Einstein's Brain and Yours

I was disappointed when I heard that the old legend about Einstein was false: that he had failed math as a schoolboy. Something inside me wanted that to be true for all the students out there who struggle with math.

But let's not get dejected; we shouldn't be disheartened by Einstein's failure to fail. Instead, we should be inspired when we take a closer look at this man, who many consider to be history's most famous and most fascinating whiz kid.

Einstein's distinctive quality was that his brain was different—not that it was better. He did well in math because he saw his equations as pictures. Imagination and visualization were his real strong suits.

Consider this quote from Einstein: His Life and Universe, by Walter Isaacson:

As a young student he never did well with rote learning. And later, as a theorist, his success came not from the brute strength of his mental processing power but from his imagination and creativity.

Why should this matter to you? Because your brain is special, too. Whether you are a visual thinker, like Einstein, or a left brained student who gathers information in a holistic way, you can tap into your strengths and find your special place in the world.

Einstein didn't flunk math as a boy, but he did struggle to gain recognition as a genius for a long time, because he was so very different from everybody else. And so are you.

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