Lessons From The Preparation

Valuable, Experience-Based Conclusions

7 months have passed since I first started The Preparation program. 

There have been many natural ups and downs and plenty of opportunities to learn. From EMT school to ranching, I have accumulated a fair amount of knowledge in a relatively short period of time.

What’s equally important (if not more important) are the lessons I’ve learned (and am still learning) about life.

I figured I’d share some of these lessons for the young people like me who are thinking of starting The Preparation.

I Know Nothing

I know, it’s an odd thing to try to inform you about something by first telling you that I’ve learned I know nothing.

And yet, it’s true.

This fact hit me in the first couple months of the program. It isn’t that I thought I knew everything before, but that my awareness of things expanded.

It’s a daunting and energizing thing. The range of possibilities expands, allowing for more opportunities. At the same time you are forced to confront the fact that you are a complete beginner.

Though, this in itself allows for opportunity.

“You have to be willing to be a fool to advance”

-JBP

Socrates was deemed the wisest man of all by the Oracle of Delphi.

To disprove this claim he went to several men who were considered wise by society to test their wisdom.

Socrates’ conclusion: Socrates was the wisest man, not because he held the most knowledge, but because he knew that he knew nothing compared to what can possibly be known.

The wise men of society were unintentionally pompous, believing that they held the only type of knowledge worth knowing.

For this, they inhibited themselves from adventuring out to learn anything new.

The man who believes he already knows something cannot possibly learn it.

The man who realizes he knows nothing and chooses to continuously seek education will find himself above the rest.

Time and Energy

Oh boy did I waste a ton of time and energy before starting the program. Days, weeks, months would go by without any real personal progress. 

All the while, I didn’t lift my head up to look around and notice that time had slipped out of my hands. 

As soon as I started taking everyday seriously, whether that meant learning something new or overcoming a challenge, I was able to make rapid progress.

I started putting value on my time.

Over the last 7 months I’ve thought of myself and my progress in a strange way, but thinking of it this way might help you too:

Remember, you and I are young and we both have lots of time and energy. More than we know what to do with. 

Think of yourself as a steam locomotive and the men who build the track. You may know where you want to go and how to get there. Even if you have no clue where you want to go, it’s better to just start moving.

But the problem lies in yourself. If your engine is cold, you aren’t moving an inch. So, you’ve got to build a fire with the two main types of fuel you have: 

1. A vision of the person you want to be

2. Uncomfortable experiences that build you in some way

These two fuels build on each other to get your fire going and start you moving faster and faster over time.

Progress, whether small or large, allows for further progress.

An example:

A few months back I was in Idaho. I was bored and needed something to do, something that would give me new skills. 

I decided to join a BJJ gym.

This wasn’t a pleasant decision, I get anxious in any situation that involves people. Yet, the nervousness I felt each time I was driving to class was good. 

I was progressing on two separate tracks. Instead of reading at home, I was going out and learning new skills while forcing myself to overcome this anxious feeling.

Since then, I’ve put myself in many other uncomfortable positions like that. 

Constantly use your time and energy to do things to progress yourself in tangible and intangible ways. Sometimes you’ve got to jump into the cold water to make headway.

(This could have been its own section in itself: do things that make you uncomfortable)

Living in Extremes

Particularly one extreme: getting after it.

In many of the things I do, I usually view myself as completely in or 100% out. It’s one or the other.

Now, this has been great for getting the train chugging along at high speed. 

Never in my life have I accomplished so much in such a short amount of time, and much of the credit goes to The Preparation.

I’ve learned that there are times to put your nose to the grindstone. 

Build the momentum and keep pushing no matter what. Find out how much you can get done in one day. Step way over the line of uncomfortability and see how long you can stand there. 

You can do a whole lot more than you could possibly imagine.

If you know who you want to be, you can’t help but see the beauty in these moments of long, self-created difficulty.

The nose to the grindstone stuff has been fantastic for me. Though, sometimes I took it too far and burnt out. You need to burn out a few times to figure out how far you can go. 

Then take a day of rest, maybe a week, and get back to it when you’re re-energized.

I’ve had quite a tough time with this part, I want to keep going no matter what. It isn’t long until my progress is dulled by my lack of energy.

So, if you start The Preparation, please don’t make this mistake.

Reflection

It’s all a balancing act.

If you keep your head down in your work too much you won’t take the time to reflect on what you’ve done, what you can do, and who you are.

If you reflect all the time you won’t put your head down and get to work.

It's a tricky thing, but man, there’s nothing like directing your own life. Every stumble, every fall, it all gives you an opportunity to learn, to progress, to overcome.

Reflection has been incredibly valuable for me.

This is what I recommend to other young people like myself:

• Have a list of things you want to get done everyday

• Document every minor and major accomplishment

• Set an obtainable objective every day

• Constantly reflect on what you’re doing to figure out what you can do better

• Write down your thoughts of the day: What did you achieve? What did you overcome? What could you have done better?

• When you’re discouraged take a look at your list of accomplishments…How far have you come?

You need to reflect in order to understand what you can do better. Sometimes you need reflection for motivation.

A Continuing Series

I’m still learning all of these things listed above, and I’m sure I’ll learn much more in the future.

I’d like to make this a series…anytime I learn a valuable lesson I’ll update this list.

What do you think?

Is this helpful in any way?

Please leave your comments below

-Maxim Benjamin Smith

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I am being used as a guinea pig for a program which is meant to prepare young men for the future. This program is designed to be a replacement for the only three routes advertised to young men today -  go to college, the military, or a dead-end job. 

All of these typical routes of life are designed to shape us into cogs for a wheel that doesn’t serve us.  Wasted time, debt, lack of skills, and a soul crushing job define many who follow the traditional route.  

This program, which we can call “The Preparation”, is meant to guide young men on a path where they properly utilize their time to gain skills, build relationships, and reach a state of being truly educated. The Preparation is meant to set young men up for success.

What appeals to me about The Preparation is the idea of the type of man I could be. The path to becoming a skilled, dangerous, and competent man is much more clear now. I’ve always been impressed by characters like The Count of Monte Cristo, men who accumulated knowledge and skills over a long period of time and eventually became incredibly capable men. 

Young men today do not have a guiding light. We have few mentors and no one to emulate. We have been told that there are only a few paths to success in this world. For intelligent and ambitious people - college is sold to us as the one true path.  And yet that path seems completely uncertain today. 

We desperately need something real to grab onto. I think this is it.

I’m putting the ideas into action. Will it work? I can’t be sure, but I’m doing my best.  I’m more than 19 weeks into the program at this point. So far, so good.

You can follow me along as I follow the program.  Each week, I summarize all that I did.

My objective in sharing this is three fold:

1. Documenting my progress holds me accountable.

2. I hope these updates will show other young men that there is another path we can take.

3. For the parents who stumble upon this log, I want to prove to you that telling your children that the conventional path - college, debt, and a job is not the foolproof path you think it is.