GS Article 4

HOW TO MAKE YOUR GOALS BIGGER THAN YOUR IQ!

by Rajen Devadason

God will not look you over for medals, degrees or diplomas, but for scars.

Elbert Hubbard

You see, even though we live in a global society that elevates the importance of IQ, the truly successful people in life aren't always the most intelligent, as figured by conventional IQ tests like the MENSA one I coughed and sneezed my way through in London more than two decades ago! 

There are other metrics or yardsticks that are more relevant to solid long-term success. For instance, in Daniel Goleman's groundbreaking book Emotional Intelligence, he asks, "What factors are at play, for example, when people of high IQ flounder and those of modest IQ do surprisingly well?"

Goleman goes on to answer his own question: "I would argue that the difference quite often lies in the abilities called here emotional intelligence, which include self-control, zeal and persistence, and the ability to motivate oneself."

The way I see it, while pure IQ is a useful indicator of potential, it is not the be all and end all of success. If you have a high IQ, please accept my congratulations, but don't let it go to your head (bad pun intended)!

Just scoring a higher number on a test doesn't make you a better human being any more than weighing more or standing taller than your neighbour makes you a superior specimen of our species.

Conversely, even if you don't have a stratospheric IQ, that also may be reason for congratulations. Whether it is or not, depends solely on you.

The true predictors of success are nestled in your heart, not your head. Your ability to exercise compassion, love, self-discipline, long-term sacrifice, even delayed gratification in the realm of personal finance, all count for much, much, much more!

So, I would suggest that if you have been feeling depressed about your life, you should bring things back into sharp focus by making a list of all your strengths - actual and potential.

Spend time doing this exercise... on paper and preferably all by yourself. Don't rush.

Give yourself permission to work on this life-altering exercise slowly and meticulously. If you complete it in less than an hour, you wouldn't have done the exercise or yourself justice!

Once you have a long enough list, then make another one, this time of your key lifetime goals. This exercise should take even longer.

My experience and research have taught me that in most countries, 97% of individuals don't have written goals.

This means only 3% of people do. Guess which group ends up working for the other?

Do write your goals down - include important physical, spiritual, financial, emotional, career, intellectual and social goals, plus anything else you can think of. Then prioritise them.

Once you have that tidy second list of goals, lay it by the side of that earlier written list of personal strengths I asked you to generate. (If you didn't pen down that list, now's a good a time as any to get cracking on an exercise that could very well help you leap ahead of most of the people you know in the decades ahead.)

Once you get around to putting those two lists - the first of your strengths and the second of your cherished goals - side by side, just a wee bit more of brain strain and imagination will magically allow you to begin to see connections, possibilities, avenues and plans in embryonic form.

I urge you to develop them...

I plead with you to act on them...

Simply because I know you will thrive through them.

© Rajen Devadason