Comfort challenges

[Avex]

Good afternoon!

Guys, I've listened to Tim's book 4-5 times now and am still having issues with a few of his comfort challenges:
-negotiating down prices
-Saying no
-Asking for phone numbers
-Finding Yoda.

How many of you have successfully completed all or most comfort challenges? If not, where did you stop? If you did the challenges, would you say they were beneficial?

I wouldn't call myself skittish and I do a lot of daring things and am trying to do 1 uncomfortable thing per day (just had my termination discussion today). Yet I cant seem to get to the more meaty challenges.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

[kamakiri]

They are easy. Just make the decision and do them. Follow Tim's advice, and just get out there.

[fernando]

Think about the worst thing that can happen. A bad look? A rejection? Even a punch? Not so terrible any of them. And you'll feel great after defeating your fears!

[Avex]

The question was more about how many challenges did you guys complete...

[kamakiri]

My own personal challenges are deeper than Tim's. Here is one I did. The goal was to impersonate Elvis.

Sake No Ichi Commercial (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3381578704608229578)

Yes that is me, and that commercial ran for 4 years.

Not a fan of laying down in the middle of a room, but I have laid down on top of the up and down banisters of an escalator in a busy building. You spin around like mad, great fun.

[AlexMoen]

I think many of the comfort challenges should become a regular way of life. They're mostly things I tried years before (or extremely similar things) to expand my comfort zone and confidence, and actually to pick up girls to a large degree (confidence oozes over into all aspects of life).

The eye gazing one is actually something I practiced years before 4HWW. It was a great way for me to overcome being shy and build more confidence back in college. The reactions were never bad. Best case scenario I got a few hot girls to smile and stop walking and say hello, and worst case I had a guy apologize for staring at me because he had thought I thought he was staring me down for a fight- ha.

Proposing is pretty straightforward too. You don't always need to be the one leading the way, but most of the time I've noticed people are indifferent and just don't want to make the first move. I've taken it a bit farther and simply stated to groups what I'm doing and that they should join, but I'll be doing it regardless of what they decide.

The phone number deal can be nerve-racking. I never did the rapidfire ask right off the bat approach (except in business settings where I chatted with a group- but that's not the point of this challenge, it needs to be attractive people), but I have reeled in more than 2 in one night.

Saying no to others was actually a part of my routine too. Sometimes I regretted doing it after the fact as I may have come off as an asshole, but I still do these no exercises from time to time as a mild way to assert dominance. I now believe it's not good to always say no, but I think going through with this and getting the experience and knowing how and when to say no is valuable.

The laying down in public is actually the only one I don't recall having actually done. The general idea I figured was to simply assert who you are and break social conventions and not care what others think- which I've done in many other ways. I haven't dressed up as Elvis to sell Japanese products (haha) but I have gone out of my way on many occasions to stand out and attract attention as a way of testing myself.

[Avex]

Thank you for the examples! I'm much more confident now and will accomplish more :)

As for dressing up as elvis, that's pretty cool!

[solrak29]

I was asking myself a similar question. Like, once you do the challenges
then what is next? Go back and repeat them? Then I ask, in repeating
them, are they still really challenging?

I've done the first challenge with ease and continue to do it as I do
still find myself looking away first time. Girls, for me, are easy, so I
focus on the more intimidating people. Usually, bigger, stronger,
meaner looking guys than myself. So far so good.

The phone number intrigued me the most as I thought, "hey, not a
bad idea just to get out my shell". But the most I did was one day
to one person. So my goal here is to do exactly as in the book,
2 per day for 2 days in the row. But is that enough? And do you have
have to actually get a phone number? Or is asking enough?

So I 'm "stuck" here as I feel it's progression thing. So until I do this
one, I will not move to other ones. Though, the saying "no" part is
easy for me and I've done that before the book.

So what's all said in done, do you rinse and repeat? As I feel that
these things are important.