How do you become the best man that you can be? What choices do you need to make to improve your life? Are you ready to make those changes? The decision to improve and the first steps toward improvement can be the hardest part, but once you have made the commitment, the world has a way of opening up to you.
Your Education
With a few exceptions, such as if you work in a skilled trade or are a tech prodigy who has been programming and running startups from a young age, higher education is the key to a better career and a higher salary. Education is also a good idea on its own merits, as a cornerstone of personal improvement.
If you are looking to better your career prospects but are concerned what going to school will cost you, look into student loans from a private lender. If you have a good credit score, you may be able to find particularly favorable offers and repayment plans.
Your Relationships
Too often, men fail to cultivate relationships in their lives outside of an intimate one with a partner. Taking the time to nurture and build relationships with others, including with work colleagues, friends, your children, and other family members, can help you master emotional intelligence, greatly increase your quality of life, and can help ensure a support network is there for you whatever happens.
However, for some men, even knowing how to strengthen those relationships can be difficult. Look for others to do shared activities with. Talk about your life and ask them about theirs, and remember that it takes time to create lasting bonds. If you have children, show up for games, recitals, shows, and other activities they participate in and ask them about their interests.
Work on Your Leadership Skills
Strong leadership skills can benefit you in both your work and your personal life, but if you’ve never had a particularly good role model, you might be struggling to figure out where to start. See if your work has a mentor program, or look to professional organizations and any development opportunities they offer.
Read books on strong leadership. Keep in mind that leadership does not mean insisting that everyone has to do things your way. Instead, it means working to build up others alongside you.
Set Goals
For the above categories and other areas of your life, such as fitness or your career, set goals and then take steps to reach them. If you don’t have much experience with goal setting, start small, with just one or two short or medium goals.
Every goal needs a few elements to be successful. It needs to be concrete, so instead of “make more money”, a good goal would name the specific amount you want to make. It should also have a time limit, so the goal should name a time by which you want to be making that amount of money. If there are intermediate steps you need to take to reach your goal, list them. Keep referring back to your goal and tracking your progress. You can gradually add to the number and complexity of goals you’re trying to reach.
