Inner Game or Outer Game – Which Should You Work On First?

Back when I became interested in “game” as a discipline distinct from simply going out and hitting on women, something called “routines’ were very much in vogue. Popularized by Neil Strauss’s The Game, routines were the gambits men would use to initiate and advance conversations with women in the hope of attracting them. They included jokes, stories, psychological tests, and even magic tricks. Guys would log into internet forums keen to learn and share the latest tips.

Having tight game back then really amounted to being able to “stack routines” – that is, to structure a set, building set-piece upon set-piece, until hopefully the girl was interested enough to allow you to escalate further.

But discussion on men’s forums began to concentrate more on self-improvement as people came to realize that no matter how slick their lines, if they didn’t have some tangible value to back them up, they would soon be stymied. This interest in personal development was a precursor to the manosphere as we know it today, with guys learning from each other on topics as diverse as finance, weight training, nutrition, fashion and lifestyle design.

You would imagine that these information streams in tandem – i.e. pick-up and self-improvement – would provide a very useful resource and you’d be right. But a problem arises when guys privilege one over the other, either spending their whole time learning pick-up to the detriment of their wider life, or the opposite.

One of the most common things you will hear newbies or those who have not had a great deal of success with women yet say is “I’m not really going out at the moment – I’m working on my inner game.” So persistent is this excuse that it has become something of a cliché.

Decision Time

Decisions

So what is best – to work on your inner game or your seduction skills? One will make you a more rounded, successful individual. The other, if mastered, could score you a lot of pussy.

It depends exactly what your ambitions are. You must be honest with yourself. If you are not particularly bothered about women, or are happy to forgo the pleasures they bring until you are established as a man, then by all means concentrate all of your energies on your inner game. Many at ROK would argue that this is the best course of action anyway.

Be careful of your motives, though. If your actual but concealed hope is that you will attract women simply by becoming a better man through self-improvement, then I’m afraid there are no shortcuts. You need to learn game.  Concentrate on the externals – at least for a while. The reason for this is simple – unless you become famous, no matter how much you build up your self-esteem, business, or even your body you will still need to learn how to approach and interact with girls.

The sad truth is that in the cruel world of the sexual marketplace it is the externals – your behavior, the way you carry yourself, and yes, the way you look – that counts. I have friends who are very wealthy who go to clubs and leave alone because they have no game. I have friends who are exceptionally good looking. For them meeting women is slightly easier – they get more of a pass for error – but they still rarely get approached and when they do they must know how to keep the conversation going and escalate in order to get consistent results.

Of course, the ideal scenario is that you work on your inner and outer game simultaneously. But if you are new and looking to get good with women, then I would advise that you put the latter first, for a while at least. It will strengthen your skillset, and you will find that you are naturally more inclined to improve other aspects of yourself as you grow.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should learn outdated, silly routines. What it does mean is that you should start going out consistently (either day or night, or both) and get used to having conversations with women where you are pushing for tangible outcomes – a phone number, a kiss, or more. This must be done hundreds of times before proficiency is acquired. Note that this is not about ‘pedestalising pussy – it’s about becoming a man empowered with choice in his sex life.

Only when you are comfortable in this particular area of your life should you pull back, reassess and turn the focus of your attention to other things.

Read More: Sorry, But Attraction Alone is Not Enough 

124 thoughts on “Inner Game or Outer Game – Which Should You Work On First?”

  1. You develop your inner game by going out and practicing your outer game. To me, there’s is no difference. Just a pause in reflecting how well or bad a night or day time encounter went.

    1. What we call game, our ancestors called social skills and lifestyle. I hate using this term ‘game’ as it was coined by subversive ‘gurus’ who make cash off simple tricks and then turn that into an industry. For example, David DeAngelo’s Cocky and Funny was useful, but he made so much cash off this and getting men to approach women. That industry is not so useful with third-wave feminism, and being redpill has better value for money. In fact, most PUA gurus have a 3% success rate for the best, with many disappearing off to Russia because the game is harder here with a lower ROI, and even David D. only fucked like 3-4 women, with pictures of his latest girl being subpar. At his wedding, he went full omega, getting down on bended knee and telling everyone about how he valued all the women he had dated in his life (his ex went to his wedding) and coming off as a beatified pussified provider. It doesn’t help that Neil Strauss and Mystery were both Zionists dedicated to the degeneration of society (Mystery is really a synonym for Mystery Babylon, not Mystery the magician) and PUA has resulted in much cash being wasted on gimmicks, and the social degeneration has gone on. You can google and research these things, they are both of ‘the tribe’. And then look at the west and see what goes on; the minority of redpill people with half a brain can put 2 and 2 together, as it seems many of the population at large can’t.

      1. I had no idea who David Deangelo is, so I looked him up and his wife….I would expect a PUA guy to be able to pull something better than this

        1. she looks like a tranny. What’s the point of learning game to end up with a Grinch like that. Even before I got into game I could get girls better than that.
          I thought I clicked on the wrong picture of her or something, I kept searching but nope that’s his wife smh

        2. If this is not the body-language of a beta or mangina, then I don’t know what is. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

        3. she is about to put that vulcan death grip thing on him. I only thought they taught that to young males

        4. Wow. And this was the man who has YouTubes all over being the “guru” for picking up “Hot” women?

      2. American PUA’s don’t understand the women just aren’t worth it, at all.
        In that sense they are very blue pill. They think if they act the right way they can get a young hot girl to do whatever they want.

  2. Given how out of sorts and painfully shy many men become after a huge breakup with their case of Oneitis, perhaps suggesting going out and talking to groups of any and everybody, male or female, would be in order? Every divorced guy I know goes through some period of nearly complete social isolation as a matter of course, that’s just not healthy, and given the modern pressure to shame him for daring to even feel bad about being dumped, could turn into something quite dire.
    Probably not directly related to the article of course, but I always get a strong urge to tell a good 60% of the MGTOW men I encounter to get out and talk to people and re-develop their former social skills. Nothing against them, it’s just clear that a lot of them are men who were severely burned by the legal system and feminism in general. The other 40% are coolness on a stick, though.

    1. Interesting stats. I think MGTOW is a perfectly legitimate lifestyle choice and probably a very sensible one. But you have to be doing it because you really want to, not through fear of scarcity.

      1. MGTOW is excellent for men to focus on self-improvement, learn to love themselves again, kill it at the gym and in entrepreneurial pursuits, enjoy great books and the freedom to travel.
        And if a decent woman (or multiple women) does cross their paths…..excellent!! That just doesn’t need to be the end-all-be-all. Women are not the prize, just one slice of the pie.

        1. Agreed, MGTOW is getting girls but also acknowledging the shit deal bankers/society/feminism gives you, so telling all of them to shove it up their own ass whilst doing your own thing, sometimes getting women, and sometimes investing in yourself for your vision/goals/ideals/beliefs.

        2. George Benson wrote that song for a movie about Muhammad Ali in the Seventies. Benson is one of the greatest guitarists of all time.
          Whitney Houston covered the song. Like most of her “hits”.

      2. Solid article Troy!! Of all the advice regarding game you always come at the subset of gaming with a level of compassion and succinct advice. I will suggest that there is a third option of doing the tandem; both. When I was learning game, I had a boundary of having some pretty detrimental self beliefs. While approaching I conquered some approach anxieties and internalized solid body movement, my stubborn insecurities held faithful. To counter this, I looked into PUAs and found Hypnotica.
        Easily the assistance in belief shifting between negative beliefs to positive ones benefited both my romantic life as well as my fiscal one. In one month, I went from walking with a shake to rocking my steps and having women staring. The tandem effort is the secret sauce of increasing the value and rewards in a short amount of time. And it isn’t hard. Go out. Approach. Make it something that scares the shit out of you. Reward yourself at home or revel in the exhilaration of doing something most men wouldn’t have the balls to do.

        1. PUAs are useful, but many make it their religion. That is the whole point of social engineering, as society gets mass spammed by moneyed interests shoving their ideas (cocks) down society’s throats. All this game shit is stuff men shared with each other when society was more socially connected locally. Now we have all this theory that is used to distract us and waste our time whilst we get fleeced financially. No one will have time for game in 10 years as beyond simple gimmicks, it is a crock of shit, and more importantly, no one will have cash or free time to game – so if I were a dictator, I would invent this new religion of ‘game’ to waste people’s time whilst I stole from them and oppressed them.

        2. If you abstract this concept far enough in the future having “Game” could become how to best hack the online database of the Ministry of Porn.
          In ancient times the Ministry of Porn was referred to as “the bank”.

      3. Wasn’t so much a statistic as an anecdotal observation of both the internet and real life. Real life of course they don’t call themselves MGTOW, rather, “I’m through with these bitches, fuck them, from now on I’d rather do my own thing and never have to deal with them again!”, usually from recently or semi-recently burned men.
        Just to be clear so as to not be mistaken for actually having real numbers behind my statement.
        The MGTOW thing seems to me to be an interim phase for the majority of men, and in its own right a healthy thing if it is interim. Some men, the rare few, make it a lifetime of course, but their numbers are statistically insignificant and in history we’d call them monks, priests or hermits (no offense meant, nothing wrong with any of those things). I suspect that MGTOW for most men means a stretch of time where they get women out of their lives in order to get their shit together and find their true selves and sarge on with actual important life affecting goals, which is fantastic, but most all of them eventually seem to come back around to not minding women in their lives (outside of the occasional ONS I mean).
        Didn’t actually mean to make this about MGTOW, I should think a bit before I post a derailing comment in the future, heh.

        1. Why is MGTOW a hermit? Why isn’t MGTOW a guy who gets laid but doesn’t subsidise feminist society and decisions. MGTOW doesn’t mean the guy lives in a cave by himself. This over-simplification of a subculture means that many men from the outside looking on it see it in the wrong light.

        2. Because that’s how I see them (the *few* that maintain that kind of lifestyle, which is a pittance compared to most who do not over the long haul), that’s why, and I’m entitled to my opinion. You also glossed over “monk and priest” and “nothing wrong with any of those things”. There is nothing wrong with being a hermit in the dark ages and prior (from whence we get the concept of hermit, mostly), because the dark ages fucking sucked hind tit and to want to participate in that fucked up society to me was far less sane than saying “screw you people, I’d rather live in the woods alone than deal with your insanity”.

        3. There’s no consensus on terms. In my mind MGTOW is a separate category. MGTOW is for men who aren’t natural alphas with groupies, but have ingested too much red pill wisdom to be used as compliant beta males, and they have too much to offer to be omega males. They aren’t hermits. I don’t have approach anxiety, I just don’t see a lot of attractive women to approach and I’m tired of banging an average woman once a month that I’m not really interested in.

        4. Nor did I say most did. The ones that do, read up above, are “statistically insignificant”.
          The rest don’t give up. As I noted. Jared was a bit too quick to get offended and hit the Post As button to take note of that I think.

        5. why do you think this is “an interim phase”? This started in the early 90s in japan because the economy went straight up zombie- feminism only fanned the flames over there.
          Well, now that dark triad of stagflation/no jobs/out of control feminism has made its way stateside. Why would we be immune from this? Is it any coincidence that these mgtow videos starting popping up in the wake of the 08-09 meltdown??

        1. There is really no difference between MGTOW and redpill men. MGTOW simply adds to all that, in that the man acknowledges the idiocy of supporting feminist decisions, hence the ‘going your own way’. He’s not avoiding chicks, though some men in the movement may choose to do so. These terms we coin set up false distinctions and barriers, where none exist IMHO.
          I believe in God and this is an unGodly society (it is set up that way). But whether or not you believe in this or not, anyone with half a brain can see this society is fucked up. So MGTOW is not avoiding women or not getting laid by them should you choose, it is simply telling feminists, society and the evil leaders that they can all go fuck themselves as they all should be smart enough to realise that their house of cards is coming down, and that I’m not going to help them with my time/energy to make this world an even shittier place to live in.
          If you’re not MGTOW at some level, that means you love the current social setup and want to see the current social trends progress towards their inevitable conclusion.

      4. Someone coined MGTOW-WEA, which meant MGTOW with escort access. If people choose this, then so be it, as I’ve known players who on a bad night went to prostitutes. I think the key thing behind MGTOW is a redpill philosophy where they don’t subsidise women’s mistakes – it doesn’t mean they don;t get laid and avoid women like the plague.

      5. A good idea is to place yourself in a position where you have to talk. So I travel alone around Europe. Automatically your confidence increases because you know intrinsically that women love mysterious foreign gentlemen. Not only that, even if you meet (say) an Englishwoman abroad she will be keen to hang with someone she immediately has something in common with. And she will be down to shag.
        Another thing I have noticed, whereas generally a woman wants to wait a couple of dates to shag, she will throw the rule book out of the window if her only opportunity to shag you is now or never. You can tap some top totty with quite some ease.

    2. It would be a lot easier if society were not in a collapse and the people to go out and meet were not perfect examples of voters (per Winston Churchill’s quote).

      1. I withhold judgement on “total collapse”. Been hearing how doom is just around the corner since long prior to my initial first experience voting. Some things are much worse, clearly, we talk about them every day, but not everything, and some things have gotten better.
        Steady as she blows and hold the course. There will never “not be” stupid people around.

    1. I think a better way to think about this is to know about females fickleness (i.e. be redpill) but also spend more time on a strategy with a better-return-of-investment, which can include acquiring money, as well as finding out and living a way of life that makes you happier (e.g. job, hobbies etc..)
      I agree females are shit and western ones almost always useless for LTRs – if you have assets, then your life will be sorted and females will come, whereas focus only on girls and most guys will crash and burn in all aspects of life, moreso later on. However, acquiring currency and making it your God is also not right, and in itself will also make men unhappy as the few good jobs disappear and you’ll just get money-grabbing hoes and other problems.
      Balance, with a tendency towards a better return on investment, is key.

      1. Let me be clear, currency is not a God. Rather, currency allows me to worship the greatest, most important man I know. Me.

      2. Let me be clear, currency is not my God. Rather, currency allowed me to worship the most important, most influential man to me that I know….myself.
        I also must point out the slight hypocrisy in what I say. I am married. Focusing on my career and myself attracted a stellar woman and we got married. Also, I am an old so I had the pick of traditional women that younger men don’t have the choice of today.

        1. Yeah at what point did you say currency was your God?
          Not only that, currency is a general term and does not have to mean “money”. It is your total wealth and wealth includes intellectual wealth, physical resources, and a developed personality.
          A woman wants security, guidance, protection and entertainment. Money is but one way to provide these things but most of us do not have enough money for this. With a good amount of thought you can provide all of this.
          I would modify your motto though:

          Build currency and the females will come

          Oh, how they will come.
          I have built major currency in the past twenty years and I am swimming in women. Literally, my problem now is figuring out how to find the time to bang them all. I can’t stop myself with flirting with these chicks and there is always one more that wants to be a notch on my belt.

      3. ..the few good jobs disappear..
        There are no good jobs. Working for someone else will never be satisfying or fulfilling in the long run. Don´t make “having a good, stable job” your goal! That´s wrong thinking.
        A job can be allright but never will be the path to happiness or wealth (the taxes alone will keep you away from real wealth).
        Running your own business is harder in the beginning but can be really fruitful in the end (financially and mentally). Taxing is much better for business owners too. Don´t be afraid of it because everbody else is shit scared of becoming an entrepreneur.
        It´s just decades of brainwashing (thanks to our schooling system) keeping people away from doing their own shit and earning their own money.
        Money and wealth you can also acquire with a great paid job, freedom you can´t.

      4. The answer to the question, inner or outer game? Both. It is easy to do work on both at the same time and you should do so. The inner game improves your life and makes you an interesting person. This in turn makes outer game easier since you will have interesting things to say that will impress a woman. The seduction skills will simply improve with practice.
        I quickly discarded the Neil Strauss “tricks” as they were contrived and limiting. I prefer to simply talk and feel where the conversation is going and then steer it where I want. “Don’t think…feel!”
        Furthermore, if you come across as cultured and educated you will immediately distinguish yourself from the barbarian hordes constantly chasing these girls. You will also check off a lot of boxes on a woman’s internal checklist (strong, handsome, intelligent, funny, polite, etc.). Women generally all have the same checklist and you will tick the boxes merely by virtue of your self-improvement.
        The sales pitch just writes itself.

        1. I agree. I have used some of the tricks to have fun and get free drinks but I don’t think attraction was built. I also think I was viewed as a douchebag other times.
          When I am sincere, cocky and fun I tend to enjoy myself more and get more questions asked and can further the seduction.

        2. I did try a few, negs and such. They worked but were generally unnecessary in my opinion. Plus, I felt like an ass.

    2. Nah man, you need to keep your fuck skills up. For me I’m all about currency right now but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped approaching and fucking. The only difference is Fuck dating, if I don’t get an instant one-night-stand from a chick, and I bomb out for the next hour or two, I’ll just fuck a prostitute rather than go home with a full load. You have to stay honed for those times you score an 8 or 9, can’t be blowing your load in seconds and be too unfit to fuck for more than 5 minutes.

  3. One brings out the other. Develop one, it will end up bringing the other, but this other will not be as strong as the one you chose to develop. For me they are almost one and the same.

  4. Excellent piece Troy. You have to know what is good for you and your future. Gaming women is never a means to an end. It’s a by-product of a solid foundation.

    1. Many do treat game as the be-all-and-end-all of life though. And it is understandable that game becomes their false God, because in an era where LTRs are pointless in that women want serial monogamy, you need to keep expending effort into game to get results, so it becomes the sole driving force in many men’s lives. This is obviously detrimental, and until the culture changes, like in harder economic times (which many argue are imminent), men will game in detriment to all else. Game is a solid foundation, but it is built on having a wealthier society – in the brazilified society (or worse) that our financial elite want in the west, only the UMC will have time to game as everyone else works for peanuts. We will reach that point in 5-10 years as all the assets are based on paper and jobs are off shored. So my issue is that men are absorbed by game now (due to feminism and social engineering), whereas later on they will suffer from it as they ignored all the bad shit that goes on around them. Most men and women worship the worst things in the west, as they are brainwashed to do so, missing the big picture, and leading to a bad life for future generations – unfortunately the human race has always been a piece of shit and wanted to be its own God, when it comes to those at the top, so this state of affairs will endure until the big man shows up.

  5. confidence is the key. the way you build confidence is with ‘outer game,’ (because with outer game you will try and fail, but as long as you dust yourself off and try again you’ll start finding successes, and the confidence will rise as surely as your penis at the sight of kate upton’s cleavage). ‘inner game’ may help create the right mindset, improve your physical/mental health, but… it will not result in higher confidence.

      1. hmm, let me rephrase: ‘confidence in your approach,’ as opposed to being a wallflower (if your goal is game). i appreciate the link though… along the same lines, a great book that touches on the bullshit of ‘self esteem’ and this sort of nonsense is “Willpower” by John Tierney and Roy Baumeister.

      2. So what do you propose that guys who don’t look like male models just kill themselves? lol
        confidence by itself is not the answer HOWEVER having no confidence will guarantee that you will never get a girl above a 5/10 in your life.

        1. Get muscular but be classy about showing it off. having strong arms and solid pecs are a turn on for women.

        2. Male models? Most male models are skinny little fucks who look more like the stereotypical greased hair douchebags (or quasi-gay “men”) than body builders.
          Pump iron, work out hard, eat right and guess what, you get to have muscles. We earned our body’s biochemistry during the toughest epochs of the planet as far as life is concerned – the Ice Age(s). It responds accordingly to hard work, because that’s what it’s designed to do.
          Now go forth and get a good build.

        3. You know why? Social proof because other chicks make a big deal out of them. But when push comes to shove, guys that look like Justin Bieber (who seems to be the boy archetype, mostly get friend zoned in real life.
          “Oh gosh, Peter is so cute and so sweet. He’s just so *niiiiiice*. Just like a brother to me.”
          Then they go screw the class jock or the “bad boy” that sells dope on the side in the halls of the high school.

        4. Yeah, that’s no big secret. And it’s the reason they don’t actually look like masculine men. Their gay handlers are projecting *their* ideal, not women’s. Just like they make most female models into their ideal of basically the same thing – an angular pubescent 15 year old male.

    1. But without a road map how will you gauge improvement? Or even if you are getting closer to your goals? Internal, external, internal, external. That is the tandem. It all starts with a decision. Then you decide what you want. Sometimes going for a stated goal will create a shift while attaining said goal you realize what you wanted isn’t what you really desire. As your external goals hit closer to what you desire, your internal goal of feeling better and the belief that you can achieve will grow in direct correlation.

  6. Either way do something. Anything. Inner Outer Middle is inconsequential. Fail Fall succeed cry laugh dance but MOVE.Go to bars , clubs, go a to a fuckin library if you have to . But go somewhere. Most dudes I see are so crumpled by lethargy they don’t even try.

    1. I call this the ‘I’m better than you’ fallacy. It is admitted by many that pickup is harder these days if only because of mass female degeneracy and hypergamy of the few hot ones. I think the lethargy is due to other causes, such as longer working hours in many fields for lower pay, and the realisation that the west is somewhat fucked, showing that the guy is intelligent, hence his lethargy.

      1. it’s not that hard as you think….approach approach approach. One of them is bound to be horny , desperate, lonely, or all the above.

      2. We have more disposable free time now than at any point in history back to paleolithic times. What we call “longer working hours” folks from any other generation would call “just getting warmed up before my first coffee break”.
        Do agree with you though on the mass degeneracy and hypergamy, but those are really not so hard to defeat from a pickup perspective.

    2. Lethargy is a good term. It’s not even anxiety these days, I just can’t be bothered with the hassle. Effort/reward ratio.

  7. When I see a hot bitch, initially I get a sense of nervousness, then I start to imagine her without the make up and sexy outfit she has on. Instead, she’ll be in sweats, hair messy as shit like she’s had a bad hangover and think her as a BLOOD SUCKING PARASITE! and not thinking about fucking her.
    Because that’s what they are. Once you have that mindset, you put on your game and go talk to her. All your nervousness goes away and you couldn’t care less what she thinks about you if she rejects you.

    1. know your enemy is the technique I use. I know these women only have beta orbiters or shirtless meatheads stalking their fakebooks, and that’s all the attention they are getting. Rarely does the professional men, alpha man, spend time amusing or “friending” hot women. He either gets what he wants or leaves. Therefore, I go in there, introduce myself, ask some personal questions, throw down the funny/cocky gauntlet, tell them to put their phone number in my iphone, then walk off. All done within 15 minutes. I get 4 numbers per hour for 3 hours every Saturday night. Usually 2 of them are responsive and 1 of those 2 I end up fucking.

    1. This is right up there with that ‘Basic Bitch’ post! I gotta go with Mr. Fire Extinguisher.

  8. You’ll always lose money by chasing women, but youll never lose women by chasing money.
    – I stole that from Chris Rock’s boss in ‘I think I love my wife’. Very underrated red pill movie. The last 10 minutes are blue pill Hollywood ending but the majority of the movie is a lot of harsh truths about marriage.

    1. I do not know about that. Guys who spend their lives acquiring wealth rarely have the skills to deal with female bullshit and the minute the hot woman comes into their sphere, i.e. Tiger Woods, he “falls in love” and “buys” his wife. We all know how that turned out. The women who love you for your money expect you to keep shelling it out to appease her, marry her, spend lavishly on stupid events like weddings, birthdays, etc….her ADHD kicks in high gear and gradually she starts limiting access to her pussy. At the end of the day , you could have bought a 1000 whores for the same amount of $$$$$.

        1. yes, patience with success and women (Hare versus the Tortoise analogy) is rewarded with practice and education.

      1. True that…. if you chase money but never learn the truth about women and how to handle them, then you’ll end up losing all the money you chased.

      2. The beta male who keeps his head down, works hard, doesn’t marry, doesn’t have kids, doesn’t buy a house, invests all his money wisely in the stock market, he can come to acquire $1mm by his 40th birthday. But if he doesn’t understand women, he’s going to wife up some single mom and get used as ATM to pay her bills. Money alone won’t solve a man’s problems.

        1. there is a guy I knew in college. Nerd to the 10th power. He did become successful. He couldn’t get laid in a whorehouse, now all of a sudden a hottie Mexican married him..of course the $2 million house in La Jolla California was his idea…of course..

        2. I think he is funding HER lifestyle. He could have game by now and could be attractive to her, but she is still costing him $$$. Maybe in his mind the stress of it all is worth it. Don’t know, but I do know that his own mother left his cop dad when she found someone with more money. Maybe he is happy. My brother is married to a chick like that; likes all the materialistic bullshit. That behavior pisses me off and basically erases the hottness in a woman.

      3. Yea but for someone like me who already knows the reality of women, I would know how to handle them. (or at least better than most men).
        Obviously most men with status don’t really understand women and end up getting fucked over. Im referring to priorities in life, focusing on success instead of women will end up getting you more pussy

  9. Good article. What it sounds like, to me anyways, is that Troy is advocating for a balance in life (or lifestyle). Nothing wrong with improving yourself but don’t lock yourself up and not work on those valuable social skills.
    Any man will need those social skills not just for game but for life in general (i.e. professional life, business, hangin with other men, etc…). An important part of this article…
    There are no shortcuts. Put in the hard work…it will payoff.

  10. Suppose a man is extremely successful with picking up women – is this man then able to transfer that success to his financial situation? Women are a drain of resources…

    1. There’s a saying that goes: “A man must never envy another man because of the beauty of his woman, because the more beautiful she is, the more money she takes away from him”

  11. The choice is obvious. Its all inner game, what good is going out and chasing pussy in your spare time when you don’t have your money or health in order? Pussy costs money either directly or indirectly. You’ve got to go get your thread game in order, have the proper logistics (not live with your parents or in an apartment thats all the way across town) and have money to blow on overpriced watered down drinks at the bar or (god forbid) club. Sure you can make all that happen by wasting your life at a job you hate, getting off to hit the gym, and then dragging your tired ass to the bar in the hopes of marginally impressing a some bitch enough to let you get your nut.
    OR
    you can spend your time on yourself, building a business, working on your own terms, and getting your money in order. Just doing something other than existing for pussy (especially the overrated entitled pussy the US is infested with). Everyone says that money can’t buy happiness, fuck those idiots, money buys you freedom.
    I would rather bust my ass and suffer through desert dick for a couple of years getting my business off the ground and then being able to live how I want instead of being some wage slave office drone and spending my ever fleeting spare time wasting my money away on chasing bitchy entitled sluts thats only going to give me 30 minutes of satisfaction at a time.
    The choice is easy guys.
    Fuck bitches, get money.

    1. I work a corporate job, now in middle management. It is what you make of it. Don’t get wrapped up into bullshit issues and ignore some emails and attention whore projects. Don’t try to impress people and just get the BASIC job done. Don’t focus on climbing the corporate ladder. I barely work 7-8 hours per day and rest of the time I am having fun.

      1. My point is why put yourself in a toxic environment like that if there are other alternatives. If working an office job like that works for you then by all means go for it, but I’ve been there and I could never be happy with that life.

        1. If you do not mind me asking, what kind of business do you run? and how do manage it from a high level? I am saving money to do that myself but I have yet to find something that I am passionate about doing.

        2. I don’t run a business right now but I’ve got a project in the works that I’m trying to turn into a business. If you message me we can talk. I’ve got some ideas that you might like.

  12. This article is what it’s all about.
    My game is not the best, but I know I gotta take care of myself first.
    This article basically reminds me that what I’m doing for myself is good, but I need to approaching more women.

  13. Speaking from experience, I have to say: if you have a good inner game (inner stability), let it transcend outward.
    I have been working on my outer game, in this case.

  14. Why must it all be so complicated? Inner game and outer game? What’s next, intrinsic and extrinsic game? Dextrotatory and levorotatory game? Just go out and talk to some girls, don’t overthink it.

    1. Never take written advice from a natural in the top 20%. Only observe the natural, and always take what they say with a grain of salt.

  15. If you’re just starting out, focus on outward game first otherwise you’ll get mind-fucked with anxiety and rejection. Clothes, grooming, lines, routines, etc.
    If you are focusing on inner game first, by all means stop mental-masturbating yourself and go hire a well-reviewed escort.

  16. My advice: First make sure you have some money. Second concentrate on your looks (gym, clothes, haircut). Third, start approaching.
    I don’t think a man who wants to get into game and picking up girls needs to attain inner enlightenment before he starts going to get some women.
    Hit up the gym for a couple weeks (assuming you never have consistently worked out), get some decent clothes, and then just go make the approach. A guy doesn’t need to have slick lines or know magic tricks like how Neil Strauss talked about. Just don’t talk about the same, boring, mundane BS that so many beta males talk about, and you will get her turned on.

  17. Inner game, always. Bitch shields will strengthen as thirsty hordes multiply, but self improvement you can bank on.

  18. outergame is superficial. It is THE thing women focus on: looks and statusobjects. Innergame: Study and career, money, knowledge, your beliefs: those will stick with you long after your bald and got old.

    1. I agree. Cold approaching in my view is the best feedback you can get for whether you are attractive to women or not. Approach women and work on yourself.

  19. Great article! It tells like it is. So many guys wonder why their game sucks, including my own for a while, and then realize that they are lacking in some area. At the end of the day, you’re in competition with other guys in the club and the more you stand out in all areas of your life, the better your chances.

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