The Right Questions with James Victore
The Right Questions is designed to help you get paid to do what you love and stay sane in the process.
The Right Questions with James Victore
Episode 36: Congrats! Your Already A Genius
If you are a stuck or frustrated creative and want to get paid to do what you love, let's talk. https://yourworkisagift.com/coaching
Why do 98% of five-year-olds score as creative geniuses while only 2% of adults reach the same level?
The answer lies in a groundbreaking NASA study from 1968 that reveals a startling truth: genius-level creativity isn't something we gain—it's something society teaches us to unlearn.
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All right, let's do this shit. Howdy and welcome to the Right Questions. I am your beautiful host, james Victoria. I'm happy to be here. I hope you're happy to be here. I have a story for you. So sit back and relax, get comfy and here we go.
Speaker 1:In 1968, nasa had a question they wanted more geniuses. They're like we need more geniuses. So what they did was they found a research analyst, a man named George Land, who was an author and a general systems scientist, and they asked Land to conduct research to study genius Right when it comes from, where it goes and how to find it and get me some. So he devised a test for NASA to help select innovative engineers and scientists, and his assessment worked so well. He decided to test the creativity of 1,600 children ranging in ages from 3 to 5 years old who were enrolled in a Head Start program. And then he decided after that he said well, let's see what's going on here. And he decided to retest the same children at 10 years of age and again at 15. And the results were, as we say, astounding. So the test results for the five-year-olds found that 98% of them would be considered genius, and the test results for those same children at 10 was that 30% of them would be considered genius. And the test result of the same kids at 15 years old was that 12% would be considered genius. Right, george Land decided to give the same test to 280,000 adults Not scientists, not NASA engineers, just adults. And he found that 2% were to be considered geniuses. Astounding, to say the least. But here listen good news, guys. Good news I found out. I conducted my own test. I found out that 100% of my listeners from the right questions made the cut. Y'all are 100% certified geniuses. So breathe easy, you're geniuses just for being here. Good choice.
Speaker 1:In George Land's test, the astonishing percent of 98% of the five-year-olds were geniuses. And the findings was that as they grew older, their brilliance dimmed. It was not that it went out of them, right, it was not a natural occurrence, but it was replaced with something else. Their brilliance, their creativity, their creative thinking was replaced with something else. That's right, salami. No, wait, not salami. Their brilliance, their genius, was replaced with rules, George Land wrote. He says what have we concluded? We concluded that non-creative behavior is learned. You see that Non-creative behavior is learned. It was taught out of them. Society's constraints were snuffing out the inherent creative genius within the kids, within us. Land revealed that as we age, our unbridled, our raw, uninhibited, powerful childhood creativity diminishes under societal pressures and constraints. Again, creativity is unlearned, and the culprit is school and society itself. So now, today, it's 2024, and the world has changed in so many ways, but the essence of George Land's discovery remains the same and as relevant as ever. And here's a fun fact His young students check it out. They're now in their 60s, right? Just a fun fact, okay.
Speaker 1:Similarly, I recently listened to a very ad hoc test. They didn't test thousands of kids and thousands of adults. It was like one of these reporters on the street and this guy went around with a microphone asking adults what they could change about their bodies. And then one guy replied well, my nose is kind of big. Another guy says oh yeah, no, I always wished I was taller. And with women they were, of course, the, the, the, the body fat or the body image was their concern.
Speaker 1:Right now you're thinking, oh man, I wish James Victoria could be my mentor, my guru. Hell, I wish he was my coach. Well, you can make that happen. Go to yourworkisagiftcom. There's a questionnaire that will probably help you out, but it'll also give you access to a free call. So let's talk. Let's free you from overwhelm and creative frustration. Let's build your business and help you get paid to do what you love. Again, go to yourworkisagiftcom, let's talk.
Speaker 1:And then the reporter turns the camera and the microphone to kids, to children, and of course you're watching this thing and you're braced. The microphone to kids, to children, and of course you're watching this thing and you're braced. You're braced for the horrible thought of body dysmorphia in children. Right, but the first kid says this I wish I had wings. The next one wanted to be invisible. He thought that would be cool. Change his body that way. And the next was this genius little kid he wanted to make stuff move with his mind. What a great thought. This is beautiful, freeing, creative thinking at its best, like fantasy and dreaming, but made reality, which is what creativity does for us.
Speaker 1:Because George Land's test was about finding creative solutions and five-year-olds don't know math and they don't know science. They, quite frankly, don't know what they don't know. They only had creativity. The path to genius was creativity, and this is the title of today's show and what the right answer is about. Creativity is always the answer. About Creativity is always the answer. Jonathan Swift wrote that the vision is the art of seeing things invisible. That is the crux of creativity. Not to sell socks or to make people buy Coke and Pepsi. That's not what creativity is for. It's good for that. It works. And, quite frankly, creativity should just be in our lives, in everybody's lives, not just painters and artists and designers and dancers and leather makers and blacksmiths. Its real purpose is to make our lives better. Its real purpose is to make our lives better. It's to help us move more beautifully and gracefully through life and to make things visible and real for ourselves and for others.
Speaker 1:I have become a business coach and I actually find it an odd job for me to have, but I'm pretty good at it, so I try to approach it how do you say? Creatively? And I got a lot of interesting and important questions from people who have real life concerns and problems and blocks that make us constipated. Things like James, I quit my job, what do I do now? Seriously, I get that question from time to time. Or, hey, james, I want to ask for a promotion, I want to ask for more money. How do I do that? Or how do I grow my audience? Or how about this one what is this AI thing and how am I supposed to think about it? And how do I beat it? Or even something really, really on the top of everybody's mind how to keep your career going after 30, after 35, after 50. And I always say the same thing You're a creative person. I suggest you do it creatively.
Speaker 1:The only and I mean the only problem of why we can't see these circumstances, our particular circumstances, more clearly or more creatively is that we fail to trust our creativity, because it's not always visible to us and I admit it's very difficult to see what's been right next to you for such a long time. It's like seeing your own eyebrows, what's been right next to you for such a long time. It's like seeing your own eyebrows. They're there within view most of the time, but we just get used to it. And on top of that, we need to trust ourselves and our answers, the answers that we get back, which is a whole nother feat of heroics on our part.
Speaker 1:So the right question is how do I add creativity to my life? Because our creative thinking is often replaced by default thinking, or what we call habits or habitual thinking, and this makes us dull and bored, and that leads to being stuck and frustrated and that leads to us going postal at our jobs and our lives and ruining things for ourselves and other people because we don't have these creative answers at hand. So my question to you is how can you add creative thinking to your life and your work? And my own answer is to be bold. I have to remind myself that's the root to creativity for me. Just be bold. What do I have that nobody else has? What route to creativity for me? Just be bold. What do I have that nobody else has? What is my opinion? What do I think?
Speaker 1:This, this is the crux of one of my most loved quotes, and it comes from Goethe, the German philosopher and poet, and bon vivant, the German philosopher and poet and bon vivant, and he wrote boldness has genius, power and magic in it. That sums up creative thinking and acting and playing perfectly. So my answer for myself is I always have to be bold, because there's power in that, there's magic in that, there's well, who would have thought that in that? So for me, creativity to be creative is to be bold, and my favorite word audacious. And my favorite word audacious. Therefore, as George Land found, creativity holds genius within it. Creativity is always the answer and I beg you all to use it in every part of your life. It always holds your answers.
Speaker 1:You're a creative person. Do it creatively. And if you can't see it yet, in case it's not visible to you yet, make it up. Just go ahead and make it up. Give yourself that, create it, make. Give yourself that, create it. Make up your life and this time, add wings. I'm James Victoria. This is the Right Questions. I am happy to be here for you. I am overjoyed that you are here for me. Thank you for your support. I'm James Victoria. I love you all. Thank you for being here, adios.