Men and women should always structure their first dates with this worst-case scenario in mind. Instead of committing to a long night of dinner and a movie with someone you aren’t sure you’re attracted to, arrange for a short and casual date where you meet for coffee or a drink.
If you feel attracted to your date after getting to know each other for half an hour, then you can continue on and grab food, see a movie or simply continue to talk and explore your connection further. If you aren’t attracted to your date, then it’s much easier to cut things off because you didn’t set expectations for a grand, long, involved evening in the first place.
It’s important to strike the right balance of honesty and tact when ending a date and cutting off the possibility of future dates. Many men and women simply choose to end their first date early, and then they never agree to a future date.
This simply drags out the inevitable rejection. Instead of leaving your date wondering, let them know in a polite way that you are happy to have them in your life, but you’d prefer to keep things platonic between the two of you because you just didn’t feel that sort of connection with them.
