Man Up Mondays: You’re Made to Be a Badass

We, men, aren’t made for mediocrity, ’tisn’t what we’re constructed for. We’re made to dare audaciously and mightily and conquer things and lands that other men have failed to conquer before us. Monotony isn’t our destiny, the only place where a man can feel fulfilled is in the presence of greatness. Use this, the first episode in Man Up Monday’s, to keep you motivated and on the right track. Save the images, share them, keep the quotes close, giving you that little boost if you’re ever to falter.

Toughness isn’t found in doing what’s easy, nor what we really want to do. (Read this: Where Toughness is Born)

Take a cold shower – they’re great for you, and tough to take in the winter. Do the laundry, fold your laundry, make your bed, replace the toilet paper role when it’s finished right away, train daily, run daily, eat right daily, tell the truth, man up and stand up when you’ve done something wrong.

The list goes on. There are so many little things that we avoid in a day that, if done, make our lives better, but more importantly make US better.

Rather living adventures and becoming the man they want to become, the majority simply create him in fictional tales, lies, and bullshit that can be sniffed from a mile away.

Know who you are and what you’ve done, then what you want to do and who you want to be.

They should be two different people, but the gap should also be shortening everyday.

Don’t feel the need, the void in your life to tell tall tales, have confidence in who you are because who you are is a man on the rise, a man on the come-up, a good man, a strong man, and that’s never something you have to prove if you know it to be true.

Write down your dreams, your most audacious goals, and the things you have to do even within this day to see them through.

Then FEEL the pain of not accomplishing those dreams, feel the lack of value and meaning in your life if you never improve, never grow, and never accomplish those things that really mean a lot to you.

But also feel the elation of living the life you want to live. Be there, in that moment when you realize you’re waking up in your dream house, that you built, working with your ideal clients in the company you created.

Do this exercise every morning and allow the fear of not succeeding lead to great action rather than preventing you from acting at all.

People read and ask mentors and create relationships with successful people in order to figure out their secret. But no matter where their success lies, the single commonality in each journey is discipline in their given field.

They’ve all had it and had it in greater spades than their competition.

If you want success, create the habits, the disciplines in your life that will lead you to it. (Read this: The Truth About Success and Confidence)

We’re far too easy on ourselves, and there’s no point in it. We pat ourselves on the back after a good work day, feeling as though we’ve earned a day off.

There are no days off, no rests for the weary, no need to expect something other than the best we can possibly give in a given moment.

Why sleep in on Sundays or Saturdays when you can get up early and get at it?

Why do something well, once, when you have it within you to make winning habitual?

Expect more than your own version of mediocrity. This isn’t a comparison to anyone else, but a comparison to who you could be. (Read this: Why You’re Comparing Yourself to The Wrong Person)

When you compare yourself to other people, you remove the ability for happiness. When you compare yourself to who you have it within yourself to become, to your potential, you give yourself that much needed kick in the ass to get up and get working.

Who you are right now is a shell of who you can become.

Do whatever you must to become that man, this year. Fuck mediocrity. Fuck average. Fuck being satisfied with anything less than greatness.

Develop a bitter distaste for coming up short, for giving anything but your best effort.

You’re worth more. BE MORE.

Write down, right now, the areas in your life where there are room for improvements, or where you want to improve.

Physically, spiritually, mentally, emotionally… whatever. Write them here, even better. Let me know where you’d like to improve, and I’ll do my best to show you how.

I’m on the same road, turning my back on the fella who I was and marching mightily toward who I can potentially be, hopefully some stuff I’ve learned thus far can help you take some bigger steps.

Anything you’ve learned, add below as well.

I staunchly disagree with different lines of thinking, worldviews, views of ways to solve problems, especially economically, like how some fail to see that it’s the government that wastes more than any big bad corporation and giving it more money doesn’t solve problems, it just puts hard earned money into the hands of humans that did nothing to earn it and expects them to be able to use it as if they had…

Or how some can’t see how hand-outs systematically keep people down and that opportunity and free market capitalism is what the rest of the world craves and yet they want to move away from it…

Or how some confine certain groups or races or cultures to modes of thinking, then if they break free from those modes they’re called “sell-outs”. Show a lefty commentary by a black conservative and their head will explode, yet they don’t see the bigotry in confining someone to a way of thinking because of their skin color, and they don’t see how government intervention like the War on Poverty or the New Deal has done more to hurt minorities than anything, and yet they want MORE money to be given rather than earned. They’re creating more of the things they want to remove.

Or how some want to change rules to make things more “fair” and yet a meritocracy is the last thing they want. Their idea of “fairness” is bringing others down not helping everyone rise up. They want separate tests for men and women in public service or the military, yet they don’t see how fairness lies in the same tests for everyone. Let those who earn their place get their place.

It’s the lack of logic that gets me, confuses me, even angers me, and the anger is where you have to watch it. We do, essentially, want the same thing…

We want to remove poverty. We want everyone to be able to EARN their place in the world. We want peace. We want to control our own fate and not have someone to control it for us. (Try this: The Truth About Happiness and Who Controls Your Fate)

Yet, we focus more on our differences than the big picture, the common ground that we each have. We dig our heels in and we don’t budge. We’re unable to find real solutions because we stick to our side of the fence.

You’re put here to do awesome shit, to break down the barriers in your own mind and to have grand adventures. You’re not here to be told what to do, to be commanded, crushed, and suppressed.

It’s about time you started acting like a man, a badass, a conqueror of goals, of audacious missions, of fears.

We want what we want, now. We don’t want to put the work in to get it, nor wait, nor hustle continuously, day after day in the pursuit of what we want.

Credit card debt continues to climb, vacations are purchased before they can be afforded, as are homes and cars and any other trinket you can think of.

Those who are able to delay this desire for instant gratification will set themselves apart from society, not just in mindset, but in what they accumulate and create while they’re here.

Buck the growing trend and instead practice delaying your need for gratification, even in the smallest ways. It’ll help you persist in the long run, it’ll help you avoid debt and instead accumulate dollar bills. And it’ll make you a much stronger, better, and more disciplined man.

Read this: How to Get Rich