Brilliant...but lazy....

[remnant_phoenix]

I was one of those people in high school and you're right.

I get the impression this may in fact be a "cover" for people, they never have to try, so they never have to fail.

Yep, that was me. I was afraid of failure and afraid of putting myself out there, so I disengaged while resting in the smug self-satisfaction of "I know I'm smart. I don't need to prove that to anyone."

even if there was truth in the statement, again as I said, the dedication and will to work towards being "brilliant" is just as important.

Yeah. I didn't get that until late into college. Grades are not simply a measure of how smart you are; they're a measure of how smart you are AND how hard you are willing to work to apply that knowledge. Growing up as a kid, I was led to believe "Good grades = you are smart." Period. So, when the schoolwork demand began to grow in middle school, and my work ethic didn't grow to match, and my grades started failing, this led me to two posssible conclusions: 1) I wasn't actually smart. 2) The grading system itself was stupid.

Too prideful and insecure in my early adolescence to accept #1 as a possiblity, I went with #2, which framed my academic worldview until the end of my college years when I realized the above: grades are a measure of intelligence AND your willingness to work hard and apply that intelligence.

I think its important that kids be taught that fundamental principle that I didn't figure out on my own until way late in the game. If I hadn't hadn't been indoctrinated into the misleading and overly-simplistic worldview of "Good grades = you are smart," I probably wouldn't have had the problems that I did.

 

[Acton Hank]

There are brilliant people out there who are completely incompatible with what this world demands. Attack their sense of pride, threaten them, or make them hurt because they don't contribute. Whatever lines you want to cross. It's both desperate and futile.
Now go and burn with rage. Just feel that anger and need to spite consume you.

Strong the rage is in you, young one.


LET IT ENGULF YOUR HEART FEEL THE RAGE CONSUME YOUR VERY SOUL AND CRY AS EVERY FIBER OF YOUR BEING IS CAUSED TO SHIVER WITH EACH AND EVERY BREATH THESE PEOPLE TAKE.




Although, you're probably a douche bag, this is a worthless topic about people who don't know how to manage their life... then again if you're looking at garbage like this I'd hate to compare your life to theirs.

I always find it weird when people comment on a thread and say the topic is worthless.
It's essentially them admitting they're going to waste their time before wasting their time anyway.

 

[chadachada123]

snip

Two things:

1) I love your avatar. May his soul find peace (just not here).

2) I embody this concept. I'm naturally extremely gifted, easily going through most of high school doing as little work as possible while still getting A's. That said, because of how easily good grades came to me even in advanced classes, I never learned how to study and am now struggling at my (really advanced) university. I'm learning, but it's taking me a bit longer than people that worked hard through life.

I don't brag about the lazy part, though. I just brag about being naturally intelligent as fuck. And by brag, I don't even brag about it that much, it's more of a bragging/joking hybrid that let's people think that I'm more care-free than I actually am.

 

[Blunderboy]

I'm not brilliant but I sure am lazy.

I do love how half of this thread is people going. "Oh that's me. Brilliant and lazy."
Yet I see no proof of the brilliance.

Still, I guess everyone likes to feel like they're different or special.

What exactly counts as "proof of brilliance" in an internet forum?

I kind of see this comment as: I'm not brilliant but everybody else thinks they are,
so admitting I'm not brilliant actually makes me special.

Not at all.
It just makes me more honest with myself.

Well it's hard to prove brilliance but something more than just saying "I am amazing when I can be bothered" would be good.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Personally, I just can?t study. I started my A-Levels a little more than a month ago, and I?ve been getting a bunch of essays, and whenever I try to just sit down, concentrate and do it?I just end up staring at a blank page, unable to think of anything to write. And I can?t plan things, because I?m the kind of person that just likes to get stuck into things. And it doesn?t help that the teachers give us a shitload of papers, half of which we?ll read once and then probably lose, and 90% of which doesn?t even fucking go in.

*sigh* Sorry, what was the question again? I think I might?ve just used this as an excuse to complain about my lack of motivation. I don?t think I have ?above average? intelligence or that I?m even particularly talented in anything. I?m just averagely intelligent, excelling in English (I mostly get A/B grades), but I end up hitting a brick wall whenever I try to revise or anything like that. It doesn?t help that I?m a severe procrastinator either. Heck, right now, I?ve got a week-overdue History essay to write up, and I?ve only done one paragraph.

I do have a friend who?s a self-proclaimed ?genius?, because he never does any revision, yet gets high grades in his exams. But grades aren?t everything. Humans can?t be reduced to just letters and numbers on a piece of paper.

 

[electric_warrior]

I think there are tow types of ability:

1. Intelligence, talent, being naturally good at something

2. Drive, determination, organisation

One without the other will only get you so far in life, but I think I'd rather have drive and determination over intelligence. The ones who do really well have a generous helping of both.

As it is, I'm more smart than determined, but I've done alright for myself so far. I'm at a good university, doing a hard subject (law) and I have enough friends and hobbies to keep me more than occupied. I don't think I could have rely applied myself much more than I have, it's just not in my nature.

I think that people who say "I could do better if I tried harder" are probably telling the truth, but they're overlooking the fact that they lack the arguably more admirable qualities of discipline, self-possession, drive, ambition and responsibility. As such, they probably couldn't do better if they tried because they are incapable of actually working harder. I'm fully willing to admit that I'm less able than people who are as smart as me, but are better at working. Indeed, I'm probably less able than people who probably aren't as bright as me, but who, again, are more responsible. A genius with no practical skills, awareness or drive to succeed will always amount to nothing.

Maybe all this comes from the stupid idea that trying is somehow inferior to having it come easy? I don't know, all I know is that I didn't try hard enough, but I probably couldn't have tried all that much harder without burning out. I'm just not capable of it, which is one of my biggest failings.

 

[electric_warrior]

snip for convenience

I used to be like your friend. He'll come unstuck at university/college if he doesn't buck up. My best advice is to do your work somewhere quiet, using books instead of the internet. There's nothing worse for studying than the internet, believe me. Even if it's just an hour a day in the library or something, it'll make all the difference.

I managed to get my a-level grades up from BBBB to AAAB in the space of a year by simply cutting out the internet and doing all my work from textbooks. Schools are kidding themselves if they think that relying so much on the internet/electronic essay writing is a good thing. I mean, have you ever tried to read a book off of a computer screen? I find it totally impossible, don;t know about you. But I digress, switch from digital to analog and you'll find it much easier to concentrate

 

[Bobic]

There are brilliant people out there who are completely incompatible with what this world demands. Attack their sense of pride, threaten them, or make them hurt because they don't contribute. Whatever lines you want to cross. It's both desperate and futile.
Now go and burn with rage. Just feel that anger and need to spite consume you.

Fuck me, it was weird reading that coming from a smiley colourful caterpillar.

OT: I agree quite strongly with what you said OP, nothing to add but support.

Bobic: a moderately intelligent person who did alright in up to degree level education, thinks trying is hard and the threat of failure is scary, not brilliant enough to spell caterpillar without google.

 

[DugMachine]

This so much.

Tired of hearing this pathetic excuse for laziness and complacency. I'm no genius but I have goals and am going for them. Then I have lazy family members and friends who say "Oh I can do that I'm just lazy lol." No, if you could do it you wouldn't be working some dead end job at the same pay for 4 years.

Every time I hear "I'm smart but lazy" I will surly judge the fuck out of you and don't you dare act smug or superior or I'll call you out on it.

 

[krazykidd]

Well i was very good in shool especially college . I put in minimum effort and got straight A's , but i am very Asocial , closer to anto-social . So i didn't go to university because working and talking to other people makes me nervous . Every class demands group work . Let me do my essays alone and i'll have no problem , have me do it with other people and i get nervous as hell . In such a social society i don't have my place , so i quite school , started a graveyard shift somewhere where i am completly alone and i am getting by fine .

I am lazy , i COULD do a lot better , but my asocialness is keeping me back , and honestly i can't work around it .

 

[Kae]

I really doubt most of them are like that, when I was a kid I got told this by several professors and I'm hardly brilliant, actually my IQ is below average, and I wasn't really lazy since I tended to read a lot of textbooks and encyclopaedias, they just thought that because I didn't work in class, but that was more that I have a lot of trouble concentrating when there's noise than anything else.

In any case I'm pretty sure a lot of people just get told that by their professors and hold on to it as a fact because it makes them feel better, doesn't necessarily mean that they are or aren't, but they have never really proven it.

 

[Icehearted]

So much presumption. Honestly, a lot of the world is 10% skill and 90% opportunity. It doesn't matter how brilliant a person is, if they haven't the means, are not well connected, or simply unskilled at pandering to curry favor they can get nowhere in life because other people won't allow them to do so. Being lazy is nearly NEVER the problem.

 

[Syzygy23]

Sometimes I wonder if maybe I coulda been one of those "minimal effort" people...

Things were REALLY easy for me up until 7th grade. I remember clearly the teacher letting me work outside the class on Algebra problems while everyone else was inside still doing pre-algebra. That was the LAST good Math teacher I ever had. (She actually taught the how and why that math works the way it does rather than drilling equations into our heads and forcing us to learn pattern recognition by rote)

And then Xbox happened. Why my parents bought that for me and my siblings I will never understand considering that up until that point, I had displayed addictive tendencies towards videogames.

I finally managed to pull my shit together long enough to just BARELY pass highschool and get my diploma. Eventually kicked the habit 2 years ago, started in at university and suddenly I'm back to everything being mostly easy again.

Is that what you would consider "Brilliant but lazy"?

Except Math. I gotta play catch up with that one.

As far as Vault101's complaint goes, I would have to agree with you.

What we've got going on here is a standard case of the Dunning-Kruger Effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

 

[OmniscientOstrich]

I'm not brilliant, I'm just brilliantly lazy. :3

 

[DugMachine]

So much presumption. Honestly, a lot of the world is 10% skill and 90% opportunity. It doesn't matter how brilliant a person is, if they haven't the means, are not well connected, or simply unskilled at pandering to curry favor they can get nowhere in life because other people won't allow them to do so. Being lazy is nearly NEVER the problem.

And what about the people who have the so called smarts but never take opportunities even if they're given to them on a plate?

 

[TheNaut131]

Technically can't everyone "do better?"

And you know what, no one should be called brilliant, let alone identify themselves as "brilliant" until they've solidly earned it. And for the most part, after their death, when all is said and done.

As for me...I could do better, same as everyone else. It's all about hard work.

 

[Dansen]

The biggest factor is mindset not talent.

My AP chem teacher gave my class a handout at the beginning of the year that talked about how mindset is the biggest driving force behind performance and could in fact be considered an aspect of intelligence. Their was a study done on a group of kids, They all took the test that was specifically designed to be easy. Half the kids took the test and were told how smart they were for completing the test with so much time left over, the other half took the test but the moderators complemented them on how hard they worked. The two groups were then given a substantially harder test, the group that was complemented on their intelligence did substantially worse and many outright gave up. The group that was told how hard working they were scored better and tried to work through the questions.

The kids that were told how smart they were went in with a mindset that told them they were intelligent, therefor putting effort into work was a sign of stupidity and giving up was a way of subconsciously avoiding this. The kids who were told how hard working they were treated everything as a problem to be solved and tended to enjoy a challenge.

The problem is that society considers intelligence a completely fixed quality, when in fact their is room for people to cultivate their intelligence. That it is a sign of weakness and stupidity to ask for help. The truth is that it is weak and stupid to not avail yourself of the recourses available to you. It all depend on how you approach the problems. I admit that I was one of those kids that thought effort was a sign of poor intelligence, but because of this reading I have completely changed my attitude. I am currently getting honor role and have a shot at getting honors with distinction, while taking three AP courses. There has to be some truth in the study.

 

[Patrick Buck]

I'm very lazy. I think if I worked really hard, and put a lot of effort in, I might be able to get A's most of the time, but I really don't. I don't however, get a's without anywork when I do.

But some people do, it's unfair, but I think it's true.

But I would just like to point out, I'm not brilliant, before anyone calls me a narssacist or something, I'm really not. I have to put the work in.

 

[TheLazyGeek]

Lazy people are less likeable only because you know they are less likely to do things for YOU. That's all.

Oh, I see how it is. Well I'm taking back those white chocolate macadamia nut cookies I baked for you then.