I will refrain from putting into words exactly when and where you progress from AFC to PUA and from PUA to mPUA and from mPUA to PU guru…

I see that almost all of us progress through different stages during our travel from complete rookie to a more experienced stage. I have been through those stages myself and I would like to share it with you.

There are some lines of development that I would like to stress: outer game, inner game and mindset/beliefs.

Stage 1:
You have no idea what PU is, you see it as some kind of weird community of people who are already good at pickup because they are good looking or famous.

Stage 2:
You have discovered that the community isn’t unreachable and that anyone can actually learn to pick up women, or at least improve. You have most likely read “The Game” and are asking more experienced PUAs what to read next. There is so much information out there and you are confused. You wanna be completely prepared before you try your luck in field.

Stage 3:
You have gathered enough knowledge to be ready for your first fieldtrip. You have a little black book with routines and you have to deal with AA for the first time. Most likely you have been out with the intention to sarge but gone home without opening a single set.

Stage 4:
You have been out in field. It was hard. You crashed and burned and in some sets you opened but it didn’t lead anywhere.
Outer game: Bad
Inner game: None

Stage 5:
You have been in a lot of sets and you finally seem to get it right. You have gotten a few number closes and you start being able to come up with your own routines. You are a member of a PU community online and you start discussing stuff with the other newbies. You don’t read a lot of inner game posts though, that stuff is just mumbo jumbo.
Outer game: Ok
Inner game: None

Stage 6:
You are used to sarging and you have beaten AA. You are starting to see beyond the routines and start to understand the workings of the game structure. You can come up with good routines and you start reading about body language. You often reply to posts by newbies in a helpful way and feel like an expert of the mystery method. You are at the social robot stage.
Outer game: Good
Inner game: Weak
Beliefs: You are a technical master of this shit, you can calculate women like that. It is all just maths.

Stage 7:
You are getting bored with all of the routines, you look for new ones. You want to reinvent the game since your canned routines might have been used on the girls before. You start using good body language and get good responses on it. You feel invincible.
Outer game: Excellent
Inner game: Weak
Beliefs: You are arrogant, invincible and you start protecting your weak ego by thinking that women are simple minded to fall for this shit.

Stage 8:
You start reading the inner game posts. Somehow you have gotten successes and you start feeling that there is more to it.
Outer game: Excellent
Inner game: Bad
Beliefs: You are the shit! You are the best guy ever, you are so alpha because you take on every other guy you see! Hey still protecting your ego man.

Stage 9:
You have read the inner game posts and you are starting to understand that it is the way to go. Unfortunately you agree with people on your own level, the ones who say that you are the shit and everybody else is inferior to you. Unfortunately your inner game is flawed and it gets in the way of your outer game.
Outer game: Good
Inner game: Ok
Beliefs: You are the shit! You enter every AMOG battle you find and come out as winner of many of them. Girls are shit, guys are shit, you rock! You are the alpha man.

Stage 10:
You start to get the hang of some of the inner game tricks and you realize that it is all about mindset. Your outer game is getting better because you understand what it is all about. You are confident enough to abandon your routines and start freestyling more. You know what and when to say it, why would you need routines. You start hating the mystery method, you deserve better than that. You start writing posts like the game doesn’t work, it is just shit. You do this because you believe that you have found the ultimate truth and everybody else sucks. Poor bastards wasting time on routines. You stop negging the target and start doing disqualifications.
Outer game: Excellent
Inner game: Good
Beliefs: You hate all the methods, you thing that the only thing that is important is being alpha, being an egoist, claiming your birthright and having the right attitude. You fight to keep it up. You think you have the answer to everything.

Stage 11:
Your inner game is getting better. You realize the importance of self improvement. You start looking at your own behavior and start cleaning it up. You still hide a lot of dust under the carpet but it looks much better. You go more and more natural. You start realizing how the alpha male stuff works. You can understand that the ones fighting are the ones being betas and the ones who have already won never have to fight. You realize that it is not about attitude but about lifestyle. You start treating attraction, comfort, and kino escalation like something you don’t have to care about anymore. Without understanding that, hey you got that part figured out already. You do it without thinking about it, that’s why it isn’t important. You stop disqualifying too. Value based game is not for you.
Outer game: Improvised
Inner game: Excellent
Beliefs: You see through the methods and see how they have helped you. You are strong enough to admit that mystery has helped you in a lot of ways. You are fighting for inner strength more than you are fighting AMOGs. You love discussing game theory. You think you have the answer to everything.

Stage 12:
This is an interesting stage. You start questioning the game again. You see through the flawed methods and realize that hey, there is a lot of good in them. You realize that your lifestyle is great; you have cleaned up your inner game and start getting ready to fight your inner demons. You accept that you have weaknesses and you are prepared to admit them. This is the first step on a greater path.
Outer game: Not needed
Inner game: Enlightened
Beliefs: You have come far, but you aren’t done until you have battled your demons. You work hard on self improvement. You needed to go through all of these stages in order to get where you are now. You know a lot but you accept that others do as well. You don’t have all the answers, you start treating others with respect.

Stage 13:
You have a habit of facing your fears. You understand that the game is not just the game. It is life. You instinctively know what will work and what will not. Your inner game is strong enough to acknowledge others. You genuinely believe that you are the shit but not at the expense of others. You are nice to people, there is no need to fight them. And no need to treat them like inferiors, they are awesome people, just like you. You easily befriend AMOGs and they see you as one of them. Girls open you. You have enough inner game to share. People are welcome to help themselves to your leftover charisma.
Outer game: Natural
Inner game: Supercharged
Beliefs: You have gotten yourself a life. It is awesome to be around you. You make others feel good, not because you give up your power but because you radiate a wonderful feeling.

I am sure that this list can be made longer but I myself do not know how. I just know that as you progress you have all these kinds of realizations. As you see, I have not commented very much on your progress with girls but focused more on what happens with you. There is a good reason for that. You shouldn’t judge yourself by your accomplishments. I have had lots of good experiences with girls but that is not what´s important. Now I am improving for my own sake.


Ezo

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I'm not trying to be a dick Ezo, but you're being a Pick Up Snob in my opinion.

bbardot: you just reminded me about porn

Excellent post, Ezo. I've been thinking a lot lately about personal fears and inner demons. I've found it's important to understand that these demons -- whatever their nature -- are like addictions; you never fully rid yourself of the really tough ones. You never stop returning to that same challenging crossroads; the difference comes in being able to spot its arrival and make a positive choice -- to choose the healthful path, instead of the one that you know will bring you more pain and suffering. And, over time, it becomes easier and easier to make the right choice; like on an old record, the grooves for the positive behavior become deeper and deeper.

I've also given a good deal of thought lately to the interconnectedness of people. We are one big organism, after all: you knock someone else down, you're knocking yourself down; you build someone else up, you're building yourself up. In many Eastern cultures, when you greet another person, you acknowledge that person's godliness; what is in them is transcendent, and in you, too.

These realizations have certainly helped me pick up women. But, more importantly, they've helped me elevate myself.

Very, very nice post! Almost all of this is true. The only thing that doesn't apply to me is the inner game, as I feel that I've started out with a really good inner game, and my first infield trip was a great succes.

I think I'm around stage 9 now.

Well, this is just my list... The interesting thing is that you never know how bad your inner game is until you reach the next level...

Supposing it is bad of course.

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I'm not trying to be a dick Ezo, but you're being a Pick Up Snob in my opinion.

bbardot: you just reminded me about porn

Hey, Ezo...

I haven't read your post yet, but I'm curious as to what were your aims of posting it...

It takes little intuition to realise it's most likely a post about 'when you're an AFC, you think/do these things...' 'then when you become a PUA, you think/do these things...' etc etc

I rarely see much point in these posts... however, you appear to me as someone who has well thought out opinions and ideas on things, so I'm curious as to what were your goals with this post, what did you set out to achieve with it, and how do you feel it will benefit it's readers?


...lastly, if you've commented on the final stage of pick up, whatever that may be... do you feel you are at that very last stage yourself? If not, in what way/s do you feel able to comment on how someone at that level thinks/is. Is it entirely speculative and observational...? or is it from self reflection upon being at that stage yourself?



Much Love
---
~Finesse

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Munroe: "I kinoed the hell out of that goat"
Jav: "bashing chodes 24/7 ftw"
Slywalker: "Neg the bagel"
Slywalker: "I had a 1yr old GF when I was 19"
SS_Trunks:I asked her for an extra pen, confidently....

Nice post Ezo!

Do.
See my above comment.

No I dont see myself at the top of the PUA ladder. But the last entry of my post is the last level I was at, now Im progressing to the next, I dont know what it will hold for me but I havent been disappointed so far.


My point is to tell people more or less what they can expect from their development and maybe figure out why they arent progressing as they would like to. Also, by reading this post I think that it is easier to identify the pitfalls of each level. To identify what is holding you back.

The most difficult thing in the world is seeing and accepting your weaknesses. People go to ridiculus lengths to avoid it. This post gives you the opportunity to do so in a very anonymous and general way. No shame involved. If you read carefully this posts tells you exactly what insecurity you need to fight in order to progress.

If you take it like that, it is also a training program. For training outer and inner game.

Plus it gives you something no other post will give you. Perspective.

This post also goes against a lot of other posts telling you that you should "believe taht you are the shit" "you are the man" etc etc. This one basically says, ok you think that you are the shit just because you levelled up. I am happy for you but dont let it go to your head. Compared to your former self you are the shit. But that doesnt mean that you are better than everybody else or that you are done. There is always another level. There is always someone better. The moment that you think that you are the shit, thats when you stop improving.

True inner game needs a real estimation of your awesomeness, not just what you want to believe. You may realize that you are not more awesome than 50% of the people in this world but that is ok. Just realizing that makes you powerful.
Believing in yourself can only take you so far. Just like a car dont take you anywhere without gas.

So, I think that one very good thing to do is to actually read the post. It must have taken you more time writing that post than it would have taken you to read it...

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I'm not trying to be a dick Ezo, but you're being a Pick Up Snob in my opinion.

bbardot: you just reminded me about porn

Great Post.

Around stage 6-7 and I still have a ways to go...

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Manipulation is such a strong word... I prefer persuasion.

excellent post

I think that to truly understand it you must be working towards self acceptance. It was a reaffirmation that what we all seek has been obtained by others and it offers hope and direction to those who do not know what they are looking to be.

Thanks

any chance

wow Ezo,! I think this is the first thread that I can sincerely say to "I love it!" in 2 years, so props to you!

The funny part is that after I read every single stage I remember and picture myself at that exact time and they are love - hate memories hahah............

To feed my ego I can happily say I'm at stage 11, but at the same time I think this "last stages" are the hardest for some reason.....

I just have one question, correct me if I'm wrong, I understood when you wrote the beliefs under the stage, specifically in these stages:
You were basing the beliefs on your outcome "if you could AMOG every one, you are the shit" and how other perceive you (approval seeking) and not really based on true inner game? Because otherwise it would be contradictory: "Inner game: Ok; Beliefs: You are the shit!"

Cheers

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V3nu

Nice post and refreshing from all the MM bashing out there. Heck, it seems most guys here miss calibrate their answers when answering questions and it would be a good thing to keep this 'ladder' in mind when answering.

I see a lot of 'I'm too scared to approach' posts that get answers like 'don't worry about approaching, I get approached all the time' or 'just work on your inner game'. These answers won't help this guy and keeping in mind the scale of progression might help potential answers a lot more.

Cheers!

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Drink me, make me feel real
Wet your beak in the stream
Game we're playing is life
Love is a two way dream

Actually, this is like the key point of the post. Im so glad you brought it up.

Yes, I think you understand what I was trying to say here.

It is like: If you still go around thinking that you are the shit, then your inner game has not passed the Ok stage.

This is what most people here get stuck on, they get the power rush of giving themselves permission to think that they are the shit so they never think further. If you dare to go beyond that, you will grow for real. Realize that you may not e the shit, but that is ok.

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I'm not trying to be a dick Ezo, but you're being a Pick Up Snob in my opinion.

bbardot: you just reminded me about porn

Iight, I feel like we are almost on the same page, but I'm still a little confused,

Where exactly is the belief of "I'm the shit coming from?" on thus stages, if your inner game is at an "ok stage". I'm supposing from "how well you do on the field", if you get laid constantly you feel like you are shit if you don't get laid or do bad, you don't feel like you are the shit, am I right? Basically you are letting the outcome of your actions decide how good is your inner game, right?

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V3nu

Partly that.

But I think most of the people who think they are the shit do so because they have made it their mantra. Something they protect from attacks. They wanna believe it so bad that they dont see reason. Hence, they start believing it. But I think, deep down inside they feel small, alone and afraid. At least, thats the way I felt.

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I'm not trying to be a dick Ezo, but you're being a Pick Up Snob in my opinion.

bbardot: you just reminded me about porn

Oh , ok, yah that makes sense, I can relate.....

Once again good thread

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V3nu