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By PASCAL FINETTE

The Heretic x GYSHIDO: Raw, unfiltered dispatches for entrepreneurs and change makers navigating the unknown. Where radical thinking meets relentless execution. No BS—just the insights and methods to actually get your s#!% done.

June 3, 2021

On Genius

Today’s Heretic comes courtesy of a quote from the delightful memoire of Nintendo’s former CEO Satoru Iwata:

“One way of defining a genius is “a person who can endlessly continue doing things that other people might dislike or easily grow tired of and be unable to continue.” I think that’s what we mean when we say “genius”—not giving up on your ideas, letting them have all the space they need. It may be exhausting, or it may perhaps be rewarding, but in any case it certainly isn’t easy. For a person who can do these things, however, it also isn’t torture. Those who think of it as torture will never surpass those who don’t see it as torture. That’s the essence of genius. Those who can persevere without thinking that they’re suffering, and thereby discover valuable things, are able to derive happiness from that alone.”

I have nothing to add, other than that I would widen Iwata’s definition to mere mortals (most of us — certainly myself) doing great things. Or maybe we are, indeed, all geniuses by another name.

Regardless. Tap into your inner genius and find happiness my friend.

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