Why do smart people fail ?

[robertanthony]

In a previous posting I was curious to know what people knew about emotional intelligence since it seems to be an important subject as regards personal development. I didn't get much of a response from the forum so I googled the words smart & emotional intelligence and encountered a number of articles called - why do smart people fail ? Why do smart people do dumb things? etc.

Just wondering why people are not interested in this subject on this forum?

All ideas welcome.

[Doku]

Dunno why it's not been/being discussed here, but here's my take:

Very early on in school, kids are taught that you need at least a 'C' grade (70%) to move on, and that getting an 'A' (90%) is the best. The smart kids figure out, somewhere around 1st or 2nd grade, that there really is no appriciable difference between a C and an A, and start tending towards the C because they do enough to get by, and no more. Then around 3rd or 4th, parents and teachers start whining about "you're not working up to your potential." Around 6th or so, you want your parents to leave you alone... so when they whine about your potential, you think that if you do well, they will leave you alone... so you start actually trying. The result? Even MORE attention (praise this time, but you don't care.. you just want them to go away). The effect? Getting good grades didn't get the results that you wanted, just more work.

The net result of this is that during the "formative years" in school, kids were taught that "good enough" is good enough, and never learned to try. When they get out into the work force, they do the same thing. The ones that get out of that rut and succeed instead of fail are the ones that eventually learn that if they apply themselves, they can get out of the rat race faster.

As far as smart people doing dumb things, I think that comes from thinking that you DO know when you don't, and making bad assumptions and acting on them... just like everyone else does.

Disclaimer: My info comes from my experience, and the experience of my friends, not a tax payer funded academic research project.

[cdn2wheeler]

Depends what you mean by "smart," as that term can have a number of different definitions. But I'm assuming that when you say "smart," you're referring to something like an IQ (as opposed to being "street smart" or "money smart" or similar).

Doku makes a very, very good point about cause-effect relationships. The smarter you appear to be, the more that's expected of you. And if you measure up to those expectations, the bar is raised even higher. Meet those, and the bar goes higher again. There's no upper limit, and even the smartest, most positive and driven personalities will eventually come to a point where they see a law of diminishing returns; that is, all that extra work for only a fraction of payback (however that payback is defined).

Ever see the movie, Good Will Hunting with Robin Williams, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck? That's a good look at someone who's brilliant but has come up against the wall of diminishing returns.

Some smart folks, then, simply step off the "smart folk" treadmill. And those that do are often perceived as failures, because they're not playing by the rules that social convention expects.

[DrMartinRussell]

I met a smart person who had passed every exam he ever sat. I told him he had held himself back from his true potential.

My biggest suggestion is the Peter Principle...

‘In a Hierarchy Every Employee Tends to Rise to His (sic) Level of Incompetence’

If you apply it to life rather than just institutions and companies you can get very interesting insights, as I mention here:
Self Help Blog › The Key Life Principle?

In fact these types of principles can be applied to what are usually thought of psychiatric illnesses. My self-help product for people who are chronically stuck with their lives addresses exactly this:
Self-Help 'Meeting'... All Ready For Completely Changing A Life Around!

Psychiatry has a little bit to teach self-improvement, but there is much more that needs to go back the other way.

[babuji]

Well.. isn't it also true that failure makes people smarter?

Perhaps there's a reason why smart people fail...

[amber01]

Why do smart people fail? I know why.. EGO..Their ego cuts them off from taking pain to look at finer details which could enhance their life. They think they know it all. That is why they failed.
Simple things is never easy. We think we know it so we end up refusing to practice it. That is why we failed at times

K Amber
Baby Steps To Extreme Mind Power
Baby Steps To Extreme Mind Power » Simple Instant Steps to Gain Wealth Health and Happiness

[cdn2wheeler]

Originally Posted by babuji

Well.. isn't it also true that failure makes people smarter?

Perhaps there's a reason why smart people fail...

Yes. And no.

Those who fail and learn from those mistakes get smarter.

Those who fail but continually do the same things repeatedly, expecting a different result, don't. I'm trying to manage an issue like this right now - I've got a meeting with the dude in 20 minutes - where a company owner continues to use the same marketing strategy based on the same assumptions and is blaming everyone else for repeated failure.

[lizthefair]

I look at this a bit differently.

I would say that especially smart or gifted people often find that school comes easy to them. So when other kids are learning study skills or endurance through hardship, they are sailing through without much effort.

This is all fine and good until they get to college, or life in general and run across a problem they don't immediately know the answer to. Because they never had to work hard to succeed in school, they don't know how to push themselves through the hard part to success. So they either learn that important skill late in life, or (I would say more likely) the give up and either label the task as "stupid" or decide that they must not be as smart as they thought they were.

"Smart" is a gift and it makes a lot of things easy. But it's not the only tool people need. I'd say if you could only be smart or only be tenacious, tenacious wins out every time.

[Pegasus]

Originally Posted by robertanthony

why do smart people fail ?

I learned early on to make good grades. It wasn’t hard because a good deal of “learning” was actually reviewing material we had previously covered. When I was in high school, I took college-level AP courses. The math became more abstract and it was the first time I was at a loss of how to think for myself. I was accustomed to following the program, doing what I was told.

College was okay, but it seemed like only certain majors had good financial prospects after graduation. I went to see a career counselor. The only thing the career counselor told me to do was to join the Peace Corps, most likely because her daughter had worked for the Peace Corps (by the way, the Peace Corps wants volunteers who have skills!).

Being smart has nothing to do with success. Success is based more on drive, a high emotional intelligence quotient, positive attitude, enthusiasm, and excellent social skills. Unfortunately, most of these traits do not come naturally for me. I work hard and end up with mediocre results, which makes me feel even more depressed

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[Doku]

The other thing is that maybe it is a perception?
"He's very bright. Why did he just do that??? What was he thinking?!!?"
vs.
"Haha. Bob's an idiot!"

Which one do you remember? When the smart guy screws up, or when the village idiot does?

[Amandaaa]

Being smart has nothing to do with success. Success is based more on drive, a high emotional intelligence quotient, positive attitude, enthusiasm, and excellent social skills.

...i agree completely.

being smart doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to avoid a major pitfall later in life.

even the most "elite" intellectuals can fall into a rut of depression, get stuck, feel defeated, lose everything, and end up living in a box on the street.
everyone encounters obstacles in life... and being successful in school doesn't mean that you'll know how to handle the 'challenges' that you may have to face later on.

(plus, like someone else said, it all depends on how you define "smart"...)

[Sam988]

Originally Posted by robertanthony

In a previous posting I was curious to know what people knew about emotional intelligence since it seems to be an important subject as regards personal development. I didn't get much of a response from the forum so I googled the words smart & emotional intelligence and encountered a number of articles called - why do smart people fail ? Why do smart people do dumb things? etc.

Just wondering why people are not interested in this subject on this forum?

All ideas welcome.

Appearently because they're not as smart as they thought they were

You can't let your ego be bigger than your intelligence, otherwise you will end up doing bad decisions and failing.

[Jim11]

If you're pretty smart you can often find the pace of life in certain situations extremely boring, and boredom can be very painful.

If you're the smartest kid in your class you can be bored into submission if there isn't much driving you.

Same thing with employment. If you're smarter than all your superiors you still may have to harness your ego while you rise.

Someone with high intelligence also needs to learn that it isn't everything and they need to be patient, persistent, high eq, etc.

bureaucracy, hierarchies, too much structure, other personal qualities lacking (as mentioned, patience, eq, etc)... all of these things can hold someone back.

Just a few examples from what I've seen/done.

ego/pride may be the most problematic.