3 ms·

I always tested in the 99th percentile, went to gifted and talented classes, was a merit scholarship semi finalist, etc. I think by any measure I had a high IQ

I always tested in the 99th percentile, went to gifted and talented classes, was a merit scholarship semi finalist, etc. I think by any measure I had a high IQ. I also barely graduated high school, flunked out of junior college and spent most of my 20s going to raves instead of accomplishing anything worth while. Meanwhile my sister, who had an utterly average iq by any measure has a masters degree and is a hospital executive. The answer is she just worked harder than me. I gave up as soon as anything was difficult for me because I was so used to learning everything easily. She assumed that learning was supposed to be hard and put the work into it.

jlawson 8y ago
Talent without effort will get you nowhere. Effort without talent will get you somewhere. Effort with talent will get you anywhere.
- rocgf 8y ago
  Sounds a bit cliché, but screw it, that's going on my desktop background.
- kennxfl 8y ago
  Talent with little effort will get you close to anywhere.
JoeAltmaier 8y ago
It sounds different from that: she worked at all. It didn't take particular persistence after all - you can get a degree by simply showing up.
tossermcgee22 8y ago
Similar setup albeit perhaps a different (or just earlier?) outcome. Failed a bunch of classes in high school and flirted with dropping out. Two misdemeanor arrests for underaged drinking and pot. Graduated in bottom quintile of my high school class, one failure shy of being held back. Managed to get into a far away college with a scholarship on the basis of a letter of recommendation from one of those once-in-a-lifetime teachers for whom I'll be forever grateful. Did fine in college, got a 1600 on the GRE, went into dev work at startups and have since had a quite successful career. I feel like being smart saved my butt multiple times over. I don't think I would have gotten that LOR if I hadn't made an impression on that HS teacher, wouldn't have been able to self-teach CS as a non-programmer as easily without smarts to fall back on, etc. Maybe being smart was not a prerequisite for getting where I did, but I think it was a prerequisite for taking the winding path I took. And also a gigantic, heaping helping of luck as well.

jlawson 8y ago

Talent without effort will get you nowhere. Effort without talent will get you somewhere. Effort with talent will get you anywhere.

rocgf 8y ago
Sounds a bit cliché, but screw it, that's going on my desktop background.
kennxfl 8y ago
Talent with little effort will get you close to anywhere.

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

It sounds different from that: she worked at all. It didn't take particular persistence after all - you can get a degree by simply showing up.

tossermcgee22 8y ago

Similar setup albeit perhaps a different (or just earlier?) outcome. Failed a bunch of classes in high school and flirted with dropping out. Two misdemeanor arrests for underaged drinking and pot. Graduated in bottom quintile of my high school class, one failure shy of being held back. Managed to get into a far away college with a scholarship on the basis of a letter of recommendation from one of those once-in-a-lifetime teachers for whom I'll be forever grateful. Did fine in college, got a 1600 on the GRE, went into dev work at startups and have since had a quite successful career. I feel like being smart saved my butt multiple times over. I don't think I would have gotten that LOR if I hadn't made an impression on that HS teacher, wouldn't have been able to self-teach CS as a non-programmer as easily without smarts to fall back on, etc. Maybe being smart was not a prerequisite for getting where I did, but I think it was a prerequisite for taking the winding path I took. And also a gigantic, heaping helping of luck as well.