The Ironwood Collection of Alpha Moves (6 page)

Buy a hat.

Not just
any
hat. Buy
a black fedora
, in your size, as good as you can afford.

Why, you ask?

I'm
so
glad you asked.

When it comes to Game, merely working out and learning the intricacies of feminine psychology isn't enough.
To truly master Game, you have to come to terms with your own masculinity in a culture that has, for two generations, punished
everything about masculinity.
Nine times out of ten
a dude who's investigating the
Red Pill Road
for the first time has been so battered and bruised by this environment that even working out and learning when his woman menstruates isn't enough to do the trick.

When it comes to personal transformation sometimes an exterior symbol can be extremely potent in the process. Women understand this implicitly, and can successfully use the acquisition of a pair of shoes as a game-changer in their psychologies. The same holds true for men, but we rarely remember it.
Consider a military
or sports
uniform, and how it transforms the behavior and psychology of those who wear it.

Same principal with a black fedora. First of all, they look good on anyone: it's a classic look from one of the last historical periods where unbridled masculinity wasn't merely tolerated, it was admired. Bogey wore a fedora. Indy wore a fedora. Until Kennedy took the Oath of Office bareheaded, it was considered a masculine tradition to wear a hat outdoors, and in its day there was nothing more
macho
than a fedora.

A fedora makes you look taller, and makes your shoulders look wider. It can hide your expression in a difficult situation. It makes you seem automatically more dangerous and threatening which will affect how others react to you when you wear it. A fedora can be worn in almost any formal occasion and most business occasions. The well-made straw model can be worn in summer or in warmer climes without cooking your head.

But most importantly,
a fedora gives you a tangible symbol of your journey you can literally put on and take off
. When you're wearing the hat you are reminding yourself that you took the Red Pill, and any special treatment to women in your life is due
entirely
to either
filial
duty or your personal grace, not blanket obligation
to their gender
. It reminds you that you
are descended from a hundred generations of Bad Asses, and
have the potential to be a Bad Ass, and to others you might actually seem frightening.

But most importantly it's a radical departure from the norm, and that's the kind of thing you can use to hang your metaphorical Red Pill hat on. A symbol you can wear that reminds you of your own personal aspirations is a magical helmet of
macho
. It's helpful in peacocking, if you're on the prowl, and it keeps the rain and the sun off you.

Black is a
masculine
power color, one that people notice and stay aware of. A fedora evokes a specific era and manner of behavior, the 1920s-1950s era, wherein men were made of iron and had guts of steel, whether they were facing G-Men, Gangsters, Nazis, or dockside thugs trying to take over the union. It was the non-military headgear of choice until Sean Connery made the dorky-looking Hornburg popular in
Dr. No
. But consider buying a black fedora, because it makes you more imposing and more noticeable in a crowd.

If you're in a relationship or marriage already and you're trying to have an affect on your wife or LT girlfriend, suddenly starting to wear a hat -- especially a powerful classic like a black fedora -- is bound to evoke some interest. It will at least attract some notice, it will certainly cause a comment, and it might even provoke a fight.

She might say she doesn't like hats. That she doesn't like
you
in a hat. That you look stupid or silly in the hat. She'll use it nine different ways to try to shame you or shit-test you into submission.

But don't relent.
Wear your damn hat
. Because you're a man, you're dangerous, and everyone respects a man in a fedora
, even if they giggle at first
.
Yes, you will feel uncomfortable and out-of-place . . . that’s by design.  A Beta response to an uncomfortable situation is conformity.  An Alpha response is to double-down.  Don’t take the hat off (unless socially appropriate),
wear
the hat. 

If your wife doesn't right away . . . I guarantee it will attract the attention of other women. Likewise men will treat you differently, too. Sure, she doesn't like it -- but it's
not her damn head, it's yours.
You don't tell HER what to wear, do you?

W
ear the damn hat. Even in your darkest hour, you have that symbol of masculine power to cling to.
  And if things get too rough, you can always take it off.  It will still be there when you’re ready for it again.

A
lpha Move:
The Working 50(0). 

It’s Not Always About How Much Money You Have . . .

. . . sometimes it’s
how
you spend it. Like on
emergency chocolate
.

It’s well-understood that a significant portion of a man’s Sex Rank depends on his perceived ability as a provider. Since we can’t all be CEOs, or otherwise thunder our way to riches on the backs of our talents and drive, how much we
can
actually improve our Sex Rank with increasing our income is limited. Let’s face it: for most of us, if we could make more money at our jobs, we would.

But a middle-class income doesn’t have to keep you from using money to improve your Sex Rank to your wife or girlfriend. Sometimes it’s the
display
of your ability that counts for more. Sure, a $100,000 sports car is going to impress her . . . for about five seconds, until she starts asking questions about the house payment money. But whipping out your credit card for a surprise trip to the lingerie store, for instance, can be a DHV
(“Display of High Value”) to your wife
no matter what your income level. Likewise springing for a surprise run to the sushi bar, concert tickets, etc.

You see, it’s not just about
how much
you can provide – that’s a strong Alpha bonus, sure. But if you can’t afford diamonds and emeralds (and let’s face it,
who wants to?)
then p
roviding small luxuries or securing an extra hundred bucks for an unnecessary luxury at a strategic time can
seem
like jewelry
to your wife
.

The secret is the “surprise”.
Any old happily married dude will tell you that
you need a pile of money your wife/girlfriend doesn’t know about.
No matter
how
forthright you are about your mutual household finances, and
how
tight your budget is,
in order to be perceived as a generous (!), gracious (!!) and thoughtful (!!!) provider you need access to monies your wife/girlfriend can’t spend before you do.

This is liable to cause some resentment, of course, once it becomes known that you have a separate checking account, or a secret cigar box full of twenties she doesn’t have access to
. Let it.
In the long run, it’s more important for you to
attract her than it is for her to control you – you’ll at least have more sex that way.  So
stand your ground
if you get busted
.
The ability to suddenly manifest something necessary or desired at an opportune moment increases your perceived Alpha in her eyes, and it grants you a feeling of satisfaction that you can easily build on.

Ah, you ask, but how do I
get
this mysterious pile of money? Especially when I’m considering selling my kid’s kidneys to make the mortgage?

First,
don’t go into debt for it
. Debt sucks. Avoid unnecessary debt like the plague – it’s the responsible thing to do. In fact,
secretly paying down your debt is a huge bonus to your Alpha provider stat
, once it becomes known.

The secret is what the Good Ol’ Boys in my neck of the woods call the “Working
$
50” or the “Working
$
500”, depending upon how ambitious you are. That’s the amount of money that lore says should “always be working for you.”

Remember that there’s more than one way to make money. Working for it is the usual way, of course, but it’s always better when your money works for you, not the other way around. Your Working 50 is the $50 (or $500, depending on your capabilities and your ambitions) that you have out there making you more money. You do that by buying and selling stuff. It takes five minutes to set up Ebay,
UPS
and Paypal accounts, and once you do have those, the rest is easy.

Look around your house for crap you don’t want, won’t use, and would probably donate before you’d go to all of the time and effort to put together a yard sale. Take a couple of pictures of the ones you think are most valuable. If it doesn’t look valuable by itself, group it together in one lot. Then post it on ebay. Crawl through your attic, your garage, that box of crap your ex-girlfriend left at your house, the shed, you name it. Miscellaneous items of dubious value are everywhere. All you need to do is find out who wants them, how much they’re willing to pay, and then complete the transaction.

Got a junk car in the backyard (in the South, it’s traditional for Agro-Americans to display their wealth thus)? It’s probably worth a fair amount just in scrap. If you have the inclination to strip it and sell off the parts first, even a crappy old heap can be worth a couple of hundred dollars.

Ever stop into a thrift shop or yard sale and seen a bargain? Buy it. Sell it. Make a profit. Do you have old books laying around that you will never, ever read again? Amazon. Have an interest in, say, millitaria, collectibles, or comic books? There are booming on-line marketplaces for just those sorts of things. No telling what your old toys are worth. Have a bunch of antiques that you inherited but are just not your style? Liquidate them. Know how to fix lawnmowers and chainsaws? Do that in your spare time. Know far, far too much about sports memorabilia? Weed out your coveted collection and take the cash.

There are websites where they give away stuff – valuable stuff – for free. Freecy
cle, for instance. And Craig’sl
ist has tons of stuff “Free To A Good Home – You Pick Up”. Yard sales, thrift stores, bankruptcy auctions, surplus auctions and self-storage auctions are all great places to find odd and valuable crap that other people are willing to pay money for. The key is knowing the value of something, and that might take a little homework.

It might seem like a lot of work, but once you get the system down, and start understanding how to do it, the returns can be high and it can be fun, too.

For example, at a trip to Virginia Beach a couple of years ago, we were digging around in the sand and came across an old WWII era bayonet that someone had
thoughtlessly
left in the sand (nearly impaling my 5-year-old –
not
happy about that). Instead of chucking it into my toolbox or throwing it out (like my wife wanted) I sold it on Ebay for $120, because of the year and model.