‘Twas but a couple of nights ago. The lads and I were nestled at the corner of the bar, each with a pint in hand bellowing boisterously about past escapades when we realize the time. We were behind schedule by a few hours. The beers, which were supposed to be few, became numerous – the number of which I can’t recollect, which gives you an idea of the amount in question.
We had a plan to the evening. The plan was to head into town to enjoy some fights and some pints and some laughs, but we didn’t make it past the local pub.
What should we do? One of us asked. Another responded brilliantly: Whatever we want, champion’s prerogative fellas.
Before you look at this fine group blanketed with a tint of arrogance, especially after hearing that answer, know the men. Other than myself, each one of them has a beautiful wife, and a lovely family. They live for their family. Each of us is also successful in our own ranks. We do what we love and we love what we do. We’re happy, and we have no delusions that any aspect of the world revolves around us – not even close.
We’ve also had our fair share of experiences – many of which you would have heard if you were a fly on the way at that local watering hole. Life has humbled each of us, repeatedly. Speaking from my own experiences, I’ve learned the most about what I’m made of and what I’m capable of from those humbling experiences. In knowing the men you’d know that the answer wasn’t at all arrogant, but awesome.
It’s an answer that every man should give. You should understand, nay, know that life is your playground, and you can, in fact, do whatever you want.
As an aside: I’m going to neglect to talk about doing whatever you want having to also mean “doing the right thing”. You’re smart. You know that when I say you can do whatever you want, I don’t mean do stupid, arrogant, evil shit. Do good, be well, but be assertive and confident no matter what path you take. That’s all.
Every man should be living life from a position of power and of confidence.
If you have a dream, that’s what you should be working to accomplish. If there’s a lady you want to ask out, you should ask her. If there’s a big, ballsy move you want to make in your life, there shouldn’t be a moment of hesitancy, you should – as those folks at Nike say – just do it.
This attitude, however, isn’t necessarily innate, nor should it be. It’s often cultivated in through failure and loss, defeat and pain. If you want to have a champion’s prerogative, you’re going to have to bleed.
How to Develop a
Champion’s Prerogative
The world is filled with winners and losers and everything in between. It’s our definition of a champion that we have to identify. Here’s a wrinkle in your definition; Mother Teresa was a champion. She gave away her wealth in the name of helping humanity. If she were a man I’d say she had big brass balls. She did what very few of us could ever fathom doing. Thus, she held her head high, with pride, and humility. She saw a need of her fellow man, and she tended to that need.
Of course guys like Theodore Roosevelt, Churchill, and Bonaparte were champions, but so were guys like Jesus, who became the most famous person the world has ever seen without any wealth or platform or PR team. Guys like Calvin Coolidge led quietly and with humility, yet no man could deny the respect they had for him. They were assertive when they needed to be, when they were called to be, and when most men would be afraid to be.
A champion’s prerogative means you know your abilities, but also your faults. You have no delusions or grandeur. No air of arrogance. You’re utterly and completely aware of who you are as a man, and it’s from this position of awareness that you develop a personality of power.
To develop a champion’s prerogative in any area of your life, you have to get off your ass. You have to aim audaciously and fail brilliantly. To be a champion you have to lose, bleed, and get beat up. You have to fall to the ashes so you can rise above them.
The Physical Nature of a Champion’s Prerogative
You have to be strong and powerful – even if not physically – to have a champion’s prerogative.
As I was sitting on my barstool I glanced around the bar, and then back at my pal’s. I noticed something. Not that the bar was full of losers, many of the people I saw seemed confident, but many others seemed weak, and their posture is what gave that impression.
My pal’s were laid back, chest open and confident. Many of the others in the pub – of the male variety – were hunched over and closed, even if they were talking to a lady, maybe their wife or girlfriend.
[Tweet “How you carry yourself physically does matter.”]
You’re more likely to get hired if you appear confident. You’re more likely to get a date with a babe if you’re assertive. You’re more likely to get what you want in life if you carry yourself like a champion.
That’s where the gym and your diet and your testosterone levels come in. To be optimal, and to have your body performing as efficiently as possible, is to have a quiet confidence that knows, not an arrogant confidence that thinks. Build a strong body, develop a strong demeanor.
Thus, every man should be on the Man Diet. It’s a method of eating that will help you build that strong, confident aura. You’ll get that edge you crave, that will lead you not only to more success with your physique, but in every other area of life, from women to business to sports, The Man Diet is your greatest ally.
Check out this article: 3 Myths That Are Lowering Your Testosterone Levels
Champion’s Prerogative in Business
Never go into a business deal from a weak position. Never “need” the other guy or business. Know that whatever happens, even if the deal goes sour, you’re going to do awesome things.
To be have a champion’s prerogative in business will bring you an abundance of happiness, but also get you what you want, and what you deserve. I know far too many people who aren’t paid what they deserve. It may sound mean, but it’s their fault. If they would only take it upon themselves to get what they deserve, their world would be a much better place. Alas, most of them blame others for their lack of pay which only takes the power over their life out of their hands and into the hands of another.
Not how a champion acts or thinks. A champion holds the keys to his fate, and he knows it.
One piece of advice that I got from a pal who, coincidently, was sitting at that bar laughing like a hyena, was to always be prepared to walk away. No matter how good a business deal, a job, a contract, or an opportunity will make your life better in the present, always be prepared to walk away if it doesn’t line up with your values, or if the other party undervalues you.
Great piece of advice that also applies to women (we’ll cover that in a bit).
Just like in life, you need to collect wins – or evidence of your ability – to be a champion in business. There was a stat that came out, I think I saw it on 60 Minutes, that said an entrepreneur’s success has nothing to do with his level of intelligence, rather, with how early they began their entrepreneurial adventure.
The best entrepreneurs start businesses young. They’re the ones with lemonade stands, cutting lawns, shoveling snow. Very early they gave themselves evidence of success – they won – but they also learned from failure in business at a young age.
Everyone fails, the champions in the business world and in life, are always those who outlast everyone else.
The lesson: Don’t expect life to be easy, it never is. It’s those that understand that life – and business – is a constant uphill battle that requires a ton of hard work and sacrifice that inevitably succeed.
How to Be a Champion With Women
Every guy I know who is good with women, be it his wife, girlfriend, or a lady he’s noticed but not yet approached, has been hurt. All of them, including myself, have been hung up on a lady or crushed by a relationship. But as in every other area of life, it’s in pain that you gain strength and perspective.
At some point after being devastated by a lady who you thought you’d spend the rest of your life with – no matter how delusional those thoughts may be – you realize that it’s not that big of a deal. You realize that there are far worse things that can happen in life, and that she wasn’t the one. That point may take a few days, or a few weeks, maybe even a few years, but it will happen. So you may as well get over it quickly than waste your days lamenting over lost life.
When Theodore Roosevelt lost the love of his life to death, he didn’t grieve. Instead, he worked. He was hurting, of course, but he understood the futility in reminiscing over someone who is no longer here and will no longer be here. There’s no point to feeling the prolonged sadness that many feel after a break-up. Move on. Life’s too short to waste it sobbing.
It is, however, important that you get hurt. Put yourself out there, lay it all on the line. Learn that it matters little if they come along for the ride or get off at the first stop, you’re going to be the man any way you swing it.
There’s also a fear you have to get over when dealing with women, especially beautiful women. First, understand that, at least in my experience, it’s the beautiful one’s that are often the most messed up. The beautiful girl who’s awesome is the one you marry, but you’re going to have to date a few beautiful oddball’s to figure that out.
Also understand that beauty fades, that it isn’t always real.
What I mean by that is a women will be as beautiful as you believe she is. I can’t count how many girls got hotter or uglier the more I got to know them. If you find them getting hotter, go out with her. If you find her getting uglier, get rid of her. It’s who she is that will give her beauty or take it away.
A champion’s prerogative with women comes from knowing you’re a good, strong man. Or, simply, knowing that you’re the man. Developing this prerogative will come from much trial and error, heartache and pain. Realize this, and put yourself out there anyway.
The Champion’s Prerogative
Every man should live life as a champion. Forget about awards and accolades, that’s not what makes a champion. A champion isn’t crowned by his peers, he doesn’t seek their admiration, but he has their respect. It’s important that you live as a champion, a doer, not just a thinker.
It’s vital to your own happiness, what you accomplish with your limited time on this planet, that you conquer your fears, that you dominate them, that you develop an attitude where you seek your fear rather than feeling from it. This is the way of the superior man, the alpha male, and the warrior.
You’re no longer a victim. You can do what you want, when you want, and how you want. You don’t have delusions that tell you that life is supposed to be easy, you relish the fact that it’s hard. You enjoy the pain because it’s in pain that you grow. You’re a champion. Start acting like one. Make moves. Big moves. Be a man. Be Legendary.
