Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one
-Bruce Lee
The “Big Three” every man wants to master are health, wealth, and love.
All three areas are dependent on each other in a variety of ways so it’s best to master all of them.
The path to mastery isn’t found the easy way. Men who are following the easy way are vulnerable to exploitation by corporations, women, and other men.
A self-reliant man is made by following the hard way.
Here are the easy ways in all three areas and the hard way alternatives:
HEALTH
A man’s health should be his absolute priority because when you are not healthy, everything else doesn’t matter.
A man should guard his health nail and tooth, because, unlike wealth and love, it’s not always possible to bring it back once you lose it.
The Easy Way: Making Excuses.
I can’t build muscle because of genetics, or I am fat because my metabolism is slow, or I don’t have time/the weather is cold to work out blah blah blah.
The Hard Way: Stopping the excuses and going after what you want.
The human metabolism doesn’t change much from person to person. It’s true that there are some genetic freaks but they are the exception rather than the rule.
The Easy Way: Getting fat.
At our times, we are fortunate that there’s an abundance of food. If you are reading this article, the chances are very slim that you will die in a famine. People get fat because they don’t restrict their calories.
The Hard Way: Being lean.
Restrict your calories. Counting your calories/macros is a good idea. Learn to read the labels. Work out. Eat whole foods.
The Easy Way: Dad Bod.
The body of the average man is weak and fat because it’s extremely easy to be that way. You do nothing and voila! You get a dad bod.
The Hard Way: Getting muscular.
Strength training has too many benefits to write it off. It’s not as time-consuming as you think to build muscle.
WEALTH
A man’s financial independence has the utmost importance for his well-being, freedom, and mobility.
There’s no free lunch for men. When a woman is in dire straits, men or the government will rush to save her, but a man should be self-reliant.
Making money is a skill. Financial discipline is a must.
Even in the case when a man loses all the money he made, he should have the skills to make enough money again to support himself.
The Easy Way: Making Excuses.
I don’t have a business/enough money because my family isn’t rich, or I don’t have the right connections, or I don’t have the relevant education or, I don’t have time or, I have kids or, I don’t have enough capital, or my boss is a jerk blah blah blah.
The Hard Way: Stopping the excuses and going after what you want.
There are tens of thousands of self-made men regardless of their background.
The Easy Way: Nihilism.
Lots of men have the mentality that money doesn’t buy happiness.
The Hard Way: Taking responsibility for your wealth.
Money is not guaranteed to make you happy but when you have enough money, you have the freedom to do the things that make you happy.
The Easy Way: Getting a job.
Starting a business is risky. So, most men prefer to work jobs instead of taking risks and building their own businesses.
The Hard Way: Building your own company.
Having a job is modern slavery. There’s no freedom without taking risks and building your own business.
The Easy Way: Buying stuff on credit.
Lots of men buy stuff they don’t need with the money they haven’t earned yet.
The Hard Way: Financial discipline.
Live below your means. Don’t go into debt unless that debt is an investment for building your business.
The Easy Way: Wasting your time with useless activities.
We live in a culture of consumerism. We don’t only consume things with our money but also with our time, such as watching TV, playing video games and gossiping.
The Hard Way: Producing.
Be the producer of content rather than being the consumer.
The Easy Way: Getting a bullshit degree.
There are no shortages of bullshit college degrees where men think they are taking action for their future. What they are actually doing is taking pseudo-action. Because these degrees will not make it easier for them to get lucrative jobs or build their own businesses in the future. They also get into debt for these degrees by getting student loans.
The Hard Way: Getting a useful degree.
There are hardly any unemployed doctors, lawyers or engineers and alike. If you have to get a degree, at least get one that will allow you to find a job or build a business.
LOVE
A man’s love life is never guaranteed to last as it involves the most fickle of creatures: Women.
So, a man should be ready and able to get women into his life regardless of his current relationship status. Lots of men are unable to find decent women to have relationships with. Lots of other men find themselves back in the sexual market after a painful divorce, having to start from scratch.
A man who has mastered the “love” area in his life is able to find a decent woman within a short period of time, usually within 1 to 4 weeks.
The Easy Way: Making Excuses.
I can’t get a woman because I am short, or bald, or ugly, or shy, or old, or poor, or because of my race, or I hate the women of my country blah blah blah.
The Hard Way: Stopping the excuses and going after what you want.
None of these are insurmountable excuses. There are hundreds of thousands of men who possess one or more of these excuses but they go and get hot women anyway.
The Easy Way: Paying for sex.
Lots of men pay for sex because it’s incredibly easy as long as you have access to some hookers and have enough money to pay them.
The Hard Way: Having sex with attractive women who are into you.
Attractive women don’t have sex with low-value men. Becoming a high-value man requires hard work and conscious effort.
The Easy Way: Online Dating.
Online dating has its uses but it shouldn’t be used as a crutch to avoid real-life interactions with women with the purpose of initiating relationships with them.
The Hard Way: Approaching women in real life.
Approaching women in real life requires balls, so few men do it without getting drunk first.
The Easy Way: Dumpster Diving.
Lots of men go for fat and/or ugly women because they think it’s easier to get them. Dumpster diving men have low confidence and they fear rejection.
The Hard Way: Going after the women you actually desire.
Most men are intimidated by hot women. So, they go after the low-hanging fruit. Have high standards and only go after the women you desire.
The Easy Way: Nihilism.
Lots of men have the mentality that women take too much work, so it’s best to avoid them altogether.
The Hard Way: Taking responsibility for your love life.
Life is too short to waste with nihilism. When you stretch it hard enough, you can claim that almost anything in life is meaningless.
The Easy Way: Looking for shortcuts.
Learning cheesy lines, exploring colognes that women love, going for the girls in your social circle or the workplace, waiting for girls to recognize your value (just be yourself).
The Hard Way: Improving yourself.
A man has multiple ways to raise his value. Building a muscular body, making money so that you can have time and resources to be around hot women, moving to a new country and learning a new language are a few examples.
The Easy Way: Relying on others to find you a girl.
Thinking that maybe your friends will introduce a girl to you, your mother will set you up with a daughter of her friend, or hoping that the HR department will decide to hire more hot girls.
The Hard Way: Self-reliance.
Nobody is losing sleep if you can’t get laid, including your father and mother. Find women by yourself.
Conclusion
Mastery is achieved the hard way.
Don’t fall for instant gratification and the delusion of the easy way.
Self-reliance is a virtue and it’s not easy to accomplish.
Discipline must be regarded as a privilege and honor. Character is like steel, it’s forged in fire.
The hard way may seem daunting and boring but it will pay dividends in the future. There’s no other way.
Remember, if it’s easy, it’s not worth doing.
Be sure to read:
- How to Be a Superior Man, an action-driven, intensive self-improvement program for men to develop self-mastery
- 24 Ways to Get Rid of the Victim Mentality and Adopt a Victor Mentality
- Why Is Life So Hard? (And What You Can Do About It)
- 10 Unrealistic Expectations About Life That Will Destroy You
- 10 Ways to Keep Going When You Feel Like Giving Up