I think a good ‘Optimized Man’ is a man who’s pursing passive income (investments, online or offline businesses, royalties, etc). You’re joining me on this path, correct?

In your quest for passive income (and if you ever try to sell anything) you’ll come across something known as ‘recency’. This is what famous copywriter Gary Halbert wrote about recency:

Recency: As we now know, the more recently a person has purchased (by mail) something similar to what we are selling, the more receptive he will be to our offer. Get ‘em while they’re hot! In fact, always check to see if the list you are interested in has “hotline buyers” and see if you can rent those hotline names before anybody else.

This concept applies well beyond direct mail and business.

In early January I took time off the Hollywood Physique. So I was left with somewhat of a loose eating plan.

Things got out of control fairly quickly.

It started by eating MORE healthy foods than needed.

Then it led to an addition of something unhealthy. A small piece of chocolate.

With the recent ‘small cheat’, I easily moved to a ‘full-on cheat.’

Then the recent ‘full-on cheat’ made it much easier for me to keep cheating.

Say there’s 2 friends sitting at a table with a pizza in front of them. Both know that the pizza is not the best choice of nutrition. Who’s more likely to eat that pizza? The guy who ate a slice a few days ago? Or the guy who hasn’t had pizza in over a month.

The more recently you did something, the more likely you are to repeat those actions.

You can see how important it is to understand this when selling something… and how damaging it can be the dieter or someone trying to quit a bad habit.