Lots of people who went thru school as one of the not cool people, spend much of their adult lives trying to become the cool kid they always wanted to be in school, and they go but and buy anything they can that may make people think they are cool, instead of taking a look at what makes some people cool and some people not cool.
Motorcycles and Cars: Many people who are looking to be cool will buy a motorcycle, maybe a Harley Davidson, a big sports bike or a sports car. This is because they feel that a fast car or motorcycle will make people look at them in a positive way, but in reality most people think less of these people.
Clothes, many people like to spend lots of money on the latest fashions to help them improve their image, thinking that people will find them interesting because they know what the hot new things to wear are.
Music: many people will find out what music is being played at the most popular clubs and drive around blasting it from their cars to make people think they are cool because they listen to the same music that is played in all the hot clubs.
Online and Casino Gambling: gambling has become a very popular thing in recent years and with Poker shows popping up on all the TV channels, many people think it is cool to go to the casinos dressed up like famous poker players, including vests with patches from sponsors. As un-cool as dressing like a professional poker player may be playing casino games like Craps, Poker and Blackjack may be cool, games like Sic Bo, Keno and slot machines are not cool unless you hit a Multi Million Dollar jackpot.
Bling: Bling is a term for gold ad silver jewelry, and in recent years the rule has become the cooler you want to appear the large your jewelry must be. For the most part these people are spending lots of money trying to look cool but wind up looking like fools.
Physical Fitness: in recent years many people have decided that if you want to look cool you have to belong to a gym, the people in the gym that are there just to look cool are always easy to spot. They are usually found sitting at the juice bar or in the hot tub. If they do ever actually do any type of workout it is usually ridding a bike for 5 minutes and before they even break a sweat they have to stop.
But the truth is that cool is not about what you have and how you look it is about who you are, and if you are choosing your car, your clothes, your music and anything else so that other people will believe you are cool and not because you enjoy these things then as cool as you may think you are, is in direct proportion to how cool you are not.
Being cool is not about wanting to be cool, being cool is about not caring what other people think and living life to its fullest, and in doing this you will find others with the same interests and these people will think of you as cool.
So I guess the key to being cool is just to make friends with people who enjoy the same things you enjoy and in doing so you will find that as your self image increases your need to be cool decreases, and then you will be cool.