Overstimulation Is Killing Your Masculinity (pt 2)

I truly believe the plight of mental health amongst men is directly related to being overwhelmed with stimulation.

I have never felt healthier than when I go off into the forest for weeks at a time and completely unplug.

Out there is the only place I feel "normal."

By following these four principles, you will be well on your way to reclaiming your masculine edge and stepping back into your true essence.

Fuck Feeds, Read Books

At my worst, I spend 2 hours a day on social media.

That works out to 30 days a year.

Every year a I sacrifice an entire month to pointless consumption.

But what if every time I reached for social media, I picked up a book instead?

How many books could I read in that month of lost time?

The average length of a book today is about 300 pages.

The average reading speed is half a page a minute - 30 pages an hour.

2 hours of reading a day = a book every 5 days.

That's 73 books a year.

What would be different if I read 73 books a year?

One book can change the course of your life.

Ten books on a specific subject puts you in the 99% percentile of expertise.

"But Evan, I don't have 2 hours a day to sit and read!"

Really?

The screen time on your phone doesn't lie.

Review that for the last month and tell me you don't have time to read.

Americans spend an average of 3 hours a day on their phone fucking around.

You have the time.

"But I learn a lot from social media! I only subscribe to things that I learn from!"

Social media is a cesspool of tribalism.

Hot takes meant to infuriate and divide.

Half-baked, short-form content educates you on nothing.

The whole point of social media is to keep you on the consumeristic treadmill - roping you into thinking you need shit that you don't, intentionally lighting up your dopamine system through a carefully engineered system to keep you addicted.

It takes no effort to consume.

The constant task switching and non-linearity of content makes it impossible remember.

Books are the opposite.

Sustained focus on a single topic expands your ability to concentrate.

It encourages your brain to think sequentially, linking cause and effect.

When you lose your focus reading a book, you quickly lose track of what the fuck is happening.

This trains your brain to pay attention.

The more you read, the more you adapt to long periods of uninterrupted concentration.

A man's directionality - his ability to sit down and focus for prolonged periods of time to accomplish a task, is one of the great masculine gifts.

Combine this skill with reading books about exalted men from the past, and you're on the path to greatness.

You will learn far more about being a man by reading a historical figure's biography than you will watching a thirty-second reel churned out by a faceless "masculinity" account.

Great men didn't write about the traits of a great man - they lived them.

One of my all time favorite books is The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt.​

TDR wasn't some random internet clown espousing third-hand information - he was out there living it - hunting buffalo, fighting bandits, and scrapping his way into leading the new world.

His biography is full incredible stories that impart deep lessons about how to live with vitality, integrity, and purpose.

When we learn through storytelling, we remember.

Storytelling amplifies how we learn, retain, and access information - it forces us to connect ideas, people, and places.

If I asked you to explain the last Instagram post you saw, there's a 90% chance you have no memory of what it was.

If I asked you to generalize the last book you read, you'd be able to sum up the stories, characters, and ideas in a linear fashion.

Unfortunately, the majority of modern books are plagued with the same issues as social media - poorly written by an internet marketer who hasn't lived what he espouses.

His only purpose for writing a book is to build "authority" in a space so he can sell you shitty products.

It's better to read old books.

Classics like Aurelius's Meditations or Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

Biographies about powerful leaders such as Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great.

These books will teach you the principles of masculine development, which haven't changed for thousands of years.

When it comes to quelling overstimulation and refining your masculine edge, there is no faster way than trading feeds for books.

Delete social media off your phone.

Kill the 24 hour news cycle.

Read a fucking book.

Your mind, spirit, and soul will thank you.

Focus On a Singular Purpose

Multitasking is a myth. In reality, it’s rapidly switching from one task to another, and then back again. And every time you make that switch, you pay a ‘tax’ on both your time and your energy. Focus on one thing and move on when you’re done, so you don’t pay unnecessary switching taxes.”
- Dr. Sahar Youself, Neuroscientist

Every time I go to the gym I see the same guy.

He's not a day older than 23, pasty white and built like a stick.

Despite seeing him every day, we've never spoken to each other.

His entire world is his phone.

Every moment he isn't moving weight, he is scrolling a feed and giggling.

He is completely unconscious of his surroundings, standing in the way of the equipment without any awareness.

Even though I've seen him at the gym nearly every day for the last 8 months, he hasn't put on a pound of muscle.

The asshole in me assumes his phone addiction and lack of gains are correlated.

I often wonder why the fuck he even shows up to the gym.

One of Arnold Schwarzenegger's fundamental lifting philosophies was to focus on the muscle you working while lifting the weight.

Arnie was convinced this helped activate and grow the muscle.

Decades later, this was proven by science.​

Energy goes where attention flows.

In recent years, the theory of multitasking has been debunked.

The human brain cannot multitask. You can not do multiple things at once.

People confuse rapid task switching with multitasking - an entirely different concept.

But mountains of studies have proven the human brain is terrible at task switching, and it has an enormous cognitive cost.

Trying to do a bunch of shit not only causes you to perform worse and get less done, but leads to chronic overwhelm and stress.

Focusing on a single task until its completion is one of the most masculine acts available.

Imagine an artisan bladesmith building a knife from scratch.

He starts by drawing a design. Considering the length, weight, and shape of the blade.

He moves on to selecting the right components for the job - his alloy, handle, and other materials.

He begins forging the blade, meticulously shaping the knife with hand tools until he is happy with the shape and weight.

He then works on molding and fitting the handle to the blade.

Each stage requires his full attention.

He is completely absorbed in the task at hand.

His clarity, focus, and precision as he creates something from nothing is alluring.

Compare the difference between observing an artisan craftsman versus a man typing furiously at a keyboard, frantically staring at a bunch of monitors while talking on the phone.

What feels more grounded, present, and powerful?

Our brain yearns for the simplicity of a singular point of focus so deeply that we will spend hours watching other people focus.

There are dozens of massive YouTube channels where people go to watch craftsmen forge knives, build shelters, or weave baskets.

There is nothing more satisfying to a man's soul than breaking down a project into parts and focusing intensely on each particular stage until its completion.

The world rewards those who can sit down and do one thing at a time.

This is true beyond how you make money.

The more you can focus on what is in front of you, the deeper you will be felt in the world.

The next time you're in conversation with a friend and they pick up their phone while you're talking, notice how you feel.

The next time you're at the gym, leave the phone (and music) at home and focus on each exercise.

The next time you make love, keep your eyes open and engaged with your lover and notice what shifts in her.

Not only will this profoundly impact everything we touch, but we will enjoy each moment of our lives more, too.

The deepest masculine gift to the world is our unwavering presence - and nothing communicates our presence more than giving our full attention to whatever is in front of us.

Final Thoughts

It's hard to feel like a man when your brain is going a million miles an hour.

It's impossible to discover who you are and why you're here when your life is a constant onslaught of lights, sounds, ideas, and opinions.

Unplugging from the matrix is one of the most difficult things a man can take on.

It requires letting go over your "need" to know what is happening "out there."

And forces you to look deep within yourself - beyond your habitual tendencies to distract from the truth that resides in your body.

But a man who can think sovereignly, clearly, and focus without distraction is a rare and powerful man.

He will connect to the deep, quiet voice within and his life will become an expression of the freedom that he inherently is.
​
​- Evan