Too many men today are struggling with self-defeating thoughts today about their masculinity. Most of us fall victim to the commonalities of everyday life; mundane, repetitive, and exceedingly lazy. Our society relies much on technology, and many of us have lost touch with that primal, animal-like being within us; our inner man. It doesn’t really matter how we lost touch with it, just that we have lost touch with it. We are the average man of our time. I’m here to break your primal being out, and get in touch with your roots as a man.

1. Get out of your house now – I don’t care if it’s hot, if it’s cold, if it’s wet, or if it’s dry — get out. Part of being a man is getting in touch with your masculinity, and this involves being out in nature. Society has parks for us that I call civilized woods, so why not wonder off trail for a little bit? The point of being out in nature is to allow yourself to be at the mercy of the world. Not the mercy of the man-made world you live in on a day-to-day basis, but the world itself! Nature, weather, cuts and bruises.

Whether or not you’d rather wander through a mountain range with no inhabitants for 100 miles in each direction, or a little off trail in your local park, just go out and learn to love and become one with nature. If you’re more of a trail hiker, that’s fine too, just get out and feel what it is to be alone with the wild. Our ancestors were travelers, and would risk life and limb traveling through the wild with nothing more than the pack on their backs and whatever belongings they could carry. Why not give it a try yourself? Of course, you have a home to go back to, but that’s beside the point.

2. Give up your crutches – whether this be alcohol, caffeine, television, computers, food, cigarettes, whatever, it doesn’t matter, give it up for a while and feel what it feels like to need. Once you get your craving, it’s time to transmute it into something productive. This will empower you and allow you to realize that you don’t need material or substance to make you happy or feel normal. You will then begin to realize that your crutches were hindering you from becoming the man you should be. You must be face to face with your life, you must face it dead on and tackle it moment by moment. Give up the crutches, and walk into the wind. It’s time to face your life, and it’s time to accept that it is the only life you have, and you must attack it with full force, and with a full sense of self. You are a man with a life, you are a man who stands up to his life and takes control. Get rid of your crutches.

3. Do something you’ve always wanted to do – but were always afraid to do. It’s time to break the fear barrier now. Think of something you’ve always wanted to do, and go do it. Be realistic here, but also be real to your wants and your desires as a man. Whether it’s building a house, or going skydiving; do it. Find out that fear is your friend, and find out that you can handle much more than a “fear” that exist only in your mind. Fear is your friend. Live in it constantly, and learn to radiate your masculinity in your fear. I don’t mean sleep in a graveyard fear (unless that’s something you’ve always wanted to do), I mean just go out and do something that you’ve been holding back because of this or that. Life is happening right now, so you need to happen with it.

4. Live for yourself – and follow your desires. You cannot be a man without having a purpose. Men are purposeful creatures, and always have something new that they want or need to accomplish. You must realize your dreams, and begin heading towards them immediately. What’s stopping you? Live for something, and put your desires up top. Don’t let your life be burdened by your desires, and remember to take care of what ever it is you need to take care in real life, but for now, find out what you desire, and make your changes starting right now. Don’t put your desires on the back burner, you’ll never grow and you’ll always have that craving that is unsatisfied.

5. Push your self – Get out of the norm. Feel what it is to do something that you don’t normally do. Take a chance, and start to take risks. Be smart about your choices, but also have balls. Life is not handed to you ever, and you know that because you’re reading this right now. So instead of waiting for this or that, go out and do what it is you need to do right now, risky or not. Go do it!

6. Patience, respect, productivity – these are all principles that I follow as a man, they are my code and they are my friend. These are only part of my code, but these are key to my daily life. Patience is obvious, you must see that patience is really a virtue, and value that virtue. You must see that respect is more than just something you earn, but something you give. You must see that productivity is the key to life, and will lead you to far more than you can imagine now — stop giving half of yourself to your job, your wife, your family, your life, and start giving it your all. When you practice these three basic principles, you will lead a more fulfilling life.

7. Know your life – will end someday. Know this every single day, and you will start to see that the choices you are making on a daily basis will all eventually lead you to your death. This is for everybody, whether they are good choices or bad, we all die. The sooner you can get over your fear of death, the sooner you can begin to live your life fully. Be a man, and know you’re going to end someday.

8. Bite the bullet – when you have to. Remember whenever you have to do those things you hate to do, or have to do, it’s better to get them done with full presence and productivity than slum around and wish you could be doing something else. Because face it, you’re not. This goes along with facing your life as it is. Life is what it is, and you know this now, face it.

9. Sweat and bleed – these are two things that many of us avoid. It’s time to go out and break some back, get dirty, and make some waves. Go out and sweat, bleed, and push your physical body hard and far, and know that your strength lies more in your mind than in your body. When you can push your physical body further than you thought, you have accomplished more than 90% of people out there. No one pushes themselves anymore these days, be a man and push.

10. Love your woman – one of the most effective ways of feeling more like a man than ever is loving your woman who is ever so feminine. The more you see the difference between you and her, the more your masculinity shows through. Don’t fight your woman, don’t get lost in her waves of emotion and love. Be a man, and guide her through, show her that you can handle her, and you can handle life. She will love you more for this, and she will also feel more feminine herself, which woman surely do love. Make your woman feel like a woman, and be a man! Stop agreeing when you don’t agree, stop being a push-over. Take your stand, and follow what you say. You know what I am saying when you are letting your woman take the pants, you can feel it. You feel less masculine because you have given up your power. This doesn’t mean you own your woman or you are always right or in charge, but when you need to be a man, you must step up and be a man. Your woman will feel this and will love you and trust you more. Stop doing whatever she says just to make her happy so she’ll stop yapping at you, do it because she is your woman and you love your woman.

These are my first pointers on being a man. Many people have their own ideas on what it is to be a man, this is my own. If you follow these principles, you will soon see a more masculine being come out; your inner man.

Take care