On the “Clever” Ones

There’s a certain kind of smart, talented people who never quite succeed — even though, on the surface, they seem to be doing everything right. The question is how exactly they put those gifts to use.

I often notice that the whole worldview of such people revolves around a single realization: “I’m smarter than the rest.” And it might even be true. It boils hottest inside them when they feel underappreciated. Out of that feeling a strategy is born: outwit, exploit, manipulate, cut corners, play dumb. Sometimes it works. But in the long run these tricks and schemes float to the surface — and people not only hate being deceived, they take any attempt to make idiots of them as a personal insult. Especially the ones who happen to have a “thing” about exactly that.

How do they answer? They’ll do everything to make sure the “clever one’s” scheme fails — even against their own interest, even against common sense. They’ll fight it to the last. And so the “clever ones,” who counted on outplaying everyone and finding the easy shortcut, end up with nothing, time and again.

Faith in your own “super-intellect” dulls your eye for detail, your precision, your caution: “These are just trifles, beneath my scale, we’ll sort it out in a second.” And in the end even a brilliant plan falls apart — over small holes in the execution, or for lack of anyone willing to stand behind it.

The way out? Couldn’t be more obvious — work. Use your gifts for the steady, unshowy pursuit of mastery and for drawing people together around you. Not to prove you’re smarter than someone, but to help others grow stronger alongside you.

Look at the remarkable people of any era, and almost all of them were obsessive “workhorses,” in the best sense of the word. They did their thing: well, then excellently, then better than anyone. No elaborate multi-move gambits — just step after step. The “cunning plans” usually show up only later, in the press retellings and the pretty legends about their success.

Here’s to putting our talents to honorable use — because the “straight” path, the one of plain speaking, honesty, respect and mastery, often turns out in the end to be the fastest. 😎