For information, I'm 29 and was in an 11-year relationship, have really only had sex with my ex-girlfriend (though we did it about once a week through the relationship), but have never been able to pick up women or set things up with random women.

I was out at a live show, a guy doing some covers, he had a great R&B voice, it was a good show. I tried to keep a positive mindset throughout the night, scanning the room, keeping interesting conversation with my cousin, looking at the waitress in the eyes, and trying to be fearless in general. As the night went on I saw a girl with a Zelda tattoo and went up to ask her what her favorite game was. We had a bit of a conversation, and I noticed one of her friends looking at me as well. Before I left, I went up to her and asked her for her number and she gave it to me, which was cool, that's never happened before.

I texted her the next day to set up a date and she said "damn you're bold", but then didn't text me back after that. C'est la vie, she was good practice for the next girl I'm going to ask out. My confidence has gone up tremendously knowing that a girl will actually give me her number, even if nothing is going to materialize from it. I've been definitely getting more flirty reactions from girls in general now, it's pretty crazy how things have started to change for me by opening myself up and being more fearless.

In general I'd say really don't ignore social momentum, try to be as social as possible as early in the day as possible so that you can build a positive state up over the day and not let rejections get you down. I'm taking on a really social job now, so hopefully I get much more practice throughout the day and can push forward through interactions better.