The Art of Manliness

You have a relationship with family, with friends, with a romantic partner. You may not have thought about it this way, but you also have a relationship with your job — a quite serious one, in fact; after all, you spend a third of your life working. Just like the relationship you have with your significant other, there are ups and downs with your relationship with your job. It can start out with exciting honeymoon feelings, but along the way, you can end up drifting apart from your job, lose interest in it, or not feel appreciated. And there can come a time when you start wondering if you and your job should part ways. Here to help you figure out if you should break up with your job is Tessa West, a professor of psychology and the author of Job Therapy: Finding Work That Works for You. Tessa interviewed thousands of people who have recently switched jobs or undergone career changes and found that there are five forms that job dissatisfaction typically takes. Today on the show, Tessa shares those five job dissatisfaction profiles, and how to know when you need to try to move into a new role within your company, or move on altogether and even change careers. Resources Related to the Podcast Tessa's previous appearance on the AoM podcast: Episode #834 — The 7 Types of Work Jerks (And How to Deal With Them)AoM Article: 30+ Questions to Ask Yourself Before Leaving a JobAoM Podcast #578: Figuring Out If You Should Change Careers (And How to Do It)Connect With TessaWest Tessa's websiteTessa's research lab

Kelly Starrett, a doctor of physical therapy, has trained professional athletes, Olympians, and military special operators, helping them unlock peak performance. But as he approached his fifties, he started to see cracks appearing in the health of the folks around him. What had worked for his peers in their 20s and 30s, wasn’t working anymore; they were gaining weight, having surgeries, and just didn’t feel good. So he and his wife and fellow trainer, Juliet, decided to write a book — Built to Move: The Ten Essential Habits to Help You Move Freely and Live Fully — that took all that they’ve learned from training elite performers and distilled it into the foundational practices that everyone, at every age, can use to develop lasting mobility, durability, and all-around health. Today on the show, Kelly unpacks some of those essential physical habits, sharing the “vital signs” — tests that will help you assess how you’re doing in that area — as well as daily practices that will help you strengthen and improve that capacity. Resources Related to the Podcast Kelly’s previous appearance on the AoM podcast — Episode #213: Undoing the Damage of Chronic SittingAoM article on the Sitting-Rising TestAoM Article: 7 Simple Exercises That Undo the Damage of Sitting (including the Couch Stretch)AoM article on foam rollingAoM Article: The Benefits of Hanging for Strength and MobilityAoM Article: 12 Balance Exercises You Can Do on a 2×4AoM Podcast #638: How Changing Your Breathing Can Change Your LifeAoM Podcast #678: Physical Benchmarks Every Man Should Meet, At Every AgeMuscles and Meridians: The Manipulation of Shape by Phillip BeachVideo of Kelly demonstrating the Couch StretchVideo of Kelly demonstrating the squat testVideo of 90/90 sit/stretchVideo of Chris Hinshaw demonstrating the Old Man Balance TestGet yourself a pull-up barThe SlackBlockKelly’s article on fixing shoulder pain, including a video on the Shoulder Spin-UpConnect With Kelly Starrett The Ready State website,Built to Move book pageThe Ready State on IGKelly on Twitter

The journey of personal development, of becoming a more excellent and extraordinary individual, can sometimes seem a little abstract. That’s why it’s helpful to imagine it as Mark Divine does, as a set of five metaphorical mountains to scale. Mark is a retired Navy SEAL Commander, a professor of leadership, a yogi, the creator of fitness and mindset programs like SEALFIT and Unbeatable Mind, and an author. He combines his two decades of military service with his study of martial arts and zen meditation to create the holistic warrior monk development philosophy that informs his work, including his latest book, Uncommon: Simple Principles for an Extraordinary Life. Today on the show, Mark acts as a guide to the topography of the five mountains of personal development and the daily practices that will help you summit them. We talk about why mastering the physical mountain comes first and climbing the intuitional mountain comes fourth, the Navy SEAL breathing practice that will help you develop your metacognition, how the Japanese concept of ikigai can help you find your purpose in life, and much more. Resources Related to the Podcast Mark’s previous appearance on the Art of Manliness podcast: Episode #60 — The Way of the SEALBox breathingUnbeatable Mind by Mark Divine Staring Down the Wolf by Mark DivineAoM Article: 4 Key Insights From the Bhagavad GitaAoM Podcast #616: A Guide for the Journey to Your True CallingSunday Firesides: You Don’t Have the Time, Not to Take the TimeF3 NationIkigaiConnect With Mark Divine Uncommon website Mark’s websiteMark on IG

Filling out paperwork. Making travel reservations. Paying bills. Shopping for groceries. Returning packages. These are all examples of life admin — the little tasks we have to do to keep our lives moving along. Life admin is typically pretty tedious and annoying. But staying on top of it is essential to reducing the stress and chaos that would otherwise burden our relationships, muck up the gears of our schedules, and prevent us from participating in all the fun and fulfilling parts of life. Fortunately, there are ways to better manage your life admin. Here to share some of them is Dinah Rowe-Roberts, the co-host of the Life Admin Life Hacks podcast and the co-author of a book of the same name. Today on the show, Dinah explains what lists you should be keeping, including the 10-minute time killers list, why you should do a regular “hour of power” to stay on top of things, how to schedule your life admin, how to keep track of and divvy up chores between you and your spouse, how to get all your meal planning and grocery shopping done in less than 15 minutes a week, how to streamline your kids’ schedules and your vacation planning, and much more. Resources Related to the Podcast AoM article on shadow workAoM article and podcast on how to have a weekly marriage meetingAoM article on how to have a weekly family meetingAoM article on how to use Todoist to get things doneAoM article on how to manage your lifeadminAoM article on how and why to have a reset dayAoM article on 8 lists you should be keeping (besides the to-do list)Connect With Dinah Rowe-Roberts The LifeAdminLife Hacks websiteLifeAdminLife Hacks on IGDinah on LinkedIn

There has been a lot of media coverage and dialogue about the struggles men are facing in the modern day. There's been some solutions forwarded to these struggles as well. Among these, Dr. Anthony Bradley has a more surprising idea that you don't hear every day: revitalizing college fraternities. Anthony is a research fellow and professor and the author of Heroic Fraternities: How College Men Can Save Universities and America. In the first part of our conversation, Anthony offers his take on the state of men in the modern day, the difference between heroic and disordered masculinity, the insights that a writer from the mid-20-century can shed on the forms that disorder can take, and why many men today are choosing the path of resignation. We then turn to Anthony's idea that college fraternities can be the training ground for virtue. We talk about the loftier origins of fraternities, why, at some universities, they devolved into organizations that have become symbolic of the worst traits of masculinity, and Anthony's six principles for reviving the potential of fraternities to shape great men. Resources Related to the Podcast Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Towards Self-Realization by Karen HorneyAoM Podcast #758: The Epic Story of the Making of The GodfatherAnthony's framework and list of resources for the course he teaches on the masculine journeyConnect With Anthony Bradley Anthony's website

You probably think of the health effects of sunlight as a mixed bag. On the one hand, sun exposure helps your body make vitamin D. But on the other, it can cause skin cancer. To get around this conundrum, dermatologists frequently recommend avoiding sun exposure when you can, slathering on sunscreen when you can't, and taking a vitamin D supplement to make up for the lack of sunlight in your life. Yet in seeking to solve one problem, this advice may open up many others and be contributing to ill health in the West. Today on the show, Rowan Jacobsen, a science journalist who has spent years investigating the health impacts of sunlight, will unpack the underappreciated benefits of sun exposure, and that, crucially, they're not primarily a function of the production of vitamin D and can't be replaced with a pill. We talk about what else is at work in ultraviolet radiation's positive effects on blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, insulin resistance, mood, and more. We also get into how to weigh these benefits against the risk of skin cancer, why health officials in Australia, which has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, have changed their recommendations around sun exposure, and if there's a role sunscreen should still play in your routine. Resources Related to the Podcast Rowan's article in Outside magazine: Is Sunscreen the New Margarine? Rowan's article in the Atlantic: Against Sunscreen AbsolutismAoM Article: Why You Should Become a Sun WorshipperDermatologist Richard Weller's TED talk: Could the Sun Be Good for Your Heart?Australian recommendations on sun exposure Connect With Rowan Jacobson Rowan's website

When men think about optimizing their hormones, they tend only to think about raising their testosterone. But while increasing T can be important, an ideal health profile also means having testosterone that's in balance with your other hormones as well. Today on the show, Dr. Kyle Gillett joins me to discuss both of those prongs of all-around hormone optimization. We start with a quick overview of the different hormones that affect male health. We then get into what qualifies as low testosterone and how to accurately test yours. We also discuss what causes low testosterone in individual men, and how its decline in the general male population may be linked to both birth control and the world wars. In the second half of our conversation, we discuss how to both raise testosterone and get rid of excess estrogen, including the use of some effective supplements you may never have heard of. We then get into the risks and benefits of taking TRT, before ending our discussion with what young men can do to prepare for a lifetime of optimal T and hormonal health. Resources Related to the Podcast AoM series on testosteroneHow I Doubled My Testosterone Levels NaturallyAoM Podcast #761: How Testosterone Makes Men, MenAoM Podcast #878: The Fitness Supplements That Actually Work Connect With Dr. Kyle Gillett Kyle on IGSpotifyAppleGillett Health on YouTubeGillett Health website

A lot of self-improvement advice and content feels empty. And there's a reason for that. It often offers routines and habits to practice, but doesn't offer a strong, overarching reason to practice them. That's why the self-improvement advice of the Founding Fathers is particularly compelling. Though they were imperfect men, they had a clear why for trying to become better than they were. For the Founders, life was about the pursuit of happiness, and they equated happiness with excellence and virtue — a state that wasn't about feeling good, but being good. The Founders pursued happiness not only for the personal benefit in satisfaction and tranquility it conferred, but for the way the attainment of virtue would benefit society as a whole; they believed that political self-government required personal self-government. Today on the show, Jeffrey Rosen, a professor of law, the president of the National Constitution Center, and the author of The Pursuit of Happiness, shares the book the Founders read that particularly influenced their idea of happiness as virtue and self-mastery. We talk about the schedules and routines the Founders kept, the self-examination practices they did to improve their character, and how they worked on their flaws, believing that, while moral perfection was ultimately an impossible goal to obtain, it was still something worth striving for. Resources Related to the Podcast AoM's series on Benjamin Franklin's 13 VirtuesBen Franklin Virtues Journal available in the AoM StoreAoM Article: Young Benjamin Franklin’s Plan of ConductAoM Article: Thomas Jefferson’s 10 Rules for LifeAoM Article: The Libraries of Famous Men — Thomas Jefferson’s Recommended ReadingAoM Article: The Best John Adams QuotesAoM Article: George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and ConversationAoM Podcast #366: Teach Yourself Like George WashingtonAoM Article: The Spiritual Disciplines — Study and Self-ExaminationTusculan Disputations by Marcus Tullius CiceroThe Golden Verses of Pythagoras Connect With Jeffrey Rosen The National Constitution Center website We the People podcastJeffrey's faculty pageJeffrey on X

Friendships are a central part of the lives of both men and women. But from personal observation, you've probably noticed that the dynamics of male and female friendships aren't always the same. You may not, however, have been able to articulate what those differences are or have known what's behind them. While there's still a lot of facets of friendship that haven't yet been researched, Dr. Jaimie Krems, who runs UCLA's Social Minds Lab, has a lot of interesting insights about what we do know about how and why men and women approach friendship differently. Today on the show, she explains why men and women form friendships and the differences in the size and nature of their social circles, how long their friendships last, and what they look for in friends. We also discuss why men have a greater tolerance for their friends' flaws than women do, why men and women would want to be friends with each other, and how each sex experiences friendship jealousy. Resources Related to the Podcast The Banker's ParadoxJoyce Benenson's research on "Males' Greater Tolerance of Same-Sex Peers"Jaimie's research on women's interpretation of disgust facesJaimie's study: "Friendship Jealousy: One Tool for Maintaining Friendships in the Face of Third-Party Threats?"AoM Podcast #229: How Men and Women Socialize DifferentlyAoMPodcast #360: Understanding Male FriendshipsAoM Podcast #726: What’s Causing the Male Friendship Recession?AoM Podcast #772: How Long Does It Take to Make Friends (And How Does That Process Work, Anyway)?AoM Article: How Not to Be Disappointed With Your FriendsConnect With Jaimie Krems The Social Minds Lab at UCLAJaimie's faculty pageJaimie on X

Businesses and individuals often feel overwhelmed and stretched — that they can't get done all the work they need to. The solution they frequently turn to is finding a new app to use or hiring more employees to spread the load. But my guest would say that you can steal back hours of productive time simply by using the tools and teams you have now, if you learn to use them in a more efficient way. Nick Sonnenberg is the founder and CEO of Leverage, an efficiency consulting business and the author of Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work. Today on the show, Nick explains how people spend almost 60% of their time doing work about work, and why hiring more people can actually make the problem worse rather than better. He then shares his "CPR Business Efficiency Framework," and how making changes in how you communicate, plan, and manage resources can open up hours of time. We talk about how to organize your communication channels so your work day isn't taken up by what Nick calls "The Scavenger Hunt," one of the most underutilized tools for taming your inbox, how to stop wasting time on meetings, and tiny changes that will add up to many hours saved each year. Along the way, we talk about how some of these tactics can save you time in your personal life as well. Resources Related to the Podcast AoM Podcast #689: Email Is Making Us Miserable — Here’s What to Do About ItAoM Podcast #972: Down With Pseudo-Productivity — Why We Need to Transform the Way We WorkAoM Podcast #973: A Butler’s Guide to Managing Your HouseholdTeach Your Wife to Be a Widow by Donald I. Rogers"Saving Seconds Is Better Than Hours" — Time article by NickTexts.comWorkona tab managerConnect With Nick Sonnenberg Come Up for Air websiteLeverage websiteNick on LinkedInNick on IGNick on X

Fifteen years and more than 200 million downloads later, this episode marks the 1,000th installment of the Art of Manliness podcast! It begins with a bit of a retrospective on the podcast and then segues into an interview with one of the show's earliest guests: Walker Lamond, author of Rules for My Unborn Son. Walker and I revisit the origins of the book and the early days of the internet and have a fun discussion of which of his rules have become obsolete and which remain evergreen. Tune in and enjoy! A big thanks to our listeners for helping us reach this cool milestone. The support is deeply appreciated! Resources Related to the Podcast Rules for My Unborn Son by Walker LamondRules for My Newborn Daughter by Walker LamondWalker's Motel: The Starlight Motor InnAnatomy of MurderCold BloodedDressing for OthersFlying Is for the BirdsMy New Favorite Summertime ShoeWhy Every Man Should Have 3 Signature DishesIn Praise of the PostcardThe Art of Thank You Note WritingThe Importance of Developing and Maintaining Your Social Fitness#1: We Who Are Alive and Remain#7: Rules for My Unborn Son #78: The Myth of Following Your Passion#174: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Style#708: Overcome the Comfort Crisis

Plenty of famous explorers and frontiersmen emerged from America's periods of expansion and exploration, and today the likes of Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, and Davy Crockett remain household names. You're probably not familiar, but should be, with the name of another prominent pioneer: Jedediah Smith. Smith was a hunter, trapper, writer, cartographer, mountain man, and explorer who notched a lot of firsts: He was the first to lead a documented exploration from the Salt Lake frontier to the Colorado River and was part of the first parties of U.S. citizens to cross the Mojave Desert, the Sierra Nevada, and the Great Basin Desert. Having survived three attacks by Native Americans and one mauling by a grizzly bear, Smith's explorations became resources for those who followed after and led to the use of the South Pass as the dominant route across the Continental Divide for pioneers on the Oregon Trail. In the new book he co-authored, Throne of Grace: A Mountain Man, an Epic Adventure, and the Bloody Conquest of the American West, my guest, Bob Drury, uses the oft-forgotten Smith as a guide to an oft-forgotten period in American history. Today on the show, Bob paints a picture of a volatile American landscape in which trappers and Native Americans collided and clashed in the early decades of the 19th century. We discuss how the Lewis and Clark expedition created a lust for adventure among young men, how the humble beaver played an outsized role in settling the Western frontier, and how warfare changed amongst Native American tribes with the introduction of the horse. Along the way, Bob shows us how the life of Jed Smith intersected with all these historic trends and shares the epic exploits that he and other mountain men took part in while exploring and mapping the American West. Resources Related to the Podcast Bob's last appearance on the AoM podcast: Episode #469 — How Valley Forge Turned the Tide of the Revolutionary WarAoM article about mountain menAoM Podcast #681: The Epic Exploits of Kit CarsonHugh Glass

As compared to mothers, fathers are sometimes thought of as a secondary, almost superfluous, parent. But my guest says that fathers actually saved the human race, and continue to do so today. Anna Machin is an evolutionary anthropologist, a pioneer of fatherhood science, and the author of Life Of Dad. Today on the show, we talk about the role of fathers in human history and how their main role continues to be teaching kids the skills they need to take risks, become independent, and navigate the world beyond their family. We also talk about the physiological changes that happen when a man becomes a father and how dads are just as biologically primed as mothers to parent. In the second half of our conversation, we talk about the experience of being a dad. Anna shares how long it typically takes a man to bond with a baby and transition into the role of fatherhood, how roughhousing is key in building that bond as well as developing your child's resilience, and how your personality and background will affect your parenting. We end our conversation with the difference in how the relationship between Mom and Dad affects how they parent, and the implications of that for building a strong family. Resources Related to the Podcast AoM Article: The Importance of Fathers (According to Science)AoM Article: A Man’s Guide to Pregnancy — Getting Ready for the Baby BombAoM Article: A Man’s Guide to Pregnancy — Your Progeny Enters the WorldAoM Article:New Dad Survival Guide — The MindsetAoM Article: New Dad Survival Guide — The SkillsetAoM Podcast #119: Why Fathers Matter AoM Article: You Don’t Have to Be Your Dad — How to Become Your Family’s Transitional CharacterConnect With Anna Machin Anna's websiteAnna on XAnna on IG

Everyone has heard about the incredible benefits that come to mind, body, and spirit from having strong relationships. The quality of our social ties has a huge impact on our physical and mental health and our overall feeling of flourishing. Yet many people still struggle to create these strong relationships in their lives, and often figure that things like weakening communities and digital technology are to blame. But my guest says that the barriers to establishing bonds with others may actually be more psychological than physical, and he shares research-backed tips for breaking through them in his new book, The Laws of Connection: The Scientific Secrets of Building a Strong Social Network. Today on the show, David discusses how we can feel lonely even when we're surrounded by people if we don't have what he calls a "shared reality." We then discuss ways to build that shared reality with others. We talk about why frenemies are so bad for you, how to overcome the "liking gap," why you might want to interrupt someone to connect with them, the need to be aware of the novelty penalty in conversations, why you should stop telling white lies, and much more. Resources Related to the Podcast David's previous appearance on the AoM podcast: Episode #803 — How Your Expectations Can Change Your LifeAoM Article: Why Ambivalent Relationships Are Terrible for You (And How to Deal With Them)AoM Podcast #949: Envy — Unpacking The Emotion No One Likes to Talk AboutConnect With David Robson David's websiteDavid on IGDavid on XDavid on LinkedIn

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, 160,000 troops participated in the invasion of Normandy. Today just a few thousand of these veterans are still alive, with the youngest in their late nineties. As their voices, and those of the million combatants and leaders who swept into motion across Europe 80 years ago, fall silent and pass from living history, Garrett Graff has captured and compiled them in a new book: When the Sea Came Alive: An Oral History of D-Day. Drawing on his project of sifting through and synthesizing 5,000 oral histories, today Garrett takes us back to what was arguably the most consequential day in modern history and helps unpack the truly epic sweep of the operation, which was hard to fathom even then, and has become even more difficult to grasp with the passage of time. We talk about how unbelievably involved the planning process for D-Day was, stories you may never have heard before, a couple of the myths around D-Day, and the sacrificial heroism born of this event that continues to live on. Resources Related to the Podcast AoM Podcast Episode #1: We Who Are Alive and RemainAoM Article: The 70th Anniversary of D-Day — Remembrances from the Brave Men Who Were ThereAoM Podcast #514: Remembering D-Day 75 Years LaterThe Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-day Sacrifice by Alex KershawAoM Article: How Eisenhwoer Made the D-Day DecisionThe Only Plane in the Sky: An Oral History of 9/11 by Garrett M. GraffConnect With Garrett Graff Garrett's website

Over a decade ago, I remember reading a story that stuck with me. I think it was connected to the famous Harvard Study on Adult Development that studied a group of men across their lifetimes, but I can no longer find the reference. A much-beloved doctor, upon his retirement, was given a notebook filled with letters of praise and appreciation from his patients. After he received it, he put it up in his attic, and never opened it or read the letters. I've often thought of this story since I first heard it, wondering about what motivated the doctor's behavior, and the larger question of why praise is typically welcomed and makes us feel good, but can also make people feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. In today's episode, I take a stab at answering this question with Christopher Littlefield, a speaker and consultant who specializes in employee appreciation. But first, we talk about the power of recognition, why we can be so stingy in giving compliments, how compliments can go wrong, and how we can offer them more effectively. We then turn to why getting compliments can make you cringe, how people deflect them and how this deflection affects relationships, and how to get better at receiving compliments graciously. Resources Related to the Podcast AoM Article:Why and How to Offer More ComplimentsAoM Article: How to Accept a Compliment With ClassAoM Article: How to Avoid Giving a Backhanded ComplimentSunday Firesides: Compliment Deflection Is Gift DenialSunday Firesides: Give Them the CreamHBR Article: Do Compliments Make You Cringe? Here’s Why by Christopher LittlefieldConnect With Christopher Littlefield Beyond Thank You websiteChris on YouTubeChris on LinkedIn

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig. It's a peculiar book, especially for a bestseller. Not a lot of it is actually about zen or motorcycle maintenance, it combines a travelogue, a father/son story, and philosophical musings, and the structure of its narration makes it hard to follow. Thus, it's the kind of book people often buy, start, and then put down without finishing. That's initially what happened to Mark Richardson, an author and automotive journalist who was born in the UK but has lived most of his life in Canada. But when the book finally clicked for Mark, he was so inspired by it that he actually undertook Pirsig's motorcycle pilgrimage himself. Mark shares that story in Zen and Now, which intersperses stories from his own road trip with an exploration of Pirsig's life and famous book. If you've wanted to read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, but haven't been able to get into it, today Mark will offer an introduction to what it's all about. We discuss Pirsig's ideas on the metaphysics of quality and our relationship to technology, and how he tried to combine the ethos of Eastern and Western thought into a unified philosophy of living. We also get into why Mark wanted to recreate Pirsig's road trip, the joys of traveling by motorcycle, and what Mark learned along the way. Resources Related to the Podcast Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values by Robert M. PirsigZen and Now: On the Trail of Robert Pirsig and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Mark RichardsonLila: An Inquiry Into Morals by Robert M. PirsigGuidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Ron Di Santo and Tom SteeleShop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew CrawfordHonda CB77/Super HawkThe Robert Pirsig Association Connect With Mark Richardson Mark's website

Note: This is a rebroadcast. Matthew Dicks wears a lot of hats. Among other things, he’s a storyteller, communications consultant, writer, and schoolteacher. In order to excel in his professional life, as well as do what he loves in his personal life, he’s developed a set of strategies that help him be more creative and productive, and can be used by anyone who wants to start making the most of life. Matt writes about these tactics and mindset shifts in his latest book Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life, and he shares some of them with us today on the show, including why you need to think in minutes, be an eagle rather than a mouse, practice deliberate incuriosity, and always do your best to act like a decent human being. Along the way, Matt and I talk about why you should floss in the shower and how restaurants that make guacamole at your table are a great example of the folly of making a thing, a thing. Resources Related to the Podcast Matt’s previous appearance on the AoM Podcast: Episode #462 — How to Tell Better StoriesAoM Article: The 7 Habits — Begin With the End in MindMatthew telling the story of how he was robbed AoM Article: Possibilities in Spare MomentsConnect With Matthew Dicks Matthew’s Website

There are a lot of unspoken challenges and hidden battles that men face in modern society. They often manifest themselves in a uniquely male malaise where a man feels apathetic, frustrated, cynical, and lost. Jon Tyson has thought a lot about the problems men face and has been on the ground trying to help them as a pastor in New York City. In today's episode, I talk to Jon about the sources of this male angst that he explores as the co-author of a new book, Fighting Shadows: Overcoming 7 Lies That Keep Men From Becoming Fully Alive. Jon and I discuss how men often try to solve their malaise and why those approaches don't work. We then explore some of the shadows men fight in their lives, including the shadows of despair, loneliness, unhealthy ambition, futility, and lust. Jon offers some advice to overcome these shadows, including sitting around a fire pit with your bros, taking time to develop your telos or aim as a man, and injecting a bit more playfulness in your life to counteract grumpy dad syndrome. Resources Related to the Podcast #810: How to Turn a Boy Into a Man#926: The 5 Shifts of ManhoodAoM longform article/short "ebook": A Roadmap to Manhood in the 21st CenturyAoM Article: Create a Blueprint for Your FutureMan's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. FranklAoM Podcast #702: One Man’s Impossible Quest — To Make Friends in AdulthoodAoM Podcast #867: Dante’s Guide to Navigating a Spiritual JourneyThe Case Against the Sexual Revolution by Louise PerryTheology of the Body by Pope John Paul IIConnect With Jon Tyson Jon's websiteFighting Shadows websiteForming Men websitePrimal Path website

General George S. Patton is known for his aggressive, action-oriented tactical brilliance. His character was also marked by a lesser-known but equally fundamental mystic piety. Those two qualities would come together in the lead up to and execution of Patton's greatest achievement during WWII: the relief of Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge. Alex Kershaw tells this story in his new book Patton's Prayer: A True Story of Courage, Faith, and Victory in World War II. Today on the show, Alex shares how, when the Third Army's advance into Germany was stalled by plane-grounding clouds and road-muddying rain, Patton commissioned a prayer for better weather that was distributed to a quarter million of his men, and how that prayer became even more urgent after the commencement of the Battle of the Bulge. We also talk about Patton's qualities as a leader and a man, including his reading habits, how he combined a profane assertiveness with a pious faith and a belief in reincarnation, and what happened to him as the war came to a close. Resources Related to the Podcast #361: The Untold Story of WWII’s 45th Infantry Division#514: Remembering D-Day 75 Years Later#806: The Humble Heroics of Four of WWII’s Most Decorated Soldiers#953: Duty, Honor, and the Unlikely Heroes Who Helped Win the Battle of the BulgeAoM Article: George S. Patton’s Rules on Being an Officer and a GentlemanAoM Article: The Libraries of Famous Men — George S. PattonAoM Article: The Maxims of General George S. PattonAoM Article: General Patton’s Strategy for Winning in War and Life — Keep PunchingChaplain James Hugh O'NeillPatton moviePatton's opening speechThe story and a look at Patton's prayer cardsConnect With Alex Kershaw Alex's websiteAlex on X