Lately I've realized my interactions with new people have been getting lackluster.

I thought I made great progress 3 weeks ago, when I made out with 3 different (and attractive) girls in a week. All the conversations that fueled those kiss closes ran smoothly. Fluidly and naturally. It felt like there was almost no effort on my part. It was big leap forward in progress for me.

Since then though it feels like I've been stumbling, and I can't figure out why. I have a lot of trouble carrying on a conversation with a new girl and keeping her invested in the interaction. Often the conversation won't go beyond 5 minutes of small talk. Then I run out of steam and become unsure of what to say next. And of course, the girl usually bails out of the talk.

I'm currently watching Disc 1 of RSD's "The Jeffy Show," and he mentions how once you start "trying to pick up" instead of trying to be happy, you might as well shoot yourself in the foot.

I think this is what might be happening, but if it is, it's becoming a mentality too easy to slip into.

Anyone else have this problem? Know how to topple it?

_________________
D.G.A.F. isn't just a state. It's a lifestyle.

I haven't seen the DVD, but from I got your topic I think that it is up to what you want. Do you want to pick up girls? Or, do you want to be happy?

I like gaming HBs, it is fun. Being happy is a different question though.

I think you could actually do both..

Hm, I encountered the same problem before.

I had a HUGE boost in game for about two weeks or so - and then I seemed to come back to square 1, where I had trouble knowing what to say.

I realized much later that this was all EGO. I managed to pull 4 girls in two weeks and I felt awesome during that time. But then as I wanted to go out again - I subconsciously was scared of failing. Reason being - if I fail, I would have taken a step BACK in my progress and become worse. Losing my flow. Losing my game. Losing everything. Because if I managed to pull 4 girls in two weeks, why would I not be able to do that consistently?

Of course, all of ^that was how I was thinking in the back of my head and it's all bullshit. None of it stands true. But my inner game hadn't developed to a point where I could handle it properly. And because of the FEAR of failing after succeeding - I ironically started to FAIL (surprise surprise, lol).

Once I let go of the burden of pick-up and I didn't put so much pressure on my performance - I relaxed, had LOTS of fun during pick-up and improved constantly.

It was actually FUN going out because I was focused on having fun rather than pressuring myself into having to perform well.

I don't know if you recognize yourself in my scenario - but if you are: It's all about your ego. You gotta destroy it and quit feeling that you need to perform well.

The way I solved it is that I left pick-up for a while. I left it completely so that I could handle my inner game before jumping into it again. So I left, learned to manage my ego, and got back into the game again.

Worked wonders.