I've just started on a 4 pack going sit back and watch this thread, better than Sky+

The internet is awash with slickly marketed magic bullet solutions aimed at blokes wanting shortcuts (marketing to men focusses on quick fixes and instant solutions whereas marketing to women focuses on scarcity).

Weight training and learning guitar are good examples. None of these things will deliver even a fraction of the promised benefit however a lot of it is essentially sound material that will yield some benefits if you work at it and have realistic expectations i.e. about 100th of the promised benefits.

PUA material should be viewed the same way. A PUA method isnt "worthless" because just because it wont bag you a 10 every night in the same way that a guitar scale method isnt worthless just because it doesnt turn you into steve via in 6 months.

Sticking to the OP, what has influenced who I am the most?

I'd say working in the family business as a child to earn my pocket money...it set a certain way of thinking that has been written all over my life ever since.

Having my heart crushed a long time ago by a girl who had serious baggage of her own, that escapade started me off down an unfortunate path that only recently I'm coming out of.

Reading The Game and the plethora of personal growth material l that followed has had a lot of effects, some good, some bad.

PS

I also think getting your heart crushed by a girl you love gives a weird sense of euphoria after it has all ended and gone quiet. And I do think you can come out of it better off usually.

I think The Game is a very good read, but I wouldn't say it helped me much in gaining confidence. I wish I read blueprint when I was like 14!

And also the things RLAJay mentioned in his post such as kino etc are very useful things to be mindful of

biggest influence in my life was my mate.

I didn't have good friends at school and then I met my mate. We have had many good times and he introduced me to the game. I remember one night he fucked this girl cos he fell asleep in her bed at a party.......that was it!! After that something clicked in my brain and it made sex seem easy........ish.

other good advice was a bloke at my work said the reason you strugle is that you try to pick up women. it's like that song "some times you miss all the good ones. cos you're trying too hard to see them."

other one was my uncle he's given me loads of advice like this one "most girls arn't worth the effort and will treat you like a cunt. there are some good ones and they're the ones you hold onto but they're rare"

An interesting post, I can relate to all of the comments in some way or another. I feel PUA theory affects everyone differently. Personally for me reading game i.e. magic bullets, mystery method and the likes got me more and more confused. I became convinced learning the latest pick-up line was the root to my success with women and from this I lost all confidence in myself because I had confidence in the pick-up lines, games and gambits which were getting me results, I soon became of the opinion that since these things worked so well I was was not good enough as a person and tried to adopt a new personality.

Without really realising I started to behave like an ass I became depressed and weird because I was trying to construct a 'pick-up identity' to better my chances with women. It was incongruent and showing my friends were even saying so. Despite some of the grief PU material caused me I cannot deny it has many worthy applications i.e. value theory, creating emotional connections with women, leading women etc. all basics and seemingly obvious stuff now but I learnt it from the books so that I must be thankful for.

Luckily I came to this site which pointed me in the right direction, since I have learnt to be myself and truth be told nothing has worked better. I'm more me than I ever have been some notable posts from jaz and kowalski on being 100% honest to people about your intentions has helped massively, and posts related to not caring what people think have also really been useful not only has my success with women increased, but i'm happier than ever and life is getting better and better.

Ive taken loads of stuff from here onboard subconsciously.
If i were to nail 2 factors down that massively changed me it is

1)not giving a shit (because you have options)
2)having loads of chicks on the go -- which is a catalyst for 1

success breeds more success

not being outcome dependant is massive-- again bouncing off 1