4 ms·

Interesting. I'm a 1%er and I have a piece of paper that says I'm pretty smart, but: > a personality trait marked by > diligence, perseverance and

Interesting. I'm a 1%er and I have a piece of paper that says I'm pretty smart, but: > a personality trait marked by > diligence, perseverance and > self-discipline I see myself as pretty lazy, impulsive, and slap-dash, and tend to use my brain to brute-force lazy solutions to problems. I am too lazy and don't have the concentration span to pay attention much in meetings, but can generally utter something profound near the end which makes it look like I was paying attention the whole time. I have always assumed I'm just coasting by on a pretty useful brain.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
croon 10y ago
I can definitely relate. I'm not rich, but I do alright. I have a high IQ (according to "official" tests available), but I don't feel I'm smarter than anyone. I however do feel that I'm lazy, and have "cheated" my way through life by cunning rather than legitimately solving problems the way they're "supposed" to. I guess that's a skill in its own right, but it's made it harder for me to actually learn new stuff because my brain wants to get by with as little work as possible.
- peteretep 10y ago
  Hate to hijack the thread, but a lot of that speaks to me. > I have a high IQ, but I don't > feel I'm smarter than anyone. Quite. My recently acquired particular piece of paper puts it beyond any shred of doubt, objectively, but it's only recently I've really acknowledged it. I suspect this has been immensely annoying for people around me. > it's made it harder for me to > actually learn new stuff > because my brain wants to get > by with as little work as > possible Yes! A related symptom for me was assuming that people who were good at stuff I'd never bothered to learn were a lot smarter than me.
  - croon 10y ago
    That's not a hijack, so it's quite alright. I replied simply because I recognized a similarly typed human :)
downandout 10y ago
>I'm a 1%er Are you self-made or did you inherit it? No offense intended either way, I just mean that anyone can be "lazy, impulsive" etc. and be a 1%er if they have a trust fund. If you're self-made, odds are that you see yourself this way but actually aren't (similar to supermodels that call themselves fat or ugly), or you got this way after you made the money and now have the freedom to act any way you choose.
- peteretep 10y ago
  Self-made. Father was an expat civil servant so very expensive secondary education was paid for, though. > odds are that you see > yourself this way but > actually aren't Certainly possible. I just see such a gigantic gap between how hard I could be working and how hard I actually am. I'm not sure how it relates to other people.
galfarragem 10y ago
IMO everybody is lazy. The difference is that some people are lazy to do, some are lazy to think, some to interact socially, .. I'm yet to know a person that is not lazy. By observation, I consider that people tend to be lazy in areas where they are not naturally good.
anonymoushn 10y ago
It is possible for you to overcome your laziness and impulsiveness and direct your attention toward things that help your long-term goals. There are a lot of little pieces to doing this. One of them that I'm doing right now is reading "The Willpower Instinct" and trying out the stuff in it. If you want a more expensive, harder to ignore way to do this, you could try going to a CFAR camp. I'm not affiliated with CFAR or anything, this is an option I am seriously considering though.
- peteretep 10y ago
  I have looked at CFAR before, and have inhaled any amount of self development literature. The only thing I don't struggle to find intrinsic motivation for is programming. I am yet to find a long term goal that resonates at all. All success so far in my life feels entirely attributable to getting bored and saying "what else is there?" and/or seeking external validation. I earn just enough to fly business class whenever I fly because I enjoy the comfort aspect and the external validation that comes with it. The next financial jump is likely to come from wanting to fly private, because why not? It seems self evident to me that this is deeply unhealthy, but ironically I'm yet to find a solution.
  - anonymoushn 10y ago
    Oh, alright. This is a bit different from my experience. I've pretty consistently had long-term desires but been pretty bad at enacting them. Earlier when I didn't really want anything I thought it would be nice to make a bunch of money so that my future self who had a better idea about what he wanted would have that. This turned out ok, currently a lot of what I want is to know that I won't have to work if I don't want to.
majkinetor 10y ago
Epic honesty.
majkinetor 10y ago
Epic honesty.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

croon 10y ago

I can definitely relate. I'm not rich, but I do alright. I have a high IQ (according to "official" tests available), but I don't feel I'm smarter than anyone. I however do feel that I'm lazy, and have "cheated" my way through life by cunning rather than legitimately solving problems the way they're "supposed" to. I guess that's a skill in its own right, but it's made it harder for me to actually learn new stuff because my brain wants to get by with as little work as possible.

peteretep 10y ago
Hate to hijack the thread, but a lot of that speaks to me. > I have a high IQ, but I don't > feel I'm smarter than anyone. Quite. My recently acquired particular piece of paper puts it beyond any shred of doubt, objectively, but it's only recently I've really acknowledged it. I suspect this has been immensely annoying for people around me. > it's made it harder for me to > actually learn new stuff > because my brain wants to get > by with as little work as > possible Yes! A related symptom for me was assuming that people who were good at stuff I'd never bothered to learn were a lot smarter than me.
- croon 10y ago
  That's not a hijack, so it's quite alright. I replied simply because I recognized a similarly typed human :)

downandout 10y ago

>I'm a 1%er Are you self-made or did you inherit it? No offense intended either way, I just mean that anyone can be "lazy, impulsive" etc. and be a 1%er if they have a trust fund. If you're self-made, odds are that you see yourself this way but actually aren't (similar to supermodels that call themselves fat or ugly), or you got this way after you made the money and now have the freedom to act any way you choose.

peteretep 10y ago
Self-made. Father was an expat civil servant so very expensive secondary education was paid for, though. > odds are that you see > yourself this way but > actually aren't Certainly possible. I just see such a gigantic gap between how hard I could be working and how hard I actually am. I'm not sure how it relates to other people.

galfarragem 10y ago

IMO everybody is lazy. The difference is that some people are lazy to do, some are lazy to think, some to interact socially, .. I'm yet to know a person that is not lazy. By observation, I consider that people tend to be lazy in areas where they are not naturally good.

anonymoushn 10y ago

It is possible for you to overcome your laziness and impulsiveness and direct your attention toward things that help your long-term goals. There are a lot of little pieces to doing this. One of them that I'm doing right now is reading "The Willpower Instinct" and trying out the stuff in it. If you want a more expensive, harder to ignore way to do this, you could try going to a CFAR camp. I'm not affiliated with CFAR or anything, this is an option I am seriously considering though.

peteretep 10y ago
I have looked at CFAR before, and have inhaled any amount of self development literature. The only thing I don't struggle to find intrinsic motivation for is programming. I am yet to find a long term goal that resonates at all. All success so far in my life feels entirely attributable to getting bored and saying "what else is there?" and/or seeking external validation. I earn just enough to fly business class whenever I fly because I enjoy the comfort aspect and the external validation that comes with it. The next financial jump is likely to come from wanting to fly private, because why not? It seems self evident to me that this is deeply unhealthy, but ironically I'm yet to find a solution.
- anonymoushn 10y ago
  Oh, alright. This is a bit different from my experience. I've pretty consistently had long-term desires but been pretty bad at enacting them. Earlier when I didn't really want anything I thought it would be nice to make a bunch of money so that my future self who had a better idea about what he wanted would have that. This turned out ok, currently a lot of what I want is to know that I won't have to work if I don't want to.

majkinetor 10y ago

Epic honesty.

majkinetor 10y ago

Epic honesty.