I'm Not the Smartest Person in the Room. Here's The 3 Skills That Worked Instead

The lessons I keep coming back to after 20 years of business, travel, and starting over.

I’m not the sharpest tool in the box.

That sounds harsher than I mean it to, but I’ve never been the person who walks into a room and instantly sees opportunities, strategies, or clever shortcuts that everyone else seems to spot.

I struggle to think several moves ahead, I write plenty of terrible headlines, my hooks often need work, and maths has never exactly been my strong suit. (Just ask the croupiers in Vegas.)

I can enter the same space as another entrepreneur and take twice as long to gain traction because I simply don’t see things the way they do.

One of my goals is to become a bestselling author one day, but if that happens it’ll be because people find value in what I write, not because I’ve produced some literary masterpiece.

And if we’re talking weaknesses, my people radar isn’t much better.

I tend to see the best in everyone. I trust easily, assume good intentions, and occasionally learn the hard way that not everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt.

My Dad used to say it when I was younger, and my 20-year-old daughter has been telling me for years. (She’s incredibly good at reading people. I, on the other hand, tend to wander through life wearing rose-tinted glasses.)

…

I’m not being mean to myself I promise. The reason I’m telling you all this is because the skills that have shaped my life aren’t the ones most people talk about.

They’re not intelligence, strategy, charisma, or natural talent. (Although I’m sure I have my fair share of those too! ☺️)

But the skills I do have are the ones that have led me to the lifestyle I live today.

I wrote this post having just done a stretching class on the beach in Cabo at 10am on a Tuesday morning. I then sat on the beach watching the waves crash against the shore, thinking about the twists, turns, decisions, mistakes, and opportunities that somehow led me here.

Because when I look back over the last 20 years, from raising my daughter in Phuket, to building several six-figure businesses, selling a seven-figure company, and now travelling the world as a full-time nomad, I can see the patterns.

None of it happened because I was the smartest person in the room.

It happened because of 3 key skills that have shaped almost every major decision I’ve made.

And at 53, they’re still helping me chase some pretty big goals.