7 – One Of The Greats

1/24/21

Henri Poincaré (pronounced Poin-cah-rey) was a French mathematician who lived from 1854-1912, and his influence is profound. He was highly accomplished across many branches of science, mathematics, and philosophy – so much so that he has been dubbed, “The Last Universalist,” and most people call him a polymath, a word I had never heard before. Humbling.
 
I learned about Poincaré from one of my professors (hi, Sam, hope you’re reading this) while studying math during my years as an undergraduate. In our current era, where so much is at our fingertips, I think we often look at ingenious people like Poincaré in wide-eyed astonishment. At least I do. To be so accomplished? To think so originally, so trailblaze across so many areas of academia? For history to hold you so tightly as one of the greats?
 
The thought from Poincaré that has kept me up at night is in reference to his own genius. He noticed a pattern in himself. He’d have a problem, something difficult that stumped him, something he couldn’t solve in real-time over days or weeks. Then, as he would step away and begin to do other things, he would realize the solution – while not thinking about the problem at all. 
 
Poincaré conceptualized this phenomenon through the lens of conscious and unconscious thought. He believed that while he stepped away from the problem, his brain continued on working for a solution at a level inaccessible to his consciousness – in the background of his brain, one could say. The moment of realization highlighted the movement from unconscious to conscious. 
 
I’m no genius mathematician. I’m also not a neuroscientist. I can’t explain this idea through a biological lens, but I have experienced something similar in my own life and in my work with clients. We are resilient. We are survivors, problem-solvers. We’re capable of things that are incredible, impossible even. Capable of being held by history as one of the greats.
 
But we get in our own way. Our sight, our experiences, our circumstances inhibit us from seeing potential solutions, new paths of thought. We get stuck in the way we’ve always done it, in the lens that has served us time and time again but that just doesn’t seem to be cutting it now. Maybe sometimes, we need to step away. Go offline, let that problem, that frustration, that dream sit in the background for a moment while your brain works hard on a fresh perspective. Let go of control, please. (No, seriously Leah, loosen your grip it’s killing you.) I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised at your brilliance.
 
Lightly,
Leah