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Ever since I was a boy, I was told to be strong.
Be strong for your sisters.
Be strong with your pain.
Be strong and stand up against bullies.
But the thing is – nobody ACTUALLY said those things to me.
I said them to myself.
I had absorbed enough cultural tropes about what it means to be a boy that I knew I wasn’t supposed to cry when I fell or failed or blow my cool under pressure.
Being strong is the foundation of being a man, and that’s not a bad thing.
It’s just that, like any virtue, taken too far, it can become a vice.
Holding back your emotions when you need to be clear and decisive under pressure is a good thing.
Repressing your emotions so you can’t feel anymore is a vice.
Being in service to your family by working hard is admirable, but selling out your dreams and living a life of misery for it, if not a vice, is a tragedy.
It is useful for a man to refine his notion of what being “strong” means. To break it down into its components and not get carried away with popular ideals of strength, unmoderated by other virtues.
In today’s sessions of The Inspired Man Summit, we have three teachers who explore different kinds of Masculine strength.
In our first session, Jordan Harbinger, who built the Art of Charm Podcast to one of the leading podcasts in the world before leaving it to start his own show, reveals the one moment long ago on Wall Street that changed his life.
In one crystal clear moment, he learned that social fluency and the ability to connect with people was a “secret” superpower – a strength that he has honed and now teaches widely.
Our second session features Adam Lyons, CEO of Psychology Hackers.
Adam came up from difficult circumstances in England to become one of the leading dating coaches in the world for men.
And the deeper he went with his clients, the more he realized that success—with women as well as in life in general—requires the discipline of guiding your thoughts in the direction you want them to go.
In his session, he offers several practices which will help you keep your eyes on the prize in your life – and help you get there.
In our third session, you will experience a surprise.
When you first see Vince del Monte, you will probably think one work “Musclehead.”
And indeed, Vince has graced the cover of fitness magazines and has won bodybuilding awards.
But the REAL story is how “Skinny Vinnie” has he was known in high school—a C-student—became the multi-million dollar earner and leader of men.
This is a story about old school virtues. Like consistency. Humility. And a few others that any man, any person, would do well to learn from Vince.
Go here to access all your daily trainings today.
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Photo credit: Getty Images
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Thank you for providing some male incite to definitions of strength in a masculine perspective. It’s not the only perspective, but it was the least gynocentric or contained the least feminist orthodoxy. I’ve been on this magazine for a couple of years and it just gets bombarded by the same message: men are both gods and devils, but women are angels (as long as they fit the prescribed objective of certain groups though). Same playbook different words.