[Erock]

I'm with Fulcrum on the Real Social Dynamics forum. They give a lot of great social advice there, but it's mostly about picking up girls.

In my experience, to get confidence, the best way is to hang around other confident people. One fantastic mindset to adopt (from RSD) is to always be adding value to any social situation. I do this by always having a couple funny stories to tell and some interesting things to talk about. I talk and laugh loudly, tease girls, and make fun of just about everything. If you practice adding value in this way, people are going to want to be around you and you will have confident friends in no time.

If you are not adding value to social situations, you will have a tough time making confident, cool friends. The first couple times you hang out with a new group of people are the key times to be adding value. Otherwise, people will not see any reason to invite you back again. Really confident guys (the types you want to be friends with) simply do not have room in their lives for people that are not in someway enhancing their social situations. I know this is true, because I find myself acting like that now. If a new guy hangs out with our group, and he isn't funny, or he doesn't talk very much, or he acts weird or mean, or is insecure when someone teases him, he will probably not be invited back.

The other thing to keep in mind though about trying to find confident, cool groups of people to hang out with is that you are going to have to invite yourself to stuff for awhile. A really awesome, confident guy that already has 10 really close friends is not going to call you to go to a movie, because that is just simply too much effort. It's not that he doesn't want you to come, it's just that you're too far down the list for a default call. But if you call him and ask him what he's up to, and he says he's going to a movie with the group, you will surely be invited. Do not be afraid to invite yourself to stuff. That is how you break into a group.

Good Luck
Erock