If you're smart but feel like a failure, psychology says say you likely have these 8 traits - Silicon Canals

"Ever feel like you're stuck in this weird paradox where everyone thinks you're brilliant, but inside you feel like you're constantly falling short? I've been there. Actually, I'm still there some days. After getting laid off during media industry cuts in my late twenties, I spent months wondering if maybe I wasn't as smart as I thought I was, or if being smart even mattered when I couldn't seem to get my life together."

"1) You overthink everything to the point of paralysis Remember that time you spent three hours researching the best way to organize your desk instead of actually organizing it? Yeah, me too. Smart people have this tendency to analyze every possible angle, outcome, and variable before making a move. While thorough thinking has its place, it can become a prison. I learned this the hard way when perfectionism led to missed deadlines."

"The irony? My work wasn't getting better with all that extra thinking time. It was just getting later. Sometimes our brains are too good at seeing all the ways things could go wrong, so we end up doing nothing at all. The solution isn't to stop thinking entirely, but to set limits. Give yourself a deadline for decisions. Not everything needs a pros and cons list that rivals a doctoral thesis."

Highly intelligent people can feel chronically inadequate despite external recognition and cognitive strengths. Career setbacks like layoffs can trigger doubts about competence and the value of intelligence. Common obstacles include overthinking that prevents action, perfectionism that causes missed deadlines, and hypercritical self-evaluation that focuses on minor flaws. Excessive analysis of possibilities often reduces productivity rather than improving outcomes. Practical approaches include setting decision deadlines, limiting analysis, imposing boundaries on perfectionism, and prioritizing action over exhaustive evaluation. Small structural limits and timely choices convert thoughtful insight into effective progress.

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