviewed the power of influence as it points to the fact that the responsibility is truly upon us and what we decide will change, morph, and shape us. Therefore, we need to ask, “What are the optics in striving for?” In my body, in my finances, in my relationships, in my intellect, in my spiritual formation. In alignment with setting the tone, we must understand that what we allow to influence us and how we influence will affect who we are today, are tomorrow, and how we will influence the next generation.