[Here's a nice review from Scott on the EBSS mailing list]
Product Review – Pickup101’s Art of Attraction Course
I’ve been picking at this on and off since I took AoA in my free time, and figured I finally needed to send it.
This is a message to the lurkers on the list: the dudes who want to know how to meet women and found out about this list somehow but don’t post because they don’t have game. So they read the FRs, LRs and the feedback but never get in the field, and wished they could get in the field, and think they’ll never get in the field with any success.
I was one of you. Obviously, I’m not at this point. This course is why.
This is also to you guys who have some game, but are stuck somewhere, or just aren’t getting the results you want because maybe you don’t have the basics down as well as you’d like or as well as you thought. I wrote a post about two months ago that said basically, “My game sucks. I’ve got approach anxiety and have no idea what to say to women, so I never get in the field, but I’m taking this course next week to try to deal with that and I hope to see you in the field after that.”
This is my follow up to that post. You’ve FR’s from me since I took AoA. You sure as shit didn’t see any FR’s from me before AoA. The only thing I really responded to on the list was a conversation about the implications of Machiavellianism to pickup. That’s my purview, so I had to drop some knowledge. I felt like an idiot doing it though, since I wasn’t posting any FRs, but I couldn’t keep my mouth shut on that.
Maybe the most valuable thing I got from AoA is that not only can I do this stuff, but can actually get really good at this, and it won’t really take that long.
Look, I don’t have to be writing this product review. I’ve got a LOT of other stuff I could be doing right now.
I’m writing it for 2 reasons:
- To let you guys who want to have game have an effective access to getting it
- To give something back to the Pickup101 crew for the skills they provided me with, since this stuff works mainly through word of mouth.
This course is a fucking blast. You’ll learn a lot and it will not always be easy. You will have to deal with your shit. But you’re dealing with it with a bunch of other dudes up to the same thing, being supported by cool patient guys who have been there and gotten over their own shit. It’s fucking cool, and you’ll get tight with the guys who you go through the course with.
I did a lot of research on other methods before deciding on this one, not only because it was local, but because it sounded like the most reasonable method. The idea of it is to bring out your most attractive qualities and show how to interact with women so you can have choice in your romantic relationships. It’s not a long, detailed checklist you have to memorize before you get in the field and you’re not totally reliant on routines. It made the most sense to me (I mean, my pickup name is Authentic, after all). It seems to make sense to study an art form that helps you be your best self.
I remember reading a great product review of AoA a few months ago and somebody responding to it with something like, “That’s a nice review, but I don’t really care what you have to say about any program until I see where your game is in three months.” The thing is, where he is in 3 months doesn’t mean anything. If you don’t go out in the field and practice, it doesn’t matter how great the program was. And, in any case, you know right after any experience whether it was a worthwhile or not. It was.
This course gives you everything you need to approach and successfully engage groups of people, get attraction from women—and KNOW you have attraction from them– and successfully close a day2 such that the girl actually shows up (that is, if you don’t do a same night pull…). Anything beyond that is in another course.
From experience I can tell you that if you do take this course you will see immediate results, and what you do with it from there is on your own shoulders.
At the beginning of both nights of field work I dealt with my real sticking point: approach anxiety. I would literally freak out when confronted with speaking to women—a real “fight or flight” fear. It was borne out of experience, because every time I did get up the guts to talk to women I got blown out, because I had nothing to say.
On Friday night both myself and the other student with me, who were basically beginners, were really locked up with approach anxiety. It took us a while to be able to approach and engage. There comes a time very late in the evening (like 1am) where the instructors can leave to do their own thing if they wish. They are still available to students, but not obligated to hang on their every move. At that point on Friday, my field instructor, Paradiso, said something like “I’m sticking with you guys because you were locked up earlier and I want you to get your money’s worth.” It doesn’t get any better than that, and it made a real difference for what I got out of the course, since it really set the stage for my breakthough night on Saturday, as I felt I made the most progress on Friday night during the time Paradiso stuck around when he didn’t have to.
It’s also interesting to meet the instructors because they each have drastically different fashion senses and different pickup styles, but are all very cool, enthusiastic, helpful and straight-up dudes.
On Saturday night there were 10 instructors for 13 students—great individual attention. And the instructors were pretty much a who’s who of dudes from the EBSS list. The guys who’s FR’s you read and say Damn, I want to be able to do THAT.”
On Sunday morning we had a debriefing, and I basically said I already had gotten everything I came for. I had gotten more, actually.
Saturday night showed me what was possible in terms of approaching. I literally could have successfully approached, engaged and entertained just about anybody. And could give a shit whether I got blown, out, I’d just go talk to the next group.
On Saturday, I had the biggest smile I have ever had, because I was doing what I had always wanted to do—open any woman/group of people I wanted to, and engage the, and have a good time. Organic kept mentioning that it was fun to watch me because I was having so much fun. It was all because of their great instruction that broke me out of my shit, and showed me what was possible.
On Sunday night, I stuck around for the AoA Introduction and gave a testimonial to the men about the course.
One guy asked what I got out of the program. The way I explained it on Sunday night to the guys was “On Thursday night at 11 I couldn’t talk to a woman. On Friday night at 11 I was in talking to attractive women, getting attraction from them.”
They wanted to know if I was closing, getting numbers (as if getting numbers means anything).
I was kinda like, yesterday I was playing in the peewee league, and today you drop me in the World Series and expect me to hit home runs. The deal is, I wasn’t trying to close. Thinking back, I should have just for the experience of it and feedback I would have gotten from the instructors, but I was thinking that I’d be obligated to kick it with the chick for the rest of the night (which obviously isn’t true, but I didn’t see that then). I was there to learn how to approach and engage women, which I could never do before. I knew if I could do that the rest would come in time.
I felt like, “these guys are teaching me how to fish. I’m not going to bag one fish with their help and go home with my catch, and say ‘thanks guys’”. That’s not what I came for. I wanted the instruction of what I was doing right and wrong in approaching and engaging so I could have results in the future, not so I could bag one chick for one night.
I was just experiencing opening and gaming sets. I literally lost track of how many sets I opened. No way to know. I opened sets, reopened set, was reopened by sets, repeatedly repeatedly repeaedly. I was just having a blast, and could give a shit whether I got blown out, or whatever. I was the most fun dude in the room, because I was having the most fun in the room.
So here’s some stuff you’ll get out of the course: (I’m not going through my notes, this is from memory)
- Body Language
- How to open –a LOT about that, all sorts of situations (all kinds of shit about sets, difficult sets, mixed sets)
- What to do at a lull in the conversation -how to banter -how to have a confident, dominant frame
- How to tell stories and entertain a group -a routine stack -how to kino –do’s and don’ts (100 bucks says you’re doing it wrong)
- how to isolate a target
- how to wing
- fashion (I brought in half my wardrobe, and Lance personally assessed it, asked what I was going for, saying what worked & what didn’t, and it was awesome)
- How to set a Day 2 and not have her flake (numbers ain’t nothing but a thing.)
Since I’ve taken the course, it has certainly made me more social. I just talk to people more. I haven’t bothered to count the number of times in the past few weeks I’ve heard things like “Thanks for coming to talk to us”, “It’s funny, I never have conversations with people on the bus. I always avoid people on the bus”, etc.
If you have any questions about the course, or are thinking about taking it and want personal feedback, I’m happy to give it, But as far as I’m concerned, if seeing me in the field and seeing me post FRs after being Super AFC Lurker dude isn’t enough, there’s nothing that’s going to convince you.
Scott
