I have approach anxiety when I actually do have social proof with me. I don't fear failure in the eyes of a woman I approach. I don't care how the woman will judge me. I've already gotten over this long ago. The way I look at it is I have failed many times before, I can fail one more time. What I fear is failing in front of people I already know. I talk a big game, and if I fail or screw up, it's humiliating. I'm more worried about looking like a loser or failure in the eyes of my friends, associates, bosses, and coworkers--people that I actually know--than I am in the eyes of strangers I might never see again. I didn't even realize this until recently when I moved to a new city and didn't have any friends here to go out with. Suddenly I had a lot of motivation to be more social and improve my interpersonal skills because I like to go out and have fun. I've seen a lot of posts on here about how to get over cold approach anxiety when you don't have any social proof. Here's my solution.

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Just be good looking and confident. Just walk up, introduce yourself, and say whatever's on your mind. Be a people person. Don't worry so much about what to say. Just speak your mind. Be aware of the present moment and stay alert for context clues. When you sense things are about to go south, smoothly and casually end the interaction and move on. Accept the fact that people don't like outsiders and you will fail and be forgotten about by tomorrow and your reputation will never suffer any damage. Nobody cares. Don't worry about the approach of ONE woman because it's a numbers game. Worry about improving your interpersonal social skills over a period of time through trial and error. Just like anything else in life, practice makes perfect. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Baby steps. Fake it til you make it. It's that simple, but you are paralyzed with fear. Why?

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When flying solo, approach anxiety is an existential crisis as much as it is a fear of failure. A big source of this approach anxiety stems from the fear that a woman will judge you as being a loser just because you're by yourself. The first obstacle you face is how to justify your existence in a social setting in a public space when you are all alone and don't know anyone. Fundamentally, if you cannot justify your own existence, if you cannot justify your own course of action, then you are not going to have any confidence in what you are doing. This lack of confidence will betray you and is very discernible to, not only women, but other men as well, and it reveals itself in a variety of different ways, both consciously and subconsciously. This is why the fake it til you make it meme, while cliche, is so true and important. Even if you lack social prowess and are scared to death, never reveal it. It is all an act and you are putting on a show.

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Imagine if you were a door-to-door salesman in the days before the internet. You already know most people aren't even going to answer their doors, but if one person does answer the door, are you going to immediately feel the need to justify WHY you are going door to door? Are people going to question why you are going door to door by yourself? Are they going to wonder why you don't have any other salesmen with you?

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"Can you believe what a loser this salesman is? He doesn't even have another salesman with him. He's just going door to door by himself like it's his job or something."

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No, it didn't happen that way because door-to-door salesmen justified their existence by the simple act of just doing their jobs. You're perfectly justified being in a public space by yourself because public spaces are built for the express purpose of having people with a variety of different motives occupying them. Your existence is justified simply by your willingness to be there. You belong there so act like it.

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Face the facts. In order to maximize the chances of a potential customer opening the door for you, you know the first thing you need to do is look friendly, professional, and safe to open the door for. In other words, on first sight, you need to look like you have something of value to offer the world. You signal your value with your temperance, personality, wit, and the way you carry yourself. Your exterior features such as your physical looks, physical health, and the clothes you wear all matter and say a lot about you. First impressions matter. You're not even going to have a shot to begin with unless you raise your SMV to a conspicuous level. This post is not about how to gain overall confidence, nor how to improve your interpersonal skills, or how to raise your SMV with any specific method. This post is about how to overcome that first hurdle when it comes to cold approaching women when you are alone with no social proof: fear of being judged negatively because you are alone. You need to be doing things that incentivize women to be receptive of you despite your social circumstances. Once you've got your foot in the door, as they say, then it's all up to you to make your pitch.

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And for the socially autistic ones out there among us, I should stress that obviously you wouldn't make a literal sales pitch about yourself to a woman you meet in a social situation. Once you've got your foot in the door or opened the woman, then it's up to you demonstrate your value as a man with your proficiency in being able to have enjoyable human interactions and not come off as a creep or a weirdo.

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TL/DR: Don't be afraid to cold approach women in a public place when you are all alone and don't have any social proof. You're afraid that, from the perspective of the woman, you don't have any justification for going out somewhere by yourself to have fun or meet people. The only reason you're anxious is because you're afraid women will judge you as being a loser just because you're by yourself. It's not true. You're perfectly justified going out alone simply because you want to. You will be judged, however, based upon your confidence and ability to acquire resources for yourself and for those who might depend on you. A big indicator of this is your competence in navigating unfamiliar social waters. Own up to it. Act like you belong and women will be none the wiser.