Posted on 05/25/2019 3:43:57 PM PDT by Mount Athos
1. Hunting Hunting was a hugely important skill for much of human history, but in light of the rise of cheap and readily available factory-farmed meat, huntings relationship to the food we actually eat has disappeared for the overwhelming majority of the population. If you grew up in a rural area, theres a good chance you learned to shoot game at some point, but as much as many contemporary guys fantasize about being able to kill a wild animal and eat it (Mark Zuckerberg, anyone?), particularly if you live in a big city, theres really not much real-world benefit to that glorification.
Instead, Learn How to Cook for Yourself
Meanwhile, the average millennial man is probably more adept at ordering dinner online than actually making it, which is too bad. Cooking your own meals is a lot of fun, generally cheaper than eating out or ordering in, and typically healthier, too. Its also something that, while it may seem impossible to a beginner, is actually not as complicated as it seems. Join a cooking class or even watch some YouTube how-tos or try a meal kit delivery service and you might be surprised at how handy you become in the kitchen. And yes, it will impress people.
2. Fighting Its a pretty common conception that at the root of every male confrontation is the possibility of physical violence. Road rage incidents, bar standoffs, most guys have found themselves in a situation that felt like a prelude to fisticuffs. And in a violent dog-eat-dog world, theres a certain logic to that approach. But how many of those situations actually evolve into a fight? And why should any of them? Physical fighting literally doesnt solve anything it just leaves people angry and bruised, or worse.
Instead, Learn How to Mediate
Problem-solving with an eye to compromise and healthy conflict resolution is something that, by and large, men just arent taught growing up. Thats one of the reasons many of us are so quick to start swinging or shoving rather than handling things with our words. But if we start thinking that the real loss isnt losing (or walking away from) a fight, but rather getting into one in the first place, what would we really lose?
The old-world caveman mentality of brute forces dominance is dying out. If youre someone who can work through a confrontation without needing to beat the other person into submission physically, verbally or emotionally youll see it pay off in your close personal relationships, too. Next time things start getting heated, try recognizing that you're angry and trying to engage the other person with your words (or just walking away).
3. Repairing Your Car In the popular imagination, the greasy car mechanic wiping his sweaty brow as he peers into your car hood is always a guy. Concordantly, the idea that a car is a guy thing and a guy should be able to fix his car as a result is something thats pretty ingrained in our cultural beliefs. But as cars shift from analog behemoths to digital devices, some of the basic functionality in your car is now completely out of the fixing range of even the handiest of men. Not to mention that increasingly, electric cars, public transit, and cycling are becoming more attractive options for environmental reasons, and ride-sharing or car-sharing services mean the link between being in a car and being responsible for its functioning is as tenuous as its ever been.
Instead, Learn How to Code
The 20th century mythos of the car as a vehicle that gave you freedom to cross great distances, to discover new things, to leave your past behind is perhaps now more accurately applied to the internet. Theres a pretty good chance you spend more time online these days than driving (ideally not at the same time, though), but the average person probably has little idea how any of the internet actually functions, let alone how to build a website or make an app.
Considering the way the economy is increasingly shifting toward the digital, having at least a solid grounding in what makes the internet tick is a good idea generally. There are a lot of free or cheap how-to courses designed to help you learn how to code these days. Give one a try and see if it doesnt come more in handy than learning to replace the alternator.
4. Fixing Things at Home Power tools are such a de facto man thing that youd be hard-pressed to find examples of women using them in most movies or TV shows. Men just are the mechanics of the world, right? As with car maintenance, however, the idea that a man owns his house and should therefore know how to take care of it is increasingly an outdated concept. With most millennials having no real shot at home-ownership, theres a good chance your landlord will be the one in charge of fixing anything that goes wrong in your place or, more likely, paying someone else to.
Instead, Learn How to Decorate
Its a sort of running gag in contemporary culture that women put a lot of effort into decorating their homes and filling them with the basic household necessities while men, well, sleep on a mattress lying on the floor. While its not as cut-and-dried as that, the average guy probably has some catching up to do with regards to interior design. Its not something that women are innately better at, after all; its something that you can make serious strides in by committing yourself to. If you have the time and/or the money, investing in how your space looks, feels, and functions can really change how you feel about the space (and how any potential dates you bring home feel about it).
5. Being a Leader For much of human history, patriarchal societies meant women were expected to stay home and raise children, and men were expected to run everything else. Meaning, while theres a good chance your mom wasnt a CEO, your grandmother almost certainly wasnt.
But in todays world, the notion that a man will or must be a leader is increasingly vanishing. What that means is that guys who were brought up expecting to be in control are now having to accept that gasp! their boss is a woman. What to do?!
Instead, Learn How to Collaborate
Workplaces of the future are likely to be less reliant on mens top-down leadership and more dependent on open communication between coworkers of all genders and utilizes a lot of different peoples skill sets. Rather than a bunch of guys all competing to nail down a corner office, a healthy workplace is one where ego takes a backseat to communal success.
Unrestrained ambition and a need to be in control all the time will hurt your chances at a promotion, not help them. So instead, try to focus on building soft skills such as supporting co-workers, building links between different divisions, and knowing how and when to compromise.
6. Being a Disciplinarian For a long time, the most important aspect of being a father was simply providing for your family, and second, perhaps, was molding your sons into men. That meant being stern with them even harsh. That meant toughening them up by teaching them how to shoot, how to fight, how to push through their pain, how to overcome their fears. All the old Man Skills, basically.
The archetypal disciplinary father really wasnt setting his sons up to have emotionally healthy lives, though, meaning possible repressed trauma, difficulty communicating about feelings, and a dire need to see a therapist are far more common than youd hope for adult men.
Instead, Learn How to Communicate With Your Children
If you really want to have a positive impact on their lives, its vital that you prioritize being there for them and encouraging them to be open with you about what they think and how they feel, rather than pushing them to fit into a narrow model of how to be. Dont be the father who punishes his son for exploring more feminine things hell resent you. Instead, be the father who encourages his kids to pursue their own interests and to become their own people, and whos there to listen when somethings gone wrong.
RELATED: How to Be a Better Father, Explained
7. Holding Your Emotions In For a long time, the model man was stoic: the strong, silent type who never cried and wouldnt admit when something made him sad or afraid. Lets leave that whole concept in the past where it belongs.
Aside from just valuing communication, kindness, and empathy, this is a life-and-death issue. Mens inability to open up can cause them to struggle with forming friendships and meaningful bonds with other people, which scientists have linked to early male mortality rates. Thats right: Being emotionally walled up is literally killing men.
Instead, Learn How to Talk About Your Feelings
As a man, there might not be any single more important skill you can pursue than emotional maturity. Understanding what youre feeling, why youre feeling it, and how to handle that feeling is something that few men are taught growing up, and its hard to overstate the negative impacts the absence of that skill can pose. If you have the means to, consider going into therapy. Even if you dont feel that youre struggling and havent been diagnosed with any mental health issues, therapy is a proven effective way to work through problems that have been plaguing you and become a happier, healthier version of yourself.
I’ll agree on a couple of them.
Part of leadership is collaboration.
Being a good father means being able to relate and communicate with your kids. Sometimes (rarely in my case) it was with discipline such as a spanking, more likely a “time-out”, or restrictions on TV, etc. But all forms of communication.
Most effective was setting the ground rules, the consequences, and then immediate follow up. (communication)
“Okay, if you can’t calm down you can’t go to the zoo. One more outburst and that is it, and you have to stay at home.” Ended up taking the other two kids and left her at home. I don’t recall ever having to do that again - it made an impression.
Although the following week I took just her to the hardware store and stopped for ice cream to get some one-on-one time with her. She didn’t know I tied it in to the zoo trip thing - just doing normal things with a dad who loves her.
If no one learns how to fix things....then who is going to fix things?
I thought we weren’t supposed to post from The Onion here?
This is about the worse advise I have heard in my 72 years on this earth.
(Note: Directed at the author)
*%!# off and kiss my @$$.
This article is chock full of gayness
Gunner’s always been one of the good guys around here.
Other articles by Ian Stobbler:
My FRiend, don’t worry. Guys like the author are doing us a favor. They are accepting weakness, and will just fall away from us as the going gets rougher. They are, in a sense, culling themselves.
“My number one thing to do is HUNT (until age made it difficult)”
I remember, as a teenager, wheeling my elderly neighbor’s wheelchair through a pasture to a deer stand. It was cold so I wrapped a blanket over his legs. We stayed till we both got too cold.
Ian Stobber is a Soy Boy.
Let me guess. The author is a donut puncher
This was absolute crap. Perhaps if you are a city dwelling millennial incel snowflake some of it might make sense, but to me the author hasn’t a clue.
Agreed .. been saying that for a loooong time.
Obsolete women skills that women should ditch:
Decorum
Being pretty
Chastity
Femininity
Modesty
Cooking
Faithfulness
Mothering
Respectability
Ironing
Civility
I think you just decorate with new stuff.
One must hope against hope that this was satire. There are small grains of truth - every 25th sentence or so - but this is a very sad screed.
“Instead, Learn How to Communicate With Your Children”
This is just wishful thinking; many men (at least those who could read this article) have given up these man skills:
Marry
Breed
Invest time and money in a career (instead, work for bare sustenance)
I don’t really blame women for ditching ironing.
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