What Makes a Genius

Photo by Ben Sweet on Unsplash

When I was a kid, my curiosity would often lead me to asking, “What makes a genius?”

The answer is never simple. It would change from time to time as I grew up and gathered more experiences. But what I found is that there’s one observation that remained constant. It’s that the well-known definition of a genius is wrong.

A genius isn’t someone with great talent or intelligence. There’s a more profound way of thinking about it. The best one I found is from American jazz composer Thelonious Monk. And it is this:

“A genius is the one most like himself.”

Every civilization has this understanding, but no one seems to realize it.

Saint Augustine once said, “Fall within yourself, because inside of man lies the truth.” And Michel de Montaigne, one of the greatest philosophers of the French revolution, has a famous quote which says, “The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.”

The idea of knowing yourself has always been inside our heads as one of the most important goals in life. But we struggle to do it because not a lot of people talk about it.

For the past three months, this is what I’ve been exploring. I am on a quest to find who I truly am. There’s much to say here, but I want to share just three major ideas that are helping me find my inner genius.

🐍 Shedding Your Skin

In the book Awaken Your Genius, I learned that the snake is the ancient symbol of transition.

Unlike humans, a snake’s skin doesn't grow along with its body. At some point, the snake's skin becomes too tight because its body has outgrown it. By that time, the snake needs to shed its old skin to replace it with a new one.

This process is uncomfortable. The snake rubs and scratches until it can crawl out of the old skin. When the process succeeds, a new vibrant skin emerges. But if the snake fails to shed its skin, it can go blind and die.

I went through a similar shedding process two months ago.

For the longest time, I always thought of myself as a “Math person.” It all started in 1st grade when I got great marks on my homework, and my class adviser told me I’m good at Math. I kept thinking about it with a giddy smile on my face.

Since then, being a "Math person" has been a core driver of who I am. I joined Math contests, attended workshops, and, unsurprisingly, pursued a Math degree.

But just a short month away from graduation, I started to get an uncomfortable feeling that something wasn’t right. This was when everything started to change.

A few weeks later, I made the big decision of stepping away from the one thing my life has always revolved around. I chose to let go of my plans in pursuing a Math career.

The choice was tough, but I knew deep within me that it was right. It was time for me to shed the skin I always had since that pivotal moment in 1st grade.

⚙️ First Principles Thinking

On February 14, 2005, three ambitious guys launched a website specially designed for single people. Here, people can introduce themselves to potential partners via video. 

Imagine that: a dating site that revolves around videos instead of swiping. 

However, their attempt at playing Cupid didn’t work. They didn’t go on to become Tinder or Bumble. Instead, they became the founders of the world’s biggest streaming platform today. They became the founders of YouTube.

When YouTube failed as a dating site, the founders didn’t let the setback go to waste. They took the company’s underlying technology and built a streaming platform that lets people upload all kinds of videos. Today, YouTube has more than 2.70 billion active users—a massive success as a platform.

This is the power of first-principles thinking. You break something down into its core parts, and then you build it back up in a different and better way. You can use this thinking to awaken your inner genius. Find the qualities that make up who you are and use that to build a better you.

To apply first-principles thinking, consider answering the following questions:

What feels like play to you, but work to others? What skills or talents come most naturally to you? What activities make you feel most like yourself? What did you love doing as a child—before the world shoved you in the face with harsh realities and strong opinions?

🌷 Reconnecting to Your Inner Child

“What made you weird or different as a kid makes you extraordinary as an adult.”

—Ozan Varol

Back in my elementary years, my parents would often get mad at me for doing ridiculous experiments at home.

One time, I thought it would be interesting to see if freezing cold water would boil faster than usual water. As you may have guessed, my hypothesis for this experiment is wrong by a long shot.

My mom gave me a weird look when I explained what I was doing. But back then, I was so determined to see what would happen.

The memory is a little embarrassing to remember, but I found something important from the story. It gave me hints on what my first principles are.

What’s natural to me, however, isn’t experimentation. Rather, it’s the innate desire to constantly seek discovery. I feel most energized when I find something I’ve never seen or thought of before. And it connects with all the themes that have been consistent in my life so far.

My passion in Mathematics stems from being fascinated on finding creative ways to solve problems. When I self-studied data science, I enjoyed it because of the interesting findings I could get from data. The same goes in my current job at a marketing role where looking at analytics and campaign results spark my curiosity. And now, I am slowly becoming more comfortable being a writer as I discover new and interesting ways to write online.

Finding such qualities, however, is never easy. It requires an active effort in understanding the person you are. And the process is very long. It took me months to discover mine.

But once you find what makes you you, I promise that it will be the most freeing and liberating experience. It’s like finding the one person you have always been searching for.

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So my final word to you, dear reader, is to go and reconnect with your inner child. Find what has always been natural to you. Discover your first principles. And shed the skin you live in, if you must. Become your most authentic self and surrender to your nature.

Take your first steps in becoming a genius.

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Recommended Reading

If you loved the ideas here, I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading Awaken Your Genius by Ozan Varol.

Reading Ozan’s works have transformed my life in profound ways, and I believe they can do the same to you.

You can find the book HERE.

Photo from The Portfolio Collective