I have been enjoying some small benefits of my new skills, my favourite being trying to pick when some random is in ovulation mode (the bright lipstick and bat of the eyelids are the best give away, head down a bit all sexy and shit... oooh baby), but also nice comments on looking better - Wife told me she did not want me to lose more weight etc.

Anyway along side my vanity I have noticed how attached women are to external validation...Its ridiculous how much of a womans feelz come from other people behaving or saying certain things.... I am wondering where this is explained in more detail, is it in the female psychology book that's recommended?

Some examples:

Example 1

I am renovating our garage into a playroom, wife shows minimal interest until MIL turns up and states how fantastic this is and what a great job i am doing etc, now wife is FULL of praise.

Example 2

I had some success at work (face on advert poster) and sent a picture of myself next to the results to Wife via text which was a small but worthy achievement. Heard nothing, received a random picture of sons washing car. Then a few days later she is back to work and I get a "Love you my pin up star! (love heart emoji)". She doesn't do this for nothing, and as it was a few hours into the work day I KNOW FOR SURE this has come from showing it to her workmates.

And finally Example 3

I imagine this is pretty common, but when we book a holiday, the accomodation has to look good in photos (ours, not on web) so it looks most impressive when then shared on social media etc.

It seems to be so focused on external validation, with more concern how i make her look than our actual relationship.... This is slightly over exaggerated as there is of course lots of other dimensions to our relationship.

WTF? Any advice on what to do with this? - - Should i redirect my efforts to looking cool / impressive to those whose validation she prefers* (sure is not after validation from me right now) instead of trying to improve the relationship?!?!? Am I too much buried in her frame?

YES I LSR, (Lift STFU, READ)

PS The word "I" appears 11 times and "Wife /she" 8 times. Its more about me. (haha)

TL:DR - Wife wants me to be awesome for external validation, not for her.

*EDIT: I don't actually mean to try to look cool in someone elses eyes, just to factor this is to the MAP.