16 Things Stupid People Do

When I was tapped to write this article I assumed it was due to my own personal experience with the subject matter. My editor emphatically told me it was. I thanked him for the opportunity, slightly impressed at how modest and self aware he was. I immediately set to work studying his quirks for the next week. This is what I found.

In Business: Cooperation is the cornerstone of civilisation, or at least that’s what I tell the intern when they start to act unwilling about taking on so many of my daily tasks.

1. Burn Bridges With Contacts

At Uni, I had a friend who would backstab anyone who got a better grade than her, as if grades were a limited resource that they had swindled from her. In the real world, all these A-graders were the ones who got a job first. Guess who wasn’t recommending Ms. Backstab positions at their workplace? Always keep doors open with your professional contacts, you never know how they’ll be useful in the future.

2. Never Accountable For Their Own Mistakes

In a professional environment, you need to be accountable for your own mistakes. Michael Broadbent pointed out in last months Coach section that as a boss, the buck stops with you. “It’s easy to play the blame game and get frustrated when employees don’t listen or under perform – but in reality it all comes down to me. I need to look at myself. Where can I improve as a leader? What have I missed? And what is the solution to the issue at hand?” Taking responsibility for your own mistakes also shows you have some integrity in that backbone.

3. Check Their Emails First Thing

At worst Your inbox is the easiest way to derail your morning, and at best it’s a big todo list created by other people. Before diving into the things everyone else wants you to do make sure you have properly prioritised what you personally need to do. If you’re checking your email first thing in the morning it’s probably because you haven’t considered your own priorities and rated them as low on the list. Take a moment to think it all out.

As An Aside: Einstein was wrong about a lot of stuff, even things his calculations predicted. He wasn’t a fan of this black hole business his own theories stated the existence of. On the flipside, the cosmological constant in his calculations was almost instantly proven wrong when people discovered that the universe isn’t constant at all, and terrifyingly enough, everything is expanding outward. But it’s OK to be wrong, because it gives you a landmark to help find right.

With People: “A fool and his money are soon parted” my workout instructor told me the other day. I asked him if he said that. He looked around “Who else is here to say it?” I nodded thoughtfully, not wanting to rephrase my question. Anyway, I was in the middle of my set lifting the instructor’s sofa into the moving van.

4. Set Too Many Meetings

Setting too many meetings is a rookie management move. If you’re spending more than 20% of your time in meetings, you can bet that your team is on SEEK looking for a workplace that is actually interested in working. If you’re calling the shots on meetings, make sure only those that absolutely need to be there are there. If you’re only calling everyone in because you don’t trust them to get the job done, then maybe cut them some slack and let them be grown ups for a bit.

5. Play Too Many Games

Time is money and we’re constantly spending it. Investing in something you’re never going to get any returns on isn’t a wise thing to do. This has a caveat of course, winding down after a long day and taking care of your mental health is always worth it. Making time for family is also always important. If your family happens to be your clanmates, then so be it.

6. The Constant Need To Be Right

Being open minded to new solutions and ideas is a key ingredient of success. Stupid people will stick to their guns. Even when those guns are so old and outdated they belong in an American Civil War exhibit. Unless you’re like me and are never wrong, always be open to be proven wrong on your assumptions.

7. Care What Other People Think Of Them

This one’s a little tricky, because the opposite of this is “not caring what other people think” which is used as a licence to kick cinema chair backs or cutting in line. Let’s just assume there’s a healthy middle ground where people aren’t trying to keep up with The Joneses by buying a $400 pair of jeans and also not trying to burn the Joneses house down to clear some space to get more afternoon sun.

8. Talk The Talk But Little Else

This is sort of a lead on from the last point. Stupid people will spend plenty of time talking a big game, but if they’re not rolling up their sleeves and getting anything done then it’s all for nothing.

In Life: Most accidents occur in the home, which is my primary excuse for being a workaholic and never going back to the ol’ wife and kids.

9. No Idea When To Cut And Run

Before undergoing a major new business or project, consider how much you’re willing to lose if it all starts going pear-shaped. Loss includes time, as well as money. In the July/August 2018 issue of M2woman, Richard Conway gives excellent examples of both learning from his mistakes and knowing when to cut a business before it becomes a major problem.

“Failure in both life and business is part of every entrepreneur’s journey and, fortunately, I have never had any catastrophic failures in either. This comes down to both the mentality I adopt in the face of failure, and a willingness to learn from these moments.”

“My philosophy is that I start a business with what I am willing to risk financially – if everything goes wrong, what would I prepare to lose? – and know when to walk away and accept something isn’t working.”

10. Never Read

Not taking the time to educate yourself on whatever it is that sets you or your business apart is inexcusable. It’s setting yourself up for a fall. Brendon Skipper mentioned this in the Coach section in M2 May 2018. “Again, it’s important to look past your industry or job specific content. The more you read outside of what you know, the more you broaden your thinking. Look for a variety of authors, topics and trends to give yourself a big picture view of your industry and beyond.”

11. Have Zero Empathy

Stupid people have a hard time putting themselves in other people’s shoes and wandering around in them. Foot size doesn’t have much to do with it, but it all has a run on effect. Stupid people just can’t imagine people thinking differently from them and when it comes to doing something good for someone else, they may expect a favour in return.

12. Think That They Aren’t A Stupid Person

There’s a theory called the Dunning–Kruger effect which states that stupid people have a cognitive bias that results in a lack of self awareness, leading them to overestimate their ability at a certain task. On the flipside, smart people undervalue what they do, presuming that everyone can do it as easily as they can. Essentially dumb people are wrong about themselves, while smart people are wrong about everyone else.

As An Aside: Contrary to popular belief, a high IQ doesn’t stop you from getting hit by a car while jaywalking. Critical thinking, AKA common sense isn’t a mutually exclusive trait with stupidity or intelligence.

13. Get Aggressive When The Situation Gets Out Of Control

Everyone gets pissed off occasionally, but when things get out of our control and times are getting frustrating, getting aggressive is a pretty terrible problem solving tactic. Let cooler heads prevail.

14. Undermine Themselves

While it’s good to own up to your mistakes, there’s no point in undercutting your own thoughts and opinions by saying things like “I’m not sure about this, but I think we should…” It doesn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence in what you think everyone should be doing.

15. Undervalue Stupid People

People learn from their mistakes, or at least they should do if they’ve taken any of what this article is about to heart. Stupid people have made a lot of mistakes, so to discount their opinion right off the bat is a bad move. Experience is worth a lot.

16. Keep Their Money In A Bank

Unless you’re earning a ton of interest on the cash you have saved up, chances are your money is worth less every day it isn’t invested in an asset that isn’t affected by inflation. Sure, trading a house or gold bullion for groceries can be a pain, but it’s worth it in the end.