I’m sure I picked up a million how to’s, do’s and dont’s, and pop culture references. If you’re not consistently meeting women this is a must do. And guess what, these shows are immensely entertaining so this exercise is easy. While nerds were playing Starcraft, I was watching reality dating shows.

Watching dates is one of the best ways to study human psychology. It is politically incorrect, fascinating, and brutally honest, all at the same time.

For example, watch Episode 12 of Millionaire Matchmaker with Sheree and spot all the problems. Here’s one Leverage Program member’s analysis of the whole episode, and he nailed it:

Girl 1 – Tall blonde girl. Cool. Well traveled. Plays sports. Blah blah.
Girl 2 – Project manager chick. Enthusiastic about traveling. I forget the rest.
Girl 3 – Ballet chick. Connected with all his biographical details. “I played tennis.” “Love spending time with my family.” Well-played.
Girl 4 – Drummer chick. Lives with mom. Fun.

Girl 3 got picked because she knew what the guy wanted and connected with him on all those points. Nothing the other girls could really do honestly since they didn’t have as much in common with this dude. I need to be a baller so girls fight over me on TV. Life goals.

Date was good because they made a solid connection that wasn’t forced. Doing the fun thing at beginning was cool to lighten the mood. It’s kind of dumb at the same time because the girl is already into him before he even meets her, so it’s basically a layup. Not really realistic compared to real life unless you have power or a cool social circle. More life goals.

Dude 1 – Smiley guy. Chill. Asked her age. Probably had no chance anyway.
Dude 2 – Producer. Laid back. Connected with her on traveling. ‘Am I the winner’ joke was funny. Finally that bitch smiled.
Dude 3 – Opened by making her feel kind of special. Removal of sunglasses after first couple sentences while maintaining eye contact was cool. He’s chill.

Dude 3 is a beast. He was cool and knew how to connect with her.

On date, dude is always in a good mood. He’s cool. Definitely smashes a lot. Painting while drinking wine was a cool date idea. I want to do that sometime. Sheree is painful. Cold and ruining the flow. I like when she tried to tell him to tell her a joke and he was basically like “nah, I don’t play myself.” Too many red flags with this woman. She’s cold. Stay away.

Note the difference between the men/women who get selected and the ones who don’t. Why did he choose her? Why did she choose him?

One of the biggest insights of dating is how few people look at it from the other person’s perspective. This is really hard, so putting effort into improving your pattern recognition here is a great use of your time.