Wednesday, July 14, 2010

The dichotomy of being smart and Intelligent

People who are born intelligent start off life with everything easy for them. They don’t have to work hard to get good grades, they never really have to do much to get ahead. The major challenge of early life is school – and school is designed for average people. So intelligent people just breeze through.
But there is a point where every intelligent person faces something that requires more than intelligence. It requires hard work, it requires the ability to fail, it requires being able to do tough tasks, boring tasks. For the first time in their life, in spite of their intelligence, these intelligent people are challenged.
The experience of being challenged has very different effects like “Oh boy, now I’m really gonna have to try hard” to “I”m not smart enough for this.”

Saturday, July 03, 2010

Assuming you are below average

Assume most people are smarter than you.

To assume you're below average is to admit you're a beginner. It puts you in student mind. It keeps your focus on present practice and future possibilities, and away from any past accomplishments.

Most people are so worried about looking good that they never do anything great. Most people are so worried about doing something great that they never do anything at all.

You destroy that thinking when you think of yourself as such a beginner that just doing anything is an accomplishment.

On the contrary it is also important to know you are (or at least have the potential to be) above average. It's an issue of confidence -- you can get a lot more done when you know that your ideas are good enough to be heard by others. This isn't arrogance, but rather a way to combat insecurity and low self-esteem.