- Nerds and Geeks are Not the Same
- You Dont Want to Be a Nerd
- Put a Stop to Your Nerdy Behavior
- Go Ahead, Geek Out
You Don’t Want to Be a Nerd
Being a nerd (i.e., a person who is socially inept) is a powerfully negative influence on your career, so let’s start there. Because a nerd is very unskilled at social navigation, he does a very poor job of reading social cues that other people tend to take for granted. For instance:
- A nerd can’t tell when other people are angry.
- A nerd can’t dance, and possibly doesn’t know he can’t dance.
- A nerd is easily made fun of because he is initially unaware of mockery.
- A nerd can’t tell when it’s time to go home, in spite of significant cues (like a yawning host who has changed into his pajamas).
It is important to note that being a nerd really doesn’t have anything to do with personal interests and hobbies. Cool people and nerdy people can share the same interests. They can both love movies, rollerblading, and martial arts. It’s the way they relate to other people that makes them nerds. When a nerd talks about martial arts, he’s completely unaware of his audience’s complete lack of interest in it—he rambles on about the fifth step in the seventh kata of Shotokan karate in spite of eyes rolling, yawns spilling, and dates falling asleep in their soup. A normal person can read his audience, take their cues into account, and move on to more engaging topics. Nerds can’t.