How Do You Know When She’s the One?
May 8, 2008
When we wrote 14 Ways to Affair Proof Your Marriage, several people rightly pointed out that the best way to obtain a happy and faithful marriage is to marry the right person. But how do you know when you’ve found the right woman to settle down with?
When it is comes to getting hitched, guys get cold feet for two reasons. Some guys are uber-picky.
They have a list in their minds of their perfect wife characteristics: hot but not slutty, smart but not nerdy, skinny but a good cook, etc. Unfortunately, no real woman can live up to the fantasy, and these guys stay perpetually single. The second type of guy looks at others’ failed marriages, particularly his own parents, and won’t get married because of the fear of choosing the wrong woman.
The truth is that knowing you’ve found the right woman to marry is not rocket science. The decision to marry my wife was the easiest decision I’ve ever made in my life. Here are five guidelines that guided me on deciding my wife was the one for me:
Check Out the Manival #2 at A Good Husband
May 7, 2008
This week’s Manival is being host at A Good Husband. Make sure to check it out. Here were a few of my favorite submissions:
The Art of Marital Conversation (@ simple marriage)
8 Things That Will Not Score You A First Date (@ womopo)
Fine is Not “Fine” (@ i am husband)
Make sure to submit to next week’s Manival hosted by Schaefer’s blog.
How To Survive and Thrive In a Street Fight in 8 Simple Steps
May 6, 2008
Let’s say you’re out with your buddies (or maybe a lovely young lady) having a good time, when all of a sudden some jackass shoves you. You didn’t do anything to instigate the guy, but it doesn’t matter.
There is a special breed of males, that when inebriated, start fights with random people. This breed, when found in their wild habitat, are often accompanied by their similarly boneheaded buddies.
Or perhaps you and your posse end up in a rumble with the Socs because one of your buddies killed a Soc while trying to save Ponyboy from being drowned by a douche bag Soc. Man, I hate them Socs. Stay golden Ponyboy.
The Virtuous Life: Cleanliness
May 4, 2008
This a 10th post in a series about the Benjamin Franklin’s 13 virtues.
CLEANLINESS. Tolerate no uncleanliness in body, clothes, or habitation.
A common stereotype that society places on males is that of the sloppy and unkempt man. We see it all the time on television. A man sitting in his man chair with potato chip crumbs all over himself.
Beer cans and old pizza cartons are stacked throughout the room. The fellow is usually wearing a crummy t-shirt with food stains all over it. This sad image is what some would say represents manliness.
They couldn’t be more wrong.
While many think that only effeminate men would take the time to care about cleanliness; manly men understand that taking pride in cleanliness develops one’s attention to detail, work ethic, and self confidence. Moreover, cleanliness facilitates the orderly development of one’s life.
Lessons in Manliness: Theodore Roosevelt and the Spanish-American War
May 1, 2008
Theodore Roosevelt, who arguably accomplished more than any other American man, called his experience in the Spanish-American War, “the great day of my life.” It was during his charge up Kettle Hill that Theodore Roosevelt’s leadership and confidence finally crystallized. He passed the test and emerged as a leader capable of ascending to the presidency. His actions during the war impart crucial lessons on manly leadership:
The Best of Art of Manliness, April 2008
May 1, 2008
April was another fantastic month for The Art of Manliness, thanks again to all of you! Subscribers climbed to 7,141 and traffic is on the up and up. I’m particularly pumped about the launching of the Art of Manliness Forums and the kickoff of the Manival. If you haven’t already, go register as a member of the forums and join in the awesome discussion going on there. Here are some examples of some of the manly discussion going on there:
Commitment and Jobs
A Group of Real Men
Classic Man Music
The Manival is a blog carnival for men. The idea is each week a different man blog will aggregate the best man posts from around the man blogosphere. The first edition was a big hit! We received 20 manly submissions that would put hair on any man’s chest who read them. Next week, A Good Husband will be hosting the Manival. If you have a man post that you would like to include, submit it with this handy submission form. Submissions are due by next Monday.
Now, lets take a look at the best posts in April
How to Snag a Souvenir Baseball
9 Ways to Start a Fire Without Matches
Every Man Should Carry a Pocket Knife
4 Ways Nature Restores Your Manly Vigor
Support The Art of Manliness
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Sport an Art of Manliness bumper sticker on your car to tell the schmo behind you to man up.
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9 Ways To Start a Fire Without Matches
April 29, 2008
There is a primal link between man and fire. Every man should know how to start one. A manly man knows how to start one without matches. It’s an essential survival skill. You never know when you’ll find yourself in a situation where you’ll need a fire, but you don’t have matches. Maybe your single engine plane goes down while you’re flying over the Alaskan wilderness, like the kid in Hatchet. Or perhaps you’re out camping and you lose your backpack in a tussle with a bear. It need not be something as dramatic at these situations-even extremely windy or wet conditions can render matches virtually uselessly. And whether or not you ever need to call upon these skills, it’s just damn cool to know you can start a fire, whenever and wherever you are.
The Manival #1
April 29, 2008
Welcome to first edition of the Manival! The Manival is a blog carnival that brings together the best posts by man bloggers written with men in mind. I’m really excited about the response we got for the first edition. We received 20 submissions for the first Manival. I hope it will continue to grow each week.
So if you’re ready to put some hair on your chest, let’s get started with the Manival.
The Virtuous Life: Moderation
April 27, 2008
This is the ninth post in a series about living the virtuous life like Benjamin Franklin.
Avoid extremes. Forebear resenting injuries so much as you think they deserve.
Have you been in a relationship that started out with amazing passion? You got butterflies every time you saw the person and wanted to be with them every moment of every day. The connection was
electric. But after a few month things started to fizzle. You began to get bored and restless. The fire has faded to a spark.
Or have you ever moved to a new and breathtakingly beautiful place? The first few months you lived there you were awed each day by the scenery. Just going out to get the mail was an opportunity to gaze with wonder into the distance. But as the years go by those once breathtaking surroundings become just the ordinary background of your day to day life.
Remember the last time you bought a CD that you were completely blown away by? You listened to the songs over and over again; they stirred something inside you. But after a few months you could listen without really even noticing it was on. And eventually you got a bit tired of it and put a new CD in rotation.
What is the common thread in all of these situations? They all show the way in which our brains quickly become accustomed to stimulation. While at first our senses are acutely tuned in to the input they are receiving, they fast become acclimated to the stimuli. The stimuli lose the ability to wow us and give us pleasure. We become numb to it. At this point most people reach for something new to experience those fresh feelings anew.
This is certainly the answer society gives us for our restlessness, our boredom, our anxiousness, and unhappiness. The answer is always MORE. More stimulation. More sex, more movies, more music, more drinking, more money, more freedom, more food. More of anything is sold as the cure for everything. Yet paradoxically, the more stimulation we receive, the less joy and enjoyment we get out of it. The key to experiencing greater fulfillment and pleasure is actually moderation.
The Art of Manliness Weekly Roundup: Law School Finals Edition
April 26, 2008
This week finals start for me in law school. I’ll be cranking away for the next few days filling my mind with law and preparing myself for grueling three to four hour exams. I’ll be done with finals next Thursday, which means I’ll have more time to dedicate to writing on AoM. I can’t wait.
I also wanted to remind everyone about the first edition of the Manival that’s coming up this Tuesday. If you have a blog and have a post that would be of interest to men, please submit it. So far I’ve received about 13 great submisions. Deadline to submit is Monday, April 28 at 4PM.
Finally, if you haven’t already, make sure to stop by and register in the brand new Art of Manliness Forums. It’s only up been up for a few days now and we already over 190 users providing some great discussion.
Now for some links:
5 Ways Productivity Can Turn You Into a Real Nutjob (@ the growing life) I’m all for being productive, but it’s easy to get carried away it and turn yourself into a complete schmuck. Clay discusses five types of productivity d-bags. My favorite: Mr. Hyper Motivated Renaissance Man.
Shirts For Work (@ newly corporate) Newly Corporate blog has a series going on about dressing for work. They have an informative post about what you need to know when it comes to business casual shirts.
How to De-ruttify Yourself (@ ramoney) Every now and then we all get in ruts. Most of the time they work their way out of your system. Sometimes, however, you have to be proactive about it and get yourself out of the rut. I wrote about this same topic a while back ago in Shift Yourself Out of Neutral.
The Seven Deadly Sins of Relationship. (@ zen habits) Relationships take work. Leo at Zen Habits reminds of seven things we should avoid doing in a relationship if we want the relationship to be happy and successful.
