Day 26b:
I CRUSHED IT
Yesterday started of really good. I got up early, had slept well and plenty. I was productive throughout the morning and did sports where I beat my personal pull-up record. I was hoping all this positive momentum would carry over to the drills. Unfortunately, it didn't. Before going out, I was scared af. I prepared by dressing up nice but I still felt not ready and had low self-esteem towards my looks right there and then. I didn't want to keep stalling uselessly and the only thing I allowed myself to do before going out was a breath meditation. I had plenty of time afterwards anyway and I was hoping that would pump me up. It was an energizing breath meditation, I could feel my whole body tingling. It was actually good. I have done these meditations occasionally for a while on the recommendation of a friend and finally got good at it and it became useful. Either way, there was of course still a lot of fear but I went out and just got started.
Because today was such a blast and I highly exceeded my expectations, I wanna share my approaches in detail. The memorable approaches have more detail. I did 27 attempts and 15 successful Arnold reps. Only 10 were required and I didn't even count the ones from my first try. I had a success rate above 50% and that includes failed attempts where the chick was simply on the phone and stuff like that.
(-) The first attempt was on a chick in a mask. After the "Ready?" She said No. I jumped to the interpretation of "no I don't want to play" and walked away. Only realized that that was dumb after the fact. But the approach broke the inactivity and got me rolling.
(1) This attempt was the first successful rep of the day. I was waiting for the train and decided to approach a chick that was waiting at the same train station. I am usually quite shy when it comes to that because I fear the awkwardness of standing there afterwards and continue waiting for the train. So I left my comfort zone. I did it on her three times (the spam-method). She was confused and wanted me to explain it to her after I gave her the third chance. I said I can't and walked off. So I sat there on a bench like 20 meters away and she got up from her bench and started pacing up and down in front of it. She looked over at me, and when we made eye contact she made a fake judgy look and shook her head. A few minutes later she walked past me just to tell me while passing by "theoretically, you owe me an explanation". She said it in a tone of trying to convince me to explain it while trying to conceal how hard she wanted to know it. Fucking amazing. I REALLY fucked with her head
(2) A train came, but not mine and I decided to do it again on the train platform I was waiting on. This time it was a group of three chicks. I once again got it through spam. There were roughly ten people around that saw and heard me. No fucks given.
(-) I can't count this attempt which is unfortunate, because she was super receptive, but I once again asked "who is your daddy and what's his name" She replied with "Klaus" immediately. Well shit happens. The name-slip-up happened to me a lot, not because I was nervous, but simply because this is what is stuck in my brain as the sequence haha. Most of the times I realized immediately though and corrected it.
Between now and the next approach I had a 30min train ride so the social momentum I had gathered died down mostly. Sitting upright and breathing deeply through my nose kept up the mood though.
(3) Did it on a chick right when I exited the train on a platform. Her dad is retired.
(-) She was out upon me saying that we are play a game
(4) Success through spam on a walking chick
(5) Success through spam and did the challenge on her
(-) Had headphones in and was talking on her phone
(-) rather wanted to read
(-) didn't want to play, said it was spooky. The "ready?"-questions gives the girls an easy escape option which is unfortunate.
(6) Success through spam on a walking chick
(7) Two chicks sitting on the grass. One said that the other is her daddy
(8) Her daddy's name was Andreas and he is a mayor
(9) Success through spam, just 10 meters from the last attempt. She asked me which stag party I was part of. I did the challenge and shouted at her that I am John Kimball which startled her, that was super funny. She didn't get what was going on and wanted me to explain. I told her I can't but that she could ask the other chick I did the challenge on next to her.
(10) I walked up to a group of five chicks that were pretty hot. I succeeded through spam. Feels like a huge achievement because you basically have to manage all five chicks attention and if one goes sour, the whole group can turn but I managed to do it.
Even though I was done with the required drills I wanted to keep going to get more exposure and because it was actually super fun fucking around with these chicks and having so much success.
(-) walking Chick, couldn't stop her
(11) 2 Girls with dogs. Success through spam
(-) on phone
(12) approached two walking chicks that were ahead of me on the street. Had success with spam. One of them only spoke English well so I switched language halfway in. I noticed that they had tags on their chests so I asked them about it because I was curious. I was beyond my required reps so I decided I might as well do some small-talk afterwards. I did not attempt or plan to get numbers, don't want to mix that with drills. Turns out they are missionaries trying to tell people about Jesus. They were surprised because usually they are the ones approaching people. I was like haha I guess it's a UNO reverse card. I think they were impressed by my forwardness in approaching, they didn't seem super extroverted and were probably approaching people in a conservative manner. They wanted me to explain the game but I said I couldn't. Wished them good luck and left.
(-) didn't want to play
(-) didn't want to play, were being approached by people every 2min
(13) I was scared because she looked really hot from afar, but wasn't so much though close-up. She was shy and wanted to move on I think, so I had to be persistent. I succeeded through spam. She said in the end that she is sorry and lost on things like this and that it is generally not her day. Haha she was the one in the end feeling self-conscious and shy, what an unexpected turn of events.
(14) I stopped two GORGEOUS chicks that were walking. They said they needed to keep going to catch the street lights but I was persistent and was like it's only two minutes and said I'll walk with you. The lights turned red so I had them and could continue while standing. I did the challenge on them too, the looks were super confused/weirded out. After the second round one of them replied "It's none of your business" and so it was successful rep.
I headed back to the train station at this point. But I was thirsty for more and wanted to see if I could repeat the success after a break of just walking for a while.
(-) didn't want to play
(-) I walked past a chick standing near an ATM. I turned around and approached her. I was well aware from the start that the guy at the ATM was probably her boyfriend or husband. She didn't want to play and yes he definitely belonged with her and also said they didn't want to play. They spoke poor German, I think they might have even been some poor confused tourists haha. Having the chance to approach a chick while her boyfriend is distracted was such a big chance to step out of my comfort zone that I HAD to do it.
(15) Succeeded through spam. She turned out to be shy but looked like she was in a bad mood from afar so it was scary to approach. Maybe it was just projection of AA. She was wearing a mask which I usually hate to deal with but I didn't even think of it this time.
I stopped myself from further approaching after that. It is like when you are doing sports and trying to acquire a new skill, let's say a handstand. It is better to not practice it until complete exhaustion, because then the last few tries will not be very good because you are tired and you will leave the training session with a negative feeling.
One thing that I did not do 100% properly was the challenge. You are supposed to shout "I'm detective John Kimball". I either shouted "I'm John Kimball" or "I'm John Kimball, no interruptions!". It was not really on purpose but just because I couldn't burp the correct sequence out in the moment and there were not enough opportunities to get the phrasing right. Still happy though about it.
On thing I did slightly different to the original drill is based on translation difficulties: The tense of "We are gonna play a game" doesn't exist in German grammar. I had the option of saying "We will play a game", which sounds weird, and "We are playing a game", which is closer to the assertive nature, so I chose that. It lead to some girls not being sure who the "we" is, but I clarified upon question.
Learnings/ thoughts on the drill:
- doing it on localized girls (standing, sitting) is much easier. Walking chicks are absolutely possible though
- I think putting emphasis on the "what does he do" instead of the "daddy" part can be somewhat effective in preventing walkaways due to the sexual daddy-associations.
- spam does NOT equal doing it fast, quite the contrary. Doing it in a normal speed while consciously using gesture and facial expressions and eye contact is much better in keeping the girls off the though of quitting. It also helps lead the conversation and prevent interruptions
- I think I was this successful also because I had great social momentum and mood. That resulted in friendliness, assertiveness, good body posture and relaxed breathing. There is no way to overstate the importance of assertiveness. If your "we are gonna play a game" has the slightest tone of being a question or asking for permission, your success rate will plummet.
Absolute blast of a day.
offwego said:
Where did you do the Arnold drill? Somewhere other than the park?
Saturday I did it near the river but unfortunately started at a spot far from the city center. Yesterday I did it in the park mostly. Lots of sitting girls. Perfect for this drill.
wasn't expecting this haha. 
