That might just be me. I am usually a "statistical outlier" on ....just about any topic.

However, at the age of 17, I noted that I was surrounded by very intelligent people who were quite miserable in most cases. I concluded that I would rather by wise instead of smart and set about trying to figure out how to get out of my own damn way. Some studies indicate that very talented, intelligent, educated people who can't make their career (or lives) work are failing because they are basically in their own way and just won't quit being in their own way. (They are obnoxious, rude, arrogant....etc...and sooner or later employers (and others) conclude that the downside is just not worth whatever they have to offer.)

Or, to quote a conversation I had with my sister some years ago:

Me: "Some people with high IQ's just seem to go around shooting themselves in the foot."

Sis: "...and using their high IQ's to improve their aim."

I tend to assume that people like Sam Walton or Madonna or Bill Gates were fortunate in that they were born and/or raised without the tendency to stay in their own way all the damn time. I don't seem to have started life with such good fortune. I've had to work at it. Given the high failure rate of startups, I tend to assume I am not the only person who could stand to work at it.

Peace and good luck.

what do you mean by being in your own way?

Part of my story is that I gave up a National Merit Scholarship and quit college to go figure out who I was other than an obnoxious brainiac. I grew up in a school system that shaped me to have no friends and then lord it over everyone else that "I'm smarter than you!" as the only ego defense I had available in the face of tremendous amounts of social rejection and negativity. I'm satisfied with some of the big pictures outcomes and it is clear in my mind that my choice to walk away from all that was critical to being able to get my life to work. I know people who didn't walk away from something similar, have similar sets of problems to mine, and aren't getting them resolved the way I am getting mine resolved. So I think I did the right thing.

I have seen many people who were so invested in "being smart" or "being right" that they just couldn't let go of an argument and couldn't give up habitually arguing with people when there was a huge social downside for doing so and no real upside that I could tell. I used to be more argumentative than I am now. My life works better now that I am clearer about when to just shut up and walk away.

I hope that makes some sense to you.

So I guess the lesson is "keep your perspective". A good philosophy.