Approachathon 0
Day T -12
I decided yesterday to do another Approachathon, the definition of which is to do a fixed number of approaches in a set time. I’ve so far done two: the first of which was to reach a thousand sets in total by the end of last year, which I achieved; the second of which was when I went to Budapest and beasted through a hundred sets in four days.
I’ve been struggling with daygame for a while now after a run of success with it in the middle of last year. The results seemed to dry up and I started wigging out, thus screwing my vibe and game up even more. February and March saw me in Singapore with zero daygame available, and in April I was in FSU Country #1 with Krauser and Tom where there were plenty of hot girls but the daygame was hard and grinding. I didn’t have fun. I now find myself in FSU Country #2 and it’s a lot better.
The other day I, to my horror, realised that somehow two weeks had passed and I’d only done forty two sets. A pathetic work-rate. I’ve got four weeks left (unless I extend my trip) and I want results, or at least to know I made a bloody good effort at getting them. I need time to work leads so all the farming has to be done in the next two weeks. Time for an Approachathon challenge. 200 sets in total sounded about right and I want them done by the 15th.
I did ten sets yesterday and fifteen today and it feels great. I’m starting to rekindle the feeling I had in Budapest on my last Approachathon and wish I’d done a subsequent one before now. Budapest was some of the best daygame I’ve done. Something weird and unexpected happened when I HAD to do a set number of approaches in a day. All weaseling flew out of the window and I started actually relaxing. My opens got more and more natural and spontaneous and the reactions got better. I suddenly realised how much mental effort I was previously devoting to weaseling, to try and somehow avoid the reality of stopping girls cold in the street and hitting on them.
I discovered the joy of ‘right action’: setting a goal then working for it and achieving. It feels great! I’d be out each morning and crank through my sets and really feel like I was making traction in my goals. Nothing improves your vibe and self esteem like identifying your problems and making quantifiable progress towards resolving them. At the end of each day after my last set I’d turn and walk home and my god, that post-daygame beer and dinner tasted like manna from heaven. I slept the sleep of the righteous, not the weasely.
Now another few weeks of ascetic bliss are in my reach. I simply have to work hard and be focused and I can have two weeks of deep satisfaction, good sleep and a well-earned slap-up feed each evening.
I think my daygame needs momentum. I need a tsunami of approaches to let myself unwind, completely lose all AA and just relax back into that vibe which has been long eluding me. I can also resolve some of my quality problems with sheer volume: in a couple of hundred sets I should hit a few girls who simply dig me.