Knowledge For Men

Craig Filek is a father, a depth coach and highly attuned facilitator bringing over 20 years of experience in transformative men’s work, shadow work and authentic relating to his unique process for radically clarifying your purpose, making a powerful contribution, and stepping into your flow

“In every adversity lies the seed in an equivalent or greater benefit”~Napoleon Hill

1. Learn to Be With Yourself

Part of becoming the man that you were born to be is to discover who you are and to learn to be ok with your shadow, unafraid and bold in accepting who you are.

To achieve this level of self knowledge and acceptance, you have to be willing to spend time in solitude truly delving into yourself and allowing yourself the space to grow.

Whether this is through meditation, time in nature or journaling doesn’t matter. What matters is that you make time for yourself to be alone with yourself and truly come to know and accept who you are.

2. You Have to Have a Rite of Passage to Become the Best Man You Can Be

To truly thrive as a man, you must, even according to your own biology, go through a rite of passage that challenges you and leaves you a better man than before.

Whether this is a retreat, solo trip around the world, starting a business, or competing in a boxing match, you need to have something that marks your transition into manhood and a new life, no matter how old or experienced you are.

3. Create a Life Map

A powerful exercise to help you unlock your potential and become the man you need to be is to create a life map. Include your overarching purpose for the next 6 years, milestones along the way to help keep you motivated and on track, a daily one thing to focus on, and a list of daily habits to help you become the man you were born to be.

No matter whether your purpose is to become the biggest name in personal growth, a pro musician, or simply to be the best damn father you can, breaking everything down in this way will help you to organize your life and goals in a simple way that you can easily follow and use to achieve your purpose.

This is David's second appearance on the show, he's back and better than before.

For those of you who are not familiar with David Wygant, he is an internationally-renowned dating and relationship coach, author and speaker. Through his boot camps, personal coaching and his website, his advice has transformed the dating lives and relationships of hundreds of thousands of people from every corner of the globe. His funny — yet always direct — approach to dating, sex and relationships has revolutionized how people meet and interact with the opposite sex.

Over the last thirteen years, David has become one of the most frequently-quoted dating experts in the media. He offers his advice as a lead writer for Yahoo! Personals, AskMen, Huffington Post and across television segments, newspapers and magazines, including MTV, The New York Times, MSNBC, Fox News, Cosmopolitan, Men's Health and E! Entertainment Television — as well as on over 2,000 radio shows.

1. Get Off Social Media and CONNECT

People have lost their ability to connect. We spend our days on social media, constantly swiping and liking our lives away while the real juice of life passes us by.

If you want to live a life that is full, full of love, passion, and joy, you have to put down the phone and learn to connect with people, get excited about who you will meet and what you will learn each day and turn your damn phone off!

No man will ever go to his grave regretting that he didn't have enough facebook followers, but many men die void of true love and connection because they were never willing to put down their devices and connect.

2. You Are Good Enough

Society, our family, and our friends have sold us a lie that we are not good enough. We have been taught that because we are not like someone else that we are somehow inferior and less worthy of love and success than others.

This is b.s.

You are who you are for a reason, embrace it! If you are a nerd, be a nerd, a gym rat, then be a gym rat, if you are a hopeless romantic, then embrace it and be who you are!

Don't let anyone or anything tell you that you are not good enough.

3. Give Love Freely

All that matters in life is our ability to love. If you want to be happy and fulfilled, then give love freely. Love other people, love the world you live in, love your family, your friends, and don't expect anything in return.

As soon as you do this, the universe will open up doors and your life will be a roller coaster ride of joy, love, and connection.

4. Be Totally Present

Stop worrying about tomorrow. Quit spending your precious time focused on things that don't matter. Unplug and learn to love, to be totally present and there with everyone you meet.

Life is too short to live in the future. Give love and presence and your life will be more joyful and amazing than you can imagine.

This is David’s second appearance on the show, he’s back and better than before.

For those of you who are not familiar with David Wygant, he is an internationally-renowned dating and relationship coach, author and speaker. Through his boot camps, personal coaching and his website, his advice has transformed the dating lives and relationships of hundreds of thousands of people from every corner of the globe. His funny — yet always direct — approach to dating, sex and relationships has revolutionized how people meet and interact with the opposite sex.

Over the last thirteen years, David has become one of the most frequently-quoted dating experts in the media. He offers his advice as a lead writer for Yahoo! Personals, AskMen, Huffington Post and across television segments, newspapers and magazines, including MTV, The New York Times, MSNBC, Fox News, Cosmopolitan, Men’s Health and E! Entertainment Television — as well as on over 2,000 radio shows.

1. Get Off Social Media and CONNECT

People have lost their ability to connect. We spend our days on social media, constantly swiping and liking our lives away while the real juice of life passes us by.

If you want to live a life that is full, full of love, passion, and joy, you have to put down the phone and learn to connect with people, get excited about who you will meet and what you will learn each day and turn your damn phone off!

No man will ever go to his grave regretting that he didn’t have enough facebook followers, but many men die void of true love and connection because they were never willing to put down their devices and connect.

2. You Are Good Enough 

Society, our family, and our friends have sold us a lie that we are not good enough. We have been taught that because we are not like someone else that we are somehow inferior and less worthy of love and success than others.

This is b.s.

You are who you are for a reason, embrace it! If you are a nerd, be a nerd, a gym rat, then be a gym rat, if you are a hopeless romantic, then embrace it and be who you are!

Don’t let anyone or anything tell you that you are not good enough.

3. Give Love Freely

All that matters in life is our ability to love. If you want to be happy and fulfilled, then give love freely. Love other people, love the world you live in, love your family, your friends, and don’t expect anything in return.

As soon as you do this, the universe will open up doors and your life will be a roller coaster ride of joy, love, and connection.

4. Be Totally Present 

Stop worrying about tomorrow. Quit spending your precious time focused on things that don’t matter. Unplug and learn to love, to be totally present and there with everyone you meet.

Life is too short to live in the future. Give love and presence and your life will be more joyful and amazing than you can imagine.

Dennis Meyers was a normal everyday man until he suffered from a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After years of struggling to find joy and fulfillment in his new life, he discovered a way to make peace with his accident and has written about it in his book "You Have not a Leg to Stand On".

"You've just got to go on"

1. You Have Just got to Go On

Life will knock you down, it will throw punches that put you on your knees, it will shatter you and batter you and try and keep you on the ground, but you have just got to go on.

Everyone will suffer in life, especially if you ever intend to do something great with yourself, the key is not if you suffer, but how you suffer. You must accept the hardships and move on with your life, grin and bear it, be willing to laugh in the face of pain.

There is little else that you can do, and allowing life to knock you down is a surefire recipe, not just for failure in business, but failure in life.

2. Learn to Take Life as it Is

Just as life will knock you down and you must learn to keep moving, so will life present you with situations and circumstances that aren't ideal. While many people will moan and gripe about how unfair life is, the wiser man realizes that if there is nothing he can do to change the situation, he must simply take life as it is.

Make peace with the pain, because sometimes it's all you can do.

3. Put Yourself Second

While life may be difficult at times, and may present massive challenges to many people, life is much more challenging if you are operating from a selfish perspective. You have to be willing to put yourself second, to live for something bigger than just you, to truly live a life of service, if you want to find peace in this life.

Serving others is the quickest way to remind yourself of all that you have to be grateful for and all the amazing blessings you have in your life.

Dennis Meyers was a normal everyday man until he suffered from a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down. After years of struggling to find joy and fulfillment in his new life, he discovered a way to make peace with his accident and has written about it in his book “You Have not a Leg to Stand On”.

“You’ve just got to go on”

1. You Have Just got to Go On

Life will knock you down, it will throw punches that put you on your knees, it will shatter you and batter you and try and keep you on the ground, but you have just got to go on.

Everyone will suffer in life, especially if you ever intend to do something great with yourself, the key is not if you suffer, but how you suffer. You must accept the hardships and move on with your life, grin and bear it, be willing to laugh in the face of pain.

There is little else that you can do, and allowing life to knock you down is a surefire recipe, not just for failure in business, but failure in life.

2. Learn to Take Life as it Is

Just as life will knock you down and you must learn to keep moving, so will life present you with situations and circumstances that aren’t ideal. While many people will moan and gripe about how unfair life is, the wiser man realizes that if there is nothing he can do to change the situation, he must simply take life as it is.

Make peace with the pain, because sometimes it’s all you can do.

3. Put Yourself Second 

While life may be difficult at times, and may present massive challenges to many people, life is much more challenging if you are operating from a selfish perspective. You have to be willing to put yourself second, to live for something bigger than just you, to truly live a life of service, if you want to find peace in this life.

Serving others is the quickest way to remind yourself of all that you have to be grateful for and all the amazing blessings you have in your life.

Craig Ballantyne has been the Editor of Early to Rise since 2011. He's also a Strength & Conditioning coach in Toronto, author of Turbulence Training, a contributing author to Men's Health magazine, and a member of the Training Advisory Board for Maximum Fitness and Oxygen magazines.

"Success is simple"

"First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do"~Epictietus

1. The First Mistake You Make in the Morning is Reacting vs. Responding

In the mornings, it is so easy to sleep through your alarm, start your morning in a frenzy and get put into a mode of reaction vs. responding.

When you start your day this way, the day is already lost, you have already fallen into the trap of reacting to your environment instead of responding to circumstances that you had already planned and prepared for.

To beat this, wake up 15 minutes before you have to and focus on your goals.

Not one hours, not two hours, just 15 minutes. 15 minutes to allow yourself to focus your intentions for the day and get into peak state. Consider it a gift to yourself, and after a few weeks of this your results and productivity will sky rocket.

2. Do a Brain Dump at the End of the Day

As we go on through our days, our brains become cluttered with all sorts of stuff from work, family, personal struggles, past failures, and future worries. At the end of each day, do what is referred to as a brain dump, where you sit and write out everything that is on your mind so that you are no longer mulling over it while you should be present.

Doing this will allow you to clear your head and show up fully whenever you are with your family, relaxing at the end of the day, hanging out with friends, or anything else that you decide to do.

3. Create a Vision Statement

One of the most important things that you can do is to decide where you are going and who you want to be and condense this into a mission statement that will remind you of your goals and keep you on track when decision making becomes difficult.

By having a vision that you are moving towards, you will stay focused on where you are headed instead of the pain of sacrificing pleasure in the moment for gain in the future.

4. Its not what you can do but what you can avoid doing

A significant portion of success is not just knowing what to do, but knowing what to avoid doing.

If you can understand your stumbling blocks, the things that cause you to fail and fall, and the distractions that prevent you from achieving at the level that you want to be, then you have won half of the battle.

By finding ways to use accountability and leverage to eliminate these distractions entirely, you will boost your productivity, happiness, and success 10 fold over.

5. Create Personal Commandments

In adittion to your vision statement, one of the best ways to add structure and simplicity into your life is to create personal commandments, rules that you follow no matter what that can guide you and make decisions easy.

Some examples of personal commandments could be

• I will not watch adult content
• I will limit alcohol consumption to 3x a week, and never more than 2 drinks a night
• I will stay faithful to my wife no matter the temptation
• I will always give 10% of my income to a noble charity

I can't tell you what your commandments should be, but having a list of rules and guidelines that you follow is absolutely essential to becoming the man you want to be.

6. Structure Creates Freedom

Throughout much of the interview Craig discusses creating rules and guidelines for your life, and many of you may be turned off by the concept. But what you may not realize is that structure creates freedom.

By having rules in place you are free making difficult decisions based solely off of emotion, by having structure in your life, you will increase your success and free time and have more freedom to pursue the things you love and spend time with people that you love.

7. Follow the Law of Action Attraction

While many peopele may ascribe to the "Secret's" law of attraction, Craig suggests the law of action attraction.

Basically focus on what you want, create the vision board, write the goals out, say your affirmations, and then take MASSIVE ACTION to achieve those goals.

Surround yourself with A+ players, create a mastermind, enlist the help of smarter people to aid you in achieving your goals, and take massive action.

Not only will you attract what you want into your life, but you will have taken the proper proportion of action required to ensure that you are ready for it.

8. Before You Start on the Journey Ask If It's Worth It

Before you start down any journey, you must decide if it's worth it. You have to have a strong enough reason for doing anything, or you will fail,. Plain and simple.

Whether the journey is a new instrument, sport, business, or relationship, ask if it is worth it before you begin and compare the opportunity to your vision statement and personal commandments

Craig Ballantyne has been the Editor of Early to Rise since 2011. He’s also a Strength & Conditioning coach in Toronto, author of Turbulence Training, a contributing author to Men’s Health magazine, and a member of the Training Advisory Board for Maximum Fitness and Oxygen magazines.

“Success is simple”

“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do”~Epictietus

1. The First Mistake You Make in the Morning is Reacting vs. Responding

In the mornings, it is so easy to sleep through your alarm, start your morning in a frenzy and get put into a mode of reaction vs. responding.

When you start your day this way, the day is already lost, you have already fallen into the trap of reacting to your environment instead of responding to circumstances that you had already planned and prepared for.

To beat this, wake up 15 minutes before you have to and focus on your goals.

Not one hours, not two hours, just 15 minutes. 15 minutes to allow yourself to focus your intentions for the day and get into peak state. Consider it a gift to yourself, and after a few weeks of this your results and productivity will sky rocket.

2. Do a Brain Dump at the End of the Day

As we go on through our days, our brains become cluttered with all sorts of stuff from work, family, personal struggles, past failures, and future worries. At the end of each day, do what is referred to as a brain dump, where you sit and write out everything that is on your mind so that you are no longer mulling over it while you should be present.

Doing this will allow you to clear your head and show up fully whenever you are with your family, relaxing at the end of the day, hanging out with friends, or anything else that you decide to do.

3. Create a Vision Statement 

One of the most important things that you can do is to decide where you are going and who you want to be and condense this into a mission statement that will remind you of your goals and keep you on track when decision making becomes difficult.

By having a vision that you are moving towards, you will stay focused on where you are headed instead of the pain of sacrificing pleasure in the moment for gain in the future.

4. Its not what you can do but what you can avoid doing

A significant portion of success is not just knowing what to do, but knowing what to avoid doing.

If you can understand your stumbling blocks, the things that cause you to fail and fall, and the distractions that prevent you from achieving at the level that you want to be, then you have won half of the battle.

By finding ways to use accountability and leverage to eliminate these distractions entirely, you will boost your productivity, happiness, and success 10 fold over.

5. Create Personal Commandments 

In adittion to your vision statement, one of the best ways to add structure and simplicity into your life is to create personal commandments, rules that you follow no matter what that can guide you and make decisions easy.

Some examples of personal commandments could be

• I will not watch adult content
• I will limit alcohol consumption to 3x a week, and never more than 2 drinks a night
• I will stay faithful to my wife no matter the temptation
• I will always give 10% of my income to a noble charity

I can’t tell you what your commandments should be, but having a list of rules and guidelines that you follow is absolutely essential to becoming the man you want to be.

6. Structure Creates Freedom

Throughout much of the interview Craig discusses creating rules and guidelines for your life, and many of you may be turned off by the concept. But what you may not realize is that structure creates freedom.

By having rules in place you are free making difficult decisions based solely off of emotion, by having structure in your life, you will increase your success and free time and have more freedom to pursue the things you love and spend time with people that you love.

7. Follow the Law of Action Attraction

While many peopele may ascribe to the “Secret’s” law of attraction, Craig suggests the law of action attraction.

Basically focus on what you want, create the vision board, write the goals out, say your affirmations, and then take MASSIVE ACTION to achieve those goals.

Surround yourself with A+ players, create a mastermind, enlist the help of smarter people to aid you in achieving your goals, and take massive action.

Not only will you attract what you want into your life, but you will have taken the proper proportion of action required to ensure that you are ready for it.

8. Before You Start on the Journey Ask If It’s Worth It 

Before you start down any journey, you must decide if it’s worth it. You have to have a strong enough reason for doing anything, or you will fail,. Plain and simple.

Whether the journey is a new instrument, sport, business, or relationship, ask if it is worth it before you begin and  compare the opportunity to your vision statement and personal commandments

Jack Donovan is an author known for his writing on masculinity and tribalism. He is the author of The Way of Men which answers the question, "what is masculinity?"

"There is a difference between being good at being a man and being a good man." – Jack Donovan

1. Build Your Strength

If you want to be seen as a real man and have the self-confidence and respect that comes with it, then you must become a master of the four tactical virtues: Strength, courage, mastery and honor.

Strength is just what it sounds like.

If you want to be a truly masculine man, you need to have a high level of physical and mental strength.

You must be able to lift heavy objects, endure pain, and handle yourself in conflict.

Subconsciously, women and other men will judge you based on your perceived strength.

If you are constantly displaying signs of weakness in your body, your mentality, or your conviction, you will lose trust from the people who matter most and lack the confidence you need to thrive in life.

2. Be Courageous

Courage, the second virtue, is typically a by-product of strength.

Whenever you have high levels of self-confidence and real strength that you have tested in battle (the gym or the octagon), you will be able to charge into unknown situations with courage and fearlessness.

This is imperative for success in all areas of life.

How can a woman trust you if you don't have the courage to speak your mind and be honest with her?

How can you business partners trust you if you don't have the courage to make difficult decisions?

How can you trust yourself if you are constantly cowering away from challenges and never pushing yourself to be more?

The more courage you display, the greater trust you will have in yourself and the more trust others will place in you.

3. Practice Mastery

The third tactical virtue and the topic of much discussion in recent years, mastery is what truly separates the boys from the men.

Regardless of the craft, all men respect a master.

They respect a master marksman, a master programmer, a master weight lifter, master seducer, and a master entrepreneur.

If you want to truly be held in the highest level of esteem by your peers and by society, then you must commit yourself to mastery.

Whatever craft you decide to master, you must be willing to endure the brutal hours and sustained periods of practice.

But at the end of the day, when you are one of the greatest in the world, all of the pain and hardship will be worth it, and you can consider yourself an even better man.

4. Embrace the Importance of Honor

Honor, the final of the four tactical virtues is where the rubber truly meets the road.

If you are strong, courageous, and masterful, but you do not have honor, if other men cannot trust you, if you do not keep your word, and you do not manage your reputation, then you are not a real man.

Honor is not about dying for a noble cause or serving in battle, it's simply about guarding your reputation.

It's about doing what you said you would do and showing up in all situations with integrity and conviction.

Without honor, the other four virtues are for naught.

5. Build Your Tribe and Complete Your Rite

To embrace masculinity and become the best man that you can be, you must build your tribe of men and go through a rite of passage.

Men need time with other men away from the influence of women.

We need time to fight and be wild, time to embrace our wildness, and time to let it all out.

Once you have found that group, it's important that you undergo some sort of rite of passage signaling your passage from boyhood to manhood.

It might seem simple, but creating an intentional rite and seeing it through is one of the most powerful things that you can do both for your psyche and your confidence.

Jack Donovan is an author known for his writing on masculinity and tribalism. He is the author of The Way of Men which answers the question, “what is masculinity?”

“There is a difference between being good at being a man and being a good man.” – Jack Donovan

1. Build Your Strength

If you want to be seen as a real man and have the self-confidence and respect that comes with it, then you must become a master of the four tactical virtues: Strength, courage, mastery and honor.

Strength is just what it sounds like.

If you want to be a truly masculine man, you need to have a high level of physical and mental strength.

You must be able to lift heavy objects, endure pain, and handle yourself in conflict.

Subconsciously, women and other men will judge you based on your perceived strength.

If you are constantly displaying signs of weakness in your body, your mentality, or your conviction, you will lose trust from the people who matter most and lack the confidence you need to thrive in life.

2. Be Courageous

Courage, the second virtue, is typically a by-product of strength.

Whenever you have high levels of self-confidence and real strength that you have tested in battle (the gym or the octagon), you will be able to charge into unknown situations with courage and fearlessness.

This is imperative for success in all areas of life.

How can a woman trust you if you don’t have the courage to speak your mind and be honest with her?

How can you business partners trust you if you don’t have the courage to make difficult decisions?

How can you trust yourself if you are constantly cowering away from challenges and never pushing yourself to be more?

The more courage you display, the greater trust you will have in yourself and the more trust others will place in you.

3. Practice Mastery

The third tactical virtue and the topic of much discussion in recent years, mastery is what truly separates the boys from the men.

Regardless of the craft, all men respect a master.

They respect a master marksman, a master programmer, a master weight lifter, master seducer, and a master entrepreneur.

If you want to truly be held in the highest level of esteem by your peers and by society, then you must commit yourself to mastery.

Whatever craft you decide to master, you must be willing to endure the brutal hours and sustained periods of practice.

But at the end of the day, when you are one of the greatest in the world, all of the pain and hardship will be worth it, and you can consider yourself an even better man.

4. Embrace the Importance of Honor

Honor, the final of the four tactical virtues is where the rubber truly meets the road.

If you are strong, courageous, and masterful, but you do not have honor, if other men cannot trust you, if you do not keep your word, and you do not manage your reputation, then you are not a real man.

Honor is not about dying for a noble cause or serving in battle, it’s simply about guarding your reputation.

It’s about doing what you said you would do and showing up in all situations with integrity and conviction.

Without honor, the other four virtues are for naught.

5. Build Your Tribe and Complete Your Rite 

To embrace masculinity and become the best man that you can be, you must build your tribe of men and go through a rite of passage.

Men need time with other men away from the influence of women.

We need time to fight and be wild, time to embrace our wildness, and time to let it all out.

Once you have found that group, it’s important that you undergo some sort of rite of passage signaling your passage from boyhood to manhood.

It might seem simple, but creating an intentional rite and seeing it through is one of the most powerful things that you can do both for your psyche and your confidence.

Steven DeSalvo's first book 'Relationship Dynamics' in the EVOLVE series helps to answer the question: 'How can we change our world and the course of human evolution with positive outcomes for this planet and all of its inhabitants? This first book in this series has helped many to change and navigate to healthier relationship dynamics.

As a certified Permaculturist, his goal is to serve others in the attaining their highest evolutionary potential through writings and personal appearances to increase awareness and personal responsibility.

He moved to northern California in 2011 where he now resides and works as an independent writer, publisher, speaker and life coach. Often called a Renaissance man, Steven DeSalvo has a diverse background of creative, artistic, business and personal interests including writing and blogging on his web site www.BecomeAnAdult.com.

"Live your true authentic self"~Steven DeSalvo

1. Introspection is the First Step to Better Relationships

You will never succeed in relationships with others until you are in a great relationship with yourself. And creating a great relationship with yourself requires that you spend time in introspection, truly learning who you are and falling deeply in love with yourself.

If you want to develop healthy relationships with others, start by spending time by yourself and investing in the man that you want to be, the rest will follow.

2. You Have to Create Systems for Conflict Resolution

In all relationships, no matter how "perfect" they may seem, you will face conflicts. It is inevitable. But what separates relationships that last from those that crash and burn is. There is such a thing as an elegant argument, but you have to be willing to let go of your need to be right.

Put yourself in your partner's shoes, truly listen to them and what they are saying, not just the words that are coming out of their mouths, but the underlying message behind everything that they say. If you do this, your relationships will be happier, you will be happier, and life will be far more fulfilling.

3. A Healthy Relationship is Two People Setting Each Other Free

A healthy relationship is two people setting each other free, it is not one person completing another person, or one individual trying to fix another individual, it is two whole individuals who both have something unique to offer each other, coming together and sharing their gifts, talents, and love with one another.

If you get into relationships looking for someone to complete you, you will always be disappointed, but if you go into relationships looking for someone who is already complete whom you can join with and create an amazing life together, you will live a life of fulfilling and happy relationship.