The Necessity Cycle

How to develop strong men to repel hard times

Alexander Hamilton

I’ll admit it…. I am a big fan of Broadway shows. My favorite of all time is Phantom of the Opera followed closely by Hamilton. About a month ago, my family and I got to see Hamilton live. It was great. If you have never seen it, you should. But everyone should know Alexander Hamilton’s story.

Here are a few childhood highlights:

• Born illegitimately (Wedlock) giving lower social status

• Abandoned by his father at the age of 10

• Forced into poverty due to lack of a father to provide financially

• Orphaned at the age of 12 when his mother died of a fever

• Proceeded to move in with a cousin who shortly thereafter committed suicide

• Limited formal education due to poverty and social status

That’s a tough start.

But these hardships drove him to become one of the smartest and most competent men in history.

Today, many of us live in abundance which can be debilitating if not managed well. What we’re going to think through here is how we can navigate affluence wisely and what level and/or  type of hardship is necessary for us to willingly undertake if we want to develop ourselves and our boys to be the men they’re capable of being.

Tytler’s Cycle

Most of you have heard of the pervasive cycle that has been the backbone and downfalls of civilizations across history:

The cycle can be summarized as follows:

1. Hard times create strong men: During difficult periods (e.g., wars, economic depressions, or natural disasters), people need to develop resilience, resourcefulness, and a strong work ethic to survive and overcome the challenges they face.

2. Strong men create good times: As a result of their resilience and resourcefulness, the "strong men" (and women) create periods of prosperity and stability, leading to an improved quality of life for themselves and future generations.

3. Good times create weak men: Over time, prosperity and stability can lead to complacency, indulgence, and a lack of appreciation for the hardships of the past. As a result, the values and skills that once drove society's success may be lost or diminished.

4. Weak men create hard times: The complacency and lack of resilience eventually contribute to a decline in society, leading to another period of hard times, and the cycle repeats.

Another model created by Alexander Tytler speaks to a similar phenomenon that he found in his research:

I’ve heard of these cycles before and my question is not just how do we break this cycle but what insights can we gain from this cycle that can speak into what can help us to develop our boys. This is a problem not just broadly but also in the spiritual formation of individuals.

I think the first step is to reverse-engineer this cycle. What we all can agree on is that we want strong men. What seems to drive this outcome on a large scale is hard times. Weak men is driven abundance and good times. The problem is that we DEFINITELY want good times. So, how can we have the best of both worlds? We need to willingly simulate hard times during the good times.

To dive deeper, what is it about hard times that allows us to become stronger? It is the fact that this environment FORCES and REQUIRES us to go above and beyond. There is no option other than to work, serve, lift, and hustle. Laziness, mediocrity, and apathy are not available to you because, if they were, you wouldn’t have the basic necessities to live

The key to what hard times does, I believe, is that it raises necessity - something I’ve learned is one of the. 6 ways that an individual becomes a high performer.