Please don't take this too seriously.

[rah]

Well it seems you've already figured those things out so I don't need to remind you that you have value.

[Lorizael]

Figuring those things out isn't hard. After all, I'm smart. The hard part is believing all that crap.

[Lorizael]

My self-esteem is ****ty, so I boost it by finding evidence that I'm smarter than most people, which is plainly obvious. This is a bad strategy, because (a) I have other qualities besides my intelligence that I'm nearly incapable of acknowledging, (b) when my intelligence does take a hit my self-esteem plummets, and (c) my self-esteem should be based on the fact that I have inherent value as a human being and bla bla bla.

Case in point: I've got a 2 page linguistics paper due today at 2 pm. I've been procrastinating on it, but I figured I'd be able to whip something up today before the deadline. So this morning I looked at what is required of the paper, and it's not much, but the paper is based on an hour long video I have to watch first. I have plenty of time to write a 2 page paper, but I don't have time to watch and analyze and pull quotes from an hour long video. Oops. Now I feel like an idiot. Because I was relying on my intelligence and writing ability (strongly linked to my intelligence), I ignored that writing this paper might involve other skills, like preparedness and time management.

[Bereta_Eder]

IQ is the last refuge of the procastrinator!

[Lorizael]

I am a procrastinator par excellence.

[rah]

That doesn't make you different. That makes you normal. I'm sure most of us here fall into that category. I most certainly do.

[Sava]

IQ is the last refuge of the procastrinator!

hard work is for idiots who can't succeed with intelligence alone

[Lorizael]

That's a fairy tale I've been telling myself for decades.

[Sava]

That's a fairy tale I've been telling myself for decades.

Success is defined by how little one works to sustain a particular lifestyle.

By default, hard workers are failures. There's also a point where money/lifestyle becomes completely irrelevant due to the amount of work required.

[Lorizael]

Yeah, you and I have different definitions of success.

[Ben Kenobi]

I was referring to Ben. Pretty much any measure of experience that involves actual experience applies.

And? I wasn't dispensing advice. I was stating my preferences. Anyhoo. Glad to hear you're sailing along Lori!

[rah]

At least you're admitting you have no actual experience.

[ricketyclik]

"Work smart, not hard" is the motto I live by. It doesn't preclude work or planning, but avoids it where possible.

[ricketyclik]

So where exactly do you jam this thing Jean?

[Lorizael]

http://www.theonion.com/articles/area-mans-intelligence-probably-just-too-intimidat,33916

Area Man’s Intelligence Probably Just Too Intimidating For Most Women

MILWAUKEE—Describing his mind as both “a blessing and a curse,” local man Benjamin Walker, 27, told reporters Thursday that his intellect was probably just too intimidating for most women to engage with romantically.

“I’m a very, very smart guy, and I guess most women are pretty scared off by that, you know?” said Walker, confirming that women often seem extremely uncomfortable and agitated around him, most likely because of how cultured and well-read he is. “After I’ve been speaking to a girl for just a few minutes, she’ll usually start to get this look in her eyes like she wants to bolt and I can just tell that she’s feeling so intellectually inferior that it’s impossible for her to continue with the conversation.”

“Which is understandable,” Walker added. “I am able to speak confidently and at length about a wide range of subjects, so it’s probably hard for most women to follow along.”

According to the Milwaukee resident, whenever he is talking to a young woman and begins to expound at length on one of the many topics he is well versed in—such as Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers or the British graffiti artist Banksy—she begins to appear highly overwhelmed by his mental capacity and quickly grows visibly restless and distant.

Walker, who acknowledged that his imposing cleverness and quick wit likely caused women to feel insecure about not being as smart as he is, confirmed that females frequently displayed an averse reaction to his impressive mind by noticeably “checking out” of the conversation or attempting, no doubt in fear and awe, to exit the discussion as quickly as possible.

The 27-year-old, who graduated from Syracuse University in 2007, told reporters that he subscribes to The New Yorker magazine and keeps up with the news on a daily basis—all facts that Walker said seem to persistently leave the opposite sex speechless when he inserts them into conversation.

“I should really be more careful, I suppose, because I can see that my intelligence can be a major hindrance to meeting women, most of whom are probably looking for a guy with a more ordinary or slowed-down intellect—you know, someone more on their level,” said Walker. “Sometimes, after talking to a girl at a party, for instance, I will try to approach her again and she’ll purposefully avoid eye contact with me, just so she doesn’t have to deal with the embarrassment of contending with my staggering mental faculties.”

“It’s tough, because I really try my best to relieve their anxiety and say, ‘Hey, look, don’t sweat it, I’m used to people not being able to keep up with my mind,’” added Walker. “But that never seems to help. They’re too petrified by that point.”

Admitting that his remarkable mind can make him appear unapproachable, Walker told reporters that he has even taken to downplaying his formidable intellect during first dates in order to put women at ease, employing tactics such as talking slower or briefly pausing to allow his conversational partners time to process the information that he imparts at a breakneck pace.

Ultimately, however, Walker said there was only so much he could do to lower his cognitive standards to another’s level.

“Recently, for example, I talked to this girl at a bar for half an hour about Radiohead—quoting lyrics and telling her about how the band went in a new musical direction with [their 2000 album] Kid A—you know, really making it easy for her to understand,” Walker said. “Things were going great, and I was saying a lot of very interesting stuff, but when I tried to call her a few days later, she never picked up or returned my calls.”

“And it’s like, look, I’m a sophisticated guy, I like sophisticated music,” Walker added. “If you can’t get that, then there’s nothing I can do for you.”

Walker confessed that at the past few parties he has attended, his profound sagacity pushed women toward less intellectually arresting men.

“Unfortunately I sometimes puzzle women with my lofty comments and thought-provoking remarks, and that drives them right into the arms of complete dopes because that’s less scary for them,” said Walker. “You know, the kind of guys who can barely string together 10 words before resorting to asking a girl about her hobbies or what she does for a living. It’s like, what’s the point? Is that even a conversation?”

“And this is why I’ve never really been in a long-term relationship before, because the girls I’m with tend to get frustrated with their inability to think on my level,” the 27-year-old continued. “In the end, I think the problem is that they want to be with me because of my exceptional wit, but they eventually realize that I’m just too deep.”

This is pretty much me, except I have enough self-awareness to know that the problem isn't that I'm just so gosh darn smart, but that I'm an *******. Also, I'm not a misogynist, because I use my intelligence as a weapon against men and women equally.

It happened in my astronomy class yesterday. We were discussing a problem in groups, and I was having a disagreement with one of my classmates about a particular subject. (Turns out I was wrong.) But during this disagreement, I kept asking her to explain a particular point to me. I was genuinely curious and wanted her answer, but I know that's not how it came across. It came across as if I were interrogating her and challenging her.

And I was reminded of a long-running problem my second girlfriend and I had, which was that she hated how I asked her questions. To her it always seemed like I was quizzing her and that if she gave the wrong answer, I would be disappointed. She actually did tell me that she was intimidated by my intelligence. Which was ****ing ridiculous, because she was damn smart, too. And yeah, I'm a pretty smart guy, but I'm not a genius. It's not that I have an otherworldly intellect but that I use my intelligence as a weapon against others because it's one of the only ways I can keep my self-esteem from going down the ****ter.