GoodGuys2GreatMen Video Podcast

How to be More Attractive by Stopping Wishy-Washiness

Dan Dore & Steve Horsmon • 7m 41s • 12 October 2019

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How to be More Attractive by Stopping Wishy-Washiness
Video overview: If your wife seems less attentive, affectionate, appreciative, or intimate, the answer may not be to try harder to please her. This video looks at the quiet, unattractive energy of wishy-washiness — and why becoming more decisive can change how you feel about yourself and how she feels around you.

There’s a certain kind of energy a man brings home when he doesn’t really know where he stands.

He may not be angry. He may not be doing anything obviously wrong. He may even be trying hard to be a good husband, a good provider, a good dad, and a decent man.

But underneath all that effort, there’s a wobble.

He hesitates. He waits to see what mood she’s in. He changes his mind too easily. He avoids saying what he wants because he doesn’t want to upset anyone. He lets life, his wife, the kids, the bills, the house, and the endless list of responsibilities decide who he’s going to be that day.

That’s what I mean by wishy-washiness.

It’s not a character defect. It doesn’t mean you’re weak, broken, or doomed. It means you’ve drifted away from your own clarity.

And when a man drifts away from his own clarity, the people around him can feel it.

Your wife can feel it when you’re looking to her for direction. She can feel it when you’re trying to manage her reaction before you’ve even said what you really think. She can feel it when you’re waiting for her approval before you decide what kind of man you’re going to be.

And here’s the hard part.

That energy rarely creates more affection, appreciation, desire, or trust.

Most men don’t want to hear that at first. I didn’t either. It’s much easier to say, “She’s cold,” or “She never appreciates me,” or “Nothing I do is good enough.”

Sometimes those things may feel very true.

But this video asks you to look somewhere much more powerful than her mood, her behaviour, or her level of affection. It asks you to look at how you’re thinking and behaving before she ever enters the room.

Are you clear?

Are you decisive?

Are you engaged with your own life?

Are you taking responsibility for your own energy, your own choices, your own direction, and your own emotional state?

Because that’s where your power is.

A lot of men waste years analysing their wife. They study her tone. They replay the conversation. They ask why she did this, why she didn’t do that, why she pulled away, why she doesn’t touch them like she used to.

And I get it. When you’re hurting, your mind wants answers. It wants certainty. It wants the problem to be out there so you don’t have to feel the full weight of it inside yourself.

But the deeper work starts when you stop asking, “How do I get her to change?” and start asking, “What am I bringing into this house every day?”

That question can sting.

It can also set you free.

Because if you’re blaming her for how you feel, you’re trapped. If you’re waiting for her to become warmer before you become stronger, you’re stuck. If you need her approval before you take command of your own life, you’ve handed her a job she never wanted.

Your wife cannot make you a clear-headed, confident man of action.

And deep down, she doesn’t want that job.

She wants to feel you already being that man.

That doesn’t mean controlling her. It doesn’t mean becoming harsh, arrogant, or bossy. It doesn’t mean making every decision without caring how she feels.

It means you stop outsourcing your spine.

It means you know what you think. You say what you mean. You choose what you’re going to do. You stop drifting through the day waiting for the emotional weather in your marriage to tell you whether you’re okay.

A decisive man is not a perfect man.

He still gets things wrong. He still has doubts. He still feels fear, sadness, frustration, and disappointment. But he doesn’t make everyone else responsible for rescuing him from those feelings.

He takes responsibility for every ounce of how he’s thinking and behaving.

That one shift can change the whole nature of your day.

You walk differently. You speak differently. You listen differently. You stop trying to win affection by being agreeable, and you start creating respect by being grounded.

That’s attractive.

Not because it’s a trick. Not because it manipulates her into wanting you. But because clarity feels safe. Direction feels trustworthy. Emotional strength feels good to be around.

This is the inside game most men were never taught.

You were probably taught how to work hard, solve problems, provide, fix things, pay the bills, and keep everything moving. Nobody taught you how to stay connected to yourself when your wife is upset. Nobody taught you how to stop collapsing inside when she’s distant. Nobody taught you how to be loving without being needy.

So you learned to manage, please, avoid, react, or quietly resent.

This video is about interrupting that pattern.

It’s about seeing where you’ve become tentative, disengaged, or unclear, and learning how to come back to yourself. Not as a performance. Not as some macho act. But as a man who finally understands that his confidence, direction, and emotional strength are his responsibility.

And brother, this work can get deep.

But it’s worth it.

Because the more decisive you become inside yourself, the less you chase reassurance outside yourself. The less you chase reassurance, the more relaxed and trustworthy you become. And the more relaxed and trustworthy you become, the more space there is for real connection, affection, and intimacy to return.

Not by force.

Not by begging.

Not by waiting.

By becoming a man who knows who he is, what he stands for, what he wants, and how he wants to show up today.

That’s where attraction starts again.

Get clear about the man you want to be

If you can see yourself in this, you don’t need to beat yourself up. You need a better way to lead yourself when your marriage feels uncertain, painful, or stuck. We’d be glad to help you find your footing and start showing up with more calm, clarity, and strength.

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About the Hosts

Steve Horsmon & Dan Dore | Certified Professional Men’s Coach

Steve Horsmon and Dan Dore have spent over a decade supporting good men who are confused, frustrated, and afraid that their marriages and families are falling apart with no idea what to do about it. We've both experienced the same emotions that you're going through now. We know what it feels like to try all the mainstream try harder, be nicer advice while watching things continue to get worse. And that's exactly why Goodguys2Greatmen exists. Since 2012, we've coached thousands of men through some of the hardest periods of their lives; marriage breakdown, emotional distance, sexless relationships, fears of divorce or separation. We focus on practical solutions to help you survive some of the most challenging and painful experiences that a man can go through. This podcast is for men who are done waiting for their life and relationships to improve and are ready to make some bold decisions so that you become more calm and confident and start moving toward what you really want.