Last Updated on 24 March 2006

Tony Buzan, considered the father of the mind map, offers a list of twenty characteristics based on research he conducted for his 1992 book “Buzan’s Book of Genius.”

  1. Vision
  2. Desire
  3. Faith
  4. Commitment
  5. Planning
  6. Persistence
  7. Learning from Mistakes
  8. Subject Knowledge
  9. Mental Literacy
  10. Imagination
  11. Positive Attitude
  12. Auto-Suggestion
  13. Intuition
  14. Mastermind Group (Real)
  15. Mastermind Group (Internal)
  16. Truth/Honesty
  17. Facing Fears/Courage
  18. Creativity/Flexibility
  19. Love of the Task
  20. Energy (Physical/Sensual/Sexual)

Buzan suggests you rate yourself by assigning a score of 0 to 5 for
each of these qualities, and then add all the scores together to
determine your “Genius Quotient.” But before you do… I don’t have the
scoring scheme (yet) to let you know how genius you are… I need to
get this book on the shelves of the Sandbox…

Nevertheless, take look at the first six characteristics…

  1. Vision
  2. Desire
  3. Faith
  4. Commitment
  5. Planning
  6. Persistence

They have nothing to do with knowledge, they’re about passion… intention… sticktoitivity.