Find Your Genius
I attended a function recently at which a friend of mine was presenting. There were a number of presenters on the evening with various messages.
When she stepped on stage it was like the audience came alive. We were all up there with her, all participants in something rather than passive observers. I say this not to take anything away from all the other presenters who did a fine job of saying what they had to say.
Present was what they did.
It is not what they are.
This is what I would describe as genius.
This is really cool:
“Genie” is derived from the word “genius.”
And genie means guardian or moral spirit who guides you through life.
Which is to say, our genius is the thing that grants our wishes.
At least it’s our best shot.
It makes sense, right?
To take my friend off the stage and put her in any number of different situations or roles could seriously diminish her chances of success.
More than that though, I think it would also reduce the likelihood that she would enjoy the process.
Remove the joy and she’d become resistant to the work.
Resistant to the work, she’d resent it and so do it less.
With resentment and reduced activity, she wouldn’t master it.
Without mastery, success becomes much less likely.
From the angle of genius though:
More early success
More joy
More reps
More mastery
More success
So how to find your genius?
The definition — guardian or moral spirit that guides you through life — suggests it’s something we all have, and I think that’s true.
I’ve got two daughters and I could tell you their genius.
I could have told you it when they were four — sooner I’m sure if I really thought about it.
I’ll spare them by not sharing here.
That’s not to say what they should do, although it probably naturally rules out some areas.
It certainly points to how they should approach it… as themselves. From their genius.
We’re often told that we can be anything we want, but I think that’s far less true than the idea that we can be the very best version of who we already are.
If they feel able to be themselves all of their lives, that’ll be the moral spirit that guides them.
Genius is of course developed, but first it needs to be remembered.
Which is to say, put back together.
I can see that it wouldn’t take much to take someone’s genie away from them by telling them they’re too much of it.
I help my clients to remember, usually by asking a series of questions around what they excelled at, what they gravitated towards, and how they approached life from the earlier years to now.
In some sense I think this is what growing up is all about.
If you were lucky as a kid you found various places in your life where you were able to achieve a state of flow.
Named by the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in 1970, flow is a state of hyper-focus where you lose all track of time or even a sense of self — usually found when balanced right on the edge of your performance capacity.
Growing up, or at least creating a life you love as a grown-up, is something like gathering up all the places you’ve found flow so that your genius becomes conscious.
Then consciously applying it to your life in amongst all the chaos and responsibilities of life.
That seems to make life worthwhile — and worthwhile right now, not at some point off in the future if you’re fortunate enough to achieve a specific outcome and that outcome turns out to be all you hoped it would (which is unlikely).
“What should you aim at?”
Being who you are. Sharing your weird and wonderful gifts with the world.
— Ed Ley
