As the Prison of Azkaban

Derived from Greek, asynchronous means not with time. It describes objects or events that are not coordinated in time. However, when discussing the anomalous thinker, it describes with stunning accuracy the “mismatch between cognitive, emotional and physical development of [these] individuals.” They may appear advanced in certain areas and not others. Because they are.

They are intelligent enough to understand complex ideas, grasp abstract concepts, wrestle with philosophical questions about meaning, observe and interpret patterns, and solve seemingly unsolvable problems. Yet, there can be (and usually are) huge gaps in understanding. While this can be temporary until they are taught or they learn in a more self-guided way (which can take longer for some), these gaps can be an immense source of frustration because there are so few that have the ability to teach them.

Because of the hyperawareness, some anomalous thinkers are aware that there are these vast chasms of ignorance, but are unsure about how to traverse them. They know that they don’t know something without always knowing what that something is or how to go about finding out.

And it’s intensely painful.

This asynchrony can become like the prison, Azkaban, from the Harry Potter franchise. This is because majority of the population cannot accept or process them in their dichotomy. They can’t grasp that they are a genius who struggles to understand very basic things that everyone else seems to comprehend with ease. For example, unspoken social norms, relationships, parallel parking, birthdays and the electric pallet jack.

So the anomalous thinker will often find one of two scenarios: someone only sees their gaps in understanding and assume they are stupid. This is incredibly destructive to the anomalous thinker. It can be debilitating and function as a speed governor in terms of their performance and growth.

In this scenario, they can find themselves imprisoned by micromanagement because they are perceived to be stupid. This perception is also reinforced by our endless stream of questions to gather additional data. For many of us, we make data based decisions and can’t or don’t make decisions without having enough data to process. Or we are simply curious. Additionally, if you happen to be given to Dabrowski’s imaginational overexcitability as I am, your head is almost always in the clouds. You may have been labeled a space cadet or airhead.

The hyperawareness, self reflection and impossibly high standards that they set for themselves only exacerbate the pain. All of these things can behave like Dementers in the prison of Azkaban. They can suck the joy and hope right out of you. If the anomalous thinker doesn’t do the work required to stay healthy mentally, they can end up (as Remus Lupin puts it) not needing walls because they are trapped inside their own heads.

The other scenario is that you have someone who only sees their vast body of knowledge and understanding and do not hold space for naïveté or understanding gaps. They will say things like ‘come on, it’s not rocket science’ or ‘just practice, you’ll get it’. As children there may even be more harmful phrases employed such as ‘I expected more from you.’ ‘You’re so much smarter than that.’

I’ve heard it all. Even the things that weren’t said. And each time, it inflicted pain.

The expectation is that you are smart enough to figure it out on your own so you are always left to do the heavy lifting on your own. Don’t get me wrong, I adore heavy lifting. Physically and cognitively. When the heavy lifting becomes a chronic state of being or is consistently outside of the areas of strength, then heavy lifting can be oppressive. It also takes it’s toll on the creative of side of our cognition, which for me, I rely on heavily. (No pun intended.) Continuing with the heavy lifting parallel, weight lifters use spotters. In that same way, your anomalous thinker would benefit greatly from having a spotter when doing heavy lifting cognitively and emotionally. Really most lifting in life. However, there are very few individuals with the unique qualifications required for that role.

Bright Sheng touches on the topic of not having qualified spotters in an inspiring and poignant Ted Talk titled, The Last Train. He discusses his inability to find someone capable of teaching him and his journey of self-learning. Typically wired individuals often view the anomalous thinker’s advocation of their need for qualified teachers as arrogance. It can also come across as a refusal to learn, when that couldn’t be farther from reality.

They have an insatiable drive to learn but this quest cannot be lead by a typical thinker or someone who who is unable to hold their brilliance and ignorance in tension. In fact, it requires an anomalous thinker. Someone who can see their genius and still hold space for their gaps in understanding. Someone intuitive and empathetic. There has to be a synergy within the teacher/student dynamic that unlocks performance potential in both parties.

If you happen to stumble across this somewhere along life’s path, don’t screw it up. We’ll talk more about self sabotage later on.

The Necessity of Novelty

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-APA Dictionary of Psychology
Novelty.n: the quality of being new and unusual. It is one of the major determining factors directing attention. The attraction to novelty has been shown to begin as early as 1 year of age; for example, when infants are shown pictures of visual patterns, they will stare longer at a new pattern than at a pattern they have already seen. In consumer behavior, the attraction to novelty is manifested as a desire for a change, even in the absence of dissatisfaction with the present situation. For example, despite satisfaction with a particular product, many consumers will switch to a different brand just because it is new.

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While everyone has novelty thresholds, the anomalous thinker has higher thresholds for it. Like many other things in life, it’s more of a spectrum than a simple yes or no. Someone can have moderate novelty thresholds. That means that they only require a moderate amount of novelty in order to reach satisfaction.

For those with high novelty thresholds, they bore easily and it takes quite a bit to hold and maintain their attention. In some cases high novelty thresholds show up as an inability to watch the same movie twice, re-read the same book or repeat oneself ad nauseum.

Having low novelty thresholds shows up in those that can do repetitive work without developing atrophy. They have favorite songs that they keep on repeat, they watch and rewatch movies and don’t mind retelling or rehearing familiar stories. Novelty thresholds can also vary from one area to another. One can have high novelty thresholds with food, travel and media, but low thresholds with the cars they drive and clothes they wear.

For most people novelty thresholds are relatively static. There can be notable events in a person’s life that may alter that, but largely, they remain consistent. For the anomalous thinker, these thresholds fluctuate depending on the processing and growth seasons that the thinker may be in. For example, in the input phase of processing, novelty thresholds are very high, whereas during the output phase, it could be much lower. During seasons of positive disintergration novelty will be higher than usual. Periods of grief will either drastically increase or decrease the novelty thresholds, but there will be significant fluctuation.

There are things that we typically classify as needs. Food, water, safety. Yet for those that are wired with complexity, the emotional, cognitive, spiritual, and even physical needs are higher than average. Novelty may seem frivolous, but it’s not. It is indeed a necessity. If your anomalous thinker is more of a synthesizer (scanning and gathering data from various places and creating a mash up or synthesis of the data), they will have significantly higher levels of novelty required.

Without atrophy or comorbidities, novelty is typically cyclical. They may desire a significant amount of novelty, then the desire will drop. These seasons can be quarterly, seasonal according to weather seasons, seasons of creativity or even over a lifetime. They may require more novelty in early years and less in older years or vice versa. There is the rare group of anomalous thinkers that are your modern day nomads. They will constantly require novelty and are at their healthiest and best when roaming.

Change is an essential part of life. The anomalous thinker is in part wired to initiate change. They desire in the deepest parts of who they are. They may not know how to initiate that change and may even be afraid of the very changes that they long for. Generally speaking, their need for novelty does not indicate dissatisfaction with the current state of their life or the people in it. They desire change and growth because it’s possible. They also desire it, because it is how they learn and grow. They gather data and process through new experiences. They want to live life to fullest.