Knowledge For Men Archives

David Anderson is an lifelong entrepreneur, and listener of the show. He graduated from Florida State University with 3 different business and finance degrees.

He is the owner of Nitroworks Marketing, an online system for revenue boosting and sales coaching. Through the years he has helped thousands of entrepreneurs increase their profit and business success, and is continuing to grow his coaching empire.

1. Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life

In every man’s life, there comes a time when he can no longer blame others for his circumstances, where he must take the reigns and accept his station in life completely.

Chances are, you will fail, and you will go through some incredible struggles. David went homeless several times, lost apartments and struggled to make ends meet, yet by making the decision to be successful no matter what, he now lives the life of his dreams.

When you take 100% responsibility for your life, you take 100% responsibility for future and empower yourself to change anything and everything you want.

2. “If You Are Going through Hell; Keep Going”~Winston Churchill 

From his parents divorce, to losing his stepfather, to failed businesses, and homelessness. David went through times of incredible struggle. But he kept persevering and made it through.

If you want to succeed in your life, business, and relationships, you must accept that hard times will come, and push through. No matter how difficult it gets, if you can keep your head up and keep moving forward, you will eventually succeed.

3. What One Man Can Do Another Man Can Do 

It’s incredibly easy to hear the stories of all these top entrepreneurs and relationship experts on the show and believe that they are somehow different from every other man alive.

The simple fact is; If they can do it, so can you.

Like we hear at the beginning of every podcast “What one man can do, another man can do. If it’s been done, it can be done again.” Never believe that something already accomplished by another is out of your reach.

You can create a life of meaning and purpose full of health, wealth, vibrant relationships and powerful personal growth, but you must first believe in yourself and your ability to achieve the goals you set.

4. Expose Yourself to the Right Experiences 

One of David’s most powerful personal development experiences was attending Andrew’s live program “The Awakening.” It allowed him to reconnect with himself and his vision, to learn incredible new skills in a short amount of time and to really begin emotional and spiritual mastery.

If you truly want to succeed in your life, it is imperative that you begin investing in events like “The Awakening” where you can learn from other men and grow into who you were born to be. Life is so full of pressure and people vying for our attention that taking even three days away from it all can completely transform you.

Experiences like this are truly one of the greatest accelerators to your growth and success. If you want to be the best version of yourself, then you must invest in your person growth is a massive way. You must invest in yourself in a way that doesn’t just leave you with more knowledge, but that leaves you a completely new and changed man, forever.

5. Shut Everything Out 

If you are feeling lost or unsure of yourself. Shut everything out. Stop listening to the news, stop listening to advice from friends and family and just take time to connect with yourself and what you want.

Who do you want to be? How do you want to live? What do you want to make of your time on this earth?

Spend time in silence, meditating on who you are and what your vision is. Get away from the societal and familial pressures and just reconnect to yourself, your emotions and your desires.

Jay Elliot was a senior member of the original Macintosh development team and helped Steve Jobs develop the original user interface inspired by Xerox PARC. Becoming Senior Vice President of Apple reporting directly to Steve, Jay ran all corporate operations including business planning, IT operations, Facilities, and HR for Apple worldwide.

As a mentor, Jay was able to guide Steve in learning and utilizing the management principles Jay had learned at IBM and Intel, which helped make possible building Apple into a multibillion company and in turning Steve into the kind of leader who was able to inspire and create the society-changing Apple products.

1. You Need to Balance Your Life 

One of Steve Job’s greatest strengths was the fiery intensity he had for his vision. However, this was also one of his greatest weaknesses. Jobs was never “off” he was always focused on his company and vision.

As amazing as the results are that Jobs achieved, it is essential to your long term health and happiness that you find a way to balance all four pillars of your life.

Never get so caught up in your business that you forget to show up in your health, relationships and spiritual life.

2. Fill Your Mind with New Ideas

One of the qualities that made Steve Jobs great is that he was an innovator. He constantly surrounded himself with the newest ideas and modalities of thinking.

If you want to change the world and create great things, you need to become an innovator. Always be searching for new ways of solving the worlds problems.

3. Tap Into Your Passion

If you want to change the world, you must find what you are passionate about. Find that thing that sets a fire in your belly and gets you up out of bed each morning before the sun is up.

You only have one shot at this life, you can either waste it, playing it safe and living someone else’s life, making someone else rich, or you can live a life of passion, doing something you believe in, something that matters.

4. Dont Get Caught up in an Institutional Structure

One of the biggest mistakes any young professional can make is getting caught up in an institutional structure. When you get onto a ladder designed by someone else, you are stuck in a linear path with very little room to innovate and create.

The best thing you can do is to work for yourself or a startup that allows you the freedom to build and create the world as you see fit.

Dr. Dain Heer is an internationally renowned author, of “Being You: Changing the World”, speaker and facilitator of consciousness and change. 

For over 14 years now, Dain has been inviting people to embrace their true greatness—people from every culture, country, age and social strata of society. Originally trained as a chiropractor, he has a completely different approach to healing by facilitating people to tap into and recognize their own abilities and knowing. 

1. Start by Asking Questions 

One of the greatest tools you have when faced with a challenging situation is your ability to ask the right questions. Tony Robbins once said that “Successful people ask better questions and as a result they get better answers.”

By using this mindset shift, you can alter your reality in powerful and tangible ways. Ask questions every day that excite and empower you and  you find equally exciting and empowering answers.

Questions like: “How could it get any better than this?” open up an infinite number of doors for increased fulfillment and joy in your life. Always be asking the right questions.

2. You Create What You Have One Choice at a Time 

You are where you are today because of the cumulative affect of millions of small choices. Every breach or reaffirmation of your integrity, every broken or kept promise, every pursued or abandoned goal has gotten you to where you are today.

Instead of dwelling on past decisions that have landed (or elevated) you to where you are, begin anew by looking to where you want to be. Set a clear vision in your mind for who you want to be years from now, and make every decision based off of that vision, big or small.

Realize that there is no such thing as an unimportant decision, even the smallest of choices can have the greatest impact.

3. One of Your Greatest Gifts is Kindness 

Kindness is the greatest gift we can give others and ourselves. Being kind to those we know can do nothing for us not only improves the world and the society in which we live, but it also gives us freedom, joy, and a sense of appreciation for what we really have.

Every day look out for new ways that you can be kind, and never miss an opportunity to show love to someone you care about. Life is short and you never know if you will have that chance again.

4. Ask Who Your Beliefs Belong To 

One of the most important practices you can do when you are feeling lost, stressed, or upset is to ask “who does this belief belong to.” We are the culmination of the beliefs of the thousands of people and influences in our lives, and we often live so fast and so detached from ourselves that we never slow down to examine our beliefs and ask if they are really ours.

Don’t think you can succeed at something? Who does that belief really belong to? Think you will never achieve the relationships of your dreams? Who does that belief really belong to? Think you have to follow one career path to achieve fulfillment? Who does that belief really belong to?

Take time to examine the thoughts that you have and figure out where they are coming from. As you begin to identify the negative beliefs that are not yours, you will free yourself and find more peace and joy than you have ever had before.

Jonathan Mead is the founder and Chief Troublemaker behind Paid to Exist. He’s passionate about content creation, personal transformation and really good beer.

When he’s not scheming up ideas to help people work on their own terms, you can usually find him trail running, doing gymnastics or practicing Jeet Kune Do.

1. Choose Yourself 

With the vast amounts of knowledge and so called “experts” floating around the internet, it’s easy to feel that you don’t have much to offer that is exciting, unique, and practical.

You may feel that your lack of experience or success will prevent people from listening to you and connecting with what you have to say.

The truth is, it is often because of your lack of experience or success that people will connect with your message. People long to see authenticity, struggle, triumph, and stories of regular everyday men doing extraordinary things.

Being open, honest, and vulnerable about who you are is one of the best ways to build and keep a strong audience.

2. Move Your Ass 

In our modern times, it is not uncommon for a man to spend over 10 hours of his day sitting down. Recent scientific studies have shown that sitting is one of the most physically damaging activities we can do.

And for those of you who are frequent gym goers or “weekend warriors” spending an hour or more in a gym does not offset the negative affects from sitting for even a few hours each day.

The solution? Move!

Start with basic human movements and a traditional gym routine. Walk, run, climb, hang, lift , just do things that get you off of your ass and onto your feet. As you build a foundation for strength and mobility, begin incorporating more advanced movements like flips, handstands and other badass skills.

If you’re not in a position where you can avoid sitting for hours a day, consider purchasing a standing desk. This will not only help prevent the damage done by sitting, but it has also been shown to help aid in concentration and productivity.

3. Get Alone in Nature 

We spend far too much time connected to our phones, computers, and social media, and not enough time connecting to the earth and our own bodies. If you are in a state of confusion, depression or any form of mental fog, getting out each day and spending time alone and disconnected in nature is one of the best activities you can do to get your life back on track.

Take 30 minutes out of each day to spend out in the woods, at a park, or in the yard. Meditate, run around bare footed, practice gymnastics outside.

Do things that get you connected with the earth and get you present in your body. You will be amazed at the physical, emotional and mental benefits you will receive.

4. Let Go of Expectations

If you want to live a happier, more fulfilled life; let go of expectations. Stop worrying about the outcome and just enjoy the process.

If you are always caught up in your mental projections of what “should” happen and how things “should” go. Then you will never fully experience how things are. Learn to live in the moment and detach from the need for a specific outcome.

5. Choose Adventure Over Work 

Life is too damn short to always be working. Whenever it is a viable choice, opt for adventure over work.

There will always be more work, there may not always be another chance to go on that trip with your buddies or backpack around Europe with your girlfriend/wife. As long as it won’t cost you your livelihood, always take the adventurous road.

Live like you know that you are dying, because the inconvenient truth is…you are.

As an overworked entrepreneur, Grunburg set out to establish some balance and clarity in his life by attempting a “bucket list” (lifestyle/non-work related) item. The goal was to enter an elite paddleboarding race and complete a 32-mile open-ocean paddle — an event known as the Catalina Classic.

He later applied the very same technique to complete another major goal, an Ironman-distance triathlon. Both were successfully accomplished, yet he had no prior experience or base knowledge — no paddleboard, no road bike, not even running shoes.

He shared the methodology with a group of fellow entrepreneurs who were looking to achieve their own BIG goals. Before long, the group was sharing terrific feedback about the process and were experiencing incredible results for themselves; from doubling company revenues to losing weight and even surfing a dream 30’+ wave (story is in the book), just to name a few. Martin Grunburg is the author of “The Habit Factor: An Innovative Method to Align Habits with Goals to Achieve Success”

1. Habits are the Measure of Your Value to Society

At the end of the day, after all is said and done, one of the greatest determining factors of your value to society will be the habits that you cultivated. If you made a habit of greatness, innovation, kindness, and massive action, then this will be your legacy.

On the other hand, if you actively cultivated the habits of sloth, unreliability, greed, and selfishness, than your legacy will reflect this.

The impact that you have on society is directly proportional to the quality of the habits that you create in your life. Focus on creating beneficial habits and eliminating the rest, and you will leave this world better than you found it.

2. Habits are a Vehicle to Achieving Your Goals

Many say that achieving a goal is the best way to create a habit, however, the opposite seems to be true. If you focus your efforts on building habits that will aid you in your journey to a certain goal, you will expedite the process of reaching the goal itself.

Take time upon setting each new goal to ask yourself which habits will be most beneficial to helping you attain the goal and then focus on creating those habits.

3. P.A.R.R. (Plan, Act, Record, Reassess) 

The general process for creating new habits is to:

Plan: Decide upon which habit you want to set, and why. Make sure you have the desire to achieve this habit, and the reasons to back up the desire. Then begin with small steps.

Plan to take one small action maybe just a few times each week. So if you are trying to get healthy, drinking 10 glasses of water on Monday and Friday or going for a 15 minute job on Tuesday and Thursday.

Set the initial plan for 28 days, and at the end of those 28 days, follow step 4.

Act: The next step is to actually do the small action for the big habit. Make sure you build in room in your plan for failed days.

For example, if your goal is to wake up at 5 a.m. and your plan is to start by waking up at 5 two times a week. Even if you fail on one of the scheduled days, you will still be able to try again the next day and meet your goal for the week.

Record: Be sure to record your thoughts, feelings etx. etx. during this process. Not only will this help you to stay committed and keep your motivation going strong, but it will also help you to decide at the end of the trial period whether or not this is really a habit you want to have.

Reassess: At the end of the 28 day period, sit down and assess how the plan went. Did you feel the benefits you thought you would from the habit? Did it have the desired affect? Was it harder or easier than you thought to keep?

Based off of your assessment, you can now either set another 28 day plan, this time a bit more difficult, or you can abandon the habit all together.

Example: In the interview, Andrew and Martin used the example of waking up earlier to illustrate how this process would work. The following is a rough outline of that process.

First, you would make a plan, clearly writing out why it is that you want to wake up early and what this will do for your life. Decide on a low frequency “intro” period to this habit, say waking up at 5 a.m. two times each week, on Monday and Thursday for the next 4 weeks.

Now you take action, waking up at the prescribed times each week. You miss one or two days, and instead of failing the entire week, simply wake up early on a Tuesday or Friday, still meeting the quota of twice a week.

Each day when you wake up, you take 10 minutes to jot down how you feel about the habit process, and how you feel this new habit is serving you.

Then at the end of the 28 days, you review your notes and decide that you want to make this a permanent habit in your life. So now, you reassess and restart deciding to try another 28 days, this time, however, waking up at 5 a.m. 4 days a week.

You then repeat this process until you are waking up at the prescribed time 6-7 days a week.

By creating the habit in this way, you set yourself up for success and long term achievement as opposed to going balls to the wall and fizzling out after a week.

In 2006, Aaron Marino started a men’s image consulting firm, alpha m. Image Consulting, to help average men with simple common sense advice; aimed to enhance their image, style, grooming, fashion and most importantly their confidence. Aaron Marino has been featured in countless publications, as well as guest appearances on various television and radio programs, both locally, as well as nationally.

Throughout the past 7 years, Aaron Marino has worked with thousands of men from around the world, helping them with their personal style, grooming, fashion, image, wardrobe and even dating. Through his weekly YouTube posts, Aaron Marino covers a host of topics in the area of men’s style, fashion, grooming and even personal responsibility.

Aaron Marino has not only expanded his reach with his viral videos but also with a variety of products such as the stylesystem that was featured on the ABC’s Shark Tank.

1. Focus on Fit 

No matter what your clothing budget is, always focus on fit first. A $20 shirt from Old Navy can look better than a $300 Tommy Bahama shirt if it the fit is better.

Be sure to try on different sizes of clothing for different brands and styles as a medium in one brand name may be too small in another. Realize that a tighter budget is not an excuse for bad style. Look for those few key wardrobe items and buy a quality article of clothing that fits like a glove.

2. The Goal of Style is to Increase Confidence

The ultimate goal of improving your style and your grooming is to increase your confidence. When your body looks great and your clothes look great, you are going to feel great.

When you put your best foot forward, you will have increased confidence and self esteem, and this will lead to an increase in opportunities and relationship successes.

3. Learn to Differentiate Between Constructive and Deconstructive Criticism 

Any entrepreneur, businessman, or public figure is going to attract a far amount of controversy, and with this controversy always comes criticism. This criticism typically comes in one of two forms either constructive or deconstructive.

Constructive criticism, although uncomfortable, will help you to grow and improve yourself as a man and a leader. Deconstructive criticism on the other hand will do nothing but toxifiy your life and lower your self esteem.

Seek constructive criticism and cut out as many sources of deconstructive criticism as you can.

David Hamilton is the founder and CEO of Everlution, a premiere coaching program designed to help you take your life to the next level. David focuses on manipulating your perception and thinking patterns to live a more fulfilling, connected and present life.

1. Avoid Self Definition

One of the traps many people fall into is associating too strongly with anyone one group, idea or characteristic. It is very easy to base our identity out of our experiences, religious and political beliefs and goals, instead of realizing that our identity is us, and we are evolving constantly.

2. Ask The Right Questions 

During the show, David did a brief “coaching” session with Andrew during the interview, and something any listener will pick up on is that David did very little talking. In fact, the majority of his coaching was merely asking the right questions and listening.

Questions like:

“Why do you want that?” “What would this do for your life?” “What feelings do you associate with that?”

Among others can help you completely reinvent and understand your world on a new level.

3. Your Reality is Based off of Your Thoughts

A key realization in every man’s life is that his reality is based almost entirely out of his thoughts and his state of “being.” Nothing that happens to you, good or bad, truly affects you until you make it so in your mind.

Understand that you control your reality by controlling who you are and who you want to be, and understand that you are constantly evolving an changing and do not try and fight this.

4. Realize that Fulfillment Comes from Who You Are

Life is complicated, and the question of fulfillment has haunted man for centuries. What is it that we can do that leads to fulfillment? Is it money, women, spirituality?

The truth is, fulfillment comes from within, nothing external will give it to you. Learn to accept and embrace this and work on building an inner world that can flow and adapt with the changing environment yet remain completely fulfilled.

Mathew Park, passionate entrepreneur, professional natural bodybuilder, author, speaker, loving husband & adventurous learner with over 15 years of experience in the personal development and training industry.

Mathew is one of Canada’s youngest and most renowned health and fitness entrepreneurs with his two companies RE7 & INBF Canada and his dedication and service to the natural bodybuilding & fitness industry.

1. Discipline is Essential to Success

If you want to achieve success, you must develop ruthless discipline. Commit to excellence and follow through. If you say you are going to workout, wake up early, read, or work on your business, you do it no matter what.

If you can create strong self discipline in your life, you will see everything you set your mind to flourish. Do what is necessary no matter what, and you WILL see the results.

2. Positive Routines are Essential to being Your Best Self

One of the most essential pieces to the success puzzle is to create powerful routines that empower you and equip you for the tasks ahead. Things like waking up early, daily exercise, meditation and journaling will boost your physical, mental and spiritual growth and performance into a whole new level.

3. Be Very Intentional About Who You Surround Yourself With

The importance of your social circle is a point driven home by nearly every guest on the Knowledge for Men show, and with good reason. One of the fastest ways to accelerate your growth and success is to surround yourself with motivated and like minded people.

Who you spend your time with often determines who you will become, so it is imperative that you are intentional with whom you surround yourself. Seek out winners and high achievers and your results in all areas will flourish.

4. Learn to Manage Your State

Managing your emotional and physiological state is one of the greatest determiners of success before nearly every important event. If you are amped up, present, and excited for the upcoming event, it will show in your performance.

Likewise, if you are nervous and worried and do not properly manipulate your state your performance will suffer.

Some of the greatest state enhancers are simply to get out in nature, meditate and journal. This will help clear your mind and bring you into the present moment.

Jack Myers is a media ecologist and chairman of Media Advisory Group, which provides economic counsel to more than 250 media, advertising, marketing, entertainment and financial services companies who subscribe to the weekly Jack Myers Media Business Report.

Jack speaks internationally on the impact of emerging media technologies on society, culture and business. He is an award-winning documentary film producer, author of four books and founder of the Women in Media Mentoring Initiative and Syracuse University Newhouse Network.

1. Be Sensitive to the Changing World of Men 

Many of us men are desperately clinging to the old days and ways of masculinity. However, the fact is, for better or for worse, the role of men in society is changing.

Roles are no longer as black and white, and the expectations of men in society are no longer as set in stone. It is imperative to your success as a man in this new world that you are willing to evolve and adapt with the times.

Understand that women are wanting men to express more sensitivity and vulnerability, and this should no longer be seen as weak. Understand that being a man in the 21st century is a balancing act, and you will have to learn quickly or fall behind.

2. Society Has Not Taught You to Succeed

The media portrays men as morons and buffoons or dishonest polygamists. Characters like Homer Simpson and Peter Griffith are the mainstream expectation for men to live up to.

Unfortunately, the media has not helped men to figure out who they are supposed to be or how to balance classic masculinity and the more modern need for vulnerability.

To find role models and examples of the kind of man you should be, you have to look past the poor media portrayals and sitcom expectations of manliness to find out how to properly acclimate to the ever changing climate of manhood.

3.  Learn to Communicate and be Honest

At the heart of the problem men are facing is our inability to effectively communicate. Read: Men suck at sharing.

The thing is, there is good reason for this. Men who wear their heart on their sleeves and are overly emotional are seen as weak and effeminate. Once again, this becomes a balancing act.

The key is to learn to open up to those who have earned your trust, and when you open up, be completely honest, don’t lie or hide things for fear of their repercussions.

4. Get out of Your Social Comfort Zone

One of the best ways to improve yourself as a man is to step out of your social comfort zone. If you are an A type personality athlete, then spend some time hanging out with the geeks and musicians.

If you are a straight guy, try making a couple of gay friends. If you are a more emotional and “metro” type guy, start hanging out with some of the MMA and UFC crowds.

Long story short, broaden your horizons, hang out with people who are nothing like you and see what you can learn.

Jayson Gaddis is the breakthrough marriage and relationship coach for smart, successful, people. He will teach you how to use conflict to transform your life and your relationships for good. He’s a husband and part-time stay-at-home dad getting schooled by his two cosmic kids.

His family is the center of his universe and when he tries to wiggle away from what he teaches, his wife and kids hold him accountable to living it, daily. Jayson is also passionate about masculinity. He has run dozens of men’s groups, men’s leadership experiences, and founded the Men’s Leadership Training, Boulder Men’s Experience, and BoyStrong.org.

Jayson is looking to provide his 5- year old son a smooth, conscious path toward manhood.

1. You Have to Work on Yourself

You cannot expect to have successful fulfilling relationships if you are not first investing in yourself. If you aren’t going anywhere or working towards anything; if you dont have your life together…then why would a woman want you?

Before you can have the relationships you are looking for, you MUST get your own life in order. Meditate, eat healthy and hit the gym, read, and build your personal brand. Become the man that women want to be with, and the quality and quantity of your relationships will increase exponentially.

2. Take Full Responsibility

In relationships, men often struggle in accepting the responsibility for conflicts or problems. We throw out b.s. justifications and excuses as to why it’s our girlfriend or wife’s fault.

By doing this however, we relieve ourselves of the ability to take the blame and fix the problems we are facing in our relationships.

To truly succeed with women, you must accept the blame, take responsibility and work together to fix any problems.

3. Admit Your Need for Help

Most men hate showing emotion. And with good reason. Men who wear their heart on their sleeves are often perceived to be weak and incapable. Unfortunately, this often leads to a large number of men refusing to ask for help even in their darkest times.

In our society, we have taken this to an extreme, bottling up emotion and never letting anyone in for fear of what they would think. By doing this, however, we cut ourselves off from people who have the tools, knowledge and resources to help us with whatever we are facing.

One of the best things you can do to find a healthy place to discuss your struggles and trials and get the help you need is to find an all men’s mastermind and become a regular contributor.

Surround yourself with other men in the same shit and you will find an overwhelming amount of support in much needed areas of your life.

4. Cut Out the Crap

If you are filling your mind and body with garbage, that is what your life will put out.

On your quest to become the type of man that women want to be with, you must begin by cutting out everything in your life that a woman would not want to be with.

So remove what is unnecessary in your life or holding you back from being the man you want to be and start moving towards the man you want to be.

5. Stop Having to Prove Yourself

One of the marks of a true man is that he doesn’t feel the need to prove himself to anyone. He is totally self confident and sure of himself, and he doesn’t need anyone else’s approval.

Learn to be ok with just being you. Don’t feel the need to validate yourself before anyone, be happy being you because you are enough. As long as you are growing and expanding, you are enough, and always will be.