This article series is now available as a professionally formatted, distraction free paperback or ebook to read offline at your leisure.
Happy September first! Yesterday we completed the series we ran every day last month: Heading Out on Your Own: 31 Basic Life Skills in 31 Days. The goal of the series was simple: to help young men heading out on their own for the first time learn some of the very basic life skills they would need to succeed at living independently. To this end, each day last month we published one article on a variety of basic life skills from personal finance to home-ec know-how.
While we couldn’t have possibly covered every single skill a young man will need to know to successfully live on his own, I really believe we covered nearly all of the important essentials. If you’re a man who’s been living on his own for a long time now, I hope the articles provided an interesting and helpful refresher on skills that we truly use our whole lives through (and all need reminders on from time to time), and maybe even imparted some tips you had never learned before. If you’re a young man heading out on his own right now, our sincere wish is that the series has given you a sense of direction, competence, and confidence about this new and exciting season in your life. Knowing, as GI Joe has taught us, is half the battle. The other half will be won by honing your skills in the only way they can be: through practical experience — trial and error. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes — just commit yourself to always learning from them. We wish you the very best as you embark on whatever new adventure awaits you, and wherever it leads, we hope you enjoy the ride!
If you missed any of the days during the series, or would like to go back and revisit them, here are links to all 31 articles:
Day 1: Develop a Self-Reliant Mentality
Day 3: How to Open and Manage a Checking Account
Day 4: Keep a Regular Grooming and Hygiene Routine
Day 5: Create a Weekly Attack Plan
Day 6: How to Ace a Job Interview
Day 9: Managing Your Online Reputation
Day 10: How to Tie the Half-Windsor Necktie Knot
Day 12: What to Do If You Get in a Car Accident
Day 14: Establish a Simple Cleaning Routine and Stick to It
Day 15: How to Change a Flat Tire
Day 17: Essential Etiquette for Young Men
Day 18: Renting Your First Apartment
Day 21: Know Your Way Around a Kitchen
Day 22: How to Make Small Talk
Day 23: How to Iron a Dress Shirt
Day 24: How to Be a Savvy Consumer
Day 25: Establish an Exercise Routine
Day 26: 15 Maxims for Being a Reliable Man
Day 27: How to Shop for Groceries
Day 28: How to Jump Start a Car
Day 29: How to Iron Your Trousers
Day 31: A Place for Everything and Everything in Its Place
Many Thank You’s and One Apology
We want to thank our contributing writers — Antonio Centeno, Darren Bush, and Matt Moore — for offering their unique skill sets and wisdom to the series. A big thank you also goes out to Sam Hakes for performing some graphic design magic on a couple of posts, Ted Slampyak for his incredible illustrations, Jordan Crowder for creating his gem of a video on the Do It Now principle, and Jeremy Anderberg for his help in editing the articles. We could not have done the series without the invaluable contributions of these very talented and supportive gentlemen.
Now for an apology . . . when we introduced the series we said we’d also keep up with publishing regular content in addition to the articles for the series. But we were only somewhat successful in that, as writing the Heading Out on Your Own articles turned out to be much more work than we had anticipated — who knew there was so much to know about “basic” life skills?! Which brings me to . . .
Gone Fishin’!
In just a month, we wrote over 75,000 words from scratch (in comparison, our first book, The Art of Manliness: Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man clocked in at around 65,000 words). Writing 2,000-4,000 word articles nearly every single day for a month was truly one of the most grueling things we’ve ever done — we haven’t been this tired and sleep-deprived since Gus came home from the hospital! So we’ll be taking the next week and a half off from posting on the blog to let our brains recuperate and then to start digging into new research for when we return.
While we’re away, check out the list below. We’ve compiled a selection of further reading for young men — past AoM articles young men might find particularly helpful:
Ace Your Exams: Study Tactics of the Successful Gentleman Scholar
Write This Down: Note-Taking Strategies for Academic Success
How to Quit Mindlessly Surfing the Internet and Actually Get Stuff Done
5 Easy Ways for the College Student to Upgrade His Style
How and Why to Write Your Own Personal Manifesto
A Formula for Success: The Power of Implementation Intentions
How to Handle Being Out of Your Depth
Bookend Your Day: The Power of Morning and Evening Routines
Be Clutch, Don’t Choke: How to Thrive in High Pressure Situations (Part II)
Good Things Come to Those Who Wait: The Power and Pleasure of Delayed Gratification
Modern “Neurasthenia:” Curing Your Restlessness
Looking for a Job? Take the Initiative!
The Best Way to Find Your Vocation
A Young Man’s Guide to Health Insurance
How Prepare for and Rock a Behavioral Job Interview
The Importance of Paying Your Dues
Craft the Life You Want: Creating a Blueprint for Your Future
The World Belongs to Those Who Hustle
Road Map to the Perfect First Date
How Do You Know When She’s the One?
10 Cheap Date Ideas She’ll Actually Love
Nice Guys Don’t Have to Finish Last
This list really just scratches the surface of the articles in our archives that a young man might find useful in his life. So if there’s something you’re wondering about, but don’t see it in the list, be sure to search the archives!
If you’re a young man looking for a more handy compilation of some of our best material, I humbly suggest getting our two books: The Art of Manliness Classic Skills and Manners for the Modern Man and Art of Manliness Manvotionals: Timeless Wisdom and Advice on Living the 7 Manly Virtues. You can actually get both books together for less than the price of buying them separately by getting The Art of Manliness Collection Boxed Set, which also includes a nifty cigar box and a set of coasters!
Well, that’s a wrap. Until next time, stay manly.
