Am I destined to not succeed?

[TheTruOnw]

I'm a seventeen year old living in the UK and I was wondering about your opinion on the importance of IQ. In a recent podcast Stefan emphasised the extent to which low IQ doesn't just make you a slow learner, it leads to you being unable to grasp complex concepts due to the frustration it brings. I've been listening to Stefan since the age of 13. I'm committed, conscientious, I have a good academic record and have been called borderline genius before. Most of my friends consider me very intelligent and I even almost managed to get into Cambridge University (irrelevant but in the feedback I was told that although one marker liked the 'power of my writing' in the essay I submitted and some of my interview answers were insightful, too many were 'ambigious' which placed me a little behind the very best candidates). Either way i'll be studying at one of the top British universities anyway. Moreover, I consistently manage to compete well in debates with people in the 130-140 IQ range. Yet this is all just an illusion, i'm not smart, I've taken numerous real IQ tests (administered by Mensa) and I always score poorly (performance IQ around 90) despite best efforts. i'm 'knowledgeable' and I have an analytic mind and enjoy debating but I am not in any way shape or form intelligent, I am often clumsy, and only manage to maintain the illusion of intelligence through constant consumption of information and the acquisition of knowledge. I often can't carry on a good conversation because I don't know what to say next. Do you think Molyneux is right by stating that people such as me are destined not to succeed in the world? I have very high aspirations and have had a great number of academic successes- I work hard but I feel like I am determined to fail due to lacking the IQ that most people claim to be necessary to achieve big things. 

[plato85]

Pffft. How many stupid people do you see in good jobs? They're all around us. And anyway IQ only measures some of your intelligence. It doesn't count conscientiousness for instance.

If your answers at school are ambiguous, perhaps the questions don't interest you. Not being interested in school is normal for everyone and not a sign of intelligence. Being a student is a an abstract existence, things will seem very different when you're in the real world.

[neeeel]

On 24/04/2017 at 7:36 PM, TheTruOnw said:

I'm a seventeen year old living in the UK and I was wondering about your opinion on the importance of IQ. In a recent podcast Stefan emphasised the extent to which low IQ doesn't just make you a slow learner, it leads to you being unable to grasp complex concepts due to the frustration it brings. I've been listening to Stefan since the age of 13. I'm committed, conscientious, I have a good academic record and have been called borderline genius before. Most of my friends consider me very intelligent and I even almost managed to get into Cambridge University (irrelevant but in the feedback I was told that although one marker liked the 'power of my writing' in the essay I submitted and some of my interview answers were insightful, too many were 'ambigious' which placed me a little behind the very best candidates). Either way i'll be studying at one of the top British universities anyway. Moreover, I consistently manage to compete well in debates with people in the 130-140 IQ range. Yet this is all just an illusion, i'm not smart, I've taken numerous real IQ tests (administered by Mensa) and I always score poorly (performance IQ around 90) despite best efforts. i'm 'knowledgeable' and I have an analytic mind and enjoy debating but I am not in any way shape or form intelligent, I am often clumsy, and only manage to maintain the illusion of intelligence through constant consumption of information and the acquisition of knowledge. I often can't carry on a good conversation because I don't know what to say next. Do you think Molyneux is right by stating that people such as me are destined not to succeed in the world? I have very high aspirations and have had a great number of academic successes- I work hard but I feel like I am determined to fail due to lacking the IQ that most people claim to be necessary to achieve big things. 

while its a useful concept, and can be an indicator of different things, in the end, its not worth worrying about and stopping you from living.

Can you do stuff? If you can, then do that stuff. If you cant, but would like to do the stuff, then practice doing the stuff until you can do the stuff, or you realise you arent able to do the stuff. 

[Erwin]

You can live a perfectly happy life in the trades. Not everyone needs to be an astronaut.

[S1988]

The above posters are right. Besides, "success" is an subjective term; define and create your own success, not go with how society defines it.

[_LiveFree_]

You're 17. Go forth unto the world and get thy ass kicked. Produce and no one will give two pence about your IQ. 

 Be one of those people who says, "Yeah Cambridge rejected my application," in the article written by Forbes with your face splashed across the cover.