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.