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11-10-2007, 04:44 AM
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 Do you need High IQ to be successful? I think most of us at one point in time thought that in able to be successful in life that we have to be gifted or talented and even have a very high IQ. Then as we go along in life we meet and see average people doing better than the people who we thought would be more successful in life. I’m sure you have a friend who you thought would go far in life and someone you know that you thought would never go very far in life. Then you see them several years down the track and to your surprise, you find out that the person you thought didn’t have much hope for is actually doing better than the person who you thought would be all that. You might even fall into this category; you finished your bachelor degree at university and then you meet someone who didn’t spend their years at school has actually accomplished more than you and is earning more than you. There are plenty of these examples in life, where a blue collar job is doing better than a person who is in a white collar job. Don’t get me wrong, there are heaps of high wage paying white collar jobs and there are also heaps of low wage paying jobs… plus, high income doesn’t necessarily means that you are very successful in life. It just means that you are earning heaps of money … unless, if your definition of success means having lots of money. Most of us would think that you have to have a high IQ to be successful. I personally met heaps of people and tried to understand the differences between the successful ones and the not so successful. I tried to find out the relationship between having a high IQ and a low IQ and success. Clearly, the conclusion is that you don’t have to have a high IQ to be successful. It may help having a high IQ but the determining and underlying factor to success is not how much IQ you possess, it’s beneficial but it is not the crucial factor to success. Having a high IQ is actually like a double edge sword, it can work towards you or even work against you. Having a high IQ can actually hinder your success and I will explain this to you in a moment. It is like an inbuilt curse that will stop you from having what you want in life. Let me illustrate a real life story and example (for privacy reason I am going to name these two people John and Greg): John and Greg are both my close friends for the past 15 years. I’ve personally been there, seen them progress and grow in life; I was there in the sad and good times. About John; John is your so-called average guy, he’s the guy who doesn’t stands out in a group, doesn’t have much ambition in life. I once asked him what he wants to do and achieve in life and his response was “I don’t know,… live a normal life I guess.” So what are your plans after you get out of school? “…get a job I suppose”. John is not your A grade student, his more of like a pass or fail grade student. If I ask John right now what’s 7x7?... he wouldn’t be able to answer it, smile at me and turn the conversation in a joking manner. Despite that being said, John is a very good, kind friend whose friendship is second to none. About Greg; Greg is your A grade student, your so-called the popular guy, the alpha male. Greg have great ambitions in life, he is overflowing of his business ideas. Greg can speed read, have photographic memory, excellent with number crunching and very creative lateral thinker. Greg is also a very good and a kind friend. Ten years surpassed, Greg is working in a white collar job (financial service) and had finished his bachelor degree and John is a trade person (mechanic). Greg is renting and drives a nice car but complains about paying bills all the time. John is a house owner with 2 other properties that he is renting out. The words that comes out of John’s mouth are his personal jokes that would have you laughing for hours (lol),… yet John drives an average car. If you don’t know these 2 people personally and you see them on the streets, Greg would catch your attention, very successful with a nice car and dressed nicely in a casual semi formal suit. John on the other hand, well you wouldn’t even know his existence in his jeans, shirt and average car. Greg has traveled to several places and John’s question to Greg was… “Where’s Rome?” 5 minutes later I thought John was fooling around, but then I find out that he was serious about his question. I asked John how did he come about investing in properties, he looked at me puzzled and said (along the lines) “I didn’t know what to do with my money,… nice cars doesn’t really fancy me,… I always wanted a house with a nice fence and a nice pond in the backyard… then the next door neighbour was going overseas and wanted to sell their house… it had a garage and I hate leaving my car out in the rain and out in the sun because its not good for its body,… plus, it also had a lovelier fence and a bigger pond in the back,… so I bought it.” Don’t get me wrong, I am not suggesting that you live in jeans, shirt, drive an average car and don’t travel. I don’t intend to suggest that you sacrifice the things you want in life in able to get the other things. I also don’t intend to suggest that you live a simple life. That is not the moral of this story. I also hear you saying what’s IQ got to do with all of this. As the saying goes “If you don’t know where you want to go, the chances are, you won’t get there.” First, to be successful in life you need to know what you want in life. John and Greg both knew what they wanted. Greg wanted to travel and work in finance and John wanted a house with a nice fence and a nice pond. Both John and Greg achieved what they wanted, so you can count that as a success. But in my personal subjective opinion John is more successful because he is happier in his current state, rather Greg with his complaints in paying bills and the end sprouting results of living the high life. Success means being truly happy in what you’ve accomplished and being truly happy in what you do. If your definition of success is about materialism (your entitled to your opinion), well in this bout; John is still more successful than Greg because John actually has more money than Greg. • Personal assets minus debt owing; John has more money than Greg. • Bank account statement minus personal debts; John has more money than Greg. • Stress levels and positive outlook in life; John is less stressed than Greg. Cleary, two different people who have different levels of IQ can accomplish what they want in life. As I mentioned earlier on, having a high IQ can work towards you and in most cases it can work against you. IQ is not the underlying factor to success, it is your ability to focus and concentrate on achieving your goal. Focus is your way of steering your actions towards your goals. Once you lose focus, you lose steering and control. When you lose focus, you lose your control and you lose direction. Having a high IQ gives you an advantage in solving problems. This is due to the ability to think laterally, to come up with an unconventional idea in solving the problem. A person with high IQ can find more solutions in solving a problem than a person with a low IQ. If you present an item to a person with high IQ there are hundreds of ideas that will sprout in their heads. Compared to a low IQ, only several ideas will sprout. Having plenty of ideas is good, but sometimes it can be worse. It can leave you un-decisive because there are too many options. That is the curse of having a high IQ; having so many ideas. People with high IQ tend to lose focus due to the flight of ideas in their heads. They are prone to starting things and not finishing what they started, this is because they moved on to a newer idea and other things. I’m sure you remember the story of the turtle and the rabbit?... well the turtle had one thing in mind, and that’s to finish to the finishing line. The turtle didn’t think about his speed nor the time when he’ll finish,… the turtle didn’t even think about his chances against a fast running rabbit. Ok during the race, the rabbit lost focus. An idea came to his head that he should rest since the turtle is very slow, he thought he should take a nap because it will take awhile and the rabbit thought that he couldn’t possibly lose the race. Rabbit, plenty of ideas and lost focus: turtle, one idea and stayed focused. In the end, the turtle won and arrived at his destination. It’s not what you don’t have that will determine your success; it’s what you do with what you got. The positive thing about having a low IQ is that it is less likely to get distracted; this is because it is focused at one thing only. All energy is focused into one thing, rather than sharing the energy to multiple things. People with low IQ tend to approach things in a simple and direct manner. You know, having a high IQ can lead you to having hundreds of ideas of increasing your wealth, on the other hand it can also lead to hundreds of ideas of spending it. Do you need high IQ to be successful? Having a high IQ doesn’t always equal to success.      |
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11-10-2007, 06:21 AM
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 I'd sum up above with following.. High IQ + Right Mindset/Attitude = Great success and happy life. High IQ + Wrong Mindset/Attitude = Complete failure possible also dangerous to society. eg. Hitler Low IQ + Intense Practice and Right Attitude = Great success and happy life eg. James Watson, the discoverer of DNA, has an IQ of about 115 — about the IQ of most college students. He claims that his great success was due to his persistent curiosity, something not measured by IQ tests. Low IQ + Right Attitude = so so success but happy life Low IQ + Wrong Attitude = failure and end up in jail I would like to give example of William James Sidis, He was the highest IQ person ever lived. Sidis "easily had an IQ between 250 and 300". Also He is the famous example of "High IQ and Wrong attitude" He didn't contributed anything long lasting good to the world. Einstein and Edison had lower IQ than this guy !! If all of us have powerful internal resources, why do so few produce exceptional results? Why is it that only a handful in every society or country are able to generate brilliant ideas, stay focused and motivated, take consistent action and produce a level of success we can only admire? The difference lies again in the way we use our brain. Or waste it. Your thoughts, behaviors, abilities and skills are determined not by the number of brain cells you have, but rather by how your neurons are connected together. All of us have different neuro-connections and that is why we think and behave differently. If someone you know is extremely good in numbers, it is because he has a lot richer neuro-connections in the area of mathematical-logical thinking. At the same time this person may not be very confident in the way he communicates, because he may have poorer neural connections in this different area of intellect. The same goes for our emotions and habits. If you are always lazy and unmotivated , it is because your brain cells are wired in such a way that you consistently fire off negative emotions like procrastination. People who are constantly focused and motivated have a very different set of neural patterns wired up in their brain. The kind of neuro-connections you have now is determined by how your brain has been exposed and stimulated, even before you were born. Your neural patterns began developing twenty weeks from the time of conception, in your mother’s womb. The good news is that if you have insufficient or ineffective neural connections in any area, you can create more useful connections through stimulating your brain in the right way and creating the right kind of mental patterns. You can also reprogram limiting patterns such as phobias and bad habits. Research into the brain has shown that in a lifetime, the average person uses less than one percent of the total number of possible neural connections that can be formed in their brains. With 1000 billions neurons, each having the capability of making thousands of neural connections with one another, the total possible number of connections, if permutated, would be far in excess of the number of atoms in the universe. In other words, there is nothing the human brain cannot achieve, with the right strategy and stimulation. Last edited by shivraj : 11-10-2007 at 07:35 AM. |
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11-10-2007, 06:42 PM
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 IQ is obviously only 1 factor. One thing I found funny from the post... your friend with supposedly high IQ rents and spends lots of money on depreciable property? That right there indicates that maybe he doesn't use his intelligence and other factors probably influence him more. |
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11-10-2007, 07:17 PM
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| IQ is only one of the factors that can bring success to people. I definitely think that the main factor concerning success is focus and where the person wants to get, then have a plan to get there. In your story, Power, you said that Greg was full of plans and was very energetic and ambitious. But he then must have not been as smart as you thought, because if he had even a little of financial knowledge he should know that investing in depreciable properties, as Jim11 said, is definitely not the way to wealth, much the opposite; the person ends up full of bills and with little to or real wealth at all. Greg obviously lacked two things: A plan to reach his goals and basic knowledge to reach them. Another huge factor that contributes to success and i'm curious as to why it hasn't been mentioned yet is EQ, the emotional intelligence. A high EQ makes us better in handling with other people. This is just as important as IQ. There are many other factors, but summarizing, i believe that these are the main ones: IQ, EQ, goal setting and focusing on the plan to achieve it, persistence/discipline, and optimism.
__________________ All that matters is results. |
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11-10-2007, 07:42 PM
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 I took an IQ test once....my score was 91....and I'm a college student.  |
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11-10-2007, 08:03 PM
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| High IQ NOT required A high IQ definetely isn't required to be successful in life, although it may help in certain situations. I've found that intelligence isn't usually the determining factor in one's success. A high IQ is nice, but there is another factor that is required for success. This factor is personal power, self discipline, and having a clear vision of where you want to go. Take two people for example: Person A is an incredibly smart computer scientist, who's intentions reach no further than landing a good job with a well-known company. He unconsciously has a future vision of working for this company until retirement. He is your is a 9-5 working American. He doesn't have any large ambitions or goals, only to keep his job and do what he is good at. Person B has a below average IQ, and is a college dropout, who was never satisfied with the benefits he has received from education, but is highly motivated to achieve something in life, despite his past set backs. He has a grand vision of overcoming limitations, such as his IQ, and truly achieving something remarkable. He has made a clear agreement with himself, that no matter what happens, he will continue to learn and strive for success despite any blockages in his path. It is a deeply held belief of his that he is responsible for everything in his life, and if he is to achieve success, it is up to him. These are obviously two very different people, and I realize I am exagerating this just a tiny bit, but it is the principle I trying to demonstrate. Most likely Person B will achieve far greater wealth and success than Person A. But then again, both people may be achieving their own idea success, since it is a personal preference of which you decide what is needed to be considered succesful. Yes, IQ will definitely help you achieve success. But your PPQ (Personal Power Quotient) is also a very important factor, that cannot be excluded from the success equation.
__________________ First there was The Secret. Now, a new film has arrived. Learn more at The Opus Movie Community and receive a free gift when you join. Last edited by LawofAttractionHandbook : 11-10-2007 at 08:04 PM. Reason: typo |
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11-11-2007, 12:23 AM
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| I don't think that's it's intelligence, rather creativity. I've noticed that the richest people in the world have seriously thought the best ways to make money. People with a powerful right brain are usually the CEO's of the company because they thought of some crazy way to connect people (facebook) or sell knowledge (david deangelo). |
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11-11-2007, 02:29 AM
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But creativity is triggered by a high intelligence. In order for creativity to take place, intelligence is necessary.
__________________ All that matters is results. |
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11-11-2007, 04:34 AM
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Actually John F. Kennedy had a reported IQ of 119.. 
__________________ All that matters is results. |
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11-11-2007, 05:05 AM
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I agree with Sam that high IQ is necessary for creativity. There these 2 are in the same domain. I guess EQ comes in when the targeted success requires dealing with people. Perhaps for success that does not require much interpersonal connections, EQ may not be something too relevant. Talking about IQ score, i havent take one before. Can anyone suggest any website that provide such test? |
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11-11-2007, 07:54 AM
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__________________ <jamariquay> I never understood the need for people to kill for their religion. Then I remembered, "Wait. If Optimus Prime tells me to gack someone, that ****er's going down." |
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11-11-2007, 10:34 AM
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| If you examine the scientific literature, you will find that there is indeed some relationship between IQ and creativity. However there is also some relationship between creativity and mental illness.  Which must mean that there is some relationship between high IQ and mental illness.  Harvard Gazette: Creativity tied to mental illness |
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11-11-2007, 10:47 PM
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You also have to take into account that he wrote about history. History is no field where you normally get name recognision or do you know another historian that died around his death? A lot of buddhistic monks also live in some monastry and are soon forgotten after they die. That doesn't necessarly mean that they didn't have success in their lives. (Sidis said that he wanted to live a life in seclusion) Quote:
EQ isn't only about dealing with other people.
__________________ I am always open for feedback on my posts. That might focused on the argument at hand or on my writing style. If your feedback would go offtopic feel free to send me a Personal Message. I don't believe in Beliefs. |
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11-12-2007, 12:15 AM
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| Sure you can succeed without a high IQ. Anything is possible if you apply yourself. Who knows, you might even get elected president, twice in a row!
__________________ Martial Arts for Personal Development Blog |
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11-12-2007, 02:14 AM
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Generally, in my view, it depends on what your view of success is. If you consider success as working for a charity organization all your life (or being a lightworker - putting a Pavlina spin on it ) then you're less likely to achieve fame or the wealth that a CEO or an artist/musician (etc.) potentially could. Therefore, does that mean you're less successful? If you're talking in terms of academics/the arts or business, then yes, i think you do need a certain amount of Intelligence (Not necessarily I.Q - because you can get a low I.Q score and still be intelligent) but you do need an above average intelligence. If you don't have the intelligence, you can't have the creativity, if you don't have the creativity, you can't have the academic success, because you need the creativity to think in new ways/patterns /original to achieve the success. Creative people are 'more open to incoming stimuli'. Intelligent folk stream and filter the excessive stimuli effectively turning it into creative solutions, less intelligent people don't and therefore develop mental health problems such as Schizophrenia. to be creative, you can be crazy & bright but certainly not stupid. And yes, apart from creativity, you need a host of other qualities. IMO, you need the intelligence to have the creativity to have the originality to be different to be successful. Follow my train of thought.  Last edited by Jugga J : 11-12-2007 at 02:16 AM. |
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08-25-2008, 01:20 AM
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| Hi people, when i was 12 my parents took me to a psychological center. They did me an IQ test. The reason i went there is cause i was passing through a period of constant stress caused mainly by a school contest. The people there did me the IQ test but i never was told about it. Later my father told me the people there did me the IQ test and i had an IQ of 123 which is above average. I couldnt believe it at first time. But when i entered junior high school sometimes i didnt even studied for tests and had grades of above b mostly. I won a contest having 180 of 200 questions right. I studied like 1 hour for that test, i could have like 195, i didnt realize i passed an answer so i answered the question with the next question. Is like 1-B 2-C 3-I Passed this one and i answered this one with 4. I had all the questions right in this matter. I was always good for Math and Physics. Right now im in College 3rd Semester. The point here is that all my life since that period of stress ive felt really bad. I feel stress almost about everything. I feel really unhappy i feel my life has been a failure. Maybe is cause i used to pretend to achieve so much. But ive felt like that, ive had suicide thinkings, i know is the worst idea in the world but ive had it. Ive made a webpage with no more help than google, ive made and configured games servers like counter strike with no help. All that maybe is not the big deal but is something that no one i know knows to do. So i say to myself whats the point of life? Ive been trying to have a reason to keep it a reason to overcome. I dont really have it right now, im doing things just cause i know i have to do them. So i say IQ is not really necesary to be succesfull. |
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08-25-2008, 03:05 AM
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| newuserint, did you see the post above about the connection between high IQ and mental illness? I've heard that before too, but I don't know how true it is. But I guess what it means is that the likelihood of having mental illness increases with your IQ? (I don't know what country you're in, but here in the USA we classify mental illnesses. There's a huge distance between being psychotic, scizophrenic, or higly delusional and being depressed, anxious, or manic. So when I say mental illness I don't necessarily mean you're hallucinating or hearing voices or whatever.) You have been struggling with anxiety and depression since you were a little kid. That's in addition to your intelligence level. Life can be really hard for some people, regardless of how intelligent they are. I went through a somewhat similar situation, with a "surprise" IQ test and being sent to a "special" class for gifted students, though I was never specifically told I was "gifted" and no one ever mentioned any numbers. But like you I have struggled with that whole, "what's the point" question. If I'm so smart, then why am I such a mess? It's one of the reasons I've been hanging out at the stevepavlina.com forums and reading my way through all of Steve's and Erin's blogs. So, I agree with you. The answer to the question, "Do you need High IQ to be successful?" is simply stated: NO. And you, newuserint, need to get some professional help. That suicidal thinking...that's really sad, and you can make it go away forever. But why do it on your own? Consider that there are people in this forum who earn their living by working with people like us. I know that asking for help can really be hard sometimes. Still, I think you should screw up your courage and ask somebody. I can think of several other things to say, in fact I have. But then I deleted it all because it started to sound like a lecture. So I'll just tell you, I wish you the best, and stop here. |
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08-26-2008, 04:21 AM
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| Thank you jenlili. Ive been going to psychologist all my teen years, they have helped me but i dont get to not think negative, i always have those thinkings and its so hard to deal with them. So i want to know what do you do to avoid them? What kind of activities you do? What do you do on your freetime? That would be really helpful. |