All of us want to be ‘cool’ and want to gain the respect and the praise of others, but knowing how to go about achieving this is a rather unclear and difficult process. Certainly I hadn’t figured it out before I left school, and most people I know these days are too kind to point out my lack of street cred. It seems that ‘cool’ is something you either have or you don’t, and not something that can really be learned.
However there are ways you can enhance the cool that you do have, and there are a few little strategies you can employ to add some style and class to your overall demeanour and behavior. Just dressing a bit sharper for one is certain to help you increase your cool factor and to change the impression that others have of you. At the same time learning a few cool skills can also change the way people think about you and gain you some kudos.
This is something that anyone can achieve, develop some cool skills, and then let people discover them. Don’t go out of your way to demonstrate your new cool abilities because that will just make you seem desperate, but rather just let them emerge naturally and people will be quietly impressed. Here are some great ones to start with.
Playing an Instrument
Playing an instrument can be incredibly cool, and especially if you choose the right instrument or do it particularly well. The guitar is of course the classically cool instrument and if you can get everyone singing along around you and play something genuinely entertaining and impressive then this is a sure crowd pleaser. Alternatively you could try the saxophone which is another very suave instrument. At any rate being able to make music will impress people and especially if you don’t brag about it.
Opening a Bottle Without a Bottle Opener
There are numerous ways to do this and they’re all rather cool in a frat-boy kind of way. The classic is to bite off the lid but this can be potentially very bad for your teeth. Opening a bottle with a lighter then, or even with your bare hands, can be a slightly better approach.
Backflip
The downside of a backflip is that it’s difficult to just throw in without making a big deal about it. However if you’re playing football with your friends and you score a goal before pulling off a backflip that no-one else knew you could do, then you can guarantee that it will cause jaws to drop. “What??”
Breaking an Apple in Half
This is a neat trick along the lines of opening bottles but a lot healthier. It’s also much easier and just down to technique – simply requiring you to get the meaty parts of your hands under your thumbs into the dimple at the top of the apple and to then twist and pull at the same time. You can do this before eating any apple and it will be sure to turn heads. “He’s so strong… and healthy too!”
Rolling a Coin
If you can roll a coin across your fingers this is the kind of throwaway little skill that will impress people and that has a kind of nonchalance about it too. As long as they don’t work out that you probably spent many long nights in alone practicing this skill, then it will remain one that makes you look suave.