Well for starters your assessment of your own attractiveness might be overstated, it’s also possible that it’s accentuated by poor grooming, fashion, or fitness standards.

So let’s assume you just have an unattractive face, full stop. Do you have a patchy beard? Maybe keep it only in areas where you grow hair more fully like a goatee, or clean shave if you don’t have any areas where it grows well. Make sure your hairstyle fits the shape of your face, if you have a longer more oval-like shape a fade on the sides and longer on top works well. If you have a round face then longer hair usually pairs well with that as it helps even out the width.

Physically you’ll need to be in better shape than most, if just to keep up. You don’t need to be a body builder necessarily, but having muscle and a beer gut looks better than being “skinny-fat” as they say. A lot of the stigma around short guys surrounds us not being as capable of defending ourselves and our families due to size, but anyone who’s ever been in martial arts can tell you weight is more important than height, and while height can allow higher weight capacity, not every tall guy gets shredded. Being bigger will help offset that stigma, the worst thing a short guy can be is scrawny.

Also important is personal hygiene, I’ve always been complimented on this especially when getting head, and believe me it’s the quickest way to show someone you have attention to detail. If you can get and afford baby wipes they make a great finisher so you can actually get clean after going to the bathroom, and take showers regularly.

Now this last part is the hardest since it has no tangible existence that can be measured, but you have to accept a couple of truths. Keep in mind when I say these things that I myself am 5’4-5’5" depending on time of day so I’m not some 6’ chad giving you useless info. I have LIVED this for a large part of my existence.

1. Everyone has preferences, and it’s OK that some women need their guy to be taller than them. It sucks, but no matter who you are there’s a guarantee you won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and that’s just life.

2. Think of these preferences as a filter, the women that care aren’t your dating target anyways. Find the ones that don’t seem to mind and focus on those.

3. Even the women that don’t mind WILL be turned off the more you harp on how being a short guy is the cause of all your problems. You must be the bigger man when it comes to this, if you get made fun of find a way to respond that doesn’t show you’re insecure about it even if you are, but getting angry is the one thing you absolutely cannot do. It’s literally the goal of people who ridicule you to make you angry so they can point and go “look at the pissed off short guy he’s such a stereotype.” You have to rise above this in social situations until the person making fun of you for it is seen as the weird one for focusing on it so much. It’s the only way to win. Either way you have to reframe the way you see yourself so that you’re not a victim. It’s the most difficult part of the mental hurdle to overcome but you’ll not see success until you do.