If there's one thing men need to become more masculine, it's goals. Goals are not like dreams; goals are objectives you actually make progress towards achieving. When men become more focused on their goals, they find themselves better off than they were before. That's what happened to me, and it's why I endorse it.

How many modern men do you know who seem to just be drifting through life? Whether they are working towards a goal or not, they still seem somewhat aimless in their direction.

That is the kind of man I once was, and it's the kind of man I want you to avoid becoming. Work for work's sake is not acceptable.

Becoming more focused on your goals will drastically alter your life. Here are a few important lessons I've learned that help with staying on top of your goals.

1. Relevance and goals

How many things did you learn in school that you deem as useless? If you're like the majority of modern men, chances are almost everything you learned can be deemed useless. One of the big reasons why men struggle these days with making progress in life is because there's no relevance in their goals.

When I graduated from high school, I went to college straight away. I had an interest in computer science, so I decided to give it a try.

Although I was confident in my choice, I still made a critical error. 

Why did I choose computer science? What did I hope to obtain by studying computer science? How would it be useful to me in the future?

I had neglected to answer any of these questions. I didn't last more than a year in college.

The modern-day school system conditions us to ignore relevance. Seeing as how the majority of stuff you learn at school is irrelevant, it's inevitable.

I had chosen to go into comp sci because I had nothing else I wanted to go into. That's it. I had no future aspirations for using what I learned.

After dropping out, I discovered my passion for human nature/behavior, fitness, and psychology. Human nature teaches me about what motivates humans, fitness teaches me how to keep my body healthy, and psychology teaches me how to navigate the human mind. 

The end result is a very high practical ROI; human nature led me to my goal of becoming more stoic, fitness led me to my goal of getting into better shape, and psychology led me to my goal of better communication.

By setting goals in topics that are relevant to you, you ensure a high ROI without it feeling like a chore.

2. Stay disciplined

It's no surprise that discipline is a tremendous deciding factor in whether you do your work or not. For decades, discipline has been known to be what separates the wheat from the chaff. For you to become a masculine, successful man, you must stay disciplined toward your goals.

But how does one cultivate discipline so they can do the work? Paradoxically, you develop the discipline to do the work by.... doing the work!

Like many others, I was a serial procrastinator. I would put off my work until the last minute because I couldn't get myself to do the work otherwise.

I still ended up graduating from high school, but those events where I'd leave work until the night before was not good for my stress. 

Now that I've become more goal-oriented, I've learned two things when it comes to discipline.

First, discipline is infinitely easier to cultivate when your mental health is spot on.

Think of discipline as power from a power plant. Discipline starts in your mind; the amount of discipline you can generate is reliant on the power plant that is your mind. If your mind is in a poor state, you won't be able to generate enough discipline to do hard work.

Second, discipline is a self-sustaining cycle.

When you use your discipline to do hard work, you make your discipline power plant stronger, allowing it to generate more discipline over time. Eventually, you get to the point where you actually enjoy doing the work.

When conditions for discipline are optimized, staying disciplined becomes super easy.

3. Keep your end goal in mind

There's so much advice out there concerning how to start your goals, it's overwhelming. Some say to start with the end in mind, some say don't be too focused on the end, some say to achieve your goals indirectly, and some say don't rush. After pursuing my own goals for a while, here are the key lessons I've picked up.

Firstly, do have an end goal in mind.

Nothing is more motivating than imagining the amazing life you could have once you reach your goal. This is an amazing tool to utilize, but shouldn't be your main or majority focus.

Use your end goal as a means to set a direction and keep yourself motivated, nothing less nothing more.

Second, think big, act small.

You want to have a grand goal. A goal that, once you achieve it, your life will improve so much. However, the actions you take toward achieving that goal should be small.

Taking small action ensures that you avoid burnout and that any potential mistakes won't throw you off course for too long.

Third, enjoy the process.

Yes, there will be moments when you don't enjoy what you do. However, at the end of the day, you should be able to look back at what you did and smile with satisfaction at your work.

Enjoying the process doesn't mean every moment is enjoyable. It means that the work you're doing brings you satisfaction and fulfillment.

Every journey starts with the first step

Above all else, stop overthinking how to start if you haven't already. Pick a direction and go. Worry about the details later.

Too many modern men are so absorbed in getting everything right that they end up not doing anything. So take the plunge already. What's the worst that could happen?

- Karl