If your life is attractive, women will find you attractive.

Work out, focus on your career, practice your social skills, be confident, be assertive, develop useful skills and interesting hobbies – essentially, quit wasting time. Read non-fiction more than fiction (and if you read fiction, read the RIGHT kind of fiction, thanks /u/shefster), watch less TV, play less video games, quit jerking off to porn, spend that time doing something that makes you physically, mentally, and/or socially better.

I bolded 'assertive' because it's very important. Don't be afraid of taking up space in people's lives. Walk in a room, bump, shove, squeeze, do whatever you can to get what you WANT.

Basically, know that your time is valuable. You only live once after all (#yolo). Because of this, DON'T waste your time on a girl if what you're expending on them exceeds what you get in return (basically, don't put pussy on a pedestal). This is unattractive to women and more importantly, it is a complete waste of your time and effort. VALUE YOUR LIFE AND THE TIME THAT YOU HAVE LEFT. Don't pamper women in an attempt to win them over.

Have you ever had someone constantly give you their time and effort without you asking? You may say that you 'like' them, but the truth is, you will only ever see them as a platonic relationship. As time goes by, you will lose respect for them and eventually even take their efforts for granted. This is the EXACT SAME THING that happens to the nice guys who do whatever they can to please women: They get taken for granted and taken advantage of. Do NOT be that guy. It boggles my mind when SJWs and the like, say that men should do whatever they can to improve the lives of women. I wholeheartedly disagree. And it isn't because of some skewed, fucked up morality, either. I believe men and women should have both of their lives improved... But the thing is, if your efforts on a woman simply don't yield any results, STOP doing it. Western society is becoming more and more feminized, and people are starting to value women more and more over men. Do NOT start believing that women are worth more than you men. Men and women are EQUAL in that they both deserve value. Respect yourself before you even speak to a woman, and you'll do alright.

Getting back to the issue of being taken for granted/taken advantage of, I have an example to tell you guys in my life. I recently started working at an office. There's this woman who is constantly trying to help me even when I don't ask for it. What happens? I start thinking of her as less of a person. I know this makes me sound like a complete shithead, but it's just true. I just don't have respect for her anymore. This is exactly the same thing that happens when you suck up to a girl you like. They lose respect for you. Without respect, you won't be seen as a high-value male (a high-value male is what women want as a mate). On the other hand, when I look at my boss, I have a lot of respect for him because he doesn't suck up to me.

That being said, to be respected, you have to do everything my first paragraph listed out: Be SUCCESSFUL. That's the ONLY way to gain respect. And I don't mean success simply from your career, either. I mean be successful PHYSICALLY (work out, eat well, etc.), MENTALLY (read non-fiction, watch TED Talks, learn something that betters your understanding of the world and people around you), and SOCIALLY (don't suck up to others, engage yourself in social activities, even if it's out of your norm. This broadens your circle of friends/acquaintances and ENRICHES your life with interesting people).

With all of this, there's really no need for PUA tactics (which I honestly find very superficial since it has no 'substance' behind it):

Negging?

You'll naturally do it simply because you VALUE yourself. Negging essentially creates the scenario that you're valuable, that you're ABOVE someone else by throwing a cocky & funny 'insult' at them. There's no need for that shit if you're ALREADY above someone purely based on your lifestyle, career, physical health, intelligence, etc. Hell, do you EVER see high value men throw negs around? No. You may see them make jokes, but you'll almost NEVER see them insult another person. Why? Because they know that they're already above them. There's no need to validate their selves by insulting others. After all, confidence is silent and insecurity is loud. This is because insecure people have the need to be noticed, to be heard, to be acknowledged. Confident men don't need this. They KNOW that their opinions are valued simply because their opinions are educated and well-informed (this is why you need to be mentally successful. Learn about as many things as you're passionate about!). They simply have to take action or say their opinion once, and it'll be understood— because people pay attention to them... And people pay attention to these men because they're RESPECTED (it goes full circle).

Kino-escalation?

You'll NATURALLY do this because you're ASSERTIVE. You want sex, right? You'll slowly move your way into it.

Brb, lunch time. Will finish when I get back.

EDIT: Back from lunch. Just realized that my title isn't appropriate since this isn't in 'a nutshell' anymore.

As I was saying, kino-escalation will come naturally because of your assertiveness. You want sex, you're assertive, so you'll make it happen somehow. Now, I'm not advocating rape. Don't misunderstand me. I'm just laying out the fact that being assertive DOES get you what you want in life. Hell, women FIND assertive men sexy, anyway. Just ask any girl. They ALL want the guy to make the first move (this is largely because they're even MORE afraid than men when it comes to approach. Rejection seems to be something that they're deathly afraid of).

Anxiety during your opener?

You won't have ANY anxiety if you've already improved yourself in every way possible. One of the main reasons why men get anxiety when doing an opener is because they overvalue women and devalue their selves. You know that unattractive girl you see around at work, school, etc.? Yeah, you have no anxiety around her because you don't overvalue her. You don't overvalue her because she's not attractive. Honestly, if you want, you can imagine every girl as unattractive and it'll boost your chances of getting women.

Also, if you have high status (compared to the women you're opening), you will feel NO anxiety whatsoever. This is different from overvaluing women and devaluing yourself because your status is FACTUAL. The overvaluing of women and devaluing of your self is all in your head. Being FACTUALLY high status makes YOU the alpha in your situation. People get anxious around YOU. On the other hand, if you have low status because you didn't bother improving yourself, you'll have anxiety meeting women. Why? Because you're not the alpha in that situation.

Just think about it this way: Have you ever met someone you were nervous to meet? Of course you have. In that situation, the person you were meeting was the alpha. THEY made you nervous. It's like meeting your prospective employer for the first time. You're nervous because HE'S the one in charge. He's the alpha. He gets to decide your fate. This is exactly how YOU should be with women. BE the alpha. You're the one who's supposed to make women a bit anxious when you're around them (anxious in a GOOD way. Not in a creepy-vibe kind of way). And you know what? You can actually ease that anxiety from women whenever you WANT, as long as you make jokes— as long as you're funny. Interestingly enough, this is why men (in general) are funnier than women— because men have LEARNED to be funny out of necessity (to attract women). Women, on the other hand, have no need for humor because they simply have to look good (which all women know already), be loyal and emotionally stable to attract men. If alpha males don't display a sense of humor, they become hard to approach. Essentially, it makes them appear too serious. It makes them appear as if they take their selves too seriously. This lowers their chances of getting a girl. So just remember: BE alpha and use humor to ease the anxiety you create. Just don't use too much humor otherwise you'll only be seen as some goofball or clown. Know when to shut up.

Now, I know there are some people out there who are going to disagree with my ideas (specifically girls), but that's mainly because women typically want to be pampered. Now, I don't blame them. Who doesn't want to be pampered? The most beautiful women you'll see around campus, work, the mall, etc. have essentially learned that just by being beautiful, men will grovel at their feet and do whatever they want. ALL women know this (especially the unattractive, jealous women. This is why women are competitive as fuck when it comes to beauty). If they say they don't know about this phenomenon, they're purposely not admitting it because it is their TRUMP CARD. It's their power-play. It's their advantage. I mean, who the FUCK would want to give that up? I know I wouldn't if I had that same privilege. Unfortunately for them, following my advice destroys that dream for these women. But that's okay. It's okay because what they'll get is a man who's got TONS of inner game: a man who's developed himself in every way possible. They may not like the fact that they won't get pampered as much (like when they had nice guys do anything/everything for them), but they'll be ATTRACTED to you. They'll love you for being successful in every way possible. There's nothing better than some good old fashioned hard work to be more attractive to women, after all.

I really hope this thread gets to some of you guys having trouble in the dating scene. Just know that you don't have to focus your life on getting a girlfriend. Better yourselves and the women will naturally come to you.

TL;DR: Work on yourself in every way possible: Physically, mentally, socially and financially. Value your time and efforts: Don't waste your time and efforts on a woman if what you're expending on them exceeds what you get in return. Above all, value your self and be assertive.

EDIT: Grammar/wording/typos.

EDIT 2: 'Read non-fiction more than fiction, and if you read fiction, read the RIGHT kind of fiction.'

EDIT 3: Since a lot of you are emphasizing the reading part of what I said, I guess it just shows that a lot of you here are big literature readers. I understand that reading fiction allows you to expand the worlds you know, enrich your imagination, and maybe even teach you a thing or two about life, but what I'm trying to get across is that you should be reading non-fiction (self-help books, for example) to better yourself because you can acquire knowledge about the real world at a faster and more easily absorbed way. It's simply part of self-improvement.

Personally, I'm passionate as FUCK about self-improvement, just as much as I think some of you are passionate about reading literature (at least, from what I'm reading in the comments). And that's how I got to where I am. It's just my personal experience. I don't think I would've ever gotten to the place I'm at or know the things I know, without LEARNING how to improve myself by reading non-fiction books that expanded my knowledge about the real world.

I've read Robert Greene's books 48 Laws of Power and Mastery. I've read How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I've read Start With Why by Simon Sinek. I've read Choose Yourself! by James Altucher. I've read The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and Business by Charles Duhigg (which I highly recommend, by the way. You'll learn how to avoid bad habits and embrace good ones. This was a HUGE part of my self-improvement). I've read a ton of other similar self-help books, PuA books, ebooks, etc. I've read a TON on body language and linguistics JUST so I could better understand social cues and the like. Hell, a lot of the things I've done to enrich my knowledge about the world and people were even from watching TED Talks videos and 99U.

Simply put, I actively try to enrich my knowledge about the world around me. I'd say most of my fictional knowledge comes from video games, movies and TV shows. A few, not a lot, came from fictional literature. These were all entertaining, enriched my imagination and some even taught me a thing or two about certain aspects of life. But in my opinion, after reading all the things I have, after seeing all the things that I have, I've learned that reading non-fictional is more valuable to my time simply because the information you get is more direct and is easier to absorb. You'll basically learn at a much faster rate (remember the 'value your time and efforts' bit?). Now, I'm not advocating some kind of damnation for fictional books. I'm really not. It's just from personal experience that I've learned MORE from non-fictional than I have from fictional.

EDIT 4: Added that bit about anxiety when doing an opener.