There has been a whole range of wonderful things written about lessons from 2020. The angle we want to cover today is the need for more of us to do for the community, for our brothers or the planet or whatever your passion is.

The world needs you. The world needs needs every man, just in simple, but practical ways, to stand up and be there for the world, in little things, whether it’s for your teenage kids, for your partner, for your closest mate, because there’s so many people that are doing it tough and there’s a real tendency when you’re doing it tough, you tend to withdraw in. Well, we need us to be going out, in simple, but really practical ways.

We have met so many superb men in Universal Man. The sense we get from many of the men is they get involved to see what they can learn or get out of it, how someone might be able to help them. In fact, often the spirit needs to be the other way around, is what can I give? What can I offer to other men? What could I bring to the table? What could I do to help lead?

One of the guys at a Universal Man dinner in Melbourne, recently said, “Look, the world’s chaos. Everything’s going crazy. What are we going to do?” This is a guy we really respect and the answer is a deeper sense “one man at a time”. Just each of us, one at a time, doing our little bit and joining forces with others so we can fit in our busy lives. 

TIMING IN IMPORTANT BUT NOT EVERYTHING

You’ve got to get the timing right. But the other part of the pie is sometimes you need to be prodded. That is a bit about what today is about. Pricey and I want to give you a little bit of a push out the door because there will never be a good time. And you’ve got to put yourself at risk. You’ve actually got to go to a meeting, or you’ve got to, if you want to… if you’re into saving the koalas, you’ve got to go to koala meeting. If you want to join the church and do something to the church, you’ve got to go to church. You’ve got to put yourself at risk that this might not be perfect. 

One of the great dangers is we think, “Okay, I’ll do this when I’ve got my shit together. When I’ve got all the answers, when I’m ready.” Hey, you’re never going to have that particular state. The world and particularly many, many other men are needing you and needing ourselves ‘where we are now’. The world needs us the way we are, but in a simple thing. It’s a matter of simply reaching out in easy-to-do steps. And as one of your friends says, “It’s easy to do. Easy not to do. It is your particular call.” So let’s reach out in simple, simple ways.

You might be sitting around there at night and we’ve certainly been through this little space where you said, “Oh, should we do this?” Like even Universal Man, “Should we do it?” It’s a bit of a risk. It’s going to put myself in danger of failing. I’ve got to step into a place of discomfort. Well, maybe I’ve got to work a bit harder. Maybe I’ve got to try something I don’t really know so much about. Maybe I’ve got to go and maybe hear some people speak that maybe have a different opinion to mine. These are little things that you get that little sense of discomfort within you. “I don’t know if that’s going to go the way I planned.” You know what? When you sense that discomfort, that’s telling you it’s exactly what you need to go. That’s the opportunity for growth.

DON’T UNDERESTIMATE YOUR CONTRIBUTION

Many men underestimate the power of the contribution they can make. So if it’s helping a charity through whatever your gift is, maybe it’s fundraising, maybe it’s helping people on the front line, whatever that thing is for you, I think a lot of the time we discount our power to do something, our contribution. 

And so, we talk ourselves out of it. Even we discount that maybe we’ve got a mate who might need a bit of an ear. We discount how valuable that is for them just to have someone sit there and listen to their story. It takes no skill to do that, just sit there and just listen to someone. “Are you okay? Tell me about this. Is that all right? Oh.” And then it takes no skill to recommend a book or a podcast, or to just sit there quietly. Often, that’s been the best thing I’ve ever needed is someone to just sit there and just listen.

It could be as simple a matter of, as we get to the end of the year, just pick up your phone, go through your contacts list and just make a list of five, 10, 15 men, that you may not have spoken to actually on the phones, actually spoken or even spoken to face-to-face for six or so weeks or even more. Just write their names down and then just choose one or two of them. And sometime over the next month, just pick up the phone. “G’day there, George.” And it’s simple reaching out and it’ll make the world of difference. So, I think… go on.

The message I think is the world needs you. There’s never going to be a perfect time. None of us are perfect. Everyone’s just having a stumbling step in the right direction. Take some of the energy you get over the Christmas break and put it into doing something in the New Year that just makes the world better and leave a little ripple. That’s all it takes. Maybe volunteer or call some mates or get involved in something that improves the lives of those people around you.

We’ve said often, we really say that a universal man’s about who, rather than W-H-A-T, what. So sure, at Christmas time, we’re getting gifts. There’s all these P-R-E-S-E-N-T-S, all these presents around, things, great. But just over this Christmas time, it’s the who. Who can we reach out to? What’s the P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E? What’s the actual presence we can then you be. It could be a coffee with someone, a beer with someone, the phone call. 

Thank you for your support. Thanks for all those who’ve let us know that you have listened in. Thanks for the ideas people have sent in to us. We didn’t have our weekend, but we had our six weeks of our virtual time, which we felt went off well. We’re looking forward to 2021 and to that exciting journey just to be the best man we can be and to care for one another, and leave this world the best it can be. Have a great time, fellas.

Stay legendary and Merry Christmas

Grego & Pricey