RS1 HOW TO BE A GENIUS

Anthony Sallemi

Professor Engel

MICROECONOMICS

3 September 2012

  

            One word most people would love to be called when growing up is “genius”. Some of the most notable geniuses in history are Mozart, Newton, Einstein, and Stravinsky. Others such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Pete Sampras were considered geniuses in their respected sports. It is said that giving the title of genius is not just handed to you but it is earned from hard work. "These people don't necessarily have an especially high IQ, but they almost always have very supportive environments, and they almost always have important mentors. And the one thing they always have is this incredible investment of effort." (How To Be a Genius). I believe and agree with what Dobbs says here because it is one thing to be smart but to actually work hard and accomplish something is a completely different story. Being a genius takes hard work and complete dedication in everything you do.

            Being dedicated and putting in the hours to succeed is the main point to this article and well know artist scientist and athletes are used to portray the main point. Also that just because you might have a high IQ doesn’t necessarily mean you are going to have a great life and accomplish everything you want to you still have to put in the work. This is shown in a study of adult graduates of New York City's Hunter College Elementary School where they at least had to have a 130 IQ and the average IQ of the School was 157. “Though the Hunter graduates were successful and reasonably content with their lives, they had not reached the heights of accomplishment, either individually or as a group, that their IQ's might have suggested.” (How To Be a Genius). This goes to show that no matter how smart you are if you don’t work for what you want it isn’t just handed to you. Stephen Hawking’s says that people who brag about their IQ’s are losers. Even he knows it means nothing until you can accomplish something and then right after he said that statement he worked rigorously on the black hole theory and made a name for himself.

            The author of the article David Dobbs, talks about how all through his childhood he was praised for being so smart but as he went on in life he realized if he wanted to be successful he would have to put in the work. “By my early thirties I saw the obvious: my smarts and "talent" - above average or not - would count for little unless I outworked most of the other writers. Only when I started putting in some extra hours did I get anywhere.” (How To Be a Genius). If you want to be someone successful in life it has to be worked for.

            The author states that hard work leading to success could encourage you, or overwhelm you. Dobbs says it could motivate you to put in the extra work because in the end it will pay off. Others can say it could overwhelm them because those are the type of the people that get things in life handed to them and finding out that doesn’t work when you get older might scare them.

            I believe you assigned this article to us because you wanted to send us a message that we are not going to get an A by just coming to class. Being a genius takes hard work and dedication in everything you do. We are going to have to do the homework, do the readings, and actually work for a good grade in the class because in the end it will all pay off.