4. Just be yourself and do not pretend to be what you are not!
Read the article on the main site by the site admin, Allen Thompson, "Why Not "Just Be Yourself":
http://www.sosuave.com/articles/whynot.htm
Just being themselves is what got many guys into the circumstances that led them to realize they needed to become better selves.
We start life as pretty much a blank slate. All behaviors are learned. They're habits, basically, that we either learn intentionally or slip into by default.
When we embark upon any new behavior/habit in order to seek personal improvement or growth, we are in essence "pretending to be something that we're not". In pop psych culture, the phrase is "fake it till you make it". It's about doing something repeatedly, although it feels awkward at first (only because it's new and unfamiliar), until it becomes a part of us.
However we arrived at being "ourselves" at this particular moment in time, there was a time previous to that where we weren't who we are today. During the learning curve (or breaking a bad habit) for whatever aspect of ourselves we developed, we 'faked it til we made it'.
We have the ability to become our personal best in whatever we wish to do, but that requires effort and thought.
If we decide to tone up our bodies, that requires putting away bad habits, getting up off the couch and developing new, heal their habits and routines. If we wish to learn a sport, learn an activity, be proficient at anything, it requires thought and effort.
Interacting with people also requires thought and effort, in short an education. We learn how to effectively deal with our employers, employees, children, our parents, our friends as well as how to handle relationships with our lovers and how to date. Those who don't learn how to be their personal best in these areas and believe it's a matter of doing whatever comes naturally, are kidding themselves. Knowledge and wisdom, not knee jerk reactions, are what's called for in any venture in life.
The weak advice to 'just be yourself' is a popular adage, and that's because it doesn't require any thinking or effort to exercise nor any thought and effort to parrot as advice.