The Genius in All of Us

No, I didn’t come up with that title. Wish I had, though. David Shenk spent three years researching and writing The Genius in All of Us, and under different circumstances he may very well have listed me on his Acknowledgments page. But no…

Shenk calculated that his book was composed at the feverish pace of eight words per hour. Shenk is no Kerouac (Jack, whose mercurial writing rendered On the Road in a smattering of days), nor was he meant to be, and we should be glad for that.

As it happens, we are each of us unique, unlike anyone else in the universe. Some of us take longer to write a book than others, longer to run 100 meters, longer to solve a math problem, cook an egg, brush a tooth, file our tax returns. But that is OK, really, and I will explain why, in a moment.

(Unfortunately, too many of us are pacing around old familiar turf like dogs wearing electric shock collars. We are afraid to tread beyond our comfort zone for fear of getting zapped.)

(Understandable, yes. But clearly self-compromising.)

Now, what if that invisible electric fence that has kept you from growing as a person shorted out months ago and there is no shock to be had? Or what if someone turned it off? How would you know?

Or what if the shock, if there is one to be had, is worth enduring to break free into a new, more excellent You?

Let’s ponder for a moment. If you could be shown, scientifically, that you are far more capable of greatness than you think, would the how-when be of interest to you? Would you be willing to say, to hell with shock collars and self-compromising mediocrity! Would you summon enough desire to burst through that invisible barrier that has kept you from being great?

You may have heard that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master of something. An Expert. A Guru. A Wiz. An Authority. You put in your hours and after 15 or 20 years you are the Man! Or the Woman! Right?

Well, there is a misconception here, which Shenk addresses in his book. It’s not just practice that is required. It’s deliberate practice. Big difference. Constant, daily, concentrated, grinding practice that bullies you and shoves you well beyond your feel-good  zone.

For example, imagine you want to get really fit. You’re not going to accomplish it by doing the same exercise routines day after day, week after week. After a while your muscles adjust to the demands placed on them, leading to a conditioning plateau where additional gains are no longer possible. You need to mix it up, maybe do cross-training, which doesn’t allow your muscles to get lazy and comfortable. You need to work different muscles in different ways to get really fit, you need to stretch, do aerobics, sweat, huff and puff, refrain from eating tasty crap and partying all night, etc…

Deliberate practice, whether of body or mind, never quite feels comfortable because you are always being pushed in new ways, always being challenged. Deliberate practice says to hell with plateaus, I’m climbing to the mountain top!

To hammer this point home, deliberate practice is not meant to be fun. Not meant to feel good. It is a form of ongoing trauma that triggers your survival instinct, forcing your body and mind to constantly respond to the ever-shifting bullying ghost, adjusting to overcome its demands as you climb higher and higher, for as long as it takes. In this constant adjusting new tissue, new insights, new skill sets, the New You is being forged.

So here’s the bad news: being great at something, truly great, will require much of you. Say, on the order of three hours a day of deliberate practice for ten consecutive years!

Ever watch the Olympics? Hear the stories of athletes getting up at 4:00 AM every day, training for endless hours, year after year? And what’s with those Kenyan distance runners, and those Jamaican sprinters? Shenk gets into that. Very interesting stuff.

And for those of us who always thought Mozart was just born that way, here’s what Amadeus himself had to say about that in a letter to his dad:

“People make a great mistake who think that my art has come easily to me. No one has committed so much time and thought to composition as I.”

There are countless examples of “geniuses” pointing to deliberate practice and perseverance as the bloody path to greatness.

Einstein once said, “It’s not that I’m so smart. It’s just that I stay with problems longer.”

Each failure is welcomed as a new opportunity to succeed. Just ask Thomas Edison, who insisted, “I have not failed.  I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Each of those ways was one step closer to figuring it all out.

Pretty grim, huh? Especially for those of accustomed to instant gratification.

That’s the bad news. Greatness does not come easy, not to anyone. The good news is that greatness can be achieved by virtually anyone! You just need to want it enough and be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to reach your goal.

Let me tell you a Rat Story. In 1958 researchers in Manitoba, Canada performed an experiment to compare the maze-negotiating prowess of high-achiever rats, and low-achiever rats. The rats were chosen from two distinct genetic strains. The Maze-Bright rats had consistently tested high in negotiating mazes over the course of several generations, whereas the Maze-Dull rats had flopped miserably for generations.

The researchers raised sets of both Maze-Bright rat pups and Maze-Dull rat pups in three different controlled environments, enriched (lots of colors, play, toys, bells, and other stimuli), normal (ordinary walls, some toys, some activity), and restricted (just food and water, nothing to stimulate mind or body, your typical rat slum).

The findings were quite remarkable. As expected, in the normal environment, the Maze-Bright rats performed well, and the Maze-Dull rats flopped. However, in both the enriched and restricted environments, the results were almost identical!

When raised in an enriched environment, “dumb” rats proved just as smart as smart rats. And when raised in a restricted environment, “smart” rats were as dumb as dumb rats. Genetic differences disappeared!

Hmm… I know we’re not rats, but a little extrapolation is in order, no?

Numerous studies in recent years show that the nature versus nurture debate really should be shelved, along with any notions of ethnic or racial superiority.

Traits are not inherited directly from our genes, nor are they determined directly by our environment, but are developed through the dynamic process of gene-environment interaction, what Shenk refers to as GxE.

Genes, which are stretches of DNA, are not finished blueprints with predesigned instructions for our various traits, as the Augustinian priest and scientist, Gregor Mendel, held, and the rest of us have maintained for well over 100 years.

Yes, all 22,000 genes direct the production of protein molecules. And yes, these proteins help to create cells, transport vital elements, and produce necessary chemical reactions in the body. And we can agree that different protein types provide the building blocks for all the mysterious substances and elements that bind our bodies together (e.g., muscle fiber, hemoglobin, collagen, and so on).

But what we need to understand is that genes are not alone in influencing protein construction. The study of Epigenetics shows that genes can be activated or deactivated by environmental stimuli such as hormones, nutrition, nerve impulses, as well as other genes.

As Shenk puts it,

“Genes are more like volume knobs and switches. Think of a giant control board inside every cell of your body. Many of those knobs and switches can be turned up/down/on/off at any time—by another gene or by any miniscule environmental input.”

This flipping and turning of gene-knobs begins at the moment of conception and continues throughout a person’s life, to the moment of death. This process of gene-environment interaction “drives a unique developmental path for every unique individual.”

You cannot control everything that happens in your life, of course, but you do have a much bigger say in who you can become and what you can achieve than previously thought.

The Genius in All of Us, by David Shenk, contains life-changing power between its covers. It is a powerful testament to the uniqueness, promise, and dignity of each and every human being.

If you have always perceived yourself to be a Maze-Dull human, find yourself an enriched environment within which you can flourish and make the commitment to being the most excellent person you can be. No one, not you nor I, nor your dull, uninspired neighbor, is doomed to mediocrity.

Tagged with: David Shenk • deliberate practice • epigenetics • Gregor Mendel • nature versus nurture • The Genius in All of Us

Filed under: Book Talk • Just Talk

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