Benjamin Franklin: A Genius??

Benjamin Franklin, a genius?

Yes, this is true.

Genius: somebody with outstanding talent-somebody with exceptional ability, especially somebody whose intellectual or creative achievements gain worldwide recognition.

20 Characteristics of a Genius

1. Vision

• envision what their life goals are
• create image of achieving goals
• picture success

He had to have some kind of idea of what he wanted to accomplish when he became the Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania, but of Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well.

2. Desire

• have a "burning passion" to accomplish goal
• nothing else on mind at time

Franklin had a deep desire to learn more about electricity. He gave all of his attention to it in the 1750s.

3. Faith

• in themselves
• in mental abilities

Benjamin had to have faith in himself when he introduced his innovative ideas like the stove.

4. Committment

• determined
• declare idea

He publicly declared his idea of the heat-efficient stove. It would create more pressure to create it because he refused to patent it.

5. Planning

• have ability to see short & long-term

"I now take up a resolution to do for the future all that lies in my way for the service of my countrymen."

6. Persistance

• No pignitude

Ben is known as one of the Founding Fathers of our country. He pushed for America to become free from King George.

7. Learning from Mistakes

• error=learning opportunity

When people started using the stove, there were many house fires. Ben created the first fire company and fire insurance to ameliorate the problem.

8. Subject Knowledge

• nonfiction books
• curious
• love to learn

Ben was certainly curious when it came to electricity. If he didn't know about it, then it the lightning rod would never have been invented to prevent house fires.

9. Mental Literacy

• know how brain works
• use thinking skills
• learn

He was a scientist, and that triggered the inventor in him. Many don't know this, but his natural curiousity led him to do research of the human body and how it works.

10. Imagination

• new perspective

The reason why Ben invented so many useful things is because he took things and pondered how he could improve it. This is how he thought of bifocals.

11. Positive Attitude

• "can-doer"
• optimistic
• possible-thinker

He figured that all is possible. That way, his innovative ideas could become a reality.

12. Auto-suggestion

• 90% of average=negative & self-defeating
• 90% of genius=positive & supportive

This goes along with having a positive attitude. He supported his own ideas and knew that they could be possible

13. Intuition

• feeling of what is right

This is obvious that Franklin possessed this trait because he knew that it was right for America to be free. He also was a part of the Constitutional Convention, which set the "rules" of the new country.

14. Mastermind Group

• supporters
• others around to discuss ideas

Ben's wife, Deborah supported his political movements. Another group in his life was the Constitutional Convention, where they all compiled their thoughts and bounced ideas off of each other.

15. Mastermind Group (internal)

• have role models
• try to be like other geniuses

I can't know this for sure, but Franklin's role model may have been Leonardo Da Vinci because Da Vinci invented the odometer. Later, Ben innovated it to measure the distance of his paper route.

If this is incorrect, 14/15 isn't bad...

16. Truth/Honesty

• tell to others
• tell to themselves

When Franklin was helping to form the Constitution, he had to lay the truth down to his fellow Founding Fathers.

17. Facing Fears/Courage

• awareness and senses are magnified
• act in spite of fear
• courageous in facing challenges

Before the Great British Empire turned its back to Franklin, he had feared the dissolution of it. Realizing that they were now against each other, he feared the rath of King George's rule, so he worked against him and for the formation of the new country.

18. Creativity/Flexibility

• unique insights
• has new ideas
• considers all possibilities
• looks at alternatives

Ben had a crazy new idea: bifocals. He used his creativity to think of a way to ameliorate the effieciency of glasses. He looked at all the ways to do it, then, decided to combine them into bifocals.

19. Love of the Task

• loves subject
• is a passion
• desire to share/teach

When Franklin was working with his kite experiments, he shared them with his family, friends, and colleagues. He truely was passionate about the discovery of electricity.

20. Energy

• physical
• sensual
• sexual

He obviously had to have a lot of physical energy because he lived to be 84 years old in the 1700s. He had three kids named William, Sarah, and Francis, who died at the age of four.

Ben Franklin possessed 19 out of 20 genius traits (that can be proven).

IF ALL THIS DOESN'T CONVINCE YOU...PBS CONFIRMS THIS IS TRUE.