Since humans really hit their stride in the world, there have been three practices that have drawn out the greatness hidden within men.

Success is created by having good systems.

Good systems are designed to properly account for FRICTION.

There are cases where you WANT friction in your systems that create resistance to making poor decisions.

So for example, if you're trying to lose weight, don't keep any junkfood in the house.

This creates friction when you might want to act on a craving to break your diet - you'll have to leave your house and go out somewhere rather than grab some donuts from your pantry.

Creating friction is usually pretty simple - just add obstacles in the way of bad behavior.

However, REDUCING friction can be much trickier, and ultimately much more powerful because it can help you TAKE good actions rather than just avoid bad ones.

Here are three simple methods for reducing friction:

1. Preparation

Make it easier to start up the task. Ex:

Lay out your gym clothes the night before

Pre-plan out a task in granular fashion before you do it

Keep the book you want to read out on your bedstand

2. Exclusivity

Remove optionality so that you reduce analysis paralysis. Ex:

Dedicate the first chunk of your day to ONLY one kind of task (like writing, or working out, etc.)

Have a notebook dedicated to a specific kind of journaling and nothing else

Only make one big change in your life at a time

3. Aesthetic Attunement

Enhance emotional attraction to the things you are trying to do:

Use tools you LIKE and are excited to use (even if they are a bit more expensive)

Create a more comfortable environment that you enjoy working in (cleaning, decoration, furniture quality etc.)

Find the way of "skinning the cat" that most appeals to your personality type (e.g. I'd take my intentionally designed minimalist home-gym over most commercial gyms ANY day).

Hope this is enough to get you started thinking.

UYAP! (Unleash Your Apex Potential)

Mark Queppet

#MarkQueppet #UniversalMan #Masculinity #Coaching #Productivity #Integrity

So I recently I got a LONG email written in Korean.

We've all been overwhelmed.

There is a big difference from simply being A-man-in-A-house vs THE Man of THE House.

Usually guys try to oversimplify what this means by spouting off some stereotypical expectations like "the man is the [financial provider, decision maker, protector, disciplinarian]" etc.

I'm not saying this is WRONG..

However, I've seen enough scenarios where the man is more nurturing and emotionally intelligent and the woman is better with money or disciplining the children.

Because of this, I cannot tie any specific set of responsibilities to being The Man of The House… except one:

The Man must consciously control the ENERGY of the House.

I don't know one household in the world where a man can fail in this aspect and still be "The Man".

So for example, a man who is regularly:

Lashing out in anger

Tuning out despondently

Ignoring upsets and problems

Spiraling emotionally or complaining in the face of issues

Generally being an emotionally reactive sod

... is not The Man.

If your presence is not felt at all, you're not The Man, you're a man.

If your presence is felt, but it leaves only a negative impact, then you're not The Man, you're a problem.

If your family regularly has to roll their eyes, cower in fear, or change your emotional diaper when you get triggered, then you are definitely not The Man.

If you grew up in a household where this was the dynamic... I'm sure you loathed it.

The Man decides what is the best energy to serve his family, and then models it.

If the family needs calm, he is calm.

If the family needs hope, he is hopeful.

If the family needs strength, he is strong.

If the family needs action, he is ready to throw everyone on his back and carry them if need be..

If the family needs someone to roll up their sleeves and address some mess, he's already elbow deep in it.

But perhaps most importantly, the family ALWAYS needs joy and love and so he strains every fiber of his being to deliver.

The catch though is that The Man must master himself enough to  be able to do this...

Do not settle to simply be "a man".

The world needs you to be THE MAN.

UYAP! (Unleash Your Apex Potential)

Mark Queppet

#MarkQueppet #UniversalMan #Masculinity #Coaching #Productivity #Integrity

When I was younger I had it in my head that I had to get out there and really DO SOMETHING in order to BE SOMEONE.

One trait I often find neglected in the discussion of heroes is HUMOR.

One of the things I've seen from guys of ALL ages is the idea that they are "so far behind."

You can roughly break people down into three categories: reactors, developers, and masters.

I once knew a guy who wanted to be a writer.