Heading Out On Your Own

Heading Out on Your Own: Day 13 — Know How to Network

by Antonio

Young men will often start to focus on networking only when they are looking for a job. Perhaps after graduation, or with the loss of a previous job. This is the wrong way to think of networking – and the reason why so many people think of it in a negative light. True networking is [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 12: What to Do If You Get in a Car Accident

by Brett & Kate McKay

Getting in a car accident is no fun. I can still remember my first (and only!) accident. It happened just a few weeks after I turned 16. Rear-ended a guy. My small, but noble Isuzu Hombre was no match for the other guy’s giant Ford F-150. The front end of my comparatively small pick-up was swallowed underneath [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 11: Understand Credit

by Brett & Kate McKay

Credit. When it comes to understanding personal finance, this component looms large. For some it is a dirty word, to be avoided at all costs. For others, it is an intoxicating license, an opportunity to reach for a lifestyle well beyond their means. In truth, credit can be extremely helpful or harmful depending on how [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 10: How to Tie the Half-Windsor Necktie Knot

by Brett & Kate McKay

Many young men heading out on their own for the first time have never tied a tie themselves. If that’s you, I’d recommend the Half-Windsor as the first necktie knot you learn. While the Four-in-Hand is the easiest knot to tie, the Half-Windsor looks more symmetrical and formal, while being less bulky than the Full [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 9: Managing Your Online Reputation

by Brett & Kate McKay

All the basic life skills we’ve covered so far in this series have been things that your dad, and even your granddad, had to learn when he left home for the first time too. But today’s young man faces a new challenge that Pops never encountered: managing his online reputation. Despite the nascent nature of [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 8: Living With Roommates

by Brett & Kate McKay

If you’re like most young men leaving the nest for the first time, you probably won’t have enough money to live all by yourself. To save money, you’ll very likely have to bunk with a roommate or two to cut down on living costs. While roommates can save you money (and provide camaraderie and companionship), [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 7: How to Make a Bed

by Brett & Kate McKay

Why make your bed? Well, not only does doing it every day build your discipline, which strengthens your willpower, keeping your place looking orderly helps conserve your day-to-day willpower supply as well, so you can channel it into more important tasks. Plus it just looks nice, and it feels really good to get into a [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 6: How to Ace a Job Interview

by Brett & Kate McKay

Nearly every man will go through at least one job interview at some point, maybe even several dozen over his lifetime. Even if you plan on becoming an entrepreneur and your own boss, many businesses start off as a side hustle to your 9-5 before becoming a full-time gig, and plenty of millionaires spent time [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own – Day 5: Create a Weekly Attack Plan

by Brett & Kate McKay

Growing up, each day is pretty well-scheduled out for you. School from morning til afternoon. After school sports or a job. Homework. Time for bed. Once you leave home for the first time, all that structure is gone; it is up to you to shape each day and get things done. It’s an open plain [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 4: Keep a Regular Grooming and Hygiene Routine

by Brett & Kate McKay

I know. I know. You’re probably thinking, “Does Brett think all young men are a bunch of uncouth ignoramuses who need an article reminding them to practice basic hygiene?” No. No, I don’t. But from my own personal experience and observing the lives of young men heading out on their own for the first time, I do know [...]

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Heading Out On Your Own – Day 3: How to Open and Manage a Checking Account

by Brett & Kate McKay

For a young man just beginning to establish his financial life, opening a checking account is a small, but important, step in that process. A checking account is the workhorse of your accounts. It’s for money that you plan on spending or transferring to another account quickly. Because of the ease at which you can [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 2: How to Do Laundry

by Brett & Kate McKay

One of the first things many young men will be confronted with doing for themselves for the first time when they leave home is their laundry. It’s not exactly rocket science (none of these 31 basic life skills will be, so let’s retire that caveat today), but there is a surprising amount to it — [...]

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Heading Out on Your Own — Day 1: Develop a Self-Reliant Mentality

by Brett & Kate McKay

The first thing we’re going to cover in this series on 31 bits of know-how you should learn before heading out on your own, is really more of a mind-set than a skill-set, but it’s a crucial building block that will lay the foundation for the rest of the “harder,” more practical skills we’ll be [...]

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Introducing Heading Out On Your Own: 31 Basic Life Skills in 31 Days

by Brett & Kate McKay

Growing up, Dwight D. Eisenhower (yes, Ike again — I couldn’t fit all the great facts about him into our leadership series!) was responsible for many chores around the house and for looking after his younger brothers. When his mother got sick and was quarantined in a room in the house for several months, Ike [...]

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