The "why do you assume you're the smartest in the room?" hit home to me, because I do and people have thrown that exact phrase at me repeatedly. At least I've stopped actually saying, "Because usually I am!"
The play was also rather alarmingly accurate about why I was frequently and intensely disliked up until about my mid-20s. Yeah, so I probably was smarter than most people, and I probably was right a lot of the time, but saying stuff like, "Because that is a stupid idea and let me explain to you why" was not helpful in getting things done my (non-stupid) way. Meanwhile, the people who talked less and smiled more got things done their (stupid) way much more often.
It was also accurate about how now and then some mentor figure would take me under their wing and let me do things my way, generally to great success. But still.
Believing I'm right and saying so is both my best and worst quality. "Pick your battles" was probably the single most important thing I learned as an adult. When I was younger, I told people they were wrong every time I thought so. The unsurprising result was that people did think I was very smart, and many of them also wanted to kill me. I am lucky dueling did not exist back then. Instead, I got repeatedly backstabbed, sabotaged, and passed over in academic and job settings.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2016-02-07 05:16 am (UTC)The play was also rather alarmingly accurate about why I was frequently and intensely disliked up until about my mid-20s. Yeah, so I probably was smarter than most people, and I probably was right a lot of the time, but saying stuff like, "Because that is a stupid idea and let me explain to you why" was not helpful in getting things done my (non-stupid) way. Meanwhile, the people who talked less and smiled more got things done their (stupid) way much more often.
It was also accurate about how now and then some mentor figure would take me under their wing and let me do things my way, generally to great success. But still.
Believing I'm right and saying so is both my best and worst quality. "Pick your battles" was probably the single most important thing I learned as an adult. When I was younger, I told people they were wrong every time I thought so. The unsurprising result was that people did think I was very smart, and many of them also wanted to kill me. I am lucky dueling did not exist back then. Instead, I got repeatedly backstabbed, sabotaged, and passed over in academic and job settings.