Secret genius tricks

This post poses a question: what kind of mental models are associated with genius?

• Develop a “hacker” mindset:  possess some intellectual curiosity. Solve problems for fun. Fun is actually a very important recurring motive. If you do not enjoy what you do you cannot focus, get into “flow” and achieve an outstanding result.
• Eliminate, automate or outsource as much low-level and administrative work as possible: That way, you can focus your intellectual / other resources on the big-ticket issues. A team works better than an individual. Focus your energies on what you do best – other people will easily handle the tasks that choke your creativity.
• Apply sensible heuristics and make extensive use of design patterns: There is no point “reinventing the wheel” or wasting time and resources on recreating solutions to problems that have already generally been solved. However, at the same time, be careful that use of such patterns is not creating path dependency which will later prevent you solving the issue you set out upon. The generalized form of this is…. Again, this way we focus our effort on the innovative challenges.
• Leverage all resources available to you as much as you can: Mentors, libraries, processors, friends, networks, forums. There is no point in having a resource and not using it. The more we use any resource the better we become in using it, and also in using other similar resources. If someone does the way work better than you, this is a great learning and growth opportunity.
• Focus on production: Real geniuses *produce*. Aim for maximum results relative to effort invested. This is what some people breathlessly refer to as being “10x”. It is very frustrating switching the ideas without making any progress, but it is even more frustrating working for years on the same idea with no great results to show.
• “Tinker” in line with your individual interests, rather than getting involved in massive directed research programs: with overbearing committees and mindless reporting requirements. Try to work with small groups of outstanding individuals. This is a risky path, but overall it will get greatly rewarding.
• Help others – all the time: Share your knowledge. Teach. Give. Stay humble. Laugh at yourself. When we teach others we learn ourselves. Other people ask as questions we never thought to ask ourselves, and which may open portals to great discoveries.
• Decide what to do and what not do and follow through. Often it is very hard not to do something when all around you people are doing it. If you do not have a good idea of what you are doing, it may be better to join the majority. However, if you have deep understanding of the processes, stay true to your decision.
• Embrace the uncertainty. Doing path-breaking research or solving complex problems involves embracing uncertainty. Albert Einstein proposed Theory of Relativity for many years it was not proven until they saw light bend at the solar eclipse.
• Read, learn and grow. This is always a good idea… If you learn properly, you celebrate finding new questions and not finding new answers. The more we know the more questions we have.

Truly genius people do not keep secrets. The formula is very simple: knowledge, persistence, and luck.  Collect knowledge, remove distractions and enjoy what you do for persistence, be prepared to embrace the unexpected and you  will probably get lucky.

• Develop a “hacker” mindset:  possess some intellectual curiosity. Solve problems for fun.
• Eliminate, automate or outsource as much low-level and administrative work as possible: That way, you can focus your intellectual / other resources on the big-ticket issues.
• Apply sensible heuristics and make extensive use of design patterns: There is no point “reinventing the wheel” or wasting time and resources on recreating solutions to problems that have already generally been solved. However, at the same time, be careful that use of such patterns is not creating path dependency which will later prevent you solving the issue you set out upon. The generalized form of this is….
• Leverage all resources available to you as much as you can:Mentors, libraries, processors, friends, networks, forums.
• Focus on production: Real geniuses *produce*. Aim for maximum results relative to effort invested. This is what some people breathlessly refer to as being “10x”.
• “Tinker” in line with your individual interests, rather than getting involved in massive directed research programs: with overbearing committees and mindless reporting requirements.
• Help others – all the time: Share your knowledge. Teach. Give. Stay humble. Laugh at yourself.

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