42: Finding Genius

I just came back in from kayaking on the Hudson River and would like to share with you a few of my thoughts while out there. Like I often do, I thought about Einstein. He once said,   “If you ask a fish to climb a tree, he’ll spend his whole life believing he’s an idiot.” Einstein is spot on, but unless someone reads this quote or hears it from someone else, he more than likely will never know he’s a genius. We’re all geniuses in some way, but not everyone finds it. To find it, you need to look beyond what the classroom and school typically asked of you. Genius isn’t about memorizing data or performing a task faster than everyone else. It’s not found in a test. Genius, on the other hand, can be broken down into two separate tracks. There are geniuses like Daniel Tammet, the autistic savant who can master a language in just weeks, and then there are geniuses like Steve Jobs and Steve Woznisk who think conceptually and are so creative that they turn the box society stays confined in into a soccer ball for a game. Genius 1 is better, stronger, or faster than anyone else and Genius 2 thinks so differently that society can’t do anything else but turn their heads in awe.   I learned two key lessons about finding your genius: Lesson #1: Never Settle and Level Up with Community   Mario Armstrong, the head tech guru you see on The Today Show shared with me his latest work in motivating people to find their genius. He calls his group, the #NeverSettleClub and he’s touring the nation motivating millennials to break out of the shell they are living in and live their life to the fullest.   After being a part of major broadcasting companies for years, including The Today Show, Mario shared with me that one key difference between the most successful people and those who settle with less is willpower and community. The most successful people have incredible willpower, but they also have a community that supports and nurtures them to do more, be more, and live remarkably.   (That's why I'd be honored for you to join our community of change makers at yourlop.com.   Lesson #2: Get Ninja Focused and Grow Some Grit   To find your genius  you need to dig deep and be more micro niche than ever before. You see this problem with so many children. It’s so easy to start something, but hard to follow through and continue.   Kids pick up a new instrument or play a new sport when the going gets tough. Instead of pushing through to mastery, it’s way easier to just move on to something else.   Now let me be clear — this is a major struggle of mine. I like being a jack of all trades, but know that I need to push through to focus and achieve mastery.   That’s why I keep writing. Writing is never easy for me, though I always feel great after writing an article. I’m not a master at writing, but I’ve learned the value of pushing through and learning the intricacies of how to construct prose.   It’s help lead me to write for large media sites like The Huffington Post and Elephant Journal and you could do the same.   I’m not the best writer out there, but I’m consistent. And I deliver.   I push through.    The same goes for training your body for performance or just to get in really good shape. It’s not too hard to get in mediocre mental and physical health. But it requires focus, a dedicated meditation practice, and efficient physical efforts to achieve ninja-like health and awareness.     So, What’s so beautiful about your unique story and so deeply embedded in your passion that no one else could even fathom focusing on for a long stretch?