Modern self-improvement is lost, but we

don't need it because there's a

700-year-old ideal that helps people

achieve amazing things. They sculpted

their body, they sharpened their mind,

and they created beautiful art. These

were the Renaissance men. The problem

with self-improvement was that it began

with good intentions, but then it

devolved. It became shallow, vain, maybe

even cultish, and suddenly everything

was about money or dating or just

cramming work into your life. Where was

the art? Where was the culture? Where

was the depth? And yeah, people

criticized this whole hustle mentality,

but the pendulum swung too far the other

way and many just quit self-improvement

altogether. And that's just as bad.

That's not the solution. The modern man

is out of shape, unable to think for

himself, eternally consuming and

completely lost of meaningful pursuit in

life. Many of the problems which

self-improvement set out to fix are real

and they're awful. The thing is, we need

a different method to replace it. We

need a a sensible middle ground, a

timeless principle that has already for

hundreds of years proven to work and to

produce greatness. This is the

Renaissance man, not woman, but not man

either really, because this is an ideal.

It's open to everyone, man or woman.

It's the idea of the polymath, the one

of many skills, the one full of

curiosity and imagination and excellence

in all areas. This is the ideal that

produced Da Vinci or Theodore Roosevelt

or Benjamin Franklin and countless more.

Countless of these legends across

history. This is what made them. So,

coming up, we'll look at where the

Renaissance man ideal actually came

from, how it evolved over time, which is

really interesting, by the way, and some

systems that you and I can use to

actually become one. We'll look at how

to become fitter and stronger, how to

sharpen our minds, and how to produce

things that we're proud of. So, let's

get straight to it. first origins in

evolution. The Renaissance may seem far

away to us, but the idea of the

Renaissance, man, that wasn't a new

idea. Even back then, it has a long

history that stretches way back before

Christ walked the earth. And the

Renaissance itself was a revival of

Greek and Roman philosophies. So to

understand what the Renaissance man is

and how it came about, we have to rewind

to these ancient ideas which set the

scene. First we see influence from

traits like calocagatha

and vus. First we have the ancient Greek

calagatha which is a combination of two

words kalos meaning beautiful and

agathos which means good or virtuous.

And to the Greeks this was a model of

chivalry normally applied to the

aristocrats. It combined external beauty

and inner virtue and together they

formed the perfect man. You could say

arity is another Greek word which

describes excellence and it's applied to

someone or something when they shine

with their full potential when they do

exactly what they're destined to do or

designed to do and when they do it well.

For example, a warrior would demonstrate

arity if he was strong, courageous,

skilled, and loyal. But just as equally,

a bowl of chicken soup could possess

Arity if it was warm and hearty and

filling. It's a bit overdramatic, fine,

but it could be applied to pretty much

anything. And on the Roman side, we have

werus. Wera means man in Latin. And this

is actually where we get our English

word for virtue from. But our conception

of virtue did not match what the earlier

Romans read it as. To them, Wittus was

literally manliness. That's what it

meant. This was a masculine ideal, and

it was strongly connected to battle and

war fighting. It would include things

like strength, courage, honor, and

loyalty against the empire's enemies.

However, as Rome grew its boundaries and

became more complex, there were fewer

people involved directly in the war

fighting. And so, we're to saw virtue,

it changed definitions to sort of

accommodate that. It began to include

more things other than just these

masculine ideals. And it started to

become more general and applicable to

any good citizen. Werus now included

civic and moral values, things like

intelligence, temperance, self-control,

things that both men and women could

have. And so it became, it went from

this distinctly masculine battle related

idea to one of a good citizen in

general. And of course, this later

conception of werus is just like what we

have today, virtue. Now, we're getting

somewhere with these, but there's still

an element missing from them all.

Because while they do stress balance and

excellence in a way, the true

Renaissance man ideal has to include

some form of a universal education.

That's what's missing. And that brings

us to the virtues of pedia and

humanitas. Pedia is a classical Greek

ideal which refers to a holistic and

balanced education with the aim of

making the ideal citizen. It was often

combined with the term enkichlios which

means circular, all-rounded or just

general. And it was used here because

this style of education was indeed

general and comprehensive. Think of it

like a circle wrapping up all of these

different subjects and then combining

them in this holistic idea of an

education. And this is even cooler. When

you combine eniklios and pedia, you get

enkio pedia. And that may sound familiar

to you as an English speaker. Eniklio

encyclopedia.

That's where we get our word

encyclopedia from. And how sick is that?

I didn't I didn't realize it, but that's

so cool. I love that. Now, as part of

this education, people were taught a bit

of everything. rhetoric, grammar, maths,

medicine, geography, history,

philosophy, but then also more practical

things like gymnastics and wrestling and

you know learning poetry and music. The

aim was to imbue the population with

these aristocratic ideals. They were to

be physically strong, intellectually

sharp, and morally upright, well-rounded

people. Humanitas is pretty much the

Latin equivalent of Pedia. They

basically copied the Greeks' homework,

so I'm not going to repeat myself too

much here. One thing to stress though is

that both of these virtues, humanitas

and pedia were not just internal.

Cicero or Karo if you're a nerd. He said

that these virtues prepared one for

public life. They trained them so that

they could serve the community and you

know do their part in the nation while

also of course having a meaningful

private life. In a sense these were

philanthropic values. They served the

individual, yes, but also the nation.

And we get to the Renaissance man. I

mentioned humanitas because it inspired

Renaissance humanism, which is the whole

philosophy of the Renaissance.

Renaissance humanism was a kind of

counterculture or maybe response to the

strict religious orthodoxy of the Middle

Ages. And of course, a lot of other big

societal changes helped it come about.

But in general, it promoted inquiry,

criticism, and the flourishing of these

new philosophies. and new ways of

thinking. It celebrated a wide education

and the synergy of multiple different

subjects because it was believed that

truth is not found within any one of

them but in their unity when you see

them together and in combination. And so

we are finally led to the idea of the

Renaissance man. Balanced in character,

excelling in all realms, educated across

a wide variety of subjects, prepared for

proper civil duty as a competent member

of the tribe, and finally birthed out of

classical ideals and the Renaissance

itself, but not restricted to those time

periods. You and I can be Renaissance

men or women or they stems. It's open to

everyone irrespective of who they are

and what time period they lived in,

where they came from, none of that. This

video is not to help you lop as an

ancient Greek or a cis or a stronger

soldier. We're in 2025 and while the

ideal is timeless, we are presented with

different challenges and different

opportunities. And so, it does make

sense to adapt it to our conditions so

that we can really let it shine. And

again, we need it more than ever in this

confusion of modern self-improvement and

the stagnation that society has found

itself in. And look, I'm very far from

this ideal. I'm a victim of the problems

I talked about. And I'm not framing

myself as the perfect role model to

follow or the Renaissance man. I'm not.

Just like you. I'm on the road. I'm

trying. I'm learning things. And the

least I can do hopefully here is share

some of what I've learned and some of

what you might find helpful. And of

course, I expect to learn a lot from you

as well in the comments and in emails.

So feel free. Part of being a

Renaissance man is curiosity, a thirst

for new skills, and the desire to

constantly learn something new. And

that's why I'm glad to say that

Skillshare is sponsoring this video. And

I mean, what better platform is there

for this video. Skillshare is the

largest online hub for this kind of

learning. It's packed with thousands of

classes across all kinds of subjects

from photography to design to

productivity. Everything is taught by

experts. So, you have decades of

experience condensed into a clear

learning path for you. Many of

Skillshare's film and editing classes

helped me out in the early days of

YouTube when I was still clueless. But

now, I'm always finding new ways to help

me improve my writing. Recently, I did a

class called Studying the Humanities

101: Ways of Reading and Writing. And

that's by our guy Robin Warden, who you

probably watch here on YouTube. And it

was super interesting to pick up these

new study methods. And I especially

found the part on essay writing very

inspiring. It was great fun to learn

about them. their origin. And so I

recommend it. To browse the full catalog

and start learning for yourself, click

the link in the description or scan the

QR code on screen. And the first 500

people to join with either link will get

a whole free month to explore the

lessons. So, thank you so much to

Skillshare and I do hope you enjoy it.

And now we get to the systems. In this

age, we have more resources and

opportunities than ever. So, you could

arguably say that being a Renaissance

man is easy. There's so much out there.

There's gyms, libraries, the internet.

We have all of it. And yet, there is so

much more today that holds us

back from that. And I'm not saying it's

not our responsibility. Of course, it

is. But there are we have to recognize

that despite the resources we have,

there are new challenges, new things to

pull us off the path, new temptations,

new struggles and difficulties. There's

more to get addicted to. There's more to

hurt our mind. There's more to tempt us

off that path. and our careers don't

offer much either. Many people feel

restricted by their specialization. And

even though they do give us a sense of

structure, most people don't feel like

they're in control or that it's truly

their project to work on. Instead,

they're just an employee in this wider

organization. Like a cog in a machine,

you could say, it's not the same

meaningful structure we have in the

Renaissance man ideal. You therefore

need your own structure. This will be

your rock in the storm because you know

your motivation is going to come and go.

But if you have a structure, it makes it

easier to get back on track and to stay

on track because you know it's a it's a

lifelong pursuit. You will be tested.

You will have moments where you feel

unmotivated, weak, or just generally not

up for it. And this structure is what

keeps you on the narrow path. Think of

it like a guide rope through a maze.

It's what you grab on to. It's how you

find direction. and it's what keeps you

going. These come in many forms. They

can be habit trackers. They can be plans

in notion or obsidian. They can be a

calendar with time blocking. Some people

journal their progress or they track it

with like film logs to keep themselves

accountable. Other people set precise

goals or they start these grand

projects. And in the pursuit of that

goal, they naturally become better at

many different things as a byproduct.

Personally, I like to design learning

plans. I like to split my day into

different categories so that I can

reserve time for physical growth,

creative growth, mental growth, and so

on. That lets me focus on the small

everyday efforts that build up towards

this ideal. And it's suddenly not so

intimidating because it really is just a

series of small habits that repeat for a

long time. And by the way, I have a few

videos on this exact system, so I'm

going to link it here for you to watch

afterwards. Now, your system is

personal. I really don't want to tell

you how to do this because it's your

choice at the end of the day. But you

might be thinking, well, what do we do

in these systems like what we actually

trying to focus on? First, you have to

find a way to train the body. These

classical ideals, they stress the

goodness of beauty and physical power.

Because yes, being fit and capable and

sexy is fantastic. It's a good thing

that we should work towards. But on its

own, that's a bit vain. There is more to

physical training than just that. Most

importantly, you learn discipline

because lifting, sparring, sprinting,

these things are bloody difficult. And

it takes a level of discipline to leave

your warm house, your warm room, go out

into the cold and train, to feel the

pain, to exert yourself. That takes

mental fortitude. And it's probably the

best reason we should expose ourselves

to that training. It helps you get used

to discomfort. And we better because

life is full of it. And of course, your

body is a vessel. It's what carries

every other aspect of your being, your

mind, your soul. And so if we neglect

it, it will only get more painful and

more difficult to do the things we love.

Next, we have to train the mind. And

that is a massive part of the whole

Renaissance ideal. We have to train our

speech so that we can articulate our

ideas better. We have to train how we

think, our logic, our reasoning, our

critical thinking. We should read with

intention with the goal of learning

about the world, about other people, and

of course ourselves. We should study the

minds of the world's greatest thinkers

and understand the philosophies that

quite literally steered human history to

where we are today. We should practice

our writing because that is how we

reflect and process our ideas. And with

those skills in reading and writing, we

gain the knowledge we need to better

navigate life to deal with the problems

of society, of human suffering, of all

these political and social and

philosophical problems. There are tools

against that. Unlike your average

Twitter user who just pulls their

opinions from their algorithm, you

actually build a foundation of knowledge

that helps you ground your thinking and

make better conclusions. It's like

Harold Bloom said, "The mind should be

kept at home until its primal ignorance

has been purged." We have to learn

history, philosophy, science, maths, the

classics, language, all of these

different things which give us that

bedrock. Now, of course, it doesn't have

to be everything. like we have our

preferences here but in general we

should strive for that balance and that

well-roundedness and then as Cisero

suggested we should train our oration so

that we can better communicate those

ideas and hopefully use them in service

of the nation or the community or anyone

close to you or loved ones whoever. Next

up is the creative side of man. We

should learn to appreciate art because

it's what keeps us connected to our

heritage and our culture. And when we

value something like that, we are in a

better position to both preserve it and

to improve on it. Appreciating art also

trains our taste and in general it makes

life more interesting because we're not

talking about just paintings here. This

is all of the media which makes us

human. It's our movies. It's our music.

It's our literature. It's all of these

little crafts which give life its soul.

Enjoying art also helps you produce your

own because at some point we need to

stop endlessly consuming and start

creating something. Now you can express

yourself through any medium of your

choosing. But the point is it becomes a

way to slow down and to reflect and to

look into yourself and to somehow bring

that out into reality and make your mark

in the world. You learn a valuable new

skill and if it's your style, you can

make that into a business, make a living

off of it. Or alternatively, you can

just put it out there so that you

inspire other people and sort of have

this flourishing of art coming from you,

which is special. It's really nice to

see people online sort of revive these

old crafts like shoe making, like

sculpting, like brewing me. And I've

seen people take that creative passion

and they've become, you know, game devs

or indie filmmakers or producers or

whatever, musicians. It's just

fantastic. and they could only do that

because they made time to be creative

and they nurtured that part of their

character. Now, I do this mainly through

writing or making videos, but you know,

I'd love to try lots of different things

one day. Maybe try perfumery when I can

afford it or maybe return to painting or

playing the violin, that sort of thing.

This is a deeply personal category, so

you should explore far and wide until

you find what clicks. Because trust me,

if you struggle with this, something

will click. Eventually, you'll find

something that just feels like doesn't

even feel like a chore. It feels like

something you can just be pulled along

by because you truly love it so much.

And if you're struggling to find that, I

would look and think, what do you enjoy

as a consumer? What do you love

consuming? And how can you maybe make

something like that for yourself? How

can you contribute to that realm of art?

It's a good place to start. Finally, we

must find ways to look outwards because

one of the big vices of self-improvement

which I've fallen prey to is that it

becomes selfish. It's all about me me.

What can I do to improve myself? And I

noticed that I was guilty of that and I

really didn't like it. We therefore need

a way to avoid getting our head stuck up

our ass and actually helping other

people and the world. Think about what

you have. Think about what you can offer

and then use it to serve other people.

Apply yourself. You can make content

about something you know or maybe

something you once struggled with in

order to help other people. You can

contribute locally through some business

or civic duty. You can serve your

neighborhood, your friends, your family,

your loved ones, your children, your

parents, anyone but you. And in doing

so, we we turn our gaze outwards and we

focus on something beyond the self. This

is all good and inspiring, but it's not

always going to feel like that.

Greatness isn't accessible. The

Renaissance man ideal isn't egalitarian.

It's not something we can just put on

and become. It's not going to be easy to

reach. It's a lifelong mission that will

constantly be tested by distractions, by

temptations, by failures. Rather than

pretend those problems don't exist, we

should see them coming and we should

fortify ourselves against them so that

when we do meet them, we're prepared and

we can keep going despite that. First is

the principle of progressive overload.

And my gym bros out there know what this

is already. If you just overhaul your

entire life overnight, that's a recipe

for failure because there's too many

changes too quickly and it's

uncomfortable. It's difficult and you're

probably just going to regress into your

old ways, the old comfortable ways.

Instead, you should gradually change how

you live. Just start slow. Ease yourself

in. Get used to it. See how it feels.

And over time, you'll find yourself

slowly but surely getting stronger,

getting smarter, getting more

disciplined. And with those new skills,

you can just then add more. And it's

it's small at first, but over the days

and the weeks and the months, the years,

you change. And you are capable of much,

much more. And that's only because you

were patient and slow and steady in the

beginning. your new habits are much more

likely to stick this way. And in a

sense, it feels like a video game, like

a skill tree. You're slowly progressing

and getting better. And you know, you

you're being challenged at the same

time, but you're also having fun and

seeing that uh progression. We mentioned

a system already, but if you can find a

way to do this with other people, that

is brilliant. And most likely this will

be your with your friends or through a

club or maybe your girlfriend,

boyfriend, spouse, whatever. It's

accountability and it's very motivating

to see other people put the effort in.

And in a sense, you build up off of each

other. You push each other higher. You

have this sense of rivalry and

competition. And if you ever been in an

environment like this, you'll know just

how much more you can do than if it's on

your own. And of course, you learn

quicker from other people. They can call

out your They can call out

your mistakes. They can give you tips,

pointers, advice and a sense again of

spirit, of competition, of forward

upwards movement. So if you can find

people in real life, online works too,

but find people. And finally, I have to

stress this. You must model your

Renaissance man project after what you

want. Not what your friend does, not

what I do, not what the next YouTuber

says, not what seems cool on paper, but

what you truly want and what your goals

are. There's no strict rules for what

exactly you have to study, what exactly

you have to do, and how you get there. I

mean, I've been throwing suggestions out

throughout this whole video, but they

are just that, suggestions. They're just

pointers or ideas for you to get

started. But you have to really go

through the process of finding what

works for you, what you enjoy so you can

keep going, and what makes sense in your

mind because we're all a bit weird in

our own way. and what works for me may

just be weird to you or outlandish and

vice versa. So base it on yourself and

no one else. If you need some

inspiration and you want to learn maybe

how to become a Renaissance man with

just 3 hours a day, then you can watch

this video up here. And if the idea of

being able to articulate yourself well

stood out to you, I've also made a video

on that for you to check out. And of

course, there's a newsletter. It's free

to sign up down below. There's a room

for different styles of content there.

And as always, I want to hear you in my

emails or comments. Please tell me what

you think, what you do in your own life,

and how you approach these things and

the struggles you faced. I learn from

you genuinely, and everyone else does,

too. So, it's great. Thank you so much

for watching and I hope you like the