ThirdWayMan

Welcome to the fourth installment of my “3 Biggest Emasculators of Men” series.

So far, we’ve covered Wage Slavery and Nutritional Bankruptcy.

This week, we’re going to look at Toxic Feminism.

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If you’re like most men, you have mixed feelings about feminism.

On the one hand, feminism has helped women win the safety and opportunities they deserve, giving them great strides forward in the public (civic and economic) sphere.

But feminism has moved women BACKWARDS in the private sphere–in the arenas of sex, love and relationship. read more

In the last post, we looked at Wage Slavery and how depending on the whims of an employer screws with your masculinity at a core level.

This week, we’re going to look at Nutritional Bankruptcy–how the foods we eat can either empower us… or emasculate us.

The fact that the typical modern diet is dominated by massively processed “pseudo foods” is already well documented elsewhere in movies like Food Inc and in books like Michael Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma (highly recommended), so in this post, I’m going to focus on a different angle: how the typical modern diet curtails our freedom as men and undermines our capacity to live a free, self-determined life. read more

In the last post, I listed what I consider to be the three biggest emasculators of men today:

1. Wage Slavery
2. Nutritional Bankruptcy
3. Toxic Feminism

In this second post of the series, I’m going to unpack the first emasculator, Wage Slavery, and give you a simple battle plan to kick it in the teeth and move towards economic self-determination.

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Some say ‘the love of money is the root of all evil.’

I say the LACK of money is the root of almost all masculine desperation.

In my view, employment’s destructiveness goes way beyond the obvious economic disadvantages (high rates of taxation, inability to deduct business expenses, and so on). read more

I’m doing a series on the current state of masculinity, starting with what I consider to be the three biggest emasculators of men today.

And when I say “emasculators,” I mean forces in our culture that invisibly foul men’s progress by creating pernicious discouragement, self-doubt, depression, and self loathing–often with little to no awareness of the root causes.

1. Wage Slavery

Working at the employ of another is a radical and recent departure from man’s historical role as free agent. read more

A while back I was in Whistler with some buddies for a dads getaway.

We had a ping pong tournament, and before long, the last men standing were me and one other guy.

We squared off, played a fast and furious game, and I won.

It felt great.

But then he asked for a rematch.

I felt a little niggling doubt, but of course I accepted.

…and promptly got SKUNKED.

He trounced me on the second game as well.

As we played, I realized this had been a pattern in my life.

In sports, business, and so many other areas, I’d often been the “fast start” who is first out of the gate but then quickly plateaus, fades, and ultimately FIZZLES OUT. read more

You’ve heard it all before:

Success requires ownership.

You must take full responsibility for your life.

Although true, in my experience most men don’t suffer from lack of ownership, but from OVER ownership.

Out of duty, they accumulate commitments and responsibilities over time, until they are caught in a web of obligation so thick they become numbed and paralyzed.

It’s a conundrum: as men, we are energized by taking on new challenges.

But when you “own” too many commitments, your wits, powers and creative forces are dissipated, and your life loses both joy and impact. read more

So often we log in to our email accounts with a little spark of excitement in our bellies, eager to see what the world has sent us.

Unconsciously, we think we will find the missing piece there… a message that will take us by the hand and show us what to do.

It’s a fantasy played out across millions of computers every hour of every day.

But it doesn’t work that way.

The inbox isn’t where you go to change the world. It’s where you go to distract yourself, to lose yourself in other people’s wills and agendas. read more

How do you personally decide what you will or will NOT do in the pursuit of a goal?

What actions are “off limits?”

Most men let their ego be their guide: so long as an action will not make them uncomfortable, or make them look the fool to others, they will consider it.

And so the map becomes filled with blacked out paths, scratched out shortcuts and narrowed options because there are so many things “I’m not comfortable with” or that “just aren’t me.”

As a result, many men are stuck, made impotent by their own half-measures. They have given the reins of their lives over to their ego instead of their mission. read more

So, a couple evenings back I watched the Divergent movie with my wife (don’t judge).

It was actually pretty good, and I felt myself getting swept up in the story.

It struck me that a good movie is enjoyable not just because it’s a chance to “veg out” but because it lets us experience vicariously what it’s like to have a clear, narrow purpose.

In the movies, some evil villain pushes the hero of the story to the breaking point, until their back is against the wall and they have no choice but to fight back. read more

Do you love starting new projects?

I know I do.

And I know it can be both blessing and curse.

My past is littered with art and business projects I quickly launched… and then just as quickly abandoned because they weren’t the immediate “home runs” I’d hoped they would be.

My mentality was this:

1. Get an idea
2. Launch the idea
3. See how it works
4. If it doesn’t knock it out of the park… shut it down and move on

The result of that mentality? A long string of failed projects. read more