5 Ways Smart People Sabotage Their Success

I disagree with the article and present an alternative view:

1. There are different kinds of smart. For one example, consider that some people do especially well with math, but not as well with language and vice versa. Other examples include salesmanship, leadership, things like that. So, where the article seems to define smart as only applying to what's on the SAT or a standard IQ test, there is a wider range of areas in which one may be an expert.

2. Most people on this site are well aware of the importance of teamwork. However, in the business world, "teamwork" is a sort of religious thing that has meanings way beyond what you encountered in the military. In the civilian world, team work and "flat" organizations, and "collaboration" are keyed to things like avoiding responsibility by dispersing it across a range of people. In the business world, I have learned to be skeptical of the hard-core "teamwork" cheerleader. In the Army, I was part of a team, but I had individual responsibilities within it - that's a foreign concept to SOME people in the business world.

3. Talent is only part of success. The biggest part is effort. It takes hard work. No matter how smart you are, if you get lazy for whatever reason (could be a bout of depression, could be boredom) you fall behind. You snooze, you lose.

4. It ain't a race. You aren't competing against your former classmates or buddies. No matter how well you make decisions and follow through on them, there will be people who get lucky breaks and pull ahead. That shouldn't matter. Life is no zero-sum. Set goals and achieve them.