One quote I often find myself coming back to is what Rachel says to Bruce in Batman Begins. This is when Bruce is walking out of a restaurant, soaked, with two fine thing on each arm. I believe that at that point, he hadn't visited Rachel yet, and when he tries to explain himself, Rachel snaps back and says "It's not who you are underneath...but it's what you do that defines you."
This scene was pointed out to me by a very close friend, and I find it very relevant. I have these ideas of who I am, and who I will be..."becoming the strongest version of myself" (Elliot Hulse).
But when I take a step back and look at my day to day routine, all I see is a guy who feels like his week is a long exercise in tediousness, and when the anticipated weekend swings by, all he does is game some girls, and spend time online.
Now, I am making a deliberate effort to change, and be better, but progress is slow. Recently, there was an article linked on RVF, where the writer wrote on the value of making your present life satisfying. With time (reading, thinking, discussing, etc), I have come understand that thinking of your life in terms of "how much pleasure am I getting?" is not very useful, seeing as most things are particularly pleasant and I think most of us here would agree that there is more to the male experience than pleasure...although pleasure is a most welcome pursuit. My point is that it is impractical for it to be the (or at least, *my*) main one.
So, what habits am I incorporating and what are my goals?
They are quite simple so far. I am working towards making my day-to-day activities and chores, which are for the most part: cooking, laundry, cleaning, working out (vertical and horizontal push, pull and squat progressions), homework, and classes, to be on auto pilot.
From there, the next goal is to make actual studying a part of my daily routine. Dedicating a few slots of time where I delve deeper in what I'm doing in class or any related topics. I need to have a solid understanding of my courses so that when exams come by, I am not overwhelmed. This is very important for me. When overwhelmed, I cannot work as effectively. Or at least, I can't do it for too long, and I keep on feeling like crap for extended periods of time.
And the second thing is making reading a habit. The Great Books for Men (the commenter at CH) and Art of Manliness list, and Roosh's list are a good starting point. I intend on looking through that, and some courses from a few universities (e.g, Core at Chicago and Columbia, Directed Studies at Yale, St John's), and adjusting the list based on what I want to read.
So how am I doing this so far? Well, simple things. I try to get my laundry and cleaning done between or after class on Friday. Today, I cooked rice for both lunch and dinner, and when chopping onions, I chopped an extra one, and kept the contents in a zip lock bag in the fridge.
Anyway, I look forward to reading your perspective on the subject.
This scene was pointed out to me by a very close friend, and I find it very relevant. I have these ideas of who I am, and who I will be..."becoming the strongest version of myself" (Elliot Hulse).
But when I take a step back and look at my day to day routine, all I see is a guy who feels like his week is a long exercise in tediousness, and when the anticipated weekend swings by, all he does is game some girls, and spend time online.
Now, I am making a deliberate effort to change, and be better, but progress is slow. Recently, there was an article linked on RVF, where the writer wrote on the value of making your present life satisfying. With time (reading, thinking, discussing, etc), I have come understand that thinking of your life in terms of "how much pleasure am I getting?" is not very useful, seeing as most things are particularly pleasant and I think most of us here would agree that there is more to the male experience than pleasure...although pleasure is a most welcome pursuit. My point is that it is impractical for it to be the (or at least, *my*) main one.
So, what habits am I incorporating and what are my goals?
They are quite simple so far. I am working towards making my day-to-day activities and chores, which are for the most part: cooking, laundry, cleaning, working out (vertical and horizontal push, pull and squat progressions), homework, and classes, to be on auto pilot.
From there, the next goal is to make actual studying a part of my daily routine. Dedicating a few slots of time where I delve deeper in what I'm doing in class or any related topics. I need to have a solid understanding of my courses so that when exams come by, I am not overwhelmed. This is very important for me. When overwhelmed, I cannot work as effectively. Or at least, I can't do it for too long, and I keep on feeling like crap for extended periods of time.
And the second thing is making reading a habit. The Great Books for Men (the commenter at CH) and Art of Manliness list, and Roosh's list are a good starting point. I intend on looking through that, and some courses from a few universities (e.g, Core at Chicago and Columbia, Directed Studies at Yale, St John's), and adjusting the list based on what I want to read.
So how am I doing this so far? Well, simple things. I try to get my laundry and cleaning done between or after class on Friday. Today, I cooked rice for both lunch and dinner, and when chopping onions, I chopped an extra one, and kept the contents in a zip lock bag in the fridge.
Anyway, I look forward to reading your perspective on the subject.