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Transcript

iAlign #89 - Being Smart Is Why You're Still Coasting · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the I Align podcast with Flint Mitchell, where I provide stories, resources, and tools for ambitious builders who are ready to gain control over procrastination, overthinking, and distraction.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't deserve shit because you're smart.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: This is a trap that I fell into plenty of times in my life.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: I've constantly had people tell me that I'm smart.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've been granted with certain competencies that have led to that conclusion.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I can follow many threads in a conversation, listen intently, learn quickly, have solved cool, complex problems, etc.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: But the pure just essence of smart is useless and undeserving of anything, sadly.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why we feel like we are deserving of things, because of certain qualities that we have or are assumed to have, like being smart, is because in reality, sometimes we get things for exactly that reason.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: You probably have experience where you got by because of your basic competency in something.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: You probably have times where you were given the benefit of the doubt, right?
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: Because it seemed like you understood something or would understand the thing.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So in reality, you probably have received things or received the benefit of the doubt because of how smart you are, or at least even just how smart you appear to be.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then over the course of time, you rack up those small moments and you start to convince yourself that because you have a trait or appear to have a trait, you are deserving of an outcome.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: So let me give you an analogy that I think you'll click with, which is pretty people.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty people get plenty of benefits in the modern world.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you disagree with that, one of the following three things applies to you.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: You live under a rock, you're in denial, or you are a pretty person that receives things and advantages because of it.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: And either you don't want to admit it or you have deluded yourself into believing that the benefit or the advantages that you get were for something other than being pretty.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's nothing wrong with being attractive or even potentially getting things because you are.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good thing, but it does not make a person inherently worthy of any sort of certain kind of treatment or reward.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's just something that commonly occurs in this world, right?
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Same deal with being smart.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: But the point here is that we get entitled and then we trick ourselves into thinking that it is okay to take our foot off the pedal and to work less hard because we embody some trait or appear to embody some trait.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: When the reality is that it is absolutely not okay, both because you will lose that trait and also lead yourself into an action, which will in turn prevent you from getting the real results that you want and heavily relying on the inconsistent, superficial results you sometimes receive for simply being a certain way or appearing a certain way in your life.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: So here is the trap in one line.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Being smart may have gotten you in the room, but it doesn't keep you there and it doesn't build things for you.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: The results that you actually want, the project finally shipped, the company off the ground, the work you want to be proud of, to put your name on, the new job that you want to get.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: They don't care how smart you are.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: They care about what you did over and over on the days where being smart wasn't enough on its own.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: So the real risk was never that you weren't smart enough.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's that you're smart enough to coast for a while, long enough to mistake coasting for building, for creating.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right up until the inevitable moment where you look up and notice people are lapping you who aren't smarter than you.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: They just didn't take their foot off the pedal.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because you don't deserve shit for being smart.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: But you can probably earn damn near anything by being the rare smart person who still does the work.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed that episode.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been told your entire life that you're smart and you have potential, but you continue to see yourself not do what you said you would do again and again, and it's made you stop trusting in yourself or that you will ever achieve that potential, I want to help you.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Together, you and I will implement a core value-based system that will help you become decisive and focused.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel the relief from the weight on your shoulders because of the decreased noise in your head.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Strength each morning because you trust yourself to turn lost avoidant hours of your life into forward progress.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, when you no longer have to hide how you actually spend your time.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, pride in yourself when you close your eyes every night before you go to sleep.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: If that's of interest to you, click the first link in the show notes, fill out the 30 second application, and grab a time on my calendar.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Spots are obviously limited because of my time and availability, but if they fill up and you're a good fit, I'll make sure you get on the wait list.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to speaking with you.