《The 48 Laws of Power in Practice》Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker - seem dumber than your mark.
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People hate feeling less intelligent than someone else. When you make other people feel smarter than you, they become more trusting of you.
I just finished reading Billy Summers by Stephen King. The main character is a hitman who deals with a lot of criminals that could backstab him. He puts on a facade, which is what he calls "the dumb self" to stay safe. The criminals underestimate him and reveal too much information because they think he won't connect the dots.
When you are a normal person in the world or at your job, this can be true as well. If you are starting out, it is important to let your superiors know in a subtle way that you are better than the competition. However, never threaten their intelligence (Law# 1), or let your peers know all your strengths. This applies to not just intelligence, but sophistication as well. If you seem simple, people will take you at face value. Be average and they will like you; they won't be threatened by you. Even if they find out later that you are more intelligent than you seem, they will respect you all the more.
In college, I moved in with 5 other roommates into a five-bedroom house. Someone had to set up the internet. One of the other girls said she probably couldn't figure it out but I was good at things like that, so I volunteered. I wanted to rise to the occasion and thought maybe it wouldn't get taken care of otherwise. What a fool!
Halfway through figuring out who to call and what router and adapter to buy, I realized what happened...I got played. Why would anyone want to be in charge of something so tedious? That's what roommates or significant others are for. Watch out if someone strokes your ego and then tries to throw a bunch of house chores on you.
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In regards to showing your taste and sophistication, it depends on where you are. When I lived in San Francisco, everyone had deeply quirky and often sophisticated tastes. In Los Angeles, most people still love popular music and TV shows. Be aware of the norms in that area as well as who you are talking to. When you seem like you're too above it all, you become a snob in their eyes.
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