Today, Thomas Fayon shares his vision of giftedness through the Gifted Interview. Thank you, Thomas! He is a Startup CEO and currently lives in Versailles, France.
.IF I COULD CHOOSE, WOULD I STILL BE GIFTED?
Yes… for the speed of understanding… not necessarily for the maladjustment to the world around us (at least in some aspects).
.WHAT BEING GIFTED MEANS TO ME
Speed of understanding, intuitiveness.
.IF I HAD TO CHOOSE AN IMAGE OR A KEYWORD THAT SUMS UP WHAT GIFTEDNESS MEANS
Neural teleportation ^^
.HOW LONG HAVE I KNOWN ABOUT IT?
Since I was 17.
My parents were scared to see how school bored me and gave me absolutely no satisfaction. So they took me to a psychologist (Jean-Charles Terrassier) so that I could externalize the reasons and take an IQ test.
.WHAT PHASES HAVE I GONE THROUGH SINCE MY DISCOVERY?
Listening, understanding, adapting to the world.
.HOW DO I EXPLAIN IT TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER HEARD OF IT?
I never explain it, I try to hide it as best I can. Most people think that giftedness, when displayed or at least expressed, is a symbol of arrogance, of pretension. So I never talk about this characteristic.
.THE REMARK WHICH BLEW ME AWAY MOST WHEN I TALKED ABOUT IT
“I don’t believe in that kind of thing”.
.HOW IT CHANGED MY LIFE (TO KNOW IT)
To better understand the world around me, to better understand certain (binary) ways of functioning.
Knowing how to detect those who are like us and knowing how to keep quiet when popularisation is no longer enough.
.WHAT I HAVE ALLOWED MYSELF TO DO EVER SINCE
To detect gifted and profoundly gifted people.
.WHAT IT CREATES TO OTHERS WHEN I TALK ABOUT IT
Distrust (see my previous answer on giftedness = arrogance or pretension for most people).
.WHAT IRRITATES ME WITH GIFTEDNESS
The low tolerance for inertia and slow comprehension.
Neurotypicals are {very} slow {sometimes} in their understanding {or attempt at understanding}. {Profoundly} Gifted are, most of the time, extremely fast in the comprehension process… sometimes too fast.
.WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASIZE ABOUT GIFTEDNESS
The difference in behaviour should not be rejected or dismissed… We must stop trying to fit people into predefined boxes.
.WHAT I PERSONALLY FIND TO BE THE MOST DIFFICULT
Adapting to the world around us.
.WHAT I PERSONALLY LOVE
The flashes of insight/intuition.
.MY WELLBEING TOOL OR PRACTICE THAT HELPS ME MOST
Video games ^^ allow me to decompress… to slow down the rush of thoughts for a few minutes/hours.
.A MISREPRESENTATION THAT I WANT TO CALL INTO QUESTION
High self-esteem… I don’t.
.WHAT I WANT TO SAY TO GIFTED PEOPLE
Have confidence in yourself… Try, as often as possible, to adapt to the people around you.
.WHAT I WANT TO SAY TO PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT CONCERNED
Accept their difference… Don’t try to put them in a category.
.WHAT I WOULD RECOMMEND TO SOMEONE WHO IS WONDERING
Take the IQ test.
.THE MISTAKE NOT TO MAKE FOR A GIFTED PERSON
Thinking you are intellectually infallible.
.MY PROFESSIONAL ADVICE FOR GIFTED
Create your own business, set your own rules, your own goals!
It was very difficult for me to work for several years within a large structure (Cap Gemini). Having to constantly report to people who should not be managing the entity I was in was making me hysterical… I left this group by explaining to my superior that I could not face her idiocy anymore ^^
So in 2012 I decided to leave and set up a startup (Shift Technology) with one of my very good friends, and since then I’ve never stopped being an entrepreneur… which allows me to grow, to define my own goals, to recruit people who are like me and to feed my curiosity.
.MY PERSONAL ADVICE FOR GIFTED
Try to switch off (cerebrally) from time to time.
.IS IT A WASTE NOT TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE GIFTED?
Potentially.
.WHEN I MEET ANOTHER GIFTED PERSON, DO I RECOGNIZE HIM.HER? BY WHAT?
Their reasoning/thinking mechanisms.
It’s difficult to express… I think that chemistry must be partly responsible for this detection: like some animals that manage to communicate inaudibly ^^
After a few minutes of interaction, it is quite simple, through the speed of understanding (of complex subject(s) or not) and mutual curiosity, to detect another gifted person…
.WHAT DO GIFTED PEOPLE HAVE IN COMMON?
Chemistry (see my previous answer).
.THE CRUCIAL STEPS NOT TO BE MISSED IN THE JOURNEY OF A GIFTED PERSON?
Detecting giftedness, understanding it, using it.
.THE LAST THING I LEARNED ON THE SUBJECT (THAT I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE)
Trusting your intuition.
.A WISH FOR THE FUTURE
That the education system changes and can adapt to everyone.
.A HUNCH ON THE SUBJECT
The world should be run by people like us ^^
