It’s not where you start that counts. It’s where you finish.

Take this ideal to heart and apply it to every aspect of your life—happiness, health, physique, relationships, prosperity, career and achievements; anything that’s of significant value.

Always remain determined that you will indeed have your way in the end. Let there be no doubt. Open your mind to the idea and promote it to yourself as who you want to become. Make it part of your essence, your character. Let it be the driving force behind all your worthy endeavors. Let it become a superpower.

You will finish strong. You will achieve personal greatness. You will not be stopped. Repeat it over and over again. Re-wire your mindset.

No one ever needs to know the extent of your ridiculous, never ending, and hardcore commitment. This is no one else’s concern because it’s about being your own man; about achieving your Life’s Destiny by becoming the very best you can be, which is a personal matter between you and the Creator.

It’s a sacred pursuit. And it’s the reason your heart continues to beat each day.

Keep it to yourself and the world will never see you coming—until it’s too late and you have ascended to the peak of where it is you want to be.

Perhaps your primary aim is not a quantifiable outcome, but simply a state of being. And perhaps as well there is no end point to your particular goal. Good, because you will then have an unlimited source of white hot motivation. You will have fuel for the ages. Every man should be so lucky. Your life will be imbued with purpose and overflowing with meaning for the whole ride.

But to get there you will need to eliminate all excuses.

It doesn’t matter how hard you’ve fallen or even if you were never that good in the first place.

Neither does it really matter how long it takes you to get to where you want to be, as long as you can eventually claim your summit. Once you’re there, you’re there. That’s all that counts in the end; not the effort and not the time. You will thank yourself for never giving up.

What’s of primary importance is that you will be in constant determined pursuit, that you will never stop and that you are indeed committed to succeed; so that at some point the chase itself will become its own reward.

And if you conduct yourself with Virtue, you’ll be living on a higher plane all along the way.

So craft your Life Mission and then specify the details of your Life Vision—exactly what it is you desire to achieve during the very short time you have on this planet.

And then pick your One Thing and wrap all the facets of your life around it.

Let there be no doubt

Light your life on fire and keep the heat on for an even steady burn.

Take pride in the fact that every day is another fresh opportunity to exercise and develop your indomitable core—Every obstacle will be turned on its side to add depth to your character; every setback will be relished as an opportunity to learn; and every disappointment will be used to toughen you up and harden your will.

You see, you have an advantage over other men. You have committed your life to the Long Game.

It doesn’t matter what the cost, what the effort or how long it takes. You will not stop and you will never quit. When others will work to find a way out, you will fight to find a way back in. You are committed to a war of attrition; against circumstances, difficulties, other people and your own weaknesses.

But besides the brute force approach you will also be smart. You will self-manage so that you can last. You will take it to the wall when you have to, but also make sure to get proper rest and recover when necessary.

And you will constantly sharpen your axe as well.

Change the tone and quality of your life.

Carry Yourself With Energy And Verve each and every day.

Live your life in the High Country and carry yourself as a man should; as you would expect your own son or father in all your best hopes and love for them to do.

Make this a deliberate, non-negotiable hardcore choice; a promise to yourself, the Creator and all those you care about.

Get your rest when you need it, but vow to never again slumber and drag yourself through another day. You will banish the old you; the old you that would allow disappointment and difficulty to affect your spirit, to break you; the old you that would simply go through the motions as a tired man and without direction.

From now on, from this day forth, it doesn’t matter what life throws at you and how difficult things get.

You will now push back in Righteous Defiance and do everything right for its own sake. You have a new Purpose in life, to live each day with a burning fire and a razor sharp edge. It will be as a matter of principle and become its own reward.

Expect that you will be challenged, expect that people will disappoint you and expect that you will make mistakes.

This is life, is it not? Why would you assume any different at this point? You’ve seen enough to know this. It’s the same for everyone. In this respect you are no different than any other man. You understand this by now.

From this moment forth you will allow all the negative circumstances that come, to pass through you as the wind through your hands as they are held open at your side. You will feel this wind, certainly, but you will accept it openly as just the way it is and continue to stride forth with an indomitable spirit.

You’ve already lived your life in the old way. And you’ve decided, no more. No more because you will now have a new essence; a new essence that you will stake your life on.

You will stand tall in the face of it all, bravely and as a man should. And if you should fall, you will stand right back up again. You will always get back up. But by all that is right and just, it will now take a lot more to knock you over.

Keep this up each day and it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. It will become easier and easier to put yourself in an active state. Action will lead to more action and then action will lead to inspiration. And this in turn will allow you to climb the dominance hierarchy and it will propel you to a better life. You will acquire the respect of men and women will begin to stand a little closer and smile a little more than they should.

Carrying yourself with energy and verve also means you will now believe in things worth believing in; whether they are true or not or whether they come to fruition or not, does not matter.

Because some things are worth believing in—believing in and pursuing for their own sake. For example:

Doing what’s right does matter, it does make a difference; whether you can immediately see the benefits or not.

Facing each day with an indomitable spirit and working to become the very best you can be is noble and a worthy Purpose for the life you’ve been given.

Pursuing Virtue, Excellence and Quality will change your reality and can affect the world; one man can make a difference.

Honor, loyalty, discipline, self-denial, faith and love will conquer evil in the end; if not in this life, then in the next.

And that a man can indeed bend reality and tip the natural order in his favor through Right Action and through his sheer, unrelenting, iron will

So this is why you will rise up and tap into the divine origin of your creation—the Spark of Greatness that gave you life. You will put your Soul in charge and endeavor to handle it all.

So you woke up one morning and decided your life has spiraled into the excess. You’ve gotten soft physically and mentally. You’ve got way too much stuff, your financials are in the toilet and you’ve lost the luster you used to have with your woman.

Losing the cool, razor sharp edge you used to have in your relationship was the last straw. You can see it in her eyes the magic and the excitement of old is now gone. But you can’t blame her can you? As you look at your waistline and the complete mess around you, it’s obvious that it’s your edge that’s been dulled.

The responsibility is yours and yours alone to remain the tip of the spear. You know that. At least you’re willing to step up and take the blame, so give yourself some credit. After all, no man is perfect. Many will lose their way for a time. What separates a man of character from the rest is accountability. There is no blame to be laid elsewhere. You will shoulder it all.

Fine. It is what it is. But it’s now time to Cut Away the Excess and Go Spartan.

You will go it alone if you must, but things are going to change. You’ve gotten sucked into a lifestyle that is made to please the masses. But you are not the masses. You know this because you’ve become like them and it now sickens you. Your current state of affairs will provide a nice foil for long term motivation and the future you.

There will be no more going along to get along. No more easy path. From now on it’s going to be lean and mean all the way. You will push yourself and get back to your physical prime. And you will also get off the Hedonic Treadmill of materialism and consumption.

Your new physique, diet and material existence will lay a solid foundation. They will be an affirmation to you and send a signal to everyone else that you are on the move and on an upward Trajectory.

And as you continue to harden your frame and rid yourself of material excess, your focus will shift to do the same with your mindset, financial matters and woman.

Mindset

It all starts in your mind. You will Craft Your Life by crafting your mindset. As I always say, your mind is second only to your Soul as a gift from the Creator.

Just as you can exercise and change your diet to harden and sculpt your physique, so you can do the same with your mind. Put your Soul in charge and tell your mind what it needs to hear. Conveniently, your mind can be self directed to change the manner in which it functions through deliberate instruction and consistent repetition.

You will give it that instruction and benefit from the tremendous leverage to be had—you will change your mind and change your life.

A comment from Stanley in my post Enjoy Your Own Company – Live Deliberately says it best:

“A man is brought down when he cannot decide whether to be positive or negative, when he oscillates between the two like a ping-pong; for one can be pitiful or powerful, but one cannot be both. For, if a man would live a long, peaceful and noble life, he cannot entertain weak, harmful, negative thoughts ten hours a day and expect to bring about a beautiful life.”

So the first step then is to recognize when your mind is engaging in poor patterns of thought. Begin to pay attention to what you are thinking about. Become an observer of your mind. Take a step back and observe your thoughts each day. Make this a habit. And then learn to intercede and put a stop to negative and shallow thinking.

Intercede and then replace. Replace negative and unproductive with their polar opposite: the positive and productive. For every unhelpful thought there is the inverse which is helpful and positive. Even if you’re not sure if the helpful version is true, you should deliberately apply it anyway.

Think of it this way, some things in life are worth believing in regardless of whe...

Our culture here in the West has crossed over the line into one of the excess. The common belief, the common message is that more is better. Accumulate and consume—more, more, more.

Is this really a man’s destiny; to prove his worth and value through his possessions and through self-indulgence? Should a man base his life on desire and pleasure? Should he take the path of least resistance and avoid discomfort at all costs?

Have a look at yourself in a full length mirror in the morning before getting in the shower. Does your physique reflect the above paragraph? Are you slowly creeping your way into a physical manifestation of the above cultural values?

And what about your diet, your home, your financials, your mindset and the relationship with your woman; are they spiraling into the realm excess, lack of direction and weakness?

It is very easy in this hedonistic, media driven and coarse culture of ours for a man to lose his way. It is very easy to become soft and veer away from your ideal. After all, just about everyone else is headed in the same direction. The norm, by definition, becomes the accepted. It’s easy just to go along with the rest.

But then one day you will run into a man who will strike a realization deep in your core. This man will stride into your presence with power and verve. He will stand tall and project an energy that will affect your consciousness. And he will shock you out of your slumber.

It will be immediately obvious he is his own man and enjoys his own company. You will be able to see the effect he has on others and feel the effect he has on you. You will be physically and mentally intimidated. And because of this probably become somewhat resentful, but yet immediately admire and respect the man.

Holy shit you will think to yourself, this is what I used to be like in my prime; full of energy and charisma, lean and powerful. You will be filled with regret over your lost potential, mourn the wasted time and it will continue to sting.

And then in a quiet moment one day, you will clench your fists in anger. Enough is enough, you will think to yourself. I’ve had it with the normal and the accepted. I’ve had it with the easy path. And I’ve had it with being soft.

It’s time to go hardcore.

It’s time to Cut Away the Excess and Go Spartan.

Physique

You don’t need to be a bodybuilder, a power lifter or a competitive athlete. But you should develop and maintain some physical power and explosiveness. You’re a man after all.

Read my posts Go Hardcore and Cut Weight Like a Man and How to Remain Exceptionally Fit for Life. Both of these articles will take you to where you need to go if you find yourself soft and out of condition.

We live in the physical world and there is no doubt being lean, fit and powerful will be a tremendous benefit. It will help drive you forward and strongly affect the perception of others in your day to day dealings with people.

When it looks like you were carved out of steel, people will step out of your way and automatically accord you a higher level of respect. Men will implicitly understand that you “own your shit” as they say. Women will get into the habit of standing a little too close to you and their smiles and eye contact will last a little longer than they should.

This is simply the natural order and it is good. The benefits will be well worth it. Once you get there you will never look back and you will never let go.

Getting control over your physique and reverting back to your prime will lay the foundation for the rest of your life. It takes discipline, denial, mental toughness and patience to become and remain lean, fit and powerful. This is a man’s pursuit and worthy of your commitment.

Cash Flow is the answer to all your financial goals and difficulties. You don’t need to be a genius, a big earner or special in any other way. All you need is a concrete plan and the will and discipline to make it happen.

As a quick example, five of the $100 bills in the image above, invested monthly earning 10% in a total market index fund will compound to 3.16 million dollars over a 40 year work life. This is not an unrealistic scenario if you are gainfully employed.

Structure your life so that you cash flow every month. Spend less than you earn and make sure there will always be cash left over after your bills are paid—to save, invest or pay down debt.

Add tremendous meaning to each work day knowing you’ve got your financials buttoned down, no matter how modest your income may be. End each day wealthier than you started, it’s that simple. The goal should be to consistently improve your net worth.

It’s amazing how much less the usual annoyances at work will bother you when you’re a man of financial control and prosperity. There will be much less stress and you will enjoy a higher quality of life because of it.

And as you succeed over time, it will free your spirit to know you could walk away if you needed—to know you have the means to survive if you lost your employment.

Add another layer to your impressive character by cash flowing each month. Live modestly and with restraint, so that you can work to thrive rather than just work to survive.

A man who is thriving carries himself differently than other men. He exudes tremendous energy and impressive charisma. People are naturally attracted to him and he enjoys his own company.

If you’re going to spend all that time at work, then you might as well be smart about it.

Be smart and make sure to cash flow.

Change Your Mindset

If you find yourself earning a full time living and surrounded by nice things—but not cash flowing—it’s time to change your mindset and it’s time to start living below your means. As the saying goes, be willing to do the things others are unwilling to do now, so that you can do the things others are unable to do later.

Ask yourself if material wealth is more important than financial security and peace of mind. Is it really worth being a slave to debt and a slave to your employer, just so you can surround yourself with luxuries that you can’t really afford?

If you lost your job tomorrow and would be out of cash in 60-90 Days, then you have indeed surrounded yourself with unnecessary luxuries. And something had better change because it is likely that at some point you will lose your job.

Do you have 6 months or a year’s living expenses cash in the bank? Or even $5000? No matter how talented you are cutbacks, consolidations and offshoring simply do not care. No man is safe, no man is invulnerable.

And what about the possibility of not having to work someday? Or retiring? Or working at something you really enjoy? Is your current lifestyle or standard of living preventing these from being possible? Are you currently able to save and invest for the future?

On another level, is the stress from work and debt affecting your health? Debt is a killer and can manifest itself in many unhealthy ways over time. Is it worth trading your health for material wealth?

If you have been backed into a corner, take a step back and adjust your priorities. Make quality of life, peace of mind, health and financial independence the primary goals for you and your woman.

After all, when it’s all said and done, these are the things along with love and Virtue that really matter; not the rat race of materialism and consumption.

So change your mindset from one that values the extrinsic to one that values the intrinsic.

If you are not living your life as you should, you wouldn’t be the first man to veer off course. It’s easy to get sidetracked with the demands of family, work and the many difficulties that will come your way. Sometimes it’s easier to just go with the flow and take the easy path.

You might even find yourself one day with an existence immersed in shallow distractions as a means of hiding from yourself. Yes, hiding from yourself. We’ve all been guilty of it at some point. There is no bigger disappointment than letting yourself down to the point where you’ve become less than you had hoped for. So you end up hiding from yourself, as pathetic and weak as that sounds.

You end up using shallow distractions or worse as a means of escape, an escape from the truth; a truth that hurts. Activities or actions from the benign to the destructive are used to cover up for betraying who you should really be; for finding yourself leading your life in the wrong direction. And for wasting all the potential and high hopes you had for your future.

Deep down you know your true nature and your true ideal. And if you are not living up to that ideal there will be a price to pay. You will not be happy and you will not like who you have become.

But at some point enough becomes enough. At some point you’ve got to put a stop to it. One morning you will wake up and be sick of yourself. You will not enjoy your own company and you will not be proud of who you have become. And you will know you have tarnished your Soul to an extent.

It’s at this point you will become angry. Good.

Get angry at yourself and use that anger to fuel the courage you will need to get back on track with your true nature, your true ideal. Cross over to what you know is right and burn the bridge behind you. Set it on fire and never look back. Pursue the glory that is yours to be had by becoming the very best you can be.

Be true to your nature and get in line with what is right. Deep down you know what that is. Commit to change course and to never stop and never quit. This is something you will never regret.

And then one day as you walk around like hardened steel, cutting through your life with a razor sharp edge, it will be entertaining just to be you—you will enjoy your own company.

Stop Doing Things That Are Wrong

At some point in your life you’ve been untouchable. You were your own man and the world was your playing field. It was great to be you and you were unstoppable. Let’s get back to that ideal.

Just as your body wants heal itself from injury, so your soul and core character wants to heal itself as well. And if you are not pursuing your very best, then you need to heal yourself and get better—get better, feel better, live better.

The first step is to stop doing things that are wrong. And the second step is to stop doing things that make you weak. Be honest with yourself here.

Virtue is the answer for the former and Discipline the answer for the latter.

Run towards Virtue and embrace Discipline. Do these two things like your life depended on it. And as a consequence you will stop doing things are wrong and stop doing things that make you weak.

Better to run towards something positive than away from something negative as a means of focus. De-emphasize the negative and accentuate the positive. It just works better. It’s hard to forget something you’re always trying to avoid. Avoidance keeps the negative fresh in your mind.

Instead, displace wrong and weak with Virtue and Discipline. Flip the script with the best there is. Acquire the courage to pursue Virtue and develop the heart of a lion through Discipline. Grow up and become a man in the truest sense.

If this was all you did each day for the rest of your life,

As you walk around each day you should enjoy your own company. It should be entertaining just to be you. Your conscience should be clear. You should be proud of your achievements. Your plans for the future should excite you. And you should enjoy peace of mind.

The weight of your character should lead all that you do. You should literally be able to feel your character as a positive form of energy that powers you through each day. It will help drive you at full throttle from morning until night; until it is time to relax, recuperate and rest.

And you should also feel the positive effect you have on others. Each person you have meaningful interaction with should walk away the better for it.

Not only will this benefit them, but it will also benefit you. Your social interactions will become a positive feedback loop. You will lift them up and they too will reciprocate with more positive energy—positive energy that you helped to manifest from within them.

Confidence in who you are, what you believe and what you stand for should pervade your mindset. There should be no confusion about the core of who you are and what you believe.

There is always something impressive about a man who knows who he is and is comfortable in his own skin. You will excite people and set an example for them to model after. Knowing this will be good and it will be very rewarding in its own regard.

So the plan then is to work to become the very best you can be; to develop yourself nonstop as a way of life, to become a Force of Nature as I call it.

And to enjoy your own company.

The Best Way To Live

A man, who has developed himself to the point where he enjoys his own company, leads a happy and productive life. If you’re comfortable with whom you are and enjoy your own character it is simply the best way to live.

Nothing can make a man bulletproof, but being happy with who you are is pretty tough to beat—it doesn’t get much better.

In contrast, you could be wealthy, famous and the object of desire for many beautiful women, but if you’re a weasel and you know it, life will not be good for you. You will not enjoy your own company. And much of your energy will be spent on activities and shallow distractions as an escape from who you really are. We’ve all seen this in others and perhaps experienced it in our own lives for a time.

Just consider many of the personalities profiled in the media who have achieved tremendous things, yet leave a path of broken relationships and bad decisions behind them. And when you have a look at them a few years later, the lack of good character becomes obvious in their painful and unhealthy countenance. It is easy to see.

Compare this with a regular Joe who quietly pursues Right Action, Virtue and continuously works to develop himself. Here you will have a man with a clear conscience and rock solid character—a man who will enjoy his own company and is genuinely happy.

Such a man will take delight in each day of his life. He will take pleasure in the simple things and require very little to be at peace. And he will make those around him better people for knowing him.

So do yourself a favor. Be your own man. Be true to your nature. And pursue Virtue, Excellence and Quality in all that you do.

Do these things and you will enjoy your own company. And in doing so, you will also make the world a better place.

Forgive yourself and achieve personal greatness

Forgive Yourself

Some of you out there might be writing yourselves off because you’re in a bad place right now or perhaps because of some bad decisions or mistakes you’ve made. If that’s the case, learn to put your past behind you.

You’re not the first man to screw up and you won’t be the last.

Craft your life as a work of art.

Regardless of the current mess you might be in or whatever else might be causing you distress, set the bar high and then tear after it. Don’t let anything hold you back.

Life is always going to be messy. Just accept it. All manner of difficulty and many people are going to get in the way. And some of those people might even be you.

Accept the reality that obstacles will never cease and vow to always press ahead regardless. By pursuing what you know is right, circumstances will eventually have a way of correcting themselves.

Think about it, what better way could there be to live each day than working towards your ideal self? And way back in the recesses of your mind there is an ideal, isn’t there? No matter how much at this point you may have been diverted, deep down you know how you should be living your life.

You do have a Life’s Destiny.

And this undeniable destiny is to become the very best man you can be, in whatever form that might take specific to your God given nature. Deep in your core, deep in your Soul you know how you should be living your life.

Have the courage to let it all hang out for once. Or as my father used to say, play the damn game with total abandon. Go for it.

Get angry with yourself if you have to. Or get angry at life. Whatever works for you is all that matters.

Doing the right things, even for the wrong reasons is still a good thing. Doing the right things will eventually have a curative effect and put you on the right plane of being.

So put a great plan together and get started.

Cut away the shallow distractions

Conduct

Even if the ultimate goal is unclear, how you should be conducting yourself each day is undeniable. Be honest. There is indeed a higher level of behavior to be had—right now.

You can do more. You can manifest the energy. And you can conduct yourself at a higher level.

Start simply by removing the shallow distractions from your life. If not all at once, then pare away over time. You must start somewhere. Start with what you can. Shed some unnecessary habits. Lighten the load. Remove some resistance and develop some momentum.

As you get going, it will become easier and easier to dial in and lean yourself out from the negatives that are holding you back and making you weak. Make it your goal to eventually stop doing everything you know is unhelpful in your life, even the little things.

Clear a path so that you can develop all the positive energy you need. Remove anything that will dull your edge as you begin to cut through each day with a vengeance.

And then in parallel and with total abandon, start taking Right Action. Pull the trigger and begin doing what you know you should be doing. Sharpen your edge.

Action will lead to more action and then action will lead to inspiration. Momentum will become your ally and then the fog of life will begin to lift.

Conducting yourself as you know you should, will lead to clarity and it is then that you will begin to craft the specifics.

Affirm your ideal self

Specifics

Design your life explicitly. And design it with all the God given potential that lies within. Step outside of yourself and consider what the Creator in all His benevolence would want for you. And then write it all down.

Imagine what you could become and what you could achieve if you tapped into your true inherent potential. You know it’s in there. Don’t hide from yourself. Every man of sound mind has personal greatness within. Accept the responsibility and create your new reality.

The process to do so is thoughts, words and then actions. Start carving away and get specific.