Ability is essential. If a person is born with a severe physical or mental handicap, he or she will not be able to achieve much. If your legs are not strong, you will never win a race. If you are intellectually not bright, you will never do well in academic pursuits. Ability can be developed, however. If you want to win a race, you can train until your legs become strong. If you want to excel in your studies, you can study hard until you fully understand the subjects.
Psychologists used to believe that mental ability, or intelligence, is fixed. But it is now widely accepted that environmental factors can influence mental development. For example, adopted children tend to follow the intelligence of their adopted parents. Of course, there is a limit to the extent of improvement that can be achieved. It is highly unlikely that a mentally disabled person can develop high intelligence, no matter how brilliant the person’s parents (real or adopted), friends and teachers may be.
But provided a person is not seriously handicapped, this limit is often much farther than most people think. I did very badly in primary school. I regularly failed some subjects and barely passed the rest. Most people, myself included, would have considered my level of intelligence to be way below average. Yet, I was able to excel in my postgraduate studies and top my class in my professional diploma and master’s degree courses, whilst holding a full-time job.
So do not dismiss your ability — whether physical or intellectual — just because you presently appear to be weak. You may have the potential to be much more capable than you presently are. Motivation is also crucial for making sure that you apply yourself and make full use of whatever abilities you may possess. Without motivation, even the most brilliant and capable persons can fail.
This was demonstrated early last century by Lewis Terman, a pioneer in the measurement of mental abilities. He tested a quarter of a million school children and found that only about 0.5 percent of them were highly gifted above the average. He waited 25 years to see what happened to these gifted children. Not surprisingly, most were holding high positions in their careers as college professors, bank presidents, managing directors, writers and so on. However, a number of them had become manual labourers, working as fitters, petrol-pump attendants and other similar jobs. These gifted children failed to succeed in life because they lacked the urge to succeed. They had intelligence, but lacked motivation.
So, which is more important: ability or motivation? Obviously, you need both. Another thing about ability and motivation is this — with ability, there is a limit. The limit may be far off, but it will take a great deal of effort to reach it. With motivation, however, there is no limit. Thus, it is extremely important that you learn the techniques — the secrets — of motivation. When you are able to motivate yourself, you will achieve success, no matter your level of ability.
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