In this episode of the Manlihood ManCast, Josh Hatcher talks about one of the oldest laws written into the fabric of the universe – sowing and reaping. The Manlihood ManCast is a podcast for men, talking about personal development for men,
We all want a harvest. But to get a harvest, we must do a few things,
What does it mean to be a man? What traits are associated with masculinity?
Strength
Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.
~Arnold Schwarzenegger
Courage
It is courage, courage, courage, that raises the blood of life to crimson splendor. Live bravely and present a brave front to adversity.
-Horace
Independence
A man can stand a lot as long as he can stand himself.
~ Axel Munthe
Leadership
Leadership is not Lordship. It’s service. It’s helping. It’s influence.
Assertiveness
To be assertive works best if not tied with arrogance. It’s okay to demand justice and truth. It’s okay to stand for what’s right. It’s okay to ask for a raise, or expect your family to obey you. This must be balanced with humility and integrity, or it’s just another jerk spouting off.
Vision
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.” Jonathan Swift
“A great leader’s courage to fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” John Maxwell
Integrity
The root word of “integrity” is “integer” – which means “whole” If you have integrity – you are whole – not fractured by character flaws.
Brotherhood
Men are the best they can be when they are together. A better man has brothers in his life. A better man craves brotherhood, from which he not only benefits, but contributes.
Being eco-friendly and trying to save the environment isn’t an act of courage anymore – it’s an act of duty every single individual in the world has to perform. If we want to protect our world and save it for the next generation, making a change as soon as possible is the only thing we need to do. And the way to accomplish that is simple – be the change you want to see in the world and start by changing yourself first. So, if you too are thinking about becoming an eco-friendly guy, here are a few things you need to do.
Change the paradigm
One of the issues and difficulties you may be facing while becoming an eco-friendly man is the ruling paradigm that says that men aren’t even ready to become eco-friendly at all. Most of them consider this sort of behavior to be “unmanly” and beneath them, according to a 2017 study, and that’s the biggest problem you’ll have to address in this process What you need to do, therefore, is change the paradigm and start thinking in another direction. Instead of perceiving sustainability as something that’s endangering your masculinity and making you weaker, start perceiving it as something that’s endangering your life and the lives of those you love. Once you do that and understand how serious the situation is, you’ll become ready to make a change and become sustainable and environmentally-aware.
Switch to recycled materials
Using recycled materials whenever possible is one of the best ways to take your sustainability to the next level. This is a simple hack that can go a long way and create a larger impact than you can anticipate. What’s great, though, is the fact that lots of people have already embraced a more sustainable lifestyle and are using recycled materials every single day. This is why you should have no problems understanding why these materials are so useful and how you can make the most of them. Start by reducing the use of plastics in your daily life and switch to alternative options for your containers and storage solutions – glass, wicker, wood, etc. Also, if you’re skillful and handy, use recycled materials in your DIY projects. This is a great idea no matter what you’re designing and building, from art pieces with your children to home renovation projects.
Share your car
We all know that carpooling is one of the best ideas in the world, not just when it comes to eco-friendliness, but when it comes to saving money, energy, time, and gas. instead of wasting hours and hours behind the wheel every single day, you can reduce that by 80% and do that only once a week. So, find four friends, neighbors, or coworkers who are willing to carpool with you and you’ll start seeing the benefits in a matter of weeks. If you’re already an avid carpooler, you can boost your efforts and do something even better – share your car! This concept is a new and innovative way to own a car without all the costs that come with this privilege, but also without endangering the environment that much. So, if you decide to check out the innovative car share concept, you’ll still be able to have a vehicle by your side whenever you want, yet spend less money than you normally would – and do your share when it comes to saving the environment!
Make your home more sustainable
In the end, this might be the ultimate way to become an eco-friendly man and protect Mother Nature. Making your home more sustainable might easily be the most effective approach you could opt for, especially if you want to make a visible difference in your living space and inspire everyone around you to follow your lead and do the same. That’s why this is a win-win scenario you simply have to explore, and it’s safe to say that this idea is easier to realize than you can imagine. The number of different ideas and approaches is huge, and it’s up to you to pick the ideas that work for you the most and start turning them into practice one by one. Sometimes even the tiniest changes can mean a lot, and some of the things you might do to make your home eco-friendly include replacing your old light bulbs with those LED ones, weather-stripping your windows, and installing a smart thermostat.
Once you start putting these ideas into practice, you won’t just do wonders for the environment, but you’ll also become a more attractive man, as revealed in a 2020 study. So, stop procrastinating and start being more proactive – right now!
(‘Brother Square-Toes’—Rewards and Fairies)If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
After dating for some time, throwing a reception, exchanging your vows and finally getting married, you think it’s going to last forever. Alas, marriage is a fragile and sometimes ephemeral thing. Every man has his forte, and dealing with a divorce might not be the one thing you’re particularly good at. You know that sometimes it’s rather difficult to deal with your feelings, and it gets unimaginably difficult when you add another person’s rollercoaster of emotions to the equation. However, there are a few things you should have in mind that could help you with accepting the whole process and going through it. Here they are.
The past is in the past
When you invest a lot of time and energy into your marriage, and it breaks at one point, it’s normal to start remembering all the wonderful moments you’ve been through together. Nevertheless, you can’t let yourself be stuck in the past, as it won’t help your current situation one tiny bit. You have to be bent on getting the best you can out of it. Think about moving to a place you’ve always wanted to live at, invest some more time into your hobbies, friends, travel someplace new, anything that will positively affect your well-being. It takes time to process everything and remember who you were before your marriage, so try to turn the situation in your favour.
Engage with your kids
If you have kids, you should be reminded that the whole divorce might be taking a heavier toll on them that it is on you. Men tend to be reserved when it comes to opening up and talking about emotions, but you should take a different approach in order to play your role as a father. If you act your part, spend time with them, stay calm and be honest about what’s going on, this exposure to divorce shouldn’t be as difficult as it normally can be. With the help of family lawyers in Sydney, your divorce can go smoothly, and this swift process helps the kids handle the whole situation better. That’s why you should be cooperative and reasonable, which will speed up the process and make it easier for everyone involved.
Be respectful until the end
We all keep some of our emotions under our hats, but there is a limit for a healthy amount of that. If you’ve been repressing a lot of them over many years, divorce might be a stimulus to let them all out. It’s certainly a natural reaction to be angry, bewildered, irritated, and annoyed, but you should be careful as to how you’re releasing those feelings out into the world. Don’t go belittling your spouse, calling her names, or calling her out for something she did. Also, try to keep her private life a secret and forget about revenge or anything of that sort. Mutual respect is a life-saver.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help
Along the way, many triggers are bound to pop up, and you have to learn to cope with them. Some places, people, or everyday things around you will remind you of your spouse and it could cause all of the previously-experienced emotions to surge out once again. If you feel that you’re not doing well at those instances, think about going to therapy or reading self-help books. As little as a friendly conversation with your dear ones can also go a long way into making you feel better. Things get better over time, but you have to be patient when everything gets dark and gloomy, as that’s an integral part of a divorce.
To conclude
Some things in life can’t be controlled or changed, and everything that’s left at those moments is to learn to accept and adapt to them. Try to slow down with rebounds and a hectic lifestyle that you might regret later, and make sure to slowly start establishing a new life. A post-divorce life is filled with numerous challenges, and the most important thing is to take care of your well-being and work on setting your new life on the right course.
Peter Minkoff is a lifestyle writer at Bond magazine. Follow Peter on Twitter for more tips.
Mindset is everything. The most powerful force in your life. Set it on winning, and you’ll be a more powerful man.
Work hard. Every Day.
Nothing good comes free. You’ve got to earn it. If you want to be a more powerful man, you’ll have to earn that. So work hard. Grind at everything you do.
Surround yourself with winners.
They say you are the sum total of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Are you hanging otu with losers? Or are you surrounding yourself with powerful men that will teach you how to dominate?
View Failure as your teacher.
Everybody fails. Stop looking at it as the destination. It’s not wrong to fail. It’s wrong to not learn from your failure.
Become a student of leadership.
If you want to become a powerful man, you have to study leadership principles. It will do you no good to have power and have no clue how to use it.
Serve people.
This may seem counterintuitive, but the truth is – if we want to be great — if we want to be a more powerful man and to dominate – our perspective can easily become warped. It’s about serving people. It’s about helping people. That is how you will gain influence, wealth, or whatever it is you seek. The true rewards though are not in position or power, but in relationships.
Be disciplined
If you want to be a more powerful man, you have to train. If you wanted to be able to lift more weights, you have to discipline your body and train it to be stronger. The same is true in every aspect of your life.
Have integrity
They say power corrupts. If you want to be a more powerful man, but you don’t have a foundation of integrity – it means nothing. And integrity in and of itself will help you build and grow your influence.
In this episode of the Manlihood ManCast, Josh Hatcher talks about the building the muscle of your mind. We hear a lot of talk about physical exercise and strength building. Which is good! But we need to talk about building up the mind, too.
Garbage In / Garbage Out
What we consume affects what we produce.
Doing reps
We need to use affirmations to build up and tone muscle. Repeat truth to yourself until you believe it.
Powerlifting
If you want to be headstrong, it takes time. You’ve got to keep working it over time. I can guarantee you, you are already stronger than you think you are.
Discipline equals freedom. We think of discipline as uncomfortable – but you’ve got to TRAIN your brain how to think. It literally rewrites your brain chemistry! (Look up Dr. Caroline Leaf’s research on this!) If you build healthy habits in the way you think, it really does set you free. But it takes discipline!
