When writing the story of your life, make damn sure you are holding the pen. A striking statement I came across last week. How much of our lives are going by autonomously? Life happens every day and BOOM! It is ten years later. You are forty, overweight, working a dead-end job, unhappy in your marriage, depressed, and living without purpose.

Zombie Mode

How much of the decisions you made today were done purposefully? Well thought thru. We get up in the morning, get dressed, drink coffee, and it is off to work. At work, it is clients, paperwork and before you realize it, you are back home. Gym, Dinner, and Netflix, and it’s off to bed just to repeat it all over again. Like Zombies, brainlessly we stumble forward to the next task at hand without thinking.

The truth is living like this is depressing and can be very painful. Very few men have goals and plans for their own lives. We spend our lives sitting on the couch watching other people living out their dreams on TV and then we lie to ourselves about the reasons we did not pursue our dreams.

Ryan Michler refers to this as our natural man. Our default setting. The natural man refuses to take responsibility for his life, he is a fat, lazy, weak sorry excuse for a man. He blames everyone and everything around him for being a weak man. You know the voice inside when you are supposed to go for a workout “but it’s too cold, you had a hard day, it’s raining” yes, the inner bitch. I hate him/her and must fight him/her every day. 

Life is a million dollars.

Think about it, you were given a gift. LIFE. A complex puzzle you must solve and manage. It’s the ultimate challenge. The TV series survivor is commonly referred to as the greatest game in the world. People are willing to travel to the other side of the world, sit on a desolate island, eat nothing but rice and compete in complicated physical and mental challenges. They scheme and plan meticulously to win a million dollars.

Yet if it comes to our own lives, we tend to put it on autopilot, we refuse to take responsibility, and when we get challenged, we give up. I guess it’s because that golden carrot is not hanging in front of us, like the million dollars in survivor.

BUT living each day to be a more complete man, challenging yourself, to be better than yesterday is the biggest reward you will ever receive. The confidence, strength, and relentlessness you get are much better than a million dollars.

The Men that walked before us

Sometimes all we as men need is a simple solution to help with a complex problem. By reading a quote or a story. It gets us going in the right direction. The men that walked before us left us gifts. Answers and wisdom in the form of books, quotes, and stories. I never saw myself as a reader of books. But when I realized that I could use it to make myself a better, stronger man I could not stop. I love seeking out the wisdom and lessons from the men that came before us.  Check out the recommended reads section if you are interested.

Six rules to fight the natural man.

  1. Meet your problems head-on, do not avoid them.
  2. Keep your word. If you lie you lose faith in yourself. Keeping your word builds confidence.
  3. Be courageous. Have the guts to tell yourself the truth about what’s going on.
  4. Be restrained. Have self-control. Do not chase after fleeting things, wait for the right moment and do the right thing when the times come. Resist temptation.
  5. Own up to the results of your choices. If you messed up, own up and deal with the consequences
  6. Examine yourself every single chance you get.

There is this saying “when you walk, walk. When you eat, eat. When you sit, sit” too much of our lives is cluttered with multiple things that happen all at once. When you walk and only walk, you get the chance to think about what you are doing. Thinking about every action, being present, and being aware of what I am doing brings a great sense of gratitude for me personally. It keeps the worries of everyday life at bay. And makes life more enjoyable. There is also a sense of responsibility that you develop. And responsibility is a great virtue to acquire as a strong man. (One of the greatest in my opinion)

“Awareness is the power that is concealed within the present moment. The ultimate purpose of human existence, which is to say, your purpose, is to bring that power into this world.” ― Eckhart Tolle

THE STRONG