How Smart Do You Have to Be to Succeed?

To summarize, the study started with the smartest group of children in the entire state of California and then tracked their success throughout their entire lives. Decades later, the researchers had discovered something very interesting.

Although many people continue to equate intelligence with genius, a crucial conclusion from Terman’s study is that having a high IQ is not equivalent to being highly creative. An IQ of 120, indicating that someone is very smart but not exceptionally so, is generally considered sufficient for creative genius.”

Rather, there is a minimum threshold of intelligence that you need to have, and after that it comes down to a lot of deliberate practice, putting in your reps, and developing your skill set.

In 1921, there was a psychologist at Stanford University named Lewis Terman who set out on a mission to conduct a research study unlike any before it.

Entrepreneurship: Assuming you know what the most important metric is for your business, what makes the biggest difference is focusing on that metric every day. Once you cross the basic threshold of knowing what to work on, the most important thing is continuing to work on that one thing and not something else.

Threshold Theory in Everyday Life

Writing: Assuming you understand the core principles of writing and the basics of grammar, what determines your ability to write well more than anything else is writing a lot. Once you reach the threshold of writing a decent sentence, the thing that leads to success is writing more.

But nearly every lineman in the NFL is over 300 pounds. There is a threshold that you have to cross to get the job. After that, it's anyone's guess as to who will be the best. We can think of intelligence in a similar fashion.

The surprising discovery that came out of Terman's study is best described by creativity researcher and physician, Nancy Andreasen as Threshold Theory…

Weightlifting: Assuming you've met some minimum threshold and are doing reasonably effective exercises (like these) with reasonably effective form, the details don't really matter that much. Once you've passed this basic threshold, what makes 95% of the difference is this: Are you showing up to the gym and putting in your reps?