High Cognitive Minds

What do you want to be when you grow up? In spite of the glamour and mystery it holds for children who are still trying to decided whether they’d rather be an astronaut or a movie star, for the gifted, it’s usually the wrong question. Implicitly, it's about choosing something that society has already defined and given its seal of approval. Included in that meaning is what you need to know to fill that slot, and how much you need to know. And the assumption that you can and should make important life decisions before you have either the knowledge or experience to base them on.

We’re taught to err on the side of safety. “Stick to what you do best.” But what you do best right now may not be something you really want to be doing for the rest of your life. And if you stick to it, you may never have the chance to find out if there is a “best” that will be meaningful to you. Finding out requires that you step over a line. On one side is the known, along with a degree of security—at least as much as one can count on in an uncertain age. On the other side of the line are the unknowns, unmapped, undefined, waiting to be explored.

The finest accomplishment of our educational systems is the barriers it puts in the way of such exploration.  Limited curriculum, pressures to make early career decisions, pressures for college attendance and setting majors. Each step leads down a path toward a life in which further choices are foreclosed. Going back to school to choose a new path is exorbitantly expensive, especially when you're still paying for the first round. Jobs consume your time and energy, paying you back with security in which you've invested too much to risk losing. Family involves responsibilities to others and putting your own needs second or submerging them completely.

Finding a niche that is truly yours, one that will be meaningful and challenging, means delaying both the responsibilities you're expected to take up and the rewards for doing so. Exploration requires freedom, the ability to devote your time and energy to what's most important to you rather than to what society defines as important.