Do You Hang with Genuises?

More and more often, weird things and events are coinciding in my life....or maybe I'm just paying more attention to what's going on out in the world.

Just one example, on Wednesday I assigned random topics to my awesome speech students about which they were to give a short, impromptu talk. And in so many cases, the student would have a personal connection to the randomly assigned topic.

In another case, twice on Tuesday I read about hanging out with geniuses.

One instance was a practice Dr. John Demartini recommends. That is to make a list of the Nobel Prize winners, and to systematically read their work. As he put it, if you stick your hand in the glue, some of it will surely stick. So, there's a reading plan for you to consider.

The other example came from Gina Rudan. And who is Gina Rudan? She's someone who recently made a successful transition from the corporate world to the parallel universe occupied by us entrepreneurial types. And her business is about personal branding, and finding your core genius. You can find her on Twitter. (I'm spending more time these days on Twitter. No wonder my Chavez book proposal is lost!) One of her big themes is actively building relationships with really smart people.

My third point on the subject of genius is a definition my friend Ruben shared with me. He says that being a genius is a matter of laser focus on something. If you think about it, the kids that have trouble in school are those who have trouble focusing, while the reverse is also true. The good news in that is that the genius quality is more accessible than what you probably think.

So, make some space in your life for genius- yours and that of the people you hang out with.

Beware the Complicators

If you saw the youtube video clip posted on Christine Kane's blog the week of September 18, this post will ring a familiar tone. The clip was about the escalator break down. About a similar theme, read this post carefully, and see the real genius behind the writer of Mixonian.

The Mystery of the Goggle Marks

I've been swimming seriously now for almost three years. By "seriously" I mean 1 to 3 times a week, most weeks. I got started in Caracas, with a group and a coach, and now I continue at ECU's pool, on my own. Today I swam 70 laps, which I'm told is a mile.

I love swimming. Even more, I love having swum. I rejoice when I can smell chlorine on my skin.

But, I've had this serious problem with swimming: red goggle marks on my face. Very scary looking.

The goggles always left these deep red marks around my eyes, and it always took many hours for them to fade away. I attributed these to my oh-so-delicate skin.

While swimming, I would dream up cures for this serious disfigurement. I thought of special goggles for me, putting silicon between the goggles and my skin, or finding some miracle cream that would make them disappear faster. Maybe I would make lots of money when I found the cure.

Then one day this week, I got advice from someone I thought was a semi-professional swimmer. Then I realized it was my daughter, Miranda.

We were swimming in adjacent lanes and all of a sudden Miranda asks the miraculous question, "Mom, have you tried loosening your goggles?"

Wow, what brilliant insight! I never thought of that. I thought looser goggles would let in the water. But, I loosened the band that goes around your head by one full inch, the water still stays out, and you can hardly see my goggle marks. Plus it's a lot less painful.

So, why do some people like to complicate things, or refuse to see simple, obvious solutions? Here are two possible answers:

1. Thinking that what you're doing is more complicated makes it seem more important, and by extension, you feel more important.

2. Some people fear asking for help because they associate getting help with losing independence. So these people isolate themselves, and there's no one around to point out the obvious solution, like loostening your goggles.

Both of these possibilities point to a distorted sense of self - one who solves complicated problems without anyone's help. While the lonely hero may make good movie plots, it's not a very nice way to live.

For Round Pegs in the Square Holes

The following quote is from Steven Jobs, presented in lovely Lauren's speech yesterday.

Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes...the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules...you can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things...they push the human race forward, and while some my see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.

After reading this to Christina and Miranda, I'm asked, "Mom, are you trying to find an excuse for your weirdness?

It works for me!