Real power doesn’t come from controlling our surroundings or our environment or others, it lies solely in self control, the ability to control our thoughts and our actions. If you can ward off distraction, if you can focus and work hard for an extended period of time without getting distracted or depressed or quitting, there is nothing that can stop you. (Read this: 5 Steps to Gain Real Power)

So few focus on the self, though, instead we focus on things that are out of our control and we fret over them relentlessly. Shift your focus from those things that surround to you to you. Choose to react to things in your life in a way that pushes you forward rather than holding you back. Don’t get distracted or lose faith. Just keep working and learning and facing your fears and growing. It ain’t sexy, but this is the way to both freedom and happiness and success.

People get all bent out of shape at the slightest most insignificant things. Then there are others who make it out of POW camps in the Second World War maintaining a bright outlook on life and a smile on their face.

The even doesn’t matter. Your reaction to it does. The most powerful thing you can do is use any and every even in your life to improve and grow, to get better. (Read this: The Event Doesn’t Matter. Your Reaction to it Does)

Most people relinquish this power and give in to everything that happens to them in life. They end up bitter and cold, cynical and alone, when they had the power to react to things in a much different light.

No matter where you are, what disservice you’ve been done, you have an opportunity to rise and improve. You can take it or feel sorry for yourself, but that choice is yours. Your life is your responsibility, stop looking to events and others to place blame.

Shift the way you look at wealth, but stay ambitious and audacious in the goals you set. The biggest goals will bring the most excitement, but the things you buy with whatever money you make will bring nothing but trouble.

The truly confident don’t need cars and mansions and trinkets to show others their value. Confidence, when it’s true, is quiet and unassuming, it’s laced with humility.

Want fewer things because things are nothing. Want greater accomplishments because to aim for less is a disservice to your Maker, to you, to those who’ve come before you and a slap in the face of who you can potentially become.

I don’t like the term “haters”, not sure why, but I’m just not a fan, but that’s what the vocal few are. They hate to see you rise, they hate to see you succeed, they hate to see you say and do what you say and do so well.

The silent majority just listen, they watch, they love what you do and want you to keep doing it.

Don’t listen to the vocal minority, those who hate your actions because they’re too lazy and afraid to act on their own. Work.

Keep your head down and keep working. Don’t let the opinions of others get you too high or too low, just keep working and improving.

The work is the real benefit, not the reward. When you’re working on something and you’re focused and you’re intent on what you’re doing, time passes, you miss breakfast, then lunch, then before you know it the evening has come and you’ve created something of value.

Work is a blessing. It’s an opportunity to improve. Yet somehow some people feel as though certain aspects of work are beneath them, that they’re too ‘high and mighty’ to get dirty.

Never feel too important to do the work of any man on any level and in any sense. If you feel you’re too good for work you’re not good enough for success.

There is freedom in rules. When they guide you in the right path, one of discipline and one away from the things that hold you back, like your temptations, those things you give into too often and leave you short of who you can become.

There is liberation in rules. Don’t think of them as confining the wild soul within, think of them as those things that will enable it to flourish. (Read this: 20 Rules of Manhood)

We let fears, that we rationalize through reason, to dominate our lives. We don’t stand up for ourselves because we’re afraid of the repercussions, the pain that could come, but ignore the small, fearful individual we’re relegated to live as if we never face these fears, if we never fight and climb our way past them, through them, and over them.

Let fear guide you to where you need to go, to what you need to do. Never let it deter you.

Do you waste time, lose it to distraction and laziness, or do you use time?

Great men use time, they’re always employed in something useful, in work, in learning, in growing, that is why there are so few of these great men, waste and laziness dominates the majority of all of our time.

Too many self-proclaimed intelligent, educated humans discount the power of building a strong body. They see lifting heavy ass weights as something that only meatheads do. They’re ignorant to the benefits, not just of building a strong, healthy body, but the mental benefits of conditioning your mind to withstand physical pain. (Read this: Building Mental Toughness In The Gym)

Toughness is learned, and you can learn it in the gym. The STRONGER your mind is, the better equipped you are for the real world and everything it throws your way.

Don’t depend fully on school to educate you, your education will be very narrow and incomplete. You’ll learn a certain way of doing things, when the BEST way is always outside the box and apart from the majority.

I’ve learned more through travel and starting a business than I could ever learn in school.

I like school, just don’t think that because you didn’t go down that road that you’re relegated to ignorance. I know (Check this out: Why You Shouldn’t Go To College)

Don’t just face your fears, seek them out and conquer them. Stride into them, not with a timid soul, but with the heart of a warrior out to kill his dragon.

Conquer one fear today, and you’ll be better equipped to conquer your next fear.

The thing with courage is that it grows stronger the more you use it. It’s like a muscle. Strengthen it through pain and live a life of glory.

Love your fears and the tribulations you face in life for they are what you have to rise to. They are what will test you. They are what will bring out your best.

Don’t run from tough times, welcome them with open arms and an open mind and a strong heart.

More Man Up Monday: Forget About The Dream and Focus On The Path