A common question for people today has been "How can I become the best of the best?" "A genius in my field?" "The cream of the crop?". These questions pound at us everyday. At school at work, even when we're taking the bus. A series of scientific attempts at delving into the human faculty and the so called genetic endowments of individuals claimed to be a genius, it must be genetically inherited. Does this claim disinherit the mass of the fruit of their labor? I believe so. For as the article has said "geniuses are not born, they are made". Geniuses do exist; the possibility of it being in any person is not impossible, but the probability is low. However for several reasons not including genetic inheritance. This means that the poor man who you find sleeping under the bridge every night, the kid that everyone had said since child hood was talentless, and even in you lies an 'Outlier'. However, such things do not happen without constant persistence. After reading this article, I concluded that success in general and to be dubbed "genius" one must understand the pillars of success.This will be only an interpretation of the article read.
The first pillar into being a genius is Fortitude. The reason why fortitude is a pillar is because we have been witnesses to great people who grew up under unexpected circumstances, who weren't stamped with a high IQ, yet became a genius in every way. Professor Ander Ericsson, a psychologist at FSU has made his opinion clear in the article. To Professor Ericsson, genius has a time and place. It grows under the most astonisshing circumstances, because it isn't a high IQ score that makes one accomplished. It is their fortitude under these unexpected circumstances. "It hapens because some critical things line up so that a person of good intelligence can put in the sustained focused effort it takes to achieve extraordinary mastery", Ericsson says, "These people don't necessarily have an especially high IQ, but they almost always have have very supportive enviroments.... with an incredible investment of effort".
The second pillar is self-mastery. A person must allow them selves to grow and not chase after the success of others. Everyone has a secret skill that works for them and them only. Meaning when you are facing your opponent you do not attack him or her with the same attacks he used on you half a second ago. One only needs a strategy that works for them. Eventually self-mastery leads to security. For now weaknesses and stregths are understood. Self-mastery involves practice and mentoring. By developing oneself, they have a better mindset that will lead them to their objective.
The third is the application of skills. Dobbs explains this through cognitive skills. He says that a genius must learn chunking. This is the ability to " group details and concepts into easliy remembered patterns". This does not come eaily, but it comes with a lot of practice. For example, Dobbs mentions reading where "we all exercise our clustering skills as we read", but the difference between an individual attempting to better his skills and one not, is that the latter is not aware of his inability to group or conceptualize. The one who is aware and attempts to fix becomes the master. The second skill involves clustering. Clustering is the ability to assign a set of objects into groups. A person cannot be intelligent if he does not know how to apply what he as learned; a person must learn to apply what he or she has learned to varible situations.
The three pillars I mentioned are without a doubt necessary to succeed, but the list is not limited to them. Finding fortitude, developing a positive disposition, and building ones skill set is part of the journey in becoming a genius in your own right. A president of the United States once said "Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan 'Press On' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race". What more is need to be said than that a genius lies in everyone but what we lack is perseverance. A number cannot dictate your future, when you change it change.
No comments:
Post a Comment