Your Intellect Is Not Enough

Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash

It seems to me that being smart isn’t enough. 

Not when you’re trying to get something personal, something important, done. 

You can intellectually understand what you need to do. You can comprehend why you need to do it. You can even detail how you need to get it done. 

But there’s still no guarantee that you’re going to do it. 

Sure, knowledge is important. I can’t possibly expect to lose weight unless I understand what that weight loss entails. I can’t possibly write that book or complete that program or launch that personal venture unless I know what I have to do.

But I’m not going to do any of those things unless I believe I have to do it. Unless I emotionally buy in.

And this requires personal, emotional stakes in the outcome. You have to feel that the doing will lead to you becoming. There has to be some sort of visceral, personal, tangible benefit. One that you can detail, understand and internalize. Of course, this can be positive or negative. You could be moving towards something (doing X gives me financial security) or running away from something (not smoking will help me avoid lung cancer).   

True success is borne of conviction, and that conviction has both intellectual and emotional underpinnings. 

We must not only rationally accept the need for the change, we must also feel it in our bellies.