Week 8 – Sunday

The qualification section on Sunday by Mr. M was money. It was really, really good. Why? Well, I didn't understand qualification as well back in Oslo/London, but now that I've successfully done it more than a few times, this really struck a chord with me. So far, Mr. M has been the only instructor who hasn't strictly taught qualification through the hoop theory.

The part that stood out was when he went over his section of accusatory qualification (done earlier), and statement-based qualification (done later). I liked the deeper explanation and categorization of things like the Whole Room Destroyer as well as the WILKYs (you know what I like about you… etc…). I won't go into everything I thought was useful, but it was good… really broadened my understanding of the topic.

The re-cap of the students was also particularly useful. Why? Well, there was a portion where Mr. M talked about how to not let your state get affected too much. He talked about stories where he'd gotten blown out 3 times in a row and then found a hot blonde and successfully opened her. It was the stories from Mr. M and Helicase about having opened 10+ sets the night before and only have a few of them open. It was the internalization of the idea that not all sets will open, no matter who you are… even if you're Mr. M or a good looking guy like Helicase. It was something about hearing them recount their actual experiences that made it all the more real, that you really can't care. You just can't be a pussy and care about things like getting blown out of an opener. The talk really gave me a kick in the ass.

The bootcamp was useful in a lot of ways. It re-aligned me and got me back to my current state of mind. Seeing Mr. M in set gave me a much better picture of the persona/style that works for me, and the style I should be pursuing it. Watching him direct open hot girls with no hesitation was reinforcement that guys that look like me can do it, and hearing stories of blow-outs and watching blow-outs happen further reinforced all of it. As I was telling M, it wasn't necessarily the theory that helped, but all the other little things that came from just being around everyone.