Are You Bad-Boy Bait? 5 Questions To Ask Yourself

You know as well as I do that when that biological clock starts sounding like the beginning of 60 Minutes and you've started going to your friends second weddings, it's all too easy to panic. You get desperate and think, "Who's got time for standards? I'll just be anybody's dog who will hunt with me -- anybody who will have me will do, or anybody who'll do me, I'll have!" You are not going to do that.

If you don't believe you're worthy of getting what you want, you can turn even an altar boy into a bad boy. We show people how to treat us, so if your cell phone is blowing up with booty calls from players, take a good hard look at how you perceive yourself and answer the following questions:

1. Would I prefer more respectful treatment from guys?
2. Do I go along with what others want more often than not?
3. Do I put the feelings of others above my own?
4. Do I often ignore, deny or overlook my true feelings?
5. Am I afraid that if I don't do what others want, they will leave?

If you answered "yes" to just one or two of the above questions, you can relax, because you are not looking for a bad boy. What you are doing, however, is asking these boys to treat you badly. To learn how to stop projecting your doubts into the world and start sending the message that you deserve respect, start here.

Modified excerpt from Love Smart: Find the One You Want - Fix the One You Got by Dr. Phil McGraw (Free Press, 2005).

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