Ladies, you’ve likely heard of the book “The Rules” but have you heard of the blog “The Rules Revisited?” If not, may I humbly suggest you go there right now and get to reading? (Well OK, maybe finish reading this first…)

The blog’s author, Andrew, doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to telling it how it is from a guy’s point of view, but if you can set aside reacting to what he’s saying emotionally, I guarantee you will learn things about men and dating that you have never seen, heard, or read anywhere else.

When I stumbled across his blog about a year ago, trying to figure out the puzzling behavior of someone I had just broken off with at the time, it was like having a light click on. I realized much of what I have been told about how dating works (usually by women authors) simply wasn’t true. And while some of what Andrew had to say hit close to home, I couldn’t stop reading. Suddenly a lot about men and dating that had never made sense before came together. I read every post.

Mostly Andrew points out the things he sees women doing wrong or the mistakes they are making when it comes to relating to men as well as revealing from a man’s point of view how they feel about dating and relationships and how a gal can make herself stand out from the crowd.

His blog also taught me what signs to watch for that revealed if a guy was just looking for fun, or if he was looking for a future. And his blog taught me that to find what I wanted, I had to be very focused and willing to cut bait early into dating someone new if I saw those signs, to be brutally honest with myself, rather than to stick it out and hope for the best, while meanwhile allowing guys who liked me or were attracted to me but who had no interest in commitment or a shared future tie up my time or availability to meet someone who was. Ruthless? Maybe. Smart? Absolutely.

Another thing I learned was that at 42, I did not have any time to waste. Lots of men still wanted to date me, but I learned I needed to shift my focus from the larger pool of guys who wanted to “just date” to the much smaller pool of guys who were looking to marry.  I realized if I wanted to find someone and get remarried, the time to make that happen was NOW. Yesterday, actually, because at 42 the odds were rapidly shifting against my favor. And I learned whatever marks against me I had in my “value” were my responsibility to compensate for or overcome if I wanted to find my best possible mate. And of course, to also recognize that there is a lot of competition for those great guys, so if I wanted one, I had to be all in. No games.

I cannot say enough how much this blog taught me. If it were not for his writings I am sure I would still be making the same old mistakes instead of currently dating a great guy who is all in, and who is not afraid to talk about or plan our future, together.

Likewise, if it were not for Andrew’s blog, I probably would not have had my head on straight enough to know it wasn’t only about finding him, it was also about  being the kind of woman a man like him was looking for. I brought (and bring, every single day) my best, too. Not a bunch of silly girl games and drama like “The Rules” and other dating advice books encourage.

Trust me ladies, Andrew tells it like it is but if you don’t want to waste time and energy on relationships that will go nowhere and instead to find one that will, check his blog out!

Let those who have ears hear.