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"Most people can recall a kid from grade school who couldn't stay seated, who talked out of turn and fidgeted constantly, whose backpack overflowed with crumple
by smanek 18y ago
"Most people can recall a kid from grade school who couldn't stay seated, who talked out of turn and fidgeted constantly, whose backpack overflowed with crumpled handouts and who always had to ask other kids what the homework assignment was. Those kids weren't bad kids, but they seemed to have absolutely no self-control, no internal disciplinarian to put a brake on their impulses, to keep their attention focused. Not surprisingly, they were almost always lousy students as well."
Heh, I think I was that kid - but a pretty good student as well. My grades were relatively poor (because I forgot or didn't want to do the homework), but it wasn't uncommon for me to have the class high on exams.
Fortunately, I had one of the highest set of test scores (SAT/ACT/AP) of my class and that more or less made up for the poor GPA and class rank.
- lpgauth 18y agoI used to be exactly that kid, until school got challenging (university)... Then I had less time to fuck around in class...
- astine 18y agoI was that kid. When school got more challenging, I spaced out and did worse. It's a source of frustration for me. I know, and always knew that I had the intellectual acumen to to better, but I never had the self discipline to do so. I tried every day to just buckle down and finish my work, but it is easier said than done. On the other hand, it was always those mandatory literature classes that hurt me the worst.I always did better in the courses that required more thinking than reading.
- jward 18y agoI'm much the same way. For me it was the classes I didn't like that I did poorly in, like marketing. The less interesting it is going in the worse I do.
- dreish 18y agoSo, it's settled, then? Entrepreneurs are smart people with ADD who learn to channel their energies toward interesting enough ends? Seems like I've been hearing pretty much that message for most of my life. After all, if you excel at working within established institutions throughout your life, you'll probably continue to follow whatever career path is expected of you as an adult.
- swombat 18y agoI was that kid too. I got top grades from a leading British school, a Master's degree in Physics from Oxford University, worked 4 years in a top consulting firm, and started 2 startups. Article: FAIL. I'd suggest to the author that perhaps being bored at primary school is a sign of higher EF - you're making the decision for yourself that all that stuff they're "teaching" you isn't worth paying attention. But having good enough EF now, I realise that's a waste of my time, since the author doesn't know what he's talking about.