Own Your Genius
Written by Melissa Farley
I want to take just a few moments of your time to tell you to own your F@#$%^G genius. We all have it. We all have a fire within. You don’t have to an Einstein or a prodigy like Mozart to claim the title. And we’ll be real here – you’re most likely not a genius in or of everything. But I’m willing to be there are a couple areas of your life, where you really shine. So, let’s speak some power into that area, ignite the fire and name that inner genius to claim it!
1. Intrapersonal Intelligence aka Self Smart
Intrapersonal Intelligence aka Self Smart: People with this type of genius tend to feel that all of the universe’s answers lie deep within the self. They are explorers of their own minds, thoughts, feeling, emotions, processes, actions and souls. They prefer to think and ponder privately rather than solve or share problems with a group. They highly value reflection, solitude and a strong sense of self. People who identify with this genius often know themselves more thoroughly than most and may enjoy journaling, meditating and other practices that allow for a deeper knowing of self. If you have this genius, you may find yourself drawn to careers as a psychologist, a theologist, author/writer, philosopher or researcher.
Interpersonal Intelligence aka People Smart: These are the people who seem to create meaningful connections with people as if by magic. They are usually extremely social, love hosting or leading events or group projects, have a lot of friends in their lives and are excellent at intuiting and understanding social cues/norms and adapting quickly. They are often highly empathic people and get charged by social interactions, social learning and community efforts. If you identify as this type of genius, you may find yourself drawn to social psychology, social work, event planning, teaching and working in the fields of diplomacy or communications.
2. Interpersonal Intelligence aka People Smart
3. Kinesthetic Intelligence aka Body Smart
Kinesthetic Intelligence aka Body Smart: These people are highly aware of their bodies, it’s functions and their spatial relations to things and their surroundings. They are often highly adept at physical skills and doing anything that allows them to be hands-on, as a tactile experience is very important to them. This type of genius may seem more agile, graceful or coordinated than most or able to do highly skilled complex tasks that others might find challenging. If you identify with this genius, you may feel drawn to a career or hobbies that are athletic or let you move like dance or yoga, you may also be an excellent craftsman, artist, architect or anything that allows you to use tools or build something with your hands.
Logic Intelligence aka Math Smart: This one is pretty straightforward and most often associated with the stereotypical nerd genius. The people are wizards with numbers, computing, quantifying, mind-mapping, coding and complex problem solving. You may feel unusually compelled to identify patterns, solve patterns and puzzles or break down abstract ideas into identifiable components. Basically, you’re the people we want with us in an escape room! People who identify with this genius would make great mathematicians (obviously), scientists, coders and engineers.
4. Logic Intelligence aka Math Smart
5. Linguistic Intelligence aka Word Smart
Linguistic Intelligence aka Word Smart: No, this has nothing to do with linguini, though I wish it did. I’d say this is in my third spot of intelligences. This one of is for all the book nerd, spelling-bee winners out there. If you love reading, word games (like crossword puzzles, word searches, etc.), writing, a good, healthy oral debate and believe in the wonders of storytelling both written and verbal, then chances are you are a linguistic genius. If you identify with these traits, you may feel yourself drawn to creative writing, journalism, poetry, screenwriting, advertising and marketing and other outlets that led you wield the mighty pen.
Auditory Intelligence aka Music Smart: These are the people who experience the world and express themselves with sound. They are particularly sensitive to rhythms and auditory signals, they often have perfect pitch and can learn new music very quickly – almost like witchcraft. A lot of times they use music to help them process their emotions, use it for memory recall or have it on to set certain moods or ambiance throughout their day depending on the task at hand. People who identify with these traits are often phenomenal musicians, poets, composers, interpreters or linguists.
6. Auditory Intelligence aka Music Smart
7. Visual Intelligence aka Art Smart
Visual Intelligence aka Art Smart: This type of genius sees the world in vivid color and moving images, they learn through visuals and are often very skilled with data visualization and organization, maps, charts, graphs and design. This genius also has a highly tuned sense of special recognition and because of this, a lot of people who identify with these traits may be wonderful artists, painters, sculptors, comic book artists, video game designers, film directors and a plethora of other positions in the arts and entertainment field.
So, now that you know the 7 different types of genius, it’s time to take stock and see which ones you identify with and then start finding ways to let that genius play more and more in your day-to-day life. Also, try incorporating your brand of genius into a daily mantra for extra empowerment. Here’s one of mine:
“I am a smart, capable, talented and creative genius. Everything I do, touch, work on and create succeeds and wins!” – As a creative, I can get pretty insecure quite often, so I use this whenever I take on a new project. Feel free to steal and share your mantras so others can be touched and inspired and steal from the best!
Here is a link to an article from Wired that talks a little more about the 7 intelligences and has a couple of surveys to help you figure out where you land. I categorize mine a little differently, but they are the same in practice and principle. Let me know what your genius is!
