We live in a world where there are unrealistic expectations placed on young men. It’s in a lot of countries, and a lot of people don’t realize what it takes to succeed when you’re a young guy in today’s world. The directions aren’t clear, and a lot of the world’s wealth has been actively siphoned off by the elderly. If you’re in your 20s, you might feel cheated. You were, and I’ll talk about how society expects too much out of young men later in this article. But I like to think about solutions. How can a young man navigate the world such that he can cope with other people’s high expectations, while also taking accountability for his own life and achieving great results?
People have high income expectations of everyone
This is true across the world, and across the board. Easy access to credit and lots of money in the financial system has made it easy for people to spend money that isn’t their own. People who are older, wiser, wealthier, and should know better are spending more than ever on frivolous crap. Because the gap in wealth is bigger than the gap in income, older and wealthier people’s ability to spend their salary is understated. We’re seeing faster cars, nicer houses, flashier chains. Who is hurt by all of this? Young men coming from the bottom who aren’t playing status games. Society needs to fix it’s addiction to debt however, and young men need to buck this trend.
People are unable to think long term
The only thing that matters in most people’s minds is what you’re doing now. Most people are unable to make the proper predictions and see the future. They don’t have what it takes to build something for years at a time, and they have no sense of what it takes to succeed at a high financial level. This means that if you aren’t succeeding in the short term, your efforts must be in vain. Until something works for you in a clear fashion, you might as well be throwing spaghetti on the wall by other people’s standards. This means that young men often don’t get the time required for the value of their efforts to exponentiate. In order to really win, you need to work so hard at your craft that you experience eventual exponential growth. This takes a very long time. Probably about 5-10 years of hard work and dedication. If you’re unable to withstand that kind of pressure, you get nothing.
People don’t understand the value of looking at net worth over income
And they absolutely never will. If you have a high income, people will respect you, even if you’ve built your castle on a foundation of sand. But let that income disappear, and you’ll see a real side to people. If you build wealth, you’re going to learn how to save. You’re going to learn how to invest, and you’re going to know exactly how much money you can spend. You’re going to avoid loans and debt and probably live on less money in your youth. You’ll be more resilient than most, and more open to learn than most. As time goes on, you’ll pass on better financial values to your children. When you’re in the early stages of building a high net worth, you spend absolutely nothing. You pinch pennies and work like a dog. When your income exponentiates, so does your wealth. Most people live in the here, and now. They just don’t get it, and they simply aren’t capable of thinking in this manner. This is why people spend so much money on student loans.
Looks matter more than ever
This is because people have gotten wealthier, and they have more time on their hands. Social media is full of great looking people, who warp the human brain when it comes to how one should be. This is very detrimental to young men, because it takes us a few years to come into our own. On the flipside, men in their mid 20s to early 30s can make big gains socially if they take care of themselves. As society becomes nicer and easier to live in, you’ll be able to make bigger and bigger gains by looking good rather than just having money..
Modern culture = simping
Everyone wants to throw money at hot women. If you’re from the west, that’s a lot of your culture. Strip clubs, OnlyFans, Hooters. You know it’s true. Simp culture is actually incredibly dangerous for young men when it comes to remaining in touch with reality. It sets up a “nice guy” dichotomy where the man expects something in return for his labor and life force. This is a dangerous dichotomy. It’s also terrible for young men because it sets the precedent that you need to be even wealthier and flashier to get respect. It’s psychotic, and it’s no wonder so many people end up broke in their elder years.
Accept a few years of looking like a loser
If you can see the writing on the wall, you know that the average person is overspending. Most people don’t have a hope of keeping their money in retirement, and it’s because governments prop up humanity. If you understand this you’ll work very hard and spend very little as a young man. You’ll stay humble and pretend that you’re not up to much. Build real wealth. That when it’s authentically owned when you show it off. Having something authentically is what will feel amazing. Having something authentically and knowing you have a lot in the bank? I can’t see what’s better than that. If you can put yourself through the pain of hard work and deprivation, there’s very likely something to be positive about on the other side of the rainbow. Just make sure that what you’re working on actually has value. In order to do that, you’re going to want to analyze the world around you.
Know about your local economy and its particulars
The local economy is the key to everything. If you don’t know how you’re own country works, you won’t know how to succeed. You won’t know what the growth industries are, and you won’t know where to focus your energy. You won’t know where the best place is to live, you won’t know where best place is to meet the right people. Learn about your country’s economy. Everywhere works differently, and doing the wrong thing can set you up for a life of hardship and failure.
Ask what people want/need more of, and make it a mission to provide it
The two big ones are finance and healthcare. We spend a lot of our time and money managing money and working on our healthcare. I don’t see that situation changing for a good while. Jobs are being automated away at a massive rate, and people are not finding solutions to this beyond blogs and YouTube. The simple fact of the matter is that we’re in a time at which the global economy is shifting. You have to skate to where the puck is going if you want to stand a chance at succeeding in today’s world.
Learn your craft
If you know what you’re doing, there isn’t much luck involved. Learn your craft, and make sure that you’re learning a real skill. Make sure that you’re adding economic value to the world. In today’s age, the nonproductive are getting cut. Quitters are getting cut too. If you want to stay ahead of the curve, learn your craft deeply and consistently. Once you get to the point where you’re a top 1% talent, it’ll be pretty hard for you to fall behind or “lose”.
If you’re in a poor country, live in a wealthy area
The poorer the country in which you live, the more money matters. If you’re in Africa, you’re probably going to want to fight hard to put yourself into the top 1% of asset holders. It’s pretty much the only way to guarantee yourself security, although humanity has gained wealth over time. In countries like the United States, you can skate by being “just” in the upper group, so your decision making should be different.
Move to a lower cost area if you’re in a rich country
Health is better than wealth, provided you’re living in a semi-modern environment. You’re going to see a lot of gains from building a sustainable income source in a lower cost of living area. Sure, you might be in a tier 2 or 3 city, but you’ll likely have more money and status. This should lead to a better future in the long run.
The sooner you start a business, the sooner you wake up
Once you wake up and see how people overspending, you can’t unsee it. It becomes easy to a build a great life, primarily because you know what it really takes. When you know what it really takes, you become a killer.
Build wealth and avoid those who are playing status games
This is really difficult actually. Most people who are building wealth games are working all the time. If you’re from a poor country, you really won’t see them. If you’re in a wealthy country, a lot of them are online all day. But the internet is very dangerous. If you hang out wealthy areas, you’re not going to necessarily meet people who are great at building wealth. You might meet people who are stagnating and/or falling behind. If you hang out in poor areas, you’re going to find yourself being dragged down by bad habits and being overly generous. It’s easy to build wealth. Just work hard and be consistent. But it’s incredibly hard to build a habit.
Ignore (a lot of) your parents’ advice, but don’t burn bridges
If I had followed my parents’ advice beginning in high school, I would have been a lot wealthier, but in a lower wealth percentile. This is because I moved from the United States to a much poorer country. Over the long term, the odds of me becoming wealthier than my parents’ advice would have made me, however, are nonzero. And this is while living in a country that’s more than 10 times poorer than the United States. This is because I “stayed home” with a family member and saved money and figured out how to build a business. I leveraged my connections with my other family members in order to create success in my own life, despite not fully agreeing with them. Learning when to listen to your family members and when not to is the key.
Get a degree, cheaply
This is one area where your parents may or may not be correct. The value of a degree is understated in today’s world. You don’t need one to succeed, but life will get a lot easier if you have one. You can join the status game that is the corporate world, while building wealth on the side. This means you will need to have social skills and decorum. Keeping your job is as much a game of politics as it is about your performance. If you can get your hands on a cheap degree, you’re going to put yourself in a social class where it’s easier to do business. Simple as that.
Focus on health ASAP
If you actually build wealth, then what you’re doing is creating quality of life for yourself. Once you have that set up, you’re going to want to focus on what’s important. Your health is the most important thing in your life. If you can create good health, you’re going to create a life that far surpasses being wealthy and feeling like crap. This is because you will last longer… on this planet. You’ll know more things, have a larger network, and have more experiences, simply by having time on your side. Depending on where you live, it takes between 2,200 and 4,500 dollars per month to buy you shelter, food, and all the basics. Once you’re able to comfortably spend that, focus on your health. Being slight wealthy and very healthy beats being very wealthy and unhealthy 10 times out of 10.
Delay children, but not too much
As a young man in today’s society, affording children will be difficult. I say put yourself in the top 10% of asset holders in your country before you consider doing it. This should take you about 6 years of hard work provided you’re smart, have the right people around you, and aren’t a criminal. Which brings me to the most important point of the article.
Don’t risk your freedom
If you risk your freedom, you’re going to regret it. Even if you get away with it, you won’t have the same confidence as someone who built things the right way. We’re fast approaching a world in which being in the top 10% of asset holders in any country will buy you a decent life. You don’t need much. Just move to a society where life is getting better, make sure that you have an exit plan in case of war, and build a little life for yourself. This is doable without crime, provided you’re focused. Stay focused and avoid risking it all for some quick cash. Jail and court waste your most precious commodity: time.
Bloodline building
I come from a decently well-off family. I’ve “rubbed shoulders” with the superrich. Some of the wealthiest people in the world. What separates “them” from “us” is the strength of the family unit. The richest families operate as a unit, and the wealth they can build doing that is pretty extreme. Make sure to marry/have kids with the right person/people. Preferably someone who’s also high earning and intelligent. Don’t screw your kids over by not building a strong family. Marry someone intelligent and good looking first. You want your kids to be able to perform. But after that, make sure you guys have a plan for your legacy.
What can society do?
If you want a society of hardworking citizens, this is a topic of interest to you. Generally speaking, we live in a society that advantages males in many ways. But we value all the wrong things. Status, luxury goods, and sex. In the short term, these things destroy wealth. Over the long term, they create absolute misery. It’s pretty much impossible to stop this. I think generally it comes down to young women understanding that if they want things, they might have to look for older men. Smart young men are saving their monies and building wealth. The other thing society can do is turn off the debt faucet. Reward savers rather than spenders. This is hard, and will create a lot of hardship. But I believe now is the perfect moment for that to happen. Humanity is becoming abundantly wealthy. Reallocating resources to the necessary right now could serve to establish a golden age of prosperity.
If you’re complaining about societal expectations, you’re probably in the wrong. But you’re crazy if you don’t notice how things are going. The wealth gap between winners and everyone else is expanding. You either keep up or get left behind. This means that you’re going to need to be able to endure a lot of short-term pain and struggle. But if you can get through it, you’re going to be way ahead of the curve. Learning how to evaluate yourself, and when to listen to advice and when to ignore other people is the key to success. If you do the required work, there’s no such thing as luck. Don’t let irrational, ignorant, normal, or crazy people’s expectations of you determine how you go through life. You only get to live one life. Go for what you want, but do it to the fullest extent and be unapologetic. In the long run, you should get what you want.
Thanks for paying attention.
