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Author @ivanfioravanti (quoting Guido @Full_Metal_QR) posted on 2026-05-10 and…

2026-05-10 · 15:45 UTC ·@ivanfioravanti ·2 min read

Brief

Author @ivanfioravanti (citing Guido/@FullMetalQR) argues that determination and an unusually high tolerance for stress, not just intelligence or education, determine who achieves greatness. He warns that 'balance' often hides surrender, urges working nights and weekends on childhood dreams—build apps, write, start projects—and insists on relentless repetition until something 'sticks.'

Why it matters

Author @ivanfioravanti (quoting Guido @Full_Metal_QR) posted on 2026-05-10 and claims determination plus an 'almost unnatural tolerance for stress' predicts achieving great things more than intelligence or education.

Key details

  • He explicitly rejects cautious adulthood and 'balance' as surrender—writing 'Fuck your balance'—and urges using free time, nights and weekends to 'learn the thing,' build apps, write, start projects and make calls.
  • Persistence strategy: after repeated failures, keep trying—'throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick'—because the small success that sticks can become the pass to your wildest dream.
Source evidence

"Here's to the crazy ones." 💪
Keep dreaming, keep building, keep pushing. Always.

Guido (@FullMetalQR)

People usually think the main determinant of whether you'll achieve great things in life is some combination of intelligence and education. I don't think that's true. Of course intelligence helps, and education helps too, but the thing I keep noticing is that the real predictor is determination mixed with an almost unnatural tolerance for stress. Most of us start with dreams at t0. Some people are more delusional than others, sure, but when you're young you don't dream in reasonable terms. You don't hope to build a safe, acceptable, mildly disappointing life. You want the whole thing.

Then life starts doing what life does. You fail at something you cared about. Someone leaves. Your body betrays you. A project dies. You embarrass yourself. You put real effort into something and nothing comes back. Not even a sign. Not even a small confirmation that the person you imagined becoming is still possible. And after a while, you start seeing people change. Not all at once, and almost never dramatically. They don't wake up one morning and announce that they've given up. They become more reasonable. More careful. More mature, maybe. They start calling their old dreams unrealistic. They start saying things like "life is about balance" or "you have to be practical." And sometimes they're right. But sometimes it's just surrender dressed up in adult language.

Fuck that. Fuck your balance. I mean, yes, we all need a safety net. Do what you have to do as professionally as possible, then go insane on your dreams. The ones you had as a kid. Use your free time. Use your nights. Use your weekends. I don't care. Learn the thing you wanted to learn. Build that fucking app. Write the thing. Start the project. Make the call. And if everything fails miserably, do it again, and again, and again. And then do it again.

Because trust me, if you throw enough mud at the wall, some of it will stick. And that small part, the part that finally sticks, might become the pass to your wildest dream.

— https://nitter.net/FullMetalQR/status/2053461243223011329#m