Brett & Kate McKay 255 posts 0 comments

A few weeks ago, I met up with some Strenuous Life guys here in Tulsa for a book club meeting at a local brewery. One of the guys had a gift for me: a 1970s Avon aftershave in a bottle shaped like the bust of Teddy Roosevelt. Screw off…
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George Washington is perhaps the most familiar figure in American history. But most people really only know the image of him they see in marble statues and patriotic paintings. Behind those symbols was a real man: ambitious, self-taught,…
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You’re at a business convention chatting with a colleague, when up walks a man, the head of some major department, a guy you know you’ve met before. “Hey there, Sam!” he says as he shakes your hand. Then he waits for you to introduce him…
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How Y’all, Youse and You Guys Talk. The NYT put this U.S. dialect quiz out years ago, but I only stumbled onto it recently. It asks twenty-five questions about the words you use and how you pronounce them. Do you say y’all or you guys?…
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It’s swimsuit season once again, and many men will find themselves lounging at backyard pool parties and hitting the beach.Hanging out in just a swimsuit can make some guys feel self-conscious, for obvious reasons. You don’t have on any…
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 The modern idea of retirement was built on a bet that turned out to be wrong. It assumed people would spend most of their lives working and only a relatively short period of time retired. Instead, many Americans now reach 65 healthy,…
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It’s summertime, which means a lot of you will be loading up the car and hitting the highway for vacation.I love road tripping. I prefer it over flying because flying is for the birds. When you’re on a road trip, you’re in control.…
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MET-Rx Big 100. These are one of my four favorite protein bars, and my go-to when I’m on a road trip. I told Michael Easter about them, and they became his go-to on an 850-mile hike. Vitamin-fortified and hefty in size — they come in at…
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in: Character, Podcast, Self-Improvement Brett & Kate McKay • June 16, 2026 We all want two things that can seem at odds with each other: to be our own person and to belong. We want to stand apart from the crowd, but we…
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Ask any marriage counselor what couples fight about most, and money will be at or near the top of the list. Research backs up clinical experience: disagreements over finances are one of the strongest predictors of marital conflict,…
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At AoM, we’re champions of the lost art of letter writing. Emails, texting, and the wide variety of other digital mediums available to us in the modern age are convenient and efficient, but they can’t hold a candle to the warm, tangible,…
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Your dad bod could raise your kids’ risk for obesity and disease. You’ve probably heard of the “dad bod.” It’s the body shape of a guy who’s not super fat, but not in particularly good shape, either. It’s gotten a friendly rebrand over…
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Note: The following is an excerpt from The Technique of Getting Things Done (1947) by Donald Laird. The right reading — often accidental — wakes up slumberers and gives needed goals to those who still have none. The right book or article…
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in: Character, Podcast, Self-Improvement Brett & Kate McKay • June 9, 2026 Life rarely unfolds according to plan. A relationship implodes. A move or job change doesn’t work out. Or you simply fail in a goal you’ve set…
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I’ve always been interested in how famous men worked out. We’ve broken down Steve McQueen’s routine and Bruce Lee’s training here on AoM before, and every time I go down one of these rabbit holes, I come away inspired about how these…
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Summertime is here, and we couldn’t be happier. As author Benjamin Alire Sáenz put it, summertime is a “book of hope,” filled with the promise of freedom, adventure, and dreamy idleness. It’s a time for sloughing off the heaviness of…
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Quaker Oatmeal Squares: Brown Sugar. As I mentioned in last week’s article on what I eat in a day, my mid-morning meal is usually a big bowl of Fage yogurt and blueberries with some Kashi or oatmeal mixed in. The store was out of Kashi…
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Burgers are my favorite food. What’s not to like about them? They’re tasty, filling, and — if you load them up with toppings like tomato, lettuce, and onion — offer a fairly nutritious mix of protein, carbs, and veggies.​What I also like…
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 Walking is one of the most powerful health tools we have. It improves cardiovascular fitness, boosts mood, sharpens cognition, and can even be a predictor of how well you’ll age. But all those benefits depend on something we rarely…
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You want to get more things done in life. So you become an early riser, buy a planner, and download a to-do list app. You maintain inbox zero by answering email the minute it lands in your inbox. You stay busy from the second your feet…
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