I'm probably about to rant a little bit here and look at this post the next day like "lol, that was completely unnecessary and off-topic" but whatever.

I've noticed that some the best, most fulfilling things in life are things that you practice to perfection through repetition, trial and error.

I was just thinking, pickup, as you guys are systemically studying it, relies on concepts that don't occur naturally being ingrained into your brain through practice.

To me the comparison to other such projects just stands out. Someone dedicated enough to practice anything to a high level must be a huge DHV to a woman.

Like in karate, you practice things called katas, simple motions over and over again until they're so ingrained that you use proper technique in a real fight without even realizing you're doing it.

Or playing guitar, when I think about learning pick-up routines, and learning karate katas, I think well gee those things are exactly like learning a scale on a guitar! A scale is a collection of notes that sound good together no matter what order they're played in, that you practice until they're ingrained, then practice varying it up.

Three entirely different things, same concept, results come the same way.

For a while there I had an interest in computer programming, and some people refer to this mindset as "hacking," I read a really great article on it, and just about anything in life that you can practice to perfection like that some people call hacking. A dedicated guitar player is a "hacker" on guitar.

What sort of things do you guys like to hack away on? How do they compare to pickup or any of the things I've mentioned here? The point of doing things like this is not to impress women of course, you do it for yourself, but how well does these things DHV you? How do you go about "showing off" this shit without being a dancing monkey?

personally I think of hacking as a negative thing. practicing something to perfection is called mastery, hacking, in my opinion, is doing something unconventional and deceptive while reaping only marginal results. This definition of hacking relates to pick up because far too many guys try to hack the dating game...and then wonder why they arent getting results.

I don't mean it in an unconventional and deceptive way though, I guess you'd have had to read the article I was referring to.

So I'll rephrase, what kinds of things do you pursue mastery over?

I pursue mastery in my overall health (mental and physical). As my elder relatives age, they are being diagnosed with stuff that could have been prevented had they taken better care of themselves. This motivates me not to make the same mistakes.

That's a good analogy and I had never really thought of it like that but this is a good PUA 'kata' to start ingraining into your head.

-Good upright body posture with chin up, shoulders back.

- Be clean, immaculately groomed and stylishly dressed in clean, pressed, well-fitting clothes.

- relaxed smile on your face.

- eye contact

- say hi or hello or anything any time you encounter another person regardless of gender and regardless if you want to pick them up or not.

Do those things as a daily kata every single day from when you wake up till you fall asleep. Do those things all day every day as a white belt then once that becomes second nature, keep doing it every day but add a new skill and do that every day untill it become second nature. Keep doing that and keep adding new skills untill you die.

About the time you are a green belt you will have chicks on your arm.

The word hacking is generally misunderstood by the general population because of the news and media (movies, articles, etc) use the word as the equivalent of breaking into a system. Such is not what hacking means. Hacking is also equivalent to PUA because it involves learning what makes a system (or women if comparing it to PUA) work and how to make it work to your advantage. It doesn't by default encompass only the security of a system (or breaking into a system), but a more global approach to obtaining knowledge of a technology either just to learn it's inner workings or to develop technology alongside (or on top of) it. Security experts are not the only 'hackers' so to speak - computer scientists, web developers, network programmers... are all hackers in the sense that they need to learn the intricate details of programming and their corresponding technologies to be able to create something of use for their target demographic.

PUA and hacking are ver much alike in so many ways. As a pickup artist you read, experiment, and mostly fill your head with information on how to approach, seduce, and close a set/target; as a hacker you read, experiment, and mostly fill your head with information on how to implements protocols, define algorithms, and program solutions to achieve the goal of your application or system. Both require a vast amount of knowledge on the topics at hand, but more importantly, both require you to practice, practice, practice to achieve a level of proficiency on which you can successfully accomplish the goals that are required of you.

I really like this! The first, third, and fourth things I really need to work on. I say hi to alotta people but not really to people I don't know.

Agree. Most guys jump into the PUA scene with way too much expectations and skills. We really need to chunk down the skills into definable "katas", so they know exactly where they are.

Perhaps we can also do a PUA belt system?

Yep, those are called "skills", lol. Something you practice and get good at.

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what dr. house brings to medicine, i bring to everyday life (an extreme dose of cynicism), don't listen to the curmudgeon!

Totally! Here2play just defined the first one... who wants to define the second PUA kata?

I would be all over this if I wasn't a total noob RAFC...