Learn some handyman skills,plumbing,electric work, paint the house,change more lightbulbs.Carpentry sounds like a decent and fulfilling skill, if you have the resources, welding may be fun too.

I have an uncle we call McGyver, the man can fix anything with anything.Last time ,he went to his sister's house in the countryside,I was with him and helped him a bit but I had no idea what he was doing He had to fix a tractor from the 1950's, took him 2 afternoons, he is like 75,at this point he is just doing it for fun.

It doesn't have to be a super handyman skill but wli think what you're looking for is something to invest your time and feel useful at the same time. Some of our ancestors were also painters,sculptors, writers,musicians. In this era, there's other things like programming and robotics.

Paying the bills is a skill too,managing your money. a lot of men lack the resources to pay the bills,even if they're skilled. I got into cooking since around 2010, I can make some nice things to not get bored of the same dishes all the time.It is impressive how some people would eat whatever just because they can't make a meal, and I'm happy to use the skill.

That's hard to answer because of modernity. Before modern times, you would have traditional gender roles that would arise out of necessity on a farm. So a man would chop wood, plow, repair tractors, build, mend fences, etc. Stuff that women are too weak to do. You would also be the head of the household responsible for disciplining children and head of a business responsible for financial affairs.

After the industrial age we went from 90% farmers to 1% farmers. Machines do all the heavy lifting. Traditional male roles are obsolete. Then the information age came and made even more roles obsolete. Now we're in the intelligence age making obsolete the last bastions of roles like doctors, lawyers, accountants, etc.

As far as I can tell, the best a guy can get nowadays is to be a hawt surfer dude in Bali swindling rich white chicks. Like a real Cassanova. Or maybe some useless politician scamming the public. I'm able to save a lot of money with my knowledge of handyman stuff and I don't have to wait 6 months for an electrician to come over. So there's some personal benefit to those skills but it's not much.

Learn to hunt and fish. Venison is tasty!

YouTube has a shit ton of "how to" videos. Whenever you have a simple repair, watch a few for the repair you need to do and see if it's something you can handle (and learn what tools, material, etc you might need to purchase). Then do that repair.

As you gain competence at this, you'll find your overall confidence increases because you know you can handle almost anything. It's also a great feeling of accomplishment when you fix something yourself.

I think that ,as you say, self sufficiency is important -just to take away your stress. Women and children are dependent but its good for men not to worry about that.

A big problem with a lot of modern urban houses is that there is no storage space for a man's tools, so he is going to have to depend on others. If you want to be independent and have male skills, get a house with space inside and outside to store stuff. That may mean sacrificing money or ideal location to be able to afford that house. Then just learn to fix and build stuff as the need arises. You have to welcome the challenge.

Some skills you have to go in search of -like shooting. A man should be able to shoot and hunt adequately and butcher and cook game. Its a lot easier with a gun and a freezer. Try a bow made of natural materials, make your fires with rubbing sticks together and try to preserve foods by drying or fermenting and realise how hard your ancestors worked. This can be very humbling. Learning to hunt properly needs time and dedication.

Being able to fell and process trees is very handy as then you can make a lot of stuff and can at least het your house without outside help. I never know if its worth it to heat your house with wood -the time spent processing wood could have earned you a lot of heating oil but my heating has not been on for a couple of years.

These days I think one has to add making machines work to the list. They are just so much part of how we interact with the world. Here some of those simple metal work skill scan help. Instead of getting a new part, could you just tap a new bolt hole?

I think one skill that men should have and that modern men generally sorely lack is working with other men. Man is a small group hunter gatherer. One man alone can't do much. Its the group who really get stuff done. Many men who work in offices just don't have that skill of getting stuff done (particularly challenging physical stuff) with other men. They start acting like a situation is a leadership exercise that their company has sent them on. They can't just start pulling their weight, helping each other and taking the mental load off each other. Making an expedition to a remote place, joining the infantry, getting a trade that sort of thing, where men have to just cooperate can help with that.