Just because you feel average (or a little less than average sometimes) doesn’t mean everyone else has to know your secret. Here's how to look like the office Einstein just by sitting at your desk.
It’s no secret, smarter people are more respected and admired in the workplace. Unfortunately, not all of us were born with an exceptional brain, seemingly doomed to live a life of mediocrity.
But just because you feel average (or a little less than average sometimes) doesn’t mean everyone else has to know your secret, especially since there aren’t graded tests exposing A-students from C-students anymore.
So what you can do to look smarter while sitting at your desk completing your daily tasks, you can trick people into thinking you’re quite the Einstein. Here’s how:
Dress the part
Smart people know first impressions last, and so too does the memory of you wearing something sloppy, tattered and/or dirty. If you dress like a carefree toddler, it’ll be assumed your IQ matches a toddler’s too. So dress up, invest in a nerdy looking pair of specs and voila, everyone will assume you’re even more intelligent!
Read: A massive myth busted: You might not need talent to succeed after all
Sit upright
Smart people have extra brain waves that help keep their spine straightened (well, at least we believe so). You can fake smartness by pushing your backside into the fold where the seat and backrest meet. If you make this adjustment often enough, the move will become a habit, and soon you’ll be sitting upright without even trying.
Stay off your phone
Smart people know there’s a time and place for everything. There’s no time at work for chatting. Adolescents are associated with obsessive screen time, and no working professional should emulate this behaviour. No matter what you’re doing on your phone, you’re going to look immature.
Have numbers on your PC
Smart people are always trying to solve problems, right? So keep some sort of chart, an excel sheet, or something complicated-looking open on your office computer, at all times. That way, whoever walks past will think “Yoh, I’d never understand that! She must be so smart!”
Read: What you ought to know about EQ and why your success depends on it
Accessorise your desk with smart objects
Smart people love tackling puzzles and complicated things. It is well known that all people who like nerdy things are smart; therefore place a Rubik's Cube, a magnetic chess set, a crossword puzzle paperback, a very thick novel, or any similar impressive gadgets that scream Nerd Alert around your office space. Don’t worry, you don’t actually have to use them. People are intrinsically judgemental and will instantly assume you are and always have been an A-student.
For more ‘expert’ advice like this, check out How to Look Smarter in a Meeting and How to Look Smarter during your Lunch Break.
