If you ever started something from scratch, a business, a podcast, a side project, you remember

that moment right before you launch when the doubts start stacking up. Is this a good idea? What if no one buys anything? I remember that feeling well. When I started the art of manliness, I didn't have some grand plan. I just decided to take the leap and figure things out as I went, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I've made. When it comes to actually running a business, especially selling things,

the platform that we've used, and I recommend, is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of business around the world and about 10% of all e-commerce in the United States,

from big household names to brands just getting started. I've used it myself from the AOM store,

and it made it possible to build a professional online shop without hiring a developer. Shopify gives you hundreds of great-looking templates, built-in tools to help with product descriptions and photos, and an all-in-one system for payments, inventory, and analytics, so you're not juggling a dozen different platforms. As your business grows, Shopify grows with you. If you've been sitting on an idea waiting for the right time,

this is it. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash manliness.

That's shopify.com slash manliness. You know what nobody tells you about weeknight dinner? It's the one thing that never goes away. Every single day around 6 o'clock, it shows up again, and the

hard part is in cooking, it's figuring out what to make when you're already wiped out. Our family's busy with basketball practices and church activities during the week, and some nights there just isn't time to shop, plan, cook, and clean. That's why we love Hello Fresh. Everything shows up pre-portioned with clear step-by-step recipe cards and dinner's ready in about 30 minutes without a lot of thinking. Each week, you can choose from over 100 recipes, so you're picking what actually sounds good, not what you can scrape together. One meal we really enjoyed was the firecracker beef vomit. It was fast, filling, and tasted really, really good. The ingredients are high quality, too, sustainably sourced seafood, antibiotic-free chicken,

and seasonal produce that actually taste good. Go to hellofresh.com slash manliness 10 FM to get

10 free meals plus a freeze-willing knife on your third box. That's hellofresh.com slash

manliness 10 FM. So it's M-A-N-L-I-N-E-S-S-1-0-F-M to get 10-free meals plus a freeze-willing knife on your third box.

Again, hellofresh.com slash manliness 10 FM.

Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the AOM podcast, which since 2008 has

featured conversations with the world's best authors, thinkers, and leaders that gleaned their

edifying, life-improving insights without the fluff and filler. The AOM podcast is just one part of the McKay mission to help individuals practice timeless virtues through thought, word, and deed. Also, be sure to explore our articles in Art ofmanliness.com, read the deeper dyes we do in our substack newsletter at dyingbred.net and turn our content into real-world action by joining the Strenuous Life program at strunerunuslife.com.

Now on to the show.

Not long ago, the primary concern people had about boys was that they were wild, impulsive, and out of control, getting into fights, pushing limits, and stirring up trouble.

Today, the problem has flipped. The more common challenge isn't reckless behavior, but inert passivity.

More and more young men are anxious, apathetic, socially isolated, and seemingly uninterested in doing much of anything at all.

Vince Benavento, the founder of Causeway Collaborative, a male-specific counseling center, and the author of,

Boys Will Be Men, Eight Lessons for the Lost American Male, has spent nearly two decades working on the front lines of this shift.

As a therapist, coach, and mentor who specializes in helping

...