Elite Caveman Newsletter (2025)

DECEMBER 19, 2024

READ TIME - 15 MINUTES

Elite Caveman Newsletter (1)

A quick intro

What does it take to be a great husband?

Well, a little thought and effort can go a long way. It’s one of the lovely ways to show your wife that you are committed. Which is great, because a lack of commitment is the main reason for divorce!

Want to know what else leads to divorce, then read the upcoming section.

Want to skip straight to all the other things you can dofor yourself to become a better husband? The click here.

Want to know about things you can do for her, then head to this section.

Divorce and what not to do to not end up here

Elite Caveman Newsletter (2)

Source: Web comic artist KC Green

Have yourself a sh*t sandwich.

You know the sandwich way of giving feedback, right? Start off with something positive, then say what you want to say and then finish off with something positive.

Well this is the opposite.

So the bad news, in 2021 (latest coverage of divorce rate) there were still close to 1.4M people that got divorced in the US alone. In Germany, where I live, it was “only” close to 300k people that were divorced in 2022.

The good news is that the divorce rate is declining. BUUUUT! There’s also considerably less people getting married nowadays. So we’re sitting at an unhealthy 40% divorce rate and the Gloomy-Go-Round keeps going…

Another interesting fact, while the average duration of a marriage until divorce was at 14.8 years in Germany, the median duration of first marriages that ended in divorce in the US was approximately 7 years.

So what are some of the main contributing factors to this “seven year itch”? Here are the top 10 reasons for divorce (in prioritized order - 1 being the most significant factor according to participants), according to this study published in the National Library of Medicine.:

Reason 1 - Lack of commitment.

Let’s face it, marriage takes work. It ain’t always going to be sunshine and rainbows. I’m sure your wedding was awesome, but remember being locked in the house together during peak Corona times (especially with kids…)?

And saying “I do” doesn’t mean you can, it just means you want to.

Yaowza, what a sentence… Heard that one from Jimmy Knowles who has some great sketches on relationships on TikTok.

Anyone with a pulse and brain can fall in love. But love alone won’t sustain your relationship. Your commitment to fostering connection, intimacy, safety and trust, will though. How you chose to love her, that’s what will make the difference.

Reason 2 - Infidelity or extramarital affairs

I’m pretty sure this one is self explanatory. Just don’t do it. It ain’t worth it. Unless you’re poly, then by all means, go for it. But that ain’t me. Call me old school.

Reason 3 - Too much conflict and arguing

No one is looking for conflict in a marriage. I don’t know about you, but I want to have a happy and stable one.

According to Dr. John Gottman, there’s a happy marriage formula. It’s the 5:1 ratio. Basically, for every one negative interaction, you need to have 5 positive ones. If your ratio feels more like a 1:1 or even a 1:5 right now, then we’ve got some work to do!

Of course you’ll go through some rough patches and we shouldn’t try to be too perscriptive about the ratio, but neither of you wants to actively be miserable in your marriage. So find more positive engagements. Go and find your happy place. Together.

Reason 4 - Getting married too young

A major contributing factor to divorce is age, namely being too young.

Makes sense. The average age of the people who highlighted age as a major factor were 23.3 years old when they got married. People who did not mention age as a contributing factor were on average 29.2 years of age at the time of marriage.

Personally, we got married at the age of 32, so we got that goin for us which is nice. If you got married at an early age, it doesn't mean the marriage is doomed to fail. But hopefully you did take your time to really get to know each other beforehand.

Reason 5 - Financial problems

Now that’s a biggie. If you don’t have any financial difficulties, great! But the strain financial stress can cause on a couple’s relationship can become insurmountable, if you’re unable to get out of that sticky situation.

Conflicting money styles can also be a problem, as highlighted by Business Insider. If one of you likes to splurge while the other is more of a saver, that can cause plenty of arguments.

Find ways to complement each other. The saver could for example, be in charge of retirement planning while the spender can plan the next vacation (with final sign-off from the saver too of course).

Oh and don’t hide anything.

Reason 6 - Substance abuse

At least 1 partner in 50% of couples reported that this was a major contributing factor for their divorce.

When these relationships did collapse, it was often times due to the person afflicted with the disease was simply unable to change their ways, couldn’t improve or would seek the help they needed.

Reason 7 - Domestic abuse

Now this can mean both emotional and physical abuse and about a quarter of participants highlighted this violence as a major factor.

Often times this was described as a gradual process. This mental or physical violence would develop gradually throughout the relationship and intensify until they reached insurmountable levels.

Of course any form of abuse is not ok and I really hope this is an issue you are NOT facing at home.

Reason 8 - Health problems

Illnesses can also be detrimental to marriages. The pain that’s caused for the individual and the potentially corresponding shift in one’s own ability can bring about tremendous stress.

Depending on the country where you live, illnesses can also bring with it significant financial hardship, putting additional strain on the relationship.

Unfortunately, this may not be something you can work your way out of by simply eating healthier, if you were in an accident for example. So if you’re stuck in this situation, I hope you can find a way to get out of your situation and find your way back to a healthier you.

Reason 9 - Lack of support from family

This is an interesting one. According to the study, when the husband had a close relationship with the wife’s family, it decreased the risk of divorce by 20%.

However, if the wife had a close relationship with her husband’s family, it increased the rate of divorce…! So according to Terri Orbuch, ‘wives should maintain boundaries with their in-laws, while husbands should remember to take care of their in-laws’.

Personally, I think it also comes down to the support system. They said that it used to take an entire village to raise kids. Cool. I don’t know about you, but we have no one else around, that we could rely on to help raise our kids.

In today’s age, where it’s easier than ever (and often necessary) to move across your country or even outside of your own country, having family close by to help out with your kids is a luxury.

Reason 10 - Religious differences

According to the study, religious differences were an issue in less than 20% of cases.

Apparently, couples in interfaith marriages are less happy than those in same-faith marriages. We don’t have this problem in our household. But I’d hope that if this is the case in your home, that all the other reasons you have for your marriage far outweigh the potential conflict due to differing religious affiliations.

Ok, so the above part was a bit of a bummer, let’s pick it up shall we?

Become a better husband in one month

Complacency can kill your marriage.

You’ve been with your wife for a while now and you’ve likely started to take many things for granted. There’s very little courtship, it’s been forever since you’ve been on a proper date, you’re so busy with the kids or the job, that you’ve also stopped taking care of yourself.

You may be drinking a bit much, you used to have a six pack, now dad bod mode is fully activated. Your boundaries for yourself have completely eroded, since you’re always looking after everybody else first.

Well, f*%k that. Time to take charge of your life again my friend.

Be intentional about becoming a better version of yourself. This is the first step to becoming a better husband for your wife. And we’re going to use Dr. Robert Glover’s 3 essences of an attractive man to guide us here.

The three essences of an attractive man are:

  1. He’s comfortable in his own skin.

  2. He knows where he’s going.

  3. He has fun while he’s going there.

I translate this to the following:

Essence 1 of an attractive man - Become all YOU can be

Socrates once said “No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.”

Absolutely!

You may have been in shape in your 20s, but you’ve let it slide for a few years now. I understand, you’re busy. I am too.

But working out isn’t just going to make you look better naked, it’s the foundation for a healthier, more vibrant life. It will improve your mental health and boost your quality of life.

This isn’t merely a choice, but an essential investment in your own future. So let’s get into better shape.

And how are we going to do this? This doesn’t just include lifting weights btw. If you have a gym nearby, cool. You could join the gym. But if you’re like me, aka extremely limited on time, opt for Calisthenics that you can do at home.

Strength training

For strength training, let’s go by muscle groups:

Chest and Triceps

Pushups! Easy, no equipment needed. Start off with 100 a day, 3 times a week. Take as much time as you need, but complete 100. This is your first part of the Daily 100s.

You can start off easy and just do regular pushups. If you want a bit of variety, you could also split it in the following ways.

  • 10x Normal pushups (shoulder-wide hand placement)

  • 10x Wide grip pushups

  • 10x Diamond pushups

  • 10x Explosive pushups

  • 10x Pike pushups

  • 10x Clapping pushups

  • 10x Side-to side pushups

  • 10x Archer pushups

  • 10x Shoulder tap pushups

  • 10x Typewriter pushups

And if you want to get that Arnold pump in your chest, the Bring Sally Up push up challenge will do the trick. Let me know how many you can get through!

I still haven’t made it through the whole song. I’m working on it, here’s what I got so far. Don’t judge me, I’m trying here…

If you want to watch someone actually complete the whole thing, here’s the man, the legend, David Goggins…

Biceps & Back

This will be a little difficult without any equipment at all. But what could you do if you had a bar or something you could hang off of?

The best thing to do is full range of motion chin ups. Wide pull ups are also great and you’ll use your back muscles much more.

Commando pull ups. No, it’s not a pull up with your d*ck out. You’re essentially doing a pull up sideways. But pull ups can be really difficult though, particularly if you’re just starting out. So what you could start out with is a dead hang. A dead hang is literally just grabbing the bar and hanging on for dear life. Try to hold out as long as you can. I started the year at 40 seconds. I’m at 1:34 at the moment. Let’s see if I can get to 1:40 by the end of the year.

You could also do a pull up hold, where you simply hold your body half way up for 10 seconds or as long as you can. A negative pull up is an interesting option. You jump all the way up and then very slowly start to lower yourself down. But the easiest move starting out is probably the jumping pull up. For this, just jump towards the bar and pull yourself all the way up before going back down.

For these next few, I’ll keep it really short and just share a couple YT videos that I tend to watch / follow along for these workouts.

Abs

This workout from Chidera Nelson will definitely do.

Legs and knees

We can’t always be skipping leg day. We’ve got to get it in every once in a while. And here, we can count on Chidera Nelson again with this leg work out. No equipment needed.

Let’s not forget about the knees! I played basketball for a long time so them knees were suffering. And talking about the knees, there’s no better guy to turn to, than the Kneesovertoesguy. Here’s a great starter video, if you haven’t done anything for your knee in the past. Most of the exercises can be done without any equipment.

And lastly, if you’re trying to finish off your legs and really feel the burn, here’s a great Bring Sally Up Squat Challenge video. Good luck!

That was the strength training part. But we’ve got more ground to cover!

Mobility

A healthy body doesn’t just require muscle, it also requires flexibility and mobility. So you need to get into the habit of stretching and mobility exercises. I’ve got two good videos for you here.

The first one is a great 10-minute mobility routine you can squeeze in at some point in your day.

If you have issues with a specific joint in your body, this video from Calisthenicmovement could help out. It covers exercises for each joint.

If you’re going to be watching TV, you might as well be use that time to do some good for your body.

“Body Hacking” - Hot & Cold Exposure

What else ya got? Saunas and ice baths!

Saunas will help to detoxify your body, relieve muscle soreness and improve circulation. This could positively impact your blood pressure and enhance heart health.

And ice baths on the other end of the temperature spectrum, can reduce inflammation in the body, help speed up muscle recovery and stimulate circulation of the blood.

This can also fortify your immune system and improve metabolic rate. When I go to the sauna and I chicken out on using the cold pool (plunge), I don’t get the tingling sensation on my body. I’m just uncomfortably hot! But when I do the cold pool (plunge), I get this feeling of an aura around me, which lasts for several hours.

If you don’t have a sauna accessible or nearby, there’s really no way around than getting your own (in case you have enough space in your place).

But if a cold plunge is not available, there are a couple alternative methods. They’re not 100% the same, but they can still carry the benefits mentioned before (this is not medical advice, just stuff that I’ve tried - so try at your own risk 😉):

Ice bath your face!

Just grab a bowl, fill it to 80% (or just enough so that your whole face can be submerged) with water and ice cubes. Wait for the ice cubes to do their magic and take a dip.

Hold your breath for as long as you can under there and voila, that sh*t stings! If you’re a real badass, get a snorkel and spend some longer quality time in your ice water. Don’t overdo this of course. You don’t want to start your day with a splitting headache.

Cold shower

It’s the cheapest way to get your cold on, but it still sucks every time. So a good start to your “do something hard every day” David Goggins routine.

Shakti mat

They’ve been around for a while, but I only recently discovered Shakti mats and I’m already a believer. This mat mimics the traditional Chinese medicine technique of acupressure.

It’s a therapeutic tool that offers the following benefits: pain relief, improved circulation, stress reduction and enhanced sleep quality.

If you can hold out on putting your phone in front of your face, you can also use it as your mindfulness and meditation practice of the day. Two birds… Warning, it stings. But only in the beginning. Feels great afterwards and I do it right before I go to sleep. 10 out of 10 recommend.

Supplements

Ok last bit, supplements. Here’s what I take. If you have any further recommendations, let me know!

  1. Creatine

  2. Protein

  3. Vitamin D

  4. Omega 3

  5. Collagen

  6. Ginkgo Biloba

Bonus round for all cavemen working at a desk

I basically used to sit at my desk all day for work, like millions of other office workers.

Here’s the equipment I have at home, so that I don’t have to spend all my time hunched over my computer screen from my comfy home-office chair:

  1. Movable desk - this is the first moveable desk I bought, great decision!

  2. Balance board - this is the board I use

  3. Desk treadmill - the treadmill we bought a few years back, so I can’t find the exact one on Amazon anymore, but this desk treadmill is similar

  4. Hand grips - these are the hand grips I bought and use in the car mostly

I want to add a big disclaimer at this point. If you’re able to do all of the above, that’s awesome. But let’s be honest, real life doesn’t have an Instagram filter. Not everything is going to be perfect or go according to plan.

So I also can’t do all of the above every single day either. It’s simply about adding the relevant bits to your routine. Because remember:

“You don’t rise to the level of your motivation, you fall to the level of your systems.”

- James Clear

For my routine, I take the supplements every day. I strength train 3 times a week. I do cardio for 30 minutes almost every day. Mobility I can do about 3 times a week. I don’t have a sauna in my house, so I do it once a month. You’re supposed to do it 3 times a week, so will need to figure something out here. Cold shower and shakti mat, a quick Wim Hof breathing exercise and 5-minuute meditation session I try to get in daily.

And btw, none of the links above are affiliate links. Just thought it would be easier for you to check out some of the options by showing you what I use.

Essence 2 of an attractive man - Knows where he’s going

This is all about the mental side for me and it’s not just about your job. This goes much deeper.

I was on the typical management / office life treadmill, chasing that next promotion for the sake of “well that’s what I’m supposed to do” kind of thing. What got me out of it? Shitty managers and burn out.

What else was the trigger here? Having kids. That’s what got me to reflect on my decisions in the first place. Because at some point I asked myself, what values do I want to instill in my kids.

Only one problem. I didn’t know what my own values were.

Know your values

Now that I’ve actually taken the time to reflect on my values and know what they are, it’s much easier for me to make (career) decision.

This has also helped in reducing my stress levels tremendously. When you align your actions with your values, you’ll be much happier.

This will show up positively in your marriage too. So that’s the first topic, discover and know your values. If you don’t know where to start, this blog post has you covered.

Since I’ve spoken so much about values, I feel like I can’t just be talking the talk, I also need to be walking the walk. So here are my values:

  1. Challenge - whether it’s a competition against others or a demanding situation I’m facing by myself, I love being able to continually grow, learn new things and develop personally.

  2. Family orientedness - I prioritize being with my family and I’m proud of the fact that I’ve realized how important this aspect is in my life. Cherishing and nurturing other close relationships also falls into this category for me.

  3. Adventure - In the words of Barney Stinson, new is always better. Adventure for me does not mean jumping from sky scrapers, it means creating new memories by doing something new. I want new experiences in my life, for a life well lived.

We’ve covered the big ticket item and you really want to focus on nailing this, before getting to the next parts. That’s because without this inner compass, all the other stuff you could do will just be surface level improvements.

However, once you’ve done “the homework”, these next items can also offer some great mental benefits.

I try to do each one of these during the week. I don’t go overboard with it and knock out every single item on this list every single day because I simply don’t have the time.

Side note, I find it odd when I see these influencers thanking their wife for taking care of the kids in the morning while they take 3 hours to work out and take care of themselves. Raising kids is your job too buddy, don’t just hand off that responsibility to your partner. But anyway, I digress…

Focus and intentionality

If you’re like me, you’ve definitely heard of Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman. I’m a big fan of his work and I’ve noted down and followed a couple practices that he’s talked about.

Practice number 1 - Anti-distraction exercise

When I’m feeling distracted (by my phone again most likely) and I want to kickstart focus time, I do this focus exercise.

Instructions: put your phone on the other side of the room, sit down, pick a spot on the wall and stare at it for 2 minutes. Perhaps put a timer on your phone first. But when doing this exercise, just try to relax. You can blink when you need to. Learn to push through once you start feeling antsy. You therefore start with your visual focus and the mental focus will follow suit.

Practice number 2 - Meditation

Obviously it’s not just Huberman who’s talked about the benefits of meditation.

In this day and age, it’s simply not common anymore, to not stare at a screen of some kind every few minutes. So taking at least a small part of the day out to detox from the digital world and focus your attention on yourself can greatly increase your sense of calm. It’s done so for me.

I’m still not at the point where I meditate completely by myself, so I still do rely on guided meditation. But I should get to the unaided form at some point in the future. Until then, I liked to use guided 5-minute (body scan) meditations like these 1, 2 or 3.

Side note: if it’s the end of the day and you simply can’t wind down, try some ASMR.

Now there’s some really cringy content out there, but a creator I’ve listened to quite often in the past is called Simply Kel. Here’s one of her videos that makes it easy to calm the mind after a busy day.

Apparently, ASMR is like Marmite in that it either works for you or it doesn’t. If it works for you, cool, enjoy the video. If not, then maybe just go with the Shakti mat at this point of the day.

Practice number 3 - Journaling.

I know, I know, you think this is something kids do.

But let me tell you, it can work wonders. Why? Because you will find what you’re looking for! So what do you want to look for? This is of course up to you, but here are the questions that I ask myself at the end of every day (note: you don’t have to answer all questions all the time, just pick one of two for the day and answer very briefly):

  1. What am I grateful for today?

  2. What am I proud of myself for today?

  3. What inspired me today?

  4. What made me laugh today?

  5. What would 85 year old Camillo wish he could experience again from today?

    1. Why is this great? Because it reinforces my positive thoughts. I have plenty of negative thoughts going on up there, but I want to focus on the positive. So whenever I have a positive experience, I get to not only experience it in the moment, but I get to reflect on it at least once more, when I write it down. And it sure is a great thing to be grateful. Definitely something I don’t do enough of.

And if you’re still not convinced, here are some more benefits ascribed to journaling: reduce stress and anxiety, boost memory, improve mental and physical health, regulate emotions, relieve depression.

Practice number 4 - Breathing exercise

I’ve got three of options here, depending on what you want to achieve.

The first one is from the Godfather of breathing, Wim Hof. If you want to boost your immune system and get to a state where you might actually feel a little high, then watch this masterclass (exercise starts from minute 7:00).

If you want to reduce your body’s stress response and shut down the panicky feeling of escalating stress, then do the psychological sigh method from Andrew Huberman. How does it work? There are only two steps:

  1. Take two short breaths through your nose

  2. Take one long exhale through your mouth

  3. Repeat on to three times

Another way to relax is with box breathing. I multitask with this one before bed. I lay on the Shakti mat and do this breathing exercise for about 3 minutes. There are four steps here:

  1. Breath in through your nose for 5 seconds

  2. Hold that breath for 5 seconds

  3. Breath out through your mouth for 5 seconds

  4. Hold with no air for 5 seconds

  5. Repeat the cycle 9 times

Practice number 5 - Digital mini detox

I’m not talking about a whole holiday without your phone. Relax. But here are a few ways in which I try to “detox” from my phone:

  1. When you’re working at the desk, put your private phone away from your desk, so that you’d have to get up and walk to it. So you have to do that walk of shame, if you absolutely must check your phone.

  2. When you’re speaking to your wife, don’t have headphones in, whether something is playing or not. Take your headphones off already. Same thing goes for when you’re speaking to your kids. Or anyone for that matter…

  3. Whenever you go somewhere in your house, just leave your phone behind. I do this far too often. Gotte go get a coffee? Better take my phone and scroll on some TikTok. Heaven forbid I may feel an ounce of boredom.

  4. That brings me to my next point, put a time limit on your social media apps. Do it via your phone’s settings. This won’t allow you to continually “extend” the timer, unless you actually go into your settings and change them. Again, another digital walk of shame moment.

Practice number 6 - Speak to a psychologist

Last one and this one can be quite a challenge, since it can be extremely difficult to get a hold of a psychologist.

And if you do manage this, this might also prove to be a very expensive speaking buddy. Luckily for me, “the system” in Germany does look after people and I was able to get into a program which assigned a psychologist at no cost.

If you do get the chance to clock some hours with a psychologist, it could be a great opportunity. It allows you to speak about things that you normally wouldn’t want to speak about with your wife, buddy or any other person.

Essence 3 of an attractive man - Has fun while he’s going there

They say girls just wanna have fun.

Well I don’t know about you, but so do I. I want to have a blast and live a truly memorable life. That’s something I tend to forget to plan, while I’m heads down at my job.

It’s time to start planning your private life, just like you do your corporate calendar. And we’re going to bake some fun into it.

That brings me to a hero of mine, Jesse Itzler. From the outside looking in, this dude has had an incredible life. Starting off as a songwriter / rapper, eventually moved into entrepreneurship. He co-founded and sold one of the largest private jet card companies, Marquis Jet to BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY! He partnered with Zico Coconut Water, which was then sold to the Coca Cola company.

Then David Goggins came to live with him and he wrote a book about it - Living with a seal. He has an awesome wife in Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, has four kids and seems to be very actively involved in the raising of his kids.

He’s been hitting it out of the park since the 90’s and he just keeps on going. What a legend.

If you’re looking for the definition of an elite caveman. He’s him. But enough of being a fanboy. Here are a couple practices of his, that I’ve adopted for myself.

The Misogi.

Everyone needs one. It’s a year-defining event on your calendar. So looking back, you should have one major accomplishment or experience that’s defined each year.

Thinking through my past, I might be able to pick out a couple of experiences, but I was never really intentional about hitting that one big thing each year and I’m certain that this will contribute to a very memorable life indeed.

So what was Jesse’s Misogi for 2023? Ride across the country with 10 friends. What’s my Misogi for this year? Well, after countless ideas I’ve thought about starting, my Misogi is to finally launch this newsletter, to help other men become better husbands and overall elite cavemen. So if you’re reading this, it means I hit my Misogi for 2024!

Kevin’s rule.

Take one day every other month and do something that you normally wouldn’t do. This will mean a year full of 6 new mini adventures and that sounds like a blast to me.

What were my new adventures for this year? Go to a music festival (Parookaville), run a long distance race (5k), attend a Bundesliga game (Leipzig vs. Leverkusen), do a floating session, visit the leaning tower of Pisa, go to an art exhibition.

And to help you visualize all the awesome things that you’ll get to do this year, you can order Jesse’s Big A## Calendar. This calendar is big enough so you can keep track of all the things you need to do this year. So it’ll help you in keeping on top of things and also hopefully get you excited as you look at your year ahead.

In other words, don’t forget to have fun yourself. Set boundaries for yourself to make sure that you don’t always put yourself on the backburner and that you get to have an awesome time too.

Additional ways to become a better husband

Let’s move beyond the self. What else could you do to become a better husband?

Mental load

Ever heard of this? If not, let me as you a couple questions…

  • What’s the name of the kindergarten or school that your kid(s) goes to?

  • What’s the name of their main teacher?

  • Matter of fact, when’s your kid's birthday?

  • When’s your wife’s birthday?

  • Are you running out of milk?

If you have kids and got 5 out of 5 questions right, well done. If not, we’ve got some work to do.

This is just the surface of mental load. It’s where marriage hits the road, in routine daily life. Mental load refers to the ongoing, often unseen, mental labor involved in managing household tasks and organizing family life.

It’s not just about the physical work, but also the cognitive and emotional effort involved in planning, organizing, remembering and coordinating these tasks.

Traditionally, women have disproportionately shouldered this load. But more and more women are also working 100% jobs now. My wife is. How about yours?

The constant juggling act can lead to increased stress and burnout, with potentially serious consequences for your partnership too - if the workload is simply too one sided.

If you think that there might be an imbalance in mental load, the first step is to take account of all the things that need to get done in your life and then see how much of this workload you’re actually picking up.

Here are some items that are relevant in our household:

  1. Remembering and scheduling children’s appointments, playdates and extracurricular activities

  2. Thinking of and buying presents for birthdays, Xmas, etc.

  3. Planning meals, grocery shopping and cooking

  4. Keeping track of household supplies and restocking them

  5. Managing the family calendar and coordinating social engagements

  6. Organizing household chores and ensuring they’re completed


This doesn’t cover all the things, but it’s a great start. And what are you supposed to do now? Here’s how you can start to share more of the mental load (your wife will thank you for it - probably…)

  1. Initiate the conversation - acknowledge the imbalance and just ask how she sees it and where she sees an ideal split or areas of improvement

  2. Be proactive and not reactive - take the initiative, instead of always waiting to be asked to do something. See something broke around the house, go to the store to buy what you need and just fix it.

  3. Embrace planning and organization - take on the responsibility for a specific task in its entirety, including the planning and execution. For example, plan your next holiday, make a dinner plan for the week, etc.

  4. Regular check-in - check in with each other and discuss how this new distribution is going. Celebrate success along the way too. Remember, the little things matter.

Let her take some time off

Your wife ain’t no NPC, she should be able to chase her dreams too.

As husbands, fathers and men, we’re generally striving to better ourselves. Well, so does your wife. She’s got ambition to pursue certain things in her life. Make sure that she gets the time for this pursuit as well.

Give her the time, so she’s got the space to have some fun on her own or work on the project she’s been meaning to work on for some time.

Weekend coming up? You take the kids to the park by yourself. It gives your kids some quality dad time. You get to spend some time alone with the kids and your wife gets some time for herself.

Connect with her

Most of us only do one thing when spending time with our wives. And that is watching TV.

It’s understandable why. You’ve both had a long day. Work was exhausting, taking care of the kids was exhausting, you just want to relax, turn your brain off and watch TV. Let the TV entertain you two.

The problem here is that it is the lowest form of intimacy you could ask for. Jay Shetty said that if you and I were to watch 200 hours a year together, you'd be no closer than before. And it’s true.

The glow of the TV screen does become comfortable, but it’s isolating. You’re surely not growing together. You’re not getting any closer. You’re just turning your brain off together. My wife and I spent years doing that to be honest. We’ve easily made it through “How I met your Mother”, “Friends” and many many more TV series.

But about a year ago, we cut down our TV time considerably. We might watch TV once every two weeks now. We work a lot more now too, so when we do have time in our diaries, we spend it on stuff that engages us as a couple. Intimacy is a great option of course. But simply taking the time for some quality conversation also helps you to enhance your connection and emotional intimacy.

So what could you do instead of watching TV? I’ve got a page on activities you could do together, so check them out here [LINK]. But just to give you a couple examples:

  • Weekly check-in

  • Walk and talk together

  • Work out together

  • Daily gratitude sharing (what are you thankful for today?),

  • Cook together,

  • Learn from each other (e.g. different parenting styles), etc.

Communicate (better) more

Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments.

Communicate properly, learn how to express what you’re feeling and how to deal with conflict in a healthy way - don’t bottle everything up and let resentment fester.

Have the courage to speak up about the unresolved stuff you’ve been avoiding. Don’t let the marriage die of a thousand cuts.

Use “I” statements when you’re in a fight. Forgive sooner and often. Don’t take this personally. It’s not a personal attack, don’t shut down, try to understand her frustration with the situation.

Is there a trigger that’s bothering her? Why is she upset? Doesn’t mean you always need to see eye to eye and agree on everything. Just make sure both sides feel heard.

Keep your word

“You don’t become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your self doubt.” Alex Hormozi.

This quote is absolutely brilliant and is very much applicable for your home life too.

Keeping your word builds trust in the relationship. It shows your wife that you value the relationship and are committed and reliable.

But as mentioned in the quote above, the benefit is not just for your relationship with your wife, but it carries over to your self-confidence as well. You are affirming to yourself that you are capable and dependable.

So how can you stop forgetting all the little things you want to do around the house for example? Well, if I don’t write stuff down, I’ll forget. So I like a list!

The calendar I reserve for the big ticket items. But for the smaller stuff, I like to use Microsoft To Do as my second brain. It’s a great way to keep track of all your actions and you never run out of space. There are a bunch of apps you could use, but what’s important is that you always have this list readily available.

Your action list should be accessible within 2 clicks… Many more clicks and you’ll soon grow tired of the upkeep. This needs to be quick and easy, if you want to stick to it.

Cut the *orn

Touchy subject. Literally…

As with anything, when done in moderation, everything should be fine. But when this stuff becomes a habit and potentially even a dependability, you might be facing some issues.

Like what you ask? Unrealistic expectations for both parties involved, impact on sexual health and even emotional distance.

“But a Harvard Medical School study said that guys are supposed to ejaculate 21 times a month to lower prostate cancer risk”. Well hold on there champ. First of all, there’ve been other studies that did not come to this conclusion. There was a study in 2004 that failed to find a link between frequent ejaculation and lowering prostate cancer risk.

A study in 2008 discovered that young men who reported more sexual activity (both alone and with a partner) actually had a higher risk of prostate cancer in their 20s and 30s. And in 2018, multiple studies found that moderate ejaculation of around 2 - 4 times a week was associated with a lower risk of prostate cancer, but that the risk did not decline by ejaculating more often than that.

And secondly, you don’t need porn for this. The best way is to honestly just go cold turkey on this. You always say that you don’t have enough time to be away from all your devices and meditate. Well, voila. Here’s your chance. Just use your imagination. A twist on meditation… with a happy ending.

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