A mans word.

You give me your word? Puhleeaase!

I give you my word.

There was a time when that used to mean something. Something worth more than gold. That’s not so true anymore.

When was the last time you heard that phrase and believed it completely without a flicker of doubt? When was the last time you made such a promise and lived up to it? I know its been a heck of a long time for me. I’m not proud of that.

The word of a man is his bond. You ever hear of that one? These phrases exist because a man is supposed to be a person of the highest integrity. When a man says he’s going to do something or be somewhere at a given time, it’s supposed to be a given. Continue reading »

Stop feeling sorry for yourself!

I admit for the past two days I’ve been wallowing in self-pity. I’ve been raging against the world screaming about what I deserve and who I should be or what I should be doing and having. I’ve sobbed a few precious tears in the silence when no one was looking (yes I’m man enough to admit I do cry) I’ve given myself the liberty to allow everything around me to fall to the way side just because I needed to feel sorry for myself.

Call it a mid-life crisis but given that I’m only 32 years old, it’s come a little early. Hang on though, the life expectancy of an average black male is about 50 or something so I guess I’m right on cue. I have a confluence of anger, disappointment, frustration, weariness, dashed hopes, failures and shame swirling around on the inside.

My life looks nothing like what I’ve dreamed or hoped or planned. I’m nowhere near the caliber of man my wife deserves or father my daughter needs. I’m no successful writer or entrepreneur and I don’t have the impact in positively changing people’s lives like I want to. I feel horrible. My heart aches. It sucks. Continue reading »

It’s alot easier to talk your walk

I’ve been struggling lately to write compelling, earth shattering, philosophical posts pertaining to you, the men who read this blog.

I read a whole lot from all over the internet, books, magazines. I watch videos and listen to audio tapes about being a leading man of God.

Each time I do I marvel at the writers prose and speakers eloquence and vast depth of knowledge and experience that make you hang onto every word they say as gospel.

I often catch myself, longing to be like them, wondering why I can’t be as deep and insightful? Why I can’t get people to hang onto my every word like I was an eastern zen master? Why don’t I get hundreds of comments to my articles? Continue reading »

Screw it. I’m done looking for my life’s passion.

My last blog post was all about getting back on the horse. Walking the talk. You know, manning up.

However, today, I had a revelation that I believe will simply catapult my efforts to being my most awesome self.

As you may know, I do a lot of reading about success, growth, self-actualization, generally being the most kick ass version of yourself. The simplest and most common formula for success out there is:

 “Find your passion. Live your passion. Make obscene amounts of money from your passion”.

Continue reading »

Getting back on the horse

Its been quite a while since I last posted anything here. I admit it’s been a crazy emotional time for me. I’ve been borderline depressed for over 2months actually. You see, even though I share alot of ‘wisdom’ on this site about being a man, living your best life and all,  I’ve found lately that being true to what I preach isn’t so easy. I came to realise that I am certainly not walking my talk or in this case, blog.

Truth is, I’ve been living way below my potential as a man, Continue reading »

So if girls run the world then who needs men?

Who runs the world? Girls.

Thats what Beyonce Knowles wants us to believe with her hit new song. So does Alicia Keys who sings Superwoman. Our local stars Blu3 sing that they are strong women. A lot of these songs are coming up lately. Call them womens empowerment anthems. There is a tsunami of women’s lib and empowerment that is sweeping modern society like never before. It’s great to see women finally being recognised and appreciated for their uniqueness and all that it adds to this world. However, the down side to this is that men and manliness are being swept under this same wave. I see more than ever, men being despised, stepped on, degraded, pushed aside, valued less and in some cases, vilified and loathed. Continue reading »

I’m sick and tired of me!

I’m sick and tired.

Tired of not being my authentic self and pursuing my unique God given purpose.

Tired of living in constant fear and dread instead of faith & confidence in God.

Tired of being unhappy, stressed and unmotivated.

Tired of being lazy, apathetic and always procrastinating.

Tired of being weak willed with poor discipline and follow through.

Tired of being timid, lacking confidence in myself and my potential.

Tired of not believing in myself or my dreams enough to pursue them relentlessly.

Tired of being less than a shadow of the awesome man I know I can be.

Tired of seeing others achieve their dreams while I’m still stuck in the same place.

Tired of doing work that I have no passion for just so I can make ends meet.

Tired of having to make ends meet!

Tired of not making a greater positive impact and contribution to peoples lives.

Tired of pleasing everyone around me at the expense of my own convictions and beliefs.

Tired of people telling me how much greatness is inside of me and not being able to live up to it.

Tired of reading success stories and self help books only to see the same old results.

Tired of looking at my daughter and knowing I’m not being the role model she deserves.

Tired of my wife believing me to be a great man and not actually being great.

Tired of looking forward to going to bed only to spend the night dreading getting up.

Tired of being sick and tired.

The Apprentice is now in your email

I’m always thinking of great new content to give you apprentice’s out there and I realised that I could do one better so I’ve added a new feature to the blog.

Email Subscriptions.

You can now subscribe to The Apprentice Blog to get these awesome articles delivered straight to your email. You can then read at your convenience and you are always instantly appraised whenever there’s new content.

Just fill in your email address in the form on the right, verify and voila.

Manly goodness delivered to you easily and regularly.

Shalom

p.s Did  you remember to sign up? Go on, it’s on the right there.

The most important question in your life

Why?

That’s it. Why? It’s an incredibly powerful question. It’s also infinite. There is always another why behind the first. Little children understand the power of this question.  That’s why they drive us nuts with all their questions.

But even for adults, “Why?” can be an incredibly useful question. Why brings out the truth of our motives for doing, saying or thinking anything. I believe that we humans are like onions with several layers to any one aspect of our lives. There’s always a motive, whether we are consciously aware of it or not at the time.

The lives we lead are not random but are a result of the beliefs we hold and consequently, the decisions we’ve made. The reason behind these beliefs is the Why. In order for us to live a clear and purposeful life, we must be crystal clear on our Why’s. Continue reading »

So why do men cheat?

A question asked me by a disillusioned young lady I used to work with. A friend of hers had just had a terrible experience and she was looking for some answers. She was clearly disturbed and contemplating the troubling likelihood that someday, the same would happen to her. Even though it wasn’t her who was betrayed, I could feel the pain being conveyed second hand because that’s what cheating does. It causes serious pain.

Continue reading »