Coolness can be learned

Apropos the discussion of fixed vs. growth mindset a few days ago.

I used to smoke. And when you smoke, there’s probably at least 10 or 12 things keeping you in the habit. And one of those things for me was that I believed it made me look cool. The reason I knew that is that I knew people that I thought looked cool, and they smoked.

Well, a few weeks ago, I happened upon an additional piece of information. One of the people who I thought looked cool, it turns out, spent countless hours smoking in front of the mirror, perfecting his cool look.

What did I take away from this? The more effortless it looks, the more effort probably went into perfecting it. Even being cool is not something you’re born with. It’s something you’ve trained for. Interesting.