Albert Einstein's 129th Bday-What We Can Learn About Genius

The genius who invented the Theory of Relativity turns 139 today....assuming he was still alive. A few weeks ago I read a book on his life and thought it is not what you expect to find when thinking of genius. He didn't fit the standard prototype of a prodigal child and had some serious ups and down in his life. It was the way he thought that made the biggest difference.

Einstein was seen as a genius a little later in his life. Most people thought he was relatively dumb in his first part of his childhood. He wasn't even much of a good student and nearly failed a class. Yet later on in life he bloomed and started to write papers. Even then he had a hard time finding an academic post and continued to work in a patent office.

While very intelligent one of the most important things I believe he said was...

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.”

Genius is a way of thinking it isn't the simple recall of information. Standardized tests only sometimes capture genius but usually miss out on more creative abilities and complexity of thought. As long as you can memorize steps you can give the right answers but genius sometimes have a problem with the standard answer. 

Whether you are in business or just solving personal problems you should learn that to tackle a problem and find a more holistic solution may require you to think about those problems in a new way. With some mental training and good brain circuitry you may be the type of person who can discover new ways of tacking an issue.