Secret Geniuses

I don't know if you were aware of this, but I am a secret genius of jai alai. Yes, that jai alai, the game with the big plastic scoops and a wiffle ball. I'm amazing at it. I'm like a graceful, athletic ballerina when I play it. A ballerina with a giant blue scoop!

I'm also a secret genius at working the line at a restaurant, doing marching band drills, and knowing just how much spaghetti sauce you can fit into a Tupperware without having it overflow. These are my "secret geniuses," my strange, small, innate talents that came pre-packaged with my bizarre little brain.

I believe that everyone has some bits of secret genius in them. These talents have little to do with training and everything to do with nature. For example, one of my friends is an expert cat charmer; she can have the most skiddish feline cuddled in her arms in less than a half hour. Charlie is astonishingly good at arranging furniture; he can glance around a room, draw a little sketch, and tell you exactly where you should put your couch to make the best, most elegant use of your living room space. My mom is an extremely talented gardener, capable of casually tossing some flowers or tomatoes in the ground only to see them flourish into a beautiful backyard garden with the minimum of watering and tending. Her thumb is neon green!

Of course, it is important to understand one's greatest natural talents and aptitudes, those skills that define one's professional life. I have a strong aptitude for writing, editing, managing detailed projects, juggling deadlines, and fitting into team settings. These are all very nice things to have on a resume.

But I think it's also important to understand and nurture my smaller geniuses, even if they're completely tangential to my "serious" work. Maybe these talents are nothing more than party tricks ("Just wait: your mind will be blown by how small of a container I can put this queso in!"). But they can also be the source of great pleasure.

For example, my secret genius for baking has led to an incorrigible baking hobby, one that consistently makes me happy. And it's always nice to think that, if I ever get sick of writing, baking is always there for me: a second talent, a second life, a second world that's always waiting for me to explore it!