Skip Step 1 and 2 entirely and stop consoooming. You'll waste thousands of hours of your life. Being a video game buff or knowing everything about the Marvel movies or having 1,000 Funko Pops or having the music knowledge of Anthony Fantano doesn't make you a renaissance man, it makes you a bugman.
Instead of being a polymath and accumulating tons of useless knowledge to impress people, I suggest instead jumping straight to becoming a Jack-of-all-trades. Actually do stuff and put knowledge into practice.
Who's the more interesting person to talk to at a party?
The person who knows the top 500 songs of all time, or the person who makes their own music?
The person who's played all of the top 100 video games, or the person who makes their own video game?
The person who's read 1,000 books, or the person who's written one book?
I find the creative process and those who engage in it exponentially more interesting than passive consooomers.
What is a respectable and interesting man? The one who can fix his own car, maintain his own home, iron his own shirts, cook like a chef, grow his own vegetables, build his own furniture, sail a boat, sing and play an instrument, bench press 250 lbs, roast his own coffee, scuba dive, take great photos, fly a plane, speak a foreign language, and fish.
Don't fall into the trap of passively consuming and thinking it will make you interesting. Most people will never make it to Step 3. Go out and actually DO STUFF. Then tell people stories about it. You'll naturally become more knowledgeable and cultured through your adventures.
Most people who obsessively consume movies, books, etc have terrible social and communication skills. You can't build up social skills and EQ through media, only by actually being around people.
