My no-nonsense review of drills 2.0 (NYC – Jan 2008) - PART 2

[yeayea]

Some notes on the instructors, some tips on taking Drills, some of the downsides, and my final recommendation. Plus bonus LR!

* The instructors:

Brian: Brian basically lead the Drills. I hung on every work like it was gold. I wrote everything down and was fully focused on what he had to say. Brian is amazing and has greatly influenced the evolution of the Drills concept and the natural game concept. Brian will be a guru in his own right in no time. Very cool and domaninant presence. You get the feeling like you dont want to fuck with this guy and yet he is very nice and sincere. One minute he is explaining the concept of the shiva and shatki and the next his is quoting Ghostface Killah from Wu Tang. This is how he is. The guy knows some profound knowledge but is able to filter it down to just what is practical and useful. No fancy techniques. Just real advice.

Orleans: Cocky. little. prick. LOL Or at least thats what I was expecting. Yet meeting him he has surprising warmness. He is definitely cocky, yet is vibe is not “Im better than you” its “Im having the time of my life and I dont give a fuck what anybody thinks.” Big difference. I saw him give a talk that he posted on his blog and thought his vibe was awesome so I was very excited to meet him in person. He was a big inspiration for me during the Friday night in field session – keep reading!

Heartwork: This guy is surprisingly good. And he is only like 17. To be honest, during drills he was very soft spoken and at times I couldnt hear him over the others talking. So I was wondering what was his deal, but knew he must be good have been chosen by Vin. Seeing him in the field removed any doubts. He is amazing. I dont think I have ever seen anyone have as much enthusiasm and fun in the field as he does. I mean he is literally running around talking to people without hesitation. Most people hesitate he goes for it. Its not just that he has no fear, its beyond that: he gets energized by socializing. I mean you cant stop the guy. He is 17 and yet he is the one negotiating with the bouncers to get us into the club. Talk about balls. When we needed to get some girls together to get into one lounge Heartwork was the one approaching everyone. In barnes and noble Heartwork had a stack of dating books and was running around spitting cheezy lines at every woman in the store and having the time of his life. When Pickup Prof got the number from a girl who rejected another instructor's student (from a competing company) Heartwork was on the escalator talking shit: “Whats up D?! We got the number!”. Best image I can come up with is while everyone is talking strategy about how to approach a set, Heartwork is off has probably opened them already. The thing I remember most is Orleans shaking and holding his head while Heartwork is off wreaking havoc.

Now that being said, Heartwork is surprisingly perceptive and knowledgeable and not just all balls no brains. I emailed him to get feedback about the workshop and what he told me summarized my biggest sticking point to a tee. I was really quite impressed because it was as if he knew me for a year. That demonstrated to me that he is not just a highly sociable person, but a highly competent instructor as well. On top of that, to be so perceptive at such a young age is truly incredible. He has quite a career ahead of him.

Vin: What can I say about Vin. He is my guru no question. I have followed his career for over a year now and hang on his every word. He is so calm and quiet it is hard to get a read on his abilities or how it is that he does what he does. He would just kind of chill out while the drills were going on and throw in advice here and there. I wish I had a chance to see him in action, but it was great just to be around the master and learn from him. I truly respect this guy and what he has created here.

* First time dancefloor-to-bedroom pull and full close! (Mini-LR)

On our first night out, I was frustrated with AA during a dancefloor approach and I was just like “no way!.. im pushing through this tonight!” So naturally, Orleans was the man I went to find. “Kick my ass! Get me in set! Ill do anything” I think that is what I said. Sure enough I found myself dancing with a cute asian girl that night. (I did an almost blind approach – I saw her dancing and immediately approached with big (hands up) and dominant body language. Within minutes she had her hands on my chest and was pulling me close to her) After 20 minutes of dancing and touching on the dancefloor I have Orleans yelling “kiss her” from behind me. I was apprehensive about escalating on in the venue, but went for it. 20 minutes after that the guys are telling me to pull. (Its quite funny having guys coach you in the field, im trying to play it casual and Brian is making grabbing motions with his hands and Orleans is like “kiss her man!” Crazy.) So I say something like “Im hungry, lets go eat” “OK” she says. Well that was easy! We bounce to a cab then directly to my place. Sexual tension was high and I already established comfort through kino, but I new she wasnt the “type of girl” who would sleep with me so quickly, so I kept the dominance high, at one point manhandling her by picking her up and slamming her against the wall as we made out. But I was careful not to set off any alarms and just went for stomach to stomach contact, ignored the breasts and removing any more clothes. I had her ride me with clothes on till she got hot and ready, then went for the sneak attack (fingering her pussy from behind). She was so ready at that point there was no question anymore. I think it was 3 hours from meet to close.

I had some experience behind me to help me, but having the coaches there to push, inspire and guide me (as well as distract her friends!) made it happen. Next morning I show up for breakfast and everyone is like “Well..?” Im like “All I know is that the RAMP works!” I know Orleans was proud.

* Downsides:
Despite everything said so far and a truly incredible weekend I have to be honest and give a balance account of some of the negatives:
-Drills booklet doesnt include the actual drills. So dont count on it to be helpful afterwards. If you do take this bootcamp be sure to take good notes on the actual instructions. Luckily I did once I realized that the book wasnt helpful. I since emailed Heartwork about this and he assures me that they are working out a way to get us that information. Hopefully, this will be solved by the next round of Drills.
-The in-field sessions could have been better organized. Well, Saturday at least. I mean, its not easy getting 10 guys into a lounge on a Saturday night, but we almost lost a night in the field because there was no backup plan. On the flip side, 2 day game sessions were added which were not part of the original itinerary, so that was great.
-I didnt get to see many in field demos. That would have been very helpful, but both night sessions were so chaotic it was difficult to pay attention what was going on. Plus I had to leave early the first night I really wanted to see Vin in action, that would have made the experience all the more incredible.
-Finally, the weekend was so long and exhausting that I didnt get a chance to get feedback from the team on my SP s. The website says that the bootcamp will identify 60 sticking points or something but there was not one-on-one sit down at the end of the weekend like I was kind of expecting. However, feedback was given throughout the workshop and was very helpful and insightful. Also I emailed the instructors after the weekend and they all gave me good feedback at that point.

* Bottom Line:
The weekend is incredible, no doubt. As one bootcamp partner exclaimed “they are actually breaking down human interaction!” during his ah-ha moment. Its not for everyone, but if you are not satisfied with the standard approach that the community offers, check out Vin DiCarlo. If you are already sold on Vin's approach to women, socializing and the game, I would say to go for it no question. It is pricey but in my mind, if you are committed to this, it is money invested in your life and its hard to put a price on that. Just come with an open mind and readiness to learn. This is not a magic bullet. This is a new way of thinking about and approaching the game. It is a new outlook: meeting and succeeding with women is easy and natural. After that, it will be up to you to put in the work and create your own success. I am already on my way and am moving through sticking points.

* Tips if you are going to Drills:
-take detailed notes of the drill instructions (until the booklet issue is fixed)
-be proactive during the in-field sessions – the guys are very helpful but if you just stand around you wont get attention – dont be afraid to just grab them and say “kick my ass!”
-come well rested and with an open mind – treat this as the big game – you want to be healthy and able to focus, absorb the most information you can and perform

And thats all I have to say about that.

[Pickup Professor]

At the rate you are progressing, I am wondering if Vin will one day ask you to join his team? As I said in another post, I am learning from you every time we hit the streets of NYC.

[Orleans]

You're damn straight I was proud of you when you sauntered up to the table at breakfast on Saturday morning. You didn't even need to say a word... the look in your eyes told it all.

It was a pleasure working with you this weekend and be sure to stay in touch.

[Heartwork]

(Just to clear things up, I am 18, girls are no longer breaking the law haha)

Hey man!

I am glad to see your write up, I have really looked forward to it

You are an amazing student and deserve all the success you are getting

Please keep me posted and know that you can always email me with sticking points that you continue to come across and that goes the same for all my students.

As I mentioned before, the original manual was uploaded online and someone began practicing the drills with no coaching. Which is a very dangerous thing to do. He was doing them out of order, doing them wrong and not properly applying the new feedback system. Imagine internalizing bad habits because you have been drilling them in by not doing drills the right way and with a lack of coaching.

Now he is complaining to be all fucked up because of it and Vin and I get like 3 emails a day begging for us to fix him because of his own destructive behavior.

We are concerned for our students and are taking careful steps with the new Drills manual because it is even more powerful than the original.

A solution will be found and we will keep you posted.

While in field, all instructors will do clear cut pick up demos for student but a demo is not always approaching every girl in the club and leaving none for students. Through taking a closer look, instructors are always demoing by acting natural and interacting with everyone (like me and the waitress when we got breakfast). Your success is more important than ours, we will always do demos however after drilling concepts in all day we like to make sure that you are internalizing what you have learned. It is more productive for someone like you that was making progress fast, to have us guiding you through a set rather than us showing you how we would do it. We feeling pushing you to succeed in a set is the most important. And it seemed to pay off big time on Friday night haha ; )


As for feedback, The reason why feedback is given DURING the drills and not compressed at the end, is because we feel feedback is only effective when you're in a "stressed" state

The feedback during drills changes your behavior rather than giving you a conscious diagnosis that might lead to limiting beliefs like "I need to be more outgoing"

Cramming suggested sticking point solutions at the end would be very unproductive to you final internilzations of the drills. Thats why we encourage you to go out after drills and see where your sticking points are, and when you come across them, you go back to the drill that addresses it and fine tune the skill.


Glad you had such an amazing weekend, it was a pleasure having you! You brought an amazing vibe to the bootcamp and was always super focused. I think your results are reflective of that, I will be watching you closely, keep up the great work!

Love,
Heartwork

[yeayea]

thanks guys - will be sure to keep you posted and take you up on the offer to help me with my sticking points - ive started a journal and will record my daily thoughts, realizations and questions

heartwork - your points are well taken concerning the field work and feedback - of course i would have wanted another 3 days of being in the field with you guys but there is only so much that can be done in a weekend - i guess i just want it all! lol

[Brian]

Hey thanks for the kind words man.

Real quick I want to address the manual thing - there are a couple reasons why manuals are designed the way they are. First of all, if you look over the progression of the drills, you will see a deeper intelligence behind the program, and will understand how the three levels of the hierarchy work together in an elegant way. Specific steps for the drills aren't as clear as teh old manual for 3 main reasons.

1. Each instructor is different, and that's a good thing. The manual is not dogmatic, allowing LOTS of stylistic freedom on the part of the instructors and students. In fact, I've already varied the drills in the last two workshops I did, compared to NYC.

2. The drills are not meant to be done unsupervised because some heavy shit comes up when guys begin the drills program. We know that guys will show their friends and so forth, and without proper guidance, some of these drills could result in a lot of emotional upset.

3. The manual was designed to allow TONS of opportunities for notes/insights on YOUR specific issues. By making room for the feedback keys, we minimized the drill "rules," which we figured would be fine since the "rules" change from program to program and student to student.

Keep in mind, for each drill, I explained the process very slowly, and the steps are never more than 3-4, and quite simple. My intention was for you to write the steps down if you needed to, which is why I gave my "write shit down" spiel

Remember, this is about individual style and unique personality, and that required a different approach to the manual.

Sounds like you're doing well btw...I was really impressed by how focused you were, as well as how fast you made "big picture" connections. That will serve you well.

[yeayea]

thanks guys - the post-drills support has been great and is really helping me advance quickly

Heartwork - i totally hear what your saying about demos - i definitely think the value of seeing you guys in the field is more to pick up on the vibe rather than seeing technical demos - its good to experience it, feel it and be able to model it - you running around the bookstore with a stack of books really inspired me to have more fun when i go out - just feeling that energy was extremely valuable and i tapped into that a bit when i went out last night

Brian - my understanding of the drills system is that it is important to continue to practice the drills - my intention was to master each one - thats just how i imagined the system was intended to work - master the drills and then your responses will be automatic in the field - i hear what your saying about some of the emotional shit - that is more of a inner core shift and needs to be done with a qualified instructor - but i think it would be very helpful to drill the more technical conversational stuff - cold reads, role playing, shaping, threading, etc. - that is the part that takes time/practice to learn i think - i mean, i took really good notes but some of the drills i have no idea what they are about

[Brian]

yeah you were pretty busy taking notes on all the big picture stuff in between. I'd be glad to fill any blanks you have. email me and I'll help you with that.

[yeayea]

cool, thanks