StyleLife Challenge Day 3

From Rules of the Game: Master the Game in 30 Days by Neil Strauss.

[Yikes! There were a lot of missions for this one...took me a few days to get them all done.]

Mission 1: Adopt the Caveman Hygiene Method

OK, so I was not supposed to shave or take a shower today (Neil says we'll find out why tomorrow), and I did not do it! Two reasons:

1. Last week, I was sick and feeling miserable for two days in a row. I did not shower. I did not brush my teeth. Trust me, I know what it feels like to go without--it's a very recent memory.
2. Yesterday, before I went out to run my errands and accomplish my mission, I made the conscious decision not to put any cover up on this gigantic breakout on my face. I did this for a very specific reason--I'm usually very self-conscious of my looks (the need to be perfect), but before I left I looked at myself in the mirror and told myself that I was going to accomplish this mission despite looking terrible, just to prove that I could.

So hopefully, this will "count." I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

Mission 2: Speak with Confidence

We were supposed to do 3 out of 5 exercises--I did 4 of them.

Problem: Low or Soft Voice

I was interested to see how this was going to turn out. I guess I do have a soft voice, as people often don't hear me when I say "excuse me" to pass by, etc. What the exercise taught me, though, is the power of voice. It's hard to describe, but as I was listening to the recording, I "understood" the concept of using the voice in a loud, powerful way, versus shouting--which lowers value. Interesting...for years my network marketing mentors have recommended that I/we tape phone conversations, but I was too proud (read stupid) to do it. But this exercise has helped me understand just how important it is...especially when our whole job is talking!

Problem: Fast Speech

This is another area I was interested in seeing how it turned out. Neil says that speaking fast makes speech slurred and unintelligible, but I have the gift of being able to speak fast and clearly. Still, when I read the passage very slowly, it was amazing how even I--who was listening to myself and knowing exactly what I was going to hear--was drawn in and almost on the edge of my seat. I never realized how powerful that is. I got an email from Lovedrop (I think) recently, lecturing about slowing down, too, but it took listening to myself to really get it.

Problem: Brain Farts

This is the one I didn't do. A couple months ago I did a radio interview, and when I got the recording, I was shocked and appalled at how many times I said "you know"! Oh yes, I'm well aware of my brain farts...and continue to work on them.

Problem: Monotone Voice

As an actor and a parent (read lots of children's stories VERY dramatically), I don't have a problem with this one!

Problem: Statements That Sound Like Questions

My first recording, I couldn't really tell--I listened to it a couple times. The second recording, though, when I was trying to be firm, I noticed at one point didn't sound firm at all! Sure enough, the vocal inflection when up when it should have gone down. I recorded it a third time and pretended I was Mystery. What a difference.

Mission 3: Find Mr. Moviefone

Call random strangers on the phone and try to get them to recommend a good movie. Neil says, "The point isn't just to talk to more strangers. It's to learn how to change the course of an interaction without making the person feel uncomfortable."

Oh my GOSH! This was soooo hard. Sheesh. If the challenge is so hard on day 3, what are the next 27 days going to be like? Ack!

I don't know why this was so hard for me--prospecting calls don't even bother me this much! But my heart was pounding, my hands were shaking...and I'm an actor, for pete's sake! But, I remembered Mystery's 3-second rule and just did it.

We could come up with the phone numbers however we want and say whatever we want...Neil gives some ideas in the book.

My first plan was to call people with my same name and pretend I was trying to find a family member. I made 8 calls and got 2 people on the phone. The first connection was an old woman who was just delighted to hear from me--"Our last name is so unusual, don't you think?" We chatted about where our family's were from, she told me about another man she once met with the same name, etc. etc. She finally told me she couldn't recommend a good movie. "Oh, I'm not up to date with those things."

The second person hung up on me.

My second (and final) plan (this was really getting to be too much!) was to take a friend's phone number and call variations of it. Then when they said it was a wrong number, I kept them on the phone by saying, "Oh, is this XXX-XXX-XXXX?" Then, when they said it was close, I said, "Well, can you recommend a good movie?"

I made 9 of these calls and connected with 3. All three of them laughed when the question seemed to come out of nowhere, but all 3 were willing to continue the conversation. Only 1 actually gave me the name of a movie--the other 2 just said they couldn't recommend one. One guy actually said, "I enjoyed talking to you" before we hung up the phone.

So...17 total calls...5 people on the phone...4 conversations...1 real movie recommendation.

Neil says, "Once you've received a movie recommendation from three separate people, consider today's mission successfully completed."

I guess I failed, but I am not going to do it again.

Mission 4: Hypno Time (optional)

Didn't do it. I'm already behind, and this was optional.