I think this is a common feeling, but I also think it's usually wrong.

It's no surprise that most 22 year olds think they're brilliant. But are they actually? Sometimes, yes, but usually, no.

I think with age comes a bit more humility about one's own brilliance. Perhaps because we find the limits of our own knowledge and we also meet others that truly are brilliant in some regard, which makes us question our own brilliance.

When looking back, it's normal to take our old high self-regard as real -- and compare it to our current, more realistic self-regard. But in fact, our youthful cockiness was often unearned.