Experience The Hidden Habits Of Genius: Beyond Talent, IQ, And Grit—Unlocking The Secrets Of Greatness Penned By Craig Wright Exhibited In Leaflet
Joan of Arc. Einstein. Marie Curie. Steve Jobs. In The Hidden Habits of Genius, Craig Wright plumbs the depths of human capacity in nearlyextraordinarily successful individuals through the ages, In them, he finds the characteristics of genius that enable mere human beings to reach such heights of accomplishment that their efforts change society for millions of others and often resonate in memory for centuries to come.
These fourteen traits he calls “hidden habits, ”
GENIUS DOESNT MEAN WHAT YOU PROBABLY THINK IT MEANS
For Wright, “genius is creativity and creativity involves change, ” A genius, in his view, is not simply a person of exceptional ability, “A genius,” he explains, “is a person of extraordinary mental powers whose original works or insights change society in some significant way for good or ill across cultures and across time.
” But this is not what the author expected to find when he set out on his research, “I had in my mind a picture of the genius: someone with a superhigh IQ who, even as a youth, has sudden aha insights, yet is eccentric and unpredictable.
Every feature of this stereotypical imagine, I have now learned, is wrong or inaccurate in most cases, ”
GENIUSES PROFILED
Wright delves into the lives of nearlyextraordinary individuals over the span of recorded history, Nearly all of them are boldface names we all readily recognize or should, Scientists, musicians, painters, writers, politicianstheyre drawn from every walk of life, And, as Wright takes pains to point out, most of them have been extremely unpleasant people, who have treated their families and others around them very poorly.
However, Wright does not include in his tally such legendarily bad actors as Ghengis Khan, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong, all of whom clearly fit his definition of genius for their impact on society.
Wright errs on the side of constructive impact, not destructive,
THE FOURTEEN CHARACTERISTICS OF GENIUS
In each of fourteen chapters, Wright elaborates on one of the “hidden habits” he perceives in genius.
He sums them up in the introduction but doesnt later name them as such, Here they are:
Work ethic
Resilience
Originality
Childlike imagination
Insatiable curiosity
Passion
Creative maladjustment
Rebelliousness
Crossborder thinking
Contrarian action
Preparation
Obsession
Relaxation
Concentration
Perhaps its obvious, but the point may need emphasis: every genius doesnt necessarily exhibit all fourteen of these traits.
In fact, Id be surprised if any of them did, But every genius shows evidence of the majority of these “hidden habits, ”
IS IQ A MEASURE OF GENIUS
Can IQ tests measure genius Wright powerfully makes the case that this may be the greatest fallacy of all about genius.
In underlining the point, he cites “a famous genius test conducted at Stanford by Lewis Terman and colleagues from thes into thes, a cohort of,youngsters with IQs overthat ultimately failed to produce a single genius.
”
Consider the question from a statistical perspective, Aboutin,individuals achieves an IQ score of more than, a level thats frequently cited as indicating “genius, ” There are some.billion people in the world, Which means that, if everyone could be tested, we would assume that roughly,people are geniuses, Does this make sense Cut the number in half and half twice again, just to be safe, and youre left with about,, Are there,people in the world destined to “change the world for good or ill across cultures and across time” I dont think so.
Do you But might that IQ score simply be too low Tryinstead, Approximatelyin,people are tested at that level or above, And if we perform the same calculations, we find that some,must be geniuses, Which is also absurd on the face of things,
ON A PERSONAL NOTE
Perhaps, then, we should look even higher on the IQ scale, The chances of scoringon the StanfordBinet intelligence test arein,,,, Thatsin.billion people, which means that such a person would presumably be alone in the world, But IQ, after all, is a measure of potential, not of achievement, And I happened to know a youngster in my home town who was reliably said to have an IQ at that level, He went to Harvard at age, And died of a heroin overdose the following year,
Not convinced by any of this Ill add another personal note, When I was a child of three or four, my parents sent me to a licensed psychologist to determine my IQ, I was what was regarded as precocious, Distrusting the result, they got a second opinion, A year or two later, they had me tested again, As my mother told me many years later, I scored,, andon these tests, Yes, I still remember these numbers, I obsessed about them for far too long and wish shed never told me, Does this high IQ mean Im a genius Nonsense! Not even close,
Ive led a productive life foryears and become reasonably successful, but in no way, shape, or form have I changed the world, or even a very small part of it.
Im certain Im of above average intelligence, but I frequently encounter people who run intellectual circles around me, And I often have trouble understanding densely written text, Genius as Craig Wright sees it, and as I see it, is exceedingly rareand its clearly got little or nothing to do with IQ.
For a reasonably wellbalanced summary of whats known about IQ, see “What is a genius IQ score”
A TEXT MARRED BY OCCASIONAL ERRORS
Wright has been teaching a course on genius at Yale for many years.
The research he or his graduate students conducted to supply the details he cites in the book must have been extensive, indeed, However, its difficult for me to accept it all as gospel, because minor errors crop up in the text, For example, the sun is not the center of the galaxy which is in fact some,lightyears distant, And Mark Twain did not say or write “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco” no matter how many times others have attributed the saying to him.
Its not too much of a stretch to think that similar errors might have crept into Wrights stories about the lives of the people he profiles.
Still, nearly everything in the book of which I had prior knowledge squared with what I know, so Im inclined to regard the errors as minor slipups and not consequential.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Craig M, Wrightwas a professor of music at Yale University for decades and is now emeritus, He holds an MA and PhD in musicology from Harvard, The Hidden Habits of Genius is his seventh book, It followed his deep dive into the life of Wolfgang Mozart and Wrights determination to understand the roots of the mans genius, “An unusually engaging book on the forces that fuel originality across fields, ” Adam Grant
Looking at thekey traits of genius, from curiosity to creative maladjustment to obsession, Professor Craig Wright, creator of Yale University's popular “Genius Course,” explores what we can learn from brilliant minds that have changed the world.
Einstein, Beethoven. Picasso. Jobs. The word genius evokes these iconic figures, whose cultural contributions have irreversibly shaped society,
Yet Beethoven could not multiply, Picasso couldnt pass ath grade math test, And Jobs left high school with a,GPA. What does this say about our metrics for measuring success and achievement today Why do we teach children to behave and play by the rules, when the transformative geniuses of Western culture have done just the opposite And what is genius, really
Professor Craig Wright, creator of Yale Universitys popular “Genius Course,” has devoted more than two decades to exploring these questions and probing the nature of this term, which is deeply embedded in our culture.
In The Hidden Habits of Genius, he reveals what we can learn from the lives of those we have dubbed “geniuses,” past and present.
Examining the lives of transformative individuals ranging from Charles Darwin and Marie Curie to Leonardo Da Vinci and Andy Warhol to Toni Morrison and Elon Musk, Wright identifies more than a dozen drivers of geniuscharacteristics and patterns of behavior common to great minds throughout history.
He argues that genius is about more than intellect and work ethicit is far more complexand that the famed “eureka” moment is a Hollywood fiction.
Brilliant insights that change the world are never sudden, but rather, they are the result of unique modes of thinking and lengthy gestation.
Most importantly, the habits of mind that produce great thinking and discovery can be actively learned and cultivated, and Wright shows us how.
This book won't make you a genius, But embracing the hidden habits of these transformative individuals will make you more strategic, creative, and successful, and, ultimately, happier, This is the type of book you want to devour slowly, I sure did take my time with this, I started reading it in Novemberand finished it at the end of January,
I took notes thoroughly and slowly and reflected on each of the relevant takeaways, It really does talk about the individual habits of several of the bestknown Geniuses out there, It gives you a definition of genius that is unlike anyone I have ever heard before, And it makes total sense after reading it,
Also, while reading through this book I experimented with a new style of notetaking I'm going to have to go back through the front cover of the book where I took all my notes in my own words and transfer them to my second brain.
I also plan on uploading maybe an updated review of this book after transferring my notes and getting a chance to reflect further on the takeaways of this book.
So if I do end up doing this and posting something on Goodreads, do stay tuned for that, If not on Goodreads then I may create a video about it on YouTube or at least upload Snippets of it elsewhere on Instagram or Twitter.
This wasn't exactly a "how to be a genius" book, like the title might suggest, The author teaches a class about geniuses at Yale and this is a summary of some of his observations about what makes a "genius" his definition is narrower than most and traits many geniuses throughout history have shared.
He doesn't overly glorify those geniuses and acknowledges that many were awful people, especially in their interpersonal relationships, See: Picasso It was interesting to hear his perspectives on education as an ivy league professor and as a person who has studied some of the most groundbreaking and intelligent people that have lived.
I also enjoyed learning a bit more about those notable individuals' lives, We can trace the same key elements in the lives of many geniuses across vastly different cultures and times, At root, genius involves the ability to combine intense concentration with creative downtime, to turn personal difficulties into strengths, and to find the courage to break traditional rules.
On top of that, geniuses have a daring, childlike point of view and an insatiable curiosity that always prompts them to learn more.
Actionable advice:
Go for a leisurely walk,
Walking played a key role in the creative routines of geniuses like Charles Dickens and the Peripatetic philosophers but if you are going for a stroll in search of inspiration, be sure to stick to a moderate pace.
Scientists say that if you raise the speed of your walks from a leisurely pace to a more exerting one, you break the spell.
Thats because if you move too quickly, your mind fixates on the mechanics of walking rather than roaming freely, and you lose the creative benefits a walk can bring.
The key message is : Make time for relaxation,
When is it that your best ideas strike you Is it when youre at your desk Or when youre answering emails Probably not.
If youre like most of us, inspiration probably strikes when your mind is disengaged while youre taking a shower, going for a walk, or even while youre in the depths of a dream.
Isaac Newton, for example, had the ability to hold a problem in his mind and meditate on it for hours at a time leading to revolutionary breakthroughs in the world of physics and astronomy.
But genius isnt just about being able to focus, It also involves the opposite of hard work and concentration: the ability to relax,
Judging by the creative habits of many geniuses, the best way to arrive at new insights is to disengage from your work for a while, letting your weary mind slacken and relax.
One of the most common ways of doing this is by getting some exercise,
This isnt a new idea, Legend has it that a Greek philosophical sect called the Peripatetics carried out their arguments and discussions while walking around the grounds of Aristotles school.
In more modern times, novelist Charles Dickens is said to have walked up tomiles a day while working on A Christmas Carol.
But there are more relaxing states than walking and the most relaxing of all is surely sleep, In the depths of our slumber, as we dream, we enter a phase called REM, or Rapid Eye Movement, sleep,
During REM sleep, the far left and right sides of our prefrontal cortex, which play a key role in logical thought, power down.
At the same time, the parts of our brain connected to memory, emotion, and images go into overdrive, The result is the bizarre phenomenon we call dreaming a state during which geniuses from the artist Salvador Dalí to the Beatles Paul McCartney experienced some of their most important creative breakthroughs.
But, geniuses or not, theres a lesson for the rest of us as well, The way to arrive at new ideas and insights isnt by exhausting yourself with neverending work, For optimal creativity, times of concentration need to be combined with stretches of deep relaxation and rest, .