I've been getting out of my comfort zone and actually opening sets when I go out (one or two nights a week). I've been going with canned openers, at least until I get more comfortable. I've been doing generic opinion openers (thinking about dying my hair, is it cheating if a girl with a bf makes out with another girl, that kinda thing), and they tend to open really well, but I'm noticing that I have a couple consistent problems.
1). I get nervous and stack opinion openers until it's a Q&A session.
2). I can't to seem to roll on to DHVs after the opener--sometimes I even end up qualifying myself, like taking sides on the opener and then defending my position--poorly. Then I either have to eject or get ejected--not reaching hook point
3). When I do accidentally get past the opener, I lose focus (which HB is my target? Hell, I'll just talk to whichever one pays attention to me), scatter negs around like a damn saltshaker, and end up lowering my value by paying attention to whoever cares.
4). Sometimes, and I can't figure out why, I can't even hold their attention for more than a minute. Inner game? Do guys with solid inner game ever have this problem?

It seems like these are bigger problems for me with large sets--I do much better with 2 or 3 sets than, say, 5 sets. I don't have much of an anxiety problem with small, mixed sets either. The problems with my focus and holding their attention are especially bad with big sets.

It's just frustrating! Last weekend I felt solid, and got a k-close and #-close from a girl I used to have a thing for--I isolated well, was rocking the negs and takeaways and kino until she was chasing me, had her qualifying....it just felt natural. And since then, I've gone back to AFC when I'm trying to sarge. And I also haven't heard back from this girl.

I'm thinking, while I keep working on inner game, working out, feeling better, maybe I should sit down, plan out an entire approach, what to say if she says this, when/how to transition, when to kino and how, etc., and see if having an actual plan boosts my confidence. I really don't want to stick with canned game forever, but is it a decent way to build confidence and skill?