In Iran, where I grew up, it’s common to tag a child early on: “This one is smart!” And once that label is placed, it sticks. Everyone, teachers, relatives, says it like an already-fulfilled prophecy. I was one of those kids.
Our school gave everyone an IQ test in third grade, when I was only 9. I scored 163. The next day, the school gave me a badge to wear: “IQ = Einstein.” I felt like a hero. Friends admired me. My parents were proud. But when we attended family gatherings, it would be, “There he is, the smart boy!”
That moment, when I started believing I was different, exceptional, was, in hindsight, the beginning of my downfall.
The Curse of the “Smart” Label
I figured I was smart, so I stopped doing homework. Why should I? I could ace exams just by listening in class. And for a while, I did.
But the cracks started to appear in fourth grade. My scores plummeted. But I said to myself, “I’m smart. I can bounce back whenever I choose.” That arrogance cost me years. By the sixth grade, my performance was so bad that the school had my parents enroll me somewhere else.
They only kept me that long because I was exceptional in sports, #1 in table tennis, #1 in swimming. Not in academics.
The title of “smart” betrayed me. It made me complacent. It stole my work ethic. It blinded me to the truth: Talent without discipline is wasted potential.
The Day My Father Sowed a Seed
Something happened in 2000 when I was 12 that altered the course of my life.
My father, who didn’t even own a car at the time, bought me a computer, machine that cost as much as a car. But he didn’t buy it for games. He said, “I want you to learn how it works. This is the future.”
That moment was magic. I didn’t realize it at the time, but he had passed me the key to my true destiny. I buried myself in DOS, Norton Commander(NC), Windows 95, XP , you name it. From 2000 to 2003, I was obsessed with Microsoft FrontPage. In 2005, when I was 17, he handed me a book: “HTML in 24 Hours.” And I coded my first website.
That was also the first time I made money, using a skill I had taught myself. Not because I was “smart”, but because I worked day and night, driven by curiosity, grit, and a burning desire to learn.
The Eureka Moment That Changed My Life
When I got to university, I already knew four programming languages.In fact, most of what they were teaching in the early semesters, I already knew. I scored exceptionally well in university. But this time, I understood something something deeper:
The cause of my good fortune wasn’t IQ.
It wasn’t being “gifted.”
It was an effort.
Persistence.
Relentless obsession with growth.
It wasn’t until my third or fourth term in university that I fully realized what that “smart” label had done to me as a child. It made me lazy. It made me entitled. But hardship, failure, and effort rewired my mindset. I had finally broken free.
My Father’s Empire: My North Star
As I matured, I looked at my father with new eyes. A man who started with nothing, worked tirelessly, and went on to lead an organization of 500 employees. That was no accident. That was perseverance in action. It proved everything I’d learned to suspect:
Perseverance beats IQ. Every single time.
From Rock Bottom to IEEE
This year, something happened that brought tears to my eyes:
I published my first academic paper in IEEE, one of the most prestigious publications in the world.
My paper introduces DeFiSentinel, an AI-enhanced decentralized finance system that tackles security, fraud, and data integrity problems that traditional financial systems can’t solve. I’m proud of the technology. But I’m prouder of the path that brought me here.
Why? Because I was never a top student. I had no desire to study. I was the “dumb kid” who once coasted on a label. And now, I’ve contributed to a field that’s changing the future of finance.
The Truth About Me
I’m not smart.
I’m not gifted.
I’m not special.
But I am something far more powerful:
I am unstoppable.
If I set my mind to it, I will do it.
Not because I was born to…
But because I refuse to quit.
I’m the Terminator of my own story.
I show up, I do the work, and I don’t stop until it’s done.
To Everyone Reading This
You don’t need a high IQ.
You don’t need to be a genius.
You just need to want it badly enough and be willing to bleed for it.
Your story is still being written.
Don’t let anyone else hold the pen.
Perseverance > Talent.
Discipline > IQ.
Grit > Genius.
I’m living proof.
With love,
Mani Rahnama
