Goddammit you weren't supposed to ask him out on a date. You're supposed to keep flirting and build the tension until he asks you out. "Oh you think I'm smart? You're pretty smart too" "you're so handsome and kind I'm sure you'll get a gf soon!" Etc. Etc. Make it unbearable until he is desperate to ask you out. You shouldn't have followed it up either.. him ignoring it was forgiving you for being so forward. Guys who are serious about dating hate when girls are forward and want to be the ones that pursue and ask you out.
I used to be FAW until I was 25, and not only did I do a physical transformation I also learned new people skills by binge reading books and videos. I realized how much of my FAW was due to lack of understanding people and how dating works. Even before finishing my physical transformation I was already seeing results from having better people skills and understanding the rules of dating better.
The "ask guys out" advice is bs, they actually mean wait until you're 99% sure he's dying to ask you out, OR come up with an excuse to see him outside of work/school like asking to help you move a bookshelf or use a coupon your friend gave you for this store. Maybe I'm autistic too for needing to have this subtle social cues stuff spelled out for me.
The "have confidence" advice, to me, actually means act like you're the life of the party, someone desirable and sociable. Guys can get tricked by a facade like that. I learned in my journey guys are attracted to happy women because they feel successful when their woman is happy, ashamed and a failure if they're not. That's why they make the game easier for themselves by choosing women who are naturally happy. I went on a spiritual development journey too and I feel like the kind of girl now that guys see sunshine and rainbows when they look at me. The meme, "you must be happy with yourself first" is not false. But it did come off the back of building evidence that as I tried new things and changed who I was I was starting to see significant progress in how people treat me.
I learned also the put yourself out there advice means, if you're an introvert, to talk to anybody and everybody. The cashier, the waiters, your neighbor, the person in the elevator with you. Not only did it improve my people skills, I actually got contact information out of it. I can't believe it. I know. Its also given me more evidence that people are generally nicer and kinder than I thought. But I also leveled up my looks too, for so many reasons I used to not understand when I was FAW. If you're not dolled up, you're not playing by society's and peoples rules, so they won't treat you by society and peoples rules so you're not entitled to kindness and politeness from strangers. When you're dressed nicely people think "this person cares about themselves and others" and treat you well. Yes I did end up following all the memes, but I had to learn the hidden meaning behind general advice to get there