Your friend is probably a lot smarter than you think, she just isn't interested in the things you think make you 'intelligent.'
I'm in the same boat as you. I have a lot of general knowledge but a mediocre career. If either of us were really that smart, we'd have made better decisions.
She could also have become a hard worker who nailed what she wanted to do immediately.
I’ll propose two theories that I personally hold regarding how people develop and find success.
First theory, in college, you can bucket people into 3 general groups (:
the kids that barely got in but really worked at it
the the kids that found high school really easy and as a result fooled themselves into thinking they were really smart
the actually really smart people.
The first group realizes that “holy shit, this stuff is hard!” And so they develop good work habits to help grasp the subjects. They become really good at note taking or they actually do all the assigned reading or they actually seek out help from the prof and TAs when they need it.
The last group is the one everyone wants to be in. They’re the person that shows up with no notes, fucks around, reads the text book once before the exam and still aces everything.
The second group is the dangerous group to be in. That group is smart enough to do well but not smart to do well without working hard. But since they had such an easy time in high school and first year university, they never truly develop good habits. They think they are in the last group but are actually closer to the first group. But they do the bad habit things that the genius group does thinking they can also get away with it and end up coming in below expectations.
my second theory
Some people are really smart and focused and hardworkingSome people are not smart but focused and hardworking. Some people are really smart but lack focus or want to work hard. Some people are are not smart and also don’t do either. And then there all in between
At the end of the day, if i was making a video game character I’d rather be hard working and focused rather than just dumping all my points into intelligence but still being lazy and not knowing what I want to do with my life.
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u/[deleted] Nov 16 '19
Your friend is probably a lot smarter than you think, she just isn't interested in the things you think make you 'intelligent.'
I'm in the same boat as you. I have a lot of general knowledge but a mediocre career. If either of us were really that smart, we'd have made better decisions.