Paul, you’re not working hard to become a smart kid, don’t you want to reign amongst the high and mighty? Don’t you know you need to study hard, sharpen your IQ, be the best in your class, come out with good grades and get a good job in order to become great?” Mum will always yell at me.
 
 
 
Mum was constantly saying I needed to be highly intelligent in order to become successful. Was she right? Do I really need a high level of intelligence to become great? Are you sure it’s IQ that really differentiate successful people from the second-rate? It looks logical, really, I however believe there’s more to being successful than being highly intelligent.
 
 
I wasn’t serious as a kid, in my book, “DARE TO LIVE YOUR DREAM” I talked about how I attended 6 primary schools and three secondary schools [that was very bad, right? Yes, you’re damn right!]. And at the university, I was just an average student – I struggled with some courses, passed some effortlessly, had a few carry-overs and had to spend an extra semester, precisely the first semester after my four years of study. 
 
 
I wouldn’t assume I’m intelligent, not a chance! I’m not yet successful, I know I’m far from it. However, I’m not doing badly. In my personal and professional assessment, I realise I’m doing much better than some folks with known higher level of intelligence. Many of them did greatly at school, and some graduated with fine grades.
 
 
Here’s my point: It takes more than high IQ to become successful, and it also takes more than low IQ to become second-rate. Get this straight up: between high IQ and low IQ lies the factors which determine success and failure, and not IQ in isolation. Studies have shown that more than anything else, it is our attitude that determines how successful we are.
 
 
I think you want to see this: A few years ago in New York, a thousand men and women were selected at random and tested for I.Q. Between the one having the highest I.Q. in this sample and the one with the lowest, there was a difference of only 2 1/2 times. But between the person earning the most, who by the way, was not the one with the highest I.Q. and the one earning the least, who was not the one with the lowest I.Q., there was a difference of 100X in income.
 
 
Consider this: Sometimes in 2012, Dangote Group of Companies made an ad for the position of Executive Truck Drivers and of the 13,000 applications received by the Dangote Group for the Graduate Executive Truck Driver, there were six Ph.D, 704 Masters and over 8,460 Bachelor degree holders.
 
 
Amazingly, I know a young man who dropped out of school because he was too dull to cope with school [he wasn’t intelligent in a closed system]. He couldn’t understand simple logics, solve simple arithmetic, grasp and connect simple truths, facts and meanings. He couldn’t even write well in English Language.
 
 
 
He learned Professional Photography and Photoshop two years after he dropped out of school, and after four years, he became a millionaire [he found his passion and engaged the brightness of his own ideas, in an open system]. He’s built houses and got himself two other businesses. He’s still a millionaire as I write this article.
 
 
What does that suggest? Having a high IQ does not guarantee success [it does not make you rich]. It’s possible to have a high IQ and still be broke and frustrated. Let me show you the fastest proven way to increase your earnings. Take the action exercises below, you will amaze yourself in no time.
 
 
ACTION EXERCISES:
 
 
Here are two things you can do to start increasing your earnings, regardless of your level of intelligence.
 
 
First, identify those with the highest earnings, the most successful people in your field and find out what it is that they are doing differently from others who aren’t doing as well. Copy them every day.
 
 
Second, set a goal to double your earnings over the next two or three years and then figure out how to accomplish that goal
 
 
“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 is omnipotent.”  ~ Calvin Coolidge 
 
 
Let’s hear from you: What’s the most important success factor: Intelligence, brilliance or attitude? Share your thought in the comment box below.

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