Clearly it's two sides of a coin for you and you are immensely intelligent--I wonder if in school it was lack of ability to focus or whether you are so smart that you didn't need to focus--that is something that I can identify with--your back of the lecture hall, not paying attention, reminded me of myself in law school, where I often just sat doing the New York Times crossword puzzle and the kids that did take notes came to me to explain the cases to them, because I understood them from the reading--I didn't need to intently listen to the professors.

I suspect though that since you are aware of the downsides and recognize situations in which it hampers you, that you can choose to remain more focused when it would serve you to do so. At some point, "Priyanka being Priyanka" won't be overlooked by someone and you will be upset.