I'm what they call a "natural." My game developed without any great amount of conscious effort; the circumstances of my life have just come together in a way that very gradually resulted in a proficiency at talking to, and sleeping with, women. This occurred relatively late in my life. Earlier on I was not proficient with social interactions at all. I left my home town to pursue my career, and my social skills did not noticeably improve. About three years ago, however, I returned. Seemingly overnight I had become a social maven. I realize now that the transformation was due to the great amount of life experience I had accumulated during my years abroad, and it wasn't noticed at the time because my social life while living out-of-town was virtually nonexistent due to the demands of my profession.

So, somewhat recently I began to consciously deconstruct how and why I was suddenly so socially proficient. This investigation is what led me to the seduction community. I began reading all the standard pickup literature. I've been studying body language, escalation techniques, openers and closers. Many of the principles I recognized as natural parts of my own behaviour; skills I had picked up through trial-and-error, which I learned to consistently produce positive results. Much, much more of the information was new to me. The most valuable aspects were introspective; the philosophy of why we seduce, rather than how.

Lately, however, I've noticed a strange phenomenon. My success has dropped off. I find myself approached by women less, despite conscious attention to my posture, my body language, and my sense of self-confidence. Women that I approach seem to respond less positively more often. How could this be?

I will discuss this using the example of physical escalation, though it's an effect I believe pervades all elements of "the game." Before I began investigating my own social behaviours, I recall initiating physical contact early and often with everyone. It is a habit I picked up after subconsciously observing it to be effective in thousands of interactions (my job while out of town required a great deal of interaction with the public). After much research into seduction, I now identify this physical contact as a tactic; it is no longer a natural affectation. I identify women I am attracted to, approach, and look for opportunities to escalate. Not necessarily a bad strategy, but I have gone from subconsciously charming an entire population, to focusing consciously and single-mindedly on charming one individual. Physicality is just one arena where I believe this effect to be present.

So, I suppose the moral here, for anyone who has taken the time to grind through all my rambling, is to avoid being too analytical. This material is all so very subtle, even being too conscious, too aware of it can throw it off. Maybe it's a bit haughty to quote Socrates, but he has one that sticks out to me as being particularly relevant to this idea:

Be as you wish to seem.