I'm going to get a lot of skepticism about this, but hear me out.

I'm an average looking guy and have been dating for a long time. I've done apps, meetup groups, bars, clubs, etc. All these things can work, but nothing has worked quite as well for me as approaching strangers in the daytime.

If you approach during the night, women assume you're drunk and you get no credit, if you match on app you're instantly forgettable, if you meet at a social event that's completely neutral value, but only meeting a woman during the day gives you any immediate inherent value.

Women and people in general are wired to seek novelty. She can go on an app at any time of the day and get laid that same night. She has done that before, but that experience is stale. What most women haven't experienced is a natural, spontaneous (from her point of view) approach from a man she's into when she's just living her life going to the park, grocery store, on the street etc.. When it's done well, the approach is novel and fairly rare, and it takes a certain amount of value to execute it competently to begin with as there's no hiding behind alcohol, lights, an acceptable social context etc. It's just you imposing your own will.

Properly calibrated daygame is also efficient. I've had days when I've got 4 instant dates from meeting women off the street, and on average I can get at least one number if I approach on any given afternoon. Because the approach itself has value, these numbers tend to not flake and be much stickier. You aren't guy #324924 in her phone from online dating, you're THE guy who made her special and stood out during the day.

There are a few things I've observed after doing hundreds of approaches during the daytime that maximize success.

  1. Locals are harder to approach than travellers, in fact, travellers are perhaps the most receptive to the "novelty" factor that you bring.
  2. Standing and talking to a woman during the street begins to feel weird over a few minutes when she has decided she likes you. You only need a few minutes of conversation before she cna decide if she wants to sit down with you and have coffee.
  3. Empathy and making the woman comfortable is possibly the biggest soft skill in all of this. When she's visibly looking nervous simply saying like"yeah, I know it's crazy we're meeting like this," communicates that you get it and you aren't some weirdo. What stops her having coffee with you or spending more time isn't necessarily attraction (she will leave before then if she's not interested), but if she can feel that you're safe and normal to be around.
  4. You need to get to the point quickly about why you are talking to her. You don't need to nessercarily say "you are beautiful," but you need to make it clear that you aren't selling her something, doing a survey, or something else. Typically the only men who approach her in the day are going to be these types of people, and if you never say why she's going to wonder "what does he really want?" and never fully trust you.
  5. The woman's preferences exist independently of your approach.

Think about two scenarios:

Scenario A: You approach her. She says, "No thanks, I'm not interested."

Scenario B: You don't approach her. You walk past.

Question: In Scenario B, was she interested in you?

The answer is almost certainly no, she had the same lack of interest, you just never discovered it. Her internal state (not attracted, not available, not interested) existed in both scenarios. The only difference is epistemological: in Scenario A, you gained information; in Scenario B, you remained ignorant.

Think about all the women in Scenario B you walked past who WERE interested!

Your anxiety tells you: "Don't approach because she'll reject you."

But the actual risk distribution is: "Don't approach because you'll reject yourself on behalf of women who were interested."

Think about this concretely:

Last year, you probably walked past thousands of women. Statistical probability suggests that at least some of them you attractive, were single and open, and would have chatted to you / hooked up.

But you'll never know who they were. They're lost in the undifferentiated mass of "women I didn't approach." They might as well not have existed because you're remaining epistimically ignorant.

Therefore, "rejection" is not something you caused to happen by approaching it's a state that already existed, which your approach merely brought to light.

So this matters is that men think that their approach > causes > rejection.

But the actual model is probably more like: Her preferences > my approach > reveals > if we were compatible to begin with.

The approach is therefore epistemically necessary it's the only method available to gain this information. Avoiding it doesn't change the underlying reality; it just keeps you ignorant and blocked off from all the women who ARE already open and interested in dating you.