Our world has never been more convenient and comfortable. With just a few taps of our fingers, we can order food to our door, access endless entertainment options, and keep our climate at a steady 72 degrees. We don't have to put in much effort, much less face any risk or challenge, in order to sustain our daily lives. In some ways, this quantum leap in humanity's comfort level is a great boon. But in other ways, it's absolutely killing our minds, bodies, and spirit.My guest says it's time to reclaim the currently-hard-to-come-by but truly essential benefits of discomfort. His name is Michael Easter, and he's a writer, editor, and professor, and the author of The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self. Michael first shares how his experience with getting sober helped him discover the life-changing potential of doing hard things, before digging into what fleeing from discomfort is doing to our mental and physical health. We then discuss the Japanese idea of misogis, which involves taking on an epic outdoor challenge, and why Michael decided to do a misogi in which he participated in a month-long caribou hunt in the backcountry of Alaska. Michael shares what he learned from the various challenges he encountered during his misogi — including intense hunger, boredom, solitude, and physical exertion — as well as what research can teach all of us about why we need to incorporate these same kinds of discomforts into our everyday lives.Resources Related to the EpisodeRelated AoM Articles:A Few Lessons From Beating the BottleHow I Learned to Be Comfortable Being UncomfortableShadow Work and the Rise of Middle-Class SerfdomHow the Hero's Journey Can Help You Become a Better ManBe a Time Wizard: How to Speed Up and Slow Down TimeTake the One-Month "Do Something New Every Day" ChallengeLessons on Solitude From an Antarctic ExplorerFasting as a Spiritual DisciplineDon't Just Lift Heavy, Carry HeavyCardio for the Man Who Hates CardioRelated AoM Podcasts:Are Modern People the Most Exhausted in History?Why Are We Restless?Wish You Had More Time? What You Really Want Is More MemoriesThe Psychology of BoredomWeird and Wonderful Ways to Get Comfortable Being UncomfortableWhat You Can (Really) Learn About Exercise From Your Human AncestorsBuilding Better Citizens Through RuckingConnect With Michael EasterMichael's WebsiteMichael on InstagramMichael on Twitter

In 2016, David Sax wrote a book called The Revenge of Analog, which made the case that even as we marched towards an ever more digital future, we were increasingly returning to real, tangible things — choosing vinyl records over streaming, brick and mortar bookstores over Amazon, and in-person conversations over Skype.In the intervening years, the pandemic hit, and, David argues, truly reaffirmed his case, which he lays out in his latest book: The Future Is Analog.Today on the show, David explains how the pandemic gave us a trial run of an entirely digital future, and made us realize we really don't want it, or at least, we don't want all of it. We discuss the drawbacks that came from going virtual with work, school, shopping, socializing, and religious worship, and discuss how we're not as smart when we don't use our embodied cognition, how information is different from education, and why there are few things quite as awful as a Zoom cocktail party.Resources Related to the EpisodeDavid’s previous appearance on the AoM Podcast: Episode #289 — Revenge of the AnalogAoM Podcast #796: The Life We’re Looking ForSonic Boom music store in TorontoNative Summit outdoor store in Edmond, OKConnect With David SaxDavid on TwitterDavid’s Website

Amongst supposedly monogamous couples, 23% of men and 19% of women have cheated on their current partner, and while studies have long found that men are more likely to cheat than women, that gap has significantly narrowed over time; in fact, married women between the ages of 18 and 29 cheat at a slightly higher rate than men do.Behind cold bits of data like this are the many real stories of infidelity and the heartache and destruction they create. If you're not yet part of the cohort who's experienced the fallout of cheating firsthand, you probably want to avoid joining its ranks. Well, my guest has a formula that explains what three factors add up to infidelity, and once you know it, you can reverse engineer things to prevent those factors from showing up in your relationship.His name is Andrew G. Marshall and he's a marriage therapist with over 30 years of counseling experience. Today on the show, Andrew first shares the breakdown in age and gender amongst the clients who come to see him in his practice and the two stages of life where he's found infidelity to be the most common. Andrew shares his formula for what leads to infidelity, and as we unpack its elements, we discuss how quiet desperation is a major driver of cheating, why men who don't have good male friends are more likely to have an affair, how to know if you're forming an inappropriate friendship that could lead to infidelity, Andrew's seven deadly sins of bad communication, and more. We also talk about the practices that healthy couples use to ward off infidelity, and the best question to ask yourself to start improving your relationship today.Resources Related to the EpisodeAoM Article: The 10 Commandments of Clean CommunicationAoM Article: How to Communicate Your Needs in a RelationshipAoM Article:Can Men and Women Just Be Friends?AoM Podcast #179: The Science of Cheating — How to Prevent and Deal With InfidelityAoM Podcast #550: How to Strengthen Your Marriage Against DivorceSunday Firesides: Dependence to IndependenceSunday Firesides: Give Them the CreamConnect With Andrew G. MarshallAndrew's website with links to his books and his podcast, The Meaningful LifeAndrew on TwitterAndrew on FacebookAndrew on Substack

You’ve heard of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. But did you know that its author, Stephen Covey, was in his late fifties when it came out? After it became a monumental bestseller, Covey continued to work on new book ideas, one of which encapsulated his own experience with late-in-life success and his commitment to having an ever-forward-looking attitude. A decade after his death, that book has finally been brought to fruition by Stephen’s daughter, Cynthia Covey Haller. It’s called Live Life in Crescendo: Your Most Important Work Is Always Ahead of You, and its contents really represent the capstone habit to those that came before.Today on the show, Cynthia unpacks the crescendo mentality and how it represents a commitment to continual learning, growth, and change that you can adopt at any age. We discuss how embracing the crescendo mentality is particularly important in midlife, why that stage of life can be uniquely challenging whether you’ve achieved success or are struggling, and the shifts people in each of those situations can make to find greater fulfillment.Resources Related to the EpisodeThe 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. CoveyThe 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen R. CoveytAoM series on The 7 Habits of Highly Effective PeopleAoM Podcast #607: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (With Stephen R. Covey‘s son, Stephen M.R. Covey)AoM Podcast #776: How to Shift Out of the Midlife MalaiseHow Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton M. ChristensenMan’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean CoveyMike Mason, retired FBI bus driverConnect With Cynthia Covey HallerCynthia on IG

While we all wonder how we would fare if we had to survive for months in the wild like Brian does in the book Hatchet, the reality is that most survival situations only last a day or two. You get lost or injured in the woods and have to spend a night out that you hadn't planned on. And as my guest, Dave Canterbury says, as long as you know some basic skills and pack the right gear, you can turn a potentially life-and-death situation into what's just a night of inconvenient camping.Dave is the author of numerous books on wilderness survival, including his latest: The Bushcraft Essentials Field Guide. Today on the show, Dave unpacks the five priorities of short-term survival and what you need to pack, know, and do to deal with the risks of venturing into the wild. We discuss the biggest concern when it comes to first aid, the three elements of a proper shelter, Dave's favorite method for starting a fire, the safest bet for water purification, what to look for in a perfect survival knife, the five knife skills you should master, the essential knots every outdoorsman should know, and more.Resources Related to the EpisodeHow to Use a Tourniquet to Control Major Bleeding6 Trees Every Survivalist Should KnowHow to Harvest and Use Nature’s AspirinHow to Keep Your Course in the WildernessSeries on land navigation6 Unconventional Outdoor SheltersHow to Build the Ultimate Survival ShelterHow to Build a Campfire That Will Last Through the NightThe Ultimate Firestarter: How to Make Char ClothHow to Choose the Perfect Survival Knife5 Critical Knife Skills for the OutdoorsmanHow to Fell a Tree With a Knife7 Basic Knots Every Man Should KnowConnect With Dave CanterburyDave on IG

When Kate was growing up, her grandfather often told her that when he was serving on a Navy ship during WWII, there were two things he and his fellow sailors never talked about: religion and politics.In the present age, we're apt to think that leaving politics off the table like that is inauthentic, or worse, a sign of being an insufficiently engaged citizen. We're apt to think that the more we do politics, the better the health of our politics.My guest would say that the opposite is true. His name is Robert Talisse, and he's a professor of political philosophy and the author of Overdoing Democracy: Why We Must Put Politics in Its Place. Today on the show, Bob and I discuss how democracy isn't just a system of government but a moral ideal; how the fact that it's an ideal gives it a tendency to extend its reach; and how the particular circumstances of modern times have extended that reach into all of our lifestyle choices, from the car we drive to where we shop. But, Bob argues, there can be too much of a good thing. He says the way politics has saturated everything in our lives creates some negative effects, turning politics into something that parties can market like toothpaste, and making each individual's views more extreme, so that we ultimately get to the point that we can't see our political opponents as people who have an equal say in our democracy. The solution, Bob says, is not to build bridges of dialogue with our political opponents, as is so often advised, but to engage with people in spaces, places, and activities where doing politics isn't the point, and you don't even know the political views of the people with whom you interact.Connect With Robert TalisseRobert's faculty pageListen to the Podcast! (And don’t forget to leave us a review!)Listen to the episode on a separate page.Download this episode.Subscribe to the podcast in the media player of your choice.Listen ad-free on Stitcher Premium; get a free month when you use code "manliness" at checkout.

In the 80s and 90s, few sports stars loomed as large as Bo Jackson. A Kansas City Royal and an Oakland Raider, he was the rare athlete to play two professional sports. His strength and power seemed supernatural. He soared into end zones, ran the 40-yard dash in 4.13 seconds, hit meteoric home runs, and broke baseball bats over his head for fun. And those were just his documented exploits. Because Bo played in an era before smartphones, stories circulated — that could never be entirely proven or disproven — that he was capable of even more impressive feats. The guy was the stuff of legends.For this reason, Jeff Pearlman has entitled his new biography of Bo: The Last Folk Hero. Today on the show, Jeff and I talk about Bo's Paul Bunyan-esque stature, and the real life behind the legend. We discuss both the flaws and the strengths of Bo Jackson, and how natural talent can be both a hindrance and a help, as we trace his life from an impoverished upbringing as one of ten kids, to how he managed to secure an arrangement where he got to play two professional sports. Jeff explains how Bo never liked to practice — because he was so naturally gifted he didn't need to — why Bo didn't take the deal when the Yankees tried to draft him out of high school, the flash-bulb moments he achieved in college and the pros, how a hip injury ended his football days but didn't entirely finish him off for baseball, and why, after such a neon career, Bo has largely disappeared from the public eye.Bo Highlights Mentioned in the ShowBo going over the top in the 1982 Auburn/Alabama Iron BowlBo running across the outfield wall in BaltimoreBo's first major league at bat against Steve CarltonBo's rookie 91-yard run vs. the SeahawksBo's leadoff homer in the 1989 All-Stars GameBo throwing out Harold Reynolds at home plateBo breaking bats over his knee and headConnect With Jeff PearlmanJeff's WebsiteJeff on Twitter

There are two parts of the mind: the conscious and the unconscious. While the former dominates your attention, the latter actually occupies far more of the brain, influencing your mood, generating inspiration, and making you who you are, all behind the scenes.My guest would argue that to become all you're meant to be, you have to make your unconscious mind your ally and that this may be life's most important task.His name is Daniel Z. Lieberman, and he's a psychiatrist and the author of Spellbound: Modern Science, Ancient Magic, and the Hidden Potential of the Unconscious Mind. Today on the show, Daniel first offers an overview of the nature, function, and study of the unconscious. From there we discuss Carl Jung's perspective on the unconscious, and his ideas around its archetypes and shadows. We then get into the way that things which are connected to magic and the supernatural, like fairy tales and tarot cards, can be seen as manifestations of the energy of the unconscious and as age-old attempts to confront and understand it. We end our discussion by talking about the quest for individuation, which requires bringing together the conscious and unconscious minds, and how to go about tapping into the power of the unconscious to become a kind of magician yourself.Resources Related to the EpisodeDaniel's previous appearance on the show: Episode #429 — Taking Control of the Brain Chemical That Drives Excitement, Motivation, and MoreKing, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine by Robert Moore and Douglas GilletteAoM's series on the king, warrior, magician, and lover archetypes AoM Podcast #598: Journeying From the First to the Second Half of LifeAoM Podcast #335: Exploring Archetypes With Jordan B. Peterson"The Golden Bird" fairy taleIron John by Robert BlyConnect With Daniel LiebermanDaniel's Website

The Twilight Zone is arguably one of the best and most influential shows in television history. The reason it endures, and is still being watched and talked about more than sixty years after its debut, can not only be traced to its superior storytelling and innovations in the genres of horror, science fiction, and fantasy, but the fact that each episode is embedded with a lesson on how to grapple with life's moral and existential dilemmas.Here to unpack those life lessons is Mark Dawidziak, author of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Twilight Zone. Today on the show, Mark and I discuss the parable-like morals from a selection of Twilight Zone episodes, drawn from those that are my favorites, Mark's favorites, and simply classic. And, since Halloween is coming up, Mark and I both offer our picks for the just plain scariest episodes to watch.Resources Related to the EpisodeEpisodes referenced in the show:"A Stop at Willoughby""Walking Distance""Time Enough at Last""A Nice Place to Visit""To Serve Man""Mr. Bevis""Kick the Can""The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street""The Obsolete Man"Mark's picks for the scariest Twilight Zone episodes:"Twenty Two""Ring-a-Ding Girl"Brett's picks for the scariest Twilight Zone episodes:"Living Doll""The Dummy""It's a Good Life"AoM articles inspired by Twilight Zone episodes:Can’t Have the Sweet Without the Bitter (Inspired by "A Nice Place to Visit")How Redundancies Increase Your Antifragility (Inspired by "Time Enough at Last")Sunday Firesides: Things Don’t Get Old, We Do (The illustration is an Easter egg homage to "Walking Distance")Connect With Mark DawidziakMark's Website

A lot of people feel dissatisfied about how they spend their time. They often feel busy, but that busyness doesn’t add up to anything — not to fun, not to fulfillment, not to memories.My guest, Laura Vanderkam, has spent a lot of time thinking about and studying time, and last year she decided to run an experiment to see if the insights she had gained from that study could help average people get a better handle on their time. She had 150 people try out nine different time-management rules, which were sorted into three categories: Calm the Chaos, Make Good Things Happen, and Waste Less Time. She shares these field-tested strategies from what she called the Tranquility by Tuesday project in her new book by the same name.Today on the show, we talk about my seven favorite rules from Tranquility by Tuesday. Laura explains why you need to give yourself a bedtime, plan your week on Friday, make a “punch list” for tackling small tasks, and more. We also discuss the principle that can allow you to read a hundred books in a year.Resources Related to the EpisodeLaura’s previous appearance on the podcast: Episode #495: Wish You Had More Time? What You Really Want is More MemoriesAoM article and video on how to plan your weekAoM Podcast #743: How to Get Time, Priorities, and Energy Working in Your FavorAoM Podcast #450: How to Make Time for What Really Matters Every DayAoM article and podcast on microadventuresAoM Article: Possibilities in Spare MomentsJeremy Anderberg’s newsletter, where he shares about the many books he readsConnect With Laura VanderkamLaura’s Website