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.
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.
Jerk or Nce? I have never regretted being a jerk. Being NICE? I have.Mustache said:As a 41 y.o. man, it's hard for me to look behind and see how jerk I was
Sometimes I don't believe it was me
Mustache
Don't.Mustache said:As a 41 y.o. man, it's hard for me to look behind and see how jerk I was...
i agree.Francisco d'Anconia said:Don't.
Attraction runs on a clock.
She flirted for weeks. Touched your arm. Found reasons to be alone with you. And you were careful. Respectful. Waiting for the right moment.
The moment had a shelf life. It expired around month two, and by the time you asked her out, she'd quietly filed you under "little brother."
One of the hardest lessons inside the 22 Rules: women rarely wait. Interest either grows or it decays, and nothing decays it faster than a man who never moves.
Make the move while she's still inventing reasons to be near you.
Isn't it funny how timing is often even more important than anything?joekerr31 said:the only regrets i have in my life are that i smoked and that i let one woman slip away when i was like 16 or something (who knows if shes still a catch, but im telling ya, she was a good wholesome girl, an a gymnyst) she was so in to me, but my life was a mess at that 16 and i couldn't deal with a 'good' girl in my life.
thats the matrix talking.Analytic said:regret is about the only thing on my mind these days, I don't know when I'll ever rid of it. I regret not trying hard enough, not lived enough.
When a woman says it, guys hear a confession. A heads-up. A scheduling conflict.
Here's the translation: I don't feel anything. Right now. With you.
Watch what happens when a man triggers actual attraction. The busy career, the recent breakup, the "not in a place to date" — all of it evaporates instantly. The same woman who was guarding her freedom is suddenly free every night.
The "22 Rules" explain why. When the right switches flip, her timeline rearranges itself around you.
How about being caught up in the stereotypical, mundane ideals. Being caught up in doing the same things over and over without slowing down to take control and navigate purposely through a situation. Careening down the roads of runaway relationships as if you were on a speeding bus that would blow up if you'd slow down just a bit...Master Bates said:Do you think people on this board could start using an analogy that doesn't invoke images of Keanu Reeves in a kungfu outfit when discussing such serious matters?
or how about having the devil on your shoulder making you feel like everything is alright, while slowly you sell out everything you believe in. and in the end, when you realize that you've lost everything that mattered, having things just repeat themselves all over again.Master Bates said:Do you think people on this board could start using an analogy that doesn't invoke images of Keanu Reeves in a kungfu outfit when discussing such serious matters?
at least in this one I get to fvck my hot sister.joekerr31 said:or how about having the devil on your shoulder making you feel like everything is alright, while slowly you sell out everything you believe in. and in the end, when you realize that you've lost everything that mattered, having things just repeat themselves all over again.
Hilarious.Francisco d'Anconia said:How about being caught up in the stereotypical, mundane ideals. Being caught up in doing the same things over and over without slowing down to take control and navigate purposely through a situation. Careening down the roads of runaway relationships as if you were on a speeding bus that would blow up if you'd slow down just a bit...![]()
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.
Extra funny.. Straight running with it..good analogies.joekerr31 said:or how about having the devil on your shoulder making you feel like everything is alright, while slowly you sell out everything you believe in. and in the end, when you realize that you've lost everything that mattered, having things just repeat themselves all over again.
This is the only area of the matrix that still sucks me in. I'll catch myself thinking, "Man, I just turned 25. I'm halfway through my 20s and will be an old man in six years. I better get living before life starts sucking."joekerr31 said:thats the matrix talking.
the very thing that makes you think THAT, is the very thing in the past that kept you from actualizing your potential. (read that over and over until you get what im saying).
thats the insidious nature of the matrix. the more you believe in it, the more it conditions you not to believe in yourself. it convinces you that you are broken, that you are nothing special, that you're life has never been and never will be anything special, that you have failed.
this is why guys who are plugged in to the matrix marry some dumb b*tch who will ruin their lives because they think their lives were already ruined.
the matrix creates depression, apathy, envy, jealousy, low self esteem, and especially regret.
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.