Research that applies to pick up

[Guest]

Hey everyone, I posted this a couple months or so ago on the OKC PUA board and I really like it so I thought I would share it. It is a bit out of date and I have improved a lot since then. I have been pushing myself to the limits as this article suggests and have seen a TON of improvement. Enjoy:

There is an article in Time magazine this week titled 'The Science of
Experience,' that is mainly about what experience means for a
president, but the findings apply to any learned skill like
occupations, sports, music, and pick up. There are a couple paragraphs
that are inspiring to me and I think can help everyone to do better
with girls. Without further ado:

"Ericsson's [Anders Ericsson, a researcher in the area of experience]
primary finding is that rather than mere experience or even raw
talent, it is dedicated, slogging, generally solitary
exertion--repeatedly practicing the most difficult physical tasks for
an athlete, repeatedly performing new and highly intricate
computations for a mathematician--that leads to first-rate
performance. And it should never get easier; if it does, you are
coasting, not improving. Ericsson calls this exertion "deliberate
practice," by which he means the kind of practice we hate, the kind
that leads to failure and hair-pulling and fist-pounding. You like the
Tuesday New York Times crossword? You have to tackle the Saturday one
to be really good...[other researchers looked at figure skaters
practice routines and] found that elite skaters spent 68% of their
sessions practicing jumps--one of the riskiest and most demanding
parts of the figure-skating routines. Skaters in the second tier, who
were just as experienced in terms of years spend only 48% of their
time on jumps and they rested more often...All skaters spent
considerably more time practicing jumps that already existed in their
repertoire and less time on jumps they were attempting to learn. In
other words, we like to practice what we know, stretching out in the
warm bath of familiarity rather than stretching our skills. Those who
overcome that tendency are the real high performers."

Imagine this applied to pick up. When I read these 2 paragraphs, a
light bulb went off in my head. I realized that I often take the easy
sets (avoiding mixed sets, girls who are really hot, girls who are
logistically hard to approach, etc.) and this has most likely been
stalling any potential improvement in my game. In addition, I have a
girl that I am essentially dating so my motivation to approach new
girls has been lower for about a month.

I think I knew this stuff at some level, but now it is crystal-clear.
We all should be stretching ourselves to the limit. I don't want to be
making anymore excuses for approaching. You guys can hold me to this.
I need to approach at least 3 girls per week (which I have been doing
but have slacked since this semi-relationship) and only approach
really hot girls. I want to stretch myself to a painful degree so I
can learn.

There was a period of time (about 6 weeks this past summer) that I
truly stretched myself to my limits. I also think this was the period
of my most rapid advances in the game. I imposed goals each week on
myself for the number of solid approaches (at least a number close
attempt--most were successful) per week. The first week was 2 and this
number increased by 1 per week until the last week when I was to get 8
solid approaches. I met most of the goals (I think I fell short the
last 2 weeks) and I learned a ton. My illusions were shattered and I
realized what was possible. But, often times it sucked. I am always
busy and getting in a lot of approaches per week takes time. I
remember being really down towards the end of this period because I
had tried so hard, but in the end it was worth it. We all need to do
this type of thing to get really good. Let's hear everyone's thoughts!

[Guest]

That's great, I agree with what he says.

[Guest]

i love it! i nominate for best of, anyone else?

[Guest]

Inspiring...