I recently have been reading up on a bunch of topics regarding social psychology, marketing, business interactions and sociology, and one of the books which has stood out for me was by Malcolm Gladwell, which is called "The Tipping Point." In this book, Malcolm Gladwell, a contributing writer for the New York Times, points out that social epidemics are usually the result of a select small group of people who have the social connections to reach out to several different groups of other people to spread their messages or ideas around to the masses. These people by themselves may not necessarily be significant, but by nature are extremely social beings who reach out to a wide circle of people, many of whom are important themselves, either by status or profession.

In the book, Mr. Gladwell points out the midnight ride of Paul Revere compared to that of an associate who also went out on a midnight ride to warn of the impending arrival of British troops. He points out that Paul Revere was well ingratiated into the social circle of the New England colonies and was friends with the movers and shakers of several towns, so when he went to warn them that "the British are coming," the townspeople gathered together to get as many men as possible to halt the British troops. His associate, on the other hand, had only a small circle of friends, so when he went to warn the townspeople of the British advance, only a handful of people came to rise up against the British troops.

He also pointed out how the AIDS epidemic was spread in the late 1970s in New York and San Francisco and how a syphillis pandemic was spread around the Baltimore ghettoes in the mid-1990s. In each case, it was a small but very charismatic and promiscuous group of individuals who were well known and liked among their groups and managed to have sexual relations with a large group of gay men and inner-city women respectively. These people clamored to be with these select people because they were attractive and had social qualities that the average person did not have. Nevertheless, these pandemics were spread not because of the highly promiscuous acts of the social "kings" but by their sexual partners, most of whom were not promiscuous but contracted the disease and spread it to their friends and lovers.

If you notice a theme in this writing, it's that Paul Revere, the gay disco "kings" of the late 1970s and the ghetto kings of Baltimore in the 1990s all exhibited highly social skills and alpha male behavior, and because of these skills were able to influence a large group of people to fight the British or spread a disease to their lovers. Am I recommending that we all get together to start a war or get each other sick? No way! But what I am saying is that the traits of alpha males feature high levels of sociability and a knack for persuading other people to do things for their benefit; i.e., these people usually are leaders when it comes to social contacts and trends and tend to be the life of the party. And the best part about it is that these traits can be learned and incorporated into your own character. And when they are incorporated into your character, it attracts more desirable people into your life, particularly beautiful women.

But how do you get these traits if you are shy and awkward? Don't you have to be good-looking or have a lot of money? Absolutely not!

Actually, to get started all you need to do is expand your horizons and social circle. A person whith alpha traits naturally likes to expand his mind, so he takes the time to learn new things and participate in new activities to become a more well-rounded person. By doing these things, he becomes more knowledgeable, which in turn makes him more interesting, which is attractive to other people. He also manages to make more contacts with other people, not only for fun and romance, but for networking as well. How do you get yourself out there to meet more attractive women and other important people? Start by doing the following:

1) Go to fitness classes. You can always go to a class which focuses on exercise and improving your health, such as cardio-kickboxing or yoga. Not only do you get the benefit of improving your own health, but they usually have a lot of women in those classes you can meet as well. In fact, women usually outnumber men in these classes anywhere from two to five to one.

2) Take up a cooking class. If you like to grill or make exotic dishes (or maybe you can't cook but would like to do so), you can take up a class which will allow you to learn how to prepare food for that special date or occasion. These classes usually involve hands-on preparation, so you can learn cooking techniques as you go. These classes also have more women than men participating in them, so you can meet more people.

3) Take a dance class. By this, I don't mean that you have to learn ballet or modern jazz, but if that is your interest than go for it. Nevertheless, there is a reason movies like "Strictly Ballroom" and TV shows like "Dancing With The Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance" have become so popular - women love dancing! You can learn how to do ballroom dance, salsa, merengue, the tango or even hip-hop. If you find it hard to meet women in clubs because you can't dance, this is a good opportunity to improve your dancing skills and learn how to cut it on the dance floor. Plus you meet a lot of women in these classes.

4) Go to a self-help seminar. People in general (and women in particular) are always looking to improve their self-worth, whether it's their finances or improving their living space. In the larger cities, there are places which sponsor classes on how to improve your finances, build wealth, become a real estate agent, improve relationships, or even how to do feng shui, but even smaller areas have classes like this, usually at a local community college. Not only can you meet new people here, but you could learn something that will improve your financial status at the same time.

5) Volunteer your services. Maybe you have a particular need to help people or you have a skill you are exceptionally good at and want to share with others. Take the time to volunteer and help humanity. You can mentor young children at the YMCA, your local Boys and Girls Club chapter or your local Big Brother/Big Sister. You can help Habitat For Humanity build new homes for the working poor or work at you local food bank to give food to the needy. If you have good gardening skills, you can teach classes on gardening to budding green-thumbs, or maybe you found a way to get rich and build wealth which you can share with others. Whatever skill you may have, there are probably other people who can benefit from your knowledge, so take the time to share it.

But what does this have to do with meeting beautiful women, you say? As I said previously, a person with alpha male traits does these things primarily to improve himself, but gets the added benefit of expanding his social circle. Not only do these activities expand his possibilities for love and romance, but they could also get him that dream job, or the tools he needs to start a business or the customers needed to expand a business or even meet the right people who will help him to build wealth. And by becoming a person richer in experiences and social circles, he becomes an alpha male.