BAR NONE RECORDS · INTENTIONAL SENSORY ARCHITECTURE (ISA)

How Did I

The teaching behind the song — intentional sensory architecture, the Hand of Five, and how a question you answer becomes a plan.

Listen to the song on YouTube →

PART ONE

WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO?

Let me start with a question. What song has been playing in your head this week?

Most of us have one. Maybe it came from the radio, a commercial, a ringtone, or something you heard at a store. You didn’t choose it. It just moved in. And it’s been repeating itself ever since.

Now think about this. If a song can move into your mind without permission, what would happen if you chose the songs on purpose? What if the words that kept repeating in your head were words that built you up, gave you direction, and reminded you who you are becoming?

That’s what this song is for. It’s called How Did I. And it’s the first song in a new genre of music I call Intentional Sensory Architecture, or ISA. Here I want to explain what that means, why the song is written the way it is, and how to use it, so it doesn’t just entertain you. It builds you.

PART TWO

MUSIC WAS GIVEN A JOB

This idea isn’t new. It’s old. Paul wrote to the church at Colossae:

Notice three things.

First, music is given a teaching job. Teaching and admonishing: instruction and correction. Song isn’t decoration here. It’s a tool for forming people.

Second, it says “one another.” This is something we do together. It’s social. We teach each other through what we sing.

Third, it says “dwell in you richly.” Dwell means to live somewhere. The goal isn’t to hear the words once. The goal is for the words to take up residence in you. And how does anything take up residence? Repetition.

In Ephesians, Paul says it even more pointedly:

He puts song right next to intoxication. One filling replaces another. That matters to me, because so many of the people I serve, in clinics, in corrections, in our neighborhoods, have been filled with things that hurt them. Paul’s answer isn’t only “stop.” It’s “be filled with something better.” And one of the ways he names is song.

And go back further. In 1 Samuel 16, when Saul was troubled, David picked up his harp and played, and Saul was refreshed. That’s scripture’s early picture of music changing a person’s state.

So the scripture gives us the purpose: songs should teach, correct and fill us, in community.

PART THREE

WHAT YOU HEAR DESIGNS YOU

Now let me give you the strategy, in plain language.

My mother taught me something I’ve carried my whole life: you are the architect. You design your environment, and then your environment designs you.

We usually think of environment as our house, our neighborhood, our job. But your environment also includes everything coming in through your senses. What you see. What you hear. What you say out loud. Some of it you chose. Most of it, if we’re honest, just showed up.

Intentional Sensory Architecture means choosing those inputs on purpose. Bar None Records does it with sound. The Be Team does it with story. smartplace.today does it with community. The Citizen Report Card does it by focusing your attention. Different doors, same goal: help you become who you were born to be.

Music is one of the most powerful doors because it repeats. You’ll hear a song a hundred times. You’ll sing it in the car and hum it in the shower. And here’s what I’ve seen over and over: the words we repeat begin to shape how we think, how we feel and what we do. Thought leads to emotion. Emotion leads to action. Action leads to outcomes.

I’ll keep my science honest with you. The scripture tells us the purpose. The research on how music and repetition affect the body and brain is still growing, and I won’t claim more than it shows. What it does show is that music can change our state: calming us, lifting us, focusing us. And a calm, focused person is in a much better position to learn, to change and to keep going.

So the question isn’t whether songs are shaping you. They are. The question is whether you chose them.

PART FOUR

WHY THE QUESTION “HOW DID I?”

Now, why is every line of this song a question that starts with “How did I”?

Most of us talk about the future like this: “Someday I will. I’m trying to. I hope to.” This song speaks from the finish line instead. I call it the perspective of done. “How did I become so clear on my purpose? How did I build a life that lifts others high?”

When you ask “how did I,” you put yourself in the future you’re building and look back. And something interesting happens: your mind starts looking for the steps.

Now, I want to be careful here, because there’s a trap, and I want you to avoid it.

Researchers have studied what happens when people simply daydream about a wonderful future. Gabriele Oettingen and her colleagues found that pure positive fantasy can actually lower the energy people put into getting there. It’s as if the brain collects the reward early and relaxes. Other research found that when a statement feels too far from someone’s reality, like repeating “I am perfect” on your worst day, the mind argues back, and some people feel worse.

So here’s the difference. “How did I” is not a daydream. It’s a question. And a question is meant to be answered.

When you sing “How did I make consistency my rule?” don’t just enjoy the line. Answer it. What did I do? What did I stop doing? What got in my way, and how did I get past it?

That’s why I want you to add two things every time you use this song:

1. Name the obstacle. What’s most likely to stop you?

2. Name the next step. What’s one thing you’ll do this week?

Vision, plus obstacle, plus next step. That turns a song into a plan.

PART FIVE

THE HAND OF FIVE

Hold up your hand.

The song walks through five areas of life. I teach them on the hand, because you always carry your hand with you.

THUMB — VISION AND PURPOSE

The thumb is the only finger that can touch all the others. That’s what vision does. It touches everything.

I love that sculptor line. Michelangelo described sculpting as removing everything that isn’t the statue. Becoming who you were born to be is often less about adding and more about chiseling away what doesn’t belong.

Ask yourself: How did I get clear on my purpose? What’s in the way? What’s my next step?

INDEX FINGER — HEALTH

The index finger is the finger of action. It’s how we point and press and do.

As a physician, I’ll tell you this: health is the energy everything else runs on. When your body can make and manage energy well, everything else gets easier. When it can’t, everything costs more. Rest, movement and real food aren’t extras. They’re the foundation.

Ask yourself: How did I build my health? What’s in the way? What’s my next step?

MIDDLE FINGER — PROVISION

The middle finger is the longest and has the strongest grip.

Notice the order: vision first, then provision. Money isn’t the goal. It’s a tool for the mission.

Financial stress is one of the heaviest loads people carry, often without noticing. Peace with money frees energy for everything else.

Ask yourself: How did I build provision with integrity? What’s in the way? What’s my next step?

RING FINGER — TIME

The ring finger shares tendons with the middle finger. Try lifting your ring finger by itself. It’s hard. That’s because time and money are connected; you rarely move one without the other.

That last line is one of my favorites. Your calendar shows what you believe matters. If it’s not on the calendar, it’s a wish.

That verse comes just three verses before the psalms-and-hymns passage. Paul ties time and song together.

Ask yourself: How did I take command of my days? What’s in the way? What’s my next step?

LITTLE FINGER — THE WORD

The little finger is the smallest and the most underrated. I give it communication, and the most important part of communication is listening.

“When silence would lie.” Sometimes the loving thing is to speak up. If you have something to say, silence is a lie. And sometimes the loving thing is to listen longer than is comfortable, to hear what the person means, not just what they said.

That’s from the same letter as our anchor verse.

Ask yourself: How did I use my words to build trust? How did I become a better listener? What’s in the way? What’s my next step?

PART SIX

FORGIVENESS CLEARS THE GROUND

There’s a part of the song I don’t want you to skip: the bridge.

You can have a clear vision, good health, money in the bank and a perfect calendar, and still be held back by something you haven’t forgiven. Unforgiveness is expensive. It costs energy every day. Forgiveness doesn’t mean what happened was okay. It means you stop paying for it.

PART SEVEN

THE CHORUS IS THE ENGINE

Every chorus says the same thing, on purpose.

Focus, commitment, consistency: that’s our part. Focus is choosing what matters. Commitment is deciding ahead of time. Consistency is doing it again tomorrow, especially when you don’t feel like it.

Love and the presence of God: that’s the part we can’t supply on our own. We do the work, and we don’t do it alone.

And the last lines of the song pull it all together:

That’s the whole point. Not becoming somebody else. Becoming who you were called to be.

PART EIGHT

HOW TO USE THE SONG

So here’s how I want you to use this song this week.

1. Listen once all the way through, with your hand open.

2. Pick one finger, the one that’s weakest for you right now.

3. Write one “How did I” line for that finger. Make it specific and believable. Not “How did I become perfect,” but “How did I get to bed by ten on weeknights?”

4. Write the obstacle and the next step underneath it.

5. Learn the song and sing it. It’s free on YouTube. If you buy it on iTunes, you can open it in an app like Anytune to slow it down, change the key to fit your voice, and loop the part you’re learning.

6. Share it. Remember Colossians: teaching and admonishing one another. Who do you know who needs this? Send it to them.

Hold up your hand one more time.

Five fingers. Five questions. One grace. You are the architect. Design what you hear, and let it design you into who you were born to be.

THE SONG

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The Be Team | Cities of A’s | James E. Blessman Jr., M.D., M.P.H. | © 2011–2026