Excerpts The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. Think Like a Genius I live and work in the same building, so I have a very short commute and rarely run into traffic, and that is a tremendous time saver. What I do is quickly assemble what I’ve just read about and heard, and then I see how it pertains to any of the businesses I have or deals I have in process. I also get updates throughout the day on what is happening, both nationally and worldwide. There is no way you can be effective without being informed, and this is more important today than ever. Control is about education. Lack of education or information can put you at bigger risk for losing control. Of course, there are things we can’t control and there is an element of risk in our lives that we can’t deny or overrule. But brain power equals a very powerful leverage. That doesn’t equal being a know-it-all. I’m known as someone who asks a lot of questions. With the economic crisis causing major problems here and some big ripples around the globe, it seems some very informed yet creative thinking is in order. Recently I read an article about some famed geniuses who included Aristotle, Leonardo da Vinci, and Einstein. Aristotle held metaphorical thinking in high esteem, Einstein found visualization to be helpful in solving problems, and da Vinci believed in restructuring a problem to make it more accessible or broader in scope. I realized that I did all of these things, but not necessarily deliberately. All of them believed in chance. In fact, they prepared themselves for it and “creative accidents” would result, some of which have produced wonderful inventions. All of them kept an open mind and were full of a sense of wonder. I mention these components because each of them can be applied to business with some great results. Sometimes people ask me how I do what I do. I don’t always have an answer because part of the process is difficult to describe, but when I saw these points in the article, I realized that is definitely similar to what I go through to arrive at certain decisions. All of us have creative powers, so devote some time to learning about this process. Someone asked me if I thought I was a genius. I decided to say yes. Why not? Try it out. Tell yourself that you are a genius. Right away you will probably wonder why and in what way you are a genius. And right away you will have opened your mind up to wonder—and to asking questions. That’s a big first step to thinking like a genius, and it might unlock some of your hidden talents. Another point made was that geniuses tend to produce. They are prolific. Not everything will be fantastic and mistakes will be made, but they have a huge volume of work to show for their brain power and their mastery of the thought process. Einstein mentioned that numbers and words had little to do with his thought process because he had learned to visualize. Yet he published hundreds of papers in the course of his career. Another characteristic that geniuses tend to share is the ability to think in opposites. This is outside the boundaries of logic and allows your mind to operate on a new level. When it comes to business, this can be tremendously helpful as it’s one way to see the ups and downs, the cycles, of finance and real estate, and know that as they happen, they can be dealt with. Do not underestimate yourself, and know you are able to handle what comes your way. Just increase your leverage by learning to think like a genius. And remember Einstein’s words: “Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
|
 |
Copyright © by Vanguard Press, a division of Perseus Books Group. Sign up for our newsletters. |