One day when you become old enough to make your own decisions in life like what you’d like to do in your free time, what girl you’d like to get with, what friend to hang out with, what activities to take up, what trips to take, and so on…

You’ll essentially confirm that you are now a man with free will. And that the job of a man is not an easy one. It doesn’t come easy. It has a ton of obstacles and preparations in place before you’re able to live life fully on your terms.

But that’s what makes it all that sweeter when you get even a taste of that freedom. And that is why you are blessed to be a man. Things don’t come easy to you. You are a hero in a movie. Starting out in the desert with little to your name, status, accomplishment, and abilities. But your dreams and the time to dream is unlimited. So there will come a time when you are tortured by your creativity and your inability to enact this so-called “fantasy” (no such thing but we’ll cover that later in life).

Today’s first piece of the Raw Manifesto series, I will cover to you what it truly means to live a good life. To give you a blueprint and a compass to guide you in times of stress, difficulty, leveling up, and dreaming. Because as a man, no matter what anyone says, dreaming is paramount to your success. It is the cornerstone to the foundations you built brick by brick. It forms your personality as it becomes the path you walk. And 80 years later when you look back on your deathbed, you will reminisce. And you will smile, perhaps with cheeks of tears, at how far you’ve come; and how glorious of a story you’ve made. And that all starts with your imagination.

So let me inspire you with what I deem the essentials to living a glorious life.

The Blueprint to a Fulfilled Life

I’ve said before that things can’t go too wrong if you have:

A ride or die beauty by your side.
A brother for life.
Consistent cash flow.
Constantly doing fun activities.
Good health.
Strong family ties.

At the end of the day, that’s all life is about.

(Once you become old enough to start your own family, and you absolutely must as it will be the number one thing on this list, it will be added to strong family ties.)

If you look at this list, you will see that there isn’t anything else you can add to this that changes your return on investment in life.

Sure a yacht is cool. But what’s the cost it took you to get one? Was the decades of work worth buying this hassle you having to pay hundreds of thousands to maintain? The salaries of workers? Docking? All just to have a bunch of people on it? For a few hours a day once or twice a month? Not essential.

Or that new restaurant that popped up and all the cute girls in your class are talking about. You walk in. It looks aesthetic. Waiters are nice. You order food. It’s good, like a thousand other good restaurants. You pay and tip well. You walk out and talk about how good it is. Maybe post a picture to ascertain your status to others. The next day, you forget about it. Not essential.

But if you look at the list I gave you, these are unforgettable.

Your Woman

The biggest move you will likely ever make in your life is who you pick as your ride or die. And of course you can be an anomaly that flirts around, sleeps around, and is a perpetual playboy until his old age. But I don’t know a single man who hasn’t regretted it in his later years. Every man wants a woman that would die for him. A woman that would never betray him. A woman to truly love him and be there for him through thick and thin. Your woman is your rock. And if you find the right one, and I’ve written extensively on how to do this nowadays but will also cover a ton more details on this in future Manifestos, she will be one of the biggest movers to your success and happiness.

And if you choose wrong, she will definitely be one of the biggest movers to your demise and destruction. Choose wisely. Keep reading and over time you will learn how to pick the one good girl out of the nine horrible ones.

Brother For Life

I will do everything I can to give my son a brother. Because it is near impossible to find a man outside of family to fit that title. It is who you can trust with anything and everything. Life or death situations. If you’re the type who ever needs to vent, he will be the one you go to. If you have no one to go someplace with, he’s the one you go to. If you want to better yourself as the hero of your own story, your brother will be the one to push and motivate you to the highest levels on the mountain.

Your brother is everything. And although you may not see eye to eye or be on different levels at the moment, if you have the right one, you will see that your relationship with him is something you could never buy nor would ever sell. Not even for an extra 100 years on this Earth if he’s not there with you.

You probably already have, and if not you definitely will, met a lot of good friends who you deemed your “best friend” or your “brother” but you learned they were not. They weren’t loyal to you when it mattered. They were envious. They were filled with lust and greed. And that’s essentially how the story goes with almost all your friends you’ll meet in life. The ones you’re super close to will drift or find a reason to cut off for good, and the good friends are those you talk to a few times a year and see at the same frequency. Those are important to keep around for the next point but…

Realize this is why I say it is important to have a brother and why I will do everything I can to give my son his own best friend brother. Because we are social creatures, despite how introverted you may be. We all crave someone to share this journey with. A best friend is that person you’d carry to the end of the path. One of the most difficult to ones to have on this list if you weren’t blessed with one by your parents.

Consistent Cash Flow

Cash rules everything around me.

Don’t listen to people who say money doesn’t matter, they already have a ton of it.

You cannot do much without money. Matter of fact, once you see what money can buy, you’ll feel you’ve been living in an underground tunnel your whole life.

Money is essential to facilitating your dreams and payrolling your journey. You need it. And you need a lot. We’ll cover how to make money at a later time, but just know:

When money is coming in on a consistent basis, it’s easy to be up and feeling fresh. But when the money machine dries up, it’s very easy to be in the ground.

Constantly Doing Fun Things

As a man, this is your fantasy. This is essentially one of the biggest stars you will constantly reach and live for. It’s the movies and shows you watched growing up. James Bond and Batman activities are all available to you. And while watching it is inspiring and motivating to you, participating in these activities in real life is peak. Close to nothing tops it.

I’ve written extensively on it here and here. You can get started on any of these and your life will catapult 500% just from looking forward to these events and being active in these pursuits. Couple it with your woman, a best friend, a few good friends, and nothing tops it.

I won’t write much more on it here since this is one of my most talked about topics but we’ll go deeper in specifics over time for certain.

Good Health

Put simply, health is your lifeline. You can have everything but if you are sick, you quite literally have nothing. It is important to take good care of yourself when you’re young so you can ride that momentum up into yours 30s, 40s, and so on. If you are overweight, you must immediately fix that. If you have trouble breathing, quit the nicotine and smoking, or at least minimize it heavily and only partake on events occasionally. Drinking is a luxury that must be done sparingly, preferably for celebrations.

When you hit your late 20s and early 30s, you’ll hit your first signs of deteriorating health. You’ll discover how awful and destructive a bad gut is. Your gut is everything. I will absolutely cover gut health in one of these. It is a very complicated and overly talked about topic by a bunch of idiots. I will clear it up for you but for now understand that what you put in your mouth you will absolutely pay for in heavy dividends as you get older. Whether good or bad depends entirely on you.

Your joints will start to ache. You will have what seems like a twisted ankle when you get out of bed one morning, for no good reason. Your back will feel weak. You will random lower back spasms that paralyze you for a quick second. Your knees won’t be able to take heavy impact from ski jumps or dunking a basketball like you used to just a few years ago.

You must train, not just for strength and explosiveness, but for joint and tendon strength. You must bulletproof them. You must never be too heavy as they pays a heavy toll over time on your ability to move around freely. You cap your movement, you cap your enjoyment of life. It is very essential to take care of your health while you’re young; older you will be grateful.

Strong Family Ties

One of the most difficult things to keep on good grounds is a relationship. Whether with your woman, your brother, your friends, your parents, you name it. But it is very crucial you do your best to make peace with your family. Forgive your father and mother for what you think they’ve done to you maliciously. Chances are they love you more than anything, and they were just kids when they had you, just how you’re a kid yourself now. They were doing what they thought was best and you can’t fault a person for that.

Once you set things right with your family, life flows so much more smoothly. The friction you feel in your bones and heart disappears immediately. You can smile and make jokes. You can laugh and hug them with ease. You listen to their stories more eagerly. You realize your dad was more of a G than you ever knew. You realize your mom is your angel and you’ll do anything to make her life easier. These thoughts will only come if you have strong family ties. And oftentimes, it’s on the children to make that happen as humans are very stubborn creatures. And it only gets worse the older they get. Remember this when you have children, and see how stubborn and strict you get with them.

If you keep these things in mind, and use this list as your North Star in navigating your journey in life, you will live not only a fulfilled life (which almost no one can say they have), but you will live a glorious life. The life that can’t even be shown in movies. Something that can’t be written down. Something that is only written in the stars for you and your loved ones to read.

How to Live a Fulfilled Life