Day 186 - Genius Story

Genius Story

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Janos had grown up believing he could make himself into a genius through the right combinations of activities. He was fascinated by the idea that he was creating new neural pathways with every new hobby he took on. He had no idea what his intelligence level was when he began, but he was sure that each and every new thing he studied or learned was bringing him one step closer towards a perfectly crafted brain which in turn would allow him to achieve the highest intellect possible. He had read that it took twenty-one days to create a new neural pathway but sometimes up to ninety days to create a habit or make a new routine stick. Janos didn’t know how many habits or new neural pathways he would need, but he dedicated himself to trying to learn something new every three months. He figured if he could just do enough and learn enough he would make it.

During high school Janos decided he wasn’t getting smart enough, fast enough and blamed it largely on the fact that he was wasting a third of his day, everyday, by sleeping. He came up with a two-part plan to remedy this. Part one was to sleep less. He read that some of the most famous geniuses of all time didn’t sleep a full eight hours of sleep a night, but rather took several short naps throughout the day. So Janos napped. The other part of his plan was to play classical music while he slept. He read about the Mozart Effect and even though it was unsubstantiated, he decided to try it anyway, just in case there really was some subconscious neural absorption while asleep. Janos wasn’t sure he was becoming more intelligent, but he did end up making himself tired all the time.

While in college he forced himself to study his least favorite subjects. He studied three different languages and read obscure books on Russian philosophy. He tried his hand at learning musical instruments and signed up for science classes. He ended up hating school.

As a young man Janos began to question the logic of the decisions he had made and the path he had chosen. He had ruined his social life in the pursuit of the unobtainable. He chose hobbies over friends, forced habits over real desires, and worthless college degrees over learning a profitable trade. Janos didn’t know just how much he had forced his brain to become something it wasn’t meant to be, but he was pretty sure he hadn’t made it to genius IQ level.

Over the next few years the only hobby Janos added to his repertoire was leaning to handle his liquor.

At age thirty-three, Janos bought himself a home printing press. He had given up on his dream of being a genius. He had become fascinated by Thomas Paine and had decided that he too could change history. He had his printing press, now all he needed was to get his pamphlets into the right hands. That, and of course he needed the right idea. But he figured that part would be easy. All he would have to do was print enough until he stumbled upon it.