Originally written July 23rd, 2003

For so long, and in so many ways has the concept of ‘genius’ fascinated the average population and majority of mankind. The thing that we always ask ourselves about these talented individuals, is how do they pull off these things that they do seemingly effortlessly? It seems incredible to many of us when they seem to see things that no one else can see.

The key, some say, and some theorize is in symbolic and visual thinking. According to something I discovered in an amazingly fascinating book called The Gift of Dyslexia, is that visual thinking seems to surpass verbal thinking, hearing the words which translate to definition in your mind, and make up the base foundation of our thought. Without visual thinking, we’d be cruising along at what could seem to be nothing, because our subconscious often times relies off of its incredible power of visuals, rather than verbal thought.

Verbal thought, which is often times considered to be what goes on during an average reading speed, of around 200-250WPM for most people, is when we take words, and take punctuation, our known rules of grammar, then we can more or less often times relate it back to our also worded out, verbal definition, which then translates into what we often times associate with images that create the known verbal definition. So, the question we come back to after thinking about these two little short concepts is, is it really a way of thinking that creates it?

If not the way of thinking, or the astounding time spent on ability to link conscious and subconscious intellect with each other to create an astounding ’superintellect,’ then how would it be anything such as genetic superiority?

Books that study things like the subject of neuro-linguistic programming, studies on Psychology in general, and even books that go as specific as the topic of genius itself often times point out time and time again that the brains of these previously labeled ‘geniuses’ who were believed to have some sort of rare genetic advantage in using their brain efficiently, were later found during studies to have no visible difference when compared to an average human brain. Albert Einstein, probably the world’s best known genius in particular, had his brain examined after death. Indeed, it was completely normal when compared to a normal human brain.

Once you’ve looked at these two concepts, and obviously I’m wanting to lean on not only the closer-to-proven path of it being a normal brained thing, but also the more optimistic one that we can all become known as ‘genius.’ So then, the next thing we have to ask ourselves about Einstein, Da Vinci, or hell if you even want to head into the direction of Van Gogh being an artistic genius, then what is it that is so different about their way of thinking than ours?

Well, obviously, we come to a few pointers here. Think about yourself. Most people would not consider themselves to be geniuses, or even close to that. In fact, most people despise using their conscious abilities that they’ve basically become conditioned to go on somewhat of what you may call an ‘autopilot’ state where their teachings about being a “good” child during childhood have pretty much ruled their life, causing them to respond & react almost automatically to their environment, their authorities, and even themselves without question. Myself, I’m a firm believer in asking questions about everything. Because I mean, if you don’t ask questions, then how the heck do you expect to get the answers?

Genius is made through having answers, and you get answers through asking questions. I know what you’re likely thinking now, though, “Oh well, just how are you supposed to get all these kinds of answers that these guys have gotten just by deciding to ask questions? What if you don’t get the answers?! How do I know I’m asking the right questions?! Would you call YOURSELF a genius?!”

I’d say that on some levels I call myself a genius, and on other levels, that’s all up to my current conscious intention. You’re probably right in your thoughts about a lot of things, of course, though. It’s not just about asking questions. Obviously, there’s got to be more to it than that! Now, as many of you know, I’m a huge fan of Learning Strategies Corporation, Win Wenger, and other people out there involved with researching the realm of genius, and the process of accelerative learning. Both LSC, and Win Wenger claim to have technologies, and applications that they’ve designed, or at least have adopted and assembled that can help you enter what many would call the world of a genius. Just how close to some of these experts come, though?

When we think about Einstein, and how this guy failed high school, then later came up with everything he did regarding physics, it’s almost impossible to believe that he could have done what he did. He was laughed at, mocked, but then somehow through all of the criticism and ridicule – Einstein emerged victorious with all the intelligence, and genius that perhaps he didn’t even know he had in him. In fact, the story of Einstein, and then relating it to all of the other ones in history who have been labeled genius – is remarkably nearly the same. Leonardo da Vinci had dyslexia, a so-called ‘learning disability.’ The most amazing thing about dyslexia, from what I’ve read is that the disorder is really not a disorder.

In fact, some of the most famous people today, even if they’re not labeled genius, have still been labeled often times with these learning disorders. Walt Disney, Whoopi Goldberg, Cher, and I hear even Thomas Edison all had dyslexia. I’ve also seen hundreds of kids my age who have been diagnosed with the supposed disorder known as ADD (attention deficit disorder), and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactive disorder). Both of these groups, I’ve seen do remarkable things. Maybe one thing that separates genius from ‘learning disability’ is the way we go about labeling and naming a certain way of thinking. It is altered from the normal state that many of us have chosen to have, and many times – before we’re even half a year old. So, you could say, that despite humans have been given free will, maybe our way of going about treating free will actually isn’t our free will! Imagine if something happened when you were a baby, and it happened because you made a choice, but somehow, you didn’t even know it!

Over at the National Foundation for Gifted Creative Children, they plan to strike back against the government for prescribing all of these medicines for simply other styles of learning. They have a list of what gifted creative children often are labeled with because of certain characteristics, and then you can also check out websites regarding ADD, and ADHD, and what those characteristics are. You’ll find that the two lists are remarkably similar.

Now, I could talk about the stories of famous, accomplished people who have gotten by with these so-called learning disorders for hours, but instead, I’ll talk about a kid I know named Chris. Chris has ADD. He has the worst sense of humor that I’ve seen from any kid, he’s annoying, he acts like he’s dumb, and he looks really goofy. Now, that’s what you can see. What you usually can’t see is how he probably plays guitar better than any other student in my school, does incredible paintings through methods that look like he’s just making a gigantic mess, and then once he really does want to concentrate, he’s smarter than I am – when he hasn’t even studied! Then, one day, he got put on Ritalin, the drug that is given to all of these kids who are usually diagnosed with ADD. Once he got on this drug, he lost all of his personality, he lost all of his happiness, but at the same time anger, and became basically blank. He could concentrate on anything he wanted of course, but then again – I believe he could have done that to begin with. In fact, that was the key. Most of these kids are just bored.

Think about Einstein. Did Einstein really not understand the material, or did Einstein have a hard time remembering it because it was dulled out, and irrelevant to him? Think about how much better you yourself can usually pay attention to things when you’re completely fascinated with them. Think about maybe a career that you wanted really badly as a child. Maybe you imagined growing up, and becoming an astronaut, or maybe you imagined growing up, and becoming a firefighter. Something really exciting, most of the time, right? Sometimes, you might find times when that was all you could think about, you couldn’t imagine doing anything but that! You’d dream, walk, think, talk, and live what you wanted to be as a little kid in fantasy and dream, but if anything like general arithmetic came along in your elementary school, who wanted to deal with THAT, right? Or even something that wasn’t useful to you in the future, like History class.

For an average person, the conscious mind can only concentrate on seven things at once. Then, their subconscious, the part of their brain that keeps their heart pumping 100,000 times a day without you thinking about it, can process 20,000 things at once! This can explain how these geniuses can go beyond what normal people often can, they have a way of tapping into that extra power that most of us somehow decide to leave dormant.

Is genius really so hard to believe? Is it really so amazing that you could hold the same power as they do? But hey…I don’t know, that’s just me. I could be wrong with my point. Food for thought maybe? Hrm…thought can get difficult though.

Recently in a psychology class of mine we were talking about self esteem. Similar to many other things, self esteem is something that we experience in ourselves that affects all of our decisions. Self esteem is directly tied into our own personality, and it creates our inner thoughts of self worth, or lack of self worth. Must one truly believe in themselves in order to succeed? I would say that it probably depends on the circumstances, but who has an easier time being successful? For that matter, any sort of success at all, whether it be financial, relationships, spiritual, or what have you – all of it is easily tied to your self esteem.

What sort of self esteem do you have? In class we received a handout that contained a list of all the different symptoms of individuals who have low self esteem, and as it turns out there is quite a few characteristics. See if any of these can be associated with you.

Symptoms and Signals of Low Self Esteem

• Dependency and need for approval from others
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Comparing yourself unfavorably to others
• Fear of speaking up for yourself
• Lack of confidence
• Unhappiness
• Feeling unworthy of love
• Inner feelings of incompleteness or emptiness
• Self doubt
• Self hatred
• Sense of shame
• Believing you’re not okay unless you’re in a relationship
• Feelings of insecurity and insignificance
• Violating your own values out of fear of what others think
• Too eager to please and follow others
• Tendency to focus on what’s lacking rather than what is
• Trivializing your skills, knowledge, gifts, and achievements
• Giving credit to others but not to yourself
• Giving more importance to other’s criticisms than to compliments
• Putting yourself down
• Low achievement
• Hostility towards others
• Feelings of apathy, helplessness, powerlessness and isolation

There are a few interesting items on this list that I would like to talk about. Low achievement, feelings of incompleteness or emptiness, and tendency to focus on what’s lacking rather than what is.

Those three things tie in directly with what we know to be the Law of Attraction, where like attracts like and all of the things that of course go with it. But that is not really my point. It comes back to a sort of question that involves the sort of “chicken or the egg” dilemma. If you have low levels of achievement in whatever it is you do, this list essentially says that you probably have low self esteem. If you feel empty, incomplete, or you’re upset about what you don’t have, then again – you’re likely to have low self esteem. If you are depressed, or vice versa, you are likely to have low self esteem.

The opposite might also be true however when these items are given an inverse. If you have low self esteem, you may have low achievement. If you have low self esteem, you may be focusing on what’s lacking rather than what is. Whatever the case when it comes to self esteem and success, it is important that all of these concepts can be flipped to mirror what you are currently accomplishing or setting out to achieve.

A very good friend of mine recently remarked that he considers himself a failure simply because he is not in school anymore. I tried to point out to him that not everyone who is successful went to college, and many of the greatest minds in history were not college educated. Entrepreneurs and brilliant people who get involved in their own independent marketing/selling projects and end up earning a huge amount of money are not always college educated. Resourcefulness and adaptability go far beyond what your academic degree dictates. This is a fact that I know not only should make him feel better, but it is a fact that I have researched extensively and I know to be true.

He replied to me, “Well it is all in the eye of the beholder. I’m the beholder and I consider myself a failure.”

You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. All throughout any sort of struggles I have had, I have always fallen back to what I knew to be possible. Perhaps for some, it is easier to have a sort of undying faith in the future possibility for attaining any sort of greatness. In the back of my mind, I have always held out hope in my times of darkness. I have always had a lingering dream or desire that things will improve, and I think that when people start looking deep into themselves to understand that is about the same time that they can begin to improve their own self outlook.

Could this friend have low self esteem? Yes. In fact, he has even admitted so. The whole thing is a bit confusing, though. If someone has low self esteem, and they know it, are they not then empowered to do something about it?  Well, I’m not here to judge, but I know that when I imagine myself, I have always been empowered upon realizing my own feelings to then change them.

When you have high self esteem, you likely have high self confidence, and self confidence is highly important.  Have you ever met a business CEO who was highly anxious, not very confident, and uncertain about what to say to you, even from the start?  I know I haven’t!  A part of any successful person in the business world is that they are sure of what it is they’re saying, doing, and thinking.  Not only is this the way it is, this is definitely the way it should be, especially in the publicly held corporations.  I’m not talking about the guy who owns the fruit stand downtown or the snake oil salesman, I’m talking about the guys earning six figures who also have staggering levels of personal wealth.

Identity and how self esteem ties into that is so vitally important it can literally cause you to miss opportunities, give bad impressions, and disrupt situations that normally would go smoothly or that you would gain benefit from.  So whatever you do, feel good about you, it’s good for you!