Dinner ran three hours. She laughed at everything. You walked her to her car thinking this one's locked in.
Then: nothing. Two texts. No reply. What happened?
You did what most men do on a great date. You filled every silence, answered every question, and left her with nothing to wonder about. No mystery. Nothing to sit with when she got home.
Rule 3 of the "22 Rules" changes the ending: tell her a little, hold back the rest, and let her imagination do the chasing. The ghosting stops too.
That sentence contains at least five follow-up questions she WANTS you to ask. Where in Florida? What brought you here? How long have you been in the area? What do you miss? How does it compare to here?
She handed them to you on a silver platter. And you said, "Oh cool. I come here every week. I love this band. Ummm... pretty crowded tonight."
She smiled politely. Nodded. And never texted you back.
I was that guy for years. Talking too much. Listening too little. Panicking about my next sentence while she was literally feeding me the answers.
Then I found 22 rules that fixed the whole thing. Rule number one: shut up and listen. She'll tell you exactly what to say.
I'm still waiting for his purpose was for spinning plates in the first place.mrRuckus said:What's your goal here? To get approval that you don't have to date several girls at once?
It's okay. You don't.
Sometimes I date zero because I don't want to. So what? Will I not be allowed in the mature men club?
And you'll be waiting for a while for that.Francisco d'Anconia said:I'm still waiting for his purpose was for spinning plates in the first place.
No, I'm not looking for approval for anything. I read over this thread a second ago and realized I was mostly just venting.mrRuckus said:What's your goal here? To get approval that you don't have to date several girls at once?
It's okay. You don't.
Sometimes I date zero because I don't want to. So what? Will I not be allowed in the mature men club?
You paid for dinner. You drove. You said "whatever you want is fine" every single time. All the effort, no expectations.
And she left anyway — probably for a guy who makes her pick up the pizza.
Painful. Also predictable. Her mind quietly concludes that anything requiring zero effort from her is worth exactly zero. You became a free sample, and free samples get taken for granted.
The 22 Rules flip the dynamic. Small shifts that get her investing effort, money, and time in you — until SHE'S the one afraid of losing YOU.
Great, another guy with post envy. How many other things do you come up short in anyway? Nevermind, don't have that much time...MikeYikes122 said:And you'll be waiting for a while for that.
Can you just do me a favor and not respond to any of my threads anymore? Out of all those 13,000+ posts, I'm not sure I've ever seen you be helpful to anyone. Your abrasiveness is annoying to me and a couple other posters I have talked to.
MikeYikes122 said:And you'll be waiting for a while for that.
Can you just do me a favor and not respond to any of my threads anymore? Out of all those 13,000+ posts, I'm not sure I've ever seen you be helpful to anyone. Your abrasiveness is annoying to me and a couple other posters I have talked to.
I think you're right. While it's not essential for me to spin plates anymore, it probably is still in my best interest to try to meet girls. Even if I'm not actively trying to do date them, I still will have options. And since I know how to act to get a girl to want to be my girlfriend, it shouldn't be all that big of a deal.ketostix said:As you alluded to I think you're mostly just in a rut. And that could change tomorrow. Also cold approaches aren't called cold for nothing. People especially women are strange how they are much more willing to "date" the same guy out of a group than if he cold approached her.
It is harder when you're older and out of college. You're not in a big social group, and you don't have so many girls to choose from that you have a connection to like at classes. I agree with you that you don't really need to spin plates for the reason usually given, but I do think you need to meet more girls to find at least one that's worthwhile to you.
Congratulations on already breaking the one and only rule I set for you.Francisco d'Anconia said:Great, another guy with post envy. How many other things do you come up short in anyway? Nevermind, don't have that much time...
FYI, I point out the guys who aren't able to do anything on their own occord and just do things for the sake of doing something and then come to the forum to get a justification for the actions that they are doing but have no idea why, I'm here because of you. MrRuckus was apparently right.
Oh yeah, I'm going to take directions from a guy who doesn't know why he does things. Who do you think I am? YOU!!!??? :crackup:MikeYikes122 said:Congratulations on already breaking the one and only rule I set for you.
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.
Thanks but you were asking for something different. You were looking for new solutions instead of justifications for what doing things which weren't working for 'ya.My Name is Nobody said:You don't know what you are talking about. Francisco has helped me more here than ANYONE on this site... And this goes back several years and a few user names.
I consider Francisco a true friend.
Shhhhh.... Don't want to give him any ideas.... Or maybe??....My Name is Nobody said:Maybe Mike should just get married sounds like he's ready to settle down.
Colossus said:Spinning plates does indeed serve a purpose. It works for different men at different times.
I agree that the principal utility of plate theory is to be more selective in the women you spend time with for your own benefit. It keeps your perspectives in check and prevents any unhealthy attachment.
On the other hand, there are pitfalls. This type of lifestyle makes it all too easy to be disingenuous with your actions.
Because face it, how many of you actually tell each and every plate that you are non-exclusive and are currently intimate with other women? You may be frank with some, or come clean with some after a time, but being completely candid about your casanova lefestyle with every woman is not going to yield the results you want. I'm not knocking spinning plates; like i said it serves a purpose. But that purpose is ultimately up to you. What exactly is it you want out of this facet of life? Endless sex? Companionship?, Long term intimacy? Your 'platework' should reflect what you want for your life. Dont do it just because.
You also have to have a gameplan as to what level of plate spinning you are going to engage in. Are you going to simply date women until you find one worthy of intimacy? Or are you going to test drive each one, some of them overlapping each other, until you get bored, burned, or find a keeper?
There are many ways to go about it, some of them less honorable than others. It's a personal game.
It doesn't come up unless one of two things have happened:My Name is Nobody said:What do you tell your plates when they ask about other women you are seeing? Colossus says you can't be honest with them because they will get angry and could dump you.
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.
This statement dramatically illustrates your LTR-as-goal mindset. This state of mind is what defines an AFC. Stop it. Change your mind now. Plate Theory isn't about emotional states. It isn't about ƒucking any and every girl available to you to prove your own merit - it isn't a numbers game. It's not about caring about one particular girl. It's about self-realizing your own options and the influence this has on you establishing your own self-value.MikeYikes122 said:It just kind of seems the point of spinning plates is to keep yourself from caring too much at an early point of a relationship where an LTR hasn't started yet.
Yes. It does. Men without options are necessitous, and necessitous men are not free. Again this idea is prompted from the fact that you have no options. To a guy with little or no real options, his focus is on the only viable one he has at the time. In the beginning stages of attraction, every "test" a woman has is about determining a man's value by subtley, indirectly, probing a man's options and how competition worthy he is. Is he a PRIZE? Does he know he's a PRIZE? Does social proof bear this out?MikeYikes122 said:if you don't care about a girl your dating non-exclusively, then does it really matter that you're not dating any other girls to keep yourself from getting too needy.
If you're feeling you don't need to do it anymore you haven't really done it. At 25 I can guarantee you haven't done it. If you truly had options you'd see the value in spinning plates and non-exclusivity wouldn't even be a consideration for you as you'd defer to it as a matter of course. In all likelihood there is one particular girl you're focusing on at this point and you're struggling with a ONEitis vs. Plate Spining conflict. You started this thread in order to challenge this since you'd like to think that your ONE is worth being exclusive for, but you need a concensus from this forum.MikeYikes122 said:It starting to feel like spinning plates is just a waste of time and, let's be honest, money. Again, not denouncing the theory. I'm just saying I don't think I really need to do it anymore. I know that I always have options.
Now you're just coming to understand how women feel about male attention.My Name is Nobody said:Having more than one woman want you at a time is like a drug. It just feels damn good. I never remember feeling that way in a LTR.
You made your case like a lawyer. Stable job. Good guy. Ready for something real. All true. All irrelevant.
She weighed your points, nodded along, felt nothing — then fell hard for some tattooed bartender with a motorcycle and a gambling problem.
Logic is where attraction goes to die. The "22 Rules" work a level deeper, on the subconscious switches that decide within minutes whether you register as a MAN or as part of the furniture.
Stop presenting evidence. Start flipping switches.