The Specter Code

How to Make Your Own Luck and Become the One Who Wins

Written by @mktwithg (Gaby) and @spectermasculinity (John)

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Table of Contents

Intellectual Property Disclaimer 3

Introduction: Making Your Own Luck 4

1. Mindset and Attitude 6

2. Dress and Appearance 12

3. Words and Promises 16

4. Your Network: Mentors, Peers, and Mentees 21

5. Actions and Results 29

6. Women and Romance 34

7. Charisma, Confidence, and Control 41

Conclusion: Becoming the One Who Wins 47

Appendix (Summary of Actions) 49

Solution to problems you’re having right now 51

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 Intellectual Property Disclaimer
The Specter Code

This eBook, "The Specter Code," including all its content, except content from Suits,
series owned by Peacock, is the intellectual property of Gabriel Champredon and John
Parker - All rights reserved.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely

coincidental. The characters and events depicted in this eBook are entirely fictional.

No part of this eBook may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or

by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical
methods, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner, except in the
case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other
noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

For permission requests or inquiries about licensing opportunities, please contact

[email protected] or DM us at @mktwithg/@spectermasculinity on Instagram.

This eBook is protected under the laws of USA/Spain and international treaties.
Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or use of this eBook may result in civil and
criminal penalties.

By accessing or using this eBook, you agree to abide by the terms and conditions set
forth in this disclaimer.

SPC Corp, owned by Gabriel Champredon and John Parker reserves all rights not
expressly granted in this disclaimer.

Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

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Introduction: Making Your Own Luck

“Guys like you always think other people get lucky. I don’t get lucky, I make my own luck.”

Congratulations. By grabbing this book, you’ve taken your first step towards becoming a
better man, to becoming a winner.

We wrote The Specter Code to teach you how to do this, how to make your own luck,
borrowing lessons from the infamous Suits character Harvey Specter to do it. Unfortunately,
when it comes to luck and who winds up on top in the modern era, most people fall into two
mistaken schools of thought.

The first group doesn’t believe in luck. They think everything in life is deserved, that
those in hard times simply haven’t worked hard enough, and that the successful are always the
most deserving. This school of thought has been dying out with age, carried forward only by a
few internet gurus looking to make you buy an empty product, like fake courses and books
written by AI. These people are ‘fragile winners,’ riding too much on luck not of their own
making, vulnerable to any setback that might break their streak. Overall, the younger generation
has moved in to supplant them. This second group, the majority, is the environment you’ve
experienced.

This camp has overcorrected, seeing the errors of the past but offering an even worse
solution: the ‘victim mentality’. This group is passive, they feel some people get lucky, and some
don’t, and that’s all there is to it. They believe in a rigid fate, feel they have no control in their
own life, and therefore, surrender it. These kinds of people lose a lot, but that's a good thing, as
they’re most of your competition. Maybe you are still this kind of person. Maybe that’s why
you’re here.

We and Harvey have a different outlook, we’re not in one of these camps. We’re not here
to sell you something by lying to you. The fact is, there’s a lot of luck in life, you can’t control
everything, at least not directly. You will inevitably lose some battles, you’ll lose some hands.

You cannot get rid of luck, but what you can do is make your own.

You can’t control the outside world, but you can become the kind of person the world
will naturally bend to. You can see opportunities that others don't, create situations for yourself
instead of letting them happen to you, and even spin the setbacks to your advantage. You can’t
win every hand, but on a long enough timeline, the timeline of your life, you should always come
out on top.

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 This is what it means to make your own luck. This is why we wrote this book. We have
been in the first two camps, felt their temptations and suffered their falsity, before finally joining
Harvey in the third and seeing the results. Suits is not just about a law firm, or an arrogant guy
who just thinks he’s the best. It’s about a man who came from nothing, working in a mailroom at
Pearson Hardman, to become the greatest closer in the city, who became the best. You don’t
become the best at something just by knowing about it. This is why the best at school don’t
always end up very successful. You have to be the best in more ways than one, to make it who
you are, and this is why Harvey wins. He is the best by his very nature. He decided “Life is a
game, play to win”.

That’s the same choice we made. We’re Gaby and John, both owners of Harvey Specter
fan accounts, students in law, and people whose lives have been changed by the infamous
Harvey Specter. Moreover, we’re especially equipped to help you get the same benefits.
Along with being a law student, John is a seasoned coach and high-level competitor in
public speaking, Mock Trials, and competitive swimming. He has extensive experience both in
high-pressure competitive environments, and delicate, high-stakes social situations. As a former
‘fragile winner’ John used to have a one-track mindset and fall apart in the face of failure, but
through the influence of Harvey, has gained humility and perspective, learning how to adapt to
anything.
Gaby, on the other hand, was always the quiet kid in the room, often ignored, and always
“insulted for fun” because he lacked self-respect and confidence to stand up for himself. He had
bought into the resentment and learned helplessness of the Victim Mentality. But now he’s made
a change, and after applying the Harvey mindset and attitude, the Specter Code, he’s experienced
a total turnaround in his life. Where once he was nervous and defeated, he is now more confident
and successful than ever, not only becoming a law student, but a successful entrepreneur who is
improving every day.

There is a lot to say about Harvey, but suffice to say the changes that came from watching
him were big enough to change our lives and will do the same for you. We dress better, have
more self-confidence, and are more disciplined than before. Our mentality, physical shape,
speaking abilities and attitude have all improved. We decided we wanted to make it easy for
others to follow behind us, as Harvey isn’t much of a step-by-step teacher. So we pulled out the
best lessons from our favorite closer and broke them down with detailed explanations for you to
implement them yourself. But we didn’t just watch Harvey in Suits and write you a summary:
we’ve tested every tactic in the show in our own lives, gaining the benefits of every tip and
suffering the consequences of every mistake we warn against in this handbook. Now, we offer
our hard-won experience to you.
So read on, and take the next steps to make your own luck.

- John (@SpecterMasculinity) and Gaby (@mktwithg)

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 Mindset and Attitude
“It’s going to happen because I am going to make it happen.”

Winning Theory

1.1.1 What a Winner Looks Like

What is the definition of a winner? It is to be the one who wins, not just consistently and
often, but by your very nature. Being a winner comes down, fundamentally, to 3 things: mindset,
attitude and results. The mindset you have behind all your actions, the attitude you have
confronting each problem you have, and the results that come with both.

Harvey always wants to win, in every situation: romance, money, clients, hierarchy in the
firm, to be in great shape, etc. Even in small conversations, Harvey, using wit and sarcasm,
strives to win these interactions as well. Because winning isn’t just a thing asked of him at work,
it’s who he is.

Harvey himself knows this, famously pointing out that while others can do his job, no
one else can be him. Winning is a lifestyle that recognizes that because everything is
competitive, you have to want to become the best at everything. And when you can’t, you want
the best to work for you. You have to bake winning into your being, write it into your DNA.

1.1.2 How Harvey is a Winner

Harvey doesn’t win just because he’s the smartest, or works the hardest, or invests the
most time: it’s because winning is what he does, it’s who he is. Too many focus on merely
building the skills necessary to win, without building the mindset of winning itself, leaving
themselves an empty shell.

For example, Harvey’s associate, Mike Ross, has a photographic memory. He knows the
law better than Harvey ever will, even at the start. Yet, Harvey is Mike’s superior throughout at
least the first half of the show, partially because he lacks experience, but more because he simply
doesn’t get it yet. He doesn’t have his mind right. Watch a random scene of Mike from Season 1
and compare it to Season 8, and the difference will be noticeable.

The things that make you a winner are not just skill, network, or ability themselves; but
the mindset and attitude needed to use them. Ignoring this fundamental truth, as many of you
might have been doing so far, is like giving a child a sharp sword and expecting them to win
against a knight with a dull blade: still destined to lose, and likely to hurt themselves.

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 Now don’t worry the skills are still important, we’ll teach them to you in the later
chapters for a reason, but it is critical you understand that the skills mean nothing if you are not
fit to use them.

Why Win?

1.2.1 Why Whys Matter

So how to become fit? How to grow from a child into a knight? How to build the attitude
and mindset of a winner? The first step is understanding why you need to win. The “why” is
everything. If you cannot immediately know why winning in a given scenario is important,
you’re much more likely to fail.

Harvey himself can show you the different kinds of whys. Unfortunately, at the start of
the show especially, Harvey’s deepest motivations are somewhat negative, largely centering
purely around ego and luxury, stemming back to family troubles in his youth. It had gotten him
relatively far financially, but he was striking out when it came to truly winning in other areas,
like romance and friendships.

For you, without a persistent emotional neurosis like Harvey’s, status and material
comforts alone will not work as motivations, even in the limited arena of financial gain. It’s
simply not deep enough of motivation; when things get difficult, when the struggle hits, the
promise of numbers in a bank account or on a social media page won’t be strong enough to carry
you through to the end. And worse, even if it does and you manage to win financially on this
low-grade fuel, it’ll make you a loser in the other categories.

1.2.2 Harvey’s Whys

That’s how we find Harvey in the beginning of the show. Successful, sharp, rich, and a
winner materially, but a loser in many other ways. However, later in the show, Harvey gains
different motivations: fighting to protect his loved ones at the firm, like Mike and Donna, and
serving justice against various villains. These motivations are not only more moral, but they’re
simply better fuel for winning. It’s when Harvey is at his absolute best and it’s what opens him
up to winning in the interpersonal arenas. It’s only after that maturation that he can handle
Donna.

1.2.3 Your Whys

As men, one of your whys, your purpose, should be the ability to care for a wife and
family, including economically, physically, and emotionally. With this purpose, it is critically
important to be wealthy, not for its own sake (greed), but for provision and security to loved

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ones. Similarly, it’s important to be attractive, have status, and speak well; but not just for their
own sake (vanity), but to be a good leader and role model. There are other purposes available,
but they’re generally extended affairs, lasting for large portions of your life, serving as the
motivation behind all of your goals.

The takeaway here is that your purpose cannot be purely selfish. If it is, you may win
some hands, but in the long run, you will lose. If your purpose is the same size as your goals and
difficulties, it’s not powerful enough to conquer them. Only when your purpose is bigger than all
that, even bigger than you, can you have any chance of growing into something bigger yourself.

Defining Winning

1.3.1 Picking Your Goals

Stage 2 of building your mindset is defining goals. You must be calculated with how you
do this. If you choose goals that are too big, or borderline impossible, you are likely to let that
goal merely be a dream, and fail to achieve it. If you make your goals too small and easy, you
may lack consistent direction, or you may become too rigid and unwilling to change tactics to
achieve larger purposes, and the achievement of these small goals will feel meaningless. Proper
goals are big enough to be an extended process you can advance towards flexibly, but small
enough to be realistically achievable.

But how to know when a goal is really too big, or if you’re just lacking the proper
mindset, focus and plan? Some are obvious: without a sufficient IQ you can’t become the next
Einstein. Without sufficient genetics, you cannot be an NFL lineman. Some goals only have a
few paths to achievement, and they require virtues that you cannot build on your own. Do not
waste your energy banging your head against a wall for these kinds of pursuits if you’re not
suited for them, but also recognize that these kinds of truly unachievable goals are rare, much
rarer than the average person thinks.

1.3.2 Breaking Your Goals Down

The reality is that, in almost all cases, there is no goal too big, if you’re able to break it
down.
One of Harvey’s most long standing goals throughout the show is advancement through
the firm, and becoming a name partner. This is within his means as a highly competent and
respected lawyer at his firm, the thing is, Harvey didn’t start there. He started in the mail room.

For a kid in the mailroom, with no money and connections, becoming named partner at a
top New York law firm is an impossible goal. It’s not a goal, it’s just a dream. If you ask to jump
straight from one position to the other, it’s a totally no-win situation. But, as Havey himself says,
to win a no-win situation, you have to re-write the rules. So when faced with a goal that feels

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impossible, but that you know isn’t really, change the situation, change the goal in front of you
into a stepping stone to the big and ‘impossible’ one.

Harvey did just that.

● Getting a job in a law firm mailroom: doable

● Building social connections with the firm from the mailroom: doable.
● Proving to the firm with scores and skills that he can be a worthwhile investment to fund
through law school: doable.
● Achieving in law school: doable.
● Thriving in the firm: doable.
● Becoming name partner: doable.

By breaking down ‘impossible’ goals into smaller, doable ones, it becomes obvious to see
how little is outside your grasp, and how much you’re truly capable of.

1.3.3 Why You Need Goals

If you neglect to define your goals correctly you cannot win. If Harvey “wanted to be
rich” but never got more specific, he’d still be in the mail room. If he never broke down his
impossible goal into smaller ones, he’d still be in the mailroom. If he let his desires be a dream
instead of a set of goals, he’d still be in the mail room. Harvey is successful because, as he says,
“I don’t have dreams, I have goals.” If you want to escape your mail room, you have to be the
same.

Attitude

1.4.1 The Attitude You Need

This is where attitude comes in. Now you have your why, you have your goals, you have
made your plan, but you need the will. To succeed in achieving the goals that you need to
achieve, you need attitude, you need the Specter edge.

That’s the edge: not want to achieve your goals, but need. That’s the first step, you have
to simply flip the switch in your head. The part of you that is okay with not achieving your
highest goals, your most critical purposes, needs to be killed. There’s nothing else to say, no way
to teach you, you simply have to do it. If you can’t, the rest of this book can’t help you.This
doesn’t mean you’ll be motivated every day, but it means when you get knocked down you’ll
always get back up eventually.

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 This also doesn’t mean you need to become a fragile winner, attached to a perfect record
of success like a security blanket, in fact, we warn against that. You have to be willing to
sacrifice hands, and smaller goals; be willing to change tactics and routes to achieve success.
However, when it comes to your big pursuits, you must be relentlessly, delusionally unyielding.

You have one single life on earth, you must realize that success is not optional: it is
literally achieve or die. You must not allow excellence to be optional: it's necessary. If you’re
doing things in order, this attitude should stem naturally from defining your purposes and goals
correctly. The necessity of success in such things should be obvious,undeniable and inherent to
what you’re going for.

Harvey is not the best closer in New York simply because he wants to be, he’s the best
closer because he has to be, to protect his loved ones, to keep his promises. You must build the
same conviction, define your purpose and goals in such a way that achieving them is not optional
for you, but necessary, your very life’s work. Surrender cannot be an option for you. If you leave
that door open, you’ll take it as soon as things get hard.

1.4.2 Harvey’s Attitude

One of Harvey’s biggest defining factors is his belief that “you always have a choice”,
that if there’s a gun to your head, you still have 146 options to try and escape, that even if your
back is to a wall, you should simply knock it down. Throughout the show, we see Harvey solve
impossible problem after impossible problem, it’s what makes the plot entertaining: but that’s not
just because of his skills as a lawyer, it’s because that’s who he is.

If Harvey was kept in the mailroom at Pearson Hardman, he would have moved firms. If
he was blackballed in New York, he would have saved his money and moved to Boston. If he
never got funding for law school he would have taken out loans. If denied loans he would have
started a gofundme and social media campaign: things anyone can do, can try. And no matter
what, eventually, he would have found a way to storm back into Pearson Hardman.
Winners always win in the end, because it’s really not about luck that happens to you, it’s
about the luck your character builds. A losing mindset with every advantage will often lose, a
winning mindset starting with disadvantages will often win.

1.4.3 The World’s Attitude

We know this is true because we live in a world of examples, a world full of quitters. It’s
a world full of people who lack conviction, who’s highest purpose is comfort and nothing more,
but who fail to achieve even that through their short-term mindsets. Think of how many people
let their dreams turn into mere goals and drift away. Think of how many people never defined

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their purpose and therefore never embodied it. In many ways, it’s tragic, it's becoming more and
more common in young people, and it’s why we wrote this book.
But as tragic as it is, it is good news for you: because it means your competition is
weaker than it’s ever been for anyone else. It has never been easier to win. If you make the
success of your largest goals mandatory, if you make excellence not a bonus but the standard,
you will be able to beat essentially everyone.

1.4.4 FAILURE IS FAKE

This is the structure of true conviction, of the Specter Mindset, that basic power that
grants him all his other abilities: refusing to acknowledge a permanent loss, denying the
existence of traps, of no-win situations, of failure itself. Failure is fake; you’re only truly out of
chances and choices when you’re dead. Anyone who tells you otherwise, family, friends, even
the voice in your head are the type of people “who always think other people get lucky.” They’re
the type of people who are slaves to the Victim Mentality; who make easy competition because
they do not realize how much power; who ignore how many choices they have because it’s
easier, it makes them feel better about themselves. Modernity lies to you, it constantly tells you
that you’re less than you are, that you're helpless, in order to keep you weak. Don’t believe it.

Do not be like the rest, do not willfully blind yourself to your own agency out of laziness
or the victim mentality. Stay clear-eyed, and realize that you can always make progress towards
any major goal you actually want to, just like Harvey did. Because the real secret is that nothing
about Harvey is inherently special, it’s his mindset and attitude that make him seem special.

If you can realize this, if you can believe that no failure is final, that you can always find
ways to outlast, outwork, outcompete, outsmart, outperform or move around the problem: you
will have Harvey’s basic mindset and attitude too. And if you have that, you’re already halfway
to having his level of success. If you don’t, none of the rest of this book can help you.

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Dress and Appearance
“He doesn't get that doing good work isn't the whole job. Part of getting it is that things like the
dinner actually matter, even when you don't think they do.”

Why Looks Matter

2.1.1 Why Looks Matter

This book is organized in order of execution, the skills and abilities are meant to build on
each other. So why is this section second? Why are looks so fundamental? There’s a few reasons

● People simply like beauty. They will want to be helpful to those they find attractive over
those they don’t. You may not notice yourself, because people do it unconsciously, but
you will treat better and be treated better based on your looks, hygiene and personal
image.
● How you look genuinely indicates important things about your character like
self-awareness, social awareness, class, and self-discipline; all of which all inform how
people ought to interact with you.

2.1.2 What to Do About Looks

So what’s the proper response? Is it to complain about how looks are superficial, and
partially luck based? Is it to complain that the world is unfair, and that it shouldn’t matter? No,
that is the bullshit Victim Mentality. Instead, you need to get your appearance to the best it can
be. Not only will a proper appearance project class, confidence and masculine identity to the
world, but will also start to genuinely help build those attributes in yourself.

How to Improve Your Dress and Fashion

2.2.1 What Kind of Clothes to Wear

Always wear real clothes, even when not “dressing up.” While more recognizable luxury
brands are often good representations of an ideal style, for those just starting the journey, they’re
not necessary. However, the type of clothes that classy brands (Ralph Lauren, Boss, etc) put out
can clue you into the style you should be going for. Harvey himself is a great role model, and
what he wears when not in a suit are good pointers. That said, here’s our list of basic rules of
thumb to upgrade your everyday style from immature, to put together.

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When dressing, favor:
● Pants/Shorts: Khakis, Trousers, Quality Jeans, Chino’s (shorts are only justified by hot
weather)
● Tops: Polos, Button-ups, dress shirts, collars, sweaters
● Outerwear: Quarter-zips, hunting jackets trench coats, leather gloves,
● Accessories: Analog watches, high-quality material jewelry
● Fabrics: Real materials like Wools, Linens, Cottons, occasional flannels and silks, real
leather, and canvas
● Colors: Muted colors. Leverage vibrancy as an accent, not a base, excepting occasionally
pastels for sunny weather
● Shoes: dress shoes, minimalist comfort wear

When dressing, avoid:

● Pants/Shorts: Ripped jeans, sweatpants,
● Tops: graphic tees, loud or overbearing patterns
● Outerwear: hoodies (except for athletics)
● Accessories: Digital watches, cheap jewelry, overly large jewelry, no more than one ring
per hand. If one ring, not on the same hand as the watch.
● Fabrics: artificial materials like polyester (especially in undergarments: it’s
health-hazardous)
● Colors: Bright neon colors, colors that clash with one another
● Shoes: Sandals and Open toed shoes (except when near water), athletic when not working
out

2.2.2 Building Your Wardrobe

Wardrobes are built gradually, they’re a hobby in themselves, so do not despair if you
have a long way to go. As much as there is to do, don’t rush, as having a wardrobe too big for
your fashion sense is far worse than developing slowly. Managing fashion is a slow burn that
comes with experience and observation. Fashion advice goes much deeper and more detailed
than what’s generally and non-exhaustively outlined here, and we encourage you to look into the
matter yourself as you master the basics.

What you can do starting now is ensure you keep your clothing clean, unwrinkled, fitting
you well, and always appropriate for the occasion. Harvey for instance, only wears athletic gear
when exercising or when lounging at home, and at no other time. Even then, his clothes are high
quality, coordinated, and stick to dark colors. You should do the same.

By the time you’ve mastered classy casual clothes, as referenced above, managing true
formal wear will be relatively natural, so we will not elaborate much here. In short: learn how to
tie thick tie knots, get suits that fit and are made of quality material, and don’t overthink it.

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How to Improve Your Physical Appearance and Health

2.3.1 Carving Yourself

As a man you have to do things that are hard that build your body. It’s critical to your
health, your sense of self-respect, mental resilience and your presentation to the world. It’s not
optional: the difficulty is the point. Your body is the fundamental expression of yourself, nothing
else matters if it’s not taken care of.

While generally healthy, respectable men come in various shapes and sizes (think of the
differences between Mike, Robert Zane, and Harvey), no clothes can look their best on a truly
out of shape man. You cannot build the winning mindset discussed above if you lack the
discipline to cultivate your body. If you neglect it, you may win occasionally, but you won’t be a
winner (think Louis).

2.3.2 Non-Negotiable Physical Protocols

Harvey tends to stick to cardio as he has a naturally imposing frame, most notably
running and boxing. There are a variety of great methods of exercise, I personally have a
background in distance swimming, and practice cold exposure. We encourage customization, as
tailoring your practice for you helps build your identity and increases the likelihood that you will
remain consistent. That said, as a man trying to become truly respectable, there are some
non-negotiables practices, listed below.

● Fix Your Sleep

○ Wake up at the same time every morning, as early as you can be consistent and
disciplined with
○ Get at least eight hours of sleep a night
○ Get morning sunlight
● Manage Your Diet (Harvey cooks for himself for a reason)
○ Avoid artificial ingredients, fast foods, and seed oils
○ Stick to primarily meat and/or eggs, dairy, and fruit,
○ Supplement with carbs and non-leafy vegetables
○ Avoid energy drinks and sodas. Drink coffee to stay active if you need (3-4
cups/day maximum)
● Maintain Basic Hygiene at all times (Harvey’s looks are the result)
○ A basic skin routine- cleanse, exfoliate, moisturize
○ Oral health and posture: Brush teeth, Floss, Mew
○ Shave and upkeep hair to maintain neatness and orderliness (hair is men’s
makeup)
○ Use cologne and deodorant, two spritzes only, one on the neck, the second on the
neck (other side) OR wrists.

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 ○ Avoid body spray
○ Avoid shower gel, stick to natural brick soap
○ Shower at least a few times a week and always after working out
● Exercise
○ Lift weight. Ideally weights, but calisthenics if necessary.
○ stretch regularly
○ Learn a combat sport (boxing, jiu-jitsu, wrestling, kickboxing)
● Posture and Body Language
○ Stand up straight, shoulders back (buy a harness if you need to train this)
○ Maintain eye contact
○ Firm (not crushing) handshakes
○ Always stand up for handshakes and introductions
○ Walk with good posture
■ Eyes front, not looking down at the phone
■ low shoulders to sway slightly,
■ Never have both hands in pockets

2.3.3 Don’t Get Overwhelmed

There’s a lot to work on, so don’t try to do it all at once. This is true for this section and
for the Specter Code as a whole. Building yourself is like a fire: too little fuel and you'll burn out,
too much at once and you’ll be smothered, but if you just do a little bit at a time you can turn a
spark into a blaze.

Take any famous person dressing elegantly, then compare them to when they were young.
In most cases, there’s quite the difference. That’s no excuse to slack off or not improve as
quickly as you reasonably can. You should. You have an obligation to. It’s merely a recognition
of reality. Men age like wine, you will likely dress better and look better with age. Just give it
time.Get consistent with one habit, then add another. Physical wellness is the most simple,
straightforward, totally self-reliant way to improve yourself and build discipline.. Building this
aspect of your life is the tinder, the first and most essential ingredient you need. You need to turn
that spark, that decision for a change in mindset into a steady flame and a lasting shift. Without
it, no matter how much conviction you have in your initial decision, it won’t stick.

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Words and Promises
“Your promises are only as good as your priorities.”

Why Words Matter

3.1.1 The Importance of Words

The word is the most powerful force in the world. It used to command knights and their
swords, now it commands nuclear weapons. Your words are what give you your power to change
the world around you, as it is the communication of your will and your best tool for influencing
the actions of others.

The ability to influence (not manipulate) others is the most powerful tool at your disposal
to change your situation, and therefore is your best weapon to win. It is very hard to do without.

Moreover, besides just being your tools, words are a signal to others. They are how others
judge you. You must ensure you’re words are judged well, and that they are consistent with your
actions, so you are judged well too

3.1.2 When to Use Your Words

For most of you, you should speak less than you currently do. Think of silence as
generating income, and speaking as an expense. Make more than you spend, and spend it as
efficiently and effectively as you can.

Generally, intentional and silent observation projects more power than incessant
speaking. It also truly grants you more power, by allowing you to collect more information to
strengthen your words when you do choose to speak. However, it is also possible to be much too
quiet due to a lack of confidence: this is also to be avoided, as it projects passivity at best and
weakness at worst.

How to tell when to speak? Here’s a basic checklist

● Do not speak when others are not listening, this devalues your words to yourself and to
them: you become background noise.
● If you must speak to those who are not listening, a rare instance indeed, then and only
then, raise your voice to take that attention by force. Yell, as Harvey does.
● Do not speak unless you are confident what you are saying will contribute something of
value: otherwise you devalue your words’ importance.
● If you’re confident that what you want to say will contribute something of unique value
in the conversation so far, then always speak, regardless of nerves, assuming it is

16
 situationally appropriate for you to do so. (example: not in the middle of a presentation
or lecture)
● If you never feel like you’re able to contribute something of value, you’re likely wrong.
Practice articulating the best ideas you have in the most comfortable group environments
available for you, and build from there.
● In situations where your interests need to be heard, speak for yourself, you should
essentially never let anyone speak for you. Failing to do so projects weakness and implies
shame in your desires and arguments. This is why Donna took such great offense when
Harvey, likely the person closest to her, spoke for her.

Sharpening Your Words

3.2.1 What You Say

Here’s the most rare and powerful way to speak: say exactly what you mean, as clearly
and specifically as you possibly can, at all times.

● Do not twist your meanings. This will twist you, and will get you exactly what you ask
for, but not what you want
● Do not obfuscate or dance around your meaning because it feels more comfortable, this
shows a lack of confidence
● Be concise with your statements, do not say more than needed to explain your meaning,
in order to ensure attentiveness. People tend to over explain and speak more than what
they actually need because of stress. Just breathe and take your time.
● Be interesting. This will be touched on more in the Charisma Chapter, but it’s critical to
keep your audience engaged. References, jokes, and obvious metaphors are all important
to sounding natural, prevent yourself from sounding like a computer, and keep your
audience engaged.

There are some occasions when speaking indirectly; with subtle implication and
vagueness; is appropriate. Examples include sensitive topics such as death, infidelity, and
references to illicit behavior. However, this is much more rare that the modern world would have
you believe. Mastering speaking plainly is much more important. Once you do so, truly justified
deviations from the rule should become self-evident to you. If you speak too plainly, practice
maximizing your silence as illustrated above.

3.2.2 How to Say it

There’s a variety of speaking styles, many of which are capable of commanding attention.
However, through ten years of public speaking experience, I (John) have decided something

17
approximating Harvey’s style is the most practical and effective, as well as the easiest to learn.
Here are the basics.

● Vary Speed: Speak slowly as a default, this shows confidence and commands attention
much more than speed does. There is no rush to explain your point if others are listening.
Prioritize being understood correctly by taking your time to explain your point, instead of
trying to get it over with as fast as possible. However, it’s unnatural to keep one speed at
all times, so vary naturally
● Be loud: Projecting into the room so everybody can listen to you and get everyone’s
attention. You cannot sound shy. Even Harvey managed to sound confident when
speaking to an adversary in the middle of a panic attack. Practice doing it even though it’s
uncomfortable. Get used to it and get over it. If you always sound shy, your words have
no power, instead they work against you.
● Avoid self-interruptions: Record yourself, practice in the mirror to practice eliminating
them if need be. Simply pause instead. Self-interruptions are anything that “break the
fourth wall” and distract from your primary meaning or train of thought.
○ “um’s and uh”s,
○ “Anyway’s”
○ “like”
○ “And”
● Do not be interrupted: Instead simply raise your voice. If it is inappropriate to raise your
voice, stop talking but do not acknowledge the interruption, instead find an opening to
counter-interrupt with a brief retort, not allowing for the opponent to interrupt you again
due to shortness.
● Keep eye contact: Don’t avoid eye contact, or at least look at a person's face. When
speaking to a crowd, maintain a loud volume, and slow pace. Speak to one person in the
crowd at a time, making eye contact, and changing targets roughly every half a minute.
● Always think before speaking. Structure the point you want to make in your head, and
tend towards structuring what you’re going to say into three segments. Ensure that you
understand yourself what you want to explain.
○ While Harvey rarely has to pause, he’s a trained lawyer specially trained to give
rapid responses. If you observe other great speakers, like Elon Musk, politicians,
or athletes, they always make a small pause before answering questions. You
should do the same

3.2.3 How to Show It

Body language is 65% of your communication. Meaning that if you want to be listened to
and have 100% of your audience’s attention, you have to use it well. Here are some basic
pointers.

18
 ● Expand: spread your body and avoid as much as possible being closed. Crossing legs and
arms, or having your body “condensed” are positions that increase feelings of safety and
hiddenness, and therefore generally show insecurity or discomfort. Avoid this. You will
see that Harvey typically embodies this posture.
● Don’t fidget: unintentional or nervous movement distracts your audience from your
meaning. Avoid fidgeting hands, shifting weight, or shaking legs if you can- and certainly
avoid allowing the audience to see it.
● Gesture: while nervous, small repetitive movements display nerves. Intentional, large,
and relevant gestures show confidence. Harvey is a good example and gestures
constantly.
● Eye Contact: As already said before, eye contact is also a communication tool. Don’t
ever avoid eye contact. Don’t stare for over half a minute, that’s weird, but recognize that
eye contact is a fundamental element of getting the right kind of attention.

3.2.4 Realities of Improvement

As you might have noticed, the majority of these mannerisms are natural and intuitive,
things you already likely do when you’re comfortable. If this isn’t you, your speaking issues run
deeper than this handbook is qualified to address, DM John for some personal help.

The purpose of this book isn’t to teach you how to build each habit from the ground up,
but rather, a way of consciously putting some holes in the dam of your public speaking
difficulties, so the flood of your natural, comfortable speech patterns can break it down.

Like with many of the tactics in this book, it is somewhat impractical to try it all at once.
Instead, be gradual, implement one habit at a time. The more habits you build, the more
effortless and natural the next one should flow. Eventually, this section should serve as a
checklist for weak spots, more than it is a daunting list to complete.

These adjustments will project and build confidence, making the average person look to
you as a leader and someone to pay attention to. They are critical for making your words into
your most powerful tool, instead of a liability.

Your Word

3.3.1 The Importance of Your Word

As important as words are, their value is derived from their relation to action. If you say
one thing and do another, people will notice, and your words will become nearly worthless.
Your words are your reputation.

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3.3.2 Handling Deception
For this reason, avoid deception as much as possible. If done too often others will notice,
and you will begin to deceive yourself as well, confusing your sense of reality. Never do it purely
for your own benefit. Mike and Harvey’s many difficulties surrounding keeping his secret are a
testimony to why deception is generally a bad idea. While it worked out in the end for them, that
was only after it became about more than Mike, it came at a large cost, and they got incredibly
lucky. You likely won’t.

However, if deception is necessary, avoid outright lying, stick to vagueness, and

omission. Often simply refusing to answer is enough. Ensure that if your peers discovered your
deception and its cause, the majority would agree with or at least empathize with your decision.

3.3.3 Keeping Your Word

Your word (promise) is sacred. It is the representation of how trustworthy you are in
general. While saying one thing and doing another is bad in general, breaking your word has the
same effect on steroids, both socially and internally.

The more you break your word and betray your words, the less they mean. Your words
are your most powerful tool and weapon in this world, your first and last option, your trusty
sword. Even if they are sharp, without substance behind them, they become weak. Do not
weaken your blade.

So give your word very sparingly, and never break it except in the direst of true
emergencies (like health emergencies of yourself or family). If you need to break it, inform the
person you promised, and apologize. The better you keep your word the more powerful your
promises become, something that we know from experience comes very much in handy. You can
see Harvey offer his word on many occasions to convince or calm a client as his word is reliable,
and “no one questions his ability to get the job done.”

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Your Network: Mentors, Peers, and Mentees
“You come to me, you tell me, you tell me everything. That's what goddamn loyalty is.”

Win Friends and Influence People

4.1.1 Importance of Networking

Remember, most of the word’s power is in its ability to influence others. You make the
best of your social situation by using your words to properly interact with the people around you.
This is critical, as your network, though connected to you, knows much more, can do much
more, and can see much more than you can alone.

With a good network, anything that would be good for you that any member of your
network sees will be brought to you. For that which is negative, it is kept away as best as
possible, and you’re informed in advance. Like a spider without its web, without a network, you
massively lower your chances of capturing success by fundamentally limiting your range of
awareness. It’s essential to winning.
.
4.1.2 Relationship Categories
All your relationships can be loosely categorized into three categories: mentors, peers,
and mentees. Those above you, next to you, and below you. Concerning Harvey: Jessica is a
mentor, Louis, Donna, and most other characters are peers, while Mike is his mentee.

We’ll focus primarily on these three categories in the context of the professional sphere,
but they can be applied generally. To have the best chances of success, you must master
traversing all three categories, requiring skills such as leadership and negotiation

Mentors

4.2.1 The Importance of Mentors

Mentors are usually necessary to make it to the heights of any field. Coaches, teachers,
and benefactors are all part of anyone’s rise to the winning class at some point. Most notably for
us, Jessica helped make Harvey the person that he is, by giving him a way out of the mailroom
and recommending his stint in the DA’s office as a rookie lawyer.

When Harvey acts as a mentor to Mike, he does him an even greater service, by helping
him trade his life as a burnout for the one we see in the show, not just by covering for his secret,

21
but by helping him get his mind right.

The fact is, no matter how good you are or how much you grow, there’s always more to
learn, there’s always something who knows or can do something you can’t. This book can only
teach you so much, and humans learn best through imitation. So make those people your mentors
so you can learn it too.

On the pragmatic side, mentors are important because they are often above you officially
as well as skillfully. This is critical, as having allies in higher places to fight on your behalf when
you cannot fight for yourself can be invaluable. Suits has various examples of this, primarily
Harvey defending Mike from Jessica, something Mike’s position wouldn’t allow him to do even
if he had the ability.

Personally, I (John) have had various mentors go to bat for me, both in defence against
pressure and to advocate for advancement. For you, along with the improvements to your
character and skills, mentors are likely to help you receive school and program placements,
promotions and networking opportunities. Why? Because when a mentor truly invests in you,
they begin to consider your success as their own and act accordingly. Harvey certainly feels this
way about Mike, telling him “You are a reflection of me.”

4.2.2 Meeting Mentors

Deciding who in your life is a good mentor you want to invest in a relationship with, and
who is not worth it is not something that can’t be flawlessly articulated in any book. It’s a matter
of gauging subtle social cues and essentially being able to read people. Suffice to say, you likely
won’t simply bump into a perfect mentor in a high-trust floor environment, like the
circumstances of Mike meeting Harvey.

That said, as per the general philosophy of this book, we will offer some basic,
non-negotiable guidelines for deciding who you want to trust as your benefactor, and how to
meet them.

● To meet your mentor, you must involve yourself deeply enough in your field of choice to
regularly meet and interact with others in that field.
● Your mentor should be much more advanced than you in the field that you’re looking to
advance in, however, not all bosses are mentors.
● You should be genuinely interested and friendly with your mentor as a person, and vice
versa
○ Mentors should not have a too large amount of other mentees
○ Mentor shouldn’t have any undue motive to manipulate and take advantage of you

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 ○ Mentor and you should be able to have regular, non-awkward interactions about
matters other than your shared field.

You will likely have multiple mentors, due to having multiple fields of ambition and
areas of work. Harvey for example, had Cameron Dennis professionally at the DA’s office,
Jessica at the firm, and oftentimes, Donna to help him manage himself emotionally.

4.2.3 Pleasing and Exceeding

If you choose your mentor well, keeping them satisfied with you should not be overly
burdensome; after all, you did not just choose them, they chose you too. Chronically displeased
and aggressive mentors are good signs that you’re not the problem, assuming you paired
essentially voluntarily. However, this author (John) has been a mentor to a variety of students
over the years, and there are a few good habits to keep in mind to keep mentors, and your
superiors in general, happy.

● Do your assignments the actual best you can the first time and the first time asked, failure
to do so degrades your image of competency As Harvey said “If you start behind the
eight ball, you’ll never get in front”
● Do not keep secrets, especially ones that you find embarrassing or detrimental to your
image, this degrades trust (Example: a criminal record, mistakes in accomplishing
assignments, etc.)
● Acknowledge mistakes, but do not over-apologize, a learning curve is expected, and this
behavior indicates insecurity and social hyper-sensitivity.
● Do not be a kiss-ass. Those who enjoy it are not good mentors, and good mentors both
won’t enjoy it and will potentially see you as manipulative.
○ Katrina, for example, was rejected by Harvey partly for this reason and wooed
Louis as a mentor through this methodology. Katrina is a decent person and things
worked out, but not optimally.
● Still, be respectful to your mentor’s authority and expertise: remember the nature and
purpose of your relationship, you’re there to learn.
● Speak your mind. If you do not understand something, say so. If you do not agree, say so.
True teaching is only possible when challenged or asked genuinely. Without it, you risk
not demonstrating your agency and thought process and the mentor will tend to think less
of you. Don't reduce the relationship to merely lecturer and student.
○ There is not a single time when Mike keeps his opinion or questions for himself to
Harvey, or Harvey with Jessica. Always speak what you believe and ask what you
understand. Take the risk of asking a question rather than doing a bad job.
Mentors with an issue with this are not acting well.

23
 If you choose your mentor well, and if you check these boxes long enough, you will
become something closer to a peer than a student. The best mentors will be delighted to see this,
but even for them, it can be difficult on the ego to see one’s student match and surpass them. Be
sure to enter this phase with grace and gratitude for those who helped you up.

4.2.4 Conflict
Not every mentor you have will be perfect. In some instances, you may have to leave
your mentor, as they’re guiding you in an immoral direction, as Harvey had to with his old boss
in the DA’s office, Cameron Dennis, who was burying evidence in the name of the “greater
good.” Do everything in your power to avoid this result, and attempt to negotiate changes in
behavior or compromises if possible, as a former mentor is a bad enemy for all the reasons why
one’s great friend.

However, if there is no way to maintain the relationship without violating your

conscience, leave as amicably as you can. Harvey, when revealing the buried evidence and
resigning, did everything he could to avoid making Cameron his enemy any more than necessary.
But he still did it. Violation of your conscience out of fear is the most emasculating thing one can
do, and should essentially be avoided at all costs.

Even flawed mentors teach lessons, this author (John) has had an experience where the
flaws of a mentor prevented me from developing the same flaws down the line as I otherwise
may have, much like Harvey and Cameron. Lessons taught before a split itself also hold as well.
As with dealing with anyone, especially those more powerful than you, approach these conflicts
with humility, honesty, and transparency.

The only exception to this rule is if you suspect immediate revenge after a split, in which
case deception regarding the reason for your departure may be necessary. This, however, is
extremely rare and cannot be covered in the book. Consult your peers (or send us a message) if
faced with such a situation, one of them more than likely will have more experience than you and
will have been confronted with such situations at some point.

Peers

4.3.1 The Importance of Peers

Peers are people roughly around your level. You're the most extensive network and
primary competition. They’re the people you go to first for favors, connections, and
opportunities. In your job they’re co-workers or others in your industry, in school, they’re your
fellow students. Some may be your immediate superior or supervisor, others your immediate
charges. You will interact with your peers more than any other group. Regardless, these are those
that you need to influence most and stand out from in order to win.

24
4.3.2 Friends
Despite the competitive nature of many goals, friends are more useful than enemies. Be
friendly with as many peers as you can, expanding your network as much as possible. If you’ve
learned all the lessons this far, this should come naturally. Regardless, here are some crucial tips
on the more awkward situations you may get into with friendly peers.

● Peers should be useful. While of course having friends outside of work is good, inside of
your field of competition, do not associate with those that you feel cannot help you and
cut people that drag you down. Those people only tend to serve as a leech.
● When friendly peers fail you, be as forgiving as you can, but make expectations,
standards, and boundaries clear from the start.
○ Havey does this very directly with one of his new clients, whom he gives “The
ABCs of me,” to define their relationship. If violating these becomes a habit, even
if not intentionally simply reduce your interactions.
○ Mike’s relationship with Harold is another good example. Harold is simply
incompetent, and that’s enough to justify cutting someone off, as all he presents is
a weakness. Do the same.
● Do favors for peers that you’re friends with and ask them to do favors for you, this will
build a psychological infrastructure between you and him that assumes reciprocity and
increases your value to each other. Harvey and Louis are always exchanging favors, as
Harvey also does with Scottie and Robert Zane.
● When competing, be humble with victory, and gracious in defeats. These both are
transitory and usually trivial. It will be more beneficial to future larger wins to maintain
the friendly relationship and will do no good to end it. While Harvey tends to struggle
with this aspect of handling peers and tends towards the aggressive side, it often costs
him, and he only survives it due to his overwhelming competence. You should not create
such unnecessary risks.
● Having a big network but a small circle, Harvey observes correctly that emotions can
be a weakness. Be vulnerable selectively

4.3.2 Enemies
It is naive, however, to think that all peers are friendly. Many are not, most certainly don't
start out as friendly. The most dangerous peers act friendly when they’re not. Like a lot of the
back half of this book, you should be able to organically sniff out who is benevolent and who
isn’t, but below is a list of red flags. If too many go up, stop interaction with that peer. In short,
do not allow yourself and your goodwill to be taken advantage of.

● Requests for unreasonably large or immoral favors

● Requests for favors that cut seriously directly against your interest

25
 ● Unreciprocated favors (don’t give favors to those who have no words or are not
trustworthy)
● Stealing credit
● Peers who show this or other forms of disrespect or steal credit should be cut off from
you, and even punished if proportionally possible
○ Informing friendly peers of the opponent's bad character is a great first option for
punishment
○ Avoid tattling to authorities unless all other options are exhausted

Do not allow any of these practices in peers you associate with. Being able to stop giving
into this and allow for adversarial relationships to form projects and build masculinity,
confidence, and self-respect. These attributes are necessary for friendly peers to fully trust you
and is the only way adversaries may decide to become true allies. Harvey flickers between friend
and foe for many characters, including Robert Zane, Jessica, and Sean Cahill, for this very
reason. Continuing to roll over for them will never make them your friend, it'll make you their
pawn.

But what if enemies present themselves as friends? Betrayal is extremely damaging,

Harvey’s experience with his slimy former associate, Forstman, is proof enough of that, but it is
a risk one has to take in order to gain loyalty and trust.

The protocols above for detecting enemies should screen out most peers looking to take
advantage of your trust, but they’re not perfect. The only approach is to give everyone who
seems decent and useful a chance, but only allow betrayal once, and punish it as much as
possible. This, along with the other protocols for handling enemies, should minimize betrayal
and maximize loyalty in your network.

Mentees

4.4.1 The Importance of Mentees

No matter what stage in the process you’re in, you need a mentee. No matter how early in
ind development you are, there’s always someone earlier who could use a helping hand. No
matter how good you are, you’ll always be made better by having an apprentice. Harvey was at
his best when he had Mike for a reason and you won’t be able to reach your best without a
student of your own. Here are the critical reasons why.

26
 ● You will never have a more reliable, loyal ally than a good mentee.
● Students increase their own mastery: never will you understand your goals and methods
better than when you have to teach them
● Having a mentee will offer you a unique perspective and a sense of responsibility that
will make you better morally, deepen your purpose, and therefore strengthen your
mindset.
● One of the most critical aspects of success is leaving a legacy
● You not only expand your network but also improve your leadership abilities

This section in particular is personal for me (John.) As a person who has coached Mock
Trial, Public Speaking, and Swim, as much as my success was vindicating, nothing compared to
watching my students succeed, and nothing made me sharper than teaching them how to win.

4.4.2 Choosing Mentees

At the same time, nothing is more discouraging than watching your investment in a
student fail to pay off or be squandered. Not every good student has to succeed, but every good
student has to make use of your teaching. You can see this when Louis explains to Rachel why
he hates Harold so much, being the one student who always fails with his teaching.

● Choose someone eager/enthused to learn, if they’re not interested, you’re wasting your
time
● Only choose mentees you actually respect, and see potential in, do not use pity as a
justification
● When trying out new mentees, apply the Friends and Enemies rules from the earlier
section of this chapters

4.4.3 Mentoring Well

Mentorship styles vary, and we could write a book just on proper mentorship. Harvey’s
relationship with Mike is, essentially, a perfect role model of how to mentor well, with the only
exception being his occasional emotional outbursts. Due to this, we’ll keep it brief. When faced
with a good student, here are some simple guidelines to stick to.

● Lead by example. Explicit instruction is important but humans are imitating creatures.
Practice what You preach.
● Help but don’t coddle. Let them make their own mistakes, as experience is the best
teacher of all. Help them understand what to improve on later
● Do not let students make mistakes that are too severe and seriously self-destructive, avoid
such cruelty.

27
 ● Internally blame your mentee for failure reluctantly, the first target of blame should be
yourself. Leadership is a heavy responsibility, where everything that happens under you
is your fault, not a means to blame others.
● Externally, along with taking responsibility yourself if appropriate, always show your
mentee what he could have done differently to avoid a failure to help him improve
● Eventually- mentees should feel like a peer. Embrace this, it’s a success. Then, get a new
one.

Network and Loyalty

4.5.1 Maintaining Your Network

Harvey values loyalty above all else for a reason. Never, ever, betray your allies, be
reciprocal, keep your word, pay your debts, and minimize deception as best that you can. If you
fail to do these things, you sacrifice your network, all the power it brings, and lower the quality
of your future networks. The fact is, no one does it alone, not even Harvey. “Your network is
your net worth” is a bit cliché, but it’s true. Iron sharpens iron. Every successful person you can
name has a big network and is closely surrounded by fellow winners.

4.5.2 The Effects of Your Network

Your character and your destiny are the product of not just you, but those around you.
The people you choose to surround yourself with the most help form your character and the
organic social relationships that will create the bulk of your career advancement. Harvey Specter
is around very wealthy and successful people, helping with his success. Mike's best friend was a
drug addict who convinced him to take exams for others and deal drugs for money, making Mike
burn. When Harvey helped Mike cut his friend out in favor of a different network, he improved
significantly.

In my (Gaby) personal experience, being surrounded by family members who are always
telling you that what you do is useless, it will never work out, it will drag you down. Be
surrounded with people with the same mentality and always looking to improve each other. So
please, understand the importance and the influence of the environment and your network. Don’t
be scared to cut with that friend that only invites you to parties or playing video games. You will
never get anywhere staying where you are.

So ensure that you’re surrounded by the type of people you can look up to, that you can
respect and admire. They’ll push you to be better. Do right by them, they will usually do right by
you.

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Actions and Results
"Winners Don't Make Excuses."

The Importance of Action

5.1.1 Overthinking
In one of my posts (Gaby) about Harvey Specter, a loser in my comments was arguing
that being an overthinker is better than being an action-taker because “you are always a step
ahead.” But what is the point of being a step ahead, if it’s only in your head? If you’re not going
to actually take a step in reality? This guy was proof that it’s no use. He was an overthinker, who
overthought his way into defending his shitty mentality, instead of acknowledging the problem
he had.

Take note: overthinking will never get you results and achieve your goals. What’s more,
overthinking does not mean that you’re just smart or prepared, it means you're frozen. If Elon
Musk were an overthinker, Tesla would have never existed. Some other big car company would
have replaced it, and all he could say would be“I thought about it”.

Everything we’ve taught you so far, including the mindset itself, does not matter if you’re
unwilling or unable to put it into practice in reality, instead, it just becomes a sad, overly
elaborate coping mechanism for failure. Maybe you even have this already, a complex mental
system that leverages your ability to think well to make comforting excuses for every failure
you’ve ever had in life, the Victim Mentality. If you do, tear it out, read the first chapter again.
With this attitude you simply cannot truly win.

5.1.2 Doing
However, maybe you have the right mentality and you want to put it into practice, but
have difficulty doing so

Harvey is characterized by being extremely decisive, and very good at improvising to get
around problems, his ability to do this is the main intrigue of the show. These allow him to
project his mindset into reality, into results. You must do the same. If you’ve begun building the
proper mindset, it should become more natural, but can still create sticking points. How do you
problem solve, move, not just think but act like Harvey? Here are some recommendations.

29
How to Act

5.2.1 Improvisation and Problem-solving

“When you're backed against the wall, break the goddamn thing down” is one of
Harvey’s best quotes. His ability to break out of every box he finds himself in is what makes
Harvey, Harvey. In “no-win situations”, improvisation will create a kind of intelligent
perseverance that will allow you to “rewrite the rules,” and find solutions that you never thought
you would get to see.

So whenever faced with an obstacle, ask yourself this series of questions. It's a formula
for outside-the-box thinking that should become instinctual with time. This is how to rewrite the
rules.

● What immediate goal is this blocking me from doing?

○ Let’s assume the example of an asshole boss being the obstacle preventing you
from your immediate goal of a promotion, despite more than adequate
qualifications.
○ Typically, this is not a given, and your first move should be to improve
qualifications. However, for our purposes we’ll be using this as a consistent
example to illustrate the steps of the thought process.
● Can I achieve the immediate goal despite the obstacle? How?
○ If you cannot remove your boss as an obstacle, you may still achieve the
promotion.
■ If there are other authorities and processes for getting a promotion that go
around him, like a peer vote or a recommendation from an even higher
authority. Think of yourself as an associate at Pearson Hardman going to
Jessica to save yourself from Louis.
● Can I remove the obstacle?
○ If your boss is the only way to a promotion, you have a few different approaches
available to remove him as an obstacle.
■ You could work so hard as to become undeniably the best choice
■ You could leverage your friendly peers to allow you to be the only
applicant for that month.
■ You could attempt to befriend him over the course of a month with various
outings and social tactics
■ You could remove him by uniting friendly peers against them to complain
to his superior.
■ Threaten to leave your place of work for somewhere with better conditions
and/or better upward mobility. It may force a boss to back down, but if
not, make sure you prepare adequately to make good on this if need be.

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 ● If the immediate goal is unachievable, is there another way to access the larger goal
behind it?
○ For example, your immediate goal is a promotion at your company, but that’s
likely in service of the larger goal of a raise and/or a better position in your field.
If you simply cannot get a promotion where you are, even after trying all of the
above, there’s a few approaches, depending on you larger goal(s)
■ Negotiate for a higher salary without a promotion
■ Negotiate for a promotion, while delaying the higher salary until later (be
careful not to be permanently taken advantage of)
■ Change jobs to somewhere with a higher salary, better upward mobility, a
higher position, or some combination

If you make it through the end of this process, and find that everything fails, repeat the
series of questions again, but this time with your larger goal, replacing your immediate goal as
your new immediate goal. This will move your frame of analysis a whole level up, and allow you
to think on matters from a wider perspective.

In our example, this means making a raise/higher position/better upward mobility your
immediate goal, discarding the goal of a promotion all together, and defining a new larger goal
instead, likely the desire to have greater income security to provide more for a family. Run
through the thought process again with these points in mind. Rinse and repeat.

The more often you have to move up your frame of analysis, the more drastic a change
you’re likely to need to fix the issue, so try to avoid it if you can. Regardless, continue this
process until you find a tactic that works. You will always find a yes before you have to question
your ultimate goal/purpose. If you don’t find a yes, you were not creative, daring, or confident
enough in your thought process. This is what it means to deny failure.

You can see Harvey do this himself throughout the show. He most famously ran out of
workable solutions to keep both him and Mike out of jail, so he raised his frame of reference to
his larger goal “Protect Mike and their relationship.” This unlocked a new tactic of attempting
self sacrifice, something Harvey was daring enough to attempt (though Mike beat him to it)

5.2.2 Decisiveness
Harvey is highly decisive, regularly deciding on plans of action where everyone else is at
a loss, and gives them concrete tasks to achieve it. This causes those around him to look to him
as a leader, as it’s a display of both confidence and high levels of competence. You should be
making final decisions extremely carefully, but ultimately, you must make them and act on them.

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 True leadership is, in large part, decisiveness. It is the ability to provide an answer when
others look around for one, and explain to them how to enact it. It’s supposed to be hard,if it
wasn’t everyone would do it, so some self-doubt is normal and healthy, but that’s no excuse for
indecision

The fact is, refusing to choose when others look at you is always worse than choosing
wrong, because a wrong answer is better than no answer at all. Even mistakes and wrong
decisions are always, in some way, a step forward for winning, as experience breeds confidence,
prevents future error, and leads to better decision making in the future. Indecision, however,
leads to failure through being frozen, which leads to no benefits whatsoever.

That said, do not make decisions you’re not sure of when it isn’t necessary to do so.
While necessity excuses a lot, without it, wrong decisions will decrease peoples trust and respect
for you. Only make unsure decisions if the situation calls for you to step up.

What's more, refusal to follow through on decisions is fundamentally unmasculine and

projects weakness. If a decision needs to be made, make it as late as you can, but always ensure
that you make it.

You can’t allow the high effort requirements to stop you from executing the best strategy
you can think of. Workload sometimes may be too high for an idea to be the best or most
efficient plan. But if the best plan simply requires a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of patience,
while that’s what stops so many others, you cannot allow it to stop you.

5.2.3 Improvement
Failure to achieve results even in small goals should become less and less common as you build
yourself up, but some, micro-failures, are always inevitable. No matter how good you are at
Poker you can’t win every hand. Regardless, here’s how to turn those micro-failures into future
wins.
○ Learn why you failed, and make a concrete plan to not repeat the mistake again
○ Use improvisation to find a way to achieve the results despite failure, detailed in
the Improvisation and Problem Solving section above. Like Harvey says, you
“Win a no-win situation by rewriting the rules.
○ Find some way to turn the setback into a unique advantage. This is not always
possible but a valuable instinct.
■ For example, while Harvey did not want Jessica to learn Mike’s secret, he
leveraged the fact of her new knowledge to convince her to keep quiet for
reasons of reputational risk. Their shared knowledge also proved
invaluable multiple times in covering for each other throughout the show
as well.

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The Importance of Results

5.3.1 Actions are Results

Those who suffer from the victim mentality believe their actions are totally disconnected
from their results. They’re right, but not for the reasons they think. For these people, oftentimes
their actions are weak. They don’t know how to improve, how to decide, and how to improvise.
They have an immediate goal, one or two ways of getting there, and nothing else. They lack the
mindset required for resilience, so when that fails, they give up. In the face of failure, they
abandon the process, the work, assuming that it’s futile. For these people, their actions truly do
mean very little, for these people, luck totally decides their destiny.

But not for you. If you’re able to act in the ways we lay out above, to have the mental
flexibility and strength to survive a dozen failures to achieve ultimate success, you’ll be at the
helm of your own fate. You have to trust the process, you have to see the process, the very game
of life, as worthwhile in itself. Stick to it doggedly, regardless of results, never waver or give into
the temptation of despair.

If you do, if you learn how to decide, to problem solve, and always improve, and your
actions will, in the long game, always achieve results.

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Women and Romance
“Once they smell your desperation, they won't respect you, and you'll never get what you want.”

The Right Strategy

6.1.1 Stop Chasing

There is a common mistake when it comes to women. The mistake everyone makes, both
camps from the do it: the losers with a victim mentality and the fragile winners alike. This
mistake is chasing.

The fact of the matter is, if you’re reading this, and feel you’re just starting on all the
earlier portions of the book so far, you should not be prioritizing finding women. You are in a
position where the most efficient thing you could do to find a good woman is to focus on
improving inwards, rather than searching outwards. There are 2 reasons for this:

1. Chasing women distracts you from actually increasing your value as a man and as a
partner by focusing on the above topics. Without making yourself a reasonable catch,
trying to sell women on yourself is futile.
2. Incessantly chasing signals to women a type of desperation: that you need them more
than they need you. Not only will you give women that impression, but you’ll start to
think of yourself this way as well if done repeatedly.

If you prioritize your desperation to get a woman over becoming a better man, you’ll achieve
neither. If you prioritize becoming a better man over getting a woman, you’ll achieve both.

6.1.2 Start Attracting

Harvey and Louis have a conversation about this exact topic, where Harvey finds Louis is
wondering whether to call back a date who’s ghosted him or not. Despite being wealthy and
intelligent, Louis thinks lowly of himself and women tend to as well, partially informing this
instinct. Harvey tells him to wait for his date to call first as, for him, “they always call.” When
Louis notes Harvey is naturally blessed with looks and it might not be the same for him, Harvey
gives him critical advice.

“If they don't call, then they don't call. But once they smell your desperation, they won't
respect you, and you'll never get what you want anyway.”

Games around calling first aren’t really the point, there are situations where reaching out
to women first is appropriate and doesn’t sacrifice respect, but doing so in Louis’s case of being

34
ghosted isn’t such a situation. (This wound up being a misunderstanding, with Louis referencing
the SEC, not a woman, but the advice still applies)

The takeaway is simple: chasing women desperately is a bad strategy, and the type of
woman you may land by ignoring this advice isn’t the type of woman who will be a good wife.
To find a needle in a haystack combing through every straw with your hands is the wrong move.
It’s slower, more difficult, and will probably get you hurt. Instead, focus on making yourself a
magnet.

Checklist for a Good Woman

6.2.1 Proper Position

But let's suppose you’ve done your homework, you have the right mindset, you've started
building the good habits above and have made some progress, and now want to start looking for
a partner. If this is the case, then the below information will apply to you. And fair enough, it is
not good for man to be alone. After all, where would Harvey be without Donna? So if you’re far
enough along, in the proper position, here is some very hard-won advice about what to look for.

6.2.2 Physical Compatibility

The importance of finding your woman beautiful is instinctively obvious to every man,
but in modern culture, especially those who have bought into the victim mentality, acting like
looks are superficial.

Why? Largely, this is a result of the Body Positivity movement, a product of the victim
mentality, whose only purpose is to accept and embrace insecurities and weakness, to feel better
instead of forcing them to do the hard part: recognizing their own control, and changing.

If you were paying attention during the “Dress and Appearance” section, you know
exactly why that’s bullshit. Just like in men, looks in women are important signals about who
they are. While the genetic lottery is a factor, a lack of care, or inability to care for one's
appearance is a decent proxy for their health, discipline, and some social values.

But there’s a more obvious reason why looks are important; without genuine attraction,
the relationship is doomed to fail. Attraction to your partner is a core element in keeping love,
commitment, and even honest communication alive. While it's true that beauty will fade
somewhat on both sides of a relationship with age, feeling it there in youth, at the start, is critical
to building an attraction that will last when it fades.

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 When assessing beauty, assess genuine signs of health, such as hair, complexion, and a
generally proportionate and healthy figure. Do not merely trust your immediate, lower instincts
and specifically lauded ‘body parts’; real life isn’t porn, so do not be blinded by any singular
physical blessing a woman may have. Don’t ignore these blessings either, but be holistic.
Immediate attraction is a bad test. Attraction should be persistent over a few weeks, with the
woman in various levels of makeup and dress, to be reliable.

Critically, it should also go both ways. Women are less physically focused than men are
and are also typically more reserved in their expression of physical desires to the opposite sex,
but even still, you should get the sense that the woman you’re with is genuinely physically
attracted to you. If you don’t think this is the case and feel merely tolerated, this is a major red
flag, for all the reasons listed above. For a relationship to last, you need perpetual attraction.
Keep working out when having a girlfriend: make her fall in love with you every day, don’t take
anything for granted, and expect the same of her.

6.2.3 Personal Compatibility

The second factor, also non-negotiable, is Personal Compatibility. This, however, is what
most men tend to compromise on out of the two. Many men are happy to brush off personal
compatibility for the sake of social and physical companionship. I (John) know this well, I made
the mistake myself multiple times. What I learned is a lesson that sounds more obvious than it is:
you have to choose a woman who actually loves you. Not that she just likes how you treat her or
your resources, but you genuinely as a person. Like physical attraction, this should go both ways.

This should take a few forms. How much you both enjoy time spent together,
conversation, and banter, are all good initial indicators. The defining trait of Harvey and Donna’s
relationship is their ability to constantly engage in banter for a reason: they enjoy each other's
personalities.

Moreover, you have to choose a woman who likes your plan for life and is in agreement
with your general direction. This includes ambitions regarding children, basic lifestyle, and (to a
lesser extent) career. Not being on the same page with these factors can be real deal breakers
down the line. You must be confident and take the lead on these issues, articulating your plan,
and inviting her on board. Be open to negotiation, but do not sacrifice your fundamental
direction, purpose, and goals. If she’s not on board, let her go. Forcing it is not good for you or
her. This is why Louis and Sheila break up at first: she didn’t want kids and he couldn’t imagine
a complete life without them.

One of the most critical shared ambitions should be for the relationship to be long-term,
ideally for marriage. While Harvey is prone to one-night-stands, it is ultimately degrading both
for you and your temporary partner, and a large disservice to whoever becomes your wife. Avoid

36
them as best you can, and under no circumstances be physically intimate with anyone who lacks
Personal Compatibility with you.

Even Harvey only dated women with Personal Compatibility. Besides Donna, Scottie and
Paula Agard were real potential matches. The masses still flock to engage in this behavior
regardless due to their addiction to empty pleasures and social clout, but doing so is a massive
risk, exposing intimate weakness (risk of pregnancy/false accusations) to someone you cannot
adequately trust.

6.2.4 Holistically Choosing

So, to recap, here’s the basic checklist for identifying a good woman:

● Consistent, Holistic, and Mutual Physical Attraction

● Mutual Personality Enjoyment,
● Shared Intentions for the Relationship
● Shared General Life Plans
● Shared Values

Choosing a woman for life is the most important decision you will make, affecting every
other aspect of your life forever. If you find a woman who undoubtedly checks all the boxes,
don’t let the opportunity pass you by. If you have to, take your time in choosing, just as Louis
took his time, Harvey took his time, Jessica took her time and Mike took his time. All these were
successful relationships.

This is a life decision: ignore any of these factors of the checklist at your peril.

How to Attract

6.3.1 Applying the Theory

To put this advice into practice, you do have to get a woman to consider a relationship
with you. The best way to do this is to become a better man by implementing the lessons in this
book. This book is not primarily about dating strategies or cold approaches, but we will offer
some basic advice on how to start actually exploring relationships with a romantic partner
correctly.

6.3.2 Familiar Women

The first thing to do, if you already know the woman in question like Harvey knows
Donna, is to define the relationship. You can have a decent woman but no real romance if you do
not define the relationship adequately and get caught in the infamous ‘friend zone.’ If you are

37
romantically interested in a woman, have a romantic relationship or have none: stop fucking
chasing.

Do not have an extended friendship under any circumstances: doing so sacrifices the
romantic potential. It’s harsh, but it’s the reality. Use your sharpened words to make this clear.
Harvey and Donna are a special case, as their “friend-zoning” of each other was artificial, and
they both had persistent romantic interest over the years. This is exceedingly rare, do not use it as
an example.

6.3.3 The Flirtatious Approach

What Harvey is a good example of, however, is how to secure interest in women you’re
not yet familiar with, and for that, he leans into his skills with confident and playful banter.
While this is primarily for new women, it can work for women you know, assuming you’re not
overly friendzoned. While there are many strategies with which to approach a woman, generally
speaking, leveraging this banter is the best bet, ie, flirting. One basic formula is as follows:

Make your romantic intentions extremely obvious, but do so indirectly, (ex. buy her a
drink, say she looks like a good dancing partner, accuse her of staring at you, etc). If she does not
banter in response or return, after a few attempts, move on, pushing further past this point is
chasing, not attracting. If she does return energy, continue to banter, and become more and more
obvious with your intentions and desires, while remaining indirect in this way. Clever is good,
but simple works too, as long as you’re responsive to her.

Suddenly, you’re both playing a game together, centered on mutual interest in each other.
A tennis match, with each hit back over the net daring the other to be bolder with their interest.
Once you feel that you’re running out of engaging banter, be forward and make your ask (ex.”
I’m loving this talk but have to go, continue over dinner?”)

You should be able to tell if she is returning energy through her tone, the content of her
responses and body language. Polite, but closed-off answers are not a return of energy; engaged,
inviting responses are. However, if you have trouble telling, the most effective clue is facial cues:
a head turned to one side and tilted down slightly, a slight smile, and eyes turned forward toward
you is almost always a good sign.

This is, essentially, Harvey’s method. It’s also the method of the average, reasonably
confident guy, though they're rarely aware of it. After building yourself up enough for seeking
out women to make sense, banter and flirting should feel natural, even fun. Many of you should
have a natural dynamic of ribbing and banter with your peers and fellow men/ For women,it's the
same mental muscle, just reoriented in purpose: creative and indirect compliments instead of
insults.

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6.3.4 The Direct Approach
However, if this still proves too much for you, even after making progress in all
aforementioned areas, the direct and sincere approach is a highly underrated alternative. Simply
stating your genuine interest, complimenting her, and inviting her to dinner to get to know each
other better, is likely to work. Favor first meeting women in person to use these strategies, it is
likely you’ll find a better match and that you’ll be better with the experience. However, if you do
use dating apps, stay away from the stereotypical “hook-up” sites, as they're often full of people
only looking to take temporary advantage: always make clear what you are looking for in a
woman and what type of relationship you want.

After securing a date, and after building yourself up as discussed in previous chapters, be
yourself, and naturally run through the checklist during the conversation.

6.3.5 Rejection
How to deal with rejection? Well, there is no technique, no secret to avoid it, so you
better get comfortable. If you’ve been paying attention, you know rejection is often a matter of
compatibility more than ‘goodness. That’s why essentially everyone gets rejected: Brad Pitt,
Leonardo DiCaprio, even Harvey Specter (at some point in his life). It is acceptable to feel
saddened, but don’t dwell on it, don’t let it keep you from continuing improving yourself.

You have to understand that experience breeds confidence: you will learn how to talk,
flirt and handle women with experience, with rejections. If you want a little help solving your
insecurity in approaching women, use this mind trick: you are 7 rejections away from your
dream woman and wife. Is this true? Maybe not 7, maybe 3, or maybe 15. But if you don’t try, if
you don’t risk rejection, then it’s impossible that you’ll ever find her. By attracting and not
chasing, you can lower this number, but it is likely it will never be zero. Just as chasing is a form
of weakness, closing yourself off, hiding due to fear of rejection, is a similar sin.

6.3.6 Breakups
The same can be said for breakups. You can be sad, especially in longer relationships. But
life goes on. You don’t want to be Louis: when rejected by Tara, he started treating his associates
and everyone else like shit. Same when he broke up with Sheila: he stayed at home, whining
about his life. His pain was real and sympathetic, but his reaction was unjustified in his reactions.
He allowed his emotions to control him. Do not be this way, it is extremely weak and
unmasculine, and easily Louis’s worst trait

Instead take control over your emotions and be disciplined: do what you have to do, not
what you feel like doing. When Harvey broke up with Paul, or Scottie, he came back to work
almost like nothing happened. However, Harvey has anger control issues. When he “broke up”
with Zoe, he almost fired Mike for getting late at work. He potentially could have benefitted

39
from taking a day. By avoiding it, avoiding dealing with his emotions and instead taking it out on
Mike, he was letting his emotions control him too. If necessary, you should take a day to process,
but only a day, a decision ruled by the mind in service of the heart, but not by the heart.

Your problems are your responsibility and your concern, not others, with extremely
limited exceptions of the closest friends. For the rest of the world, never let them know you’re
having a bad day, this is childish.

6.3.6 A Final Warning

We want to make sure that we don’t let you forget the introduction to this chapter. To reiterate:
don't get in a relationship if you’re not ready or have time for it. Focus on yourself, don’t stress
about losing your virginity too “late.” Mistakes with women are the most costly mistakes a man
can make. Ignore your surroundings and modernity’s social assumptions: work on yourself,
outwork them all, be the best version of yourself and make your parents proud. In that process,
the right woman will come.

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Confidence, Charisma and Control
“I don't play the odds, I play the man.”

Confidence

7.1.1 The Confidence Paradox

Properly understood, confidence is defined as comfort in your originality. It means belief
in what you are, with no need to fundamentally change, self question, or engage in acting.
However building confidence requires all these things. Confidence means not faking who you
are, but is created by (kinda) faking it. This is what we have decided to call the confidence
paradox.

Building confidence requires the building of yourself. Acting comfortable in your

current, insufficient, identity, or being comfortable in a false identity cannot be faked long term,
this wouldn’t be true confidence, but a highly sophisticated mask for insecurity, which will
eventually fail.

So how to solve the riddle? It’s simple: a genuine identity can undergo a lot of change.
This does not mean you have to pretend to be something you’re not, it means you have to change
what you are, turn yourself into someone you genuinely can be comfortable with, the best
version of yourself. We’re not asking you to swap out your core personality or beliefs, we advise
against that heavily as both wrong and impossible. Instead, we're suggesting that you replace,
clean, and improve as many parts of you surrounding that core as you can.

7.1.2 Building Confidence

However, while you’re still improving yourself, you can still find real confidence. Find it
in your mindset and drive, even before they produce results. Harvey was just as confident when
he was broke in the DA’s office as he was at the firm. That’s good, because without the proper
mindset, you cannot have confidence, and without some inherent confidence in yourself, you
cannot have the proper mindset. You must have faith in your plans for life, for the code that
you’re following. You have to decide that you’re capable of your goals. Then move from there.

That decision, however, to build confidence, first requires acting confident. The
relationship is cyclical. Confidence is like bravery: faking it is how you make it genuine, bravery
is always faked over fear. And it is only with this understanding, acting confident in order to help
build it for real, is ‘faking it’ acceptable.

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7.1.3 ‘Faking It’
What does ‘faking it’ look like? It means not letting your insecurities show.

People will generally assume confidence unless you give them a reason not to. Speak
confidently, walk confidently, stand straight, and make eye contact. Even if you think you have a
1000 weaknesses, having a weird voice, being small, deformed posture, a lazy eye, whatever, it
doesn’t matter. The great secret is that, for most people, essentially no one is really going to
notice or care unless you make it obvious. The exceptions to this rule, who are malicious towards
you for the things you’re still working on, should be treated as enemies.

Through this process of ‘faking it’, with time and practice, you will understand that it’s
not that difficult to be confident. It solves a lot of problems, you feel great and you do things you
thought you would never do. If you force yourself to do this, and use the rest of our book as a
guide on how, you will start to speak and act in a way you never did before. Rewatching the
scene of yourself from an external point of view, like a spectator, you will think: “How did I just
do that?” The answer is that it is not that hard, you were just overthinking, blocking your natural
social skills from being exercised.

When Harvey is bluffing, like when he is playing poker and he tells Louis that he’s a
loser and he can’t win, Harvey was probably scared in his head, his heart going 100 miles an
hour with nothing in his hand. But he was faking his confidence to win, bluffing, and so it
became real. He won. You will rarely lose anything from doing the same.

Charisma

7.2.1 Understanding Charisma

Properly defined, Charisma is the expression of one's confidence to others. It is the ability
to enter a room and have everyone notice it. It is commanding engagement when speaking. It is
that thing that makes people want and associate with you.

Charisma is holistic: your physical shape, respect, attitude, etc.We’ve already discussed
the building blocks of charisma, at least for Harvey.Here’s a quick recap of the big ones

● Walking: Walk slowly and with big steps. Imagine a very confident and charismatic
person. Let’s take Harvey, or Andrew Tate or Donald Trump or Macron, or any kind of
person with power. Can you imagine them making small steps and going fast? No right?
There’s a reason for that. Always have your shoulders backwards and do not have your
arms “glued” to your body, let them swing, and sway your shoulders. A slight sway to
your shoulders is the most powerful way to project confidence.

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 ● Eye Contact: Always make eye contact with the person you’re having a conversation
with. There is nothing more “weak” than avoiding eye contact, because it shows you are
“intimidated”.
● Posture: Always be straight, head and neck aligned with upper body, head high, eye
looking in front and not on the ground.
● Physique: Being in shape will give you more confidence, and therefore charisma than you
can imagine. This is critical, as a charismatic person commands presence, not only by
talking, but by physicality. Imagine a charismatic person, a country leader or a
motivational speaker. Do you think this person would be that confident if he was rail
skinny, how about grossly overweight?While there are exceptions to these rules, they’re
unlikely. Do what you can to give yourself these Advantages
● Words: banter with women, implications, sarcasm, wit were touched on earlier, but here
will give you more specifics of what is critical to charisma.

7.2.2 Building Charisma

Don’t worry, we’re not only here to recap what we’ve done so far. There are several other
critical aspects to charisma to touch on. More than anything else in this book, Charisma is
ineffable, and extremely difficult to teach or standardize. Regardless, as is our way, we will give
you some pointers on the basics.

● Humor: Humoris a mind trick, you not only being more likable but: also being more
relatable, creating a better connection with people and positive impact. Self-deprecation,
when not extreme, is often very powerful.
○ Relatability: Making laughs at common experiences will make you more
“approachable” and make it more accessible to start a conversation with you and
not feel “intimidated”.
○ Connection: Humor will help break down barriers, improving relationships, like
Harvey with Mike, Donna, Jessica, or Louis.
● Positivity: charismatic individuals, like Harvey Specter, often bring a sense of joy and
lightness to situations, making them more enjoyable for everyone involved
● Optimism: Nobody wants to be around pessimistic people, who are haters and always
criticize others. Avoid this type of person and don’t be it yourself: be optimistic, and
always tend to find solutions to problems. You have to think like a winner. Being
negative and pessimistic will never get you a solution, nor real friends. Get rid of this
toxic trait out of your life.
● Energy: Have you seen Harvey Specter tired? Sleeping at his desk? No. And even when
he is tired at night in his office- he doesn’t show it. Nobody likes low-energy people.
Because energy is infectious. This is why it’s so important to be around high-energy and
positive people: they will always motivate you to move forward, and not slow you down

43
 like those low-quality and pessimistic people. Improve your surroundings and you will
improve yourself.

All these tools are useful building blocks to guide you in to increasing your charisma and
fake your confidence. However, charisma, since it is the expression of confidence in one’s
originality, cannot be taught. It must come from one's own true nature organically and naturally.
Your charisma may not look like Harvey’s, but it should provide similar advantages to you. It
should grow naturally with the mastery and practice of the other chapters.

Control

7.3.1 Internal Self-Control

Most people want to be respected, but they don’t understand that, before asking for
others, you have to respect yourself, you have to deserve it. You have to have built up
confidence; have respected and built your own worth by putting the lessons above into practice.
Respect so much yourself that you believe you deserve your goals, and work to give yourself
what you deserve.

Harvey Specter does this, he respects himself. This is why he is arrogant: he knows that
everything he has deserved because he worked for it. He takes pride in his appearance, behavior,
and values: his ability to handle problems, resist temptations, and embody his own ideals.

You can do the same. To do this, you have to be able to control and discipline yourself, to
do what is initially unpleasant for the sake of future benefits by respecting yourself, and valuing
your potential over your current state. If you maintain your discipline and keep yourself from
vices (trash food, inappropriate lazy clothes, etc), your values will be reflected in reality: you
will become less like your starting point and more like the potential self that you’re aiming for.

7.3.3 External Self-Control

If you’ve made progress on everything else in this book, congratulations, and this section
now applies to you. You have already become a much better, and therefore more powerful man.
While the main purpose of this book was to teach you how to build up that power, you now must
learn to wield it responsibly.

Harvey’s great weakness is not controlling his great internal power as well as he should,
allowing his confidence to turn into arrogance, and conviction into outbursts.

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7.3.4 Controlling Outbursts
Harvey is a dick to his friend in emotional outbursts. This means: he lacks emotional
control. When being successful, it’s very important to generally show a decent mood and to
never cast aside one's manners. He often yells at those close to him, and most infamously even
punches Louis. While these kinds of outbursts may feel powerful in the moment, it only exposes
your lack of power in controlling your emotions. As Harvey himself recognizes: “Sometimes
success is standing still.”

To do this, remember to maintain perspective. If you’re facing an obstacle, go through the

Improvisation formula, realize all your other options for success and the relative smallness of
your immediate goal. If you’re facing a difficult person, have sympathy, people who are
miserable to interact with are often miserable themselves. Allowing yourself to lose emotional
control in public and inappropriate contexts. due to outside influences is fundamentally an
unmasculine practice.

Instead take your time responding. Stop. Breathe. Think. Simply handle the situation as you
know you should, rather than as you’d like to, and move on.

7.3.5 Controlling Arrogance

Harvey is relatively ‘arrogant.’ A lot of the time, he’s simply joking, or leaning into his
stereotype, something I (John) do regularly. This is simply confidence. However, his confidence
can transform into ego and arrogance that becomes repulsive to those around you and blinds you
to your room for improvement..

If you begin to have this problem, that’s a relatively good sign for your mindset and
attitude, but you must not let it get away from you. Here’s what to look for if it happens to you.
● If close, trusted friends speak to you about the issue
● If you find yourself unable to back up your talk with regularity (again see: the chapter
Words and Promises)
● If you find your relationships souring regularly
● If you find your learning or growth stagnating

If you notice these measures of ego, I have found useful manners of control are repeated
self-reminders. Like with outbursts, these reminders help maintain perspective.
● You always need to improve and learn,
● There are always others competing with you, and always someone better,
● You’ll never be perfect.

But ultimately, you likely can't do it alone. One of the most invaluable advantages of
peers is giving you feedback on your behavior. While you must have the confidence to ignore the

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noise from most of the people around you, you must also have the humility to absorb
constructive criticism from those close to you.

Harvey had many people around him, primarily Donna and Jessica, to keep him in check.
It’s essential you ensure that you have equivalent figures there to help you keep your balance
and perspective. Without that, you risk all of your capabilities being directed towards
self-destructive or wasteful ends.

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Conclusion: Becoming the One Who Wins
“Anyone can do my job, but no one can be me.”

This is not a conclusion like what you learned about in school: we’re not going to
summarize what we said. If you don’t remember what you read, then read it again. This ebook is
not a one-off, it’s meant to be revisited, referenced, and a constant companion to your growth.
The idea behind this ebook is to improve your life and apply all the lessons. No AI involved, no
bullshit, everything written by us, all in service of helping you live a better life. So we wanted to
take this time to make our purpose and intentions for you abundantly clear.

Don’t be Harvey Specter. Don’t try to be exactly like him, don’t be an empty human
being desperate to be someone else. You won’t, you can’t, and you don’t want to. Harvey is a
fictitious character, so you can’t be him, but you can be like him.

Our wish for you is to take the attributes from his character that we’ve shown you and
implement it in your life. Learn from his communication skills, learn from his charisma and
mindset, learn from his dress, learn from his confidence, and his rules on respect and romance.
Through his book, Harvey will teach you not how to be him, but how to be a better you, just like
he taught Mike, and just like he taught us.

We don’t want you to be a Harvey Specter-wannabe, we want you to be confident in

being the best version of yourself. That kind of confidence is the most Harvey-like trait of all.

It’s going to be a long and difficult path. You’ll need the discipline to do things you don’t
want to to grow. Don’t be stopped from taking first steps by fear, or just because they're small.
What are you afraid of? Being a failure? That’s bullshit.

If you’ve learned anything so far, you know that there is no true failure as long as you
don’t quit. But how are you now? Staying where you are? That’s failure. If you need this book,
you’re already sitting in failure for having decided to stand still so long. Just like we were when
we started our journey to improve ourselves.

Now, you’ve made the first step to success. Not just because of the book's content, but
because of your decision to buy it, and what it represents. By buying it, you’ve decided to act on
your desire to improve, to invest in yourself and take accountability. Some, no matter how much
advice they get, will ever improve. But if you’re reading this, we know that you’re the kind of
person who can take advantage. You are the type of person who is like Harvey, who always has a
choice.

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 So stop being an NPC and reject the victim mentality. Stop being the guy who’s barely in
shape, struggles to speak in public, is broke, avoids eye contact, and lacks confidence. Stop being
the guy who’s happy to stay that way.

We live in a world where people want to be average, so it’s never been easier to stand out.
If you want to achieve your dream, make it into a goal, and earn it. Take pride in yourself and for
the improvement you already have, and keep going. Your goal at the end of every day is to feel
proud of what you accomplished in those hours. If you string enough of those days together,
you’ll hardly recognize yourself.

Again: not everyone is going to be Harvey, not everyone is going to master every tactic in
this book, and not everyone is going to reach the same level of success as Harvey. But since
you're reading this, we know you can grasp the mindset, we know that you can improve, even if
only a little, and we know that you have a chance to go all the way.

You can become the one who wins.

We promise you this: if you genuinely commit yourself to implementing these, generally in the
order of reading, they will improve your life. Thanks for your trust, take care of yourself, and
take action.

Best,

Gaby (@mktwithg) and John (@SpecterMasculinity)

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Appendix
A condensed list of concrete action items from the book, for your ease of
reference and guidance. We talked about the importance of taking action for
change and results. So here are the steps you need to follow to improve in every
aspect of your life.

1. Mindset and Attitude

a. Make winning a habit, a need
b. Get yourself a purpose → Why do you want to win? In what?
c. Get goals and a plan to achieve them
d. Adopt the winner attitude, the need to succeed and to win
e. Don’t follow the crowd, be different and be yourself

2. Dress and Appearance

1.1. Dressing
a. Wear clothes that fit you (no baggy and no skinny), always elegant and
classy (old money)
b. Avoid flashy colors and colors that don’t match together (colors usually go
together if it’s the same tone like pastel goes well with pastel)
c. The trend towards tucking your shirt into trousers, so it looks better
1.2 . Health
d. Sleep 7-9 hours, have a routine, wake up early (choose 1 and implement it
→ 22h-5h/23h-6h/00h-7h)
e. Get daily sunlight, vitamin D
f. Eat healthy food, proteins, carbs, fruits, no trash food, avoid sugar
g. Avoid energy drinks and sodas, and drink coffee to help stay active (3 to 4
cups at maximum a day)
h. Have hygiene: shower every day, brush teeth daily, shave and use
cologne to smell good
1.3. Exercise
i. Workout regularly, 4-6 times a week
j. Stretch regularly after workouts (wait 20 minutes before stretching after
your workout is done)
k. Learn how to fight, upgrading your resilience, discipline and confidence
1.4. Body Language and Posture
l. Stand up straight, shoulders back and look in front
m. Maintain eye contact and make firm handshakes
n. When walking, hands outside the pocket, sway shoulders

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3. Words and Promises
a. Keep your word, do what you say you are going to do, always
b. Do not: twist your meanings, obfuscate, spend too long explaining your
point and be boring
c. Speak slower and louder
d. Avoid self-interruptions → don’t forget to breathe
e. Train yourself to read out loud 5 minutes every day
f. Don’t let anyone interrupt you → raise your voice, repeat your sentence
until the stops interrupting you
g. When speaking to a crowd, make sure everyone is listening to you, if not
stop talking
h. Always think before speaking

4. Mentors, Peers, and Mentees

a. Get yourself a mentor, someone who has what you want and learn from
him
b. Expand your network, try to know as many people as possible
c. Prioritize making friends rather than enemies → avoid conflict
d. Don’t get taken advantage of
e. Try to find friends to be competitive with and improve each other
f. Get rid of lazy and futureless people, find hard workers and ambitious
people (think long-term)
g. Look for someone coming up to help and teach

5. Actions and Results: Action Takers vs Overthinkers

a. Take action and stop overthinking,
b. Have a problem-solving mentality → when facing a problem, prioritize
finding a solution rather than whining about your life. There are always
solutions
c. Be decisive, don’t freeze
d. Improve and learn from your mistakes
e. Understand that the only way to get results is by taking action

6. Women and Romance: Choose the Right Woman and Learn How to Flirt
a. Improve yourself before seeking women
b. Stop chasing and looking desperate → Be a Man and attract
c. Avoid short-term relationships and one-night stands
d. Choose women well: same goals, same future plans, physical attraction,
energy match, loyalty and trust → personal and physical attraction
e. Take your time: you are not in a hurry

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 f. Learn how to attract and flirt smoothly
g. Maintain emotional control during rejection and breakups

7. Charisma, Confidence, and Respect

a. Fake your confidence, temporarily to be confident → posture, words,
mannerisms, etc
b. Be yourself, faking your confidence is just changing superficial things, not
your personality. Make real changes to earn your confidence.
c. Build Charisma: Be in shape, work on your image
d. Build Charisma: Be optimistic and high energy → be a positive person
e. Respect yourself: if you are overweight, you are not respecting yourself,
you are a loser
f. Be respected: don’t let them step over you. Be accountable for the
disrespect: you either have to get rid of people (there are people meant to
hate) or improve
g. Control your emotions (act based on logic, not on your feelings) and be
resilient: control stress.

Solutions to Problems you’re having right now

● Problem about mindlessly scrolling on social media? → Install ScrollGuard

● Problem with no money for the gym and no workout for calisthenics? → Install
Home Workout
● Problem with porn: Imagine your future self (best version), watching you in
real-time while fapping, you will feel ashamed. Porn will drain your sexual
energy and expectations. Stay focused on your goals, not on your lust
● Problem with focus? → Read
● Problem sleeping? → No phone screen 30 minutes before bed, no coffee 6
hours before sleep, no sugar and no soda
● No money? Get up your ass and go work, take the risk, try ideas for free
● Lack of energy? → Eat healthy, workout, wake up early and work even if you
are tired and you don’t feel like working

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