anyone else told that they are smart but nothing to show for it

[alwayzambi]

Does anyone else get told that they know so much, but achieve so little.
Like an underachiever but applied to life?

How do you manage that? It may come with fear of risk taking perfectionism.

 

[Jorg]

I have, and for some of the lasts years it has become very hard. When I was in school and high school I was a A's student even If I studied a day before tests and I always read books. Now that I'm in college my grades have gone to the floor, I enrolled in 2010 and I still have like 3 years left on a 5 year carreer (altough the average person lasts 8 years) I've falling many courses and maybe this is because of being obssesive with details and trying to be perfect, I study everyday since week one and I don't take much relax from it so when the tests are coming I f++ck 'em up, and I have low score.

 

[alwayzambi]

I have, and for some of the lasts years it has become very hard. When I was in school and high school I was a A's student even If I studied a day before tests and I always read books. Now that I'm in college my grades have gone to the floor, I enrolled in 2010 and I still have like 3 years left on a 5 year carreer (altough the average person lasts 8 years) I've falling many courses and maybe this is because of being obssesive with details and trying to be perfect, I study everyday since week one and I don't take much relax from it so when the tests are coming I f++ck 'em up, and I have low score.

Wow.

 

[Jorg]

I think I mis-read a part of your post lol

 

[alwayzambi]

I think I mis-read a part of your post lol

No not at all. thats my fault even if, the things u grapple with obsessing over details I grapple with too... its kind of weird but at somepoint im going to stop listening to my own mind... jeez this is so weird lol... how do u deal with or is it overwhelming, Jorg

 

[OkRad]

GREAT POST. Yes, I was told I was smart, but too late. I was in the "stupid" classes ( not my words, that is what they called us) when I was young and then they did an IQ test and found it to be quite high, like everyone here.

So then, I went full steam on. I started to read (plow, actually) my way though an immense amount of material and maths, and etc.....

Went to Uni and did great! Always got awards and scholarships--------BUT and this is the BUT that always kills me.........my autism ALWAYS WINS.

I cannot eat because something went wrong in my brain with food (it is not an eating disorder, it's a feeding disorder) and I have all these things I have to do just in order to be able to eat. Then I have a movement issue and then, trauma out the wazoo, and it was so hard that it took me THIRTEEN YEARS to get through my freshman year.

One semester and I would lose 10% of my body weight. I would not be able to stim. I would not be able to get it out. It was hell......so I would have to recover.

So all my profs were like, "WTFreak??" They loved me.

Truly, I wish I had ended my life a long time ago, like maybe ten years ago. Now its just this slow pathetic burn with hideous memories and only about one thing that makes me happy to remember. One or two things----not a good track record.

Yes, I am negative and I have earned the right to be so, because I persisted in sticking out a life doomed from the start. Most people (NTs anyway) would have ended it a long time ago.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

Yes. I like to think of myself of intelligent. The things I'm interested in I am very knowledgeable in but that is the problem. Everything else I have no motivation to do them. In school I had very few subjects I found interesting, English was boring, maths was boring. And the subjects I was interested in like history and geography I mess up in the exams! I was predicted at least a B in history, I got a D. I don't know what I did wrong there!

In college I was a bit interested in IT, it was at the time the only career I thought I might be able to stand, the first year I got the BTEC Foundation Diploma as a merit, that was pretty good. But the next one I nearly messed up because I was more interested in talking to friends about World of Warcraft. And then after that I struggle to form the work I need because I don't know how to organise it. I couldn't learn how to code, I can read it but I can't write it for some reason, failed all the coding modules of the BTEC National Diploma. I was just only able to scrap by with getting the BND, otherwise I would of just got the certificate. After all that I don't know if I could handle university and didn't seek it out.

That first year of college I decided I would go there to learn, not to make friends and I didn't, even when I thought to talk to other people I couldn't do it anyway. And it was successful. But as soon as I get comfortable with other people I mess it all up! It's frustrating.

But yes, after college everyone else was able to go on and get careers, one goes to Hong Kong every now and then, another was given the choice to go and work in Bangladesh. Even the one and did worse than me in committing himself to his work has gone on to open up a successful comic book store in town. I'm left alone, in my parents' house, in my bedroom, getting slowly depressed, more and more, not knowing what to do next.

Things are starting to turn around now, I'm learning how to drive and I think for the first time ever I have some idea of what career I want and something I feel enthusiastic about. But I do still worry about the future, I worry about the problems I face when trying to search for work and I have very low self esteem and confidence.

Yes, I'm smart but I have very little to show for it.

 

[WildCat]

I was told that all my life. Then reality stepped in and kicked me straight in the balls. It's not what you know, it's what you do with what you know that counts and since I've yet to do anything it's a moot point right now.

Still hunching over in pain and can't get up...

 

[biblophile]

I am often told that my intelligence should have made me a success, that I am squandering my potential. What most do not understand is that intelligence can be as much a hindrance in todays society, as an asset. Modern society wants cheerleaders, and standardized good mixers rather then intelligent people who have a tendency to think for themselves and challenge popular assumptions. Faced with that I lost my motivation and gave up.

 

[Alcyon]

It's not what you know, it's what you do with what you know that counts...

From what I've been able to make of what I've seen in the world, this is it.

First a clear goal, then a single-, almost bloody-, minded determination to achieve that goal. Smarts can be helpful, but they don't seem to necessary; at least, not smarts as commonly understood.

My goal has been to be a better man today than I was yesterday. I'd like to think that over time I have progressed towards that. Sadly, that undertaking isn't financially rewarding, nor does it meet with acclaim from others. C'est la guerre...

 

[midlife aspie]

My experience is that it really is more about who you know than what you know. My advice for anyone pursuing an education is to start early and be aggressive in playing the 'networking game', because it may be more important than the education!

 

[Ender]

Yes.

I have a gifted level IQ and performed very well academically, being consistently 2 grade levels ahead of my peers (4 grade levels ahead in maths).

However, when I graduated high school early I experienced a sudden stop. School was my obsession, my everything. I had no friends but the work gave me immense satisfaction. When that was gone I became unstable, felt very lonely, and lost my sense of purpose. As a young adult I have not been able to retain employment. Having Aspergers makes many part-time jobs an ill fit and I crave mental stimulation from my work. Not to mention I still cannot drive a car (and doubt whether I should because it is dangerous, I get distracted, and it is also very expensive).

So in answer to the topic question, yes I have been told all my life that I am smart. I don't doubt it. But my gift, so it seems, comes with a hefty price: the inability to function in even the simplest social functions. And as a result of issues with mental health, I have little to show for my mental merits.

 

[biblophile]

Yes.

I have a gifted level IQ and performed very well academically, being consistently 2 grade levels ahead of my peers (4 grade levels ahead in maths).

However, when I graduated high school early I experienced a sudden stop. School was my obsession, my everything. I had no friends but the work gave me immense satisfaction. When that was gone I became unstable, felt very lonely, and lost my sense of purpose. As a young adult I have not been able to retain employment. Having Aspergers makes many part-time jobs an ill fit and I crave mental stimulation from my work. Not to mention I still cannot drive a car (and doubt whether I should because it is dangerous, I get distracted, and it is also very expensive).

So in answer to the topic question, yes I have been told all my life that I am smart. I don't doubt it. But my gift, so it seems, comes with a hefty price: the inability to function in even the simplest social functions. And as a result of issues with mental health, I have little to show for my mental merits.

I was bored in school because my school did not know how to deal with any body if they where not average. If you where either above or below average you where lumped into the same category, and sent to special education. That is what happened to me, despite my high iQ I was sent to special Ed where I languished with my fellow outcasts until I became so bored I dropped out and received my high school equliency on line. I do not think it is uncommon for smart people to feel isolated, and I have severe social anxiety which makes it even less likely I will get any where in life.

 

[Kupu2]

Sigh. Yes. I have always been known to be very smart, BUT... there is something about me that people cannot work out. I'm a smart girl, yet... I wish someone would tell me straight out what that BUT is. I know now I have autism, but what about me EXACTLY makes people screw their faces up with the BUT bit.

 

[Mr Allen]

I was told at school that I'd never amount to anything.

But they were all morons anyway.

 

[savi83]

I was in all the top classes throughout school but only come away with 4 out of 11 GCSE's and they were at Grade C.

 

[Mr Allen]

I was in all the top classes throughout school but only come away with 4 out of 11 GCSE's and they were at Grade C.

I failed everything except typing, I got a D for that

 

[Bolletje]

I've often been told that I'm very smart and talented and people are jealous of how easy I can grasp new things. What's ****** about that is that when I fail at something, it's immediately chalked down to laziness, lack of effort or lack of motivation. Failing due to perfectionism and mental health issues is apparently not possible when you're smart and talented.
Not to mention that the bar's been set incredibly high by family and friends. They all expected me to be a brilliant doctor at age 24, yet here I am, almost 31, still struggling to get my Master's degree in medicine. I'm about to start my final year for the third time and I could scream at everyone that tells me I should just put in a little more effort this time.

Not that I'm not grateful for my gifts, it's just that they're not an automatic key to success and my tendency to think about everything has made me an existential nihilist since childhood, which doesn't make for the best conversations at the dinner table

 

[Judge]

That phrase..."nothing to show for it". That implies someone's sense of values from the outset.

What if they aren't really YOUR values in the first place ?

In such matters it's ultimately what YOU think about your own accomplishments or shortcomings. Not anyone else or the "benchmarks" they use to determine their success or failures.

 

[tree]

My experience is that it really is more about who you know than what you know. My advice for anyone pursuing an education is to start early and be aggressive in playing the 'networking game', because it may be more important than the education!

What sort of field does this describe?
I am entirely unable to imagine any type of work
that values acquaintanceship over knowledge & skill.