Explicit rationality can help you realize that you should force tight feedback loops into whichever domains you want to succeed in, so that you can have develop good intuitions about how to succeed in those domains.
A realization:
PUA, or at least what seems to me to be the core concept of some schools of PUA, makes a ton of sense when viewed in this light. Trying to pick up a stranger in a bar is probably the tightest feedback loop possible for social skills, and like the OP says, social skills are massively important for success and happiness. Therefore, going out every Friday night and brazenly flirting with as many attractive people as possible seems like an incredibly good way to rapidly improve your life and chances of success. I was always baffled and repelled by the “self-actualization teachings disguised as advice on how to get laid” nature of some PUA, but now it seems really really desirable.
A realization:
PUA, or at least what seems to me to be the core concept of some schools of PUA, makes a ton of sense when viewed in this light. Trying to pick up a stranger in a bar is probably the tightest feedback loop possible for social skills, and like the OP says, social skills are massively important for success and happiness. Therefore, going out every Friday night and brazenly flirting with as many attractive people as possible seems like an incredibly good way to rapidly improve your life and chances of success. I was always baffled and repelled by the “self-actualization teachings disguised as advice on how to get laid” nature of some PUA, but now it seems really really desirable.