Ampers&'s Alpha Male Journal [COMPLETE]

[Ampersnd]

Stage 3, Day 1

This is exciting. I'm definitely feeling the pull between where I am and where I can be (a 5% more evolved version of me), and I can feel it when I breathe in deeply. That might not make any sense, but it does to me.

I'm soaking up a bunch of YouTube clips that center around:
1) RSD: Real Social Dynamics (Self-Improvement Based "Pickup"). Really funny videos that dig in. I posted one a couple of days ago.
2) Mastery, and the fact that talent is greatly overrated: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQoM7_CKsZo

I must find a way that's stimulating, gradual, consistent AND rewarding for ALL of my endeavours; languages, school, body and workout, music, dating and sex. Damn, this subliminal is kicking butt, and it's only been one day!

If the following days give me the answers to elaborate, plan and execute this insight, I'll be jumping for joy.

Notably, getting a good night's sleep will not only be monumental, but it will be an amazing time management skill, not only in quantity of hours, but quality.

I'm thinking of precise subliminals that will aid me in those abilites; Life Tune Up 5G, Maximum Learning Speed 4G, Improve Grades and Study Habits 4G. Several of the 3G subs will be 4G by the time that I finish Alpha Male. Many of these subs will have to be taken during my intermission between Alpha Male and whatever 5G program (WM2.0, SM3.0, Ultimate Musician/Vocalist 5G [Shannon.. right..?]).

I leave for Ottawa tomorrow, will get there by the evening, and I have the weekend to get the new diet (groceries; almost Atkins in nature for the first month to normalize insulin and become insulin-sensitive), as well as determine any and all important date between now and my time off (6 weeks) and then dedicate my time to execute them. I'm a champion!

[Ampersnd]

The minute that I left this comment, I came up with a solution for a problem that I had.

I want to find an accountability partner for every single arena in my life (music, languages, dating, etc), and I will either:

i) Find a website that will aid me (I've posted a question on Yahoo Answers)
ii) Create a Facebook group that will help me make these connections, and do this for others as well
iii) Hunt these people down individually

[Fonzy3]

Good idea on the facebook group. When you say "partner" do you mean female companionship or anyone? I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.

Thanks

Fonzy

[Ampersnd]

Hey Fonzy,

I generally mean any person; for example, I make a guitarist friend with whom we meet regularly to stay on top of guitar-related activites. I make a vocalist friend with whom we meet to stay on top of vocal practice. Same with each of the languages that I'm learning.

If I have female companionship who would help me with such things, I see the possibility of things either going very wrong or very well. I could leverage sex to do what I have to (no sex until I do my Korean exercises!), but she might feel used.

[Ampersnd]

Stage 3, Day 2

I feel like the change is happening. I took the train back to my apartment.
This ex-friends with benefits mind break up with her boyfriend.
But I'd prefer I focus on (as online marketers call them) "organic" leads.

Gotta sleep; my fridge is near empty, so I'll stock up tomorrow.

[Ampersnd]

Stage 3, Day 4

Felt a crop of insecurity at work today; it left about 3-4 hours into work.

Today, I woke up at 6:25am and did a runthrough of my morning ritual. I have to get the hang my new 8-hour eating window, making sure to keep a track of the proteins and fats that I'm eating.

Guys, I'm seriously looking into the topic of mastery. I'm contemplating commiting to a 3-4 hour a day ritual for music practice. So far, it's planned into 4 parts:

i) Electric Guitar
ii) Acoustic Guitar
iii) Vocals (longer than 1 hour)
iv) Live performance (Acoustic & Vocals) (Slightly shorter than 1 hour)

I have individual goals and potential things to throw into each one. I have the time, so why not? Especially when I have sleep handled, I will have more disposable time to dedicate to this.

I'll need to plan it out to the minute so that I have no option but to succeed. Such an idea has haunted me since I've read up on the 10,000 hour rule.

4 hours a day * 360 days a year = 1440 hours; a huge chunk of that time.

In Malcolm Gladwell's book "Outliers", there was a study showing that the violinists that practiced a total of 4,000 hours in their lifetimes became 'music-teacher' good, the ones that practiced a life total of 8,000 hours in their lives became 'very-good', and the ones that hit 10,000 hours were 'first-violinist at their symphony orchestra' good.

I want the ability to improve my abilities for more flexibility as a musician, not necessarily to become a virtuoso like Steve Vai, where his livelihood depends on his technical ability. More hours, for me, means more rope, more options.

[SargeMaximus]

Mastery eh? Try reading the book of the same name by George Leonard, great read that one.

As for goals, my cousin was telling me the other day how Tony Robbins or someone said that 90% of your goals will fail simply because of how the mind works. For new years resolutions in particular, something like 90% of people have cheated/failed within the first 30 days.

It's staggering how set in our ways we are as a species.

[Dee]

Tell me about it (the resolution thing), am still telling my self I'll start tomorrow, and making excuses. Am 1/2 way through Mastery by Robert Greene its a good read too. But I have to disagree with the 10,000 hour rule, the brain if your friend and can help you master things quicker if you know how to bribe it. but its a good rule expectation wise

[Fonzy3]

Tell me about it (the resolution thing), am still telling my self I'll start tomorrow, and making excuses. Am 1/2 way through Mastery by Robert Greene its a good read too. But I have to disagree with the 10,000 hour rule, the brain if your friend and can help you master things quicker if you know how to bribe it. but its a good rule expectation wise

Wow, I am very attracted to reading that book, Mastery. Do you feel like more of a naturalist? I like the idea that you have to bribe your brain. Dan four things to master for you i'm sure will be simple this year. You'll probably have 40 things you are working on and accomplishing by the end of the year.

Thanks

Fonzy

[Ampersnd]

I'm going to answer all of your questions and comments.

I'm planning on hitting my public library tomorrow and get these books:

i) Mastery: George Leonard
ii) Talent is Overrated: Geoffrey Colvin
iii) The Power of Habit: Charles Duhigg
iv) The Sports Gene: David Epstein
v) Mastery: Robert Greene
vi) 48 Laws of Power

All of these books have differing perspectives on mastery.

@SargeMaximus (2nd time typing this),

It's probably because of a failure to plan. If I simply wrote "practice music for 4 hours a day", my brain would get distracted and latch on to something systemized (like the internet). You must plan down to 5, 10, 15 minute intervals. Say I practice scales for 5 minutes, do arpeggios for 10 minutes, and practice a song for 30 minutes as a pet project, suddenly, I don't have enough time to fill with all the stuff that I want to do, which is VERY good (instead of trying to find stuff to fill all that time).

I won't commit until I can write out an elaborate and feasible plan for these 4 hours, either 4 individual 1 hour plans, or 1 large chunk. I'll probably do 2 x 2 hours, one for the guitars, one for vocals and performing, to make it more accessible throughout the day.

Here's my morning ritual, and I hope to make it in this same format for music. http://www.intervaltimer.com/timers/3908998 . You just set it up and go.

Stage 3, Day 5 (Part 1)
Today, I woke up at 5:30, and did my first run through of my morning ritual. I got to class early, and am engaged in my classwork. I need to get on top of my books.

I then replaced my student card (finally), so I can scan it anywhere (the old one was worn out). I went to the gym and did my first run workout for 'Engineering the Alpha'.

Partway through, I see this one woman, very cute, but looked like she had a wall up. I decided to approach her between my supersets. I said (in English) "I hate to be random, but I think you're cute, and wanted to say hi." I was surprised at the lack of any negative emotions. She said her name in a French accent, so I shot back in French. That's her prefered language. She opened up immediately and was very sweet to me. We chatted as if we've known each other for months. We cut it off, and we went back to our workout.

Near the end, she's off doing something else, and I go back, say it was good to see her, and basically asked "When I introduced myself in English, did you catch everything I said?". She said yes. Then I respond, "In that case, I would love to see you again, if circumstances permit". She has a boyfriend, but she felt so bad about it, told me that I made her day. We kept chatting, then I said 'adieu'.

Lesson learned: no matter how much a women seems to have a shield up, go in regardless. You'll often be pleasantly surprised, especially during the day. Women expect it more at night, so they might have some resistance.

[Ampersnd]

@Dee; though 10,000 isn't the exact number where you suddenly turn into super-ninja-master, but we can both agree that practicing a lot (correctly, challenging yourself, and constantly developping), that's better than not practicing a lot.

[Ampersnd]

Stage 3, Day 5 (Part 2)

After coming home from the intense workout, I had an epic omelette with Canadian bacon; high fat and high protein has a cost; it's very hard to pack on all the calories that I need. I'm trying to hit 2,300.

I showered, then used my newly-bought 'Sleep Magic' for the time; I felt great the whole time. I realised that I didn't fall asleep, BUT I still had my subs running... Oops. Next time, turn that off.

It gave me a boost at work today, feeling positive.

After work, I met up with a female friend at a coffee shop. Now, I'm seeing attractive women more and more; my mind is accepting beautiful women as a reality. Especially with the fact that I didn't care. I saw one on a date, and when I left with my friend, I noticed this beautiful woman walking in.

When I dropped my friend off at the bus station. I head back in; she had sat down. I went to my original spot and pretended to have forgot something (my wallet). She checks her phone, stands up, and head over the "toppings" stand (straws, covers), 10 feet away from me. I walked past her and... pussied out. DAMN. That's 1000x worse than getting rejected.

But, I learned so much today; don't posture, and approach the women that seem a bit cold (even this one was).

[Ampersnd]

Btw, I was being a total dick to my female friend without even noticing. That's not nice !

[Ampersnd]

Stage 3, Day 6

Same story with women today; approach one, back out of the other. The woman I talked to was very receptive and very open (and very French as well). The other one, I bitched out on.

I think I need to fEFT away approaching women in certain situations which previously would have me back out:
i) Woman in a group with people she knows
ii) Woman surrounded with people she doesn't know
iii) Woman in an awkward position
iv) Woman with men
v) Woman in line for a purchase

I need to FasterEFT all situations that I experience in my day to day experience; I visualise in the mornings, so I can work on that then. Natural Grounding is looking pretty good; that woman that I chatted with was very feminine and receptive to conversation, right after doing this set. On a side note: I appreciate a woman more when she's lifting freeweights; I don't know, the sex would probably be better.

Also, my looks are improving, just in general. I've looked into a video about Blink (Malcolm Gladwell), and it says that people make snap judgements within the first 2 seconds - or less - of people, things, places, and then their conscious mind makes up the reasoning as to why they've made the judgement. People who educate themselves deeply in a subject will make correct snap judgements, and are more likely to mess up their answer if they think about it too much.

By that logic, my responses should be pretty quick as well. Since I do that as well, I should be able to intuitively know if a woman is interested and if my pursuit will lead to some sexy-time.

I got up early at 5:30, snoozed until 5:50 (my sleep was horrible), went through the morning routine, did some school stuff, bought school books, hit the gym (felt much better after that), hit the library, where I took out exactly 0 books, went home and ate a whole lot before my feeding cycle finished up, then I (admitedly) killed a whole bunch of time. Then I chatted with an Italian speaker for roughly an hour on Skype. I improved over the hour (since I practice so little on spoken conversations).

I have to figure out my sleeping before anything else, which is why I'm leaving Deep Restful Sleep on loop through the day, and play Alpha Male during the night.

I'm going to sample the "Living the Law of Attraction" paraliminal by Paul Scheele tonight. I'll probably play it everynight when I'm kicking back at night.