Today’s guest, Nicolas Gregoriades has appeared on several high-profile podcasts, including the Joe Rogan Experience and The Aubrey Marcus show. Nicolas Gregoriades is an internationally acclaimed jiu jitsu master, author and mentor.
Listen to Nic Gregoriades on the Manlihood ManCast on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Youtube or wherever you listen to podcasts!
Nic Gregoriades has grappled with both failure and success.
He is also an accomplished podcast host having interviewed guests such as Tim Ferris, Dorian Yates and Graham Hancock
His experiences in life, the good and the painful are helping to inform him
His mission is to help men face their fears, embrace their power and lead lives of extraordinary fulfillment.
His latest book, Aligned: The Modern Man’s Guide to Health, Wealth & Freedom features 20 essential principles for success which Nic has formulated from his extensive experience with martial arts, psychedelic journeys and international adventuring.
Born in South Africa
Born and raised in Cape Town, South Africa, during the turbulent collapse of apartheid, Nic Gregoriades recognized at a young age that there was more to life than promised by the backward, small ideas of his country’s culture.
It was this which first sparked his hunger for wider knowledge and understanding, of
people, places, viewpoints, modes of living, and himself. And since then, with decades
of introspection, study, travel, and practice, and armed with the understanding that the
human experience is a gift, Nic has consistently been able to fulfill his potential.
He has dedicated himself and his life to discovering the secrets of a well-Iived life and
then sharing them with men who seek to go beyond the frustration, boredom and
Author and Coach GS Youngblood talks with Josh Hatcher on the Manlihood ManCast about how a man can have a better relationship with his partner by better understanding what it means to be a man.
Listen to the Manlihood ManCast: a podcast for men on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Youtube or wherever you listen to podcasts.
The Masculine Core
Every relationship has the potential for great personal turmoil. As men, we’ve got a responsibility to set the tone and temperature, but we often find ourselves reacting or overreacting.
GS Youngblood helps men in relationships to love and lead from their masculine core.
Relationship Coaching
GS Youngblood helps men to evaluate their relationships, and to find the calm and centered place to respond to the sometimes contentious or toxic criticism and frustrations that arise.
If you want to be more powerful in your relationship, less of a pleaser or Nice Guy… he gives practical tips for reclaiming and repairing that relationship.
It can get better
The first step in fixing a struggling relationship is in accepting the simple belief that it can get better.
Embodiment
GS Youngblood teaches some basic exercises that get you “out of your head” and into your body. It grounds your thinking to the moment you are in, rather than rustling through the hurts of the past or worrying and fretting about the future.
Testicular Fortitude means having deep seated masculine courage and strength. Balls. Guts. Manlihood.
Testicular Fortitude on the Manlihood ManCast is where we take a look at men who have beat the odds, men whose courage has left a lasting legacy.
John Muir’s adventuresome heart reflects the courage and wanderlust of a man with Testicular Fortitude.
A philosopher, zoologist, botanist, glaciologist, and an advocate for the preservation of the North American Wilderness, he earned the title of “Father of National Parks.”
Born in Scotland, he endured many whippings from his father for pursuing “anything other than Bible studies.” Those pursuits included exploring the forests and coastline, and fighting.
His family moved to Wisconsin was he was 11, and he later went on to drop out of college, with enough chemistry, botany, and geology knowledge to devote to study the wilds.
He took a job in an Indianapolis wagon wheel factory, and his innovation and creativity helped him move up to the role of supervisor, but a freak accident would change the course of his life. A file slipped and cut his cornea. And he spent the next several weeks recovering in a dark room hoping that he would regain his sight.
That pivotal moment in the darkness caused him to evaluate his purpose…
Muir said, “This affliction has driven me to the sweet fields. God has to nearly kill us sometimes, to teach us lessons”.
And he then devoted his life to exploration. He set off on a thousand mile hike from Kentucky to Florida, then he sailed to Cuba where he studied sea shells and plants, and after many other journeys, he ended up at Yosemite, where he fell in love with the land.
He founded the Sierra Club, which would advocate for the preservation of Yosemite and other places that would go on to become National Parks.
He personally guided President Teddy Roosevelt on a tour of Yosemite, and they slept beneath Sequias, and became friends.
Muir’s many writings describe not only the scientific observations of nature, but a theological and philosophical perspective that viewed nature as “straight from the hand of God.”
I’m honoring John Muir as a man with Testicular Fortitude, not only for his passion for nature, but for his ferocity in preserving it. At a time when the industrial revolution was in full swing, and progress and expansion required more and more from our natural resources, Muir fought back, and advocated not that progress should necessarily cease, but that wilderness itself was a virtue, and worth preserving.
I’ll end with this quote from John Muir.
“Keep close to Nature’s breasts… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb those voluptuous mountains or spend a week deep in the woods. Wash yourself clean…seriously wash yourself, you could get a disease or something.”
Men often face an inner battle when they clock in to work everyday. A lack of fulfillment – the feeling of being a slave to the wage – and a desire for freedom and purpose can leave many men feeling hopeless and void. Our guest today, Ken Coleman, is working hard to help folks make the most of their careers.
America’s Career Coach
Ken Coleman is America’s Career Coach, the #1 national bestselling author of The Proximity Principle and From Paycheck to Purpose, and host of The Ken Coleman Show. Ken helps people discover what they were born to do and provides practical steps to make their dream job a reality. The Ken Coleman Show is a nationally syndicated, caller-driven show that helps listeners who are searching for something more out of their career.
The word “cuck” is an abbreviation of the word “cuckold”.
It refers to a man who has been spurned by his woman because of his weakness as she pursues a sexual relationship from a stronger man.
It’s become an internet insult, and it definitely sounds like a very dirty word – whether it’s officially a “cuss word” or not – it’s certainly a word that no man wants to be called, and it describes a position in which no man wants to be.
Men often go out of their way to get the girl. Then they get the girl and they give up.
Improving yourself, working on becoming a better, stronger man will make you measurably more attractive.
Meet her needs
Your spouse is looking for someone to meet her needs – physically, emotionally, spiritually.
Commit together to guard your family
Affairs don’t happen overnight.
Work together to draw your boundaries, and then enforce those boundaries without jealousy and with trust.
Fight Like Hell
I’ve been using the phrase a lot lately. You need to fight like hell to create the kind of marriage that overcomes temptation, that is full of love and respect, that is fiercely guarded and protected, and that is not full of dangerous fault lines and volcanic eruptions.
Today, September 30, is International Podcast Day! Today at Manlihood, we thought it would be a great opportunity to celebrate our podcast for men.
International Podcast Day™ is September 30th and is an international celebration of the power of podcasts.
In 2004, Adam Curry and Dave Winer were credited for the invention of podcasting. It wasn’t until Ben Hammersly wrote about the online audio shows in the Guardian newspaper that the term “podcasting” was coined.
It’s been almost 20 years since then, and we now have 2.4 million podcasts with 66 million episodes globally. There are more podcasts than anyone could ever listen to!
The Manosphere
Blogs centered around personal development for men have been around for quite awhile, but one of the more earth-shaking moments in the manosphere was the birth of The Art of Manliness Podcast in 2009.
In 2013, I sent an email to a handful of men that I respected, and pitched an idea. I wanted to make a website to equip, educate, entertain, and engage men to be better husbands, fathers, and leaders. The men had some great feedback. My hope was that I had just created a superhero team to build this crazy thing, only to find out, that most of them never really got involved.
At first, I was dissapointed, but one of them told me, “Josh, this is YOUR thing. We’re behind you, and we support you. But this is YOUR dream. YOU are the guy that needs to do it.”
And so I did.
Testing 1.2.3.
My first real job was at WFRM Radio in Coudersport, PA at 14 years old. I was running the board for Pittsburgh Pirates games, DJ’ing and announcing on Saturday mornings, recording commercials, and having the time of my life. I went to college for communications, with a broadcasting specialty, spinning plenty of Christian records on the campus radio station. I went on to work at a few more radio stations, as a news director, a DJ, a talk show-host.
Way before all of that, I used to play with a tape recorder, making my own DJ’d mix tapes. Most people hate the sound of their own voice when they hear it played back. I’ve been listening to mine for so long, I’m usually not bothered by how I sound, and I’ve developed the voice and production skills to be able to use it to make a living at various points in my life.
The Birth of the Manlihood ManCast
I always knew I wanted to build the blog into a podcast. But I hesitated for a long time. Part of me was afraid that I was going to be sending it out into the void. Why would anyone listen? Why invest the time, energy, and emotion into something for 20 people?
After listening to other podcasts, I kept telling myself- You can do that. You have all of the skills, the knowledge, the wisdom to create that.
But it was hard to pull the trigger. Self-doubt kept plaguing me.
I was stuck in this place where I knew I could start it, but I didn’t want to fail. I wasn’t quite ready, I didn’t know what would work, or what listeners wanted to hear. I had a plan, but it was just ideas and lots of scrawled notes in a journal, and nothing concrete.
I had a conversation online with Ryan Michler, and he said, “Start before you are ready.”
And that wisdom made a lot of sense. Just do it, and you can work out the details later. You can fix what isn’t working when you actually do something other than thinking and dreaming.
So we decided to get started by recycling some of our blog content into episodes. If you scroll back on your podcast app to the earliest episodes, you’ll see that the Manlihood ManCast then definitely isn’t what it is now! But I started.
Podcasting is important to me. This is the entrance into people’s hearts and minds as I do the mission I’ve been called to do.
What is it that drives Manlihood? Our Purpose, Mission, Vision, and Values.
Purpose:
Because the world needs men to lead in their families and communities, and because so many men have struggled to understand their value, Manlihood exists to help men become better men.
Mission:
The Manlihood Mission is to Educate, Equip, and Entertain Men in an Engaging Way.
Vision:
The Manlihood vision is to create resources to educate and equip men, to foster a thriving community of men, where bonds of brotherhood and accountability form. We seek to help men be better fathers, husbands, leaders, friends. We want to build through Manlihood a financially sustainable architecture that can support itself, but also to incubate ideas and opportunities from within the Manlihood community that support our purpose and mission.
Values:
Men matter.
Family matters.
Integrity and Honor matter.
Personal Responsibility matters. (If it is to be, it’s up to me.)
Men thrive and grow in community and brotherhood with each other.
Truth is everywhere. Wisdom knows how to pick it out.
Men should value and respect women. (People should respect people.)
Perseverance, Self-control and Self-discipline are sacred and essential.
Words are powerful, and how we use them matters.
Leadership is steeped in influence and responsibility. (Everyone is a leader, and everyone should embrace and nurture that role.)
Alonzo talks with Manlihood about the traditional values he believes in, and how it matters that men work to live by and preserve those values.
Leadership matters
“When we promote leaders, we typically promote based on skills other than leadership and this creates dysfunctional organizations. Leadership is a skill that can be learned and my simple and effective method can improve your team quickly.” – Alonzo Pettigrew
Welcome to the Manlihood Podcast Roundup of the episodes that I’ve enjoyed this past month.
Not only do I host my own podcast here at Manlihood, but I listen to a lot of podcasts. This month has been a killer month in terms of great content that has been released into the podcast realm. Please give these episodes a listen!
In this episode, mental health expert John Delony talks to callers about a few topic, the first one is in particular relevance to many men. He talks to a man struggling to come to terms with his trauma, and the way he’s been treating his family and himself. This is a must listen! Check it out!
Order of Man: Ed Mylett – the Power of One More
Ryan Michler’s Order of Man Podcast is one of my favorites for many reasons, including interviews like this one.
Ed Mylett is an entrepreneur, global speaker, and hosts the #1 rated business podcast on iTunes.
Order of Man: Rebuild and Remake Yourself
In this replay of an older episode, Ryan gets emotional as he talks about his family grieving the loss of their family dog.
It’s a little unusual, as Ryan’s typical stoic delivery is not emotionless, but usually not as emotional and real as he gets in this episode.
The advice he gives is amazing, though, and it’s worth a listen.
Ryan Michler is a husband, father, Iraq Combat Veteran, and the founder of Order of Man. Ryan was raised without a permanent father figure and has seen first-hand how a lack of strong, ambitious, self-sufficient men has negatively impacted society. He believes many of the world’s most complicated and challenging problems could be resolved if men dedicated themselves to becoming more capable husbands, fathers, businessmen, and community leaders.
Smart Passive Income Podcast with Pat Flynn: Rewire your Mind for Growth with Natasha Graziano
Natasha Graziano was homeless, staying in a hostel with her son, and working as an online “camgirl” to survive. But something happened that changed her life forever, as a stranger asked her to sponsor a child.
She tells her story to Pat Flynn on the Smart Passive Income Podcast, and the power of her experience could change your life.
She may not be a man, but her story speaks very boldly to all of us, men included.
REAL ONES with Jon Bernthal : Shia LaBeouf
Jon Bernthal is an actor. He plays the Punisher on the Marvel television series. In this episode, he interviews fellow actor (they both started in the war flick FURY) Shia LaBeouf.
Shia, who started out as a child star on the Disney Channel, has been known for his wild man persona and a number of high profile scandals in the past several years.
This conversation may be riddled with some rough language, so if that kind of thing is offensive to you, you may not be able to hear what is a raw and heartfelt conversation about recovery, about making amends, about a man finding his faith, and about a man seeking redemption.
This episode is a very intellectual interview with an atheist and an orthodox christian exploring the nature of morality.
It’s not often that people have conversations like this without it descending into insults, or monkey-like poo-slinging. This conversation is enlightening and interesting – although it’s a bit “heady” – I enjoy listening to the philosophical reasonings of these men.
I’ve never understood why Jordan B. Peterson is such a controversial figure. To me, he’s a reasonable man who wants to explore the nature of truth. He’s intelligent and interesting, and while he’s unyielding on many principles, he seems like a kind man who just wants make people think and live better lives.
Regardless, this episode is very intriguing and worth a listen.
I hope you enjoy these episodes! While you’re at it – make sure to give the Manlihood ManCast a spin at your favorite podcast platform!
Testicular Fortitude means having deep seated masculine courage and strength. Balls. Guts. Manlihood.
Testicular Fortitude on the Manlihood ManCast is where we take a look at men who have beat the odds, men whose courage has left a lasting legacy.
Listen to the Testicular Fortitude on the Manlihood ManCast on Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Youtube | or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Imagine taking a lead musketbal to your arm, having it sawn off in a field hospital, and then going on to explore uncharted and impassable rivers on a raft with only one good arm…
As his name would suggest, John Wesley Powell was the son of a Methodist preacher. He grew up with a fascination for exploration and nature, and as a young man, went on several river expeditions to study fossils and geology along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
But then the Civil War broke out, and he earned a commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the Union Army. At the battle of Shiloh, his right forearm was shattered by a minie-ball, and his arm was amputated. He continued to serve in the army throughout the war, helping with Sherman’s artillery.
After the war, he assumed the role of professor of natural sciences at Illinois Wesleyan University and curator of the Illinois Natural History Society Museum.
But you can’t keep a man like Powell contained to the classroom.
With one arm, he went on to explore Pike’s Peak and the front range of the Rockies.
In 1868 he put together an expedition to explore the Colorado River from Wyoming down through the Grand Canyon. Powell, along with a crew of hunters, trappers, civil war vets.
He was begged not to go. One arm through dangerous uncharted rapids is dangerous business. But he went anyway. And that trip was worthy of those warnings.
One of the party’s rafts sank in Utah, tanking about a fourth of their supplies and most of their scientific equipment.
Four days later, the party entered the Grand Canyon, and marveled at the beautiful rock formations… but they almost lost another boat, and in that mishap, they lost even more of their food.
Three men left the expedition, tired of the hard journey. Those three men were killed by a band of natives who thought they were invading their territory.
As Powell and the remaining crew made it to area that is known now as Lake Mead in Nevada, he halted the expedition, returning two years later with another crew to make accurate maps of the Colorado River.
These expeditions yielded much geographic information, as well as linguistic and cultural information about the Native Americans living in the area.
Anytime we look at history, we can see positives and negatives. Critics of Powell’s work say that some of his ideas and opinions about the native population dehumanized them and had a large impact on the public policies that would have a brutal effect on their relationship with the US Government and the Westward Expansion.
And while I may not agree with everything Powell said, did or thought, we can certainly agree that he was a man whose courage and relentless adventuring spirit show that he had testicular fortitude!
Do you have testicular fortitude? Do you want to embrace your life of courage?
In our interview with historian Chris Mackowski, we talk about the American Civil War, and the stories of heroism and even villainy that happened during that time.
Chris also talks about his opinions on masculinity, fatherhood, and his passion for history.
Chris Mackowski, Ph.D., is the editor-in-chief and co-founder of Emerging Civil War and the series editor of the award-winning Emerging Civil War Series.
Chris has authored or co-authored nearly two dozen books and edited a half-dozen essay collections on the Civil War, and his articles have appeared in all the major Civil War magazines.
Chris is also historian-in-residence at Stevenson Ridge, a historic property on the Spotsylvania battlefield in central Virginia. He has worked as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, where he gives tours at four major Civil War battlefields (Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania), as well as at the building where Stonewall Jackson died.
Chris serves as vice president on the board of directors for the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, he serves on the advisory board of the Civil War Roundtable Congress and the Brunswick (NC) Civil War Roundtable—the largest in the country—and is a member of the Antietam Institute.