There is a huge misconception about what causes someone to become successful. When we were children the education system coerced us to believe that intelligence was everything, that you would go super far if you had it. Now don’t get me wrong knowledge is powerful, it is necessary to achieve your goals, and it saves you from a lot of trouble, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s ALL you need or that it is the end all be all towards accomplishing your goals. Educating yourself about what you want to make happen is important, but this has to be coupled with a key ingredient that many people look over: work ethic.
According to Forbes, Dr. Brian Lima, MD details in his book “Heart to Beat” that, “work ethic, drive, and perseverance can often matter more than intellect or natural skill.” He also calls hard work the “poor man’s genius”. This is significant because when we think of a doctor we think of someone who lives and breathes education and intelligence, but even a doctor is telling us that work ethic is more important. Dr. Lima explains in his book that he got to where he is today by; “outworking his peers”, “relied on brute force”, and using willpower to beat the information into his skull. This means that you must put your knowledge into practice, you must be willing to put in the work required to make whatever dream you have a reality.
CEO and founder of “DaVinci Vaporizer, Cortney Smith says: “You can teach skills, but you can’t teach attitude and effort, and those are the things that make or break your success”, also according to Forbes. This proves my point that the proper disposition and effort is required to see your dreams thrive. A teacher can give his or her students all the materials needed to pass the class, but if the students don’t study, do their homework, come to school every day, get the help they need, pay attention, etc. The student is at high risk of failing not because they aren’t smart or capable enough, but because the work ethic is missing.
Think of work ethic and intelligence as a car, the directions are needed to get to the destination, yes, but you need the fuel/gas to get there as well. The directions can be seen as intelligent and the gas/fuel can be seen as the work ethic. You may know how to drive and how to get to the mall, but if you choose to lay in bed and say, “I’m not going out today” or “I don’t feel like going”; you will never get there no matter how much knowledge or skill you have.
If you bake a cake and miss out on a key ingredient, it doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have about baking the cake. If you don’t apply that knowledge the cake will still come out disgusting. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge you have, knowledge without application is empty and pointless. Work ethic is applying this knowledge. Work ethic coupled with knowledge is key to reaching your goals!
