DISQUS

brip blap: 31 causes of failure: unfavorable hereditary background

  • plonkee · 1 year ago
    There's a difference between have a specific learning disability, or being uneducated, and not being intelligent.

    There are plenty of people (a minority, but they still exist) whose lack of intelligence is going to put them at a serious disadvantage in making money.

    If a lack of intelligence is combined with other disadvantages, then it might actually be almost impossible for some people to "think and grow rich".

    Most/all people reading this blog are not going to be in this category, though. If you're bright enough to do that, you can learn to do anything.
  • Hunter Nuttall · 1 year ago
    I've never thought that intelligence had much to do with becoming wealthy. If you want to become wealthy by being a doctor or a lawyer, then yes. But the typical millionaire was a C student, according to The Millionaire Next Door.
  • fathersez · 1 year ago
    I agree with your statement that the belief that we are smart enough is more important than acually being smart.

    People with strong self esteem are usually successful. (or is it the other way around.)

    And sometimes some people get enouraged by some role model. Albert Einstein who was thought to be "mentally deficient" till his uncle restored his faith in himself comes to mind.
  • Writer's Coin · 1 year ago
    I read that a while back and I like a lot of the ideas in there. Then again, I'm an eternal optimist and a pitcher, so the mental edge of stuff is always at the forefront of everything I do. Plus I'm neurotic so there you go.
  • Michael Donlan · 1 year ago
    All excellent points. When I think of ”deficiency in brain power", I can't help, but to think of names such as Henry Ford, (as you mentioned), Albert Einstein, Woodrow Wilson, and many others.

    I am going to begin a chapter by chapter review of Think and Grow Rich, in the next day, on my blog, littleengineblog.blogspot.com. I hope you can join me. I think you'll have some great insights.
  • guinness416 · 1 year ago
    He also says it's the only one of the 31 failures that can't be remedied easily - harder than bad health or a bad marriage or addiction! - which is weird to me. I'm not sure what he's getting at with this one but frankly, I wouldn't be surprised to find it was just his classism and possible 1930s racism coming to the fore. Also, how does being a bit thick conflict with "being obsessed with money with the white hot heat of the sun" or whatever Carnegie's "secret" advice to him was?
  • Steve (Brip Blap) · 1 year ago
    @guinness416: I think all he means is that bad health is tough to remedy - but can be in some cases; a bad marriage is tough to overcome - but can be; addiction is tough to overcome - but if Lindsay can do it there's hope for all of us. Being truly mentally deficient (or whatever the correct term is) would be difficult to overcome. Like I said, I don't agree with him 100% - I have seen some smart people who can't tie their own shoes and some technically slow people who are happy, rich and popular. You really have to go to the extremes to prove out his point.
  • Steve (Brip Blap) · 1 year ago
    @plonkee: I'm an optimist - I think everyone can do it. Not to be too much of a pop culture loser, but look at Forrest Gump and the Bubba Gump shrimp company thing - almost anyone with enough perseverance can succeed if they really think they will.
  • Dana · 1 year ago
    I think what Hill may have been getting at was people who are mentally disabled in some way--not just dyslexia, something you can work around, but something that results in a significantly low IQ. I think referring to it as an "unfavorable hereditary background" was his way of being polite about it. Eugenics was also a popular philosophy in his day, so there may have been a racist undertone there as well. I would not dismiss Hill over that, I'm just saying that those attitudes were a reality back then.
  • Dana · 1 year ago
    Oh, and I don't think he meant that people in that group are doomed to fail, but that that trait is the only one you can't completely fix--you always have to compensate for it in some way. I mean, you can't change your genes. But if you have other attributes that balance out the genetic hand you were dealt, that really helps.