Am I too stupid?

[polaroid22]

Hi guys,

I am just wondering if I might be too stupid, and I have a hard time accepting this. I have a hard time focussing, but have always got through life so far, working longer or memorizing a lot off stuff. (37 over here right now, bachelor degree applied computer science. ) But I just took a sailing class, and I had a tough time learning all the words, actions, knots and everything, while the rest of the crew did way better then me and were scolding me I was too stupid. (The rest of the crew was far smarter then me, architects, air traffic controllers and so on). The rest of the crew was also so fluently in communicating and I couldn't keep up.

This is not the first time something like this has come up, I recently listened to some podcasts, and they were talking about A-players and B-players and you need to cut B-players. And I feel like a B-player as the rest of my colleagues are picking up new things up way faster then me. But could I still make it as an entrepreneur as I don't pick up things as fast as the next one? (Allthough my drive to make it somehow, might outreach others, as my wife doesn't even try anything besides her job). Now this might be a temporary rant, but it's not the first time I felt this in my life. So maybe just tips on how to accept the fact that I am stupid might also work. (Allthough I know I will never be happy as an employee).

Thanks,

 

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[NervesOfSteel]

Hi guys,

I am just wondering if I might be too stupid, and I have a hard time accepting this. I have a hard time focussing, but have always got through life so far, working longer or memorizing a lot off stuff. (37 over here right now, bachelor degree applied computer science. ) But I just took a sailing class, and I had a tough time learning all the words, actions, knots and everything, while the rest of the crew did way better then me and were scolding me I was too stupid. (The rest of the crew was far smarter then me, architects, air traffic controllers and so on). The rest of the crew was also so fluently in communicating and I couldn't keep up.

This is not the first time something like this has come up, I recently listened to some podcasts, and they were talking about A-players and B-players and you need to cut B-players. And I feel like a B-player as the rest of my colleagues are picking up new things up way faster then me. But could I still make it as an entrepreneur as I don't pick up things as fast as the next one? (Allthough my drive to make it somehow, might outreach others, as my wife doesn't even try anything besides her job). Now this might be a temporary rant, but it's not the first time I felt this in my life. So maybe just tips on how to accept the fact that I am stupid might also work. (Allthough I know I will never be happy as an employee).

Thanks,

I am not quite sure about the success of a "stupid" B-Player but I know a partially autistic guy who became a millionaire recently!

 

[Andy Black]

1) Don't they say D-Students employ A-Students?

2) When you buy something on Amazon do you care how smart the person selling it is?

3) People in your market don't care whether you feel smart or not. They care what you do for them.

 

[heavy_industry]

bachelor degree applied computer science

Not exactly the hallmark of a stupid person.

could I still make it as an entrepreneur as I don't pick up things as fast as the next one?

Being a fast learner is a clear advantage. But there is nothing stopping you from working twice as hard as your competition.

So maybe just tips on how to accept the fact that I am stupid might also work.

No thanks. Save that one for Reddit.

Here we conquer our problems and overcome our challenges.

---

Actionable advice:

• Stop labeling yourself as a slow learner - or any other self-limiting beliefs.
• Do your research and study how the human learning mechanism works.
• Remove distractions and learn how to focus.
• Remove all inflammatory foods from your diet and experiment with fasting. You might be surprised at the cognitive benefits you get from this.
• When learning new things: elaborate a comprehensive strategy because you're going to F*cking war.
• Execute.

Good luck.

 

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[random_username]

Hi guys,

I am just wondering if I might be too stupid, and I have a hard time accepting this. I have a hard time focussing, but have always got through life so far, working longer or memorizing a lot off stuff. (37 over here right now, bachelor degree applied computer science. ) But I just took a sailing class, and I had a tough time learning all the words, actions, knots and everything, while the rest of the crew did way better then me and were scolding me I was too stupid. (The rest of the crew was far smarter then me, architects, air traffic controllers and so on). The rest of the crew was also so fluently in communicating and I couldn't keep up.

This is not the first time something like this has come up, I recently listened to some podcasts, and they were talking about A-players and B-players and you need to cut B-players. And I feel like a B-player as the rest of my colleagues are picking up new things up way faster then me. But could I still make it as an entrepreneur as I don't pick up things as fast as the next one? (Allthough my drive to make it somehow, might outreach others, as my wife doesn't even try anything besides her job). Now this might be a temporary rant, but it's not the first time I felt this in my life. So maybe just tips on how to accept the fact that I am stupid might also work. (Allthough I know I will never be happy as an employee).

Thanks,

Let's put it other way around. Imagine a person who never feels stupid, what does that person do all day?
Also all these idiots that said you are stupid, well tell them to F*ck off.

 

[Devilery]

Might be helpful to read Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins. He talked a lot about his learning challenges and your experience sounds kind of similar. It's a quick read and has lots of wisdom beyond what I mentioned.

Besides that, there are millions of smarter people and millions of dumber people. Some have massive advantages, some have massive disadvantages. Guess what! No one cares. Start taking action, step-by-step, doesn't matter if it takes you longer than someone else.

While I usually don't like those cliche sayings there are people with actual mental and other sorts of disabilities, for you the case seems much simpler, you just need to work a bit harder than however you imagine "how it's supposed to be".

 

[Jinzou]

But could I still make it as an entrepreneur as I don't pick up things as fast as the next one?

What have you done to answer that question?

No one in here except you can possibly find an answer.

What happened to your pizza business idea? Have you tried acting further on that goal to make the best pizza?

But I just took a sailing class, and I had a tough time learning all the words, actions, knots and everything, while the rest of the crew did way better then me and were scolding me I was too stupid. (The rest of the crew was far smarter then me, architects, air traffic controllers and so on

Why the hell do you care what some random people on a sailing course think about you?

Someone says you're stupid and just because he's an architect means he's correct in his assumption about you and smarter than you?

It doesn't matter and shouldn't matter in the first place.

So maybe just tips on how to accept the fact that I am stupid might also work. (Allthough I know I will never be happy as an employee).

If something like that is enough to get you backed up in a corner, then you need to work on your mindset and the beliefs you have about yourself and the world.

Try and establish a positive self-consciousness. Think about the things you're really good at.

You won't succeed if you allow any brain-dead comments to dictate who you are and what you can do.

You are the only person who should be in charge of yourself.

 

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[polaroid22]

Thanks everyone! Everyone on here is right, I guess I already knew the answer, but I just needed to write it down to get it out of my system. I am going to WAR!

 

[EngineerThis]

Thanks everyone! Everyone on here is right, I guess I already knew the answer, but I just needed to write it down to get it out of my system. I am going to WAR!

Adding to your experience in "Sailing class" how do you know the others didn't grow up sailing and just took this class as a refresher? They're probably passionate about sailing and have researched the terms well before attending class too.. You have zero clue on what they did before that class, you cannot ever compare yourself to others in a negative sense.

It's great that you went out on a limb and tried learning something new.. But next time, read a book on the subject first, you will get MUCH more value out of the class because you won't be overwhelmed by basic terminology, etc..

 

[Andy Black]

This might help you rethink "learning":

MINDSET - Start Faster. Stop "Learning".

If you're just getting started, haven't made a sale, or feel you're spinning your wheels then this 8 minute video should help. It's pulled out of a longer call (also linked below). Curious what your main takeaways are, and what you'll do different going forward. View...

www.thefastlaneforum.com

 

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[cmh]

Given your impressive sense of introspection, and your degree and line of work, I doubt you are as dumb as a bag of hair or anything like that. Definitely don't let a bad day sailing define you

Now, it's possible that you aren't a gifted intellect, but it's really not necessary for business ownership, and can in fact be a detractor to effective biz management. Often times people with huge IQs struggle with overthinking things, and cannot quickly see things as they are.

You really just have to be smart enough to learn and grasp your main field of work, dabble in a few others that are tangent, and then Execute. Good luck bro.

 

[Johnny boy]

"I'm about this schmoney"
-Cardi B


Net worth: 80 MILLION

You are in fact, smart enough. You are simply just not about this schmoney. On god.

 

[JordanK]

Degree in comp science. Whats your current work/biz set up?

It's possible that you are just more comfortable behind a keyboard and communicating differently with employees...
Introvert/extrovert.

If these other people are more comfortable communicating it may just be that they do a lot more of it in their day to day lives. Some people learn very easily from being shown by another person. Others need to sit with a book or YouTube video in the comfort of their own home/office. It may also be that some of these other people have more experience in DIY, outdoorsy type activities. It's a natural progression from hiking/rope climbing etc type activities into sailing.

 

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[Plushy]

A lot of factors can contribute to feeling stupid. like heavy_industry suggested, inflammatory foods, poor lifestyle habits can slow down your brain. And you gotta remember, limiting beliefs can slow you down. What does it matter if you're stupid? If you still get it done, even if slowly, then it doesn't matter.

For example, I used to think I was bad at math, until I learned it takes 27 times of exposure to a new material until you internalize it. And that "confused" feeling is a sign your brain is generating new connections and neurons. So I stopped being afraid of being confused and not getting something right away. I challenged myself and ended up really great at math, where at one point I would've quit and given up because "I'm too stupid to understand this", if I had quit, I would forever be like, "see, because I didn't finish my math classes, I *MUST* be stupid." So you see how believing you're stupid can lead to sabotaging behaviors!

Similarly, I almost let "I'm too stupid to learn to program" stop me from building what I wanted. Then I experienced being let down by someone I trusted, and in anger quickly filled in their portion of the code - and I found out, I wasn't stupid at all when I was angry. So stupidity is sometimes just self-doubt.

You gotta really analyze if there are other reasons you might feel stupid, like if you have sleep deprivation due to a new family member in the household, or a brain injury due to an accident. And regardless, you would have to challenge your brain anyway in order to recover, because stagnation and giving up is what really makes you stupid.

 

[MitchC]

You’re smart enough

Probably too smart

Don’t think about it too much

It doesn’t take much intelligence to get rich

I think you just need to work on your confidence, because that is actually something that will hold you back

Also, making someone feel dumb on a boat when it’s their first time is the least intelligent and socially aware thing someone could do so don’t worry about those people

And tying knots has no correlation to wealth creation

Have some more realistic expectations of yourself, that might help with your confidence

Everyone sucks the first few times they do something

 

[Kevin88660]

Hi guys,

I am just wondering if I might be too stupid, and I have a hard time accepting this. I have a hard time focussing, but have always got through life so far, working longer or memorizing a lot off stuff. (37 over here right now, bachelor degree applied computer science. ) But I just took a sailing class, and I had a tough time learning all the words, actions, knots and everything, while the rest of the crew did way better then me and were scolding me I was too stupid. (The rest of the crew was far smarter then me, architects, air traffic controllers and so on). The rest of the crew was also so fluently in communicating and I couldn't keep up.

This is not the first time something like this has come up, I recently listened to some podcasts, and they were talking about A-players and B-players and you need to cut B-players. And I feel like a B-player as the rest of my colleagues are picking up new things up way faster then me. But could I still make it as an entrepreneur as I don't pick up things as fast as the next one? (Allthough my drive to make it somehow, might outreach others, as my wife doesn't even try anything besides her job). Now this might be a temporary rant, but it's not the first time I felt this in my life. So maybe just tips on how to accept the fact that I am stupid might also work. (Allthough I know I will never be happy as an employee).

Thanks,

It could be just that you are not very good with hands-on tasks.

But it gets better with experience. Just like a child learning how to tie shoelaces.

I used to hate natural science subjects as a teenager because they have lab work, and gravitated toward math, humanities and business/econiomcis related topics.

I had a jump in personal hands-on skills after being in the mandatory military service for 2 years. Army is literally like a blue-collar job 101 with some PT. Working with all the military gear and rifles is extremely daunting the first time.

Conventionally what we mean by smart is bring good with abstract ideas related to math and logics.

Things changed so much these days I would categorise skillsets by the following subgroups.

Conventional Paper Smartness: Math, logic based and dealing with grasping complex concepts and information.

Old school hands-on skills; fixing things and operating objects with hands, like a hairdresser or electrician/plumber. Driving skills also fall here.

New age paperwork skills: As the world is evolving more bureaucratic and more digitalized, filing taxes, getting your visa done, and downloading apps to do everything, while not getting scammed is a new general skill set.

Personal Organisation skills: Things you learn from the guru such as goal setting, time management and productivity hacks.

 

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[Borderless CLTV]

Hi guys,

I am just wondering if I might be too stupid, and I have a hard time accepting this. I have a hard time focussing, but have always got through life so far, working longer or memorizing a lot off stuff. (37 over here right now, bachelor degree applied computer science. ) But I just took a sailing class, and I had a tough time learning all the words, actions, knots and everything, while the rest of the crew did way better then me and were scolding me I was too stupid. (The rest of the crew was far smarter then me, architects, air traffic controllers and so on). The rest of the crew was also so fluently in communicating and I couldn't keep up.

This is not the first time something like this has come up, I recently listened to some podcasts, and they were talking about A-players and B-players and you need to cut B-players. And I feel like a B-player as the rest of my colleagues are picking up new things up way faster then me. But could I still make it as an entrepreneur as I don't pick up things as fast as the next one? (Allthough my drive to make it somehow, might outreach others, as my wife doesn't even try anything besides her job). Now this might be a temporary rant, but it's not the first time I felt this in my life. So maybe just tips on how to accept the fact that I am stupid might also work. (Allthough I know I will never be happy as an employee).

Thanks,

The 'system' used to give me plenty of signals that I was 'stupid.' But that was just by their metrics. I simply never fit into the system - their system.

I routinely failed classes. I got kicked out of community college twice.

Even as I turned my life around, when I was ~25 years old, and started working corporate jobs with increasing responsibility, colleagues would still insinuate this.

I almost made it a point to succeed despite all of that just to spite them.

Ultimately, I think what really helped me was getting out of the system as much as possible.

What you might need is a change of career or different role. To mix things up a bit.

 

[theag]

But I just took a sailing class, and I had a tough time learning all the words, actions, knots and everything, while the rest of the crew did way better then me and were scolding me I was too stupid. (The rest of the crew was far smarter then me, architects, air traffic controllers and so on). The rest of the crew was also so fluently in communicating and I couldn't keep up.

Don't let that deter you from pursuing sailing.

I've been sailing most of my life, went to a bunch of classes, multi-week sailing trips with random crew and owned a little 21ft offshore racer for a few years. So I'm quite experienced, usually the most experienced guy except for the instructor / commercial skipper on these trips.

The people that were scolding you were pieces of shit who would be thrown out of any real crew faster than they could say "clogged pump toilet". That behavior has nothing to do with the spirit of sailing. If the instructor did not speak up about it, I'd chose a different school for your next class.

I had people like that in my classes / mixed crew trips. I think they are mostly there because they think that sailing implies some higher class status. Usually they would alienate themselves quickly from the rest of the crew after a few of those comments or actions. Once the skipper kicked out one especially full-of-himself guy and dropped him off in a random harbor. Some of the most enjoyable crewmates I had were blue-collar workers, who are equally allergic to this bullshit.