17-09-24 Upsides to Low Status
Category: Idea Lists (Upon Request)
<!-- gdoc-inlined -->
1. Openness - people don’t need you to believe things about them, and so are free to be open with you 2. Honesty - there’s much less advantage to be gained by deceiving you 3. Freedom of action - no reputation to uphold, and so don’t have to fear actions that could see you marked as low status 4. Freedom from shame 5. Don’t waste huge amounts of resource on competitive nonsense 6. Self honesty - get to do what you truly enjoy, rather than what you expect other people will think highly of you for 7. Can ask questions without fear of status loss, as you aren’t expected (or don’t expect yourself) to have all the answers 8. Free to engage with emotions in all contexts, instead of needing to bottle it up to preserve an image 9. Free to ask for help when help is the most useful thing you can get 10. Allows you to be vulnerable, leading to deeper relationships
Note: Many of these are upsides to not caring about status. Which correlates with having low status, but is certainly not the same thing.
Source: Original Google Doc