Hunters, especially in today's Page 188 world, women have a tendency to fall in love with men who can help them professionally.. Page 189 29 Help Them Convince Themselves That They Love
Trang 1TECHNIQUE #53:
DON'T ASK "WHAT DO YOU DO?"
Develop an ear for appropriate topics of conversation
Pedigreed and other prestigious prey have very sensitive
toes You don't want to go around stomping on them
Above all, avoid the favorite party question, "And, what
do you do?" It tags you as so working class
Use Status Words with Status Prey
People from richer backgrounds have richer clothes, richer houses, richer cars, and richer
vocabularies They don't necessarily have big cars, but they do tend to avoid the common little ones It's the same with their words They don't often use big ones, but they do avoid the common little ones that have little impact
To be well-spoken in the well-heeled, high-accomplishment crowd, use the technique I call your personal thesaurus Think of some words you often use, for example, the overused words good
and smart It's very common to say, "You look good" or "That's a smart idea."
Take a thesaurus (a dictionary of synonyms) down from the library shelf Look up smart and good.
You'll find dozens of richer synonyms Like trying on a suit of clothes, choose three or four words that seem to fit your personality Then, Hunters, the next time you want to compliment your classy Quarry and tell her she looks good, say, "Oh, Sue, you look ravishing," or stunning or "Sue, how striking you look," or "Oh, my goodness, you look elegant."
Huntresses, you'd like to compliment your highbrow Quarry by telling him he did something smart? Instead, say, "Oh, George, that was so clever of you," or how resourceful, or ingenious "George,
that was so astute of you."
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Give high rollers high-rolling compliments Cultivate your own personal thesaurus of not big words, but words you like, elegant words that fit you Use them a few times with your friends and family Soon, just like breaking in a new pair of shoes, you'll be comfortable chatting with your well-spoken Quarry
Trang 2TECHNIQUE #54:
YOUR PERSONAL THESAURUS
To convey a rich background, choose rich words from
the thesaurus Like a beautiful necklace, try them on, then
let them fall, like pearls, from your lips while chatting with
your prestigious prey
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Upping Your Ante in Other Assets
Knowledge, Social Graces, and Inner Beauty Are Tangible Assets
So far, we've talked about increasing your market value through manipulating your Quarry's
impression of your physical appearance, possessions or money, and status or prestige These are but the first three assets that equity principle scientists say influence love They are important but, by
no means, the most important In fact, many people prefer the next three qualities by far They are information or knowledge, social graces or personality, and inner nature
Let's talk about information, or knowledge The pursuit of knowledge is a lifetime commitment, one that brings you deep joy throughout your life Intelligence gained through knowledge can also be a potent asset in making someone fall in love with you
Many women, myself included, find the seedy, professorial, pipe-smoking,
suede-patches-on-the-elbows-of-his-sweater type of man very attractive I once flipped over a man whom other women might call a poor, homely recluse because he was a genius on the computer His knowledge deeply impressed me, and I wanted to learn from him Hunters, especially in today's
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world, women have a tendency to fall in love with men who can help them professionally Your knowledge is an aphrodisiac to bright, ambitious women
Social graces, or personality, is the fifth asset which gives you a higher value on the open love market Techniques throughout this book are offered to help you deal with these two aspects Heed them all
The final asset on the list, but by no means the least, is your inner nature Perhaps this is the most
Trang 3important of all—it certainly is the deepest To make someone fall in love with you, strive always to have loving thoughts about them and about others Give selflessly to other persons when there is no reward in sight Be sexually faithful, financially responsible, and personally flexible The list of inner nature qualities goes on You probably never thought of them in these terms, but they are all
marketable assets you bring to a relationship Everything you learn, every experience you process, every fine quality you develop, is a tangible benefit in making someone fall in love with you
TECHNIQUE #55:
UP YOUR ANTE IN INTANGIBLES
To up your market value, never stop learning, never stop
developing your personality and social skills, and always
strive to develop fine inner qualities They are as good as
golden bullets to pierce your Quarry's heart
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Help Them Convince Themselves That They Love You
Let Your Quarry Do Favors for You
Loving someone, and being loved by this person, is a convoluted pattern of reward and punishment
We are happy when the person we love gives us gifts or does favors for us, and we receive equally
as much joy doing the same for our beloved But, according to the equity principle of love,
somewhere buried in our subconscious is the scorecard Who is doing more for whom, and does it
all balance out?
It doesn't have to be tit for tat in equal actions The tit can be the joy we receive for doing tat For example, Huntresses, if you love a man, you actually enjoy driving him to work when his car breaks
down His appreciation is your reward Hunters, you enjoy giving her flowers Her smile is your
reward Are we forced to drive him to work or to give her flowers? No We do it because we want
to
Why do we want to? The answer is obvious We do it because we love him, because we love her
Or so we tell ourselves
This leads us into an intriguing aspect of the love game You can use it to make people convince themselves that they are in love with you Researchers call it the cognitive-consistency
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theory Cognitive consistency says that individuals strive to keep their cognitions psychologically
consistent and that, when inconsistencies arise, they strive to restore consistency In other words, people strive to keep their actions in tune with their convictions Whenever they do something, they want to feel they are doing it for a good reason, because they want to do it
Often individuals who volunteer for a worthy cause value the task more if they are not offered money Studies have shown that the harder a person works for a volunteer group, the more he or she values the organization's efforts If offered financial compensation, most people would see the task more as a job they had to do.
People watch their own actions and then instinctively adjust their philosophy and feelings to match They say to themselves, "Golly, I'm working so hard for this group I must really believe in their goals." That way they achieve cognitive consistency If they continued working hard and didn't believe in the goals, they would have to admit to themselves that they are stupid or screwed up, and nobody wants to do that It's the same in love
If you find yourself doing for someone things that, in themselves, are not rewarding, you are likely to come to the conclusion that you must like that person, because you could not be doing the things for their own sake thus you achieve cognitive consistency.45
People don't only observe other people They observe themselves A great part of our
self-perception and what we believe we feel comes from watching our own actions.46 Thus, if we
do something for another person that is in itself unrewarding, our self-talk tells us it means we really love them
If you get up early to drive your Quarry around or find yourself giving her gifts, you must be doing it because you are in love Why else would you put yourself out or spend your hard-earned money? This translates into the following
tech-Page 191
nique to boost your Quarry's perception that he or she is in love with you
TECHNIQUE #56:
LET HIM OR HER DO FAVORS FOR YOU
Let your Quarry do little favors for you and give you
gifts Thank him or her, but don't appear too grateful.
Act as though it is perfectly logical for your Quarry to be
putting himself or herself out for you
To restore cognitive consistency, your Quarry will be
convinced that he or she must really love you
Trang 5A word of warning: Don't go overboard with this one If you do, it could tip the delicate balance If your Quarry feels he or she is doing too much, the relationship could capsize and sink.
Hey! What About "O Lyric Love, Half Angel and Half Bird"?
"Where," you might well ask, "does the purity, the beauty, and the selfless kind of love come in? What about couples who pledge eternal love, till death do us part—and mean it?"
We can, of course, achieve that beautiful love—in time Actually, the lyric love Robert Burns wrote about and the fundamentally practical, egocentric discoveries scientists have made about love are not totally incompatible Many couples stay together, stay happy, and stay in love for a lifetime, but
if you look above their heads, you'll see the great scorecard in the sky There is probably a balance
in what each partner brings to the relationship
Often there are subjective values that outsiders can't see At any isolated point in time, the
relationship can appear inequitable to strangers When partners commit to a lifetime
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relationship, it's no longer tit for tat on a daily, weekly, or even monthly basis The scorecard can
become unequal for a while For instance, a wife may support her husband while he goes through medical school She's in the superior position for a few years, and he's getting the better deal Then, when he has his degree, he is expected to either finance her education or support the family in style
to even the score
What about relationships that seem very one-sided for a long time, such as a loving husband or wife who selflessly cares for an ailing partner in their later years? Well, years spent together actually become one of the assets brought to the relationship You might not think of it in those terms, but the care-giving partner is paying back the beloved spouse for the years of happiness received in the relationship
Once two people who love each other have made a commitment, the boat can stay afloat even if it tilts in one direction But it must rock back the other way before they reach the ultimate balance and can hope for a smooth journey A person can accept favors for a while from a partner, but the truly wise ones pay back to keep the balance of assets in the relationship on a par
Why have I placed such emphasis on exploring this philosophy? Upon this rock-solid foundation, equity, we build many of the techniques to make someone fall in love with you In fact, all of the techniques in this book are designed to boost your value in love relationships to make your Potential Love Partner fall harder, faster
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PART FIVE
Trang 6EARLY-DATE GENDER-MENDERS
IS THERE LOVE AFTER EDEN?
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''I Hope He or She's Not a Jerk Like All the Others''
Did you see the 1977 movie Annie Hall? When Diane Keaton is out with Woody Allen for the first
time, a little bubble comes out of her head, saying, "I hope he's not a jerk like all the others." During the first moments of meeting you, your Quarry is hoping the same about you
Early love is a delicate little flower Its tiny petals are often crushed when one of the partners
unknowingly commits a small blooper on the first date and turns the other off A stupid joke, the slurping of a Coke, an unintended insult, all can abort the takeoff and leave a new relationship burning on the side of the runway Later in the love affair the same blooper might amount to no more than a slightly uncomfortable air pocket
The fumbles we will explore here are gender-specific, and many are new unacceptables With the emerging equality of men and women, actions that used to be taken for granted now drive the opposite sex bonkers In another era, another society, another economy, a man could get away with spending every Friday night with the boys or whipping out a cigar at the table His lady was
expected to smile pleasantly as the smoke asphyxiated her There was a time when a woman was expected to have
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no aspirations outside the home and to be interested only in "woman-talk." Men felt self-righteous leaving the women to "pratter" as they retired into the den to deliberate on really important issues, like which cigar had the best flavor
Times have changed What used to be a resigned, "Well, boys will be boys!" or "Isn't that just like a woman?" is now grounds for your Quarry to depart for greener pastures Today, Huntresses
demand a sensitive man who will share their feelings And Hunters envision a superwoman who gives them great company, great kids, great compassion, and great orgasms
Does this new breed of sensitive man and superwoman exist? The question is academic, because it's not reality but your Quarry's perceptions we're dealing with This section gives you techniques to
convince your Quarry that you are indeed that extraordinary individual You are a sensitive man You are a superwoman
Hunters, when you use some of the words and ideas I'm going to suggest, your Quarry will say to herself, "At last, a sensitive man—one who understands me and I can talk to." Huntresses, when your Quarry hears some of the following words and sentiments coming from your feminine lips, he
Trang 7will say, "At last, a sensible woman—one who understands me and I can relate to This woman is really special I think I'm in love."
This section is especially valuable for capturing the heart of a gun-shy Quarry who, because he or she is fearful of relationships, often runs at the first sign of stereotypical gender behavior We will talk about the most common gender-specific fatal fumbles which usually appear on first dates and eat away at early love I will show you how to avoid these pitfalls or at least not get thrown out of the game on a stupid penalty
"I Want a Man I Can Talk to, a Woman Who Thinks Like a Man"
We spot the gender gap very early, in nursery schools and kindergartens all across America In the middle of the room,
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little boys are bashing other little boys Meanwhile, around the nursery, little girls are sharing toys and holding deep communion with other little girls
Unfortunately, the same gap splits many middle-class parties of marrieds right down the middle The men stand center stage arguing sports or politics, and the women, seated around the room, are supportively chatting with each other Why the division? It's simply because men enjoy talking about certain subjects and women fancy others Additionally, men have different styles of talking than women do
How can we translate this cleft into a technique to capture your Quarry? Learn how to captivate the opposite sex with your conversation Discover what subjects interest him or her
Hunters, to help a woman fall in love with you, look like a man, work like a man, walk like a man, talk deep-voiced like a man—but be sensitive like a woman Intelligently discuss subjects which
interest her Huntresses, to help a man fall in love with you, look like a woman, smile like a woman, smell like a woman, speak softly like a woman—but think like a man Intelligently discuss subjects
that interest him
Men, don't be frightened that you will sound effeminate discussing the subtleties women excel at, such as insights into people and their feelings Being a fascinating conversationalist to a woman definitely does not detract from your masculinity It merely makes you multidimensional and
engrossing to talk to Women, don't be concerned that discussing subjects the boys like makes you sound like one of the boys Hearing subjects and sentiments close to a man's heart coming from your softly rounded feminine lips makes you a fascinating woman He'll think you're different from the rest
of the females he's dated—a high compliment coming from a man
How men and women differ in communication styles could, and has, filled volumes I highly
recommend you read a book dedicated to gender differences to give you a more indepth
understanding of men, women, and why they communicate so differently Some excellent ones have been written by John Gray and Deborah Tannen, among others
Trang 8Page 198
God revealed a cold and hard fact to us back in the Garden of Eden Quite simply, He made men and women different (One wonders if, in all His wisdom, He realized quite how different His
creatures would turn out to be!)
John F Kennedy said, "If we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity." Let us alter one word of that sage advice
Hunters, Huntresses, if we cannot now end our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for love The following techniques are a good start.
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What is "Man Talk" and What is "Woman Talk"? (Does it Exist?)
Decades of denial aside, men and women do enjoy discussing different subjects All gender
comments are generalizations, to be sure, but, usually, women are more people-centered and men are more thing—centered Men enjoy talking about cars, gadgets, tools-about how something is made, how it works, how they can fix it, what its effect is, and how they control it More intellectual men expand things to include ideas and concepts But they still discuss how these concepts work,
how they can fix them, how they affect the world, and how much power they have over them! Men exchange facts and opinions like trading cards They like to play "Who can trump whom?" with the cards This competitive aspect of men's conversation is not advisable for a woman to emulate, but Huntresses, brushing up on sports, politics, cars, and computers increases your chances of
communicating well with men If you learn how to hold your own with some men by bantering about saber saws and power drills, you will be a fascinating lady indeed
When I was in high school, the literature on gender differences was limited to obscure studies, but
my mother somehow intuitively knew about the cavernous conversational gap The boys talked about cars, and the girls talked about boys
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That left us girls at a conversational disadvantage on our dates After a disastrously silent evening with a boy (we called them boys in those days, not guys), I cried in my mother's lap I told her I
couldn't think of anything to talk about and had been frozen with shyness My mother stroked my hair, dried my tears, and told me she'd have a surprise for me the next day that would help I
believed in Mama and expected a miracle Even if she had to fly a chunk of the Blarney Stone in from Ireland so I could kiss it and get the gift of gab, she'd pull through for me
Trang 9TECHNIQUE #57 (FOR HUNTRESSES):
BRUSH UP ON MAN-TALK
Take a conversational cruise across the gender gap
Huntresses, become conversant in concepts, politics,
objects, big toys, sports, and other male subjects
Show him you're smart, but remember—not too smart.
Pull through she did Better than the Blarney Stone, she bought me a book on cars—all the current models I became something of an expert on the differences between Chevys, Fords, and Buicks I could even discuss what went on under the hood It got so I could keep up my end of the
conversation when the subject turned (as it inevitably did) to carburetors, alternators, camshafts, and exhaust manifolds Mama's book got my self-confidence with boys humming Huntresses, you may not find discussing cars, facts, sports, business, and politics as interesting as psychology, philosophy, relationships, reactions, and trends, but your Quarry will find you a more intriguing woman if you can hold your own while pitching phenomenons and numbers around with him
A man in one of my seminars told me that the reason he asked his current girlfriend out was
because, when they met,
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they had an engrossing discussion of whether slip-joint or round-nosed pliers would be better to have in a basic tool kit He added, of course, that he won the argument Huntresses, you want to be
smart in male subjects But not smarter than your Quarry Does this sound like outdated fifties retro-pap advice? Of course it does, but it still holds I learned this the hard way a long time ago
On the evening of my high school prom, my date arrived on my doorstep He pinned a corsage on
my padded bust I took his arm and we walked to his car It wouldn't start Thanks to Mama's book, I suspected the problem I looked under his hood and made a silent analysis
I then ran out into the street and flagged down a taxi Not to take us to the dance, but to borrow the driver's jumper cables Tottering in my first pair of high heels, I attached jumper cables to my date's dead battery and got his car engine purring I knew he would be impressed
He never called again
I recently told this story to a male friend and, in a truly candid moment, he empathized with my poor humiliated date Eventual equality aside, some things will never change
Trang 10TECHNIQUE #58 (FOR HUNTERS):
BRUSH UP ON "WOMAN-TALK"
Hunters, make your conversation more psychologically
oriented Converse with your Quarry in terms of people,
feelings, philosophy, rationale, and intuition
Be more supportive and less competitive in your insights
Hunters, here's a similar suggestion for you Generally, women have excellent insights into people, their problems, and their responses to various situations They often talk about
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health, the arts, personal growth, and sometimes spiritual subjects When discussing their work, women are more apt to explore how individuals work together and what constitutes a smooth and supportive work environment, not who's on top and who's on bottom Learn to thoughtfully probe feelings
Gentlemen, pick up a copy of Psychology Today, a magazine with a readership of intelligent
women It's an excellent way to brush up on what subjects are hot for women
These are generalizations, to be sure There is always the man who enjoys discussing the deeper aspects of human relationships and the woman who enjoys a tough political argument You'll spot these rare birds, but they'll be hard to catch The insightful man will be in the company of beautiful women, and the clever woman will already be dating some heavy hitters
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"How Do You Feel About That?"
Ever since they were little girls, women have shown spooky intuition when picking up on subtle tones of voice and facial expressions The gentle sex is eerily expert at knowing how someone feels
A man, conversely, can't pick up on a sad face until his tie is drenched in his partner's tears
Perhaps that's why women discuss feelings and men (because they're no darn good at it) seldom bring up the subject Women, when talking with their friends, often ask each other how they feel about a certain situation (The last time some men used the word feel was when they told their high
school buddies they got to feel up a girl in the backseat.)