Inform Yourself

My good friend Jay Niblick, founder of Innermetrix International, recently completed a study called The Genius Project. His study became the basis for his latest book, What’s Your Genius?

The Genius Project: First Evolution, Know Thyself - How We Think

The aspect of yourself that you will need to develop better self-awareness on is how you think and make decisions, because this is what controls your natural talents. There is a lot we don’t know about how the human mind works. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, as much as 90% of what we know about how our minds work has only been learned in the past 13 years. Imagine a major city library filled with all the knowledge the human race possesses on how the brain works. Now imagine 90% of those shelves empty and you get a picture of just how new our level of understanding for the human brain (and mind) really is. The leaps we’ve made in our understanding of the brain are quite remarkable, and while there is still much more to learn, what we do know is amazing enough.

Your mind is arguably the most miraculous creations in the entire universe. It controls every aspect of your life, conscious or subconscious. It never sleeps or stops gathering information. It can literally slow time or your perception of it at least, by increasing your processing speed five-fold in emergencies. It is a remarkably effective CEO of a trillion-cell organization. It is veracious, taking in more than 11,000,000 bits of information every second of our lives, and it has more processing capability than the most advanced computer ever built.

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior. ~ Confucius

We are born with one hundred billion brain cells called neurons (100,000,000,000 cells or 1011). That’s more than any other creature on the planet. As we grow each of these neurons reaches out and connects to other neurons to create what are called neural networks. By the time we are three years old each of our one hundred billion neurons has created a connection to approximately fifteen thousand other neurons, each of those having the same number of connections with other neurons. Just imagine the incredible complexity of a network of living cells that large. That’s one million billion connections, and a whole lot of processing power. It is these networks that give us our ability to think, feel, remember, and be who we are.

Our neurons communicate with each other through electrical and chemical signals and each time a given network of neurons is used the more robust it becomes, at least at an early stage. Every time we have a recurring thought or process information in a similar way, we use a similar network of neurons and that network becomes reinforced. If one neural network becomes overwhelmed, it can actually even recruit other neurons to help support the load. These neural networks become mental filters that control which of those 11,000,000 bits of information streaming into our brains get noticed, and which don’t. Our neural networks are much like an Internet connection.

By the time we reach our early teens nearly half of those connections are gone. Through the repetitive use of certain networks and continual none-use of others, these networks become either very robust and fast or more anemic and slow. Throughout our early years this continual process of creating and pruning neural networks forms permanent networks that will last our lifetime, unchanged for the most part. It is these neural networks that determine our natural talents for thinking and making decisions. Because of the permanence of these neural networks, the natural talents they create are similarly fixed. We cannot forcibly develop new neural networks through conscious effort in a weekend training program, thus we cannot develop new natural talents with any greater effectiveness.

This is what makes self-awareness such a vital aspect of success. Since our natural talents are fixed, it is crucial that we understand what they are because this is what we have to work with. This also explains why much of the training and development efforts companies undertake fail to deliver the full return hoped for because much of it is focused on creating new natural talents; talents which require a neural network to support them. Sure, training, new knowledge, experience, intelligence, all of these can help improve my ability in a given talent, but if that talent is not supported by a high-speed, high-bandwidth connection, than I will never reach genius levels of performance. At best I might develop a moderate or even sufficient degree of ability, but no amount of conscious effort will magically turn my dial-up connection into a cable router.

Geniuses, though, don’t mind this fact. They don’t sit around wishing that they could become something they are not. The revel in the fact that they have the special mix of talents they have because they embrace their uniqueness. We are all uniquely imperfect people and this will never change nor should you want it to be any different. How mind numbingly boring would it be if we were all the same. Our uniqueness should be cherished and embraced. Success is not about ceasing to be uniquely imperfect or flawed. Success is not about striving to become perfect. It is about finding your uniquely perfect match between your perfections and imperfections and your objectives and roles in life.

My good friend Jay Niblick, founder of Innermetrix International, recently completed a study called The Genius Project. His study became the basis for his latest book, What’s Your Genius?

“Gnothi Seauton” – Know Thyself. These words were inscribed above the entrance to the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the site of the sacred Oracle in Ancient Greece. People who visited the Oracle sought to find out what their destiny was or which course of action they should take in some particular matter. Ironically though, those who entered seeking guidance failed to truly understand the real meaning of the message right above their own heads. The message “Know Thyself” didn’t mean know for yourself – by asking someone else. It meant know of yourself as in “the answer lies within.” The best answers as to your destiny, or how to proceed, lie within you and the only way to get those answers is to know yourself by developing your own level of self-awareness. Your destiny is written by your own hand. While you may have been created with certain talents, what you do with those talents – your destiny – is up to you.

Aristotle said in the first line of the Metaphysics, “Man, by nature, desires to know.” Few would argue with this, but the key to success has a whole lot to do with what we know. The conventional belief on being successful focuses on having as much technical and factual knowledge as possible. A good lawyer must know the law, and a good scientist must know his or her science. While true that one should possess a significant amount of knowledge for the specifics of their job or work, the Genius Project highlighted self knowledge as another kind of knowledge that is even more important to success. Self knowledge involves a keen understanding of and awareness for one’s own self (e.g., talents, limitations, motivations, etc.).

When Descarte said, “I think, therefore I am”, he may have been correct, but knowing “I am” is quite a different story than knowing, and being honest to, what I am. To become self-aware you must transcend the simple awareness of “I am” to understand “what I am.” There is a whole lot that goes into what you are. You are a wonderfully unique and singular mix of physical, emotional and spiritual content. You are your emotions, your experiences, your genetics and your dreams. As a matter of fact, you are so much that a definitive understanding of exactly what you are is just impossible. The one aspect of what you are, however, that we are concerned with can be defined and known. That aspect is your normal mental habits for thinking and making decisions.

Self-awareness is the combination of these desires to know and acknowledge what you are. Yes, we need to know, and yes we need to know what we are, because this is the first evolution in your journey to becoming more authentic and eliminating The Problem from your life. Unlike the natural talent that it seeks to understand, self-awareness itself is actually an acquired skill. You can develop it, and it increases the more you practice it. This is great news because self-awareness is one of the keys to achieving the highest levels of performance. As self-awareness increases, so too do people’s levels of satisfaction. People with higher levels of self-awareness take time to first learn, and then understand, their natural talents. They recognize the situations that will make them successful, and this makes it easy for them to find ways of achieving objectives that fit their talents. They also understand their limitations and where they are not effective and this helps them understand where not to go or how not to be as well. Those who understand their natural talents are far more likely to pursue the right opportunities, in the right way, and get the results they desire.

My good friend Jay Niblick, founder of Innermetrix International, recently completed a study called The Genius Project. His study became the basis for his latest book, What’s Your Genius?

One of the things that many people tend to accept is the goal of becoming “above average.” Many people actually set a goal to be considered above average. Being above average is safer than being the best. Being the best puts the spotlight on you, requires more bravery and often more self-honesty. For some - those who don’t want to stand out, those who are insecure or doubt that they really deserve to be great - being told they are above average allows them to feel good about themselves without having to be the best. Being above average is secure, whereas being great is always more tenuous (e.g., Maybe next go round I wont be the best”). Being great requires that you challenge yourself, which is hard. Being mediocre and settling is easier.

The problem with being above average, though, is that it becomes a pair of padded handcuffs that hold you back and prevents you from becoming the genius you could be. But, just like the leech that numbs you while it sucks your blood, being above average allows you to feel just fine with yourself while the opportunity to become a genius is drained right out of you. Be just average. Be below average. At least that hurts enough that most people react to the pain and try to improve. Being above average is that dangerous middle ground that isn’t as painful as below average, but not as hard and scary as being the best either. Its siren call can actually be very strong for a lot of people, and once you’re there you can become so hypnotized that you loose all interest in anything else. Cover your ears and don’t listen to that sweet, pain-free call of mediocrity.

The most successful people among us don’t accept mediocrity. They don’t accept learned helplessness. They don’t accept that they are flawed. They refuse to accept being just another runner in the race and if they can’t be the best then they change races and find one where they can be. They seek out environments where their talents can make them the best, not just above average.

If you can’t be the best in what you do – get the hell out! Do what Seth Godin talks about in his book, “The Dip.” Seth’s advice; “Quit for all the right reasons.” Don’t waste your potential genius. Don’t settle for anything less than what you deserve. Don’t settle for being anything other than a genius at what you do.