I would say that the one problem I've been really been challenged with is that I have trouble delegating, because I don't think other people can do a job as well as I can.
However, also being smart, I've learned to recognize that that's ok. That the job or task doesn't have to be perfect to be acceptable.
The rest of the stuff that life flings at me; well, if I'm not smart enough to figure out how to deal with it effectively, that's on me.
Not my school, my parents, my friends, my spouse, my kids, or society at large.
One of the most annoying things about talking to some smart people is that they have no tenacity and no patience.
How can you know what I'm going to say? (and if you always interrupt me, you'll never know for sure, will you?). You derail thought processes and take the joy of storytelling away from the person you do this to.
I've watched people interrupt and change discussions this way, and the person being interrupted always feels as if something has been stolen from them, that it's been hijacked somehow. The end result is sometimes that the talker chooses to find someone who is a good listener next time, rather than someone who constantly "improves" upon their thoughts.
I don't care if you "know" what the end of my story is, shut up and listen and be present.
Gifted people call some challenges "stupid" and "boring" and give up on them after having defined them as having no use. And when they do meet an actual challenge, they sour-grape it and reduce it to being an exterior pressure that caused them to fail, rather than an internal weakness. Because, after all, they're gifted, right? It can't be them. Being sucky at something is only for regular people.
People who are truly excellent in their field rarely display arrogance-in fact, many times I'm surprised by how humble they are and how they downplay what are often incredible achievements. I believe arrogance actually stems from insecurity, and the need to tell people how great you are, rather than just do your thing and be good at it and let the accolades happen (or not happen, as sometimes is the case).
Gifted people seem to have switched their interior and exterior lives around-they obsess and have anxiety constantly over what's going on in their head or over events they have no control over (internalizing what should be external-i.e. giving up the illusion of control), and then they reject external connections, like people having conversations with them that they're already finishing in their head or becoming bored with.
I think if you're smart enough, you'll find a way to connect with the person talking. It doesn't matter how smart they are; it's about making them feel like you get what they're saying and that what they have to say is important. When we talk with very small children (who obviously don't have the mental capacity of an adult), most of us are engaged and interested in what that child has to say. It's not a content issue; it's a connection issue.
That's why a lot of regular people don't like smart people-they have the ability to pick up on the fact that you don't think much of them or what they have to say (and it's expressed by interrupting or correcting), and life's too short to deal with people who have so little regard for others. It's not because you're so smart, it's because you're not working very hard to connect with them.
Now, here's the thing-if you find no value in speaking to others, and you don't want to work on becoming good at it, that's fine, but don't blame the regulars. It's your own failing.
I know I'm likely to make a bunch of you very angry, but that's one of my shortcomings as a gifted adult.
