They don’t tell you that the hardest part of deployment isn’t the firefight, but the weeks, days, and final few hours before you step off.
That liminal space between worlds where you’re done with training but haven’t made any form of meaningful contact yet, can go on for months. In this space, every system gets tested one, or three more times. Here, you’re checking gear you’ve already checked twice because once you’re outside the wire, there’s no going back for what you forgot.
That’s where I am right now. And if you’re building something that matters, you’re probably there too.
I. The Captain’s Log
In the Marine Corps, a deployment happens in stages. Long before the main body makes transit from base to base, forward observers scout the terrain. They ready the space for the arrival of the masses. They identify threats, establish beachheads, and gather intelligence that keeps people alive.
I’m in that phase right now.
Classes run through December, but my deployment: untying from the dock, pushing south, building while sailing ... that starts a few months after. This brief slither of time is my forward observer phase.
stalling < staging
I’m running reconnaissance missions across platforms to understand how the dominant platforms of the Interwebs truly function. My blog, newsletter, and youTube channels serve as public command centers while social serves as beachheads where I conduct micro-operations to gather intel.
Testing what resonates.
Learning what breaks.
Softening the landing zone for the Main Operation.
The terminology is Marine Corps because the frameworks of my Most Holy and esteemed Marine Corps for getting shit done are unmatched.
The Mission, however, is pure FeverDream Isaac.
“Craft for The Disillusioned masses, A Guide, from which to save themselves from the flood of a strange society. A Digital Empire of text, a throuple of audio, visual and graphical. Graphically exposed, from a sailboat while preparing to circumnavigate the planet.”
FeverDream Isaac™
Some people think preparation is procrastination. Those people don’t survive first contact.
II. What Shipped This Week
Not much in terms of new content. But I had a conversation this week that reminded me why I’m building this thing in the first place.
A friend asked me about a decision they were struggling with. My friend had invested years of effort and only received exponentially diminishing returns. The crippling fear of “wasting” everything they’d put in was keeping them from being able to even conceive of The Way Forward.
They’d never even heard of the sunk cost fallacy.
So I sent them this article.
The one where I break down why time and resources already spent don’t obligate you to stay on a failing course. Why evidence of a better path matters more than pride in past investment.
They messaged back: “Thank you i needed that.”
The source of my joy: The Machine works even at 60% capacity. I’m still building, still testing, still figuring out the final production pipeline. But people are already getting value from the incomplete system.
If you’re in the building phase and feeling behind, remember this: Your 60% can change someone’s life while you’re working toward 100%.
And in the Marine Corps, 80% is passing...
III. Behind The BulkHead
Isaac’s Digital Empire of Black and White experienced minor battle damage and lost three days of work to a data failure.
A minor loss. No matter.
The beauty in losing work is the joy in rebuilding it better from memory. There’s probably a study somewhere proving you retain more by doing the thing twice anyway. First pass for discovery, second pass for mastery. *80%*
I also picked up an Xtra Muse camera this week. Makes vlogging absurdly simple with start and stop recording whenever inspiration hits. I’ve been experimenting with end-of-day wrap-ups, inspired by this helv.io series.
Raw footage, real thoughts, zero polish. The kind of content that shows the actual work, not the highlight reel.
Here’s what I’m learning: Equipment doesn’t make you a creator. Consistency does. The camera just lubricates the passage and assists in removing friction.
IV. This Weeks Battle Plan
Nulla dies sine linea | No day without a line.
I’m committing fully to a field notes protocol ... which means carrying a pocket notebook everywhere, capturing ideas and observations as they happen. The intent is simple: better idea capture means better content.
All Ideas Must Serve.
Those captured ideas become 5-minute-or-less clips that get pushed to my X account. This week’s mission: Get from 8 verified followers to 20.
I came across a post recently shaming “Reply Guys”; people who build followings by engaging in others’ comment sections.
I see no shame in that game if you’re distributing genuine value.
The spam commenters spewing generic praise? This is the scum of the Earth that plagues The Interwebs. But thoughtful engagement that adds to the conversation? That’s how you find your people.
The strategy is simple:
Reply where I have something real to contribute
Document the building process in micro-clips
Qualify followers > chasing numbers
Build relationships, not metrics
20 real believers matters more than 2,000 ghosts. Empires have been birthed on less than this.
V. What’s Next
I’m in the late stages of QuarterSeason 1 on my Campaign Calendar, nearing the end of the Deployment Phase. While there’s little room for additional platforms to spin up, there’s massive space for developing existing ones.
Every part has a place. Every place has a part to play.
The content distribution part of the overall strategy and system is taking shape:
Ideas get logged in Open Notes, then become drafts that get broken down in short videos on X.
Those drafts get proofread and tested on @Isaac’sRoughCuts
Enter backlog for full production on @TheIsaacLester when timing is right
The way I see it, I already have an idea of what I want to do, why wait to “grow into it” when I can build the foundations for it all now? It’s a machine, a force multiplier. One idea becomes five pieces of content across multiple platforms, each serving a specific purpose in the overarching pipeline.
VI. Recent Reflections
I thought I’d have everything systematized by now. Thankfully, I planned to be further behind than I am.
But I never expected to be helping people with an incomplete system. Never expected to send article links to strangers who needed exactly that message. Never expected to feel this strange intoxication - like young love, but directed at the machine I’m building.
My cup feels full enough to breathe between personal interest deep dives. Looking at what I’ve constructed - even in its current state - I see something that will be immensely fun to operate during the coming year.
I’m incredibly excited to declare QuarterSeason 1 Operations closed before kicking off 2026 with a bang.
VII. Your Assignment
Stop comparing your Planning phase to someone else’s Sustained Operations.
Ask yourself: What phase am I actually in?
Planning/Reconnaissance: Still figuring out the terrain, testing platforms, learning the language
Staging: Systems exist but aren’t automated, content is flowing but inconsistent
Main Assault: Full deployment, everything firing on all cylinders
Sustained Operations: The machine runs, you’re optimizing and expanding
Be honest about where you are. Then give yourself permission to operate at that phase’s pace.
Build correctly now. Dominate later.
VIII. Proof Of Function
This week I:
Helped someone understand the sunk cost fallacy
Rebuilt three days of lost work (better the second time)
Shipped this newsletter on schedule (day on target, time pending)
The machine is running. Not perfectly. Not yet at full capacity. But running.
And that’s what matters.
Per Aspera Ad Astra | Through Hardships to The Gorydamn Stars
- Isaac
P.S. - If this newsletter helped you identify your deployment phase, hit reply and tell me which one you’re in. I read every response. And if you know someone stuck in the “why am I not further along” spiral, forward this to them. Sometimes people just need permission to build at the pace that actually works.
Need to get caught up?
