The Rules of the Game. Neil Strauss

       MISSION 1: Crunch Time

      Next week, the pace is going to pick up. So to make sure you’re caught up and ready to proceed, today is review day.

      Your task is to look over the previous eight days of assignments. Then ask yourself:

       ^{Is there any mission I skipped?}

       ^{Is there any mission I feel I didn’t complete?}

       ^{Is there any mission I didn’t perform to my satisfaction?}

       ^{Is there any mission I’d like to do again?}

       ^{Have I backslid in my vocal training, posture, grooming, or commitment to my goals?}

      Take this opportunity to explore or repeat any previous assignments and exercises you need to reinforce.

       MISSION 2: Approach Mixed Groups

      If you’ve approached only lone women or groups of women during the Challenge so far, then it’s time to approach groups that contain men.

      Your mission is to approach two groups of three or more people that include men as well as women.

      Approaching groups with men may sound daunting if you haven’t done it yet, but it’s generally easier in practice. The more intimidating people are to approach, the less likely it is they’ve been approached.

      Don’t forget, all you have to do to ensure the success of the approach is make sure that the guys are always involved in the conversation, they feel respected, and they know you’re not hitting on the women. At least not yet.

       MISSION 3: Intervention

      Statistically, the ninth day of a new self-improvement program is the point when most people drop out. That’s not going to be you. So your final task today is to read your Day 9 Briefing and prepare to learn how to learn.

       DAY 9 BRIEFING

       THE FOURTEEN LAWS OF LEARNING

      When I first set off on my journey to learn the game, a college junior named Chad emailed me. He had discovered the world of pickup artistry six months earlier and was already well versed in the basic concepts. However, he was still a virgin.

      He was far better looking than I was, with a stocky build, wavy black hair, and a square jaw. Yet a year later, I was having fantastic adventures that I’d never thought were possible for a guy like me. And Chad, despite working just as hard, was still a virgin. So I sat down with him one night and tried to figure out why. The reason, we eventually realized, was that we had different strategies for learning.

      Afterward, I began developing the fourteen laws of learning that follow. They apply not just to the game, but to school, work, and hobbies. They are what separate a chump who’s banging his head against the wall in frustration from a champ who’s smoothly ascending to the top of the game. Make sure you understand and can practice each principle before moving on to the next.

       Unconscious incompetence: You’re doing something wrong, and you don’t even know you’re doing it wrong.

       Conscious incompetence: You’re doing something wrong, and you’re aware that you’re doing it wrong, but you haven’t yet fixed the problem.

       Conscious competence: You’ve learned the right way to do it, and you’re doing it correctly with focused attention.

       Unconscious competence: You no longer have to think about something or work on learning it—you automatically do it correctly. In the parlance of the game, this is when you finally become a so-called natural.