Failing as a high IQ kid

Post Reply New Topic

At age 22, Morgan Freeman was still unknown and spent decades in minor roles before his breakout in his 50s.

At age 23, Alan Rickman was a graphic designer before deciding to pursue acting.

At age 25, Mark Cuban was working as a bartender in Dallas.

At age 30, Toni Morrison published her first novel.

At age 32, Jon Hamm was waiting tables and living on friends’ couches before Mad Men.

At age 35, Ava DuVernay was a publicist—she didn’t pick up a camera until then.

At age 36, Samuel L. Jackson had only had minor roles and struggled with addiction.

At age 38, Ricky Gervais was an office manager before starting his comedy career.

At age 41, Henry Ford founded the Ford Motor Company.

At age 42, Viola Davis landed her breakthrough film role in Doubt.

At age 45, Rodney Dangerfield got his big break in stand-up comedy.

At age 50, Harland Sanders started KFC after a string of failed ventures.

At age 70, I've just published my first books, but I’m struggling to get links to work (Why is it so difficult to simply point people at where the books can be bought? Why do I instead get invited to open my Amazon account, or find my Wrong Planet account open to all comers; no password required?).

It never occurred to me to get tested, until I scored top 1% in three out of four categories on the Chandler&Macleod aptitude and temperament test. Even then, it was the appearance of an ad for Mensa in a newspaper that prompted me to try a postal exam.

At age eleven, no one even hinted that I was clever, though I scored either second or third highest in every subject (in a class of forty).

In four decades of trying, I’ve yet to find anyone who thinks I could have benefited from having to repeat my last year in primary school (I was 3 days “too young”) but that’s what happened, just as a certain Gordon Brown was being fast tracked to university at age 16 (so not a legal requirement) . Result; I went from “sponge for knowledge”, to “completely disinterested” in academic achievement; was I deliberately “slow tracked”?

Racking my brains, I can think of only one instance of being praised at school, when my maths teacher took me aside, and said my methods in Calculus were the best in class, but spoken so quietly, only he and I could hear it...

I wasn't a bright kid but I did excel better when I got to be creative and explore my imagination.

Primary (elementary) school let you explore your imagination more, but at high school you had to do everything from books rather than using your own creativity.

I remember when I was 15 I had an art exam, and they couldn't grade it because I was too creative. I was a bit taken aback by that, because I thought art was about self-expression and creativity. But the teacher said that my piece didn't relate to any artists and that I had to read books to get information or something. I was also disappointed because I'd spent money on preparation for my exam and my finished piece was great. Yet I couldn't get the grade because I was too creative.

Yet in my woodwork (shop class?) exam I created a design for a CD rack that was so original that it deserved an A (we were allowed to be creative there). But unfortunately I was in a group that were predicted C or below, so the highest they could give me was a C.

Ugh, I wasn't very lucky with grades at school. I sucked at everything except creativity, and even then I couldn't get the grades I deserved for my creativity.

Somebody else mentioned having a high intelligence but being ignored in the workplace in another thread. My daughter has savant level intelligence but has a problem applying it to social communication because it conflicts with managing sensory issues in a way that has been an impediment to her social success. She is improving with age as she becomes more self aware of personal challenges.

Harvard did a study several decades ago and found having "Sheldon level" intelligence does not actually predict success at university. Clearly emotional and social intelligence and developing resilience are equally important in success. So much so, if you look at highly successful people, most tend only slightly above average intelligence, they just have other qualities that they maximise to give them the edge.

Being self-aware requires self-reflection and identifying what you need to work on. My daughter uses journaling which helps her process things in her past that she was not able to control.

@Cyberdora,

I felt connected to your post when reading it. Glad to hear your daughter has found her path!
I think you and her have already figured this out but it the law of average distance... when person A is on whatever qualifier too far removed from person B, no matter the social view on that qualifier, person A and B will have a very hard time to get along. and this is especially true for groups.

Kind regards,
Kada

^^^ thanks Kada, she has a long way to go but at least she is motivated. She often leaves me cryptic notes before going to tech school which I need code level skills to decipher.

This caused recollections of my own earlier years...Absolute best wishes on you for being understanding of her circumstances .

-> Haha the "Sherlock Holmes" fun we have with our kids sometimes
And please don't think I'm minimizing your effort, as I read you here you are an excellent parent, one that I would have wished to have, nor am I minimizing the required amount of energy to decode our kids cryptic messages, (I'm a ND parent and have NT kids ) especially on moment where you suspect there is something urgent or important to share... But I found humor to be the best remedy, because even now when my kids are fully grown up, we often laugh heartily at the perils we put each other through

best of luck with all my heart.

thanks