Before 2025, I had only ever asked out one girl in person - I was shaking the whole day after she rejected me LOL. I guess I was your typical incel. Aside from that I had never tried to flirt with any girl unless completely drunk.

In 2025, I did it all (for a beginner) - numbers, dates, lays. I started slow by approaching a girl sober at a dating event that I went to with my friend to being able to go out solo, do night game and kiss-close within 20-30 mins, number close etc. I did daygame cold approach, events, nightgame, solo and with wings. I approached somewhere between 500-750 women, overcoming my fear of women and approach anxiety. Nothing through social circle or apps.

More than the dates and the sex (which wasn't that much), the most thing I enjoyed was actually getting positive reactions from women, making them laugh, flattering them, seeing them all relaxed in their feminine energy when they were attracted to me, getting warmth from total strangers and changing my mindset that approaching a random women is totally normal and a legit way to romantic/sexual relationships.

My advice for total beginners:
1) you're probably not as unattractive as you think, go up to a woman and say something, anything, before you had 0% chance, now its at least 1%. Try 100 times. You will get something.
2) women are a lot nicer when rejecting than stupid social media clips make it seem;
3) if you are totally new at approaching women/dating then your naviety and novelty of the situation can work in your favour - you radiate positivity and warmth and the women will respond in kind (naviety, not insecurity - that will lead you to fumbles)
4) start with approaching women at social events where there is an expectation to meet people (not dating/singles events - the women are more guarded)
5) the best approach is: a unique observation/cold read/compliment given quickly - ideally as soon as you come into field of view contact with each other, one where you close the physical distance quite quickly (being too timid, respectfully distant just causes uncertainty in the woman, better to talk as if you already know her; calibrate appropriately for daygame)
6) The moment when you start feeling like you're the man, is the exact moment when you need to pull away, analyse your game very carefully to make corrections and make sure you are also dedicating your energy to other goals. Beware of arrogance and overconfidence.

Looking ahead to 2026:
However, due to lack of balance in my life and neediness creeping in, I went on a bad downward sprial. I gained a lot of weight and lost my physical exercise routines. I had the experience of game, but not the decent physical shape I had earlier in the year. I ended up having a streak of massive fumbles that really affected me. Essentially I'm starting 2026 from scratch, but this time with a little bit of experience.

In 2026 and beyond, I am hoping to
1) make approaching women part of my daily routines and reduce approach hesitation.
2) take a more relaxed approach to game, not neglect my other goals - the spam approach/ practice reps phase is over
3) improve the quality of my connections and increase my hit rate - get more dates and lays with less volume.
4) To reduce the ammount of resistance and flip the script more - have the girls chasing me a bit. My game is very overt, I am good at flirting (push,pull, tease, compliments) but not so much at creating tension and the deep psychological aspects - the latter is more important I beleive.
5) To internalize some of the positive feedback and positive experiences I had with women and kill the limiting, negative beliefs.

For guys that overcame their beginner stage/late bloomer awkwardness and made meaningful change to become 'more normal' - how did you do it, what really worked for you?

For guys still in their beginner stage - tell me how your 2025 went, what changed and what worked for you - looking for some inspiration!