Placing yourself beyond common norms now and then is good for you. People who are more social, strong, intelligent, practical or beautiful than the status quo will more easily advance in society. But the best part of knowing your own society well is that you eventually can breach its cultural norms to get ahead of others. Here's how you do it in Sweden:

• Instead of buying a lot of tools you'll rarely need, go and borrow them from a neighbor or total stranger.
• Whenever someone talks about politics, state clearly that you believe in the superiority of the Western civilization.
• While standing in queue in a store, ask the cashier out on a date if he or she is good looking.
• Occasionally accuse random people on your workplace of being Communists. Don't elaborate any further.
• If someone offers candy or chocolate at a gathering of any sort, be the first to grab a bunch and eat.
• While sitting on the bus or train, talk very loudly in the phone about how you're going to violently throw yourself on your girlfriend when you get home and sexually abuse her.
• Repeatedly state that abortion is a sin.
• If any discussion comes to revolve around America, passionately defend the foreign policy of George W. Bush and add that Obama is a scam.
• Whenever you feel cornered in a sensitive political discussion, suggest that anti-Semitism is on the rise in Sweden, and just about anyone can be a Jew hater.
• Swedes like to drink a lot on weekends but pretend to be health experts. The best way to make fun of this is to say that you believe in the State monopoly on alcohol in Sweden, which is why you go to Systembolaget (the monopoly store) to get drunk every Friday. "Then I drive home," you add.
• On the motorway, beep your horn to slow cars in front of you and then speed past them. Give people your finger if they give you angry looks.
• Be very orderly about traditions and frequently ask people if they're going to celebrate religious holidays that have been abandoned for 50 years.
• Regardless of circumstances, if you are offered meat at a restaurant together with co-workers, mention how you love meat, especially if it's bloody red and expensive. If someone adds he or she is a vegetarian, explain to them how meat tastes great.

There's a bunch of funny things to say or do in a culture, whichever it is, which will help you to dominate your surroundings and penetrate deeper into society. Only your imagination and mojo can stop you.