Wow. Lots of good stuff here, especially backbreaker's points. I don't want to repeat too much, so let me just go from the OP's statements:
That_guy said:
Picking up girls is not like MMA, or working out whereas the more you push the weight and go through the motions, the easier it becomes and then you can progress to more weight.
In pick up, the more you try and approach (go through the motions) and the more you rejected, the less your confidence will become and the latent baby beta inside of you grows and grows. Until you will become bitter. You will end up hating women, will be less relaxed. I wouldnt even go as going as far as being in a relationship and getting screwed over.
What you're saying is absolutely TRUE - for a
certain kind of person. A person who takes rejection personally or who does not want to have to change some of their bad behavior patterns WILL end up growing bitter and less confident.
The reason is because they're pushing against reality. The way they're approaching these women isn't working, so rather than figure out the problem, they say "eh, it's THEIR fault they're not hip to my game" and keep doing the same things, hoping for different results. The epitome of the definition of the word "insanity."
The purpose of practicing over and over again isn't to get better with women per se; it's so that you become INDIFFERENT to the results. And it can take a while to get there. 10 years ago - yes, when I was 20 - I started asking girls out on dates. At first, I would end up hitting on girls who had boyfriends, or weren't interested (not knowing in advance) and I'd feel embarrassed or personally hurt when they didn't say "yes."
However, since I didn't want to be single my whole life, I'd go back out there and try again. At some point, I started getting 1st dates, then 1st and 2nd dates, and so on. Then, when I graduated, I hit a dry spell for a few years (on my own, trying to get money together to take care of myself, etc.) where I'd have a few dates here and there, but nothing that really popped off. Once I got my money situated I started asking girls out again, but was getting rejected. I was only asking girls out every so often, so it really hurt when I couldn't get them to go out with me, or only have it last one date.
Finally, I realized the problem: I wasn't asking out enough girls or getting enough rejections. In sales, they say you have to make 100 calls to get 10 accepted offers for 3 of them to go through. So, I set out to get rejected. The fastest way to do it was - wait for it, wait for it...
INTERNET DATING!
Now, I saw some of the comments above about how internet dating doesn't have the best quality of women. Forget all that, though - the best part about internet dating is, it allows you to try a whole bunch of different approach techniques in a faster amount of time and become COMFORTABLE with them.
What I found was, I was able to send off a litany of first messages to a slew of women, and I was able to figure out what kinds of things women responded to. Some would get more AFC-sounding messages like "hey, you're pretty," while others would get more ****y-sounding message like "what's with your hair? looks like it was in a wind storm!"
Over time, I was able to get rejected a LOT, but I was also able to get some successes, sometimes with messages I never would have thought would work on a woman. I actually hit a girl up once with "yeah... you'll do" and she sent me back "hey, ur cute, hit me up" along with her phone number! I would have NEVER thought of doing that in person...
...but then, i found that some of the things I was messaging to girls online, were things that actually worked on girls in person. And because I had practiced it so much, I became indifferent to whether or not a certain line or approach would work on a particular girl because I (a) could re-approach with a different technique or angle if necessary, or (b) I knew it would work on a less uptight girl.
Nowadays, I don't have to work so hard to get women. I can go to a party, pick out my target for the evening, and wait it out - like some of the others said, I don't go in trying to hit on everybody; instead, I make sure the girl I want sees me talking to everybody BUT her for the first hour or two, THEN I end up near where she is and just "happen" to start a conversation... which usually ends with me either getting her number, making out, or banging her brains out that same night.
However, I wouldn't be able to do that had I not first gotten enough practice in to get rid of various obstacles: the fear of rejection; the fear of not knowing what to say; the fear of being too offensive; and the fear of being unable to transition properly with a girl in a way that makes her WANT to get with you in the first place.
Hope this helps! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a date tonight - ciao!