Drck said:
IMO you won't learn anything that you already don't know.
Same thought I took with me into every pickup or business course I signed up for over the years (but I signed up anyway).
Always left with lessons that shaved 1 to 4 years off my learning curve in one or more areas.
I think the most important element to making the lessons from in-person training stick is that you MUST get to work zealously applying what you learned as soon as the training is over, and spend at least a few weeks doing this.
The guys who advance extremely rapidly after their coaching sessions all do this. The guys who continue to just float and drift along do not.
It's always a bit tragic, because you saw these guys get results far outside their norms during the training, oftentimes doing stuff that they already knew they SHOULD do, but simply didn't do regularly, for whatever reason... their form is a bit off, they're gun-shy on certain things... and you get them doing it, and they are absolutely flying. And then the coaching ends, and you chat with them a week or two later and they still haven't gone out and attempted a solo repeat of what you covered in the coaching. "I will! I'm going out soon!" they tell you.
Here's my unofficial criteria for signing up for any kind of training, mentorship, or the like:
- Have you read reviews, studied this guy's method, or otherwise been convinced he knows his stuff inside and out?
- Does this guy have the right mix of demonstration (shows you what it looks like) and instruction (zeroes in on your issues, gives you specific, tailored tips, and gets you in action)? The guy who's all demonstration will 'wow' you but you won't learn much because you'll do little else but observe, while the guy who's all instruction may have good advice but you can leave wondering if he actually walks the walk, and questioning his suggestions
- Are you definitely, ABSOLUTELY going to go and apply every lesson like clockwork until it's completely internalized after?
If you can answer "YES" to all three questions, honestly and completely, you need to sign up ASAP, because the sooner you're leveling up your skills the sooner you're where you want to be and the more success you can enjoy / the more time you can have to devote on other things.
If you answer "NO" to any question, then either you need more information, you need to find someone else to train with, or the timing simply isn't right.
Re: the "personal wingman" remark, if an instructor is serving as this, he's a bad instructor, and just using you to help him get laid (you'd be amazed how consistently you'll get laid as an instructor on bootcamps; women rapidly recognize that there are other men looking to you as this charismatic leader figure... you also behave a lot more boldly and energetically when you're putting on a performance like this). A good instructor will do a few demonstrations if you need to get juiced up / ready for the night, but otherwise the rest of his time will be spent observing you, critiquing you, and telling you what he's going to have you do next to progress further in your very next interaction.
I'd also ask for an "end of the night review" where the instructor sums up what he sees as your strengths to enhance, and your weaknesses to resolve. Probably tell him you want this before the outing commences so he's taking mental nights as the night progresses, rather than doing everything on autopilot and then he doesn't remember later what he observed when you ask him.
@ Jeet-
As for the Social Man... I don't know anything about their bootcamps personally. Not even sure whom they've got teaching. However, they're probably one of the closest training companies out there to what we teach at GC; Christian had a J.V. going on for a while with one of my mentors, and he coached up a good friend of mine and introduced him to the world of pickup back when both were living in Ann Arbor. I got to spend a little time with him in L.A. last autumn after having corresponded with him off and on for years and he's a really cool, really down-to-Earth dude who's super focused on just providing as much value as he possibly can.
So, I'd check them out, check out what they're teaching, see what the reviews on their instructors are, but if they're anything like Christian himself, you'll almost certainly learn a lot.
Whether you go out and apply it after and mold those lessons and the energy you get from the bootcamp into hardened, cemented lessons and momentum after, or you let it all fade away into memory as some kinda-sorta cool weekend you had once that didn't result in any lasting gains, will be up to what you do with what you experience in the 2 or 3 weeks after you experience it.
Chase
