Summary: Conviction is masculinity. Everything else is a by-product.

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Symptoms of Masculinity

So you've gotten good with women, fucked and plated dozens. You find girls enamored with you around every corner. You think "I am a sex god. I am a man now."

So you've lifted things up and put them back down thousands of times. Your muscles are bulging with testosterone and pride and you're more swole than almost every man you come across. You think "I am physically capable of dominance. I am a man now."

So you've increased your income into six figures. You've got trees in your backyard rustling with the sound of freshly grown Benjamin's blowing in the breeze. All your financial hardships are a thing of the past. You think "I am financially stable and free. I am a man now."

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We use these markers and quantifiable successes to gauge our manhood. Having these accomplishments fluffs the feathers of our ego, stimulating our reward centers and we think "This is what its all about."

We compare ourselves to other men to help us define where we are. We see men stuck in the blue pill daydream, and we may have compassion toward them, we may want to help them. But lurking in shadows you're bursting with pride. We think "I am better than him, I am a real man, oh how good it feels."

People will tell us how we've changed. They may comment on your appearance or monetary success. They may comment on our new enlightened attitude. Again, or ego tingles with pride and we think "Because I am a man now."

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Though a fuel gauge is great at telling us how much gas we have, it cannot tell us that it is in fact gas in our tanks. We take all these accomplishments and let them define our masculinity, and define our character. They may be good indicators of such, but they are not what defines you as a man. In reality, they are merely symptoms.

Defining Masculinity

Here on TRP there are a hundreds of things we characterize as masculinity. So many definitions of what it means to be a man may confuse many, leaving them with an ambiguous image in their mind of what a man looks like, and striving to fulfill that image. Those recently unplugged are especially prone to this.

I'm here to tell you to not overcomplicate things, to give a single concrete definition of masculinity.

Masculinity is unshakable conviction.

Your success with women, your big biceps, and your fat bank account, are all the result of one thing, conviction. Unyielding effort toward a goal. Conviction is unmoving, unwavering. This is why frame is probably the single most profound concept on TRP. Frame is the ultimate indicator of conviction, as it is the manifestation of your direction and purpose.

Becoming a man is not following guidelines and directions and taking specific actions, but determining your own rules and values. No one can tell you what is right or wrong, because only you can understand your subjective reality.

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Conclusion:

• Define yourself not by the convictions you hold, but by your capacity for conviction.

• Your accomplishments are not your character.

• Being man is cultivating values and purpose and being unshakable in them.