Keep Your Toiletries Together

How long does it take you to get ready in the morning? If you’re like a lot of guys, your morning routine looks something like this: You wake up and shower. Then, you fish through bathroom drawers and cupboards looking for your hairbrush, your comb, and your shaving supplies, slowly taking care of your needs, only to get to work and realize you forgot to put on deodorant.

By keeping your toiletries together in a dopp kit under your sink, you eliminate the need to remember anything in the morning. Simply pull out your toiletry bag, use what’s inside, and then tuck it back where it goes. This tiny step can speed up your morning significantly and make you feel more prepared for your day. This, in turn, can increase your productivity for the rest of the day. It might also mean that you don’t have to get up quite as early in the morning, which can allow you to stay up a little later in the evenings.

Stop Waiting for Things

Picture this: You’re done getting ready upstairs, so you head downstairs. You start your coffee brewing and throw some toast in the toaster. What do you do next? If your answer is that you wait for your toast and coffee to be done, you are wasting your valuable time. Whether it’s a coffee maker, a toaster, a microwave, or the fax machine at work, you shouldn’t spend your time waiting for a machine if you can help it.

Instead of waiting for things to finish, use that time to accomplish a task you’d otherwise have to do later. The three minutes it takes to make toast, for example, is the perfect amount of time for swapping a load of laundry around, wiping down the counters, or sweeping the kitchen. When you stop waiting around for things to finish and instead find ways to be productive with that time, you save yourself several minutes each day. Two minutes here and three minutes there might not seem like a lot of time, but it definitely adds up through the course of your week.

Order Your Groceries

If you stop for groceries on the way home every night, you are wasting a lot of time. Most grocery chains, including places like Target or Walmart, have the option to order your groceries ahead and pick them up. While there’s usually a fee for this service, the fee is often less than you’d pay on impulse buys while in the store anyway. Meanwhile, ordering your groceries ahead forces you to meal plan, since you only want to pay the service fee once in a week. Meal planning, in turn, not only saves you time each day since you don’t have to think about what to cook, but it also saves you money since you’re not as tempted to order take out food because cooking seems too daunting a task. And anything that can save you both time and money is a win in our book!

Have a Place for Your Essentials

How many times have you spent the morning overhauling your home in a search for your keys or your wallet? Chasing after your essentials wastes your time, and it also leaves you playing catch-up for the rest of the day. If you’re five minutes late to work, you feel compelled to stay an extra five minutes at the end of the day. That five minutes turns into ten or twenty if you start a project, and suddenly your evening has gone out the window.

Instead of risking this happening to you, choose a designated spot for all of your items to go at the end of your day. Place a valet tray there to catch your items, and make sure it’s someplace convenient for you. For example, if you tend to drop your stuff right when you come in the door, leave your valet tray on a table right inside. If, on the other hand, you tend to do it when you change clothes, you might be better off having the valet tray on the end table in the bedroom. The key is to do what works for you so that you actually use the valet tray.

Have Plans for Evenings

How much time do you waste debating with your spouse what you want to watch? Instead, spend a small chunk of time on Sunday planning out what you want to do with the week, and put those items in your planner. Maybe you’ve both been wanting to watch a certain movie. Pick a night when you’ll want to do that. Shows that come out at a certain time each week are a given, but go ahead and write them down as a reminder to yourself. Planning your evening out, while it seems like it takes the spontaneity out of the night, means that you’ll spend less time discussing what to do with your evening and more time actually doing it.

When you’re in the thick of a busy lifestyle, it’s hard to see areas you could improve. The truth is that we all waste time on a daily basis. By focusing on moments when you’re wasting yours, you can reclaim your day and have more time to do what you love.

As a Toiletry Bag

Of course, the number one way to use a dopp kit is for its intended purposes: to hold your toiletries. Toiletry bags are a great way to separate your must-have toiletries from your spouse’s under the bathroom sink or to hold your toiletries separate from your luggage while traveling. If you’re the type of guy who doesn’t want his razor or toothbrush mingling with his wife’s in the suitcase, you may be happy to reserve your dopp kit as a toiletry bag.

As a Secondary Carry-On Bag

Carry-on bags are free while luggage needs to be paid for, which means that many people are choosing to pack lightly for air travel and only bring a carry-on bag. Unfortunately, this can make it difficult to keep the things you actually want for your plane ride—your gum, your headphones, and your reading book—on hand. A dopp kit is the perfect size to hold out all of these travel necessities, offering you easy access to everything you want or need for your flight.

As a Locker Organizer

If you’ve got a middle-school or high-school-aged kid, you know that teens and preteens can be a bit of a mess. If their room manages to be a disaster zone despite your constant reminders to clean up, imagine what their lockers look like! But you can be sure that your kid wants certain items, like sanitary napkins, deodorant, and emergency snacks, readily available. Gifting them a dopp kit to keep these items in can ease the stress in their lives. It’s also an easy item for them to bring home in their backpack and replenish as needed.

As a Car Emergency Kit

What happens when your kid manages to cut their hand while you’re driving or your spouse realizes that she has a headache? It’s always good to have a small bag in the car of the little things that you might want throughout the day. This can include band-aids, ibuprofen, medical equipment like inhalers or EpiPens, and even the knick-knack type objects you’re always searching your car for like small trash bags, pens, and napkins.

As a Travel Toy Bag

Do your kids fight the minute you get in the car? Or do they act up when you bring them into a restaurant? Boredom can bring out the worst in anyone’s kids. That’s why it can be nice to have a small bag of toys in your car for days when you make an unexpected stop or are out longer than you planned to be out. Keep the toys in your travel toy bag quiet and safe for independent play so that your kids can help themselves to the toys inside without close supervision. You’ll find that this strategy cuts down on stress over time, especially if those toys are reserved just for trips. This will keep the toys feeling new and exciting to your kids.

As a Guest Room Bag

No guest wants to admit that they forgot to pack a toothbrush or are scared to use your expensive shampoo. Keeping a small bag stocked with necessities that are easily forgotten when traveling, like fresh toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, combs, shampoo, and washcloths can make your guests feel more comfortable when they come to stay. All you have to do is pull the loaded dopp kit out of the bathroom closet and set it on your guest room bed before they come to stay and they’ll feel right at home.

As a Spice Bag

Tired of sifting through canned corn and oatmeal packets just to locate the cumin? Even if you don’t have room for a spice rack or full spice organizer, you can keep all your spices together in one bag and just grab the bag out when you’re cooking. Then you don’t have to worry about whether or not you have tarragon shoved way in the back of your cupboard: It’s either in the bag or it isn’t.

You don’t have to follow a strict script when it comes to using your toiletry bag. A bit of creativity can ensure that our high-quality leather bags meet the needs of you and your family. At the end of the day, the goal is to simplify your life and ensure you have the tools you need to be organized and successful in your life.  

At the Toll Booth

If you do a lot of driving, you already know that many toll booths don’t take plastic. But what about if you only go on long drives once in a while? If you don’t frequently drive toll roads, you probably don’t have an EZ Pass, which means that you have to be prepared to pay cash when you do drive those roads. Having a coin pouch in your car with some emergency cash can ensure you’re prepared to pay when you come across these roads and don’t have to deal with the hassle of an unpaid toll.

If You Need a Tow

Tow trucks don’t always carry squares to take debit cards, and unlike toll booths, you don’t know ahead of time that you’re going to need a tow. Having your car break down is stressful enough without worrying about how you’re going to pay the tow truck. Even if you have a service like AAA, there’s still a good chance you may need to pay some amount for the tow truck. Keeping a little bit of cash in your car ensures that you don’t have to worry if this happens to you.

To Tip Someone

If you’re traveling, you definitely want to have some cash on hand. Tips are a necessity, and everyone from the valet to the bellhop will expect a few dollars from you. If you’re drinking on vacation, you’ll also want some cash to tip the bartender with. All of these tips add up, so it’s important to have a fair amount of cash with you when you go on vacation or even just daytrip to somewhere you’ll require a hotel and a rental car.

During a Storm

Snowstorms can be a lot of work. When you’re in the middle of shoveling yourself out, especially after a big snow storm, you don’t want a lack of cash to be the reason you can’t say “yes” when your neighbor offers to use their snowblower to get you out for a small fee. While it’d be great to think you live in a world where your neighbor would just plow you out anyway, the truth is that when few people even know their neighbors anymore, those types of favors can’t be relied on. What can be counted on is people looking to make some quick cash, so if you’re not huge on cleaning up after storms yourself, you might want to have some cash on hand.

For the Farmer’s Market

Farmer’s markets are a great way to support the local community while enjoying farm-fresh produce. But because farmer’s markets are run by local farmers, most of them are cash-only affairs. If you enjoy supporting local farmers and cutting down on the fossil fuels that come with shipping produce across long distances, it’s important to keep some cash on hand so that you can visit the farmer’s market on a regular basis.

At Festivals or Conventions

Festivals and conventions are another location where cards may or may not be accepted. At ComicCon, for example, cards are accepted at larger booths, but independent artists who have set up booths at comic con are unlikely to be prepared to accept cards. However, they often have some of the most unique items available that you can’t get elsewhere. That’s why it’s important to carry cash if you’re going to a festival or convention.

For the Ice Cream Truck

There’s something nostalgic about being able to go outside with your kids and get an ice cream from the ice cream truck. But with many ice cream trucks still cash-only affairs, this necessitates keeping at least a small amount of cash in your home. Parks and beaches often also have cash-only treat options, so any family with kids will want to be sure to keep at least some cash with them wherever they go.

At Certain Restaurants

Believe it or not, a lot of old-time restaurants that have been around for years don’t take credit cards. These cash-only restaurants rely on their excellent service and loyal patrons to stay open despite the fact that they don’t take plastic. And while you may think, at first, that you’ll just avoid these restaurants, if you’re in an unfamiliar location, you may not realize that a restaurant is cash-only until you’ve already eaten there. Additionally, cash-only policies often allow restaurants to offer employees better benefits, leading to employees who stick around and are better trained—and, in turn, often making these some of the best restaurants around. So if you really want some good food, you might want to break down and carry some cash for the meal.

For Garage Sales

As you’re driving around town, you’re likely to notice signs pointing to local yard sales and garage sales. These events can be a great way to find items your family needs at hugely bargained prices—but only if you have cash to pay the people running them. If you’re a fan of a bargain, keeping some cash handy for these sales is a necessity.

While it may feel like we’re evolving past our need for credit cards and debit cards, until we reach a point where we’re each given squares at birth and credit cards don’t have fees associated with their use, our society will continue to require cash in certain circumstances. Keeping cash handy allows you to roll with the punches and do what you need to do on a daily basis without worrying about locating an ATM.

Listen to Your Advisors ~ Joffrey Baratheon, Game of Thrones

Sometimes, the best way to learn from someone is by observing the way they behave and choosing to do something different. Joffrey Baratheon is one of the most infuriating characters on Game of Thrones exclusively because he is such pure evil. Raised as the entitled heir prince, Joffrey grew up believing that there was no need for him to listen to anyone—and he didn’t. Ultimately, his unwillingness to listen to any of his advisors led to his demise, and a careful lesson for the rest of us: Listen to your advisors.

Respect Your Enemies ~ The Master, Doctor Who

The Doctor’s longest-running enemy is The Master, one of the few Time Lords alive and not caught in a perpetual time loop. One of the things that make The Master such a good enemy is that they know the Doctor intimately. Towards the end of their latest run, you even realize that despite their animosity, the Doctor and the Master respect each other so much that they’re almost able to be friends under certain circumstances. In today’s turbulent political climate, it’s a lesson we could all stand to lean on.

Always Have a Backup Plan ~ David Xanatos, Gargoyles

One of the things that made Xanatos such a stellar bad guy was the fact that even when he lost a battle, he won in some way. His ability to have a backup plan for his backup plan was so impressive that he has a trope named after him. But whether you love him or hate him, the truth is that we could all learn from Xanatos’s ability to thrive even when he fails and keep his cool no matter the circumstances.

You Can’t Buy Love ~ Kilgrave, Jessica Jones

Kilgrave is one of the most uncomfortable villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in part because he seems to genuinely care for Jessica Jones at times and seems to be trying really hard to win her favor. But as you watch more, you realize that he’s the definition of the creepy stalker, made worse because he has so much money working in his favor. The great lesson to learn? You can’t buy love, and he certainly didn’t win Jessica Jones’s behaving the way he did.

Honesty is the Best Policy ~ Lex Luthor, Smallville

One of the most infuriating things about watching Smallville is knowing the entire time you’re watching it that Lex has to turn out to be a bad guy in the end. At the beginning of the show, he’s a completely redeemable character, and viewers can attest to the fact that the only thing he’s asking from his friend Clark is a little bit of honesty. If you catch the show on a re-watch, it seems obvious that if Clark had just been honest with Lex from early on, Lex probably wouldn’t have descended into evil and madness trying to learn Clark’s secret, and all would have been well in the world. Like Mama always said, honesty is the best policy.

Be Careful What You Wish For ~ Scorpius, Farscape

The latter half of Farscape centers on Scorpius’s obsession with getting wormhole technology from John Criton. Criton repeatedly tells Scorpius that he doesn’t know what he’s asking for, but Scorpius is certain that learning wormhole technology would end the war between Peacekeepers and Scarans. When Criton finally releases the technology—and nearly destroys the entire universe—Scorpius’s pale face and quiet, “John, what have you done?” speaks volumes. Sometimes, the best gifts in life are unanswered dreams.

Fear Doesn’t Make Friends ~ Ramsay Bolton, Game of Thrones

As hate-able as Joffrey—if not more so—is Ramsay Bolton. One of his greatest claims to fame is his creation of Reek, a broken version of Theon Greyjoy borne of torture and violence. But even that broken man turns away from Ramsay when confronted by Sansa Stark and the memories of the things he cared about, proof positive that fear can’t make friends—at least not loyal ones.

If You Love Your Job, You Never Work a Day in Your Life ~ Moriarty, Sherlock

Moriarty is one of the most charming Sherlock villains, fun to watch because he’s as simultaneously broken and intelligent as Sherlock himself. But one of the best things about watching Moriarty is the fact that he truly enjoys what he does. We might not enjoy what he does with his genius, but he’s proof positive that if you love your job, you never work a day in your life.

Persistence is Key ~ Plankton, SpongeBob SquarePants

From the very inception of SpongeBob SquarePants, there is Plankton, the tiny villain determined to get ahold of the secret Krabby Patty recipe. While Plankton’s role in the show is often played for laughs, the truth of the matter is that he is the most persistent villain on television. The master of getting back up when he’s been knocked to his feet, his persistence is admirable, even if his results leave something to be desired.

Perception is Reality ~ Eric Cartman, South Park

There’s a beautiful episode of South Park where he and another kid come up with a joke. As the joke is told repeatedly throughout the episode, Cartman’s perception of how the joke was founded changed, and by the end of the episode, not only does he say that he wrote the joke, but he believes it with every fiber of his being. It’s a beautiful illustration that perception is reality.

One of life’s greatest treasures is the ability to learn something from everyone. Even the evilest characters on TV have lessons they can teach us if we’re willing to set aside our animosity—and their crazy—long enough to listen.

American Pie by Don McLean

American Pie is one of those songs that’s hard to dissect on your own. After all, McLean sings something about a jester in a thorny crown and a marching band and the music dying. While several people have attempted to crack the code, it’s only recently that Don McLean publicly revealed the meaning of the song. It’s long been known that the day the music died referred to the day that McLean found out that Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in a tragic plane crash. The rest of the song, McLean revealed, was a reference to the decline of morality in America.

Daniel by Elton John

Daniel is a semi-confusing song, in part because Elton John ended up chopping the final verse in the song in order to make it more compact. The last verse would have explained that Daniel is about a Vietnam veteran who struggled to integrate back into society after the war ended. At the end of the song, he decides to go to Spain, leaving his brother behind.

99 Luftballons by Nena

Few know that 99 Luftballons is a Cold War-era protest song. When you listen to the lyrics carefully, the song tells a story about 99 red balloons—an innocuous thing—triggering militaries to bomb each other and destroy the world. It’s a warning about the destructive power of militaries—far from the innocent song you might think you’re singing along to when you start humming the tune.

Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple

Deep Purple had a gig at a casino in Montreux, Switzerland. The casino caught fire during a Frank Zappa concert, and instead of playing there, they watched it burn from across a lake. That experience is what inspired the song Smoke on the Water, which sounds significantly eerier when you know the story behind it.

Polly by Nirvana

The true story behind Nirvana’s Polly is completely terrifying. Taken from a newspaper clipping, it’s about a 14-year-old girl (whose name was changed to protect her privacy) who was kidnapped leaving a rock concert and tortured. Though she escaped, it’s still a scary true story encompassed by the innocuous-sounding song.

Fast Car by Tracy Chapman

Chapman was raised by a single mom in Cleveland, Ohio, in a working-class family. While the song was not directly autobiographical, she admits to watching a lot of struggling families in the area trying to make ends meet. One of the most popular songs of all time, Fast Car is about a girl being raised by an alcoholic dad, only to leave him for a man that turns out to be just like him. It’s a heartbreaking song, and even more so when you closely listen to the song lyrics.

Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton’s son, Conor, fell out of an apartment building in New York and died when he was four years old. Clapton’s Tears in Heaven was inspired by this tragic event. There’s little as devastating as the loss of a child, so it’s no wonder this song is so heartbreaking to listen to. Knowing the truth behind it only makes it that much more powerful.

Music is moving in its own right. The reason so many of us love music is that it can heighten our emotions and make us feel connected to the world around us. But some songs mean more than others. These seven songs were written with powerful stories behind them. Knowing these stories makes the songs feel all the more powerful when you listen to them going forward.

Dads Do Housework

It used to be perfectly acceptable for a guy to come home after a long day’s work, kick his feet up, and watch a ballgame while his wife finished cooking dinner. Now, if you do that, you’re considered a jerk. What’s changed?

As women become equals in the workforce, men need to become equals at home. But if you were raised with the mentality that housework is a woman’s job, it may be hard for you to even know where to start in your own home. Blindness to the chores that need to get done around the home can continue the housework inequality in your home, not only leading to your spouse feeling resentful when you don’t help out, but also leading to children who also don’t know how to be equal partners at home.

To combat this, first, have an honest conversation with your spouse explaining that you honestly don’t always see what needs to be done around the house. Then, consider using an app like OurHome to track what needs to be getting done around the house at any given time and who’s doing it so that you know when you come home whether you should take your dog for a walk or empty the dishwasher. OurHome can even give certain chores a weight, or point-value, based on how long they take to do or how much you both hate doing the work. This way, you can start a friendly competition in your house about who’s getting more points—maybe with some sort of reward at the end of a week for whoever tackled more points worth of chores throughout the week.

Dads Do Carpool

Back in the day, the idea of moms running children to and from all of their afterschool activities was so ubiquitous that it even got its own term: soccer mom. These days, the soccer dad is becoming more and more common. Unfortunately, as men, many of us weren’t taught to keep track of tons of events in our calendars.

Trying to explain to your wife that you forgot that the kids had a piano recital is not a fun conversation to have. Instead, make a point of putting reminders in your phone about all the kids’ doctors appointments and events, and ensure that a pop-up message alerts you with enough lead time for you to stop what you’re doing to transport the kids. Phone calendars mean you don’t have to keep all that stuff in your head the way our moms used to, so take advantage of them!

Dads Get Kids Ready in the Morning

Did your dad know how to braid hair into perfect pigtails? Unless he was a single dad or particularly rare, I’m guessing he didn’t. These days, as dads, we need to be just as capable as our spouses at getting our kids up and ready for school in the morning, which can be hard for those of us who were never taught things like how to braid hair or how to match an outfit.

Make things easy on yourself from the get-go by pairing outfits when you fold laundry or picking them out the night before so that you’re not trying to figure out what matches on the fly. As for doing your daughter’s hair, YouTube is your best bet when trying to figure out how those hair pretties work.

Dads Are Sleep Deprived

Gone are the days when the mother was the only one getting up in the middle of the night to change and nurse the baby. Now, dads need to be hands-on even in the middle of the night—which means going to work after a measly two hours of sleep and powering through those meetings anyway.

Making this work looks different in every family. If your wife is breastfeeding, it may mean getting up to change the baby and bring them to the bed, and then putting them back to bed when she’s done. If she’s pumping or you’re using formula, it may mean trading every other feeding throughout the night or trading every other night.

Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix for this one. Keeping the lines of communication open between you and your spouse is major. It can also be key, after a really bad night, to take a quick nap in your car on your lunch break or come home from work and trade off naps with your wife after dinner.

Dads Get Some of the Separation Anxiety

Of course, back when dads weren’t as hands-on, little kids were all about mummy. They wanted to make sure she was in the room with them all the time. Now that dads have a more active role in their kids’ lives, they get a hefty dose of this separation anxiety, too. They may find that their kids cling to their legs the moments they walk through the door, or scream when they have to head for work.

It’s heartbreaking to hear your kid cry, but it’s also a sign that your child has a healthy attachment to you as their parent. Work on boundaries with them by practicing leaving the room for 5 minutes and then coming back, and then slowly increasing the time that you’re away from them. This shows them that you’ll keep coming back every time and will help nip some of that anxiety in the bud.

Being a hands-on dad is a lot of work, but it’s also one of the most rewarding experiences you can have. It’s not just moms fighting for dads to be more hands on. As more and more dads reap the benefits of loving, close relationships with their children, they’re starting to fight for this equality as well. In the end, taking on tasks equally in the relationship will lead to a stronger marriage and to stronger, more rounded-out children—and isn’t that what we all want?  

Stay Organized

The first trick to staying on track when you write your hours is knowing what needs to get done every day. We recently wrote about some easy ways to organize your schedule when you work from home. Having a work-specific task list or notebook is essential to ensuring you complete all your tasks on time each week.

It’s also important to keep your work space organized. When you can’t find your notes for a meeting with a client or struggle to locate a pen when you need one, it’s impossible to feel like you have everything together. Make a point of tidying your office space every time you finish up for the afternoon, and ensure that tidying up includes cleaning out your email inbox so that you are ready to start fresh the next time you enter your workspace.

Automate as Much as Possible

Another trap that’s easy to fall into when you write your own hours is the trap of spending a lot of time doing small tasks, from checking your email to sending invoices to clients. To prevent yourself from spending an overwhelming amount of time doing these tasks, take a couple hours a month to research ways to automate these processes. For example, if you have Gmail, you can have it automatically filter your emails based on sender or subject. This can allow you to get through your email faster every day, which frees you up time every day.

Putting certain things in your calendar is also key to staying on track. For example, instead of leaving your email open in a back tab on your computer and checking it every time you see an email, consider how quickly your customers should reasonably expect you to get back to them, and check your email that often. Maybe that means setting an alarm on your phone to check your email once an hour, or once every three hours, or at the beginning and end of each day. Whatever makes sense for you, doing this will allow you to focus on whatever task you’re working on without being distracted by continual email alerts that feel like emergencies but can actually wait.

Visualize Priorities

When you decided to become your own boss, chances are good that you had a reason for doing it. Maybe you were looking forward to being able to take a hike every afternoon, or maybe you wanted to spend more time with your family. All too often, these goals fall aside when people actually start working from home. As work hours become occupied by YouTube surfing, you quickly find that the times you meant to set aside to hang with your kids or head to the park are suddenly stuffed with work that you didn’t complete when you meant to complete it.

In order to prevent this from happening to you, make a list of the reasons you want to be able to work from home and set your own hours. Then, either hang that list on the wall behind your desk or, if you’re crafty, create a mood board to hang behind your desk showcasing these priorities. Then, when you’re tempted to slack off, you just have to glance up to remember what it really is that you’re working towards.

Eliminate Distractions

There are a lot of great ways to eliminate distractions in your life, from putting your phone on Do Not Disturb during your work hours to blocking certain websites when you’re supposed to be working. If your procrastination is bad, you might have to find other ways to eliminate your distractions. Take note for a week of what you’re doing when you’re supposed to be working. Maybe you spend a lot of time on YouTube or checking your phone, or maybe you have anxiety about your house being a mess and can’t focus until you clean the whole thing, leaving you with limited time to get your actual work done.

Once you observe your habits, it’s easier to nip them in the bud. Apps like OurHome can help you prioritize your day and stay on task. Use it to help you parse out the everyday tasks that need to get done around your home so that they don’t build up over time. OurHome works a bit like a chore chart when you were kids, allowing you to earn points by getting tasks done and then use those points to buy rewards. So if you do spend a lot of time on YouTube instead of working, eliminate YouTube from your life—and make yourself spend a certain number of points to get a specific amount of Youtube time. This allows you to still have those distractions in your life if they’re important to you without allowing them to become your life.

While it can be hard to stay on track when you work from home, it doesn’t have to be. The key is to learn how to hold yourself accountable for your actions each day and to consciously prioritize your day-to-day activities so that you know what to do with your time and what to let slide until another day. Doing this ensures you get done the things that need to get done each day while living your life to its fullest, happiest extent.

Rum & Coke

Rum and coke tops the list of the best mixed drinks for men because it’s easy to make and a safe starter drink for most men. Rum is a fairly sweet alcohol as far as hard liquors are concerned, and mixed with the familiar taste of coke, it makes for a great transition from fruitier drinks to drinks that are considered more manly. To make a perfect rum and coke every time, fill a whiskey glass with ice. Then place three fingers against the table next to the glass and pour rum to the top of the third finger. Finally, fill with coke. For an even sweeter version, you can make a Midas, which is the same idea but with cream soda instead of coke.

Tom Collins

Marketed as a gin and sparkling lemonade drink, a Tom Collins is traditionally served over ice. Pour in a shot of gin, half as much lemon juice, and a dash of simple syrup, you then fill the glass the rest of the way with club soda. Sweet and tangy, you’ll love this drink in the summer time. It’s also perfect when you’re making drinks for men who are relatively new to drinking.

Snakebite

Made with equal parts hard cider and beer, the snake bite is a way to get that sweet cider flavor without just being the guy who drinks hard ciders. If you want your snakebite to be even more sweet, add a little bit of blackcurrant syrup to the top of it. Some men like to drink this neatly layered, with cider on bottom and beer on top. This is easier to do with a stout beer.

7 and 7

Officially, a 7 and 7 is made with a shot of Seagrams Seven Crown Whiskey and a glass of 7UP. Unofficially, any whiskey combined with any clear soda will get you pretty close to this popular alternative to the rum and coke, perfect for the guy who prefers clear sodas over dark ones.

 Negroni

Negroni is an Italian aperitif and is made of equal parts Campari, gin, and vermouth. Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and serve over ice in a cocktail glass, then garnish with an orange peel. If you really want to impress your guests, run the orange peel around the rim of the glass first so that they get a pop of orangey flavor with every sip.

Kamikaze

Combine equal parts lime juice, triple sec, and vodka in a cocktail shaker to make this popular drink. A traditional kamikaze is served straight up in a cocktail glass, but of course, you can do whatever you want in your home bar, and can certainly serve it over the rocks if you prefer.

Greyhound

One of the few masculine drinks that uses juice, a greyhound is marketed as a glass of grapefruit juice with a shot of gin or vodka. You’ll want to shake this drink well to get its full effects. The greyhound makes a great alcoholic breakfast beverage, but is also great at night if you’re hoping for something a little more fruity.

Godfather

Who’s manlier than Marlon Brando of Godfather renown? The Godfather, a drink made from mixed scotch and amaretto, is said to be one of his favorites, so if you go for this drink, you’re in good company. A traditional godfather is made over ice with equal parts scotch and amaretto. For a sweeter taste, you can increase the ratio of amaretto to scotch. You can even use whiskey in lieu of scotch if that’s your preference.

 Gin & Tonic

Another 2-ingredient cocktail, gin & tonic is equal parts gin and tonic water. Many people enjoy a lime wedge with their gin and tonic. While this is a great manly drink, keep in mind that gin is an acquired taste, so you probably shouldn’t drink this one for the first time in front of a bunch of your friends unless you want to get laughed out of your own home bar.

Dark and Stormy

Technically, a dark and stormy is a trademarked beverage, and to make it properly, you have to use Gosling’s black rum combined with ginger beer. To make your dark and stormy, fill a whiskey glass with ice. Add a shot or two of the black rum, then fill with ginger beer. Some people enjoy adding a splash of lime juice to the top to brighten the flavors, but no matter what, you can expect a sweet, spicy taste to your drink.

To make a great mixed drink, you don’t have to fiddle with tons of ingredients or overload yourself with so much hard alcohol that you can’t taste anything sweet. These recipes are all simple to make and delicious, and they still scream “masculine” from the rooftops. With these cocktails memorized, you’ll be the hit of your next party—and you’ll enjoy it, too.

Blogger

Education: Any

Average Salary: $24,000-$25,000/year

To the uninitiated, blogging may seem like a casual hobby, and for many, it is. Only 14% of bloggers manage to monetize their blogs, but for the ones who do, blogging can be extremely profitable. This is an especially good job for writers who want to be able to work from the comfort of their homes. Bloggers often start off blogging on the side and transition to blogging full-time. However, it’s also possible to get a job as a corporate blogger with a more steady income.

Speechwriter

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Salary: $130,000-$131,000/year

Politicians are often in the market for a good speechwriter who can take their political ideas and make them appeal to the masses. If you are strong in persuasive writing, this may be the perfect writing career for you. A job as a speechwriter is especially good for people with a passion for politics. While you can’t change a politician’s viewpoints, understanding the politics behind those viewpoints may make it easier to write compelling speeches.

Technical Writer

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Salary: $70,000-$71,000/year

If you like learning about how things work, a career as a technical writer might be perfect for you. Technical writers write things like the manuals that are included in electronics and explanations for technical companies. While this tends to be a drier form of writing, it can also be one of the more lucrative writing jobs out there.

Screenwriter

Education: Any

Average Salary: $60,000-$100,000/film

If you love TV shows and movies, a career as a screenwriter may be your dream. Salaries for screenwriters vary wildly based on how often you manage to get your writing purchased and where it’s produced. The biggest obstacle to becoming a screenwriter, of course, is getting an audience with the right people. However, if you’re one of the lucky few who manages to get your screenwriting in front of the right people, it can be an amazing career.

Grant Writer

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Salary: $45,000-$46,000/year

One of the major ways in which nonprofit organizations fund what they do is through grants. Grant writers are the ones who make this possible by submitting compelling proposals to grant funding institutions which explain why they should fund the organizations. Grant writers, therefore, have an incredibly important job. If you are passionate about the work nonprofits do and want to contribute, this can be a meaningful career.

Video Game Writer

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Salary: $82,000-$83,000/year

From storylines to character dialogues, video game writers work alongside the graphics team to tell a compelling story. The video game genre is unique, and the stories have to hold together even while players make their own decisions with the characters. For people who are passionate about the industry, being a video game writer can be a great career. Even better, it’s possible to be a video game writer without getting in front of the “right” people as indie video games become more and more popular.

Film Critic

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Salary: $82,000-$83,000/year

If you can write persuasive content, you love movies, and you have an opinion, a career as a film critic may be perfect for you. Film critics can have a huge impact on which movies people choose to see and which movies people choose to avoid. Well-known film critics may even get early access to movies, which can make it a fun career as long as you’re the type of person who can watch movies regularly.

Web Content Writer

Education: Any

Average Salary: $31,000-$32,000/year

Have you considered that everything you read on the internet, from descriptions of Amazon products to this very article, is written by someone? Believe it or not, most of the things you read on the internet were written with a purpose, not just by someone who likes writing but by someone who writes as a career. Some web content writers are hired by specific companies to continually write content for them, while others are freelance writers who write for several different companies. The latter is a great career if you enjoy the flexibility of working from home, while the former is great for people who want the benefits of working for a university, for example, while also writing on a regular basis.

Greeting Card Writer

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Salary: $51,000-$52,000/year

When you pick up a Hallmark greeting card, you probably don’t put a lot of thought into who wrote the sentiment in there. However, greeting card writers have an important job. The greeting card industry is huge and, as different holidays gain popularity, it’s ever-expanding. Greeting card writers have to be able to write succinctly and with their heart.

Translator

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Salary: $44,000-$45,000/year

If your love is for languages rather than specifically for writing, a career as a translator might be just the ticket. In order to be a translator, you have to be fluent in multiple languages. However, for people with that particular skill, it can be a great job. You can influence almost any industry as a decent translator, whether it’s education or gaming.

Once upon a time, careers for writers were limited to journalism or being an author. However, as we fall deeper and deeper into the digital age, careers for writers are on the rise. It’s entirely possible, now, to get a good-paying career as a writer, typically with a BA or less.

Veterinarian

Education: Doctorate

Average Pay: $88,000-$89,000/year

The most popular career choice for animal lovers—and the one most kids know to shoot for—is that of a veterinarian. Veterinarians are in charge of keeping animals healthy. There are two main types of veterinarians: small animal veterinarian and large animal veterinarians. Small animal veterinarians help with household pets—most commonly, cats and dogs. Large animal veterinarians, on the other hand, may help with farm animals or with any of the larger animals kept in zoos. A job as a veterinarian may be right for you if you like science and figuring out how things work and if you’re not squeamish about illness or blood.

Zookeeper

Education: High school diploma or equivalent

Average Pay: $21,000-$22,000/year

If you want to deal with more exotic animals on a regular basis, a zookeeper might be the right job for you. Being a zookeeper allows you to get up close and personal with animals from all over the world. It’s a great job if you enjoy being outdoors and on your feet on a daily basis. Being a zookeeper is a physically demanding job, so it’s perfect if you’re young and fit. These days, there’s also a public speaking element to the job, as educating visitors is a large part of the modern zookeeper’s job.

Animal Trainer

Education: High school diploma or equivalent

Average Pay: $33,000-$34,000/year

If you have always “had a way” with animals, becoming an animal trainer can help you impart that wisdom on other people and ensuring animals have the care they need in their homes. Most trainers receive on-the-job training. While you may think of dog trainers as the most common type, there are all sorts of animal trainers, from ones who help pet owners train their pets to trainers who prepare working animals for their jobs to circus or zoo trainers.

Groomer

Education: High school diploma or equivalent

Average Pay: $30,000-$31,000/year

If you have good attention-to-detail and a calming presence, being a groomer might be a great job for you. Another job that typically trains you as you go, a groomer keeps animals looking neat and prevents things like overlong nails or matted fur. To be good at this job, you have to be able to listen to your client and meet their vision for their pet.

Zoologist

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Pay: $61,000-$62,000/year

If you’re the type of person who loves learning about how animals live in their environment and communicate with each other, being a zoologist may be the perfect career for you. Zoologists are the people who make new discoveries about animals, as well as about the effects humans and animals have on one another. You might be a great zoologist if you enjoy watching wildlife documentaries and are good at carefully observing behavior over long periods of time.

Dog Walker

Education: Any Level

Average Pay: $30,000-$31,000/year

If the idea of sitting behind a desk day after day bores you, being a dog walker might be a great career for you. Dog walkers are on their feet every day, rain or shine. It’s a great way to get exercise and explore the outdoors in your area. Keep in mind that most dog walkers have to work in a city and walk multiple dogs to earn a decent salary.

Animal Nutritionist

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Pay: $60,000-$61,000/year

If you like the science of how different foods fuel bodies, you might enjoy a career as an animal nutritionist. Animal nutritionists may work in farms, research facilities, laboratories, zoos, and wildlife rehabilitation facilities. Their goal is to make sure animals are eating the best foods for their bodies and that their owners are educated about how to keep these animals healthy. As an animal nutritionist, your job is to be educated about the dietary needs of a whole bunch of animals, which is perfect for the person who absorbs information easily.

Wildlife Rehabilitator

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Pay: $20,000-$40,000 if paid

If conservation and animal rescue interests you, a job as a wildlife rehabilitator may be a great experience. Wildlife rehabilitators take in injured animals and attempt to prepare them to live on their own in the wilderness again. It takes grit, determination, and an understanding of animals’ natural habitats. It also takes a special heart, as you have to be willing to say goodbye to the animal at the end of their rehabilitation. While a lot of wildlife rehabilitation positions are volunteer positions, there are paid positions available as well.

Animal Cruelty Investigator

Education: High School diploma or equivalent

Average Pay: $33,000-$34,000/year

It takes a special individual to investigate claims of animal cruelty. However, if you have the ability to see some of the sadder walks of life without taking on those stresses, being an animal cruelty investigator is an important job. It allows you to help out animals who otherwise can’t speak for themselves in potentially cruel situations.

Marine Biologist

Education: Bachelor’s Degree

Average Pay: $51,000-$52,000

The seas and the oceans are some of our least-explored animals on the planet, and the animals that live in the water are still largely a mystery to us. Marine biologists study aquatic life, increasing our understanding of how these animals work and live. If you like science and studying and also enjoy being out in the water, this might be a great job for you.

There are tons of awesome jobs available for people who love animals. At any education level, you can find a job that will allow you to work closely with animals and learn more about them—and about yourself. When selecting the right job for you, though you should start with your passions, you should also consider how you like to work. Do you like to stand all day? Would you prefer to work behind a desk? These are important questions to ask yourself when choosing your perfect animal career.

It’ll Get You on a Routine

Routines aren’t just important for kids. But when you live alone, it’s easy to fall out of your routine. It’s easy to wake up, turn on the PlayStation, and find yourself still on the couch at midnight. When you have a dog, you also have the responsibilities of a dog owner. Your dog expects you to let them out at certain times of the day, to feed them at certain times of the day, and to take them on walks regularly. This ensures that you get up throughout your day, stretch, and reflect on what’s going on.

Not only do dogs get you on a routine, but they prevent you from getting into a rut where nothing’s getting done. When you have a dog who will get into things, you’re less likely to leave a half-eaten pizza on the couch or an overflowing trashcan in the kitchen. This sort of routine living can help you stave off the depression that can sometimes come as a result of living alone.  

It’ll Help You Get Out of the House

Dogs don’t like to stay inside all day. If you care about your dog and want to be a good pet owner, then you’ll naturally fulfill their need to go on walks every day. This, in turn, means that you’ll go on walks every day. Since 30 minutes of exercise daily is recommended by the Department of Health and Human Services, this is a great way to help you take care of yourself. It’s easy to talk yourself out of going for a walk for your own sake, but when your dog is staring longingly at their leash, it’s harder to veg out in front of Mad Men.

It’ll Teach You to Consider Someone Else

When you live alone, the only person you have to consider is yourself: Your needs, your expectations, and your desires. But to grow as a man, you need to consider other people as well. Having a dog who needs you to be at your best will teach you to consider someone else before yourself. It will teach you responsibility and empathy. It will give you a reason to get out of bed when you’re having a rough day and something to work towards other than your own goals.

It’ll Make You More Attractive

When you have a dog, you automatically look more nurturing to potential mates. If you’re single but on the hunt for a partner, having a dog can only help your situation. People love dogs, and they love guys who are great with animals. Potential long-term partners can see how you are with your dog and envision how you might be with kids one day. If you are looking for a long-term partner, you might want to consider a hypoallergenic dog just to ensure there aren’t any issues down the road.

It’ll Give You Someone to Come Home To

Even if you love being single, there are days when being a single dude can be lonely. Dogs make it a much less lonely existence. A perpetual best friend, your dog will always be excited to see you when you come home. They’ll be happy to cuddle you on the couch at night—and won’t even fight you for control of the remote—and they’ll listen to you as you talk about your day.

It Will Make You Feel Safer

You don’t have to get a large breed of dog to feel safer with a dog at home. Thieves are less likely to rob a home with a dog because when your dog is barking at them, they don’t know how large your dog is or how likely your dog is to bite. Dogs also have great hearing and are apt to alert you to someone else in your home. If you struggle with anxiety at night or when you’re alone, a dog can help calm that and make you feel safer and more comfortable.

Dogs truly are a man’s best friend. For guys who live alone, there’s no better choice than to adopt a dog into your life. Not only will they be fun to hang out with, but they’ll also provide so many benefits to your life. Dogs make you a better, stronger, happier, and healthier man. What more do you need?

One of the hardest parts of working from home is organizing your schedule. Without the need to fill your hours, 9-5, every day, it’s easy to become distracted. While there were always days you didn’t want to show up to work, now those days are accompanied by the ability to lounge in your pajamas and binge BoJack Horseman. Without a supervisor hanging over your shoulder, it can be hard to even know where to start. That’s why it’s important to have an organizational system in place. Keeping your work organized and on some sort of schedule can keep procrastination at bay and ensure you get your work done on time.

Of course, everyone’s workflow is a little different. If you’re trying to figure out how to organize your work from home schedule, here are a few different ways that you can organize it. Try them out to determine what works best for you.

Block Scheduling

Think about when you were in high school. Your day was broken not into hours, but into blocks. You had the start of your day, when you got ready for school and ate breakfast. Then you had small chunks of time when you would attend each class, after which you would pack up all your stuff and physically move to the next class. If you didn’t get your math work done in math class, it didn’t bleed into science class—you just picked it back up next time you had math class.

That’s the idea behind block scheduling. Perfect for the work-at-home parent who’s also trying to get the house cleaned and run children to after school activities, block scheduling allows you to focus on one type of activity for a period of time and then let it go after. If your kitchen doesn’t get cleaned during your “clean the house block,” it’s okay—you’ll do it tomorrow. Block scheduling allows you to get stuff done in all aspects of your life, and can help you figure out work/life balance and let go of some of your anxiety. For more information about block scheduling, check out this video.

Daily Goals

Another way to organize your schedule is to set yourself daily goals. The best way to do this is to keep a notebook on your end table. Each night before bed, write down the three most important things for you to accomplish the next day. Limit yourself to three, because three is always doable. If you start making a list of 15 things and only accomplish 5 of them, you’ll end your day thinking you didn’t do good enough. You’re also more likely to focus on quickly doing things that matter less so that you can check “more” off your to-do list.

If you have just three items on your to-do list, you’re likely to buckle down and focus on doing those three things correctly. The best rule is to not put things on your to-do list that are going to get done anyway. If you always make your bed in the morning, that doesn’t need to make your list of 3 items. If your kid has a piano recital that you’re definitely not going to miss, that doesn’t need to go on, either. Your three items should be items that have upcoming due dates or that you’ve been avoiding. Keeping a list of daily goals doesn’t mean that you have to stop after you do those three things, but it means that, no matter what else happens with your day, if you get those three items done, you feel accomplished.

Keep Deadlines Visible

If sticking to or remembering your deadlines is your biggest issue, then the best organizational system for you might be one that keeps all of your deadlines visible. Get a giant whiteboard calendar that you can write your deadlines on. This can help you stay focused throughout the day. When you finish one task, you can glance up and see what the next upcoming due date is. If you don’t have many upcoming deadlines, then you know it’s a good time to run errands or clean the house.

You can also set yourself fake deadlines. For example, maybe you have an article due on Friday, but you want to build some cushion into your life. In that case, you can write yourself a Wednesday due date on your calendar to ensure you get to the project early. That way, if some sort of emergency comes up, you have a little extra room in your schedule to get things done.

Organizing your schedule is a challenge when you work from home, but there are ways to tackle it that will help you stay on track with your deadlines and lead a more stress-free life. Get back to being able to head to the park for a warm afternoon by knowing exactly how much you need to accomplish and exactly when it needs to get accomplished by!

Berserk

Berserk isn’t for the faint of heart. Graphically violent, it can be a bit tough to read at times. But the serialized manga, set in a medieval-esque fantasy world, follows Guts and Griffith. The manga explores heavy-hitting concepts like good and evil, and can go pretty dark in places. It delves into the heart of human nature. If you’re looking for a gritty manga that punches into the heart of humanity, Berserk is the one for you.

One Piece

On first inspection, One Piece seems like your traditional fight manga. The story is about Monkey D. Luffy and his journey to become the Pirate King. As you journey with him to locate a crew and a ship and to fight off opposing pirates, you learn more about not just Luffy’s backstory, but the backstories of everyone in his crew (and many of his opponents). The manga has the rare ability to make you laugh at its ridiculousness on one page and then cry at its heart on another page. There’s also a long-running television show by the same name, so if you find that you like the manga, the show is a fun next step.

Attack on Titan

No manga list would be complete without Attack on Titan, one of the best-selling series in the genre. The story centers around Eren Jaeger, a young man who lives in a world where humanity is separated from violent titans. As the manga continues, you find that all is not what it seems. Darkly political, Attack on Titan explores themes of power and whether or not might makes right.

Detective Conan

Also known as Case Closed, Detective Conan follows Jimmy Kudo, a high school detective who is investigating a large crime syndicate. They capture him and force him to drink a potion which turns him into a child. The rest of the manga follows him as he changes his name to Conan Edogawa and tries to keep his true identity hidden. It’s a fun series, filled with mystery and intrigue as well as general high school angst.

One Punch Man

Sometimes, you just want to watch people fighting each other. That’s what One Punch Man is about. The premise is simple: It takes One Punch Man one punch to destroy basically any bad guy he comes up against. Yet tucked beneath the silly superhero premise is a dark story about depression and loneliness. It explores what it means to be successful—and what happens when success comes without effort.

Monster

Monster is about a brain surgeon who is dissatisfied with the fact that the rich and powerful get treated more quickly than the poor and vulnerable. He saves a young man who turns out to be a serial killer created by the government to be the perfect soldier. The rest of the manga revolves around Tenma trying to fix that wrong by removing the serial killer from the world.

Trigun

Trigun explores the life of a man with a 60 billion dollar bounty on his head. Vash the Stampede is accused of having destroyed the city of July, but with retrograde amnesia, he can’t actually remember what happened. He travels with two friends, and because of the bounty, destruction follows in his wake as he tries to learn who he is and what his past means. Deeply suspenseful, Trigun is perfect for the guy who likes to unpack a broken psyche.  

Boku No Hero Academia

What if everyone around you had superpowers—but you didn’t? Boku No Hero Academia explores this dynamic. Izuku Midoriya doesn’t have any superpowers, but he still wants to become a superhero, and even gets enrolled in a school for heroes in training despite his lack of powers. It’s a heartwarming manga about the power of determination and how true heroism comes from within.

Great Teacher Onizuka

There are plenty of stories about privileged teachers going into impoverished areas to “rescue” the students. That’s not what Great Teacher Onizuka (GTO) is about. GTO is what would happen if a previous gang member were to choose to become a high school teacher. Eikichi Onizuka has a dark past and sometimes does dark things. Rife with sexual fantasies and questions about what is and is not moral, GTO explores the heart of what it means to be a guy today.

Manga is fun to read. Each story can be read quickly, but that doesn’t make them any less powerful. They draw you in, begging you to turn the page and get to the next story in the series. Fortunately—or unfortunately—for those of us who like them, there always seems to be one more right around the bend.

Practice Correct Terminology

One of the most important things you can do for your daughter is to teach her the correct terminology for her body. When you use slang terms, you’re teaching your daughter that her private parts are embarrassing or uncomfortable, which can make it harder for her to seek treatment if she’s having any sort of issue. You can also ingrain in her a sense of shame, which can make it hard for young girls to speak out against sexual abuses.

Of course, in order to use the correct terminology in a conversation with your daughter, you first have to be comfortable saying it. Practice in a mirror until you can say “vulva” without wincing—or, worse, laughing. No girl wants to feel like she’s being laughed at, so work at it until you can say the terms clinically.

Normalize the Conversation

Chances are, your daughter is just as uncomfortable having this conversation as you are—maybe even more-so. She may even try to duck out of the conversation by saying things like “I learned about this in school” or “yeah, my friends already told me about this.” While it can be tempting to let it go at that, the truth is that you don’t know exactly what your daughter already knows—and what she might have missed—unless you talk it through with her. Additionally, having the conversation is a good way to show you can talk about those things.

Normalize the conversation by saying, “Yeah, I know you might have heard some stuff about puberty and sex at school or through your friends. This is something that you’re going to hear a lot about in the next couple of years. It’s a big change, and you and all your friends are dealing with it. But I want to talk to you, too, because I want to be sure you know not just what’s happening but why it’s happening and how to take care of yourself and keep yourself healthy as you get older.”

This way of framing the conversation shows why it’s your purview to talk to her about it: That you’re not desperate to chat with her about her privates, but that you’re instead trying to teach her self-care and healthy habits.

Discuss the Basics

It can be easy to get caught up in the details of one aspect of a conversation with your daughter and forget other things that might be going on. There’s a lot to discuss when it comes to puberty and sexual health. In order to make sure you get to everything, you should come prepared with a list of what you need to discuss.

Keep in mind that this doesn’t have to be one discussion. You can break it into a few different discussions, leaving your daughter time to digest one conversation before you have another. But by the time your daughter hits middle school, you should at least have covered:

• What puberty is and how her body is going to change
• Hygiene as an adult, including the need for more frequent showers and deodorant, as well as things like bras and sanitary napkins
• Sexual and reproductive health
• The concept of consent, and what to do if consent is broken
• Your expectations of her now that she’s becoming older

Bring a Book

There are plenty of books that explain everything from puberty to where babies come from, written for all sorts of age groups. Go to a book store and flip through a couple until you find one that explains things in a way you’re comfortable with.

While we don’t recommend throwing a book at your daughter and expecting her to figure it out for herself, books can be a good visual aid for your discussions. They can also be a good way for your daughter to look for answers to questions she may have but may feel uncomfortable bringing up with you.

Answer Questions Matter-of-Factly

Your daughter may not have any questions when you’re done talking with her, or she may not want to ask them. But if she does bring any questions to the table, be ready to answer them—no matter how uncomfortable they get—in a matter-of-fact manner. Your teenage daughter saying, “What would you do if you found out I was pregnant?” isn’t meant to make you fly off the handle and force her on birth control. Instead, it’s her way of checking in to see where your boundaries are and if she can trust you with the uncomfortable parts of life. If your daughter asks you uncomfortable questions, take it as a test in whether or not she can trust you with those parts. As a single dad, you need her to trust you, which means you first need to be trustworthy.

Go into the conversation prepared with answers to questions like, “What if I get an STD?” or “What if I get pregnant?” or “What if I never start my period?” If you’ve thought about those questions ahead of time, you’ll be prepared if she brings them up in a conversation.

Leave Her with Supplies

One of the best things you can do for your daughter is end your conversation with her by providing her with a dopp kit filled with the types of things she may need now that she’s older, including sanitary napkins, tampons, deodorant, and a shaving kit. Let her know that she can come to you when she needs refills on any of these items.

Being a single dad is always going to be hard. When you’re faced with teaching a daughter something that you wish her mother could teach her, it’s even harder. It’s important to remember that when you’re all your daughter has, you have to step up to the plate. Sometimes, that means setting aside your own discomfiture to ensure she has the education she needs to make informed decisions about her body and her life.

Umbrella Academy

New to Netflix, with only one season available right now, Umbrella Academy is knock-your-socks-off good television. It sticks closely enough to the source material that fans of the comic will enjoy it while managing to tell a compelling long-form story for viewers who enjoy seeing characters unfold over time. The first season covers a mere 8 days, but with flashbacks and flash-forwards, you know years of the characters’ lives by the time you reach its conclusion.

Smallville

Though a bit dated, Smallville stood out by giving us a Clark Kent who had not fully formed into Superman. It was a more vulnerable Clark Kent than we’d seen up until that point, complete with a sympathetic Lex Luthor. Even as you watched the show, knowing Luthor would turn out evil at some point, you found yourself rooting for things to change—rooting for the bit of good you saw inside him. It’s a great show that can make you feel as much for the supervillain as the superhero, and we loved it for that reason.

Arrow

The original Green Arrow was a lighthearted cross between Batman and Robin Hood. Arrow gives us a darker, grittier version—less Robin Hood, more Dexter. Arrow is also interesting because it rarely, if ever, uses superpowers, instead giving supervillains more realistic versions of their powers and relying heavily on hand-to-hand combat. It makes it feel more like something that could really happen, and we find that captivating.

Legion

For a mind-bending, psychologically intense version of a superhero TV show, Legion is the show to watch. Its exploration of what is real and what is not through the use of a supremely unreliable narrator is fascinating and does something entirely new with television. While it is, at times, almost unclear what’s going on, that’s sort of the point, and we respect the direction the show has taken so far.

Runaways

What would you do if you found out that your parents were supervillains? This is the question that was asked in the Runaways comics, and it’s further explored in the television show. Unlike the comics, the TV-version of Runaways has parents who are, at times, sympathetic, but who are also doing unambiguously evil things. It’s an interesting show to watch, made more so by the origin-story feel of the teens discovering their powers and the secrets about their parents.  

Jessica Jones

Gritty, dark, and full of dark humor, Jessica Jones is a show about a former superhero who is trying to leave that life behind and start working as a detective instead. Even as she’s drawn back into the world she’s trying to leave behind, we see Jones suffering through real-life trials, including a dysfunctional family, addiction, and a haunting past. It’s a show that keeps you on the edge of your seat, not only because of the plot but because you want to see Jones feel better.

Batman, the Animated Series

Batman, the Animated Series has long been lauded one of the best superhero shows of all times, and it’s no wonder. It’s one of the few renditions of Batman where we get to see more of his villains than Catwoman and the Joker, but gives the viewer long-running storylines with other villains like Clayface and Man-Bat. The also didn’t pull their punches—rare for an animated series—and you actually see deaths in this show. While that might not make it a great show to throw on for your little ones, it makes it perfect for an adult audience.

Supergirl

In the same universe as Arrow comes Supergirl, an exploration of Clark Kent’s cousin, Kara, aka Supergirl. Lighter than Arrow, Supergirl is a superhero show with wit and heart at its core. Kara is naturally charming and interesting to watch, and her family relationships are sweet and compelling. In contrast to Arrow, Supergirl has tons of superpowers—and the special effects to go along with them. For an inspirational superhero show, full of diversity and warmth and love, Supergirl is the place to go.

Gotham

Like Arrow, Gotham stands out by being a superhero show in which none of the heroes have special powers. They’re heroes simply because they have the heart and grit to stand up against the bad guys. It also has a great cast, including rare child actors who can stand up to the heavy nature of the show and really make it work. It also has no throwaway episodes. Every single episode of the show feels important to the plot, unlike in the villain-of-the-day shows of yore.

The Punisher

From House to Dexter, Hollywood has been playing with the concept of the antihero for a while now—and audiences are eating it up. The Punisher is the antihero of the superhero universe, and it rises beautifully to the challenge. It plays with the concept of morality, with nothing in the show being a straight black and white judgment calls. Meanwhile, it gives you an origin story for Jigsaw, which feels fresh and exciting.

Superhero TV shows have come a long way over the years. No longer episodic monster-of-the-day shows, today’s superhero TV shows have grit and heart. And while we still respect early shows, like Smallville, for getting us on this path, we also love some of the newest offerings in the genre.

Do Your Homework

Potential hiring managers want to know that the person they hired is dedicated to their business. To prove that you will be dedicated, the best thing you can do is know what the business is. Research the company you’re applying to. Check out their latest projects, and try to get an idea of what they stand for. While you should definitely read the job description in full and ensure you know what they’re expecting out of someone in the position you’re applying to, you should also engage with their website so that you know plenty about them as well. If they have a Meet Our Staff page—usually connected in some way to the About Us page—it may even help you put faces to the names you’ve been reading, which can make you a little less nervous come interview day.  

Prepare Answers to Common Questions

One of the most nerve-wracking aspects of a job interview is the impending mystery. You never know exactly what an interviewer might ask. And one of the worst feelings in a job interview is pulling a complete blank when your interviewer asks a question.

Instead of throwing your hands up in the air and thinking, “I can’t possibly prepare for this,” think of the interview more like a test. In high school, you didn’t know exactly what the teachers were going to ask, but you could prepare by studying common topics, and while they might throw you a curve ball or two, you could still be confident that you’d do all right. Job interviews are the same way. You might not know exactly what they’re going to ask, but you know your industry and your experiences, so you can prepare yourself to talk about those. There are even lists online of common interview questions. These are great to use with a friend to mock-interview as you lead up to the big day.

Have a List of Questions to Ask Them

At the end of every job interview, your interviewers will ask if you have any questions for them. About the worst thing you can do at that point in the interview is say that you don’t have any questions, as it shows a lack of curiosity and investment in their company. In fact, you should ask 2-3 questions at the end of the interview. However, you should prepare a lot more than that. Sometimes, they’ll answer questions that you had throughout the course of the interview, so you’ll need to go to your B-list—or even C-list—questions. Good questions are open-ended and can’t just be answered with one word—so try “What would a potential day look like in this position?” not “Is it a busy office?”

Don’t Plan Other Activities

You should leave your interview day wide open. It’s impossible to tell how long an interview will go. Some companies only allot a certain amount of time per interview, no matter how well it goes. Other companies plan longer interviews or even invite interviewees out for a meal after the interview is over. You want to be a Yes-man on your interview day, so don’t plan to go out with drinks with a couple of friends after the interview, because then you risk either having to renege on your plans with your friends or having to say no to your interviewers. Instead, plan celebratory activities for the day after your interview.

Dress for Success

This time last year, we wrote a blog post on how to dress for a job interview. The same tenants apply now as then: You should dress in an impressive outfit, being sure to be clean, tidy, and scent-free. You might also consider bringing a professional-looking notebook with you to take your notes in, as well as a pen sleeve with an extra pen in it. These little touches can help you stand out in your interviewer’s eyes as someone professional.

Be Comfortable with Social Expectations

To avoid playing awkward musical chairs when you arrive for your interview, you should go in knowing about certain expectations. For example, you should start and end your interview with a handshake. Because that requires your right hand, you should carry your notebook and anything else you bring with you, in your left hand so that your right hand is free. You should also be prepared to send a thank-you note to your interviewers after the interview.

Be Flexible

Interviews rarely go exactly the way you expect they will. To keep from becoming flustered when you’re asked to do something unexpected or asked a question you weren’t prepared to answer, enter the job interview with an attitude that you’re prepared to roll with the punches. Keep in mind that anything from a late interviewer to a collaborative activity with other interviewees could be a way to test you. Also note that interviewers often check in to see how you interacted with the secretary out front or the doorman, so be prepared to be the best version of yourself from the moment you get on the premises.

Job interviews are an important part of life. Like anything else in life, practice makes perfect, so the more job interviews you go on throughout the course of your career, the more comfortable you’ll be with them. But it’s always good to refresh yourself on how to rock your next job interview.

Use FaceTime

When we were kids, traveling meant a complete disconnect. But that’s not how it is anymore. With the invention of things like Skype and FaceTime, you can have real-time, face-to-face conversations with your kids even when you’re thousands of miles away. Try having a video call with your kids at least once a day to stay connected when you’re away from home. Even if your kid is still a baby, seeing your face every day will ensure they know who you are when you get home. And with older kids, daily video calls are an important way to show them that they remain your priority.

Record Bedtime Stories

One thing that parents who travel often miss is putting their kids to bed. But apps like [url=https://thenextweb.com/apps/2014/01/23/caribu-bedtime-reading-app-youre-away-kids/]Caribu[/url] allow you to read a bedtime story with your kid even when you’re not there. It shows your kids both the pictures and your face, and when you point to something in the story on your end, it lights up on your kid’s end so that they can see what you’re pointing out. Since studies show the [url=https://www.scholastic.com/parents/family-life/parent-child/importance-reading-bedtime-stories-to-big-kids.html]importance of reading with your kids[/url] to promote reading skills and increase the parent-child bond, this is a truly innovative app.

Help Your Kids Visualize Your Travels

Kids want to stay connected with their parents. You can help them by using a big calendar to show them when you’re leaving—and, more importantly, when you’ll big back. Your spouse can help them mark off the days you’re gone on the calendar, which can help them with the separation time and also help them learn that, while you do have to leave, you’ll always come back.

You can also get either a magnetic map or a whiteboard map and physically show your children where you’re going to be. Talk to them about the places you go and the things you see when you get there to help them feel like they’re on the journey with you. You can also take pictures or buy postcards when you’re gone so that your kids have nice souvenirs of your travels.

Spend Quality Time When You’re Home

Another important way to stay connected to your kids is to make the most of the time when you are home. Sure, you’re working when you’re gone, so it can be tempting to want to come home and relax. But from you’re kids’ perspective, they’ve missed out on time while you were gone, so when you’re home, they should be your responsibility. Do your TV-watching or book-reading at night on your work days so that when you’re home, you can enjoy getting out and having fun with your kids.

Being away from your kids during the week can be hard. But it doesn’t have to doom your relationship or force you to miss out on your kids’ milestones. By prioritizing staying connected to your family, you can have the father-child relationship you’ve always wanted to have with your kids, even when you spend time far away from them.

Get Your Applications in on Time

The first step to getting the most money possible towards your university is to make sure all of your university applications are in on time. Check with the universities your teenager is applying to in order to make sure admissions applications are in on time. You’ll also want to file for federal or provincial financial aid. Here in Canada, that involves contacting the organization that heads financial aid in your province or territory. In the United States, it involves filling out the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Every single school has a different FAFSA priority filing deadline, so rather than check in with each school individually, your best bet is to have your student file their deadline as close to the time when FAFSA opens as possible.

Getting all your applications in on time ensures you receive the maximum amount of federal grants and university scholarships possible. Most schools have no leeway when it comes to applications, and missing a deadline by a day can mean a difference of thousands of dollars in aid.

Understand the Value of Scholarships

Scholarships are the biggest difference between students who are crippled by loan debt and students who walk away with minimal debt—or even loan free.

One truth about scholarships is that small scholarships add up. Winning a $500 scholarship can be easier than winning a $5,000 scholarship, since more scholarship applicants may receive scholarships in the lower brackets. So, while you should still apply for the larger scholarships if you meet the criteria, you should also apply for as many scholarships as you qualify for, even if the denominations aren’t huge.

Many students apply for a lot of scholarships in their senior year of high school and wind up with a large portion of their freshman year paid for but neglect the subsequent years. Throughout your student’s college career, starting in high school, they should be spending 10-20 hours a week filling out scholarship applications. Teach your child to treat scholarship hunting like a part-time job for maximum reward.

Locate the Right Scholarships

So how do you find scholarships to apply for?

Your student’s first stop should be their high school guidance counselor. While some guidance counselors are better than others, in general, their job is to help your student get on the right track to college success. This includes being up-to-date on the best local scholarships in the area, as well as on nearby universities that give specific aid to specific students.

After talking to the high school guidance counselor, your student’s next step should be to a free scholarship tool online, such as ScholarshipOwl or FastWeb. Google “free scholarship search tool” to find scholarship search engines to help your student. Keep in mind that while some scholarships are GPA or extra-curricular focused, your student should search for scholarships even if their grades haven’t always been the best. They may be amazed by what they can find for students like them.

Just keep an eye out for scammers. Your student should never pay to apply for a scholarship. A quick google search of the scholarship your student is applying for can help you locate which ones are legitimate—and which ones are just trying to get information from your son or daughter.

Talk to Financial Aid

The financial aid office at the university your student plans to attend should be your next step in the search for financial aid. No only can they tell you the deadlines for their specific university, but they can also point you in the direction of university-specific scholarships your student may be eligible to apply for. Having a good relationship with the financial aid office may mean that they’re more likely to select your child’s name when choosing recipients to donor-funded scholarships at their school in the future as well.

While everyone wants to find ways to make attending university cost less, until that day, your goal as a dad is to ensure your kid gets through college as debt-free as possible. Helping them tackle the admission and scholarship application process makes a huge difference. It can be hard to push our students to apply for scholarships when they’re busy with their senior year, but when you keep in mind that doing so can spell the difference in thousands of dollars of student loan debt, it’s worth it.

Souped-Up Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup

Grilled cheese and tomato soup is a pretty classic dad-combo, especially on a cold winter day when no one wants to leave the house. But if you want it to be a little less of a cop-out (without it being much harder to make), add some fresh veggies and meat to the grilled cheese before you make it. We especially like a little bit of baby spinach, sliced tomato, and deli ham. If your family likes kick, Pepperjack cheese can punch it up a bit, too!

• Bread - $2.50
• Cheese - $2.50
• Spinach - $1.50
• Tomato - $1.00
• Ham - $3.00
• Tomato Soup - $1.00

TOTAL COST: $11.50

Crock Pot Boiled Dinner

If you’re willing to spend your 10 minutes of prep time in the morning rather than after work, this crock pot meal will change your life. Serve your family fresh root veggies and succulent ham without any real effort. All you have to do is combine the following ingredients in a crock pot and leave it on low all day. You’ll come home to a house that smells great and a meal that tastes amazing.

• Ham steak - $3.00
• Cabbage - $1.00
• Fresh Carrots -$1.00
• Fresh Turnip -$1.50
• Onion - $1.50
• Vegetable Broth -$2.50
• Lipton Onion Soup Mix - $1.50

TOTAL COST: $12

Buffalo Tempeh Sandwiches

Want a meal that’s insanely easy and tastes as good as anything you could get in a restaurant? Cut some Tempeh into strips and pan-fry them. Then mix them up with some buffalo sauce and layer it on a hamburger bun with fresh avocado and some ranch coleslaw, and serve it with some tater tots.

• Tempeh - $3.00
• Buffalo Sauce -$3.00
• Avocado -$1.00
• Cole Slaw -$2.00
• Ranch Dressing -$2.50
• Hamburger Buns - $1.50
• Tater Tots - $2.00

TOTAL COST: $15

Barbecue Mini Pies

Here’s an easy one for the BBQ lover in you. Brown some hamburger, mix in some BBQ sauce and corn, and then make it into 4 small individual pies using Pillsbury pie crusts cut into quarters. Technically, you have to bake it for half an hour after, but the amount of time you spend in the kitchen with it is well under 15 minutes, meaning you can get it into the oven and then go change and decide what you’re watching on the TV in time for dinner.

• Ground Beef - $4.50
• BBQ Sauce - $2.00
• Canned Corn - $1.00
• Pie Crusts - $2.00

TOTAL COST: $9.50

Wrapping Up

You don’t have to slave over a hot stove to feed your family at night, and you don’t have to resort to fast food. For less than the cost of feeding your whole family at McDonalds, you can make a delicious meal and spend fewer than 15 minutes in the kitchen. It’s every guy’s dream!

What to Expect When She’s Expecting

What To Expect When You’re Expecting is one of the go-to pregnancy books on the market, taking women through pregnancy and the first couple months of baby’s life. While there are a couple pages in the book that tell the woman to “mark this and have your husband read it,” the book is largely targeted towards women. What to Expect When She’s Expecting is the male equivalent of the book. With a taste of humor worked into its pages, it tells you what to expect from your wife over the next nine months while also acknowledging your very real emotions and fears during this transition period. As guys, we don’t like to talk about how scary it can be to watch our wives change into strangers while waiting to meet children we can’t begin to dream of. What to Expect When She’s Expecting will help you acknowledge those feelings and work through them before your little one gets here.

Babies and Other Hazards of Sex

Granted, this one’s a little dated, but Dave Berry’s comic genius stands the test of time. If you’re the kind of guy who likes to keep a sense of humor about parenting, Babies and Other Hazards of Sex is a fun read. The parenting advice is the sort you should take with a grain of salt. But if you’re looking for a parenting book from the perspective of a down-to-earth Dad—the sort of book that makes you laugh and think “yeah, okay, at least I’m not alone in this journey”—this is the one for you.

The Baby Owner’s Manual

Kids don’t come with an owner’s manual… unless you buy this book. Less of a joke than you’d think based on the title, this book is really useful for guys who weren’t expected to be proactive dads growing up. It has detailed diagrams of things you need help with but feel dumb asking about—like how to swaddle a baby properly. And while kids are never as predictable as this book would lead you to believe, it can help you figure out the “basics” that, as men, we were never taught.

The New Dad’s Survival Guide

This book covers pregnancy, birth, and early babyhood. If you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t like reading a lot of psycho-babble—if you prefer a gritty, down-to-earth instruction book of what to expect and what to do when—you’ll love this book. It’s not overly scientific, but is an easy, comprehensive read that you’ll enjoy even if you’re a guy who’s not really big on reading.

Calm the F*** Down: The Only Parenting Technique You’ll Ever Need

Whether your preferred phrase is “don’t sweat the small stuff” or “pick your battles,” the truth is that parenting is a whole lot of choosing when to discipline your kids and when to just let them be. Unlike some of the other joke books, this one provides not only witty compassion for parents struggling through some of parenting’s hardest moments, but also advice from experts on how to get through those moments. More often than not, though, the best advice is “wait—this too, shall pass.” If you’re the kind of guy who struggles with not being in control, parenting will be a struggle. This book will help.

Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters

There’s nothing quite like the relationship between dads and their daughters. Daughters who have strong relationships with their dads have been shown to have higher self-esteem and make better relationship choices, among other boons. Unfortunately, it can be hard for dads to connect to their daughters, especially if their daughters are “girly girls” and the dads are “manly men.” So how do you bridge that gap? Written specifically with this bond in mind, pediatrician Meg Meeker helps you figure it out.

Better Dads, Stronger Sons

The relationship between dads and their sons used to be limited to dads teaching their sons how to shave or encouraging their sons to take on the family business. Like other parent/child relationships, the relationships between dads and their sons are evolving. But what do you do when your son isn’t how you imagined he’d be? This book helps men increase their self-confidence as dads and learn how to teach young boys to become men of character.

Dude, You’re Gonna Be a Dad

We all know that pregnancy is hard on the woman. It’s hard on the man, too, not least because he spends nine months walking on eggshells around his wife. You don’t have to be that guy. This book will help you figure out what to do—and, importantly, what not to do—while your wife is pregnant. Avoid saying the things that will leave her sobbing on the bathroom floor during her pregnancy, and learn how to continue growing your marriage while dealing with the mystical bump that seems to be growing between the two of you.

Toddlers Are A**holes

If you thought parenting a baby was hard, you clearly didn’t know anything about the toddler years. It’s easy to take toddlerhood—and the many associated tantrums—personally, seeing your child’s behavior as a reflection of your parenting failures. This book will give you a little perspective and a whole lot of laughter. Because toddlers are jerks, and yours is no different, but when you see how developmentally normal it is, you’ll start resenting it a little less and finding humor in it a little more.

Fowl Language

Based on a webcomic by the same name, the Fowl Language books use drawing of ducks to illustrate what it’s like to be a dad today. It’s not necessarily full of words of wisdom. But as you take 5 minutes alone in the bathroom, it can give you a smile and the reassurance of knowing you’re not alone in this mess.

There’s being a dad, and then there’s being a good dad. Unfortunately, as the expectations we have of dads have grown, so have our feelings of failure and inadequacy. It’s hard to know if you’re doing a good job, especially if your father wasn’t the hands-on sort of dad you’re trying to be. These books can help you both learn the skills you need to be a good dad and find the perspective to realize that no dad is perfect, but that as long as you’re working to improve every day and be the best dad you can be, you’ll be fine—and so will your kids.

Avocado

Did you know that avocado is actually a fruit? It can also be delicious in more than guacamole. Avocado has tons of healthy fats in it, including Omega-3s, which are normally only found in fish. In fact, avocados offer nearly 20 vitamins and minerals in every serving. Just keep in mind that a serving of avocado is small: only 1/3 of an avocado.

So how do you serve it? Smear some on toast in the morning instead of peanut butter, or put it on your sandwiches in lieu of butter. It also tastes amazing on a burger!

Oatmeal

Keep in mind that when we recommend oatmeal, we’re not talking about the sugar-laden instant oatmeal packets that you find in grocery stores. Instead, we’re discussing whole grain oats. Oatmeal is packed with fiber, which can help keep your digestive system regular. It has also been shown to help reduce cholesterol levels and lower your risk of heart disease. Since heart attacks strike men younger and more frequently than women, anything you can do to lower your risk of heart disease as a guy is worth the effort.

Overnight oats are a popular way to eat oatmeal, and with good reason: they’re convenient to make at night, so it’s easier to get out the door in the morning, and they taste delicious.

Tomatoes

Surprised that tomatoes made the list of superfoods? When paired against other fruits and vegetables for general health, tomatoes rarely win out, but they have one important component that makes them a superfood for guys specifically: Lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant that is thought to help fight off prostate cancer.

Lycopene is most readily absorbed when tomatoes are cooked rather than eaten raw, so skip the salads with this one and instead enjoy tomato-based sauces a couple of times a week.

Spinach

Popeye wasn’t wrong when he decided to eat a can of spinach before doing anything strenuous. Spinach is an important superfood, packed with fiber, protein, and vitamins. The extra protein in spinach is especially great for men, who, in general, need a little more protein in their diets than women.

Another food that’s better for you when cooked than when raw, spinach can easily be added to almost any dish you make. It cooks quickly and is great in most pasta dishes.

Sweet Potatoes

Ignore advice that says to avoid all carbs: Sweet potatoes are one of the healthiest foods on the planet. They’re packed with vitamins and antioxidants, and have been shown to help protect against a variety of diseases, including Parkinson’s Disease, liver disease, Alzheimer’s, cancer, heart attack, and stroke.

Try sweet potatoes loaded with vegetables for an easy, healthy lunch, or mix them into chili for a hearty, nutritious dinner.

Blueberries

Blueberries are rife with antioxidants, helping prevent disease and keeping your body feeling good. They have also been shown to help boost energy levels. Wild blueberries are better for you than cultivated blueberries, so if you can get these from Farmer’s Markets in season, you’ll be doing your body an even better service.

Blueberries are great in overnight oats. They can also be eaten in milk with a little bit of sugar for a healthy evening snack.

Carrots

Grandma wasn’t wrong when she told you that carrots helped your eyesight. They are loaded with Vitamin A, which is great for your eyes. Carrots can also help reduce inflammation and treat conditions like arthritis, which has been shown to hit men younger than it hits women.

Try packing carrots with some hummus for a quick, protein-packed snack that you can eat at your desk. You can also cut carrots up and put them in your chili.

Red Wine

If you thought that alcohol wouldn’t make the list of good foods to consume, think again. Red wine, when limited to 1-2 glasses per day, has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol levels and prevent blood clots. However, keep in mind that this isn’t clearance to down bottles of red wine. It’s important to drink in moderation, or to avoid alcohol altogether if there’s a history of substance abuse in your family.

Instead, consider cooking with red wine, which can give you the same heart-healthy resveratrol found in red wine without the risk of addiction.

Apples

An apple a day hasn’t been proven to keep the doctor away completely, but it has been shown to reduce inflammation levels significant. It can also help protect against prostate cancer and lung cancer, both of which can have deadly consequences.

Not a fan of eating apples by themselves? You can cut them up and eat them with peanut butter, which can also give you a nice burst of protein, or you can cook them in cinnamon and serve them on pork chops.

Pomegranates

Sweet and pungent, pomegranates aren’t just a delicious snack: they’re also amazing for your health. Packed with antioxidants that are shown to help prevent prostate cancer, they’re especially healthy for guys to eat.

While pomegranates make a delicious snack on their own, you can also toss pomegranate seeds with roasted root vegetables and maple syrup for a delicious harvest side dish.

Eating healthy as a guy doesn’t have to be a mystery. The trick is to skip the “tricks” and instead stick with lots of healthy vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and proteins. As a guy, packing on the calcium isn’t as important as it is for women, which means that you can skip the fats in milk and yogurt and eat more nuts and avocados instead. Yum!

If those are your schtick, this is the list for you. These 10 webcomics that every guy should read will do more than just give you a chuckle. They have serious substance—and sometimes, serious reading material. Pull out your favorite notebook and make a list--you're not going to want to miss these. 

Homestuck

Homestuck is a comic by MS Paint Adventures that starts weird and gets weirder. In it, a couple of friends accidentally bring about the apocalypse by playing a beta version of a video game. The webcomic is over 8,000 pages long and took 7 years to complete, so if you’re taking this one on, be ready for the long haul. But you know a webcomic is great when servers have crashed due to fans overloading it to read it. If you like video game tropes and time travel, you’ll love Homestuck.  

Daughter of the Lilies

Manticores, goblins, and cannibalistic elves are what you’ll find with Daughter of the Lilies, a webcomic in which a monster-hunter falls in love with a monster. It has high-quality pages and a beautiful storyline. If you take mental health seriously, this webcomic, which looks at things like anxiety in a new light, is sure to interest you.

Paranatural

If you’re looking for bright humor, adventure, and audience interaction, look no further than Paranatural. In it, Max and a group of middle-schoolers called the Activity Club play games, fight bullies, go up against ghosts, and unravel mysteries. The webcomic reads like old adventure cartoons you might have watched—sort of a Recess meets Teen Titans ordeal. Meanwhile, Morrison includes alt text on each page and will chat with their readers on Twitter and Tumblr, so you can get real interactions with the author/illustrator of this fun comic.

The Last Halloween

If you like monsters, and comedy and horror smashed into one, The Last Halloween is a webcomic you’re going to love. One of the most appealing aspects of The Last Halloween is how much the main character, Mona, does not want to save the world. Her monster friends encourage her—with more than a few nudges—to do what needs to be done. It’s super gory, so maybe not one to share with the kids, but a great read.

Dresden Codak

What do you get when you combine philosophy, science, technology, and death? Dresden Codak is an exploration of just that. Combining dark, gloomy artwork with touches of dry humor, the steampunk-sci-fic webcomic series is told over a series of long arcs, with the current, longest-running ark being Dark Science. It won the 2008 Web Cartoonist’s Choice Awards for Outstanding use of Color and Outstanding Use of the Medium. But for guys, its most important attribute is the intrigue of time travel that it continually explores.

Power Nap

Action. Humor. Blood-curdling screams. Power Nap has everything you could want from a webcomic. In a world where the need for sleep has been eliminated by a pill called Z-Sup, Drew Spencer, allergic to the pill, tries to function. As he tries to hold down a job that demands excessive hours while still needing to sleep and wanting to have some sort of life, the line between reality and fiction become blurred—for Drew and the reader both. The comic descends slowly into something more and more bizarre and enticing, with the potential insanity of the main character a serious driving force in the tension. This comic is perfect for those days when you think, “Man, how much more could I get done if I didn’t have to sleep?”

Unsounded

If you really appreciate sound world-building, Unsounded is the comic for you. A fantasy-adventure webcomic that starts off with Sette, the daughter of the Lord of Thieves, trying to carry out a mission for her dad, Unsounded explores a fascinating world with multiple fictional cultures that feel as real and vivid as any culture you’ve encountered. Dark and disturbing, the webcomic is peppered with Sette’s foul wit, making the actual horror of the events occurring easier to take in, but no less disturbing.

Supernormal Step

What would you do if you suddenly found yourself pulled into an alternate universe you didn’t understand? That’s what happens to Fiona in Supernormal Step. A character from our universe, she finds herself pulled into a supernormal universe. As she tries to find her way home, she’s pulled in different directions by two political parties she has no interest in helping. If you’ve ever felt like you don’t really belong, you’ll appreciate the issues Fiona faces in Supernormal Step.

Guilded Age

On the surface, Guilded Age looks like a regular, RPG-based webcomic with a team of adventurers who start a guild. However, the more you read it, the more you realize something else is happening. They may be more than adventurers—they may be players in a game. Rife with intrigue, Guilded Age manages to draw you into a plot with potential conspiracies beneath the surface without losing its humorous edge.

Gunnerkrigg Court

Gunnerkrigg Court is the story of Antimony Carver, who begins attending school at Gunnerkrigg Court after the death of her mother. It explores her relationship between the people of the Court and the creatures of the forest, who have been separated by a great chasm for over a hundred years. Antimony acts as an emissary between the two groups while uncovering the mysteries that both the Court and the Forest hold from each other and themselves.

There are more amazing webcomics for guys to read than we could possibly discuss in one blog post. However, these ten are particularly engaging. If you’re the kind of guy who likes to explore the intrigues of the universe, these are ten amazing webcomics to start off with that you should be sure to read.

Prioritize Your Fun Money

A certain percentage of your income goes towards things that you don’t need. Whether it’s a cup of coffee in the morning or a video game on the weekends, it’s okay to have a monetary vice. But this becomes a problem when everything is a treat. If you’re buying coffee out every morning, ordering lunch out every afternoon, going out to eat with your wife on weekends, and splurging on video games, you may find that more of your money is going to your “fun” account than anywhere else.

So how do you nip this habit in the bud? Choose one thing that you’re going to spend your fun money on and how often you’re going to do it. Then, cut out the other unnecessary expenses. This will allow you to feel like you’re still getting regular treats for yourself without you getting all the treats.

Save Before You Spend

You should know how much money you need each month for fixed expenses, like your mortgage and your car payment, and you should have an idea of how much money you need for variable expenses like groceries and gas. Knowing that, you can determine how much of your paycheck can realistically be saved every pay period.

Believe it or not, you can have your employer split your paycheck up and deposit it into two different accounts. Every pay period, automatically have a portion of your check deposited into your savings account so that you never see it hit your checking account. This can prevent you from having a mentality of “oh, I’ll just use that money to pay for X expense this one time,” which can seriously limit your ability to save.  

Put Away for Retirement

Did you know the vast majority of working adults will not have enough money to live on when they reach retirement age? If you want to achieve financial independence, you need to think long-term about your money rather than short-term, which means making it a priority to set money aside for retirement. You should be setting aside at least 15% of your income if you want to live a similar lifestyle after you’re done working.

Negotiate Rates

Sometimes, there are variable expenses in your life that disguise themselves as fixed expenses. Whether it’s the rate you pay for car insurance, for oil, or for your cell phone plan, there’s a chance that you could get your services cheaper if you spent some time calling around. Plan time on your calendar about every 6 months – 1 year to call and ask if you can receive a lower rate. If not, you can also try shopping your rates around to see if someone in your area is willing to do the same service for less.

Drop Expenses You Don’t Need

Cable. Netflix. Hulu. Amazon Prime. HBO Now. There are so many ways to consume television these days that it’s almost criminal. Amazingly, some people pay for all of these services, even though they cannot possibly watch all the different streaming networks.

Pay attention for one month to which services you use. If you are mainly a Netflix family, consider whether it would be possible to drop cable or Hulu.

This is true for other expenses as well. Are you paying for a Pandora One subscription but only listening to Spotify? Do you pay for a gym membership you don’t use? Take a close look at what you’re paying for on a monthly basis and cut out what you don’t need.

Saving money doesn’t have to mean eating Raman noodles for every meal and skipping out on doing anything fun. What it does mean is prioritizing what’s important for you and realizing that instant gratification doesn’t do anything to help you achieve long-term happiness. Working on financial stability in the long-term rather than cheap “treats” now will allow you to have a smarter, more stable lifestyle.

New to the vlog scene? Here are 10 of the best YouTube channels for men that you should be following.

Dad Verb

Parenting and lifestyle channels on YouTube are a dime a dozen. The reason these channels are so popular is that it can be inspirational to see another parent powering through the hard times—and reminding you, during your hard times, about the good times around the corner. Parenting channels can help you seek advice and know what milestones to keep an eye out for. But for the most part, parenting channels are by women, for women. So, what’s an involved dad to do?

We love Dad Verb for this reason. Though still a relatively small YouTube channel, Dad Verb is the one-stop shop for new parents. The dad on the channel is especially tech-oriented, and he does a lot of baby product reviews and gadget reviews for first-time parents and parents of younger children.

Ninja

If we’re talking about YouTube channels guys should watch, we should at least make mention of Twitch Streaming—YouTube channels created solely around skilled gamers playing the games they love. One of the most famous Twitch streamers around is Ninja, a Fortnite streamer with over 20,000,000 subscribers.

To get that many viewers interested in watching you game, you’ve got to be doing something right. So if you like Fortnite, or are just interested in figuring out what twitch streamers are all about, Ninja’s channel is a great one to watch.

Binging with Babish

There are cooking channels, and then there’s Binging with Babish. On that channel, he takes food from your favorite TV shows and movies and recreates it with the skill of an accomplished chef.

There’s a commitment to authenticity in Babish’s work—up to and including creating the cake from Matilda with real blood and sweat. While that commitment can sometimes be gross, it can also be admirable to watch. And because he actually knows what he’s doing in the kitchen, you can learn a thing or two while also being completely mesmerized by what he’s doing in the kitchen.

Jon Peters

If you’ve wanted to get into woodworking and more DIY crafts for the house, Jon Peters Art & Home is the YouTube channel for you to follow. His channel is all about home improvement projects that real men can implement in their homes.

Jon Peter’s YouTube channel has reviews on specific shop equipment, tutorials on woodworking techniques, and how-to’s on full woodworking projects. His work ranges from beginner-level work like how to hang a painting to more advanced work like how to make a cabinet, so you can grow while watching his channel without ever feeling bad about your current skillset.

Doctor Mike

Doctor Mike is a real-life doctor who does reviews of TV doctors as well as responses to medical questions. Basically, he’s a bit-sized WebMD that you can consume in small video chunks. Most of his videos cash in around the ten-minute mark, which makes his work very consumable.

Some of his videos, such as how much coffee we should be consuming or whether vitamins are actually good for you, offer candid medical advice that you don’t get from your typical TV doctors. Mostly, though, we recommend watching him because it’s hilarious to see how frustrated he gets when TV doctors get it wrong.

JessetheReader

Jesse’s channel is sweet and endearing. He does a lot of book reviews—mainly young adult and fantasy books—but he also does book hauls and reading challenges.

Watching this channel is a bit like talking to an awkward buddy you knew back in high school. He’s a little goofy and a little odd, but if you’re hoping to get back into reading, he’ll help you rediscover your love for the written word.

Teaching Men’s Fashion

Some guys want to look good. We know that, which is why we have top-of-the-line accessories, from watch straps to belts. Teaching Men's Fashion knows that, too. With over a million viewers, they are the best place to go for everything from fashion advice to workout routines that make you feel good about yourself.

If you’re a guy who wants to better himself and feel good about his appearance, this is a vlog that you’ll want to follow. It offers the latest fashion and cosmetic advice. Because these days, it’s cool for guys to care about how they look.

Elisha Long

Elisha Long’s videos are like if you took your high school humanities class and made it relevant to the world you live in today. He talks about philosophy in a way that makes it feel important rather than just theoretical, and he promotes a different, more peaceful kind of masculinity that’s really healthy to watch.

He also promotes workouts and does on-screen workout routines, giving a fun touch of variety to his videos. 

RVwithTito

If you’re an RV guy, Tito is the YouTuber to watch. Friendly and personable, he not only takes you with him on RV excursions, but he also shows you how to DIY RV upgrades.

His channel features everything from Maintenance Tips for RV Newbies to How to Install Solar Panels on an RV.

Unbox Therapy

Are you into technology? Do you want to know if technology is worth your time before you sink your money into it?

Unbox Therapy is an entire channel dedicated to giving real reviews of any tech you might be curious about (and plenty of tech you’ve never heard of before). If you’re looking for some retail therapy for men, Unbox Therapy is the place to be.  

Wrapping Up

There's a reason vlogging is sweeping the nation. Vlogs are the new way to achieve the rags to riches story everyone wants. They're a way for anyone to make themselves known. For that reason, they allow easy access to all the best--and all the most niche--content available.   

10.) We Wish Every Action Had a Cool Sound Effect

Kapow! Wham! Crunch! How much more exciting would it be to break up a scuffle between your kids if the sound effects were that cool? Sound effects might be written into comic books to keep the action alive in 2 dimensions, but we think they’d liven up the real world, too.

9) We Wish Buildings Could Repair Themselves

We’ve always loved that Spiderman and Doc Oc can have a building-crushing fight all across the city, and it’s miraculously back to normal the very next day. Sure, if building repaired themselves, a lot of construction workers would lose their jobs, but there would also be a lot of families who didn’t have to spend so much time recovering from natural disasters, so we think the exchange would be worth it.

8.) We Wish Injuries Healed Overnight

In comic books, you can be shot with bullets and have your limbs torn off, and you’re back in fighting spirit the very next day. In real life, you can twist your ankle and still feel the pain from it three years later. It’s no question which one of those is the better deal!

7.) We Wish a Mask Completely Disguised Our Identities

In comic books, a mask doesn’t even have to cover someone’s whole face to completely disguise their identity. Clark Kent just needs a pair of glasses! How much cooler would Halloween be if no one knew who you were the second you put your costume on? Tired of your kids coming to you for every little thing? In the world of comic books, you could put your reading glasses on and convince them you were their uncle instead.

6.) We Wish We Could Travel Faster Than the Speed of Customs

Do you think Superman has to go through airport customs? Of course not! He can zip across the country without grabbing his passport or checking his bags—and there’s certainly no one asking him to take off his shoes. Sure, we’d no longer have any kind of excuse for being late for work, but some things are worth the sacrifice!

5.) We Wish We Could Turn Invisible

Everyone has moments when they wish the floor would just swallow them whole. In comic books, those people can turn invisible and legit ghost out of the scene. Not so in real life, when our red cheeks highlight our embarrassment for anyone who might have missed it.

4.) We Wish No One Cared If We Word the Same Outfit Every Day

Comic book characters have one outfit—maybe two, if you count their superhero disguise—and everyone is cool with it. It would be easy to look like a million bucks every day if you only had to invest in one high-quality outfit. Unfortunately for most of us, our wives won’t let us get away with that!

3.) We Wish We Could Defeat Supervillains With Money

Let’s be honest: Batman isn’t even a superhero—he’s just a dude with a lot of money. If being rich in real life meant you could defeat evil—and get away with living outside the law as long as you were doing good—then maybe it would feel like the top 1% actually deserved the insane amounts of money they have.

2.) We Wish Death Wasn’t Always So Permanent

Death is one of the hardest things we deal with—and in real life, it’s permanent. In comic books, you can always hope a meteor strike or alternate universe will bring back your favorite long-lost character, but in real life, it just doesn’t happen that way. But man, do we wish it did.

1.) We Wish the Good Guys Always Won in the End

Of course, the number one reason to read comic books is to feel vindicated when you watch good conquer evil. We need to be able to see that somewhere, because in real life, evil conquers good more than we’d like to admit.

Comic books are a great escape, in part because they’re not like real life. While we can connect to the characters, we can also rely on comic books to lift us up and make us feel better—like there’s someone out there waiting to conquer the evil in this world. While that’s not how it really is, sometimes, it’s fun to just pretend for a bit.

10.) Badlands, South Dakota

South Dakota is a great area to drive through. If you’ve been dealing with a lot of stress lately, the rigid landscape will not only take your breath away, but serve as the perfect backdrop for you to regroup and reprioritize your life. Badlands National Park is perfect if you enjoy hiking and bird watching. If you want your vacation to be an opportunity to pull away from society and get back in touch with nature, this is a great vacation location.

9.) Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

Grand Cayman is a great location for diving and snorkeling. Warm and safe, it’s a perfect place to visit if you want to be able to enjoy some sunset drinking but aren’t necessarily looking for a loud, boisterous night life. There’s an entire beach where you can swim with stingrays, and tons of sun and relaxation to be had.

8.) Tuscany, Italy

If you want to enjoy the feel of high-class culture on your vacation, Tuscany may be the perfect location for you. From wine tastings to art galleries to historical monuments, Tuscany is rife with the full feel of Italy. There’s also nothing like real Italian food to make your vacation feel exquisite.

7.) Iceland

Iceland is not often at the top of the list of places to see, but perhaps it should be. The Blue Lagoon in Iceland is a geothermal spa the likes of which you’ve likely never experienced before. In fact, Iceland is full of geysers, waterfalls, and picturesque land formations. Iceland is also a great place to go whale watching. And if you’ve always dreamed of seeing the Northern Lights, you have a good chance of making that happen if you visit Iceland.

6.) Montreal, Canada

Montreal is a city of distinct sections—a place where old construction, like Notre-Dame and Ruse-St Paul, come up against the wonders of the modern world. From a Barbie Expo to a ghost-walking tour, there’s something interesting for anyone to see. Meanwhile, the underground city makes for a large, unique shopping locale.  

5.) Sydney, Australia

Australia can be a little too wild of a vacation spot if you have kids or even a spouse, but as a single man, it is a really cool place to visit. If you’re a seafood fan, Sydney has some of the best seafood in the world. White Rabbit offers a 4-story gallery of Chinese artwork. If you want to be active on your vacation, Sydney has everything from amazing hiking trails to kayaking tours.

4.) Seattle, Washington

The Space Needle, Pike Place Market, and the Museum of Flight are just a few of the awesome things you can see if you vacation in Seattle. Seattle sets itself apart from other cities by its wide, comfortable street and its wide array of cultures. Viewing Seattle alone allows you to get the most out of its many museums and great sights.

3.) New Orleans, Louisiana

There’s nothing in the world like Louisiana cooking, and if you haven’t experienced it, now’s the time. New Orleans has live music at almost every restaurant down the road, and live shows will crop up unexpectedly as you go through your day. Fill your nights with ghost and vampire tours, and spend your days checking out St. Louis Cathedral and the WWII Museum.

2.) Athens, Greece

Athens, home of the Parthenon and Acropolis, is a cultural and historical smorgasbord that you need to see at least once in your life. If you’re at all interested in history or architecture, you’ll love the tours of ancient locations. Athens is rich with landmarks you normally only see on TV. It’s also rich with gourmet food, rolling mountainous landscapes, and hiking opportunities.

1.) Galapagos Islands

Darwin made the Galapagos Islands especially famous when he used them to illustrate his theory of evolution. Each of the 19 or so islands boasts its own landscape and ecosystem. Because the island inhabitants are free from natural predators, Galapagos animals will often let you get up close and personal, allowing you to interact with them in a way you couldn’t anywhere else on the world. The islands also have several species not found anywhere else in the world, making it a double modern marvel.

Being single is no reason not to renew your passport and take a vacation this year. With so many sights to see, it’s important to travel whenever you can. You never know what the future will hold, so take your present into your own hands and hit up one of these best travel locations for solo dudes.

Of course, your dream vacation looks a little different when there are kids involved. Kids need to be entertained. Meanwhile, as parents, you want to have a good time yourself, and you may even hope your kids actually learn something along the way. With that in mind, here are seven of the best travel destinations in the world for families with kids.

7.) Indianapolis, Indiana

Indiana might not be the first place you consider when you’re picking out family travel destinations, but perhaps it should be. Why? It’s home to the world’s largest children’s museum. Your kids will be delighted from the moment they see the giant dinosaur that looks like it’s peering into the museum from outside. The museum is packed with fun things for kids of all ages to do, and most travel guides say you should plan to spend at least one full day there with your kids.

Indianapolis also boasts an outdoor sanctuary of climbable art at their art museum, a rhythm museum for kids who love to make a lot of noise, and a zoo that comes complete with a dolphin show. It also has Conner Prairie, an interactive museum that is Indiana’s answer to Plymouth plantation. And if you or your kids get tired of all the various fun, educational activities Indianapolis has to offer, there’s always glow golf to give you a straight-up good time.

6.) Plymouth, Massachusetts

If you want your kids to experience a step into history, look no forward than Plymouth, Massachusetts. Plymouth Plantation is a recreation of what a pilgrim village would have looked like in 1627, complete with actors and actresses who take on the role of villagers. You and your kids can move through the town learning about what life was like—and you’ll learn almost as much as your kids do along the way.

Plymouth has tons of other historical sites to visit, including Plymouth rock and the Mayflower. It also has a planetarium, which is a great educational activity that will still feel like a departure from the rest of the day. Meanwhile, Plymouth is less than an hour’s drive from Boston, so if you wanted to, you could spend a couple days of educational time in Plymouth and then head to Boston for some shopping and live shows.  

5.) Glen Rose, Texas

If any of your kids are into dinosaurs, Glen Rose, Texas is the best vacation spot for your family. Home both to Dinosaur World and Dinosaur Valley State Park, your kids can enjoy fossil digs, check out real dinosaur footprints, and also enjoy swimming and horseback riding. Glen Rose is best enjoyed as a camping location, which can make for a fun, low-key sort of family vacation.

Glen Rose is also about 20 miles from Glenbury, where you can further explore the heart of Texas by visiting the historic Hood County Jail Museum and also book a show at the Glenbury Opera House. Overall, this is a great vacation spot if you like to set your own pace while being outdoors and getting your hands a little dirty.

4.) Hershey, Pennsylvania

Let’s be real: There’s nothing our kids love more than sweets. That’s why Hershey Park in Hershey, Pennsylvania is such a big hit with kids: It’s a whole park dedicated to chocolate. Hershey Park has both roller coasters and aquatic rides to enjoy with your kids. They even have a whole chocolate town to explore.

Meanwhile, for a broader cultural experience, Hershey also has a theater and an orchestra. The area around Hershey is also rich with cultural experiences, from learning about the Civil War in Gettysburg to learning about the Amish in Lancaster County.

3.) Canary Islands, Spain

The Canary Islands in Spain are a great place for parents and children to both enjoy. Many of the islands have kids’ playgrounds in their town squares, and you can feel good about letting your child join local kids playing ball while you grab a bite within eye’s view. Fiestas may go late into the night, and almost all of them are kid-friendly, with local children staying up into the wee hours of the night having a good time. This is a great place to bring your children if they’re at an age where they’re chomping at the big to bend some rules and test some boundaries in a safe space.

Meanwhile, Tenerife boasts theme parks that your children will absolutely love, from Siam Park, with its breathtaking aquatic rides, to an entire park dedicated to bubble soccer. The island also has whale-watching and go-kart rides, so there are definite options for everyone in your family.

2.) San Diego, California

If you think the San Diego Zoo is the only kid-friendly attraction in San Diego, California, you couldn’t be further from the truth. While your kids will love the San Diego Zoo, what they’ll really go bananas for is Legoland, California, a theme park and resort that celebrates everything your kids love about Legos. Not only does Legoland have both a regular theme park and a water park, but it also has interactive shows, meet & greets with characters, and minifigure trading opportunities.

Meanwhile, if you time your visit correctly, you can also hit up the San Diego Comic Con, also known as Comic-Con International. It’s one of the foremost comic conventions in the world, filled with exhibits, artwork, live actors and actresses, and public presentations that everyone in your family will love.  

1.) Orlando, Florida

Of course, no list of places to visit with your kids would be complete without mention of Orlando, Florida, and nearby Kissimmee, Florida. Between the two, you have access to three of the best places to take your children: Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World. Really, the hardest thing about visiting Orlando with kids is prioritizing which parks to see.

For a unique experience your children will love, you should also check out Medieval Times while you’re there. The theatric dinner experience includes a jousting tournament. If your kids get a kick out of stories of gallant knights and beautiful princesses, it’s a dinner event you won’t want to miss.

There are plenty of great ways to travel with your kids, indulging in their energy and excitement while also introducing them to cultural experiences they wouldn’t get if you just stayed home. These 7 locations are only a few of the great places you and your family can discover together. So, get out those passports and see what the world has to offer!

10.) Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink

Backed by years of academic and psychological research, Pink’s book argues against the idea that rewarding good behavior and punishing bad behavior is the best way to incentivize people to work. In fact, he says the best way to use money as a motivator is to pay employees enough that they’re not thinking about money. Past that, his findings show that there are three things that lead employees to work harder and feel more satisfaction: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. His book goes through these three elements in detail, showing how you can use them to lead your staff to perform better and feel better about what they’re doing.

9.) Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or simply a businessman, chances are that you have ideas. But what makes some ideas work and other ideas flop? Chip and Dan go through examples of real-life business successes and failures to showcase what makes some ideas “sticky”. By seeing what has worked in the past, they help you develop the nuggets of your ideas into ideas that will stick and work.

8.) How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

One of the most important aspects of business is networking, both in the office and outside of it. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the hardest parts. Interpersonal relationships can be hard to manage. Carnegie’s book is all about how to reframe the way that you engage with people to form meaningful relationships that also get positive results.

7.) Speak and Get Results by Sandy Linver

Whether you’re presenting your idea at a conference or simply leading a meeting, there are times when you’re going to have to speak compellingly if you’re going to succeed in the business world. Linver’s book is all about giving the speeches you need to give to get the results you desire. If you’ve struggled with pubic speaking in the past, this is definitely the book for you.

6.) The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

According to Ferriss, he went from working 80 hours a week and making $40,000 in a year to working 4 hours a week and making $40,000 in a month. And while those results are probably not typical for everyone, when you see those kinds of results, it makes sense to read about the method. Ferriss’s boo is all about eliminating meaningless work that takes up a lot of our time, increasing productivity, and outsourcing tasks that other people can do. It’s an especially good book to read if you’re an aspiring entrepreneur or if you have a hard time delegating tasks to others.

5.) Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek

How is it that some leaders manage to inspire a following? Why are some employees motivated to work to help the business while others simply work to get their paycheck? Sinek looks into the commonalities between leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr, Steve Jobs, and the Wright Brothers to see what it is that they have in common. His book is all about becoming a better, more powerful, more inspiring leader.

4.) The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Here’s the problem with startup businesses: They have to be innovative to stay ahead of the curve, but innovation can cost money and there’s no telling if a new idea will work ahead of time. Ries solves this problem with his lean business model, which is all about spending the least amount of money in the shortest amount of time possible to make small improvements to your business model and test ideas quickly. It’s a must-read book for anyone working on a budget (which, in today’s economy, is everyone).

3.) The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

One of the best parts about Manson’s book, based on his popular blog, is that it’s an enjoyable read. It’s not a book about apathy, or not caring about anything. Rather, it focuses on accepting that there are limitations in life and that you can’t control everything. If you try to care about everything, you’re destined to be disappointed by something. Instead, Manson argues for people to choose limited, focused things to care about, and then to learn to let the rest go. It’s a book about finding balance in life—a book that is sorely needed by all people, but especially by professionals.  

2.) The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

One of the best things about Covey’s book is that it’s not just about your personal life, and it’s not just about your professional life: It’s about achieving a balance between the two. It’s about achieving happiness and becoming self-aware. It’s also full of challenges so you can practice putting the advice into action as you’re reading it. Covey’s talking about habits here, not quick fixes, but the habits he does talk about are ones that can alter your life and make you a better professional.

1.) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

How does something go from a funny YouTube video to a video that has received millions of views? Where do fads come from? What causes things to go viral? Gladwell’s The Tipping Point is all about what makes an idea not just stick, but really take off and spread. If you want to make a living off of your products or ideas, this is a book you cannot overlook.

Reading about business strategies and productivity plans is a must-have for an aspiring professional. These 10 important books aren’t ones you’ll just want to skim. For these, you’ll want to break out the fountain pen and takes notes so that you can become a more confident, more accomplished businessman today.

Pick a Journal

Journaling is a private, somewhat special practice. Because of that, it’s important to pick a special journaling notebook for yourself that you feel good about using. Because journals themselves fill up so quickly when you’re journaling every day, one smart option is to pick a basic interior and then choose a notebook cover that you love and can transfer from journal to journal. This is also a great option because the notebook cover will wear over the years, and you’ll begin to associate positive memories with your notebook cover. Seeing the cover may even become a signal to your brain that it’s time to unwind and journal, which can make journaling easier for you in time.

Decide What to Journal About

When most people consider journaling, they consider only one form: Writing daily about what happened in your life. While this is one viable form of journaling, it’s not the only type of journaling. In fact, there are many types of journals you can choose to keep.

Dream Journals Dream journals are just what they sound like: Journals about your dreams. You can choose to just write down exactly what happens in your dreams, or you can write down a description of the dream and then your reflections upon it. You can even try your hand at dream interpretation!

Prayer Journal Prayer journals are great for people who are trying to become more spiritually aware. Prayer journals can be anything from spiritual reflections to actual written prayers to writing about scriptures.

Food Journals Food journals are a way to record recipes that you threw together that you want to try again as well as recipes that you want to try in the future.

Art Journal Not a big writer? You can still become more connected to your day and your brain by keeping an art journal. This gives you a place to get your thoughts out on paper in a differently creative way.

Idea Journal If you’re the sort of guy who has lots of great ideas but can’t remember them later, or who likes DIY projects but loses track of what he’s doing halfway through, an idea journal might be the perfect option for you. This is a place to record ideas that you have as well as your progress on any projects you’re working on.

These are only a few ideas for journals that you can keep. The important thing is to decide what you’re interested in and find a way to reflect on it daily.

Set Aside a Time to Journal

Even if you pick a topic and have a journal, the chances are that if you don’t put aside a set time each day to write, the journal will be forgotten about within a day or two of bringing it into your life. As guys, we’re busy, and even when we have the best intentions, a lot of times life gets in the way.

Journaling is all about practicing mindfulness, and if you choose to journal, you also must, by necessity, choose to make it a practice. Work journaling into your daily routine, and make yourself spend a certain amount of time journaling each day, even if you’re just not feeling it that day. Sometimes, the days you don’t feel like journaling are the days you’ll find that you have the most to say.

Don’t Be Too Rigid

Maybe you decide to do an art journal, but one day you want to write something out instead. Or maybe you have a food journal, but one day it feels prudent to write out a poem in it or draw a picture. That’s okay! Trying to create the perfect journal will lead to a lack of creativity and make you feel blocked. Instead, while you should choose a direction you intend to take your journal in, leave yourself room to play and explore within it. You may find that what you thought you wanted to write about isn’t what you need to write about—and that’s okay.

Step 1: Understand Their Position

The first step to fixing a conflict with your child—any conflict with your child—is to understand where they’re coming from. Long-term school projects can feel overwhelming to children who haven’t developed the skills to tackle them. There’s also a gratification-factor to it: if they postpone a project that’s not due until next week, they get to play today. With an adult perspective, it’s easy to see the flaw in this logic, but to a kid, having more time to play after a busy day at school is hard to give up.

Step 2: Set a Boundary

Once you understand where your kids are coming from, it’s possible to have a conversation with them about long-term school projects without getting fired up. Now you can set a boundary. This needs to be done before they announce yet another school project at the last minute. After all, if they’ve always been able to count on you to drop everything to help them finish a project and one day you just don’t, they’ll feel like you’re being unfair—and in a way, they’ll be right. Instead, pick a time when they don’t have a big project to work on, and let them know that from now on they’re in charge of those projects, and if they choose to leave them until the last minute, they’re responsible for the results, but you’re no longer giving up your evenings or compromising on bedtime to accommodate their procrastinating. However, also let them know that if they tell you when they first get a new project, you’re happy to help them figure out how to plan their time to get the project done on time.

Step 3: Give Them the Tools for Success

After setting your boundary, go to the store with your kid and buy some of the basics they would need for a school project: Poster board, construction paper, markers, etc. By keeping this on hand, they at least have the supplies they need to get their work done. This ensures that the one thing they do need you for—transportation to get the supplies for their project—is taken care of. When your kids use up these supplies, replenish them at your next trip to the store automatically so that they always have the basics on hand.

Step 4: Let Them Fail

Even after setting a boundary, there’s a good chance that your child will “forget” about a project at least once. If that doesn’t happen, great, move on to step five, but don’t be surprised if it does happen. The key here is to stay calm and to stay firm. There’s no need to get upset—failing is part of the learning process—but you can’t give in and help them after you said you wouldn’t. If you do, all you’re teaching them is that they don’t need to learn how to budget their time. Instead, let them do what they can do on their own in the time they gave themselves, send them to bed at their normal bedtime, and let them face the consequences of whatever grade they get on that assignment.

Step 5: Help them Break Down the Project

When your kid finally does let you know that they have a long-term project coming up with advance notice, you can help them figure out how to get the project done on time. Get them a special project notebook. In it, have them write out all the steps to complete their project. Next to each step, have them write the amount of time they think it will take. For example, researching the topic may take several hours, but finding pictures for the poster board may take less time.

Next, look at a calendar together to figure out how many days there are between when they tell you about the project and when it’s due. Then, work together to decide how much time they should spend on the project each day, and make goals for when each section of the project will be done.

Step 6: Check in With Them

Once they’ve made a plan of action to complete their project on time, check in with them regularly to ask how the project is going. If they seem to get stuck at any point or be falling behind, offer to help them re-budget their remaining time to get back on track.

The more often you help your child break their projects down, the better they will become at thinking of their long-term projects in chunks. This will not only help you both keep your sanity in the short term, but it will also help them be better at getting things done and not procrastinating as adults.