The idea of survival has been around since the dawn of time. From a caveman gathering food to avoid death, to a man fighting off zombies in his home town, humans have always had one consistent element–the need for shelter and resources. In today’s world, there are many different aspects that go into creating this sense of security from your own skillful handiwork: whether it is building up your fort before an invasion or using natural materials found on site to create weapons in order as well as tools; you can make yourself feel more prepared by crafting everything with your own two hands.
The “how to craft the life you want” is a book that is about how to live a life of purpose. The author, Caitlin, talks about the importance of living your values and finding what it means for you.
Welcome back to the third installment of our three-part series on creating the life you desire. We’ve looked at how the many characteristics of a traditional craftsman’s profession might be used by any man to the process of building a great life in this series of articles. We discussed how to construct a plan for your life in part one. In the second half, we discussed “setting up business,” or the significance of where you reside. We’ll be collecting the resources we’ll need to create a life that aligns with our goals, desires, and values in this last episode.
Every artisan has a collection of tools that he use to form and construct his products. Woodworkers have a variety of chisels and planes at their disposal to shape their material. The hammer and anvil enable the blacksmith to accomplish his task.
We need the correct tools in our quest to design an amazing life, just as craftsmen require the right tools to create their masterpieces. We’ve compiled a selection of tools and resources below to assist you in creating a legacy and claiming your spot in the Guild of Greatness.
A Mentor
A young artisan who is just starting out in his career might look for an apprenticeship with a master craftsman. Young males would often abandon their homes to live with their masters. An apprentice worked at the master’s shop for free for the following many years. In exchange, the master craftsman shared trade secrets with the young guy and guided him on his path to become a master artisan. Master craftsmen were more than simply instructors in many ways; they were mentors who led young men through a rite of passage into manhood.
Many guys today have never had a mentor of any kind, which is a pity since mentors can be an invaluable tool in shaping the life you desire. Mentors have the knowledge and expertise to provide us with appropriate advise, direction, and guidance. Mentors may also help us broaden our perspectives in areas where we lack knowledge and experience. Furthermore, at times when we struggle and fall, a mentor may become a valuable companion and confidant.
If you don’t already have a mentor, I dare you to find one today. Don’t know where to start? You’ve come to the correct location. We’ve even published a helpful tutorial on how to do this vital activity.
If you’re an older guy, I dare you to go locate a young buck who you can mentor and put under your wing, sorry… I mean hoof.
A group of masterminds
A artisan was often a member of a guild, which provided him with access to a huge pool of collective knowledge that he could use to strengthen his skill set. The guild provided a crucial feeling of companionship and solidarity with other guys. By organizing his own guild of like-minded men who are similarly interested in building a spectacular life and learning the lost skill of manliness, the contemporary man may mimic the artisans of old.
We reported a few months ago about the Mastermind Group, which is the modern-day version of old trade guilds. Mastermind groups are made up of a small group of like-minded people that meet for the goal of mutual advancement. You may share ideas, discuss and debate them, and get both criticism and inspiration in a mastermind group. In a nutshell, it’s a place where you can receive honest critique and encouragement as you mature as a man.
You may join and establish mastermind groups for many aspects of your life. If you want to establish your own company, find other entrepreneurs who are interested in the same thing and form an email group where you can share ideas and support each other with business networking. If you’re a writer, you may form a group similar to The Inklings, which included literary giants such as CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, Charles Williams, and Owen Barfield.
Alternatively, if you just want to increase your general manhood, you may form a mastermind group devoted to that goal. Collect a group of guys who you believe have a common interest in masculine self-improvement. Once or twice a month, get together for beverages and food. Share your objectives with the other guys and hold them accountable. Every meeting, one of the guys in your group may teach the other men a masculine skill that he knows, or each man could offer a poem, piece of literature, or portion of scripture that he’s been thinking about. Finding a core group of individuals you can trust and respect will undoubtedly aid you in coming up with new ideas, refining old ones, and staying on track to achieve your objectives.
Pocket Notebook/Journal
My diary and my pocket notepad are two of the most important tools for me when it comes to creating a unique life.
My diary is where I work through the major challenges in my life. It serves as a sounding board for me, with my brain as the audience. I keep a notebook where I attempt to figure out what I want to do with my life. Other postings are devoted to fleshing out solutions to issues I’m currently dealing with. I’ll often write merely to clear my mind and soul of whatever emotional or mental difficulties I’m dealing with at the moment. It’s remarkable how much better I feel now that I’ve recovered from those psychological lows.
More information on why and how to start a journal may be found in our post on how to start a journal.
My pocket notepad has also proven to be a great asset in my life. I don’t use my pocket notebook for anything specific; instead, I use it to jot down ideas, conduct calculations, write down interesting quotations I want to remember, keep track of my to-dos, write down my daily objectives, and doodle when I’m bored. Everything is mixed together in a strangely efficient yet chaotic manner.
How can scribbling odd thoughts in a notepad assist you in creating the life you desire? You never know when you’ll come up with a million-dollar company idea or a solution to a strained relationship with your wife or girlfriend. We frequently believe that we would be able to recollect these flashes of inspiration on our own, only to discover that we are unable to do so later. Don’t let the muses get away from you! Any and all insights that come to you should be written down as soon as they occur to you.
Additionally, writing down and revisiting your objectives each day can keep them fresh in your memory and help you remain on track by quietly shaping your everyday behavior.
Online Resources
There are many internet resources available to assist you in creating a spectacular life. Here are some of our personal favorites.
The Mission Statement Builder by Stephen Covey. This is a terrific tool for helping you construct a life blueprint. It’s based on Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People methodology. It guides you through the process of identifying and developing your life’s roles, objectives, and ambitions. You may print your life’s purpose statement after you’re finished for future review and re-drafting.
Weekplan. We discussed the significance of weekly evaluations in designing the life you desire in our post on developing a blueprint for your life. The weekly review is an opportunity for you to assess your development as a man during the previous week and make plans for the following week. Weekplan is a free online application that lets you plan your week based on your life organize’s responsibilities and objectives. I can’t say enough good things about this program. Weekplan is one of my favorite apps because it takes what I’ve been doing with pen and paper for years and converts it into an easy-to-use, well-organized web version.
Breaking the Chain is a bad idea. “We are what we repeatedly do,” Aristotle stated. Men who leave a legacy have developed beneficial habits that have propelled them to success. Don’t Break the Chain is my favorite tool for helping me create good habits and break negative ones. It’s based on Jerry Seinfeld’s method for getting into the habit of writing.
On the wall, Seinfeld would put up a large annual calendar. He would mark a large red X over that day every time he sat down to write.
“You’ll have a chain in a few days.” “Just keep going, and the chain will become longer and longer every day,” Seinfeld added. “You’ll like seeing that chain, particularly once a few weeks have passed.” The only thing left for you to do now is not break the bond.”
It’s easy to use and completely free.
Joe’s Objectives Another goal/habit tracker is Joe’s Goals. It’s a lot like Don’t Break the Chain. You may quickly share your progress with a buddy for additional accountability, which is a good tool. Joe’s Goals is a completely free game.
Reading List for Creating the Life You Want
There are several publications available on the topic of creating the life you choose. Here are a handful of the books that have proven to be most beneficial in my quest to identify my life’s purpose and achieve my objectives. I’d love to hear your ideas, so please leave them in the comments section.
Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning Man’s Search for Meaning is the book that has helped me the most in identifying my purpose as a man. Man’s Search For Meaning, written by Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist who survived Auschwitz, emphasizes the necessity of having a reason to live and the capacity to discover meaning in life even in the most difficult of situations. Read it if you haven’t already. If you’ve already read it, go back and reread it.
Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. For over three decades, this book has been a business blockbuster. And it’s not without cause. 7 Habits not only teaches the theory of living a life with a purpose, but it also gives tools to help you put theory into practice. This book has had a significant impact on my planning and goal-setting strategies.
Parker J. Palmer’s Let Your Life Speak and Gregg Levoy’s Callings: Finding and Following an Authentic Life are two books worth reading. Do you believe you’ve discovered your life’s calling? Is it simply a job for you, or are you pursuing your passion? These two books aren’t perfect, but they’re the finest I’ve found on the subject of discovering and following your passion.
David Allen’s Getting Things Done is a book on getting things done. Several of the themes and approaches of Getting Things Done have been integrated into my own planning system. While 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is a great book for long-term planning, it neglects to address how to plan and manage little but crucial activities. This is where Getting Things Done comes in. Without this book, I would not have made it through law school.
Bryan Tracy’s “Goals!” This book has had a significant impact on my goal-setting perspective. Bryan Tracy sets forth a step-by-step technique for setting and achieving meaningful life objectives.
The Most Crucial Instrument
You may locate a mentor and become a member of a mastermind group. You may make a list of your objectives and read a million books on how to achieve them. However, if you lack one item, you will never, ever succeed in life; without this instrument, you will be doomed to mediocrity. What is this necessary tool? Discipline. Your dreams will never become a reality if you lack discipline. The portion when you set objectives for yourself is the most enjoyable. The enjoyable part is reading literature regarding your objectives. However, you must then take action, embrace no, concentrate, hustle, and push through any obstacles that arise.
“However, Brett, how do you become disciplined?” readers often ask. You just do. You decide you desire something badly enough to go to any length to have it. There are no quick fixes or formulae. When a portion of your brain wants to idly browse the web, another part of your brain needs to scream, “No! Keep working!” Whether you’re writing a paper or running a marathon, there needs to be a voice in your mind screaming, “No!” when one section of your brain strikes the wall. We are not going down without a fight. Continue to push until you succeed.” Discipline is developed in the same manner that muscle is developed; you begin by being disciplined in the little things and build up a reservoir of strength to tackle the larger tasks that test you as a man.
That’s all there is to it, gentlemen. Let’s roll up our sleeves and unroll our plans; grab our tools and hammers, and get to work. Let’s strive every day to create a life that is outstanding and amazing.
Now it’s your time. I’m sure you’ve all utilized tools to help you create the life you desire. Please share any online resources or publications that have helped you in determining your life’s purpose and achieving your objectives.
Creating a Blueprint for Your Future is part of the Craft the Life You Want Series. Gathering Your Tools and Setting Up Shop, or The Importance of Where You Live
Listen to our podcast with futurist Brian David Johnson for additional information on how to plan your future:
The “creating a blueprint for a better future” is an article that tells you how to create the life you want. It includes tools, tips and tricks on how to start your journey.
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- tools every man should have in his toolbox
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