[X&Y] Do You Suffer From "Shyness Induced Snobbery"? [Reader Question]
Published: Tue, 11/29/11
X & Y COMMUNICATIONS NEWSLETTER FOR MEN
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IN THIS EDITION: You see a beautiful woman, you want to approach
her, and then (once again) you somehow justify NOT doing so. Taken at face value, this is just one more "failure to deploy".
But if it's an ongoing pattern, you may actually be giving off a
vibe to your ENTIRE SOCIAL CIRCLE that you're COMPLETELY
UNAWARE of...
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ALL ABOUT EYE CONTACT (YES...THIS IS IMPORTANT STUFF)
Okay, okay...so everyone loved my friend Nick Sparks' report on
"The 6 Telltale Signs Of Fear" yesterday.
So I asked him to boil "fearlessness" down into something easily
explained, and here's what he had to say:
"There are six things you do when you're feeling fear around a
woman, and she picks up on those.
Most guys do ok with 'average' women, but when they're around
girls they really like, they start doing those six things
because they're afraid of messing up.
It's really a paradox. But it's SO easy to fix because once a
guy stops doing those and starts doing what I teach to do
instead, the results are instant. It's pretty cool."
Something tells me Nick's practiced doing away with those six
dreaded "fear-marks" until they were banished from his life
completely.
So anyway, by now you're probably asking what OTHER kinds of
secrets Nick knows about how to kill fear dead in its tracks.
Well, I've got good news for you.
As fortune would have it, Nick has also put a little something
together for you about eye contact and facial expression:
Why is the video about "eye contact"? Because when fear is a
factor, that FEAR is in your EYES...that's why.
First, Nick's going to show you the kind of eye contact we tend to
make when we're around a woman who makes us nervous, and why it's
such a huge turnoff for her.
Then he's going to show you FEARLESS eye contact--the stuff that a
natural does when he's not afraid of really hot women.
The examples are crystal clear and you'll immediately see why such
a small thing makes such a big difference.
Best of all, YOU can go out and do this GOOD kind of eye contact
with the next women you meet. ...and the next one after that
...and even women you already know.
Just promise me you won't use it on girls you're NOT attracted to,
because it's an instant turn on:
And now, here's the lowdown on a particularly devastating syndrome
I call "Shyness Induced Snobbery", and I have a sneaking suspicion
that Zane from Northern Ireland and I aren't the only guys who can
relate. Here's what I mean...
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READER QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS
Hi Scot,
I haven't been paying attention to X & Y for while, but you appear
to have been very busy! You see, I was in a 1-year relationship
that just broke up 3 weeks ago. Its funny how I only pay attention
to my skills with women when I'm single.
It was a good relationship, in fact it was 95% there. But making
up the final 5% was too draining and didn't appear to be making any
headway. So, painfully, we decided to part.
Anyway, time to raise the bar.
I have a question (or nearly a question, it's so vague I can hardly
get a handle on the concept I'm trying to articulate!) about the
value of intuitive judgments when selecting a woman to approach.
I have a tendency to acknowledge attraction to a woman but then
talk myself out of it because "she's probably...x,y or z" where x,y
or z could be anything from too stupid to has poor taste
in...whatever.
However, on occasions that I have been in contact with such people
that I would have from a distance judged harshly, I've found them
to be, in some cases, very fine people.
So I'm wondering what your take on this is?
I have a notion that it may be a form of limiting belief (i.e. it's
more of an EXCUSE not to approach than a VALID REASON not to
approach).
Is there anything that deals with this specifically? In a way I
already have my answer, but I just want to bounce it off someone.
Cheers,
Zane (Northern Ireland)
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How's it going, Zane? Good to hear from you...and welcome back.
Well, It's unfortunate that your most recent relationship broke up,
but like you said it's time to go from "95" to "100". Settling
never ends well.
Plus, as you mentioned, it's a GREAT life lesson to learn that
you've got to focus EVEN MORE on being a "Big Four" man when you're
in a long-term relationship.
At the heart of your question, though, is a phenomenon that I find
fascinating.
Assuming I get the gist of the matter, what you're saying is that
you almost feel as if you "justify" failure to deploy when it comes
to approaching women with snobbery, for lack of a better word.
In other words, even though you're attracted to a particular woman,
you sort of redouble your efforts to shovel dirt on the whole idea
of meeting her for whatever reason that sounds good in the moment.
Even though she's beautiful to you, you tell yourself there's got
to be some "dealbreaker" going on there...even though in truth you
have no concrete idea yet whether that would be the case or not.
If that's ringing a bell here, believe me, I GET IT. I used to do
this ALL THE TIME, man.
The process runs sort of like this:
1) See woman, PRE-QUALIFY HER instantly in your mind as amazing.
2) Consider woman, let your mind go into "analysis mode"...leading
to negative visualizations of potential "rejection", etc.
3) Rationalize away the situation by PRE-DISQUALIFYING her as
having some presumed "deal breaker" going on that makes it
not such a good idea to meet her.
4) Fail to deploy.
In my case, the "pre-disqualification" would very often play out
something like this:
"I'm not going to give her the satisfaction of knowing I'm
interested in her, because she'd probably embarrass me if she
had 'one up' on me like that."
Yep...and that statement would be closely followed by this one:
"Besides, she's probably completely wrong for me because of
[insert lame-o, fictional reason here]."
So to essentially camouflage my fear, I'd tell myself that I was
the STRONG one in such a scenario--keeping my 'one up' position on
the woman.
But really, that was all pretty WEAK...as I'll elaborate upon in a
bit.
The end result, though? Women thought I was a TOTAL SNOB.
After all, I was a pretty outgoing guy with my friends and was
almost always good at making people have fun.
That is UNLESS there was a girl I had the hots for. Then she
didn't so much as get eye contact from me. I totally gave her the
"cold shoulder".
But it really wasn't that I was a snob. Rather, I was, simply put,
deathly afraid of rejection. So I 'pre-rejected' them.
Essentially, I was the "outgoing shy guy". Able to shine in just
about every social situation--unless a woman I found attractive one
was involved. Then I'd CLAM UP.
Crazy, huh?
But I think a lot of guys can relate.
So for the good of the cause, what was GOING ON there?
It all comes down to our tendency to run through all the BAD
possibilities in our minds before anything REAL ever has a chance
to play out.
We visualize disaster, and of course we run the other way.
Stimulus, response.
But blaming the woman for being "wrong" is just a crutch. In fact,
IT'S AS MUCH A FANTASY AS YOUR ATTRACTION FOR HER IS.
(Think about that one for a sec.)
So what's the CURE?
Well, first of all, the day I stopped seeing simple conversations
with attractive women as CONTESTS, everything changed.
If you're just TALKING to a woman, then there's no more an issue of
"acceptance vs. rejection" than there is when you talk to anyone
else you meet. It's simply socializing when you think about it
like that.
I'm not sure exactly where it all clicked for me, but I'll readily
admit it was recent enough ago that I'm kicking myself for it.
Maybe I had finally been on enough dates where I was initially
excited yet grew less and less interested as the evening wore on.
That's always a practical way to learn how counter-productive, if
not flat out silly it is pre-qualify women.
Or maybe I had successfully conversed with enough women while in a
relationship with someone else (i.e. when I wasn't really looking
to act on attraction) that I finally GOT IT...a confident, carefree
style works like a charm with women.
You know what I mean, right? Ye olde "Why do women like me more
when I have a girlfriend?" quandary. Well, the answer is, of course, a delicate combination of women
"buying on the approval of others" AND what I'm talking about here.
When you LEAD with an attitude that is free of any angst over
potential "loss", then the woman feels more comfortable with you
and you fare WAY BETTER with her overall.
At this point I have to tell you that one of the BIGGEST reasons
why I go out of my way nowadays to be approachable as opposed to
hiding in an "ivory tower" is because of my life experience in this
area.
Believe me, I know as well as anyone what a TRAGIC LOSS it is to
insulate myself from terrific people because of "shyness-induced
snobbery". (Maybe that acronym, "SIS" is significant, huh?)
It's truly a joy to get to know people and let them make their own
first impressions on you.
I personally realized over time how deep the influence of "shyness
-induced snobbery" ran in my life. In many ways it showed up when
confronted with ANY SITUATION or ANYONE I was sort of in awe of,
for any reason.
Really, it's all just a "front" for not facing up to what a man's
got to do whenever something's perceived to be "at stake", right?
You can imagine how such a mindset can prohibit someone from
meeting almost anyone who could prove significant to him or her.
So these days, I've learned to enjoy meeting every single person I
can and not wad myself up in pre-conceived notions of ANY type,
actually.
And I suspect that if you intentionalize that same concept of
seeing conversations with women as simple social events rather than
"do or die" situations, you'll soon develop a very "Big Four" habit
of ENJOYING interaction and opening yourself to the natural results
of where it leads.
That is to say, pretty women who knock your socks off initially may
end up disappointing you...even as other women you meet by
happenstance impress the heck out of you. You go with that flow,
and ENJOY IT.
No "fear of loss" involved.
By the way, just to add another dimension to this (as I tend to
enjoy doing), keep your eyes open to the fact that every shred of
what we're talking about here is a HUMAN TENDENCY, not just a "guy
thing".
That's right, if YOU think we as men get hit by "SIS" you should
know that this mindset is PANDEMIC among women.
The girl in high school who went out of her way to IGNORE YOU just
may have had a major crush on you. And for some women, being
affected by "SIS" never changes.
You even see that theme played out in the movies A LOT...especially
those "chick flicks" we rarely watch.
Well, there's a reason for that. Women can RELATE also.
We sure weave a tangled web for ourselves in life, don't we?
Ultimately, you JUST NEVER KNOW what's really going on with people
UNTIL YOU MEET THEM and get to know them. And that takes
leadership.
Just like "following" someone on Twitter is actually REALLY
"leading" as far as social interaction goes, the same holds true in
real life. The "Big Four" guy makes the friends, meets the women,
and ends up being the key influencer in his entire social circle.
Great, great question, Zane. Thanks for the inspiration to
address what really is a HUGE topic for many people.By the way, was that in line with what you already suspected?
[Ed. Note: I heard back from Zane, and this INDEED hit the nail on
the head for him.]
Be Good,
Scot McKay
P.S. I recorded episode #50 of The Chick Whisperer podcast just a
few hours ago, and it's nothing short of EPIC. I already revealed
on Facebook who the co-host is and I'll give you a hint: This may
as well be "Episode #101"...
Barring the unexpected, you can look for the show on Thursday.
Subscribe now on iTunes to make sure you get it first:
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