Life by Design, Not Default
Why I'm building Unrivaled Academy - and documenting everything else along the way
The Preparation launched a few months ago. I’ve been watching closely.
Maxim sailing through the Strait of Magellan. Fighting wildfires. Packing mules in the Rockies. The whole model - four years of real experience instead of a degree - it makes sense. It works.
But here’s my situation: I’m not 18. I’m a husband and father of two boys who aren’t ready for The Preparation yet - but will be. And I’m not willing to wait until they turn 18 to start building the foundation.
So I’m building Unrivaled Academy.
It’s my adaptation of The Preparation’s principles for a homeschool family. The goal isn’t to replace what Matt Smith built - it’s to create the framework that lets more families do this. To prove it can work in different contexts. And to prepare my boys so that when they’re ready for the real thing, they’ll be ready.
What I’m actually doing:
I run Unrivaled Interiors, a Texas construction company specializing in countertops for multi-family projects. I homeschool my sons. I investigate municipal finance in Gulf Coast cities and write about what I find. I make AI-generated bluegrass hip-hop under the name Local Theory. I trade options using the Low Stress system and publish the results on a live dashboard. I study wealth-building through Infinite Banking.
None of these things are unrelated.
They’re all expressions of the same idea: you can design your life instead of defaulting into someone else’s template. You can build sovereignty through local action and alternative systems. You can raise your kids to do the same.
What you’ll get here:
Weekly updates on all of it - the business, the homeschool, the music, the trading, the investigations. Occasional deeper dives when something deserves more space.
If you’re interested in The Preparation but wondering how the principles apply to your situation - whether you’re a parent, past the typical age, or just can’t drop everything for four years - this might be useful to you.
If you just want to watch someone try to build a life by design and document the wins and failures along the way, that works too.
Let’s go.
P.S. If you’re a developer, architect, designer or GC of new construction apartments, student housing or senior living properties and you need countertops reach out to me at david@unrivaledinteriors.com
Or if you are renovating existing properties we can do that too.
My Projects:
https://unrivaledinteriors.com/
https://unrivaledacademy.com/
https://thinkandactlocally.com/
https://newsletter.thinkandactlocally.com/
https://localtheorymusic.com/
https://lowstresstrading.com/options?ref=CPB
Inspiration:
https://www.fieldgameguide.com/buy-it
The Preparation
