It's a Lonely Path

One Reason Why The Preparation Might Not Be For You

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2025

Writing to you from Denver, Colorado

We’ve compared the differences between college and The Preparation for over a year at this point.

The Preparation wins over college in nearly every metric - costs less than college, you gain real skills, you don’t go into debt, you don’t waste 4+ years of your life away, you move towards becoming the man you want to be in rapid time, unique opportunities and experiences come your way, you build a vast network of interesting people, and there’s no doubt that the skills you learn will allow you to make money.

It’s a no-brainer, but let me put it another way…

In just four years of time you could become a man who can heal people, fight, ride horses, fly planes, sail boats, cook a great meal, write persuasively, make good money, experience things most never experience, gain good and interesting friends, and, in terms of character, become a man worth striving to be.

Not a single 4-year “college experience” can touch that.

Of course, that’s what appeals to me, but you can fill in that paragraph with the things you find interesting.

Yet, there is one major downside of the program that might make some pull a U-turn straight back to college…

It’s Lonely

Your parents, grandparents, friends, siblings, aunts, uncles - chances are everyone was trying to move you down the college path. With full support behind you, you step out into college surrounded by your peers who are all going down similar prescribed paths.

As long as you’re getting good grades and headed towards that piece of paper at the end of the road you’re painted as a success.

Everyone is in full support.

Well, to put it bluntly, you don’t get that in The Preparation.

Friends will be confused as to what you’re doing, family will treat you like you’re some dumb kid who’s headed straight for poverty and failure, and when you tell people what you’re doing instead of college they will think that you’re just “dabbling” in learning different skills and won’t take you seriously.

I’m telling you this from experience.

Of course, I got lucky because my dad has always had my back and helped me get on this path in the first place.

Not everyone will have that.

There were a few times in the early days of beta testing The Preparation when I though, “What’s the point?” I was ready to give it all up a few times.

It’s difficult to get the indications that you’re making progress when you don’t have society and the people close to you cheering you on…in fact, they’re wondering, “What the hell is this kid doing?”

Every success and every failure is your own, which is a fact of life, but one you don’t get to learn when you’re put on a prescribed path like college.

You have to sit with your own thoughts, constantly plan to learn and do more things on your own, and add coal to your inner fire because (especially in the beginning) there is little to no one who is betting on your success.

It’s difficult, no doubt about that. But, there is nothing better than this…

But, This is a Good Thing

College may put you on a path that (used to) pretty much guarantee a job, which somehow equates to a successful life, but is life so mechanical and robotic that as long as you have a “good job” everything else somehow falls into place?

It worked for a few years, but college has never been a reflection of real life. It’s a world within a world - safe, bubble-wrapped, and deceiving…

What a successful life is needs to be redefined, and that’s what The Preparation does.

How?

Because anyone who undergoes their own preparation must act in the world itself, not in a sub-world (institution). It’s not about a job. It’s about becoming a man worth being - a man who embraces virtue, possess numerous valuable skills, adds value to the world and therefore makes money, builds relationships with good people, does interesting things, and lives a life worth living.

It’s all-encompassing. Not about a degree, not about a job, not about fitting in.

A successful life is a whole life - one in which the man himself is developed into something greater. All good things stem from this.

So, despite the lonely road you will walk - where friends, family, and strangers will criticism you and certainly look down on you for at least a short period of time, and society doesn’t cheer you on - the result of your time and effort will pay off hundredfold.

Nowadays the lonely road is an indication that you’re doing the right thing.

Plus, to be completely superficial, you do get a hero’s journey…

The story might sound something like: A young kid who had never done anything with his life ends up coming out of 4 lonely years of hard effort and ambition as a respectable, capable, and potentially financially successful man who accomplished more in 4 years than most do in 20.

4 years of college or good character, large skill set, real life experiences, large network of friends…should I keep going?

Which do you choose?

-Maxim Benjamin Smith