I posted on Facebook: If you could spell your name in reverse without hesitation, within the same time you will normally spell your name, you must be a genius.
Iremeli Aro writes: We practiced this when we were kids – so, a skill gained by repeating, not any genius
I have to try it – keep practising like a kid, as my name is neither short or long. My intention is to bring out that we normally sense-make in an habitual manner, like spelling our name, without difficulties, based on repeated practice, and so such skills are so unconsciously used without much difficulties. However, when we are invited to task or games that asks for a reverse in order – as simple as a name in reverse game, it seems to take a genius to work it through, personally. I have to relate some senses with the alphabets with the reverse name, in order to spell them with ease. How would one do it? Using some heuristics? Would one be using some mnemonic?
But once we have become adults, what has become for most of us? Think critically, rationally and based on logical rules that are in order. What happens when one is faced with tasks which are ill-defined, or so complex that we couldn’t solve it with “cognition” individually? The reversed spelling game is just one of them. Can we reverse the order of thinking? Like using intuition, creativity and heuristics in tackling them. Or consider the end goals, and work backwards? Or consulting the social networks (like you here) for help? Or re-framing the problem or task that make sense to us, that may even refine or re-define the goals? Or playing the “musical notes” in reverse to see how it sounds? Or joining efforts and collaborate with others (i.e. collective efforts) rather than doing a task individually? Or thinking in terms of individual verses collective ways, the yin and yang (good and bad, merits and demerits, easy and difficult, simple and complicated/complex) of issues, opportunities and challenges?
May I share another example: we may notice how easy it seems for experts to compose blogs, powerpoints, Prezi, create videos, podcasts, and wonder how they have done it? Did they think/work forwards and or backwards? With the reverse concepts that I share here, would they be using some of the skills that they learnt and practised, so habitually that they would do it repetitively without difficulties? Are they the “genius”?
Is genius 99% hard work and 1% creative, or 99% creative and 1% hard work? This is an exaggeration, but would this be the mindset often shared by those geniuses who started the Youtube, Facebook, social networks etc.? Would they make use of what we normally think is impossible and turn it into the possible? Would we have networked digitally even a decade ago? Would we have used the Web 2.0 tools without difficulties if we practise it repetitively, with reflection?
Learner Weblog 