I’M A TEACHER, PLEASE READ THIS: there’s a surprisingly straightforward fix to what you’re experiencing. This isn’t an intelligence issue as much as it is a memory retention issue coupled with the natural side effects of living in a culture of overstimulation. Keep journals. Go to a library or used book store, pick up a random book that catches your fancy, and while you’re reading, write down every word you don’t know as well as its definition. That’s the fix. Make this a habit. It trains your brain to label things as “important” and not just throw them out. When you’re learning something new, give yourself time for pauses to stop and think(in silence) about what you just took in. Either meditate on, or write about, key information and your own thoughts. This is the EXACT strategy people use to start being able to remember their dreams(by default our brains toss that information in the trash every morning). If your brain does this too much with information you take in during waking hours, train it not to. You will be floored by how quickly and effectively this works. As your first book to read like this, I recommend a fun but thought provoking, quick and easy read: The Pig That Wants to be Eaten

big difference between being stupid and just not knowing things, gotta keep that in mind

“She who asks a question is a fool for a moment, but she who never asks is a fool forever”

"I dont think im smart" yet tells a detailed story with a vast vocabulary. Trust me you got skills!!!!!! Questioning your own intelligence is a sign you're on the right path of learning!!!

That title is so real. I’ve been fighting stupidity for 21 years now (I’m losing)

you have SHINING verbal intelligence..critical reasoning...i really resonate with you and i wonder if it's *because* you're so smart that you're especially sensitive to this deficit you feel. i also have trouble with information recall/retention/extrapolation so after i read anything i do a write up of key points and what i learned, what i'm taking with me....you'll know this from your note-taking but writing things out in your own words really helps with retention...also i find it helpful to 'pre-articulate' ideas to myself so i feel comfortable talking about them later with others :) you're doing great

Theres probably a few reasons playing into that feeling of "you not being able to recall information but all the others can." - Confirmation bias. Your strong awareness of the pattern makes you look for it. - Availability bias. When others can't recall information they stay silent and you only hear the times when they can recall it - Your belief that you can't recall information in itself could be hindering you from remembering because subconsciously you don't even try to remember because you think you're not fit for it. - Thinking about thinking keeps you from being present and from catching the information because you're not there but in your head. Youre very articulate and clearly you are a thinker. I don't think you lack mental ability at all, but instead it's a few factors coming together that give you that image. Thank you for uploading this video. I myself feel like this a lot of the time but I always have to think of this quote: "In this world there's people that worry they're idiots and then there's idiots"

There are so many different metrics for intelligence. You are exhibiting a very high level of self-awareness, and emotional fortitude. Being able to say things like "I feel like a glass paperweight, ornamental but not porous" is incredibly moving and the farthest thing from sounding stupid. I wish you all the best on your journey, you bright minded individual- and I'm not taking away from you trying to better yourself by saying you're already there, we can all improve.

What you said about information retention and reading reminded me of a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote (which I first heard at the end of a Vsauce video, The Zipf Mystery): "I cannot remember the books I've read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me." There's value in encountering new information other than memorizing it, but I think it's hard for us to appreciate that value since it's so intangible and consequently difficult to talk about. I try to keep that in mind when I read.

*I FAILED ENGLISH 5 TIMES* I only passed it because a teacher came to my house and went through every question on the assignments with me and helped me. I'm a professional author now, my every penny comes from the books I've written. Ive also suffered brain damage and had to retrain my brain to remember things. YOUR BRAIN is way more plastic and changeable than you would ever think. YOU WILL BE FINE...!!!

Reading and watching a lot of historical fiction has helped me to build a timeline of events and remember names correctly without having to trawl through a heavy textbook.

I'm nearly 19 and I can't do maths either! I nearly failed maths in grade 5, and further ended up dropping out of school. I struggle with anything related to maths, and I still count on my fingers. My older sister is very good at maths, and she's always been good at it. But I've just never been able to grasp it. So I fully understand you, and I'm glad to hear someone else speak openly about this! I find it hard to retain information too, thus I've never really enjoyed reading. The thing that helps me is realising that there are other things I am somewhat good at. I think you're incredibly good at explaining yourself, you are good at articulating yourself and putting a story together in an engaging way. Thank you for speaking about this! I hope you know that in your own way you are very intelligent.

Something I would like to point out to you is you said that you put all your energy into learning about things related to your appearance. How much information about hair makeup dressing working out and Aesthetics have you consumed over your lifetime? You honestly probably have a bachelor's or a PhD in the subject. I'm not saying this as a joke but as proof that you actually are really good at learning when you care and you think that what you're learning will actually improve your life. The fact that you learn so much about those subjects should make you feel better because it's proof that when you actually want to learn stuff and you're curious about it you can learn a huge amount. I have been a tutor in almost every subject from English and history to calculus biochem and quantum physics and one of the things I always try to tell my students is you're not dumb. You're just bored.

We have known for a long time that giving our selves quiet "boring" time to daydream is extremely important for remembering and processing things we have recently learned. I remember clearly the moment in my life sitting in my English class when "general knowledge" clicked together with all my other classes.

This is why it’s so frustrating growing up in an era of overstimulation. I felt so unintelligent as a kid but in reality it was about memory and retention - unfortunately it seems like so many school subjects were kind of based on this.

Thank you for making this video, I’ve felt lonely, like no one else has experienced this and I needed this to know another people go through and feel the same way about this as I do.

I want to praise your awareness. It takes a lot of courage to confront one's own ignorance.

I love the fact that you didn't cut away the part where u struggled a bit to summarize one of the books. Makes you really relatable and most importantly you come across really authentic since struggling in one way or another is just a part of being human. I feel better about myself now thanks to you :) keep it up!

Thank you so much for posting this. I can relate so so so much to the fear of feeling confused and being disappointed when I try to learn something new because I just assume I won’t be able to understand and/or retain it because that’s the way it’s been for practically my whole life. I think it has a lot to do with my very limited working memory, so I’ve tried searching for strategies to help with that. Really though, what’s kept me “stupid” for so long is that fear that nothing I try will make a difference, and tying my self-worth to my innate intellectual abilities. My advice to both you and myself is to try as much as you can to give yourself compassion and ask yourself “what am I doing that’s not working?” instead of “why can’t I just get this?” when you hit that wall of confusion, frustration, and anxiety. The problem is most likely not that your brain is incompatible with learning, but that your learning methods aren’t compatible with your brain. I wish you the best of luck on this journey. You’re not alone on it 💖

Very proud of you for being vulneable with this. I had a fear like this growing up but I was in flight and fight mode until my early twenties and my brain calmed down as things got better. That can be a factor. It can be ego that stops us and not pride but if you have defined yourself a way its scary for the brain to change. You're doing great, very articulate and have a want. The last 7 years I've learnt so much and my brain never wants to stop so throw yourself and maybe your brain knows this is what you really are, a learner and that's pushing you. Also learn so much about what you have passion for which makes it easier.

Your awareness signifies a great deal of intelligence. Love the hair, too. 👍

"The will to learn is the process of learning" M.E - The intruige on the art book is adorable and its truly evident what makes you happy , whatever you do ,make it the most important thing and everything else needed will come in time.

I was a stereotypical nerd in school. Even though I spent hours doing my makeup every day, I was horribly bullied for my appearance. In some ways, it helped me. I got academic scholarships, and I learned a huge amount in school. I have excellent recall of information, but I don't think the appearance thing ever really goes away (as a girl). Honestly, it is something I have lowkey given up on because selfishly, it isn't really for me, and I think it has hugely diminishing returns. I just got rid of most of my mirrors, and I don't take pictures of myself. Learning is for everyone, and you should just do it for you, because you're worth it. Also, just look things up (I do a lot of word puzzles, and I look things up all the time). This video is super cute. Welcome to Nerd Land ❤❤

So, I haven't watched the whole video yet but I will be back to in sometime. What you're describing is surprisingly common now. I used to co-teach a PE class and I had a student once who was a little younger than you are now, by maybe 4 years and she told me the same thing. She insisted she was stupid, could never remember anything, but I didn't think so. She was taking physics, and bombing it. So as someone who doesn't know a whole lot about physics but took basic physics a very long time ago, I spent some time writing out basic formulas and explaining real world examples of them instead of textbook examples. Then I compiled some notes to give her to kind of back up all the stuff I went over and go a little deeper into it, I made sure that the examples were as simple as humanly possible without oversimplifying, in the same girl who told me she was stupid and couldn't remember anything got an A in the class, and because of that were pretty good friends now. My point in sharing that story is to say a couple of different things: what your experiencing is not unique to you, there are so many people that feel the same way you do and have zero idea what to do about it. And you're absolutely right, from the outside it seems like people just remember things after being exposed to them once or twice. But the thing is, that's almost never true in the beginning dot dot sure, there are some people that are just built differently and have prodigious memories, but most of us don't. Most of us learn to remember things through forming habits of learning over the course of a lifetime. One of my best friends was in special education because he had a language processing disorder but no intellectual issues. And because of that, he fell behind in things like essay writing, critical thinking and stuff like that. So I suggested that he go take a couple of remedial courses just to get the basic mechanics down, and if you ever wanted to talk about anything that he was learning, we would just sit there and have an hour-long conversation about something just to get the ideas flowing in his head. And over time, he became pretty good at critical thinking, and finding practical solutions to actual problems both at school, and at work. And now he has a pretty good memory for certain things, particularly the things that he's most interested in, like most of us. And that's another point that I want to make: the reason why remembering things gets easier over time is because your brain learns to form connections between the thing you're currently learning, and the stuff you already know. So as you go through this process, you'll see these changes happen within you. You can do this, it's not just you, and you're going to be just fine

Becoming "less stupid" is a part of life's journey for everyone, including for me. In spite of my great successes and my remaining faults, I'm still striving to become less stupid. I think it's important for you to figure out how to depersonalize that feeling. I will say you've already taken an important step, and that's avoiding the absolutist trap of, "I must not be stupid to have value," or it's opposite, "I must be perfect." Being less stupid is achievable, unlike being perfect, which is unachievable. And again, it's something everyone contends with. As we travel through life, we learn and grow into more and more complex and rounded people. Growth includes learning information, like math, but also unlearning information that either is just wrong or bad or is otherwise not useful or relevant to us. That's an incredibly demanding process and most people hate contending with personal growth voluntarily. Most people won't engage in growth until they absolutely have to as a matter of survival. Some catastrophic event has to preceded the desire for growth in a lot of people. That is, fundamentally what a "wake up call" is. You'll sometimes read a story about a former addict who had to lose everything in their life before they could gather the will to dissolve their addictive habits. They had to hit rock bottom. So for you to voluntarily take on growth shows a lot of character. With the "I am trying to be less stupid," you also avoid saying, "I am stupid." And if you think you are, you're not. Even if you feel a sense of waste in caring for your appearance, that doesn't mean you aren't intelligent. You seem very competent and knowledgeable in aesthetics. It takes a lot of deliberate effort and forethought to deploy those skills. Aside from that, you're very well spoken, have a great command over the English language, and all in front of a camera. I've known people who probably have IQ's of over 130 who would melt instantly in front of a camera or microphone and at best could produce a few stutters. I think it's great you want to marshal your intelligence in different directions, but take stock in the capabilities you have now so you can trust them when used to develop yourself in other areas. As far as addressing issues in information retention, I would get curious over where that comes from. It could be you're just unpracticed in studying raw material and need to ride the friction of getting better. Maybe there's something physical in your past that was inhibiting you, like lack of sleep and good nutrition. In my case, I had undiagnosed ADHD. When I got evaluated and treated, my interest in studying materials and doing friction-rich activities increased because I could retain information and stay engaged continuously. Whatever the case is for you, it is not the case you're stupid.

Fear freezes the brain. I couldn't learn math in school when I developed an idiosincracy to it. I didn't understand it despite me being quite smart and later I loved studying logic at uni (philosophy degree). You have to overcome that inner distrust in knowledge and in your capabilities to retain it. Maybe your brain really does work a lil different, maybe you have a very visual memory or something. Don't let it take you down. Find creative new ways of learning. A lot is about exercise. I have a friend like you who deep down thinks shes stupid, she didn't finish school and only reads romance books so its hard to talk about anything with her she kinda escapes any "difficult" subject. She tries, she sees learning is demanding (like a language for example) and then she just quits right away without going through the hard parts. The secret is to enjoy whats hard bc little by little it becomes more and more simple. Its just a matter of exercise and using those parts of the brain. I commend your courage ❤

I (33) have a learning disability. My IQ is approx 80. I got tested twice in school. It is mainly due to the fact that my mother drunk alcohol during her pregnancy (FASD spectrum/Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) Everything is harder in my life. No matter how hard I try, I always fail. I needed to visit special ed class till 18, I never had many friends, I never had the ability to visit college or achive high education, I only work at sign holder jobs...or fast food...I also never had a girlfriend. A low intelligenc is a severe punishment for your whole life, which affects every aspect of your life negatively. I hate my stupid life.

you might think you don't know many things that you should, but when you speak you sound like an intelligent person. you got this

Oh my, so many important topics touched on here. I was just listening while doing laundry and vacuuming the bedroom. Way relatable, I spend so much time hating the internet for what it is doing to society, but finding stuff like this makes it feel more balanced. I think I need to watch/listen again to stop and dwell more on the subjects. I find your "less stupid" series to be quite comforting. I used to read a paragraph a few times as well, I found that I was just reading the words, and not the content. My wife is the opposite, she will read the content while somehow skimming right over the words! I have been taking the time lately to talk to some people in "real life" and it is borderline amazing. I have a few friends who I can "deep dive" with, and I am actively seeking more. 37 years old and suddenly I care about peoples perspectives, and stories, I feel like I have just became human in the last few years, it is absolutely tragic, and inspiring. When I find someone to dive with, it makes me feel like my loads are shared, powerful stuff, it is like that feeling that I long for, like imagine you dreamed about someone, then you happen to tell them about the dream in real life and their eyes widen and they say they were in the same dream! (as themselves) Well I find it amazing that we are all here, right now, we could have been born in 1886 or somewhere else entirely, we truly are sharing a dream. I have been an intellectual my whole life (apparently) but I didn't know this until like 6 years ago maybe. Books are one of the closer things we have to magic and I didn't always understand this. Also read Neil Gaiman hehe...

I absolutely love this! Remember this above all: The Dunning-Kruger effect means you're smarter than you think! Go look up what the Dunning-Kruger effect is! If you were really stupid, you wouldn't know you are stupid! I love this journey for you! Subscribed to follow your progress! NEVER STOP LEARNING!

Sincerely, its beyond cool the way you approached your own concerns in such a honest and humble format. Im not sure why youtube showed me this but it peaked my interest. As it finished I felt truly inspired by you. You're aware, self conscious, intelligent and determined from what I can tell. We are mostly products of our environment, then our education system can totally fail to inspire/harness the skill and intelligence we have in us all. Also circumstances or influences in life can greatly effect our path along it. What makes you intelligent is that you have this awareness, then you self criticised what you saw and looked for a way forward for your own self with interests you value. Youre an absolute champion, friend.

I was the lowest performing student in my graduating engineering class. I am HIGHLY dyslexic and have always struggled with it my whole life and I am now 30. For all of my life up until last year, I thought things like my grades and not having even broke 1k on my SATs were important, achieving a 4.0 during COVID because well "everyone did." I thought it to be Important enough that It destroyed me and all of my confidence and my ability to think that, "how can someone dumb like me do xyz." It took a lot of therapy for me to realize that I can do a thing or two and am finally on my path of believing in myself. Once I started to ignore the things that truly had a grasp on my life in ways I didnt understand, I really started to see changes in my outcomes and for once they were starting to be in my favor. A lot of what youre saying is an echo of my past and I believe in you. You are asking all the right questions to yourself and your journey is only the beginning of a long life ahead of you

Knowledge is about making connections, not remembering things per se. A big part of the reason your boyfriend can recall a single person from the French Revolution has a few aspects to it, 1) He has probably read or been exposed to narratives about this guy multiple times from different authors, podcasts, documentaries, etc. 2) He has other knowledge about the French Revolution that he can use as a structure to hold information about this single individual. It's hard at first, but once you begin building these webs of knowledge, they start to get easier to expand because you have other knowledge to hang new knowledge on, and you will also tend to get exposed to the same knowledge from different angles as you read about related events or topics. The hardest part, after getting started, is continuing to push yourself. Eventually you start to build out this scaffolding for new knowledge from old knowledge, and things start to become less effortful, and you can begin retaining certain knowledge without making a conscious decision to do so.

This is my favourite youtube video from the past 10 years. Thank you for being so brave to show us a part of your journey. You just gave me a spark of hope for humanity to get me out of my bed today :'-) Just remember: - Books are not the only medium: There's audiobooks if at anytime you feel stuck with paper or for comutes or house chores (plus I find that light cardio helps understand things since it bring a little extra oxigen to the brain) - Documentaries are great for condensing topics in a structured or more visual way (Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky is a great place to start) - Try not to compare with others. You are on your own path in life with your particular environment and the possibilities it brings or lacks. In Spain we say "con estos bueyes tenemos que arar" (with these bulls we have to manage to plow the land) which means that we have to manage to get to where we want to be with the resources that we have. - Nobody is born knowing anything. Never feel unintelligent, just think of yourself as momentarilly ignorant about a particular topic. - At the start you may have to make some leaps of faith and your brain will have difficulty "chunking" the information given your starting voids in general knowledge. This is normal, and eventually if you keep learning you will get to some "aha" moments where you will make the connections of one topic with another (eventually most things will make sense) - Don't be worried if something seems too difficult since you can revisit later. Also this is not a race, learn at your own pace. Wish you the best in your journey and I hope more people feels the way that you do right now and are brave enough to do something about it. P.S.: any doubts I'll be happy to answer :)

I love this stuff so much. Seeing people decide to be vulnerable and then actively choose to learn fills me with so much joy.

My brain was like this when I was in late teens and early 20s, I found out I had ADD and built up anxiety about learning new things and eventually I just had to force myself to sit down and do stuff for an hour at a time and eventually I found that hour turned into several hours and it helped me develop the study habits I never developed in school and now I actually enjoy learning. As a dude, it's easy for me not to realize how awful social media can be for women, I'm glad you've been able to frame a healthier mindset around all that stuff! Good luck with your character development ! xD

A lot of what you've said resonates with me and my life throughout. I also picked up reading as a hobby about a year ago, and found myself struggling to keep information on my brain, specially specific dates or set ups to specific events. All I can say is that is just a matter of throwing yourself at it over and over and you'll get better at it every time. I find rading a variety of book in terms of length and thematics also helps with it. I wish you the best of luck. It makes me very happy seeing people wanting to become better!

This is low key one of the most “intelligent” videos I’ve seen on KZfaq - you’re like thoughtfully and critically engaging with really interesting questions and in a way that, for whatever this is worth, feels really distinct from other models for thinking about knowledge or intelligence that I’ve encountered. Wait - is this wisdom? I just want to say that I had this video on in the background (because the title is fucking smart!) and it’s continued to float into my thoughts since so I listened again and just came out of it feeling like oh wait… this is like real, meaningful intelligence. Rare in a world where “information” is the privileged way to participate in economies of thought, criticality tends to be wrongly taken as subordinate. Anyway, Thank you!

You don't sound stupid to me! You're very eloquent and I wish I could speak as well as you. You'll probably never read this, but I have definitely struggled similarly. One thing I've discovered in the past few years is that I have Aphantasia (no ability to visualize in my mind) and something I discovered only recently was that aphantasia typically comes with a memory disorder called SDAM (Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory). When you talked about how you couldn't repeat what you've been reading back to someone it really rang true to me, as I definitely struggle with the same. I figured I would mention it since it could be a possibility. You aren't stupid, keep that curiosity alive! Edit: Just wanted to add that the reading a paragraph over and over is a me thing too, especially if I'm not somewhere isolated. And I think my ex felt similarly to you about not knowing things and frustrations with learning. I definitely tried hard to break down the things I was talking about until she could understand, as I believe teachers need to be patient and adapt to the needs of the student, and that's probably where her frustrations began in the past. I hope you already have or find others in your life that are patient for you!

A good thing to do would be to look into metalearning (learning how the brain learns). Barbara Oakley has published some really accessible work on it, and I really recommend her for people just getting into it. By learning how we learn, you can make all of your other learning much more easy and effective. Good luck with everything! I'm so happy to see you embarking on this journey ❤

Dyscalculia is as common as dyslexia, but doesn't get as much attention as the latter. Numbers are abstract on their own, there's no such thing as a nine unless applied to something concrete, like apples or poodles. A common method to shed this abstract concept, and particularly useful for creative types, is to assign a colour to each numerical value: 2 becomes green, 7 orange. Choose your own colours, make it unique to you, so whenever you think of a nine you'll have a pleasant hue associated with it.

I'm almost same age and for the past half-year I've been pulling myself out of the same mindset. I say mindset, because it's not reality, it's a product of growing up terminally online, and thinking in any thing you do that there is a 'correct' way or interpretation, combined with a 'gamification' approach where you think that by reading X, Y, Z you'll understand something and tbh I see most of the books you've picked here as catering to this mindset, where the book is the teacher and the reader the student. Watching you summarise those two books it struck me that what you lack is confidence - you understand what the book was trying to tell you, but struggle to communicate it for fear of being perceived as 'not getting' it. It's a poisonous mindset, and a poisonous relationship to have with books, because it belittles the reader. Reading = dialogue. I call this mindset the 'objective' view, where everything is right or wrong, factual, exists in reality. The other half then is the 'subjective' view, whereby you accept and embrace your individuality and use it as a lens for reading. Modern life grinds the subjective view into dust through constant distractions and comparisons, so much so that our natural state now is pretty much to completely ignore it. I suppose because it isn't sellable, there aren't any easy guides or methods that can be packaged up nicely and sold as self-help books or whatever. The only true way is by speaking and listening to your self. This is where solitude comes in. Go for long walks without any headphones, let thoughts bubble up in your mind. Don't judge them, there is no right or wrong way of thinking when it is purely to your self. Let them mature, write them out on paper to make them real - add in a bit of the objective view to shape and mould the subjective clay. This is thinking for yourself, which is how you become 'less stupid'. What opened my life up from stagnation was writing out pages and pages of thoughts and practicing dream analysis. I reached a point where my perspective on reality shifted from the default state of modern man, leading to me carrying out an 'irrational' act. From this I've caught glimpses of my authentic self and now when I read I don't just take in the words, I dialogue with the author and the message. I've found passions and opinions I never thought I could have, and I've started to relate to long dead thinkers and authors where I catch the same glimpses in their work too. It's truly a magical thing, to recognise something universal in someone so far away from yourself in time and space. If anyone is interested, so far I've resonated with Kierkegaard and Goethe the most. P.S. try going to Oxfam bookshops every now and then, and purchase some books from their cover alone (a crime, I know) - you'll be surprised at how accurate your subconscious is at guiding you down the right path if you just let it guide you. P.P.S. my gf works for Waterstones and I can confirm they do write all the recommendations themselves, it's not from above. P.P.P.S. another thing that's helped immensely with understanding and retaining definitions is to use www.websters1913.com/ as my dictionary. It provides not only definition but also gives many examples of usage, which I find helps A LOT with retention, as opposed to just reading the definition and forgetting it 30 seconds later.

It's so encouraging seeing you make progress! I just came to this video from your other one a few months back. I'm going to start journaling about books I read as well, and seeing someone else walking the path ahead of me makes it feel a lot more doable :)

So happy to hear that you're taking notes. Taking notes is essential! Without summarizing video content into your own words, you're not learning. It's also important to keep coming back to those notes in the days and weeks afterwards and to test your recall of the important points. Try to make connections between things, too. Keep up the good work!

I've always had good grades at school. As a child it made me think I was smart. As an teenager I understood it made other people think I was smart and interesting. As a university student, after some traumatic events happened, I started to isolate mysellf, and to doubt my intelligence. I developed (or switched on) an high sensitivity around judgemental environments. Even after a master degree I don't believe I'm even close to be intelligent anyway. This makes me think that there is a difference between BEING intellingent and FEELING intelligent. Knowing what you're taught in school, the general knowledge is important, and it stops you from being ignorant. It is the first step. But it doesn't automatically make you FEEL intelligent. I see a link between feeling intelligent, self-esteem and the relational support system one has. On the other hand there are various tipes of intelligence, general knowledge isn't all anyway❤❤

I cried when you realized you felt a struggle to summarize that book because I related too hard. Thank you for expressing the same thoughts and feelings I’ve had these last few years. The other commenters have been so helpful too, y’all give me hope this can be changed!

I think I feel similarly, and I think a positive slant on this is that we might both value intelligence, including in the people we surround ourselves with. My friends are really smart. They're smart interesting worldly people and I am on one hand proud that I've been able to surround myself with people that are smarter than me. I am often very envious though. Currently I feel my main issue is that I just don't retain information and not that I'm not able to think and understand, so I'm trying to read more broadly and take notes on what I'm reading. I've also wrapped some of my smarter friends into these habits to try to keep them. If your friends would do the same, I'd recommend it! Wishing you happiness in your journey!

Becoming a reader at a later age, is very challenging. I never liked reading and honestly I still don't really even though I had many great experiences and learned very valuable things. I remember when I was 17, just about to graduate from high school, that I realised I was very ignorant/dumb while participating at a school quiz. My quiz group wasn't scoring well and I eventually realised I literally didn't know the answer to one single question. That was quite confrontational. It was only years later at college that I started to get interested in politics and philosophy and that I read my first books that I actually bought myself. I think therefore you should firstly concentrate on topics that you really want to explore yourself instead of getting "smart". As you correctly pointed out, just about any book is going to make more sense if you already read a couple of books. This is why a great method of becoming well read is to read a good, short introduction to a topic (the Oxford series introductions are perfect for that). If your introductory book was any good you will start to notice that certain key points will definitely be referenced in even the more expert material. If you pick a well known classic like Kahneman's book to read I recommend book reviews and/or recommendations on KZfaq. There is some amazing content on here and really helpful experts who will give better quality advice than your local store. Lastly I recommend the CrashCourse channel for general topics. Really informative, reliable with entertaining visuals. I personally checked out the course on American history and it was extremely helpful for making me understand books on the topic.

I found this video to be very relatable. I always was able to retain information and regurgitate it growing up all throughout middle school and a majority of high school. Once college started (more recently) I had so much freedom contrasting my years in grade school. Because of this new found freedom, I’d spend every day overstimulating myself with video games and social media. I started to more recently question why I am so “slow” in learning/retaining new information in school now as opposed to when I was younger. Even books which were such a joy to read growing up were just such a chore to pick up as I have been having the exact same problems as you regarding any type of text based works. A majority of the time I can’t even remember people’s names when they first introduced themselves to me; that’s really alarming as I could always recall peoples names even without them saying anything of significance in their introduction (which I usually use as a mnemonic device), or any other supporting set of information that helps me retain their name easier. This video, and several of the comments that have given advice on this problem I’d like to fix, are very valuable and I appreciate you being so open about this mental battle you have on the daily.

"is this lame idk" No, not even a little bit. Keep going, trying, learning, experiencing.

Im a 24 year old m American. I have struggled with not feeling accepted with academics my whole life, partially due to mild ADHD and procrastination. Ive reached a point in my life where I've realized what I'm good at and have been able to increase my skillset. Honestly that thing you said about people reading things and them always staying with them really resonated with me, I do have difficulties with this such as remembering a lot of specific details in books I have read (I also have a hard time being an avid reader). I think it really comes down to recognizing your own skills, however I will say that I think you are accurately identifying some differences between you and other people. I would recommend trying to pursue reading or just some more experimental media. The key is to have a wide range of new experiences, then you can try to pick things new things that you think might lead you in an interesting new direction. new intellectual experience really can change your whole perspective and way of thinking in even just a day. good luck though, I'm trying to be less stupid too

I would encourage using a highlighter when reading and immediately highlighting something that resonates

I'm so happy I found someone I can relate to. I've had the same problems for so long, and it's great to hear your experiences I've always been close to failing in all my math classes and most other classes I didn't do that great in but I did good in history so I mostly focused on that and I started seeing myself In a better light most times

I totally understand you, I was at a similar place mentally in my mid 20s. Also felt like I don't get basic stuff and that other people just "know things". My guess is is you are some of the following, if not all - an introvert, not too many friends, loyal (big on loyalty too), humble or try to be very humble (you care not to press yourself on others or hurt others), emotional (a lot of things can move you), empathetic (towards those less fortunate, or otherwise disadvantaged, or just people in general), you enjoy time to yourself as much as with others (you don't have an issue being alone), you don't like lying to people, betrayal hurts a lot, and you tend to think about stuff a lot meaning you have a mind that is always seemingly thinking about something, analyzing something. Even in bed before sleeping maybe? I'd guess you also have a hard time just completely being in your own world, you usually pay attention to your surroundings and other people. If this is true, you are I think smart, good natured, kind, but also shy and neurotic and focused outwards on pleasing others, or always be wary of them, rather focusing on the inside on what you actually currently want, and need without focusing on others more than you need to. I. e. if you are like this, you are spending a huge amount of your mental energy on second guessing yourself, thinking about others, and honestly you put people a bit on a pedestal, which is because you always want to respect others. And maybe somewhere deep inside, you just are afraid to trust in your own abilities. If this is true and you didn't work it out yourself, how to perhaps get better at some of the things you say in the video, my advice would be that you just consider the following - learning to sort refocus your mental energy a bit, so it's divided more evenly between thinking about others and focusing on what you want and need (with a still present, but constructive thinking about what you can't do), and you maybe need to learn to LOVE yourself. Not be narcissistic, arrogant, completely self-absorbed, but love yourself as in be kind to yourself and forgive yourself stuff you don't know, etc. ideally try developing mindfulness and do less overthinking. You probably enjoy just thinking, considering and mentally analyzing stuff, but maybe try stopping when you start exhausting yourself. Maybe therapy could help with this too - nothing is wrong with you, but there's a way to free your mind from certain things, allowing it to focus on other things and maybe a professional in these things you interact with personally, in person, could help you at least consider new stuff like this about yourself. But without losing what makes you you - the humility and kindness, those are valuable and honestly not that frequent traits, believe me. So you are not stupid, maybe not a genius like IDK Einstein or Da Vinci, but you don't seem stupid, that I doubt is the issue here. You saying you are stupid is just sign of your humility taken to a bit of an extreme point, where it becomes a bit of a self-deprecation I'd say. Which is maybe a bit of a lack of discipline in restraining your negative thoughts about yourself. Or maybe you could improve in discipline a bit in general? ;) And one last, but important thing - be honest with yourself. Are you a hard worker? Or kinda lazy? Aloof? prone to procrastinating, not sticking to hobbies when they require harder effort, etc. If so, change that ASAP, like make that one of your main goals. Learn to focus and push yourself. If this helped, or seemed somewhat interesting, know that it's coming from someone who totally gets what you are saying in the video. Good luck, you seem like a nice girl.

Granted, I've only just found your channel, so take this as just a quick observation... but for someone who self-describes as a person who struggles with learning and information recall, who is not an avid reader, who recognizes that for the most part you lack context for history and current events because that type of information isn't easily encoded for you, and who is only just now, at 26, looking to engage with information and knowledge in a way that had previously seemed out of reach for you - you have a FANTASTIC vocabulary. Learning is a skill that has to be practiced, and it's good to see you taking on the challenge to become more informed. "Intelligence" is as much a muscle as your biceps or abs, and it needs to be exercised to become stronger. Keep reading. Keep exploring information and remember to question the source. Beware of confirmation bias and the Dunning-Kruger Effect in others. Critically think about and question what the author's/creator's position is, and don't take them as immutable truths because there's always an opposition view of the world that may be equally as logical and true. The world needs more people like you who are willing to take on the challenge and aspire to be more than they have been. Good luck on your journey!

I was really bad with info retention also and felt so dumb in school. not only that, my sister was really smart, and I think I figured I would never be as smart as her so I leaned into my "stupidness"... and became the funny little airhead, and would kinda laugh about it. But it was a self-fulfilling prophecy... the more I believed I was dumb... the more I became "stupid"... because I didn't try. Now that I am in my late 30s I have come to realize how UNTRUE that mind frame was. It's really quite liberating to realize you aren't actually stupid, you just didn't apply yourself because you made yourself believe you were stupid. I also finally found out I have inattentive Adhd... which is a huge reason for my poor retention and focus in school. Your videos just speak so deeply to me because I have had such a similar experience to you. Your French Revolution story was so relatable. There are so many historical events I KNOW we learned about in school... I just never listened... simple as that. I also just didn't retain the things I learned.. it just went in one ear and out the other. I think part of it was immaturity. I didn't care. I have come to realize that when you actually care about things or are interested in things... you learn them. I didn't give a crap about anything when I was young. I had no interests except for boys and fashion. I was a daydreamer.. and just coasted by. I wanted to get good grades and learn... I just didn't understand how to care enough about the things we were learning.

When you want to educate yourself but you instantly get baited into reading racist slop by agitators like DiAngelo 💀

this was so smart and so insightful and so caring and humble but humbling, and as someone with experience (not teaching yet but studying) philosophy and computer science your approach to the pedagogy of your learning journey is professor level, working through books that give the bigger picture on topics as well as foundations on how we learn, our biases, how we relate, and being sharp to notice when the authors of those book were speaking on topics outside the scope of their own knowledge, and your comment that as you learn more you understand things through the reference of other things you know is such a perfect way of putting what actual deep intellectual inquiry is, i'm so excited for you i hope this process just continues blooming for you

Discovery hour. What a great idea. Absolutely. Fantastic to hear about your reading! super cool that you had a positive experience with the Thinking, Fast and Slow book. You seemed to feel as though you were failing to convey to us what you learned from the book. Wow. You're amazing. I feel certain that if you keep on doing what you're already doing -- which is reading books, paying attention to them, and then trying to explain what you experienced to other people -- you're absolutely going to get better at this. Way to go!

You definitely don't come across as dumb at all. I've always thought of you as extremely talented and brilliant. I miss RPAN

You retain stuff that's related to other stuff. I feel the same way about my own mind! I'm starting by reading general overviews of topics (Western Musical History, Eastern Philosophy, etc) to start to build a foundational scaffolding. I personally use Anki flashcards for a couple of names of people or events a day, because I'm so scatterbrained it would slip me without conscious effort. During the day, randomly, I'll ask myself to explain something I just read back to myself. This is called "active recall" and it improves your retention of information several times over rereading material.

You are very well spoken and articulate. It's very plain to see that you are not stupid! Some people have to work harder to grasp certain things, that's all. I watched a documentary one time where teachers talked about kids who made it to really good schools from out of the inner city and they said it wasn't the really smart kids, it was the kids who kept trying and didn't give up. So DON'T GIVE UP! : )

retaining information in this day and age where we are bombarded with information from every angle, I've given up on that. I settled on rather remembering where to find said information.

Hiya Haro, Psych major here. Fluid intelligence is the name for general cognitive ability, it can be thought of just as IQ too. It seems to peak at around 25 years old and there's no way we know of enhancing. BUT, in terms of career success, crystallised intelligence (often referred to as knowledge) is just as important to cultivate. People with higher IQs are generally faster at accumulating knowledge, but if you have a really good work ethic or are just very curious, you can make up for a lapse in IQ. IQ doesn't correlate very well with success, but the best predictor of being successful is having the desire to be successful, which not all smart people have. I'm curious to know why you want to be knowledgeable about the things you want to learn about. Awareness of what's going on in the world can be quite stressful, especially if you're high in trait neuroticism (personality dimension) and very rarely are people in a position to do anything about the problems they're exposed to. I would mix some science in there and build a good attention span by turning off electronics and just spending hours at a time reading books and solving problems on paper. Just do small amounts every day until you build a habit, don't jump straight into it.

I know how you feel I was a terrible learner in high school and I've also struggled to concentrate in the workplace when trying to problem solve. Other people seem to just figure things out intuitively, but I don't have that gift. I don't retain information, I have to back-track a LOT when trying to learn new things, I have to constantly google the meaning of words or how to do basic math problems. I went back to school at age 30 to study electrical engineering, not because I want to be al electrical engineer but because I was sad, bored, lonely and needed something to do. It's good to not put too much stress on yourself if you can. I put months of prep into my maths for that course, learned a few things and then proceeded to get my ass kicked academically for 7 months until I decided to take a sabbatical and re-assess things (which is where I am now). In my defense I also got the flu and missed a bunch of classes. During my engineering class observations I noticed most of the guys there just intuitively understood the math and how to problem solve. They'd have one earphone in listening to music and would also be playing games on their laptops and i'd be spending every second of the day forcing myself to focus on the lecture just to be half as good as them. When I got paired up with one of the top students in class for our assignment I was shocked to find out that I was a much, much better writer than him. He couldn't write beyond a 5th grade level, he couldn't punctuate, structure or spell...but I myself managed to churned out 10 pages of analytical poetry. Another guy wanted to play me in chess and I won that very easily despite knowing no chess theory. Whenever the boys tried to solve quiz problems i'd be the one they turned to for general knowledge help. Useless things like who was the first president of America or what is the capital of Sri Lanka etc. I might have borderline math dyslexia but my brain works exceptionally well in other ways. Self doubt is the real enemy, I promise you there's going to be things you have an aptitude for. It might take 10 years to figure out what those areas are though.

I want you to know you've inspired me. I bought a book today on a hard subject I've wanted to understand for ages but wasn't sure I wanted to understand. I know my stance on it, but understanding the ins and outs of it is going to lead me to face some things I don't want to face. I also don't think you're stupid. You're willing to take on this task of educating yourself, you understand that it's going to take time and dedication to educate yourself and gather knowledge you don't have. That takes guts and intelligence.

I did well in school, at least to a certain point, but that's a whole another topic. I still feel like I was a dumbass in the past and I'm now slowly becoming smarter in my 30s, but I guess that's just how things happen with age, which makes learning a lifelong process. it's good to remind yourself that comparing yourself to others is not very useful, since everyone's life is unique and everyone's circumstances are unique as well. I think it's better to set goals for yourself (preferably realistic ones) and then you can grow as a person by achieving them. learning is a skill, so you can and will get better at it with practice. some people can remember things easier than others, but becoming better at learning will help you remember things. the better you understand the big picture of something the easier it is to remember the details, since you already know their context and you're no longer just trying to recall random trivia about a subject you're unfamiliar with. reading is also a skill, so you will get better at it with time as well. taking notes while watching a video a second time is a good example of becoming better at learning. there are different ways to learn and you kind of have to develop your own way to learn that suits you best. it's kind of hard to give specific suggestions, although I've taken notes too while reading harder books about more complex subjects and it certainly helps as does reading them multiple times. I do have to admit that I don't remember every single one of them well and I only have vague recollections about others, but that's normal. it's easier the retain knowledge, if you need to use it or otherwise return to the subject once in a while. being focused is quite essential for learning and once you start to lose focus it's a good time to take short break to think about what you've learned and create your own interpretations of it. you're kind of slowly digesting the information. it helps you understand it and the breaks keep you from getting overwhelmed. of course it's easier focus on things that you find interesting, although they are not always useful things and they don't have to be, since there's a joy to just learning about fun and interesting things. the thirst for knowledge can be a surprisingly powerful once it hits you. I mean it's impossible to know everything, since our lifetimes are limited, so learning about things that you find important or interesting is usually the way to go. I do especially like how you have thought about wanting to learn and how methodically you approach learning by choosing books about different subjects based on your interests. it's always good to have a plan, but you're in no hurry either and you can take it slow, if you feel like it, since trying to force things will make it less fun, until you find a rhythm that suits you. I want to say that trying to explain to others what you have read or learned will help you understand the subject better as well and it's actually quite hard as you have to process what you have read in your head into a form that is easy to explain to others. it's not always an easy feat. politics are a difficult subject to speak about in more ways than one, but especially due to people having strong opinions about it. that doesn't mean that you should be afraid to speak about politics, but it becomes easier once you know more about it and become more confident in your understanding of it. also nobody really understands how economics really works deep down and even economists are just making educated guesses. I mean it's good to understand economics to a point and what that point is depends on you. I'm fairly sure you know it already, but you don't really need more than general knowledge, unless you work as an actual expert. I would say that once you start making your own connections between different things you've learned, it's a sign of general knowledge. I did write a lot more text than I originally intended, but the video was longer than I expected as well. the text is rather dry, since this is a not a subject that I'm well-versed on any other level than practical and I have no idea, if it's any help, but I do like writing in general, so it's not a big deal. in the end it's based on my life experiences, so your mileage may vary. the most important thing is that you want to learn and that by itself is already enough. all the rest will then come with time.

The fact you are so aware and conscious of your situation goes to show you how intelligent you actually are. The problem I've noticed over the last 25 years or so is that smartness vs intelligence vs wiseness are often confused with eachother: -Being smart is something you have to actively work at, most people are too lazy for this. -Intelligence is something you are born with. -Wisdom is something you just earn over time and real experience. You could argue that smart, clever, wise, etc are all sub sets of intelligence. But regardless I just think we try to lump humans up into boxes. And don't worry, I've been called intelligent, extremely smart, wise beyond my years, etc. my whole life. It sucks, trust me. You are put up on a pedestal with huge expectations from everyone around you and it is way easier to let people down if you are really intelligent since you are way more self conscious and aware. P.S. I think I am an utter idiot every day 😅🤣

I’m trying not to be an idiot *proceeds to speak very articulately and describes her short comings better then 99% of people can

i appreciate the vulnerability and honesty of this xx i think it’s more relatable then we realize

Here's a few tips: buy physical books and read them physically. Get a notebook and hand-write any notes you want to make to yourself by hand. Limit the amount of time you expose yourself to social media and just scrolling. Talk to people about the things that you are learning about. If you can teach them, all the better. All of these things have been shown scientifically to boost your ability to remember things. Also, the first step to gaining wisdom is knowing what you lack. Socrates himself said he became conscious he knew nothing, and that was his gateway to becoming a philosopher.

Being self aware and critiquing constructively with an emphasis on being kind to oneself is a great asset. You're gonna be fine

I can tell you one thing: I wasn't good at school. I just didn't fit in the system, but when school finished I picked up anything I was interested and learnt it the way I wanted and things developed beautifully. By now, I'm able to learn skills in fractions of times even to professional standards, with the internet, cheap online courses- it's just beautiful how people from all over the world can help you. The most important thing is focus. Accept things will take their time, but you also have to invest it.

i was in a very similar place in my teenage years mostly because i was extremely sheltered and depressed. i felt like i didn’t know how to connect with people and i probably didn’t. i didn’t know anything about the culture i was living in or even the pop culture. i had watched some things here and there and listened to what was on the radio but i had never given it importance. one day i decided i was gonna learn everything i could. if someone mentioned a tv show i watched it beginning to end. if someone mentioned a musician i listened to their discography. if someone mentioned a fun fact i would look into it so i would know what it meant. it was like i was learning to be human. the weird part is that i fell in love with it. the more i learned the more i realized i was not alone. everyone felt the same way. this set me on a path im still on today almost 15 years later. i listen to as much music as i can i love music, i follow politics as closely as my sanity will allow, i read philosophy books and i love all of it. it’s a beautiful thing to be a part of humanity. learning how we got here and where we’re going feels like a privilege.dont be afraid you can do it and it can be fun

Yoda said one time: "Do. Or do not. There is no try." .

read george jackson's "blood in my eye"

Girl, I hear you. I'm 31 year old man and I recently realised I'm actually very ignorant and I know nothing about the world and other human beings who live in it. Before that it was just all about gym, money and clothes. Pure vanity. No substance whatsoever. Something has to change in me, if I'm to be a balanced and well rounded human being.

Watching you recount the information about the books you have read I get the feeling that you may not actually have a memory recall problem, you may have a thought-to-words problem (at least that's how I think of it). I have this problem myself; it's not that I *don't* remember, it's that I don't always remember neatly organized factoids but instead I remember concepts. So I have to spend a lot of mental effort to sort of "unwind" a web of abstract concepts and then forge them into more concrete thoughts and words before I can speak them. When this happens, my best advice is to not "give up". Take as much time and as many attempts to rephrase the thought as is socially acceptable (and then a little bit more) before you move on, BUT THEN the most important part is to store that struggle away and try to untangle it on your own time. You will either untangle it sufficient enough for your sanity or you will re-learn the thing and have a much stronger grasp of it. You have to sit in that struggle and let it bother you.

Trust me you dont want to be smart either. Ignorance must feel so much like a bliss. I`ve learned to read when i was 3, and at that time i already felt the weight of the world in my shoulders. In my teenage years i dropped outta school because i felt so unmotivated, and i couldn`t finish high school to this day, but i self taught myself 2 languages, scored high on every subject, and even got great grades without breaking a sweat. But i`ve always felt ``heartbroken``. And alone in my world. I feel the same way about looks too. Everyone but myself think i look good, to the point i genuinely don`t like being complimented. Maybe because in my perspective i wasn`t always as handsome as i am now, but i think being rejected early on got me traumatized. All the time, they told me i was a genius early on in my life, but now, the regular eye can`t distinguish myself from common. I would talk 24/7 non stop, but now i cant even yap, i just be on my lil world. And you possess eloquence and emotional intelligence from what i can see, that`s far from stupid from my belief :)

You dont seem that stupid to me, its all about association

This is such an encouraging video, every example you gave about memory retention, the anecdote of you bf just *knowing* who that french revolution guy was, and the way you recounted what you liked about the book while forgetting a few things just hit me like a ton of bricks! I just turned 25 and somehow convinced myself that I'm just incurious, or have no aptitude for reading or learning so I focus my attention on my art, or practicing kindness, the things that made sense to me up to this point. and I'm always humbly trying to get more information, ask more questions (although thats hard because I never know what questions to ask in the first place) and overall pay more attention to the world, I got a lot to learn about learning but thanks for making this video, I really needed this casual, honest, and gentle reminder of what I can actually do.

I watched the whole video and found this very endearing, your voice is also very soothing. Anybody can see that your not stupid, you are a product of our age just like anybody else and so many people struggle with this exact problem. You explain yourself well and you have all that is needed to pursue a broader understanding of the world. Im not good at putting my thoughts into words either but for once I wanted to just say some encouragen words. So thank you for making my evening a pleasent one. Just know that you are in the right path and don't take pressure!

She's cute, self aware, and she's trying. That's makes her far more attractive than the typical shallow, intellectually hallow people you'll find out in the wild. Just keep trying.

Reading comprehension is a major undiagnosed issue for learning. I didn't figure this out until I was in my late 20s and once I did it changed everything for me.

i also tried to be less stupid but i ended up being more stupid than i was before, honestly a win in my book

I feel this for real, this has been like my entire childhood and teenage years, turns out I have adhd and autism, I find it difficult to retain any information even if it’s something I enjoy, it’s in my head somewhere maybe but I can’t access it

putting aside the fact that you clearly have an amazing command of language, it is immensely impressive to me that you managed to do enough introspection to come to these conclusions on your own, given how many people fail to do so even at the behest of other people. i find it difficult to believe a truly stupid person could (1) take an honest look at their position in life and the social pressures that led them there, (2) articulate their feelings about that position as well as you have, and (3) actively take realistic, achievable steps to improve. i am rooting for you on your journey, and this video has honestly given me a great deal of hope about people i know personally in similar positions.

Absolutely remarkable self awareness. You're on the right path. All of our minds are different, but it is up to us to make the most of what we have.

This video slowly morphing into a bookhaul was honestly quite lovely

33 and still feel like as much effort I put into it I end up facing the feeling that I'm just inherently dumber than regular people. It directly affects relationships with friends, family, my significant other, colleagues.. getting pointed out for it constantly or weighing down those who support. Work is probably one of the worst, where eventually I become both a laughing stock and center of frustration for people because I'm just unable to handle everything as perfectly and naturally as everyone does. But you just have to swallow all that crap and keep at it because you also need to pay rent and living costs as everyone does, all while constantly fighting all the signs telling you that as much as you try to force it the other way around, you're just stupid and inadequate.

I have to say, I am unbelievably impressed with and proud of you. I was always told I was “gifted” at a very young age and had next to no trouble throughout my whole life in terms of education and intelligence. However, the result of that was that I stopped trying. I didn’t have a need to, I was really really good at it all, so why would I? This created in me this complex where trying hard meant I wasn’t good at something, and that felt bad and made me insecure. And that has taken years and now DECADES to correct and overcome. Your situation is the exact opposite, by how you describe it in your own perception. And that means that you are completely void of anything resembling my biggest weakness. What I am trying to say in describing this is that watching this video made me realize something about myself and about people in general; we all have something resembling a regret, an insecurity, or a weakness. But what we don’t realize is that we ALL have them, and that in a way those weaknesses cause us to adapt in ways that make us uniquely enabled to become extremely good at other things in order to compensate and overcome those shortcomings. I am a retired emergency medical professional (an EMT to be specific) and have battled with mental illness and social issues my entire life, which I often think about and feel a great deal of suffering over. But what I haven’t realized is that being alone a lot and having hyper awareness and all these skills I’ve acquired in the kind of crazy life I’ve had has made me an absolute survival machine that excels when my back is up against the wall. I have encountered events repeatedly and consistently in my life that have ruined other people, and yet I’ve been able to sustain my quality of life and sanity after all of it because of the life I have had and the things I have struggled with. You hyper focused on your image, your beauty, and external things and you have said you felt stupid because of that. But listen to how you described how you even did that! You RESEARCHED it, thoroughly and intensely, just as you are with these subjects, because now you feel MOTIVATED to do it. And you have made what seems to be astounding progress. It is nothing short of remarkable to see you enter an era of your life of educating yourself with complete humility and with a clear head with no opinions that can alter how you might view something. You’re essentially beginning the painting after doing all the lines, just filling in an outline, and that means that you can literally take any kind of path or direction from here on out and learn in a way that other people are totally unable to. It’s remarkable to see how you analyze literature, you’ve picked up on so much that I see others completely skip over and ignore. You aren’t stupid. You just had a focus on something else earlier, and now you are showing that you have created a nearly superhuman level of self-discipline and are one of the hardest working people I have witnessed. And that is coming from someone who has worked with military special forces, first responders, martial artists, athletes, and successful business people. You impress me, and I am so proud and excited to see where this journey will take you next. I hope you have a wonderful experience with it, God bless you and have a good one!

This was a really nice video, I love the long form and your struggle was very relatable to me. I feel stupid too, and though I got into uni, I have massive impostor syndrome. I am a literature student who does not read enough in her spare time, and even though I am starting my third year soon, most books still feel intimidating and heavy. It's nice to know others feel like this too, and it's very inspiring to see someone like you show me that it's not the end of the world when you don't know much. You just have to try your best and stay curious, that's more important than simply knowing a lot of things. This summer I have been working on healthy habits, and videos like this motivate me to keep going and to keep putting in effort. Thanks :)

I think when your interested in something, or a topic, you naturally remember it. Like a story someone tells you, or a movie you watch that you find interesting

Sweetheart, you articulate and have an amazing vocabulary, which shows you retain way more than what you saying, i'am calling bullshit

Learning as an adult is fun. It was surprisingly non obvious that I can just go back from grade 1 and re-learn math etc. Even things I though I knew, I just didn't quite have a good understanding of.

i remember being told in primary school if you write something down 3 times you will remember it forever. not sure about the forever part but it definitely helps with memory retention

its wild how you are describing my "default mode" and how much of a struggle it is for you to do anything i do almost absentminded. I respect your effort and I'm happy that you are actually trying, Its just wild how different of a life we live. Sonder kinda has me terrified

"All I know is that I know nothing"- Socrates. Being aware of a lack of something is just the first step to fixing that issue

Knowledge is like a puzzle, the more pieces you have placed, the easier it is to integrate new ones. Some people for instance, seem to be very interested in WWI and WWII, and from reading about these two particular events, and because they permeated society in many ways, by reading about them you pick up all kinds of loose facts about society, history, anthropology, geopolitics, geography, etc. So, if later on you are interested in learning German History, Modern Geopolitics or European Geography, you already have those bits locked in and you can use them to orient yourself in that new field.

i dont usually comment on videos but this is one of the most intelligent and introspective videos ive seen, good on you