What Is Your Purpose? — Issue #4: Jez L.P. Stuart
The science-backed habit that helped both Jez and me stay aligned
Hi everyone,
Welcome to Issue #4 of What Is Your Purpose?, our biweekly series where I invite writers from across the web to share the deeper “why” behind what they do. The goal? To explore what keeps them grounded, focused, and moving forward, especially when things get hard.
Today’s guest is someone I crossed paths with not too long ago — April 2025, to be exact — and right away, I felt a connection. We’re both obsessed with growth, and it shows in his work.
first launched his Substack back in 2023 under the name Jerry’s Understanding. But it wasn’t until January 2025 — when he rebranded to The BLDR Growth Co. with a clearer strategy — that things really clicked. Since then, he’s been publishing consistently and building serious momentum. That kind of persistence and clarity of direction? It’s inspiring. Honestly, it’s more than I ever imagined doing when I first started, and it makes Jez a great role model for anyone trying to build something that lasts.By day, Jez is a logistician in the Royal Air Force, where he’s spent nearly 16 years managing complex supply chains, high-stakes decisions, and hundreds of millions of pounds in gear.
But that’s just one piece of the puzzle.
Behind the scenes, Jez is also a creative builder. He’s launched brands, started businesses, chased ideas that flopped, and followed others that caught fire. Some failed fast. Some taught him everything. And a few really took off. But through it all, he kept showing up, refining his ability to build, adapt, and grow.
He now runs The BLDR Growth Co., a platform for fellow builders, people who want real strategies, real results, and a mindset wired for momentum. What he shares there is grounded in lessons learned from military ops, bedroom startups, and boardrooms alike. It’s part systems, part grit, and a whole lot of iteration.
So what drives Jez to help others by sharing his experience?
Let’s hear it in his own words.
For the past 15 years, I’ve been in the RAF, working in logistics and supply chain. I’m still serving, and most of my time has been spent setting up and running supply operations, sometimes in unpredictable conditions, sometimes in the everyday. Deploy, set up, deliver fast. No BS. No wasted motion.
If you’ve read my newsletter before, that fast-to-the-point style might sound familiar. It’s how I work, and it’s how I write. Writing with purpose is something we all try to do and how that shows up is entirely personal. There’s no one way. No perfect structure. Just your way.
That’s how I’ve come to see purpose or maybe more accurately, how I’ve found it.
Because there’s something deeply satisfying about starting from nothing, building something that works, and then moving on.
A String of Starts
Over the last seven years, I’ve tried side hustles and small online businesses. Some stuck for a while. Most didn’t. But each one taught me something.
I learned how to write web copy that gets attention. I learned how to build basic landing pages. I learned how email marketing works, headlines, offers, funnels, and what makes people click "buy." Sometimes the lesson came from a win. Most of the time, it came from something not working.
But each project (even the ones that went nowhere) taught me how to communicate better. How to shape ideas, how to sell and how to make things feel real.
Without realising it those experiments became the foundation for how I write now.
Training’s always been part of the rhythm running, lifting, showing up, just simple stuff. That same simplicity started bleeding into how I write, build online, and try to turn ideas into something real.
Writing Became a Practice
For the last seven years, I’ve written a lot: websites, emails, music reviews, copy for ecom stores, even a guitar gift box brand at one point. Not everything stuck, but that’s how I learned: by doing. I’m also a serial note taker. Easily 15+ notes a day in my phone. Quick thoughts, observations, half-formed ideas that I come back to later and usually remember exactly why they sparked something.
That’s what writing’s become for me a way to catch momentum in real time. To make sense of things, build on ideas, and move them forward. It’s part of what gives me purpose turning raw experience into something useful. That’s what led to The BLDR Growth Co., a weekly newsletter where I pull together ideas on growth, creativity, and building with intent. But more than that, it’s about actually doing it. Taking charge. Living what the words say.
Why I Write
There’s no big audience. No fancy launch. Just me, showing up and putting thoughts into words each week.
That’s kind of the point.
Writing’s become the place I work things out. Where all the dots from the RAF, side hustles, random notes and ideas that worked (and didn’t) start to make sense. It’s where I get clearer on what I’m trying to build and how I want to show up while doing it.
What I’m Building Now
Right now, The BLDR Growth Co. is a place to write and share. Long-term, I want it to grow into a brand maybe gear, maybe tools, maybe events. But the writing comes first.
I see it as a home for people like me building in the background. Not chasing followers, just figuring things out and pushing forward. People who stay consistent, stay curious, and want to build something real, even if it takes time.
What the RAF Taught Me
Being in the RAF has given me structure, problem-solving, and a no-excuses mindset. It’s also shown me how easily creativity can get buried under process.
I’ve always known I was creative I just hadn’t found the right outlet. Writing became that outlet. It gave shape to the noise in my head, a way to get ideas out and make sense of them. Substack turned out to be the perfect home for it.
The irony is: the more structure I give my creative work, the more it flows. And the more I treat writing like training with consistency, focus, and no BS the better it gets.
What I’ve Learned (and Keep Relearning)
Starting matters more than finishing. Some of my biggest lessons came from businesses that didn’t last. But they gave me skills I use every day now.
Writing is marketing. If you can write clearly, you can sell, explain, persuade and connect. Every failed project taught me how to write better.
Discipline builds confidence. Whether it’s under a barbell, in a military op, or drafting a newsletter the habit of showing up creates its own momentum.
You don’t need to leave your job to start something. You just need to carve out space and begin. The rest can grow slowly.
Small audiences are underrated. Writing for a few people who genuinely care beats shouting into the void.
I don’t know exactly where The BLDR Growth Co. will go. But I know I want to keep building physically, mentally, and creatively. I want to help others do the same. And I want to prove that even with a full time job, kids, life! You can still carve out space for something that’s fully yours.
What is My Purpose?
So, I guess in summary my purpose?
It’s to keep turning what’s in my head into something real. Keep building. Keep learning. Whether it’s through writing, work, or side projects just making stuff that means something to me and might help someone else too. It’s clear and yeah it will be hard and boring sometimes but if it wasn’t? It wouldn’t feel like a real purpose.
And when you feel clear on what you want, purpose starts to feel like that anchor you’ve always been looking for. It holds steady but it moves when you need it to. Guided by your own judgment, growth, and whatever comes next.
Thanks for reading and thanks to Camilo Zambrano for the chance to share my story. If anything here resonates, you can find me writing weekly at The BLDR Growth Co.
Thanks to Jez for sharing his motivations, his raison d'être, and his goals. I’m excited to see what he builds, and I have no doubt he’ll achieve his ultimate vision.
I’m also confident our thoughtful community feels the same.
One thing that stood out to me, especially as the editor, was how Jez uses writing as an outlet. He describes it as a way to make sense of the noise in his head: the ideas, the projects, the things he wants to share with the world.
I’ve touched on this in previous notes and posts: journaling is powerful.
And journaling in public? That takes it to another level.
I started Self Disciplined as a way to document my own journey toward mastering discipline.
I’m still on that path, but writing publicly brought structure, clarity, and a surprising number of benefits I didn’t expect. There’s even scientific research to back this up1.
Journaling is an underrated tool that can genuinely change your life.
If you’re looking to improve your decision-making, gain clarity, or strengthen your executive function, then start journaling.
It worked for Jez. It worked for me.
It might just work for you too.
Have a wonderful week!
P.S. If you appreciated today’s issue, please tap the ❤️ and share it with someone who might enjoy it too. It helps me — and the other authors — keep creating meaningful content for you.
Self Disciplined is a weekly newsletter helping people build sustainable discipline without burnout. Through mindset shifts, personal stories, and actionable tools, I write about how to stay consistent, bounce back faster, and live with intention. If you're working on habits, focus, or resilience, this is for you.
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Klein, K., & Boals, A. (2001). Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130(3), 520–533. https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.130.3.520
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Glad it resonated Ash and hope your writing journey keeps opening up new angles. Thanks for reading.
"Discipline builds confidence." - yes it does, because if you know you can tackle one thing, you know you can tackle the next!