I am a 29 year old guy and I am a beginner. However I have learned so much from all the people who post their own reports and tips on this subreddit. I've taken heart to a lot of people who gave great advice such as to take it slow, but never waste a day. So for the past 7 weeks I've went from just saying hi to random strangers (even elderly folks) to being able to say hi and wave to girls and sometimes even have a casual conversation. These are my practical tips for people who maybe having a hard time developing initial confidence:

  1. Go running at a park or a place that have a fair bit of joggers and wave and nod at every runner regardless of who they are. Most likely at least 70% of them will not see you or ignore you. The 30% that acknowledges you pumps you up for your run and you start to realize that just saying hi to a person is not a big deal. This also gives you small doses of rejection and makes you realize that the people who ignore or didn't even realize your presence doesn't matter at all. If you can't go to a park, jog around your neighborhood and wave to all your neighbors you may not have met. You would be surprised who lives around you. Worst case scenario even if you don't wave to anyone at all, at least you are outside exercising.
  2. I know this one may be controversial, but personally for me I try to cut off as much as possible porn and fapping (to the best of my ability). This ( at least for me ) creates something like a biological desperation that pushes me even more to talk to girls. I admit I'm not the smoothest talker or the coolest cucumber, so I use this as a motivation to get over my bitch butterflies. I may come across stupid and desperate, but in the beginning it at least helps me to go for it. Basically my mentality is: "you want to fulfill this desire, then do it the way evolution wanted you to do it".
  3. Approach at least one set every day. There is no such thing as stasis: you are either moving forward or retreating backward. If you were able to talk to a cashier yesterday, great, today talk to a customer in line or something. If you were able to a customer in line then try to talk to a specific customer. I think one of the most important advice i read in this subreddit is always keep moving forward EVERY DAY! No matter how small the improvement maybe. At the very least try to maintain the level you attained before.

Hopefully this gives you guys some tangible starting point. I am no where near where I want to be, but I focus on it day by day. It's really frustrating because sometimes I read successful posts and I am so jealous, but I have to remind myself that we all start somewhere. There are a lot of good members on this subreddit: read what they have to say and try to at least incorporate one thing from their summary to your own game. Will we all be Casanovas? probably not, but it sure beats just brooding in our own dingy lit rooms and sulking.