Thomas Stanley’s penetrating book, The Millionaire Mind, has shed thought provoking insight into the hearts and minds of the world’s wealthy.  Of particular interest to me is his survey of 733 of these millionaires where they were asked to rank the top factors they feel led to their achievements. Their top answers (in order) may astound you:

• Being honest with people
• Being self-disciplined
• Getting along with people
• Having a supportive spouse
• Working harder than most people.

Cognitive intelligence, or IQ, was ranked number twenty one, on average, by those who responded.

Most students  today spend so much of their time each day seeking to develop an area that successful people rank only twenty on their list of essential characteristics. This should cause us to ponder whether the things we give so much of our time to are really the important things.