How Men Lost Their Voice (And, How to Get it Back) | FRIDAY FIELD NOTES
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Summary
Most men today have spent their entire lives being told that you should not rock the boat, don t make people uncomfortable, don't ask for too much, just be grateful for what you have. And because of that conditioning, most men today can t communicate their needs, state their boundaries, or advocate for themselves in relationships, in work, and in life.
Transcript
00:00:02.100
You sitting around twiddling your thumbs and letting people disrespect you has a cost.
00:00:11.340
You never tell your wife what you actually want and need.
00:00:14.940
You never tell your boss what is realistic or unrealistic.
00:00:19.260
You just simply absorb it all like a punching bag.
00:00:23.340
You can either advocate for yourself or you can resent the people you love later.
00:00:30.960
Men, today I want to talk about one of the most important skills that you'll ever develop.
00:00:38.880
And ironically, it's one that you were never taught.
00:00:45.740
Now, most men listening have spent their entire lives being told that you should not rock the boat.
00:01:01.480
And because of that conditioning, most men today can't communicate their needs.
00:01:09.120
They can't advocate for themselves in relationships, in work, in life.
00:01:17.020
I think that's what most people would say, that these guys are weak or they're being nice guys.
00:01:21.340
And while maybe an element of that is true, but it's because nobody ever taught them how to do it.
00:01:30.900
I want to teach you how to stand up for yourself.
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I want to teach you how to advocate for yourself.
00:01:37.580
But what we need to understand is that there was a point in time where men actually lost their voice.
00:01:44.540
So we need to start with why that actually matters.
00:01:48.500
And from the time that we as young boys were young, society has told us to be nice, to be quiet, to stop being so aggressive, to tone it down, to relax.
00:02:04.360
These are the things that we've been conditioned to believe.
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We take that raw, bold, assertive, courageous energy that boys naturally have, and we sand it down.
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We water it down until nothing sharp, nothing impactful, nothing incredible remains.
00:02:35.160
And those boys grow into men who, they allow disrespect.
00:02:52.740
They enjoy, almost to a degree, things that they were never meant to carry.
00:03:01.900
And again, it's not because they're weak, and it's not because they don't feel any sort of injustice or frustration about it.
00:03:08.960
It's because they don't believe that they're allowed to speak up.
00:03:13.000
I mean, how many times as a young man have you been told to sit down, to shut up, to color within the lines, to do what you're told,
00:03:19.000
to be quiet, to let the adults talk, that sort of thing.
00:03:25.060
And that's a problem because men today have been conditioned to advocate for everyone else but themselves.
00:03:32.780
Your wife, your kids, your job, causes that you believe in, but never for yourself.
00:03:45.100
And while I believe that it's important that we advocate for those other people who are important in our lives,
00:03:51.360
I also believe it's equally important that we advocate for ourselves.
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If you can't advocate for yourself, then you can't lead anyone else.
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Don't you want to protect, provide, and preside over and for the people that you love and care about?
00:04:24.300
But before I go any further, I want to kill some of the lies or a lie that we often hear.
00:04:34.180
And that is that self-advocacy, you standing up for yourself, you communicating your wishes and dreams and desires,
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You know, there's a huge difference between demanding that the world bend to your desires and wishes
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and communicating clearly what you need in order to show up at your best self.
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You know, so many men feel guilty for asking for anything.
00:05:14.040
You know, time to train, space to think, boundaries around work, clarity in relationships,
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respect in communication with the people that you care about.
00:05:27.620
When a man denies his own needs for too long, for long enough, he ends up becoming resentful.
00:05:51.660
I mean, I've been there, and in many ways I'm there today, and we're just beat down.
00:06:06.560
It doesn't help your clients or your colleagues or your neighbors.
00:06:12.840
But men who advocate for themselves, and you need to realize this, they aren't selfish.
00:06:23.260
Most of the time, those individuals are respected.
00:06:29.340
And people look up to that because other people want to be that.
00:06:37.060
Because you sitting around, twiddling your thumbs, letting the world pass you by, and
00:06:42.820
letting people disrespect you, and letting people take advantage of you, even if they're
00:06:47.880
not doing it out of devious intentions, has a cost.
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I want you to imagine a man, or maybe even imagine yourself.
00:07:04.560
You never tell your wife what you actually want and need.
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You never tell your boss what is or is not realistic or unrealistic.
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You never tell your friends or your accountability partners what you expect.
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It feels off a little bit, or somebody disrespects you, or is unfair towards you.
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You just simply absorb it all like a punching bag.
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You let other people make accusations and tell you why you're wrong and what you're doing
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And I can appreciate the fact that you think it's virtuous to be that punching bag, but it isn't.
00:08:08.680
It is virtuous to be able to withstand the attacks that life has to offer.
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I'm going to butcher this, so hang with me on this one.
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The real man gains renown by standing between his family and fate, absorbing the blows of fate with equanimity.
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If there's one quote that encapsulates what you ought to be doing as a man, it's that.
00:08:45.140
You are to absorb the blows of fate with equanimity.
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And so it is virtuous to be able to absorb it, but it's not prudent all the time.
00:09:03.600
It's not in your best interest, and frankly, it's not in the best interest of other people because here's what happens.
00:09:09.580
When a man becomes instable because he's not communicating his needs, desires, wishes, on the extreme, he goes up and shoots a school.
00:09:23.740
But more often, what happens is you as a man feel frustrated.
00:09:35.900
What happens is you become agitated and irritable.
00:09:40.080
Little, ticky-tacky, nitpicky things bother you that shouldn't bother you.
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Instead, you dance around it, and you clown around, and you play around, and you make little slights, and you think it's cute and clever, but it's not.
00:10:19.140
Your wife says something to you that gets you frustrated.
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Instead of dealing with it like a man, you don't talk about it at all, and then you just shut her down.
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And then because you shut her down, she's feeling shut down, obviously, and then it becomes a problem.
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I did this in the last week with somebody I love.
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It didn't even warrant the way that I responded.
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That's because we are not communicating our wants, needs, and desires as frequently as we should.
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And you pay for it with your peace, with your health, with your relationships.
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You know, most of us, I don't think as men, are exploding because we're angry.
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We're exploding because we've swallowed everything up.
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All the proverbial arrows and darts and swords and shots and bullets for five years, 10 years, 20 years, 40 years, 60 years.
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These guys have been swallowing and just absorbing all the bullshit for decades.
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It's no wonder that you're mad and frustrated and contentious and you have animosity between you and your wife.
00:12:03.420
It's no wonder that she's frustrated with you because you aren't being a man.
00:12:16.000
You aren't communicating your wishes and desires.
00:12:28.240
Now, there might be some unimportant issues that you're dealing with where it doesn't matter.
00:12:32.780
And I would say, don't let that stuff work you up.
00:12:36.240
But keeping the peace on important issues for you or your wife or your kids or your colleagues or your friends or your neighbors,
00:12:54.280
You can either advocate for yourself early and often,
00:13:07.640
You either advocate for yourself early and often,
00:13:10.000
or you end up resenting the people that you love later.
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So let's talk about what this actually looks like.
00:13:18.320
I'm going to give you some very practical examples because I don't want to just preach and proclaim in this 30,000-foot view.
00:13:33.900
And this might look like, I'm going to give you some real world examples that I've used that I've seen other men use that work really well.
00:13:40.720
So in your relationship, your romantic relationship, you might say something like,
00:13:45.400
I need 45 minutes after work tonight to just decompress, to unwind before we jump into any conversation.
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You know, when I was working my financial planning practice through years of trial and error, getting this wrong and getting this right,
00:14:07.640
I would begin to drive home without any music, no podcasts, because podcasts weren't a thing then.
00:14:15.160
No music, nothing distracting me because I just wanted to decompress on the 30-minute drive home.
00:14:24.400
I'm not okay with being treated disrespectfully.
00:14:36.500
So if she's nitpicking you or insulting you or degrading you or raising her voice towards you,
00:14:46.080
it's okay for you to say, hey, I'm not okay with the disrespectful tone.
00:14:51.260
I'm going to go ahead and back out of this conversation.
00:14:57.340
We can talk about it later, but I'm not okay with this disrespectful tone.
00:15:00.660
So if we can change that tone, I'd be happy to have a conversation with you.
00:15:05.720
Another one might be, I want to have a weekly check-in so that we stay aligned.
00:15:15.280
The kid's got ballet and your son's have basketball practice and your work's demanding this time and attention from you.
00:15:23.260
And you got this big project and she's concerned about the things that she's got going on.
00:15:27.100
Maybe she's got a new job or she's got family issues that she needs to work through.
00:15:32.020
And so it's important to say, hey, I just want to check in on a weekly basis.
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Hey, babe, Monday at seven o'clock after we've had dinner, the kids are maybe watching a show or doing some homework.
00:15:44.560
I want to sit down with you and just spend 30 minutes just checking in and making sure that we're aligned.
00:15:53.080
At work, you might say to a project manager, a boss that, hey, this deadline, it's not realistic, but here is what is realistic.
00:16:05.840
You might say, I want to get clear on what expectations you have of me before I commit to taking on this role, taking on this project, taking on this assignment, securing that promotion.
00:16:26.220
You might also say, if I'm responsible for the outcome of what we're going to do, then I want the authority to make decisions on it.
00:16:41.560
So you might say, hey, if I'm responsible for the outcome of this project, then I need authority.
00:16:46.540
And here's what authority looks like to be able to make decisions about what we're going to do.
00:16:52.660
With your friends and your brothers and people you are accountable to and people who are accountable to you, you might say, hey, if we're going to hold each other accountable, then we're going to need to be honest with each other.
00:17:09.720
And I don't know that you're being honest right now.
00:17:13.780
Or maybe you're trying to quit drinking, as I have over the past several years.
00:17:20.860
And you might tell your friend who wants you to go out and have a drink, say, hey, I don't drink anymore.
00:17:25.860
So I don't really want you pressuring me to drink.
00:17:28.340
Or I don't want to put myself in environments where I might be tempted to do so.
00:17:35.900
Now, with yourself, and this is oftentimes the hardest because you can deceive yourself.
00:17:40.560
You might say, hey, I don't, there's no more excuses for my poor behavior.
00:17:49.600
You might say, I'm done tolerating mediocrity in my diet or in my workout or in my relationships or in my business.
00:17:59.840
You might say, I am going to finish this project that I started.
00:18:08.560
How many projects have I started and never really finished up?
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And I'm going to tell myself I'm going to finish it.
00:18:26.400
You don't need to be boisterous or flamboyant about it.
00:18:29.840
You just need to do it because self-advocacy is clarity and clarity and equals courage.
00:18:36.300
And if you have courage, then you'll be able to be consistent.
00:18:39.280
And there's a three-step, what I've called a three-step protocol.
00:18:46.000
And so here's the framework that I teach inside of Order of Man, inside of our exclusive brotherhood, the Iron Council.
00:18:56.520
Okay, so number one is clarity around what you actually need.
00:19:08.660
A lot of the times they know what they don't want.
00:19:16.520
I know what I don't want, but I don't know what I actually want.
00:19:19.420
So what I want you to do is I want you to take 60 seconds and ask yourself, what am I requiring of myself, of other people, of the environment, of the situation?
00:19:33.780
Number two, what am I no longer going to tolerate?
00:19:44.960
I'm not going to tolerate that behavior anymore.
00:20:09.440
So again, number one, you have to get clarity on what you actually need and want, not what you don't want.
00:20:14.440
Number two, communicate your needs to other people without the emotion.
00:20:20.760
Again, you don't need to be aggressive about this.
00:20:23.360
You don't need to tell people, I'm going to take care of myself and F off.
00:20:31.060
It doesn't make you feel good, especially if this is something you're struggling with.
00:20:34.160
And it doesn't make people excited to be around you.
00:20:37.140
I'm so tired of people saying, well, I don't care what anybody else thinks.
00:20:43.200
No, there are people that you probably care about what they think of you.
00:20:47.640
Your wife, your kids, your friends, your colleagues, your co-workers, the people that were called to serve.
00:20:54.780
But you also don't need to be apologetic about it.
00:20:59.300
Get rid of the verbiage, I'm sorry, unless you truly are sorry.
00:21:11.620
And if you were really sorry, then you wouldn't put me out.
00:21:16.860
Just say, hey, I want to talk with you about something.
00:21:27.580
Now I'm going to be respectful about the way I communicate things.
00:21:37.400
And I'm not apologetic about the way that I feel.
00:21:46.380
Hey, babe, I need to talk with you about something.
00:21:50.220
I've been frustrated the past several weeks about X, Y, and Z.
00:21:52.980
And I wanted to bring that up and tell you that I've been frustrated.
00:21:59.140
Hey, Joe, I wanted to talk with you about your performance.
00:22:03.300
I've been frustrated because we had some expectations.
00:22:05.780
And it doesn't seem to be from where I'm sitting that you're meeting those expectations.
00:22:17.520
So you might say, hey, babe, you know, I really need communication.
00:22:24.620
Because when we have communication, it helps me understand where you're coming from.
00:22:29.860
And it helps me have a better picture of how we can operate as husband and wife.
00:22:37.340
And it would help me if when you're having a bad day, instead of shutting down and not talking with me about it, if you just expressed to me, I had a bad day because the kids were out of line or because my boss yelled at me or because we missed a deadline or because I'm on my period or whatever.
00:23:05.640
And I think most people would accommodate that.
00:23:08.360
Because this turns what would normally be conflict into a collaborative process.
00:23:19.980
Hey, boss, you told me you wanted to get this project done.
00:23:27.020
I need Joe from accounting and Bob from marketing and Bill from accounts receivable.
00:23:33.760
And I need those individuals as part of this process.
00:23:37.240
Because if I have them, then I can coordinate and we can make this a more profitable experience.
00:23:42.140
And in order to do that, I would like to have access to them.
00:23:47.200
I'd like to do a weekly meeting where we can just all four of us get together and have a discussion about that.
00:24:01.780
This is the last point I want to make on this one.
00:24:07.140
Because you advocating for yourself or you expressing your desires once is not enough.
00:24:14.240
Because people are going to test your boundaries.
00:24:21.560
But naturally, if you don't enforce what you say you want or what you're going to do,
00:24:28.700
It's more of a guideline, as they'd say in Pirates of the Caribbean.
00:24:41.180
Women are guilty of this all the time, in fact.
00:24:44.080
They might say, well, you know, it makes me feel bad if you do this thing.
00:25:04.080
But if they use the formula, if women use the formula that I just shared,
00:25:08.820
here's what I need, here's why, and here's what would help me do that.
00:25:12.080
What she might say, for example, with my drinking, I'm going to go back to my drinking days.
00:25:17.120
My ex-wife would say, well, I don't really like when you drink.
00:25:19.840
Okay, and what would have been better is, hey, when you're home with me, I don't want you to drink.
00:25:33.280
Because when you drink, you are more irritable or you are not engaged with the family.
00:25:46.300
And what would help me raise our kids the proper way is if you didn't drink at night.
00:26:02.320
Now, I'm not blaming my behavior on her by any means.
00:26:08.260
But I'm saying, especially if you're a lady listening to this, that's the three-part formula.
00:26:18.340
The way that we communicate as men is threefold.
00:26:28.640
When you complain about the way your wife shows up or complain about your boss doing something or not doing something, you sound feminine.
00:26:38.520
Instead, three-part formula, here's what I need.
00:26:44.420
All right, last point here I'm going to make, guys, is how this connects to leadership.
00:26:51.440
Self-advocacy, just, it isn't communication alone.
00:26:55.240
Because as a man, if you can't speak for yourself, then you can't protect anything.
00:27:05.960
People are always going to wonder how you're going to show up.
00:27:08.380
You can't be respected because nobody believes that you're respectable.
00:27:13.660
But men who stand up for what they want, they become men that other people trust.
00:27:19.400
And they don't always agree or see eye to eye or believe or love or whatever, but they're respectable.
00:27:24.840
I have plenty of men in my life who I don't agree with, but I respect them.
00:27:28.960
And as a virtue of men, I would much rather be respected than loved.
00:27:39.060
A man who respects his own time, his own attention, his own priorities, his own values becomes a man who can be followed, who can be influential.
00:27:48.700
It's the foundation for stability in your life.
00:27:55.600
And what's important to know is that you can do this on your own and you should.
00:28:01.620
And alternatively, or not even alternatively, but in addition to, you can band with us.
00:28:06.260
Because we've got an open enrollment right now inside the Iron Council and we train on self-advocacy.
00:28:14.800
Every week, men are stating what their objectives are.
00:28:21.640
I had a great phone call with a really good friend of mine.
00:28:28.080
And he was dealing with something yesterday that a lot of men are dealing with.
00:28:32.620
Again, I'm not going to get into the specifics.
00:28:34.240
And he called me and he said, hey, Rye, can I talk with you?
00:28:38.540
And we talked for about, I don't know, 15 minutes, 15, 20 minutes.
00:28:42.600
And I shared a few things that he hadn't considered before.
00:28:47.180
In fact, I've turned to him for a lot of things.
00:28:48.780
But I shared with him some things that he didn't maybe consider because he was in his own baggage.
00:28:59.840
And I shared a few things like, oh, that's really good counsel.
00:29:22.100
You know how many times I've shared with other guys like, hey, you're not showing up as powerfully as you could.
00:29:33.220
Guys, you don't become a better advocate for yourself by thinking about it.
00:29:37.340
You don't become one by surrounding yourself with men who are weak and cowardly and pathetic.
00:29:51.300
You need to surround yourself with people who model it, who expect it, who hold you to it.
00:29:57.480
So my call to action for you guys today, and I hope this conversation resonates with you.
00:30:03.120
And if you take nothing else away, I want you to take this.
00:30:06.800
You were not put on this earth to be silent, to be passive, to be invisible or weak or pathetic.
00:30:24.920
And self-advocacy is not about getting your way.
00:30:29.000
It's about stepping into the man you were destined to be.
00:30:34.420
You should start today because I want 2026 to be incredible for you.
00:30:38.980
Pick one conversation that you've been avoiding and actually haven't.
00:30:45.640
Do one thing that you know you should have been doing but haven't yet done.
00:30:49.540
Because when you advocate for yourself, you don't just change your day.
00:31:03.760
And I believe at the core of what it means to be a man is to protect, provide, preside.
00:31:07.840
And if there's one thing all three of those have in common, it's the ability to serve other people.
00:31:13.740
And you cannot serve other people if you're not taking care of yourself.
00:31:30.980
If you want more information on this, go to orderaman.com slash ironcouncil.
00:31:42.440
I see a bunch of posts about the top 10 podcasts and I've seen some good feedback from you.
00:31:50.100
And if I'm advocating for myself in this movement right now, I need you to share.
00:31:55.100
I need you to take a screenshot, share it with a brother, share it on Instagram, share it on Facebook.
00:32:03.340
And if you have anything you'd like from me, podcast, guests, ideas, insights, solutions, answers, whatever, reach out to me on the gram, on Facebook, wherever you're doing the social media thing.
00:32:16.500
Got a great, great conversation with Father Stephen Gabberry.
00:32:21.340
And we talk about some incredible things, not only about religion, but the practicality of being a man.
00:32:27.080
So check it out, subscribe, leave a rating and review, advocate for yourself, and become the man you are meant to be.
00:32:34.600
Thank you for listening to the Order of Man podcast.
00:32:37.600
You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be.
00:32:41.280
We invite you to join the Order at orderofman.com.