10 reasons why the sigma male is a real thing

Everyone knows about the alpha and beta males — but obviously, we cannot fit all the males on the planet into just two categories.

A third archetype you may have heard of recently is the sigma male.

There is a lot of buzz around this nowadays, with some people arguing this is a bullsh*t concept.

Is the sigma male a real thing? 

Let’s take a look at what it means to find the answer.

What is a sigma male?

Most people are already familiar with the term “alpha male”. 

This is a man at the top of the social hierarchy, who is admired by the group for his strength, confidence, or skills.

The sigma male is a subset of males who are similar in many ways to the alpha males. However, they prefer to stay outside of the social ladder, and they don’t care about social validation or attention. 

They can be seen as “loners” or even “social misfits”. But they are not socially awkward, just not interested in pointless social politics. They’d rather focus their energy on the relationships that truly count and on internal strength.  

Is the Sigma male a real thing?

Whether or not the sigma male is a real thing depends largely on how you comprehend the concept.

Some people consider the alpha, beta, sigma, and so on types of males to mean that everyone has a certain place in the hierarchy of society.

But just as you aren’t born into a CEO role, you cannot be born into any particular “place” in society either.

If you’re looking at the sigma male in this way, then we can definitely say that life doesn’t work like this.

However, a more useful way of looking at this archetype is a set of characteristics that can help you understand what kind of person you are and how you navigate life.

Sigma males tend to enjoy their own company and go after their goals without seeking approval from others. They are also self-aware and good listeners, and value minimalism and privacy.

If you relate to yourself in a particular framework, and it helps you make good decisions throughout your life, there’s no denying that this is a real thing and a valid way of understanding yourself. 

10 reasons why the sigma male is a real thing

Let’s explore the concept and validity of the sigma male a bit further. 

Here are 10 things you might recognize in yourself or a man you know, and that could be useful ways to understand your personality and role in life. 

1) It is a way to describe personality type

The sigma male is a way to comprehend a particular human archetype, just like Myers-Brigg, Human Design, and Zodiac signs. 

These are all things that humans have made up – in other words, we were not born on the planet with a manual in our hands that explained “the universe would like to inform you about all these concepts that exist in the world.” (Though that would certainly be interesting!)

Rather, it was through human exploration that we discovered all the different ways to understand and deal with our personality traits, and gave these things names. 

However, that doesn’t make them any less valid. 

We can all see the characteristics described by these ways of perceiving personalities in people around us, including the sigma male. 

If somebody identifies as a particular archetype, then who is anyone to say it isn’t a real thing?

2) Not everyone values status or recognition

The typical alpha male personality is one that is respected by a group, usually because of strength, social status, or skills. 

But naturally, you can have strength, social status, or skills even if other people don’t recognize that.

After all, these things are not defined by whether or not others admire them – a rose is a rose even if nobody sees it!

Furthermore, not every person who has these things will care to have other people admire them because of it. 

If you ask me, that’s the real mark of a strong and confident man, because he values what he has because he knows he has it, rather than because other people see it. 

3) Some people prefer to stay out of the spotlight

Alpha males tend to attract a lot of attention — but not everyone likes to bask in it.

I know several people who are confident, knowledgeable, and skilled, but they don’t like to brag about it. 

In fact, they like staying out of the spotlight completely. These are the people who don’t tend to post on social media, or care too much about what others post.

They even don’t like to pay online with credit cards or give their email out to companies — they feel better if they have the freedom of being unknown. 

But this doesn’t detract at all from the qualities they have. It just makes them a sigma male. 

4) They are following their purpose

We are all hoping to find our purpose and fulfill it one day — and a few lucky individuals have already found theirs.

Actually, I shouldn’t say lucky, because this is mostly due to their own dedication and effort.

However, in the case of a particular good friend of mine, luck did have a part to play in it.

He used to be pretty concerned with being the “leader of the pack,” and getting recognition and respect from everyone around him.

It consumed him to the point that he was neglecting the things he really wanted to achieve in life.

But one day, he got an email from a friend sharing a free Purpose masterclass by Ideapod co-founder Justin Brown.

When he worked through it, he realized that he was wasting his life living with a sense of frustration, listlessness, dissatisfaction and a sense of not being connected with his inner self.

Using Justin’s unique techniques, he uncovered his true purpose. And when he started living by it, he realized he didn’t want to be an alpha male after all, because it didn’t align with what he wanted to achieve.

Rather, it was just distracting him from his goals. He was finally able to step into who he really was as a sigma male and focus on fulfilling his real values and goals.

If you’d like to stop living your life in frustration and connect with who you really are at your core, be sure to check out the masterclass while it’s still available for free. 

5) They are lone wolves

Ever heard of the lone wolf archetype?

This is a personality profile of a person who is both confident and independent. 

If you’re wondering if the sigma male is a real thing, ask yourself if you believe in the lone wolf archetype and you’ll have your answer.

Of course, both are human-made concepts, but they can give us value in the form of insights to understand how people act and think.

6) Our values and personalities shift over time

Have you ever taken a personality test at different points of your life, to find you get pretty different results?

I have a friend who has taken the Myers-Briggs test several times throughout her life, and got a different result each time.

This is clear proof of what we already know: people are not constant throughout our whole lives, but as we experience and go through different things, our traits and qualities evolve.

Someone who previously identified as an alpha male, or even a beta male, might find their values and focus shifting over time, and then they identify more as a sigma male instead. 

7) Men cannot be boxed into just 2 types

Since you’re reading about the sigma male, you’ve surely already heard of the alpha and beta male.

But think about how many men there are on the planet. Can we possibly sort all of them into just one of two categories?

Few things in life are black and white, let alone something as nuanced as a human being. 

In fact, there are many more male archetypes than just the alpha and beta — aside from the sigma male, there are also the gamma, delta, and omega. 

8) You don’t necessarily need authority to lead

When we think of leaders, we usually think about Alpha men. 

Sigma males also make fantastic leaders, though they do it in a different way.

Rather than using their authority and trying to dominate, they tend to set an example for others and those who resonate with them naturally follow. 

They may also focus on connecting more closely with people individually and establishing mutual communication with them. 

9) You don’t need to rely on others to know who you are

Here’s a key difference between the alpha and the sigma male. 

The alpha male understands himself in the context of his place “above” other people in his social circle. 

The sigma male enjoys meaningful friendships with people who align with him, without worrying if he is “superior” to them.

In fact, his sense of self-worth is not dependent on others at all. He’s happy and content on his own, and follows what he feels is important to him without needing recognition from others. 

10) You can become whoever you want to be

As we mentioned above, the human personality is in no way fixed throughout our whole lives.

We all see things in ourselves that we’d rather change, and the good news is, we definitely can.

One young man I know used to be pretty superficial and chased after social status and wealth for most of his 20s. 

The thing is, he even accomplished it, but soon found himself feeling pretty empty. And when he tragically lost someone very close to him, he woke up to what really matters in life. 

So he took a hard look at where he was going and decided to transform his life. 

I shared with him the free Purpose masterclass by Ideapod co-founder Justin Brown. I had heard about it from the sigma male I mentioned earlier, and I knew it could be incredibly helpful to this friend.

And sure enough, it was a huge help in helping him get his life back on track. 

Everyone’s trajectory in life is different, but we can all change it if we want to. If there’s something you’d like to change about your life as well, this masterclass is a very powerful investment for you too — and all it takes is a bit of your time.

Check it out here while it’s still available for free. 

Final thoughts

The sigma male is a hotly debated topic these days. Personally, I do believe the sigma male is a real thing, as explained by the 10 reasons I described above.

In any case, a sigma male wouldn’t care if others don’t recognize it as “real” anyways, right? 

If you can derive value from identifying with a particular concept, and it helps you move forward in life, then nobody can tell you it’s not valid.