Successful People
I’ve often wondered about the relationship between intelligence and financial success…
Why is it that there are so many people that are extremely well-off financially, even if they’re not the sharpest tool in the shed?
I started writing up my thoughts on this, and it quickly grew into something grotesquely huge…it quickly became a sprawling post of thoughts that I needed to drop and whittle down… breaking the issue down into manageable pieces.
For example, some of the constituent parts are:
- What do we think of as “intelligence” when we say someone is smart, intelligent, bright, etc.?
- What do we think of as financially successful?
I’m quite certain that all of us stereotype others whether or not we think it’s right (and whether or not we think we even *do* stereotype others).
Without going down that rat hole just yet, I still propose that there are many successful people that aren’t necessarily the smartest people… and that many, or possibly even most, of the smartest people are not the most successful people (or even successful at all). We’ll work the details out on the evidence of this later, but assuming that you agree for now – what could the explanation be?
I think it must be based on statistics and personality. People that are “dumb” enought to try something - to believe that something is possible. Being too smart for your own good comes into play here. How often have you heard someone say that “if I had known it was going to be this difficult, I would never have done it.” ? But they did do it, and now they’re immensely successful.
The “statistics” part is being willing to try and try (and try) again. It’s a numbers game in a sense – if you keep trying enough, eventually you’ll break out. Just yesterday, my dad mentioned a metaphor of a baby chick trying to hatch out of the egg… they don’t give up pecking away just because the shell didn’t crack open the first time… they keep pecking, and pecking, and they break out of the shell. If they don’t, well, you know what happens.
The personality part is not giving up. Being willing to try something new. Wanting something more. Not settling for the status-quo. Being willing to work hard for something you believe in. Without having these traits in your personality, you just won’t keep pecking… and the numbers most likely won’t play out in your favor.
So, to sum it up, I think the personality traits can vastly outweigh the intelligence factor. Being a little smart helps, but just because you may be smarter than the other guy doesn’t get you a free-ride into the “success club” without having to take any risks or having to do any hard work…
You’ve got to take risks… you’ve got to work hard… and the sooner you do it, the more often you do it, the more likely it is that you’ll be successful.
AND – A single taste of success is all it takes to fuel the fire to succeed again..and again… no matter what failures come your way.