My wife and I recently did a staycation weekend at one of our favorite hotels, The NoMAD here in NYC. Surprisingly, we both found it hard to do what we came to do: Take a “vacation” from work and enjoy ourselves. It was really hard to enjoy having...
My "Gifts to get yourself" guide has been a holiday season tradition since I launched The Essential Man. I've always found traditional gift guide posts useless. Not because of bad recommendations, but because I always just end up getting something for myself. My...
It’s wild to see how much men’s style has transformed over the last decade. I never thought I would see Wall St. bowing (sorta) to the shift towards the casual style, a sneaker becoming a staple for a timeless wardrobe, or the return of the fanny pack. (Still on the...
One night in Chicago, an unsigned producer was showing legendary rapper Talib Kweli a gameplan backstage. It was an outline of his new career as a rapper. He showed Talib his list of albums he's going to put out. How he sequenced out the tracks to make the albums...
Check out this email I got from a reader: “Man I would love to have better confidence, I would love to get cultured, and I would love to find a cool hobby like motorcycle riding or something....If I had the confidence, I would wear my style and not be worried about...
In late 2016, after seeing myself in a video interview looking chubby, I set a goal for myself to get in the best shape of my life. I’ve lost weight before. In my freshman year of college, I ballooned to 220lbs. By my senior year, I treadmilled my way down to...
There used to be only three things that never fail to make me cry: Oscar-winner speeches This fucking Google commercial The first 5 minutes of UP (Note: DAMMIT why did I just watch this on my birthday!?) Now I can add one more to the list... When I get emails like...
After years of slow computers and a touch screen that barely worked half the time, I finally went and picked up a new laptop and phone. The first thing that hit me was the dread of transferring all my data from my old gear. My old phone had over 15,000 images in it....
One of the most common comments I get from guys who want to work with me is this: “I don’t know where to start. I don’t know what style is good for me.” Style doesn’t really work that way. It’s not like I’m going to say “If you are a 25 year old black male living in...