It's really because he is looking at this as work instead of something that is fun.
You have to be process oriented...
- You must love the good moments
- You must love the bad moments
- You must love the interactions
- You must love the challenges
- You must love getting past sticking points
YOU MUST LOVE THE GAME
If you're focused on one thing...and we all know what it is, then your going in just hoping for it. You don't like the process you'd rather have a cheat code to get where you want to be, instead of going through the whole process to get to where you want to be.
It's obvious his state is based on the validation he gets. If he gets a bad interaction then he state goes down, if it's a good interaction then his state goes up. This is bad in the long run, because you become a response junkie.
That is why if you go in a set your hoping that the set is nice to you from the start because you don't want any bad emotions because it will kill your state. This is why you won't approach moving sets because of that bad experience with that one set.
Really though when you're out there your suppose to be having fun. This is more of a hobby. The frame you should have is that "The world is your pickup lab". Meaning everything you do is just a fun social experiment, where you're trying to find out what happens. It doesn't matter if you get a good or bad reaction because you were just playing around trying stuff.
Two things you should do...
1. Lower your criteria for success (Start off just saying hi, or asking for the time, or just small talk, and then work your way up to an actually conversation, then a conversation where you add some form of humor, and keep the momentum going)
2. Focus on the skill (Don't logically look for success, such as #s and anything else you can consider success. Just go in with the goal of learning the skills whether it's telling stories, qualifying, kinoing, etc)
3. See every set as a learning experience (You've learned the things you did good and the things you did bad, that will help you in the long run)
4. Go out constantly (That is your main goal, if you have a chance to go out and sharpen your skills, don't think just go out and see what adventures await you)
That's like the only thing I can think of right now, because you really just have to focus on the process and realize that this shouldn't be something that is nerve wrecking, it should be fun.