I had some success doing this. I always was reluctant but a year or two ago i finally decided id try. I have social anxiety so for me i worry about being around people. I started very slow and then one day i made myself go in to target when it was very slow. Every week before therapy(just in case it went bad) id make myself go in. I often rewarded myself for doing it by buying something, somehow i think the greed helped me focus on something else. After several months of this(i went slow) i made myself go into target the day after thanksgiving(REALLY busy) at 8am. It went well and i felt really good about it. The part i messed up i think is i didnt keep going and move on to other social situations. I felt like i won and stopped hehe. If i ever try this again at least i know where i went wrong the first time.