“All right you weenies. This is your Life Coach talking! Drop and give me twenty!”
Do you guys know The Guy Code?
Guys like to follow The Guy Code – which is a collection of unwritten, but understood rules of behavior for guys. For example, “There is no crying in baseball.”
But another important rule from the code is: Real men don’t ask for directions.
It doesn’t matter how lost you are, or what bad neighborhood or jungle you are circling, according to The Guy Code, you don’t stop!
Why?
Because it could threaten your masculinity!
You see, all guys have a built-in Global Positioning Satellite chip embedded into their brains from birth.
When guys get lost, instead of pulling over and asking for directions, (which is probably what most women would do -- that is exactly why guys don’t!) we speed up. We figure I will get un-lost faster if I speed up.
Of course, all this does is guarantee a deeper level of lost-ness.
Some guys spend their whole lives running in circles, but trying to do it faster.
It’s part of The Guy Code.
Some other highlights from the code include: 1. Never let them see your weakness. 2. Never let them see you fail. (Real men win) 3. Prove your worth with achievement and owning lots of cool stuff. 4. Don’t depend on anyone but yourself. 5. Be aggressive. (Real men make it happen. Wimps watch it happen) 6. Act like you know. NEVER read instructions, or ask for directions.
There have been times when I couldn’t figure out how to assemble something. After a long time of struggling and yelling at it you would think: Read the instructions!
Sound familiar?
I am a victim of the dreaded Guy Code.
When I can’t assemble something, it is not simply an inconvenience; it is a challenge to my manhood! “I will make this fit. I am man – I will muscle it together!”
Guys, when your maleness is tested, it’s usually wise to back off. I know that is difficult to do (it breaks The Guy Code), but when we try to prove our maleness, when we try to prove our strength and knowledge, it usually gets us into trouble. The “only-I-can-do-it” mentality generally backfires. When the focus is on ourselves, we are setting ourselves up. A wise philosopher once said, “Pride comes before a fall.”
As guys, we hate to admit our needs. We don’t like to admit that we depend on anything, or anyone but ourselves. We think: -Real men don’t ask for directions. -Real men are adventurers. We would rather stay on the expedition (stay lost) than stop and ask for directions. Stopping and asking for directions is admitting we don’t know everything. It reveals our vulnerability. It makes us look wimpy.
Needing to ask for directions is a brush with reality. But here’s a tip: even the explorers had guides. You may need a guide – a sage who knows the turn better than you, so you don’t get lost or screw up. Look around for a mentor. Some guy who knows the trail ahead of you and think about asking him to be your mentor. A mentor is someone who has been down the trail that is before you. The truth is real men ask for directions.
