We're living in a digital battlefield and most men don't even know they're fighting. The time we spend on our devices is unreal, and if it's free, you're the product. Algorithms and machine learning are engineered to hijack your attention, erode focus, and create compulsive habits. Today we're talking about auditing your digital life, removing the noise to find the signal, and building the discipline to guard your mind in an age of constant distraction.

Joining me is Richard Ryan, author of The Warrior's Garden, built on the principle that it's better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war. We discuss digital detox, delayed gratification, accountability, and reclaiming the smallest locus of control so you can't be manipulated by the forces competing for your attention.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
00:00 - Recording Begins & Digital Reality Check
00:50 - The Attention Economy: You Are the Product
03:00 - Negativity Bias & Why Outrage Wins Online
07:00 - Screen Time Audit: The Lifetime Cost
10:00 - Subscription Culture & Hidden Digital Leakage
12:30 - AI & Cognitive Atrophy: Guarding Your Mind
14:00 - Digital Detox & Withdrawal Symptoms
16:00 - The "Dead Internet" Theory
20:45 - Expediency & The Death of Delayed Gratification
22:30 - The Marshmallow Study & Impulse Control
28:00 - Compulsive App Use & "First Pickups"
31:00 - Addiction Substitution & Dopamine Traps
36:00 - Accountability & Why 95% Succeed With It
38:00 - Gratitude as Mental Armor
41:30 - Optimism, Awareness & Opportunity
49:00 - Incentives Drive Outcomes (Politics & Power)
55:00 - Personal Responsibility Over Group Dependency
58:00 - True Diversity: Strength Through Capability
1:02:30 - Warriors Garden & Closing Thoughts

Battle Planners: Pick yours up today!

Order Ryan's new book, The Masculinity Manifesto.

For more information on the Iron Council brotherhood.

Want maximum health, wealth, relationships, and abundance in your life? Sign up for our free course, 30 Days to Battle Ready

Men have lost initiation.

There was a time when boys were tested before becoming men. They faced hardship. They endured pain. They returned changed - recognized as men.

Today, that process is gone.

In this episode of Friday Field Notes, Ryan Michler breaks down:

• Why modern men feel lost
• The three elements of ancient initiation
• Why pain is necessary
• How comfort culture is weakening men
• Why nobody is coming to initiate you
• How to initiate yourself

If you feel stuck, drifting, or chasing validation - this episode is for you.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
00:00 Men Have Lost Initiation
00:26 When Boys Knew They Became Men
02:50 The Cost of Extended Adolescence
05:10 Comfort Culture Is Weakening Men
07:25 "Where Have All the Real Men Gone?"
08:05 The Three Elements of Initiation
08:30 Removed From Comfort
09:24 The Benefit of Pain
11:15 The Trial: Facing Fear
12:56 Recognition and Acknowledgment
14:49 Drifting, Chasing, and the Integrity Gap
16:35 Nobody Is Coming to Initiate You
17:14 Voluntary Hardship
18:45 What Initiation Looks Like Today
19:45 Brotherhood Is Modern Initiation
20:51 The World Needs Grounded Men
21:15 Questions Every Man Must Ask Himself
22:21 Do Something Difficult This Week
23:47 Steadiness Over Loudness
24:35 Choose the Fire
25:00 Join the Iron Council
25:20 The Men's Forge Event
26:00 Final Challenge

Battle Planners: Pick yours up today!

Order Ryan's new book, The Masculinity Manifesto.

For more information on the Iron Council brotherhood.

Want maximum health, wealth, relationships, and abundance in your life? Sign up for our free course, 30 Days to Battle Ready

In this Ask Me Anything episode, Ryan Michler and Kipp Sorensen answer powerful questions from the Iron Council on leadership, fatherhood, faith, discipline, and personal responsibility. They explore how to eliminate noise and live an integrated life, coach teenage boys through cultural conflict, raise resilient children, and avoid bureaucratic leadership traps. The conversation also confronts modern church culture, challenges the pursuit of comfort over growth, and defines what it truly means to be present as a father - even when work demands time away.

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
00:00 - Episode Introduction
03:50 - Signal vs Noise and Life Integration
14:27 - Coaching Teens Through Cultural Conflict
22:52 - Leadership Systems vs Human Judgment
34:41 - Faith, Masculinity, and the Modern Church
47:29 - Helping Kids Find Their Passion
52:31 - Defining Presence as a Working Father
56:19 - Men's Forge Event Announcement

Battle Planners: Pick yours up today!

Order Ryan's new book, The Masculinity Manifesto.

For more information on the Iron Council brotherhood.

Want maximum health, wealth, relationships, and abundance in your life? Sign up for our free course, 30 Days to Battle Ready