It's a metaphor. Along the lines of don't revolve your life around a woman. Of course you should sex her up, yes indeed
but too many men drop everything except a woman when they get one, they become isolated in some cases from their friends, their interests, etc., rather than expecting a woman to join them in their endeavors and be part of what they already have going on.
So the point is...have something going on.
And yes, being a grown up means being able to have your act together as a man. Women evaluate men on potential when they are young (like college students or just starting out in business or just joining the military for example) rather than results.
As a man becomes older women look more at ACTUAL results in life. Who do you think has more dating options...the 35 year old doctor or banker or the 35 year old clerk at Walmart? And that's not to say there is anything inherently wrong with being a clerk at Walmart...just don't expect 26 year old HB9's to give a store clerk the time of day compared to the white collar professional who demonstrates ambition, success, and the ability to comfortably support a family.
I have renters who are in their 30's and 40's and 50's who still work minimum wage jobs doing shift work or manual labor or things like this. God bless them they work hard and their rents create a nice income for me...but not in a million years is somebody like me going to date a man like that. Simply will not happen. These men end up with women who are fat, tatted up, missing teeth and not very attractive. But they do get girls. Just not the sort of girls men here aspire toward.