You're Above Average

There's a statistic floating around that gets quoted sometimes, that on average, most people believe themselves to be above average intelligence. It's true that some people tend to think more highly of themselves than they probably should. But... I think there's some validity to thinking your intelligence is above average.

The logic goes like this:

We don't have a good and proper definition of intelligence. There are all sorts of kinds of intelligence. Since there are so many, odds are any given person is pretty good at some kind of intelligence.

Everyone gets to pick what matters to them. As any RPG min-maxer knows, you can usually find a way to bend the situation to suit your greatest attribute. So... most people will look at the world, and live in the world, through the lens of whatever they're best at. And they're probably above average in whatever that thing is.

So.

The 'everyone thinks they're above average' statistic often gets used as an example of rampant delusion. I think there's some truth to it, sure (some people are simply delusional), but I don't think it's a completely fair assumption.

In the way that matters to you, you probably are better than most people. And if you're not... well, examine yourself. Figure out your strengths. Because odds are you have an untapped advantage of some sort.