That's the separating question, then: to you, is it worth all that? It is for me.

I'd bet that most of the failing YC founders learned important lessons from their failures. Nobody succeeds every time.

Sure, it's worth all that. I'd trade both arms for Newton's brain. (I could always learn to write with my feet.)

The problem is, it is not at all a foregone conclusion that you will become one of the greats just because you throw most of your life at it. Should a retard give up on his life's goals sooner, later, or ever?

How hard have you worked on the fundamentals in the areas you want to master? Newton slaved for years in deliberate practice to connect the neurons you admire so much. Many people who think they are doomed to mediocrity in fact are not. What exactly are your goals, where are you now and what are your habits? Maybe you are too stupid to achieve your dreams, but more often I think people are too lazy.

How disciplined are you? Everyone values genius, welcome to the crowd. It is a convenient excuse to obsess on others' talent as if genes and childhood were all that separated you from them. You appear to be focusing too much on outcome rather than on the hard work necessary to achieve it. Skills always look natural from the outside! But ask the honest, reflective people you admire and they'll tell you: they worked their butts off on fundamentals. Psst: fundamentals are open to you too.

Don't obsess over shortcuts. I would love to see you explain to a person with no arms how you'd gladly cut yours off for slightly better gray matter.

Practice with intense effort. If forum composition and wordsmithing is a challenge, discipline your technique by journaling stream-of-consciousness. To improve your memory treat it like a muscle: high reps, low weight at first.

How is your health? Do you exercise, eat right, avoid alcohol, have a positive attitude and sleep well? These are simple but powerful levers.

Talent is overrated. Upgrade your attitude not your physical brain, silly. :)

The latter is what I meant. I think most people would trade everything to be one of the greats. But is it worth it for the shot at being one of them? I'd say absolutely.

Not to mention: as you go for it, you find better and better people along the way.

I guess the difficult work could be delegated to geniuses who want to work with you, while you complete the work within your means.

It's hard not to be devilishly jealous of their towering talent, though. Also, I'd imagine it would be extremely hard to earn their respect, so it they would be hard or impossible to find, or to keep.

You bring up a really interesting point. To me, doing the work myself matters more than realizing the vision. I never knew that about myself before, so thank you.

I just wanted to reply to this to see how far to the right the text would go.

I sense a leap here. Are you saying that you have to be a genius to make your startup succeed? If so, you are wrong.