Intelligence matters—but far less than many people assume. How you use your mind matters far more than how powerful your mind is. Once someone is “smart enough” to perform competently, differentiators become softer, learnable skills like conscientiousness, persistence, reliability, resilience, consistency, likability, and self-control. Society falls into the trap of overweighing IQ simply because it is a hard ability easier to measure than the softer skills of emotional intelligence.

A person with 130 IQ is not meaningfully more likely to succeed than someone with 115 IQ if the latter has better character and habits; many merely above-average individuals outperform brighter peers through sustained effort. Raw cognitive horsepower is just one variable and often not the most important one.

The point is that tremendous power over your future lies within you; your ability to marshal your will and harness your desire gives you far more control over your destiny than you realize. 

Closing Quotes:

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Tim Notke, high school BB coach

“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” – Thomas Edison, 1847-1931

“You don’t need to be a rocket scientist. Investing is not a game where the guy with the 160 IQ beats the guy with 130 IQ.” – Warren Buffett, b. 1930

“Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of a car is separate from the way the car is driven.” – Edward de Bono, 1933-2021

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not: unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge, 1872-1933, 30th President

As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier

Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832