There’s Only One Way To Tell If You’re Secretly A Genius

by Anne Dorko

You might be a genius.

The only way to find out is to discover your ingenuity.

What is ingenuity?

Ingenuity is the quality of being clever, original and inventive.

You have that, to some level. Your flavor of ingenuity is going to be entirely different than the next guy.

Discover what makes you clever.

Being clever doesn’t mean that you’re better at everything than everyone else.

It just means that there’s something your good at, and you’re better at it than at least a few other people.

Has anyone ever asked you how to do something?

It may not come to you right away, because it happens so often, or it feels so natural that it just doesn’t occur to you that it’s not normal for you to be good at whatever it is.

Whether you want to believe it it or not, you have something that you’re clever at.

Write it down. Remember it.

Discover what makes you original.

No matter how cliché it is, you are unique.

Even if someone with all of your qualities and clever skills existed, you would still be unique because you would each be placed in a different environment. By nature, your paths will look completely different because you are living different lives.

Throughout history, originality shows itself to be a paradox.

On one hand, we’re sticking to all the same ideas, concepts and themes. On the other hand, we’re constantly finding new ways to improve and implement them.

You don’t have to come up with a brilliant idea to be original. You just have to be you.

What is it that makes you original?

The real point here is that you have a unique opportunity to make an impact on the world. Whether your originality is touching one life, or millions, is irrelevant.

You are original whether you want to be or not. There’s nobody else like you, in your position, in your life, with your opportunities.

Stop worrying about whether someone else has already done what you want to do. You’re going to do it differently, because you have a unique perspective.

What have you been putting off because you think everything has been invented?

When you let go of thinking that you can’t bring anything new or wonderful to the world because it’s been done already, remember that no one else can do it like you can.

Go be original on purpose.

Discover what makes you inventive.

Inventions are always solutions.

You can’t create solutions unless you have a problem. You can’t have a problem if you’re not living. You can’t really live without paying attention.

I’m betting you come up with inventions about a hundred times a day without even realizing it.

The problem is that you’re not paying attention to those inventions. You never consider that you could make any of them real solutions.

Start taking note of your inventions. “This would be so much easier if I had a flying car.”

Yes. Even the ones you could never dream of building yourself.

Because one of these days, you’ll write down something that sounds ridiculous. It will plant a seed. Over the following weeks and days, it will grow.

Then one day, you’ll wake up with a solution that you could actually build off of that invention.

You’ll wonder, when did I get so inventive?

The bottom line is that you’re already inventive. Start paying attention to your ideas.

So, feeling like a genius yet?

You won’t know the extent of your genius until you actually let yourself discover your ingenuity.

It’s time to explore that ingenuity of yours, and let it out.

First published December 18, 2012

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