Merry Christmas! The crew at the Art of Manliness will be taking the coming week off to spend time with family and reboot before the new year. So we won’t be publishing anything new on the site until January. But for those of you who still need an AoM fix while we’re away, we’ve put together this recap of 2013 on the Art of Manliness.

On the homefront, Kate and I welcomed our second child and first daughter: Olive Scout McKay. Scout has already brought a ton of joy into our lives.

Here on the blog, things have been hopping too. Let’s take a look at the big AoM happenings of the year.

Top Posts of 2013

These were our top posts from each month in 2013 based on traffic:

Jan: Testosterone Series

Feb: How to be Assertive

Mar: How to End a Conversation

Apr: Save Money and Shop Smart: Know the Style Pyramid



May: The Sometimes, Always, Never 3-Button Rule Illustrated

Jun: 37 Conversation Rules for Gentlemen from 1875

Jul: How to Accept a Compliment With Class

Aug: Preventing Swamp Crotch: 10 Products “Scientifically” Tested

Sep: What Does It Mean to Be a Man? 80+ Quotes on Manliness & Manhood

Oct: How to Walk Like a Ninja

Nov: Three Elements of Charisma Series

Dec: How to Pull an All-Nighter: Tips from the Special Forces

Editor’s Picks

Of course traffic isn’t the only measure of the worth of a post. Here are some of our personal favorites from this year:

Thumos and Jack London Series

Solvitur Ambulando: It Is Solved By Walking

Don’t Waste Your Twenties Series

What Is Character? Its 3 True Qualities and How to Develop It

Are You a Sheep or Sheepdog?

How a Man Handles a Miscarriage

5 Types of Friends Every Man Needs

How and Why to Become a Lifelong Learner

How Delaying Intimacy Can Benefit Your Relationship

You May Be Strong…But Are You Tough?

How to Make a Difficult Decisions: Advice from Sergeant Alvin C. York

Fathering With Intentionality: The Importance of Creating a Family Culture

Measure Twice, Cut Once: Applying the Ethos of the Craftsman in Our Daily Lives

Beyond “Sissy” Resilience: Becoming Antifragile

The AoM Archives

If the above posts aren’t enough to satiate your AoM appetite, I highly recommend browsing through our archives. We have nearly 2,000 articles in there waiting to be discovered.

Videos

(If you’re reading this in the email, click here to watch the video.)

This year we made it a goal to produce more videos. Thanks to the help of Jordan Crowder, we’ve done just that. You can find all our videos on YouTube. While you’re there, make sure to subscribe to our channel so you get updated as soon as we publish a new video.

Here are a few of my favorite videos we put out this year:

How to Tie a Bow Tie

How to Shave Like Your Grandpa

The Importance of Roughhousing

The Brad Pitt Rule

Summer Grilling Series

Turkey Week Series

The most popular video of the year was on that most essential subject…how to whistle with your fingers!

Podcast

Another goal I had in 2013 was to bring back the AoM podcast. I publish a podcast about every two weeks. Each episode gets downloaded around 50,000 times within a week of publishing and the Art of Manliness podcast is often in the top 25 podcasts on iTunes.

If you haven’t yet, I highly recommend subscribing to the AoM Podcast. It’s a great way to get your AoM fix while commuting or working out.

Here are a few of my favorite episodes from this past year:

The Warrior Ethos with Steven Pressfield

The Defining Decade With Dr. Meg Jay (about the importance of your 20s)

The Way of Men With Jack Donovan

Experimenting With Your Life With A.J. Jacobs

Other Art of Manliness Projects in 2013

Since hiring our very first employee, Jeremy Anderberg, as an editor, writer, and community manager back in February, we were able to take on a lot of projects for the site that we had put on the back burner for years. One of those was making videos. Here are a few of the other large projects we launched during the year:

New Art of Manliness Store. This year we partnered with ROBYN Promotions in Oklahoma City to create a new online store for our Art of Manliness gear. You can find AoM tees, stationery, and posters there.

A Thank You to Art of Manliness Readers

We’re coming up on our sixth birthday this January! The Art of Manliness had another great year of growth in 2013. Our continued success wouldn’t be possible without the support of our amazing Art of Manliness readers. Thank you for visiting the site and sharing it with your friends. Thank you to everyone who sent an encouraging letter or comment our way this year. It really means a lot to us.

We’ll be working hard in 2014 to keep bringing you top quality, totally free content that informs, entertains, and inspires. See you then!

Semper Virilis!

What are your favorite Art of Manliness articles from the past year? (Or of all time?)