Exposing The Lie We All Accept

How Remarkable People Challenge An Age-Old Assumption About Achieving Success

We’re quick to accept that remarkable people are a different breed—that they enjoy innate gifts and special talents that the rest of us will never have.

But this belief is like gold at the end of the rainbow—easy to imagine but false.

Sure, everyone’s unique, but as far as we can tell, every remarkable person is flesh and blood like the rest of us.

This raises an unsettling question: If extraordinary people aren’t a special class, then what sets them apart?

A Scholar In His Study, Wyck (oil on canvas, c. 1660). Image via Wikimedia. Reproduced here under fair use.

A Shocking Discovery

As it happens, psychologist Michael Howe studied the lives of some of the world’s top geniuses. What he found was quite striking—not a single individual could trace their genius to some special gene or rare trait. On the contrary, Howe found little evidence supporting the belief that certain individuals are born with special gifts.

But if the typical explanation was wrong—that remarkable people are born with some innate gift or special talent—than something had to explain genius. But what?

The Chess Players, Schachspieler (oil on panel, 1831). Image via Wikimedia. Reproduced here under fair use.

Going through their biographies further, Howe noticed a trend among his set of geniuses. Not only were they just as human as we are, but they followed a similar path typical to any field of study:

“When the path can be charted towards the extraordinary attainments of, say, a grandmaster at chess, or a concert pianist, it is usually found that the person’s itinerary through the earlier stages of expertise is broadly similar to that of other people.”¹

In other words, geniuses weren’t all that different from everybody else.

In fact, many of the people we regard as geniuses weren’t even child prodigies. Nope. If anything could be said, it’s that they share qualities that anyone could imitate:

Grit.
Resilience.
Perseverance.

Everything You've Been Told About Genius Is Wrong

The Cold Hard Truth

Regardless of their background, these geniuses prove that greatness isn’t some inaccessible mystery.

If we look closely at those we admire, not only does the mystery fade, but a powerful truth is revealed: Greatness lies within each of us.

This raises an uncomfortable question:

If greatness isn’t the result of some extraordinary blessing, then why do we settle for an ordinary life?

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1. Michael J. A. Howe, Genius Explained (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 18.