The path to genius
The faith required to navigate through uncertainty
Stepping outside of the rat race takes guts. But staying on your own path for the long haul, despite society's insistence that you conform, that takes faith.
And you know who had faith?
Every single person we think of as a genius today...
The path to genius
So you’ve heard it.
That little voice way down deep inside that knows, maybe has always known, what you’re here to do. It’s vague, scary. But you know it’s real. Here comes the hard part.
Following the call of your vocation.
What nobody tells you is that following that call will test your faith like nothing else.
I’m not talking about faith in the religious sense. I mean faith in the very practical sense that the voice inside you is worth listening to, maybe for the first time in your life, when the rest of the world tells you otherwise. Faith that it’s safe to go your own way, that even if you can’t explain how it’s all going to work out, it will. You need this faith because, for a long time, if not forever, you won’t necessarily know how it’s all going to work out. But you need to keep going anyway.
Because if you don’t, you’ll sacrifice your unique contribution to become yet another person skilled at conforming. And the world doesn’t need more of those.
The stakes
Consider Steve Jobs. While everyone else sought to dump everything possible into the personal computer, to give it every possible bell and whistle that consumers were clamoring for, Steve said no. He gave them less.
Everyone told him this was wrong. And then they loved him for it.
Consider Henry Ford. When the world asked for a faster horse, he invested everything in a novel way of making cars cheaper. Not because the world asked for it. But because something in his gut told him this was the way to go, and in a battle between his gut and the world’s ceaseless demands, he trusted himself.
Tesla. Einstein. The list goes on and on.
Show me a genius, the people who really changed the world, and I’ll show you a person who spent all day every day following the call of their vocation.
Geniuses don’t give a shit about doing what others think is best. They want to be different. To be themselves. To be contrarians, even. We’re talking about people who knew themselves well enough that they had the conviction to go a way that most people thought was stupid at the time.
“What does that have to do with me?” you might be thinking. "I’m not a genius. I just heard a small voice inside urging me to do something a little different."
Being a genius is irrelevant. And only happens after the fact. At the end of the story, after whatever weird thing you’re doing actually works. Or doesn’t.
Your work is to get started.
Now.
With what you have.
And then build your faith as you go.
Things I read this week
One: Modern Day Change Makers (CEO Magazine)
What's the common thread in the stories of all these awesome visionary founders? Going their own way, when society told them not to. Trusting themselves. Keeping the faith.
Two: A different look at love (James Hollis)
I finished a great book last week, called "Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life." If the title sounds relevant to you, definitely check it out. Here's one of my favorite reframes, about what's really going on when someone is "swept off their feet."
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