Katie: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at the BusinessMakers.com/overtime. So Esther and I certainly like to draw from incredibly brilliant people, interesting bits of content for the show and today's no different. We found a wonderful blog post. Actually it's pretty darn short by Matt Mullenwag on his blog, which is probably the coolest personal URL ever. It's ma.tt MA.TT. I am jealous and that's not my name, but whatever and basically he was pointing out a very interesting piece of content about why intelligent people fail. I know that we've talked before on the show about how important a college degree is, how important reading, how important personal development plans are because we see time and time again very, very bright people not succeed. Of course there's always a variety of factors, but this is actually a really interesting look at some of the real reasons that those super brilliant people that you went to high school with are now working at McDonald's. And it happens. You know it.
Esther: Yep. Oh, absolutely. There's a lot of research that's been done on this and a lot of books that have been written and this article really is interesting. It's from 1994 this article and it's called Why Intelligent People Fail. So here are some of the reasons why. The first one: lack of motivation. So this is saying that talent is basically irrelevant if you're not motivated to use it in some kind of positive way. It reminds me of if you've seen the movie Goodwill Hunting where he's a math genius. He doesn't even go to school and he's just a mathematical genius, but he would rather work in the junkyard because he just isn't motivated to use it for good.
Katie: Exactly. I know that my parents always made a big deal whenever I was growing up to never tell me oh, you're so smart, you're so smart, you're so smart. Instead, and actually later studies have indicated that by telling a child or a co-worker or a student that you did a good job, you really worked hard and you really did it, you really did a good job. Not just like oh, what a pretty, smart girl you are. It's that work ethic that really is gonna bring you success. So another reason why intelligent people fail that's pointed out in this article is that sometimes there's a lack of impulse control. It says, 'Habitual impulsiveness can get in the way of optimal performance.' I know that this is something that I struggle with, not that I'm calling myself any sort of genius at all, but sometimes whenever your brain is going a million miles an hour it's really hard to not just fly off at the next bright, shiny thing or just to stick to what you're doing, ignore those impulses to whatever. So you just have to have that work ethic, have that motivation and just frickin' stick to it.
Esther: Yep. Another one that I think is really, really important is just basically lack of perseverance. If you don't have the skills and ability to see something all the way through, you're not gonna ever get anything done. You're gonna be one of those people who starts a lot of stuff and never finishes anything. That really does hinder your success.
Katie: So another obstacle to some success is very intelligent people's inability to delay gratification. So you're super smart. You know what the potential outcomes are. If you work really hard, you come up with a really brilliant project that nobody else has thought of, but maybe you can't hold back and wait for the big payoff or maybe you're just looking for that next little win instead of that big win that's gonna happen six months or five years down the road.
Esther: Right.
Katie: And it's hard to say no because success is sweet, but you gotta hold out.
Esther: If you wanna know more of the reasons why intelligent people fail, all you gotta do is Google Why Intelligent People Fail. You'll pull up the article and come up with your own opinions and let us know what you think at the BusinessMakers.com/overtime. Before we get out of here we're gonna give you our clues for our business scavenger hunt, which the prize of course is winning a free pass to the interactive strategies conference happening September 16th in Houston, Texas at the Angelica Theater. So Katie, what are our clues for the week?
Katie: Alright. So clue number one for a free interactive strategies conference pass, what Houston based entrepreneur fills her day with patterns, needles and do-it-yourself community building? Clue number two: what are two advantages to incorporating your business? Now I'm gonna give you a major hint here. I pointed - pointed this out to you to give you an advantage.
Esther: [Coughs intentionally]
Katie: Pointed it out to give you an advantage on the BusinessMakers.com.
Esther: That's all we're gonna tell you.
Katie: What are two advantages to incorporating your business and you can find all of those answers and so many more answers to the deep rooted questions in your life on the BusinessMakers.com.
Esther: That's right. Thanks for tunin' in this week.
Katie: We hope to connect with you all over the darn place, including the interactive strategies and also including Facebook.com/overtimeshow and Twitter.com/overtime show and of course you can always log onto iTunes and subscribe to our magic podcast. It comes right to you. So be sure to be collecting not just today's clues, but also go back onto our Facebook page and on the BusinessMakers.com/overtime and get those answers. We'll be letting you know how to submit them so we can pick you as the winner and hang out with you at the brides.com happy hour.
Esther: Yay.
Katie: You've been listening to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at the BusinessMakers.com/overtime. I'm Katie Laird.
Esther: And I'm Esther Steinfeld.
Katie: And we can't wait to talk to you next week.
