A lot of time and effort is being devoted to developing ways of increasing the number of highly productive people in society. Everyone has the potential for something, but something is missing. Children, for example, can draw with passion, and many of them even hope, and then suddenly they lose interest in drawing and even the rest of their adult lives believe that they have no talent for drawing.
The concept of "genius" has two meanings. Or rather, let's say, there are two kinds of geniuses. One group is characterized by some unusual achievements, and the second high IQ. Although I personally doubt about IQ, because not every carrier of an unbelievable coefficient of intellect is able to produce worthwhile and viable ideas. Yes, most geniuses have an intelligence of more than 130, but beyond this limit, the value of IQ ceases to determine the number and quality of brilliant people.
In many cases, genius is associated with madness. At least with an oddity. It happens that the genius lags behind the average level in many respects, and in others is significantly superior. This is the kind of disharmony and asymmetry. On the other hand, many great intellectuals and inventors had additional hobbies and interests that probably helped them make discoveries. However, these diverse interests may also appear as strange from the outside.
Indeed, it has been established that genius and mental illness can be linked. There has even been work that has shown that brilliant people and schizophrenic patients have certain genetic similarities. However, genius and schizophrenia are not the same. The vast majority of schizophrenic patients are gradually losing not only their creativity, but also their ability to care for themselves. It is not that they develop dementia, but that their cerebral cortex undergoes certain changes.
Of course, with schizophrenia, everything is far from being fully understood. However, it is known that dopaminergic neurons of the frontal cortex constantly and quickly shoot dopamine in synapses, which leads to hyper-stimulation. However, the medial cortex of the frontal lobe is functionally weakened. Its main function is to filter information, analyze and synthesize, make decisions and create strategies. For this reason (probably) everything that comes to mind stops being filtered out and falls into consciousness, as it was, in an unassembled pile. Over time, the system of shooting dopamine neurons is depleted and "burns out".
Geniuses, according to research, have it all, but in a small proportion. Increased activity of dopamine neurons increases creativity, and the weakened frontal cortex does not kick back everything that does not fit into the outside world. So there are still many possibilities for the combination of incompatible pieces of the world. But the balance is fragile and not all achievable.
As for those who have everything normal with the frontal cortex and dopaminergic system, they often lack 3 things to reach a state close to genius. I would even specify here that it is not genius, but rather the state of high creative productivity. This is motivation, work and creativity.
Working on yourself is a very important case. Someone has calculated that in order to achieve high results in their work, it takes 10,000 hours of practice. This helps, said Ami Chua, a tiger mother who trained her children in music. Pulling methods remain controversial, and not every parent will be snide enough (from the word "mother-heidna") to develop genius in children... But the fact remains the fact. Her eldest daughter at the age of 14 was solo at Carnegie Hall. (Although it is said that renting Carnegie Hall is not such a clouded distance)
As for motivation, this is a complicated case. You have to motivate yourself skillfully. And this is a long story. People resist change for very different reasons. However, I will say that the will power of many people plays an absolutely opposite role: it does not strengthen motivation, but reduces it.
Creativity is the ability to produce original ideas. The brain of almost every person can do it, but we train ourselves to slow it down, again for different reasons. Often it is the pressure of the need to be "normal" and accepted by society. Although every person strives for uniqueness. The fact is that belonging to a group, and uniqueness, are important psychological needs. It is assumed that they both increased the probability of survival in ancient times. The group will protect, and uniqueness will help to come up with something new to survive. However, if there is a distortion in some direction, the person loses in the other. Schizoids aren't very interested in society, so they can boldly move towards uniqueness by looking back slightly.
And, thus, it is possible to change a lot and become such geniuses. Well, or quite a genius ;), if we assume that genius is not innate, but acquired ability.