Einstein Wasn’t a Genius
He was Intrinsically Motivated & Passionate
Setting the stage to understand Einstein
Einstein wasn’t a genius. Einstein was one of the most methodically motivated human beings who ever lived. His success came from first discovering what most motivated him and second from remaining devoted to pursuing his motivations. Einstein came up with ideas that changed the world because he spent nearly his entire life learning about what intrinsically motivated him.
When Einstein was five years old, he discovered he was intrinsically motivated to learn about physics when his father gave him a magnetic compass. That single compass enthralled young Einstein, setting into motion one of the most epic learning journeys in human history. For the next 71 years, until his death, Einstein passionately devoted himself to learning physics for the love of it.
In Einstein for the 21st Century: His Legacy in Science, Art, and Modern Culture, Einstein told us, “I played hooky a lot and studied the masters of theoretical physics with a holy zeal at home.” In other words, Einstein tailored his learning around his intrinsic learning motivations.
Not only did Einstein cut class to learn, he customized “how” he learned. In “How Einstein Learned Physics”, blogger Scott Young dissected Walter Isaacson’s biography, Einstein: His Life and Universe, and found nine unique ways Einstein self-learned.
The first way Einstein self-learned was by finding challenging material to study. As you’ll see in the next section about the science of intrinsic motivation, “challenge-seeking” is one of the hallmarks of an intrinsically motivated learner.
By customizing how he learned, Einstein developed a unique combination of skills, knowledge, abilities, and goals that others could not gain from the formal study of physics. His method of learning enabled him to see problems differently and envision creative solutions.
While Einstein may have chosen what and how to learn, he didn’t fart around when it came to learning. Einstein energetically devoured books by the best physicists of his day, and at earlier ages than most children. It was his hunger to learn about physics, not genius, that resulted in his success. This hunger has a name. It’s called intrinsic motivation.
Let’s look at Einstein through the science of intrinsic motivation
Intrinsic motivation basically means to learn for the love of it. If you’ve ever seen children at play, you’ve seen intrinsic motivation in action. But, the effects of intrinsic motivation span much further.
In The Oxford Handbook of Human Motivation, Edward L. Deci, arguably the most authoritative intrinsic motivation researcher, defines intrinsic motivation as “the inherent propensity to engage in one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges” (p. 374).
Have you ever been so motivated by something that just for the fun of it you spent a couple of weeks researching it online, reading dozens of articles, and watching hours of videos on the subject? Highly energized and focused learning are two of the mainstays of intrinsic motivation.
Rather than spend a couple of weeks learning a topic, though, Einstein spent about 90% of his life learning physics (I say “god damn!” every time I reread that sentence.). What would motivate someone to spend that much time learning a single subject?
In Behavioral Neuroscience of Motivation, Dr. Saperstein and Dr. Medalia state, “When intrinsic motivation for learning is high, there is greater engagement in learning activities, greater creativity, learning, and greater persistence of learning over time” (p. 535). I’d say Einstein didn’t spend his whole life learning “physics”. Instead, he continued to deepen his understanding of the physical world (it’s big!), which reinforced his motivation to learn more.
The young Einstein
Einstein’s hunger for learning physics was evident from an early age. Intrinsically motivated is how innovation expert, Melissa Schilling, describes the young Einstein in her book, Quirky: The Remarkable Story of the Traits, Foibles, and Genius of Breakthrough Innovators Who Changed the World:
“Although the regimented rules and rote memorization of school inspired only resentment by the young Einstein, at home he reveled in practicing algebra and showed a strong interest in science” (p. 24).
Einstein biographer, Galina Weinstein, echoes Schilling when she says,
“Einstein could not easily bring himself to study what did not interest him at school” (Introduction).
Finally, and of most significance, there was Max Talmud, a friend of the Einstein family and mentor of the young Einstein. Max later reflected,
“Einstein showed a particular inclination toward physics and took pleasure toward conversing on physical phenomena. I gave him therefor reading matter” (Schilling. p. 24).
Max became Einstein’s mentor when he was 10 years old and for the next five years taught Einstein what he was intrinsically motivated to learn.
It was during his years with Max that Einstein did some of his most motivated learning. While most children were playing or vacationing, Einstein spent multiple summers teaching himself algebra, geometry, calculus, and more.
Einstein’s youth crescendoed at age 16, when he tried to leave school early to attend university so he could learn physics full time. The motivation to learn physics made Einstein tremendously action-oriented, giving him experiences and capabilities in his youth that would help him make his mark on the world.
Einstein stayed intrinsically motivated
Einstein did eventually enroll in university. As you might expect, he tore it up! He received the highest marks in physics. But, all of that learning didn’t seem to impress some of his professors, who flatly rejected Einstein’s requests for letters of recommendation when he was seeking a professorship at other universities to teach you know what.
Did that stop Einstein? By then, it was too late, because after finding work as a patent examiner, he wrote and published the four physics papers that shot him to fame — and, landed him a job as a college professor!
Up until that point, Einstein had spent about 20 years learning physics, already enough learning to make most people want a career change. Not good old, Einstein, though! He racked up another 50 years learning physics until his death in 1955 (again, I catch myself saying, “god damn!”).
Einstein spent about 70 of the 78 years he was alive learning physics nearly every day. That’s the equivalent of 17 college degrees! What the hell would cause someone to dedicate 90% of their life to learning that stuff? Genius? Okay.
Here’s what I think:
Is it possible people we call “genius” are the most intrinsically motivated learners?
Einstein endorses intrinsic motivation
Learning about physics his whole life led Einstein to become one of the most important physicists of the 20th century. Is it no wonder then why just three years before Einstein died, he let the truth be known:
“Teaching should be such that what is offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.”
Staying focused on learning about what motivated him was Einstein’s biggest gift to us: He learned to think different, not just more, than other people. And, in the process, he developed a combination of skills, knowledge, abilities, and goals that could be built on by future generations of physicists.
Einstein’s life, though, raises the question of whether our focus on children earning better grades, receiving higher honors, testing better, doing more volunteer work, etc. is the optimal path toward happiness and success.
We’re on the right path to motivation education
We have made good progress toward letting children pursue their intrinsic learning motivations (ILMs). Educational methods like Montessori, Reggio Emilia, play-based and progressive schools like Waldorph are great steps in the right direction. But, they all fall short of giving children complete control over what to learn (like Einstein learning physics) and the teaching support needed to cultivate those motivations (like Einstein’s tutor, Max).
Passion Coaching provides a similar opportunity by coaching teens in their passions, so, like Einstein when it came to physics, they can find patterns in what motivates them and develop a unique combination of skills, knowledge, abilities, and goals.
Beyond Einstein, thousands of research studies on intrinsic motivation and passion associate the motivational orientations with high levels of happiness, grit, perseverance, autonomy, challenge seeking, resiliency, creativity, goal-directed actions, curiosity, cognitive flexibility, collaboration, and more.
People like Einstein and decades of motivation research force the question:
Is there an optimal way to educate our children that we haven’t yet tried?
One last thing about Einstein
Einstein let his intrinsic learning motivations (ILMs) determine how he turned out. Not too shabby, I’d say. If we accept that Einstein was a genius, then he will forever remain a museum artifact, on display but off limits. If, however, we allow ourselves to take a new view, namely that Einstein was an intrinsically motivated learner, then there’s no telling how many children can become the next Einstein.
Further learning: Einstein is not alone in defining his success by pursuing his intrinsic learning motivations (ILMs). Three documentaries that capture the power of ILM feature Steve Madden (business), Laird Hamilton (sports), and Criss Cheatham (music). Quirky is a book about several major figures who pursued their ILMs. Driven and Punished By Rewards are books that argue intrinsic motivation has advantages in business and education.
