You can feel it instinctively at first... that odd butterfly feeling in your stomach which tells you to both "Stay away!" and "I can't resist"! Chocolate does it, too much wine, credit cards burning a hole in your pocket... and that guy... the Player... the One you should stay the hell away from but can't. Why? Because you are:
1.Lonely
2.Lost
3.Sad
4.On the Rebound
5.Your biological clock is ticking
6.He's just so convincing!
7.YOU are going to be different!
8.Normal guys bore you.
Guess what? You're not different, and after being played you are going to be even more sad, lonely, lost, on the rebound, with a biological clock in overdrive...but you will have learned something. Normal guys are NOT boring....they are NORMAL!
LESSON #1:
DO NOT DATE THAT GUY WHO MAKES YOU FEEL THAT WAY AND DO NOT BELIEVE IN AN ECONOMY WHICH SWAPS, FLIPS, LEASES INSTEAD OF BUYS...
NONE OF IT, NOT THE SO-CALLED RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GUY NOR THE BUILT OUT OF THIN AIR ECONOMY, IS SUSTAINABLE!!!
Don't think you can outplay the Player either, because you just end up turning into THEM. And that is not a pretty picture. One woman I heard about, while trying to outplay a Player and make him more jealous than he was making her, ended up spending lots of money on plastic surgery, dating even more powerful Player guys to rub it into the One's face, and ended up just as sad and lonely and without kids and now with fake boobs etc.
The Player just went on his merry way and found another naïve soul to play!
The Economic equivalent of this in online shorting the market or thinking that you are buying at the top of the curve or getting out before the others in a pyramid scheme. Worst case scenario is that you actually slaughter your way up the investment banking ladder (wishing all the while you had followed your dreams at age 20!) and end up like Dick Fuld with an art collection no one wants to buy! You still get Played! Because you begin to believe it will always happen that way and you start not paying attention and then it happens!
You lose!
LESSON#2: Run like hell from Players and Date Normal Guys!
Boring guys are not boring they just haven't met YOU yet! And actually they are Not boring...they are NORMAL!
The fun thing about normal guys is that you can actually TRUST them. And when times get rough, they are still normal good guys! They don't relieve stress by cheating or freak out because they lost another million or demonstrate their Jekyll and Hyde antics because they leased, borrowed flipped and swapped their way into that house, Mercedes, vacation....
Normal guys are REAL! They don't wax their chest hair or flash money around or overtip the valet to park their leased (not owned) car up front. They don't know the names of the doormen at clubs because they don't go out six nights a week because they have a life! Like an interior life.
Translated into Economic speak...How many times in the last week again have you read or heard an advertisement for some kind of financial advisor, investment fund, stock and just rolled your eyes and said "Right! Like I am EVER giving you any of my money EVER again!". You can't trust these financial players. Because...they are ultimately...Players!
LESSON #3: A Player NEVER Commits: Even When He Pretends To!
Okay, so you have what you THINK is an engagement ring on your finger. He has asked you to marry him (granted it was in the office park next to his building between meetings) and you have said "Yes!" He then takes you to his accountant's office and announces, "Everytime something important happens to me, I am in my accountant's office". You find this a bit odd, but hey, you're engaged.
Ahhh...but you are engaged to a Player! That is a different story entirely! Try now to actually set a wedding date or get him to commit to his original promise of when and where and who will come (none of his exes are invited!). And guess what happens...you are no more engaged, no more committed, than that stock you bought, or fund you invested in, which will NEVER EVER pay out!
You were not only PLAYED, you not only did not SEAL the DEAL, you just found out you were a CREDIT DEFAULT SWAP!
He was just LEASING you! You were a property to be FLIPPED! He leveraged instead of investing for real!
And, anyway, it doesn't matter anymore...because any player with half a brain, has a little stashed away on the side...offshore...where he will play and play and play...until..
Wake Up! We just Voted a New Guy into Office Who Will Find all of those Offshore Stashes, Tax them and bring it all home!
LESSON #4: ALWAYS VOTE! We Voted for a Good Guy (And all you players who thought he was going to let you slip on through....surprise! Obama is the real deal!).
Game over.