The Art of Manliness

Are you an entrepreneur or a manager, and you feel like every day at work you're just putting out fires? Or in your personal life, you go home and it's just crisis after crisis that needs fixing. And so you try to manage this trouble-shooting by getting more efficient at putting out those fires. What if the real answer though is not greater efficiency, but instead a way of looking at your life as a series of systems? That's what today's guest, Sam Carpenter, argues...

Since I started the site in 2008, I've read a lot of books about men's style. And one of the most fun, engaging, and witty books on the topic I've come across is called Men's Style: A Thinking Man's Guide to Dress. It's by a columnist and novelist named Russell Smith. Today on the show we discuss the philosophy of style, the history of it, why the great men of history were concerned about how they look, and why we should care today. We also get into practical tips on suits, shirts, shoes, etc.

In the past forty years we've seen dramatic changes in the way people date and marry. From the hook-up culture on college campuses to young adults putting off marriage longer and longer, a lot of explanations have been offered that focus on changing values in our country. But my guest today on the podcast argues that perhaps changing demographics has more to do with changing mating patterns in the West...

You've probably seen on TV or online the Highland Games: guys in kilts throwing giant logs, tossing hammers over their heads, etc. It's a fascinating strength competition, and one I've long wanted to learn more about and get in touch with my Scottish roots. Today on the show I'm talking with a Highland Games competitor named Matt Vincent. We talk what goes into training, how to get started with events if you're interested, a workout program called The Hate, and much more.

All of us are going to die someday. And we're all going to have loved ones who will die from disease or old age. In fact, some of you listening right now may be dying yourself or watching a loved one die. But the thing is most modern Westerners aren't prepared for the actual event of dying because we've done such a great job cordoning it off from the rest of life. If you're a young person, you've likely never seen a person die because we typically die in hospitals...

One of my favorite writers online is Steve Kamb, who operates a fitness website called Nerd Fitness. What I love about Steve is that he's made fitness accessible and fun to people who otherwise wouldn't be interested in physical fitness or strength training. He takes inspiration from video games, pop culture, comic books, etc. and creates workouts and life lessons...

We've probably all seen some sort of scam or fraud in the news (Bernie Madoff), or even in our email inbox (that Nigerian prince). We tend to think we're way too smart to fall for those cons and tell ourselves "That could never happen to me." Well our guest today wrote a book that says that might not be the case. Her name is Maria Konnikova and her book is called The Confidence Game: Why We Fall For It Every Time...

Have you ever spent an entire day at work feeling really busy, checking emails, reading your news feed -- and at the end of the day you realize, "Man, I really wasn't all that productive." You felt busy but your brain was fuzzy and didn't end up doing all that much. If that sounds familiar, today's show is for you. My guest, Cal Newport, has a new book out called Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World. I'm not joking when I say this has been a life-changing book for me...

Sports is a multi-billion dollar industry. Hundreds of millions of people consumer this entertainment either live or on TV, and athletes are paid millions for what they do. But all this started with the super exciting sport of competitive walking. You read that right. My guest today is Matthew Algeo, and he's written a book called Pedestrianism: When Watching People Walk Was America's Favorite Spectator Sport...

One of my favorite books I read last year is called Self & Soul: A Defense of Ideals by a professor named Mark Edmundson. He makes the argument that in the West, our commitment to ideals (the Soul) is fading, and we're becoming a culture of the Self -- desiring comfort, safety, and materialism over the ancient ideals of courage, compassion, and contemplation...