2008-10-26: Workshop with Brad P.
First we recapped our night, and I also talked about my date right before class.
We worked on our identity. First we listed all the things that are important to us. Then we put them in order. Finally, Brad challenged the order of things we listed, asking if we had to choose between two things, which would we choose, to get a more precise ordering. This became our value hierarchy. Here’s mine:
- Happiness
- Acceptance of myself
- Experience
- Free time
- Social skills
- Pickup skills
- Friendship
- Financial freedom
- Family
- Others’ acceptance
- Snowboarding
- Improv
Brad said that many times, we have to make a choice but wind up choosing something that’s less important to us. By having a value hierarchy, we can make better decisions in life, to fulfill those needs that are more important to us sooner than those that are less important to us.
We then listed our short term goals and long term goals. These had to be specific, to allow us to know when we have achieved them. “Getting rich” isn’t specific, but “Having $1 million” is. We then listed the resources we have for achieving two of our goals. I don’t have my lists on me at the moment; I may add them later.
We then had open questions. The question of where to find scene girls came up, which we discussed for a bit.
I asked about street approaches, because I do so many of them. I demoed the way I typically open from the back, then use the Rodman technique to keep her still. According to Brad, I’ve got it backwards: I should quickly walk ahead of her, turn around, open, Rodman technique until she stops, then assume the 90 degree angle. We did a short demo of the Rodman technique, it was quite amusing to see one of the students try to get past Brad.
Finally we each received our final evaluations and what to do after this. Brad said that, looking back, the reason why he got good quickly was because he made a lot of smart, quick adjustments to his game. He asked why I had done direct for so, so long, and I told him that it was getting me to open, and I was afraid of losing my momentum and getting AA again, probably due to my small comfort zone. He said that I was an approach machine, which was good in the beginning, but I’ve got to move past that and make my sets last longer. He recommended that I do my social freedom exercises more and… something else. Definitely stop going direct, not because he has anything against direct openers, but because they’re not working for me.
Going into the workshop, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I knew I wanted to see Brad demo, but I didn’t know what he would fix for me, and I certainly didn’t expect to do dance floor game. Each demo and approach I did was carefully analyzed and explained. I got everything I expected and a lot more, and had a great time as well. Now I’ve just got to internalize all this!