How Being Smart Almost Destroyed Me
What is a great mind without hard work?
Hard work beats talent if talent doesn’t work hard. ~ Tim Notke, basketball coach
Looking back at my life, I have never had a problem with any obstacle. I have always stood out in every sport I have ever played, and the same goes for every exam I ever had to take. Maybe you are thinking that this must be wonderful, but trust me, it leads to more than enough problems. How? Let me show you.
I grew up in a small town in the Czech Republic. I was born to a caring and supporting family, which gave me enough space to grow in any direction I ever wanted. And I was pretty good in every single one.
Thanks to my high IQ and the ability to memorize anything insanely quickly, it was almost hard to find something challenging. I understood complex problems or advanced sports techniques and tactics in the blink of an eye. I went through high school without the need to study for my exams and with excellent grades. And after completing the Czech version of the graduation, I decided to become a lawyer. Not surprisingly, the entrance exam to the best university in the Czech Republic was a piece of cake. But that’s where things started to get rough.
Because I’ve never had to actually work to achieve something.
As shocking as it sounds, until my twenties, I’ve never got to learn the most basic principle in life- “if you want something, you have to work for it”. So, the university being a thousand times harder than high school, I found out rather quickly that this time, I won’t get anything for free. But I didn’t realize that until the end of the first semester, during which I learned nothing and event attended less than half of my lectures.
And I failed every single one of my exams.
Not succeeding was something I was not used to, so it was like jumping in ice-cold water. I dropped out and that absolutely paralyzed me. I couldn’t function normally for many months. I had no willpower to get a job, to be social, or to try and turn this situation back around. And I didn’t understand how could this happen?
After a few months and many conversations with my parents, I was able to find a well-paid part-time job in a local bank. But being as intelligent as I am I was never able to push myself, to actually try. Everybody soon found out that the new boy won’t fight for his place or do anything extra. So I was fired after a month or so. This resulted in deeper depression and another dark period of my life, during which I rarely left my room. I kept thinking about what happened and why.
And I found out that my life, even before being kicked out of university, was far from ideal.
My relationships always ended in disaster, because I wasn’t willing to put any effort into them. My classmates and teammates actually hated me, because I was often boasting about how little effort I need to succeed. I was far from popular.
But at least I was lucky enough to realize all those things.
After I while I got back up and started everything again, this time the right way. I have successfully passed my first two semesters at university, got a job and I am currently in a happy long term relationship. But I was insanely close to living a miserable life.
So the moral of the story is simple — there is no happiness without hard work. At least not for me.