The Hunt

– Always be surrounded by people smarter than yourself, or else you’ll never learn.

I have lived off this premise for years. It is how I form my closest friendships – and why I burn through many others.

The one thing I have always been good at is learning. I was that kid in school who got straight A’s, highest grade in the class, and could ace tests without having to study. I loved school because I was good at it.

But school ends. Classes ends and that higher level of thinking that comes from working your way through an argument gradually atrophies. It is painful and depressing.

More and more I’ve come to rely on those around me to feed my need for knowledge and debate. But with communication changing, it becomes harder to draw these inspired interactions from others.

And so the hunt begins.

Genius isn’t easy. Finding others to push you beyond your current abilities, to expand the boundaries through which you view the world is a struggle. Where do you start? How do you know?

So much of it has to be done alone. It won’t come looking for you.

Read. Read everything. Read books you hate, authors whose ideas you loathe. Read poetry, read interpretations of poetry. Make your own interpretations.

Listen. Eavesdrop on conversations, turn on talk radio, pop in an audio book on your commute to work.

Observe and report. Blog/journal about what you see around you, what it means to you and to others. Compare it to other events, activities, experiences.

Argue with yourself. Always have support for both sides of an issue. Double the research equals double the know.

Sure, 1 conversation out of every 50 may be about something that interests you. It’s disappointing and annoying, but eventually, it will be found.

Might as well be prepared.