On the rare occasion that I think back to my early twenties, and what I wish I could have known then, there’s one thing that really stands out. Bear in mind that there are a lot of things I wish I’d known, and that’s exactly what the 1% Man Project course, weekly post and YouTube channel is about: giving that information to those of you who are young and hungry, so you don’t waste energy.
What’s that one thing I’d tell myself back then?
Become excellent at something.
Not ok, not good, not “have a dabble.” I mean try things until you find something that you can really obsess over and love. Then, go all in on it and become as good as you possibly can. Do it because you like it so much that not doing that hurts, because it feels like you’re wasting time.
We keep hearing over and over again about how men have lost their way, how younger guys are aimless and don’t have anything to aspire to. That they just don’t see the point anymore. Let me tell you, excellence is something that is always worthwhile.
Why you should chase excellence - especially if you have nothing going on
You may or may not have heard the name Miyamoto Musashi before. He was a swordsman who lived in Japan 400 years ago. He was an undefeated duelist who defeated 61 opponents, at a time when losing meant being killed and even winning meant you might die later if your victory wasn’t clean. He wasn’t just a once in a generation kind of guy, he was a once in history kind of guy.
One of Musashi’s great phrases from his treatise on combat, The Book of 5 Rings was:
From one thing, know all things.
Anyone who has ever pursued excellence in any field can tell you it’s absolutely true, because they know that excellence requires constant practice, failure, learning, iteration, success, building on that success, more failure and so on. It holds true across literally every domain of skill.
Where the advantage lies is that once you pursue excellence in one field, you can transfer it incredibly quickly to any other.
That’s why I was able to make national level in judo despite taking it up in my twenties.
That’s why I could transfer that knowledge and do the same in strongman in my thirties.
Those are just two examples, because it’s how I’ve been able to rapidly advance in whatever field I choose to dive into. Excellence is the trunk of a tree, which is always the longest and slowest part to grow, and the branches? They’re the individual fields that grow from the trunk.
Once you have that trunk built by pursuing one field, you’ll be able to grow branches - assuming you choose to. You may find something you love so much you just keep on building that trunk thicker and higher.
The point is though, by really diving in and pursuing just one thing, you open up a whole world of possibilities.
Excellence is in Your DNA
Humans worship excellence. It’s the one thing that we all look up to. It’s what has advanced us as a species: those obsessive types who take it to the extreme in their field because they can’t not do that. Just look at all the religions of the world - we always look up. Whether it’s the Christian god above in heaven, Zeus on Mt Olympus, the Norse gods above in Asgard, we’re always looking and aspiring upwards.
And excellence is the idea of placing yourself above what you are now, and above most or even all others.
You know how seductive it is. It speaks to us on the most primitive level. You watch a video of Kobe talking about how he trains 5 times a day, or how competitive Jordan was, or you listen to what elite special forces teams go through during selection. All of those things get us excited and make us want to get out there and be our best.
Don’t let society as a whole or anyone else silence that urge. Embrace it.
Life will change in a way you can’t even believe
As someone who has pursued excellence in a bunch of different fields over the last two decades let me tell you, there is nothing as intoxicating as throwing yourself into something that you’re interested in. It lights a fire in you where time passes and you don’t even realise. Where the struggle is enjoyable. Where all you do is think about it and all you want to do is get back to it.
And if you can have a couple of those going in life at the same time? Man, it’s crazy. Every day you’re alive just becomes this incredible gift where you get to feel things most people will never feel. Believe me when I tell you, it gets to the point where it’s not even about what you achieve, just the pursuit itself is euphoric.
Sound good? Well, find that thing to go after in 2024 - whatever it might be. Throw yourself into it, become as good as you possibly can, and see where you end up this time next year.
Goal setting
One of the biggest issues people can have in achieving their goals is setting the right ones in the first place. After many years of trial and error in goals, here’s some advice I can provide in terms of not only setting the right goals, but the system you need behind them to ensure they work:
The 1% Man Project course is now available in eBook format
For those who don’t want the coaching component and just want the course itself to run through, I’ve made available the first 10 weeks in eBook format. The remainder will follow once I’ve completed compiling it at the end of January. It’s $40 and runs for a full year. If you’re interested, head here for further details.
See you next Sunday in 2024.