Warning this is going to be long.

Originally I wanted to do monthly progress reports on my progress in learning the game. My main goal is to overcome my shyness and just become more of an attractive person. As well as find the girl that is right for me. I’m going to divide this post into different segments as game has different areas that need to work in sync in order to achieve my goals. I’m also going to include a part in here regarding my stumbling points and what I’m trying to do to overcome them. So let’s get started.

Outer game (dress): Well I upgraded my wardrobe in late August, October, and I did another mild upgrade in February. I’m looking for clothing that fit better for the weight I lost. But I don’t want to get too spendy as my appearance is still in a state of flux. Hopefully once I hit and maintain my ideal weight I can splurge a bit more.

Outer game (fitness): Perhaps it’s because it’s winter but it feels like I’m at a weight plateu. I eat right and I work out five times a day. But it feels like I really can’t crack 165. That being said I’m also focusing a more on upper and lower body strength (which might be part of the reason). Also because of weather I’m just not as active. To give some a rough idea on my activity level I would have roughly 25,000 or so steps on my FitBit during the warmer months. This winter I’m lucky if I crack 13,000 steps.

Inner game: This is the thing I’m really really trying to focus on more than anything. I’ve been reading The Centered Man Manfesto and it’s really helped me. I’ve also identified some limiting beliefs that is really hindering my game (especially with escalating). I’ve also devoted more time to improving myself and chasing my own passions. I’ve also read through Models and try to sneak in a read from 60 Years of Challenge where I can.

Actual game: Ah the fun part. I really want to get to the point where it’s natural/direct. So I don’t want to do any canned stuff. Yeah it’s been a harder road but I still think it’s going to yield greater rewards.

The bad news is that I haven’t been able to practice as much as I would like to. Life has tossed my some very interesting curveballs. However, when I do try to practice I’m noticing that my approach anxiety really varies from place to place. I’m noticing that my AA is not as bad at places that I’m familiar with that have fewer people. On the flip side It gets really bad a newer venues or really crowded places. It’s these venues that I go back into wall flower mode.

I’ve also dabbled a little bit with online game. If anything it might be useful for a snow day. Or days where I just don’t want to go out. But to be honest it just seems like a bit too much work. The other bit of bad news is that I ran into another plateu where it felt like my game slid backwards.

Stumbling points: There are several so let’s spend a little more time.

Escalating: I’m sure that this is an inner game issue from when I was younger. And one I’m trying to fight more and more. Since I’m going to be free this weekend I’m going to try to escalate a bit more to success (or rejection whichever occurs first).

Running the assumption that because she is on her laptop or with friends that she does not want to be talked to at all: I need to remember that because she is pounding away on her notebook or tooling about on her phone she may be bored to hell. So it might be safe to assume that laptop girl probably wants a break from her three way involving her MacBook Pro and iPhone. As for her friends there is a real possibility that she may not want to be there. Or her friends are being boring.

Age: I get it’s no big difference but that idiotic voice in the back of my head (thinks it is).

Oneitis: Ok yeah I got this and it set me back a bit. I was really hoping that it would not happen to me but it did. While I would love for something great to happen I need to face facts. She has a BF pure and simple. Now I think I’m handling it well (or fairly well) in that I know that I need to approach more and escalate more and work on myself more. That way I'll be better prepared for when the next one comes around.

Overall my progress still feels slow but I feel like I'm in a better position than I was a year ago. I just need to get out more and possibly find a decent wingman that is versed in natural/direct game to help me out.

Great, writing things down really helps clarify ideas in your mind and helps solidify them
Sounds like you're a good guy and you would just like to tackle this area of your life and get it handled
ok
Did you take a woman with you to help you choose clothes? They love to be asked their opinions about something and its a good way to do something together building trust/friendship with a wing girl.

You don't need to spend a lot of money to look good, but just a few basics that you can mix and match. There's plenty of style advice online
Great you want to look better and feel better in yourself, if this helps then go for it. Personally I think a lot of people who want to get good at game, spend too much time in the gym when they could be running online game/daygame but each to their own. I would always prioritize game over other activities if you want to get good at game, do game. If you're spending most of your time in the gym, then you've already prioritized gym over game if you catch my drift?
Great - I believe game is around 70% inner game and 30% outer games/social hacking. If you work inner game and crack it you'll be better than twice as good as a guy who worked outer game
Cool, reading around a subject gives us ideas for improving. Limiting beliefs are the killer to good game, we should always be challenging them and pressing ourselves to grow. Of course that will be painful in the beginning. All growth we do is difficult, just accept its necessary, and challenge your fears and break them down and overcome them, usually by just doing something over and over until it doesn't seem as bad as it did before. Then we realize that the only thing to fear is fear itself. The reality isn't usually that bad (93%) of the time say.
Cheers, I'll check these out I've not read them yet.
I have a mate who thinks along similar lines, I think he believes that using canned material is like decieving the woman or something, but his natural game is shit.

Naturals understand the essential parts of game and can improvise on the fly.

Now I think we can all be a natural, but you start with being natural in your opens: you find a good canned opener you believe in, try it out. (takes about half an hour of googling)

Think of it as "training wheels" like when you learn to ride a bicycle. it get you started and makes it easier to learn "the principles of game" as you always have an open now and don't have to think about what to say. This is what the canned opens are there for. To reduce hesitation and get you started. Think 3 second rule.

Whatever you use is down to you and where you go basically. Theres a a ton online you'll find easily, along with a load of shit ones.

Yes granted hot women will have heard all the classic openers before but you will find some cute women who haven't or have but like the fact you're trying to game them.

Repeat and practice a lot so you "internalize" the opener and overcome shyness around women.

Find a few more openers and rinse and repeat to see where the sticking points are.

Learning to decide which are good and will work for you is a big part of the challenge. Then the question is why do certain ones work for you better than others. Now you're realizing your strengths and weaknesses and are starting to develop a style of your own.

Once the openers have been internalized, you'll find you should be able to start adapting them and tweaking them depending on the circumstances. This is natural as you are tailoring your open now to that specific girl and the location whatever.

Its social hacking basically.
Good recognizing your problem is the start of learning to deal with it. Everyone feels it, its just the trick is to not care and push through it. Its a bit similar to giving a talk or presentation, if you know you've prepared well for it, then you know you will do ok despite feeling nervous. Do you feel anxious at the gym? I suspect not because you go there a lot it seems.
Sounds like if you go places more often then you're less nervous - simply go to them more and your anxiety will disappear. You could drop your gym sessions by half and use that time to game more girls in different venues for a couple of weeks.
I specialize in online game, yes its hard in the beginning but the results are repeatable over the long term in terms of getting multiple women interested at a time overcoming oneitis. I have chatted to thousands of women online, yes its difficult but can be done and is well worth the effort.
Do you mean escalate on a date to what level?

I wouldn't go much more than socially accepted touching/hugs/high fives and recommend keeping kissing to a minimum, and not getting too touchy feely on a date. This is so her anti slut defence doesn't kick in. Early on in game I thought if I was kissing girls and cuddling them a lot on a date they would want to sleep with me more(and this is true perhaps for a same day lay if that's possible) but they realise that if they see you again another day and come back to your place what you will be doing(rude fun), and they get freaked out and make excuses and flake because their social conditioning demands it.

If a girl comes back to your place, great, I believe she is saying she's open to more! - obviously I'm not saying get carried away or do anything stupid, be the same cool guy she was on a date with - but increase your escalation, sit closer to her on the sofa, arm around her, play with hair, kiss her then get up and offer her a cup of tea or something. This attracts her, you're spontaneous, and because she sees you as spontaneous you can "be spontaneous" about just about everything now and are less likely to be rejected should you go for the lay.
I liked this, you're on the right track, assume she's bored and wants a break. Good thinking! She'll let you know if she's busy but will respect you for trying.
Yeah I know that feeling, depends on the girl, some like older, some younger, you never know unless you talk to her though. I think around 30-40% like older.
Oneitis is a game killer. By having multiple women to chat to from online dating prevents this as you always have another woman to chat to and have an "abundance mentality", I appreciate if you don't have an abundance of women, its difficult to think of having but its necessary and you should have a plan to achieve this and press through and achieve it by whatever means you think would work best for you.
Yes getting out more and if you want to game women, spend more time gaming women, reading about it and trying patterns out. I'd also recommend more online game to get a few more numbers in your phone.