Susan, that's a wonderful contribution.

I make it a matter of pride to be a better man than I already am - that makes it an iterative process and, speaking from experience, it doesn't take many iterations to make a guy stand out with respect to both 'Manliness' and 'Gentlemanliness.'

There's a piece of advice I maintain for my bachelor friends (and myself) - take a weekend and go to 1) a bowling alley, 2) a laundromat, and 3) a Starbucks. Take a look at the guys you find in each of these venues. This, my friend, is your competition. As Susan said, it doesn't take much.

"There are some things which cannot
be learned quickly, and time, which is all we have,
must be paid heavily for their acquiring.
They are the simplest things,
and because it takes a man's life to know them
the little new that each man gets from life
is very costly and the only heritage
he has to leave.

"Every man's life ends the same way, and it is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguishes one man from another."

-Ernest Hemingway