Characteristics of A Genius…Just a Thot..

Let’s take a break from our usual ramblings about celebrities gossip and have some serious thinking about our own life. Can we call ourselves real genius? What do they have that we don’t have? Check out the well-recognised facts about a Genius.

VISION – This characteristic of genius concerns how clear and compelling the genius’ vision of their life’s chief goal is. Geniuses formulate very clear and precise inner pictures of what they want to accomplish, how they will do it, and the success they achieve. If you want to develop this genius character trait, get in touch with your main values, your life purpose, and forge an exciting and fulfilling ambition to work towards. Keep working to become clearer and more specific about it. Put 100% of your passion into it. Example: Muhammad Ali, boxing genius, and his powerful vision of himself as The Greatest.

DESIRE – The core desire of geniuses is so powerful and all consuming that they will let nothing stop them from acheiving their goal. Think of Thomas Edison’s unrelenting commitment to inventing the first working light bulb. Geniuses speak of having a ‘burning’ passion or being consumed with the desire to achieve their goal. Can you imagine what you could achieve if YOU had that level of DESIRE in your life? Build this genius characteristic into your life by fanning the flames of your chief interests and aims. Build a momentum behind your desire.

COMMITMENT – Once we have a vision, a burning desire to realise the vision and the faith to believe that we can do it then we must be committed enough to do the things necessary, regardless of how difficult they may appear to be. It is at this stage that many would be geniuses (and we are all potential geniuses) fall by the wayside. Ghandi was a good example of commitment. His unending commitment to the principle of non-violent opposition eventually brought about the end of British Rule in India.

PLANNING – Another stumbling block in the search for genius is the lack of effective planning. It is the identification of short, medium and long term goals on the way to our vision that will assist us in getting there. Once we know the path we wish to take it is much easier to focus our efforts. Of course with effective planning it means that we can balance our lives and have more control over our time. Good planning means that we won’t find ourselves with 3 month’s worth of work left to do the night before our term project has to be handed in. (Sound familiar?).

PERSISTENCE – I have already mentioned Colonel Sanders and his faith in his chicken recipe but it was also his persistence, even in the face of continuous rejection , that helped him in his success. Thomas Edison is another example of persistence in action. Did you know that he tried several thousand different designs before he finally invented the electric light bulb? When would you have given up? So even when things seem at their worst, keep going.

LEARNING FROM MISTAKES – The first thing that you should understand is that it is fine to make mistakes. Just think of your favourite sport. Who was the best at that sport, who scored the most goals? If you follow a sport that keeps accurate records and statistics you will find that those who score the most goals/baskets/home runs also have the highest rate of misses! So just to make that very clear – if you want more success have more failures. But to make this even more palatable for you, a missed attempt is not a failure it is a result. If you learn from that result to improve your performance next time then it is a victory. Tony Robbins the American Success Coach says “Success is the result of good judgement. Good judgement is the result of experience and experience is the result of bad judgement!”

KNOWLEDGEABLE – Geniuses are greedy-guts for knowledge! If you guzzle down books by the bucketload, maybe you have this characteristic of a genius. If you hang out in the non-fiction section of the library, or are curious about everything, or are a Wikipedia junkie, you might be on your way to genius. Geniuses build vast knowledge about the specialized subjects and about the world in general. They love to learn! Do you

THINK METAPHORICALLY – Aristotle considered metaphor a sign of genius, and believed that the individual who had the capacity to perceive resemblances between two separate areas of existence and link them together was a person of special gifts.

So..what’s the verdict? Can we safely call ourselves a Genius?