You're Probably Not A Genius, and That's OK

Let's face it. There are people in this world light years ahead of everyone in the realm of mental gymnastics. There exist lightning quick logicians that can, in a moment's notice, calculate numbers on the grandest scale inside their head. These masters of the mind were born with large brains, exquisite neural pathways, and a knack for cognition.

Photograph by Oren Jack Turner, Princeton, N.J.

Chances are you're not one of them. Chances are you're mentally average. No more gifted than the cashier at the local super market or the teacher at your local school.

"Ok," you might say, "I'm average. Thanks for the motivation....."

We may not be super-geniuses, but we don't have to be an intellectual master to succeed. We just need to be smart enough. Smart enough to get started and learn the ropes. Smart enough to pursue learning even when it's hard. The rest is gained through hard work, dedication, and the pursuit of passion.

As a self-proclaimed nerd, I've gotten to meet a lot of people with high I.Q.s. Most of these intellectual people work, unhappily, in dead end jobs; even though they're leagues ahead of their co-works in mental capacity. In complete contradiction, most of the P.H.Ds I know weren't the smartest kid in class. In fact, a few were even "C" students in high school.

For those of us that found school easy, laziness became our sanctuary. Why work hard when you already know everything? However, the reality of the situation was that we didn't know everything. So, when the going got tough, we stopped trying. Failing at something and losing the title of "smart kid" was infinitely worse than not attempting at all. And thus, one by one, the "smartest kids" tended to drift off into obscurity.

These average students become doctors however, had to work for every point on the grade scale. They earned every scratch on their notepad.  When others were taking school easy and still getting by, they struggled through hours of homework just to keep up. Every hour they spent working, learning, and studying got these students one step up the latter. Then finally, after sweating, stressing, and climbing they got to walk on stage as a student and leave the stage as a doctor. Hard work, determination, and dedication had brought them their dreams.

This is the difference between success and obscurity. Intelligence doesn't matter as much as people would have you believe. You don't have to be a genius for success to come your way. The quality that matters most is the willingness to pursue your passion, to work hard, and dedicate yourself to your goal. Struggle, grow, and learn with every single step. If you can do this, you can succeed at anything.

You're not born talented, you earn it.