Every Tribe needs a fire to gather around. For us, that fire is forged from guiding principles: timeless truths hammered out through twenty years of living, failing, building, breaking, and rising again. These aren’t borrowed slogans or feel-good mantras. They are earned. They come from real fights: in relationships, on the trails, in our jobs, on the mat, in the wild, in grief, and in the slow burn of everyday choices.

I didn’t just collect these from books, though some came from the right ones. The sources are varied, psychology, philosophy, hard conversations, sacred texts, field experience, but they all share one thing in common: I put them to the test. I ran them through my own life first, then challenged others to do the same. Every principle on this list earned its place by working in the real world, under pressure, with real stakes. They survived ego, exhaustion, heartbreak, reinvention, and transformation. These are not ideas to admire. They are tools to wield.

We have guiding principles because an adventurous life without direction doesn’t lead to freedom. It leads to drift. And drifting is the slowest form of dying. These principles exist to anchor and provoke. They are meant to pull us back to who we are when the world tries to seduce us into pretending. Whether you are rebuilding your body, reclaiming your purpose, repairing trust, or chasing a wild dream, these truths will not fail you. They are the spine of The Tribe of the Fire. If you live them, they will burn away your excuses, light up your courage, and reshape the way you walk through the world.

Principle #1: We’re All an Experiment of One

This is the first guiding principle of the Tribe of the Fire because it underpins everything else. It came to me originally from George Sheehan, the old-school running philosopher who wrote extensively about training and the inner life of the runner. Sheehan believed that no coach, guru, or expert could tell you exactly what would work for your body. You had to test it. You had to become a laboratory of one.

I first applied this idea to barefoot running, then later to strength training, sex, sobriety, relationships, business, Tribe-building, and everything in between. It became a kind of operating system for how I approached life.

The shorthand is simple: n=1. In research, “n” refers to the number of subjects in a study. An n=1 experiment means the sample size is one: YOU. It means you don’t need a peer-reviewed study to tell you what’s true for your body, your marriage, your soul. You test, track, adapt, and learn.

There are universals, of course. Humans have patterns. But no one lives your exact body, with your exact trauma history, in your exact environment, with your exact values. That means no system or philosophy can be blindly adopted without being tested in the field of your life. You expose yourself to new ideas. You try them on. You keep what sharpens you. You discard what dulls you.

This principle applies before anything else in the Tribe. Before you commit to our Fire, you should first ask yourself whether any tribe is right for you. And if so, is this the one? Right now we’re not just recruiting members. We’re looking for visionaries and builders, people who don’t need all the answers in place before they take the next step. That’s not for everyone. Nor should it be. You need to test that.

Beyond the Tribe, this principle runs deeper. Your life is a living hypothesis. Everything should be subject to reevaluation. Where you live. What you do for a living. How you move your body. Who you love. What you consume. Who you spend time with. All of it. You ask the question: Is this working for me? Is this helping me grow?

One tool I’ve used to sharpen this filter is the Pareto Principle, something I first encountered in Tim Ferriss’ “The 4-Hour Work Week.” The idea is that 80% of your results come from 20% of your efforts. Applied to your life, it becomes brutally clear. Most of your joy, energy, clarity, and growth are probably coming from a small number of things you do or people you engage with. Double down on that 20%. Build your life around it.

Likewise, most of your frustration, confusion, and stagnation are coming from a small cluster of habits, people, or patterns. Eliminate them. Or at least strip their power. That one shift alone can change everything.

When you accept that you’re an experiment of one, you stop outsourcing your authority. You stop looking for someone to hand you a map and start drawing one based on your own terrain. This isn’t selfish; it’s strategic. A person who knows what works for them and why becomes harder to manipulate, distract, or derail.

This principle doesn’t require you to be perfect. It only requires you to be awake.

Test -> Observe -> Adapt.

You’re not a blueprint. You’re a living system. Treat yourself like one.

~Jason

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