A lot of new travelers into the masculine corners of the internet struggle with the whole “alpha male, beta male, etc.” concept and all those other Greek letters people throw out to classify themselves. I’ve discussed this briefly in the past but I want to go into more depth with it.

I feel that the impression a lot of tyros get from semi-serious memes is that being an “alpha male” is something that you’re just BORN with, like some people are just kissed by the hand of god to be leaders of men, and everybody else is stuffed into the great morass of failures and losers. A lot of people will try to convey this to you, that they’re just born alpha and you weren’t, so deal with it.

Is this true?

No, absolutely not! To put it simply, nobody is born an alpha male, a beta male, or an omega male. You choose to be those things and make yourself into those things.

Now obviously some people are born with traits that make it easier or harder to be one of those categories. I think it’s fair to say that a tall person is more likely to be in command of a room than a short person, or some guy with a steel-cut lantern chin is going to be seen as more handsome than some potato head, with all other things being equal.

But of course it’s not like the shortstack or the potato head has no hope of being an alpha male, there are many examples to the contrary. As I have said in the past, the fact that the greatest seducer of all time was something of a potato head should give you all hope.

Being an alpha or a beta male is entirely situational. When I’m in a room full of nerds and fuck-ups, I’m the alpha male by virtue of being fully employed and having stuck my penis inside a woman. Back when I taught martial arts, I was the alpha male to my students.

But if you were to shove me inside a room full of UFC champions and competitive strongmen, quite obviously I’m not the alpha in that situation. While I pride myself on my sexual prowess, if you were to put me in the room with the aforementioned Giacomo Casanova, I would not be the guy running the show.

Yes, believe it or not fair reader, *I* would be the beta male in those situations. And I think it’s clear that I would have little hope of ascending to the alpha role, or for that matter to fall into the omega role (I feel that being an omega is a state of mind of being a pathetic sadsack full of self loathing, and an utter lack of confidence the beta does not necessarily have).

All that you can really do is try to maximize your alpha  male traits, minimize your beta traits, and try not to put yourself into situations where you’ll be made the lesser man. Develop your strengths, develop your confidence, improve your posture and improve your game. All except for your height can be improved. But again, there are plenty of shorties that I would call alpha males.

Remember, you are not born any of those things. If you feel you are a beta male or omega male, well you probably are. You can make yourself an alpha at least in some situations, and *some situations* are better than *no situations*. Take it from me, a former beta myself!