The Critical Methods Of Being A More Cultured Man

Of the many great skills that as men we are “traditionally” supposed to learn, there are a number of things that can make us far more rounded persons. Whatever your goals in life, whether it’s to find a potential partner or to better yourself, sometimes being a more cultured individual can give us a far better understanding of who we are meant to be. But being a more cultured person comprises a multifaceted approach that encompasses various aspects of education, personal development, and exposure to the right things. Let’s show you a few strategies.

Expose Yourself to Different Environments

The best place to begin is to have an understanding of what suits you. We’re all different, but sometimes we need to trust our gut and find a setting that speaks to us. Sometimes one of the best approaches is to look at social groups that intrigue. 

For example, there are gentlemen’s clubs that provide a perfect place for a more cultured approach to something like smoking. Lots of people smoke cigarettes, but there are providers such as the Buy Smokes Online shop that offer cigars. But if you start finding environments that speak to you more, whether it’s a gentlemen’s club or a martial arts class, you’ll start to slowly find people with the same mindset, and this means that you become exposed to new and exciting things while also meeting people who align with your attitudes to life, which is a great combination.

Engage in Culture

There are so many different ways for us to learn about art, photography, music, and so forth, and while it could be easy to say start reading classic literature or books on a variety of topics so you can expand your knowledge and understanding of the world, you’ve got to go into it with the right attitude. If it’s something you don’t care about, you’re not going to engage with the cultural aspects of a certain type of literature or book. 

This is why sometimes choosing the right type of music can help you learn about certain things because it becomes a Trojan horse approach to learning about other pieces of art or literature. A great example is the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers who write about different political, cultural, and emotional subject matters. Looking at their back catalog alone can give you insights into writers as diverse as Henry Miller, Sylvia Plath, Norman Mailer, Harold Pinter, artistic movements like the Situationists, pieces of art such as Malevich’s Black Square, political leaders as obscure as Miklós Horthy, and so much more. 

Sometimes we can’t necessarily appreciate something in its most literal form, and we need others to help us understand it. Education is a wonderful thing, but we can put up our own blockades, which is why that subversive approach to learning something new can be fantastic to help you engage in culture.

Don’t Pressure Yourself

We can easily feel that we have to learn a certain something so we become far more cultured individuals, but the beauty of bettering yourself is that there is no time limit because the journey is ultimately far more interesting than the destination itself. We can talk about setting certain goals with time on and techniques such as the SMART framework here, but if you want to slowly expand your repertoire in a cultural sense, the operative word here is slow. 

You may think that you want to just start appealing to a woman in your life you’ve met, and therefore you’re trying to get into the things that they like, but the problem in doing this is that you start to say certain things that you think will help you come across as impressive, but when pressed for more information, you’ve got nothing. Gaining an appreciation of an artistic or cultural subject matter is actually about learning it and giving it the time to absorb. This is why it should not be rushed. 

If you want to become better at understanding a certain genre of music, you’ve got to treat it like you are learning a language and just absorb yourself within it, and gradually over time, your brain will transport things from short-term to long-term memory. There should never be any rush to learn something, especially if you’re trying to appeal to someone else; you should appeal to yourself first.

Make New Friends

We are a product of our environment, and if you are looking for new experiences, you’ve got to seek them out. Ultimately, we only know what we know, and if we stick within a certain pond, we’re never going to venture out into the big vast ocean. This is why cultivating a strong network of friends with different attitudes can keep us fresh. It could be easy to find people who align with our attitudes to life, and ultimately this is how we form friendships, but as we get older, those people that we were close with during school going to make changes in their lives, and invariably we drift apart for whatever reason, and this is the perfect opportunity to start seeking friendships with people from different backgrounds. It keeps you on your toes. 

Yes, there’s the concept of being friends with people that give us a sense of reinforcement in our lives, but it’s so important to have a diverse social network that’s going to keep you motivated. Debate is a very healthy thing, and we should seek these things out, and that’s not to say we should constantly look for arguments, but when we are learning to be more cultured, we should recognize that being cultured is a product of exposure to diverse subject matters, backgrounds, attitudes, and so much more. 

We should always be curious, and it can be tough to be like this when we are exhausted in our lives and we want to retreat to our homes and just play video games, but we are all works in progress, and this is why we shouldn’t put a time limit on it but recognize that the more stuff we do, the more cultured we become, and the more we will get out of life.