I’ve
been on innumerable first dates over the years. And I’ve coached all
sorts of students through limitless more dates. And if there’s one
thing you find out, it’s that the
first date is absolutely, inescapably
crucial to how things play out the rest of the courtship.
The
first date is a make-or-break event. Hit a homer on the date,
and the rest is pretty magical.
A great first date makes your date partner comply more with you (she
does
what you
ask of her). It causes her to cut you more slack (i.e., she’ll let you
get
away with more). And it piques her interest in you (now she wants
where things go with
her and you!).
But there’s plenty of opportunity to botch the first date, too. And
a lot
of folks do, a lot of the time. There’s all
this uncertainty: you don’t know your date well yet (certainly not as
well as you’ll know her later on... if all goes well). You don’t know
what she likes, what she’ll
respond to... what ‘does it’ for her. You might think you do – but you don’t. Not
yet.
Even if you’ve known her a while, well... people have their ‘social
selves’, which is what they present to their friends and
acquaintances. Getting her on a date is about getting past this social self (and finding
out whom she really is).
On top of it all, you may not be
all that sure what to do with
your date, what to discuss, or
where to take her. So in addition to all the question marks of your
date herself, there is also the
question mark of the date.
And the more question marks there are, the rougher things get.
In this article we’ll look at 11 of the most fatal mistakes you can
make on first dates.
But don’t worry – we’ll also talk about how to avoid those mistakes,
to make your first dates go as smooth as butter (and make your date
melt
like
butter while she’s out with you, too).