Well, what tools did you have to be able to do all those things? I haven't left the country yet. You probably know the answer better than some of us...
Good question. The only things I can think of is desire and luck, and the willingness to try. The biggest comment I get on my talent is that I can "make it happen". Which means I do not take no well. I refuse to take no well. Not sure if that just means I want what I want or what.
Ren
I haven't traveled around the world or anything (though I really want to... we were going to Europe before I found out I was pregnant.)
But I've also wondered why I did things none of my peers did. (Like getting fairly far in my music career, which was my main goal as a teen.) and I decided it was just my willingness to try and persist. Isn't one of the characteristics of giftedness persistence?
I just found that when I got near the "top",
already having self-discipline and being able to work hard to get better at something would have helped me a lot. I definitely haven't been influenced by any Puritan ideals, either. I've only my own experience to go by. The vast majority of people (at least that I've met) will quit something whenever it gets too rough.
If you can keep a child loving a challenge and working hard at something without them feeling like they "must be dumb" because they need to work at it, I'd say your child would have a huge advantage over a lot of other people.
(Just think of all the divorces, obesity, people who hate their jobs but don't want to do the initial work to start their own business, etc.)
Did self-discipline or the ability to work hard and not quit help you to be successful? Persistence and other things might show up with giftedness, but I don't think self-discipline and the willingness to work through difficulty are necessarily inborn traits. Someone with an average IQ could likely accomplish quite a lot if they had those traits.
