Stupid Dummies (Episode 50)

🎧 From hiding your genius to embracing your unique mind - A powerful wake-up call that will transform how you see yourself! In this perspective-shifting episode, Fatima Bae the Mindshifter challenges everything you think you know about being "stupid," "dumb," or different.

Through the inspiring story of 13-year-old Veronica, who turned "trash" into a six-figure business by age 18, Fatima reveals why being different might actually be your superpower.

This mind-blowing episode explores:

• The shocking truth about why intelligent people often don't "fit in"
• How society's boxes might be hiding your unique genius
• The real reason some teens think they're "dumb" (when they're actually brilliant)
• Real strategies for embracing your different way of thinking
• The journey from fitting in to standing out successfully
• How your "weird" ideas might be the key to getting ahead

Perfect for: Teens who feel like they don't fit in, students questioning their intelligence, young people hiding their true abilities to blend in, and the teachers, parents, and counselors helping youth embrace their authentic gifts. Plus: Game-changing insights about different types of intelligence and why thinking differently is your secret weapon for success.

Transcript

Welcome to Mindshift Power podcast, a show for teenagers and the adults who work with them, where we have raw and honest conversations. I'm your host, Fatima Bey The MindShifter. And welcome. I'm Fatima Bey, the mind shifter. And for today's episode, I am both your host and your guest.

Today is one of those rare solo episodes. Well, you saw the title of this episode, so let me start off with this question. Are you a stupid dummy? I promise you that by the end of this episode, you will hear this question very differently. Alright.

So in order for you to truly understand this question, I am going to define stupid, dumb, d u m b, and dummy. FYI, the definition of stupid in this episode is only within the context of this episode. It will not match what you see in the dictionary. I have redefined it for the the purpose of of explaining this. Now dumb, d u m b, means someone who lacks intelligence and does foolish things.

Yeah. Yeah. I know. We're all thinking of somebody right now. Yeah.

I'm thinking about them too. Alright. Let's move on. Dummy, d u m m y. Something designed to resemble and serve as a substitute for the real or usual thing.

In other words, a counterfeit or sham. I want you to think about that. Stupid. Stupid, in the context of this episode, is someone who is intelligent but acting like a dummy. Alright.

I'm gonna start off I'm gonna break this down, and you're gonna understand why these words apply to most of you listening. So I'll start off with a story. So there was a girl named Veronica. She is only 13. Now, this girl is always collecting seeds from food that people are throwing away.

People look at her like she's an idiot. They call her a weirdo. They make fun of her. I mean, after all, she is collecting garbage. Right?

Well, regardless of how much they tease and clown her, she keeps collecting seeds. They even make memes about her and share them with each other. They even make posts about it sometimes. Like, she is known for being a garbage girl and collecting seeds. Now, why is Veronica being such a freaking weirdo?

Why is she, like, taking people's garbage and taking seeds from them? Like, what a weirdo. Why is she doing that? Well, even though people are saying that about her and to her, and she keeps being a weirdo, and she keeps collecting seeds, even though everyone is everybody's clowning her. Well, Veronica thinks differently than her peers.

You see, where everyone else just sees garbage, she sees seeds. You're gonna throw that half eaten apple away. She sees that she eat the seeds out of it, so she does. You ate the orange, but there's some seeds left, so she takes those. You had a few pieces of cucumber in your salad that you wanted to leave.

There's seeds in that. She took it. Well, you all just see garbage, But Veronica saw seeds, and when she sees these seeds, she envisions gardens and orchards. You see, it's like this, the way Veronica thinks. An apple seed never produces just one apple.

An apple seed will produce an apple tree, which will give you an abundance of apples, lots of them. You see, the other thing is Veronica comes from an extremely poor family and cannot even ask for a dollar to buy seeds because they're not gonna give it to her because they're struggling to buy bread. They're definitely not gonna give her a dollar to buy seeds. So she can't even go to the Dollar Tree dollar store and buy seeds. So she's collecting seeds the only way she knows how, by getting them for free around her in an unusual way.

Well, while everyone else is making fun of her, she kept collecting seeds, and at the same time, she was learning about gardening online. She was learning how to take those seeds and do something with them. Follow me. One day, Veronica collects enough seeds to start a small garden, and she did it right in her backyard. It wasn't a very big, very small plot of land, but it was something to work with, and so she did.

Veronica started eventually, Veronica started selling fruits and vegetables from that backyard garden. Meanwhile, she was still collecting seeds and being made fun of. Well, fast forward, eventually Veronica used the the knowledge and skills she had developed to start her own market garden and orchard. So all whole time she was learning and developing her skills in her backyard, she took that knowledge and skill set and turned it into a market garden and orchard. Fast forward again.

Veronica was making 6 figures by the time she was 18. Yes. You heard that right. This means she was making over a hundred thousand dollars by the time this girl was 18. I wish I had her vision when I was 13.

You see, while people were making fun of her and calling her a dumb weirdo, she was ignoring them and actually using her intelligence to get ahead. She didn't become the dummy she was pressured to become. She didn't succumb to that. She did not stop what she was doing and silence her vision or silence her intelligence. She did not become like the stupids around her.

This is why she prospered. How many of you are walking around being stupid instead of living up to your full intelligence. I ask again, are you a stupid dummy? Are you hiding your true gifts, your true intelligence, your true talents under a fake facade so that you can fit in with the other dummies? Again, definition of stupid for this episode is someone who is intelligent but acting like a dummy.

You see, most of you listening right now are in fact intelligent, but you're acting like a dummy so you can fit in. What made me think of this episode is I go to high schools, and I do workshops and and and speaking engagements. Something I see that bothers me to the core of my soul, I see teens who think they are dumb because they don't actually fit in, but they're actually intelligent. They think they're dumb because they don't fit into the box that society has put them in. And when I say society, let me be clear, I mean school systems, jobs, friends, family, etcetera.

Those all equal society in this context. So many, many high school students think they're dumb because they don't fit in with everybody else. They're not just like all the other dummies around them. And can I tell you a secret? Most intelligent people don't fit in.

Dummies always fit in. Intelligent people often don't. And you know why? This is because the average box is only for dummies. Now if you're listening right now and you're a teen, actually, I don't care what age you are because it's relevant to all of us.

You are not dumb because you don't fit in. I'm gonna say that again. You are not dumb just because you don't fit in. Sometimes that thing that makes you different is exactly where your gift and intelligence is, just like Veronica. She saw what no one else could see.

Everybody else saw trash. She saw treasure, and she didn't care what anybody else had to say about it. She went for it. And you know what she got for that? Way ahead of everybody else at her age.

I mean, way ahead of everybody else at her age. How many of you are behind right now because you're trying to fit in with the dummies when you are, in fact, intelligent and are therefore currently being stupid? Again, are you a stupid dummy? If you're not, oh my god, that's so awesome. Let this message be in let this message be encouragement for you to keep on keeping on.

But for the majority of you who who've been listening and you know you've been living as a stupid dummy, it is not too late to change. You can start acting on those thoughts. You can start letting your true intelligence come out and develop so that you too can be ahead of your peers. 100% of the time when someone's ahead of their peers, they think differently. They think outside the box.

There's never ever on this green earth where anyone has ever gotten ahead of their peers thinking just like them. I'm just saying. So you can start letting out your true intelligence the way God created you and not be another dummy inside of a box. Your gifting may lie in the way you think. I really want you to ponder that.

Your gifting, your intelligence will lie in the way you think. And by the way, I feel the need to add in here, we do not all have the same kind of intelligence. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. You do not need I mind shift. You do not need to mind shift like I do.

You may be the world's greatest brain surgeon, which I am not. That's not my talent. It might be yours. The way you think is where your gifting lies, and I want you to, at the end of this episode, go and examine what that is, and find the powerful intelligence that you have not been using. The way you think may be the key to your acceleration, but you will never excel without being with yourself.

So I'm gonna leave you with this. Don't be a stupid dummy. Be the intelligent you. Thank you for listening to Mindshift Power podcast. Please like and subscribe to my YouTube channel at the mind shifter.

If you have any comments, topic suggestions, or would like to be a guest on the show, please visit fatimabay.com/podcast. Remember, there's power in shifting your thinking. Tune in for next week.