GetBetter

Even though we all define “success” differently (as well we should), most of us factor wealth into our success equations, if only to achieve the peace of mind that comes with some level of financial freedom.

So if I ask you what best predicts financial success, what would you say? Better opportunities? Luck? (Research shows “almost never (do) the most talented people reach the highest peaks of success, (but are) overtaken by mediocre but sensibly luckier individuals.”

Or, if you’re like me, you might say intelligence. Every financially successful person I know is really smart. Maybe that’s why, when Nobel Prize-winning economist James Heckman asked people how great a role innate intelligence plays in financial success (for example, how much the difference between my income and someone else’s is based on our relative IQs) most people said 25 percent. Some went as high as 50 percent.

But they’re (we’re) wrong. Heckman’s research shows innate intelligence plays, at best, a 1 to 2 percent role. Instead, financial success is correlated with personality traits that make up conscientiousness: self-discipline, perseverance, and diligence.

The study’s findings mesh nicely with Mark Cuban’s position on the biggest predictor of success. According to Cuban:

It’s not about money or connections. It’s the willingness to outwork and outlearn everyone.

Take luck. While luck plays a role, as the authors of a Cornell study wrote, “The maximum success never coincides with the maximum talent, and vice versa. Our simulation clearly shows that such a factor is just pure luck.” Plus, you can’t control luck.

And you can only partly control IQ. You can certainly become more educated. And fluid intelligence — the ability to think logically and solve problems independent of acquired knowledge — is definitely trainable. But still; I’ll never be as smart as, well, probably half the population. (I’m decidedly average in most things.)

But what you can control is how conscientious you are. How diligent you are. How persistent you are.

How hard you work, and how hard you work to learn. Hard work is the great equalizer.

That’s true even if your definition of success leans heavily toward the quality of personal relationships, maintaining a positive work-life balance, or making a meaningful difference in the lives of others. In those cases, hard work is still the great equalizer. Great relationships require consistent effort and persistence. Work-life balance requires consistent effort and persistence. Making a meaningful difference in other people’s lives requires consistent effort and persistence.

Want to know whether you’ll get rich? Work to get smarter. Work to gain skills and experience. Work to find — and seize — opportunities.

Most of all, focus on being as diligent, persistent, and disciplined as you can possibly be.

Because science says those attributes will have the biggest impact on your success, in whatever way you choose to define it.