So much categorizing people as gifted children or adults emphasizes having achieved significantly, having some distinction - high IQ or SAT scores, having a bestseller book or movie or being a sport superstar.
And with perfectionism and high levels of self criticism, many gifted and talented people feel they don’t make it.
Actor Ellen Muth, who starred [...]
Entries from December 2007
With or without the label and notable accomplishments
Adult genius, unexceptional kid
“The young Mozart’s prowess can be chalked up to practice, practice, practice. Compelled to practice three hours a day from age three on.. No wonder they thought he was a genius.” Malcolm Gladwell
How we think of talents in others and ourselves may have a profound effect on nurturing and realizing those abilities. Maybe “genius” or [...]
Carol S. Dweck on the impact of mind-set
“Great accomplishment, and even what we call genius, is typically the result of years of passion and dedication and not something that flows naturally from a gift.”
In her article The Secret to Raising Smart Kids, Stanford Professor of Psychology Carol S. Dweck writes about children “who coast through the early grades under the dangerous notion [...]
Jodie Foster and impostor feelings
“I always feel like something of an impostor. I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Jodie Foster made that comment recently when she was a recipient of the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award.
A highly accomplished actor-director-producer, Foster said, “I don’t feel very powerful. I feel fragile… unsure, struggling to figure it all out.”
Continued on Women and Talent.
Competing to win acknowledgment and excellence and pride
The photo shows Denzel Washington as Melvin B. Tolson, coaching his students (played by Jurnee Smollett, Nate Parker and Denzel Whitaker) in the upcoming movie “The Great Debaters.”
It is based on the real story of Tolson, a professor at Wiley College in 1935 Texas, who inspired students to form the school’s first debate team, which [...]
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