This week, I got into a terrific debate with a strange gentleman on Twitter.
It ended when I realized it was going nowhere fast, but in the process I learnt a profound lesson about what it means to be truly intelligent… maybe even the DEFINITION of intelligence…
When I say intelligence I’m talking about intelligence in your business, and in your life – that force that allows us to make quality decisions, sound judgements, and generally make our ways more easily through the maze of life.
Let me tell you what it is…
This debate was about people, life, the “nature” of human beings, work, and values… yes, it became rather convoluted. A critical point was reached when this gentleman said (and the meaning of this statement isn’t changed being outside the context of the argument)…
“Funny that those who make the most money work the hardest … and the longest hours. I admit, it’s a tough one to swallow.”
Now, to you or me, that statement is obviously false. Not only on the internet but in any business, the people who make the most money – the business owners – quite often (not always) in fact work the least.
You or I know that beyond doubt… but this gentleman, in his mind, from the knowledge that he’s gathered, won’t hear a bar of it. Not only does he find it to be a fact, but he believes it so strongly that his second statement implies that to him, it’s beyond discussion!
He had gone on to build entire theories, ideas, BELIEFS (which we know affect our lives greatly) around that, and likely other, false assumptions.
I realized at that point that all of us have ASSUMPTIONS that we’ve made, about life, about business, about money, about people…
We have assumptions, that we believe are facts. If you go digging through your brain for them, you wouldn’t find them in the “assumptions” department, you’d find them in the “truths” department.
And we develop beliefs out of these assumptions, and the beliefs direct our actions and so affect our lives.
We thought we were doing the right thing when we made the assumptions, we thought they were facts but we were missing some extra information, so now, we’re running on a piece of software with a major bug!
And here’s the kicker…
We build a whole house of knowledge upon those foundational assumptions and we build the house without any WINDOWS. Our houses lack a portal through which we can see, or be influenced by, all the houses of knowledge that are right outside our own. We can’t take in any new information, so we can never change those foundational assumptions that shackled us up in our houses in the first place!
So what can we take from this?
I invite you here to look inside your mind, and see if you can find some “facts”, perhaps some that you’ve believed for a long time, and ask yourself the question “could this be false?”…
This is HARD to do… and scary! To confront the thought that a fact that you may have made many life decisions based upon, might have been false. You’ve gotta have some serious courage to do this!
But give it a shot…
Think about the things you believe to be true about online business, what it takes to make money online… or outside of the web, what you believe about people, about the world… about life itself?
Dig them up and put them under the spotlight for a moment. Ask “Is this REALLY true?”
When I personally did this, I found MANY. Things that I’d clinged to, argued with people about, and believed so strongly… that upon review, can quickly be seen as wrong. Because we’re always gaining new knowledge, but we rarely go back to update the brain softwares we installed based on our older knowledge!
Finally, let me leave you with this thought…
Imagine if people at all levels of society, were able to be intelligent like this. If they were, instead of being so insistent upon their own knowledge houses being superior, could keep their windows open, recognize and challenge their own assumptions when necessary, and be able to take on new information or ideas when it is helpful or productive to do so…
Different world, wouldn’t it be?
So my new definition of intelligence is to have a house of knowledge with some windows. A house that’s solid and strong but has those all important portals to let you look out onto the street. And of course to live in that house with the humility of Socrates who said:
“The only true wisdom is in knowing, that you know nothing”
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Some deep stuff you wrote here Andrew.
Regarding this particular guy asumption, in our own Internet Marketing field, it is quite true that to make the big numbers you need to pull the hours. It goes with your posts regarding our industry and all the “get rich quick” scams out there.
It is very hard to make it online without spending a lot of time building this income.
Nevertheless I agree with the fact that, among others, our education, our religious and social beliefs blindside us and prevent us from opening our eyes to other truths.
We’ve got to evolve and develop a new, more crative and tolerant, mindset.
Andrew, I’m not sure your basic premise is any better than his. You say “obviously” we know his statements are false, but outside the world of IM I think you will find the majority of business owners burning quite a bit of midnight oil.
And, in most cases, the business owners who work the least *now* had to put in double-time to get to the point where their business is self-sustaining.
As humans we have the tendency to look at and evaluate things in stasis – how they appear to be at a specific point in time (like a single point on a number line). The art of “critical thinking” measures the dynamics of things in flux. Past, present, and future (potential) are all considered.
Case in point – you tend to believe owners work fewer hours because of the people you know and relate with. But, how many non-IM business owners run in your circles?
In my business (contract software development), it is common for me to find client/owners in their offices way earlier than their employees and then late into the evening. So, to me, it is NOT something “(you and) I know that beyond doubt” they work fewer hours.
Hey Wally,
Thanks for your thoughts.
At the end of the day, neither he OR I are correct.
Yes, some people who make big money (not just IM business) work relatively few hours…
But some who make great money work many hours…
In the same way, I know people who work 7 day weeks, long days, harder than any rich person I’ve ever met, and struggle to get by week to week…
You think Bill Gates (even cumulatively over the course of his live) has logged more hours than any other similarly aged employee at Microsoft? Not a chance.
And even if we’re not using “hours worked” but physical or mental exertion of the work (impossible to measure) I still doubt it computes.
The point is just that his suggestion of a causal relationship between how hard you work and how much money you make is fallacious, and I think clearly so.
But that wasn’t the point of the post
What do you think about the ideas on intelligence? 
Andrew
My house has a hammock on the veranda where I can watch the waves and sunsets. What does that mean??
It means you didn’t realize you were making a blog comment when you wrote this?
That’s entirely possible… it’s happened to me on more than one occasion.
I agree with your definition of intelligence, and I like the metaphor too. Hold to your beliefs, but first of all understand why you believe them. Also don’t be close minded (or windowed) to what others have to offer.
This would eliminate a LOT of the problems in the world. Social, economic, and religious. The only catch is, this is much easier to write about and much harder to live by.
“much easier to write about and much harder to live by” – INDEED!
Ever since I wrote this I’ve been watching closely for the walls of my own knowledge sneaking into my conversation and blocking me from new information, as well as watching others do the same. Surely it’s a lifelong pursuit to live this principle
that little tweeter needs to fall out of his nest and knock some reality into him…..ultra successful surround themselves / or delegate as leverage . . . I’m sure he couldn’t debate long as he had to clock back in at work….