I never learned the nursery rhyme “What are little boys made of” and only recently heard about it. And the more I thought about it, the more I kept thinking about how an imbalance is created in children at a very young age. Seemingly innocent I believe this nursery rhyme creates an artificial division between the genders. For those of you who’ve never heard it, here it is….

What are little boys made of?
Snips and snails,
And puppy dog tails,
That’s what little boys are made of.

What are little girls made of?
Sugar and spice,
And everything nice,
That’s what little girls are made of.

In my opinion it seems that generally speaking women raised to believe they are princesses and boys are raised as if they are rogues. How true is this in what we see around us every single day?

Now then when I was growing up I played mostly with other boys. And of course girls play mostly with other girls. And what games do the girls play that’s different from the boys? Well just go with me on this one…

Girls play with dolls like Barbie and more recently the Bratz dolls have become very popular. Now as we know Barbie has Ken, and the Bratz dolls have their equivalents. And how to do the girls play with these dolls? They may have doll houses or not but what does happen is they role play real world situations. They get to think about social interactions between boys and girls or between mummy and daddy. You may say, this is nonsense, girls have always played games like this and it doesn’t mean anything. I beg to differ. These games in effect make girls masters of social interactions from a very young age. And when they grow up they are much better prepared for social interactions then most guys will ever be. Think of how comfortable women are at parties talking to each other or to any guys who can hold a good conversation. And how women group together in a public toilet.

In fact someone told me once women can go into a public toilet and come out as ?best friends? but that will never, ever happen to men. They barely look at each other in a public rest rooms. Trust me! I’m one of them

As far back as 1953 there was the Marilyn Monroe film, How to Marry a Millionaire. And this whole objective in this movie is three models moving into a fancy New York apartment with hopes to marry a millionaire. And more recently we had the American reality show, Who Wants To Marry a Millionaire, which ended with the winner out of 50 women, asking for an annulment of the wedding few weeks after the show ended.

Well I digress because what girls are really benefiting from is practising the social dynamics that will allow them to become masters of social interactions with men later in their lives. They get to see into the mind of the daddy or Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. And they can play out endless amounts of scenarios which prepares them for the real thing.

In the mean time what are the boys up to? They are fighting, they are clubbing up and down trees and other things. They get injured, maybe they cry but they do not engage in the kind of social games that builds conversation skills and also reading other people the way girls do. So boys are at a distinct disadvantage when they get to teenage years. And you know this the time that boys want to start talking to girls, and girl want the boys to approach them and talk to them.

So what are little boys to do when they grow up? Well practise makes perfect is a clich but it works. And this is how you do it, practise with women who are waiters, shop attendants, at checkout counters and everywhere else. Even if you not attracted to them, start quick short conversations. Get their opinion about something and the rest will follow.

Popularity: 13% [?]

There is a very popular saying in the seduction community that you should fake it till you make it with women. What they mean is that you should pretend you have confidence until you develop real inner confidence. And the same goes for confident body language, etc.

This last week I’ve been giving talks on MXit and Blogging in Durban. This is one of the most beautiful cities in South Africa and especially the North Coast where I was staying in guest house, On the Beach.

Anyway this morning I presented a Blogging seminar for a paid audience organised by ePages.net, a specialist e-business and web design company. The venue was excellent, the room was packed, the mic was there, and the projector was set-up. Just after I started my presentation we completely lost all electricity in the area. This took me by surprise for a brief moment. There has been so many power outages in South Africa for the last year or so it was not a complete shock to the audience.

I immediately continued to share some stories with the audience. Someone opened the windows so we could get some sun light. And so I proceeded, be it a bit shaken by the loss of my presentation. My instincts kicked in and I proceeded to talk. I know one thing that happened was that I spoke faster. And I ended the presentation with an hour instead of the agreed 1.5 hours. We took questions and there a good response from most the audience. The feedback I received afterwards was generally positive. In my own mind I tried my best to remain calm. There is something about fake till you make it that came into play here. Because I was really ensure how to proceed without my presentation. I think we in business have developed a unnatural reliance on visual presentations. So even though it can enhance the message being delivered, it should never be the primary source of stimulation for your audience.

The best comment I received was my Toastmasters club would be proud with how I handled the loss of electricity and smoothly moved on and continued to delivery my presentation on Blogging. So the last word here is to take it till you make it. Just continue talking as if nothing happened and your audience will follow your lead. Remember you set the tone of the engagement. And most people are going to look to you fo reassurance of some kind.

Popularity: 11% [?]

The traffic in Joburg gets worse every year. In one sense its a very positive sign because there is a lot more money floating around although much of it is in the form of credit. Anyway I first learned about parking karma from David DeAngelo in one of many programs on dating and success in life. And more recently one of the teachers from The Secret also mentioned it. So I started incorporating it into my daily thoughts. Until today I could never tell if it was working or not. However, today I went to Southgate mall to deposit a cheque, and practically the entire parking lot was full.

So I drove around some of the cars turning away from the entrance. And as I looked around I remembered that I sent out the message to the Universe to open a parking for me close to the entrance. So instead of looking for a parking spot further away I just turned and drove towards the entrance. Two cars pulled out and the parking lot were almost immediately filled. A few seconds later another opened and this one was mine.

So if you want to start exploring how visualisation really works this is one simple experiment you can start doing today. Steve Pavlina has convinced me that we do in fact life in a subjective universe where our consciousness when seen as a interconnected whole allows us to manifest thoughts into our reality.

Popularity: 12% [?]