PDF Summary:Awaken Your Genius, by Ozan Varol

Do you ever feel like you don’t know who you really are or like you’re not living up to your full potential? This may be because you’ve repressed your true self—the authentic, original, and creative version of yourself that emerges when you strip away outside influences. In Awaken Your Genius, former rocket scientist and lawyer Ozan Varol explains how to embody your true self—and he argues that once you do, you’ll open doors to creative fulfillment and personal growth.

In our guide, we’ll explore what it means to be your true self and the reasons you’ve abandoned your true self so far in life. Then, we’ll discuss Varol’s tips for becoming your true self and explain how this can help you achieve a more meaningful, successful life. In our commentary, we’ll discuss psychological and philosophical principles related to Varol’s ideas and explore other experts’ tips for becoming more authentic, creative, and fulfilled.

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Discover Your True Self

Once you counteract the external influences (education, conformity, and consumption) that cause you to abandon your true self, you can discover who you truly are. Varol recommends that you focus on answering two questions: What makes you special, and what do you want out of life?

What Makes You Special?

As we’ve discussed, your true self is special. Now that you’ve developed greater self-awareness and new skills, like open-mindedness and independent thinking, you’re ready to figure out what makes you special. Varol shares two tips for accomplishing this:

Remember your child self. Think deeply about any strange qualities you exhibited as a child (or any childlike qualities you exhibit now). What do these qualities suggest about your unique skills or talents? For example, maybe you had (or still have) an inexplicable fascination with ancient Egypt or a talent for building intricate LEGO structures. These qualities could suggest that you have a natural inclination toward history or an aptitude for design and engineering. You can use this knowledge as a basis for exploration and discover how else you can apply your special skills.

(Shortform note: The activities you engaged in as a kid helped shape your adult brain through a process called neuroplasticity, which is why remembering your child self can help explain what’s special about you—there’s often a direct link between your early interests and your current skills and talents. Through neuroplasticity, the brain’s structure adapts in response to experience. When you repeatedly focused on an interest as a kid, you strengthened neural pathways (connections between brain cells) related to the interest. For example, constructing LEGO models may have enhanced your spatial reasoning skills, or learning about ancient Egypt could have helped you learn to empathize. These connections remain strong over time if you keep reinforcing them.)

Understand what’s special about you now. It’s tempting to replicate ideas and strategies that made you special in the past, but your current commitments and activities should reflect what makes you special now. Instead of repeating the past, Varol recommends that you reflect on your previous experiences, identify what worked for you then, and adapt those strategies to suit your current situation.

For example, maybe your childhood interest in ancient Egypt has morphed into a passion for writing historical fiction. It wouldn’t make sense to become an Egyptologist, even if that’s what you wanted as a kid, because you’ve changed too much over the years. But you can draw on your knowledge of ancient Egypt to infuse your historical fiction with authenticity and depth, creating narratives that uniquely reflect your current interests and perspectives.

(Shortform note: To understand what’s special about you now, first recognize that your circumstances are constantly evolving. As Darren Hardy discusses in The Compound Effect, three factors influence all of your choices—your own mental input, the influences of people around you, and the environment you inhabit. These elements are dynamic and subject to change over time. For example, your mindset may evolve as you gain new insights and experiences, the people influencing you may change, and your cultural or societal environment may shift. Adapting (rather than replicating) strategies you’ve used before allows you to remain responsive to these changes and ensures that your actions align with your current situation.)

What Do You Want Out of Life?

Once you know what makes you special, Varol says you can use that information to discover what you truly want out of life and then shape your life’s direction. Varol recommends making sure that your desires are aligned with what you know about your true self instead of aiming to achieve what others tell you is worthwhile. Most life advice is based on generalized assumptions about success and happiness—for example, your parents might advise you to pursue a business degree instead of an art degree because they value financial security. But if your true self is an artist, taking their advice might stop you from fulfilling your creative potential.

For this reason, Varol recommends taking an avant-garde approach to success. This approach involves:

Coming up with your own definition of success. As you zero in on what fulfills you, you might find that it doesn’t align with traditional markers of success. Varol says that’s OK—these markers are arbitrary, and you don’t need others’ approval to be successful.

Seeing life as an endless experiment. Varol says the best way to determine what’s truly important to you is by experimenting with different career paths and other activities. It’s OK to repeatedly change course—always prioritize what matters to you right now.

Defining a clear end goal. If you don’t, you won’t be able to recognize when you’ve achieved success. You’ll never feel fulfilled, and you’ll fall into the trap of always seeking more.

Going off the beaten path. Varol says that in some cases, taking traditional paths forward won’t help you pursue your desires. Say you’re interested in an unconventional career, like ASMR artistry (a popular YouTube-based career). You may have to invent your own career path, since you can’t take traditional career steps like majoring in ASMR or interning at ASMR firms.

Paul Millerd’s Avant-Garde Approach to Success

In The Pathless Path, career coach Paul Millerd explains how he figured out what he wanted out of life and created conditions that allowed him to pursue it. When Millerd began his career, he assumed a traditional career path was right for him because that’s what others defined as worthwhile. He achieved some success on this route, but he learned that it wouldn’t make him happy. A series of personal crises prompted him to re-evaluate his priorities, shifting his focus away from traditional work and toward recreation, exploration, and joy. As a result, he left his job and pursued a freelance career instead, which enabled him to pursue work aligned with his creative passions and gave him the freedom to explore life (and the world) more fully.

Does this way of life sound appealing to you? If so, here’s what Millerd has to say about each of Varol’s recommendations:

Varol recommends coming up with your own definition of success. Millerd argues that you should measure success in terms of contributing something important to the world and living according to your values. He says this definition of success will naturally bring joy to your daily life, while adhering to traditional definitions of success is likely to leave you feeling unfulfilled.

Varol recommends seeing life as an endless experiment. Millerd sees life similarly and explains that he incorporates experimentation into his daily life. Most people don’t have enough spare time to explore a variety of interests as part of daily life, but as a freelancer, Millerd is able to make time. He experiments by devoting intense energy to a new experience (like learning a new language or traveling) for a short period of time before resting and moving on to another experience. This allows him to gradually figure out what makes him happy.

Varol recommends defining a clear end goal so that you aren’t always seeking more. Millerd takes a more flexible approach to getting what you want out of life—he warns against “arrival fallacies” that suggest you’ll be happy once and for all upon arriving at a given goal. But he provides an alternative strategy for avoiding the “never-satisfied” trap: Pursue sustainability over endless wealth, and learn to be happy with what you have.

Finally, Varol recommends going off the beaten path if conventional methods won’t help you pursue your desires. Similarly, Millerd explains that freelancing allows you to create your own career path when established paths don’t exist. He also explains that you can take a mixed approach: If you’re worried about financial security, you can transition to freelancing gradually by keeping a regular job while you pursue your dream career on the side. Once your side hustle becomes lucrative, you can quit your regular job and commit to freelancing.

Tips for Creative Fulfillment and Personal Growth

Once you’ve returned to your true self, Varol says you’ll have new opportunities for creative fulfillment and personal growth. In this section, we’ll explore some techniques you can use to enhance your creativity. Then, we’ll discuss what personal growth looks like when you’re in touch with your true self.

How to Enhance Your Creativity

Varol recommends three practices for enhancing your creativity: building creative confidence, playing with your craft, and mining for ideas. Let’s discuss each practice now.

Building Creative Confidence

Many people are held back by self-doubt when it comes to creativity—they worry that they don’t have good ideas, that they can’t create anything worthwhile, or that others won’t like what they create. If these blockages are preventing you from following through on your creative impulses, Varol offers a few techniques for building creative confidence:

Share your ideas. Varol explains that we tend to be more critical of our own ideas than others would be. If you share your ideas with others—even the ideas you think are bad—you might be surprised at how well they’re received. This feedback can boost your confidence and encourage you to further develop your ideas.

(Shortform note: Although sharing your ideas with others could help boost your confidence, it also comes with some risks. One is that, according to artist Austin Kleon in Steal Like an Artist, sharing your creative work with others can lead them to associate you with a specific style or type of idea. This might make them less supportive of future attempts to branch out, limiting your creative freedom. Additionally, when you reveal your ideas prematurely, you risk others appropriating your ideas without giving you credit. This could lead to potential legal battles or losing control over your original work. To mitigate these risks, consider sharing your ideas only with people you trust to be encouraging and respectful of your intellectual property.)

Use your inexpertise to your advantage. Varol says that while not knowing how to approach a creative project can feel daunting, it can also help you. When you understand how things are usually done, you’re more likely to replicate the status quo. When you don’t, you have more mental freedom, so you can experiment with new ways of creating. As you create, keep in mind your unique advantage as a novice. Say you want to write a romance novel, but you don’t know how. Rather than wallowing in self-doubt, use what you already know about romance novels as a starting point and then improvise the rest. What you come up with could break the mold in delightful ways, drawing in readers looking for a unique romance novel.

(Shortform note: This advice echoes the Japanese Zen concept known as shoshin, which means “beginner’s mind.” According to this concept, being an expert in something (or thinking you’re an expert in something) can limit your ability to see new possibilities. In contrast, when you approach a task with a beginner’s mind, you remain open, curious, and free from preconceptions, which allows you to explore and create in innovative ways. As Varol argues, beginners have a major creative advantage, and keeping this in mind can boost your self-confidence. It can also help you if you are an expert—according to Zen beliefs, experts can also learn to have a beginner’s mind if they approach their work with curiosity and humility.)

Welcome failure. Instead of letting your fear of failure stop you from creating, Varol highlights two kinds of failure you should welcome. The first is failure to please everyone. Varol argues that when someone tells you they’re not pleased with your work, they’re doing you a favor: Either they’re telling you how you can improve your work, or they’re telling you that your work isn’t what they expected—which can be a good sign that you’re thinking outside the box. The second kind of failure you should welcome is informative failure—the kind that teaches you an important lesson about your craft by alerting you to a mistake you must correct in the future. You can use informative failure to refine your skills and grow creatively.

(Shortform note: What if your fear of failure is deeply ingrained—how can you learn to welcome it? According to research on people with high-stakes jobs, like bomb defusers, the best way to overcome this fear is by cultivating bravery. One practice that could help you cultivate bravery involves imagining yourself being brave in a situation where you might fail. Another strategy is to refocus: Instead of thinking about how you might fail in the future, think about what’s going on in the present. Finally, understand that, at least in situations where the stakes are relatively low, failure isn’t a big deal in the grand scheme of things—when you look back on times you’ve failed, you’ll likely feel amused, not horrified.)

Playing With Your Craft

Varol argues that many creatives spend too much time trying to improve their craft and not enough time playing with it. Play is experimental and process-driven, rather than predictable and outcomes-driven. Since you’re not focused on accomplishing anything specific, playing enables you to explore new ways of doing things and discover new things to do. This makes play helpful for activities like brainstorming. For example, say you want to write a new song. Instead of starting with a specific theme or structure in mind, you could experiment by humming spontaneous melodies or using unconventional instruments and sounds. You might stumble upon unique combinations and creative ideas that lead to an innovative and original song.

How to Be More Playful

If it’s been a while since you indulged in play, experts recommend these tips for rediscovering your playful side: First, find out what kind of play appeals to you (research suggests there are eight play personalities and eight types of play); then, look for small opportunities to engage in that kind of play. For example, if your play personality is the joker and you enjoy narrative play, you might try writing a joke or bite-sized comedy sketch.

Additionally, you might consider scheduling time for play if that helps you commit to it; if you don’t have that kind of free time, you can weave play into your daily routine by, for example, allowing for moments of silliness and fun while you do your housework. Once you feel more in tune with your playful nature, apply that playfulness to your work or craft by approaching projects with curiosity, openness, and an experimental mindset.

Mining for Ideas

Creativity requires original ideas. Varol offers a few techniques you can use to mine for those ideas:

Make time for contemplation. Varol argues that the ideas that come to you most quickly tend to be conventional, not innovative. Spending time in contemplation allows you to explore less obvious connections and possibilities, which can help you develop truly original ideas. (Shortform note: As we discussed earlier, some people think best when they’re writing. If that applies to you, consider using what artist Julia Cameron calls “morning pages” as a form of contemplative practice. In The Artist’s Way, Cameron explains that writing morning pages—a three-page brain dump written as soon as you wake—helps you process your thoughts and feelings and connects you to your inner artist.)

Use your body to think. Most people conceive of thinking as a purely mental process, but Varol argues that you can use your body to come up with original ideas: Studies suggest that movement can stimulate creativity, and you can also tap into your body’s wisdom to evaluate your ideas. For example, if the thought of pursuing a particular idea makes you feel physically energized and excited, it’s likely a good direction to follow. Conversely, if an idea makes you feel tense or uneasy, it might be worth reconsidering.

(Shortform note: In addition to the two benefits of movement Varol identifies, movement can support creative thinking in another way—by keeping your brain healthy. In her book Move, science journalist Caroline Williams argues that our brains evolved to support movement, so staying active keeps cognitive functions sharp. Physical activity sends signals to the brain that improve mood, reduce anxiety and depression, and boost self-esteem. These emotional benefits create an optimal environment for creative thinking. Movement also increases dopamine and serotonin levels—neurotransmitters linked to creativity—which can help you overcome inflexible thinking.)

Seek others’ opinions. Varol says that most great ideas aren’t developed in isolation. Getting feedback on your ideas from people whose thinking you respect can provide valuable insights and perspectives you may have missed. Additionally, someone else might have expertise that enhances or completes your idea. For example, if you come up with an idea for a new mental health app, you might benefit from collaborating with a software developer who can turn your concept into a functional product.

(Shortform note: In Thanks for the Feedback, Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen offer some best practices for receiving and implementing feedback on your ideas. First, they recommend understanding your triggers, which can cause you to dismiss or push back against valuable feedback. For example, identity triggers can make you feel as if someone’s attacking or challenging who you are, which might lead you to reject their feedback even if it’s useful. Stone and Heen also recommend asking for one piece of specific feedback at a time, since that’s easier to implement than vague, all-encompassing feedback. For example, if you’re designing a new mental health app, you might ask your team for feedback on how easy the app is to use.)

How to Pursue Personal Growth

When you’re in touch with your true self, personal growth looks different than usual. For example, as we’ve discussed, you might take a nontraditional career path that prioritizes creativity over financial success, which others might disapprove of. Let’s discuss the two factors that define the kind of personal growth you’ll experience—staying true to your true self and embracing endless change.

Stay True to Your True Self

Earlier, we talked about how resisting outside influences could help you become your true self. Varol suggests that this work never ends—you’ll always experience pressures to conform or stray from your authentic path. He offers three tips that can help you overcome those pressures and stay true to your true self:

Pay attention to the sidelines. Varol notes that mainstream media companies curate and recommend the media they think will be most profitable, not the media with the most intrinsic value. To discover the valuable ideas that escape most people’s attention, he recommends paying attention to the sidelines: What great people, ideas, and events are going unnoticed? This approach decreases your chance of falling back into conformist patterns. For example, instead of watching all the latest blockbuster movies (a kind of conformity), choose independent films or documentaries that explore unique perspectives or marginalized stories.

(Shortform note: Some journalists have noted that it’s increasingly common for people to automatically dismiss the mainstream media as intrinsically vacuous, even though its popularity suggests that many people agree it does have value. Some argue that this tendency may be most common among men and women with internalized misogyny. While it’s true that some things on life’s sidelines may be worth exploring, that doesn’t necessarily mean that popular phenomena aren’t worth exploring. Nor does it mean that every marginalized idea is inherently superior to mainstream ideas—for example, baseless conspiracy theories gain traction in life’s margins (and experts warn that they may appeal most to those who value non-conformity for its own sake).)

Don’t mimic the great. Varol says that many people assume that history’s greatest figures had it all figured out and try to mimic their habits, strategies, and ways of thinking. The same goes for people they know and admire, like teachers and mentors. However, most people don’t have it all figured out, and even if they do, what works for them might not work for you. Instead of mimicking your heroes, consider all your options—then, choose the option that feels right for you. For example, say you admire Steve Jobs’ success; rather than mimicking his tyrannical leadership style, think critically about which leadership style best suits you.

(Shortform note: In The Art of Thinking Clearly, Rolf Dobelli explains the logical fallacy that underlies your desire to mimic the great—authority bias. This bias leads you to follow those you view as more knowledgeable than you, often without critical examination. To overcome authority bias, Dobelli suggests asking yourself how authorities are influencing you and if you should let them continue to do so. If that doesn’t help you, experts recommend two other approaches: creating distance between yourself and the authority figure (for example, by limiting your exposure to their work) and questioning the legitimacy of their authority (for example, you might question whether Jobs deserved to run Apple, given the negative effects of his harsh leadership style).)

Think like a scientist. Traditional education primes you to accept what others tell you as fact, a bad habit that could cause you to develop false beliefs. False beliefs prevent you from seeing the world accurately, leading you to make decisions that are less than ideal. To avoid developing false beliefs, Varol recommends that you think like a scientist. This requires that you watch out for biased sources, ask for proof or at least sound logic before you accept an idea, consider alternative points of view, and acknowledge that sometimes the truth changes as science progresses (for example, parenting advice changes as we learn more about children’s health).

(Shortform note: In his book Think Like a Rocket Scientist, Varol offers some other advice you can use to steer clear of false beliefs. First, he recommends embracing uncertainty, as this can make you more receptive to ideas that counter your false beliefs. He also recommends using thought experiments to evaluate the soundness of your beliefs—for example, if you believe that AI will help humankind, you might ask yourself what could happen if AI replaced human doctors. Then, Varol recommends rigorously testing your beliefs. For example, if you think AI should replace human doctors, you could test that belief by researching how AI performs in real-world medical scenarios.)

Embrace Endless Change

Varol argues that your true self is bound to change over the course of your life. You may develop new interests and passions, try new hobbies or a new career, and arrive at new conclusions about the world that change your dreams and priorities. Although certainty about the future is appealing and it’s tempting to resist change, it’s important to allow these changes to unfold—many of the best things in life happen spontaneously, and rigidity can prevent you from making the most of your life.

Worrying about change, which Varol warns is a waste of your time and energy, can also box you in. If you over-prioritize stability and security, you might resist making changes that would improve your life. Rather than worrying about change, Varol recommends that you embrace it. When you embrace change, you accept that although everything in your life has its purpose, nothing is meant to last forever. You’re grateful for the experiences you’ve had, but you’re also capable of letting them go to make room for new experiences. Personal growth requires loss; leaving behind what no longer serves you helps you evolve into something better.

Alan Watts on Embracing Endless Change

In The Wisdom of Insecurity, religious scholar and philosopher Alan Watts also argues in favor of embracing endless change. According to Watts, change is the only constant in life—which means that seeking security is futile and we should embrace a more realistic approach to life by welcoming insecurity. Let’s explore Watts’s perspective in more detail.

Like Varol, Watts explains that it’s tempting to hold onto a static version of your true self. Watts says this is because you’ve fallen victim to an illusion concerning your identity: Time consciousness (your sense of continuity between the past, present, and future) makes you believe that you’re a stable, independent entity. Since you share memories with your 10-year-old self, you believe you’re the same person you’ve always been. You want to continue being this stable, independent entity, so you resist change and try to achieve permanence. You don’t want your identity to change in any way.

This is an illusion because in reality, you can’t achieve permanence—just like everything else in the world, you’re always in flux. In one moment you’re sleepy and in another you’re alert. Similarly, your interests, skills, hobbies, and profession may change over time.

So how can you learn to embrace endless change? Watts recommends living in the moment instead of imposing identity-based limitations on yourself. Since your experience is constantly changing, you should keep an open mind about future possibilities and your potential for transformation, as Varol suggests. For example, rather than thinking, “I can’t possibly open my own business—I’m not an entrepreneur,” you might try thinking, “I don’t know what the future will bring; maybe I can learn entrepreneurship.”