What is your personal approach to flirting with an 8, 9, or 10 compared to a 6 or below?

A bit of context: I have some low self esteem issues (that I am working on) I think I’ve always settled for women who weren’t up the standard of what I really desire. One of those reasons is because in my experience, 6 and below give more obvious clues of interest, so that seemed like a safer bet. The few times I’ve hooked up with 8s or 9s were either lucky or most commonly, I mistakenly thought they had boyfriends. Trying to figure out if it was because I wasn’t showing any sexual interest…yet, guys I respect like mark manson says attractive women like direct and sexually confident men.