It's All Up To You...Well, Almost

If you're like me, you will agree that sometimes it can feel really good to be able to say: "Well, I guess I'm just not talented at that. That's why I'm not good at it and there's nothing I can do about it."
That way you are relieved of any pressure to perform in a certain area and can move on with your life, concentrating on those things that come easy to you, i.e. the ones you're talented at. Have you ever thought that way? I know I have...

In his book The Genius In All Of Us, David Shenk explains why we like this thought process so much:

"A belief in inborn gifts and limits is much gentler on the psyche. The reason you aren't a great opera singer is because you can't be one. That's simply the way you were wired. Thinking of talent as innate makes our world more manageable, more comfortable. It relieves a person of the burden of expectation." (p. 99)

How To Become Great (Part II)

For those of you who are seriously interested in becoming great at something, I've decided to post the 5 things you should keep in mind on your quest to greatness (according to David Shenk in his book The Genius in All of Us):

1. Practice changes your body. Researchers have recorded a constellation of physical changes (occurring in direct response to practice) in the muscles, nerves, hearts, lungs and brains of those showing profound increases in skill level in any domain.

How To Become Great

Jerry Rice is one of the best wide receivers to ever play the game of football, some even claim he was the greatest of all time (also referred to as the G.O.A.T). He holds a number of NFL records, including most career receptions, most career yards, and most career touchdowns, that will probably stand for a very long time. (And if you don't have a clue about American football, let me assure you that these are pretty impressive records).

In his book The Genius in All of Us, David Shenk includes a chapter entitled The End of 'Giftedness' (and the True Source of Talent) in which he gives the reader some tips on how to become great. Using the story of the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as an example, he convincingly shows that becoming very good at something doesn't have anything to do with the genes you inherited.

Do Smart Parents Beget Smart Children?

As a teacher you tend to figure out the level of intelligence each one of your new students has within the first few hours that you spend with them in a classroom. That can be an advantage, telling you how much you can expect from them and especially who will probably need more help and explaining than the rest. But it's also a very dangerous thing, because it may lead you to believe that some students will not be able to pass your class or exceed a certain grade at the end of the school year.

And now David Shenk has written a book entitled The Genius In All Of Us, that has recently got me thinking some things over. In a chapter called Intelligence Is a Process, Not a Thing, he argues that we've had the wrong idea of intelligence for way too long. We like to believe that some kids are just smarter than others, because their parents are smart and passed on these smart genes to their children. Not so, says Shenk.

Why You Can Learn How To Juggle

I learned to juggle with three balls when I was about ten years old. My family was staying in Israel for a few months and I didn't have to go to school, leaving me with loads of free time and not sure what to do with it. So I decided to learn how to juggle. Pretty soon I was able to keep the three tennis balls aloft for quite some time...

Recently, I've started reading a new book called The Genius in All of Us written by David Shenk (you can get the book here). As the title already suggests, the author's main argument seems to be that we all have the capacity of becoming really, really good at something - so good that others might even think we're geniuses.