I've Been Waiting for This...
A Radical Alternative to College
Sunday, May 4th, 2025
Writing to you from Denver, Colorado
Things have been going fairly well around here in terms of making good progress. Things get busier and busier - and that’s a good thing.
I started the practical training for flight school one month ago. Unfortunately, due to weather (unavoidable) and the flight school scheduling me with instructors that don’t have time I have only been able to get six flights in.
It adds up to 8.6 total flight hours.
Resolution?
This past week I told the people at the flight school about the problems I’ve been having in trying to get more flight hours. They came up with a solution for me: splitting my time between two instructors who have decent availability.
Instead of 3 flights scheduled in a week it’ll be 5!
At least for this next week, but…
That’s a whole lot better considering that in the past month I was usually only able to get 1-2 flights per week. Of course, mountain weather plays a huge factor in loss of flight time - turbulent wind, afternoon thunderstorms, and dramatic shifts in temperature…
One day it’s 40 degrees and the mountains are covered in snow. The next it’s 72 and sunny. It’s crazy, but that’s how it is here.
It Gets More Fun Over Time
During my last flight I had this week my instructor asked me how I liked flying.
“I didn’t like it very much at first, but over time it gets more and more fun”, I said.
When you’re incompetent at something it can still be very fun…at least at first since there’s no pressure for you to have to know what you’re doing. But, when you’re incompetent at something and trying to become competent at it, it can be frustrating.
Anyway…
The two flights I had this past week went very well.
We practiced:
Slow flight (flying with full flaps down at an indicated airspeed of 55-60kts while trying to maintain altitude and a heading)
Steep turns (360 degree turns at a 45 degree bank. The objective is to start and stop at the same heading and altitude)
Power-on and Power-off stalls (Power-off stalls are meant to simulate a stall while going in for a landing. A power-on stall is meant to simulate a stall in takeoff. They show how exceeding the critical angle of attack (when there is improper airflow over the wings) at an airspeed can lead to a stall and how to recover from both)
Turns around a point (In this exercise you find an object on the ground to make a full 360 degree turn around (making a constant bank). It’s more difficult than it sounds because the wind comes at you from different directions the entire time, meaning you have to readjust your bank constantly)
Simulated engine failure
Landings
We managed to do my first landing to a full stop and 5 landings in total over two lessons.
Everyone makes a big deal about landings - it’s the boogeyman for student pilots…well, that and communicating with air traffic control (which is the hardest part for me).
Yet, after having a great instructor (this guy was really on top of his stuff when it comes to flying) walk me through a few landings it seems to me that as long as you get a basic system down for how to walk through a landing it isn’t all that hard.
It’s actually fun.
Studying
There are 3 main parts to getting your Private Pilot’s License:
Passing the FAA written test
Getting at least 40 hours of flight time
Passing the check ride (where they test your knowledge and practical skills)
I’ve been told my a couple instructors at the flight school that getting the FAA written exam out of the way as fast as possible is the smart thing to do.
That way you can just focus on getting the flight time in and the practical skills down pat.
Well, that’s what I’d like to do. Much of every day is spent studying for that test - usually several hours. There’s only one thing standing in my way though…getting a student certificate with the help of my flight instructor.
As soon as I get that, I’ll schedule the test.
Wilderness First Responder
Sometimes it can be a bit difficult to figure out how to fill all of the time you have with productive things to do/learn.
I was unsure of what else I could be doing while I’m here, so I asked Chat GPT what it would suggest someone do if they had a few months of time in Denver, Colorado and wanted to learn new skills.
I’ve given it prompts about The Preparation in the past, so it understood that the objective is to learn as much as possible within a short period of time.
It gave a list of things to do/learn based off of the things I’ve already done. One of its suggestions was to take a Wilderness First Responder class.
Well, long story short, I’m signed up for that now.
There are 30 hours of online work to complete before the in-person learning in Southern Colorado. It’ll be 5 days (50 hours) of in-person work.
The goals for completing this course are fourfold:
To get additional training before working on wildfires as an EMT
To acquire a new certification that’ll be a bonus to the EMT cert
To learn new things that my EMT school my not have covered
To get a better idea of how to work with what you’ve got instead of relying on all the medical equipment that comes on an ambulance
After making my way through the online course work I’ve already learned a few things that my EMT school didn’t cover.
P.S. If your considering going to EMT school I’d recommend that you do research into the schools in your area. Everyone I’ve worked with in EMS has surprisingly different levels of knowledge because the EMT/Paramedic schools vary greatly in quality. I’ve come to see that my EMT school wasn’t exactly top tier…
Anyway…
I didn’t exactly know what Tetanus was until taking this online WFR course.
Hippocrates may have been the first to record symptoms of tetanus in the 5th century BC. He was taking care of a man aboard a ship. The man had wounds to his skull and spine with symptoms of lockjaw, body rigidity, and stiffness of neck (key symptoms of tetanus).
Usually we think of getting cut by rusty metal when we hear tetanus, but actually not the cause of it…
Tetanus is actually a bacteria that passes through cuts/abrasions, but it is usually found in soil, manure, and dead leaves.
When absorbed by the body through a cut or abrasion the tetanus spores pass through nerve endings and wreak havoc on the interneurons, which connect sensory and motor neurons.
Over time, larger and more important muscle groups seize and contract from this. Usually leading to suffocation.
Diabetic emergencies
Every EMT school covers diabetic emergencies: hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.
But, not every EMT school goes into great detail about these things…
For example, I didn’t know that hypoglycemia could be caused by excessive exercise and excessive shivering from cold exposure.
Of course, after hearing about that through this WFR course it makes sense…the body is using large amounts of glucose through exercise or trying to maintain body temperature by shivering.
It’s the little details that are important to know.
They are obvious, but sometimes you just don’t think about them.
Moving on…
The in-person portion of the course starts on May 17th and runs until the 21st. So, I’ll have the online work done within the next week.
There is a chance that I may be called out to a fire before or during that time. Not a big chance, but still possible.
The Sawlog fire is burning pretty good in Montana and there’s been some fire activity in the Southwest too. Last year the company that I work with sent some guys out on a fire in late May, and it wouldn’t be surprising if that happened again this year
We shall see.
Reading
Continued reading The Will to Power by Nietzsche
It’s amazing how a man can be motivating, confusing, and demoralizing all in the same book. The Will to Power is a pretty decent book. His criticisms and predictions about the fate of the Western world were spot on. And, I think he is right about the type of man that will rise above the circumstances, at least partially right. I have a long way to go, but when I’m finished I’ll have more to say about this book.
Finished reading The Halbert Copywriting Method Part III by Bond Halbert
Gary Halbert (Bond Halbert’s dad) was one of the best copywriters to walk the earth. Even the letters he wrote to his son during his 10 months in California’s Boron Federal Prison Camp for committing tax fraud were fantastic pieces of copy - persuasive, personal, informative.
I’ve been trying to become a better writer since November of 2023. I’ve found that reading the works of Hemingway (and other great fiction writers) is just as important as studying from the world’s top copywriters. You get the best of both worlds: how to tell a story and how to sell an idea (and usually they overlap). I highly recommend this book for anyone seeking to write better. Bond, like his father, was a pretty good copywriter.
Started reading How to Make Maximum Money in Minimum Time! by Gary Halbert
Mental and Physical Training
Worked out (4 out of 7 days)
Exercise every day if you can, even if you don’t think you have the time…you do. It’ll make you feel better, you’ll look better, and it will literally put you in a more positive mood.
Chess practice (6 out of 7 days)
Chess hasn’t been going fantastic. It’s hard to think/stay focused when staring at a screen for another hour per day. Chess was not meant to become an online game in my opinion.
But, the important part is that I stay consistent and try to improve.
Spanish practice (5 out of 7 days)
Spanish has been going alright. I got to practice my Spanish with a cleaning lady that came to the apartment. I made a few minor mistakes and definitely forgot a few words, but overall it wasn’t bad. A good test.
BJJ training (4 out of 7 days)
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has been going fantastic. I look forward to it on the days I do go.
Steady progress is being made…
Things I Published
Monday, April 28th:
Tuesday, April 29th:
Wednesday, April 30th:
Are these updates informative? Are they useful? Entertaining?
Leave a comment below if you’ve got any suggestions or questions for me.
And don’t forget to send this to someone who might benefit.
I’ll see you next week.
-Maxim Benjamin Smith
I am acting as a guinea pig for a program which is meant to prepare young men for the future. This program is designed to be a replacement for the only three routes advertised to young men today - go to college, the military, or a dead-end job.
All of these typical routes of life are designed to shape us into cogs for a wheel that doesn’t serve us. Wasted time, debt, lack of skills, and a soul crushing job define many who follow the traditional route.
This program, which we can call “The Preparation”, is meant to guide young men on a path where they properly utilize their time to gain skills, build relationships, and reach a state of being truly educated. The Preparation is meant to set young men up for success.
What appeals to me about The Preparation is the idea of the type of man I could be. The path to becoming a skilled, dangerous, and competent man is much more clear now. I’ve always been impressed by characters like The Count of Monte Cristo, men who accumulated knowledge and skills over a long period of time and eventually became incredibly capable men.
Young men today do not have a guiding light. We have few mentors and no one to emulate. We have been told that there are only a few paths to success in this world. For intelligent and ambitious people - college is sold to us as the one true path. And yet that path seems completely uncertain today.
We desperately need something real to grab onto. I think this is it.
I’m putting the ideas into action. Will it work? I can’t be sure, but I’m doing my best. I’m more than 60 weeks into the program at this point. So far, so good.
You can follow me along as I follow the program. Each week, I summarize all that I did.
My objective in sharing this is three fold:
Documenting my progress holds me accountable.
I hope these updates will show other young men that there is another path we can take.
For the parents who stumble upon this log, I want to prove to you that telling your children that the conventional path - college, debt, and a job is not the foolproof path you think it is.
Sounds like a good week!
If it’s not too late, stay away from Wilderness Medicine Outfitters for your WFR. Not a great instructor. I know from personal experience.