Your 'easiest way' feels to me like: "If you are low-status, and you want to change it, aim for middle status, not high status." Which in my opinion is an excellent advice. Because if you succeed at this, you can try the higher status later, and it will feel more comfortable. But many people consistently keep aiming higher than they can afford, and then they predictably fail. Now that I think about it, it applies to so many areas of life -- people trying to run before they can walk, which ultimately leaves them unable to either walk or run.

People probably fail to notice this strategy because they see the situation as a dichotomy between "low status" and "high status", as if any deviation from the highest observed status means they remain at the bottom.

All of the following behaviors are not highest status:

• Joining an existing group, instead of creating your own, or waiting for the group to form spontaneusly around you.
• Learning the norms of the group, instead of expecting the group to forgive you all transgressions.
• Taking interest in the topics of the group, instead of expecting the group to switch to the topics that interest you.
• Following the group consensus, instead of signalling your uniqueness by disagreeing with it.
• Working hard, instead of displaying that you don't have to work hard.
• Talking about interesting and relevant things, instead of expecting people to admire you regardless of what you say.

And that's exactly why a person starting at the bottom should do them, because it will bring them to the middle. Actually, this strategy would bring the average person to the middle; the highly intelligent people will end up above the middle, because their intelligence will allow them to perform better at these things.