It is common knowledge that intelligence is the most important determinant of personal success. Itâs well known, but itâs also untrue. Research has shown that although intelligence is valuable, there are several traits that even more powerfully predict personal success.

Whereas intelligence is â at least partly – an inherited trait, these traits of high achievers are completely learnable.

1.     A Growth Mindset

Henry Ford famously said, ââWhether you think you can, or you think you can’t–you’re right.â Those provocative words have now been validated by a large body of psychological research.

Psychologist Carol Dweck writes, âPeople with a growth mindset think of talents and abilities as things they can develop â as potentials to come to fruition through effort. In a fixed mindset (people) believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits.â Research on the growth mindset has shown that success â or failure â is largely a self-fulfilling prophecy. Students with a growth mindset do significantly better in school than those who have a static mindset, this is because a static mindset is a psychological trap.

Letâs say youâre taking English 101 in college and you get your first paper back â you got a D, and youâre both frustrated and disappointed by that. Well, if you have a static mindset, youâre going to think something like, âIâm just not good at English.â

Or, âMy teacher sucks.â

Or, âMaybe Iâm not smart enough to do well in college.â

Those thoughts are harmful enough by themselves, but whatâs worse is the effect they have on your behavior. Once youâve told yourself youâre just not good at English, what are you going to do the next time you get assigned an essay, are you going to put in hours of effort just to get another bad grade? Of course not, youâre going to play Fortnite for four hours and then write a half-assed essay at the last minute, why try hard when doing so will only end in disappointment?

People with a static mindset see failure as a reflection of who they are. If they get a bad grade, it means theyâre not smart, if they get rejected for a date, it means theyâre not attractive â this becomes a pernicious cycle in which a single failure cascades into continual failure. Once youâve identified yourself as unintelligent or untalented, thereâs no reason for you to do the things that could lead to success in the first place.

A growth mindset creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, too, but in the opposite direction. If someone with a growth mindset were to get a D on their first paper, they would think, âI didnât put enough effort into that essay, Iâm going to do better next time.â Or, âIâm going to ask the teacher what I should focus on to improve my writing.â Then, that student would work hard and most likely, they would get a better grade on their next paper. This would reinforce that hard work pays off and will lead the person to believe in their ability to improve their performance even further.

Fortunately, a growth mindset can be learned. The key is to simply to know what a growth mindset is and to understand the impact your mindset has on your performance. Research by Angela Duckworth has shown that students with a growth mindset were more likely to graduate high school, and the effect was even larger than the effect of even intelligence.

Whenever you encounter failure in your life, you have a choice, you can either see that failure as a reflection of who you are â (I.E. unintelligent or lazy), or you can see that failure as an opportunity to learn, (I.E. What can I do differently to get a better outcome in the future) â and according to research, whichever way you choose to think about failure, youâre probably right.

2. A Strong Willpower

The only thing that I see that is distinctly different about me is Iâm not afraid to die on a treadmill. I will not be outworked, period. You might have more talent than me, you might be smarter than me, you might be sexier than me, you might be all of those things â you got it on me in nine categories. But if we get on the treadmill together, thereâs two things: Youâre getting off first, or Iâm going to die. Itâs really that simpleâ¦â – Will Smith

Walter Mischelâs famous Stanford Marshmallow experiment measured the self-control of young children. Mischel kept track of the studyâs participants over the next 40 years. Fascinatingly, the children who had strong self-control at age 4 had substantially higher SAT scores, were more educated, and were even less likely to be overweight.

Shockingly, the impact of self-control on these childrenâs educational success was larger than the impact of their IQ Scores.

Self-control (AKA willpower) is a measurement of a personâs ability to embrace short-term pain for a long-term gain. If you give up sugary foods, youâre using willpower. If you lift weights, youâre using willpower. If you were to, like me, chose to be celibate until the age of 19, youâd be using your willpower (okay, maybe thatâs not the best example, I didnât necessarily âchooseâ to be celibate.)

Research has shown that willpower works a lot like a muscle. When you strain your muscles by exercising them, they grow back stronger. Similarly, when you strain your willpower by exercising it â say by writing, meditating, or working on your side-hustle â your willpower will grow back stronger, too.

To build your willpower, pursue long-term goals â but do it gradually. If you want to get in better shape, start working out a couple times a week or start practicing intermittent fasting. If you want to learn more, make a habit of reading, even if just for 5 minutes a day.

Just like muscle, willpower takes time to build, but the benefits are extraordinary for your long-term success.

Conclusion – The Two Traits More Important Than IQ

We are taught the talent is the key to success. If youâre born smart enough or creative enough, youâll go far, but if youâre not among those lucky few, greatness just isnât your destiny. Recent psychological research has shown the idea that intrinsic talent is the end-all be-all of success may be a cultural myth. Instead, itâs your beliefs about yourself that are most important.

This isnât to say intelligence or talent isnât a factor, but a growing body of evidence shows it may not be as important as weâve been lead to believe. Your ability to learn from failure, instead of being discouraged by it, and your ability to take on challenges even when doing so feels uncomfortable, may very well be far more likely to determine your success in all areas of life.