Smartness comes at a cost.
When you are smart, you have the power of great awareness and understanding. But you’re in trouble if you don’t know the right way to use this power. Your smartness will be your enemy and ticket to misery.
That’s why some smart people overthink a lot, doubt their abilities constantly, chase perfection, and are scared of the future.
And guess what? They end up achieving nothing. Sometimes, their accomplishments are peanuts compared to those with half their smartness.
I’m well aware of this because I used to be one of those over-smart people, wrestling with myself every single day. My negative thoughts exhausted me. I would stress over tomorrow and keep second-guessing my decisions. Sometimes I would try to solve problems that didn’t even exist. It was highly frustrating!
I am still battling this over-smartness thing, but luckily, things have gotten better. And I have found a way to cure it.
The cure is to let go of your smartness and embrace some foolishness.
Don’t believe me?
Read on to know how your smartness is destroying you and why you need to act foolish.
5 Reasons Why You Must Drop Your Smartness and Be a Fool
1. Smartness Makes You Overthink
Like weeds in rich soil, overthinking often grows in smart people. You would constantly overanalyze every situation and get lost in tiny details.
You may spend hours deciding which movie to watch, ponder over every comment on your post, replay past mistakes constantly, dwell on something your friend said, worry too much about what could go wrong tomorrow, and so on.
This not only wastes your time and exhausts your mind but also leads to indecision and unnecessary stress.
But when you choose to be foolish, things turn amazingly simple – almost like magic!
Because then you wouldn’t be clever enough to overthink. There wouldn’t be many thoughts to distract and tire you. You could be at peace with the past, excited about the future, and immerse yourself fully in the present.
2. Smartness Makes You Believe You Know Everything
Smart folks often assume they’re the experts. They think they have all figured out and stand above others. And this is their biggest mistake because it puts a full stop to their learning and growth.
Since they’re convinced they know it all, they don’t bother asking for help. They wouldn’t accept their mistakes. Instead, they would boast about their knowledge, which can come off as pretty arrogant and hard to deal with.
The result? They live a miserable life.
But here’s the twist: if you decide to act a little foolish, things change dramatically.
You become curious to know more. You freely talk to people to learn from their experiences. You listen to others’ perspectives to broaden your thinking. And asking for help doesn’t feel like a big deal.
In short, the fool version of you can significantly outperform the over-smart version when it comes to learning.
3. Smartness Makes You Avoid Mistakes
Lots of smart people play it safe. They don’t take risks, don’t try anything new, and avoid stuff where they might mess up. Why?
Because they’re scared of screwing up and looking like a total fool. They don’t like to show their weak spots and be vulnerable. They would rather impress people by showing a good image of themselves.
And you know what? Most smart folks tend to be perfectionists too. That means they try crazy hard to never make a mistake. So they miss the lessons mistakes teach, and this severely harms their progress.
But when you are playing fool, you’re free to mess up. You can do stuff without stressing about how it turns out.
You wouldn’t mind sending cold emails, asking your crush for a date, or showing your art on YouTube. You wouldn’t fear rejection anymore.
Because, well, you would just be a fool!
4. Smartness Makes You Listen to Reasons
Sometimes the biggest weakness of smart people is their intelligence. Your logic holds you back. You doubt yourselves. You accept people’s reasons about what can’t be done.
When your limited judgment tells you something is impossible, you just accept it. You take it so seriously that you don’t even try to find a way. Besides, you always go by the rules, which makes you miss out on the fun.
So, your potential goes to waste, and you end up with a less satisfying life.
But if you decide to be a bit of a fool, you wouldn’t know what can’t be done. You can jump into things that seem crazy. You wouldn’t be scared of unconventional paths. And surprisingly, often, you would find a way through.
This is how acting foolish can make you unstoppable.
5. Smartness Makes You Care What People Think
When you are smart, you tend to misuse your intelligence to constantly think about how others see you. Since others see you as smart, you are stuck with huge expectations. You feel the societal pressure to excel at everything.
You would often set high standards for yourselves and become overly critical of your flaws.
Your concern about how others see you seriously holds you back. You are afraid to do anything that might make you look bad. You get so caught up in guarding your reputation that you forget to actually live.
But if you just act foolish, you won’t be smart enough to know what others think about you. You can simply drop the burden of people’s thoughts.
And guess what? You can walk with confidence and be totally careless, shameless, and bold. Which means you will get a way better shot at living an awesome life.
“Stay hungry, stay foolish.”
-Steve Jobs
Final Words
Your smartness is like that super sharp sword that slices through whatever it touches. But don’t let it wreck you. Instead, know when to put that sword in the sheath of foolishness and do it boldly. Because real smartness is knowing when to be smart and when to stay foolish.
Thanks for reading. I am a freelance writer and marketer with over two years of amazing experience penning irresistible blogs, web content, and copies. Check out my blog to know more about me.