Some Guidelines for Exploring this Course

1. You go where you want when you want:

You may have been led to believe that life is a one-way street: go to school, get a job, get married, have kids, retire, and die.

It’s not.

Not everyone does all of those things in that order. (Except for the dying part. Everyone does that, and it pretty much always comes at the end.)

But between now and when you die, you’ll make lots of decisions, and there will be no one to tell you what to do. Or maybe there will, but sometimes their choices will be wrong for you, and you’ll have to figure out when that is, or else live the life of someone else. As Oscar Wilde put it,

So the last thing we want to do is be more people telling you what to do, what to think, or how to be.

So instead we’re going to show you how to think about why to do and who to be. (What did I just say?) What I mean is, this site is meant to give you the navigational tools to determine for yourself which way to go. We’ll offer some ways for you to figure out which fundamental values you want to use to make decisions in life (your compass), We’ll give you some tips on how to evaluate various ways of understanding the world (maps). The purpose of these tools is for you to write your own life story, to make sure you are on your journey, not someone else’s.

In keeping with this purpose, it’s up to you to decide which parts of the course you will explore, and when you will explore them. We call the parts of the course “explorations” because they explore questions rather than giving answers. Each one ends with a list of links to related explorations. You can find a list of all of them by going to the “Explorations” link in the dropdown menu under “Teens” at the top of this page.

“I don’t know” is a perfectly good answer

Throughout this site, you’ll find lots of questions. We don’t expect you to know the answers to all of them. In fact, we don’t know the answers to all of them. That’s why we’re asking you.

But if you take the time to think about them, you might find that you know more than you thought you did. And if you start with whatever you know now, and continue exploring, you’ll find yourself knowing more and more.

You’ll get the most out of this course if you try to answer as many of these questions as possible, in writing, preferably in the comments section of each exploration or on your own social media accounts, where other guys can see and discuss the answers, including your own.

You don’t have to answer immediately. And you can always change your answer later. If you’re really making your journey to manhood, then you’ll change, refine, and expand your answers many times throughout your life.

3. If you like something, share it. Start a conversation.

This resource is here so that you and other guys like you can use it. But people can’t use it unless they know about it. So if you find something on this site useful, share it with your friends. Start a conversation wherever you hang out: Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, or in person by bringing up questions that intrigue you when you’re hanging out with your friends.

If you want to have conversations about this stuff with us and with other young men who share your interest, sign up below for a free webinar and discussion: