(Courtesy Gage Skidmore)
Although a high IQ and EQ are both important assets in achieving success in many endeavors, there are some high achievers who have made been able to achieve remarkable success through intense desire, tenacity and a powerful work ethic. Many of the celebrities in entertainment have attained high status through strong personal discipline and unrelenting effort.
For example, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who probably has an IQ that is higher than average, owes his success mainly to his passion for pursuing his dreams and his almost super-human discipline in achieving his goals. His intense desire to develop the best and most beautifully sculpted body in the world, prompted him to spend many gruelling hours in the gym, pumping iron and enduring the pain of exercising muscles until they fail. Reflecting on his success, Arnold stated, “What made me stand apart from my peers, though, was a deep, deep desire to build muscle and the intense commitment to let nothing stop me. (Schwarzeneggar, Arnold, The New Encyclopedia of Modern Body Building)
Arnold, through dogged determination and commitment to perfection, won the title, Mr. Olympia, an unprecedented seven times. He then parlayed his physicality into a career in movies such as, Terminator, where he was featured as a strongman. Then, he prevailed over the naysayers to play a comedic character in the movie, Twins. Putting his movie career on hold, Schwarzenegger went on to become the thirty-eighth governor of California.
In his recent book, (Schwarzeneggar, Arnold. 2023. Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life. Penguin Press) Arnold states (p. 75):
I bet you and I have a lot in common. We’re not the strongest, smartest, or richest people we know. We’re not the fastest or the most connected. We’re not the best looking or the most talented. We don’t have the best genetics. But what we do have is something a lot of those other people will never have: the will to work … If there is one unavoidable truth in this world, it’s that there is no substitute for putting in the work.
Indeed, Arnold Schwarzenegger is the poster person for the importance of desire, tenacity, and unrelenting tenacity in achieving success. Psychologist, Gene Landrum reporting on his research on the great entrepreneurs, advised, “Don’t strive to become rich; just pursue your passion, and the money will come in trucks.”
