I’ve been reading a lot about “The Male Advantage” from this whole red pill sphere of things. Being straight up, there’s a lot of valuable concepts that I think men in general can take from these red pill books, but like anything - question everything you read and take it with a grain of salt.
One of the concepts that I’ve been reading into a lot is the notion of “Monk Mode”. What Monk Mode means to me is a combination of no women, no alcohol, no social media (restricting pleasure), and a strict focus on work and religion to improve your value to the world as a man.
We hear it a lot from elders, our parents, uncles, aunts, etc. that we’re young and we should enjoy our life while we’re young. We hear it from our friends too, “This is our prime in the 20’s, we’ll never get the chance to drink or party like this again”. Quite frankly, I don’t like or abide by this notion since it points to the idea that our lives in our 30’s+ and 40’s+ is going to be restricted. It points to the image of a “fat, balding man, in a red convertible” who can’t spend time doing the things he loves to do because of the responsibilities/loans he has.
I think the first thing we need to do here is switch the imagery of what we want when we’re in our 30’s+ and 40’s+. To me this means being a fit, healthy and stable man with enough wealth that I can give to my family, my kids, and my friends. It also means not having to worry about being subject or bound to someone else’s will. Namely, to have control and power over my life at any given point. To me this means, owning and operating a business (a tech startup), giving lectures and empowering others, being able to spend time with my family, and being able to take my wife & family on trips in “luxurious” settings to detox and revive the mind (I.e. spa days in Iceland, private thermal baths in Budapest, a week in the Serengeti, a couple days camping in the Namib desert, etc.). Right now, I don’t have the means to do these things, and I will get there - but I definitely won’t get there by partying every weekend, drinking, and putting my body through hell. Likewise, as a male in your 20’s, this concept applies to you too. You have two options, delay gratification in pursuit of excellence, or fall for the pleasure now and risk being the “fat, bald man, in the red convertible” later on.
One of the beautiful things about this notion is when you’ve delayed gratification and fall in love with the process of working. The grind, the work, and the hustle is what’s bliss. If you learn to love the process of work, the idea of “skipping” weekends to party becomes a power move. In this time of grinding, abstain from girls, social media, “hookup culture”, alcohol, and immediate pleasures in the moment - doing so will benefit you in the years to come. Monk Mode + Delayed Gratification.