On my fancy Treo 700 I have a little plugin that shows my daily todo list and calendar entries below my programs. I have to do this because otherwise I never really notice the things I write there, and thus don’t do them. I use the todo list a lot, but the calendar is basically empty.

Today I looked down and saw something unusual. “Are you totally ripped? Bet.”

No, I’m not.

Flash back a year ago. Hayden and I are sitting at Magnolia. I’ve been eating healthy, ending the 24 year reign on my body which white flour and sugar had enjoyed. I no longer order the “Ty Special” at Magnolia because it’s not healthy (ask for it). I’ve been working out. I don’t have a girlfriend.

Hayden and I have an illustrious history of large bets to motivate each other. I’ll save those stories for another day. I offer to bet him that within a year I’ll be the most ripped person he knows. He wants to bet because I lost the last bet, but knows better. I want him to bet because then I know I’ll do it.

I offer to make it totally subjective. If he thinks I’m the most ripped person, I win. If not, he wins. New friends don’t count.

We finally agree to make a gentleman’s bet and I put it in my Treo.

Now, a year later I look at it. I’ve failed. Although my body fat hovers around 8-9%, my weight is under 140 pounds. I’m not jacked at all - I’m skinny. I worked out religiously for several months and was over 150 pounds at one point, still with 9% body fat. People noticed that I was more muscular. Then I went polyphasic and raw and stopped working out. I haven’t picked it back up in all that time - it’s a lot easier to keep working out than it is to start again.

I IM Hayden to tell him about the bet. He’ll be amused that it wasn’t totally forgotten.

“Wow. Time flies.” he says.

It does fly. But it’s packed. I think back over the past twelve months, and a lot has happened. I quit gambling, I went polyphasic, I went back to normal, I went raw, I went back, I kept eating healthy, I got my first “real” job, I made some cool songs, I got a new place, My parents are getting divorced, I got some pet fish that I really love, I started this site, I started Tynan’s Angels, I bought my trademark sequin hat, I made a bunch of new friends, I got rid of Windows and moved to Linux, and I rapped on stage for the first time. That’s a lot of stuff. Most days seem to be pretty calm, but arching over them are huge changes in my life.

It’s exciting. I love change. Honestly, I’m probably addicted to it.

When I first got into the pickup artist thing I went to a seminar in Chicago. I didn’t know anyone there, so I was set up with a roommate. His name was Brian, known as LittleBigDick in the community. “LBD” if you’re around children or old people. I remember as we ate sloppy joes in the airport before leaving he told me about something he does. Every year he writes down what he accomplished that year. I told him I liked the idea and that I’d do it too.

And now, years later, I’ve finally done it. Those aren’t all the things I’ve done, of course, but they’re all little milestones in my life. Little occurances and coincidences that happen on a daily basis that snowball into changes that shape who I am.

All this leads up to a question - what will happen in the next 12 months? I can think of a few things - I’ll move into my new place, I’ll get rid of my computers, I’ll start working out again once I move, etc. Those are definite. I’ll probably (finally) make my first million, Tynan’s Angels will become huge, as will another project or two I’m working on, maybe I’ll get another girlfriend, maybe I’ll go to Africa, and surely I’ll learn some new skills. But that leaves a lot of blanks. What’s amazing to me is that I would have NEVER predicted or even conceived of half of the things on my list (raw, polyphasic, angels, job, gambling). And now as I think of what might happen, there are things I’ll write about in 12 months that I never could have imagined happening.

I wonder what they’ll be.

Yeah, you heard it here first. And only here. I’m done with raw food.

Why, you might ask? The whole reason I was even eating raw in the first place was because it helped with polyphasic sleep. I’m not doing that anymore, so I have to really evaluate the benefits of it. I feel great, but I also felt great when I was eating along the lines of my skinny snob diet. When I was doing that and working out people constantly were telling me that I look better than ever. Now they just cower in fear and throw garbage at me. More to the point - if I have any goal as far as health goes, it’s to bulk up a bit (15-20 pounds of lean mass). Eating raw is definitely not helping that. I also want to live forever, but my old diet is very much in line with that as well. So, it’s back to regular food for me.

The other benefit is that it’s a lot easier to accomodate my diet anywhere I go. Because of raw food I had to stop going to most restaurants that I enjoy, other than my weekly cheat meal. I think I’m doing away with that as well.

Hayden is also interested in bulking up, so we’re going to do it together. We both weigh the same amount right now, so we’ll have a little friendly competition. In fact, I have given him not only permission, but clear instructions, to punch me in the face if I don’t stick to the plan. It’s going to be a hardcore regimen, so any motivation I can get is good motivation. If it comes to that, the punch will come as a surprise and will be videod and posted here.

I’m going to be taking pictures weekly as well as weight and body fat measurements. I’m going to set up a tripod in my closet and wear the same thing every time so that any gain / loss will be really noticable. Maybe I’ll go nuts and throw up all the stats that my crazy scale provides. So for those of you yearning for pictures of me in my skivvies, rejoice! For the rest of you - I’ve got nothing.

“Tynan, you’re a huge quitter. Keep eating raw!”

Maybe I am a huge quitter. I actually hate breaking streaks. My first girlfriend in high school and I ate dinner together 250 nights in a row, largely because neither of us wanted to break the streak. It’s possible that this is all just justification, so read it with a grain of salt.

I see myself as highly adaptive. I think I quit things when they fail to serve me any longer, but ALWAYS after I have gotten through the hard part. I could easily keep eating raw for the rest of my life. It’s not a matter of will power or discipline anymore. I could also keep being polyphasic. But at some point it’s important to evaluate my goals and decide which of my habits are supporting them, and which aren’t.

Also, I love totally immersing myself in weird subcultures, learning everything I can, and then taking a step back.

• Take pickup, for example. I was hardcore - I moved across the country to live with the best PUAs in the world, and ended up teaching with them. I got over my fear of approach, and basically any other insecurities I had (other than going for the first kiss which still freaks me out a bit). I went out 21 days in a row. Now I never go out. I don’t even try to pick up girls. But now because of subconscious habits, girls seem to love me. And if I see a girl I’m totally into, I know that I have the ability and confidence to get her. I don’t NEED to be a pickup artist anymore.
• Running is another example. Thanks to a bet with Hayden (I’ve GOT to write this story sometime… remind me when I slow down posting), I got hardcore about running. I had huge calves and ran 10 miles. I hated every minute of it, but I got past that 3 mile barrier that’s hard to break. Now I never run, but I know that it’s something I can do, and it gave me some appreciation for exercise.
• I’m not polyphasic anymore, but I know that if I need more time, I can switch. I know it’s possible. I understand the value of a nap.
• Being a professional gambler enabled me separate emotion from money, and to critically analyze the odds of everything. It may not sound like a valuable skill, but it’s one I use nearly every day.

Anyway, you get the point. I think it’s extremely important to get past the pain barrier. Don’t be someone who eats a raw meal, be someone who is a raw foodist. Not someone who ran, but a runner. I see 95% of people get up as soon as they hit that pain barrier. What’s the point? You’ve gained nothing except for the knowledge that you’re weak.

There are definitely a bunch of great raw foods that I will continue to eat, and once I get older I may switch back completely for health reasons. If I ever want to lose weight, I know I can do it easily.

My biggest criticism with personal development, self improvement, or whatever you want to call it, is that a lot of it is theoretical or has little effect on your life NOW. Of course, most people become interested in personal development because of problems they’re facing immediately, which creates a perfect setup for disappointment.

Thinking back on the different areas in which I’ve directed my efforts, here is a short list of some of the most effective ones which got results quickly (in no particular order):

1. Buy and read the book Fantastic Voyage : Live Long Enough to Live Forever. It’s a fascinating read and will give you a deep and valuable understanding of your body, nutrition, and food. When I read it I did so because I was bored, even though I had no particular interest in health or diet. Reading it instantly changed the way I see a lot of things.

2. Open up a new bank account and religiously deposit 10-15% of your after tax income into it every month. This is money that you will NEVER SPEND for your entire life. As it grows you earn interest, and spend that (or add it to this same account). Once you have a significant amount of money, you can then invest it in something reliable like an index fund. You are allowed to use it as a down payment for a house.

3. Go through your house with a trash bag and throw away everything you don’t need. You will immediately feel happier, less stressed, and more motivated to work on other projects. (be sure to look in cabinets, the fridge, and your desk - you will probably need more than one bag)

4. Get in the habit of taking a walk every day. Taking walks is surprisingly therapeutic (I do it every time I have a big decision to make, or feel stressed) and is also really good for your cardiovascular system. If you can do it during the day, that’s even better. A moderate amount of sun is the best way to get Vitamin D and a healthy looking tan to make the ladies (and boys) swoon.

5. Starting at the top of the list, make a decision on one person in your phone every day. They either get a phone call or deleted. You might feel weird calling people you haven’t talked to in a while, but think of how you would feel if they called just to see how you were doing. You’d probably feel really good that you were being thought about. During this process you’ll also find people you’ll never talk to again. Deleting their number will save time and effort when scrolling through your phone book.

6. Similar to #3, go through your closet and either pack up (to be lost in the attic forever), throw away, or donate any clothes you haven’t worn in the past 30 days. (Exceptions are seasonal items [can't you just pack those?] or things like a suit or party dress that doesn’t expect frequent use.)

7. Go shopping and buy enough of the following items to last at least 6 months :

• toothpaste
• paper towels
• toilet paper (try moistened towelettes! they’re way better)
• soap
• detergent for clothes and dishes
• plastic bags (zip lock and trash)

If you can think of any other items where a) the price isn’t going to change drastically b) your preference probably won’t change c) the shelf life is very long, then stock up on those too. Look! You’ve just eliminated a serious chunk of your todo list and mindless errands for the next six months!

8. If you’re disorganized, get and read Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity. It will have you organized with a gameplan for staying organized easily within 1-3 days. If you’re already organized, then you can just take a second and gloat.

9. Find the most expensive item you have that you don’t use anymore and sell it on ebay. It will take you 10 minutes at most, plus another 30 minutes to ship (while you’re at the post ofice, get 100 2 cent stamps and never worry about that again). Alternatively, just send it to me as a present.

10. Show this page to your friends! Helping out other people makes you feel better, and working on some of these things with your friends will make them more fun.

Don’t just read this list and think “that’s a good idea”. Do it now! If you’re at work, then order the books, take a break and make your first phone call while you take a walk.

I tried to fairly evenly distribute the focus between the three areas of Health, Wealth, and Relationships. Relationships has the least focus because improving your health and wealth will likely improve relationships as well. If you could use some extra help with meeting women or being attractive to them, check out my book called Make Her Chase You. I am a world famous pickup artist who has learned from the best ladies’ men in the world, and I’ve condensed all of my knowledge into one awesome book.

Of course if you’re a lovely lady and you’re looking to improve your relationships, just e-mail me…

In one of the comments someone asked what I plan on doing now that I’m done with gambling. It’s a good question, and one that I don’t totally have the answer for.

I feel like I’m a little bit behind, since it hit me so fast. Normally I would prefer to have a solid new plan in place before stopping one business, but that’s not how it always works.

My approach has been to get involved in a lot of different ventures, and to let time sort out which are worth doing and which aren’t. Actually, this post is more for me than you guys, just so I can take stock of where I’m at.

• The Skinny Snob Diet Book : I wrote this book because of my excitement with eating healthy. It’s been selling for four months now, and is doing ok. I don’t make a lot of money with it, but it doesn’t take a lot of my time either. I think if I had a better sales page it could make a lot of money because the info is really good.
• Better Than Your Boyfriend : This site is definitely my favorite project that I’m working on. That’s very fortunate because the money I make isn’t close to justifying the time I spend. As I continue to experiment with different ways of making money with it (ads, the casino link, donations), I’m confident I can find a way of generating income without compromising the quality of the site.
• The TV Show : I’m working on a TV show with a friend in Boston (that’s where I’m originally from). Right now we are still developing the show, but my expectation and hope is that it will become my primary source of income at some point. Unfortunately I can’t really say much more about the show yet.
• Mentoring / Life Coaching : I recently took on someone to mentor in business. This is another project that I really enjoy being involved in. I’ve always enjoyed working with other people and helping them, so it’s a natural fit. I will probably soon consider taking on more clients with this.
• A Possible Web Business: I have two killer ideas for some online businesses. Unfortunately the technology is over my head, but I just met some very interesting and capable people here in Austin with experience in this sort of thing. I’m hoping they can give me some advice or possibly work with me on this one. If launched, I think it would be a huge moneymaker.

Well, it’s a start anyway. As you can see, my current position isn’t all that great, but there is a lot of room for expansion. My hope is that this site will grow like Steve Pavlina’s to the point of covering all my necessities, so that I can focus all my remaining energy and time on the TV show, mentoring, and the web businesses. I have good momentum, so I think it is going in that direction. My newest plan is to start targeting specific sites whose users I would probably like having here. Lifehacker.com is the next one, so I’m going to start writing some personal development articles with them in mind.

I think it will be really interesting to look back at this post in a year and be like, “Man… with all those plans, how did I ever become a male stripper?”

Let’s say you just joined a new club, online community, or perhaps even a team. Some people like being the peon members of the group, which is very fortunate, because without those people, no group would be very good.

But beyond the general masses is usually a smaller group of respected, and usually more priviledged individuals. In this article, I’ll call those people “the inner circle”. Within that inner circle there are decision makers - the members that have the power and duty to control the very nature and future of that group. To make this article a little more jargony and cool sounding, I’ll call those people the kings.

Today I’m going to teach you how to go from being a peasant to a king in a relatively short amount of time. Is this possible? It has been for me. The two best examples, which I will trace my involvement with through this article, are my interactions with the pickup community and with the gambling community.

To give a quick background, the pickup community is a huge confederation of thousands of men, and a few women, who endeavor to become more appealing to the opposite sex. There is a public forum called Fast Seduction where everyone congregates. There are a great many factions in the community, most of which are on bad terms with at least one other group. There’s Mystery Method, Real Social Dynamics, Gunwitch, Pickup101, Badboy, Fidentia, and several others. In addition there is a private forum called “Mystery’s Lounge” where the elite 100 or so members of the community hang out. That means that these people represent at least the top .1%, if not less. Technically speaking, Mystery’s lounge has been renamed and a new forum has sprung up called Mystery’s lounge. To make things simple, when I say Mystery’s lounge, I am always referring to the more exclusive one.

The gambling community was never as large as the pickup community, but it was still made up of a few thousand members. What makes it interesting is that everyone involved has a financial interest in the community. This hinders information flow somewhat. Within the large community was a once-secret group simply called “private”. Private had only 40-50 members and being a member of it certainly meant a higher income. Later in the game private went to the wayside in favor of a smaller core group as well as exclusive secret groups outside of the main population.

These aren’t the only two societies I’ve risen to the top of, but they are probably among the most impressive and both are very good illustrations of my method.

A natural reaction for many readers may be the thought that manipulation shouldn’t be encouraged… let the strong rise to the top and the weak to the bottom. In general, I agree with that. However, I find that most communities favor the status quo. Those at the top like peace and don’t want to admit anyone who may usurp their position. Many times, though, the most worthy are not at the top. For example, the music industry is notoriously difficult to crack (I’m working on it). I’m generally a fairly mainstream rap fan. I like Jay-Z, Nas, Kanye, Biggie, Tupac, Eminem, Dre, etc. Sure I have some more eclectic tastes as well, but they don’t make up the majority of my preferences. With that in mind - my absolute favorite rapper is an underground legend named DZK. Despite being, in my opinion, more talented than any commercial act right now, he doesn’t have widespread fame. I believe that’s about to change, because he’s finally putting effort into it, but my point is that the best doesn’t rise to the top without action.

The purpose of becoming a king in a group is to add value to the group, make it stronger, and embrace the next generation to join. Sneaking in to benefit yourself without helping others is never the right play.

Step One : Identify the Leaders

It’s important to know who you are going to eventually be joining. Make sure you know who actually makes decisions and who is a member of the core group. Sometimes there are several core groups and you need to determine which is really at the top of the food chain. If you deserve to be at the top - get there.

In the PUA group (pick up artist group) I identified Mystery’s Lounge as the end goal. It was regarded as the Garden of Eden for pickup information and connections. Equally important was status in the main Fastseduction group, particularly being respected by Formhandle, the moderator and owner of the forum.

In the gambling group I knew private existed, so I wanted to join that. It was pretty clear who most of the members were.

Step Two : Shake things Up

This is an important step, and probably the most ignored one. For change to happen, things must be shaken up. Most people aren’t great at dealing with change, but you will become a master of it. This gives you a good chance to quickly ascend the ranks while the others are trying to get their bearings.

I don’t mean to do anything malicious. I mean to do something drastic that draws attention to you and separates you from the masses. In general the inner circles don’t have much regard for the commoners as a group (although usually they will respect some of them, arguably a middle class). An important factor of shaking things up is putting yourself in a position where people HAVE to notice you and probably have to deal with you.

Outside of my two case studies, it’s pretty obvious that I’m trying to break into the blogging world (I will never say blogosphere - I promise). With millions of blogs out there, it’s not an easy field. However, within two months I have been able to go from 10 readers a day to 4000 (if you average out the huge spikes), and I keep going. To shake it up here, I posted some stories which I knew would get massive publicity like the Ghetto Pool story, the UT Tunnel story, and most recently the Living with Courtney Love story. I knew that these stories would put me in front of a lot of eyeballs, which would force people to notice my blog and read it. I managed to get on the front page of digg, college humor, delicious, shoutwire, reddit, fazed, and leenks. Thanks to those services, over 150,000 different people saw my blog in a month, and a number of them became regular readers.

In the PUA world, I had a tougher time. The year prior to my entry played host to the world’s first Pickup Artist summit, held in Boston by Formhandle. It was a small event, but it attracted some of the biggest names in the business - a perfect setting to get noticed. But I missed it. I decided that to shake things up I would host the next one that year. That meant that although I would have to do some work (read : bring value), the best in the game would be forced to deal with me. I e-mailed Formhandle with my plan, and he ignored me.

He simply got too much e-mail and to him I was still one of the peons. So I had to get a little bold. I saw a post that he made that I didn’t disagree with, and I publicly called him on it. Normally I would ignore it, but I needed to get noticed. He wrote back, and then to avoid a further flame war I e-mailed him to apologize and settle it privately. After that he always responded to my e-mails and agreed to help me organize the PUA summit. A sidenote : I’m sure he’s forgiven me for my rudeness… today we’re friends and we hang out every time we’re in the same city.

Gambling was interesting. Sometimes there’s no convenient way to shake things up, so you must wait for an opportunity. As with anything, opportunities come frequently if you’re looking for them. The previous owner of the gambling forum wasn’t actually a gambler himself, which was breeding discontent amongst the ranks. We wanted fewer members to protect our secrets, he wanted more to increase revenues. To resolve the situation he agreed to sell the forum for a rather high price. I immediately told the purchaser I was interested in purchasing the forum. I was interested, but what was more important is that I knew that he would be a king soon. It’s a good idea to be friends with the kings.

The sale got botched, but it was good enough. Through him I had been introduced to others. I made good friends with one of the more influential members (not strategically) and he told me that if I started my own forum that he could bring most of the members with him. Sure enough I started my own forum and everyone moved over. Within a month I went from a nobody to one of the most important people in the community.

Step Two and a half : Take Power

Notice how in both of the examples I took a leadership role? All kings are in some sort of leadership role, formal or informal. The sooner you take one, the quicker your ascent will be. You don’t need to kick someone out of their position either, just create a new role that you’re good at that will benefit the group. Maybe you’ll organize events for the group, or archive materials. It doesn’t really matter - just make it important and hopefully well known.

Step Three : Cement your Role

Being at the top can be tricky. If you’re part of the top 1%, that means that the other 99% are jockeying for your position. Now it’s time to really flesh out your role in the group and make some ties. This is usually easy because others at the top will be like minded and you’ll naturally befriend them.

In the PUA world I did run the summit, but by that time I had moved in with three of the other kings and began teaching with one of them. Not only was I invited to join the lounge, but I was also in charge of the membership there, being the one person with the final say on who was a member and who wasn’t.

In the gambling scene I shared information with other top guys to show that I wasn’t deadweight. Of course the information they then shared with me was even more valuable.

Some people say that if you have no enemies, you’re doing something wrong. I’m conflicted on whether or not I subscribe to that notion, but I try to avoid enemies. My philosophy is that most people who rise to the inner circle are probably reasonably interesting people and some benefit can be gained by being on good terms with them.

My involvement in the gambling community faded over the years as I became more independent, but before that I was friends with everyone. In a few cases I was friends with two bitter enemies and had to help moderate.

In the PUA scene even though I am fairly inactive in the community today, I am probably friends with more top guys than anyone else.

It’s ok to be friends with rivals. Just make sure you do not fuel their rivalry. It may be tempting at times to share stories and information from one faction to the other, but this is a huge mistake. If you can’t be trusted to keep your mouth shut, you will soon find yourself shunned by both.

It’s also important to continually add value to the group. Deadweight may get a few months tenure, but inevitably someone has to be removed to make room for the new. Every community has members who are not actively improving the community, and they are the first to go.

Even though I barely ever go out anymore, I still offer value to the pickup community by sharing my ideas and stories, and also giving information on my other areas of expertise.

Go Do It!

Now you have everything you need to know to become a king of your community. Everyone is in some sort of community (even if it’s just your family or friend group), so start now and hopefully with your help your group will grow even stronger.

Also, watch for how I rise to the top of both the blogging world, but soon the rap industry.

Ok, so I was just writing about my goals and realized that I wasn’t doing nearly enough. So this is going to be my public challenge to myself to see how much I can improve my life in one month. That’s all there is to the challenge - no rules, no goals, and no excuses. I have a pretty great life, but I know I can do MUCH better, and I owe it to myself to do so.

I’ve found that many things I do during the day don’t really make a lasting change in my life. But one small thing, like installing the bluetooth car kit in my car, makes it much more convenient for me every time I drive. Going through my bank statement and finding monthly charges I can do away with saves me money for the rest of the year, and calling an old friend that I’ve lost touch with can bring another positive person into my life.

This month I am going to ask myself whether or not what I’m doing at any moment is contributing to my future. I’ll answer myself honestly and adjust accordingly. Little things that will stick with me are valuable too… if I made 30 small improvements that will help me for the rest of my life, I would be thrilled. How can I not find at least one a day?

I think that’s why I like learning so much. I learn little weird skills like how to tell the day of the month for any date, or to solve a rubik’s cube in a minute, or how to test if a plant is edible or not in the jungle. None of these things are important, but I find that every month I put a few of them to good use.

Anyway, if you’re reading this, I invite and challenge you to do this with me! Reply in the comments that you are going to do it, and I will e-mail you in a month to see your progress. I will then post everyone’s progress publicly - so you know that you will be held accountable. I’m psyched about this and plan on starting right now!

So back in January, I wrote out my 7 goals for the year. It’s been two months, so let’s see how I’m doing :

1. Become FULLY polyphasic

I’m close on this one. Many days I go perfectly, sometimes if I have nothing to do I oversleep and then skip some naps during the day. I’m actually pretty satisfied with that, as I’m only sleeping 2.5-4.5 hours per night, I’m never tired, and can always count on being awake early and staying up late. I’ll keep pressing to be more consistent, but I’m satisfied with where I am.

2. Gain 15lb of lean muscle

No progress here at all. I tried working out really hard once while polyphasic and it wiped me out and caused a major oversleep. I waver on whether or not I really care enough to do the work necessary to gain the muscle. I think I do, but it’s not at the top of the priority list. I still expect to finish this by the end of the year, though.

3. Make a million dollars by my birthday this year

I hate to admit defeat, but this isn’t going to happen. I don’t like telling people when my birthday is, but I don’t have the time unless something particularly lucky happens. And I don’t want to rely on luck.

That said, I’m recovering pretty well from my financial disaster this year. New plans are in place that should make me very rich within 5-10 years at most. Most of my productive energy goes towards this goal. My new goal is to make a million by my next birthday. I will need to ramp things up into high gear, but it’s possible without a doubt.

4. Become a relatively well known rapper

This one is going ok, and I think I am on track. I freestyle every day for an hour, and have been getting really good recently. I have a whole file filled with good lines I’ve come up with that are just waiting to be put into a song. I’m procrastinating working with DZK because I want our song to be great in case I don’t get another one with him. I don’t think this is necessarily a smart move, though.

Neil Strauss, a friend of mine who used to review music for the Rolling Stone and New York listened to my latest songs and said that he thinks I’m good enough to go pro. This is huge for me because he’s always listened to my songs, pointed out the good and bad, but never said anything that made me think he thought I was good enough. I didn’t want to ask, because I didn’t want to pressure him to say yes.

I definitely have a lot of work to do here, but I’m making good progress overall.

5. Find and date one incredible girl OR date several great girls-

Ugh. Not much progress here at all. Not that I’ve met all that many great girls in clubs, but I haven’t been going out recently. With no real job and no school, I meet almost no new girls on a regular basis. I find attracting them easy, but finding them nearly impossible.

Also, I’m pretty apathetic here, just like #2. I’d say that in any given week, there are two hours or so where I actively wish I had a girl with me. The rest of the time I just don’t care. This is probably part of the problem. I’m going to call Tyler today and figure out when he’s coming down to get me back up to speed.

6. Enlarge my social circle

Actually, I’m pretty happy with my progress here. I’ve made one new really cool friend who actually found me through my blog. I’ve also been spending more time with my old friends whose company I really enjoy. Even if my social circle isn’t that much bigger, it is fuller.

7. Do something REALLY nice for someone or a group of people

I’ll admit it… nothing to report here. I have a great idea for this, I just have to plan it.

How am I doing overall?

Honestly, I am not at all happy with my progress overall. I waste a tremendous amount of time. What’s worse is that I’m conscious of it and do nothing to fix it. Maybe I’m being too hard on my self, but if I was on the outside watching me on a daily basis, I would immediately think “Man.. this guy is lazy”.

Here’s what I am happy about :

• This blog is going great - I have alot of cool people reading it and commenting on my entries, and I get e-mails almost every day about how much people enjoy reading it. I’m making some money on it, but the biggest reward has been to hear that other people are benefiting from it.
• I’ve gone completely raw - my transition to raw food has been very successful and rewarding. I’ll save the details of this for another post
• I learned how to work on my car - Ok, so I’m not replacing fuel pumps or anything, but I did learn how to take all the panels on the interior off (no trivial task) and install a bluetooth car kit and wired FM modulator by myself. Most importantly, I don’t feel intimidated working on cars now. Next time something goes wrong with the engine I will try to fix it myself.
• My spending habits have become more responsible - In reaction to my financial disaster, I’ve been spending very responsibly. If you’ve read The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists, then you know that I’m prone to buy anything I want, regardless of its value to me.

I guess that’s not TOO bad for two months, but I know I can do a LOT better. In fact… F this… I have an idea and I’m going to continue in a new post.

Are you interested in working out, but have no idea how? That’s where I was until a year and a half ago. I avoided the gym because I was so clueless about what to do there that I didn’t want to make a fool of myself.

Looking information on the internet is almost pointless, because every document out there is for people who know what they’re doing. I didn’t.

I finally got an idea of what to do when I moved to LA. One of my roommates, Tyler, is considered to be perhaps the most obsessed and analytical pickup artist in the business. I mean that in a good way - for a while he made it his life, and as a result he got to the top faster than anyone else ever has.

He had gone through the same process with weightlifting in the past and was an encyclopedia of knowledge. Additionally, I had a platinum Amex which, upon signing up for our gym, entitled me to six free personal training sessions.

After badgering Tyler and my trainer with questions, and continuing my education elsewhere, I was able to get respectable results in a fairly short amount of time. Hopefully my knowledge will be of use to you as well.

Protein

The first thing to realize is that there are two components of building mass (I’m assuming you’re a decent weight and want to gain muscle. If you want to lose weight, make sure to read all the way through because I have a special case for you at the bottom). You need to concern yourself with diet and with exercise.

The reason everyone’s always soiling their diapers over protein is because it is the building block of muscle. Exercising puts the building blocks in place and creates muscle. If you have no blocks, the exercising is just torturing you. If you have the blocks and no exercise, most of them will be digested. And I’ve digested a couple buliding blocks as a kid - it’s not the optimal solution.

Anyway, you want to get a good protein blend. My favorite place is The Protein Factory (and just to let you know how much I like them, every other place will pay me to direct people to their store, but I still recommend the one that doesn’t). The reason I like them so much is that you can custom make your protein blend, and the price is still reasonable. Make sure that you have it sweetened with stevia. It’s the healthiest sweetener by far.

I like to get unflavored protein and add it to smoothies, but most people just get flavored protein and add it to water. It doesn’t really matter.

You want to take in 1g of protein per pound you weight per day. If you can’t hack that much protein (you probably can), then do what you can.

Foods that are high in protein include fish, nuts, and chicken. It’s pretty easy to steer your diet in that direction.

Also, you want a lot of water. The easiest way to drink a lot of water is to always have a glass near you, even if you aren’t actively drinking it. I put a water machine next to my desk and I drink tons now.

The best time to eat lots of protein (read: your protein shake) is directly after working out. I usually saved a chicken breast and my protein shake for right after the workout.

As for the actual workout, it’s going to last about 40-60 minutes. Some people get nuts and do 90 minutes, but the return after an hour diminishes greatly.

Schedule

You’ll work out three days a week. Probably Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. If you want to switch the days around, that’s fine - just don’t have two in a row if possible. If that’s the only way you can do it, fine. If you’re trying to lose weight, you want to jog 3 times a week if possible (or do the elliptical, treadmill or stair machine).

If you’re jogging, try to keep a 10 minute mile or so and run for 30 minutes after it gets moderately uncomfortable. Up until that point you’re warming up, so make sure to push, otherwise you’re doing a lot of work for almost nothing.

What is a rep?

A rep is a single instance of motion that brings you back to where you start. So doing one chest press rep, for example, would be lying on a bench on your back, holding the bar at your chest, pushing all the way up, and bringing it back down.

A set is just a group of reps. So three sets of 15 reps would be three groups of 15 repetitions, for a total of 45 “pushes”.

In general you want to be doing three sets of about 10 reps. By the 9th or 10th rep on the 3rd set, you should be having great difficulty continuing, possibly even unable to do it. The weight that you choose is the variable here, so as you get stronger you do the same amount of reps, but with a bigger weight.

The Exercises

On day 1 (Monday in this example), you’re going to work out your chest. This is what makes the ladies swoon (I’m told), so don’t slack.

Pick three or four different chest exercises and do 3 sets of 10 for each of them. Here’s where you can get great descriptions of each : Bodybuilding.com. Try not to be freaked out by the scary muscly man, or the even scarier muscly woman. You won’t ever have to look like that.

Also do 3×10 of one tricep exercise. Last, do the first rotator cuff exercise on this page.

Day two (Wednesday) :

Three shoulder exercises, two lat exercises, one middle back, one lower back

Day three (Friday):

Two calf, Three hamstring, two bicep

In addition, every single day (whether working out or not) you should do three sets of fifteen situps or crunches. These work your core, which unlike the other muscle groups, doesn’t need a break.

This quick guide is all you really need to know to productively get started working out. I’m sure experienced body builders will read this and say “he totally forgot about working the ankles! you need to work out everything!” and it’s true - if you want to be a body builder. But if you want to get impressive results without become a gym nerd, just follow this guide. If you get more serious about it, you can start investing money in a personal trainer or tons of workout books.

Where do I work out?

You can either join a gym or work out at home. Each has it’s own set of advantages and disadvantages. Gold’s Gym tends to be a favorite, as is 24 hour fitness. If you have a gym at school or at your apartment complex, just use that.

You can do most of the exercises at home with a bench. Right now has one at half price that looks really versatile. I paid more than that for a more basic one used off Craigslist (also a good option for instant gratification). You can buy weights online, but it’s not worth it with shipping. Just go to Wal Mart and get them there. To start off all you need are pairs of 15lb dumbbells, 20lb dumbbells, and 25lb dumbbells. Instead of a bar with weights on the ends, just use the two 25lb dumbbells. It’s safer and it saves money.

The only thing you can’t do from home without more equipment is your back exercises. Most of them will require a pulldown bar. I built one in my house pretty cheaply using stuff from Home Depot.

What to expect

Now, you aren’t going to notice any changes for about a month. This gets frustrating because it seems like you’re working for nothing - stick with it. By the end of month two, people will be commenting on your bigger muscles even if they don’t know that you’ve been working out.

The most important factor (as with anything) is consistency. Work out three times a week, EVERY WEEK. If you work out when you feel like it, you won’t ever make progress.

If you want to lose weight and gain muscle at the same time, there is an excellent book called Burn The Fat. If you are a reasonable weight already, then don’t bother complicating things - just start today!

Oh, and if you’re a lady type who doesn’t want to get all jacked up and you feel left out - don’t worry… I have a story just for the ladies coming out soon.