Why Smart People Get Stuck (And What to Do About It)
Ever been absolutely certain about something...
Until a single headline or opinion thread took the legs from under you?
It doesn’t matter if you’ve got 20 years of experience, a wall full of "authority", or more wins than you can shake a stick at.
One piece of “breaking news” or a hot take wrapped in confidence can still rattle your foundation.
Why?
Because this isn’t a battle of information anymore.
It’s a war for your MIND.
And most people?
They’ve been 👉trained👈 to lose without even knowing they’re in the game.
This isn’t about attention. It’s about direction.
Years ago, I started studying propaganda. Not the cartoonish, tin-foil-hat shit.
The real stuff. Subtle. Strategic. Effective ➡️Propaganda - Jacques Ellul⬅️
And I noticed something that changed everything...
The most powerful manipulation doesn’t FORCE you to believe something.
It leads you to think the idea was yours.
(READ that again)👆
It slides into your inner dialogue so seamlessly, it feels like intuition.
You defend it. Build on it. Stake your identity to it.
Even if it never actually came from you.
And this is where even brilliant people get trapped.
They stop thinking for themselves, and start reacting as programmed.
The real problem isn’t lack of information.
Let’s be honest... we’re drowning in info.
There’s no shortage of YouTube videos, research papers, productivity hacks, “one thing successful people do before 6AM” posts.
But none of it matters if the tools you're using to evaluate that info are cracked, fogged, or misaligned with who you REALLY are.
Most of us weren’t taught to think critically.
We were taught to memorize, regurgitate... follow.
And so we get stuck... not 'cause we’re wrong, but because the signal is buried under noise we never chose.
You can feel this fog in your life...
👉In business: when you hesitate, loop, second-guess.
👉In health: when every expert contradicts the last one.
👉In relationships: when you can’t even tell if the voice in your head is yours or someone else’s expectations.
Yah see...
It’s not about intelligence.
It’s about traction.
And you don’t get traction by downloading more information.
You get it by sharpening your internal compass.
So what actually cuts through the fog?
NOT another strategy.
Or another tool.
What you need is a way of seeing 👀
A method of sorting truth from noise.
Pattern from panic.
Signal from static.
That’s where clarity lives.
And clarity is the MOFO of decisive action... she don't take NO shit!
✅Imagine being able to look at a wall of options and know exactly what matters...
To YOU
✅Imagine making a call without spiraling through 15 alternate scenarios.
✅Imagine saying “this is the move” and actually trusting that it is.
That ain't no mindset shift.
That’s a structural shift in HOW you process reality.
And once that clicks?
OH BOY!
You just move.
Bottom line?
Smart people get stuck not because they don’t know enough...
NOPE!
...but because they’ve been trained to doubt their own clarity.
➡️You DON'T need more input.
➡️You need better filters.
➡️You need sharper tools.
➡️You need to reclaim the space between stimulus and response—and rewire it with actual sovereignty.
Because when your perception gets clean, your decisions get simple.
And when your decisions get simple, momentum returns.
You stop being the audience.
And you start becoming the signal.
👇 Want to turn clarity into cash flow?
If this post lit something up in you... good!
'Cause that’s the same fuel I poured into my SPIN Selling Playbook.
But this ain't your dad’s sales script.
It’s built for operators like you, who move behind the scenes.
People who revive dormant assets, land high-leverage deals, and build partnerships based on trust, not pressure.
👎You won’t find hype.
👍You will find rhythm, resonance, and the tools to move conversations from “meh” to “when can we start?”
→ [Grab the SPIN Playbook here] (or drop me a DM with “SPIN” and I’ll send it your way.)
Let’s turn that signal of yours into something people WANT to follow.
P.S. I only share this with people ready to move differently. If that’s you, dig in. The playbook’s yours.
Wow! this post hit deep. I’ve felt that mental fog before, thinking I was making my own choices when I was really just reacting. The idea that the strongest manipulation feels like your own intuition is chilling but so real. It’s not about knowing more, it’s about seeing more clearly. What practices have helped you personally sharpen that internal compass?
Oof, you nailed it, Kavitha!
Fog that feels like clarity is the sneakiest trap of all.
That “intuition” is often just well-dressed fear… whispering with YOUR voice.
What cracked it open for me wasn’t MORE info…
It was realizing I’d been solving the wrong problem BETTER for years.
That’s what led me to build the L.E.N.S. Breaker System… a no-BS way to spot the loops, trace the lie, and start making moves from who you are right now…
NOT who you had to be.
Wanna see the lens I rebuilt?
????DIVE IN????
In your corner
Dedo (Chief MEME Officer)
This hit hard. It’s crazy how easy it is to confuse clarity with confidence when most of what we “know” was fed to us subtly over time.
The part about ideas slipping into our thinking until we believe they’re ours… yeah, that’s the kind of uncomfortable truth people avoid.
Well, it depends…
…but I’ve noticed it most when I catch myself defending something and realize I never questioned where it came from.
Have you ever caught yourself doing that mid-argument and thought, “Wait… do I even believe this?”
Oh man, Nikolay… yes!
That exact moment has stopped me in my tracks many times.
You’re mid-conviction, mid-sentence, defending something like it’s ‘kin gospel… and then BOOM!, this quiet voice sneaks in and whispers…
“Wait… whose thought is this?”
And it’s wild how many ideas arrive wearing your tone of voice, even though they were handed down, packaged up, or subtly nudged in.
(An insidious game we’re born into?)
Leadin’ on to what you said about clarity vs. confidence… FRICKIN’ gold, ’cause…
Sometimes “confidence” is just a secondhand belief we’ve worn so long… it feels like skin
…they mistake discomfort for doubt, when it’s just the feeling of stepping into their own shoes.
Soooo grateful you shared this, my friend.
And the uncomfortable pause?
That’s the doorway, Nikolay.
In your corner
Dedo (Chief MEME Officer)
PS: Might even create a post all about the difference between the label/word and reality, what d’ ya think?
This is a thought-provoking piece that hits on a crucial point: intelligence isn’t immunity to being swayed or stuck. The idea that manipulation often works by making us think an idea is our own is particularly insightful and resonates with observations of how opinions and beliefs can solidify.
The discussion raises important questions about the nature of critical thinking education. Are we truly teaching people how to think, or primarily what to think and remember? The distinction between absorbing information and developing the internal tools to evaluate it is critical for navigating the modern information landscape.
It would be interesting to delve deeper into specific strategies for sharpening these “internal filters.” Beyond recognizing the problem, what practical steps can individuals take to cultivate that “structural shift in how you process reality” and reclaim their cognitive sovereignty?
Phil
Phil… what resonance!
And you’ve hit the bullseye…
Intelligence doesn’t make us immune… it just gives us better language to defend the beliefs we’ve already absorbed.
And that’s why the most effective influence doesn’t feel foreign… it feels familiar.
You’re also bang on about critical thinking education.
We’ve trained people to store ideas, not test them.
And that leaves a gap, especially in a world overflowing with “truths” begging for loyalty.
That’s exactly why I created the L.E.N.S. Breaker System… to help people sharpen their internal filters, not just stockpile more frickin’ input.
It’s a practical approach to reclaiming how we see, not just what we know.
If you’re curious to dig deeper, I break it down here:
>> Check out the L.E.N.S. Breaker System on this page