The number one thing we must do in life is to learn to live outside of our comfort zone. Too many of us walk around with our eyes glued to our phones or to the pavement because we are too anxious or nervous to make eye contact with each other. THAT IS NO WAY TO LIVE. We are MEN. We have a duty to the world to be our best selves and that means we must be confident! We all know the feeling. We see the girl and we want to approach but…something stops us. We are talking to the girl and we want to kiss her but…something stops us. Unfortunately, I believe this will never go away BUT we can manage it to our advantage. As a musician, I feel that same feeling every time I’m about to go on stage. But when I get up there and start performing, that feeling melts away. Think back to when you played soccer in the 3rd grade, you had the same feeling before you hit the field right? Or when you were in your 9th grade English class giving a speech about Sea Biscuit. Now think about when you made that goal. Or that sigh of relief after you finished your speech in English. It felt AWESOME right? It’s all the same thing. When I first started pickup, I researched like crazy and knew all the lines, gambits, escalation techniques but I still struggled with these mental blocks, the anxiety was too much and I would make an excuse, “she wasn’t that cute anyway.” Or “I bet she had a boyfriend.” Sound familiar? After doing this countless times, and feeling like COMPLETE SHIT afterward I made it a game for myself: try to approach ONE girl, JUST ONE, and see what happens. I would say ANYTHING, like “hey can I borrow a pencil” or “that’s a cool shirt” I would literally look around the room and comment on something random like “Those chairs look really comfy”. And GUESS WHAT HAPPENED? THEY WOULD SMILE. They would laugh or at the very WORST they would give a one-word answer and turn away. Despite any outcome I WAS THRILLED. I was SO happy I had said ANYTHING. The same thing happened with kissing. I would be talking to a girl, getting all of the right signals but then…something would stop me. I COULDN’T DO IT. After doing this countless times and feeling like COMPLETE SHIT AGAIN and I couldn’t take it anymore. I just started GOING FOR IT. Again great responses, because girls want the same thing we do. They just want us to make the first move, and as a man we are obligated to do so. So learn to live outside of your comfort zone. Make a game of it all. When you go to pay for your coffee make conversation with the cashier. Do anything you can to inch yourself closer to your goal of being that James Bond Casanova you envision yourself to be. We must use that nervous energy we feel and PUSH THROUGH IT. The reward is far greater than we imagine. Remember, YOU ARE A MAN, it is time you start acting like it.