IQ test

I was at the gym earlier, training for the 2006 NYC marathon, and was assaulted by the media.

Basically that means that there are TV’s planted in front of all the cardio equipment, so try as I could my eyes always wandered back to the pretty colors.

Something that caught more than my eye was the commercial for the new episode of "The Apprentice". Seems the tag line this season is "Street Smart vs. Book Smart." I have to give kudos to the producers; this concept is very appealing to me. Even more so for the thoughts it provokes.

What is intelligence, anyway? Does the fact that you have the Pythagorean Theorem memorized or know the capitals of all the states make you a genius? IQ tests them selves have been theorized as culturally biased and flawed for years.

I personally believe the most important asset of intelligence is completely overlooked.

Discipline.

The ability to sit down, focus, and work on something is essential to success. The longer the project, the more determined you have to be to accomplish it, the more admirable that person is for sticking with it.

The valedictorian of my high school was not the sharpest tool in the shed, but boy, did she work hard. She honestly spent at least three hours a day doing homework, if not more. In her spare time, to "rest", she would put together puzzles. Always working the brain. For every test she would study, study, and re-study. I swear one full point in my GPA is due to the fact she would have me grill her with her notes before every test. I learned from her study notes!

I suppose the reason I admire discipline so much is that I find it hard to accomplish in myself. I was always one of the kids who barely studied, scraped together just enough homework to get by, but still got good grades in school. As I got older and experienced more of life, I learned that there is no pride in living life that way.

Maybe that is why I pick such lofty goals for myself. After all, it’s not really achieving the goal; it is the journey that counts. This way I don't just work my brain muscle, I work my discipline one as well.

(Fun side note - I always use spell check, and it had to correct the word "intelligence" for me. Yeah.)