99 - Healthy Happy Heart, and Other Summer News

My sister and I are starting a health blog. My other sisters are also invited, and will probably include their input.

You should read it. :)

Click here. Or here. If you REALLY want to read it, CLICK HERE.

In other news, I've been doing a lot of reading this summer. Don't worry, I'm still keeping track of my Reading Riot stuff. I just haven't posted about it in a while. I'll do a catch up with that pretty soon, though.

I've been reading Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell. Basically, this journalist discusses successful people and their stories. He also talks about the misconceptions our culture has about said successful people.

Some interesting ideas so far:

• Being an expert at something requires hard work as well as abundant opportunity. 
• Being an expert at something also requires an inordinate amount of practice. 10,000 hours, if I want to be accurate. 
• Being renowned has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time. 
• Your home environment does more to cultivate your intelligence than almost any other environment. 
• There's no such thing as being super smart. Intelligence, like all things, has a threshold. 

That last one I especially find interesting. I mean, obviously, there are innate abilities involving intelligence. However, recent findings have shown that there isn't a perfect correlation between the highest of intelligence and world-renowned success. A person with a high IQ (generally, above 130) is just as likely to succeed as a person with a higher IQ.

This book has been so interesting for me because I have always been placed in gifted programs in school. I had a rant about work and intelligence a few posts ago, so you guys know that this kinda stuff really hits home for me. I'm not, like, super-genius-smart. I do, however, have a large vocabulary. Any guesses as to why? Reading is all I ever did as a kid. I always (and still do, in fact) had a book with me. My step-sister is freakishly good at math and puzzles. Do you know what she always had with her as a child? A Sudoku book. Gifted people don't just stumble upon a talent and become experts. They can stumble upon passion, they can stumble upon opportunity, but one does not stumble upon expertise. Expertise requires work.

Anyway. I'll probably post more about Outliers later. Or maybe not. I don't know.

Good writing, interesting concepts, and personal meaning all wrapped up in one 300 page book. That's my kind of reading material.

-ka

94 - On Intelligence

Intelligence has less to do with inherent abilities as it does work.

If I have learned anything in my education, it is that being smart is not necessarily a gift from heaven. Don't get me wrong, I know that some people are blessed with the ability to learn easier than other people. Some people are definitely prone to genius ideas. But do you ever wonder why it seems like those people are always busy? Why those people put all of their efforts into their chosen field?

I have.

Those people work. Hard.

I have been fortunate enough to be placed in an environment that encourages education and work. I have also been blessed with a natural ability to learn, and a love for it. But it makes me so mad when people tell me how easy it must be to be "smart".

"Oh, Kolbie, it's easier for you to go to class because you're smart."
"Oh, Kolbie, it's easier for you to write your essays on time because you're smart."
"Oh, Kolbie, it's easier for you to take that many credits because you're smart."

Let me just clear something up.

I'm not mad because I want my work to be recognized. I'm mad because those people use the word "smart" as an excuse to be lazy. I'm even more mad at our education system, because I firmly believe that there are many, MANY, more people in the world that have the potential for genius. They have the potential, but because of the standards placed before them, they will never know it. They are raised to believe that being simply average is something to strive for.

I'm not saying that being average is a bad thing, but too many kids are raised thinking that all they will ever be is average. They grow up with people telling them that they can't be smart, or athletic, or talented. Maybe they have negligent parents, or maybe they have negligent teachers. Either way, more and more children are dropping out of high school. More and more children are succumbing to depression. More and more children are thinking that they're not good enough to be successful, so they stop caring.

Everyone is good enough to be successful. Everyone deserves the chance to be above-average.

Intelligence has less to do with inherent abilities as it does work. If you want to be above-average, you need to work. The only way to overcome the Nelson-Mandela-named fear of being great is to be great, and to realize that being great is working hard. The best part is that once you've had a solid foundation in working hard, you can actually work hard doing at something you love.

And you want to know something funny? It actually makes you happy.

To all those people who think my life is easy because I'm smart, I'm here to tell you that my life is far from easy. Everyone is given obstacles in their life. Instead of choosing the easiest ways to go, though, I choose to work hard and be triumphant.

Don't mistake my being happy for my life being easy.

Intelligence has less to do with inherent ability as it does work. Yes, I've said it three times. But I just you want you to remember that the most, and perhaps you'll tell someone you know who really needs to hear it.

-ka