“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid” Albert Einstein
It always saddens me when people say ’Oh that person is so stupid.’ Very often that person can have great abilities in different ways. The evidence is that we only use 5% of our brain’s capacity on average. We all have the potential to be better if given the opportunity and encouragement.
A person I know was told he was stupid at school (before political correctness), yet he was actually dyslexic. He has grown up with that belief despite running two successful businesses and being incredibly adept at building things.
A 58 year old lady came on one of my confidence building courses. When asked why she was there, she said because she was stupid. Her sister had told her when she was thirteen that she didn’t have as much sense as a mushroom. Despite being very well read, able to do complex crosswords and run a successful family home, she still held that belief. In fact, a common phrase she used was ‘don’t ask me, I’m stupid’
One mother was overheard in a supermarket saying to her young daughter; ‘If you weren’t so fat, you wouldn’t be so stupid!’
How careful we need to be when we use a phrase like ‘you are stupid’. It can impact on a person’s whole life. I believe we should celebrate all our different intelligences and not just the academic ones. We are all geniuses in our own way.
Our Seven Intelligences
- Physical – Use of the body, act out things, take exercise
- Intra-personal – The ability to analyse one’s own actions, plans, goals
- Logical/Mathematical – Analysis and mathematical approaches to issues.
- Musical – The ability to recognise and create patterns of sound
- Inter-personal – Communication and sharing of ideas with others
- Linguistic – Skills with words, both written and spoken
- Visual/Spatial – Being able to create mental pictures, mind map
Learn how you can achieve more of your potential at the Mind Your Head Conference on August 12th. See our events for detail.
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