On social media I have seen an inordinate amount of importance placed on a person's IQ score. I could cite specific examples but I'm reasonably sure that if you're reading this you've seen what I'm writing about. I have often read that a person's IQ score determines their success in a given field, or that a certain score means that person will be a doctor, scientist, or whatever, that an IQ score of 140 will change the world.
That is a myth. A person's IQ score does not determine what career he or she will get, and it does not determine how much he or she will change the world. It is more likely determination that determines those things. I agree with Thomas Edison; genius is ninety-nine percent perspiration. I write as one with experience. Or, rather, without. My IQ is very high, but what have I done? Certainly I am not considered a success by any means. I don't find schoolwork especially easy; obviously my writing needs work.
My point is, an IQ score is not a good measure of mental power, because mental power is more than the ability to solve puzzles and riddles. Mental power is much more sweat and hard work than some people realize. I do not doubt gifts, and I do believe that people can be given intelligence, but the person that gets the world handed to him or her on a silver platter often loses the determination that compromises true mental power. We may read a person's test results and believe they are smart, but the true greats are those who will work.
