Mindsets of Masculine Leadership | FRIDAY FIELD NOTES
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Summary
In this episode, Ryan talks about the 4 mindsets of masculine leadership and why you should be a man of action. He also talks about how you can be a better leader and a better husband, father, trainer, and mentor.
Transcript
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest, embrace your fears, and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time, every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated, rugged, resilient, strong. This is your life. This is who
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you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
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you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Mickler. I'm the
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host and the founder of the Order of Man podcast and movement. Welcome to your Friday Field
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Notes. I'm going to share some thoughts that I've been thinking about throughout the week.
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If you're new to the podcast, I interview incredible men, learn from them, try to extract all the
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wisdom they have to share with us in a short but punchy, powerful conversation and deliver
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that to you here on this podcast. Now, the Friday Field Notes is a little different. Unfortunately,
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you just get to hear from me, but we do have the interviews. We have the Ask Me Anything.
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We have the Friday Field Notes. We just did a bonus episode yesterday with Tim Tebow.
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So if you haven't listened to that one, go back and listen. Very powerful conversation.
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But yeah, we're trying to do a lot to get the word out about masculinity and helping you improve
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as a man. Guys, I got a lot to talk with you about today. We're going to go through four mindsets
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of masculine leadership. This is from my book, The Masculinity Manifesto, which you can pick up a
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copy wherever you get books. Also, if you're interested, we have signed copies available.
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We also have an exclusive edition available with a leather cover, custom leather bookmark,
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signed copy, custom hand woodturned pen, and also a signed note card from me. You can get that
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store.orderofman.com. Now, one other announcement I want to make. You see me wearing this jacket right
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here. My camo is clashing today. I've got this Origin brand new, 100% made and sourced on America
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camo on today. Wanted to show this off. Excited to finally get this in. Of course, it clashes with
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my Order of Man camo, but it is what it is. This is where it's at right here. But I want to mention,
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Origin is doing something very, very cool. I just got these boots yesterday. These are called,
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their Victory Boot. Again, what's cool about Origin is everything is 100% made and sourced
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in America. So this is their Victory Boot. They're releasing this today. And there's only 500 of these
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available. And I've got a pair of them. They were nice enough, kind enough to give me a pair of these.
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So the Victory Boot, they also have their Victory Denim, which is sitting, actually that's sitting in my
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bedroom. So if you're interested in those, go check them out because what they're doing is they're
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giving away a brand new Audet bike. This is made in America. It's a motorcycle, not just a bicycle.
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It's a motorcycle. They're giving it away. If you want to learn more about how they're doing that
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based on the boots and based on the denim, then go to originusa.com, originusa.com and check out their
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boots, check out their jeans. These are the Victory Boots, the Victory Denim. And you're going to be
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entered in for their sweepstakes on that brand new Audet motorcycle, which is rad. So you definitely
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want to check that out. Originusa.com. All right, guys, enough with the promotional. For now, let's
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get to the meat of the conversation. Again, want to talk with you about the mindsets of masculine
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leadership. Because if you're listening to this, odds are very, very good, very, very likely that you
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are either a leader in some capacity, or you would like to be a leader in some capacity. And in order to
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be an effective leader, we need to have the right mindset to be able to do these things.
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This isn't a one and done type thing. We have to continue to work on these mindsets, develop the
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skill sets, and then lead people effectively. Now, I don't care if it's in fatherhood, as a husband,
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as a team leader, as an employer, as a coach, or a trainer, or a mentor. It doesn't matter how you're
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showing up. The cool thing about what I'm going to share with you, the mindsets, is that they're
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universally true, meaning they're principles. So, we're going to break down each one. Again,
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this comes from my book, The Masculinity Manifesto. Number one is you have to overcome the ease of
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modernity. You have to overcome the ease of modernity. And you also have to encourage and
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teach and foster within others how they can overcome the ease of modernity. Because if everything
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was easy, which it is relatively easy right now, and I know that's not to discount the hardships
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people are dealing with. If everything's easy, there's no leadership required. It's when things
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get challenging that leaders are required and that those leaders will step up. So, you need to get
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your people, your kids, your spouse, your colleagues, your clients, your co-workers, to embrace discomfort,
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to embrace challenge, to embrace hardship, and not just to add all of this stuff to their plate,
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but to make them more capable of dealing with adversity as it arises. So, what I would suggest
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to you is that we put our people in meaningful, okay? This is not just to beat them up, but meaningful
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situations where they can learn how to overcome hardship. If it's in a family dynamic, it's
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uncomfortable conversations. It's doing physical exercise and activities. It's going through physical
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hardship. It's teaching kids, maybe even to speak in public, which is a real challenge for people to
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be able to express their thoughts and their ideas in a controlled environment so they can learn how
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to do that effectively. The more that you can make it a challenging situation, not hard for the sake of
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being hard, but with meaning behind it and purpose behind it, the better leader you're going to be and
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the better your people are going to do. The reality is life is easy right now and nobody's struggling.
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Well, that's not true. People are struggling, but nobody's struggling to the degree that they will at
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some point in their life. And your measure as a leader is your ability to help them overcome the
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challenges as they present themselves. And if they're not challenging right now, trust me,
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they will be at some point. So, your job as a leader is to help people overcome the ease of
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modernity and not take the path of least resistance, but the path of most resistance in training type
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environments so that when real world kicks you in the teeth or your people in the teeth, they'll be
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prepared to deal with it. Number two is don't be a superhero. Guys, as a leader, it's very tempting to
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come in and rescue people from their problems. In fact, many people believe that's what leadership is.
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That if somebody's struggling, I'm going to jump in the water and I'm going to save them.
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Now, there might be situations where you actually need to do that. I'm talking metaphorically,
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of course, or maybe even literally. There might be situations where you need to do that. But those
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are few and far between. Those are situations where someone is in real danger or the consequence of
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what's happening. The situation is dire and potentially catastrophic. You may need to jump in and save
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somebody. But the overwhelming majority of the time, that's not what it is. And what I see a lot of
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leaders do is they swoop in in their Superman cape and they rescue everybody from their problems.
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They try to spare them from hardship. They try to spare them from the consequences of the choices
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and decisions they've made. And while that might seem like the right thing to do, inevitably, it's a
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failing tactic. It's a failing strategy because you're not empowering people. You're not letting them
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see that there's choice and decisions and consequences that follow. You're not letting
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people experience the weight of their decisions. Now, again, if it's catastrophic or even life
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threatening, sure, maybe that calls for you coming in to rescue somebody. But that's not what we're
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talking about here. Let them feel the burden. Let them feel the weight. Let them struggle. This is
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why I say with kids is give them enough room to not hang themselves with, but choke themselves with.
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Right? They have to feel a sting a little bit. They have to feel the weight. And if they don't,
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then you're robbing them of a couple of different opportunities. You're robbing them of the lesson
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that could be learned because there is a lesson in failure. You're robbing them from that, that from
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them. And you're robbing them from them, the opportunity to build up mental, emotional,
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physical strength to overcome new and even more challenging hardship that will present itself
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in the future. Also, what makes you think those people want to be rescued? I've said before,
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you cannot help people who are not willing, or I should say you aren't, you can't save people
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who aren't willing to participate in the rescue. You can't save people who aren't willing to
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participate in the rescue. Then I need to know that if I'm going to work with somebody, whether
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it's my kids or my wife or my colleagues or my clients or my coworkers or whoever, team members,
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teammates, whoever it may be, that they are willing to get into the fight. Because if not,
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then I have to direct my energy, my time, my attention and resources to somebody,
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something else who is interested in improving their life.
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Don't be a superhero. And all too often, what I see is that these guys who want to be superheroes,
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they want to come in and rescue everybody from their problems. They're not actually really worried
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about their people. They're worried about how they'll look. They come in and they're, you know,
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their fancy tights and their cape and they look so amazing. They look so incredible. And they
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want the praise and the notoriety and the accolades that come from rescuing somebody. And it's all
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narcissistic. It has nothing to do with actually serving somebody else. If you really wanted to
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serve somebody else, you'd let them struggle. You'd let them suffer. You wouldn't let them kill
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themselves, but you'd let them struggle enough that they can learn what they need to learn
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in order to succeed the next time they're faced with that challenge or that hardship.
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Number three, guys, lead before the title. I have seen so many men wait for specifically at work
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situations where they'll say, well, you know, that's not my responsibility. Well,
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you know, they're not paying me enough. And when, when I get the title, when I'm this,
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when I'm that, then I'll be a leader. No guys, you're a leader now, or at least you can be,
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if you decide to be. And I understand the sentiment. They don't pay me enough for this.
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This is not my responsibility. Okay. Well then don't complain about it. When you get passed over for a
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promotion, don't be upset when you've been at a company for 10, 15, 20 years. And the guy that's
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been there for two years keeps passing you up and is running laps around you. Why? Yeah. Maybe
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there's some, some nepotism going on there. That that's, that's something that could potentially
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happen, but more often than not, I think what it is, is that's an individual who's willing to go
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above and beyond leadership comes before the title. Start doing these things now. And the titles will
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come. The titles are just externalities. Those are manifestations of your leadership ability.
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Not always. I know there's extenuating circumstances. I know that the, that we've all
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had leaders who, who probably don't deserve to be there for one reason or the other. Okay. But
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that's the exception. That's not the rule. Most people are there because they've qualified themselves
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to be there. So what better way to do that than to lead, to serve, to sacrifice, to commit,
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to take on responsibility, to assist and help other people along the path. These are all leadership
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characteristics. The more you do that now, the more the titles will come. The more the
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promotions will come. The more the income increases will come. The raises will come.
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That stuff will happen. But if you lead now, that's what the result is. If you wait to lead,
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you're always going to be waiting. Always. All right. Number four, guys, very, very important here.
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Render yourself obsolete. That is the goal of leader. I can't tell you how often,
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I hear from guys who are like, oh, you know, I'm training my competition. Oh, I'm going to train
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my replacement. Right. Right. That's the point. If you're worried about training your replacement,
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you're so focused on the present at the expense of what could potentially be for you.
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Maybe the reason you're not getting ahead is because you're so comfortable with where you are
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and you're talking about not wanting guys to replace you that there's just, they can't,
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there's no room. And I'm talking about in a corporate environment, there's no room for you
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to go because your bosses, your higher ups, they need you in that position because there's nobody
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else who can do what you can do. Isn't that a problem? What if the only thing that is holding
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you back from growth and expansion is making sure that somebody can come in and replace and fill in
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for you? I also think about this in the context of my children specifically. Like if my children need me
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to the degree, they need me now forever, I've done it wrong. I've done it incorrectly.
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Now they can always call me. I'll be there for emotional support. I'll be there to cheer them on
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and to help them. But if I'm having to pay their bills, if I'm having to put a roof over their head,
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if I'm having to put food in their bellies, if I'm having to, uh, you know, emotionally babysit them
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forever, I have failed. They have not failed. I have failed. My job is to put myself out of work.
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It's to render myself obsolete. And the more I think about this, I'm not saying that you're going
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to be gone and out of the picture entirely, but your relationship should evolve specifically with
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the kids. Okay. You're always going to be their father. Sure. But more importantly than that,
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it's how the relationship evolves over time. So if you have a one-year-old, you're probably still
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wiping poo off of your baby's butt. Okay. You probably shouldn't be doing that when they're
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eight years old. And at eight, you're trying to teach them to work hard and eat everything that's
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on their plate. And at 16, that's probably something you shouldn't be worrying about.
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At 16, you're going to be making sure they know how to drive responsibly. You're going to need to
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make sure they know how to find good friends. You're going to help them navigate potential
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relationship issues and things that they have going on. Okay. Then at 24, you're going to be
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worrying about how to help them with their career decisions and starting their own families. You see
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how this evolves? And yet we have 40-year-olds who never evolved out of this 16-year-old little boy.
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Because mommy and daddy did not render themselves obsolete. In fact, they found value in being
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needed for everything. So what I would suggest is that you don't find value in being needed. You
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find value in seeing that your people are thriving without you. Now that's hard. There's a little bit
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of a sting that comes with that. My oldest is 14 years old. He's a lot more independent than he has
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been over the past several years. And I'm not as cool as I once was. And he doesn't need me as much
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as he always has. And I feel that. I feel that. But also I'm proud because I see him developing and
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growing and doing good things. And that's more important than my feeling about the situation.
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Guys, there's a lot of rules. There's a lot of mindsets. There's a lot of things that we can go
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through. But to suffice it to say that these are the four that I isolated and picked out in the book,
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The Masculinity Manifesto. And of course, I break each one down even further. So if you're interested
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in picking up a copy of this, make sure you do wherever books are sold, or you can go to
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store.orderman.com to pick up the signed copy or the exclusive version that's available.
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But again, the four mindsets of masculinity are number one, overcoming the ease of modernity,
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helping people to do that and for yourself. Number two, not being a superhero, not rescuing
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everybody from their problems, but helping equip them with the knowledge and the skill sets and the
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tools they need to deal with their own problems. Number three, leading before the title, not waiting
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for somebody to come bestow leadership upon you or knight you, you know, Sir Mickler or Sir whoever.
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Lead now. The titles will come. And number four, render yourself obsolete. Relationships should evolve
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evolve. And you should be the one helping those things evolve. Guys, I hope that helps. This is
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how we lead as men. This is what the world needs more of. Trust me. I don't, you don't even need
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to trust me. You know, you know, we just had elections and you know, some things you're excited
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about and others like, how, how can we elect these people? It's because we don't know what leadership
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looks like. And we're not acting like leaders. If more of us did just these four simple things,
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not always easy, sometimes challenging, but very simple. The world, politics, your business,
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your family, every environment would be better because of it. I hope that helps guys. Shoot me
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a message. Uh, let me know if there's other mindsets that you think are important that we
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ought to address in future episodes. We can certainly do that. Hit me up on Instagram at
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Ryan Mickler, very active over there. Uh, also check out the masculinity manifesto store.orderman.com.
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If you want a signed copy and, or an exclusive edition, and then go to originusa.com to check
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out the victory boots today. These are going to sell out today. So make sure you get on it today.
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Victory boots, victory jeans, jeans, and the, uh, audit bike, uh, that is available from,
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I believe the man's name is Tony Audette. Uh, former us Marine, uh, is making these incredible,
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incredible motorcycles. So check that out. Cause you're going to be entered in that sweepstakes as well.
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All right, guys, we'll be back next week until then go out there, take action and become the
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man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the order of man podcast. You're ready to take
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charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant to be. We invite you to join the order