Stan Manly Challenge #5

This Stan Manly Challenge challenge involves finances.

Pick one thing this month that you splurge on. Is it beer? Cigarettes? Coffee? 

Try to give it up for the rest of the month and take the money that you would have spent on that and treat your wife, girlfriend, kids, or a friend who is in a rough spot.

Good luck, gentlemen!

Stan Manly Challenge #4

This Stan Manly Challenge challenge involves cursing.

Begin by picking one "curse" word from your vocabulary. If you use the "f-bomb" more than once a month, that is chosen by default. If you don't choose the one that is the most offensive to others. If not, pick a word you wouldn't want your 3 year old to say. If you don't use any of those words, you either are doing really well or you think it is OK for a 3 year old to have a potty mouth. At any rate pick a word and until the end of the month, anytime you use that word you have to do 20 push-ups. By the end of the month, you will either have cleaned up your language, or you will have grown your biceps.

Good luck men!

Yeah, that makes you look really manly: Cursing

Man I tell you what, that !@$*!% ball was coming in so !@%!% fast that I just said #^#%@ @#%$@# and knocked the @#$(@#( out of it.

Listening to some guys talk you hear curse words tossed around like dodgeballs in a grade school. Just look at the phrase above. You probably filled in some of the words in your head as you read it. I just find that cursing doesn't add a lot. Compare that phrase to:

Man I tell you what, that ball was coming in so fast that I just said "Here Goes" and knocked the stuffing out of it.

The two phrases tell the same story, but the first phrase would garner a PG-13 rating, while the second was G.

Why those added adjectives? I mean, does it add to the sentence?

 Michael Jordan was the best basketball player ever.

VS

Michael "His Airness" Jordan undoubtedly, yet notably was the single most talented and skilled and just the best ever in the history of mankind in the whole wide world basketball player who ever played the game of basketball since it was invented and he started playing.

 Once again, two phrases that mean the same thing, but one says it much more concisely. 

Cursing doesn't make you sound classy or sophisticated. Think about this, when is the last time you heard a billionaire stand up in front of a crowded banquet hall and say: "We've had a #$@#% awesome @##$% @#$@ year." Never? When is the last time you saw an alcoholic who can hold a job use the same phrase with "horrible" substituted for "awesome"? You might have actually heard that one.

Would you like to hear your heart surgeon say "Today, we are going to take your old heart out of your chest and put in a new one." or "Today, we are going to take that $@#% old heart out of your #$%#$ chest and put in a @#$@# new one."?

At the very least, men should watch their language around women and children. There are actually a number of states and cities that have laws on the books that say cursing in front of a woman or child or preacher is punishable by a fine, usually about $100. I can't believe the amount of times in a store, parking lot, or at an event I hear curse words whizzing by my children as we walk past a group, with me just praying that one of them doesn't find my daughter's sensitive young ears. The last think I want to be doing is explaining to a 3 year old what the "f-word" means.

So be a real man and think before you talk. Try to sound more sophisticated and see where it gets you. Who knows, maybe leaving out a few extra words in your phrases will make you sound smarter and get you a promotion - or at least a better reputation.

 

Man up

Deep down in every man there is a part of him that just doesn't want to be to blame.
Things like "I was late because of ..." or even "I was day dreaming during that meeting because of ..." or maybe "I had to look at that woman because of...". Sometimes there are legitimate excuses - but don't make excuses for everything.

If your car stalls on the way to a meeting then it is OK to be late. But if you were late because you were stuck in the drive through waiting for that McGrease breakfast sandwich, well that is your fault.

If your project at work is late because the client changed 5 major details two days before deadline, that is acceptable. If it is late because you didn't start until two days before the deadline - YOUR FAULT.

One of the rules of being a man is taking the responsibility for your actions.

So Man Up and own your actions - true men accept responsibility.

Stan Manly Challenge #3

This Stan Manly Challenge challenge is aimed at married men. Try to compliment your wife on one thing for three straight days. Not necessarily the same thing, but "I love the way your eyes look when you wear that" or "Thank you for having a hot supper ready for me, you are so considerate" or my personal favorite, "A man as manly as me is lucky to have a woman as womanly as you."

Good luck and post any stories you have.

50 things every man should be able to do

Came across this very well done article on 50 things every man should know (or learn) how to do. I may put together my own list in the future, but this is a good start.

Being a real man

Matthew Warner has a great article about being a real man. Check it out for some advice on manliness.

Man Laws

There are lots of laws which we have to obey in society.

You can't speed down the road...
You can't kill anybody...
You can't steal from people...
You can't do a lot of things...

However, being a man - a real man requires you follow the man laws which are:

1. Put God before all things- If you keep the Big Man on top, He'll keep you up there with Him.
2. Be chivalrous - Treat others better than you want to be treated, especially women.
3. Help the less fortunate - There are countless children, elderly, special needs, and poor around us who need our help and real men should lend them a hand.
4. Respect authority figures - Those above us have been placed there for a reason - follow their lead as long as it doesn't go against your morals.
5. Own your actions - If YOU made the decision, take the consequences and don't try to blame someone else.
6. Be a man of integrity - Make your word mean something. Don't lie, stretch the truth, or try to cheat others.
7. Do your best at all times - No half-effort attempts. Be proud to put your name on everything you do.
8. Work hard, play hard - When you are at work, work hard. When you are having fun, enjoy yourself. Don't slack at work and spend your free time napping.
9. Take care of yourself so you can take care of others - if you gain 300 lbs and die at age 35, that is 30+ years you could have been being manly. At the same time, don't spend too much time on your image - all those muscles are just worm food in the end.
10. Don't dwell on the past - What has happened is over. If you made a mistake, apologize and move on. Unless you have a time traveling DeLorean, you can't change the past, so just move on.

If you have any other man laws let me know and I'll post the ones I agree with.

An enjoyable video for men who are dads

Stan Manly Challenge #2

This Stan Manly Challenge is to do something extra for which you will get no credit.

This means that you have to do something nice without anyone finding out. It can't be the dishes or laundry or something that the person receiving the favor knows it is you, but just do something kind for another person completely anonymously.

Some ideas:
Pay for someone's meal from across the restaurant.
Pay for the next 5 people at a parking garage.
Pick up a mess left by some careless people on a picnic.
Let someone into your lane of traffic who has been trying to turn in for a while.
Clean up a mess that only you know about around the house.
Mow a lawn, rake some leave, scoop some snow - whatever the case is for a neighbor and do a better job than you do on your own lot.

Another Great Post

While reading some of the blogs I follow regularly, I came across this article by Fr Longenecker. In it he states how he loves summer camp because with the kids divided boys can be boys and girls can be girls. This is a topic that is close to my heart, as I see a society where more and more we are pushed to be the same. If only people would realize boys are not girls and girls are not boys. The most girly boy ever is still a boy and the most tomboy girl ever is still a girl!


More on this later, but for now, enjoy a great blogger stating his thoughts. (Caution: there are a couple of words that my not be appropriate for younger readers, but it is written by a priest, so how bad can it be, right?)

Stan Manly Challenge #1

This Stan Manly Challenge challenge is in the category of chivalry. It is simple:
Hold the door open for a lady. This can be a door at your place of work, your church, at a store, anywhere. Just watch as you walk into a place for a lady coming in and hold the door for her. Automatic doors don't count. Share any experiences you have in the comments.

Stan Manly Challenges

Men love challenges. All the way back to the time we were in middle school we competed with one another. Simply daring someone was enough to try even the dumbest things. A Triple Dog Dare - there was no backing down.

Now that we are men, we find competition in many things. Whether it is rooting for a sports team, trying to be the best at our job, or even something as simple as trying to be the first off a red light. Manly men love challenges. That brings me to the point of this post. From time to time, I'll post a challenge - straight to you from Stan. You can go ahead and ignore it, or you try to meet it. Feel free to post your results.

These challenges are not only about competition, but they are also about try to become better, more manly men.

Good luck Gentlemen.

A Manly Man Understands (or at least tries to) Women

One thing that is very important to understand about manliness is the difference between men and women. I’m not talking the obvious differences, though those are important, too. Over time I’ll talk about lots of differences; particularly those in how we think.

When we were wired, guys were give the ability to focus on one thing very intensely. Women were given the ability to focus on lots of things at the same time. This is why when a guy is trying to make spaghetti, the smoke alarms often go off, while women have no problem with this. Likewise, in a situation that requires intense focus, like a car spinning out of control, a woman might struggle to control emotions and have trouble remembering how to fix the skid, while many men would quickly steer into the skid.

Many of us had a dad or at least uncles/grandpas who would sit intently looking at a television screen watching the game and wonder if he would notice if the house caught fire. Many of our mothers would read a magazine, while talking on the phone while cleaning the sink while making dinner.

It all has to do with how our minds work. I recently heard a podcast from Focus on the Family talking about the differences and the analogy they used was very helpful. Think of your mind like a computer running windows. Guys always run programs maximized. They take up the full screen and anything else that might be running is minimized to the toolbar.

The female desktop is an interesting thing. Their desktop features multiple windows arranged so that they can keep up with all of them at once. Sometimes when they close one, it pops right back up. The problem with this is that it keeps them from narrowing to one window very effectively.

These differences can help guys to understand how women think.

A manly man makes an effort to understand how other people, especially women, think.

Manly Arts 101: Fatherhood

While not every man is called to be a father, it is the most common vocation that men are called to. I will touch more on each vocation over time, but I came across this great article and had to share:

http://yimcatholic.blogspot.com/2010/06/to-be-catholic-father.html

It is a bit long, but worth a look.

Who do I want to be?

When I die, I want people to look at my life and say - that was a good guy.

• I want my wife to think I was a good husband. 
• I want her to think I sacrificed and laid down my life for her.
• I want her to know that I think she is beautiful.
• I want her to know that I love her.
• I want her to know that she was my best friend.
• I want my girls to think I was a good father.
• I want them to know that I love them so much.
• I want them to know how proud they make me.
• I want them to know that I would do anything for them.
• I want them to know that they make me melt.
• I want them to know that they make me a better person.
• I want people to say:
• He was always willing to help.
• He really cared about others.
• He wanted to make a better world for his children.
• He loves God.
• He was a good man.
• I don't want them to say "He's in Heaven" just to comfort people. I want them to say it because they truly believe I am there. Every time I go to a funeral, they only say nice things and talk about how the person is in Heaven and what a good person this was. Even some people who were crooks and adulterers. People who claimed to be Christian, but lived a different lifestyle. I don't want to be that guy. I want to be the kind like St. Padre Pio, St. Maximillian Kolbe, St. Francis of Assissi, St. Joseph, Blessed John Paul II and all those saints that once they departed from this life, people had no doubt that once they were in a better place. For me, hell is not an option. It is truly Heaven or bust...

Stan Manly, a man among men

As a guy in the world, you hear a lot of talk about being a man. The only problem is trying to figure out exactly what is manly and sticking to it.

• Is manly sitting on the couch with a cold one watching the game and scratching yourself?
• Does it involve eating raw meat?
• Does it mean getting in drunken brawls or refusing to fall down?
• Can a man have feeling? 
• Can he say "I love you"?

Well, stay tuned, pilgrims, and we'll look at what makes a man.