← Library

Models - Attract Women Through Honesty

Mark Manson

A man’s attractiveness is inversely proportional to how needy he is. The less needy he is, the more attractive he will be to women on average. The needier he is, the less attractive he will be to women on average.

By investment, I mean the degree to which you sacrifice/alter your own thoughts, feelings, and motivations for someone else. By less I mean that as a man, you should not be willing to sacrifice your thoughts, feelings, and motivations for someone else more than they sacrifice theirs for you. (View Highlight)

To most women, a man with no neediness is like a woman with perfect tits and a gorgeously sculpted ass. To a woman, a man with a lot of neediness is like having the worst breath and missing teeth. (View Highlight)

Seduction is the process by which a man induces a woman to become as invested in him as he is in her. (View Highlight)

Guy meets girl. Guy shows less investment in girl than himself, sex and/or relationship occurs, guy becomes more invested in girl than himself, sex stops and/or relationship falls apart. (View Highlight)

pick up lines, routines, value tactics and the like are only short-term solutions (View Highlight)

The only real dating advice is self-improvement. Work on yourself. Conquer your anxieties. Resolve your shame. Take care of yourself and those who are important to you. (View Highlight)

Needy men only know how to care about what others want, even if it harms themselves. Non-needy men look for that intersection where they can get both their own needs and their partner’s needs met. Narcissistic men overcompensate and decide to only pursue getting their own needs met. (View Highlight)

Narcissism is also taught to men as a form of dating advice. Much of the dating advice out there advises men to be selfish, to be “alpha,” to be dominant and aggressive and to ignore women’s objections or rejections, to pursue what you want no matter what and take it through pure persistence and aggression. It will justify this advice with all sorts of explanations that women don’t actually know what they want, that they’re just “testing” you, that they actually want it but they can’t say it, and so on. (View Highlight)

The key to non-neediness is to have both: respect for both oneself and for women (View Highlight)

When most men hear the word “vulnerability,” their immediate reaction is to associate it with weakness. In general, men are raised to withhold their emotions, to not show weakness, and to ignore any hint of introspection. On top of that, most of the popular dating advice out there encourages guys to be aloof, standoffish, judgmental, and at times, scathing towards women. (View Highlight)

In this way, vulnerability represents a form of power, a deep and subtle form of power. It’s courageous, even. A man who’s able to make himself vulnerable is saying to the world, “Screw the repercussions; this is who I am, and I refuse to be anyone else.” He’s saying he is non-needy and high status (View Highlight)

Remember: what you actually say doesn’t matter; why you say it matters (View Highlight)

. No exceptions. You can have the best line in the world, but if you’re saying it because you’re needy and desperate for validation and approval from women, then she is immediately going to sense it (View Highlight)

This is why using pick up lines is ultimately a futile process. I could sell you the best 100 things I’ve ever said to women, but I can’t ever sell you my intentions or my confidence in myself. You must develop those on your own. And once you do, the actual lines you say will be personal and congruent to you and nobody else. (View Highlight)

Vulnerability requires honesty, and honesty only works if it’s given unconditionally, with no strings attached. That means everything you say and do must be done without any ulterior motive. You are simply expressing your thoughts and feelings as they come to you, without inhibition, without shame (View Highlight)

In the example above, my plan of action? I would have said to her, “Let me know when you’d like to get together again. If you’re not interested, that’s fine too.”

Your ability and willingness to establish boundaries is inversely proportional to how needy you are (View Highlight)

Men who are non-needy establish strict boundaries because they value their own time and happiness more than receiving attention from a woman. They also see no reason to trample over other people’s boundaries (View Highlight)

Projection is completely different. There are a lot of women who, for whatever reason, are afraid of their own sexuality and/or openly sexual men. They harbor trust issues and resentment with men. Usually, this is because they have a history of some sort of emotional/sexual abuse and/or they’ve experienced a long string of disappointments with the men in their life. (View Highlight)

Men don’t seem to understand that if a woman rejects him because he’s short, or because she doesn’t like his hair, or because she finds him boring, then he wasn’t going to enjoy being around her anyway. (View Highlight)

Again, the men who are needy and have poor self-esteem are the ones who are willing to completely alter their personalities in order to seduce any woman (View Highlight)

Women who are Unreceptive are just that: they’re unavailable and/or uninterested in having a sexual/romantic relationship with you. The most common reasons that put women in this category are the following:

You’re far needier than she is, and she’s therefore not attracted to you.

She has a boyfriend/husband and is happy in her relationship.

There’s too much friction preventing her from being willing to date you, such as a difference in values, difference in interests, bad logistics, etc.

She’s not interested or looking for any man at the moment (View Highlight)

The next category is Neutral. This category can be difficult for men to understand because it’s not as common for us as it is for women. Typically, a man knows within a few seconds if he’s willing to meet and even sleep with a woman or not.

The goal with Neutral women is to polarize them through your words and behaviors. This may mean flirting with them or teasing them. It may mean asking her on a date. It may be as simple as smiling at her from across the room (View Highlight)

women who are Receptive are women who are sexually/romantically attracted to you. You can recognize women who are Receptive in two ways: 1) they initiate with you, and/or 2) they reciprocate your actions enthusiastically. (View Highlight)

Some examples of a woman initiating with you:

She makes strong eye contact with you and doesn’t break it.

She approaches you.

She touches you unprovoked.

She asks for your number or invites you out with her/her friends.

She asks you a lot of questions about yourself and seems genuinely interested in you.

She introduces you to her friends.

She gives you her number.

She comes up with some excuse/story/reason for you to hang out with her or spend time with her (View Highlight)

In fact, most women, especially very beautiful women, even if they’re attracted to you, won’t initiate with you. Remember, women tend to be less invested before sex, therefore, they (usually) expect men to initiate in the beginning. There are also strong cultural pressures on women to wait for the man to initiate (View Highlight)

Here are some other common examples of reciprocation:

She ignores her friends to stay and talk to you.

She keeps very strong eye contact and laughs a little too much at everything you say.

When you touch her, she touches you in return.

When you put your arm around her, she leans into you.

When you take her hand to move somewhere, she holds it in return.

When you ask her out on a date, she offers a place to go or mentions something she’d like to do with you (View Highlight)

The goal with Unreceptive women is to identify them and move on as quickly as possible. They’re time sinks. Typically, if women are Unreceptive, they’re Unreceptive for a good reason, and it has little to do with you (or maybe it does has everything to do with you, in which case you should learn from it).

I’ll say this: in seven years, after meeting thousands of women, I can think of maybe five instances where a woman was flat out Unreceptive towards me and I “won her over.” If she shuts you down, tells you to go away, tells you she’s not interested, tells you she has a boyfriend, move on. Seriously, get over it and move on. You’re wasting your time. I don’t care how special you think she is, there’s another one out there who’s just as special who will be Receptive to you.

Once inside of it, the Friend Zone is almost impossible to get out. And if you do ever get out, it’s likely not due to anything you tried or did anyway. Why? Because a man who does not act on his sexual desires is a man who is needy, lacks vulnerability and is therefore unattractive. (View Highlight)

← back to Library