Other strategies
for research: You don't have to be a genius--
There are, however,
ways that geniuses think that we can all use. For example:
- Geniuses look
at problems in more than one way--if they do not understand a problem from one
perspective, they try another, and another.
- Geniuses persist,
when the situation warrants, until they succeed.
- Geniuses find
a way to transpose or translate their thoughts from mental to visual or other
communication-including drawings and tables, but also into flow charts, diagrams,
or even metaphors, like the snake with its tail in its mouth that was Kekule's
model for the benzene ring
- Geniuses are
productive--quantity counts, as well as quality--or perhaps quantity leads to
quality. Doing more of almost anything normally helps one get better at it.
Einstein wrote and published nearly 500 articles; not all of them became "classics."
- Geniuses push
the edges of relationships between aspects or problems, or see new relationships.
They worry less about normal boundaries between topics or disciplines and use
observation of the world as a whole to generate solutions to their subject problem.
- Geniuses work
from both ends of a problem--for example, if you can't find material on rehydration
after exercise, try dehydration instead.
- Geniuses tolerate
confusion or ambivalence in the short term, for the sake of the longer term.
- Geniuses prepare.
Thomas Edison said that "genius is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration,"--or
a good idea plus hard work--but I think that it is inspiration, preparation
(getting a background understanding), and perspiration. It might be compared
to a garden--the yield will be better if the soil is prepared.
This page was developed
using information from:
Michalko, Michael.(May 1998) "Thinking Like a Genius: Eight Strategies Used by
the Supercreative, from Aristotle and Leonardo to Einstein and Edison." The
Futurist 32 (4): 21-25.
What's
a primary source?
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