People who struggle with these 8 everyday tasks are often more intelligent than 95% of people according to psychology

There’s a quiet shame that comes with struggling at things everyone else seems to do without thinking.

You miss deadlines, forget small details, or feel oddly out of place in situations that look simple on the surface.

I’ve felt that shame before, especially in my twenties when I was working in luxury food and beverage.

The environment demanded polish, speed, and social ease, and yet some of the sharpest minds I met were the ones quietly wrestling with basic, everyday stuff.

Psychology backs this up in a way that feels almost comforting.

Intelligence doesn’t always show up as efficiency, smoothness, or consistency, and in many cases it shows up as friction.

If you’ve ever wondered why your brain seems to trip over things others breeze through, this list might explain more than you expect.

1) Making small talk

Small talk is one of those social skills that’s treated like a basic requirement for adulthood.

If you struggle with it, people assume you’re awkward, unfriendly, or lacking confidence.

But for highly intelligent people, the issue usually isn’t social fear. It’s boredom mixed with a hunger for substance.

Research suggests that people with higher cognitive ability tend to seek meaning, patterns, and depth in conversation.

When an interaction offers none of that, their brains disengage almost immediately.

I’ve sat through countless dinners where the conversation revolved around weather, surface-level work complaints, or recycled anecdotes.

My mind would drift not because I disliked the people, but because my brain was itching for something more nourishing.

For some minds, small talk feels like empty calories. It fills time but leaves no mental satisfaction.

2) Sticking to rigid routines

There’s a popular idea that discipline looks like doing the same thing at the same time every day. Wake up early, follow a strict schedule, repeat forever.

Highly intelligent people often struggle with this kind of rigidity. Their minds crave novelty, variation, and flexibility more than repetition.

Psychological studies have linked higher intelligence with openness to experience and sensitivity to stimulation.

That combination makes rigid routines feel mentally suffocating over time.

I’ve tried hyper-optimized morning routines more times than I care to admit.

They work for a short burst, then my brain starts rebelling and asking why everything has to happen in the same order every day.

This doesn’t mean you lack discipline. It often means your mind is wired to adapt rather than repeat.

3) Finishing simple tasks quickly

You know the task should take five minutes. Somehow, it takes thirty.

Highly intelligent people tend to overanalyze even the smallest decisions.

Their brains naturally explore multiple possibilities, outcomes, and implications before settling on action.

Psychologists sometimes call this overthinking, but that label misses the point. It’s not anxiety driving the process, it’s depth.

I’ve caught myself spending way too long choosing what to order at a restaurant, thinking through flavor combinations, portion sizes, and regret minimization.

Meanwhile, the server is just trying to move the table along.

When your brain is built for complexity, simplicity doesn’t come naturally. Even basic tasks get upgraded into mini thought experiments.

4) Letting go of mistakes

Some people mess up and move on instantly. Others replay the moment in their head for days.

Highly intelligent people are far more likely to struggle with this. Their brains treat mistakes as data that needs to be analyzed and integrated.

From a psychological standpoint, this makes sense. Intelligence is closely tied to learning, and learning depends on noticing errors and adjusting behavior.

In high-pressure kitchens, mistakes are expensive and visible. You either reflect on them deeply or repeat them and fall behind fast.

The challenge is that the same mental habit that helps you grow can also trap you in self-criticism if you don’t consciously let the lesson end.

5) Falling asleep easily

If your mind lights up the moment your head hits the pillow, you’re not alone.

Highly intelligent people often struggle to fall asleep because their brains don’t naturally slow down on command.

Studies have linked higher cognitive engagement with increased nighttime mental activity.

When external stimulation disappears, internal processing ramps up.

I’ve had nights where a single idea snowballed into a full mental outline for an article, a career plan, or a half-baked business concept.

Great for creativity, terrible for rest.

This isn’t a failure of discipline or routine. It’s a brain that’s wired to think deeply whenever it has space.

6) Remembering mundane details

Highly intelligent people often have excellent memory for concepts, patterns, and ideas. Strangely, they tend to struggle with basic, everyday details.

Psychology suggests this comes down to selective attention. The brain prioritizes information it deems meaningful and filters out the rest.

Ask me about a book I read years ago and I can recall its core argument with ease.

Ask me where I put my keys an hour ago and I’ll need to retrace my steps like a detective.

This doesn’t mean your memory is bad. It means it’s optimized for meaning, not logistics.

7) Staying present in boring environments

Long meetings, repetitive lectures, or conversations that go nowhere can feel physically uncomfortable for highly intelligent people.

Their minds disengage quickly when stimulation drops below a certain threshold.

Research links intelligence with a tendency toward mental wandering in low-engagement environments. The brain seeks complexity when none is provided.

I’ve mentally planned meals, workouts, articles, and entire trips while sitting in painfully dull settings.

From the outside, it might look like disinterest, but internally the brain is just staying busy.

This trait can be a liability in structured environments. It can also be a powerful source of creativity if you learn how to channel it.

8) Finally, turning off self-criticism

Finally, one of the most overlooked struggles of highly intelligent people is their relationship with themselves.

Intelligence brings awareness, and awareness often brings harsh self-evaluation.

You notice gaps others miss. You see inefficiencies, flaws, and missed opportunities with uncomfortable clarity.

Psychology has long noted the connection between intelligence and heightened self-monitoring.

The same mind that analyzes the world with precision turns inward with equal force.

I’ve met incredibly capable people who downplay their achievements while obsessing over minor missteps. Externally impressive, internally relentless.

Learning to soften that internal voice isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about recognizing when analysis has stopped being useful and started becoming noise.

The bottom line

Struggling with everyday tasks doesn’t automatically mean you’re failing at life.

In many cases, it means your brain is optimized for depth, complexity, and meaning in a world that rewards speed and surface-level competence.

Once you understand this, the shame starts to dissolve.

You stop trying to force yourself into systems that don’t fit and start building ones that actually support how your mind works.

Intelligence isn’t always visible. Sometimes it shows up quietly, in the friction between a deep mind and a shallow world.

If you recognized yourself in this list, you’re not broken.

You’re just wired differently, and that difference can become a strength once you learn how to work with it instead of against it.