Before we get into defining the term “alpha male” we must understand the importance of correctly defining “alpha male.”
Every man knows that being the alpha male means that you’ll get:
- All the hot girls
- All the money
- And all the respect
And it’s true, alpha males do live better lives and that’s why every guy strives to become an alpha male.
But if society doesn’t understand what truly makes an alpha male, alpha, it’ll drive young men in the wrong direction!
Men want to know how to become an alpha male, but they first need to know what it even means to be an alpha male.
So let’s dive in and truly understand this subject…
1. The popular, classic definition of an alpha male
The best place to start is by digging into the classic definitions.
According to The Oxford Dictionary:
[an alpha male] is a man tending to assume a dominant or domineering role in social or professional situations.
“two alpha males constantly competing to be the best”
According to The Urban Dictionary:
“[The alpha male is a] man who is powerful or high on the social ladder.”
Clearly there’s a common theme of dominance, but these definitions are leaving out too much.
After all, isn’t there more to an alpha male than just being dominant?
2. The problem with the popular, classic definition of an alpha male
Although alpha males come off as dominant men, I must make it clear that there is much more going on to create that character!
In my post titled 25 Fail-Proof Ways To Be An Alpha Male Without Stressing Yourself Out, I make it very clear that becoming an alpha male is hard and it takes time to develop the humility, self-validation and the 22 other character traits that make up an alpha male!
So in a way, dictionary.com is correct to say that “[an alpha male is] the most dominant, powerful, or assertive man in a particular group.” but it’s ignoring 90% of what actually makes alpha males, alpha!
Additionally, that definition doesn’t either answer any of these questions:
Why do alpha males get all the girls?
Why are alpha males usually generous and empathetic?
Why are alpha males physically fit?
Why are alpha males always the leaders?
And finally, why are alpha males dominant?
3. Understanding the alpha male
Let’s first start out with a quote from Rollo Tomassi’s blog where he discusses alpha qualities:
Alpha is a mindset, not a demographic. Alpha is as Alpha does, it isn’t what we say it is. There are noble Alphas and there are scoundrel Alphas, the difference is all in how they apply themselves.
He’s explaining that alpha males are not defined by their money, beautiful women, properties or morals.
Alpha males are defined by their mindset.
That’s why there’s such a thing as the 9 types of alpha males because each type exhibits the alpha male mindset in a different way.
The spiritual and villain alpha males, despite the fact they live their lives in opposite ways, carry the same alpha mindsets.
So if we are going to come up with the true, precise definition of what it means to be an alpha male, we must first understand what is the core of the alpha male mindset, and here’s what I came up with:
The alpha male mindset is about feeling so secure about your identity that it’s impossible for anyone or anything to shake you up
This means that the alpha male knows exactly who he truly is. He knows what he’s capable of and what he’s not capable of, therefore…
He’s humble because he simply has no reason to prove himself to anyone.
He’s the leader because he believes in his own greatness.
He’s naturally assertive because he knows what he stands for.
And this explains everything that we had trouble understanding before: Why do alpha males get all the girls, have all the money and get ripped?
Simple! They know who they are, know what they are capable of, and aren’t held back from the fear of rejection so they go after what they want without any hesitation.
4. The precise definition of “alpha male”
Now that we fully understand what makes up an alpha male, let me give you my best definition of “alpha male”:
An alpha male is a man that knows who he is and what he stands for at his deepest level allowing him to have negligible levels of fear of rejection to therefore, exude behaviors such as dominance, leadership, and assertiveness.
5. Examples of true alpha males
Alright, so I’ve promised you some examples of alpha males and here they are:
Example number one: Steve Jobs
When Apple first attempted to build a cloud storage system and failed, Steve Jobs publicly fired the manager of the program, embarrassing him in front of the other employees.
He couldn’t care less about bringing any of his employees to tears because his whole focus was making Apple the greatest company.
Why does this make Steve Jobs an alpha male? Because although he acted in very cruel ways, he developed thick skin.
He didn’t just give insults, he also took insults. In his early years as he was building Apple failed multiple times and even lost his position as the CEO!
He was incredibly persistent, hard working and in a weird way, humble.
Example number two: Donald J. Trump
I don’t care if you love him or think he’s the devil, if you just look at what he’s managed to accomplish in his life you’d see clearly that he’s is an alpha male:
First off, I know that he received a 20 million inheritance from his father Fred Trump, but he himself invested that money, making his net worth about 3 billion dollars today!
But what really makes him an alpha male is that he survived multiple bankruptcies and now is earning over 500 million dollars a year…
To get back up after failing so bad is what I mean when I talk about being persistent. And to finish this off, he also managed to become the president of the United States!
He definitely has alpha male qualities, but whether he’s the wealthy or villain type of alpha male, is your choice.
Summary
I’ve written this post because I feel that the classic definition of “alpha male” ignores too much of what makes an alpha male, alpha.
We needed to talk about the mindset and the beliefs before we can ever truly come up with a complete definition.
So I’ve given you what I’ve got and by the way, if you’ve got a better definition be sure to leave it in the comments and I will definitely take a look!
Your friend,
Colt Smith