15 Symptoms of “Nice Guy Syndrome”

Nice Guys Need To Go Extinct

Nate Bagley
8 min readMar 14, 2022

Click here to watch the video version of this article.

As a recovering Nice Guy, trust me when I say, “Nice Guys are THE WORST.”

Here’s why:

The Nice Guy Syndrome represents a belief that if Nice Guys are “good,” they will be loved, get their needs met, and live a problem-free life. When this life strategy fails to produce the desired results — as it often does — Nice Guys usually just try harder, doing more of the same. Due to the sense of helplessness and resentment this pattern inevitably produces, Nice Guys are often anything but nice.

-Dr. Robert Glover, No More Mr. Nice Guy

Nice Guys work hard to curate an image of being giving, selfless, and concerned with the needs and wants of others. They believe that if they are nice, they’ll be rewarded for their niceness with sex from women, promotions at work, acknowledgment from strangers, and praise from their parents.

Underneath that Nice Guy facade is a fear that someday, someone might see what’s hidden underneath… and their deepest fears would be realized: That they are deeply insecure and they desperately need the approval and praise of others to validate that they are good and nice.

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Nate Bagley

I’m the creator of the Growth Marriage Podcast (http://growthmarriage.com). My mission in life is to rid the world of mediocre love.