This article is absolutely right. When I was young, people loved calling me the “maths-guy” or “brainiac” or some other silly name, because I was good at well, Maths. I was quick at arithmetic and all that. I didn’t get it. I just did lots of maths, both in and out of school. I was good at English because I read a lot. No one seemed to notice that all the things I excelled at were also the things I did frequently, albeit in an unstructured way. I didn’t get the praise for being intelligent; if I am intelligent, and you think that’s worthy of praise, then thank my parents, and then theirs, then worship their ancestors, up until the dawn of evolution. Really though, most people labelled as ‘geniuses’ also have the distinct advantage of doing the thing they’re genius at quite a bit. More than most. Enough to be really really good at it.
The genius comments ring hollow soon enough. People who praise me for my ‘smarts’ get my thanks. People who appreciate the hard work I put in get my love and respect.