The Gifted Adult

Did you know the origin of the word genius can be traced back to Roman mythology?

In Roman times, a community, family or individual was said to have a guardian spirit, or “genius.” Whenever an individual performed brilliantly—whether it was athletically or intellectually—it was said that their “genius” had guided them.

I kinda like to think that we all have our own little mini-me genius on our shoulder.

How’s yours? :)

“Improvement makes straight roads; but the crooked roads without improvement are the roads of genius” ~ William Blake

Reminds me of Deepak Chopra’s wisdom from his wonderful The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success (see Notes): “When you combine the ability to express your unique talent with service to humanity, then you make full use of The Law of Dharma.”

It’s the same thing Martin Seligman, author of Authentic Happiness (see Notes) discusses in his seminal book: to have a happy life we must discover and use our “signature strengths.” To have a truly meaningful life, we must use these strengths in the greatest service to the world.

So, 2 things:

1. Know who you are. Know what your unique strengths and gifts are—you can usually find that by discovering what makes you giddy, those times when you feel most alive, time evaporates and you’re in a state of bliss.
2. Commit yourself to discovering and using these gifts in service to something greater than yourself—commit yourself to bettering others’ lives.

Who are you?

How are you giving yourself to the world?!?

Complete with a battery of self-assessments, the bulk of her book is spent helping us understand our “Evolutionary Intelligence” and, most importantly, how we’re using this Intelligence in serving the world as we live at our highest potential.

Powerful.

“In the course of their careers in the American school of today, most students take hundreds, if not thousands, of tests. They develop skill to a highly calibrated degree in an exercise that will essentially become useless immediately after their last day of school.” ~ Howard Gardner

I haven’t filled out too many bubbles with my #2 pencil lately. You? Isn’t it kinda funny how we get really good at something that we never use in our lives?

Reminds me of T. Harv Eker’s statement in Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (see Notes): “I don’t know about you, but where I went to school, Money Management 101 wasn’t offered. Instead we learned about the War of 1812, which of course is something I use every single day.”

Hilarious. If you haven’t noticed, our school systems don’t do a whole lot to prepare people to excel after school. Where was the class on discovering our greatest strengths and crafting a life on how to best give them in greatest service to the world?!!?

Hmmm… Maybe you’re taking it now. :)

In any case, one of the key components to “Evolutionary Intelligence” and “Everyday Genius” is understanding your Multiple Intelligences as developed by Harvard researcher Howard Gardner who’s spoiled us with many different types of intelligences that we all have in varying degrees. From Logical, Linguistic, Visual/Spatial and Musical/Rhythmic to Bodily-kinesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal and Naturalist Intelligence, we’ve all got soooo many areas where we can express our true genius.

IQ wasn’t the reason for Michael Jordan’s genius—that was his kinesthetic intelligence. IQ wasn’t the reason for Mozart’s genius—that was his musical intelligence. IQ wasn’t the reason for Lincoln’s genius—that was his interpersonal and intrapersonal genius.

What do all of these “geniuses” have in common? Much more than their IQ, they all discovered and developed their specific intelligences. They focused on what they were great at (aka their genius) and worked (played?) extremely hard to reach their potential. Another thing they all have in common: You couldn’t pay them enough to not do what they do.

When you feel that strongly about what you’re doing, that’s a pretty good sign you’re on your way to experiencing your genius.

So… What’s your genius?

You’ll want to get the book to experience the depth of great self-assessments that Jacobsen has developed to lead people through the discovery of their “Multiple Intelligences” (a la Howard Gardner) and “Gifted Traits” (the combination of MI and GT essentially amount to the first part of the equation in understanding what our unique gifts are that we’re destined to give to the world).

Her notion of “Advanced Development (AD)” is what I most love. It is composed of three elements and is the driving force behind taking this knowledge of your gifts and truly giving them to the world in a lifetime of creative service.

As Jacobsen says: “AD (Advanced Development” encompasses Humanistic Vision, Mandated Mission, and Revolutionary Action. These higher-level attributes enable those who develop them to both see the world and have a commitment to the collective good, rooted in spiritual values and the recognition of the oneness of life.”

Also, I love her concept of a “Mandated Mission” that she defines as: “a resolute, inner-directed, uncompromising goal orientation that strives in concert with one’s life purpose. It is most recognizable in the form of steadfast individual perseverance. The person who perseveres against all odds to fulfill an obligation or dream often seems foolhardy to less optimistic individuals.”

The compassion from our Humanistic Vision and the perseverance generated by our Mandated Mission is catalyzed by our willingness to take Revolutionary Action which she describes as “the conceptual leap, or leap of faith—the ability to take action beyond accepted norms. It is the active ingredient of Evolutionary Intelligence, through which we see a real-world manifestation of high potential. It is the dream made real, the word made flesh.”

The book brilliantly walks us through an array of tests to hone our self-awareness and then presses on through each of the components involved in liberating our everyday genius. It’s been one of the most influential books I’ve read in helping me understand why I have the drive I have and why I’ve often felt so out of place in a world not comfortable with such intensity and commitment to higher ideals.

If you’re reading this, my hunch is we share a lot in common. And, I think you’ll love this book and appreciate the perspective and the tools of self-discovery and empowerment you’ll discover in it.

One of the key themes of her book is to empower us to realize that what we may have perceived as our greatest weaknesses—our incredible intensity, our hopping from project to project or job to job, our relentless pursuit of goals—are really signs of a deeper set of attributes that, when we truly own them, are the keys to our liberation.

Jacobsen asks us: “What are some of your attributes the world may see as ‘liabilities?’”

Are you too intense? Too scattered? Too sensitive? Too driven? Too different?

Let’s redefine our relationship to the attributes that make us who we are and remember Nietzsche’s wisdom (see Notes on Thus Spoke Zarathustra): “The great epochs of our life come when we gain the courage to rechristen our evil as what is best in us.”

How’s that for a challenge? What “evil” do you need to rechristen?

Here’s to the next great epoch of our lives.

Ah, the inner critic.

As the Buddha says (see Notes on The Dhammapada): “More than those who hate you, more than all your enemies, an undisciplined mind does greater harm.”

How true is that?!? How’s your internal dialogue? Are you even aware of just how much you criticize yourself? It’s pretty crazy when we really start to notice what’s going on up there in our minds!!

And, of course, we face a barrage of criticism from the outside world. Jacobsen spends an entire chapter walking us through the criticisms commonly thrown at gifted adults and provides some cool alternative responses.

How about you?

Are you a creative person or a creative producer?

Do you have any great ideas? Any driving missions you feel called to bring to the world?

My hunch is you do. It might be the book you feel called to write or the business you want to build or the blog you want to start or the amazing family you want to create.

Whatever it is, ask yourself: Am I willing to work hard to bring that ideal vision to life?

…

Good answer. :)

I love that.

Are you programmed to bounce back?

It’s a learned skill that takes practice to master, but bouncing back from the inevitable downs in the ups and downs is a MANDATORY skill if you want to bring your highest self to the world. Because, if you haven’t noticed, once in a while things don’t go as planned. :)

How do you respond when something goes wrong?

Imagine if you had a team of coaches and parents and friends and advisers who shared this wisdom with you when you fell down:

Mary Kay: “For every failure, there’s an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.”

Robert F. Kennedy: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.”

David Viscott: “In the end, the only people who fail are those who don’t try.”

Michael Jordan: “There was never any fear for me, no fear of failure. If I miss a shot, so what?”

And: “I’ve missed more than nine thousand shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Anthony de Mello (see Notes on Awareness): “Get rid of your fear of failure, your tensions about succeeding, you will be yourself. Relaxed. You wouldn’t be driving with your brakes on. That’s what would happen.”

Walter Russell (see Notes on The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe): “I never let the thought of failure enter my mind. My knowledge of my unity with the Universal One and the fact that I must do this thing, and the inspired belief I should do it as a demonstration of my belief in man’s unlimited power, made me ignore the difficulties that lay in the way.”

Donny Deutsch (of The Big Idea show): “There are moments in business and in life when you have to say, ‘Failure is not an option.’”

James Russell Lowell: “Not failure, but low aim, is crime.”

Vince Lombardi: “In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail.”

William Faulkner: “All of us have failed to reach our dream of perfection, so I rate us on the basis of our splendid failure to do the impossible.”

Thomas Watson, Sr. (founder of IBM): “The fastest way to succeed is to double your rate of failure.”

Are you failing toward success?

Or are you beating yourself up with every little misstep?

Might want to integrate a Jordan-esque air to your perspective on failing and just take the shot, my friend.

That. Is. Hot.

Do you beat your own heart and grow your own hair and digest your own food?

Is that something you consciously spend a lot of time thinking about and “making sure it goes just right” in your day-to-day life?

Riiiight.

So, why do we think we’re all alone in this “living on purpose” thing?

Do you really think you came up with all your goals and dreams and missions on your own? :)