“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it’s stupid.” – Albert Einstein
This is perhaps one of my favorite inspirational quotes of all time as I believe it to not only be comforting, but true. Over the years, there has been much curiosity about the mysteries of “genius” and what type of person truly falls into this category of intelligence. Many believe the “genius” is either born that way, developed, or a combination of both. While I am not a scientist and would not know exactly what makes someone a genius in a technical sense, I have my own ideas of the type of characteristics a person of such high intelligence might possess. For example, the other day, I found myself listening to music on YouTube (as I often do) as I studied and came across a very well done cover of Ariana Grande’s, "Dangerous Woman." Not only was the singer very talented, but the instrumental and videography were without a doubt superb. This led to me exploring the channel of whoever made the video and listening to more of their music covers. I discovered the creator’s name to be Kurt Hugo Schneider and naturally did a little bit of research. According to his Wikipedia page, Schneider graduated magna cum laude from Yale University with a degree in mathematics. On top of that, he is quite the accomplished chess player and can play blindfolded. Now, he makes videos that show off his artistic capabilities both musically and productively. I thought to myself, “this man is a genius.” This then led me to think the type of qualities a genius may have. Again, I am not a doctor or a scientist, and these qualities would not make someone a genius. That said, here are 6 characteristics I believe many “geniuses” possess.
1. Curiosity
From my experience, I have always found that anyone with exceptional intelligence is curious about many things. Albert Einstein was always incredibly curious as he strove to discover new theories about mathematics which eventually led to the development of his famous relativity equation, e=mc^2 . Also, I have noticed that such people also love to know things which leads them to reading and researching a lot. Therefore, in my opinion, most geniuses are often incredibly curious individuals.
2. Creativity
Perhaps born of curiosity, creativity is another trademark of a genius. It is my belief that the want to learn sparks the need to create. Creative activities also help to clear the mind and encourage relaxation which is probably why there are a lot of intelligent people who possess at least one or two creative qualities.
3. They march to the beat of their own drum
Let me ask, when was the last time you met an exceptionally smart person that always followed the crowd? More often than not, people with really high intelligence are very independent thinkers with their own agenda. This is perhaps why many think of geniuses as slightly “kooky” or introverted. I highly doubt that Beethoven or Socrates really cared about conforming to the “norm.”
4. In the background
Based on my own personal experience, I have also noticed that highly intelligent persons don’t particularly favor being the center of attention. In fact, I have met many who prefer to be in the background. In my opinion, this is probably because especially the creative geniuses would rather have their abilities seen than be seen themselves.
5. Perfectionist
Many geniuses have perfectionist qualities. They desire to perfect and improve their work so that it can be the best it can be. It's almost as if they have a need to never stop growing intellectually.
6. They don’t know how smart they really are!
Ironically, what I have come to discover about very intelligent people is that they don’t always realize how intelligent they are. In fact, I’ve heard several say before that they don’t believe themselves to be smart at all! Whatever the reason for this is, better to be a humble genius than a boastful one, right?
Genius or not, everyone is highly intelligent and capable of great accomplishments. No matter what, it is important to keep going, do your best in everything, and simply enjoy life.“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning.” – Einstein
