It’s something you earn.
Throughout most of human history, it would have been unusual to say that some someone “is” a genius. You’d have been much more likely to think of a person as “having” a genius.
This is not the way most of us understand it today. But a growing body of research suggests that the basic premise behind the historical view is as accurate as it is counter-intuitive. (This is something that happens from time to time, and you figure we’d be used to it by now.)
Over the past year, Blake Madden and I wrote a series of articles based on that growing body of evidence, exploring what talent is and how it is developed.
If you do not “have” a genius yet, perhaps 2014 is the time to find it. Or maybe more accurately, to find a basic foundation within yourself and then build it, brick by brick, until you have developed a skyscraper of skill. Then, it is your job to maintain it, to put it use, and to build in new areas. (You might try nearby lots, or in fertile areas without much competition.)
You don’t have to be the best at everything. But you should be at least as good as you want to be at those things you care about the most. Maybe better than you thought you could be.
Even if you never find what you or others would consider true genius, you might do some amazing things on the way. More than you might otherwise.