Hi, I’m Josh Stewart.
These are my thoughts.
→ I write because it helps me think clearly.
→ I share because it keeps me accountable.
Progress is achieved through iteration.
Recent writings:
Daily routine: 2023 edition
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If you want average outcomes, do what the average person does. If you want extraordinary outcomes, you’re gonna have to do things differently.
Start at the beginning. Always.
Before I share my daily routine, I believe some context is crucial.
I have no interest in mediocrity. None.
I’ve spent the past 5 years pursuing health and I’ve discovered through a lot of iteration that there is a lot of good on the other side of discomfort.
As the patriarch of my family, I’m committed to leading from the front and doing the hard things that make me the best version of myself.
These things undoubtedly make me a better husband, father, protector, friend, and businessman.
It’s not instant gratification, like when you’re eating Cheetos binging Netflix. It’s delayed gratification and it lasts.
It makes my mind stronger. It makes my body stronger. It gives me energy I can’t explain. It keeps me motivated and inspired to maximize this life.
Discipline equals freedom.
DISCLAIMER:
I didn’t figure these things out overnight. It was a slow and iterative process with plenty of mistakes along the way (like the time I ran a full marathon without eating anything, or the time I got frostbite from staying in my cold plunge for too long — you get the idea).
What works for me might not work for you. The goal is to learn through trial and error.
Morning Routine
My morning routine is something I’ve been perfecting for nearly 5 years.
Win the morning, win the day.
5:45 - 6:15 am (wake up time)
40 oz water with Creatine (5 mg) + Redmonds Relyte
Heart & Soil: Beef Organs, Whole Package, Skin/Hair/Nails
Vitamin D (5,000 IU)
Onnit Alpha Brain
Diindolylmethane (DIM) 300 mg
Red Korean Ginseng
Cod liver oil (1 teaspoon)
Prayer / read 10 pages (15 minutes)
Redlight therapy + breathwork: 10+ minutes on Joovv
Ice bath: 3 minutes at 37° (towel dry)
Lift (45+ minutes)
8:30 am
Coffee (1-2 cups, 2 hours post waking up)
Commute
Work
Mind management > time management. I’ve found that when my mind is in the right place, I can get two weeks worth of work done in two days.
9:00 am
Hook studio — Monday/Wednesday/Friday
Home office — Tuesday/Thursday
Diet
My diet has been iteratively crafted after wearing a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) for 60 days and learning how my body reacts to certain foods. Diet is nuanced and individualized based on a variety of factors. Instead of buying into a fad diet (keto, paleo, etc), I believe it’s important to discover what works best for you.
My Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is 1,845 calories. Depending on my activity level, I aim to consume between 2,250 and 2,500 calories daily.
2 pm
50g raw liver + Bone broth with collagen and ghee butter (40 grams of protein) *Break your fast with highly bioavailable and nutrient-dense protein
Relyte hydration (32 oz)
3:30 pm
Beef protein stick or biltong + cheese (30-40 grams of protein)
5:30 pm
Ground beef (1 lb) or 6-8 eggs (40-60 grams of protein)
Jasmine rice (1/4 cup)
Optional evening snacks:
Salmon
Broccoli
Asparagus
Fruit — primarily blueberries, blackberries, raspberries
Greek yogurt
Macadamia nuts (in moderation)
Dried mango (in moderation)
Golden Kiwis
Purple Sweet Potatoes
Honeycrisp Apples
Avocados
*I consume a minimum of 180 grams of protein + 96 oz water before 8 pm
**I’ll adjust my carbs based on my activity level (they’re typically between 75 and 175 grams daily)
***I fill in the calorie gaps with healthy fats.
Products I Use and Recommend
Things to Remember
Doing hard things is a cheat code. When comfort is always the target, your threshold for discomfort becomes low. When your threshold for discomfort is low, you start to complain about things that aren’t real problems.
You get approximately 2.5 billion heartbeats in your lifetime. Stay calm. Slow down and breathe it all in.
The aging process itself is directly related to inflammation (chronic, low-grade inflammation ultimately characterizes what we refer to as aging). You can easily reduce inflammation by eating real whole foods, exercising, sleeping well, and including anti-inflammatory foods into your diet.
Omega-6 (seed oils) have a half-life of approximately 680 days. 680 days.
Prioritize: sleep, exercise, diet. In that order.
When your HRV is above 60, you are the best, happiest, most driven version of yourself.
98% of all vitamins sold are made synthetically. Source matters.
Voices I Trust and Follow
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House of Stewart
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As the leader of this house, I have to articulate these things clearly. It’s my job. If I fail to do so, it leaves the door open for others (who care much less) to clearly articulate the opposite values. I’m not going to let that happen on my watch.
Our Family Crest
Our family crest is rooted in purpose and intended to establish a sense of pride and rectitude for generations to come. The symbol unifies our lineage and represents the intentionality that unites us.
Our Family Manifesto
Good intentions are worthless without a plan of action — this is why our manifesto exists. What follows is a public declaration of our family’s purpose and intent.
We place our faith and trust in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We purposefully seek Him and He delights in the details of our lives.
We accept our circumstances and embrace ownership of our outcomes.
We understand that true freedom comes from discipline and that hurry is incompatible with love.
We accept that life was not intended to be easy, but acknowledge it can be full of joy and purpose when lived intentionally.
While others are anxious and afraid, we remain calm and unwavering, because we know who we are and we know where we’re going.
In a world of convenience and passivity, we are ambitious and resolute.
Each day is a gift—and we choose to live on purpose.
Our Core Values
The values we hold inform the decisions we make, the life we lead, and ultimately, who we become.
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We subscribe to a singular and absolute truth in the Bible, God’s living word.
It is our foundation and our compass.
Our lives have been marked by Christ.
If you don’t see it, you’re not paying attention.
We seek to fulfill the will of our Lord and Savior.
Our focus is on pleasing God, not man.
We refuse to let preferences get in the way of priorities.
Psalm 37:23
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We lead with gratitude.
Always.
You can’t be thankful for what you feel entitled to and won’t be entrusted with more until you can appreciate what you have.
If you *think* you have nothing to be thankful for, be thankful for the breath in your lungs.
When we appreciate the good in our life, we have more of it.
1 Thessalonians 5:18
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There, but for the grace of God, go any of us.
We were created in love, by love, for love, in the image of our creator. When we see others through this lens, we treat them the way Christ intended.
We lead with light and love in everything we do.
We practice empathy and default to a charitable interpretation of those around us.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8
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We recognize that discipline is trading what you want now for what you want most.
Time magnifies margin and multiplies whatever you feed it.
Outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.
Good habits make time your ally, bad habits make time your enemy.
If you do what is easy your life will be hard.
Hebrews 12:11
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We are confident enough to keep trying, humble enough to keep learning.
Remember, the hero and the coward are both scared, but the hero steps forward focused on doing what is right.
Wisdom is discovered when seeking to understand what is right rather than trying to be right.
Confidence is quiet. Arrogance is not.
If we boast, let us boast in the Lord.
Jeremiah 9:23
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The proper goal of education is to develop character.
Moral failure comes from weakness of character.
We are prone to wonder. The best protection against evil is recognizing that it lies within every human heart.
What you fill your mind with will shape the trajectory of your character. For better or worse.
Every action is a vote cast toward the person you become.
Philippians 4:8
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2022: A Year I’ll Never Forget
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A year I’ll never forget.
2022 was a year I'll never forget for two specific reasons:
We welcomed our fourth (and final) child, Ruby Jane.
We also lost our beloved Laura (something we're all still processing).
Both of these events changed our family forever.
My mother-in-law’s legacy.
In Laura's final days, so many people came to her bedside to say goodbye. I watched people pour their hearts out in gratitude. These were people from all walks of life. They were friends and family alike. They brought food, they brought gifts, they held her hand, they prayed over her, they sang to her. It was beautiful.
She was unable to respond during these moments, but in my heart, I know she was moved. I can't begin to explain the impact it had on me.
Laura with Gwyn Estelle
Death is inevitable.
Here's the thing — death is inevitable, but it's ultimately death that makes life so precious. Like everything else, it was designed to be this way by our Creator. My feeble human mind hates it, but I acknowledge His ways are higher than mine.
If you know me, you know I ruminate and wrestle with ideas a lot.
Wisdom isn't found in certainty. Wisdom is knowing that while you might know a lot, there's also a lot you don't know.
For similar reasons, both the joys and trials of 2022 got me hyper-focused on one word: "legacy".
What is my impact on this earth?
What will people say of me when I'm gone?
A family crest, manifesto, and core values.
I've had this idea for years and I've tinkered with it off and on. In honor of Laura, I decided to lock myself in my office during Christmas break and made a commitment to get it to the finish line before the new year.
As the owner of a creative studio focused on branding, I've seen the immense value that comes alongside the clear articulation of values, purpose, and aesthetics. Good branding does more than identify and differentiate, it establishes a sense of pride and rectitude. So, I've decided to brand the most important organization in my life: my family.
I've intentionally crafted a manifesto, core values, slogan, and even established a family crest. I'm excited to share them with you very soon.
These values and ideas have already been vocalized to my children — but I'm a big believer that "clear writing is a sign of clear thinking".
From this day forward, not only will they be written on our hearts, but they will hang on our walls, and we will share them with the world.
As the leader of my house, I have to articulate these things clearly. It's my job. If I fail to do so, it leaves the door open for others (who care much less) to clearly articulate the opposite values. I'm not going to let that happen on my watch.
A tertiary goal of all this is to honor those who have gone before me (my grandparents, parents, in-laws, etc) while also raising the bar for the next generation (Jude, Lila, Gwyn, and Ruby).
It may sound funny, but I spend more time than the average 37-year-old thinking about my future grandkids. I don't plan on being a Grandpa any time soon (it's at minimum 10-15 years out, Lord willing), but I can't wait for that season of life. Getting old doesn't scare me one bit. One of my biggest goals in life is to be surrounded by those I love and have impacted for good when I'm on my deathbed. Sounds morbid, right? It's not. You can't correct what you are unwilling to confront. To further elaborate, I'd like to point you to the last 3 sentences of the Stewart Family Manifesto:
While others are anxious and afraid, we remain calm and unwavering, because we know who we are and we know where we're going. In a world of convenience and passivity, we are ambitious and resolute. Each day is a gift—and we choose to live on purpose.
If you made it to this point, thanks for reading.
I pray that I don't ever come across as someone who has life completely figured out because that couldn't be further from the truth. Social media makes it pretty easy to share the highlights, so just know I'm also screwing things up on a daily basis.
Rest assured, I'll continue to make mistakes, but I'll also continue to wear my heart on my sleeve, fight for my family, and proudly champion my beliefs.
Sorry for the novel.
I hope everyone is as excited about 2023 as I am.
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Jude is thirteen
Jude turned 13 today. I recorded the video below when he was three. Ten years ago. Ten years. Time is weird.
When Bre was pregnant with Jude, I vividly remember daydreaming about what being a Dad would be like, wondering what Jude would look like, what his voice would sound like. All the things. I can say with complete conviction that this kid is everything I ever dreamed of and more.
My responsibility as his father is to raise him to be a God-fearing, courageous, kind, loving, humble young man. I don’t take that responsibility lightly, and I’m proud to report that the trajectory is good.
I’ve got five more years with him under my roof, and I plan on making each one count.
Side note: when Jude was born, I was much less busy. So, naturally, I built him his own website and carefully crafted films to commemorate important milestones 🤷🏻♂️
Have a look-see → JudeOliver.com
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