Knowledge For Men

Dane Maxwell is a serial entrepreneur, the founder of  Zannee and the CEO of The Foundation program. He has taken his businesses from mere ideas to seven figure companies within a brief period of 5 years.

Success Quote

“All you have to do is care” – Dane Maxwell

Key Points

1. All You Have to Do is Care 

That’s it. All you have to do is care.

If you want to succeed at business, health, love, spirituality or any other facet of your life, all you have to do is care. You have to care about what you are doing more than you care about the next episode of American Idol or the next adult video you were going to watch.

You have to care enough to get uncomfortable, to do the hard thing, to put in the work, to sweat, to cry and to bleed until you achieve your goal.

If you want a great relationship. All you have to do is care

If you want a successful, globally impactful business, all you have to do is care.

If you want to live the life of your dreams and help as many people as you possibly can along the way. All you have to do is care.

2. Accept Devastation on a Daily Basis

On the road to success, you will be devastated. It’s all but inevitable.

Part of the entrepreneurial lifestyle, and really life as a human being is accepting that at any moment you could be devastated on either a large or a small scale. If you want to lead a happy, fulfilled life, you must learn to accept this possibility and not run from it.

If you live your life in constant fear of devastation and failure, you will never truly live. If you accept the inherent risk of this human existence and accept that devastation could occur at any moment, then you are free to live fully and openly.

3. With the Context of Unconditional Love There is No Concept of Worth 

Everyone is familiar with the concept of worth. Be it net worth, social worth or self worth, we have all heard the term and are all well versed ascribing worth to everything in our lives, especially ourselves.

However, Dane suggests that we should approach this concept from a completely different angle.

Unconditional love.

If you love yourself unconditionally there is no concept of worth, you are loves no matter how you are. No matter how well your business does. No matter if you are successful in your relationships, no matter if you feel lost and unsure, or on fire and passionate.

This idea of radical, unconditional love for both yourself and everyone in your life is the powerhouse for transformation.

4. True Power Comes from Being Vulnerable in Community 

We always speak of a confident man as someone who has his shit together. Someone who is unaffected by others and who feels a total independence from outcome.

In the interview, Dane suggests that real power, true power, lies in authenticity and vulnerability. Real power lies in being able to look the people who are counting on you in the face and say “Guys I’m scared, I don’t know what I’m doing.”

When you open yourself up, when you are vulnerable and honest, you are confident. It shows that you are a man who is willing to be hurt, who is willing to be ridiculed and mocked and who is willing to admit his own weaknesses and shortcomings.

True power lies in vulnerability

5. How You Treat Women is Indicative of Your Character

One of the greatest indicators of a man’s character is how he treats the women in his life.

Men who treat women as party favors and objects to be enjoyed for a night before pissing off are likely the same in all other areas of their lives. Their interactions in business, health and spirituality are likely equally shallow and disconnected.

If you want to be a great man, understand a woman’s heart. Be willing to sit with her for hours while she shares her feelings without any concern for your own desires. Be willing to work at a relationship and work to connect with a woman.

If you can understand the heart of a woman, you can unlock everything else in your life.

Direct download: Dane_Maxwell.mp3
Category:Success and Life Advice -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

David Wagner is a spiritual teacher, men’s group leader, and proud father who has dedicated his life to the exploration of personal transformation.

He travels widely leading workshops and retreats for people from all walks of life from all over the world. He is the host of The Whole Manchilada Podcast, is a featured meditation teacher on Yogaglo.com, and serves on the faculties of Kripalu and Omega Institutes.

Favorite Success Quote

“Success is messy.” ~T. Harv Eker

Key Points

1. Fearlessly Look at Your Mess

One of the biggest challenges that modern men face is to look at themselves without bias or emotion and examine the mess in their lives.

To fearlessly look at your life and examine your bullshit, taking full responsibility for it and where it has gotten you takes courage and backbone. Realize that you can never completely eliminate all the bs in your life, but you can become aware of it and mitigate its effects in different areas.

Be courageous, be fearless, take an honest look at yourself in the mirror and be willing to face whatever it is that you see.

2. You Can do the “Right” Thing and Still be Screwed 

Something most men today do not realize is that they can do all of the “right” things by family and society’s standards and still be completely screwed.

Going to college, getting a good job, coming home to a mediocre marriage and a night full of sitcom reruns and reality TV is not success, it’s barely existing.

Society tells men that as long as they stay out of jail, and don’t hit anyone, they are doing ok. But the truth is, most men are dying, in fact, most men have been dying since they left college.

They give up their hopes and their dreams in favor of playing it safe and doing the “right” thing, they stay in terrible relationships that leave them drained and bitter because it’s the “right” thing, and they never risk stepping out of their comfort zone and expressing themselves fully because doing what everyone else does is the “right” thing to do.

If you want to be a real man, a man with grit, backbone, and balls, there will come a time in your life where you must abandon the so-called right thing in favor of “your thing.”

Forget living for society, your friends, or your family. If you want to be a success and enjoy your life, you must do the things that will make you happy, not the things that everyone accepts as the “right” path to take.

3. There is No One Way to Express Your “Wild Man”

A common misconception in the world of men is that you somehow have to be this alpha on a Harley Davidson, sporting a beard and a full sleeve of tattoos to be a real man.

The truth is that being a man is much less a matter of outward appearances and much more a matter of conviction and personal power. It’s a matter of owning who you are and fearlessly expressing yourself to the world

4. Avoid Simulation and Embrace Reality 

With the ever growing prevalence of video games and online porn, now more than ever before, it is easy for men to live out their dreams vicariously through virtual simulations.

Instead of going out and meeting women and getting to a place in their sex lives where they can have that vibrant, passionate, crazy sex, men are settling for sitting shamefully by their laptop, lotion in hand.

Instead of creating a life of freedom and adventure and purpose, men are leveling up their Dark Elf Wizard in Skyrim or World of War Craft or getting to the latest prestige in Call of Duty.

Men are settling for results that are far below what they are capable of simply because of the ease and comfort of simulation.

While adult content and video games may have their place in some men’s lives, you need to look at why you are using these distractions and make the necessary changes so that your life is so kick ass that no simulation could ever compare.

Direct download: David_Wagner.mp3
Category:Success and Life Advice -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Argentina-born Dan De Leon is a powerhouse DJ, blending his unique brand of Tribal, Tech and House rhythms with a kinetic crowd connection to mesmerizing effect. His magnetic appeal has propelled him to performances at top venues around the world where he delivers a crowd experience that crushes expectations and leaves in it’s wake a trail of melodies and memories that live on long after the night has ended.

Dan De Leon’s debut original studio production “SHOW YOU” was signed by DJ Chus and released on STEREO PRODUCTIONS in 2007.

His many productions and remixes since then have hit the BILLBOARD TOP 10 Dance Chart and have appeared on the world’s top DJ compilations including those of the preeminent GLOBAL UNDERGROUND and the legendary TOMMY BOY RECORDS. His remix work includes numerous BILLBOARD #1’s, Top 10’s and Top 20’s for Noelia, Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, Kristine W and Debby Holiday.

Favorite Success Quote

“It is better to be impetuous than too circumspect because fortune is a woman and if she is to be submissive it is necessary to beat and coerce her”~Niccolo Machiavelli

Key Points

1. You Can’t Rest on Your Laurels 

Whenever you are an artist, businessman, entrepreneur, athlete etc. it is often easy to work incredibly hard for a success, and then allow a single victory to go to your head causing you to stop striving the way you were before.

If you want to be truly successful in any profession (especially if you are a performing artist) you must have an incredibly short term memory for both successes and failures.

The show that went great, the business that plummeted, the deal that tripled your profit…none of that matters, all that matters is that you continue gaining momentum as you move forward and not allow success to cause complacency.

2. Just Keep Moving Forward Boldly

One of the only ways to achieve massive success in life is to move forward with bold determination every single day. If you want a result, go after it with all you have, be bold, seize opportunity and be willing to lay it all on the line for one chance, one opportunity, because that may be all that you get.

3. Always be Ready 

Perhaps the greatest take away from the entire interview was Dan’s focus on proper preparation. Life will often send opportunities your way at unexpected times, and it is up to you to seize them.

However, what is more important than taking the chances life gives you is being ready, is having developed yourself into the man you need to be to seize these opportunities properly.

Life waits for no man and fortune favors the prepared.

4. Create Every Day 

If you want success in your life, create every day. While in the interview, Dan talked specifically about music, this is applicable to all fronts of life.

If you want to be healthy, workout every day. Want to be rich? Gain momentum in your business every day Want to run a top blog? Create content every day.

Always be moving forward on your goals and dreams and never let yourself lose momentum

Direct download: Dan_De_Leon.mp3
Category:Success and Life Advice -- posted at: 2:30am EDT

Grant Cardone is an international business and sales expert. He has authored 4 business books and customized sales training programs for Fortune 500 companies, small businesses, success-minded individuals and entrepreneurs.

Cardone, a dynamic, highly sought after international speaker, captivates audiences with his down-to-earth, entertaining speaking style as he tackles timely topics regarding sales, marketing, branding and entrepreneurship, outlining what people need to do to thrive in the new global economy.

In Grant’s second appearance on the Knowledge for Men show, we delve deeper into how to create a successful life and business and what mindsets and philosophies you need to make 2015 your best year ever.

Key Points

1. Perfection is Just an Excuse for Inaction

So many people claim to be perfectionists. They say that they don’t want to publish any content until it’s perfect, they can’t write that book, release that podcast, publish that website, until it’s absolutely perfect.

The cold reality is that perfectionism is simply an excuse for inaction.

No, you’re not a perfectionist, you’re just not taking action. You don’t have writers block, you just aren’t writing. You don’t have any excuse to be sitting on your butt!

Realize that you will never be perfect, the content you create will never be perfect, nothing you do will ever be quite perfect. But you must take action anyways!

Imperfect action is better than no action, and the only thing you can do worse than the wrong thing is nothing. So get out there and start creating, start selling, start whatever has been on your heart and be willing to work through imperfection until you achieve success.

2. You’ll Never Make a Shot You Don’t Take 

A huge fear that prevents many entrepreneurs from taking action is the fear of failure. What they don’t realize, however, is that the greatest failure is inaction.

It is impossible to succeed at something you do not try. If you attempt a new job, business, relationship, or take some big risk and “fail” you have learned something and moved closer towards the life of your dreams. If you sit on your tail, not taking any action; you have seen nothing, done nothing, and achieved nothing.

If you want to be a success, you have to be a massive action taker, get out there and tear it up! Feel the fear and do it anyways. Start that business, ask that girl out, move out and travel the world. Life is too damn short to live in fear of failure. You must make the fear of regret greater than any fear of failure could be.

3. Success Takes Persistence and Determination

Grant spent over half of his life in the single minded pursuit of success. Along the way, he failed countless times. By his own estimation, he has made hundreds of thousands of sales calls, and only succeeded at a rate of 20%. But that 20% has allowed him to make hundreds of millions of dollars and become one of the world’s leading authorities on sales and business success.

Realize that if you want to succeed, it will take time. It may take ten years, it may take 20, it takes however long it takes. While this may seem like a big sacrifice, the simple reality is that the true sacrifice is living a mediocre life for those 10-20 years.

If you want to be successful, if you want to wake up every day with a smile on your face, a beautiful women next to you in bed, a full bank account and a happy life, it will take hard work.

But it will be worth it.

4. Never Abandon Your Purpose 

Many men (especially men with family’s) believe that it is a somehow noble gesture to give up on their hopes, goals, and dreams for their family. They believe that it is somehow a worthy life to forgo everything you have ever wanted to create and be remembered for for the sake of your wife and kids.

While this may sound selfless and chivalrous on the surface, you have to dig deeper to realize the more sinister implication.

If you wake up every day, miserable and angry about the job you have to work so you can provide for your family, how do you think that will affect your relationships at home?

If you come home every night, so exhausted that you barely have to energy to lay on the couch and watch TV, much less spend time with your kids, how do you think this will affect your family’s view of you? They don’t see the hours worked so they can lead their comfortable lives, they only see a father who is too tired and miserable to truly invest in his kids.

If you abandon your dreams and desires for a steady paycheck, what lessons are you teaching your kids, especially your sons? What will their outlook on life be when they see their father, their role model grinding through an existence that he doesn’t enjoy for a salary that still isn’t enough?

Now let’s flip the script.

Imagine that instead of giving up on your dreams, you grabbed your balls and jumped off the deep end. You went for it!

You would spend a while (years possibly) in financial risk (likely no more than you already have in a 9-5), investing tons of hours into a business that may or may not succeed, giving up time with your friends, wife, and children. But there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

After you have put in your time, after you have invested the blood, sweat, tears, and heartache into your dream, it will finally pay off. Your financial worries will be gone, you will have boundless energy, waking up every day to a life that inspires and excites you, and you will have more free time than you ever could doing something that you hated.

How would your family view you now?

They would see a strong man who had dreams and goals and took action on them despite obstacles. You would have more time to spend with them, more money to take vacations and have adventures with and most importantly, more joy, because now you are building an incredible life in all areas, and you aren’t sacrificing anything.

If you want to live a happy, fulfilled life, you have to make this mental shift. You are not doing your family any favors by giving up on your dreams.

If you want your children to live the happiest, most successful lives possible, then you will lead by example and teach them to go after life with all that they’ve got and not to waste one second on dull, uninspiring and unfulfilled work.

Direct download: Grant_Cardone_1.mp3
Category:Success and Life Advice -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Alan C. Fox has lived a long and joyful life, achieving tremendous success in many different arenas, both personally and professionally. He has advanced degrees in accounting, law, education, and professional writing.

He has expanded his commercial real estate company, ACF Property Management, Inc. into a billion dollar enterprise since founding it in 1968. He founded Rattle Poetry Journal (in 1994), a nationally renowned publication including his conversations with noted poets

Alan is dedicated to sharing his wisdom with as many people as possible through his writings, public talks, and media appearances.

Favorite Success Quote

“There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved” ~George Sand

Key Points

1. Learn to be Authentic not Perfect 

Many men have a perfection complex. They feel that unless they are perfect, they aren’t worthy of love and aren’t worth their goals. The simple fact, however, is that no man is perfect, we all have flaws and failures and always will.

Your goal as a grounded man should be to become 100% authentic, not perfect. Be yourself, don’t hide behind this facade or persona of who you want to be; this only leads to a disconnect between how people view you and who you really are.

When you are 100% authentic, when you are vulnerable and open yourself up to the world, no one can hurt you, you give your full self and allow others to take it or leave it knowing that some will love you and some will hate you.

2. Accept People Faults and All 

Once you come to terms with your own imperfection, you must come to terms with the imperfection of others. As much as we hate to admit it, no woman is perfect, there is no “Cinderella.” Every woman has her faults, failures, and issues.

If you want to be a grounded man in a relationship, you must learn to love your woman, faults and all. Do not sit in judgement of them, but rather accept them, acknowledging your own faults and move forward in your relationship.

3. There Are Two “Me’s” and One “Us”

In every great relationship, there are boundaries. You are two individuals but one, you have two seperate lives but the same life. You must realize that a key component of any healthy relationship is seperation.

You need time with your friends, time by yourself, and time away to grow. You should never come to a point in your relationship where your significant other has an issue with you spending time with your social circle each week or taking a trip by yourself to do some thinking.

Accept that to grow together, you also need to grow apart.

4. Do Not Avoid Conversations About Money 

Money is one of the leading causes of divorce in all marriages, and one of the greatest reasons for this is a lack of open and honest communication about money.

If you want to make a relationship work, you need to be open about your financial situation, debt, spending habits, and financial goals.

If you come into a relationship with significant debt that the other person was unaware of (or vice versa) you are starting off your lives together with contention. As Zig Ziglar said “Money isn’t everything but it is right up there with oxygen,” do not let something so important go undiscussed.

Realize that your value as a person and as a lover is not your bank account, you have more to offer a relationship than financial wealth. If you love the other person, you will find a way to work through financial issues together, but first you must talk about them and be open.

5. Take Care of Yourself First 

A simple yet profound piece of advice. You cannot be all that your partner needs you to be if you are only focused on them and not yourself. What your ideal woman wants is for you to be a masculine, emotionally intelligent, grounded man, and to do this, you must first have your own life in order.

You can’t take care of someone else and love fully if your life is in shambles, you can’t commit to a healthy relationship if you are not making your own health and well being a priority above the other person’s.

Although it may sound selfish, this is truly the only way for a relationship to work. No marriage or long term committment should be two halves making a whole, rather it should be two whole people coming together to enjoy life.

Become whole before you start searching for your “better-half”

Direct download: Alan_Fox.mp3
Category:Dating and Relationship Advice -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Adam Braun is a New York Times bestselling author and the Founder of Pencils of Promise, an award-winning organization that has broken ground on more than 300 schools for children in poverty around the world. He is also the Director of the Global Education Platform, an initiative conceived by the UN Special Envoy for Global Education to identify and accelerate breakthroughs in learning innovation.

He has been featured as a speaker at The White House, the United Nations and the Clinton Global Initiative. He has also been named to Business Insider’s 40 Under 40, Wired Magazine‘s 50 People Who Are Changing the Worldand was selected as one of the World Economic Forum’s first ten “Global Shapers.”

Favorite Success Quote

“Live not in dreams, but in contemplation of reality which is perhaps the future. “~Rilke

Key Points

1. Passion is Over-rated Purpose is Enduring 

Many of the modern self help “gurus” and speakers talk constantly about finding and pursuing your passions. The simple fact is, passion fades away.

The excitement dies, you get bored, you move on. Purpose however, purpose is enduring.

If you can find your purpose, that one thing that you were put on this earth to do, and pursue it with your whole heart, you will be successful no matter what. 

2. You Cannot Fake Authenticity 

Most people have a built in B.S. detector. They can tell when someone is disingenuous or inauthentic.

If you really want to make a difference in the world, if you really want to have an impact and live a life of purpose and joy, you have to drop the mask and be authentic.

Open up, be vulnerable, share the real you, unabashedly and unashamed of who you are or what people might think.

Many people may dislike you, some may even hate you, but if you try and please everyone, you will end up impacting no one.

3. Get Out of Your Comfort Zone

One of the quickest ways to find your purpose, to get on track to live the life of your dreams is to break out of your comfort zone.

Do stuff that scares you, take that class you’ve been putting off, join that men’s group, leave everything and go backpacking across Europe.

Almost no one ever dies wishing that they had spent more time playing it safe. You only get one shot at this life. Put your neck on the line and get uncomfortable!

Direct download: Adam_Braun.mp3
Category:Success and Life Advice -- posted at: 11:24am EDT

Dale Thomas Vaughn – a champion of purpose, has worked with some of the most influential people in the world including billionaire industry moguls, academic thought-leaders and international heads of state.

He has written and edited seven best-selling books, run with the bulls in Pamplona, trekked the 500-mile pilgrimage that is the Camino de Santiago, become a certified specialist of wine, and both succeeded and failed in the world of business.

Today, through his award-winning work with The EmpowerMentorship Institute, Dale helps men discover what they want from their lives and then empowers them to make a concrete plan to go do it.

Favorite Success Quote

“The aim of life is self development, to realize one’s nature perfectly”~Oscar Wilde

Key Points

1. You Have to Take Your Masks Off 

If you want to live your life to the fullest possible capacity, you have to take your masks off.

You can no longer live your life in-authentically to please others, you must be true to yourself and who you want to be. Do not allow social, familial or societal norms to govern who you are.

If you believe in something that is controversial or unpopular, voice your opinion. If you want to live your life in an uncommon or even frowned up way, do it! Don’t let anyone or anything stand in the way of you living your truth.

2. Introspect 

One of the most powerful tools in your arsenal for discovering yourself and your purpose is introspection.

In today’s busy world, we almost never have any time alone and in silence to spend with our thoughts. For Dale, he achieves this time by hiking, for you, it may be morning meditation, an ocean swim, or a long walk outside.

Do whatever you need to do to clear your mind and get the time you need to reflect on who you are, where you are going, and what you want out of life.

3. Get a Plan for Your Life

Once you have spent time in introspection, the next step is to develop a plan for your life.

Who do you want to be? What do you want to achieve? What legacy do you want to leave? Once you have the answer, write out a plan for yourself to get there.

Set goals and deadlines, challenge yourself and create a bulletproof plan for achieving the best life ever.

4. Break Your “Everest Goal” Down 

When you are setting your plan, you will likely have an “Everest Goal” something that is incredibly far off and difficult to achieve.

It is important that you start on the path to this goal by setting smaller, six week goals, completing these small goals and then reassessing where you are with relation to the end.

5. Surround Yourself With the Right People

Now that you have clarity on who you are and what you want to achieve, you have a vision for who you want to be, and you have smaller goals set to help you achieve that vision, it is time to start surrounding yourself with people who can help you make that vision a reality.

Your social circle is one of the most important factors to your success. We all know the Jim Rohn quote that “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” and it holds true with regards to your purpose.

Surround yourself with likeminded men and women who will help you and encourage you on your personal growth journey, who have been there, done that and can help you make sure that you don’t make the same mistakes.

Remember, who you associate with is who you become. Make sure you are associating with the right people.

6. Follow the Six Steps to Manliness 

In the show, Dale shared with us the six key pillars to manliness. Whatever your personal definition of manliness is, all six of these will show up in your life in some way.

1. Purpose: Every man must have some purpose in his life bigger than himself, something he wants to accomplish before he dies that will leave a lasting legacy.

2. Balance: Every man need to have balance in his life. He must be sure to prioritize family and fun as much as he does his work.

3. Adventure: If you aren’t adventuring some, you aren’t living. Life was meant to be lived on the edge, not in a chair.

4. Sophistication: Find things that spark interest in you and pursue them with a passion.

5. Community: No man is an island, and having a support group of amazing people will be one of the greatest accelerators on your road to manliness.

6. Leisure: You only live once, have a little fun, relax a little, you don’t always have to be “on.” All work and no play is a sure fire way to live a boring life.

Direct download: Dale_Vaughn.mp3
Category:Success and Life Advice -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

1