With March Madness getting under way, you may be thinking about what you’d do if you found yourself with the ball in your hands, your team down by two, with a second left in the game. Could you make the game-winning shot?

Like most athletic skills, shooting a basketball is less about raw talent than repetition — building a consistent motion so that your body can perform it the same way over and over again. Proper mechanics start from the floor, using the legs to generate power and the upper body to direct it in one smooth, continuous motion. That’s what makes longer shots feel fluid instead of forced, and why players who rely too heavily on their arms often lose accuracy as they tire.

If you tend to feel like you’re trying to shoot a square peg into a round hole, the encouraging part is that even small adjustments can produce quick results. Use the guide above to work on having a better stance, cleaner hand placement, and a more disciplined follow-through — all of which can help the ball come off your hand more easily and with a more reliable arc.

At the same time, remember that good shooting isn’t about forcing your body into a perfectly rigid set of positions. The best shooters develop a motion that’s consistent but still natural — aligned with the basket, balanced, and repeatable, even if it doesn’t look exactly like a textbook diagram. Rhythm and feel matter as much as form. Practice the basics, then let your shot become your own.

Putting up a decent jump shot belongs in the same category of basic athletic competence as throwing a football or swinging a baseball bat; even if you’re not using this skill to secure a championship, it comes in handy for playing pickup ball, coaching your kids, or just putting up shots in the driveway.

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Studies show that people remember the beginning of something, and the end of it, the best. The middle of it is recalled a little more hazily.

Once a novel experience starts, your brain really starts focusing on what’s going on and quickly makes judgements about the new people you meet. And you clearly remember the last part of an experience, because it ends up being the freshest in your memory.

Given this phenomenon, people understandably spend a lot of time thinking about how to make a great first impression — which indeed has an outsized influence on how people see you, lasting for even months after you’ve gotten to know them.

But the other part of the equation is frequently ignored, though it’s also important. You not only want to make a dynamite first impression, you want to make a great last impression, too.

As Daniel Pink, the author of When, told me in my podcast interview with him, the end of something “has a disproportionate effect on how we remember things”:

You see it anecdotally in something like Yelp reviews. You want to kill 15 minutes, go on Yelp, look at restaurant reviews, and you’ll see a disproportionate number of them evaluate the restaurant by what happened at the end of the meal, ‘They gave me a check, and it was wrong, and they were jerks about it.’ ‘They gave me a free dessert, woo hoo.’ So, I think it’s really important in our personal encounters and in our professional encounters that we’re conscious of endings, and try to get endings to end not only on a positive note but in a way that elevates. Human beings prefer endings that elevate, we prefer rising sequences to declining sequences, and being conscious and intentional about that can improve our interactions.

Below are a few quick tips on how to improve the last impression you make in both business and social situations:

Gather your belongings in your left hand. When a job interview has come to a close, pick up things like your notebook or briefcase with your left hand; that will keep you from fumbling to free up your right hand when the interviewer reaches out to shake it.

Make physical contact before leaving. Physical contact promotes bonding; even a handshake has been shown to increase rapport and make you more likable and memorable. So make contact before you leave.

In a job interview or client meeting, shake hands with the other person as you part ways. Give a good, warm, confident handshake; make sure your hands are dry (discreetly wiping/patting them on your pants before you stand up), that the web between your first two fingers connects with the web of theirs, and that your fingers are flat rather than cupped so that your hands touch palm-to-palm.

In a social situation, shake hands or hug the other person as you say goodbye. 

In both professional and personal settings, if it feels natural, consider offering physical contact twice, offering a handshake/hug when you rise from the desk/table and at the door as well.

End with eye contact and a smile. As you make physical contact, look the other person in the eye and smile. Face them directly, rather than being at an angle, so you’re standing heart-to-heart. You’ll leave behind the impression of someone who’s open, straightforward, and warm.

Thank the person twice. As you stand up from a desk in an interview or other professional setting, say something like, “Thank you so much for the opportunity. I really appreciate it.” Then when you part at the door and shake hands, say, “Thank you again for the interview.”

In a social situation, accompany your first thank you with an appreciation for something specific you enjoyed about the event: “Thank you so much for having us over. That was the best pot roast I’ve ever had.” Then at the door, just say, “Thanks again for having us!”

Make sure you have all your belongings. If you make a great last impression, but then sheepishly have to come back through the door again, apologizing and saying you left your phone somewhere, that memory will supplant the other to become your new last impression, and not a great one at that.

Move with intent. Don’t stand there shifting your weight back and forth and saying, “Well . . . so . . .” When you’re hesitant, awkwardness results. Be friendly but firm with your goodbye; know exactly what you’re doing next, where you’re heading, and move confidently and deliberately in that direction.

Send a follow-up text/thank you note. Sending an appreciative text or thank you note (depending on whether the event was more casual or formal, respectively) is a really nice touch, and extends and solidifies the warm memory people have formed of you in their minds. So after a date is done, text the gal to let her know again what a great time you had. After a nice dinner party, send a thank you note to the host, sharing how much you enjoyed yourself and appreciate their hospitality. After a job interview, send a note to the interviewer thanking them for the opportunity. It’s such a simple thing to do, but will really set you apart from the pack.

Oftentimes, if we feel like an interaction isn’t going well, we just sort of turn off and shut down. But you shouldn’t give up — you can still improve the impression you’ve made! Even when things seem to be going downhill, try to finish strong; the person you’re with will remember the positive end of your interaction more than the muddling middle.

With our archives 4,000 articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in March 2018.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Left to their own devices, shrubs will usually grow okay on their own — but they won’t always grow how you want them to. Over time, they become unruly and congested, with tangled branches that block sunlight and limit airflow, leading to damaged, unhealthy plants that kill the landscaping aesthetic you’re aiming for. Done properly, trimming your bushes at least annually helps manage their growth and structure, keeping them healthy, balanced, and visually appealing. By removing dead or diseased stems and selectively shaping the plant, you encourage stronger development and a longer lifetime. 

Spring-flowering shrubs like lilac and forsythia should be pruned right after they bloom, so you don’t accidentally cut off next year’s flower buds. Summer-flowering shrubs, on the other hand, are best pruned in late winter or early spring before new growth takes off. Dead or damaged wood can be removed anytime you notice it — in fact, the sooner the better.

Too many property-owners hack away at a plant until it looks tidy. But proper trimming is about making thoughtful cuts to guide future growth. With a simple plan and a few fundamental techniques, you can transform a wild, overgrown shrub into a healthier, more vigorous plant.

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

When our family moved from Colorado (downhill ski country) to northern Minnesota last summer, we knew we’d have to spend our first winter learning how to cross-country ski; this region is home to some of the finest cross-country terrain and skiers around. Little did we know that not only is Nordic skiing (as it’s often called up here) vastly different from downhill skiing, but that there’s even variety within this branch of the sport.

While it was helpful to have some experience with skis, our first few lessons quickly revealed how much we had to learn in order to fully enjoy this delightful winter activity (and workout!). Because you’re moving on flat ground rather than blasting down a mountain, it’s easy to assume you can just grab a pair of skis and head out with no training or experience. This is true to a degree, but we’ve run into a lot of folks who did just that and then wished they had some type of short lesson or even just basic Nordic knowledge before heading out. I can easily say that our handful of lessons have greatly increased our confidence on the trails.

Whether you decide to pursue formal training or simply learn by doing, knowledge of the five essentials below will make your first few outings smoother, safer, and far more enjoyable.

1. Know the Difference Between Classic and Skate Skiing

It’s not always common knowledge that there are two types of cross-country skiing: classic and skate (also sometimes called freestyle). Classic skiing utilizes parallel tracks in the snow, just a couple inches deep, that you stay in for the majority of your outing. This type is most likely what you associate with cross-country skiing; your legs stay parallel and basically do a shallow lunge back and forth in the tracks.

Skate skiing was popularized in the 90s and utilizes a wide, flat trail. The motion in skate skiing is similar to — you guessed it — ice skating. You alternate pushing off of each leg and gliding forward, with the skis making more of a V shape versus staying parallel. It requires more specialized technique and a higher baseline level of fitness.

It’s important to know the difference because the two types of skiing are vastly different in terms of equipment and skillset — it’s basically two different sports. If you’re new to cross-country skiing, you want to stick with classic. It’s much more forgiving when it comes to fitness levels and learning curve. If you’re renting skis or going out with a friend, get yourself classic equipment and stay in those parallel tracks. Some cross-country trails only offer classic tracks and some offer both; very few offer freestyle without classic tracks.

The rest of this article assumes that you’re partaking in classic cross-country skiing.    

2. Know How to Handle Hills

The two hardest parts of cross-country skiing are navigating hills and making turns. Nordic skis are different than downhill skis in that they don’t have a metal edge; this means you simply don’t have the same control while going downhill or turning, requiring a little more thought and technique.

What also makes cross-country skiing a little tricky is the fact that your skis run along set tracks, which limits your range of motion and can cause some anxiety when you get up a little speed and aren’t sure how to stop or maneuver. So at the outset, you should know that if you’re ever feeling uncomfortable, you should step out of the tracks. Your skis are not glued to them, and if you stay in them when things don’t feel right, you’re more liable to not only mess up the tracks but also injure yourself.

With that knowledge in your pocket, let’s first talk about navigating going uphill and down:

Going Uphill

For small inclines, you can often simply increase the pace of your walk/lunge to more of a jogging pace and make it up the hill. (Proper pole technique will help too; more on that below.) For more intense inclines or when you start slipping backwards on the hill, step out of the tracks and utilize the duck walk. Make a V with your skis (with the point behind you) so that the inside edge can grab onto the snow and get you uphill. It’s fairly straightforward compared to going downhill.

Going Downhill

Going downhill on cross-country skis is where things can turn iffy very quickly, especially if you’re at all used to downhill skiing. On mountain slopes, you have skis that pop off when they’re torqued; that’s not the case with Nordic skis, which means your legs can get twisted up in a rather ugly way.

A lot of people start going down a hill only to get scared halfway down, and then you’re stuck in the tracks hoping to either make it through or do some kind of controlled fall. An easier way to approach it is to simply decide before you start down the hill whether you’re comfortable staying in the tracks. If the slope looks intimidating, step out at the top while you’re still in control. It’s much easier to reposition when you’re stationary or moving slowly than once you’ve picked up speed. The more you get out skiing, the more your tolerance for and confidence on hills will increase.

Once you’re out of the tracks, turn your skis into a “snowplow,” making a V with the point in front of you and squeeze your knees together like you’re trying to hold a ball between them. This will slow you down (though not all the way) as you go downhill, and you can then turn as needed by putting more pressure on one leg or the other. If you need to fall, let yourself fall straight to the side with your arms out to brace the impact.

You can try to snowplow in the tracks if needed, but it’s going to quickly ruin the tracks for any skiers coming after you (and it may not even work if the tracks are firm or icy).

3. Know How to Turn With Control

Besides going downhill, turning is the other part of cross-country skiing that folks struggle with — especially when you have to turn while going up or down a hill. Indeed, trying to turn while your skis are in parallel tracks is tricky. With just a few quick pointers, though, you’ll be able to at least get through turns with confidence rather than fear.

First, just take it slow and use more of a walking pace rather than trying to glide through it. You can even step out of the tracks and just walk the turn if needed. Another related option is to step out with one ski (generally the inside ski), giving you a bit more control while the other ski stays in the tracks.

Second, if you’d like to glide through a turn (like if it’s at all on a decline), extend your outside ski a bit further forward. This creates a more natural position for your body to turn with the skis, just like how a car turns.

Third, as unnatural as it may feel in the moment, you need to lean your bodyweight into the turn, just a bit, so that your momentum goes in the correct direction rather than going straight or away from the turn. This will help considerably.      

Finally, just know that slower turns are very common on Nordic trails, especially for beginner and intermediate folks. It’s really only experts who are blazing through at any kind of full speed. Just do what you’re comfortable with.

4. Know How to Use Your Poles Effectively

In downhill skiing, poles generally don’t do a whole lot other than provide some counterbalance and slight maneuverability. In cross-country skiing, the poles get heavy use as tools for balancing and pushing yourself forward.

You always want to coordinate your poles with your opposite leg — your right pole plants when your left ski is forward, and vice versa. When your arms and legs work together like this, the glide will feel natural and powerful.

You also want to be sure to plant your poles with purpose. Drive them into the snow — just behind your leading foot — and push backward, driving power and boosting your forward momentum along with your legs. This is what makes cross-country skiing a full-body exercise; if you aren’t using poles correctly, it’s going to quickly become an unintended quads-only workout.

You might white-knuckle the poles at first, but try to relax your hands and let the straps do some of the work.

5. Know How to Ski Safely

One final note: As with downhill skiing, be sure to take your physical safety seriously. Just because the terrain is flat(ter) doesn’t mean you can pay less attention to what’s going on in front of and around you, or that you can pay less attention to your body’s fatigue. As mentioned above, a tumble in your skis on relatively flat ground can mean seriously banged up limbs and joints — just days after writing the first draft of this piece, my wife tore her ACL and MCL towards the end of an intermediate level 5K ski.

Now, not all injuries or freak accidents are preventable, but pay especially close attention when going downhill, which is when the majority of falls and injuries occur. If at any point you feel like you’re going too fast or are too tired to safely navigate, slow down, catch your breath, and feel free to take it nice and easy. The goal of cross-country skiing is not the adrenaline rush that you get from the downhill variety; it’s to enjoy winter, move your body, and come home ready to go again next time.

Illustrations by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

You’re on vacation and staying at a rental house with your future in-laws.

They head out to do some shopping in town and you figure it’s a great time to take care of your daily constitutional.

Once the deed is done, you flush the toilet. But the water starts going up instead of down.

Uh-oh. You’ve gone and clogged the toilet. This isn’t the impression you were hoping to make.

“No problem,” you think. “I’ll just use the plunger to get things unstuck.”

You look to the left of the toilet. You look to the right. You do several 360 spins and look in every corner.

Uh-oh. There’s no plunger.

You’re not entirely out of luck though. With some other household supplies, you may be able to solve this dilemma without having to tell everyone that you put their toilet out of commission.

Below you’ll find 6 ways to unclog a toilet without a plunger.

While these methods can be used to unclog a toilet without a plunger, they’re also handy when you’ve tried to unclog a toilet with a plunger, but it didn’t work. Consider these your plan B back-up options.

Pour Hot Water Into Toilet Bowl

Fill up a pot or pitcher with hot water from the tub. Don’t use boiling hot water! If you do, it may crack your porcelain throne.

From waist level, pour the hot water into your toilet bowl.

The pressure of the falling water, combined with its heat, can help loosen and dislodge the clog.

Add Dishwashing Detergent

If the hot water trick didn’t work, add some liquid dish soap to the bowl. The soap will make the clog slippery, hopefully helping it clear through the pipes.

After adding the dish soap, let everything sit for 20 minutes or so. Give it another flush. If it still doesn’t move, pour another batch of hot water into the toilet. You can also combine things from the get-go by pouring a pot of hot water mixed with dish soap into the bowl.

Combine Vinegar and Baking Soda

We’re going to 5th-grade-science-fair this clog by creating a vinegar and baking soda volcano in your toilet. Add a cup of baking soda to your bowl. Slowly pour the vinegar into the toilet until you get a fizzy chemical reaction. The fizz will hopefully disintegrate and nudge the clog through the pipe.

Try the Toilet Brush

You can use your toilet brush as a kind of plunger. Stick it into the toilet bowl hole and move it up and down like you’re plunging. This will provide some suction action, while breaking up the, um, matter that’s clogging the toilet and helping push things down.

If you don’t want your brush covered with the…stuff…that’s clogging the toilet, wrap a plastic grocery bag around the brush before using it.

Employ a Wire Hanger Snake

Grab a wire hanger and straighten it out. Slide it down the hole to dislodge and break up whatever is causing the clog. Be careful not to scratch the porcelain at the bottom of the bowl!

Use a 2-Liter Soda Bottle

You’ll need a pair of rubber gloves for this one because you’ll be sticking your hands in the clogged toilet. Consider this your Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid last-ditch, blaze-of-glory effort to get the clog out without a plunger.

Fill a 2-liter soda bottle with hot water from the tub. Place your gloved thumb over the opening of the bottle and then place it into the toilet bowl. Start squeezing the bottle to shoot out the hot water. The hot water, plus the water pressure, should dislodge the clog.

Illustrations by Ted Slampyak

With our archives 4,000 articles deep, we’ve decided to republish a classic piece each Sunday to help our newer readers discover some of the best, evergreen gems from the past. This article was originally published in February 2022.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Identifying animal scat is one of those outdoor skills that sounds simple until you actually try it. You spot a pile on the trail or in your yard and think, “Aha, I can solve this mystery!” But then you realize that several animals leave behind droppings that look basically the same. This illustrated guide to the most common and notable scat found in the U.S. is meant to give you a solid starting point and to help you narrow the field rather than declare a definitive verdict.

Many types of scat differ mostly by size. Elk, deer, and even rabbit pellets can look strikingly similar at first glance; scale is often the biggest clue. Others blur together because related animals will produce nearly identical scat. Fox and coyote turds, for example, frequently overlap in overall appearance, and telling them apart often comes down to context: where you found it and what else you’re seeing nearby. In those cases, an identification is often an educated guess rather than a certainty — and really, narrowing it down to a couple possibilities is often good enough! 

Complicating things further, scat is highly variable depending on an animal’s diet, hydration level, and overall health. A berry-heavy meal, a run-in with a tasty bag of garbage, or a period of illness can radically change texture, color, and consistency. Plus, the same animal may leave very different calling cards at different times of year.

So think of this guide as simply one tool among many. Pair what you see here with tracks, habitat, location, and common sense. Scat identification is part observation, part experience, and part informed guesswork. 

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak 

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Making fire from ice sits right at the edge of survival skill and science experiment. It’s one of those techniques that feels like a clever survival hack — and technically it is — but in practice it’s notoriously difficult. Pulling it off requires a near-perfect combination of conditions: bright and direct sunlight, calm air, dry tinder, and most critically, a good-sized chunk of exceptionally clear ice. That last requirement is what makes this method especially difficult in the wild. Naturally occurring ice is often cloudy, cracked, or full of air pockets, all of which scatter light instead of focusing it. 

That said, it’s still possible. A small chance is better than no chance, after all. 

As such, this is still a worthwhile skill to understand and experiment with. You can try it out and get comfortable with it at home by making your own clear ice: boil water first to drive off dissolved gases, then freeze it slowly to minimize bubbles; use an insulated container so it freezes gradually from the top down. Practicing this way lets you focus on shaping, polishing, and aiming the lens without fighting bad materials or poor weather.

Ultimately, you should think of fire from ice not as a reliable backup plan, but as a last-ditch effort in a truly dire situation — as well as a fascinating demonstration of what’s possible when physics, patience, and conditions perfectly align.

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

When winter settles in, keeping your house warm can feel like a constant battle against drafts, cold floors, and rising heating bills. The good news is that staying warm doesn’t always require cranking up the thermostat. Small, strategic changes — most of them unrelated to your heating system — can make a noticeable difference in how comfortable your home feels.

Warming a house is less about brute force and more about efficiency: keeping the heat you already have and making sure it circulates where it’s needed most. From sealing hidden gaps to rethinking how you use everyday features like curtains, fans, and even your oven, it only takes a handful of smart habits to help your home hold onto warmth all winter long. And remember, it’s ultimately about keeping the person (or people) warm rather than the house — it’s okay to wear an extra sweater and have a pile of cozy blankets on hand. 

Whether you’re dealing with subzero temperatures or just trying to stay comfortable without a skyrocketing energy bill, the ten things highlighted above will help get you through. For more detail, and a couple extra ideas, be sure to read our full guide to keeping your house warm in the winter.

Illustrated by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Whether you’re scouting a ridgeline, tracking a bird in flight, or just trying to get a closer look at something across the lake, a good pair of binoculars is one of the handiest pieces of outdoor equipment a man can own.

Yet for something that seems straightforward, a surprising number of folks end up peering through their glass with mild exasperation. Most of us only ever twist the big center wheel and assume that’s the whole system. In reality, if the barrels aren’t aligned to your eyes, the eyecups are in the wrong position, or the diopter isn’t set for your vision, the image will stay stubbornly blurry — no matter how much you crank the focus.

That’s why people so often fumble with binoculars: they don’t know what to adjust, or in what order. And when you start twisting the diopter thinking it’s another focus knob, the view only gets worse.

With a few small tweaks — done in the right sequence — you’ll be more comfortable and the view will snap into clarity. Not every pair features adjustable eyecups or a diopter dial, especially the bargain-bin stuff, but when those options are there, it pays to get them right.

Use this guide, and you’ll know exactly how to set up your binoculars the next time you’re trying to distinguish a Cooper’s hawk from a sharp-shinned one.

Illustration by Ted Slampyak

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.

Some of you might be thinking, “Brett, why should I learn how to pick a lock if I don’t plan on breaking into people’s homes?”

Great question.

There are a few good reasons why law-abiding citizens should learn how to pick a lock:

Lock picking opens your eyes to the “illusion of security.” We all lock our doors to keep our loved ones safe at night and to secure our possessions during the day. After I picked my first lock within two minutes of learning how to do it, I realized that locks don’t really do much except provide the illusion of security. Locks make us feel safe, but if someone really wanted to get in your house, they could easily pick the lock on your front door. If they didn’t know how to do that, they could find another way in. You can’t just rely on a lock to keep you and your family safe. You need to utilize other tools and tactics and create multiple layers of security.

Realizing how little locks actually keep you and your stuff safe was both terrifying and surprisingly heartwarming. Terrifying because I saw that someone could easily enter my house and walk off with a crapload of stuff without having to break a window; heartwarming because seeing how easy it is to pick a lock and yet how rarely people get burgled, made me realize that most people don’t break into homes because, well, most people are good people.

It makes you handy. If you’ve ever been locked out of your house or car, you know how annoying it is to be standing there like a chump, waiting for someone to show up with a key or a professional locksmith to arrive. Wouldn’t you love to be able to jimmy your way in yourself? Not only can this skill save you a lot of time and money, being able to solve a problem like that on your own is pretty dang satisfying. Plus, you can help out all your friends when they get locked out too.

Knowing how to pick a lock may even help you save a life one day. ITS Tactical has highlighted a few instances in which someone picked their way into an older parent’s home because they weren’t answering the phone, only to find their parent collapsed on the floor. Could they have kicked the door down or broken a window? Sure. But picking a lock just takes a few seconds and doesn’t leave any damage. So why wouldn’t you do that if you could?

It’s a cool and fun skill! There’s simply a “cool” factor of knowing how to pick a lock. Of all the Jason Bourne-esque skills every man wishes he had, it’s one of the most attainable. The idea that I can surreptitiously enter most doors without a key makes me feel all-powerful, like some sort of super ninja-spy.

It’s also a fun little hobby and something I like to do when I’m taking breaks from work or hanging out with the kids while they do their kid thing on the carpet. If you get really into lock picking, you can actually go to events and contests to test your skills against other lock pickers.

Below we walk you through basic lock-picking techniques for tumbler locks. I made a lock picking YouTube video a few years ago that shows how to do this step-by-step.

The Legality of Lock Picking

There’s a common misconception that the only people who can legally own lock-picking tools are first responders or licensed locksmiths. The reality is that in most states, as long as you’re not trying to illegally enter someone’s home with your lock-picking set, you can legally own, carry, and use lock-picking tools.

There are, however, some states that have laws that make owning lock-picking tools prima facie evidence of criminal intent. If you’re caught with picks in these states and you want to avoid criminal charges, you have to prove that you didn’t plan on committing a crime.

Long story short: owning lock-picking tools and learning how to pick locks is perfectly legal and ethical as long as you do so without nefarious intent. Just be a decent human being. For a summary of lock-picking laws across the country, see here.

How to Pick a Pin Tumbler Lock

Pin tumbler locks are the most common locks found on the front doors of homes. So it makes for a good first lock to learn how to pick.

This article was originally published on The Art of Manliness.