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I think the 'approaching is 90% of pick up' depends very much on the individual. If the person has got reasonable social skills (not even necessarily great) and is reasonably good looking (again, not necessarily great), then yes, approaching more girls will result in more numbers, more lays whatever.
If the guy hasn't got decent social skills (which let's face it, a lot of people on here haven't or didn't when they started, especially around girls), then simply approaching more girls isn't going to get them more numbers/lays. It could, in fact, backfire and crush their confidence even more if they are continuously getting laughed at or being thought of as creepy.
And even for decent/good looking guys, it's not all about numbers. I believe that looks basically give you an "extra life" when talking to girls. So if you're quite ugly, you've got to have real tight game to pick up decent girls. If you're average looking, you can perhaps make the odd mistake here or there. If you're good looking, you can make a few more mistakes and if you're Brad Pitt (pre-ridiculous beard and all that shit) then you can basically act like a tool and you're still going to get laid because girls find you ridiculously attractive and you're a famous movie star.
But if the good looking guy has absolutely no game, then he could make 50 approaches and get maybe 15 numbers, whereas an average looking guy with a decent personality and some idea of how to sexually escalate with a girl, then he might only make 30 approaches and get 15 numbers. (Numbers just used as an example.)
Bottom line is - approaching creates more opportunity, both to practice and to actually pick up girls. but if you're not also learning and improving from those approaches (ie; if you're not aware of what is going wrong and most importantly why) then you're not going to get better.
Semimembranosus, firstly - alpha male doesn't mean sorting any problem with a gun and I don't think I've ever seen that written on here.
Secondly, I believe pick up does help with many areas of life. Majikal's list is good and goes into more detail than I will here, but I think you can sum up most of the benefits simply through self confidence. Most of pick up really is about improving your self confidence. That's it. Now there are loads of ways to do that on this board alone (obviously the anxiety sub forum, the social awkwardness sub forum, the body language sub forum, the dress forum, health forum, and then all the main ones which help you with women which is probably the biggest self confidence booster for men the world over!). But all of those basically come down to the individual growing inside and becoming confident and secure in their own body. That helps with most things let me tell you. Job interview? An employer is going to like someone who is confident (not arrogant) in their own abilities far more than someone who is unsure and looks like they'd never take any innitiative or decision without checking with 12 different people first. Business pitch? If you're not confident in yourself, how do you show your confidence in the product you're selling? Meeting a girlfriend's parents? You've got social skills you learned from this forum or from grabbing your bollocks and going out chatting to randomers - makes it a lot easier.
Agree too. I think that if you want to say that most of PU is approaching, then yes, it gives you more oppurtunity to learn everything else (when you actually look at your results and make changes). If you're just mass approaching then no. I'd say approach and look at where you are losing them, whether it be the opener sucks, your body language, your follow up etc, make changes and open more to find what works. Technically you don't need any pickup books or videos if you try alot of different things, eventually you'll find what works. Mystery didn't follow anyone's book when he started. He went out and tried different things.