She calls you when her car breaks down. When she needs help moving. When some guy she's actually dating treats her badly.
You're the listener. The reliable one. The guy who would treat her so much better, if she'd just open her eyes.
She won't. You trained her to see you as the low-effort option — the friend who requires zero risk and zero investment. Every favor dug the hole deeper.
The "22 Rules" break the pattern. You'll stop auditioning for a role she already cast and become the man she chases instead. It starts with Rule 1.
She asks it casually, mid-sip. And you feel the floor open up, because the honest answer is work, gym, and a couple shows you're half-watching.
Women rarely say this out loud, but a man with a life is attractive before he says a word. The guy who spent Saturday deep-sea fishing and came back with photos and a story — he walks in already interesting.
The "22 Rules" pushed me to build a life worth talking about. Turns out the fastest way to be interesting to women is to be interested in your own life first.
I could talk to any woman I wasn't attracted to. Charming, funny, relaxed. Then a gorgeous woman looked my way and I'd become a sweating, babbling mess.
The fix took me years to find and ten minutes to learn. Nervousness and excitement are the same physical state — pounding heart, adrenaline, flushed face. Your brain just picks the label. And you can pick a better one.
Rule 16 shows you how. You feel the nerves, relabel them as excitement, and let that energy pour out as enthusiasm. Women notice the guy radiating it. They always do.
Just out of interest, is there a list like this that is for eastern countries. This is the western list, and a good one.Here are some classic works that are often recommended as essential reading for men, in no particular order:
- The Odyssey by Homer
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- 1984 by George Orwell
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Next Monday you'll feel more confident. After the gym you'll feel more confident. After one more drink you'll feel more confident. After you get a better haircut, a better jacket, a better job.
You've been "getting ready" for two years.
She's standing ten feet away right now. She'll be gone in four minutes. No amount of preparation will manufacture the courage that only comes from moving your feet.
Walk over. Stumble through the first sentence. Let it be clumsy. Let it be imperfect. You will feel more alive in those ten seconds than you have all month.
If enough people believe a lie, the lie becomes reality.Two made up books hahahahaha gtfo man
You wanna say all of the other books mentioned are actual real stories? :OTwo made up books hahahahaha gtfo man
I've read them both, and I'm atheist.Two made up books hahahahaha gtfo man
I've read all of those - apart from 3... (Hundred Years of Solitude, Old Man and the Sea, and Count of Monte Cristo) - Yet!I wonder how many here have even read one of them and probably for high school English![]()
Read 6.I wonder how many here have even read one of them and probably for high school English![]()
You asked her if she wanted to grab coffee. Then you asked if the time worked. Then you asked if the place was okay. Then you asked if she'd prefer tea.
Four questions. Four chances for her to say no. Four signals that you're terrified of making a decision.
Plan it. Pick the place. Pick the time. Tell her where to meet you. She'll either show up or she won't.
Either way, you look like a man instead of a scared little boy.
There is a Steinbeck museum in Salinas. Not too far from the SF Bay Area. Fantastic museum. Inspired me to read East of Eden. Which was great. I visited Cannery Row in Monterey & read the book. I didn’t like it. Watched GoW in HS.Here are some classic works that are often recommended as essential reading for men, in no particular order:
- The Odyssey by Homer
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- 1984 by George Orwell
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
There are Mark Twain sites in the Sierra Foothills here in CA that I’ve visited. Also. in Hannibal, MO (which I’ve been to) Lots of MT stuff. I read MT as a teen.Here are some classic works that are often recommended as essential reading for men, in no particular order:
- The Odyssey by Homer
- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- 1984 by George Orwell
- The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
- The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
- The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
- Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
- The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
- Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
- Macbeth by William Shakespeare
I am a huge HPL fan. I hope to visit some HPL sites in New England someday.I've read all of those - apart from 3... (Hundred Years of Solitude, Old Man and the Sea, and Count of Monte Cristo) - Yet!
Admittedly, Macbeth was in School, for English Lit. class - We also read a couple of Steinbecks in school, 'Of Mice and Men', and 'Cannery Row'.
I have read some Shakespeare since school.
Other Dostoevskys: 'The Idiot', and 'Brothers Karamazov' are great.
I tend to read mostly Sci-Fi/Fantasy for recreation, but am slowly catching up with 'classics' that I've missed....
I do enjoy the Terry Pratchett Discworld books - Isaac Asimov, HP Lovecraft, HG Wells, Jules Verne, Robert Heinlein...
Of the more modern SciFi writers: Neil Gaiman, Frank Herbert, Phillip D!ck, Neal Stephenson...
A few Sci-Fi recommendations:
Neal Stephenson - 'Snow Crash', 'Nebula', 'Quicksilver'.
Robert Heinlein - 'Stranger in a Strange Land', 'Moon is a Harsh Mistress', 'Double Star', 'Starship Troopers' (original is NOTHING like the movie)
H.P. Lovecraft - 'The Colour out of Space', 'Pickman's Model', 'Rats in the Walls', 'Whisperer in Darkness' (Though I never really got into his 'Cthulhu' stuff which does get referenced in 'WiD')
Oh, and Clive Barker - Pretty much anything by him if you're into richly detailed and elaborate, fantasy worlds.
(I have a signed copy of 'The Hellbound Heart' - The original novel which spawned the 'Hellraiser' movies)
I've read 8 all in English classesI wonder how many here have even read one of them and probably for high school English![]()
I could talk to any woman I wasn't attracted to. Charming, funny, relaxed. Then a gorgeous woman looked my way and I'd become a sweating, babbling mess.
The fix took me years to find and ten minutes to learn. Nervousness and excitement are the same physical state — pounding heart, adrenaline, flushed face. Your brain just picks the label. And you can pick a better one.
Rule 16 shows you how. You feel the nerves, relabel them as excitement, and let that energy pour out as enthusiasm. Women notice the guy radiating it. They always do.