Ask often and a lot. This does not mean that you appear uneducated, on the contrary. Asking shows that you are interested in gaining new experiences and are looking for more knowledge. Just avoid exaggerating and think about what the American author Larry Kersten once said; “There are no stupid questions, but there are lots of inquisitive idiots.”
• Another smart way is to ask questions that you already know the answer to.
When the other party answers, you can directly counter with a follow-up question (and such are easy for you to come up with because you already know approximately what he or she should answer). It makes you appear as if you were listening to the answer, quickly understood the topic and then want to develop the discussion a little deeper and “learn more” by asking more.
• Another variant is to steer the conversation to a topic that you know a lot about when you notice that the other party does not have the same control as you. Ask difficult questions and let the other party walk away, preferably in front of an audience.
This is an effective way to get people around you to perceive you as both intelligent and humble. You avoid reveling in the other party’s lack of knowledge, while at the same time you “pilot” him or her correctly by sharing your expertise and “helping” with the answers in a friendly and generous way. Such things always impress people.
• Say you have three people who are all discussing a topic they do not really know anything about. The strange thing is that the one who is loudest often appears as the one who still knows the most. Raise your voice and talk loud and clear even if you have no idea what you are talking about.
To avoid being exposed, you can always blame others if what you say turns out to be wrong. Refer your opinions to things you have read or heard someone else say, e.g. “According to what I read in Dagens Nyheter”…, “If you are to believe what they said in the world of Science”… or “According to Sartre so”…
Sometimes it can be enough to be loud to appear smart.
• Actually, there is no major difference between general education and “TP knowledge”.
Many people who are good at Trivial Pursuit seem smart to answer all the questions correctly, but often it’s just that a person has simply played so many times, that he or she has plugged in the answers. You can do that too and it does not have to be very difficult. Read one or two cards with different categories each night and memorize the correct answers.
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• Stop wasting time on stupid TV shows. Instead, watch more Discovery, History Channel, Animal Planet, TV 4 Fakta, Kunskapskanalen and documentaries on Kanal 7 and 10 as a change. Here are lots of interesting things to discover and which also make you a little smarter with the purchase.
If it so happens that you like to watch stupid TV shows, then continue with it, but do not talk about everything you see with those you want to appear smart to.
Also, do not make the mistake of telling how much you hate all the stupid shit that the TV channels spew out. People will only think you’re a complacent snob if you say you’ll never watch TV.
• Do not believe everything you hear. Avoid automatically repeating and passing on everything you think are facts to other people before you find out for yourself if it is true or not. This is a common – and unnecessary – mistake. The more often you pass on gossip, loose rumors or outright inaccuracies, the more frivolous you appear to be.
Therefore, question everything you hear and believe is true. Most people just shut up and just because someone is talking a lot, it does not have to mean that the person in question actually knows what he or she is talking about.
If something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Therefore, question everything!
• Make sure you always have a notebook with you that you can write in, especially when you are sitting in a café, train station or other places where you are surrounded by people. Make it a habit to write down words that you hear but do not understand, a fun line, interesting facts or just things that you will think about and that you can google later.
Do not overestimate your memory. Most of us have a laid back attitude when it comes to painting a picture about ourselves, but most of the time we forget about it. This is an easy way to learn new things.
Not only is it smart to make it a habit to write down interesting things in a pad that you always carry with you – it also makes you look smarter! People will automatically understand that you have lots of important thoughts and ideas that you need to gather, write down and further develop.
Challenge yourself and decide to learn at least one new thing every day – and make sure you really do too! It does not have to be very complicated. It can be anything from learning what a new word means to finding out that an eel can live up to a day on land. Start on a small scale and aim for a little more challenging fact-finding as you go.
A tip is to have a dictionary on the bedside table. Close your eyes, scroll and look up a word at random and learn a new thing before falling asleep every night.
• Stand for what you think and think.
Show that you are confident in your opinions and do not follow the silly “Forgive-me-trend” that is now sweeping across Sweden. It will make you appear like a person with integrity and people with integrity are always perceived as smart.
Do you remember Forgive me?
It was a rare stupid program that was broadcast in 1995, first on TV4 and then on Trean. It was about eliciting feelings of guilt in people who would then directly on TV apologize for something they said or did.
The program flopped, but I will not be surprised if any channel dusts off the concept again. The reason is that Swedes have never been so anxious and afraid of conflict as now. Not a day goes by without someone feeling hurt and insulted and roaring about redress. Apologizing has become more important than daring to stand up for one’s opinion. The Swedes seem to take Groucho Marx’s old sarcasm seriously:
“These are my principles – and if they do not fit, I have more”.
There has been inflation in bending and bowing, thinking and thinking to fit into this country.
Apologizing when you have done something wrong is one thing.
Apologizing for one’s opinion is a completely different matter.
That’s never right.
It’s always wrong!
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• Powerful people – people who want something with life and who also make sure to realize their plans – also often appear smart. Be sure to make it a habit to always make decisions, big and small.
A decision is always a decision.
Remember that you always have a choice – either you choose to do something or you choose not to do something, which means that you let someone else choose (decide) for you.
Also keep in mind that you can always make new decisions and make new choices if the first thing turns out to be wrong.
The important thing is to make decisions and to also complete things that you have started. Half-finished projects make you perceived in the same way as people with poor vocabulary – unserious, unreliable and uneducated.
• Do not give up too quickly when you encounter resistance. Strive to find a solution yourself instead of just whining, hanging your head and hoping that someone else will solve your problems for you.
Listen to tips and advice from others, but decide for yourself what is right for you. Learn to think constructively, seek your own solutions and dare to trust your own gut feeling.
Do not settle for half-finished solutions or compromises.
Do not listen to gossip and rumors, so you do not have to draw unnecessary, hasty conclusions.
Find out for yourself the facts and distinguish between what people believe and claim is true and what the facts really are.
• Take advantage of everything you have been through and experienced in life, both good and bad things. Learn from your mistakes and use them as new ways to solve similar problems.
• Learn to say some common phrases in different languages, but avoid the most common ones. Invest in e.g. Armenian, Cantonese or Hindi. You do not have to pretend that you can speak the language fluently. It is enough that you with humble indifference at a well-chosen occasion can say a few sentences in an odd, foreign language for you to impress your surroundings. Linguistic people are always perceived as a little extra smart. Should it turn out that there is against all odds someone nearby who can e.g. Hindi, you can explain with an unassuming smile that you “have just picked up a few simple phrases here and there”. It suggests not only that you are an intelligent person, but also a worldly and traveling guy or girl.
• A good way to not only get a better language, but also learn new things, get a little more sensible news and more in-depth information is to opt out of the usual, superficial and sniffed nonsense where there is no longer any major difference in facts, gossip and advertising.
Read other newspapers than usual.
Skip Aftonbladet, Expressen, Se & Hör, Cosmopolitan, Fantomen and the football magazine for a while.
Instead, read e.g. Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Illustrerad Vetenskap, Allt om historia and Veckans affärer. Then you get insight into new topics and do not just have to talk about who went out in the latest “Let’s Dance” or other brain-dead pastimes.
And buy a crossword puzzle magazine – you will not only look smart with a crossword puzzle in front of you. Chances are good that you actually also get a better vocabulary on the coup!
• Learn to play chess. For some reason, the old cliché that people who play chess are smarter than others still lives on. Take advantage of it.
• Intelligent men and women do not bucket beer. They drink wine and Martini and other “nice” drinks.
Smart people do not get drunk in public either. They do not throw away pizza with extra everything or junk food from McDonalds. They quietly eat cheese, grapes and biscuits with pâté. The downside is that you will be very hungry. The advantage is that you will look very intellectual. You can make supper and revel at home behind closed doors.
• Do not chew gum as if it were a full-time job for other people. If you are a girl, do not do it in combination with twisting your hair around your fingers, painting your nails or checking your make-up in a mirror.
• If nothing else works to make you look smarter – surround yourself with idiots.
It’s an emergency solution that may not make you smarter, but you will effortlessly appear as Stephen Hawking to the rest of the world if you start hanging out with retired “Big Brother” contestants, fashion bloggers and other confused reality soap celebrities / wannabe celebrities.
