The early life of Einstein gives us some clues to the great man that he would become. He was never one to dominate conversation to prove his intellect. Even as a child he didn't talk much. It has been said that he didn't talk until 3 -- there are conflicting accounts on this. However, what is not conflicting is that it took him a little longer to talk than the average child. But, we must remember that Albert Einstein was far from average.

Einstein's parents hardly coddled their first born. They gave him tremendous freedom to roam and grow. This no doubt had a positive outcome on his development. When he was just four years old, he was allowed to roam the neighborhood alone. Believe it or not his parents even encouraged him to cross the street on his own at this young age. They watched behind the first few times to ensure that he looked both ways, but soon he was on his own doing this.

Now, keep in mind when he was crossing the street he wasn't dodging Fords, Chevrolets, Mercedes or cars with a lot of horse power -- he was dodging only horsepower. In other words, he was dodging horse drawn carriages. But, it was still very dangerous for this young child. In our world today, I would not encourage my four year old to roam the neighborhood alone or even allow him near the street. With that being said, the principles of self-reliance and risk that Einstein's parents implemented in his life are ones that we can perhaps model on a smaller scale. Einstein certainly modeled this behavior with his own son on a smaller scale.

In his late twenties, Einstein moved to Zurich with his first wife, Mileva, and their son. Friedrich Adler was living near Einstein and they became great friends. They would often get together to share ideas. Often times their sons would get rowdy and it would be hard for them to talk. Many parents would barge in and tell their sons to be quiet, that they are having a meeting. Not Adler and Einstein, these great thinkers would climb into the attic to carry on their conversation. They allowed their boys to grow and explore even if it was noisy.

His freedom as a child and the freedom he gave his son was, in part, due to his attitude on failure. He was not afraid to fail. After all, he tackled some of the most perplexing questions of our universe. Many would have shied away from tackling these questions simply because the rate of failure seemed extraordinarily high. However, it is evident that Einstein was not afraid to be wrong or to fail.

When Einstein was 50 years old, reporters were hounding Einstein for an interview during which he was working on a unified field theory. Putting the "unified field theory" into layman’s terms, this meant he was working on a theory that would put the entire universe into a mathematical equation, and he had the attention of the world. Reporters parked outside his home in hopes of an interview. Many kept all night vigils waiting for the story. As a rule, Einstein did not chase the spotlight and dodged the requests often. It was the same in this instance as well. He did, however, allow an interview with one reporter from the New York Times. You see the New York Times was edited by Carr Van Anda, and Van Anda had found an error in a previous Einstein's equation. Image that! The editor of the New York Times finding an error in the math of Einstein! Don’t you think that Einstein must have been irate that the editor would point this out? He must have been insulted. Actually, on the contrary, Einstein was impressed and that is the reason he allowed an interview to this reporter from the New York Times. You see Einstein was not afraid to be wrong, and when corrected he was not insulted.

At Princeton, Albert Einstein was more like a kindly uncle. When he arrived in 1935, and was asked what he would require for his study, he replied, "A desk, some pads and a pencil, and a large wastebasket - to hold all of my mistakes."

Albert Einstein spent his last two decades trying to reconcile quantum physics with relativity. His holy grail -- a so-called "Unified Field Theory" -- eluded him. He once casually mentioned to a colleague that he was on the verge of his "greatest discovery ever," before admitting that "it didn't pan out" just two weeks later.

One day in his twilight years, he received a letter from a 15-year-old girl asking for help with a homework assignment. She soon received a curious reply: a page full of unintelligible diagrams, along with an attempt at consolation: "Do not worry about your difficulties in mathematics," Einstein told her, "I can assure you that mine are much greater!"

The man who was the greatest success at mathematics also failed a lot at them. But that didn't stop him from moving forward.

Not only was he willing to risk at math, he also risked when he gambled. While attending a physics symposium in Las Vegas one year, Albert Einstein, to the astonishment of many of his sober-minded colleagues, spent a fair amount of time at the craps and roulette tables.

"Einstein is gambling as if there were no tomorrow," an eminent physicist remarked one day. "What troubles me," another replied, "is that he may know something!"

Too often in life, we attempt to spend all our energy demonstrating how we are right instead of accepting constructive criticism and getting better. This is not true of Einstein. Not only was he not afraid of being wrong, he was not afraid of being corrected. Inquire of yourself, ask yourself honestly: How do you respond when you are corrected? Do you lash out or are you grateful?

If you want to develop the mind of Einstein. You must not be afraid to fail and allow yourself the opportunity to fail. Herman Melville put it this way, "He who has never failed somewhere, that man can not be great."

Thomas Edison when he was constructing the light bulb built 1,000 prototypes that did not work before he successfully built the one that we still use today and will forever. A reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail 1,000 times. Edison replied, "You misunderstand. I did not fail 1,000 times. I successfully found 1,000 ways that the light bulb would not work." Edison, like Einstein, did not view failure the way so many do. They viewed it as acceptable and a way to learn and grow.

The fear of failure could have paralyzed Einstein and Edison, yet it did not. What about you? Are you so paralyzed with fear that you have settled for mediocrity? Don't allow that to happen. Embrace risk and failure. Learn that it is okay to be wrong, and run headlong into the rewards of risk as Einstein did.

--Ron White

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More than anyone else, Albert Einstein is the official poster boy for genius. When I ask people for names they associate with the idea of genius, Einstein was always in the top ten, and is usually the first. I'm sure your response is very similar. But how much do you know about what Einstein actually did?

You've heard about his theories of relativity, and you've probably seen his famous equation, E=mc2. But if you're like most people, that's about as far as your knowledge of Einstein actually goes. So right now, let's take a look at some of Einstein's major discoveries. At the same time, let's see how they can translate into applications in your everyday life. Let's see how you can connect with Einstein as a model of visionary genius, and use that model to reveal the visionary genius in yourself.

Einstein was born in 1879, in southern Germany. There are lots of true and unusual stories attributed to him. There are also many myths and misconceptions about him. You may have heard, for example, that Einstein, this great mathematical genius, flunked his math classes in grade school. It's not true that he flunked his classes. Many of his strict and disciplinary teachers were simply too boring to tolerate, so he preferred walks in nature to dull lectures. He still managed to pass all their tests. Even in college he borrowed a friend's notes rather than go to class. So while it's not true that he ever flunked, he passed using some unconventional methods. His teachers did not appreciate this creativity. Years after graduating, Albert discovered the cost for that uniqueness. A bad recommendation from his advisor delayed his admission to graduate school.

You may also have heard that Einstein didn't learn to speak until he was much older than the average child. This is true. Einstein didn't speak until he was nearly three years old. Of course, it's always possible that he knew how to speak but didn't feel he had anything worth saying -- and least not yet.

Einstein didn't sweat the small stuff! There's a story about Einstein when he was on the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey. This was and still is the highest-powered and most prestigious intellectual environment in the world. One day Einstein was walking through the leafy streets near his home, and he encountered a fellow scholar. The two men chatted for a while, but as they were about to go their separate ways, Einstein had a final question: "When we met a moment ago, was I walking toward my house, or away from it?"

Einstein's colleague was a little puzzled by this question, but he replied that in fact the great scientist had been walking away from his house. And Einstein seemed pleased to hear this. "That's good," he said. "It means I've already had my lunch."

You see, Einstein liked to think big. Or maybe it was more than just liking it. Thinking big came naturally to him. This was a man who could map the distance across the universe on the back of a napkin with a pencil -- things like lunch were trivial compared to that!

In 1905, Einstein proved his theory of special relativity -- at age 26. Einstein's thought processes just kept widening our focus. He went from the special theory of relativity to the general theory. He kept thinking bigger and bigger, and he didn't let too many things get in his way. He once said, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." He also said, "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."

Let's think about that for a moment. Let's acknowledge that it takes a very good theory and a lot of nerve to say something like that. But let's also realize that when Albert Einstein talks about not bothering about the facts, it's different than you or I not bothering to notice stop signs or red lights. In other words, the essence of visionary genius is that it's visionary. It's imaginative and creative, which has great value in its own right. Thinking big like a visionary genius is a great thing to do, even if you don't come up with a practical application for your thoughts.

Here's to more personal insight,

--Tony Alessandra