Some may disagree with me here, but there are things that people do that lower their status immediately. I’ll explain what those things are and why in just a few moments, so bear with me here.
Some of the things you do are the adult version of giving someone the ick.
Fortunately for you, I’m here to help make sure that doesn’t happen!
Some of them are strategic, while others are just about being a basic human being.
Bad hygiene
- Don’t stink and don’t stand too close to people.
- Unless they specifically ask for it, nobody wants to feel your breath anyway.
- Shower, brush your teeth, clean your hair, and don’t touch other people.
- Don’t throw garbage on the floor or the street.
- Wear clean clothes and no, the same T-shirt you wore yesterday no longer counts as clean.
- Fix your teeth.
- Fix your cavities as well as that root canal.
This is rooted back in the Gilded Age, when people who had bad hygiene were usually festering with disease, so as humans, we learned to stay away from them.
Bad hygiene tells people you don’t take yourself seriously, you don’t take the situation seriously and you couldn’t take the time to do the bare minimum of washing yourself.
People realize you’re talking nonsense
The moment someone realizes you’re full of shit, nothing you will ever say will be trusted.
Society will give you the benefit of the doubt in the first place, but once they realize you’ve been capping, you’re done.
In their eyes, not only do you have the audacity to waste their time by talking about something you know nothing about, but you’re actively trying to deceive them by positioning yourself as something you’re not.
We learned to do better after the emperor’s clothes story came out.
Digging in with personal questions
Some things aren’t meant to be shared with the public, and to most people, you count as “the public”
If you’re not close enough that someone would volunteer the information, you should not ask, unless you do it for personal gain, which is why most people will be reluctant.
You’ve met people who just want to stick their noses as deep as they can in your business and it always leaves you wondering what the hell is wrong with them.
If you cross the line, you’re done, and they will look down on you!
You look physically tired or ill
This is a counterintuitive idea because you’d think tired people are hard workers, but that’s not how it works.
The more tired you are, the more you have to work, meaning you don’t yet own your freedom.
In high society, telling someone they look tired is an insult.
As for the ill part, it’s the “stay away from the sick people” example all over again.
Being bad with money
Being bad with money is a car crash in the making; it’s just a matter of time…
Bad money signals poor self-control and a poor understanding of one’s priorities concerning time.
If you’re bad with money, it also puts the circle’s resources at risk because we tend to associate ourselves with those who can contribute to the circle’s well-being.
The great thing about getting good with money is that it’s just a matter of exposure.
Allowing others to speak down on you and not standing up for yourself
The world treats you as you treat yourself!
If you let others walk over you, you might draw sympathy but not respect, and how much other people respect you is a key piece of where you are placed in the social hierarchy.
More respect means higher status.
Not being able to read a room
Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, trying to be funny when you shouldn’t, and failing—not being able to tell how other people feel—all of it builds this avatar of what kind of person you are in other people’s minds.
If you want to be invited to the room again, learn to read the room you’re in.
Believe it or not, your status is what grants you access to certain rooms.
If you feel like other people are gatekeeping you from your dream life, you might be the real reason they don’t let you in.
Lack of emotional control
- Somebody who cries all the time…
- Somebody who can’t pull themselves together when you need them to.
- Somebody who loses themselves to anger
- Someone who’s unpredictably violent
If they don’t contribute to the room or have the ability to change the vibe of the room for the worse because of their inability to control themselves, it’s an immediate red flag that nobody wants to associate with.
Life is already complicated; we don’t need to be wary of those we allow inside the castle walls.
Excessive behaviors
- Excessive drinking
- Shoving too much food in your mouth
- severely overly religious or severely anti-religious
- Too woke, too conservative
Anything in the extreme is bad.
The problem with excess is that it is rooted in who you are, even if the early signs are positive.
The first piece of chocolate tastes good, and the second one as well… But if you keep going, it will make you sick and even kill you.
Once again, it boils down to your ability to self-control and see the value in everything you touch.
People who are lost and lack purpose in life
Have you met people who aren’t going anywhere… people who don’t know what to do with their lives; people who have no purpose; they just are; there’s nothing about them that’s interesting…
You know how they say everyone is a hero in their own stories… Well, these people are the closest thing to NPCs.
The reason we look down on people without drive or goals is because we want to know if others are incentivized to perform.
They’ll give it their best because it will get them closer to whatever it is that they desire.
Lacking purpose is like an unlit candle; it is there, but it doesn’t help anyone.
Cruelty
Any kind of cruelty is lower-status behavior.
Cruelty towards animals, towards people you deem below you, to those less lucky than you are…
Cruelty is an unnecessary cause of suffering and only low-status individuals can get themselves to make someone or something else suffer without reason.
A disregard for the rules of the house
The house sets the rules.
If you walk into the house, you choose to follow the rules of the house.
You are a guest; behave like it.
The host should be accommodating to the guest they invited in, but never should the guest run the show.
Always remember what position you occupy in the room.
Any breach of this unspoken rule will immediately get you labeled as low-class.
This is why modern society looks down on most immigrants who fail to assimilate.
Making one thing your entire personality
Being a one-trick pony means that once the trick is done, people have no reason to keep you around.
Making one thing your entire personality is just another form of extremism.
There’s nothing left to discover about that person; you know where they’ll stand on any issue.
They become incredibly annoying about it, and you know exactly what we’re talking about if you’ve met any newly minted vegans.
Lacking basic skills
Even if you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, not being able to take care of yourself and your basic environment shows you have failed at becoming a complete adult.
Cooking, changing a light bulb, washing and ironing your clothes, shopping for yourself—these are just essentials.
- How are you 28 and don’t know how to pay your taxes?
- How are you 33 and need your mommy—or your wife—to get you a doctor’s appointment?
- How are you 41 and don’t own an electric screwdriver or a drill?
Low status… That’s how…
Going against the consensus and being wrong
It’s one thing to go against the crowd and be right. Society will label you as a visionary, as someone who can see things that nobody else can see.
If, on the other hand, you go against the crowd and the crowd is right, then you’re just labeled as stupid.
That’s the cost.
High status comes from being right.
The more right you are, the more people are willing to follow your lead because of your excellent track record of decision-making.
Low status comes from being mostly wrong, especially in situations where it matters.
How comfortable you are with unnecessary discomfort
The biggest sign of low IQ is being comfortable with annoying background noises
- Smoke alarm beeps
- Water dripping from a tap
- Loudspeaker phone calls;
- Screaming children
- Doors opening or closing in the wind
- Dogs barking
- Bluetooth speaker outside
- Loud conversation
Schopenhauer really said it well:
A deeply important quote from Arthur Schopenhauer
With people screaming from one side of the house to the other, with blatant disregard for other people.
The running theory is that these people are ok with it because there’s no inner monologue happening inside their heads, so there’s nothing to disturb in the first place.
What an academic way to call someone dumb.
Anyway, this list of things that instantly lower status should serve as a basic lesson in common sense and socializing. Use it as such. See you next time!
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