|
First, being smart has little relation to riches. It can be a liability. Why? Because there are dozens of other factors that are way more important. Other people have listed many of them. By framing this the way you did, says a lot. I have been there too though so don't feel bad. Getting rich is a bit of a mystery and an art. Here's some qualities or skills that can be key based on my experience: emotional intelligence, team building, strategy, understanding people, networking, solving real human problems, marketing, desire and determination, risk taking, timing, luck, commitment, likability, confidence, purpose, leadership, finance, understanding markets and trends, design, branding, execution (endless work and crazy hours), speed, connections to people with money... it goes on and on. You can't really have all of these so in the end, you have to work with people that do and figure out which you need to develop. We all have ego. Ego tells us how smart and great we are to ourselves. It discounts other people, their qualities, blinds us to where we really need to improve, etc. It is the enemy of progress 80% of the time. We all really know a lot less than we think. The world is complex, changes, and moves fast. Starting out with average intelligence, but a commitment to learning aggressively and meeting people and treating them well is 1000X better place to start. Doors open for that person. There are multiple ways to get rich. But most revolve around business. Businesses are almost never run or created by smart engineers or super technical people. It just so happens that most of us are in technology so it seems like it. But in reality, there's millions of businesses out there that make unbelievable money that have nothing to do with tech. Even tech companies need a lot of people with different qualities other than engineering or simply smart people. Other ways to at least do well while working a regular job: investing, real estate, side hustles, saving money, etc. In the past 20 years, if I put more aside into stocks and real estate I would easily have $1.5M to $2M. Hitting base hits consistently is often the way to go. I always have wanted to get rich to solve the money problem. It won't happen until I focus on adding real value to other people. It can't be about me. Which also means it can't really be about getting rich. That can only be one underlying motivating factor but primarily it has to shift into focusing on others. |