Why do smart, capable people struggle to follow through?

In part one of a two-part series, this episode looks at the intelligence trap - the way thinking, analysis, and complexity can quietly replace action. Drawing on ideas from Isaiah Hankel and real creative experience, it explores how depleted mental energy, busyness, and fragmented attention undermine productivity, even when motivation and ability are high.

This episode isn’t about fixing anything yet. It’s about noticing what drains your energy, what work expands when focus collapses, and how intelligence can start working against progress instead of supporting it. 

“Smart people don’t stall because they lack discipline. They stall because they see too much.”
Carter Ferguson 

LINKS Official website: https://www.filmproproductivity.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/filmproproductivity
Contact: https://www.filmproproductivity.com/contact
Indie Film Hustle Network: https://indiefilmhustle.com/ifh-podcast-network-filmmaking-and-screenwriting/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqo0Zld2Lm2lJDpDh3GsuZg

QUOTES
“Being intelligent doesn’t automatically make you effective.” Isaiah Hankel
“Clarity about what matters provides clarity about what does not.” Cal Newport
“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them.” David Allen
“The key is not to prioritise what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” Stephen Covey
“What we call interruptions are really the enemy of deep thought.” Herbert Simon
“What is important is seldom urgent, and what is urgent is seldom important.” Dwight D. Eisenhower
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge.” Daniel J. Boorstin

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED BY JAMES MCCREADIE & DEBBIE MAY

REFERENCES

• The Science of Intelligent Achievement – Isaiah Hankel
• Deep Work – Cal Newport
• The intelligence trap
• Finite mental energy
• Busyness as avoidance
• Attention fragmentation

Please check out my friends shows:
FILM FIGHTS WITH FRIENDS PODCAST with Stephen Koepfer and Paul Varacchi (etc)
THE FILMMAKERS PODCAST with Giles Alderson (etc.)
THE HORROR CUT with Stephen Kerr and Gary Hewitt
WILDE WORLD with David Wilde
FILMMAKING CONVERSATIONS with Damian Swaby

MUSIC & CREDITS

A Himitsu Music: Adventures by A Himitsu
Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE
Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8
Contact the artist: [email protected]
https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu
https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A