Take a dance class. And not one of those classical rigid dance classes like ballroom dancing or whatever. Something more sexually expressive like salsa or hip hop.

I bet that will solve a lot of issues that you, specifically, may be having.

I'm sooo doing this in a couple of hours. Posting this to make sure I actually do it without chickening out. I will edit this post later.

Edit:
Ok, did it! I greeted something like 100 people (I've lost my count in the 80s). Even if, I have to admit, it was mostly old people, both men and women.

The task did feel pretty hard in the first 10 minutes, but then I got the hang of it. It quickly became pretty natural.

Overall, it was pretty good. I felt happy just going around the town with a smile on my face. I felt happy putting a smile on people's faces when I told them how cute their dog was. Will probably do this again.

Summary:
- Roughly 40% of the people gave me the weird "is he talking to me?" look.
- Roughly 50% of the people gave me the weird "is he talking to me?" look, but then greeted me back shyly.
- Roughly 10% of the people greeted me back with entusiasm.
- I got killed by none of them.

Do this!

I did the newbie mission today I decided I was going to do it this morning and got myself gradually more and more pumped up through the day. I dressed up really nice in my favorite button up shirt and drove myself to a nearby shopping centre.

I was really nervous and sat in my car in the parking lot for about 15 minutes listening to some motivational audios by Anthony Robbins (no seriously, i did). When i was in the car i was deciding if I should say hi to 20 or 30 girls at the shops before i called it a success and left. I settled and 20 (it's my first time after all) and got out of my car.

When I walked into the shops I was prety much shaking with anticipation. So I thought, "Right, here i go". Walked by a chick...she didn't make eye contact so i let her pass. Another chick, she was on the phone, didn't want to bother her. Two girls, let them pass because 2 girls are twice as intimidating as one. Anyway, I basically bitched it for the first 20 minutes.

I sat down on a bench feeling defeated. I had a heavy feeling in my stomach and felt so shaky. I had had no idea that my approach anxiety was that bad. After 5 minutes of pretending to text on my phone I got up and tried again.

I walked by about 4 more girls before I FINALLY got the balls to say hi to a HB7 as i walked past her. She sort of looked at me like, "What the f***" and gave a quick glance around her to check I was talking to her. I didn't care how she reacted though, i honestly felt so proud of myself. I had a big smile on my face for the next 10 minutes.

After that, I found that the AA wasn't as bad and i managed to say hi to about 3 more girls and even a couple of guys (don't know why i did that, still felt good though). After a while i started to realise that this is something that I could do pretty much any time im in public and I was really enjoying myself.

In conclusion, it definitely wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, especially when i was starting. I only said hi to about 5 people when i thought i was going to do 20+. But, I felt proud of the ones i did and rewarded myself with the new modern warfare 3 game lol. I intend to do the newbie mission again in the future. My goal next time is to say hi to at least 10 girls in one session.

I reiterate what some many other people are saying in that if you havent done the newbie mission then DO NOT bother buying any material. If you can't say hi to a random, it's going to be of no use to you. I and everyone else needs to learn to walk before they can sprint!

Iago

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"Action is the foundational key to all success" - Pablo Picasso

What do you think it would have been like if you had a wingman (not acting as one, just observing from a distance)?

Would it have been more fun/less fun?

Made you more nervous/less nervous?

I ask because this kind of activity seems like high adventure and also well suited to having an outside observer and discussion partner, where you can trade off, etc..

But I haven't done it yet so I'd like to know what you think.

I know this post is old, but, where else on the internet can you find something as sincere, fascinating, and raw as this? Why, of all places, is there so much honesty and camraderie on here? Especially considering that its all male, and YOUNG males, even teenagers?

Does this strike anyone else as fascinating?

This is my 4th time redoing this challenge, I tend to re-do it to help me relax a bit. I was very uptight because I haven't approached anyone in a few weeks. I was waling around and the first few times I stuttered a bit, after awhile I learned to relax a bit. I had a great time. Had quite a few conversations about random stuff. I wasn't really out with any goals in mind, I was just talking. I had a friend with me and he was rushing through tons of women lol. I didn't get any ping but my friend end up going into Charlotte Russe and getting a bj . The girl was willing to give me one too but I'm not into the group thing.

Great job, but something you need to be careful of is a psychological phenomenon called the overjustification effect. That's when you start thinking about talking to girls as work because you've "rewarded" yourself with something external like that video game.

Treat the good feelings you get from talking to girls as the reward itself and you'll develop something called intrinsic motivation. That way you will eventually keep doing things like this for fun and they will give you energy rather than feeling like you're spending energy and effort to pick up girls.

Also, I must comment on the fact that buying a video game in this situation is extremely ironic. That's just going to make you more comfortable with staying home and not talking to girls.
ResistanceIsFutile,
Your questions and comments are very good and I believe they add value to the discussion, but I'm trying to make sure that the people in this thread follow a philosophy of proactiveness. In this case, shooting first and asking questions later is a good thing. Go out and try this mission and then tell us how it went... and don't come back until you've done it

So today i went to the city with 2 friends, because we were free from school.
I'm honest about this: i didn't like the fact to do this mission with 2 friends walking next to me. They seemed to go for shopping clothes, christmas presents and stuff like that.

Also the weather wasn't too good, it was kinda cold and rainy, so i didn't spot many girls. Maybe this sounds as an excuse, but it's the truth, i saw a lot of old people and almost no females of my age.
So we went into a store and i was trying out a blouse in the fitting room which i thought looked very cool.
When i stepped out of the fitting room, a female who worked there was waiting. I hesitated a second but then i said: Hi. One of my friends said: you have to put that blouse into your pants. I replied with: But doesn't that look me gay? (i kinda felt weird to say that in front of my friends) in which i looked to the girl. She replied: No, i think it looks really nice, trust me. Me: So if a guy would wear this blouse, and put's in into his pants, you would definately go out with him?, in which she smiled and said: yeah i would probably go out if he asked me. I was thinking of replying with: today is your lucky day, you want to go out with me?, but my friends were already saying they would leave the store so i was pressured to buy it and leave.
Luckily after the shop one of my friends (the biggest AFC of my friend circle), had to go and work. So my other friend and me were walking around the shops when we saw 2 girls he knew. We talked a little, and she looked into my shopping bag in which she discovered the blouse. She took it out, handed it in front of my body and said: hmm, sexy.. (in a kind off not very interesting mood). So i said: Is that your way to may guys attracted to you? (with a decent smile behind it). She had to laugh, did the same thing and said: Sexy! but still in a mood which wasn't really better. So i knew more then enough and walked further so this time my friend was pressured to move on. I got a little bit the hang off it, and didn't care too much about my friend. I said Hi to some girls, but they didn't respond. Caught another girls we knew, talked a few minutes with them, but also didn't work out (don't want to put too much details). Eventually he wanted to go, and it started to rain, so i went home too.

In conclusion: this wasn't a success, i'm going to do this mission over in 2 days, when i'm in the city again a have time enough. My advice: make sure your friend is really helpful and understanding when doing this mission, or else they might be a source which holds you back.

It would definitely make it much easier to have a friend with you. In fact, i was thinking that while i was doing the newbie mission. The reason for this is that if someone ignores you or reacts negatively to you saying 'hi', then you can just laugh it off with your friend. If you're by yourself, your self esteem just has to cop it. Plus, i think there's more pressure to perform if you have a friend watching you.

However, since it is easier with a friend, i think you will probably get less out of it than if you did it by yourself. Afterall, meeting women isn't a group sport. Therefore, i would recommend people do it by themselves to begin with.

It wasn't as easy as i thought it would be but i enjoyed it anyway. I think that doing this mission is an absolute, 100% must for anyone learning pick up. Good luck mate.

By the way, i plan on doing it again to try and get more confident at it. Will post back results. Thanks guys.

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"Action is the foundational key to all success" - Pablo Picasso

I'd say go by yourself: is recommendable. Eventually, picking up women is not something you can always do with people around you. 90% of the times, you are on your own, and this can only be done if you get a solid inner game. Imo, you can only do that when you are doing this mission alone. I will do it alone next time!

By the way, I'd like to mention that forcing out that first 'hi' while i was doing the newbie mission taught me more about myself and "game" than the 12 or so dating and psychology books i read.

I think most of you will realise what i mean when you get out there and do the mission.

_________________
"Action is the foundational key to all success" - Pablo Picasso

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Well I've done the newbie challenge over several days of the past 2 weeks. Mainly at the railway stations and shopping centres of London and the home counties.

Got a few 5-minute conversations out of it, and asked one girl out (but she was going to Spain so couldn't).

Not too disasterous, but I thought I'd write up what happened into my blog, which is at geekymicky1 dot blogspot dot com

(I tried to post this as a proper URL, but the software would not let me)

Do feel free to comment and make helpful suggestions

I tried this the other day, not at a mall or anything, just walking down the street in the city. Usually, when I walk and pass girls, I keep my eyes trained forward, or down, or anywhere except at the girls I'm passing.

But this day was different. I said "I'm just going to do it, see what happens." So I did. And I quickly realized, most girls do EXACTLY what I do - eyes trained forward, down, or anywhere except the guy who is passing them.

At first, I just tried gaining eye contact. Once I gained eye contact, I smiled. There was no "hello" involved. But guess what - it worked. Out of five girls I actually was able to make eye contact with who weren't with boyfriends, the minute I smiled I got a big ass smile back from each of them. If there's anything I'm disappointed at, it's that I never stopped walking once I made the connection. Baby steps...

I can't wait to try this at the mall, where girls don't have a set destination in mind and I have no where to escape to.