The quality of your life is for the most part dependent on the skills that you have learned and mastered. Most boys go through life never mastering any skills that are truly related to their development as men and the quality of their life. Never forget following the mainstream is a great way to end up angry and miserable. By mastering the skills below you are going to avoid a lot of the pain that the average male goes through and create a life that you’ll love.
Of course there are no guarantees in life but mastering these skills is as close as you are going to get. Lately we’ve been talking about how to acquire skills and now that you know that it’s time to address what skills are the most important to acquire. Mastering these skills are going to give you a chance at freedom, and being able to live out your dreams. Whatever they may be.
Note: These skills are in a random order and should all be learned.
Skill #1 – Combat
This isn’t a skill you’re typically going to find on most “skills men need” list but it is essential. At the very core of our being we get a large portion of our worth from how well we are able to handle violence and threats. A man who cannot handle a violent enemy is not a man. Plain and simple.
You must know how to fight. This includes using your body (unarmed) and weaponry (armed). You must know how to throw a punch, defend against an attacker, and a basic use of firearms. You don’t have to be a sharp shooter or a boxing champ but you must be able to defend yourself adequately. You cannot be a sheep in a world of wolves. You must be a lion, the alpha predator.
Skill #2 – Basic Survival
If you were left out in the wilderness for three days would you know how to survive? If not then you need to learn this. Sheltered souls might think that skills like this are no longer needed but they could not be more wrong. Like I said at our most basic level masculinity is about surviving and fighting. When we cannot do that we can never be fully men. Know how to construct a basic shelter, how to acquire water and food, and start a fire.
Not exactly rocket science but important skills to learn. I would recommend going into the woods and trying this for small periods of time. Even if just a night. Just you, the wilds, and your survival tools. Man needs to be connected with his wild side and with his primal soul. This connection gets severed working as a cubicle drone and when in a marriage with an unfeminine Western woman. Reconnect with nature, reconnect with your soul.
Skill #3 – Masculinity
“How is masculinity a skill?” you might ask. This is frankly a bit nebulous but needs to be on here. While I wouldn’t necessarily consider masculinity a “skill” it is something that every man must come to master and grow in. A man must operate from his masculine core. With a fire in his heart. Think of it this way you can look at two men and tell which is more masculine than the other. And it has little to do with their outside features.
It is something that is much deeper, something that is on a heart and soul level. You must embrace, foster, and grow this. You must harness your masculine power. This is where everything else is going to stem from. Many of the skills are this list will feed into your masculinity but they are not replacements for it. Everything from speaking your mind to standing your ground grows your masculinity. Master this. And never forget dominance plays a huge role.
Skill #4 – Mindset
You’ve probably heard that “mindset is everything” this is true. A man who has a mind that is working against him is never going to get anywhere. You must master your mind because your mind is the master. A man with a good mindset can overcome any obstacle but in his way while a man who has a bad mindset will no matter how many advantages he is given. You must take control of this powerful instrument and use it to better your life.
Thoughts are things and they have a huge impact on your life. Your thoughts make up a large part of your life. Having negative thoughts results in a negative mindset having productive thoughts results in a productive mindset and so on and so forth. You must learn to use your mind to shape your destiny. The mind is incredibly powerful make sure that this power is used for your gain.
Skill #5 – Soft Skills
I’m including sales skills, networking, and being likable under this umbrella of soft skills. They all have to do with dealing with people in a positive and productive way. Humans are social animals and to get what you want out of life you are going to have to learn to deal with them and how they operate. You need to learn how to get people on your side and get what you want from them while also benefiting them.
You must know how to network not just for business purposes but because we live in a world with a million distractions and people going every which way. Even to form a tribe you are going to have to learn how to network. Bringing people into the fold is an important skill especially with how disconnected people are nowadays. Sales is getting what you want from others and is important for obvious reasons.
Skill #6 – Copywriting/Marketing
Financial independence was once a nice dream for a select few. Now it’s a requirement if you want to live a life worth living. Never have corporations been more feminized, poorly run, or political making them toxic places for men. You will be a slave to some drying up angry woman, political correct HR, and a boss who sees you as a cog that can replaced when it wears down from hard work. Get the hell out of the corporate world as soon as you can.
But in order to do this and do this successfully you will have to learn copywriting and marketing. Take a master copywriter/marketer give him any business and he can make it successful (barring some extreme examples). Your product/service really doesn’t matter, but your copywriting and marketing skills matter more than you can imagine. Get started on these skills so you can realistically plan your escape to freedom.
Skill #7 – Health
None of this is going to matter if you are in poor health. You don’t have to become a bodybuilder or a fitness freak (who aren’t very healthy anyway) but you should be in good shape and have a reasonably healthy diet. Don’t make fitness your god as many do. Fitness is no replacement for masculinity or things of that manner. But it is very important you want to grow old and in good health. But don’t become obsessive over this.
Stay away from sugar and grains. Limit your intake of processed foods. Hit the gym at least three times a week. Get at least eightish hours of good sleep. Don’t become obsessed about this. God knows why but of all the skills this is the one people throw their entire life into with rapidly decreasing ROI. Remember the Pareto Principles eighty percent of your results come from twenty percent of your efforts and no where does this hold more true than health.
Skill #8 – Attraction
Look if you are healthy and normal than woman are going to play a huge part in your life and this is a good thing. However if you fail to understand them then you will get burned. Women are either going to be one of the number one sources of pleasure and fun in your life or they are going to be the number one source of pain. All depending on if you have mastered this skill or not. You need to understand women for who they are and not what you’ve been told they are.
Whether it’s manosphere lies that all women are lying, cheating, evil whores or the mainstream’s women are perfect, can do no wrong, and holy. Women are human and created to be man’s helper. When weak males let them run wild then bad things happen. Just like if we let children do whatever they want. There are different women that are good for different things. There are women who are good for banging and nothing more and women who are good for raising children with and many others. You must master women.
Skill #9 – The Language Of Composition
The language of composition is reading, writing, and rhetoric. Put another way you must master reading (yes it’s a skill), writing, and speaking. Communication is fundamental to life success. I’m not sure why people think this is optional. If our schooling system was intelligent (cue laughter) we’d have kids master this before anything else (in addition to logic) but instead they are too busy being indoctrinated.
You must take it upon yourself to master these skills. You don’t have to become a combination of Shakespeare and Cicero but you need to have a basic grasp of good writing and speaking. Reading is pretty straightforward. Read a lot and you get good at it, not the mention will change your life. Learn to communicate through both the written word and the spoken word, few ever do.
Skill #10 – Logic
Long ago before schools were simply places where children were sent to be indoctrinated into the latest Communist nonsense they were a place of learning. Students coming out of school had a leg up on those who did not attend (what a concept) and a large part of this had to do with students learning basic logic. Call it critical thinking or simply “not being a dumbasss” but logic is a fundamental skill to live a successful life.
Unfortunately most textbooks on logic are bogged down by political ideology (a bit ironic) but you can still learn this skill by teaching it to yourself. What it really comes down to is putting thought into the things you do. Just taking a second to think about things. For example when doing an activity thinking “is this a productive use of my time?“. Ask questions and don’t swallow things hook, line, and sinker. Not hard but rarely done.
Summary
Mastering these skills will put you above the level of 99% of humans, above the level of 99% of men even. You’ll officially be a one percenter. Others around you will struggle and fight every day of their lives only to get nowhere and often end up even worse then they were. This will put you into a position where you can either help others and lead them to freedom or laugh as the world burns. Your choice. The point is mastering these skills puts the power in your hands, and gives you the freedom to do what you want with your life. And after all isn’t that what it’s all about.
If you have any questions you would like to see answered in a future post send them to me at charlessledge001 (at) gmail (dot) com. If you found value in this post then I would encourage you to share this site with someone who may need it as well as check out my books here. I appreciate it. You can follow me on Twitter here.
-Charles Sledge
I kind of like this. The only thing I would add is that I think more important than ‘how to fight’ is ‘when to fight’, and maybe ‘how to avoid fighting’. I grew up in a very dangerous place, and learned very quickly how to anticipate threat. If you are forced to fight you are in a bad place, and a very uncertain place. For example you can never be sure who the other guy is or worse still what he has concealed in his pocket, or where his four friends are. You should only get there if there are no other options. How to fight is very important though because just having that confidence often defuses the threat. If someone reads that you can’t or won’t fight you are dead – possibly literally.
Absolutely!
That’s a great point Arthur. Avoidance and awareness are just as if not even more important than knowing how to defend oneself.
I like your point on fitness.
So many of blogs like ours make the reader assume that lifting weights will instantly make you a “manly man”
Its a tool. Having a strong body is important, but if you’re jacked and have no people skills or logic, you’re fucked.
I love lifting, but it needs to be just like eating healthy, just something you do. Who you are comes from within.
Exactly, a great tool but not the end goal.
Good stuff Charles. I would also add – become a Master of your money instead of a Slave to it. In today’s world having a solid financial framework for your life is an essential for a man to excel. No need to be rich, but one should strive for control and a measure of prosperity. Spend less than you earn, avoid debt and invest the rest.
Great advice, financial independence is the goal. Not being a slave with lots of cash.
Great post, unorthodox skills. I’m currently working on 1 (writing and speaking) and 9, any sources you recommend for attaining those?
Also, how did your blog get on manosphere.com? I tried emailing the email provided but it keeps failing to send.
Thanks
Sent an e-mail, that’s weird. Maybe it was down for a bit.
For speaking if you have a local toastmasters club I would recommend them as well as public speaking for success by Dale Carnegie.
For writing I would recommend writing everyday even if it’s only a couple of paragraphs and the classic guide to better writing by Rudolf Flesch (he has a couple of great books on writing all worth reading).
Great, thanks for the recommendations!
Man , your blog is fucking changing my life…my thoughts..visions of the world…i dont give a fuck about what happened on my past anymore..i m truly happy that i m on the right track..far away from societys ilusions..it could be cool to know about yourself a bit more…we our readers get a lot of real strenght from your words and wisdom, and its a fact that you are making us stronger, more masculine, diciplined and free individuals with every post you do…you are starting to change in my life from some blogger who writes cool stuff to a true light of hope in a dark and confusing world, and my favorite blogger (and i read a hell lot of blogs).I have no words , you remember me the allegory of the cave…i dont like to pedestalize people but the changes you are feeding on my mind, my body and life in general are fucking crazy.Who the fuck are you?
Thanks Ivan, I’m humbled. And I’m just a guy who has worked hard for what he has and wants to show others how to achieve what I have. Sort of like leaving breadcrumbs for others to follow.