Knowledge For Men Archives

Dean Niewolny spent 23 years in executive roles with three of Wall Street's largest financial firms, finishing his career in the financial sector as the market manager for Wells Fargo Advisors in Chicago, where he oversaw a $100mm market.

While in Chicago, he and his wife, Lisa, traveled many times to Africa and, seeing the abject needs of widows and orphans, made life changes that enabled them to get involved, such as helping to complete an orphan home and a Hospice home in Durbin, South Africa.

In 2010, Dean traded his marketplace career for Halftime to help more people who, like him, wanted to expand their own "first half" success and skills into passion and purpose for meeting human needs and making a significant difference. Dean joined Halftime as managing director and in 2011 became chief executive officer. He speaks at events around the world, encouraging business leaders to channel

Dean joined Halftime as managing director and in 2011 became chief executive officer. He speaks at events around the world, encouraging business leaders to channel their first-half achievements into a second half defined by joy, impact, and balance.

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works,which God prepared in advance for us to do." ~Ephesians 2:1

1. The Pursuit of Money is Empty

So many of us as men tie our identity to the number of 0's in our checking account. We think that out worth as a man is determined by how much money we earn and the number of toys that we have without ever realizing that the sole pursuit of money is empty.

Yes, money is important and allows us to have a bigger impact on the world, but pursuing money just for the sake of having more money and bigger and better things is a pursuit that will leave you empty and full of regret for a life lived in vain.

2. Life is About What You Can Give Not What You Get

The true joy of life is in giving back, it's in making an impact and helping other people to become all that they can be. If you want to live a full life, a good life, and a life that has true meaning, then you must focus on what you are giving, not what you are getting.

3. You Don't Need to Leave Your Job to Make an Impact

Many people seem to think that the only way to have true significance is to leave their job and start a nonprofit in the deep Sahara. But the truth of the matter is that you can start having a real impact by just focusing on your local community.

Start a local club for young boys who don't have fathers and give them a strong male role model, build a park for the inner city, mentor someone who you believe has real potential.

You don't have to be drastic to make an important difference, start small and you will be amazed where it takes you.

4. Aim for Success and Significance

Something that many millennials are realizing is that success and significance are not either-or situations, you can have both-and. They are realizing that they can have the 7-figure business, and use that business to enjoy the finer things in life while still changing communities and individuals on a global scale.

They are realizing that they can actually make a money from making a difference, solving real problems and training up the next generation of leaders and world changers while making a profit is something that is completely doable.

Do not settle for one or the other, pursue both.

5. You Have to Operate from Passion and Strength

If you want to make a real difference in the world, then you have to operate from passion and stregth. If you are doing something that you do not enjoy and you are no good at, you will never make a difference in your life or the life of anybody else.

You have to find thigs that make you come alive, and then find a niche where you can become one of the best. This is the only way that you will be able to make a lasting impact on the world.

Jerod Zavistoski is the international bestselling author of "Methodology of The Modern Male: A Modern Man's Guide to Personal Excellence", a motivational speaker and LA's premiere dating coach.

"There is nothing with which every man is so afraid as getting to know how enormously much he is capable of doing and becoming." ~Søren Kierkegaard

"This won't kill you, just do it"

1. The Only Person Who Can Fix Anything is You

One of the most common themes in the Knowledge for Men interviews is personal responsibility, and this should come as little surprise.

When you are in a victim mode, there is very little that you can do to change your life. If you are constantly blaming other people for your lack of success, you will never take the action necessary to achieve the success you are after.

The only person who can fix your life is you. Take 100% responsibility for everything in your life and start making moves to get your life to the level you want to be.

2. Be Careful You Build the Right Package

All men are trying to build themselves into a "package." They are trying to become a certain type of person, and typically the motivation for this is their desire for more beautiful women.

While there is nothing wrong with this, men need to take care to make sure they are fully educated and building the right package, one that will not only lead to success with women, but success in your health, in your business, and most importantly fulfillment with life.

3. Men Are Emotional Creatures

Something many men fail to realize in their pursuit of becoming the "Alpha" is that men are inherently emotional creatures, we are just different emotional creatures then women are.

It is learning how to harness and share these emotions where men often fail.

Expressing your emotions, your fears, your desires, and your pain is not unmanly. Vulnerability is an inherently manly thing to do as it opens you up to pain and ridicule and shows that you have true strength of character and confidence in yourself.

4. Move Towards Discomfort

A comfortable life is the killer of all great dreams.

If you are living in comfort, you have no reason to pursue greatness. I mean think about it, why risk pain and suffering whenever what you are doing right now has earned you the big ass TV, the house, the car, and a cute girlfriend?

Why push to become more than you are?

You have to move towards discomfort, because the simple fact is, if you don't move towards it, it will move towards you. The more open and prepared you are to face discomfort, the more at ease you will be when adversity strikes (and it will strike). If you are constantly living a life of ease, even the smallest of setbacks can make you feel as if your life is crashing in around you.

5. Open Up Your Mind

You can never be a truly complete man until you are willing to let go of your prejudices and open up your mind, until you are willing to examine news ideas, new ways of thinking and new lifestyles without judgement.

If you want to life a truly happy and fulfilled life, you need to spend time exploring new things and new ways of being, only then will you truly know the path that you want to pursue and who you want to be.

Jay Samit has been described by Wired magazine as "having the coolest job in the industry."

He is a leading technology innovator who has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for startups; sold companies to Fortune 500 firms; taken companies public; and partnered with some of the world's biggest brands, including Coca Cola, McDonald's, General Motors, United Airlines, Microsoft, Apple, Verizon, and Facebook. Samit is CEO of SeaChange International, a leading global multi-screen video software company.

A technology innovator and entrepreneur, he was a senior advisor to LinkedIn and was appointed to the White House initiative for education and technology by President Bill Clinton. An adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering, Samit is the host of the Wall Street Journal Startup of the Year series and author of the book "Disrupt You"

"Are you living life or just paying bills until you die?"

"The purpose of life is to live a life of purpose"

1. All that is Required for Success is Drive and Insight

If you want to be successful, you need two things, drive and insight.

Forget talent, forget high levels of academic intelligence, if you are someone who is driven to succeed, and you have the insight to see needs within the marketplace, to see the problems and offer appropriate solutions, then you can become massively wealthy.

Think about characters like Richard Branson who were told they were stupid in school and that they would amount to nothing, who had next to no understanding of industries, yet still saw a problem and were able to hire the expertise that they needed to create the businesses of their dreams.

2. Failing is Part of the Process

There is a HUGE difference between failing and failure.

Failure is when you give up, when you resign to defeat. When you hang you head, throw in the towel and give up.

Failing is part of the path to success.

No great person has ever been without failures. Failures are what teach you, they show you what works and what doesn't, and more often than not, when you fail at a small project, you will be able to use the knowledge you learned later to save or earn millions upon millions of dollars in a bigger business or idea.

3. You Have Everything You Need to Succeed

In the 21st century, you have everything you need to succeed.

You have the intelligence, the access to money and any other asset that you can imagine that is required for success.

If you do not know how to do something, you can simple Google it or hire someone who does.

If you don't have access to high level investors for capital, crowd fund.

No matter what problem you are facing you have the tools to solve it and become wildly successful.

4. Write Down 3 Problems in Your Life Everyday

If you want to come up with your million or billion dollar idea in the next 30 days, then simply commit to writing down three problems you have in your life everyday.

In the beginning, most of the problems will be fairly obvious, but as you progress, you will be able to pick out issues that could be the next big thing, make you rich, and help millions of people in the process.

5. The Illusion of Security Robs Ambition

The only true security lies in self reliance.

If you are dependent on a job for your income, although there is nothing inherently wrong with working a 9-5 if you enjoy it and it provides the lifestyle that you want, do not be fooled into thinking that you have any security.

Government regulations, new technology, and shifts in the marketplace are all responsible for putting hundreds of companies out of business each year including dozens of Fortune 500 companies.

You have no security working for someone else, the only security is in developing, and disrupting yourself enough to create the self reliance and skill necessary to thrive in the modern world.

Tucker Max received his BA from the University of Chicago in 1998, and his JD from Duke Law School in 2001. He even attended Duke Law School on an academic scholarship, where he neglected to buy any of his textbooks for his final two years and spent part of one semester–while still enrolled in classes–living in Cancun.

His first book, I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, is a #1 New York Times Best Seller, spent five years on the list, and has over 2 million copies in print. His second book, Assholes Finish First, and his third book,Hilarity Ensues, are also NY Times Best Sellers.

He co-wrote and produced the movie based on his life/book, also titled "I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell." He has also been credited with being the originator and leader of a new literary genre, "fratire," is only the third writer (after Malcolm Gladwell and Michael Lewis) to ever have three books on the NY Times Nonfiction Best Seller List at one time, and was nominated to the Time Magazine 100 Most Influential List in 2009. He currently lives in Austin, Texas.

"Every day write down one example of you working your process and one example of how you are making your life about other people"

1. Life is Not Complicated but it is Difficult

Many people like to make life seem more complicated than it really is. In reality, life is simple, but it is hard as hell and it boils down to two things:

-The relationships you have with the people that you love

-The work you do

If you can master the relationships in your life and you can do work every day that you find personally fulfilling, allows you to have freedom, and adds value to others, than you are about as successful as they come.

2. The Best Way to Make Money is to Help People

If you want to be rich, then you have to help a lot of people. Making money is all about the art of problem solving and helping others improve their lives in a way that they cannot wait to pay you.

Everyone is in pain and everyone is struggling with something in their lives, no matter how rich, good looking, or successful they are, and if you can find that thing and offer them a solution that genuinely works, you will be able to make more money than you ever imagined.

3. Achieving External Success Alone is Unfulfilling

In the interview Tucker talked about how he had all of the external trappings of success. Millions of dollars in income, meet and sleeping with countless beautiful women, a healthy body, and a great career, but still found it ultimately unfulfilling, because he had not done the work on himself.

No matter how much you achieve in your life, if you do not work on yourself and if you do not take care of your emotions and inner world, no amount of outward success will leave you fulfilled.

4. Knowing Is Not Enough

If everyone in the world acted on what they knew, we would live in a society where everyone was happy, healthy, wealthy, and wise.

Think about it…

Everyone knows that to be healthy you should move more and eat less. Everyone knows to be wealthy you should work hard and smart, and spend less than you make. Everyone knows to be wise you should read more and be around smarter people.

So why the hell don't people do this?

They have an action problem, not a knowledge problem. If you want to succeed in life, you have to take the action, knowing is not half of the battle, it's about 10% and massive effing action is the other 90%.

5. You Make Your Own Purpose

Many people have been sold a lie that they have to go on this mystical journey to find their purpose. That if they go and meditate in a dark cave a ball of light will come down from the heavens to reveal to them what they need to do.

This is pure bullshit.

If you are struggling to find a purpose it is because you don't find a purpose you make one!

Pick something that you enjoy and are good at that will allow you to maximize your relationships with the people you love and serve the world, and you have successfully found a purpose worth living for.

Like we said earlier, this is quite simple, but not easy.

But it is also worth it.

Babette Hughes, did not start writing until her 80's and has now become a prolific author of books like The Red Scar, The Hat and Lost and Found, and co-author of Why College Students Fail.

Now 93, she writes every day with a fluidity and grace of a woman half her age; her most recent novel is Searching For Vivian. Her earned wisdom has enriched her contributions to the Huffington Post.

"When you accept the events that happen to you, you accept life, and when you accept life, life accepts you"

1. Stop Worrying About the Pressures of Society

As a man, society places tremendous pressure on you to live up to the standards it has unrealistically set.

If you don't drive the fastest car, own the biggest house, have the biggest paycheck, lift the most weight, be the most masculine and classically manly man yet also be the most sensitive and kind-hearted lover that you can be then you have failed tremendously.

Men, just stop!

Live your life, love your life and be there for the people who really matter. You will not be on your death bed wishing you had made more money or owned a bigger house, you will wish that you had spent more time doing things you love with people you love.

Life is too darn short to be unhappy.

2. Don't Fear Failure, Embrace It

Mistakes are often looked at as a failure, something that you cannot recover from and something that will permanently tarnish your name.

This isn't true.

Mistakes and failures are how you learn and how you grow into the man you need to be. They teach you valuable lessons about what is truly important and about the kind of person you should aspire to be.

Use failures, don't regret them.

3. Life Takes Time

When you are young, you always want to move faster than necessary and try and get to the next checkpoint in life.

You want to become the man you dream of overnight. But life takes time.

And that's the way that it should be. Enjoy the journey and don't rush it.

Stephen is at the forefront of mind-opening new directions in leadership. For the past 25 years, he has guided business executives and influential leaders across the globe, to go beyond self-imposed limitations to new levels of leadership.

An international keynote speaker and author of three books on leadership, Stephen has transformed accomplished individuals around the country and initiated cultural change with major corporations such as Microsoft, Merck, Georgia Pacific and Firestone.

He recently completed his first film, Climb For Freedom, a documentary about the transformation of seven men summiting one of the world's highest peaks and the profound impact of that journey on their lives and relationships.

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience." ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

1. Learn to See Problems as Opportunities

One of the most valuable skills that you can cultivate as a man and a leader is to control your perspective.

Look at everything in life as a spiritual experience that happens to you for a reason. This will allow you to see things that others would perceive as problems and you will be able to ask "What is the blessing?" "What is the lesson?"

This is easier said than done, but if you can shift your paradigm when the shit hits the fan, you will change your life in a radical way.

2. It is not the End

No matter what difficulty you are facing, whether a divorce, a bankruptcy, a loss of a loved one or any other tragic occurence, know that this is not the end.

It is simply the beginning of something new, you will survive and you will make it through, hold on.

3. Leadership is About Asking Questions

If you want to be a good leader, get really good at asking questions. That is what leadership boils down to is the art of being able to ask questions that bring about the best answers from those following you.

If you can become a master at asking the right question you will be a stronger leader than you ever imagined.

4. All Extrinsic Rewards come from Intrinsic Work

If you want more money, a beautiful wife, a million dollar business, a great body, or anything else, it all stems from internal work.

You have to put the work in on yourself and mold yourself into the person that you need to be before you can achieve the goals that you want to achieve.

5. Own Your Life and Change it

Quit whining, quit complaining, quit blaming others. End the victim mentality.

You are responsible for where you are in life, you and no one else. If you keep playing the blame game you will never be able to break free and live the life of your dreams. Only when you take 100% responsibility for your life are you able to take your life wherever you want it.

Drew Canole is a rockstar in the world of fitness, nutrition and mindset, with a huge heart for others and doing his part to transform the world, one person at a time.

As the founder and CEO of Fitlife.tv, he is committed to sharing educational, inspirational and entertaining videos and articles about health, fitness, healing and longevity.

"Remind yourself to check in with your thoughts"

1. Choose to Control Your Subconscious Mind

A mistake that many individuals make on their path to success is that they fail to realize the importance of the subconscious mind on their path to success. If you want to succeed in the world, you have to accept the power of your mind and learn how to harness it to help you achieve your goals and live a life of meaning purpose, and happiness.

2. Your Body and Your Spirit are Inseparably Related

The Bible says that your body is a temple, and this is true. It is the temple of your soul, and if you are not taking care of your body, your mind and your spirit cannot flourish to their fullest.

You have to cleanse your body, treat it like the vessel that it is and ensure that you are properly fueling, training, and repairing it if you want to live the life of your dreams.

All the money in the world, all the beautiful women in the world, and all the fame is useless if your body is too weak to enjoy those things.

3. Aim for Deep Impact Not Wide

In this social media generation, where success is measured in how many Facebook likes we have, we need to rewire our thoughts around success to focus on depth not width.

What this means is that instead of reaching 100,000 people who don't take action and who don't change their lives based off of what you say, just try and radically change the life of 1 person. While this is not sexy, it is the path to truly making a difference and you must shift your focus if you wish to achieve true impact.

4. Live in the Now

All that we have is the now, the more you live in the past or the future, the more stressed and anxious you become as you build up these lofty goals that you have no clue how to achieve. Instead of living in the future or the past, simply live in the now, focus on this moment and all that you have to be grateful for, do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself!

If you can learn to live in the now you will achieve a success and a power in your life that you had never dreamed of before.

Christian McQueen is a men's dating coach, blogger, entrepreneur, author and the founder of SelfFlix.com, The Netflix of Self-Improvement, an online self-improvement video course subscription site that streams step-by-step courses ranging from making money online to dating and social skills.

"Failure is not an option".

1. Take Responsibility for Your Own Damn Life

We live in a day and age where people live live's that they claim no responsibility.

They sit at home in front of their television, stuffing their face with processed shit, and never getting out to meet people and socialize and then they blame the government that they're broke, big medicine that they're fat, the high school bully who called them a name 15 years ago for the fact that they are alone and depressed in life.

Wake up, men!

No one is responsible for you except for you. Take responsibility for your own life, because if you don't you can never change your life.

2. Watch Out for Red Flags

While you can be great with women at bars and clubs, being a good man and being good in relationships is a whole different ball game.

One of the biggest mistakes that most novices make when it comes to the relationship "game" is that they ignore red flags because the girls are hot or they're having a lot of fun.

Be sure to watch out for girls who are clingy, on any kind of prescription meds, angry and inconsistent in any way.

If you want to learn a little bit more about this, check out Christian's monster 10,000 + word post here

3. Stop Apologizing

Guys, we get it…

School, the government, and your parents raised you to be a polite little gentleman who always says please and thank you. That's great!

But you know what's not great?

The innumerable amount of men who have become pussified shells of the confident, assertive alpha males that once roamed the earth.

And while this problem goes much deeper than anyone issues and is tied to everything from the decline of the family structure, hormonal imbalance, to feminism, one of the easiest things you can do to start getting back on track is to stop apologizing.

Really…stop.

We aren't saying that if you run over someone's dog you shouldn't apologize, but men, when you are in a grocery store, and someone else runs into you because they were on their damn phone do NOT apologize for it. Don't apologize because you are in someone's way (guess what they are in your way too), don't apologize unless you really need to.

4. Success with Finances and Women Are Paramount

There are truly two goals in a man's life:

Get laid and get paid.

How those goals appear for you are quite frankly irrelevant. Whether you want to find that beautiful woman and settle down to a monogamous relationship and comfortable 9-5, or you want to be the next Casanova, traveling the world and bedding all sorts of exotic girls, is completely irrelevant.

You need to spend your early years learning how to meet and attract women, and how to make money. If you can master these two areas of your life, you will have the freedom and the peace of mind to pursue other things and go after your "passion."

Because here's the thing. Going after your passion is great, starting a family is great, and doing those things is a helluva lot easier with $250,000 saved in your account and a beautiful dime by your side who is loyal and loving.

5. Your Mission is Your Priority Not Women

Women are wonderful, we all love them and all straight men do most of the things that they do in order to attract the women that they desire. But the thing is, if you are reading this blog, odds are, you have a fire inside of you, you have a calling and a passion that is bigger than yourself, and importantly, bigger than any woman.

Men, you can never make a woman your whole priority in life, a priority, absolutely. The priority, no.

If you are in a long term relationship or marriage, then obviously it is your responsibility to be there for her, to love, her and provide for her, but your mission in life has to come first and she needs to understand that this is the case, and it doesn't mean that you don't love her, it simply means that you have a calling inside of you that cannot be limited to one single relationship.

So go after your mission men, and don't hold back.

Sarah Jones is an online entrepreneur and dating coach for men who helps introverted men unleash the power inside of them to attract and date the beautiful women that they desire by expressing themselves openly and authentically, and avoiding the gimmicks of the PUA community.

"Enjoy the hell out of being you"

1. Love Being You

The first step that is essential to becoming a powerful man who can authentically relate with and attract the women he desires is simply to love being you.

Love who you are!

Love your weirdness, your quirky traits, your dreams and goals, your hobbies, your flaws, and your strengths.

Many people suggest that loving yourself often causes people to steer away from personal development, but the opposite is actually true. If you genuinely love yourself and love who you are, what is the more loving thing to do?

To allow yourself to live a mediocre life held back by fear and doubt?

Or to break free and step into the life that you know you can achieve?

2. You Have to Live by Your Values to Truly Attract Women

One of the reasons that many shy guys fail with women whenever attempting "pick up" is that the techniques and tactics taught in the pickup community, even among those who encourage you to be authentic and genuinely relate, are often out of line with the values that you may hold being an introverted male.

If you value genuine conversation and connection and are then told that you have to go to loud bars and clubs start dry humping on the dance floor to attract girls, you will feel disingenuous and it will come across in your interactions.

3. Break the Touch Barrier Quickly

One of the ways that many introverts fail with women is that they are quickly "friend zoned" because they have a difficult time breaking the touch barrier. A woman will never see you in a sexual light if you are not able to comfortable touch her in a respectful way (and quickly)

This does not mean you have to be groping and grab assing, it simply means that being able to initiate a playful touch on the arm or shoulder, or placing your hand on her knee to emphasize a segment of a story you are telling, will go a long way in having her see you as a potential boyfriend and a not a potential friend to cry to when her boyfriend turns out to be an asshole.

4. Your Inner World will be Reflected In Your Approaches

Women have a sixth sense when it comes to how you are showing up in the world. If you are inwardly feeling unconfident, very unsure of yourself, and unworthy of the girl you are trying to spark attraction with. it will come across and she will be able to tell almost immediately.

You have to first develop the inner confidence and put yourself in situations where you can be yourself (for example if you love music, go join a music meet up instead of trying to force going out to night clubs and bars), and then you will be able to meet and attract women easily and naturally.

1. Quiet by Susan Cain

introvertedalpha.com

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We live in a world caught between two extremes. In one breath, we eschew and vilify masculinity and traditionally "manly" virtues, labeling them as "toxic" and detrimental to society. Yet in another, we revel in them. Subconsciously pining for a resurgence in traditional masculinity.

We are enamored with the classically masculine archetypes that proliferate our favorite movies, books, and TV shows (think Jon Snow, Don Draper, Hank Moody, and Captain America).

The blood in our veins rips at the sight of a vicious knockout in the UFC and, as we watch the victor leap to the top of the cage with his arms held high in the air, we can't help but imagine ourselves standing in his place…the taste of blood on our lips, the deafening roar of the crowd filling our ears, and the inner confidence of knowing that we are capable of handling ourselves in conflict.

Yet all of our imagining does little to change the way we feel and show up in life.

Despite our desire to "be the man", to feel strong, accomplished, and powerful…our desires are left unmet. We are not the hero of our lives so we allay our growing sense of emasculation by watching other hero's through a steady stream of action movies, video games, and extreme sports.

The reason is simple…

Men today are lost. In the famous words of Bob Dylan, "The times, they are a-changing." And modern men have failed to evolve with the changing times.

As feminism has given rise to unprecedented equality men are faced with a growing and inescapable sense of obsolescence.

Men aren't needed in the way that we once were and, our seeming lack of utility has left men wondering, "What the hell am I supposed to do now?" We no longer have clear roles in society and men all over the world want to know how to be more masculine and even if it's okay.

And today, I'm going to give you the answers you've been looking for.