Survival Manifesto for the Post-Rejection Era She didn’t text you back. You stare at the phone. You replay the date. You audit the texts, the third drink you had, the joke about her ex, the unanswered question at minute forty-one. You question yourself. You wonder about her. You dissect the…
The worst thing she can say isn’t no. It’s nothing. An honest no may sting. It may even leave a wound. But it’s also real. You walk away with an answer, brutal as it may be to hear. You can put down the phone, take the L, and move on…
Before I tell you this story, I want you to imagine the version where I never stood up. It happened in a Starbucks on 7th Avenue, the nice two-story one near Penn Station. There was a girl a few tables over. Petite brunette, very pretty, mouthing lines from a dog-eared…
I woke up to Eric Swalwell, the self-appointed conscience of cable news, fending off sexual misconduct allegations. And I thought of my cousin Vito. Vito works construction. Maybe you already think you know him. Hard hat, lunch pail, leaning on a girder catcalling every woman who walks past the site.…
Consider this: the only reason you’re not currently dating the woman you actually want isn’t because she rejected you. It’s because YOU rejected YOU long before she ever had a say in the matter. Let that stick in your craw for a second. Why aren’t you with the girl from…
The biggest texting mistake smart men make is thinking one text can save them. It’s a mistake I made too… back when I was still pretty dumb about women. To be exact, I made it on July 13, 2010 at 3:42 PM, when I hit send on my iPhone 3GS…
Knock knock. Who’s there? A nice guy. A nice guy who? A nice guy who bought her dinner, texted her good morning, and never heard back. See, even you forgot about him. I was 12 years old, overweight, zero confidence, and calling a girl named Kristine Palmari from the Yellow…
Honesty is the WORST policy. At least when it comes to dating. Or, to be blunt: when it comes to making a woman want you. Yet everyone from your mom to your therapist (and every well-meaning friend in between) has told you otherwise. Of course they did. Slogans about honesty…
I just got off a coaching call where a guy was doing everything “right” with texting—he was brief, he wasn’t needy, he had decent banter—yet his texts kept stalling out before getting to the date. After looking at his threads, I spotted the problem immediately. And it’s the same mistake…
To be a single man these days comes with a hefty price. For the last 10 years or so, a debt has been imposed on heterosexual men that needs to be paid before any of us are allowed to exist amongst polite society—or, God forbid, attempt dating. It’s an invisible…