I have a distant uncle in my hometown whose mind is incredibly quick. Not the kind of smart that comes from reading lots of books. If you tell him something, he can immediately tell where the problem lies. If someone’s business loses money, he hears a few sentences and knows exactly what went wrong. If someone in the village gets tricked into investing, he listens and says right away it’s not reliable. And when others argue for half a day, he can unravel it in just three sentences.
But his whole life hasn’t been that great.
When he was young, he worked in a factory. Later he did transportation, sold things at stalls, and even partnered with others to make a bit of small business. Now he’s over fifty, still renting a place to live, with not much money in hand.
Do you think he’s stupid?
Not at all.
It’s just that life never really got better for him.
Later I realized that sometimes, being smart can only help you “see through” things—it doesn’t necessarily let you “turn your fortunes around.”