Man has three parts, or aspects, to him. The physical, the mental, and the spiritual. By developing all three a man will have more of an impact and live a more fulfilled life then if he does not develop himself. It is through the expression of our nature, through the gradual fulfilling of our potential, that we find happiness. Through the striving, growing, and developing towards the dream that we have in our hearts. While also taking time to enjoy the fruits of our labor and take time to “smell the roses” when possible.
There is a balance there. Between work and rest, between action and contemplation. When this balance is out of whack, the person becomes out of whack, which leads to all sorts of negative effects. Effects that can be corrected by bringing things back into balance. When we look at the average person, the average man, now-a-days. We see someone who is often sickly in all three aspects.
Not just sickly but also struggling with finances, having meaning in life, and leadership as well. And this is no chance coincidence or accident. The three aspects and their development relate to having things together financially, finding meaning, and being a man of impact. And I think at some level we all want to be that, we all want to be men of impact.
I know I’m jumping around a lot but there are a few concepts I wanted to discuss before getting more into the subject of today’s essay.
Which is like the title states. The tri-aspects, leadership, growth, and changing the world.
The Tri-Aspects & Growth
How do we grow? How do we change? Through daily action and what is daily action? Habits, our habits will make our break us. At first habits seem like such a small thing. Like a little “self-improvement” thing that’s nice to get right but doesn’t have larger over context. But the fact of the matter is that everything stems from your habits. The impact that you have, what you do or do not accomplish, will determine the kind of man that you and where you end up. You’ll be less defined but once in a lifetime actions but more through day to day actions that you don’t often think about consciously.
Each day, or at least week, we need to take actions, forge habits, that work on all three aspects of who we are as men. Habits that improve us physically, spiritually, and mentally. This is the basis from which everything else is going to stem. We need to set goals and have goals that we are working towards. We need to have a direction, a North Star with which to guide ourselves. Once we have that set we can then go about forging habits that will help us reach those goals. These are all things I’ve talked about at length on the site so will not go into too much detail here.
But it’s still an important concept to grasp. Growth comes from setting goals and forging habits that affect all three aspects of who you are as a man. You can set goals physically, mentally, spiritually, and financially seems to be a good way to go about it. Four goals that you strive to move towards each and every day. This is the basis which then leads to the next level.
Leadership & Changing The World
All leadership starts with self-leadership. If you cannot lead yourself then you will never effectively lead others. That’s not to say you have to have perfect control over yourself, no one does, but rather that you must lead yourself and not tell others to do that which you will not do yourself. That is step one of leadership. It is not the end all be all, but it is the essential first step and without you can never lead. Through development you reach new heights and through leadership you help others to attain those same heights in their own unique way.
Not everyone will have the same goals that you do, but the accomplishment of worthy goals have more in common then they do not. To use a common, if trite, example. Becoming a professional athlete has many similarities with starting one’s own business and growing it to success and so on and so forth. The skillset required may be different, though both require strong minds, but the way one should go about accomplishing it has many similarities. So while your goal or the goals that you have accomplished may be very different from someone else that does not mean that you cannot lead them or that they cannot learn from you.
You have much to offer, do not forget that. It is through this process of growth leading to leadership that leads to changing the world around you. We all want to live in nice places, nice communities. Where goodness prospers. Goodness, beauty, and what is right. Strength and wisdom grow along with kindness and love. And all that other valuable traits. The nine noble virtues and the fruits of the spirit, all growing together and all moving towards the same direction.
Moving Towards What You Want In The World
I’m not a big fan of complaining, I just don’t think it’s productive and it doesn’t even feel that good to do. I was lucky I was raised with a father who felt the same way. Whenever you feel the urge to complain instead look at what you can do productive instead. What can you do to change the complaint? Because instead of whining or complaining it’s best to get busy doing that.
And if there’s nothing to be done about it? Which frankly is a rare case, then you need to learn to have the serenity to not let it affect you. Again it’s about balance. Attack the problems you can solve with a relentless dedication but learn to accept the ones you cannot change with the serenity of a monk. That is the way forward.
If you like what you’ve read then I’d encourage you to sign up for my coaching above.
And thanks for reading.
-Charles Sledge
