Beyond Beginner

A debate is raging in the group chat recently surrounding me and my pace of learning.

When I started this daily cold approach quest in November 2021, I had this idea that I would be Advanced in one year. In fact, I even titled my progress report on the Winner Within Forums “One Year to Advanced”.

Here we are in February 2024 and I’m Beginner level.

Let’s define this, because these are Dante-levels, not normal levels.

This is what the community thinks the levels are:
– Beginner: just getting into Game, struggles with approach anxiety. Nervous, no real idea of framework. 90% of guys.
– Intermediate: getting a grasp on some concepts, still makes a lot of mistakes, can get laid somewhat regularly. 9% of guys.
– Advanced: has a full handle on all concepts taught in the mainstream game community. Gets laid regularly from cold approach. 1% of guys.

Dante puts another layer of Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced onto the previous three. For him, the previous rankings are still Beginner, because they have only learned basic Game, not frame control. Thus, they can only close Yes girls by not fucking up, rather than going above and beyond to reframe and control a woman’s emotions.

Thus, the previous levels under Dante would be Beginner Beginner, Beginner Intermediate, and Beginner Advanced. Grouping them all under Beginner is a helpful reminder that 99% of guys are shit at this, even when they think they’re good, and only get layups and Yes girls that they think they masterfully gamed.

I am Beginner Advanced. I have deep understanding of all Game concepts and can implement and teach them. I regularly close Yes girls I come across. I don’t make too many mistakes. Most in the community think I’m elite. Guys who are solid think I’m good. Yet my wings, of course, who have gone so far beyond, look down at me like… “It’s going to be a long journey for you.” When I realize I’ve thought the same about Squilliam, a Beginner Beginner guy I’m mentoring, I realize the levels to this shit.

I’m not interested in simply learning Game, at least not the type of Game the community thinks is Game. I want control over my own destiny, not to just wait for a Yes girl to come my way. This means reaching at least Intermediate level, which less than .01% of guys in Game reach.

This is uncharted territory. There are currently only three guys in New York City who have gone beyond Beginner: Dante, John Adams, and Lean.

And there’s only one guy in New York City to strives to go beyond Beginner: me.

If this were Mario Kart, the three guys would be at the finish line of the last lap, I’d be bumbling somewhere in the race by myself, and literally millions of guys would be somewhere in the first lap shrunken by lightning and going 1 meter per hour.

That means I have no peers to push me and to compare myself against. And it also means that I rely on the advice and guidance of the former three to improve.

Back to the debate in my groupchat, which surrounds why I don’t improve quickly. I gamed for two months in Miami, then moved to NYC in April 2022. Subtracting some breaks and vacations, I’ve basically been at this for two straight years. And I’m still Beginner Advanced. Yes, I’ve learned and progressed, as I explained in my year-end post, but I have yet to crack the shell of frame control.

How long will this take? John Adams always said it takes three years to get a handle on it. That leaves one year. I can feel my bones creaking already. I’m an old racehorse, and my heart aches to devote my life to other activities. It’s getting harder to explain to my non-Game friends what I do in New York City. I devote 5-6 hours a day to walking around the streets. Does that make sense?

Still, the impression is that my pace of improvement is slow. This is hard for me to understand, because from my perspective I’m doing everything I can do learn as fast as possible:

• I go out more than anyone in NYC
• I record most of my approaches and submit key ones for feedback
• I record all of my dates and submit key moments for feedback
• I write field reports for important happenings
• I have access to my three wings for discussion, debate, and knowledge transfer
• I maintain an always-updated list of sticking points and think about them while in-set
• I maintain copious notes of what I’ve learned and reference them frequently

Lean says: “You don’t learn for shit, you’re just good at coming up with systems for learning.” This strikes me as true, but shocking. I’ve mastered several other skills, at least two of them where I am among the best in the world. In those, my pace and ascent was rapid compared to my peers. I figured it would be the same here. Do I have a specific genetic makeup that makes learning frame control more difficult than others?

Or are we just all being overly critical and maybe I am progressing just fine, and this is just really, really fucking hard to learn? That’s certainly what my ego wants to think. In the absence of peers to compare myself to, it’s tough to know what average progress looks like.

It may be time to switch it up. They suggest pivoting to trying to figure these things out myself. I am always worried that I am burdening these guys too much by getting their help. After all, they are donating their time. But I just can’t imagine how this could be learned without them. To me, this is an apprenticeship is something extremely niche and EXTREMELY complicated. The most complicated pursuit a human being can ever learn. How could I expect to teach myself this?

I have proposed a few options:

1. Status quo but with more focus on self-analysis.
2. I must give self-analysis first every time I ask for help, and only then will I receive help. [Timeboxed for one week with option to extend]
3. I will receive no help at all. [Timeboxed for one week with option to extend]

I am willing to try this exercise if needed, but I just can’t imagine the latter two being more fruitful than being able to receive feedback, VERY good feedback, from guys that have walked the same path I walked.

I will poll the guys and see which direction we go.