10 Life Lessons That Should Be Taught To All Teenage Males

My youth had been a disaster. I practically had no friends, people treated me like shit (and I let them), I never met a girl, I didn’t do any exercise whatsoever, I kept my mind dull and numb, I was undisciplined with some embarrassing grades, and I accomplished practically nothing.

While everyone else was cheerfully living out their youthful days, I was shy, angry, and miserable all at the same time, all the time. I wish I’d had someone to guide me during this difficult period, but my father had problems of his own and I had no one else that I could look up to or even trust. I was completely abandoned in my own clusterfuck world of pain and loneliness.

And because of this personal experience, I have a soft spot for teenagers who struggle with life. And I write this guide for the young readers here who may be going through the same struggles I had gone through in this crazy world of ours.

1. Cultivate the three pillars of life

If you decide to ignore all the tips but one, let this be it.

The three pillars of life—in order—are: body, mind, and social. These are all basic stuff, but it’s often the basic stuff that teenagers end up neglecting.

With body, exercise and eat healthy. You must stay fit. And cut out all the junk food. You may not be so fat and unhealthy now, but it will accumulate and hit you eventually when your eating habits continue into your adulthood.

For mind, read non-fiction books to learn about the world. Those who don’t read non-fiction are like those who are blind or deaf.

And finally with social, connect with other men who share your values (I personally wouldn’t bother wasting time being friends with girls). A good friendship kindled at a young age can last you a life-time. Besides friendship, improve your communication skills by joining a debating club or toastmasters which will also boost your confidence. Or, if you happen to be an INTJ like me and think that everyone else is dumb and useless, learn to write instead. You’re going to need to communicate with people eventually unless you plan to live in the woods by yourself.

2. Small things will seem important while important things go under the radar

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Due to lack of masculine guidance in our feminized society, you are most likely sweating over insignificant stuff like what other people think about you, the score on your biology test, and that girl you have a crush on whom you won’t even care about in few years (although she may seem like the world to you now). Meanwhile, you’re likely to neglect building a foundation for your future as you can’t see anything further than what’s right in front of you.

Remember that discipline is all that matters in success. So forget about all the small matters and dedicate yourself day in and day out into self-improvement—even if you don’t see any immediate results from the get-go.

3. Screw your dreams, go for opportunities

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No matter what your mom may have told you to boost your fragile ego, there is nothing special about you. If you happen to have an unrealistic dream like becoming the next big musician, the chances are, you won’t. Maybe you haven’t noticed yet, but the economy is in the gutter and the SJW daycare centers colleges that await you only want to rob you in exchange for a useless degree. You’ll be lucky to find a decent job in the future when things will only get worse. As a little clue for you, I know a chick who graduated from Harvard who is now working in Starbucks. It’s best to keep your options open and diversify your skills so that you’ll be ready to adapt to the uncertain times.

I posted this video before and it’s worth posting it here again:

And if you happen to be the one in a million who follows his dreams and becomes successful, this post shouldn’t deter you.

4. Start developing useful skills now

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There is no better time start learning something useful than today. And as a teenager, you have the advantage of time and a youthful mind at your disposal, so don’t waste them.

Go learn to fix and build things, learn programming, learn to speak a new language, learn sales techniques, learn to fight, or heck, go learn how to skateboard if that’s your thing. Start learning something now that will reward you for the rest of your life and stick to it, because when you’re my age, you’re going to wish you had listened to me.

Speaking of which…

5. Get off electronic screens

I would say the biggest mistake I made in my youth was wasting so much time in front of television, computer, and video games instead of doing things that bring value to my life. I would also include spectator sports, porn, movies, smartphones, and almost the entire internet to the list of offenders. Not only do these things waste your time, but they also degenerate your mind and body. The faster you get rid of them, the faster your life will improve.

Really, get off them starting today and get busy living. And if you think I’m not being forceful enough, read this classic article from our archives.

6. You can become a man whenever you choose to live as one

Our society lacks the rite of passage that mark the transition to manhood.

Not so long ago, a teenager would become a full man as soon as he got a job and a wife. But that is no longer the case today. In today’s society, manhood as a concept has been smudged out while some garbage, fictional phase called “adolescence” was invented to justify abandoning young men.

This, however, means that you are now free to be a man whenever you choose to be one. Being a man is all about character; it has little to do with your age or career. I’ve met some feckless career “men” in their 30’s and 40’s devoid of masculinity and I’ve also met few teenagers who were stronger and braver than the older men.

If you want to be a man, think, talk, and act like one. You don’t need anyone’s permission.

7. It’s time to start taking full responsibility

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One of the fastest ways to become a man is to start taking full responsibility for all matters in your life. No more bitching, complaining, and blaming others for your problems. You have to start making the changes that you want to see in your life.

People don’t respect you? It’s your fault for being a loser. A girl rejected you? Too bad, move on and improve your game. You’re too “lazy” to do things because you don’t feel like doing them? Is that even an excuse?

Remember, no one can “make” you feel or do something you don’t want, only you can allow that to happen to yourself.

8. Learn to manage money

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Dumb and impulsive teens are the biggest targets for selling useless, consumerist garbage as they are insecure in their pursuit for objects that convey status: don’t be one of them. Learn to save early on by practicing self-discipline, and try to learn about how to make money as soon as possible.

9. Go against the current

The vast majority of teens today are bunch of smartphone-addicted, attention-seeking, ADHD fucktards. If you’re a teen who managed to read this far instead of going TL;DR, then you’re probably not too bad.

Just about the only thing I managed to “accomplish” when I was a teenager was to not get sucked into the teen culture of partying, drinking, doing drugs and other retarded shit (not to mention their obsession for gayass music and fashion). Most of your clueless peers will only likely have negative influence on you, so avoid them like lepers and avoid living like the turds they are. Stick to whatever decent guys you can find and get a mentor if you can. An older, masculine man is the best teacher you can ever have at your age.

10. If you’re going through hell, keep going

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Last, don’t give up. Things may seem impossibly shitty now, but you have the ability to get through them and come out even stronger. I won’t make bullshit promises that things will magically get better and that you’ll live happily ever after, but you must fight through these crucial years of your life.

Yes, we live in an insane feminist society, but that can’t be your excuse to lie down and not act. My life didn’t exactly turn out the way I expected (and yours most likely won’t either), but I managed to get through my teenage years—and the even shittier period of early 20’s—and survived. I don’t have a dream life now, but considering how awful it was before, I feel as though I managed to crawl out of a hell, coming out tougher and wiser than ever before. And trust me when I say that things could’ve been a lot worse for me without my determination to turn things around.

Much more could be written about this subject, but I must keep short. Let me conclude by saying that by focusing your life energy into each and every day without worrying about whatever goals you may have, you’ll accomplish a lot more.

I have shown you the door, now it’s up to you to enter it. Go ahead and kick some ass.

Read More: The 7 Essentials Of Happy Manhood

285 thoughts on “10 Life Lessons That Should Be Taught To All Teenage Males”

  1. This article has solid content, but can we please stop with the click-baitey bullshit headlines?
    Last week, almost half of the articles published started with a number: “5 hard…,” “3 Things…,” etc…
    I realize we are attempting to attract readership, but do we really want the type of brain dead readership that is simply a mirror image of the readers of Gawker? On any other site, when I see these types of headlines – “Try this 1 weird trick . . .” – not only do I skip them, but I feel a palpable sense of disgust.
    Judging by the articulate comments from some of the more frequent commenters, I would say no. Stop writing your headlines as if they are aimed at an audience of 17-24 year old women, and write them for the neomasculine men that you want to give a shit about this site.

    1. “I realize we are attempting to attract readership, but do we really want the type of brain dead readership that is simply a mirror image of the readers of Gawker?”
      =====================
      If we are able to convince some young men the ways of improving themselves and society, then why not? This gets their attention and perhaps it will awaken them. Those that won’t listen will disappear anyway.

    2. I propose a counter argument:
      What if one of the “brain-dead readership” finds this page due to the click-baitey headline and the seed of masculinity gets planted in their mind? They read this article and say, “huh…not bad.” A little while later they come back and find another article that resonates with them. After a few times, we have a new red pill reader.

      1. My thoughts exactly. You can have articles on how to get laid, then have other articles that clearly leads you into why getting laid is not the be all, end all life achievement.

      2. I respectfully disagree. This movement is still in its infancy. What it needs are leaders who are articulate enough to proselytize it. It has attracted many, like you, GOJ, and others… who offer valuable insight to men. But, I am willing to bet that what first drew most of the more senior readership to this site was not a click-bait title, but was something more serious.
        If I had first been directed to this site and seen these types of click-bait headlines, I would have written it off. (I’ll admit this can be viewed as a failing on my part.) But that is not what I found when I first came here. As a result, I have turned several other men on to this site. But these men think like me. If the articles had been stacked this way back then, I wouldn’t have referred them because they would have written it off the same as me, and likely they may have questioned my judgement about recommendations for this type of material. There is a way to get this across without it coming off as junk food – take the title of this article: why not title it “Lessons on Manhood for Teenagers”? The same could be done with all the others: eliminate the number, and it sounds more intellectual while drawing the same readership and getting the same material across. And, on the upside, guys like me are more inclined to read it (if I get a junk link and I am crushed at work, I am not going to prioritize it no matter who it comes from, if the title intrigues me, I will make time.)
        Recruiting foot soldiers is the easy part. Recruiting people to the movement who can contribute to the intellectual development of its core tenets is hard, and requires something that makes this movement seem serious. An occasional headline like this is fine, but too many makes the site seem less serious than it actually is.
        Bottom line – it’s not my site, and Roosh can do whatever he wants with it. Your point is certainly worth consideration. But this is a choice about the ultimate goal. Are we trying to attract foot soldiers, or leaders for this movement? This way is fine for one goal, but ill suited for the other.

        1. You make a compelling counter-argument. I see where you’re coming from and agree to a large extent. I tend to play devil’s advocate on a lot of topics to help myself and others keep things in perspective. In the end, we are going to need both leaders and foot soldiers, as you put it.

        1. I think we should throw those guys off of cliffs like the Spartans did with weak babies… but your way is more humane.

  2. #8 should be #1. Our Society in general encourages debt. We are also not taught the proper way to budget our own money for the current and the future. Learn the value of money and property.
    #9. “Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions.” – GK Chesterton

    1. Maths needs a massive overhaul. Before going onto the advanced stuff, children should be taught how to deal with bank accounts, payslips, taxes, investments, making profit etc.

      1. You are absolutely right. Right now i am dealing with Common Core and teaching my kids 2 different ways to do math: the Fucked up way (Common Core) and reality.

        1. I worked in a school in the UK for a few months…. picked up a few new ideas, but other than that they seemed to have inverted a lot of the stuff I learned as a kid…. when I was explaining how to work it out the kids seemed shocked at my method, but several said that it was easier to understand. (I can’t remember what it was…. possibly division????) Someone obviously got paid to come up with a ‘new’ idea.

        2. Everything has been changed to advantage girls. If there is an easy way to teach and for students to learn, but boys get it better, then it will be changed. A noted example is the shift away from teaching reading my phonetics to whole word. If the boys have an advantage with a subject (math) then sabotage the teaching so it is impossible to learn. That way girls and boys both fail. They really do think that way.

        3. I’d happily go back to work in a school again, once I’m financially independent, just to put my foot down and make an effort to give the kids the best start possible in life. No way would I get into it if my mortgage depended on it though. To swim against the tide requires financial freedom.

    2. #8 this is to create dependency on the state for our needs and more acceptance of their corrupt propaganda.
      Thus practical skills are not really taught much in our public education system so that we we are more apt to accept abominations like gay marriage, gay adoption and abortion as “normal” because the government “says so.”
      Think about it. Once a man becomes self reliant, physically and mentally he really has the tools to decide what is moral, immoral, just, unjust and is less likely to tolerate state interference in these matters..

  3. And people still say RoK is a hateful community. This article gives more real world advice than anything I’ve seen in any Jezebel post.

      1. Yep. I wish the internet was around when I was young. A single article like this could have saved me years of confusion and heartache. Good stuff.

  4. I needed this article, and although its nothing new or original, its a much needed reminder… and if I am being honest with myself, it highlights a lot of key areas that I am neglecting in my life

    1. And a plan. A dream without a plan is nothing more than mental masturbation.

      1. You have a point there because sometimes your dreams change as you grow.
        As a kid, you may dream of being a soldier, but later in life you realize that you’re fighting for something you don’t believe in because you’ve taken the red pill.

  5. I would add:
    1. Spend your 20’s focusing on your career and your 30’s focusing on women.
    2. Learn how to dress and cultivate a personal style.
    3. Try to save some money every month. Keep your expenses reasonable.
    4. Travel while you are still young.
    5. Working hard and working late is more or less required these days to get ahead. But, remember that no one is going to look back at their life and wish they had spent more nights in the office. Do what you need to do to get to where you want to go, but don’t do anything more then that. Modern corporations don’t appreciate you going beyond and above any more.

    1. Overtime is expected where I work… I’ve now started to take time off in lieu more so than pay. They can’t tax your time.

    2. If you wait until your 30s to focus on women you’re going to be a lonely broke man in your 40s.

      1. Not in my experience or the experience of my friends. By the time I was 30 I had money, job security, a nice place, and a nice car. I could easily pull 2-3 dates a week and had several candidates for an LTR after less then a year if I so chose to do so. By 32-33 I had been through my fair share and decided to make one of the LTR candidates a lucky girl. A few years later we are still going strong.

        1. Sure if you like women who have been railed by 10 dicks before yours, then yeah I guess that works well.

        2. I prefer LDC (low dick count) girls just as any other guy does. But, in reality, even if you lock down a chick in her early 20’s she still is 10+. Unless you want to get some hardcore conservative religion chances of finding a LDC girl are virtually nill these days.

        3. So true. The floodgates opened around that age and the floodwaters just kept coming until I was drenched and bored with useless whores. That’s when you need to use all the skills and knowledge you picked up to go find a nice young thing to settle down with.

        4. Hence why LTR is a waste of time. Fuck ‘n chuck. She’s already used to your dick being replaced quickly.

        5. If that is your long term relationship strategy then by all means chuck and move on. For most men though they are interested in at least trying something long term with one woman especially if children are desired. If not though, spread your seed as you see fit. You will get no flack from me for doing so.

        6. At age 52 I married a 25 year old virgin. I know that she was a virgin the only way you can, by destructive testing. Now, for those of you that say such a creature doesn’t exist anymore, I say you haven’t looked far enough. I found mine in the Philippines. Yes, she is a serious Catholic. Yes, she was raised in a strictly patriarchal society and family. Yes, I had to screen hard. It is possible; just not in the west.

        7. Why would a man want a relationship with a woman who’s gotten railed more times than you can count on your fingers? Why would you want kids with such a creature? But hey like you said, it’s your life, be capt’ save-a-hoe.

      2. His point was to remind us that, as men, we get sprinkled with magic pixie fairy dust at about age 27-30 that makes us suddenly a hundred times more attractive to women.

        1. And that is the God’s honest truth too, and anybody who doubts it hasn’t gotten to that age yet, or has let themselves go to the point that they couldn’t get laid if they were tile in a bathroom.

        2. The media tries to get men in that group to go after post wall cougars or MILFs over young girls. Don’t fall for it.

        3. True but it makes women a 1000 times more dangerous to us. And when you turn 40 you’re in deep shit. A pretty 25 year old can turn your brain inside out. You need to know women and you won’t ever know them if you wait until 30. I started knowing them at age 16. That give me 14 years of extra experience fighting against the succubus.

        4. The ROI for chasing tail is higher for a man in his thirties/forties than for a man in his twenties. Less effort, greater payout.
          A man should use his twenties to find his purpose and build his skill set, grabbing some tail where it doesn’t cost too much time or effort. Then, if desired, a man can use his thirties to slay the poondragon after he’s gained more firepower in the battle of the sexes.

        5. I cut my teeth on pussy in my teens and twenties when it was hard. That’s when I built it as a skillset. Now its no effort at all. Getting pussy is easy… now finding a wife… that’s a challenge…
          Btw, you can build your career and chase tail my friend. These are not mutually exclusive options.

  6. Travel abroad.
    The first few paragraphs more or less described me for a while. It took me completely uprooting myself to escape, physically and mentally, what could have been an extremely unfulfilled life.
    Places with abject poverty will give you an appreciation for how fortunate you’ve been simply to be born where you were. You’ll also get to see places that do things better than wherever you came from.
    And the women… well it goes without saying. Great place to figure out what you’re doing if you have no idea.

    1. “Travel abroad.”
      My advice to all men in their 20’s get out of the West, doesn’t matter where, it will give you a very different take on life..

  7. I personally wouldn’t bother wasting time being friends with girls
    Good insight. I was (still am) friends with a girl from my way back elementary school days. We grew up together, basically from the 4th grade forward. She’s very pretty and sweet, and the only reason I stayed friends with her is because she helped me figure out women and hypergamy as we progressed through high school. She didn’t know she did this, of course. I’d watch her go through boyfriend after boyfriend and at first wondered what the fuck was wrong with her. Over time I was observing the kinds of men she chose (well, boys at the time) and what she kept wanting out of them, and what they did and how they reacted to her. Then one day, the heavens parted and the sun shone down and I figured it out. Bang, just like that, I developed rock solid knowledge about women’s strategies for “romance”. Her being beautiful also helped in the “not shy around pretty girls” department and taught me at an early age that I could neg the shit out of pretty girls without even a whiff of consequences. So in that case, her friendship was valuable as a teaching tool, and was actively pursued as such a tool from about the 8th grade forward. Today we keep in touch, and I observe how she’s handling her 2nd marriage and am still learning from that as well.
    Other than that, I see no practical use for being friends with a girl, unless she’s the wife of one of your good friends, where in that case you have to at least be nice and tolerate her.

    1. I agree that childhood friends are the exception, along with cousins and the like. Maybe it’s a tribal/socialization thing?
      The other thing I’ll mention is that girls seeing you with a beautiful woman really raises your status and you can have friendly acquaintanceships with coworkers and your friends’ girlfriends/wives, but when you get that first call crying about Chad, shut that shit down no matter how much your protective instincts scream at you to try to help.

      1. Yes, the social proof I got from having this beauty constantly seeking me out and talking to me like I was Mr. Wonderful was palpable. Most girls thought we were “a thing” and of course, that turned them on (she really was exceptionally beautiful, a solid 9). I was learning all kinds of “Game” concepts back before it was an actual “thing”.
        I think I heard about two breakups with her where she sought me out. I put in the time for the first one, which was painful as hell (for me, I learned that I didn’t like to be a part of the emotional mess, real quick), A couple of years later when she started to tell me about the second one I stopped her and said “Look, I’ve seen who you choose to date, you have nobody to blame but yourself.” That quieted her down and she actually agreed. Thought she was going to get pissed though, heh.

    2. Tell me, what kinds of men did she go after (I have a hunch, I need you confirm it; details please).

      1. In middle school when she was just becoming “a woman” she went for the cutey cute guys (think the Bieber types). By high school she was going, of course, full bad boy/tough guy (she was into masculine men). Not hard to guess naturally. She ended up marrying my best friend from high school a couple of years after graduation, who was not a bad boy but rather he was one of the Cool Kids that the rest of the school kind of idolized. He joined the military, they up and left the state, and two years later they’re divorced. In this case though, it really wasn’t her, he went basically full bonkers insane and ended up in the brig. He did a 180 personality wise and became a *real life* bad boy, which as it turns out, she discovered is NOT a good thing.
        Between high school and marriage she had a sordid fling with a gentleman who shall remain nameless in this discussion, who was masculine and “tough” looking, This is not and has never been spoken about towards any of the respective spouses in the situation. Would make Christmas parties and summer barbecues a bit awkward. Heh

        1. I don’t understand your question. Sidebar: I’ve been reading the Constitution just now, and am drawn to the 5th Amendment. Fascinating stuff.
          That said, I find it odd, strange, interesting and somewhat intriguing that we’ve remained friends. Her husband is a good man, a good decent blue collar factory manager type of man. I don’t know what to think, but I leave them be, and we have them over for events over the course of the year. How fascinating life is, when you trace it on a timeline.

        2. a girl from high school recently contacted me…..back then, she was in the cute, cool girl click…..oddly enough, back then, though, she didn’t think she was cool enough to date me…..youth is fickle

    3. Agreed from my experience you’ll end up having sex, relationship etc with them and regret it.
      Or not having sex with them and perhaps regretting that as well.
      Either way having done both, I found in my 20’s still had some chicks as friends and there was always that tension so at 30 I gave it up no more girls as friends it easier that way..
      We are creatures of instinct so makes sense..

  8. Best article I’ve read on ROK, personally. I am 29 but still a teenager in a lot of ways. Thank you for this blueprint!

  9. Great article. I was lucky enough to have my head screwed on as teenager, with a roughly average social life and decent grades….. But, if only I’d have known at 15 what I know now…. I’d be a King,

  10. This article is very troubling. The advice is contradictory and false. You will be lucky to find a decent job? People tell me I am lucky to have my job and I want to smash them in the face. I am here now because while the other kids were fucking around at school I was working. Luck? Go fuck yourself.
    Reading only non-fiction books is one dimensional. Read both. And take care, just as there are junk fiction books, there are junk non-fiction books too.
    Develop a useful skill like… skateboarding? And meanwhile stay away from electronic devices. This is like telling someone back in the Eighties to stay away from computers. Wakey wakey guys, electronic devices are the future. This is where the opportunity lies. You stay away and you’ll be like my grandmother, unable to work a cellphone. A friend of mine is working on a new app for “electronic devices”. He may become a millionaire. Nuff said.
    Take responsibility. But if you don’t get that job, don’t worry it wasn’t your fault. You were… unlucky.

    1. Very good addendum to this article. Especially about luck. The more skilled you are the luckier you are. Removes the notion of luck. I know many a intellectual beasts who disparage the claim that they were there due to affirmative action or any such claim as they typically have to share more information, be on top of the market in several avenues, and consistently prove why they are there at the round table. Luck is for those who have excess talent to spare. For everyone else luck is always skill, talent, perserverance, and dedication working together for a common goal.
      EDIT: I must add a passage about non fiction vs fiction. Fiction laid the bedrock for educated thoughts on society without considerate backlash or being considered a conspiracy theory quack. Fiction also is the core of how to tell a story and being evocative in your language is key to both building influence socially and getting smooth with ladies. We often talk of George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984. Both strong fiction pieces. A lot of current nonfiction are self help books written so everyone can get it i.e. Dumbed down for grade schoolers. A strong mind is only developed through strong behavior and there is nothing stronger than understanding deep concepts.

      1. “I’m a greater believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it” Thomas Jefferson

      2. Very good points. Strong fiction can have considerable influence for several centuries. A wise mind will easily decipher the garbage (see 50 Shades of Grey and Twilight–both written by women, hmmmmmm) from the quality works of imaginative authors. Same goes for non-fiction. There is so much crap out there.

        1. Funny you mention both Grey and Twilight. Grey is actually fan fiction written for a Twilight blog. It is the adult verson of Twilight.

    2. Well said, especially in regards to fiction. I don’t understand the hate for fiction that’s so rampant around here.

        1. Orwell reads like prophecy becoming reality more and more every day. Thinking of doing a re-read after a few I haven’t read like Burmese days…

        2. I know the dystopian genre well, and Huxley’s Brave New World is much closer to our modern Western reality. Re-read that one first.

        3. Good call. I plan to re-read BNW, I studied it in high school, ironically enough in 1984. I remember a review quote printed on the back cover…”It is all too likely to come true”
          Even then I remember being astonished that Huxley wrote it in the 1930s. Man ends up serving science, not science serving Man. Indeed.

        4. It’s crazy how prescient Huxley was in that book. He predicted designer babies and genetic engineering almost a century before it started to become possible. He also described the soulless cock carousel/urban slut factory phenomenon extremely well.

        1. Actually, if you look at the data, young people are reading more than ever. Globally, rates are rising as well, thanks to phones.
          The bigger question for writers is how to make people get in the habit of PAYING for a book.

        2. You also have to take into account the context of reading. I’m referring reading specifically as books whether digital or paperback. Is the data you’re referring to following the same criteria or is it including asinine stuff in it like people reading through their Twitter or Facebook app? If it’s actual books, I’d be surprised.

      1. I think that reading both fiction and non-fiction is a must if you don’t want be a zero. I’m reading a book about Marcus Aurelius and I just finished my first book by Ayn Rand their both amazing. I think the people who right are amazingly creative and not tunnel visioned. People with creative skills are in high demand today, I would say try and hone your creative skills instead of fixing skateboards!

      2. My sense is it’s a reaction to how feminized fiction has become. I work in a bookstore, most of our clientele are women. Women read voraciously, but of a very poor quality material. Basically, fiction has been feminized to a great extent, whereas history books, for example, are still mostly sold to men.
        Of course, that doesn’t change the importance of classic literature, but I sympathize with the gut reaction that fiction is somehow trivial and feminine compared to non-fiction. Certainly an alien visiting a contemporary bookstore or library would draw that conclusion.

    3. Agree on the skateboard thing, that made me scratch my head. That is a “life skill” that you won’t carry past your 20th birthday. Fun and all, but pointless.
      There is some amount of luck involved in landing a great job. It is mostly skill and what you bring to the table, but there’s also connections that come into play and sometimes whether the HR person has indigestion. It’s not the primary factor, but it can play a role.
      Your obsession with your electronic chains always gives me a smile, heh. It’s a tool, nothing more, nothing less, and if somebody is living their life through their iZombie they are missing out on a whole big world out here. Their right to do so, but I’m not going to be convinced that it’s something great and wonderful when it gets to the point that it replaces human interaction in real life on a full time basis. It’s a tool.

      1. That has ever been my argument has it not? It is a tool? The key here is balance.
        Perhaps there is an element of chance involved in finding your dream job (still looking for mine, but I find it every night when I sleep). But you have a better chance if you work hard and smart looking for it.

      2. I got my first job out of the Navy by hard scouring of Nuclear Industry publications. I got my first job in finance after getting my PhD the same way. Every other job I have had has been because someone I knew told me about a job, or actively recruited me. Getting in the door is often a matter of perseverance and, yes, luck. After that most is performance and connections.

    4. Where did I say to “only” read non-fiction? And I’m pretty sure I was specific about the exact type of electronic distractions to avoid as opposed to discouraging all of it.
      As for “luck”, surely you’re smarter than to take the word out of context and take its meaning literally.
      “Go fuck yourself”? I hope you’re just chest-pounding.

      1. To some extent it isn’t chest pounding but a vociferous way of speaking out against luck. An example would be video games. For myself I have played one type of games for decades; fighting games. Skill wise, if I chose this skill would be used to fly me around the world facing people of varying skills lifestyles and potential on the grand scale. Yet, with the decades under my belt I will still here from people, unskilled or seasoned, claim that a loss to me was luck. It smacks of excessive pride and when said seriously is an insult to the person who dedicated their time to developing a strong area of expertise. I can’t speak for EnglishBob but this was what I picked up from his anger.
        Overall, you can’t illuminate every point considering the word count but damn good article overall. I am a similar personality type of ENTP and also had a quieter childhood which needed overcoming. In a some ways I am still digging out of that ditch. What I can add is get comfortable in failure on the road to progress and learn to fail quicker. I will be book marking your article either way.

        1. I’m not arguing against the notion of luck which I know is bullshit. I just think it’s amusing how some people took “You’ll be lucky to find a decent job in the future when things will only get worse,” which was a way of saying that things are going to be very difficult for you if you don’t work hard to prepare for the future, to mean that you can only get a good job with luck. I didn’t expect such gross misinterpretation and hypersensitivity within ROK.

        2. I see what you mean. When you factor the millions of people who exist and the numbers of those seeking opportunities plus favoritism and nepotism that still is rampant, there is luck that can be applied to any encounter and its agreeability to your future.
          The current life span of most employment sessions seems to be five years. And even hard sciences is not an obvious permanent career option. I work at a large corporation now that while booming I suspect will be renamed or gone in 12 years or less. This is the age of building yourself like a business and expanding your own marketability.

      2. I wasn’t addressing you personally. Its just my general response to people who throw “lucky” at me when discussing my position in life. Have another look at your context. There is a strong implication there.
        There is a general perception on RoK that thou shalt not use electronic devices (not even to read RoK apparently). If I judged you unfairly in light of this, I take it back.

        1. If you’re still skateboarding in your mid 20’s, it does send out a lot of strange signals. It really isn’t a “life skill” that’s worth the time to pursue. Clearly the author just chose it off the top of his head as an example, which is fine, so it’s really not worth obsessing over. Just saying that I’ve never met a single man 30+ years of age who still skateboards. None. Not one.

        2. We’re talking about pursuing hobbies and interests, not careers, when discussing skateboarding. And even if we were, you’re about as likely to be a pro and make money skateboarding as you are getting hit by lightning three times in one year.
          Meanwhile, if you learn how to tear down a car and put it back together you have a skill that will serve you the rest of your life in a myriad of valuable ways.

        3. I would say learn how to repair skateboards or build a better one than doing silly tricks for people to see. Using tools can help you with fixing/building other things.

        4. To me it’s not different than snowboarding. It can be useful for travel, but that’s about it. Unlike snowboarding, skateboarding is not expensive. For the record, not a skateboarder.

        5. Spurred by a birthday present from the woman, I have recently gotten back into model making which I haven’t done in 20 years. In the short time I have been doing it, I have found that it really has some “real world” applications. Besides the soothing meditative effects, you learn about tools, materials, and techniques that can be applied to a number of other areas. Also, it helps in developing what I call “engineer brain.” I don’t know shit about cars or space rockets, but thanks to a few models, I am now can at least identify a number of parts and how they work together.

        6. I ski, like a man. Heh.
          Snowboarding and skateboarding were great fun when I was younger. Just seems so “not appropriate for a 40 something man” to me now.

        7. I haven’t downhill ski’d in a long, though I regularly slalom ski every summer!

        8. There is certainly a limit age wise but id you’ve done it since your teens then you might carry it forward into your late 20s and early 30s.
          I don’t skate.

        9. Brings me back to my childhood doing models of nuclear submarines and spitfires etc.

        10. I never really understood this whole “learning to fix a car thing” Aside from changing a tyre or the very extreme changing the oil and filter, WTF are you guys fixing?
          I buy new cars, own them for 5yrs, pay them off then get another new one. The cars never even runs out of warranty. Even a Mid range new car is well within reason of the average person these days. 20K-30K here gets you a pretty decent new car.
          If you can only afford a shitbox, that requires regular repairs just to keep it running, then perhaps fixing your finances should be your number one priority. The goal in life should not be to know how to fix a car, but to earn enough to pay someone to do it for you.
          If you are actually referring to owning and restoring and old classic as a project, then that’s a different story.

        11. Great hobby, but a bit addictive. Never too late to get back into it. I quit drinking back in August and realized I have a lot more time and energy to fill up. Plus it is pretty cool to have 1/144 Saturn Rocket next to a Vostok sitting in your living room. I’m going full nerd right now and building a Warhammer 40K army. Summer activities are starting so things may be put on hold.

        12. Actually that would be “happy”. The opposite of mad.

        13. I like old cars, and I like motorcycles. My bike, I do all the maintenance on, and not just the easy stuff. Learning to “pay someone” is learning to basically be helpless in everything except exactly what you do in life. Specialization is for insects.

        14. Learning to fix a car isn’t a life skill anymore. Its not 1950 anymore old man. I’m a mechanical engineer and let me tell you, no amount of mechanical knowledge will help you if your modern car has broken down.
          Even cars built in the last 10 yrs require special computer software and diagnostic tools to work on. Often you can even gain access to vital components without special make specific tools to unlock the locking mechanisms.
          I started out life as a boilermaker but as time went on I realized having grease and cuts on your hands every day was a fools game. Now when I pick up tools its because I want to, not because I have to.
          Your argument is no different than, for instance, and even older gentleman telling us that it is a life skill to shoe a horse.

        15. Learning to fix a car isn’t a life skill anymore. Its not 1950 anymore old man. I’m a mechanical engineer and let me tell you, no amount of mechanical knowledge will help you if your modern car has broken down.
          Even cars built in the last 10 yrs require special computer software and diagnostic tools to work on. Often you can even gain access to vital components without special make specific tools to unlock the locking mechanisms.
          I started out life as a boilermaker but as time went on I realized having grease and cuts on your hands every day was a fools game. Now when I pick up tools its because I want to, not because I have to.
          Your argument is no different than saying it is a life skill to shoe a horse.

        16. Please tell me how, knowing how to do a hot tune on my tappets will help me in a myriad of valuable ways throughout my life?

        17. Over Half the cars in Australia are Diesel engines, and most of those have been built in the last 10yrs due to our countries emissions standards.
          These engines are incredibly complicated with high pressure fuel pumps, multiple turbo systems and advanced exhaust systems. They are built to very high engineering tolerances to get their high compression ratios and everything from the fuel input to engine timing is controlled by computer systems.
          I can just imagine one of these old codgers rocking up with their rusty tool box of miss matched wrenches and socket sets with the 10mm missing. Popping the hood to revile a giant engine cowling with some strange European engine company logo that they have never heard of. Turning their frail head and asking me where the carby is?

        18. Because yeah, he’s the typical old skateboarder.
          Meanwhile, in reality ville, there really aren’t older men who skateboard.

        19. And cars built in 1950 required “special tools” that you probably didn’t have laying around the house. Those tools and software you talk about can be purchased at a store quite easily, it’s not some mystical thing handed to you by Automotive Gods or something.
          I’m just happy that if my bike breaks down on a ride to Sturgis, that I have a tool bag full of tools that I know how to use to potentially solve the issue. Standing roadside phoning to try and get actual skilled men to fix your problems is not my cup of tea. If I can avoid it, I will.
          Last, your post sounds like we live in a world with no mechanical automobiles. I just looked at the highways, yep, full of cars.

        20. You know what? No, I haven’t, but I really, really need to. No fucking clue why I haven’t yet. In fact you’ve kind of inspired me to get moving on that, will download the book today.

        21. Yep, you should. It was a college enightening/transitional book for me. “Quality”

        22. The diagnostic software is often on a very limited licence and costs up to 30K for a single copy. Why? So that average chumps like yourself don’t Fuck with the engine and break it. Also so that the Intellectual properly doesn’t fall into competitors hands. Your our out of your league here old man.

    5. Well, look it really is a mix. To use an extreme example, Michael Jordan worked like hell to get where he is, but he also had some good breaks that made that possible.
      Hard work is a necessary but insufficient condition for success. The idea that there aren’t factors outside your control for success just doesn’t jibe with reality. Graduating in the mid 80s was a different world than graduating in the mid 2000s.
      Look, I’m not saying there’s ever an excuse for not doing whatever is in your power to make your life better, but you need the software installed to handle adversity. Part of that is radical personal responsibility, but a big part of it is also a certain stoicism about outcome, because there are things you can’t control.
      Bottoms fall out of markets, yesterday’s hit degree becomes tomorrow’s degree in buggy whip manufacturing.
      I truly mean no offense when I say this, but not recognizing that there is nothing outside your control is just as delusional as believing that you have no personal responsibility for your station in life.

      1. I don’t think English Bob said there is anything that is 100% in anyones control. Obviously, you could be doing all the right things when a drunk driver kills you and your wife, leaving your kids to be raised by someone else. Or, as you pointed out, you could get a degree that everyone is saying will pay a lot of money, and then 5 years after you have it, there are too many people in that field and it doesn’t pay shit anymore and the people at the top are looking to fire the more senior workers in exchange for hiring younger, cheaper workers.
        That doesn’t mean you don’t pick yourself up and get a new skill and do something else. Even if you end up crippled, your state of mind is often more important than body. Look at Hawkings. Can’t move and has contributed as much to our society as anyone else. I have a buddy whom broke his back in high school. Today he is a respected taxidermist. Makes plenty of money stuffing peoples trophies. Seems to be pretty content doing it.
        So yeah, if the worst shit in the wolrd happens to you, it’s still you’re fault if you don’t pull yourself up afterward.
        That doesn’t mean that I’ll publicly begrudge a cripple who has lost all hope and just lives off of government subsidy and the good will of his neighbors and family. It’s hard to blame a person if they can’t move from the waist down, or if every step they take is exceedingly painful due to some condition. But the fact is I know several people in these conditions that are more successful than some people I know whom complain that everyone was mean to them back in high school.

        1. “you could get a degree that everyone is saying will pay a lot of money, and then 5 years after you have it, there are too many people in that field and it doesn’t pay shit anymore”
          ====================
          As they say in investing, “Past performance is not indicative of future results.”

      2. True. I will give an example from my own life. I became a Nuclear Engineer in the 70s. At the time it was the energy system of the future and the opportunities were limitless. I loved learning engineering. I loved the work. I loved the whole business of supplying power to support civilization.
        Then the industry died.
        I had earned my masters in night school while I worked. When I decided to change careers I went back to school to get my PhD. I tried academia for a while but it was not for me. Now I work in the financial service sector. I am well paid and the work is somewhat interesting. I don’t love it the way I did engineering, but that is the way life goes.

    6. Skateboarding does seem like an odd skill to recommend. I think parents should encourage and young men should try to foster skills that are likely usable as an adult. I’m not sure skateboarding is one of those. If you can see yourself in your 40s skateboarding with your kids go for it. You should have some exercise program as an adult though and it is best to learn when you’re young.
      Don’t shun electronic devices, you should be a virtuoso at them, while at the same time don’t become a vidiot vegetable. Watch your time on them.
      As for luck…keep in mind you make your own luck. There are random opportunities that afford themselves all of the time. Being circumspect to spot them and having the courage to seize upon them is how it is done. People will think you’re lucky, but you’ll know better.

    7. “This article is very troubling. The advice is contradictory and false. You will be lucky to find a decent job? People tell me I am lucky to have my job and I want to smash them in the face. I am here now because while the other kids were fucking around at school I was working. Luck? Go fuck yourself.”
      Good point we really make our own luck. All of my success has been from hard work and taking chances.
      I remember all kinds of big talkers and their big plans in university but the number if people that actually acted on these ambitions was probably %20 max.
      I simply said fuck it and left the country for well paid work and crushed my debts and had a blast .
      This ideas that success is all “luck” is for lazy doggers looking for excuses.

    8. That’s ridiculous, especially in today’s labour market.
      Success is a mix of both talent and luck for sure. No need to feel ‘superior’. I know lots of people with great jobs who just had the right connections. It wasn’t because they were ‘better’ than the rest of the candidates.

      1. You don’t know anything. Trust me I know way more people with great jobs than you and all of them got them through hard work. If these “people” of yours have connections thats because they built and fostered them over years. Connections don’t just fall out of the sky you have to build them. I have connections because I go out and make them.
        Nobody gets hired because of their connections unless its in the government. We have never hired anyone because of their “connections”. That’s absurd.

        1. I have plenty of professionals in my family. e.g doctors, lawyers, architects etc. They worked hard for sure, but at least 3/4 of them benefited from their class position and the contacts that came about as a result of that.
          One of my cousins recently got a decent paying job straight out of university because his father made a phone call.
          The all-it-takes-to-be-successful-is-hard-work myth has been debunked several times. It’s nonsense.

        2. What class position is that? I am a professional and let me tell you no social class and no phone calls got me any jobs. I did. You don’t have contacts? Stop whining and go make some. That’s how I got my contacts.
          Your cousin… has some qualifications doesn’t he?
          If you think hard work making you successful is a myth then perhaps you need to work harder and smarter!

        3. No it is not. You build connections by working with people well and performing such that they want to work with you again. I agree that no one gets hired in private industry by connections alone, but they are often the deciding factor amongst many qualified people. I have done the hiring and I always preferred to hire some one who could be personally recommended by some one already on the team.
          I did consulting work for a while and most of my jobs were with people who I had worked with before asking to work with me again. I doubt I was so head and shoulders above others in the field as far as skill and knowledge, but they knew I would get the job done and not cause personal problems. Connections do matter.

        4. Of course, and you are aware that my argument is not that “connections don’t matter” but rather that “connections alone will not get you hired and anyone can get connections”.
          Sure you will hire someone after you have interviewed and assessed their qualifications if someone you know gives them a personal recommendation and if you value their opinion. And why would someone put their reputation on line saying “Mike is a great worker” if you were not? They wouldn’t that’s nuts.
          So you are not being hired simply based on your connection. You are being hired ultimately based on your performance. If you sucked no one would say you were worth hiring, no matter how much they liked you.
          The original argument was that some people have great jobs because they had the right connections and not because they were better than the other candidates. That is complete bullshit and the kind of thing either a kid or bitter man who won’t take responsibility for himself, would say.
          Not sure why you started your argument in the negative and then go on to essentially agree with me.

        5. Upper middle class professionals. They tend to have more valuable connections than the average joe.
          You can be successful without them, but it’s much harder; and the stats show it.
          Working hard isn’t enough. Factory workers work hard, yet most of them can barely make ends meet. Working ‘smarter’ is an extra qualifier, and it’s even more problematic.
          Yeah my cousins who are very successful have qualifications, but they are also much older (50+) and entered into the workforce at a time when jobs were more plentiful than they are today. Yes they work hard, that’s obvious, but as I said before, working hard is just one component in general life success.

        6. Of course working hard isn’t enough which is why I also said work smart as well. But if you’re working hard in a factory that’s something you should have thought about earlier when you had an opportunity to do something about it. That’s what I did. I didn’t sit around complaining about the rich kids at the big school who had “connections”. I just quietly worked and got mine.
          Yeah it always seems like things were easier in the past. Wasn’t for my Dad though, poor orphan growing up without shoes. While his friends were complaining about their lack of opportunities he was out making opportunities.
          I came out in a recession, lost my job, got another one, lost my job, got another. I didn’t have time to complain about my hard luck. I could have complained instead though and then I would have excuses to explain my failures.

  11. All through high school I was unsocial and frustrated, because I hated being stuck in what was essentially an unproductive job with so-called “teachers,” of whom even the good ones were clearly being stabbed in the back by the education system. I had no girlfriend and no prospects of getting one because my conservative beliefs don’t mesh with contemporary sexual culture.
    But I was stupid because even though the system sucked, the fact that I wasn’t doing well in it made me bitter and unsatisfied. I was still trying to work in the system rather than be independent of it. I realized this after high school when I spent time studying in Germany. The environment there was more self-driven and people actually let you take responsibility for things. Sadly I was not prepared for this and ended up wasting most of this time waiting for things to happen instead of making them happen, but at least it opened my eyes to a more adult reality.
    I learned a similar lesson when I finished college and got a job. In college I learned some things (I skipped the fraternity nonsense and feminist garbage), but I was still expecting to play a passive role in my education. Again, more wasted time and hard-learned lessons.
    My first year in employment sucked, and still sucks, but at least I have no more excuses to cover for my millennial habits. After ten years of fruitless, silent beta orbiter crushes, I found a girl who liked me instead the other way around and married her in short order. Whenever I slack off or get whiny, she reprimands me for it and bluntly tells me to stop messing around and get back to work. If she gets whiny or emotional, I do my best to maintain frame and not let the evening go to waste. Time is money and there’s not much of it.
    The last point in the article is the most essential. In a first-world country, no matter what you’re feeling, the vast majority of the time its just that: your feelings. They may suck but they’re not going to kill you.

  12. #11: Cut out of your life all other men who don’t reflect the first ten qualities.
    Make good friends when young — but choose them *wisely*. And be prepared for people to change, a lot.

    1. “Don’t hang around losers. It’s contagious.” — author unknown
      Expanding on your point: Be prepared to cut childhood friends loose when they turn into liabilities. You will recognize them through their habits of always being broke, trying to borrow money, having an addiction, multiple children with different partners, blaming their (deceased) parents or other family for their personal faults and foibles, etc…

      1. Yep. I cut two old friends loose last year. I’ve known each of them 20+ years. Couldn’t justify the effort anymore.

        1. I just dropped a friend this last Saturday. Have known the guy since 1988. Real nice, decent fellow, but has developed this obsession with killing his brother that is scaring the shit out of me. I don’t even want to be in the same room with that kind of shit, let alone claim to be friends with somebody who is going down this path. He started obsessing about it on Saturday and I told him I couldn’t be friends with somebody who is seriously considering this shit, and got up and walked out. Doubt I’ll ever cross paths with him again. Nothing good would come from me associating with him in the future.

        2. I was asked by an old mentor of mine why I no longer in touch with a mutual friend who I have known since grade school. I simply have nothing in common with him after we both left college. The fact he was always a lazy git, uncurious about world affairs, avid TV watcher and is getting ready to get married for the 3rd time leads me to believe he hasn’t changed a bit since he left school.

        3. Holy shit. I know it’s not good to get involved in other peoples shit, but have you let his brother know? Might be good to drop an anon message to the poor bastard to watch his back at the next family reunion.

        4. His brother is states away, I’ve never met the man. Believe me, I’d love to be able to contact him. If this dude shows up again anywhere near me I’m flipping the voice recorder on.

        5. It may be a good idea for you to consider contacting local mental health services – I am pretty sure this guy needs professional help. There should be a local hotline where you live that you can call for advice about what to do to get this guy on the radar of someone who can help. If you cant find a local line try the national hotline 1-800-273-TALK and they can find resources for you locally.
          We often read in the news about people who go off the rails and kill others – and they have have sometimes told another person about what they were thinking of doing. So may be worth following up.

      2. In my teens to mid-20’s I befriended a lot of losers. It’s truly addicting in a “better to reign in hell than serve in heaven” sort of way. They’re never too busy to hang out, they’re often very loyal, and you get to feel like you’re a leader.
        But when you start to trying to improve yourself you realize you’re in a crab bucket and they’ll actively try to sabotage your escape.

        1. Crab bucket effect– so true. You making goals and succeeding makes them feel bad about their laziness and lack of agency. Tearing you down is easier than building themselves up and, yes, they will get mad when you shrug and plow on. I had a friend who once told me he wished he had my “luck” and got pissed when I told him if he spent 3 hours a week in a gym, went to night school and applied himself to be looking for better oppotunities, he could.

        2. Very true. I jam every Friday with 2 musician friends at my friend’s house. Both friends are more or less as you described, though one is very intellectually honest and agrees with many red pill truths. The other, my childhood friend, is a classic beta crab bucket who becomes very bitchy and catty when I mention my successes, gaming experiences or discuss red pill stuff with them. When I started receiving compliments and new musical opportunities because of my singing skills this crab bucket friend would try to poison the well with my other friend and try to play down my successes.
          It was then that I realized I really had to cut off this friend, although he has improved a bit and it is now tolerable to spend an evening once a week jamming with him and the other. If I am not jamming or recording music with these guys, however, I try to limit my time with them. I have found that spending time with betas while practicing and performing music is fine, but any more than that is not a good idea.
          I do have other friends that are more of the type a man should surround himself with, but my philosophy is in a jam/band situation it is acceptable to have betas playing with you. Too many alphas in a band can be draining and counter-productive.

  13. Mike Rowe is fuckin’ awesome!!! Great article. I will never understand why guys insist on having women as friends.

  14. One the best articles I have read on ROK.
    I would add: Observe mass media, but reject all of it’s content. It’s content is total junk, designed to manipulate the masses. The one reason to observe it on occasion is to know what most people around you have been programmed to think and believe. Having that knowledge can be useful.
    Finally, every man, of whatever age, should watch that Mike Rowe video over and over again. Few people have met as many hard working men that have made a good life for themselves as Mike Rowe.

    1. I will give that video a watch. Overlooked it as I was reading this in mixed company.

  15. 11#: Excel in AT LEAST one form of sportsball, bang some high school cheerleaders and/or hot preppie girls as a result while you still can and cherish the memories into your eventual old age and dotage.

    1. Bang high school cheerleaders? Sounds like a plan! I’m in!
      Wait, you mean while you’re still a teen don’t you? Damnit. Damnit all to hell!
      Guess I’ll have to stick to 22 year old college cheerleaders then. It’ll be like fucking grandmothers in comparison, but if I have to…

      1. Ha! You pretty much nailed it on that one GoJ! Don’t you live in Ohio – home of many schools with actual hot college cheerleaders? Something tells me only a few of them wear grannie-panties. Unless the football team happened to run a train on them over the weekend; sh(it) happens.

        1. Yes I do, sir. Yes I do.
          Due to my daughter, I have to attend the high school football games during the fall. It is everything I can do to not have my eyes bore through some of the Senior cheerleaders. I cast my glance to the sky or field, do a silent hail Mary and think pure thoughts. That shit is *dangerous*.

        2. You are not kidding; I wouldn’t neccesarily blame you if you accidentally glazed over once or twice and had a Kevin Spacey-esque/American Beauty style moment in that case! If you have good mirrored sunglasses (don’t ask how I know), well, it definitely helps with discretion. I love taking my kids to the swimming pool for pretty much one reason, even with the occasional beached land whale temporarily blocking a man’s view.

        3. Watch out for the other dads in the crowd who do not think like you do especially because you have a daughter too.

        4. When I used to work with teenagers, one of my charges was a stunning 6-ft-tall Asian girl who looked 25 but was actually only 14. She went on to win her country’s Miss [redacted] pageant at age 18 and then compete in the Miss Universe pageant.
          She was also a 4.0 student who got an A in multivariable calculus. I’m not easily swayed by female beauty, and Asians don’t generally grab my eye … but goddamn was she ever a fine specimen, both inside and out.

        5. Well no kidding. That’s why I stare intently at the game. I was being serious, I know my limitations and what is and isn’t socially acceptable. Just noting that they’re looking more and more “adult” these days at 17-18.

  16. 3) is huge. I dinked around and earned a history degree. I eventually landed on my feet in IT(network, network, network, people). But many people won’t.
    The useless degree problem is exacerbated by everyone’s status as the main character in their own story. They rationalize they’ll be the one who gets hired despite their Women’s Studies/Sociology/English degree. Then toss in Baby Boomer parents living vicariously through their children who saw friends with useless degrees land good jobs because employers were fighting over employees at the time.
    On the other hand, as someone on the oldest end of the millennial spectrum, I get why so many young people balk and retreat into Neverland when told “-I- landed in a good office job right after college, but -you- need to become an underwater welder working rotating shifts for the next four decades if you want a Middle Class lifestyle.” The reality of what The Tribe/Internationalists have done to our economy is truly horrific to contemplate.

    1. In the true spirit of a Liberal Arts Education, the “useless” degrees are only useless if they are taken as some sort of ticket, a means to an end, rather than an end unto themselves as part of a process of self development / learning process.
      I have an English and History degree and taught for a time overseas but learned much more along the way and developed skills that continue to serve me well beyond the scope of my degree in business, public speaking etc..

  17. An essential requirement, especially in your twenties and earlier, is to get a solid grip on your emotions and instincts. It doesn’t matter how physically and intellectually sound and solid you may be at this age,because ultimately you’ll get tripped up by these elements if you ignore them. Take it from a more mature man!
    Tips?
    .Build up a mindset were you’re content either with or without people.
    .Get a set of skills that pay well and are always in demand (Accountancy or Car Mechanic)
    . Travel and learn some languages.
    .Marry late, if all at.
    .Have some type of sporting/outdoor interest.
    .Broaden your mind, through scientific, philosophical or artistic interests.
    .Be ultra careful about letting women play on your emotions and weakness.
    Learn to move on from people you’ve known, learn to become detached, knowing the future maybe lonely, but, at least it’s a future I made for myself.
    .

  18. Beautiful article. I would also add some things my dad taught me when I was young.
    1- Gays go to hell and are disgusting. I am and always will be against homos and our sons should reject that shit.
    2- Discover religion, believe in God and understand other religions
    3- Only wife up a virgin, all other women are for fun only
    4- He used to tell me that I’m responsible for my sister and mother while hes away or not there.
    5- Drink, fuck but know your limits and never do drugs .. it will destroy you
    6- In the end, the only people that will have your back are your family.

    1. I never did drugs. I didn’t reject them for any particular moral reason as such, I always thought and still believe that they’re the fool’s ticket into knowledge and insight and the proof is that any person I’ve known who used them, generally, have little or nothing of substance to say about their trips.
      Alcohol, I enjoy less as I get older, prefer smaller quantities of well crafted beers or wines, besides, when you get over 40 it really can dull the mind and body if used too much. Even, if I only drink one night a week, you can feel the negative impacts more the next day, then a couple of years back…but, that’s sweet age, hey!

      1. Agree with you on the alcohol. Don’t really enjoy it at all anymore. If I need to relax, a quiet room by myself with clam music or meditate.

    2. Gays didn’t pick their sexuality in the same way that we heteros didn’t pick our sexuality. Cool off on that.
      Couldn’t agree more with #6. Have learned the hard way.

      1. Sometimes I wonder if a large portion of the right wing is bisexual, they seem to act as if they have sexual attraction to both men and women.

        1. Seriously, you’re going with that cliched bromide? Do you understand that it’s not an original thought and is boilerplate snark we hear from Leftists all the time? Y’all need to get some new material, geez.

        2. That isn’t really what I meant, I was talking about when they act as though homosexuality is a choice, and it really isn’t. I am a heterosexual, and I don’t find men sexually attractive, so why would a homosexual be able to suddenly like women? My only conclusion is that people who act as though homosexuality is a choice are in fact bisexual and only act on their heterosexuality. I on the other hand am in the camp that homosexuality is more like a mental health issue rather than a choice.

        3. If someone says that homosexuality/heterosexuality is a choice, how can they be anything but bisexual? I as a heterosexual, have 0 control over myself being heterosexual, and the only logical conclusion is that these people who use that rhetoric are bisexuals. I don’t mean that in an offensive way, I don’t even condone homosexuality (I think of it as a mental health issue), I mean it in trying to end obviously bullshit rhetoric to apparently everyone but these conservatives.

        4. I would agree.
          I actually care less about homos, but there seems to be a constant politicalization of all aspects of life (race, sex, gender, etc…) that angles to constantly stick it in your face. It’s a distraction from much bigger issues.

        5. Dude, it’s not a cliche, or a bromide, or snark — it’s simply true. Ask an openly practicing gay man if he ever had a choice in his preference. To a man, they all report having sexual awakenings when quite young.

        6. That is as fucking retarded as idiots saying “if you hate gays you must be gay”. one of the stupidest arguments they created to try to stop people arguing against something that is fucked up.
          You probably love using the same argument about trannies. The argument doesn’t hold up in that case “oh people are born gay and can’t do anytihng about it” “oh they were born the wrong sex and can choose their sex”. Funny its the same idiots saying those things, when in reality its the exact opposite.

        7. If I say that fucking horses is a choice, that doesn’t imply that I have an urge to fuck horses. It means that fucking horses is a choice.

        8. Homosexuality is the urge, not the act, and last time I checked (oh wait, every time), conservatives keep giving the rhetoric of HOMOSEXUALITY being a choice, not HOMOSEXUAL SEX. Maybe if conservatives understood the English language better, they wouldn’t have this confusion.

        9. “That is as fucking retarded as idiots saying ‘if you hate gays you must be gay’.” Umm no it’s not. I stated that if someone believes sexuality is a choice, then they must logically include heterosexuality, as I someone who is heterosexual and unable to change my sexuality, I have concluded that those people must be sexuality fluid. I do not see how that is retard, it’s basic logic.
          “one of the stupidest arguments they created to try to stop people arguing against something that is fucked up.” I never said homosexuality isn’t fucked up, I stated that it’s a mental illness. After all, what sane person who do that?
          “You probably love using the same argument about trannies.” That it’s a mental illness? If you don’t think transgender-ism is a mental illness, you must be fucking retarded. Even liberal leaning medical organizations agree that it’s mental illness.
          “The argument doesn’t hold up in that case ‘oh people are born gay and can’t do anytihng about it’ ‘oh they were born the wrong sex and can choose their sex’.” You are using a straw man, this doesn’t even have to do with anything I have argued or believe.

        10. There are a lot of men who appear to be leaders in the alt.right NPI realm who are either on the wrong “team” or switch hit.

      2. Eh, maybe. There’s enough people “going gay” to disprove that it’s genetic. Even if it were genetic, there is no law against hating it, or them, just like there’s no law against hating straight Christians.

        1. According to the book Sperm Wars, about 3% of all men are open practicing homos. Those are the ones that are obviously born swishy, easily identified even as young children. For them, it’s not a choice. There’s some evidence that they were bathed in female hormones while in utero as a mother’s defense mechanism against having too many sons. (Look it up; eye-opening stuff.)
          However, another 6% of males have either experimented with homosexuality and left it behind, or are living a secret homosexual lifestyle. Some of those men are deeply conflicted. For them, it could be a choice.

      3. Im sorry, everyone has a choice who to fuck and who not to fuck. Gays choose to be like that thus they were not born as homos. Well, I don’t really care if all men become gay just not my son 😀

        1. Homosexuality in most cases is a birth defect. There are real differences in the brains of obligatory homosexual and heterosexual people. Maybe not pure genetic, but something happens in utero to mess up the “wiring.” But that doesn’t make it normal.

      4. “Gays didn’t pick their sexuality in the same way that we heteros didn’t pick our sexuality. Cool off on that.”
        Yes but they choose to have unprotected sex and spread aids at a greater rate than other groups.
        http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/statistics/overview/ataglance.html
        They also choose to have gay pride parades where they intentionally offend public morality by flashing around their genitals etc while the police do nothing.
        We as heterosexuals can’t have a parade with nude girls because public nudity is against the law.
        Somehow gays, like muslims are specials and thus societal norms and laws do not apply.
        Thus many posters on here would like to ban gay marriage / adoptions and cancel all “gay” events sort of like how we don’t want o encourage drug addicts because it’s poor for their health and society as whole.

      5. “Gays didn’t pick their sexuality in the same way that we heteros didn’t pick our sexuality. Cool off on that.”
        If you’re right to any extent, it is only because so many of them were molested or lacked a healthy family life as children, and thus were given a strong push into sodomy. I’d go so far as to say “all” instead of “so many” but there has to be least one exception that proves the rule.

    3. “3- Only wife up a virgin, all other women are for fun only” How is that logical? The proportions of population are pretty close to 50% male and 50% female (slightly more females). How could a society function like that? Are we just going to screw over a large portion of men and not let them have virgin wives?

      1. This advice is not for everyone, just those who are smart. People assume that good advice and good living should be universal, when, in reality, some of us prefer to be more, shall we say, predatory.

        1. That seems like as flawed and nonsensical of a system as Frankfurtist Communism (SJWism). If a man has casual sex, he doesn’t deserve a virgin wife.

      2. These women will always find a beta provider and most men in western part of the world couldnt care less how many dicks their wives took before marriage. So it wont be a problem for us.
        However, look at the sky high divorce rates, im not taking that risk.

      3. “How could a society function like that? Are we just going to screw over a large portion of men and not let them have virgin wives? ”
        Well, the way it has worked in the past was if you had sex with a virgin, then you had to marry her and perhaps pay a fine to the father, or be executed. If a father didn’t want you to marry his daughter, even though you’d defiled her, then you’d be executed.
        Virgins and other men’s wives were strictly off limits under penalty of death.

        1. I am saying we rekk’d’s idea of “3- Only wife up a virgin, all other women are for fun only” is impractical. It doesn’t account for problem that by not encouraging men not to have premarital sex, it isn’t practical for men to “only wife up a virgin”. How are all men supposed to do that if part of the female population isn’t virgin?

    4. 3 is a holy grail, unless she’s really young (been that way for a *long* time; let’s not kid ourselves) but the rest are right on.
      BTW, what’s with this “wife up” business? Manospherians aren’t allowed to say “marry.”?!

      1. I want to have kids one day, so I would like my children to be brought up in a healthy environment with both parents.
        As for young virgins, yeah hard to find in western part of the world, everywhere else it gets easier.

        1. That’s why the Muzzies are big on child brides. Gotta get em while the hymen is still there.

        2. Umm when i said young i meant 18-22 not child brides. Yeah some are into that but the christian priests are also into little boys…

        3. Ah, so you’re apologizing for Islam now. Islam sanctions marriage to very young girls. Mohammed married Aisha at age 6 and had sex with her by age 9! Old enough to bleed, old enough to butcher is the saying with those folks. And it was lame to toss in that red herring about pedophile priests; that only affected a tint percent of the clarify, and most of those ” pedos” were homosexual anyhow. But yeah, I hear a lot of the manosphere digs Islam because Muzzies know how to treat women. Just sad.

        4. The priest thing is a canard. They were only a tiny percentage of the priesthood and most were gay not true pedophiles. But back to the Muzzies. Like I said, CHILD brides. Mohammed married Aisha when she was six and had sex with her by age 9! “Old enough to bleed (or even before); old enough to butcher” is their credo. Yet too many misguided manosphere/MGTOW types admire Muzzies “cuz they don’t take shit from their women.” Good grief.

        5. There is no evidence that Mohammad married a 6 year old girl, its a narration in a book that was writtin over 250 years after his death. Its man made alteration to defame him to destroy the religion. However, there is no mention of such thing in the Quran. Im defending islam because im a muslim and I believe in it. Yet the christian church has a long history of murder, rape, pedos, injustice, inequality between genders etc.. but nooooo islam is bad and christianity is good.
          Your argument will be its all history and muslims now are terrorists or wtvr. Do some research, get your facts straight and look at how many innocent people the christian west killed and how many of these muslim terrorists killed in the past 15 years. Dont forget you get your news from western run media..

        6. You just wrote the same thing again so I will just copy paste my answer.
          There is no evidence that Mohammad married a 6 year old girl, its a narration in a book that was writtin over 250 years after his death. Its man made alteration to defame him to destroy the religion. However, there is no mention of such thing in the Quran. Im defending islam because im a muslim and I believe in it. Yet the christian church has a long history of murder, rape, pedos, injustice, inequality between genders etc.. but nooooo islam is bad and christianity is good.
          Your argument will be its all history and muslims now are terrorists or wtvr. Do some research, get your facts straight and look at how many innocent people the christian west killed and how many of these muslim terrorists killed in the past 15 years. Dont forget you get your news from western run media..

        7. you know, this is a fast food redpill site, so you will see many immature people here with all kinds of unreasoned opinions. they see one aspect they find somehow positive at first glance and then they support it. thats like some crazy alcoholic beats up his wife and children then they say something ignorant like “that hero doesn’t take shit from his women”.
          stupid example but thats the way people develop a crush, taking tiny bits of out of the whole and make something out of it.
          like some mentally challenged guys would twist redpill believe about women which is ‘beware females nature which is poison’ into how to be a braindead pickup artist moron who thinks he is alpha but is a pathetic attention seeking fool who is actually a ‘man fan’
          women are pathetic but males are way more. i have not met 5 mature men in my life. they are all underdeveloped and dysfunctional. Men are unmanly and a disgrace. maybe that’s because of the lack of role models, honor has no influence on society/the mainstream. But i think they actually enjoy their condition. girls are what you allow them to be, thats their nature. but men are lost. which is way more pathetic state than girls being girls. only a few have understanding in this world i.e are truly redpill (to use a familiar term)

        8. you mean the catholic church which is anti christian. it is so ignorant to call catholics christian. they are pagans!

  19. I nominate this for the ‘New? Start Here’ section of the site. This article would have made my life 10 times better if I read it 12 years ago. Hell, even 10 years ago would have been fine.

  20. This is the reason why I hate this world. Too many lies surround us. Most of them don’t even look like it such as: “if you believe in yourself, your dreams will come true” something like that. What’s the point of lying to an entire generation full of lies?
    Should I adapt to the mentality of “if your born poor, you will always be poor” or something like that?

    1. No kidding. Even the advice from family members can be disinfo. Despite all the crap that comes out of it, I’m glad for the Internet because I don’t know if I would have found all the useful advice anywhere else because most of the crap I was fed has either not worked or made my life worse.

      1. the thing is that i am confuse about following your passion and dreams. Why you don’t never follow your passion? isn’t suppose to help you achieve your dreams by following your passion?

        1. Follow your passion is a more enticing way of saying “have a goal” that you can follow and lead towards something that you hold important in your reality or life. Of course there are those who make it and those who don’t. Destiny? Probably. Chance? Maybe. Talent? Sure can help but not always. Talent is everywhere. Persistence? Yes. I think being persistent will always take you to great lengths.

      2. I ignored all family or friend advice if they have no experience in the matter like business etc..

    2. It’s not necessarily a lie. There is plenty of social mobility, at least in the U.S. There’s no reason to accept being poor, unless you simply wish to remain poor, or you literally have a huge fucking disability that prevents you from action.

      1. I wouldn’t say it’s an out and out lie, but for the most part it’s largely a myth. If you’re born dirt poor you’re probably not going to be a billionaire. You might be able to move up a class or two, but even then odds are you’re going to remain in whatever socioeconomic class you’re born into.

        1. Pop quiz: In what manner did the majority of U.S. millionaires achieve their wealth?
          Inheritance.
          A majority, meaning more than fifty percent. But we never talk about that. Land of opportunity and all that.

        2. It’s as much of a myth as you want to believe it is. If you don’t buy into defeatism, you can crawl out of just about anything with enough persistence and smarts.

        3. And a lot of kids who inherit money blow it in huge chunks and end up with barely anything. It’s natural selection at its finest. And the nice thing is that when they blow the money, it provides work for other people. It’s a win win.

        4. Never heard of the dude, had to look him up.

        5. BINGO! Don’t buy into the BLM type mantra where your failure is anyone’s but your own fault..

        1. It just comes from all the feel good bullshit. Do what you love. Follow your heart, your passion. I’d rather be poor and happy than rich and depressed. Probably combined with just a general lack of awareness about how life works. How can a parent lead and pass knowledge onto a kid, if they themselves are clueless?
          Asian parents are always made out to be mean control freaks when they push their kids into medicine or law. Proper careers with actual opportunities and wealth potential. Looking back now it’s moronic how parents ask their kids what they want to do, and then let them go do an arts degree.

      2. I’ve been to 3rd world countries and the same is true there as well. Here it’s much much easier. The media has done much to push the “American Dream is Dead” or like in western countries but it’s absolute BS IMO!

        1. The philosophy of Millenials is worrisome. It’s not “but it’s true…maaaaan”, it’s that they accept it as true. You can rub two nickles together in this country and become a millionaire, but they’re so immersed in defeatism that they can’t see it.

    3. No you shouldn’t look to the external reality to define, enrich or guide you so much rather find it in yourself to find these things and achieve your goals..
      Take a trip to India then you’ll really see what struggle is all about. Here in the West many of us feel hollow because we’re molly coddled and don’t know starvation thus those those street lights, guaranteed meals and the mundane day to day shit leave us wanting for something more in life….
      My first trip to a 3rd world country both shocked and empowered me to take more chances and live life with less care what others said or thought about me..
      I also basically vowed to ignore advice from people that seemed to have little if any experience on what they trying to tell me about. Lot’s of big talkers here but few doers..

  21. #11 Get a prenup.
    #10 To use a page from Catholic theology, sometimes, before one gets to heaven, one has to go through purgatory.

  22. I’m 28 and this advice for teenagers help me as well. It’s time to do some of these. I’m not hopeless. Right? RIGHT?

    1. it will be hard, but all you can do is move on and see where your steps lead you.

      1. Kind of kidding – I’m doing good.
        What I wanted to say is – most of this advice is applicable to men of any age. A litlle bit stuck teenagers are zero compared to average job-internet-sleep-jerk off adult men who isn’t taking care of himself and instead is roting in his misery.

  23. I’ve been shocked lately, and probably shouldn’t be, at what piss-poor financial management skills young people have. I’ve had to spend time on more than one occasion lately mentoring the millenials in my life on even basic crap like keeping a monthly budget and how bank accounts work. And filing income tax returns? They’re f*cking clueless! They literally don’t even understand the concept! If we’re going to waste these kid’s time on 13 years of mandatory school attendance then at least an hour a day should be devoted to learning how to manage their financial affairs.

    1. It’s quite shocking to me as well.
      About 15 years ago, I finally came to the realization what is the whole point of getting good grades and having a good career was for. It’s not just to life a good life. Once you got your career, then what?
      It turns out that your end goal should be to achieve financial independence. You work and save until you can retire and not worry about money. Hopefully you’ll be young an healthy enough to enjoy it.

  24. Brilliant article. Really sound and practical advise. Not the usual bullshit or pie in the sky innuendo. Basic,doable,specific yet broad advise. I pissed away my youth partying and all that shit and i do not regret because i was lost and needed to get that out of my system but i If i could take it back i would or at least shorten it. It took me nine years after i finished school to go to college and I am nearly finished with a practical skill in the bag and options and it feels GOOD.
    The amount of people I know that done arts degrees or other vague bullshit and struggles for four years only to finish with no job opportunities or at best needing another 4 year supplement course is frightening and least i was too wise for that trap. Don’t do it.
    A huge realization for me was taking responsibility for my actions, I used always thing that was a bullshit meaningless phrase used by people in authority to get me to essential squeal on myself and thats partly my fault and partly because thats how they used it.
    But i realized that if i always say “yea well If he didn’t do that then i wouldn’t have done this” that nothing will change because i don’t control anyone only me. Doesn’t mean i am wrong usually someone will have a hand in your mistakes but thats a side issue look at where YOU went wrong and where YOU can improve and this is the clincher not for your boss or anyone else but for YOU !!!!!

  25. Things you can learn without much money.
    1. Learn how to draw. Grab a piece of paper, read some art theory online. I mostly do it because I’m training to be a carpenter and it helps to have a plan to know what you’re doing.
    2. Learn how to write. Not Shakespeare-level wordsmithing (if you’re into that, go for it, but don’t dive head first). Writing will help you in any job, even dead-end ones (manages have to write reports). Learn how to type fast, learn how to check your writing for mistakes and learn how to have a good legible calligraphy.
    3. Learn numeracy skiills. Once again, not partial differential equations. Learn how to do figures in your head quickly and efficiently. Learn long division. Learn basic calculus. This helps in accounting.
    4. Meditate. Helps with emotional stability. Mindfulness meditation is the best.
    5. Learn how to keep an accounts book. I lived with my grandmother and we’d go shopping every Saturday. I would help her draft the list, get the lowest price ingredient, and I’d copy the bill into an accounts book, allowing me to keep track of finances. Now, you can keep the bills, but I like legible numbers.

    1. One of best ways to learn to write well is to read books, news, articles, etc. You don’t need to believe everything you read, just learn how to compile words to express a thought or idea. Learn the art of verbal expression. This will enhance your vocabulary.

      1. just learn hoe the complile wordd to express a thought or idea.
        Must…resist….urge….to….wise……………….crack………hold on……just a few minutes longer………………………

        1. Ah geez. I don’t like this keyboard on my phone. My fingers are just too big and hit the wrong keys all the time. Should’ve gone back and checked.
          Edit: Kinda hard to get my point across fucking up like that.

        2. Say three Hail Marys, two Our Fathers, and one quote from the Chicago Manual of Style and all will be forgiven, my child.
          (makes sign of cross)

        3. Heh, no worries man, I was just giving you shit. Funny stuff. It’s all good.

  26. Pretty solid advice all around, but the picture of the guy “working” on a car with a crescent wrench is killing me. First off never use a crescent wrench unless there is no other choice. They call them knuckle busters for a reason. Second, WTF is he tightening? The invisible header pipe nut?

  27. I was reading this and it was like i was reading my bio some years ago: skinny as hell, numb, intoxicated by video games, shy, stuck in this toxic apathy where all i did, was to avoid my faults and blame the world for my poor and frustrated life.
    The thing is, we all need to hit the bottom to come out stronger. The question is: how many of these young men have the will to do that? To craft their bodies and minds out of hardship? And the thing is…we just need a small step. In my case it was the gym. I gained muscles, confidence, health and everything else came from there.
    So, my advice to all young men in ROK is: just give the first small step, work out, ask what you have learned today, every day, say hi to that sexy girl you want to fuck, see Conan the Barbarian and listen to its soundtrack…super post, congratulations.

  28. #3 is my favorite. I used to work in finance and quit because it was overloaded with competition. Found myself a nice small business for sale in a good market and have been working it ever since.

  29. Learn programming, But stay away from computer screens. What the hell are we going to program on then? An abacus?
    Things you should actually learn to do-
    Cook,
    Clean,
    Pick good quality clothes for yourself,
    Some scene of fashion,
    Who fixes cars these days? Seriously.

    1. “Who fixes cars these days? Seriously.”
      Uh, MEN do. No one expects to be able to tear down a rebuild your motor, but every man should know how to change a tire, replace wiper blades, replace alternators, you know simple stuff. I know, I know your hands may get dirty and you may tear your fashionable pants. But just being able to do these simple things will make you god-like to other millennial lay-abouts.

      1. Learning to fix a car isn’t a life skill anymore. Its not 1950 anymore old man. I’m a mechanical engineer and let me tell you, no amount of mechanical knowledge will help you if your modern car has broken down.
        Even cars built in the last 10 yrs require special computer software and diagnostic tools to work on. Often you cant even gain access to vital components without special make specific tools to unlock the locking mechanisms.
        I started out life as a boilermaker but as time went on I realized having grease and cuts on your hands every day was a fools game. Now when I pick up tools its because I want to, not because I have to.
        Your argument is no different to an even older gentleman telling us that it is a life skill to shoe a horse.

        1. You’ve posted that exact same post over 4 times.

        2. OMDB-II reader cost $50 at autozone. But we get it, you like being an effete metrosexual.

        3. So if someone has AAA, or avails themself of their car’s free roadside assistance (if new enough) they are a fairy. Ok, duly noted.

        4. The whole point of my original post was that I would rather teach my sons to purchase quality/reliable cars with roadside assistance and insurance, so that A, The car will probably never actually break down and B, even in the off chance it actually does there are contingencies in place. Fixing cars isnt a life skill needed today and defiantly wont be a skill in the future.

        5. Dude, Im just trying to have a friendly discussion but you have brought out the insults. You know who else does that? Women. When they are losing.

        6. “Its not 1950 anymore old man.” Not exactly an insult, but certainly disrespectful…you accuse me of being an out-of-touch old man, I accuse you of being a millennial stereotype. So we’re even I guess.
          And if you think I am losing, I think that most MEN on here would disagree…one of the things this site teaches is to be a SELF-RELIANT man. If all you can do is consume the latest widget,, pick out clothes like some gay lothario, and stare mesmerized into your phone, you’ve not been paying attention.

      1. Sure, your son can service my son’s car. If you want him to grow up to be an “average man” I’m OK with that.

    2. I think it’s funny to see people standing at the side of the road beside a car with a simple mechanical problem that can be fixed with 2 minutes and a wrench, frantically dialing their iZombies for help. Warms my heart.

      1. It’s making me wonder, should you be a jack of all trades and know how to do the bare minimum in pretty much everything or should you be a specialist, make a lot of cash and just throw cash at all your problems to fix them? I think knowing how to do a little bit of everything is good but just being really good at one thing and letting specialists do the things you aren’t good at is good too even though there’s nothing manly about a guy not knowing how to fix something easily fixable.

  30. The teenage years if spent right can help set the framework for success down the line. Great insight here. I think an important point you made was the essential idea of trying in your youth and getting useful skills. The more you TRY things the more you become accustom to taking action which is a tenant to being a successful man. Good shiz

  31. “The three pillars of life—in order—are: body, mind, and social. These are all basic stuff, but it’s often the basic stuff that teenagers end up neglecting.”
    Nice article. But, actually, there are FOUR pillars of life. The fourth and the most important is the SPIRITUAL pillar. A man grows into full maturity when he is fully developed physically, mentally, socially and spiritually, all occurring within reasonable distance of each other. Most men never achieve this in their lifetime, or they let go of one pillar while developing another.
    The spiritual pillar directs and refines the other three. Without this, there is no difference between a Pinochet and Abraham Lincoln.

    1. “The spiritual pillar directs and refines the other three. Without this,
      there is no difference between a Pinochet and Abraham Lincoln.”
      Oh, do you see Lincoln as the “good” guy and Pinochet as the “bad” guy? Spiritual differences aside (like if and when Lincoln ever became a Christian); I believe 3k deaths (of people that the USA seems to have helped put Pinochet into power to kill) vs 620k deaths is at least “a difference.”
      http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/cost-of-war/casualties-by-war.jpg

      1. You won’t believe how hard it was to get a good guy from secular history. I did not want to use a religious figure as an example of a good guy, so I came up with good ol’ Abe. But you get my gist.

  32. Your man at number 4 appears to be trying to rotate an exhaust manifold…with the engine still attached

    1. That looks like an old Peugeot 505. The pic must be decades old. He’s short on tools or he’s just posing over a junker. Those cars were FUNK-EEE but kind of smart design.

  33. When i was a teenager i foolishly expected everything to magically fall into place, like there was some order and justice to the world, but i soon learned that this wasn’t the case. This world is disordered and unjust, you can either sit there and cry about it, or you can make your move. To get the girl you have to go for it, she will never come to you. To make good money, you have to work hard and outsmart the competition, no one is going to simply offer you a high paying job. Be the captain of your own vessel.

  34. I understand this article is destined to american/european boys, but I’d like to share a fun trivia:
    Videogames are not at all a waste of time in third world countries. I don’t know how it works for american people, but to people like me who live in third world countries videogames are one of the few things that allow young boys to develop good skills.
    Most boys in my country are raised on the streets, literally fighting to survive in school, and learning nothing from public schools. This applies even for the ones that are fortunately enough to have present fathers and stable families. I include myself on this group.
    I learned english by playing videogames (altghout my english sucks, but I improved a lot reading mangas), and most of my childhood friends also. In my country is common to encounter men who learned english through videogames and manga. In a society that encourages you to cheat for a way of living, videogame characters are one of the few acessible to us that teach us values and morality. In my country books are more expansive than videogames.
    To learn build things? Learning fix things? This is just common knowledge here, every boy I met knows at least the basics of building a house or fixing a plumbing.
    But you lack intellectual, artistic and cultural knowledge. Video Games teach it to us in some ways.
    I got interest on Skate because of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Despite I’m not a proffesional, I’m pretty good.
    Well, I don’t know how accurate are the Hollywood Movies in portray the american society, but most stereotypes I see around Video Game stuff on US never was a reality in my country. On the contrary, videogame allowed us to learn a new language, to develop real friendships with other men, to meet girls (be a good “Gamer” in Brazil means that you’re good with both girls and videogames), and a entire concept of masculinity that turns around video game and nerd stuff. This may be contradictory to you guys, but that’s how it work to us.

    1. I saw your comment, I don’t live in a third world country but I fucking LOVE the attitude they have about video games. My favorite gaming system is the Sega Master System and I was MINDBLOWN when I learn there were still people playing the it in 2007, there’s a company called Tectoy that was still selling knock off system of it in 2007.
      Video games and mangas are good for people that use them for enjoyment or as you said for bettering yourself. It’s just sad that there are actual humans beings these days that gets lost on vg and mangas so much it becomes their sole reason for existing. I can understand having wish fulfillment fantasies and escapism when you are a kid, doesn’t know any better or can’t escape your situation but ONCE YOU ARE AN ADULT THAT SHIT NEEDS TO STOP.

  35. 11. Game and Frame (I guess those 2 go together)
    12. KRATOM!!
    There. The template is complete

  36. Not sure about #2. There’s a Russian proverb, “It’s not the flood that drowns you, it’s the puddles.”

  37. This article needs to be put on a sidebar for permanent viewing. Its good for all men.

  38. My son, when he was 8 years old or so, found an old box of stuff from my military days and was happily digging through it when I caught him.
    “Whatcha doin’?”
    He turned around with my old combat knife in his hand. I could see the fear in his eyes… he knew he wasn’t supposed to be into my stuff. Knew he was busted and didn’t want to suffer The Wrath of Papa – but he was caught literally with his hand in the proverbial cookie jar…
    I walked over and calmly took the blade out of his hand – still razor sharp, the light ran along the blade like mercury…
    “Want to learn how to use this?”
    He didn’t say anything, but nodded… I could see the beginnings of a smile…
    I admit I shamelessly stole a scene right out of Braveheart.
    “First, you need to learn to use this..” I tapped him on the forehead.
    “Then, I’ll teach you to use… this..” I held up the blade.
    I’ve pushed him ever since. Not just drove him to good grades for the sake of good grades – but instilled in him the reason behind the need for getting good grades.
    Also, that an “education” is not obtained at a school. Education comes from the Latin “ex” – meaning “out or beyond” and “ducare” – meaning “to lead”.
    Therefore, an “education” leads you out beyond your understanding of life, the universe… everything…
    Schools and Universities are where one gets credentialed, not “educated”. Education only comes with time and mileage… And we have a daily session where he recounts what he was taught in school that day, and we play “The Rest of the Story” where I fill in the stuff that was omitted by his instructors (they’re not ‘teachers’ anymore… just paid Union cronies who teach to the test)… stuff that dramatically changes The Narrative…
    Also happy to say that he took his first deer – a buck – at the ripe old age of 10. Helped gut and skin it and did not flinch at all. In fact, he was curious about things – asking what bits did what, how they were arranged, etc…
    He is now 15… and right on track. I could not ask for a better son.

    1. Your son is lucky to have such a great dad. I too try to be that way with my own son. Thanks for sharing.

      1. I appreciate the complement. I admit, I dote on my son and let him get away with stuff sometimes… but, there’s a reason for that.
        My wife and I, we tried to have children.. miscarries, stillborn, Fallopian tube pregnancy. 5 times we crashed and burned. It was… difficult.
        Finally, we were gifted with a son. Now, lots of parents think their kids are attractive – but in this case, our son really is rock-star material. Not only movie-star handsome, but a born natural leader, and smart as a whip. Probably smarter than I am.
        Thing is, any of these would be justification enough to dote on him – but that’s not why I do. I dote on him sometimes because he is the last of us. Literally.
        My siblings either did not marry, did not have children or are incapable of having children. I take family very seriously – our family is very old, and my lineage is the main one. Firstborn son of a firstborn son, etc, going way, way back… and he’s our only child. That makes him the last of us.
        I’ve gone out of my way to make him understand how important he is – that he carries all that is the best of us… consequently, he’s been forced to assume a lot of responsibility very quickly. More than his share. And so, when he still wants to indulge in “being a kid”, I look the other way with a wink more often than not…
        I can only hope I’m doing the right thing… as a fellow parent, you know there are no real “How To..” books on being a good father. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you make up shit as you go along and hope to God you’re doing the right thing…
        I wish you and yours all the best. Luck and fortune and may God protect you..

      1. I envy you. Really.
        The feeling when you hold your son for the first time – I cannot describe it. You have to go through it to know… it’s like the world holds it’s breath for an instant…
        And it only comes once. You’ll feel it when – hopefully – you have other children, but not as powerfully as that first time…
        I am truly happy for you. I hope your son turns out to be everything you hope, and more…

  39. To the OP:
    Sorry it sucked so hard for y’all… that’s a tough draw. But, we can’t choose our parents and they are as fallible as any other human being…
    My father was Old School German – had that Protestant Work Ethic thing going full-bore. I rebelled and truth be told, I was a straight-up asshole to him.
    I gave him some vindication and peace when, years later, I admitted to him that yes, he was right about 99% of the shit he tried to teach me – shit that I had to learn the hard way (you know: “fire hot” kind of stuff) – and I apologized for being such an asshole when I was younger…
    He wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination – had some serious character flaws – but he was my Daddy and I am glad I was allowed to give him some peace before he passed on…
    You demonstrate great will and determination in the face of great adversity. I know looking back, things sucked. But look at it this way: Given what’s coming, you’re head and shoulders above your peers and will very likely cope much better than they can. Where they will flounder and fall, you will thrive.
    God protect you.

  40. Geez, all Red Pill, and think of all the guys who discovered these things without good guidence from a male figure. These were things we learned from immersion, and figuring them out on our own. Today’s kids have a tough road to climb.

  41. Your opening remarks have remarks could have been written by me. I would say I had it even worse in some ways. I’m not trying to get brownie points or brag, but I have never seen anyone else successfully climb out of the gutter I was in. I didn’t even want to live.
    It was through massive browsing online that I found a few pickup gurus and lifestyle coaches on websites and youtube. You have to realise that I didn’t spend sht loads of time online to tune out. I used that time wisely to look for answers and I found them. This eventually led me to this site and the red pill community. Communities like this and writers like you literally saved me. Its been 5 years and im seeing results. Thanks for the work you do and great article.

  42. Buy a fucking toolbox, buy some tools (get a job), and learn to use them. I can’t tell you how many “men” I see who don’t know which end of a screwdriver to use to hammer a fucking nail. I have more tools than space to store them and I know how to use every one of them skillfully. I started collecting when my grandad built me a wooden tollbox when I was eight, and I still have that toolbox. I’m 53.

  43. I tend to agree with a lot of what was in the article.
    Above all else, the end. Hang in there, keep going through the horrendous time that this era is; My teens were complete hell, my 20s were even worse… now I’m in my 30s and things are actually pretty good, easily better than they’ve ever been my entire life.
    This is partially because I avoided a lot of the pitfalls that other men fall prey to but my point is, the article is correct in that it is possible to achieve, even in the face of what seem to be insurmountable odds.

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