1 - If you are doing something
you don't enjoy just to try to date women, you are being desperate and disingenuous to yourself. This can both shine through and hamper whatever it is you're trying to do, and wear your selfesteem down. It can still "work" but you have to keep those things in mind.
2 - If you are doing something
you enjoy, you are being true to yourself. By living this way you are also keeping your dignity and selfesteem.
It's no harder than that for me, it's not about
what you do but why you do it.
Now, perspectives on cold approaching will depend based on someone's psychology and attractiveness.
1 - Someone who is or isn't attractive, but is on the dark triad spectrum and sees people as props or prey, won't care about whether an approach is cold or warm as they don't have normal feelings anyway. So in a sense they are always being true to themselves. The problem is most men are not on the dark triad spectrum, so PUA stuff based on them acting more as if they shouldn't have normal feelings and shaming them if they do is probably ineffective. It's actually even what they call "toxic masculinity" (which is originally coined by men, check out
the etymology and usage section here).
2 - Someone who never gets IOIs in any setting because of being low in attractiveness, but is also not psychologically dark triad, is in a tougher spot regarding to cold approach or not that they'll have to solve for themselves.
3 - Someone who isn't dark triad but is attractive enough to get IOIs in warm settings like school, or if they are so hot and handsome that they get IOIs in cold settings like OLD, antisocial media, clubs or the street, may not feel as great a need to cold approach since they know they can manage without either in the right settings or in any setting.
Personally I've never enjoyed 'cold' approaching. Nowadays I approach women if they give me some sort of IOI which I give them opportunities to do through proximity and eye contact if I want them.