Liberating Everyday Genius: A Revolutionary Guide for Identifying and Mastering Your Exceptional Gifts
Product Description
Are you relentlessly curious and creative, always willing to rock the boat in order to get things done . . . extremely energetic and focused, yet constantly switching gears . . . intensely sensitive, able to intuit subtly charged situations and decipher others’ feelings . . . a truth-teller who pushes toward perfection, driven by a sense of personal mission . . . ?
If these traits sound familiar, then you may be an Everyday Genius, someone who shares qualities with figures as diverse as Bill Gates and Mother Teresa. These are people who break the mold and change the world, who actualize their singular talents, who don’t hesitate to “think different.” They are not a tiny group of rocket scientists or profoundly brilliant prodigies, nor are they all former straight-A students. They are real people of unusual vision who share one overarching characteristic: They push progress forward.
Far richer than standard IQ and as thought-provoking as Daniel Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence, psychologist Mary-Elaine Jacobsen’s Liberating the Everyday Genius draws on a wide range of groundbreaking research and her own clinical experience to show America’s twenty million gifted adults who possess exceptional abilities how to identify and unlock their extraordinary potential.
Liberating the Everyday Genius presents the first practical tool for measuring unconventional “evolutionary intelligence.” It identifies the dynamic interaction between multiple abilities, driven effort, sense of mission, and a need for revolutionary action. The sum of these seemingly disparate traits produces a new kind of intelligence.
Jacobsen’s exploration of everyday genius cautions that in a society that loves innovation but is suspicious of innovators, such exceptional gifts often come at a high price. This revolutionary book demystifies what it means to be gifted. It offers practical guidance for eliminating self-sabotage, underachievement, relationship problems, low self-esteem, and regret. It also helps Everyday Geniuses and those who know, love, and work with them how to understand and support these unique personality traits.
This book contains an in-depth personality-type profile reminiscent of the Myer-Briggs and the Enneagram that allows you to rate your Evolutionary Intelligence Quotient. Liberating the Everyday Genius is the next step in our understanding of human intelligence–mapping the new frontier for gifted adults and for their families, friends, bosses, and colleagues.
Anonymous said,
Wrote on May 3, 2010 @ 1:15 am
I found this book to be personally liberating, explaining many of the “quirks” in my method of working. I own a very successful business with a focus on human performance and am very familiar with recent work on IQ, emotional intelligence, Gardner’s MI theories, etc. Yet, this book had me weeping, smiling, and clapping my hands in recognition. It is theoretically solid, filled with practical wisdom, and rich with emotional support for the “rara avis” who is more often unkindly called the “odd duck.” A super self-help book.
Rating: 5 / 5
Anonymous said,
Wrote on May 3, 2010 @ 4:07 am
I got this book right after reading Gifted Grownups (also a great book), and I was actually a bit dubious about whether it could possibly live up to the statement on the cover (A Revolutionary Guide for Identifying and Mastering Your Exceptional Gifts). It does! It has far exceeded any and all expectations. This book is wonderful in terms of addressing the psychological and personality issues related to giftedness. Plus there’s an extremely enlightening profile that really helped me see my personality, strengths (and weaknesses), and giftedness clearly. To find out that so many of the things that have been termed “wrong” about me are actually what’s right (giftedness) has been so freeing – and such a relief! It is a guidebook and resource that is absolutely invaluable for every gifted adult. If I could give this book more than 5 stars, I would!
Rating: 5 / 5
Barbara Saunders said,
Wrote on May 3, 2010 @ 5:30 am
This is an excellent and useful book based on the kind of radical premise that seems obvious once it’s articulated.
The author asserts that “giftedness” exists, (even by conventional, inadequate measures such as IQ), in 5-10% of the population. She believes that the set of traits that leads to exceptional talent is not mere “intelligence”: it is a collection of cognitive, emotional, physical, and other traits that causes the gifted person to process infomation differently than other people. The way this works, she says, is most comparable to the way a learning disability works; in fact, the divergence from “normal ways of thinking” often causes gifted people to meet with great difficulties.
Using anecdotes and quizzes, as well as exposition and a little bit of cheerleading, Jacobsen illustrates how and why gifted people will have trouble conforming and may seem (to themselves and to others) too “intense,” “complex,” and “driven.” She includes tips for self-management in the workplace, in relationships, and in the arduous process of “liberating” the self and the talents.
“The pot of gold” is for all of us, gifted and “non-gifted.” Jacobsen insists that “everyday geniuses,” with their outside-of-the-box thinking, are the people who catalyze society’s progress and change.
Rating: 5 / 5
Anonymous said,
Wrote on May 3, 2010 @ 5:36 am
The book title might better have been “Liberating Everyday Genuises” as it really is only dealing with a specific sort of person she refers to as an Everyday Genius. (The title probably arises from the publishers attempt to attain a borader market.) And this might be a key issue, because although she clearly defines what an Everyday Genuis is and allows you to score yourself using the Evolutionary Intelligence Profile (EvIQ), it could be that anyone who read the book could be left convinced that they are one. Scoring myself highly on the EvIQ, I then went on to find things that sounded like me and other things that didn’t. Or rather, were not necessarily the most obvious characteristics of being an Everyday Genius for me. It also seemed to be speaking more clearly to female readers than male ones, possibly from the author’s own experiences and self-understanding.
Having in part I defined what an Everyday Genius is and how many people grow up unaware of it, and also how standard intelligence measures may not measure it, she then presents in part II the EvIQ and then in part III details the sorts of issues that gifted adults face and how you can help to be true to yourself, removing the False Selves. The only time I began to feel she lurched into common self-help drivel was in part IV and also the section that seemed to have changed focus from the topic into more general information. Part V is rather like a summary and final motivation.
All in all, I know too much about the subject to think that approaching this from simply a self-help point of view is sufficient, for even though I ranked as being a balanced everyday genius, it does not prevent all sorts of difficulties because others have only so many slots to fit you in, and not knowing what you are force you into one you’re not. And society wants all your good qualities but aren’t willing to tolerate the emotions and needs and love that go along with it, especially in the workplace. It is rather like having them say to you that they want you to dance, but only if your legs are tied, because lack of understanding makes them mistrust. There are so few people who are there when you need them to say, we accept you and release you. This often leads to frustration and having a book about it at least gives one some inner security, but it is not nearly enough.
After I finished reading this book and started in on Thucydides, I came across a speech where a politician said “ordinary men usually manage public affairs better than their more gifted fellows. The latter are always wanting to appear wiser than the laws”. Perhaps this is true, or maybe its because gifted people see where others do not see.
If you want to go one step further, in this book an Everyday Genuis is someone who often feels out of place in society because they are not ordinary, but there are also those who may feel accepted but still reject soceity to seek something transcendent. There is a very interesting book on this called “The Outsider” by Colin Wilson. It is much more profound.
Rating: 3 / 5
Anonymous said,
Wrote on May 3, 2010 @ 6:14 am
Just wanted to say “ditto” to the previous reviews. It was both frightening and wonderful to finally hear someone say that I wasn’t strange, or weird, or just plain silly for being me. The strong desire to truly experience life, the insatiable curiosity, the passion for excellence, and the constant emphasis on spiritual and emotional growth, are all apart of what makes me, me. AND THAT’S OK! There is a reason why I am the way I am, and I no longer have to shut down and conform to some arbitrary standard of normality. This book is practical, informative, and truly “liberating.”
Rating: 5 / 5