This is a copy of one of my favorite short stories, from the book called One More Thing, written by B.J.Novak
I wear a bright red T-shirt every single day.
I’ve been doing it for years.
That’s all you have to do to meet the girl of your dreams.
It sounds easy, doesn’t it?
It is. That’s exactly my point. Wearing a red T-shirt is the hardest part of it all, and it’s as easy as could be.
Once I have the red T-shirt on, I just live my life, exactly the way I want to live it. Maybe I take my dog for a walk in the park. If there’s a new bar or restaurant I’ve heard about, I might go and check that place out, and if there are any friends I want to catch up with, I might grab a bite or a drink there with them.
But there’s also nothing wrong with going to a restaurant or bar by yourself – in some ways, that’s even better.
I wear one with a pocket, but it doesn’t matter. Bright red is the thing.
Then when you’re done living your ife for the day, you just go to this website called Missed Connections and type in red shirt. Don’t put it in quotes, because some people might say “red T shirt” without a hyphen, and some others might spell it t-e-e or some other little variation. There’s no one right way to spell “T-shirt”. Isn’t that interesting? So anyway, just type red shirt. It will take a little bit of extra time, but that way you’ll be sure ot to miss anything.
Then you get to see who liked you. More important: who liked you for you. Not you changing your behavior to impress anyone or please anyone. Not you on “date behavior”. Just you being you. And anyone will tell you that’s the whole point. You want to meet someone who likes the same thing you do, and who likes you most when you’re most being yourself, so that when you are in a relationship, the person will truly be compatible with the real you.
That’s all you have to do.
It really is that simple.
Now: when someone does contact you, and it seems like it might be a match, should you wear another shirt on the date besides the red T-shirt, so it doesn’t seem like you only have one shirt? Or should you wear the red T-shirt as always, in case the first date doesn’t go well and you want a simple way to check if you caught anyone else’s interest while you were out on the date?
That is a very interesting question, and one that I think about a lot. I will let you know what I do when that comes up.
