Flirt coach friends of mine assure me that you should be looking to chat with lots of people you meet. That includes old ladies to shop assistants, whether you fancy someone or not.

This does two things for you. It builds your confidence and it makes chatting to someone an everyday act, not a holy terror to be built up to on special occasions. Obviously you need to be careful that you are not coming across as threatening or overbearing, particularly in public spaces.

You don’t have to go for major efforts, just build conversation around what is happening – for a barmaid how busy work is, for someone in the street a ‘hello’ and smile could make their day and yours, for a shop assistant you could ask how their day is going.

The aim of these conversations should be for a quick and pleasant chat rather than to pull or score points. That means when you do see someone you like the look of talking to them won’t be half as scary.

And you’ll have also brightened up a granny’s day with a smile on your way to work that gives you a good guy feeling that others will notice and find attractive.