When I am with a person who is seeking his or her genius, in a coaching session or a workshop, I watch for a physical response that signals that the genius has been recognized. It may be a joyful smile or tears, or, as Debbie Call described in her guest post, goosebumps. When I am interacting with a person on-line or on the phone, those signals are lost to me.

I have, however, by virtue of now doing more of this work electronically, become aware of another signal. When people recognize their genius, their lives seems to slam into focus. Seemingly disparate elements of their past and present experience suddenly come together and appear to them as a unified whole. It is as if they found the key piece that solves the puzzle of their lives, as if a great magnet has drawn together their interests, achievements, yearnings, talents, skillls, and even their body language. Those associations arise spontaneously.

Here is an example. It came to me from Skip Angel, who blogs at Random Thoughts from a CTO. Skip calls his genius Nurturing Potentiality.

Even as a kid, I liked to figure things out. Then, once I figured it out, I wanted others to understand it. Once they understood it, I moved on to the next thing. I got a computer at an early age and was fascinated what potential it had. I explored that through college, and 10 years as a developer. Then, I got interested in management, human resources, strategy and am currently figuring it out and wanting others to understand it (through work and my blog).

I love to solve puzzles, but once I have figured out how they are solved I move on quickly. There may be similiar puzzles to solve, but they don’t provide the challenge for me. I also get frustrated when I cannot figure something out that is broken, become almost obsessive. Once I know there is a solution, I want to tell others but don’t have the need to fix it myself. I do, however, want others to understand and value both the problem and the solution.

I get excited about technology and what potential it has. When something new comes out and I think it has potential, I can’t wait to tinker around with it. When I discover some possibilities with it, I can’t wait to tell other people and work on some possible applications. If I am able to do that, and they take it from there I am satisfied. If they don’t see the value, I get extremely frustrated. However, I keep at it until it clicks, sometimes annoying people but hoping that eventually they will get it.

Where do I get the most joy in life? Similiar to your experience with people recognizing their geniuses — it’s when I am able to show somebody the way and the “lights come on”. Not only do they get it, but they are also excited about the possibilites and can take it from there.

See what I mean? Experiences from Skip’s childhood, college years, and work life now fit together along with tendencies to solve puzzles, tinker with new technology, turn others on to it, help them understand problems and solutions, etc. For Skip, all of that is about Nurturing Potentiality.

Here is another example. It is a post to the Genius Workshop Google Group by Martin Spernau, who blogs at Traumwind. He wrote this about recognizing his genius, which he calls Adding Spice:

Then I thought about typical gestures. And there are several pictures taken of me while talking/lecturing/teaching. On all of them I have index finger and thumb poised as if crumbling spice. I often rub index finger and thumb together while contempating.

Then I remembered my fascination with playing with fire and candles as a kid. You know that thing where you hold an orange peel to a candle and squish it? Sparkles!

And when I’m most involved in conversations, people remark on the “sparkle in his eyes”… my wife sometimes says: “You see that sparkle in his eye? He’s up to something!”

So, along with my advice to look for the physical reaction (what I call in my book the felt sense), you can add another signal that shows you have recognized your genius: your life seems to slam into focus. Seemingly disparate elements of your past and present experience suddenly come together and appear as a unified whole. It is as if you have found the key piece that solves the puzzle of your life, as if a great magnet has drawn together your interests, achievements, yearnings, talents, skills, and even your body language. Those associations arise spontaneously.