Idiot!! A Guide to Finding Your Inner Genius
You know that screaming at yourself in the mirror doesn't work, right?
Because, let's get real here, there comes a morning in the life of each person in which they stare blankly at the toaster, holding a teaspoon for no apparent reason, and think: "I may not be cut out for Wednesdays."
Maybe you just banged your shin off the corner of the coffee table that's been in the same spot for a decade. Maybe you answered "Abraham Lincoln" confidently to a trivia question about the inventor of safety helmets. (I know... too soon).
Whatever your moment of accidental brilliance may be, the truth is we've all felt like idiots at some point.
But here's the amazing part: being an idiot is precisely where genius begins!
C'est vrai! As the French would say.
Geniuses aren't born with some glow of intellect and a mysterious past. They don't become international chess champions by age 4 or write a symphony before they go to kindergarten. Okay, Mozart did. The freak.
Most of them, at one time or another, stapled their tie to a report or tried to fix the Wi-Fi by rebooting the microwave. (It was early and I didn't have my glasses on. Also, it was only once.... Okay, twice.)
What made them eventual geniuses is that they kept going.
So, this isn't a guide for the already accomplished. It's for the rest of us. The regular foot-in-mouthers, the ones who think the right toilet paper solves emotional problems. We beautiful, bumbling weirdos with potential.
If you're willing to be just a little bit ridiculous, then whoopie, you're already on your way to brilliance. Let's go.
Embrace the Stupid (Step 1 to Smart)
Have you ever watched a documentary and the narrator says "even a child would know," and you're left thinking, huh? You sit there blinking like a monkfish that just saw itself in the mirror and realized it was ugly.
Yeah, that's the feeling. Lean into that. Embrace it.
Genius comes from discomfort. When you finally admit you don't know something your brain lights up like a pinball machine, searching for the answer and exercising. Idiots stay dumb because they pretend not to be. Geniuses, on the other hand, accept that they'll always be at least partially clueless and they work with it.
Every dumb thing you've done could be likened to a building block in your brains awkward thought mansion. Those missteps and fumbles are just your inner genius getting its bearings. It just happens to fall down a lot.
Ask Dumb Questions, Preferably Out Loud
I had teachers tell me there's no such thing as a dumb question.
Uh, untruth, party of humanity.
There a lots of dumb questions. I've asked several of them today:
- Do hornets get tired of flying? One landed on the window where I have my computer, and it looked exhausted.
- Can I microwave this coffee with the spoon in it if I just believe? Turns out, nope.
- Is a burrito technically a sleeping bag for beans? Turns out, yep.
You see, the truth is that dumb questions lead to interesting answers. Smart people may ask precise questions, but geniuses ask the ones nobody else dares to because they sound like foolish nonsense - until they don't.
Isaac Newton basically asked, "What's up with apples?"
Marie Curie asked, "What happens if this invisible stuff makes me glow?"
Einstein wondered, "What happens if I hitch a ride on this beam of light?"
If you're here wondering why one of your compression socks always disappears in the dryer, you're closer to genius than you may think.
Fail Big. Fail Loud. Fail With Style
Part of the problem is that we've been taught from an early age to fear failure. But true genius doesn't come from being successful over and over, and over again. It comes from failing so hard that you either become wise, or become a warning.
Think about this: The Wright brothers crashed several planes. Edison burned through 100's of prototypes. I once tried to impress my wife by cooking something other than toast but ended up setting off the smoke alarm five separate times. Yes, one of us invented the lightbulb, the other a unique way to impress the importance of fire safety. Still counts.
Failure means you're doing something right, because true idiocy lies in never really trying anything in the first place. You'll never find true genius by sitting on your couch in eerie stillness and watching reruns of Nailed It!
So let's all fail gladly. Spectacularly. Maybe even with glitter, if at all possible.
Steal Like an Idiot
Self-help books won't tell you this, but geniuses are shameless thieves. They just make what they pilfer look cool.
Imitate. Copy. Remix. Stumble your way through someone else's brilliance. By doing so, you'll trip over and discover your own spin. Your own ridiculous, off-centre, there's-no-way-this-should-work-but-it-actually-does style.
Want to be a writer? Mimic Shakespeare, and then ruin the translation with ultra-modern metaphors. Want to be an inventor? Copy a product that already exists but turn it into something edible. (Don't do it, Dave. Legal says it's a bad idea.)
Just own the fact that you're standing on the shoulders of intellectual giants and possibly accidentally kicking them in the head.
The Ego is Too Heavy to Carry to Genius
The annoying backseat driver on the road to brilliance is the ego. It makes you believe you know more than you do. It's embarrassed when you're wrong and is constantly worried that people are watching.
Let it take the bus.
Pride-swallowing is a practice every genius has to master at some point. Probably right after giving their 'expert opinion' or saying "I know what I'm talking about." or "Of course it's perfectly safe, trust me."
That humility isn't weakness, it's bodybuilding the intellect. With time, it gives you the strength to lift your ideas to a level even you may not have thought possible.
Be proud of your weird brain, absolutely. Not too proud to learn, apologize, begin again, or laugh mid-disaster, though.
Realize That Nobody Knows What They're Doing
It's true. Everyone is making it up.
Some may have fancier degrees or can string together a confident Instagram caption everyday, but underneath that we've all got questions that follow us around and Google searches that could put us in mandatory therapy.
Your boss? Yeah, he or she is guessing.
Your favorite author? Full of doubt, and only follows through on a quarter of their projects.
The barista who thinks it's trendy to spell your name anti-phonetically, and with a 7? Still just doing their best.
There's not a person alive who has it all figured out. When you realize that, it frees you up to stop pretending you do. You've just found where genius starts. Start experimenting, messing up, and most importantly, learning.
Let Your Heart Be Loud Too
Genius might be less about brain power and more about heart. Being willing to care deeply about a person, a project, or an idea is the most intelligent thing you can do.
Passion creates curiosity, but compassion creates thoughtfulness. And love, whether it's for a subject, a purpose, or an extremely confused and ugly monkfish, can create boldness.
Yes, embrace your inner idiot, but don't stop at a gentle hug... give it a real squeeze. Let that idiot ask questions, chase really weird ideas, and occasionally fail spectacularly in public. Because one day the result will be something brilliant, and it will point to you and say "Yeah, this was their idea, too."
Lol! Great as always Shawn!
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