Before you naysayers disagree, keep in mind, this is coming from someone at least reasonably intelligent. It also follows with an explanation.
First, let's look at what intelligence is... A lot of people point to someone knowing more as being intelligent. Possibly, and partially true. We'll get back to that. Others say the ability to learn based on what you experience is intelligence. That's BS. Any dog will stay away from you if you kick it a few times. Does that mean a dog is smart? No. Learning based on positive and negative response is something even relatively stupid creatures can do. Others say that intelligence is required for problem solving. That, also, is BS. Ants do problem solving all the time. They reach a stream, and hundreds throw themselves at the stream until one finds leaves. Boom, they get across. Intelligence doesn't solve problems. Persistent attempts solve problems. It's true in human society also.
So why do some people learn faster than others? How is it that I know more than most people around me, when everyone takes in roughly the same amount of information in any given amount of time? Patterns. The intelligent person can recognize patterns and apply them to a situation. This allows him or her to apply guidelines in broad strokes to multiple situations, and thus, learn many seperate things at once, that others would have to learn individually. That's my take, at least.
Now, what is important in life? Well, many people want many things... But it could all be boiled down to one common factor. People want to be content. Basically, they want to be satisfied with where they are in life. They can still have goals or dreams, but to truly make life successful to you, you need to be able to look at yourself, and feel like you're where you want to be, and you're headed where you want to go. Now, most people will say that they either want money, or power, or a caring person who supports them in a relationship. These are not usually what people want. This is what people THINK they want, to get them to my idea above. Most of the time, they're wrong. People want risk, people want danger, people want to beat the odds. That's the short-term want that undoes contentment. That's throwing yourself at the stream, hoping that you're the ant that gets the leaf.
But let's say for a moment that every true path to contentment falls in one of three categories. These are:
(1) Financial well-being, and the comfort it provides.
(2) Power and influence, and the control it offers.
(3) A healthy relationship.
Assuming the above is true, and I think it usually is, let's compare intelligence to my two other landmarks of personal effectiveness. These are Social Skills, and Persistance.
Persistance, or the refusal to give up, probably accounts for more success than anything else. 33% of all businesses fail in the first year. Most successful business owners have failed in at least 2 businesses prior to their success. They learn from their negative stimulus of failure (something that even dogs do), correct their actions, and succeed in the future. The same applies to relationships. Over half of the marriages end in failure. Much more if you factor in relationships, and not just marriage.
Social skills... Many an idiot has made it rich through the simple con... Many an abusive person has kept a loved one or spouse by manipulating someone socially, making them feel inferior, establishing social dominance. Even in business, it's been said, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." Truer words were never spoken. Networking, working with people, that succeeds, not learning.
In short, charismatic people, especially persistant ones, rule countries. Smart people make bombs for them. Those social people, they get the girl, usually two or three that are fooled into believing everything they say. Smart people, they watch and wonder why they can't learn and solve the problem. It's simple. Knowing the solution, and implementing it, are two totally different things. Thus, intelligence is, at best, a way to get the road map. Oddly enough, you don't even need to make your own map. Smart people rarely make their own maps. They waste their lives, giving those few leaders, those few charismatic people, the keys to their success. Intelligent people tend to be nothing more than tools for the people with the skills and will to use them.
That's really what life seems to be about, after all. Who is using who. So, who's using you?
