As I was coming up with an example of a personal story I could tell where hard work beat intelligence (and I can think of a few), I realized something:
It doesn’t matter.
Why? Because hard work is your only option, either way.
Let’s say you took an IQ test, right now. There are two possible outcomes:
- You come back with a result that’s below average, say 98.
- You come back with a result that’s above average, say 125.
I’d like to ask you:
Why should that change your work ethic in any way, whatsoever?
Would you work less hard if you found out you were a genius? Would you work harder if you found out you weren’t?
I hope not. I hope you know that, if you have a goal, your best shot is to work hard for it until you get it. No matter the circumstances.
There are a lot of things you can’t control:
- Talent.
- Luck.
- Circumstance.
- Intelligence.
How hard you work is just about the only thing you can control. Not just that, but it maximizes all the other things.
- If you use your talent often, you’ll build up a better record.
- If you work a lot, you’ll get more lucky breaks.
- If you put in the hours, bad circumstances will be compensated.
I don’t know what your dream is, but I hope you have one. When you really commit yourself to it, and make a promise to work hard for it, only one of two things can happen:
- One day, after many years of work, successes, failures, trials and triumphs, you get it.
- You die trying and are happy you gave it your all.
Because the only other option is to give up. To quit. To look at your dream and say:
“You’re not worth it. You’re too hard. I can’t chase you. I’m not strong enough.”
I don’t know about you, but that’s not an option for me. We only get one life.
I wrote this on a Sunday. At school, working. Less than 10 people were there. But I showed up anyway. Because for me, that’s part of being committed to my dream.
Whatever the right answer to this question is, I hope you’ll choose hard work either way.