PUA stuff works because it forces you to confront your fears. If pick up enough, you'll become desensitized to rejection and you'll accept a negative outcomes without getting emotional about them. This applies to everything in life. It's not the pick up lines that work though, it's the change in your character that women are attracted to.
People censor parts of themselves to try and fit into cliques or to appear virtuous or attractive to others, and it comes across as phony because it is. When you are no longer afraid of negative outcomes, you can say what you really mean to say and you'll be attractive to the kind of woman you want to be with. You'll also come across as genuine at work and in social circles.