“Try not to pick fights with other lifestyle coaches” I told myself on January 1st. “They aren’t all cunts, and many of them have valuable things to say.”
I’m not sure how well I’ll keep that New Years resolution.
On Sunday, I woke up at 11am with a minging hangover having been out getting smashed with Team Krauser in London. It was a grand old night. I have video of three of us doing a drunken pull-up competition from the pub lighting rig, and a random American was sparked out in another pub right at the end of the festivities [1]
“This way, lads” said Jimmy, with conviction
So, I have a few cups of coffee and wander into Covent Garden to do a hastily-arranged consultation that Eddie talked me into when I was drunk. So far, so good. However as the session developed my client (not Eddie) happened to be asking a question related to other pick-up/lifestyle coaches. I won’t name names or give details.
“Such and such a coach said…..” our conversation went. “What do you think?”
Now, I happen to have a rather low opinion of this particular coach, but that’s not really the point, nor is the specific content we were discussing. What interests me today is this question: Why do you take his advice?, and this: Be careful who you listen to.
London daygame [2] from the beginning was hyper-documented so it’s relatively easy to review a man’s public record of his bona fides and then decide whether to take him seriously or dismiss him as “just another charlatan PUA”. The euro-jaunt scene is also fairly close knit so it’s also quite easy to ask around to find a few people who’ve hung out with the expert/clown in question.
So, first thing I did in this consultation session to give my thoughts was bring up this PUA’s Instagram and we scrolled through his photos. It was rather underwhelming for someone who claims to know enough that he’s marketing himself as a coach. The Instagram showed a few unattractive women, almost no friends, and lots of DLVing. A few red flags too. So, even if this guy’s advice is effective, he doesn’t seem to be taking it himself [3]
Ok, so now you’re all wondering who I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter. I’m not going to tell you. I’m just suggesting that before elevating someone above “random man on internet” you look critically at his publicly available bona fides [4] and if possible find credible witnesses. Don’t assume someone is an expert just because they have a podcast, or a website, or some big name guy is shilling for his products.
For example, here’s a big-ish name. Have a look at these photos and ask yourself whether he’s an expert or a clown. I won’t give my own opinion. Is he hiding anything in his, ahem, closet?
If you’d like to take advice from me, and pay for the privilege, you’ll definitely enjoy Daygame Infinite. It’s widely believed, by me, to be the best game book ever written
[1] He deserved it, I think. It was no reflection on how much we respect his president.
[2] And, increasingly, other schools of pickup
[3] Or he might be the one public PUA in the whole world who respects privacy too much to ever allow a photo of himself with a hot girl become public
[4] Or lack of them, as a dog that didn’t bark. See The Adventure Of Silver Blaze if you don’t know what that means
