The Renaissance Man

From a boy to a man, one chest hair at a time

Mar
28

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Passion

Category: Being a Better Man, Career, Living a Good Life Leave a Comment

There are typically two sides to having passion.
Some people (let’s say Bob) will tell you to leave your job if you are not passionate about it, and to keep doing that until you find your passion and then build a job out of it.
While others (let’s say Jane) will tell you that your job is more important, and that you have to sacrifice doing what you love to make money and feed your family.

I don’t understand why you can’t find a good balanace between both.
Because according to Bob, you can never work in a job you aren’t passionate about. And let’s face it – there are some jobs that you can NEVER be passionate about. Like selling insurance (no offense to insurance people), or processing paperwork (no offense to paperwork-processing people). And according to Jane, pursuing your passion means you always have to sacrifice and leaving something behind.

I say it’s okay. It’s okay to work in a job that you are not passionate about, as long as you enjoy it overall. That way you take home money, feed your family, and fund your passions that may have nothing to do with your job. If you sell insurance, but you have a good boss with good coworkers and good conditions, it’s okay to go home and work on your photography. Do you have to quit your job in insurance and find a job where you take photos? No, Bob, you don’t.

What is most important is that you are taking care of yourself financially and still pursuing something you’re passionate about.

Oh and no offense to Bobs and Janes.

 

Mar
7

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Why I Write About Manliness

Category: Being a Better Man, Living a Good Life Leave a Comment

Maybe I should I explain why I write about manliness. That would help frame things, wouldn’t it? Don’t think I wrote one before. If I did, fucking forget it. Here we go.

Reason 1: I’m not a woman. Hence manliness. Good enough.

Reason 2: There are way too many misconceptions about what manliness should be.

Chopping a tree with an axe; wrestling a bull; lifting as many grocery bags as you can in one trip from the car.
No, that’s not it. I said man-li-ness, not macho-li-ness (on a side note, you should be able to do 5+ grocery bags per hand).

Being a man is a simple concept:
Take care of your shit, humbly.
Do what you need to do to get where you need to go.
Explore, create, connect, feel.
Just take care of your shit, humbly.
That’s all.

Reason 3: Focusing on manliness will improve your life, even if you’re (get this) a woman!

Focusing on manliness is a commitment to take care of your shit.
And it won’t always happen, and you’ll feel like shit.
But now you know, and you can walk into the next day a better version of yourself.
Focusing on manliness is establishing a concerted effort from every part of your being to rid yourself of jackass and douchebag qualities – emerge as a fucking man.

That’s why I’m writing about it.
That’s why you’re reading about it.
Glad to have you on board.

Aug
11

By

Win as a Team, Die as a Team

Category: Friends Leave a Comment

I just finished watching the Men’s 4x100m Relay Final for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

It is extremely heartbreaking to see that Canada won Bronze, watch them celebrate for 7 minutes, and then to find out that the Bronze would be snatched away from them because of a disqualification. Jared Connaughton, who ran the third leg and was responsible for the lane violation, spoke with media afterwards about his feelings on the situation.
He took responsbility for his actions and then stated that they “win as a team, die as a team”.

I think the key here is that you need to find your own team. Throughout life, you’ll have strangers who turn into friends and you’ll have friends who turn into strangers. The ones you keep are the ones who, no matter what wrongs you may do, still chant “win as a team, die as a team”.

 

Jan
9

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A Few New Year’s Resolutions for 2012

Category: Being a Better Man, Career, Living a Good Life Tags: Leave a Comment

Every new year that rolls around, you probably spend ten minutes writing up a list of resolutions that is comprised mostly of stuff you wrote down last year.

Which is normal. You get that surge of motivation that this year is going to be different. You’ll be more productive, try new things, and step on the stair-master.

If that hasn’t worked before, try this: think about all the lessons you’ve learned in 2011 and make a point to apply them for the next 365 days. Here are some of my lessons that can use to give yourself a head start:

1) What’s done is done. Focus on next steps.

It’s easy to dwell on your mistakes. It’s better to focus on fixing it or learning from it. You can’t be perfect, so stop killing yourself over it and move forward. Don’t miss out on opportunities because you’re regretting your mistakes.

2) Stay calm.

My manager frequently reminds me that “It’s only toilet paper, nobody’s gonna die over it.” Needless to say, I work in then pulp and paper industry. Anyway, his point was quite clear. Unless somebody’s life is on the line, you have the capacity to stay calm. Trust me.

3) Be nice, just because.

There is a lot of contradictory advice on how to be successful. Most people, especially in the corporate world, will tell you that being nice won’t get you anywhere. But that’s not quite true. What they mean to say is that you have to be assertive, be ruthless in your pursuit, and do what it takes to get things done. Don’t mix the two ideas up. I know plenty of successful people who are not assholes, and I’m sure you know some too if you think about it.

Use my 3 resolutions to give you a head start on your list. I’ll post my entire list once I figure it out (I know, delayed as always).

Happy new year and all the best. Remember, this is your year.

Nov
23

By

Embrace What You Like

Category: Being a Better Man, Living a Good Life Leave a Comment

When you truly like something, it’s hard to ignore no matter how hard you try.
So stop trying to ignore it.

In the meager beginnings of my career (I’m talking early, like when I had acne), I tried to hide the fact that I like rap music.
When you work in a corporate setting, you get caught up in trying to impress your colleagues by how professional you are. You understand.

The most impressive people, however, embrace what (and/or who) they like and carry on with their day despite criticism.

Embrace what you like. I promise you’ll be happier and more confident.

What have you been hiding? Are you ready to embrace it?

Nov
15

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Limitless: Are You Your Own Motivation?

Category: Being a Better Man, Career Tags: , Leave a Comment

Over the past weekend, I was finally able to watch the film Limitless, starring Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, and Abbie Cornish.

I won’t spoil the movie, but to give you a synopsis, the title character Eddie Morra is a writer who struggles to motivate himself to make anything in his life happen.
He runs into his successful ex brother in-law and is given the secret to that success – a new chemical drug. As the old saying goes, “We only use 20% of our brains at any given time.” This drug allows you to access the other 80%, and having this access results in monumental success. The rest of the movie gets very clever that even if I give a spoiler, it won’t be spoiled.

This film unexpectedly motivated me more than anything else has within the last year. How do I access my 80%? What is my metaphorical drug?

This week has been a productive week. I’ve been thinking more clearly, more calmly, and more focused.
When I’m confronted with a task, my attitude is not tired and bitter, but energetic and inquisitive.

My drug, quite simply, is me. It is the possibility of being able to break that 20% brain-usage ceiling and acknowledging that I have the capability to push those limits.
Corny, but just believing that you can break those boundaries allows you to break those boundaries.

 

Give it a try. Push through that 20%. Find your drug. You might see that you already have it.

Oct
16

By

Relationship Success Tip: Talk with Her

Category: Love & Relationships Tags: Leave a Comment

This one is pretty much a no-brainer, but communication is obviously one of the most important factors to breed a successful relationship.

I’ve dated my girlfriend for almost four years now, and after all this time, we sometimes forget to have conversations about us.
It’s important to have these dialogues, however, to make sure both of you are on the same page with how things are going. Because after such a long time together, couples can tend to travel in different directions with each other without even knowing. Not to say that it always happens and that it’s detrimental to your relationship, but it can be a threat and is something you want to address.

Just make sure it doesn’t turn into an argument.

Talk with her.

Oct
9

By

Learning to Trust Your Gut

Category: Rants Tags: , , Leave a Comment

My educational background is in Business Management. As a result of learning management principles in university and learning on the job, you build up a habit of justifying all your decisions. For example, using blue as the dominant colour in a company logo because blue represents the limitlessness of the sky. At least that’s what we tell our clients right? Because at the end of the day, some of you just think it looks cool. Am I right?

There’s a certain art to trusting your gut. I couldn’t give you intellectual political reasons why I voted for NDP during the last Canadian federal election. All I knew was that the late Jack Layton was an inspirational speaker and seemed like a great guy. That was enough for me, to know that the leader of the NDP inspired me through his words. I trusted my gut, and I have no doubt in my mind that that’s what a lot of people did too.

Why do I like Apple products? Yes, it has great functionality, but that’s not the reason. At the end of the day, it just looks cooler. So I trust my gut.

If it’s cool, people will probably like it. There shouldn’t be a need to justify that.

Jun
30

By

Why TTC Should Never Be Able to Strike

Category: Rants Tags: , Leave a Comment

Because they don’t do their job.

Glad it’s declared an essential service.
If in the future the ban is ever lifted and they plan to strike again, fire them all and replace them with the needy.
I’m sure they will appreciate the job more and arrive on time.

 

P.S. I don’t hate TTC workers. I actually like some of you. Your customer service just needs a lot of work.

Jun
29

By

Misunderstanding and Hatred

Category: Being a Better Man Leave a Comment

In World War II, everything was going wrong for Germany. They needed a way out.
So Hitler told them who to blame – the Jews. Now that they had someone to blame, they took it upon themselves to solve the problem through genocide.

Misunderstanding and hatred = Over 6 million Jews murdered

Now consider the situation for Muslims. Yes, some extremist groups have deployed some of the worst tragedies this world has ever seen.
But that was a small percentage of the total  Muslim population. And yet many people blame Muslims in general for American issues, at times when they have no relation to Muslims.
What happens if one day, a leader rises up who is capable of convincing one person to murder another.

Please think carefully before you generalize. Misunderstanding and hatred is a dangerous combination.
But understanding and kindness is a part of growing up.

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