On my first day at the Thai Boxing camp in Chaing Mai, we started by jogging around the neighbourhood a few times, through the gravel roads, mango groves and narrow alleys of Thailand’s second biggest city. It was 35 degrees, and I was badly out of shape after several weeks of sitting on beaches and drinking cheap rum. After twenty minutes or so of running, we got back to the camp compound, and started jumping rope, to keep our heart rates up.

Our instructor, Tae-Win, was a Thai man of about fifty years old, who had a gentle face, but his body appeared to be made of living gristle. He walked in front of us as we skipped.

“New guy!” he called to me “You pick today: five minute jump rope, or ten minute jump rope?”

We were only about twenty minutes into the practice and I could already feel my dehydrated brain rattling around in my head. I was kind of worried about what I had gotten myself into. I didn’t know if I could handle ten minutes more of jumping rope, so I replied “Five minutes!”

“Ok, everybody! Fifteen minute jump rope!”

I was confused, did I hear him wrong? I looked around, the other people in the class rolled their eyes at me.

“First lesson!” Tae-win called out “Easy path is hard, hard path easy”.

I learned later that it was a game he plays with every new student. He gives two options, one easy, one hard.  If you pick the easy one, you fail and he gives you something even harder.

“No easy way in Muay Thai” Tae-win explained to us as we stood there, skipping.  “Can’t leave ring. You get knockout, or you win. Knockout no fun. Injury no fun”.

Tae-win was right, of course. In Muay Thai, you can’t take the easy way out. You can’t hide in a corner, or jump out of the ring and say forget it. If you even flinch or try to catch your breath, you’re leaving yourself open to attack. You have to push your way through everything your opponent throws at you.

But life works the same way.

Some people live with the dangerous desire to find a safe place and make things easy for themselves. They’re going after a safe job, a safe place to live, a safe relationship, and once they have found that easy path, they’re going to let their guard down, chill out, and relax. They’re going to enjoy their comfort.

I don’t think it works that way.

No matter where you are in life, you are still in the ring. Trying to take the easy path in life is like sitting in the corner of a Muay Thai match with your guard up. You might feel safe for a bit, but you are not. Life is out there, and life is not always just or benevolent. In fact, it lurks just outside your comfortable life, ready to knock you out.

I can’t tell you how many students I’ve had that though they had it. They had good jobs, relationships, a house. They thought, “I’m set, let’s relax”. So they got out of shape, stopped growing, and sat on their asses for a few years. Then, all of a sudden, boom. Maybe it’s a divorce, losing their job, or realizing they were badly underwater on their home, but suddenly they realize they’re still in the ring, and life just gave them a Muay Thai elbow to the face. 

What’s the solution? Don’t listen to that little voice in your head that seeks safety and comfort. Instead, make a conscious effort to do things the hard way, by challenging yourself and pushing yourself – even if that little voice in the back of your head says you don’t need to. That doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy life – it just means you can’t be lazy about enjoying life. 

The hard way means you need to put yourself out there. You need to challenge your assumptions, and get over your “sticking points”. You need to push yourself, and not wait for things to come to you. You need to take control of your destiny. This is the hard way, but it’s not an unsatisfying way. In fact, it’s much more satisfying than living the easy life.

The hard way is eating healthy, working out, getting out of your comfort zone, learning new things, taking control of your life and being assertive in your relationships. The easy way is eating junk, getting out of shape, staying in your comfort zone, not learning, and being passive in your life. The hard way leads to growth, wealth and health. The easy way leads to diabetes, a social security scooter, and an ex wife that hates you. Which one is really easy in the long run?

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

There is no Easy Path

• Ten Fitness Tips that will REALLY change you.
• Fight Club: Tenmagnet vs. Herbal
• The Difference Between Sex and Porn
• Dropping Game
• Tenmagnet’s Student Reviews

First, Playboy.com came and followed Cajun and I for one of our Bootcamps in Toronto. This was my favorite part:

His partner, TenMagnet, though clean-shaven with perhaps a little less of a definitive look, was equally unassumingly. Slightly taller with shorter hair, he exhibited no signs of laborious care. No products styled his hair, no tan tinted his skin. These were two guys, as average as you or I who intended to lead the lost with claims of astounding success despite or in spite of any overt physical advantage.

I think this is the author’s polite way of saying I came into my class looking like a hobo (I did). In any case, if you read the article you will see that the class was focused on what was important – improving the lives of our students. I think we did a good job of that, and looking like bums while we do it just proves we’re the real deal.

Cajun and I also appeared on the “Big James Morning Show”, which is a very small web morning show run buy a guy named James, who happens to be very big. As always, we’re happy to talk to anyone who will listen, and I think our little interview is fairly interesting, although I’m pretty sure that James cut out some of the good parts to save for a second instalment, which will be coming soon.

And yes, for those who notice, I DO give Cajun an IOI at 2:53. He’s a handsome devil.

Finally, I also did an interview on Online Game, for the Click Magnet Dating Blog (link). You should definitely check that one out, because the host and I actually talk for over half an hour with some really killer online game advice.

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

In the Media Recently (I was on Playboy.com!)

• Sex Matters does a Story on Pick Up Artists (With Cajun and I)
• Cajun the Pick Up Artist on Keys to the Vip (With Video)
• How to Pick Up Women for Beginners
• Online Game Fail
• How Online Game Saved My Life (well, kinda)

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

Doing a Reddit AMA Tonight!

• My Sets Aren’t Hooking, What do I do?
• Lovesystems mentioned on Penny Arcade, Future is in Nerd Heaven
• Q and A
• The Shut Up Challenge
• Cajun the Pick Up Artist on Keys to the Vip (With Video)

The answer: Online Game.

As you may know, Cajun’s online game book is coming out this week, and I can’t recommend it enough. Not just because I contributed a chapter, but because I’ve used a lot of the techniques that Cajun describes in his book and I can testify to the fact that they’re awesome. In fact, Cajun’s online game advice actually enabled me to survive one weekend when I was trapped in Vancouver with no money, no friends, and nothing but an empty room to live in. I guess you can’t say it saved my life, because I don’t think you can starve in just four days, but his advice definitely saved me from being damn hungry.

Gosh, where will I start:

It was Labor day long weekend, and I was moving to Vancouver to attend graduate school. The cab dropped me off at my nice new empty apartment in my nice new neighborhood in a nice new city.  I pulled out my wallet to pay the cab driver. The fare was $17, and all I had in my wallet was a twenty.

Literally. There was just a twenty, and my driver’s license. Everything else was gone.

I won’t go into a lot of detail into how I managed to lose both my credit card and my bank card at the beginning of a long weekend, right when I was moving to a new city where I had nothing and knew nobody. But let’s just say that my goodbye party back in Toronto was pretty damn wild, and I also lost a pair of shoes, a jacket and my ability to drink tequila without retching.

The Cab driver was still looking at me, so I handed over the twenty dollar bill.  “Sorry, buddy, no tip” I said to him, knowing that this three dollars change was going to have to last me the whole long weekend, until the banks opened on Tuesday (it was Friday morning).

I pulled my bags out of the trunk, threw them in my new, empty apartment, and sat down on the floor. I had three bucks, the banks were closed for the long weekend, I had no food in the fridge; I didn’t even have a couch I could rifle through for change.

I took my three bucks and went to the grocery store, and bought three cans of beans and a can of tuna. I figured that would keep me alive for four days. Of course, I soon realized that I didn’t have a can opener at my new apartment.

I’m a pretty resourceful guy, so I guess I could have just bashed open the cans of beans with a rock or something, but that would be undignified. Thankfully, I had my laptop with me, so I hatched a plan. I found a nearby unsecured wi-fi network, and set to work trying to get myself fed.

There’s nothing like a little bit of hunger, and a lot of boredom to motivate you. I sat in my little empty room and vigorously updated my online dating profile. I changed my location to Vancouver, wrote a few clever witty lines that would grab a woman’s attention, and then started going on the search feature and messaging women.

I think I had only sent about 5 messages when I got my first reply. By dinnertime, I had a girl driving in from out of town to pick me up and show me Vancouver. She knew about my predicament, and she was pretty cool about it – I told her I would get the second date.

Of course, it was completely humiliating. I actually asked the waiter for the leftovers in a doggy bag at the end of the date (Dating tip: never, ever do this, unless the only alternative is starvation). But she was actually a cool girl, and we had a good time.  By the time I made it home, I had two other messages from women who wanted to meet up with me. One of them even came over with a can opener.

What had started out as a huge disaster actually turned into a pretty fun (if slightly humbling) weekend. By the time the banks opened on Tuesday, I had made a few friends, and my dating life in Vancouver was already getting kind of busy.

All thanks to online game.

Cajun’s online game book is coming out this week, and you can get it here. 

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

How Online Game Saved My Life (well, kinda)

• Cajun the Pick Up Artist on Keys to the Vip (With Video)
• Braddock’s New Phone Game Book
• In the Media Recently (I was on Playboy.com!)
• Lovesystems on the Tyra Banks Show
• Cajun and I will be on CP24 Tomorrow!

Vercetti, Mr M and Jeremy Soul are doing a special talk for a few very lucky guys. There isn’t room for everyone, so yep, there are going to be a lot of disappointed men! Don’t be one of them. Get over there quick and check it out.

Click here for the details

This sort of event hardly ever happens, the only way you’d normally get to work with either of these guys is by taking a bootcamp at $3000! So this is an absolute treat but you’ve gotta get a move on, seats are going fast!

Click here to see what all the fuss is about

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

Attention Londoners!

• Soul has a new Video.
• Beyond Words is now Available
• How to build attraction with good bodylanguage and vocal tonality.
• Picking up is like blackjack
• Dealing with your buddies.

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

Under Construction

• Site redesign
• Lovesystems on the Tyra Banks Show
• Picking up is like blackjack
• My problem with Paul Janka
• My problem with Paul Janka

This is totally free, and is an awesome opportunity. We’ve done a few of these Q&A’s before, and they always fill up fast. This is also going to be one of your final opportunities to get info on Social Circle Game, since the LAST EVER Social Circle Mastery course is happening on the 15th.

So, get off your butt, register for the call and submit your question here:

http://www.lovesystems.com/social-circle-call

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

Social Circle Mastery – Free Q&A

• Public Service Announcement – Phone Game
• Dropping Game
• Braddock’s New Phone Game Book
• Game is better than money!
• Social V. Rational intelligence

We’ve written a detailed report on some of the best places in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, as well as a few ideas for dates and other things. I hope you guys find it useful.

So please, go check out the Canada Pickup Guide.

Also – Please comment on the pages if you have any stuff we should add to the guide. I’d like to make this a top-notch resource for guys living in, and visiting, Canada.

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

Where to Pick Up in Canada

• Canada Pick Up Guide
• Montreal PUA Resources
• Toronto Dating Resources
• Soul is teaching Day Game in Toronto, Canada
• Montreal

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

The Single Girls Guide to Meeting European Men

• Why men are better than women (at giving dating advice to men).
• Is Roissy’s Email from Mystery? – An Analysis.
• Dealing with your buddies.
• Dating Advice from the 1930′s
• Smart guys date in paralell

I haven’t read The Game in ages, but I seem to recall it being mentioned as a place where mystery took his dates. I can say for sure that Cajun and I used to take dates there, thought I would always warn women not to eat there.

Anyway, it’s really a shame. The Green Room was one of those few things that are both amazing and awful, like Lindsay Lohan or Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room”.

For more information about Tenmagnet, his products and upcoming bootcamps, visit www.LoveSystems.com

Pick Up Landmark Closes

• Toronto Dating Resources
• Canada Pick Up Guide
• Sex Matters does a Story on Pick Up Artists (With Cajun and I)
• Why men are better than women (at giving dating advice to men).
• Where to Pick Up in Canada