I’ve been working hard on a small project, it’s taken a lot of my time. What was particularly most frustrating was that I almost finished it, and just before saving it, my system hung! I lost everything. I felt very bad for a while, but as the adage goes, the house of the king that gets burnt only beautifies it. This is because normally, the king has money and would build it again only better. Well, unsure if this king had more than he had done to offer, I started from scratch again, and learnt a lesson in the process.

When I finished, I got some of my colleagues to come take a look at it, and compare it to what we had used before. People agreed it was much much better than what we had been using before, in fact someone asked, “where was this all the while?”. I paused, and thought, “I didn’t bring this our of somewhere else other than my head, where was it all the while?”. I remembered, every one of us, had a genius inside, we have loads of untapped talent, we have bundles of abilities, that if we place a demand on ourselves will manifest. There is a lot more to us than we are utilizing. A lot more. You only need to tap into your inner genius.

There is no such thing as Talent. There is Pressure – Alfred Adler

I don’t know about you, but I have come to discover that like carbon becomes diamond when put through sufficient pressure, you also can come up with diamond equivalent quality results if you put yourself under sufficient pressure. Talent surfaces when people put themselves (or sometimes are put) under pressure.

Diamond is a gemstone that is really inspiring. I’ve done some studies on diamonds, and I think it’s going to be worth writing about someday soon. It is a mechanical and eletromagnetic wonder! The journey into becoming a gemstone wasn’t so easy though, but enough of diamonds for now.
Here are some simple ways to put yourself under the sufficient pressure that brings out the genius in you.

1. Do a why why analysis: By asking yourself why a thing happened and asking another why for the reason you gave, you can continue and eventually put yourself under pressure to define root causes. For example, you can ask, “why are more people buying cars?” – Because the middley class have more money. Why do the middle class have more money? – Because there are more jobs. Why are there more jobs?…if you continue like this you’ll come up with the root cause and  that will polish up your ideas.

2. Give yourself a deadline: Deadlines are powerful, and it doesn’t matter if you set them or your boss set them. If you make up your mind to win credibility even with yourself, deadlines will matter to you. If you set yourself a deadline of 10am the following morning to deliver, the thought of what you are doing will occupy your mind.

3. Use similies: Take yourself out of the scenario and compare it with a simpler issue. An issue like wanting developing a process for transistion can be compared to trying to get your family through your decision to move to another side of town. By trying to understand what you would do in this regard, you can come up with better ideas on how to develop your change management strategy.
4. Sleep on it: It is said that the subconcious mind goes on to work on whatever is holds you concious attention. Dreams come from a multitude of activities (businesses). When your mind is all worked up and nothing seems to work, sleep on it. This will be like the cooling process that will bring out the diamond.