OK, I’ve started this blog about seven times already and I have yet to write past the first paragraph. Having a few mind over matter problems here.

If I’m going to write about IQ and EQ, I have exactly one thing to say: Who cares?!

Both mental and emotional intelligence can’t really be measured. I just believe that people are unique and the way we deal with situations will be unique as well. To stick a number to our intelligence immediately pigeon-hole’s us and there’s nothing more stifling than a box that doesn’t allow for you to be who you really are.

If you have a really high IQ, I sincerely hope you have the emotional intelligence to deal with the pressure that comes with people expecting you to excel at everything. The best day of my life was breaking out of my IQ pigeon-hole and shedding that number. That day was quite possibly the day my EQ jumped a few hundred points.

A lot of people told me I was wasting the brilliant brain I’d been given by choosing my passion over my academic abilities. I laugh now when I see how I’ve proven everyone wrong. I’m the first one to say that it’s great to be a geek. But I’m also the first one to say that being a geek doesn’t mean being the smartest. It means enjoying learning, enjoying the challenge of thinking outside the box and enjoying whatever subject it is you’re passionate about.

I think a truly intelligent person is one who’s EQ is higher than their IQ. It’s so easy to pin an IQ on someone and predict their future. It’s way more exciting to watch someone grow beyond even their own expectations, to rise above any challenges that lay before them and to see the real growth they experience as a person, as an individual and as a human being. There is no number in the world that can define that.

So, the next time someone tells you that you aren’t clever enough, have an EQ high enough to brush it off and believe in who you are and your own capabilities. Remember success is only 10% raw talent and 90% hard work.