Are you a Genius?

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Are you a Genius? Confirmed in some areas. People often tell me I am and I silently blink at them: what makes them think so? I am "learning disabled" in that I see concepts, but can't retain terminology or organize my thoughts to articulate them well. The most helpful people at work "translate" for me and/or do the work I don't have patience for.

What is it like? Uncomfortable b/c people are near constantly impressed I am "really smart" (for a woman ) but then so many dismiss my ideas, concerns etc. or put me down. My own (ASD-like) mother has a knee-jerk response to reject my theories. When I asked her why a couple of years ago she said: "because you are always right". Ummm, wouldn't that be a reason to explore the theory rather than reject it? Nope. I am very afraid of "putting myself out there", so have many pursuits that I don't pursue.

What are you good at? Complex puzzles. Compassion.

What are you bad at? Calm and relaxation. Self confidence.

Am I a genius? No. I wouldn't want to be either.

What am I good at? Empathising with people.

What are you bad at? Making friends.

Ironic, I know.

Good= verbal
Above avg = numerical
Erratic= pattern recognition
Totally crap= mental rotation and 3x3 matrix

Not creative enough to be a genius. Token ageing & mediocre guy on a few high IQ FB groups.

Nope, not a genius. My father was considered a precocious kid, despite his dyslexia he was considered to be gifted. As for my mother, she is also intelligent. My mum is good at analysing information and problem solving. She is stubborn and a tad emotionally insensitive.

I was never dubbed a genius as child, my school counsellor told me that I'd never make anything of myself. The school would frequently tell me that my ideas made no sense and I was made to feel like an idiot. However, my parents understood where I was coming from, and when I learnt how to better structure my thoughts when communicating with others, people realised that I wasn't completely off the rails.

Unfortunately, I was in an awkward zone where I was struggling but not struggling enough to receive help. I had to take tests in order for others to make sense of me, one of those tests was a logic and reasoning test. Granted, I wasn't at the genius level my sister apparently was on the test, but I was still above average.

I was generally thought of as a slacker, despite being driven to tears by my homework. When it came to academics, I was not the best. I was able to scrape a c in most subjects, except maths which I struggled with immensely. The main exceptions were Business studies and English. I could easily get my head around marketing and I gained a distinction in that class. As for creative writing, I was good at writing poetry and creating stories, so I often enjoyed English lessons.

The only time I was considered exceptional in any manner is when I was chosen to go to a creative writing workshop as part of a small group due to my promising writing material. Our workshop leader taught us slam poetry and was impressed with my improvised work. She offered to write a letter of recommendation for a university course, but I already had an unconditional offer with a university so I decided to stick with my unconditional offer. Further, she wanted me to sign up to a national slam poetry competition, but I was ill on the day of sign ups. I probably would've choked with all those cameras pointed at me anyway, the event was recorded and put online, along with performed in front of an audience.

If you're interested in learning more about the perspective of someone who meets the quasi-clinical standards of a "genius," I think there are better places you could look. The journals, correspondences, and memoirs of highly gifted people might be exactly what you're after - they make for great reads, regardless. But if you're thinking that you'll find a uniform set of examples that will help you develop a kind of "genius" archetype, you'll be disappointed. There are farmers with IQs comparable to Einstein's, and there are Nobel laureates whose IQs are only slightly above average (e.g. Richard Feynman and James Watson). What matters more than IQ is the character of the person - Are they driven to learn? Do they have the work ethic to apply themselves to tasks with no immediate gratification? Do they have the emotional stability to avoid burnout? The reason that we associate some positive traits like "curiosity" and "persistence" with genius is because they are most potent when we see them in someone with more raw potential. But there are plenty of people with genius-level IQs who lack those traits, along with any measure of "active" genius. They look and act like your average citizen.

Think of IQ like this: Everyone's born with a certain number of tools in their kit. That number varies, but the thing is, we aren't born knowing how to use them. That comes through experience, if at all, and how we use those tools is entirely up to us as individuals. Having more tools than everyone else is a measure of your potential, which will only be fully realized if all the other stars align (environment, personality, etc). A greater number of tools alone doesn't make you inherently different, and it definitely doesn't guarantee that you'll be more capable.

(Personally, I have NVLD, so not only am I not a genius, my FS-IQ results were declared invalid. My IQ is ∅.)

Make of it what you will.


https://in-sightjournal.com/

Welcome to WrongPlanet, WanderingAengus. Interesting post. It seems I have had limited tools to begin with, heh.

Definitely not a genius here. The only thing I'm reasonably good at is proofreading. I was going to start freelancing as a proofreader when I realised how much correspondence with other people there was. Too much for me.

I appreciate good spelling and grammar.

Are you a genius?

Although I was tested as "bright" in elementary school, I am not a genius.

What are you good at?

Writing, spouting octopus facts, emphasizing with others.

What are you bad at?

Driving, apparently. I tried practicing on a highway with my boyfriend. He asked me to pull over after a minute. We stuck to practicing on dirt roads after this. It doesn't help me feel like a functioning adult, but I'm getting there.