The Risk Averse Genius

Fear of failure and humiliation is a common characteristic of gifted individuals. It’s a negative trait that develops gradually; you can call it the curse of the gift. It all begins when people start noticing their genius and praise starts flowing in from left, right and center. Parents, relatives, teachers etc. make it their business to remind these brainy tots that they’re super brilliant at every available opportunity.  Unfortunately, the frequent wows and praises work against them in the long-run as they resort to shunning activities and challenges, which they perceive difficult for fear of failing to meet the obvious expectations of everyone.

As the negative trait of fear of failure and humiliation develops, it becomes like a thick dark cloud that hampers the brightness of a shining star. And if corrective measures are not employed to arrest the situation early enough, the cloud can linger indefinitely. As they grow older their brightness become duller and duller and eventually, the once promising geniuses turn into perennial under-performers or if they’re lucky enough they end up being jack of all trades, master of none.

Nurturing Genius

There is no telling how much potential geniuses possess. These people are intellectual power houses; some of their innovations to date are mind blowing. If you try to comprehend them you’ll crack your brain. ‘The perennial under-performers’ and ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ mentioned above, possess equal or even higher abilities than some renowned geniuses. The only difference between them is lack of nurturance of their gifts.

They may have begun well, being darlings of everyone for their smart brains and effortless intelligence. Praises and awards were their lot, but as life presented new experiences, they lacked courage to tackle new challenges, for fear of failure and humiliation. Their abilities turned rusty due to inactivity and their potential was buried under layers of fear. They became risk averse and slowly faded into oblivion. Now they’re past glory.

Rule of thumb

Geniuses have natural effortless intelligence. So please don’t interfere with its performance with your praises and wows, lest they get addicted to public opinion. If you must praise them, then do a little twist, praise their efforts not their brains. Praising their efforts will encourage them to take up more challenging activities in future and this way they’ll be confident enough to crack every problem that comes their way and provide those most needed solutions. I can’t think of a better way of engaging their abilities and harnessing their potential than this.

So whenever a genius does something that is incredibly smart/records an incredible achievement, forget about their intelligence and remark their efforts. If you keep on appreciating their efforts, you’ll push them further and further towards their optimal performance. In other words, you’ll help them tap into their brain power. For the only way of unlocking genius in gifted individuals is by engaging them in intellectually stimulating activities. In so doing, there will be no room for development of the negative trait of fear of failure and humiliation hence no risk averseness.