A SNEAK PEEK INTO GENIUS

I recently discovered the essay written by Dr. R. W. Hamming entitled “You and your research”. I can’t emphasize enough how inspiring and eye-opening this read was. Newton once said ” “If I had seen farther than others it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”. Reading this essay feels exactly like that.
Hamming is giving his own recipe for greatness, learned along years of great work and prolific research and through exceptional encounters and relationships.
He said that it’s crucial to choose the right problem at the right time and to tackle it with the right approach, he talked about the importance of having a clear vision, and however unpleasant that might seem, he said that it always pays off to greatly sell one ideas.
When talking about common traits of people who achieved greatness, Hamming mentioned emotional commitment, courage and what he called the ability to tolerate ambiguity. Still, there is one trait that resonated with me the most and that is going the extra mile.
“I did more than the minimum, I looked deeper into the nature of the problem. This constant effort to understand more than the surface feature of a situation obviously prepares you to see new and slightly different applications of your knowledge” .
Doing more than the minimum, going beyond what is required and expected, according to Hamming, is what separates great people from ordinary ones.
Whatever goal you are pursuing, you will find in Hamming’s advice an insightful guide to achieving greatness in your own chosen field. You can find a link to the entire essay here. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.
