00:00:00 Genius Thinking

00:02:41 Intellectual curiosity.

00:10:37 Willpower and discipline.

00:18:25 Intellectual honesty.

00:25:31 A dash of polymath.

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Do you want to think like a genius? In this video, we'll dive into the

book Genius Thinking: Lessons From History's Greatest Minds on

Innovation, Creativity, and Intelligence by Peter Hollins.

Genius Thinking:

Lessons From History’s Greatest Minds on Innovation,

Creativity,

and Intelligence (Mental Models for Better Living Book 6)

Written by

Peter Hollins

Narrated by Russell Newton.

What is a genius?

Perhaps the first answer that pops into

your mind is the popular depiction of

geniuses in T. V. shows.

You know the kind - smart-talking,

slightly arrogant black sheep who seem

to solve the crime or win the chess

tournament without breaking a sweat.

People have always been fascinated with

genius,

and with the ability to wield superior

intellectual mastery.

Whether we admire geniuses in the arts,

science,

or business,

there’s something so irresistible

about the idea of a human being

operating at their fullest potential.

If you’ve picked up this book,

it’s likely you too are interested in

what exactly sets geniuses apart.

Are they just born that way,

and us mere mortals can do nothing but

look on in admiration?

Or perhaps there is no such thing as

genius at all,

only years of punishing,

diligent hard work that pays off

eventually?

In this book,

we’re going to take the perspective

so often adopted by geniuses themselves

- we’re going to approach the idea of

intellectual mastery and success as our

topic,

and study it as Einstein studied

physics.

In other words,

we’ll become students of human

success,

and look closely not into any one

subject,

but into the way we think about those

subjects,

and how we can optimize our learning

and abilities.

We’ll observe,

take notes,

and see what we can learn from the

great thinkers of our time—and

there’s a lot to learn,

for those who are willing to pay

attention.

What genius can you think of,

off the top of your head?

In this book,

we’ll look at the lives and works of

people like Socrates,

Einstein,

Descartes,

Darwin and Copernicus,

among others.

Despite living in different cultural

and historical periods,

and despite having different interests

and ideas,

these men in fact share a surprisingly

predictable set of personal

characteristics.

So,

what are these traits?

Before you carry on reading,

close this book and see if you can zoom

in on just one or two qualities or

attributes that you think make the

essence of a genius.

Intellectual curiosity.

Chances are,

you thought of something along the

lines of “a genius is intellectually

hungry and curious about everything."

No matter the chosen outlet,

intelligent and highly conscious people

tend to want to know why.

It’s this active,

deliberate perspective that sets them

apart from others who are happy to take

things as they are,

without ever looking more deeply into

them.

When we are children,

we are perhaps more like natural

geniuses than at any other time in our

lives.

We are the proverbial learning sponges,

soaking everything up,

asking a million questions a day,

wanting to know how things work just

for the joy of having that knowledge.

When we grow up,

adults around us indoctrinate us into

certain educational conventions and

institutions that dull this natural

curiosity.

We learn the rules,

the right answers,

and which authority to defer to.

In other words,

we stop relying on our own innate

fascination with the universe around us.

For a genius,

curiosity never seems to subside.

No matter how old they are,

they seem to have a knack for looking

at the world with the wonder of a

little child seeing it all for the

first time.

They are enraptured by things that

other people think are commonplace.

They want to understand how it all

works,

what it means,

how it fits together,

and they don’t stop investigating

until they find out!

And this leads us to conclude something

interesting - that people like Socrates

and Einstein aren’t in possession of

something superhuman;

rather,

they may have merely figured out how to

retain a certain mindset that all

humans are typically born with.

We’ll be focusing on such people in

this book because their lives are a

matter of public record,

and it’s easy to see what might have

worked for them,

but geniuses are all around us and more

common than we think.

Granted,

many people in the world are dogged in

their pursuit of knowledge.

Picture a journalist relentlessly

pursuing the “truth” or the next

scoop,

or an academic going over their field

with a fine-tooth comb as they compile

a Doctor of Philosophy thesis.

The difference here,

though,

is that such people may be pursuing

knowledge and intellectual mastery for

some secondary gain.

For example,

they choose to learn and develop skills

so they can make money,

or win the esteem of their peers,

or satisfy the expectations of others.

The genius,

on the other hand,

doesn’t care about these things,

or at the very least,

these benefits are a distant second to

the main reason for learning - “just

because."

And this is arguably why they can go

further!

A genius pursues knowledge and

understanding for its own sake.

The thrill of learning,

of peering into the mysteries of life,

of gaining a grasp of what was once

unintelligible—these things are seen

as rewards in themselves,

and they are their own good worth

chasing.

You can see this in the fact that many

geniuses will pursue knowledge and

understanding despite the fact that it

actually compromises things like money,

security,

and social approval.

As we’ll soon see,

many of the most celebrated geniuses

throughout history were actually

reviled by their peers at the time,

or sacrificed relationships and

financial security in order to pursue

the object of their intellectual

fascination.

Geniuses are never lukewarm about the

unknown,

and they certainly don’t fear it.

Instead,

they are enchanted with it,

and seek to satisfy their curiosity.

Their attitude is one of the natural

scientist—they want to engage with

the deeper functioning of the universal

machine,

rather than simply accept the surface

manifestations.

Is this a trait that you can actually

develop in yourself,

though?

Absolutely.

Remember,

we are all born with an innate

curiosity—we wouldn’t know what we

know now or indeed have survived to

adulthood unless we were 100 percent

fine-tuned natural learning machines!

It’s a question of reconnecting with

that inborn curiosity and yearning to

understand.

There’s no point in pretending we are

all born with the same talents,

intelligence levels,

and aptitudes,

but remember that this is only part of

the picture.

If you can imagine an intelligent

person who has lived an unremarkable,

unexamined life,

or if you can imagine a person who has

learned much despite being only

moderately talented,

then you can see immediately that raw

aptitude is nice,

but attitude makes the difference at

the end of the day.

This attitude is one and the same with

being “open-minded."

It’s curiosity.

When last were you genuinely curious?

Try this - Just for today,

go out into the world and literally

imagine that you are a child again and

everything is new to you (or maybe

imagine that you are an alien who is

seeing Earth for the first time and

trying to make sense of it).

Spend a day asking questions of the

things that happen around you.

Notice where your own curiosity is

piqued.

Where do you feel that rush of

excitement and energy,

that feeling that is as exhilarating as

discovering a chocolate bunny on an

Easter egg hunt?

When you notice yourself feeling this

curiosity,

pay attention.

Go more deeply into the questions you

have.

Think creatively about what you see,

and ask yourself,

“In what ways could this be

different?"

Don’t rush in to squash that

uncertainty and mystery with a canned

explanation,

but rather relish the unknown.

Many geniuses are able to make enormous

breakthroughs in their field precisely

because they were able to see the

profoundly obvious facts of existence

that everyone else has dutifully

trained themselves out of noticing.

Look for problems,

and daydream about novel solutions to

them.

We tend to think of geniuses as

serious,

joyless people,

but nothing could be further from the

truth.

The start of every marvelous idea or

innovation is essentially play.

To access this state of mind,

ironically,

asks us to drop our ideas of being

smart,

of being right or admired by others.

It asks us to forget about the goals we

might attach to being intellectually

superior.

Many of the world’s greatest

discoveries were made by accident,

when people relaxed their minds and

simply looked at the same old things in

a slightly different way.

We’ll explore the fundamental value

of curiosity,

open-mindedness and a perspective of

goalless play in subsequent chapters,

but for now,

imagine that a genius is nothing more

than a child who sees the entire world

as a vast and wonderful playground.

With this mindset,

you are halfway to being a genius

yourself.

Willpower and discipline.

Of course,

it’s not all just fun and games.

Though many Eureka moments have

happened in the ways described above,

this is only the start of the journey.

A person who is blessed with loads of

natural curiosity will find plenty of

interesting avenues of inquiry,

but may never actually muster the

energy and discipline to go all the way

in any single one of them.

This is because another quality is

essential for reaching that level we

associate with genius - hard work.

There is a phenomenon known to all

university lecturers - A brilliant,

high-achieving student leaves high

school and enrolls in an esteemed

program ...and then proceeds to flunk

badly.

The trouble is not that this smart and

accomplished student is failing—the

problem is that they don’t know how

to fail.

In other words,

because of their intellect,

learning until that point has been

pretty easy for them and not something

they’ve ever had to work at.

When they advance in their learning and

start to get closer to the limits of

their understanding,

they are completely unpracticed in

dealing with confusion,

uncertainty,

and the prospect of having to work

extremely hard to make progress.

They simply have never developed those

skills.

Their success up to that point has

been,

if you like,

for free.

Meanwhile,

other,

more “average” students who have

already learned to work hard in high

school tend to adapt more easily and

may outperform those who are by all

measures more intelligent.

If creativity,

inspiration and curiosity are the spark

that get the fire started (not to

mention inborn intelligence),

then at some point you need a constant

source of fuel to keep those flames

burning for the long term.

When we look at geniuses or

ultra-successful people,

we only see their success.

We see them at the end of their

journey,

once the grand theory has been pieced

together,

the invention finally works,

or the magnum opus is completed.

But this is just the surface gloss,

just a fraction of a percent of the

total work that such a person has

actually undertaken over years,

often decades.

This is like watching a person step

over the finish line in a

marathon—the final step is just one

of hundreds of thousands of other steps

that have brought them to that point,

none of them quite as exciting as that

last one!

Geniuses do the work that other people

are not willing to do.

These are the people who are prepared

to stay up late into the night.

In fact,

it’s insatiable curiosity together

with relentless hard work that produces

most of the genius’s success.

Without passion,

they cannot push through challenge and

adversity.

Without the hard work,

the passion is never attained and made

real.

People can become fatigued with their

life course because although they have

the fuel (i.e. the willingness to work

hard),

they lack the sincere love for the

topic that helps “ignite” them.

They give up long before the person who

is willing to work hard,

but also genuinely passionate about

their path of action.

Patience,

dedication and self-discipline are

what’s needed to shape and direct our

natural and spontaneous intellectual

curiosity.

Like scientists,

we need to organize and structure our

inquiry into the world around us.

Experiments of any kind are useless if

they’re not properly planned,

logically laid out and diligently

executed,

often many,

many times over.

For this,

we need to apply consistent effort and

focus.

When you are driven by the “big

picture” and are enjoying the process

of learning for its own sake,

you can defer the enjoyment that comes

with success.

You are able to wait for the payoff,

sometimes for years,

because you understand the process

you’re in.

Patience and delayed gratification come

easier when you are on a path you

genuinely care about.

If only money or praise drive you,

you will drop out of the race when it

looks like the adversity is more

trouble than it’s worth.

Or else,

you may be tempted to settle for a

smaller goal in the interim and forego

the bigger prize because you want the

satisfaction of achievement now rather

than later.

So,

a genius is a rare creature because

they contain within them a powerful

blend of two quite opposing forces - on

the one hand,

they are open-minded,

passionate,

independent thinkers who pursue

learning for the love of learning.

On the other hand,

they are supremely disciplined,

focused and detail oriented,

and can sit for a long time on work

that may seem tedious and pointless to

others,

who cannot see the vision the genius is

diligently working toward.

Thus,

one of the first myths we can dispel

about human genius is that it’s a

random fluke or a gift from the

universe.

Rather,

genius is not so much about the tools

you’ve been given in your tool box,

but the wisdom with which you apply

those tools,

when,

and how.

How can you cultivate this diligence in

yourself?

This is the realm of self-discipline.

The genius is their own teacher,

and they don’t wait for external

incentives to work hard.

They just do it,

and they keep doing it until they

satisfy their own high standards.

Then they up the standards!

One way to bring some of this focus

into your own life is to cut down on

“noise” so you can better focus on

the one (or maybe two)

areas of life that are most important.

You might decide that each day,

you only focus on one main task.

Really get sucked into it,

and tune out all distractions.

Go deep into the work,

beyond the superficial.

If you’re not challenged enough,

push yourself more.

If the work seems too hard,

break it down and tick off smaller

tasks until you gather momentum again.

Whatever you do,

don’t accept anything other than

movement on your task.

You can move slowly some days and more

quickly on others,

but never allow a day to go by where

you don’t do something toward your

chosen goal.

This attitude that sees work as

non-negotiable will make it easier to

get into good habits.

We’ll explore these techniques in

greater detail later in the book,

but a few fundamental principles

underlie the most effective approaches.

For example,

set your grand goal…and then forget

about it.

Instead,

turn your focus onto manageable,

daily habits.

Make work on your path seem as

automatic as brushing your teeth every

day.

The big goals are achieved step by

step—and the genius knows how to

focus on those small,

incremental steps.

At the end of every day,

they have moved forward,

even if it’s only a tiny amount.

Intellectual honesty.

Let’s consider some other key traits.

Imagine the genius at work,

day after day.

They try Plan A,

and it doesn’t quite work.

They tweak it and attempt another

version,

Plan B. This is better but still not

quite right.

They admit that some assumptions are

not exactly founded.

Plan C doesn’t work at all,

so they go back to the drawing board

and begin afresh,

this time with a completely new

approach.

And so on.

This kind of grueling step-by-step

process requires patience and hard

work,

but it also needs something very

important - humility.

A person who is never willing to admit

they’re wrong stops at the very first

hurdle.

If you are stubborn,

have a big ego and hate making

mistakes,

you will stay precisely where you are,

knowledge-wise.

Those who close their eyes to evidence

staring them right in the face are the

opposite of scientists (and,

in fact,

they are the opposite of geniuses,

you can pick your favorite

description…)

As an extension of being playful,

open-minded and curious,

one who pursues genius must be willing

to let the process of learning lead

them.

Sometimes,

this means that the process tells you,

in no uncertain terms,

“That’s wrong!

Try again."

A genius takes this “negative”

feedback for what it is,

thinks,

“Hmm,

that’s interesting,” changes their

approach and simply tries again.

A less-than-genius person looks at this

feedback from the universe and is

mortified.

Because they have their ego wrapped up

in the learning process,

they see being wrong as a personal

failure,

and a reflection on who they are as

people.

So,

when they get things wrong,

they feel that they are wrong,

and understandably,

this feels like a pretty serious threat.

The response is to deny that they are

wrong,

ignore the evidence,

or sit tight and never grow because

it’s too embarrassing to feel like a

beginner.

This is essentially the difference

between a fixed mindset (i.e.

“I am the way I am and I can’t

change”)

vs. a growth mindset (“It’s always

possible for me to learn”).

Take a look at the difference in

attitude - Fixed mindset – Either you

can dance or you can’t.

I’m one of those who can’t.

Growth mindset – I’m still learning!

It’s tough,

but I practice an hour a day.

Fixed mindset – Why try?

You’ll only fail.

Growth mindset – I’ll try this and

see what happens.

If it doesn’t work,

that’s interesting data and I can use

that.

Fixed mindset – It’s easy for you

to say,

but I’m dyslexic so I can’t do that.

Growth mindset – My results depend on

my consistent effort.

When I see others do well,

I get curious about how they did it and

see what I can learn from them.

We can also broadly call this trait

intellectual honesty.

It’s the ability to be flexible,

to be honest with yourself and to

self-correct without too much bias or

stubbornness.

The degree of your willingness to be

wrong is directly proportional to your

capacity to learn.

After all,

those who already know everything have

no need to ask questions,

to be better,

or learn from others.

So,

they don’t.

This is a trait that is very easy to

develop in yourself,

thankfully.

How?

It’s simple - be embarrassed

occasionally.

One thing that is incredibly freeing

for the soul and the intellect is to

quickly say,

“I don’t know” when you really

don’t know.

If you’re in a discussion with

someone who has just proven you

incorrect,

don’t dig yourself further into a

hole by doubling down on your position

or trying to make out that you were

really right all along.

Instead,

say freely and quickly,

“Yes,

I think you’re right!” and simply

let go of the idea or belief you held

before.

Easier said than done.

But if you can consistently practice

this trait,

you will soon develop intellectual

honesty and ironically,

people will view you and your opinions

more favorably.

You demonstrate not only intellectual

maturity but wisdom and

level-headed-ness when you can honestly

admit gaps in your understanding.

Remind yourself that being wrong or

making mistakes is not the end of the

world.

In fact,

if you’re not regularly encountering

your own ignorance and lack of skill,

you aren’t challenging yourself

enough!

See mistakes and being wrong as the

entry fee for playing the learning game.

Remember that even brilliantly

accomplished geniuses throughout

history have been wrong—in fact,

they’ve probably been wrong more

times than you!

The successful entrepreneur,

it’s said,

has failed more times than the average

person has even tried.

The genius,

then,

is not someone who finds everything

easy and gets it right first time;

rather,

they are the people who have a higher

than normal threshold for tolerating

uncertainty,

“failure” or confusion.

They are the ones willing to be

embarrassing novices for years before

they get to show off their skill.

They are the ones who won’t mind when

people laugh at their crazy idea.

While everyone else might feel sorry

for a person who lost tons of money on

a venture that didn’t pan out,

that person may themselves be thinking,

“Excellent!

Now I know exactly what not to do next

time.

This is great…” Other than

regularly saying “I don’t know”

or “I was wrong” (and meaning it),

the genius mindset is characterized by

a sincere lack of bias and prejudice.

Keep in mind your natural

curiosity—it’s not something that

thrives in the presence of dogged

beliefs and ideas that never budge.

Take a look at your own self talk and

see if you can identify any times where

you use words like “always” and

“never."

These could give you a clue to your own

stubborn biases or assumptions that may

need updating.

A dash of polymathy.

Let’s move on to another fundamental

trait,

one which we can only call

“jack-of-all-trades-ness."

Genius thinking is more lateral than

vertical.

In other words,

it’s broad.

Though geniuses like to look into

things in depth,

they are never specialists.

This is because their natural curiosity

carries them into all fields and topics.

If you ask “why?” often enough,

you will soon find yourself studying

everything in life—and why not?

Why restrict yourself?

As you’ll soon see,

the intellectual heavyweights of

history all had this in common - they

read widely,

and had an enormous range of interests.

If they were scientists,

they dabbled in all kinds of science,

and also enjoyed poetry,

hunting,

and economic theory (for example).

If they were involved in politics they

also had a religious interest and

painted,

or if they were philosophers,

they also had a keen interest in

anthropology and music.

You get the idea.

They didn’t box themselves in.

It’s only the human mind that divides

the world into little

categories—geniuses see that

everything is actually connected,

and don’t put limits on their

inquiries.

A genius is well-read and up to date.

They want to understand what is

happening around them.

So,

when they talk to anyone,

chances are they have something to

contribute to the conversation,

and if they are completely oblivious,

they go into investigation mode and

learn as much as they can when they

encounter someone who knows something

they don’t.

If they are familiar with mathematics

and programming,

and they chat to an expert in

literature,

they can’t help but draw connections

and relationships,

seeking to understand the new knowledge

in terms of what they already know.

They might become curious about

symbolic representation in literature,

or wonder how an A. I. would codify and

represent different writing styles,

or how certain languages might be

considered more “mathematical” than

others.

In fact,

it’s this willingness to

cross-pollinate different areas of

knowledge that allows geniuses to come

up with so many novel approaches and

theories.

Genius thinkers are at home with using

analogies of all kinds.

Their minds are constantly looking for

the biggest possible picture.

They want to know how everything fits

together,

so when they meet a new piece of

knowledge,

the first thing they do is examine it

and see how it relates to the pieces

they already possess.

This is perhaps why so many truly great

scientists are also deeply creative and

artistic people—they know how to work

with metaphor and analogy,

and can rearrange concepts,

switch perspectives,

and “translate” ideas from one

field to another.

The way to foster this trait in

yourself is to deliberately seek out

connections and interrelations in

everything you do.

Don’t think in neat little boxes,

but blend it all together.

As a fun practice,

look around in your life right now and

identify one area in which you are an

expert (or aspiring to be!).

Now think of an area that you are quite

ignorant of.

Next,

see if you can draw connections between

them.

Can you see how economies are a little

like ecosystems?

Or can you understand how composing a

complex orchestral piece is a bit like

putting together a recipe?

Maybe you can hear some music and

imagine that it has its own vocabulary

and language—or indeed that it can be

understood as a kind of animal.

The point of making connections and

relationships this way is not to

discover any real or true links,

but rather to open up your own horizons

and start to see the world more broadly

(i.e. as it really is!).

Sadly,

people are taught that “left brain

and right brain” are different,

and that people who are good at

“hard” sciences will naturally be

deficient in art and languages,

while those who are more creative and

socially minded will flounder when it

comes to things like business or

engineering.

A genius doesn’t follow these rules

in the least—remember,

they see the world as a playground,

and not as a house with rooms they’re

not allowed to go into.

In your own life,

you can make a point of getting into

the habit of never assuming something

is outside your scope.

Even if you think a certain topic or

idea is too difficult or irrelevant,

take a closer look anyway and see what

you can learn.

Another good practice is to routinely

court information from all parts of the

spectrum,

i.e. don’t always go looking for

material that only confirms the beliefs

you already have.

Don’t assume you know what “the

other side” thinks and believes—go

and check it out yourself!

Get into real,

good-faith arguments with people you

disagree with and genuinely put

yourself in their shoes.

Deliberately seek out information

online that contradicts your

perspective,

and see what happens.

Besides saying “I don’t know”

more regularly than others,

geniuses also say something else -

“This is my opinion… for now.

But it’s only provisional.

I’m willing to change it when I’m

faced with evidence to the contrary."

Finally,

in mentioning how geniuses are

comfortable with holding provisional

opinions and changing their minds when

necessary,

we can’t help but consider something

else about them,

namely that they are seldom

conventional people.

Geniuses are constantly thinking

outside of the box,

or looking closely at the box itself to

see what it’s made of,

and how it functions,

and why.

Such people are not rebels exactly,

rather they follow their own

principles,

and seldom have blind respect for

arbitrary rules they see no sense

behind.

This is because they look more deeply

into matters than is common;

the world seems far more malleable and

up for debate to them than it might

seem to others—rules,

in this case,

can look like pointless limits and

interference.

We’ve already seen that the genius

perspective is one that draws creative

connections,

sees hidden relationships,

and investigates deeply into the real

causes of phenomena.

Things like baseless public opinion,

random rules for the sake of rules,

and fearfully towing the line are

likely to be far from a genius’s mind.

But again,

it’s not as though the people we call

geniuses get a thrill from rule

breaking;

it’s more that they recognize a

higher authority,

and if they do end up obeying and

following orders,

it will be because they accept the

validity of another deep thinker’s

perspective.

Genius thinking is more characterized

by non-hierarchical social structures,

non-linear thinking and a tendency to

go against the grain—if the grain is

something that is merely part of

tradition and convention,

rather than genuinely the best way to

do things.

This is why geniuses are so often

associated with science and

innovation—these are the people who

pull humanity forward with their

insistence that there has to be more to

life,

even if people are afraid of trying

something new.

Genius thinking is dynamic and

adaptable.

It’s not afraid to adjust itself,

or to change as needed.

Thus,

a genius thinker will have no qualms

about completely dropping an old way of

life to pursue an entirely new way of

being.

They are happy to dream up novel

solutions,

creative new possibilities,

or even fantastical and outlandish

dreams for the future.

They don’t tend to take these

thoughts and measure them against the

accepted standards of the day.

In other words,

they don’t care about being popular

or fashionable or even liked by others.

And this is what allows them to be true

explorers of the unknown.

This can be a difficult perspective

shift to bring into your own life,

because every one of us,

whether we admit it or not,

is deeply embedded in the values and

rules of our culture and historical

period.

We all have our assumptions and biases,

and our beliefs about what is and

isn’t possible,

what’s right and what’s wrong.

One of the genius’s best tools is the

mindset that comes with asking,

“What if?” and being genuinely open

to whatever answers stem from that.

Question your own “rules” that you

make for yourself and you’ll become

better at recognizing the unnecessary

limits placed on you by others.

You could practice this mindset

switching for yourself,

right now.

Get out a piece of paper and,

very quickly and without too much

thought,

write down five things that you

absolutely know to be true about

yourself or the world.

Write down your core beliefs or

assumptions,

big or small.

Let’s say you wrote down,

“I value education and learning so

I’m going to try to get into

university."

Now,

look at this as neutrally as you

possibly can.

Look at the unspoken conditional nature

of the sentence,

i.e. the assumption that going to

university is the best (or only?)

way to get an education.

Consider the hidden biases and

expectations behind this—that

teaching and learning come from

recognized institutions,

i.e. externally,

and if you value education and learning

you need to appeal to these

institutions to let them allow you to

learn.

It’s just a simple sentence that you

may never look more deeply into,

but on closer examination,

can you see how many rules are implied

in it?

Maybe it’s not true that university =

education.

A genius doesn’t take anything for

granted…they don’t even take their

own word for it.

They ask,

“What if…?"

What if it were possible to learn more

outside of university?

What if the thing that you most wanted

was actually not to follow the path

that others in your peer group pursue?

The answers are irrelevant—it’s the

fact of asking the question that is

important.

In the chapters that follow,

we’ll be looking more closely at

specific examples of people who many

have called geniuses.

We’ll see not only that each of these

people has perfectly demonstrated the

traits we’ve discussed here,

but exactly how they managed to express

these tendencies and traits in their

work,

and indeed how these characteristics

were actually the key to their success.

Takeaways.

•Geniuses come in all shapes and

sizes,

from all walks of life and all

historical periods,

but they can all be seen to possess

certain predictable characteristics and

mindsets.

•If we can model our own lives on the

traits we find in great and successful

thinkers,

we too can learn to fulfill more of our

intellectual and creative potential.

•The first trait is a lust for

learning and an insatiable curiosity

about how the world works,

and why.

This is knowledge and understanding

pursued for its own sake,

and not because it indirectly leads to

another goal like fame or money.

Such inspiration and passion gives

incredible stamina to any effort.

•Another trait is diligence,

patience,

dedication and self-discipline,

i.e. everything associated with

consistent hard work.

Without detail-oriented and practical

action taken daily,

and a willingness to delay

gratification,

success will never materialize.

•Intellectual honesty is also

important,

and this includes humility and the

ability to admit that you don’t know

something,

or that you have made a mistake.

Geniuses know that stubbornness,

bias,

expectation and ego can undermine

genuine learning.

•Most genius types are usually

polymaths (skilled in many areas)

and have broad rather than narrow

interests.

They are well-read and make connections

between all disciplines,

see relationships and analogies,

and find inspiration in all fields,

never limiting themselves to one area.

•Finally,

geniuses are usually assumed to be

novel,

out-of-the-box thinkers.

Such people are non-conventional and

tend to disregard arbitrary rules,

fashions or unquestioned assumptions

and habits.

They are comfortable pushing outside of

the norms and exploring new

territory—and this makes them natural

innovators and trendsetters (as well as

problem solvers!).

•We can always be aware of these

mindsets particular to geniuses and

deliberately work to cultivate them in

ourselves,

in a variety of ways.

This has been

Genius Thinking:

Lessons From History’s Greatest Minds on Innovation,

Creativity,

and Intelligence (Mental Models for Better Living Book 6) Written by

Peter Hollins

Narrated by Russell Newton.