For the longest time, I thought that if a smart person worked hard, success would eventually come their way.

After all, isn’t that what we’re taught? That if we have a reasonable level of intelligence, trying hard enough leads to results?

This belief was shattered when I first started applying for an internship.

I figured that the people with high grades and impressive experiences would get their pick. As for myself, I just needed to buckle down and prepare for any interviews that came my way.

So I interviewed for various firms, feeling confident that I answered the technical questions correctly and managed to create small talk with the interviewers. But every time, my hopes would be dashed.

As a month went by, I noticed something interesting. It wasn’t necessarily the smartest people that received the internships of their choice. At times, it seemed almost random.

Then it happened to me.

I walked into yet another interview, expecting the usual questions. When I sat down, the interviewer and I made small talk about the weather, our interests, and the fact that she lived in another town an hour away.

From this, we discovered that we both loved the same restaurant in the town where she lived. She gushed about the food, and I suggested other places that she might like. This went on for awhile, before we finally moved to the interview itself.

Later, I received an offer. It turned out that there were a number of candidates with better credentials — but I was offered the position because I was a “good fit”.

All because of a restaurant we both liked.

Developing Focus and Creating Opportunities for Yourself

Maybe my experience was a fluke.

But it also taught me something important: being the smartest person and working hard are not enough. Intelligence is worth little if you don’t have the wisdom to know how to put it to good use.

I’ve found that success is a combination of knowing how to:

Connect with others.

Open yourself up to chance.

Make the most of your opportunities.

Commit yourself to your goals.

Believe in yourself.

When you work on each of these factors, you can combine your intelligence and work ethic into creating something of value.

Let’s see how you can achieve each of these:

1. Reach out to people.

Let’s face it — it’s easier to hang around old friends than reach out to strangers. When you meet up with the same people, you know what to expect and feel at ease immediately.

But it’s just as important to introduce new people into your life as reuniting with old friends.

Why? Because you get stuck in a bubble when you always meet the same people over and over again. The group dynamics are static, and people tend to recycle the same ideas.

Whenever I meet a new person, I get to hear their story and learn new things. I learn about their experiences, their aspirations, and their perspective on life.

It can be tough to reach out at first, but starting small can help. I set a weekly goal of reaching out or meeting at least one new person a week.

You can introduce yourself to someone where you frequent or by emailing someone to share ideas. Maybe you’ll only talk once, or maybe you’ll keep in touch and end up collaborating on a project.

2. Take a calculated risk.

There are two types of risks:

Blind risks , which involve greater downside than upside.

, which involve greater downside than upside. Calculated risks, where the upside is greater than the downside and it’s potentially life-changing.

I’ve seen a lot of smart classmates and peers choose neither — they play it safe by following the same career path as their peers.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, shared how he decided to quit his secure job at an investment company to create an online bookstore. Here’s how he used what he calls the “regret minimization framework” to make his decision:

So I wanted to project myself forward to age 80 and say, “Okay, now I’m looking back on my life. I want to have minimized the number of regrets I have.” I knew that when I was 80 I was not going to regret having tried this. I was not going to regret trying to participate in this thing called the Internet that I thought was going to be a really big deal. I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not ever having tried. I knew that that would haunt me every day, and so, when I thought about it that way it was an incredibly easy decision.”

Eventually, you need to consider what’s best for yourself in the long run. Would you be happier knowing that you took a calculated risk that might not pay off, or if you took the safe path?

3. Don’t assume that your past successes will carry you into future success.

“I went to [insert school], so I deserve [X].”

This is a line that I commonly hear from highly intelligent people who have worked hard all their lives and expect to be compensated for it. Sadly, that’s not how things work.

Your past achievements won’t automatically carry you to your future achievements.

Why? Because life is a continual learning process that extends beyond classrooms and textbooks.

As Mark Twain once wisely said — “I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.”

So don’t stop learning.

Read interesting books. Experiment with new ideas. Talk to people.

Use real-life experiences to supplement the knowledge that you already have.

4. Practice putting yourself in new situations.

Being stuck in the same environment for a long time makes it hard to adapt to new situations. You grow complacent and eventually become fearful of anything new, even if the changes are for the better.

Embrace discomfort. It’s the only way to grow and get better.

For example, when I needed to contact people for feedback on my writing, I felt hesitant. But once I reached out to a few people and received a response, I decided to try it again. Now, it’s become a regular habit that has helped me improve over time.

If you find yourself making excuses and resisting something new, ask yourself: Will doing this make me a better person in the long run?

Sometimes we don’t say “no” because something is unimportant. We say “no” because we fear doing what we need to in order to become better.

5. Commit to your decision.

Being smart and hardworking means that people tell you that you can achieve anything if you just put your mind to it. You’re told that all sorts of doors will open themselves to you. The world is your oyster.

But having all sorts of opportunities can be just as crippling as not having enough of them. Being overabundant in choices makes it difficult to know what to do. As a result, it’s easy to dabble in different things and “see what suits you”.

Before you know it, a decade has passed.

So if you’re thinking of pursuing a business idea or a career, talk to different people and learn more about it. Message someone who’s doing something that looks interesting to you. Ask an acquaintance for a meet-up to learn more about what they’re doing.

Listening to the stories of people who are involved in a field will help you to get a better feel for whether or not it suits you.

When you do eventually focus your efforts on one goal, it yields much better results than dividing your attention among many goals.

6. Believe that you can achieve a goal.

Smart people can be self-critical. They look at the work they create and often find something wrong with it.

When you use negative phrases to describe your work or yourself, you eventually start believing that they’re true. If you have a tendency to do this, it’s time to rephrase those sentences in your head.

For instance, if you think, “I’m terrible at speeches,” your actions will start to reflect this and you’ll give up.

Instead, here’s a better phrase to use: “It’s not that I’m a poor speaker. I simply need to practice public speaking more to become better.”

See how the phrase changes from something innate to something that’s within your control?

Everyone was a beginner at some point. But when you change the words you use to describe yourself and your work, it becomes easier to keep practicing and finding ways to get around setbacks.

Create Consistency to Succeed

Yes, intelligence and work ethic are important qualities for success in any field. But what we often overlook is consistency.

Consistency means doing what’s required of you to reach your goal, regardless of what happens. It means putting in the effort even when the work feels mundane, when you’re tired, and when the results seem uncertain.

Of course, hitting a setback and finding a way around it isn’t as simple as it sounds. That’s why I created a guide on committing to your goals. It’ll show you how to focus on your goals and overcome inevitable obstacles that show up on your path.

Click here to get your guide (it’s free).

Thanks for reading and I look forward to connecting with you!