High IQ or Strong Work Ethic. Wouldn't high IQ people have to work less and have more fun just because they have that gift?

 

Why do you think that this is an either-or proposition? If you have a high IQ, why can’t you also develop a strong work ethic?

Wouldn't high IQ people have to work less and have more fun just because they have that gift?

Sure, foolish short-term thinkers may do that, but they’ll soon realize that the world doesn’t reward doing easy things as much. Besides, you’ll get bored with your life if you always do easy things. Learning a hard skill does three things for you: (1) provides you with material comfort, self-respect and pride in one’s work, and intellectual engagement, (2) builds a strong work ethic, and (3) helps develop humility.

Education is a great way to achieve all three. It builds grit and mental discipline because the degree shows that you can stick with a challenging multi-year commitment without quitting when the going gets tough, and it gives you valuable skills if you pick the right course of study for you.

Uneducated high IQ people are usually useless for solving highly challenging intellectual problems because they give up too soon since they were never forced out of their comfort zone because everything was easy for them in high school. They never struggled to solve novel and challenging problems, and hence never develop the mental stamina. A challenging university program is great training for developing and honing intellectual skills.

It will also build humility, like when you see other smart and brilliant people (colleagues and professors) around you, when you see your test scores, and when you fail at something. You will fail at some point if you’re doing something that’s worth doing, and this will teach a lot of lessons.

In short, if you have a very high IQ, learn to solve harder problems rather than coasting through life. It’ll bring you more long-term satisfaction and will help you develop into a better human being.

Karan Mehta, PhD in EE