What's it like to be naturally clever?

[peopleaskweirdstuff]

I know this is daft but I often wonder what it must be like to be really intelligent, you know like just very knowledgeable and very capable of just doing well in exams without really needing to put the effort in.

I'm trying to resit my exams that I should have passed when I was much younger and I'm
Finding it really hard yet some people hardly need to study and just 'get it' must be amazing to just no you are clever

I hate it. It's caused me to be riddled with anxiety (I understand too much and every little thing I research to the nth degree spiralling the anxiety). I question everything and again this feeds into the research spiral.

It's also caused me to be lazy and men find me intimidating so it's hard to hold a relationship down. I'm also very painfully self aware!

I'm pretty good at exams. Also very impractical, my hands are basically only good for writing with, nothing else, and social skills slightly dodgy 😁

I think the best thing about being clever is that you're aware of what you don't know, and that other people are cleverer than you, and what your strengths and weaknesses are. The worst people at work are always stupid but convinced they are clever and won't listen to anyone else, because they don't realise how little they actually know and when they need to consult an expert.

It feels normal. I work in a role you can do straight out of school. Sometimes problems crop up and colleagues don’t know how to sort it - but it comes naturally to me. It’s almost combined with common sense. I tend to notice things they don’t and they always call me “intelligent”. I’m good at picking up new things and software. I’m good at remembering things in guidance.

in my personal life it doesn’t really have an impact

I think the best thing about being clever is that you're aware of what you don't know, and that other people are cleverer than you, and what your strengths and weaknesses are.

Absolutely agree with this. I'm very much an expert in my field but ask me about something I don't know about and I can give an educated guess, probably go off and find you a vague answer but ultimately I'll tell you to go away and speak to an expert for fear of answering wrong!

I often wonder what brainy people think about on a day to day basis. If I go for an hours walk, my head is pretty empty other than what I'm going to have for supper, must take the recycling out etc.
what do clever people think about?

First answer is right. I have always found exams easy. I also have no spatial awareness am completely scatty about a bunch of things can be hopelessly shy and am hugely disorganized or at least need to really work hard to keep on top of getting stuff organized. Which is a problem as I have three kids. I was always the twat at baby groups who had forgotten to bring the nappy bag.

I work with people with LD and autism. All of them have things they are extremely good at. Obviously I wish you well in your exams and hope you succeed because they matter to you. But don't think you are not clever. You are.

I've always struggled with exams. I can problem solve, theorise, write an amazing essay til the cows come home. Sit me in an exam hall and expect me to regurgitate facts, figures and equations and I'm doomed to fail.

I love how everyone is different!

I am objectively clever as in always top in exams at school, did well at University (medicine plus a first in intercalated BSc). I was an all rounder subject wise with top grades in maths, English, sciences, music, languages. Not talented in art or sport (but enjoyed swimming and netball in my youth). However I have been dogged by recurrent depression since my teens and was badly bullied at school. I find adults difficult to interact with and have been referred for autism assessment. My ability has not translated into highly paid work. I work in a nursery toddler room and make great relationships with 2 year olds so I'm happy at work but have little outside it. I fill my time with reading voraciously and studying for my MA in Education and Early Childhood (not required, just for enjoyment and challenge). I'm quite lonely as none of my family or colleagues share my interests.

I have so many degrees it's not even funny but I'm stupid in other areas. As many have said, there are different types of intelligence and I absolutely agree. I can see a complex diagram and memorise it without any trouble at all... the Krebs cycle, oxidative phosphorylation... I studies that 20 years ago and I still remember it without ever having used it. Put a puzzle in front of me or stick me in a room escape game, and it's solved!

...but introduce me to someone, tell me a birthday, tell me what we're doing tomorrow, I'll forget it virtually instantaneously!

My brain never really 'shuts up'. I think about what I assume are the usual things, life admin, work stuff. Aside from that, I often compose essays on random topics in my head - ethical dilemmas, or analysing/discussing something in a book or film. I have a very good memory for prose so sometimes I will 'replay' sections of books in my head. I enjoy creative writing, so if I have a project on the go, that will occupy my mind. I spend hours analysing conversations I have had, and rehearsing conversations I need to have.

I have terrible insomnia because my brain goes on and on and on. It's rare for me to sleep within 3 hours of going to bed.

This.

It's why I hate mindfulness. I don't think for me it's actually possible to attain that level of an empty head, there's always something I'm trying to figure out

slight derail, but I often wonder what it would be like to be genius level smart (Einstein, Newton, Gallileo class).

I have a high IQ and am really good at only connect, countdown , crosswords etc. But I'm an academic failure as I have a poor concentration span and memory and don't consider myself intelligent in that way. I'm also constantly confused by manuals, instructions etc. Basically I feel thick as shit most of the time 🤣

I agree with this. People with good social skills and high EQ tend to go further with their careers than people who lack those skills. They are certainly qualities that are more valued now than they use to be, thankfully.

I'm clever. I'm also practical, have emotional intelligence and have good common sense (though I was a wonderfully stupid teenager on the level).

Honestly, that side of life is easy. I enjoyed school and uni so made a success of it. Good job where I've risen high quickly as I enjoy learning and hate not excelling, so I work hard.

Like everything in life being smart has its benefits.
Lots of research and empirical evidence reports that high levels of emotional intelligence are shown to be a key driver in navigating life and being 'successful'.
So maybe being emotionally intelligent is preferential.

Oh god. This. So this. I call it “whirly brain”. It just Never Ever Stops.

I wish I knew.

I am naturally clever, found school and exams easier than most, was in classes above my age due to being advanced. But I am very intellectually lazy. I watch trash TV, read crime fiction, rarely stretch myself. But I do find myself explaining things to my colleagues in meetings because I understand things really quickly. People ask me to help them with maths things. I analyse situations really well. I definitely appreciate I am lucky. My parents think I wasted my intellect, but my interests are low brow! Re what I think about, creative ideas, business ideas, write poems and songs in my head, plan fictional events, original theories, people’s behaviour. I am non-stop creating and analysing.

I knew I was different from most kids my age with my ability to grasp things, but due to my anxeity and low self esteem dumbed myself down and wanted to be average. When I was 21 I did a mensa test and got entry level genius results but only told a couple of people.

I hate being smart as people expect so much more from you. And when your brain keeps working its hard to switch off and relax etc. Sometimes its nice to just accept things and not worry or try to figure things out.

However, I know I am dumb in a lot of things. I expect everyone to be nice and not play games. Plus bad at relationships as I dont understand them.

I also suffer from anxiety and depression.

So my point is there is good and bad to both of being smart and not so smart. And there are different areas of being smart. Just embrace your skills and know thats you and they make you special.

I have a really high IQ but I didn’t find out until my 20s and I got into Mensa.

To be honest, it doesn’t feel like anything special, but I do remember thinking at school and early career that so many people weren’t smart. It never occurred to me that it’s not that they weren’t smart, but actually I was intelligent.

I think with any talent you don't really appreciate the presence of it in the way that others appreciate their absence of it.

If people find things easy they don't really think about it or allow it to take up much headspace.

I do think it's unfair the huge range of intelligence that exists. It does seem hugely unfair that some people are at the furthest ends of the bell curve of intelligence and yet are expected to compete on a level playing field of life.

I’m on the high side of academic (came top in my year at Oxford).

It was very lonely at primary school. They moved me up a year and my social and emotional skills were quite behind the cohort and so I didn’t have any friends until 10 or 11. Although I’m the brainy type of intelligent, I would say my social skills are under average. People think I’m a bit weird. And practical skills like DIY, driving etc don’t come easily to me at all.

Honestly I’d rather my aptitudes were spread out more across different types of intelligence (what we would nowadays call a “well rounded person”) rather than being very academic. Although as an adult I have some like minded friends.

And just in case some utter loser reads my post from the other day that said I went to Durham and calls BS, I have degrees from Oxford, Cambridge and Durham. I don’t make huge amounts of money, I just stayed in an environment where I felt comfortable and like I was succeeding.

Haha the economy, the housing crisis, God… then forget to take the bins out 🤦‍♀️

The hyperactive brain also gives me a very low threshold for social boredom.
If I am alone, I am not bored as my thoughts are interesting and I can daydream.

However, if I am with someone, or in a social situation, where it would be rude to read a book or an article on my phone, the boredom is dreadful.
Other people to whom I am expected to pay attention are (mostly) so boring - unless they have a mind as lively as mine and an inclination for in-depth conversation, which is rare.