I wrap up our series on…men. Manhood. I called it “The Place Of Man” because that seems to be the question these days…what is…the place of men? How should we view ourselves? We grew up with expectations that seem to have changed. Maybe for better. Maybe for worse. I think both. But I find more and more men who feel numb, ashamed, or just dissatisfied. And I could say floundering with who they are, but it may be just as much, who they feel they should be. I talked in depth with Connor Beaton, founder of ManTalks, an international organization focused on men’s wellness, success, and fulfillment, author of Mens Work: A Practical Guide To Face Your Darkness, End Self-Sabotage, And Find Freedom and host of the Man Talks podcast. Then part three was with my great friend Dr Randy James. We got deep on the issues we are experiencing as men, and what we see in the culture. Here then are four main highlights I found from our conversations and my own pondering within them. I’ll also share about an event I just returned from with 39 guys who did 40 miles of the Grand Teton Trail in one day.

We continue our talk on A Man’s Place and I titled the show, Are We Having Fun Yet? How To Enjoy Life & Not Merely Survive It. My catalyst was Connor Beaton, founder of ManTalks, an international organization focused on men’s wellness, success, and fulfillment, author of Mens Work: A Practical Guide To Face Your Darkness, End Self-Sabotage, And Find Freedom and host of the Man Talks podcast. Now I’m with Dr Randy James. Randy is truly my best friend and we’ve walked through life together for a good decade and a half. Randy and I started off discussing what the point is. When do we leave childhood and school and say, “Ok, I’m done having any fun and enjoying and experiencing this life, now I’ll just be responsible and devote the rest of my days to the grind of life.?” That sounds exaggerated, but are we living lives that our kids or young people would be inspired to pursue? No wonder kids aren’t leaving home soon these days. The point isn’t just to have fun. I’d argue that pursuing great purpose and fulfillment eclipses mere fun. But should we truly enjoy our lives? Solomon in the Bible said, and I paraphrase, “I tried it all, all variations of life, and t’s all vanity. Ultimately nothing is better for a man than that he should eat and drink, and that his soul should enjoy good in his labor. This also, I saw, was from the hand of God.” So Randy and I have a candid talk about work and family and responsibility and finding true joy and tending to our hearts and souls, as men, but the message is relevant to all.

I’m back with Connor Beaton. In the previous episode we talked about How To Embrace Manhood & Also Be Human, and in this episode we talk about what drives Connor personally. I start off with something he disclosed in his book, where he shared that an overall driving force for him is the reality that he has been abused, and he has abused. He has been hurt, and he has hurt and from this he discusses dark motivation and light motivation. So we dive deep quickly. Connor is founder of ManTalks, an international organization focused on men’s wellness, success, and fulfillment. He is a coach, facilitator, teacher, podcast host and speaker helping men from all over the world find purpose, a joy-filled life, and a confident self identity, as a man.

We are talking about men. For those who grew up as boys and now live as men, you were raised in a social construct that had certain expectations. Times have changed and evolved, and some of those expectations have changed, but our programming never did. The result is we find ourselves in a culture where men are often confused, frustrated, ashamed, and dissatisfied. And that’s not helping men, or anyone who comes into contact with them. This is not a call to masculinity. This is also not a call to immasculinity. It’s a call to be an authentic and confident human. My expert is Connor Beaton. Connor is the founder of ManTalks, an international organization focused on men’s wellness, success, and fulfillment. He is a coach, facilitator, teacher, podcast host and speaker helping men from all over the world find purpose, a joy-filled life, and a confident self identity, as a man. Connor has a no-BS approach coupled with compassionate understanding of our own human limitations.

I wrap up our series on Confidence and have 7 key takeaways after my discussion with Heather Monahan, host of the Creating Confidence podcast, and author of Confidence Creator, and her brand new book Overcome Your Villains. Tom Ziglar, CEO of Ziglar Inc. also brought me to great insight on confidence. Walk with me as we discuss the knowledge given and the learning we have ahead of us.

We continue our series on confidence, continuing from my talks with Heather Monahan, host of Creating Confidence, ranked top 200 overall in Apple Podcast. Here I bring on my great friend, Tom Ziglar. Tom is CEO of Ziglar Inc. Ziglar, founded by one of the greatest self help influencers of all time, Zig Ziglar, is renowned for building confidence in people. The right kind of confidence, which is confidence paired with humility. In our culture, we aren’t taught how to have true, healthy confidence, with true and healthy humility, and we are seldom fortunate enough to be exposed to a good example. Zig Ziglar is my guru on holding true confidence and humility together, and his son Tom has been one of my greatest influences with this. In this episode Tom does a masterful job of helping us understand true confidence and the significant difference between short term and long term confidence.

What Drives Heather Monahan. Heather is my resident expert in this series on Confidence, and her story is one of a long journey to understand and embrace confidence. In this episode I walk with Heather through the 7 key areas of life to see what drives her, and we dig further into her journey of confidence. Heather is a two times best-selling author, she was a Top 50 Keynote Speaker in the World in 2022, her podcast, Creating Confidence, is in the top 200 overall in Apple Podcast. Heather successfully climbed the corporate ladder for nearly 20 years and is one of the few women to break the glass ceiling and claim her spot in the C-suite. Her new book is, Overcome Your Villains: Mastering Your Beliefs, Actions, and Knowledge to Conquer Any Adversity. Heather is also…very down to earth and we resonated and laughed a lot in this show. I’m confident…anyone listening, will get a boost to their confidence.

We kick off a series on confidence. Confidence is something I feel has gone by the cultural wayside. If you’re confident, you are arrogant or narcissistic. Yet we only pay and follow people who are confident. My expert is Heather Monahan. Heather is a two times best-selling author, she was a Top 50 Keynote Speaker in the World in 2022, and she’s host of top ranked podcast, Creating Confidence. Her first book,Confidence Creator, shot to #1 on Amazon’s Business Biographies and Business Motivation lists the first week it debuted on Amazon. Her brand new book is called, Overcome Your Villains: Mastering Your Beliefs, Actions, and Knowledge to Conquer Any Adversity.