There's nothing actually wrong with picking up women by itself.
Most women won't mind any good-looking confident men approaching them. Assuming they were polite and genuine, they won't be labelled as a creep.
The reason why pickup artists are bad is because they're not the type of guy women want to be approached by.
So what exactly makes them a different breed?
Can they turn things around and do pickup in a more acceptable way?
Well, let's start with how they're created in the first place...
What's Wrong With Pickup Artists
It's not easy to meet women. Even the best looking of us can really struggle. We're kind of just expected to figure it out.
Unless you have a brother or a good group of friends, you may wrestle with a poor dating life for a while.
So naturally, a lot of young frusterated men look to the internet for help...
Unfortunately, finding legitimate dating info online about isn't exactly easy.
There's a lot of trash information out there, and not everyone can spot the difference.
If you visit many of these dating-advice websites, you can see everything being broken down endlessly into some systematic formula.
They rely on misleading tactics such as cold reading, fractionation, or scrambler techniques. They hold the mindset that they can control what women do.
Essentially, they believe dating is a matter pressing the right buttons. Instead of building connections with women, they hold the belief that any woman can be "seduced."
It's not suprising it's often precedes the creation of incels.
The hard truth is that there is a certain type of guy who looks for dating advice online. I know because I was one of them. It's more of the socially awkward and introverted types.
After all, cool and attractive guys who get laid don't go write "lay reports" about it. The guys who succeed on their own largely just use trial and error.
They also don't use pickup lines.
PUAs seem to always interpret failure as having said or done the wrong thing. It's never that maybe they look like a creep or she just wasn't available.
What Pickup Artists Need to Improve Upon
The first factor is your appearance.
Just like how you judge girls on their attractiveness, they (obviously) do it to men as well.
You don't have to be the best looking guy out there, but you have to actually put effort into your appearance.
As men a lot of us don't know what looks good. That's fine.
If you don't know what clothes to wear, ask advice from a friend (ideally a woman).
Have them help with hairstyle, too.
You should be hitting the gym as well. If your physique is well below average, don't focus on anything else for a year or so. It will need your full focus.
The second factor to improve is your overall level of experience.
You just learn so much by just going out and talking to women (and using dating apps). Some sites (like this one) can help provide some direction, but the lessons are learnt by actually taking action.
There are some things you can learn to save you time (which is what this site is about), but that's maybe 10-20% of what you need to know.
The third factor is your overall lifestyle.
This is about your life outside of women. What exactly do you have going on? Is your comfort zone ever pushed?
If I asked you what your goal is right now, will you be able to immeidately provide an answer? How about a sub-goal that is actionable and time sensitive?
It's okay if you need to still put in the work.
We all start at different positions. What's important is that it's part of your plan to do something about it.
Lastly, a pickup artists fundemental mindset is typically flawed or non-existent. This is his overall core beliefs and moral compass that guides him. While this comes with age and life experience, there are some books or role models which can set this foundation.
A favourite example of mine is a book called 'How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World' by Harry Browne (it's available on Amazon).
It covers so much (well beyond dating), but has influenced the core of how I think and how I perceive the world. I'm not one to push virtually any self-help books, yet it's one I continue to reread every few years.