It amazes me how common the thread of "work ethic" and "lazy" is in this whole discussion.
I failed 9th grade twice and dropped out of high school as soon as I was able. They still bumped me into the next year's honors courses for English and History all the way to 11th grade. My refusal to do homework resulted in failing Math and Science.
That is until I started failing everything due to attendance. Eventually they kicked me out of gifted class. (Which in itself was a joke on most days.) One day after throwing my Biology mid term or final on the floor and going back to sleep during the test I realized even if I got all my shit together I still had four years of high school left.
Eventually after missing 60 out of 83 days or so and being threatened with a truancy arrest, I dropped out. I slept through my required 24 hours of GED classes. One day I woke up to one of the other students complaining and heard the teacher say, "He doesn't need this class, you do."
Then next day she had me participate by inventing a math problem on the board. I put the easiest Algebra I could think of (Something like 25 + a = 5) and they never complained again, and I still ended up having to be the one to solve it.
I immediately went to work at 16, was promoted to night shift manager at a Sonic by 17. I've worked in a few management positions since then, and ran a few failed businesses and one pretty successful one.
My sister on the other hand has an incredible work ethic, and we talk about the disparity between our work ethic and intelligence pretty often. Normally when she is like every other report card that says I'm not showing my true potential, and that I need to get my shit together.
It has certainly affected my adult life. I learned how to subtly manipulate people from a young age, and find often it is easier to outsmart them and maneuver them than to actually do what they -want.
It was also really great for my sex life, after I grew up some and gained some confidence. When you are musically inclined, you learn that the body is like an instrument. Press here, get the right note. Too sharp? Adjust pressure. Crescendo? You are welcome.
One of the biggest problems (aside from the marriages I've ruined) comes from the actual ability to do anything. I've never been unable to grasp something, or show moderate proficiency with a real lack of trying.
When you can do almost everything, how do you choose to do anything?