THE SCHOOL OF LIFE: How To Be A Genius

The route to our best, most genius-like thoughts is not
to be afraid of our stranger-sounding insights and hunches. 

When I say genius, I’m not talking about raising your IQ up to 145 or higher, even though that is one definition of the word genius. I’m talking about becoming an exceptional person in your field or someone who can come up with ideas that are both original and worthy of being recognized, which is another definition of the word genius – and one that fits many famous names.

We hear a lot about genius. We are taught to admire the minds of those infinite, baffling but astonishing geniuses like Einstein, Tolstoy or Picasso. Quite what genius might actually be is left a little vague. It’s a code word for 'brilliant but perhaps too other-worldly ever really to fathom.' We are invited to stand in awe at the achievements of geniuses but also to feel that their thought processes might be quasi-magical and that it is ultimately simply mysterious how they were ever able to come up with the ideas they have had…

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