When you know that you're not being a real man

It happens.  Nobody is perfect all of the time.  Not even Chuck Norris.  Let's just be really clear about this: nobody can be a "real man" all of the time so when I'm talking about true manliness it's with the disclaimer that a realistic point of view of human imperfection must be held also.

So having said that, I want to say that real men know when they are not being a real man.

Sorry, what?  Consider it a literary device to grab your attention.

What I really mean, that is, one of the qualities we want to develop in our manly selves, is the ability to notice when we are being "a tool".  This is harder than it seems.  So much of our own behaviour goes unnoticed because we men are creatures of habit and routine.  Add to this that we are also proud and do not want to be seen as weak, which means we don't want to be wrong (or just seen as wrong).  This leads us to deliberately ignore our faults and mistakes - you know what I'm talking about!

So try this little exercise
Replay in your mind the last argument you had or the last time someone told you off for doing something that annoyed them.  Not completing chores, saying the wrong thing, whatever.  Your instinct was probably to defend yourself, right?

Sure, sometimes you are in the right but, if you are honest with yourself, you know that you have a tendency to bend the truth to win an argument or to be seen as right.  What I want to encourage you to do is to develop the manly skill of noticing when you are behaving in this way so that you can stop doing it.  Identifying bad habits is the first step towards changing them for the better.

If it helps, say to yourself, "What would Chuck Norris do?"