Through Hell to Freedom - The 4-Phase Protocol for Dark Times
- Isaac Lester
- Oct 26
- 19 min read
From below deck of the Fleet Sailing Vessel: Matilda, I write to explain my exact protocol for rebuilding a destroyed life, and making progress towards goals.
You've been cast adrift to the void beneath hell.
Your life imploded. Your relationships burned. Your plans shattered. You're crashing at someone's place, living with your mother, in your car, or somewhere worse. You can feel yourself slipping into the kind of darkness that breaks people permanently.
You've been cast adrift to the void, and now, cold from the dark night creeps in close. You feel hopeless.
I know because I've been there. Multiple times. Different circumstances, same void.
The difference between people who climb out and people who don't, is having a protocol when your brain can't think straight and your body wants to quit.
This is mine.
I call it Going On Campaign.
A framework. A system that works even when you're broken.
It Is A (lengthy) Map...
What This Actually Is
When the Romans went on campaign, they arrived on foreign soil with clear objectives, precise phases, and defined victory conditions. They carried systems that kept Legionnaires healthy, motivated, and effective when everything went to hell.
That's what this is. I've created here for you my battle-tested operational framework for extracting yourself from catastrophe and regaining momentum toward freedom.
I’m not special. I had no secret advantage. I’ve stared at the ceiling of my mother’s basement at 3 AM wondering if I’d ever have my own place again. I’ve hidden alcohol abuse, terrified of what sobriety might reveal. I’ve sat across from family who chose sides against me, realizing blood doesn’t guarantee loyalty.
Each time, I built from wreckage. Each time, I refined this protocol a little more. It’s not perfect because I’m not perfect, but it’s reliable because I’ve stress-tested it in hell. What I learned is this:
the framework matters more than the man using it.
Every time my world collapsed, this protocol rebuilt it. Not perfectly. Not instantly. But reliably.
May it bring you some focus, and help you in making progress.
Quick Start Guide
This is a long read. If you’re short on time, here’s the quick-start version for the Dear Readers present that currently only have a few minutes,. This is what you do tomorrow:
- Block 2 hours on your calendar, even if you have to cancel something.
- Start Phase 1: Planning. Come back to this article, conduct a life audit.
- Write down your first milestone: where you'll be in 30 days if you execute this.
- Tell yourself: "I'm going on campaign. This is not optional."
Then wake up and do it again.
And again.
And again...until you’re free.
Mission: Extract yourself from hell.
Protocol: Go On Campaign, fight for your goals.
Outcome: A different life. A better life.
The Four Phases
I crafted this survival architecture while rebuilding my life in 2017.
I wanted to have a framework that I could "fall into" at any point and "loop" back around to the beginning, where I could restart. Entry points range from "I need to escape tonight" to "I'm building a 10-year vision", and I believe there's room for human error, Murphy's Suggestions, and the chaos of life itself.
Phase I: Planning
Theme: Know the battlefield, understand your circumstance
Duration: 1-7 days (depending on how bad it truly is)
Objective: Understand what broke, what you have left, and what needs to change
This is reconnaissance. Whether I am in the middle of "waking up" and realizing that my life is on fire, or quietly sitting down to plan my next step forward, the first thing I do is conduct a life audit while everything is still in motion.
For context, I might work a little harder to meet obligations if I've slipped. I'll attempt to make healthier eating choices when I remember to do so. We cannot make total change overnight, but we can start with what's within our control while planning to do better.
With planning, transformation can occur that leaves even you shocked. Take baby steps, progress will come.
The Mirror Moment
"Start to stop doing what you know to be wrong. Start stopping today. Don’t waste time questioning how you know that what you’re doing is wrong, if you are certain that it is." - Jordan Peterson
The planning phase begins with what I call The Mirror Moment. You must look at yourself and acknowledge the truth without bullshit, without the comforting lie of "it's not that bad." You're in the void. Say it out loud.
I once spent days coming to terms with how far I’d spiraled. My mind was so overrun I had to speak it just to feel real and in some kind of control again:
"I really fucked up, and now I'm lost. I am lost and alone here in the dark, and I need to find my way..."
Once I admitted this to myself, the very logic that I'd been operating on began to crumble. My worldview shifted before my eyes, and I was able to begin making progress again.
The Inventory
After the mirror moment comes The Inventory.
What do you actually have?
Before moving forward, you need a clear picture of your current assets. Tools, skills, and resources are your war-chest and munitions stockpile.
Beans, Bullets, BoomSticks, Blades, and Band-aids, baby.
Awareness is the foundation of strategy. Once you define goals and actionable steps, that awareness begins to work subconsciously, generating ideas and connections that drive progress.
Grab a notebook and set a timer for ten minutes.
Write down everything that could benefit you in any way.
Money, even if it's only twenty dollars. Skills, even if they feel useless right now. Assets like a laptop, phone, or car. People who actually showed up when it mattered.
Time, and how much of it you have before you are truly fucked. All of it goes on paper. What you can see, you can begin to track. What you can track, you can work to impact.
The Autopsy
How did you get here? And before we even get into it, know that it's important to remember to be kind to yourself, yo'.
You’re not here to self-destruct. You’re here to understand why the system failed, so you can rebuild it stronger.
I never spoke up about feeling out of place at my first duty station. Instead of learning how to fit in, I drowned the discomfort with reckless behavior and late nights with friends. By the time I could finally put words to the feeling that I didn’t belong, the damage was already done and I’d earned a reputation as a below-average Marine.
Rather than being offered a chance to reset or transfer, I was held in place and disciplined until a non-judicial punishment finally forced a move.
At my next command, I was determined to prove myself to not be a total piece of shit, and I overcorrected.
I became the poster-boy Marine, living by the book until my divorce cracked everything open and unleashed a series of what felt like "Pandora’s Programs" on my life. My operating system was controlled by coping mechanisms that restructured my entire existence.
The drinking that followed became more intense, and I clung to it feverishly all the way through three intense years of Recruiting Duty, and several more adrift after discharge.
That’s the short version. But you can see the pattern.
Understanding where you’ve been is the only way to decide where you’re going next. Write it all down: the betrayals, the mistakes, the moments you knew something was wrong but stayed anyway.
Especially those last few.
The Declaration
Finally, the moment of reckoning arrives with The Declaration.
Ask yourself: What has to change?
I no longer smoke cigarettes. I stopped drowning myself in alcohol and started rebuilding my mind, body, and lifestyle to actually improve my life. My social circle had to evolve. My content consumption had to shift.
All of it had to be rebuilt from the ground up. My habits, sleep, diet, thought patterns. Everything
So I did that.
I made a promise: to become the man I’d always imagined, and to learn, in detail, who that man actually was. Then, to live as him now. To reach the heavens, there must be sacrifice. There is no easy path from the Earth to the Stars.
So ask yourself: What are yours?
Which relationships must end?
Which habits are killing you?
Which situations can you no longer stay in?
What version of your life are you willing to murder to create the next one?
The better one...
The output of Phase 1 is a clear-eyed assessment and a confirmed target for where you’re headed. Clarity of target sharpens focus in action.
A word of caution: this phase hurts. And who loves pain, right? You’ll want to skip it to just start doing something. Don’t.
Planning is what keeps you from running in circles for the next six months. A single week of focused planning can set and fast track the trajectory for the next decade.
Have Discipline. Use The Force. The Limit Does Not Exist.
Phase II: Mobilization
Theme: Gather your gear and make ready for Operations; standby to step off
Duration: 2-14 days
Objective: Acquire resources, eliminate dead weight, prepare for movement
This is a staging phase of sorts. You're gathering what you need while cutting what's holding you back.
Resource Acquisition
Mobilization begins with Resource Acquisition.
If you're building online, you need YouTube playlists, books, and courses, all of which can be found for free through Gunnery Sergeant Google.
My own Guides, Field Notes, Operational Manuals, and General Codex are all being born, maintained, and iterated upon in the Open Notes Archive.
If you’re planning a physical escape, identify and research your destination. Save what money you can and plan how to make more upon arrival.
Secure transportation. Build contingencies. Ready the stage.
If you’re changing careers, outline the skills you’ll need, make connections, update your resume, and start lining up interviews.
Shake babies. Kiss hands. Ready the stage.
Whatever you need to start, not to finish, you gather it now.
The Purge
Simultaneously, you execute The Purge.
Cut immediately and without mercy the people who drain you, even if they share your blood.
Cut the habits that numb you: drinking, unintentional scrolling, video games, all of it. Go as far as verbally asking every habit: What purpose do you serve?
If you find yourself scrambling to defend a habit, person, or possession, that’s your signal that it needs to go.
Cut relics of your old life. Cut excuses.
This isn’t cruelty.
This is survival.
You would not carry dead weight into battle. Don’t carry it into your new life.
The Commitment
Tell yourself you're doing this, even if you don't tell anyone else yet.
Set your first impossible deadline. Cancel the escape routes, including the "backup plans" that let you stay stuck.
Those aren’t safety nets; they’re anchors.
Fucking burn them.
Burn the gorydamn boats.
Mission success or death.
Ante Mortem, Gloria.
Give yourself a basic admin-tracking setup.
It doesn't matter if you use a notebook or a software like Obsidian, so just roll with whatever works and get going.
Define what you do on bad days; this will become your minimal viable routine. Even on bad days, you do THIS.
Choose carefully who you tell. Some will try to “help” you stay safe, which really means talking you out of the risk that terrifies them.
This is a simple game with complex and often hidden mechanics.
The Output of Phase 2 is simple: You have what you need to begin.
You've declared war on your old life.
There's no going back, only The Campaign forward.
This is where most people fail. They plan but never mobilize. They dream but never burn the bridges. Do not be like most people.
Phase III: Deployment
Theme: Establish the beachhead
Duration: 7-30 days
Objective: Launch publicly, create momentum, prove you're serious
This is where you hit the beach, hard. Everything you gathered in Mobilization gets used now.
The Launch
If you started a YouTube channel, post the first video today.
If you're building a business, make the first offer this week.
If you're escaping a situation, execute the extraction plan now.
Big Britches today boyos.
No more "I'm getting ready." You're ready enough.
Perfect is the enemy of done, and done is the only thing that matters in Deployment.
Visibility > Perfection.
Your first ten pieces of content will suck. Post them anyway.
Your first product will be rough. Launch it anyway.
Your first attempt will be messy. Do it anyway.
The goal isn't excellence. The goal is proof of life. You need the world to see that you exist, that you're moving, and that you're serious. You need to prove to yourself that you care about your goals.
Here, we learn consistency.
If your goals become sacred, execution becomes worship.
Visibility is perfection. Execution is worship.
So execute.
Scorched Earth
If you said you were leaving that job, leave.
If you said you were cutting someone off, cut them off.
If you said you were moving, move.
No half-measures. No “just one more month.”
The moment you allow wiggle room, you begin to slide back into the void.
Deployment demands total commitment.
We train others how to treat us, and in turn, ourselves, what is acceptable.
Throughout this phase, document everything: what worked, what failed, what you learned, how you felt.
This becomes your playbook for Phase IV and expands your sight picture of what’s happening and why.
The output of Phase 3:
Something exists that didn’t exist before.
A channel. A product. A new location. A different life.
You’ll be terrified. You’ll feel like an impostor. You’ll want to delete everything and hide.
That’s normal.
Keep going, I believe in you.
Phase IV: Momentum
Theme: Systematize everything and throw down on the holy accelerator
Duration: 30-90 days
Objective: Turn chaos into systems, effort into leverage
Foothold becomes fortress.
Pattern Recognition
Phase 4 begins with identifying, understanding, and exploiting patterns within your system to your benefit.
Review your logs and notes from Deployment.
What consistently worked? Do more of that.
What consistently failed? Stop doing that.
Yes, it's really that simple.
Identify what consumed too much energy for too little return.
Automate it, delegate it, or eliminate it.
This isn't complicated, but it requires honesty. Most people lie to themselves about what's working because they're emotionally invested in certain tactics.
Again: don't be "most people"
Build Systems
Once you've identified the patterns, you build systems around them.
If you’re building online, develop a content creation schedule.
If you’re running a business, design an income-generation process.
If you’re rebuilding your social life, establish a relationship maintenance rhythm.
If you’re rebuilding your health, construct routines that don’t depend on motivation.
The goal is to build systems that run even when you’re exhausted, because you will be :)
Scaling
System building naturally leads to Scaling.
Double down on what worked in deployment by finding the leverage points. Where do you spend one hour of effort that produces ten hours of results?
Build team, community, and financial support structures, and begin doing so early, because you can't do everything alone forever.
Create feedback loops so you know what's working and what isn't; scaling is about moving away from the grind and shifting towards compounding smarter.
It’s working less out of desperation and more out of desire.
The Defense
The final piece of Phase 4 is The Defense.
Ruthlessly protect your energy like it's sacred, yo'. Because it is.
Say no to everything that doesn't serve, create progress for, or generate monies for the mission. Life will test your defenses often; build buffers of time, money, and energy to keep focus sharp.
Prepare for the next crisis, because there's always another one.
Output of Phase 4: a life that builds itself. Systems that compound. Momentum that feels inevitable.
The warning here is that success makes you soft. Don't let it, or allow comfort kill your edge. The Campaign demands only effort and consistency.
My Implementation: The Lesterian Calendar
All of these parts fit together into what I call "The Lesterian Calendar"
I've structured my year around this rhythm, and it's kept me from ever needing the emergency protocol again because I'm always in some season of "Campaign Mode".
Q1 (Oct–Dec): Build & Launch
I kick off new projects, create plans to acquire new skills, and eyeball new territory to conquer through Isaacification.
I go from Planning to Momentum in 90 days, treating it like a strategic military operation even when life in my personal Empire is stable. This QuarterSeason focuses creation and launch preparations.
Q2 (Jan–Mar): Refine & Optimize
I take everything that worked in the previous quarter and refine it, working to make it even more betterer through the systematic hunting down and snuffing out of inefficiencies with extreme prejudice.
I design and deploy new forms of leverage.
What’s bulletproof gets bunkered in orbit.
What’s wasteful gets vaporized.
Q3 (Apr–Jun): Reflect & Reset
This is the strategic pause.
I conduct another all encompassing audit: What's working long-term? What needs to end?
What's the next evolution?
Valuable data for the next campaign.
The Romans didn't campaign year-round; snows come. They prepared, reflected, and planned. So do I.
Though it's important to remember: snow always melts.
Q4 (Jul–Sep): Harvest & Planning
I celebrate wins. I document lessons. I set ambitious targets for the October restart. I close loops and strengthen foundations.
This quarter ensures I'm ready for the next full campaign; ready, willing, and able.
Morituri te Salutamus, yo'
The moment you stop being an active player in your own life, you start dying. That's why this works.
Once you stop playing with intent, your spiritual edge dulls. Your systems decay. Your momentum stops. The Legion Cycle prevents this decay in my life by keeping me in a balanced cycle of momentum and restoration.
I treat life like the Romans treated empire-building: endless expansion, systematic conquest, relentless improvement.
I’ve been running this cycle since my last rebuild, and each 90-day sprint carries me further from the basement and that void beneath hell, and closer to the life I want.
You don't have to use my version. But you need YOUR version. A framework that keeps you sharp even when you're winning.
Because, cliche as it may sound, the worst time to stop training for war is when you think you've already won.
Measuring Progress
Here's how you know if you're actually executing this protocol or just consuming it.
After seven days, you should have completed Phase 1 and started Phase 2.
You should have a written life audit, resource inventory, and clear targets.
You should have cut at least one person, habit, or excuse from your life.
After fourteen days, you should be in Phase 3.
Something public should exist that proves you're serious. A post. A product. A change.
Other people should be able to see you moving.
After thirty days, you should be building Phase 4.
You should have systems, not just actions.
Your metrics should be moving.
People from your old life should be uncomfortable.
After ninety days, your life should be unrecognizable physically, financially, mentally...
...or mayhaps even all three.
Your version of The Campaign protocol should have become your Operating System.
If you're not hitting these milestones, you're not executing.
You're pretending.
Fix that or fail.
The Moment You Know It's Working
It's not when you hit your first goal.
It won't be when people start noticing.
The marker is not even when you start making money or getting traction.
It's the moment you realize you're not scared anymore.
Not because the danger is gone or the uncertainty has receded, but because you have a protocol for dealing with both well.
A framework.
A system that works even when you're broken.
You know that if everything collapsed tomorrow, you'd just activate Phase 1 and start rebuilding. Again.
That's when you realize you're not just surviving anymore; you've fucked around and become dangerous as a result.
Resisting Temptation
Every person who escaped hell has a moment where they almost went back.
For me, it was 4 months after donating La Sirena, just before I found Matilda.
I was close to broke, desperately lonely, and beginning to feel uncertain if any of my plans would work.
No one called for me to come home this time.
Then I remembered: going back isn't safety anyhow. It's slow death.
I'd fought my way upward from the void beneath hell once before.
I was simply still in the pit with a need to ascend further.
Neither the void nor the pit kill you quickly. They kill by convincing you that less is fine.
By whispering that your situation isn’t that bad.
By teaching you that dreams are for other people.
The void is seductive enough to get stuck in because it promises comfort through artificial stillness. And we’re all exhausted enough to mistake comfort for safety.
I stayed. I found Matilda.
Just months later, everything has changed.
If you're having that moment where going back seems easier, remember this:
Locking in to go on Campaign works.
Let doubt in, and you’ll abort a breakthrough that could be inches away.
Why This Works When Everything Else Fails
Therapy says: process your feelings, heal your trauma, then act.
Self-help says: visualize success, manifest abundance, believe.
The hustle bros say: grind harder, sleep less, push through.
Going On Campaign acknowledges that you're in a conflict zone and says fuck all that;
Make a gorydamn plan and move. Aggressively.
1.) It’s not motivation-dependent.
Motivation dies. Systems don’t. The SpicySadness attacks with no warning; this can run whether you feel inspired or not. You don’t need excitement to execute Phase 1. Just discipline.
2.) It’s designed for crisis.
Most advice assumes you’re stable. This assumes you’re broken and builds from there.
There’s no pretending everything’s fine. There’s only The Work.
3.) It produces proof immediately.
Therapy takes months. This gives you visible wins in days. Wins create belief. Belief creates action. Action creates more wins. The cycle compounds faster than any other approach I've found.
4.) It’s adaptable.
Launch your campaign when you decide, in the manner you need. You adapt every phase to your situation, your resources, your timeline. The framework is rigid. The execution is flexible.
5.) It treats you like a fighter.
This framework gives you time to process while still advancing under fire. There are positions of power built-in to pause, observe and adjust. This is how you survive, dominate, and win.
The Metrics That Actually Matter
When everything’s falling apart, these are the only numbers that count.
Daily: Did you do your minimum viable routine?
Did you create something today?
Are you still here, beating the drum and showing up every day?
Three questions. Three answers. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Weekly: How many new pieces of content, products, or actions did you take?
What’s your progress toward escape or transformation, as a percentage?
Is your energy trending up, flat, or down?
Monthly: What milestones did you hit?
How many systems now run without thought?
What proof of life can you point to?
Brutal truth: if the numbers aren’t moving after 30 days of Deployment, you’re not executing.
You’re pretending.
(again) Fix that or fail.
The Maintenance Protocol (What Happens After)
You’ve made it through.
You escaped the basement. You launched the thing. You’re building momentum.
Don’t stop.
The Legion Cycle continues in QuarterSeasons.
- Oct–Dec: Build & Launch. Run a new campaign.
- Jan–Mar: Refine & Optimize. Kill inefficiencies. Scale what works.
- Apr–Jun: Reflect & Reset. Audit. Rest. Plan the next evolution.
- Jul–Sep: Harvest & Plan. Celebrate wins, document lessons, and aim higher.
Repeat.
Keep this rhythm, and you’ll never drift into the void again.
A Warning About Going Back
Once you activate this protocol and start seeing results, people from your old life will notice.
They’ll say, "You’ve changed", which means you’re making them uncomfortable.
They’ll say, "You’re doing too much", which means your growth highlights their stagnation.
They’ll say, "I’m worried about you", which means they need you to stay the same.
They’ll say, "Be realistic", which means they want you to give up so they feel better about quitting.
Ignore them.
Especially anyone who tells you that you can't simply walk into Mordor.
You are not being realistic. You are being radical.
That's the only way out. Through the hardships.
Intentionally and aggressively.
Per Aspera Ad Astra.
The people who belong in your new life will show up when you're building, not when you're breaking. The ones who show up in the void with criticism aren't your people.
The ones who show up when you're winning with support, are.
The Truth About This Protocol
It's not magic. It's not easy. It won't fix everything instantly.
But it's the difference between spending five years "trying to figure it out" versus 3 months executing a plan that improves with time.
I've used this to rebuild my life three times now from total collapse. Each time it worked because the protocol only cares about execution, not feelings, your past, or excuses.
If you're in the void right now, you have two choices:
Stay there and hope something changes.
Or activate this protocol and make something change.
Only one of those gets you free.
Start Here
If you're reading this at 2 AM, unsure of how to fix your life, here's what you do tomorrow:
- Block 2 hours on your calendar, even if you have to cancel something.
- Start Phase 1: planning. Listen to this article again, conduct a life audit, inventory, autopsy, and declaration.
- Write down your first milestone: where you'll be in 30 days if you execute this.
- Tell yourself: "I'm going on campaign. This is not optional."
Then wake up and do it again.
And again.
And again...until you’re free.
The Mission: Extract yourself from hell.
The Protocol: Go On Campaign, fight for your goals.
The Outcome: A different life. A better life.
The only question: Are you activating this today, or are you waiting for permission that will never come?
Going on campaign means one thing: You've declared war on the life that's killing you, and you're willing to move the world itself to reach your ambitions.
Per Aspera Ad Astra
Through Hardships to The Gorydamn Stars
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This is Week 2 of a 12-week series documenting my journey from the void beneath hell to ground zero just above the pit, and the frameworks that got me here. Next week: "Practical Systems & Staying Sane"
If you’re reading this at 2 a.m. wondering if starting over is still on the table...it is. I’m living proof. Don’t spend another day drifting alone in darkness; start building toward the light. If you need a guide, check out my publishing hub. I believe in you, frfr, yo'.
- Isaac
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