A six-stage process to prepare you for the journey from where you are to where you're meant to be! This is the final stage of preparation, and now you are moving (or will be, right?). Now What? The Readiness Protocols are coming, and they will help you improve performance on the go. Read on, get going, and then we’ll worry about improvements along the way.
Remember the story from Stage 3 about the sudden mission change to Mosul?
"Change of mission. You're going into Mosul immediately." If you don't remember it clearly, go back and read Stage 3—it perfectly captures what Stage 6 is all about.
We had spent weeks preparing, but when the call came, we didn't have perfect intelligence.
Enemy positions: probable but unconfirmed.
Route conditions: unknown.
Weather window: closing rapidly.
Friendly Forces: asleep.
Every fiber of my training screamed for more information, better coordination, clearer intelligence, and more time.
But the mission couldn't wait for perfect clarity. Sometimes the greatest risk isn't moving with incomplete information—it's waiting for information that will never come while the window of opportunity closes forever.
"Roger. Moving now."
We stepped off into the unknown, carrying everything we had learned and built, yet accepting that no amount of preparation could eliminate the fundamental uncertainty of forward movement. The summit push had begun.
The Paradox of Perfect Preparation
Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "You can't get away from yourself by moving from one place to another."
This wisdom cuts to the heart of what Stage 6 is—and what it is not.
The summit push isn't about escaping who you are. It's about taking who you've become through your preparation and committing that person (you) to the ascent you're called to make.
It's about bringing your authentic self—with all your accumulated wisdom, capabilities, and scars—to new achievement levels, greater presence, new places, new ideas, and new challenges.
After five stages of methodical preparation (or perhaps rushed, lackluster preparation), you might be tempted to continue preparing indefinitely—more assessment, more capacity building, more environmental analysis. However, I've learned from both military operations and personal ascents that preparation has a point of diminishing returns.
At some point, additional preparation is just procrastination.
The mountain doesn't care if you feel 100% ready. Your sacred mission doesn't wait for perfect conditions. The summit push begins when you commit to moving forward with the preparation you have, not the preparation you wish you had.
The Intelligence Gap: Moving with Incomplete Information
In military planning, we distinguish between essential information and all the other information we might want to know. Essential information includes: the mission objective, your available resources, basic environmental conditions, and major known threats.
It is always beneficial to have more information, including detailed enemy positions, precise weather forecasts, complete route reconnaissance, and full coordination with all adjacent units. The list could go on and on…
The reality of both combat operations and life transitions is that you rarely have all the information when it's time to move. The choice isn't between moving with perfect information or imperfect information—it's between moving with imperfect information or not moving at all. Perfect information is a destination you will never reach.
When we stepped off that night in Iraq, we didn't know exactly what we'd encounter. But we knew our mission, we trusted our preparation, and we understood that waiting for perfect intelligence would mean missing the window entirely. The courage wasn't in having all the answers—it was going anyway.
Your Intelligence Assessment:
What essential information do you have about your sacred mission and current situation?
What nice-to-have information are you waiting for that might never come?
What's the cost of waiting for perfect clarity versus the risk of moving with current knowledge?
The Commitment Threshold: From Preparation to Action
There's a moment in every meaningful ascent when mental preparation transforms into physical commitment. In mountaineering, it's called the commitment threshold—the point beyond which retreat becomes more dangerous than continuing forward. In my former life, we referred to it as the point of no return (PNR).
Your commitment threshold or PNR isn't about reckless abandon. It's about reaching the point where your preparation, your calling, and your circumstances align sufficiently that not moving forward becomes the greater risk.
I reached my commitment threshold for transitioning from military service to civilian entrepreneurship not when I had every detail figured out, but when staying in my current trajectory felt more dangerous to my authentic self than stepping into uncertainty.
My preparation was sufficient, the mission was clear, and the conditions—while not perfect—were workable.
Recognizing Your Commitment Threshold:
You've completed meaningful preparation across multiple dimensions. Your sacred mission feels clear enough to provide direction, if not detailed directions. The gap between your current reality and your calling creates more tension than the fear of forward movement. You find yourself talking about change more than working toward it. External conditions provide a viable (not perfect) window for movement
The First Step Protocol: How to Begin
The summit push doesn't require a dramatic leap. It requires a committed first step followed by sustained forward movement. Here's the protocol for beginning your ascent:
Step 1: Declare Your Intention
Commitment begins with declaration—first to yourself, then to others who matter. This isn't about public announcements or social media posts. It's about internal clarity that translates into external accountability.
Write down your commitment in simple, clear language: "I am beginning my ascent toward [specific mission] by taking [specific first action] within [specific timeframe]."
Share this declaration with at least one person whose opinion you respect and who will hold you accountable to your commitment.
Step 2: Identify Your Minimum Viable Action
Your first step doesn't need to be dramatic or comprehensive. It needs to be concrete, achievable, and directionally correct. What's the smallest action you can take that represents genuine movement toward your mission?
This might be:
Making a phone call you've been avoiding
Registering for training you need
Having a conversation about change with someone important
Beginning a creative project that aligns with your calling
Taking a financial step that supports your transition
The key is that your minimum viable action is both small enough to accomplish and significant enough to represent real commitment.
Step 3: Create Immediate Momentum
Once you've taken your first step, create a sequence of follow-up actions that build momentum without overwhelming your capacity. Plan the next three steps in your progression, each building logically on the previous one.
Momentum is generated through consistent forward movement, not through perfect planning. Your goal is to create a rhythm of action that makes continuing forward feel more natural than stopping.
Step 4: Establish Progress Markers
Define how you'll recognize progress along the way. These shouldn't be ultimate success metrics—they should be indicators that you're moving in the right direction and that your approach is working.
Progress markers might include:
Skills you're developing
Relationships you're building
Opportunities that are emerging
Internal shifts in confidence or clarity
External recognition of your direction
Step 5: Build Your Support Infrastructure
As you begin moving, activate the support systems that will sustain your ascent. This includes mentors who can provide guidance, peers who can offer encouragement, and practical support for the logistics of change.
Your support infrastructure should include people who believe in your mission, understand the challenges you'll face, and are committed to your success even when you doubt yourself.
Case Study: Beginning My Writing and Speaking Mission
I'd like to share how I applied the first step protocol when transitioning from primarily military-focused work to broader writing and speaking about personal development and leadership.
Declaration of Intention: "I am beginning my ascent toward guiding individuals through major life transitions by starting to write publicly about the intersection of military experience, spiritual practice, and personal development within six months."
Minimum Viable Action: I committed to writing one substantive piece per week for eight weeks, regardless of whether anyone read it or responded to it. This was small enough to manage alongside my existing responsibilities but significant enough to represent real movement toward my mission.
Creating Momentum: After the first month of consistent writing, I began sharing pieces with friends and mentors for feedback. After the second month, I started submitting pieces to publications. After the third month, I began accepting speaking invitations that aligned with my themes.
Progress Markers: Engagement from readers who resonated with the content, invitations to speak or write for other platforms, conversations with people navigating similar transitions who found value in my perspective, and internal clarity about the unique contribution I could make.
Support Infrastructure: I established relationships with other writers and speakers, joined communities of like-minded individuals creating content around similar themes, and formed accountability partnerships with individuals committed to their own creative and professional development.
The result wasn't an immediate transformation, but sustained progress built over time, doing meaningful work that aligns with my deepest calling.
The Courage to Begin Imperfectly
The summit push requires a particular kind of courage—not the courage to face dramatic danger, but the courage to begin moving when you don't have all the answers, when success isn't guaranteed, and when the path forward isn't completely clear.
This courage isn't about fearlessness. It's about moving forward despite fear, uncertainty, and the possibility of failure. It's about trusting that your preparation, while imperfect, is sufficient for beginning. It's about believing that taking who you are to new places, new challenges, and new levels of service is worth the risks inherent in any meaningful ascent.
The mountain you're called to climb isn't going anywhere. But the conditions for your ascent—your energy, your circumstances, your opportunities-are constantly changing. There will never be a perfect moment to begin, but there are moments when beginning is essential.
The View from the First Step
Standing at the beginning of your summit push, you can see both how far you've come in preparation and how far you have yet to travel. This is precisely where you're supposed to be—not at the summit, but at the beginning of the ascent, with everything you need to begin and the courage to step forward into uncertainty.
Your renaissance isn't waiting for you at some distant summit. Your renaissance begins the moment you commit to the climb. It unfolds through every step you take toward the person you're becoming and the contribution you're meant to make.
The mountain has been calling throughout this entire process. I just wanted to let you know that your preparation has been your response to that call. Now comes the moment when preparation transforms into action, when intention becomes commitment, and when the journey from where you are to where you're meant to be truly begins.
Ernest Hemingway was right—you can't escape yourself by changing locations. But you can take yourself on a journey of becoming that honors both who you are and who you are called to be.
You can carry your authentic self to new heights of service, contribution, and meaning.
The first step is waiting.
The mountain is still calling.
Your renaissance is ready to begin.
Next: The Readiness Protocols
Having completed all six stages of The Ascent Protocol, you're now ready for the Readiness Protocol—practical tools and ongoing practices that will support your ascent and help you maintain progress over time.
The Readiness Protocols will help you integrate your preparation into sustainable systems for continued growth and navigation. Look for them to start in the Fall after we return to the usual randomness of Guide To Human.
Lead with Love,
Doom
This Week's Summit Push Protocol: Take your first committed step within 72 hours of reading this.
Write down your declaration of intention
Identify your minimum viable action
Share your commitment with someone who will hold you accountable
The summit push begins not when you feel ready, but when you decide to start.
Share Your First Step: What's the first committed action you're taking toward your sacred mission? Your courage to begin may inspire others to take their own first steps.
Just checking in, Fred. This is rarified air, and in keeping with my current mission.
https://daviddrayer.substack.com/p/s-and-up-and-how-it-will-grow-from
I keep a short list of reads so distractions are limited, and my community gets noticed. I'll bump one to make room for another, (working it) and since my farm is below the fed poverty level, we have to be freeloaders. We're in you stacks.