Not Another Game Plateau
Leveling off is going to happen. You get a string of success, followed by… nothing. Early on for me it was a string of numbers, make outs and dates, followed by a long stretch of failure. It didn’t help that the long stretch lasted half the winter. This year it’s been after getting some ass.
Unfortunately you can’t time it. Plateaus come out of nowhere to bite you in the ass. Usually when you get some confidence and start doin– wait. Maybe you can time them. They come after a string of success, right?
Success. Just getting off the ground.
Think about it. Success = confidence. You start going out with a different mindset. Instead of thinking “how can I work on XYZ” you’re thinking “I’m gonna smash another one tonight.” Basics that you’re still trying to learn get tossed to the side. You’re game becomes a random mash of confidence and whatever you feel like saying at the moment. I mean, you just got laid so now you’re the shit, right?
It’s at these moments that doubling down becomes so important. I’ve noticed that after success, followed by nothing, my game has slipped because I forgot to use what was working. It’s happened enough times that I recognize it, and work to nip it in the bud early.
Whatever system you’re using, you’ve got to pull it off the shelf and get back to the basics. After absorbing loads of game material, I decided to try one system: Bang. When I hit a plateau, I open it up and re-read the basics. Come on Rook, how could you forget to say that?? Yeah I know. One of days I will remember it and apply it. Then I can take my bookmark out of the “Early Game” chapter.
Sure this sounds like a shameless plug for Bang. Honestly, I keep it around because it’s worth going back to. If I were doing 90% of the things recommended, and I hit another plateau, I may decide to try something different. But why do that if I haven’t even implemented half of the stuff listed?
No matter what system you use, you have to keep referring to it. The authors have been on the same plateaus. They know how to get off them. Don’t get overconfident and think you know. If you did, you would be selling your own book right now.
Frustrating stuff, isn’t it?
Where’s the p90x, muscle confusion system for game? The one that keeps you from plateauing….
try to attend a lair meeting, for what it’s worth, going out with lair folks always brought out a side of me that wants to step it up.
Shameless self promotion of my post on NYC lairs
But yeah, check it out, lett me what you think:-D
http://kidstrangelove.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/nyc-pua-lairs-the-good-the-bad-and-the-terrible/
i agree , ive had the same thing happen to me many times . a string of success definitely makes you forget the basics
Plateau sucks but sometimes when your heart isn’t in the “game” is that a plateau or you needing a break?
Hmmm, I don’t want to give away too much about the group dynamic here. But you get hot sometimes and then compared to others who seem to always have something cooking. Realize though that you’ve done this for one year. Others are on year 7,8, 9 whatever.
Basics is key along with the ability to not over think the basics and keep everything to it’s simplest form.
Plateaus come from a variety of things;
- Too much comfort in doing the exact same thing after having seen it work a few times.
- Too much micromanagement of your interactions and life.
- Too much time spent working on small facets of your moveset while neglecting the fundamentals (never neglect the fundamentals!)
- Too much time spent in the same type of scene.
And I’m not just referring to game here.
Step back, simplify, synthesize and get hungry again. I’ve said before and I’ll say again; Never go out with the goal of meeting a certain girl, go out with the goal of having fun but with your game in such a spot where you will know how to act when you meet such a girl.
After work today I got all smiles and a number from a cute clerk just down the street. Got my gas, walked in sweaty and hard, self-deprecated, poked fun at her community college degree but recovered, exchanged smiles and said ‘Maybe when I get some more skrilla I’ll show you how we have fun where I’m from’, she wrote down her shit and passed it to me while some other fools waited in line.
Or as the game nerds would say;
‘I saw the IOI and put mad pheromones in the air and DHVed by DLVing because I’m alpha, then I played a neg-recovery hybrid type while getting her to mirror my body language and finished it off with a massive DHV.’
Dorks. Simplicity is where complex intricacies merge with what’s universally attractive.
exactly why I stay away from those types. discuss game like normal people.
This post is so true. That’s why I had to sit down and re-assess my goals not too long ago. I was trying too many different methods, strategies and screwing myself up. Its funny because I always end up going back to Bang, reading a chapter or two and going ‘Oh yeah, that’s what I should do again’.
Nerd alert
Moving up the experience curve, it gets less steep as you go up so you have to put in twice as much effort to see the level of improvement you saw before.