Don’t be clever. Be rational.

Being consistently rational is one of the hardest things to do, and one of the most important.

People don’t care how clever you are. They care how thoughtful you are.

They want to know:

Does this person truly understand the issue?

Do they genuinely want what’s best for the people involved?

Trying to convince people that you’re smart is one of the dumbest ways to do it. They’ll likely detect the arrogance and be turned off by it.

Trying to impress others is an attempt to justify your value and ease your insecurities. But all it does is mask them. The insecurities will still control you.

The less you think about proving yourself, and the more you become a real problem solver, the less you’ll feel the need to impress anyone.