knowing the lazy geniuses

Hello internet, how's life? 

Enough of the crap, I've been really, really busy with college and work and committees. Writing has not been my priority lately due to my activities (damn I miss those times when I regularly blogged and remembered how exciting Femind Bloggers were), buuuut now it's summer and I get the chance to write something that I have been wanting to write about. I found this actually quite unique to be discussed and no, it won't be as complicated as politics or sexual issues (I might write about them but later) cuz this may be experienced or seen by y'all in daily activities. 

The lazy geniuses. 

Do you have that friend who's known as the sleepyhead during the class, or a gamer-addict, or those who claim themselves not studying the night before the exam but ended up achieving excellent grades even better than yours? Pretty sure this happens quite few times, doesn't it? 

This is what they can be defined as lazy geniuses. But actually, what is the accurate definition of 'lazy genius' itself? 

According to Urban Dictionary, lazy genius is defined as a person who has huge IQ but does not put a lot of effort in anything he/she does. This may seem pretty common and understandable--knowing that they have specialty that make them easier to understand/memorize things actually make them feel like they don't have to work harder bc of their intelligence. 

(which I kind of agree, but also disagree with this action. First of all, I know it is such a blessing to have huge IQ and great intelligence that would possibly make you as genius as Prof. B.J. Habibie and surely it makes you easier to understand things so you don't have to work extra, unlike those who only have average IQ. Yet, this condition can be considered as 'blessing in disguise', as a lot of people might work harder than you until they possibly become much more successful/superior/smarter than you. So yea there's no exception that if you want to be smart/successful then you hv to work your ass harder)

On the other hand, there's a podcast named The Lazy Genius Collective which they stated on their website that they're going to help us to be 'a genius about the things that matter, but lazy about the things that don't', According to what they stated, I assumed that they define 'lazy genius' differently from what Urban Dictionary defined before; the lazy genius is someone who can be smart and passionate with certain things but undoubtedly be lazy with things that they think is unnecessary. 

But no, I'm not going to state which one is the right definition and which one is wrong. Both definitions are actually acceptable. What I'm going to tell you in this post is, the unique stories of those who I assumed as 'lazy geniuses' and my thoughts and own definitions about lazy geniuses. 

And you should be actually really careful with lazy geniuses. Since, as what I experienced, the lazy geniuses are not actually lazy and are not always those who have huge IQ. Notice that this topic will be possibly dominant to the definition stated by The Lazy Genius Collective.

As what they stated, they know when to be diligent/passionate/work hard, but also know when to be lazy/just do okay with the work/not using their 100% power for the work. This type of lazy genius is actually much 'scarier' than the huge-IQ's lazy genius. Despite the fact that they have the lazy traits, they still manage themselves to be diligent, especially in things that they are passionate. And the best part is, they can be diligent without even seem like they are. 

So this is why I never underestimate those who look lazy/unmotivated in living their lives, because none of us know what they are actually doing. It may be just their default looks or their traits (getting up late, not being punctual, being asleep during the class, being absent for several times without any confirmation, likes to hangout until midnight) that make them look like the lazy ones, but deep inside no one knows if they are actually highly motivated or really passionate about some things or have high standards on making/doing things. I'm confident to say this as I know some people who I think can be considered as this type of lazy geniuses. 

I'm going to use my classmates in my college as an example. Comparing to the next class (which is class A; I'm part of class B), my class are more likely less diligent in terms of being present in the lecture than class A. I mean, look--there could be only less than a half of all number of students of class B who were present in a lecture. Not to mention those who ccame late quite often, got to sleep, and those who didn't really listen to the lecturer during the lecture. BUT, I was pretty surprised that they could be somewhat very creative and responsible when it comes to certain assignments. I know those who I can consider having such a huge effort for their assignments (especially assignments related to video producing/filmmaking) but their performances during the lecture were just okay (not really active, not really enthusiastic, etc etc etc) and it's actually very possible that they received perfect A in certain lectures. 

To be honest, this type of person gets so much attention to me, like how their traits can be contradicted to their work ethics--how their 'lazy' attitudes can trick us to see that they don't put much effort to their lives, but deep down they would probably be the ones who put much more effort than us without us knowing. 

menjadi yang paling kecil di dunia perkuliahan.

Hello human beings,

Udah lama banget ya aku enggak nulis blog lagi? 

Well it's actually okay as no one even visits here anymore haha (trust me this is not a sarcasm)

Jadi selama berbulan-bulan lamanya aku menghabiskan that so-called summer vacation setelah dapat perguruan tinggi, aku belum ada ide buat nulis sesuatu yang baru di blog. Yet I'm writing a novel by now berharap suatu saat bakal selesai, tapi enggak akan ku publikasikan ke blog ini. Mungkin bakal di wattpad. Atau mungkin bakal disimpan aja dan nunggu waktu yang tepat untuk mempublikasikannya. Entahlah. 

Dan sebetulnya, di draft blog aku, aku udah nulis panjaaaaaaang banget dan bisa sampai 10 halaman lebih kalau dipindah ke word tentang perjuanganku dapat PTN, tapi setelah berpikir panjang dan dibaca ulang kayaknya bakal lebih baik kusimpan secara personal aja ceritanya, karena kalau dibaca kesannya bisa jadi lebay dan inti dari ceritaku itu juga enggak jauh-jauh amat dari cerita kebanyakan orang. Gagal snm dulu, berjuang mati-matian buat lolos lewat sbm, belajar dan ngambis tiap hari , nangis-nangis sampai kurang tidur dan akhirnya keterima juga. Sama aja kan, sama yang lain, atau cerita-cerita lainnya yang pernah kalian baca di media sosial? so I don't think my story would inspire a lot buat kamu yang bakal berjuang untuk tahun depan. Mau se-terinspirasinya kamu sama cerita seseorang kalau kamunya enggak mau berjuang ya sama aja bohong nanti. 

Anyways, tahun lalu aku dapat message lewat Instagram dari salah satu teman dekat aku yang sekarang adalah mahasiswa di Universitas Indonesia. Dia cerita sama aku bahwa dia sekarang sedang merasa inferior karena di kelasnya banyak yang ternyata lebih dari dia. Yang ngambis. Yang aktif di kelas. Yang aku pribadi kusebut Anak Masa Depan Cerah (btw istilah itu baru kepikiran saat aku nulis posting ini juga). Di kelasnya kerasa banget atmosfir kompetitifnya.

Memang pasti perasaan seperti kusebutkan di atas enggak jarang muncul di dalam diri maba. Enggak cuma teman dekatku ini yang bilang demikian, banyak teman se-prodi-ku yang cerita tentantg inti masalah yang sama. Teman-teman SMA-ku demikian. Even aku sendiri sedang merasakan hal yang sama. Merasa semua orang pintar and we're nothing. Padahal dulu waktu SMA bisa jadi beberapa di antara kita selalu jadi andalan guru dan kelas, dipandang sebagai orang yang pintar, tapi pas begitu masuk dunia perkuliahan kita justru merasa that we're just a tiny little human being within the others. 

Oh iya, dan di Unpad ada yang namanya matkul TPB (Tahap Pembelajaran Bersama), matkul yang isinya tentang Sustainable Development Goals - program dari PBB untuk memperbaiki dunia. Dari namanya aja udah keren banget, kan? Dan menurutku pribadi topik-topik yang ditawarkan juga sebetulnya menarik (sebetulnya - tapi implementasiannya masih kurang banget. Highly ineffective). Mengajak mahasiswanya untuk turut mewujudkan apa yang dicita-citakan PBB ini - yang mana ada sekitar 17, diataranya menjadikan dunia tanpa kemiskinan dan kelaparan, mempunyai pendidikan berkualitas, adanya kesetaraan gender, dan lain sebagainya. Dan yang enggak kalah 'seru' lagi, di matkul ini dibuat kelas besar yang isinya sekitar ratusan mahasiswa dari 16 fakultas yang ada di Unpad. Kebayang gimana tuh kuliahnya? 

Dan harus kuakui, ikut menjalani kuliah bersama ratusan mahasiswa dalam satu ruangan besar enggak menutup kemungkinan untuk membuatku lebih ciut lagi. Mereka yang aktif ikut diskusi tentang topik yang lagi dibahas dan cara mereka menyampaikan analisanya sudah cukup buat aku semakin minder, apalagi aku yang tipikalnya bukan orang yang suka ngomong di depan umum kecuali kalau disuruh nyanyi. Kalau disuruh menganalisa atau me-review sesuatu aku harus tulis dulu di kertas poin-poinnya, baru bisa menyampaikan. For me being spontaneous is still something hard to do. Untung-untung ada matkul public speaking di prodi aku, dan aku akan memanfaatkan matkul itu dengan sebaik-baiknya supaya aku mampu public speaking. At least bisa mengurangi rasa gugup aku buat ngomong di depan umum. 

Lah, terus masalahnya apa?

Yang mau kubicarakan disini adalah mengenai perasaan aku dan teman-temanku, sebagai mahasiswa baru, ketika merasa bahwa dirinya bukan siapa-siapa karena banyak yang lebih pintar dan kemampuan analisanya bagus ketika ditanya. 

I'll say it's fine. it's really fucking fine. 

Kamu belum satu semester jadi mahasiswa langsung ngambis banget untuk bisa seperti kating-kating kamu yang kemampuan akademik-non-akademiknya bagus? Atau teman-teman seangkatan kamu yang disangka lebih pintar dari kamu? 

Ketika kegiatan belajar berlangsung, dan kamu lihat ada teman kamu yang aktif di kelas dan membuat kamu berspekulasi bahwa dia pintar dari cara dia menyampaikan sesuatu. I say it's not a hundred percent true. Dia memang mungkin punya kecerdasan linguistik. And it shouldn't have made you thought that you are less smart than them. Kita enggak bisa menilai kepintaran dan kecerdasan orang dalam satu aspek saja. Pada dasarnya, semua orang itu cerdas. Hanya saja, kadarnya berbeda dan tipe kecerdasannya berbeda untuk setiap orangnya. Tahu 9 kecerdasan, kan? Seseorang itu bisa jadi kemampuan berbicaranya bagus, tapi kalau diuji kecerdasannya di bidang lain, belum tentu kadarnya sama dengan kemampuan bicaranya yang bisa kita kategorikan sebagai kecerdasan linguistik. Jangan menjadikan akademik sebagai tolak ukur kecerdasan seseorang.

Begitu masuk kuliah, aku ketemu banyaaaaak banget orang-orang hebat, tapi dengan catatan; orang-orang yang hebat non-akademis-nya, menurut pandanganku. Mungkin karena aku masuknya ke fakultas yang sifatnya enggak begitu cognitive-oriented kali ya. Maksudku adalah, berdasarkan yang aku amati selama satu semester, mahasiswa-mahasiswa di fakultasku lebih menonjol karena keterampilannya tinggi. Di Fikom banyak yang jago di bidang musik. Ada yang punya band yang udah sering tampil sana-sini, ada yang duo - satu nge-DJ satu lagi nge-rap, udah pada punya lagu ciptaan sendiri. Yang jago desain banyak. 

Enggak apa-apa. Simpan ambisi kamu dalam hati. Pelan-pelan kamu coba buktikan kalau kamu bisa lebih dari mereka. Public speaking mereka bagus, mungkin karena dulu mereka pernah ikut semacam organisasi, atau memang dari dulu sudah terlatih demikian. Kalau enggak punya pengalaman yang kusebutkan di atas, bukan berarti kita enggak bisa public speaking kan?

Setelah sekian lamanya aku berada di Jatinangor, dan menjadi mahasiswa Fakultas Ilmu Komunikasi, dan karena faktor lingkungan, lambat laun aku jadi ikut terlatih untuk bisa ber-public speaking. Hasilnya apa? Bisa! Asalkan kita ada kemauan, pasti bisa kok.