Attitude– More Important than IQ

You’ve heard it before, but we’ll say it again: the manner in which you respond to a situation is both more important and more telling of you as a person than all your inherent character traits combined. Having a positive attitude and a growth mindset, even when things go wrong and you’re faced with failure, will serve you better in life than obsessing over raw talent or intelligence.

In his article “Why Your Attitude is More Important than Your IQ” Dr Travis Bradberry explains how some individuals, those with growth mindsets, believe they can improve over time with increased effort and determination. It is this belief and refusal to give up which sets the growth mindset apart from the fixed mindset. Bradberry suggests a few ways in which we can find success in life by dealing with our failures:

• Don’t stay helpless. If you haven’t already met with one failure or another, you most certainly will at some point. The trick to moving past it is to push away the feeling of helplessness and move forward, to bounce back and try again. Wallowing in failure and helplessness does nothing to help you on the road to success.
• Take action. The fear and anxiety which accompany instances of failure are paralyzing. People with growth mindsets realize this and consciously decide to take action, rather than let these paralyzing emotions rule their lives.
• Expect results. Know that failure will happen from time to time, but always demand results from yourself– have that expectation driving each renewed effort in the pursuit of success.

In other words, use the fuel of failure to stoke the fire of success. Only you have the power to turn perceived failures into perceived successes.

Photo: retrieved from Pixabay, available under the public domain.