How to Think Like a Genius, According to Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman

IQ may be largely fixed, but that doesn’t mean intelligence is. While we’re stuck with a certain amount of intellectual horsepower, how you employ that talent makes a big difference. Learning different ways to approach problems and dodge cognitive pitfalls effectively makes you smarter. Even changing the time of day you tackle a problem can make you smarter. 

So how do you set yourself up to maximize your intelligence? There are few better qualified to answer this question than a certified genius. 

Physicist Richard Feynman received the Nobel Prize for his work unraveling one of the most mind-bending subjects known to humankind — quantum physics. He was also famous for his clear and engaging communication style. The man wasn’t just brilliant, he was also great at explaining the process he used to think brilliantly. 

I’ve covered a few of these tips here before, but recently came across another great one on the blog Farnam Street. The post highlights a classic lecture by mathematician and MIT professor Gian-Carlo Rota on how to get students to pay attention in class. 

Much of these ideas are useful to anyone trying to seize and hold attention, but one tip is useful for just about anyone who has ever faced a problem in their life (so all of us then). It comes from Feynman originally, according to Rota: 

Richard Feynman was fond of giving the following advice on how to be a genius. You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state. Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there will be a hit, and people will say: ‘How did he do it? He must be a genius!’

The joy of this advice is that it is simple as it is powerful, and you don’t need a super brain to implement it. It’s all about your system, not your talent.

Rather than a sky-high IQ, Feynman’s approach requires the foresight to make a catalogue of your most pressing problems. Add to that the attentiveness to watch out for new mental models, hacks, and relevant concepts (particularly from fields not usually thought of as relevant) and you have a simple recipe for a steady stream of fresh, useful ideas.