Read The Social Climber's Bible: A Book of Manners, Practical Tips, and Spiritual Advice forthe Upwardly Mobile for Free Online Page A

is that the social climber makes new friends with a sense of purpose and a game plan.
    EMPOWERING THOUGHT #8
    Budding Mountaineers, new to the ways of the Big City, can still have dreams about how they want their life to turn out but never illusionsabout the friends and connections they’ll need to obtain to make those dreams come true.

    Know this: You aren’t going to get to the top by befriending floundering fictional characters like those depicted in HBO’s hit series
Girls
. The kinds of friends you need to make things happen for you in real life are the supremely well-connected actresses who portray those girls.
    The multitalented star Lena Dunham, who’s also the creator, writer, director, and producer of
Girls
, is the child of two highly accomplished artists who knew everyone who was anyone in the culture ghetto of New York, plus: designer Zac Posen was her babysitter, and she graduated from the elite private school Saint Ann’s. Equally well-connected Zosia Mamet, aka Shoshanna Shapiro, happens to be the daughter of Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, screenwriter, and director David Mamet. Marnie Michaels, played by Allison Williams, graduated from Yale and is lucky enough to be the daughter of NBC’s star anchorman Brian Williams. And last but not least, Jemima Kirke, who plays Jessa Johansson and also attended Saint Ann’s, has a double whammy going for her: She’s the child of a rock star (Bad Company’s Simon Kirke) and the granddaughter of a London billionaire, “Black Jack” Dellal.
    If you, like 99.9 percent of the world, do not have the good fortune to have as famous, talented, well-connected, and rich parents as the girls on
Girls
do, and weren’t lucky, privileged, orsmart enough to attend private schools or matriculate at Ivy League universities, don’t waste time envying or resenting those with more: Get to know them!
    If you are starting out from social ground zero and have just moved to a new city and literally know no one and do not have a job that will bring you in touch with anyone or anything remotely fabulous, the first and most important thing for you to do is get off Facebook and any and all social websites, dating services, chat rooms, etc. that you are in any way connected to.
    Why?
    An old posting, a snapshot, for example, of you flashing your ta-tas back on spring break of ’10, admitting “liking” Justin Bieber, or any one of the embarrassing things and people you used to “like” before you decided to become a social climber could be as much a liability as those indiscreet friends and family you have already cut out of your new life.
    Purge any and all embarrassing details and indiscretions from cyberspace, to make sure your past does not sabotage your future.
    For now, leave your virtual life a blank canvas. When you have acquired enough exciting friends and photos of yourself doing cool and extraordinary things to make it appear to those more connected than yourself that you are more popular and successful than you are, we will show you how to fill up the blank canvas of your life with such verve and panache you won’t recognize yourself.
    But between then and now, we have a lot of work to do.
    Here are some practical and affordable first steps that will put upwardly mobile strangers new to a city in a position where they can become best buddies with someone who can help them step into the winner’s circle.
    1. Get a list of all the Alcoholics Anonymous, Al-Anon, and Narcotics Anonymous meetings offered in your city and start attending those that are held in the basements of churches, community centers, or public spaces in the hippest, most exclusive and expensive neighborhoods. Every one of America’s first families has at least one heir or heiress with a substance abuse problem. Just look at the Kennedys. Take note of those in recovery who are accessorized with twenty-thousand-dollar Hermès Kelly bags and have not succumbed to hocking their Rolex watches and