You've replayed it a hundred times. She stood three feet away, scrolling her phone. You had an opening. You composed the perfect line — after she was gone.
For all you know, she's married now. To some guy who said something. Anything.
Openers are cheap. Almost any sentence works when it's delivered within three seconds. The expensive part is the standing there, drafting and deleting, while the window quietly closes.
The "22 Rules" stripped out my hesitation. What to open with, how to keep it alive, and the one habit that costs guys more women than anything else: waiting for perfect.
Three seconds. That's how long it took. Your shoes. Your posture. The way you held your drink. Whether you looked at the floor or looked at her.
She already filed you away. Interesting. Boring. Safe. Bold. Before you even opened your mouth.
Everything you say after that is just her confirming what she already decided.
So stop rehearsing lines. Fix the first three seconds. Stand tall. Look up. Smile like you mean it. Walk like you belong wherever you're standing.
The words come later. The impression comes first.
That part cracked me up. When I first clicked the link I was under the assumption it was a video regarding some national guard and emergency responders taking supplies from Wal-Mart I'd seen earlier - which is legal (in states of emergency the authorities have very extended powers to 'commandeer' anything they see as being needed)... However, tennis shoes don't seem to be something that would be very important. Absolutely amazing to see something like that... now I can understand why the Wal-Mart's in my area have been closing at 10pm each night.
diablo,
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.
The fact that looting was so obvious and rampant - I mean, kids were riding around on bicycles in the store grabbing whatever they wanted - yet the officer had the nerve to say she was just "looking for looters".
