For a Non Genius Brain, Focus On Anything Other Than Thinking

As a genius myself it always pleases me to see the non genius types among us trying to be just a little bit more like me. That said I was unhappy with the lack of balance in the article (linked below - note: link removed by author. It was a classic believe me. Hopefully you can get the gist of just what an ass the dude was that wrote it by reading this. Imagine this article but in reverse and taken totally seriously. You'll get my point.) and felt it could have highlighted the differences between us geniuses (aka genuii) and the common folk more strongly. After all if everyone were a genius there would be no genuii and we would all be common folk and we would all….wait a minute. Damn…that does suck to think about. In any case I rewrote the article in an attempt to do just that, plus make it shorter, and not so stupid, or boring. Enjoy.

For a Genius Brain, Focus on How to Think, Instead of What to Think

Geniuses know “how” to think, instead of “what” to think, non geniuses know that thinking too much about anything is hard

Nancy Andreasen, neuroscientist and neuropsychiatrist studies “the science of genius” — trying to understand the elements that make up the most creative minds.

In one of her studies, which she wrote about for the Atlantic, Andreasen scanned the brains of 13 of the most famous scientists, mathematicians, artists, and writers alive today. As controls for the study she selected 13 of the most average men and women alive. This group consisted of low to average IQ individuals with zero renown, little ambition, careers with no future, and personal and family lives full of dysfunction and sadness.

In her findings, she distilled some key patterns in the minds of creative geniuses. The patterns of the dullards were also repeatable across the cohort.

Geniuses embrace the messy middle, non-geniuses are messy

Geniuses are autodidacts, non-geniuses have no idea what that word means

Geniuses are good at making juxtapositions between dissimilar subjects, non-geniuses are good at juxtaposing similar objects

Geniuses think productively, not reproductively, non-geniuses think a lot about reproduction

Geniuses are so good, we can’t ignore them, non-geniuses are good at being ignored

Closing Thoughts for the Average Man

Creativity is necessary in our day-to-day lives and careers for the 10% of people with jobs where creativity is rewarded instead of viewed as questioning management’s priorities, acting up, or being to big for one’s britches.

Getting better at what you do comes down to identifying and attacking a problem so that you can move past it. Unless of course the problem is not having enough money because your job pays crap wages and the price of everything seems to constantly increase.

Everyone is capable of thinking above first level common sense. Although almost no one does.

You can train your brain to solve problems better, think different and make better connections every day. However, just because you can do something does not mean you will, and you will almost certainly not.

You are not a Picasso, Rembrandt, or Leonardo. Get used to it.

Genius thinking patterns are within your power — Sucks to think about doesn’t it?

Then you’ll be slightly better then 49% of the people out there!