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[TobiasK]

BY Ozzie | November 4th, 2009 at 2:38 PM
Trickery

The fox is the animal used in mythology to represent trickery. Taking shortcuts.

Other symbols were used like the following.

The myth of the trickster is so commonly represented that it has lost somewhat of its negative meaning. Even Pinocchio runs into a couple of tricksters who convinced him about doing certain things, which threw Pinocchio off his course.

Basically that’s the function of trickery. It throws you off the course of real learning. I have used trickery until it was too late to realize what I was doing. No such a thing as too late.

“Real growth cannot be faked. You must pay the price.” Steven Covey

That applies to everything and anything. For example, plenty of dating companies have gone down the toilet or are semi-active today. The reasons are many: no foundations whatsoever, no business model to stick to in hard times, no solid teaching fundamentals. They just grew at a time where you could sell anything because consumers had money to burn. It was not real growth. When the market boiled down, they ended up where they started.

Growth is a slow maturation process, emphasis on slow. There are really no shortcuts. I remember almost 5 years ago trying to emulate Tim, Tyler and Jeffy’s programs and not measuring up every time. I couldn’t bring what they brought to the table because they have walked the path of growth in teaching this thing. I was way too anxious about results. As a consequence, I was always trailing and taking whatever they gave me to improve my program. Years later, I realized I couldn’t force growth; it had to happen on its own. Pay the price.

Modern Trickery

Today we got planes, cars, internet, iphones which all give you the impressions that distances are shorter, time is not a problem, etc.

That still applies to the outer world. We can all say that we have more time because we have machines that do what 20 servants would do for you in the middle ages. Computers, washing machines, internet shopping, microwaves, vacuums, etc.

This trickery to cheat time is ok as long as we see it for what it is. Just trickery to cheat time and space. Get a job done.

Trickery and Skill Learning

There is a self-discovery process when you learn a skill. When Zen Buddhists learn the art of archery they are not learning how to shoot an arrow. They are learning about themselves. They use it as a form of meditation. It is a process by which you learn about yourself, your inner tendencies, how you deal with your frustration, with your internal chaos, etc.

This process cannot be accelerated more than it should. In fact, trying to accelerate this self-discovery can be counterproductive. You are only going as fast as you can.

It is mind boggling to me the tremendous progress a student can make in one night compared to 5 years ago and still you hear “can I go any faster?”. Yes, you could. But would you really want to?

You are already going faster than any chode out there. You are probably driving at 100 mph compared to the 25 mph you were doing yesterday.

In the back of your head, “modern trickery” rears its ugly head. We don’t even see it, but it is there. It makes us anxious, tense and self-conscious - all negative things to learn a skill which requires presence of mind, relaxation and a learning disposition.

Modern Trickery as Applied to Pick Up

Faking state, using opening lines, cleverly crafted jokes, drug and alcohol induced pick up, reaction seeking material, etc., are part of the modern trickery to fake real growth, namely, bringing your best self to people.

I hear my students say “I used to drink alcohol to approach before this program. I realized I don’t need it anymore”. Modern trickery at work.

Being yourself doesn’t cost anything

Yes, but it is hard as fuck. Talking to people from a place of honesty, discarding their liking you or not as a way to get confident, being out there with your naked self is not easy. Reason why few guys get laid.

We all want to be liked and avoid disapproval as much as possible even if it doesn’t mean anything in the middle of a crowded club. Approval is like candy, we all want it.

This is the reason people thrive on shortcuts. They want the modern trickery. If they can’t find it, they will search the earth for something that resembles it.

Things Get Worse Before They Get Better

Everything looks bad in the middle. If you look at a pie in the oven while it is half baked it doesn’t look good at all. It takes a while before they get their golden colour and tasty looks.

So will your skills in the middle. Nothing would look remotely successful. Blowouts, awkwardness, half-finished interactions, girls taking over your conversation and tooling you, etc. - a work in progress. If you keep your eyes on the growth process of it, you will have no problem. However, if you start thinking of modern trickery, you will delay rather than speed up your growth.