Introduction

We’re almost a month into the daily Guide to Manliness. It’s a good chance to take stock of your progress in body, in mind and in soul.  Today we focus on foundational principles.

End-month Self Evaluation

  1. How committed am I to growing in manliness?  Has the last month of spending some time everyday reading and thinking on the topic pushed me to do anything different, to give up (sacrifice) some prejudice or bad habit?  What exactly?
  2. Am I striving now, to balance even better my growth and development of body, of mind and of soul?
  3. Do I see the connection between habits of the body and habits of the mind and the soul?  Which among the three is my weak link through which I often fail and fall in my struggle for greater manliness?
  4. Am I aiming for more ambitious targets in the same three fields?  What exactly are my targets in these three areas?  What are the things I want to have achieved by the end of this Corona lockdown (tentatively end of June)?  Do I have them noted down somewhere?
  5. Am I more conscious now of the enormous value that time as an asset is to me?  Am I sincerely trying to invest my time every day, in activities that grow my human capital?
  6. Do I see the connection between the order in the things around me (in my wardrobe, my room, my phone, my laptop, my house…) and in the habits and attitudes inside of me?  Do I make my bed every day even if I’ll not be leaving the house?
  7. Have I picked a mentor/life-coach/spiritual director/big bro for my manliness project?  Have I engaged with them and explicitly requested them to fulfill this function in my life?
  8. Am I learning to own up to my many mistakes and down-right embarrassing failures?  Have I mustered the manliness to speak out about them in my chat with my mentor?
  9. Am I looking for ways to add value to people and things exactly where I am now, through my knowledge, my skills and my talents? Do I fall into the temptation of waiting for the “perfect circumstances” first?
  10. Am I now managing to live the self-evaluation or examination of conscience every day even if only for three minutes at the end of every day?

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