First of all, I need to say that being smart is a fine talent but I know a lot of average people that made it to the top of their world with average intelligence. Here are some of the factors that were important to me.
READING - One or both of my sisters loved to read and the started me down that path real early in life. I attacked reading to quiet some of the ADD demons that led me places I really didn't need to be. I read every book about Military Hero's that were in the Minneha Library. Is it any surprise that I chose to make a 30 year career out of the Military? Not to me.
Working Hard - If there was ever a skill that led me to get better jobs, it was the fact that I worked pretty darned hard at every job I had. I did have a few mentors that showed me what to do from time to time but outworking the other guys on the job gave me a leg up when the next job was ready to get filled.
Ideas - I am not sure where the skill came form, it was some from reading and some from making a few (OK many) mistakes as I came up through the learning and job systems that gave me a lot of ideas. Given a problem to solve, I would rather be with a room full of people and find the best ways to look at problems and solutions that fall out of the process. Yes, I am an extrovert and love to problem solve with groups. The real good thing is that I survived getting to the top and I am not afraid of making decisions that implement change. I listened to all the frogs but when it came time I could say "Watch my Lips."
Finding the right person. - I had a girl friend in High School that was a cute as she could be. The sad part was that deep down I knew she did not always make anything near the right choices in her behavior. It would have been easy to stop my growth and get married but that just wasn't the right thing to do. I really lucked out when I met my wife on a blind date. Cute, smart and always made the right decisions. She had really good goals and made sure that I knew she was on her glide path to those goals and if I wanted to join her I could but her goals were clear, achievable and measurable. I won't say that she hated to be poor but that was not one of her goals.
TRUTH - I am not sure who instilled that in me but telling the truth when it mattered was on the top of my list. Lets not confuse that with story telling where a god embellishment went a long was, but when it matters, tell the truth. In my work, one trait that I always did was go to my boss and tell him when I made a mistake. If it is not obvious, you generally don't get fired for making a mistake, what you do get fired for is using obfuscation to hide a mistake.
Good Common Sense - Occam's Razor is a wonderful guide. Generally the obvious answer is the right one. I am blessed to be able to see the right answer right out of the box and make it work. The principle of KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) also works well. I was blessed to have a Systems analysis once ask me to try out a program he was sent. It looked at what you wrote and not only spell checked, it gave a grade level for the writing you sent out. I was blessed to get a good education but needed some help to dummy down what I wrote to a level others could read and understand. I had on Boss that sent out a letter to start a new program. The first paragraph sent me to a good dictionary three times. I'll bet a lot of other people just ignored what was said and waited for someone to re-write it in simple English.
That's it, pretty simple. I also would advise you to find out what Dave Ramsey says about money. His program of spending less that you make is good advice that I just can't beat. The great news is that my Wife had us on the Dave Ramsey system prior to knowing who the heck Dave was.
MUD
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