After you approach a woman and she responds, you need to begin a bigger conversation. Transitioning is the second stage of Emotional Progression and achieves this.

In the daytime, particularly if you’ve used a direct approach, transitioning is very easy. It’s often as simple as introducing yourself, exchanging names and shaking the woman’s hand.

Although it sounds simple, it is a very important step. By introducing yourself, you communicate to her in a socially intelligent way, “We’re about to have a conversation,” which will allow you to start talking and ask about multiple topics. Also, shaking her hand is a form of Social Touch, which begins Physical Progression.

If a woman responds really well to your initial approach, this exchange of names and handshake is normally all you need. However, if she doesn’t respond so well and doesn’t look too impressed, it might help to use a stronger transition.

In such cases, re-emphasize what you originally said and then tangent into something that you noticed about her or some related topic. What you tangent onto should demonstrate something interesting about you, or call attention to something of interest about her. Here are some examples:

No really, there are a lot of good-looking girls in this city, but you have a unique style. I’m guessing that you do something creative for a living or in your spare time?

I meant what I said about the way you carry yourself. You really do have a graceful walk. I’m wondering whether you’re a dancer or have had some kind of dance training before?

Really, you do have an interesting look – very different from most of the women I meet in this city. I’m guessing you’re not from around here?

Notice in these examples there’s an implicit sense that you have some relevant experience in those things you call attention to. For example, by (hopefully correctly) guessing about her dance training, it shows that you’ve either dated dancers before, you have friends who are dancers, or you’ve worked in the industry yourself. By enquiring about her creativity, you’re giving her an opportunity to talk about something she is probably passionate about. By pointing out that she’s “different from most of the women you’ve met in this city,” you’re demonstrating that you’re not short of choice for women in your love life, but maybe you’re picky.

dolls

Using stronger transitions like these give a woman a window into what else you have to offer.

Forming the Approach Habit

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit

Most of us are awake and moving about the world during the day far more than at night. We shop, we work, we eat and we travel. For those of us who live in or near a populated area like a city, there are lots of opportunities to meet beautiful women in the daytime.

When I first arrived at university, I would go out at night with my friends to meet girls. Perhaps three or four times a week we would hit the club and spend hours approaching groups of women and hitting on them. Later, after finding Game and being armed with new knowledge, I would increase this practice and often go alone to bars and clubs to meet new people and exercise my social muscle. I felt nervous at first but after a couple of approaches in an evening this feeling would fade. After that, it was as if my motor was running; I’d have a sense of flow, excitement and social lubrication. After those initial nervous conversations, I felt acclimatized to approaching strangers and could work on other aspects of my dating skill beyond the initial approach.

Inevitably, the night would end, with all its various ups and downs. Lo and behold, the next time I went out to the bar, that fear of approach was once again back to bother me.

Going out specifically to talk to and meet new women is great for practicing core aspects of your dating skills but something most people do not practice as intensely is overcoming that initial reluctance to approach, often referred to as “approach anxiety”. This is simply because after a couple of interactions, this feeling fades. After that initial warmup period, we usually find the social motor is running, we’re having fun and approaching without too much worry, but it doesn’t last. Every time we go out, this feeling tends to crop up and needs to be overcome again.

It is generally accepted that this is just the way it must be. The oft prescribed solution is to burn through some warm-up approaches to get in the right mood. But what if it was possible to greatly minimize that feeling of nervousness over time so that you could generate the momentum to approach at any time you wished without the need to warm up? What if there was a way to form a habit of approaching beautiful girls?

Picture the scene: you’re shopping for groceries, on public transport or walking down the street and you see a beautiful girl. You don’t have the advantage of the mental run-up from which you can make a conscious decision to practice your dating skills today, you have no friends nearby to spur you on and you can’t just burn through two or three approaches to get on a roll and then approach this girl. You’re just going about your daily life and bam, she appears! Do you approach? Can you approach?

The First Hot Girl

Approach the first hot girl you see every day. It will change your life.

– Sasha

Begin an interaction with a stranger, preferably a beautiful woman, everyday. This begins to form an approach habit – the daily habit of initiating conversation with someone from cold. Over time, this habit can become so ingrained that it will actually feel strange not to approach a hot girl. The energy that you previously experienced as fear and panic will morph into excitement, playfulness and enjoyment.

This will not only help you greatly minimize approach anxiety, but the daily routine will have you meeting more girls than ever before.

Training Your Eye

Forming the approach habit will also go a long way towards training your eye to become aware of the opportunities already present in your surroundings. If you know you need to approach at least one girl in your lunch break for instance, you get good at noticing the attractive girls all around you.

It is not unusual, a week or so into this, for people to say things along the lines of, “I never realized there were so many hot girls around here!” Sometimes we can work and live in an area for years without realizing the opportunities all around us.

Don’t Run the Perfect Approach

Don’t worry about running the perfect approach in every one of these interactions. At first, don’t even worry about continuing the conversation. If you are short on time, just make your daily interaction a quick one. Remember, we are forming the approach habit. For this purpose, it is more important at first to approach than to necessarily take it anywhere. Don’t let the pressure of “What do I say next?” and “What if…?” questions dissuade you from taking action.

When you spot that girl, and you get that feeling of “I should/could/can/want to approach her,” go talk to her. If it lasts ten seconds or ten minutes, it doesn’t matter – just approach. Form the approach habit.

Avoid Burnout

Habit is habit and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time

– Mark Twain

It’s much like joining a gym. In the first flush of enthusiasm and novelty, the temptation is to go very frequently and stay for hours, working really hard. But continue down this road and it is very likely you’ll experience burn out. You will lose your motivation and weeks will go by before you darken the gym door again (if at all!). It is much more sensible (and healthy) to do shorter workouts and ration that drive for the long-haul health benefits of regular exercise.

girls in line

Consider this point when embarking on your mission to form the approach habit. One a day for a month is far better than ten in two days, burning out and doing nothing for the rest of the month.

Find Your Window

Look at your lifestyle, find the window of time where you can make your daily approach and stick to it. For me, I had a long commute, so I would use the train journey and approach at least one girl on the way into London and one on the way out of London. For you, your lunch break might be an ideal time. Whatever it is, find your window.

Scale It Up

It can feel more challenging to approach during the day without having a friend (a “wingman”) there to encourage you.

If you’re alone and feeling nervous, just take off some pressure. Scale the opener you use – if you’re petrified, you don’t have to start direct and ballsy, start more situational and low-key. For example, a functional approach such as, “Excuse me, do you know if there’s a Starbucks around here?” is much easier to muster the courage to deliver than, “I saw you from across the street and I just had to come say hi, because I think you’re gorgeous!” If you gradually scale up your material, just as you would add weight to your bench press routine, you will be able to deliver the latter approach with ease and enthusiasm.

Fashion

If you’re going to form this habit, be ready. Always leave the house dressed well, whatever that means for your lifestyle. Throw out your bad clothes so you won’t be tempted to wear them – don’t let the fact that you’re dressed badly be an excuse to not approach. Dressing well has a positive impact on your interactions with everyone in your life.

Wingman/Mentor

Your daily approaches should be done solo for maximum growth, but it can help to have a wingman or accountability buddy who will check in with you every day to make sure you’ve done your approach. This added motivation can give you the kick start you need to start forming the habit.

Conclusion

Does this mean you shouldn’t go out for concentrated periods of time specifically to meet women? No!

Working on your dating skill in focused periods like this is great for getting those skills tight – perhaps your Attraction phase needs tweaking or your comfort phase lacks connection. Go out, hit the streets, shopping malls and bookstores and do a ton of approaches. The trick is to combine this with daily approaching to build and sustain the approach habit. Do this and you’ll go a long way towards achieving your relationship goals.

I often think of the ability to approach as a muscle. For every approach you make, you grow that muscle. For every approach you back out of, you weaken it.

Make those approaches, build your courage. The results may very well astound you.

Good luck!