Introduction

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I am sure we have all heard stories in our social circles, about that lazy student back from our school days that is now making a killing in his adult life, having more success than the majority of the people that took studies as something very serious and important.

It even happens big time with people that because of their success they end up being famous, as is the case with Steve Jobs and Richard Branson for example, who were both bad students back in their days, and that didn’t stop them from becoming billionaires.

Bill Gates said he would always 'hire a lazy person to do a difficult job' at Microsoft 'because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it'. | Source

This is because students who obtain high academic grades are not necessarily the smartest, and there is the possibility that the "lazy students" that don’t obtain the best grades could be the ones that tend to be most successful during their adult lives simply because they understand what they need to do in order to find success, and maybe, learning absolutely everything that is taught in school is not necessary. Especially because when it comes to being street wise, schools are lacking badly.

Of course, this subject can be debated intensively, and it may be interesting to share thoughts and observations so that, at least in a psychological sense, reflect about some important aspects of education in general and the academic system in particular.

Diving into the subject

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Everybody should have realized by now, that academic grades are not always the best prognosticator to have a successful adult life, nor to achieve happiness in the future. On many occasions, those less fortunate for studies tended to find low-paid jobs, or even had to be part of the unemployment statistic.

Nevertheless, there are numerous examples of lazy students who achieved high levels of wealth and fame. Thus, it seems that success is not only achieved by the people who stand out in their academic activities, but also, even if this can be against our intuition, lazy students can potentially possess a series of skills and abilities that are very useful for life.

As mentioned in the introduction, the classic example of a not so good student who had a resounding success in his adult life was Steve Jobs, the all famous creator of Apple. Another great example of this category is of course Mark Zuckerberg the creator of Facebook. We are talking about 2 individuals that whether if they like us or not, ended up changing the world of technology and therefore, making history, and it might be surprising for some that none of them was a good student.

Einstein for example, wasn’t either a great student, and for a more recent example, there is the astronaut Scott Kelly who confessed being a really bad student when he was young. He said:

As a kid, I was distracted and uninterested in science (and pretty much all other subjects as well). I earned terrible grades and barely graduated from high school. Only as a college student did I find the motivation to work hard to turn things around and earn an engineering degree, which led to a career as a test pilot and astronaut. | Source

What can be considered as “intelligence”?

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Intelligence is defined as follows:

Human intelligence, mental quality that consists of the abilities to learn from experience, adapt to new situations, understand and handle abstract concepts, and use knowledge to manipulate one’s environment. | Source

… the global ability of an individual to think clearly and to function effectively in the environment. | Source

Defining intelligence has historically been a controversial issue. What we can say with confidence is that it is not a good idea to try to relate academic performance and intelligence, since the correlation is not too reliable and probably it never will be.

Success in life, on the other hand, can be defined in many different ways. Each of us have our own vision of what success is, and our priorities in life. In this case, it is useful to talk about professional or financial success (because it is more measurable), and the truth is that it does not seem a necessary condition to have obtained very good academic grades in the past, nor to be very intelligent in order for the person to be able to generate a brilliant idea that will lead him to incredibly good results.

In short, being successful goes far beyond the standards imposed by the traditional educational model in each country. To be successful, we may have been overestimating the influence of academic results.

Success requires perseverance, perseverance and creativity. But, also, to achieve high goals in our lives we must also fail sometimes to realize that everything we do helps us in increasing our knowledge and keep moving towards our goals.

Recognizing the value of our failures can be one of the factors that help us achieve success in the future. And, of course, the most experienced in this matter are the people who suffered to be able to earn good grades when studying. They are people who never received great compliments or remuneration, so they know firsthand the value of effort, the daily struggle and the required discipline in order to change for the better

Phones, lifts, cars, all these things were invented to avoid or minimize work. Lazy people automate as much as possible. | Source

Probably, the lazy students who got bad grades, learned how to properly manage their failures, something that the outstanding students could not do because they hardly failed at all. The entrepreneurs who manage to develop good products and services usually have very good alternative and creative ways to achieve whatever their goal is. They do not limit themselves to the established or typical paths, instead they innovate. Thus they create totally new products, with great quality and that suppose a revolution in their industry. For example, Steve Jobs did it with almost all the gadgets he brought to the market.

Since these type of students are used to face more obstacles and problems because they have done it throughout all their academic lives, they can also end up being natural leaders in their social circles. They can lead the others beyond the traditional codes and beyond the educational context.

It is these individuals who might end up presenting a greater ability to figure out real life problems, and often reject any kind of interest in the rigid and tedious academic classes. Therefore, these people can be more creative than the average, because they do not base their ideas on academic logic but on their own real experiences.

It is very possible that certain methods in formal education might play against the students being able to develop their critical spirit and their creativity, since they are usually taught how things are, but they do not give receive the possibility to question said things, or at least, not every time. Besides, the possibility of figuring out problems in alternative ways is something that might still be lacking in certain academic systems.

This can clearly be seen because the people who managed to found innovative companies, for the most part, worked with different thought patterns. They thought beyond the obvious, they started projects that were not governed by the existing rules or codes. They are individuals who learn quickly, are proactive and do things their own way, and not as others require them to do.

Conclusion

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One thing need to be clarified: although we can say all sort of great things about the Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and others, the truth is obviously that getting bad grades is no guarantee of personal success at all. Neither is the opposite of course.

In summary, success is determined by a lot of variables, like for example the character, perseverance, experience, skills among others. The academic grades in this regard are, in a certain sense, secondary.

We may be living in an age that is obsessed with numbers, but that doesn't mean we have to teach our children to measure their self-worth by grades or test scores alone. | Source

Knowing all of this can be encouraging for those people who failed to excel in their school or university. Life always offers us new ways to get ahead, opportunities and moments that we must take advantage of. Achieving success or not regarding grades is never absolute because the real experience is gained when leaving the classroom.

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What about you? Were you a lazy student back in the day?

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