Why High IQ Keeps You Poor (And How to Escape the Trap)

If intelligence made you rich, college professors would run Wall Street. Instead, guys like Mark Cuban who barely studied own the game. High IQ isn’t an asset. It’s a chokehold.

It makes you hesitate, overthink, and assume you’re too smart to fail.

Unless you change how you think, your brain will strangle every chance you get. Here’s how to stop it.

1. Your Brain Is Too Smart for Its Own Good

The ‘Analysis Paralysis’ Trap

While you obsess over the "perfect" plan, some idiot just stole your market.

What happens when you wait?

Zuckerberg built Facebook in a dorm room.

Musk burned his last $40M on SpaceX while engineers said it’d explode.

Meanwhile, you're still "optimizing" your business plan for year three.

The world doesn’t reward the best ideas. It rewards the ideas that get shipped.

Decide in 48 Hours or Drop It

No exceptions. If you can’t commit, you never will.

Launch something ugly. Fix it later.

Measure action, not ideas. No one cares what you think—only what you execute.

2. Perfectionism Is Fear in a Fancy Suit

Smart people stall because they hate looking stupid. So they polish, tweak, and delay until someone else beats them.

What happens when you wait for perfection?

Tesla launched glitchy cars. Musk didn’t care.

Kodak sat on digital photography for years. Now they’re dead.

Your “brilliant” idea? Still sitting in a Google Doc.

Ship First, Perfect Later

80% rule: Get it mostly right, then release.

Announce public deadlines. No escape.

Every delay is lost momentum. Move or quit.

Speed > Perfection. Always.

3. Your Intelligence Makes You Arrogant (And It’s Costing You Millions)

High IQ makes you dismiss simple solutions that actually work.

What happens when you assume you’re smarter?

BlackBerry execs laughed at the iPhone. Now they don’t exist.

Kodak invented digital photography—then ignored it. Now they’re dead.

Meanwhile, dumber competitors win because they listen to the market.

Assume You’re Wrong

Test everything. Your "genius" ideas might be trash.

Study "dumb" competitors. If they’re making money and you’re not, who’s really smarter?

Your smartest idea is probably stupid. Find out before it bankrupts you.

Arrogance kills businesses. Stay humble, stay curious.

4. Winners Love the Grind. Losers Avoid It. That’s Why They Lose.

Smart people crave new ideas. But success isn’t sexy - it’s repetition.

What happens when you avoid the grind?

Jordan shot 1,000 free throws daily not because it was fun, but because mastery is repetition.

Smart marketers debate strategies. Successful salespeople send 100 cold emails a day.

You’re stuck "planning." They’re making money.

Get Addicted to Repetition

Daily execution goals > strategy goals. Stop thinking, start doing.

Make it a game. Track progress, score yourself, compete.

Commit to the boring stuff. Success is just the same winning move, repeated forever.

You don’t rise to the level of your IQ. You fall to the level of your habits.

5. Complexity Is Not Intelligence. It’s Insecurity.

Smart people love making things complicated. But simplicity scales.

What wins?

Apple: One button.

Google: One search bar.

Tesla: One sentence “Fast, sexy electric cars.”

Meanwhile, overthinkers write 10-page business plans no one reads, use jargon no one understands, and wonder why no one buys.

Simplify Relentlessly

If a 12-year-old can’t understand it, it’s too complicated.

One-sentence rule: If you can’t explain it in one sentence, it’s not clear.

Cut every useless word. Shorter is stronger.

You Think You’re Smart? Then Act Like It.

Decide fast. Every hesitation costs you.

Ship ugly. Perfectionism is fear.

Get humble. Your best idea is probably wrong.

Repeat the grind. Winners embrace boredom.

The world doesn’t care how high your IQ is. It cares what you build.

Now go do something.

Focus Hard & Execute - Have a badge of shipping a failed product.

Ritesh :)