4 Steps to Being a Better Man in 2014

InsideHook’s guide to self-improvement in 2015

By The Editors
December 26, 2014 9:00 am

This year, don’t make it so easy to disappoint yourself. Below, a few highly achievable resolutions — and how we recommend you carry them out — in 2014.


I resolve to go camping. All the time camping.

God bless your tent fetish. Let’s break this resolution down into manageable steps:

  1. Find the campground. Use Hipcamp to find your plot. Or, if you’ve a jones for Big Sur, just start with Ventana’s new campground. Huge. Gorgeous. If you’re still stymied, try our Where to Take Her Camping flowchart.

  2. Buy the tent. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the commodious Jero Yurt and the Lotus Belle. But smaller works, too, which is why we recommend the single-pole Scout.

  3. Buy the jacket. Our pick: the new Orion ultralight jacket from the waterproofing experts at Mission Workshop, available now.

I resolve to bike more often.

Good idea. We’ve got a few suggestions for how to manage that.

  1. Faraday Bicycles makes the Porteur, an all-form, all-function game-changer of an electric bike, available now for preorder.

  2. Helios Bikes make smart-tech, like glowing handlebars, for all manner of rides.

  3. The Lumen, quite simply, glows in the dark.

I resolve to dress better.

No you don’t. We live in San Francisco. Normcore 4 Life. But, should you be inspired to improve yourself in all matters vestiary, we recommend Indochino’s brand new brick-and-mortar showroom in the Financial District, now taking appointments for made-to-measure everything. Also have a look at our Fall Style Issue. It won’t disappoint.

I resolve to ride a motorcycle. Or at least a cool moped.

For that, start with Motoped — a marriage between a rough and ready downhill mountain bike and a fuel-efficient four-stroke. Quiet and quick enough to make easy work of any city commute, but fully capable of offroading to your next backcountry escape. For an actual real-life motorcycle, we recommend Zero Motorcycles, peddlers to the 5-0 and the armed forces, and now making their stealthy line of electric motorbikes available to the everyday Jake. Just don’t forget to get a futuristic helmet for your noggin.

Nota bene: Don’t just blithely go about resolutin’ all over the place. Know the science. We recommend The Science Behind New Year’s Resolutions and Don’t Talk About Your New Year’s Resolutions.

Main photo credit: Chris Burkard

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