Order of Man

In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler dives deep into the high-profile Cornell controversy to break down the critical differences between legal culpability, moral responsibility, and mainstream media narratives. Addressing the ongoing cultural attack on men, Ryan challenges the popular claim that masculinity itself is inherently toxic.  Instead, he explains the distinction between ra...

Ryan Michler and Kipp Sorensen tackle five questions from the Order of Man community in this episode of Ask Me Anything. They discuss making a major career change after decades in public service, finding forgiveness after betrayal, setting boundaries while serving family and friends, navigating different faiths within a marriage, and protecting a teenage daughter without damaging the relationship....

Most men are chasing a dent in the world, followers, recognition, a bigger stage, while overlooking the one place they can make the biggest difference: the town they live in and the people right next to them. Today's conversation is about impact over income, why being known by ten thousand people in your own community beats being famous online, and why we're robbing our kids by shielding them from...

Most men live their lives actively ignoring the pain and suffering they have experienced, leading to destructive behavior, self-sabotage, and sedation. In this solo episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler breaks down the five core wounds every man must address to build healthy relationships with himself and his family. Ryan details the unblessed, betrayal, humiliation, abandonment, and failure...

Ryan Michler and Kipp Sorensen tackle another round of Ask Me Anything questions, covering career ambition, fatherhood, divorce, sobriety, friendship, faith, Stoicism, hunting injuries, masculinity, money and men's brotherhood. They discuss the hidden costs of achieving your goals, how to rebuild trust with your children, why friendships require intentional effort, and how to redefine your sense o...

Most of us think courage is something you either have or you don't. But what if it's actually a decision you make over and over, the same way you'd train a muscle? Today's conversation is about what happens when you stop asking "what if I fail" and start asking, "let's find out." We get into why 90% of what we fear never happens, how to raise kids with grit in a culture built for convenience, and...

Communication is one of the most powerful tools we have. It allows us to connect with people, share ideas, build relationships, rally people around a common cause, keep people safe, and create opportunities. But communication can also become the thing that holds you back. In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan breaks down five practical ways men can become more effective communicators - not b...

Ryan Michler and Alan Placer tackle ten questions from men dealing with family, identity, fatherhood, marriage, pain, career, and personal responsibility. They discuss how to set boundaries when financial gifts come with strings attached, what to do when a teenage son is drawn toward extreme online communities, and how to separate identity from a sport or physical ability.  They also explore recog...

Most of what passes for leadership advice today is polish. You say the right things, avoid conflict, perform confidence until you believe it yourself. This episode is about the opposite. We're talking about what happens when you stop performing and start operating: how to build relationships that are actually real instead of transactional, how to handle conflict without flinching or blowing it up,...

In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler tackles the cultural double standard between misogyny and misandry. While modern discourse frequently condemns the hatred of women, systemic contempt toward men - misandry - is often ignored or dismissed as simple individual preference.  Ryan breaks down the etymology of these terms and addresses critical disparities facing men today, including f...

Ryan Michler is joined by Alan Placer for this week's Ask Me Anything, tackling eight questions about fatherhood, masculinity, family, legacy, grief, mentorship, co-parenting, and business. They discuss when helping an adult child becomes enabling, what it means to be a real man, showing up for a parent with dementia, and navigating a child's relationship with a good stepfather. They also explore...

Most men will never come close to the kind of suffering Brent Oliver has lived through. And, that's exactly why this conversation matters. Today we're talking about the difference between a man who lets his circumstances define him and a man who decides, moment by moment, that he's still the one in control. You're going to hear what it actually looks like to rebuild a body and a mind from nothing,...

Are you stepping in to fix everyone else's problems at the expense of your own mission, household, and peace of mind? In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler unpacks the Karpman Drama Triangle—a psychological pattern where men rotate between the roles of Victim, Persecutor, and Rescuer.  Ryan reveals why rescuing often stems from ego rather than love, and how stripping people of natura...

This week's Ask Me Anything explores the challenges men face when life tests their identity, discipline and relationships. Ryan and Kipp discuss balancing fitness with family, staying sober, managing anger, rebuilding identity after losing a career, navigating divorce and fatherhood, reconnecting with the outdoors, and defining a meaningful legacy. Along the way, they emphasize personal responsibi...

Pornography addiction isn't a willpower problem. It's a brain problem and, understanding the mechanics changes everything about how you fight it. Today, we go deep into the neuroscience: what edging actually does to your reward system, why desensitization and hypo-frontality reshape how your brain processes stress and pleasure, and why getting exactly what you want can leave you more depressed tha...

Whether caused by a minor slip-up or a major rupture like infidelity or financial betrayal, every man will eventually face the grueling challenge of restoring broken trust. In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler outlines 12 non-negotiable principles for rebuilding trust when it's been shattered. Time alone won't fix your mistakes - only deliberate, sustained, and unselfish action will...

This week's Ask Me Anything tackles real questions about fatherhood, marriage, friendship, faith, addiction, parenting, and personal responsibility. Ryan and Kipp discuss why becoming a first-time father can feel more frightening than exciting, how to reconnect with an emotionally absent father, and how to take surface-level friendships deeper. They also explore balancing work and family, finding...

Your brain is either getting stronger or getting weaker. There is no neutral, gentlemen. Today Jim Kwik breaks down why comfort, convenience, and cognitive offloading to AI are quietly making men mentally soft, and what it actually takes to build what he calls "cognitive reserve" which is the difference between a man who stays sharp, independent, and capable as he ages and one who doesn't. We get...

Are you consuming endless podcasts, books, and sermons but finding your life stuck in the exact same spot? In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler breaks down the critical difference between being a roaring river and a stagnant swamp.  Most men don't have an information problem—they have a direction problem. Unapplied knowledge turns into a shallow, rotting pond that breeds resentment,...

Ryan Michler and Kipp Sorensen tackle four powerful questions in this week's Ask Me Anything, covering stepfatherhood, confidence versus arrogance, addiction and sobriety, and the challenge of coaching your own child. They discuss why a biological father and a dad aren't necessarily the same thing, how confidence is earned, why temptation may never completely disappear, and how fathers can balance...

You've been told the Epstein case is closed. It's not. It's a blueprint - for how blackmail, sex, and power get used to buy silence at the highest levels of American government, and why the people who could stop it never do. Today's guest has spent decades chasing this story further than almost anyone alive, and what he's found doesn't end with one dead man in a Manhattan jail cell. Nick Bryant jo...

Summer is ending, and for many men, structure and discipline went out the window right along with it. In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler breaks down why waiting for external calendars to rebuild your life is a major mistake. Instead of treating the end of summer like a burden to survive, learn how to systematically reclaim your standards and rebuild your personal routine in three...

This episode of Ask Me Anything tackles the real-life challenges men face as they age, lead families, navigate friendships and raise children. Ryan and Kipp discuss making peace with physical decline, giving teenagers room to develop independence, and questioning popular self-help advice.  They also explore how to rebuild trust after betrayal, what masculine leadership looks like when raising daug...

If you've ever lost everything (a business, a marriage, your sense of who you are) this conversation is proof that the collapse isn't the end of your story. Rick Trimmer walks through the exact math he and his wife used to climb out of $640,000 in debt: the thousand-day stretch with no pay, the decade of living on a thousand dollars a month, and the brutal conversations he had with himself and his...

Every single day, you wake up with a finite bank account of time, energy, integrity, and focus. But without realizing it, most men trade away their potential in thousands of unnoticed, micro-decisions. In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler breaks down the four dangerous trades men make every day on autopilot - from trading real progress for temporary fake peace, to sacrificing long-t...