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"  True story: In the hoary, frosty month of December, two baby girls were born. Each had good parents, went to fine schools, and grew up to be a clever, amiable, extremely pretty young woman. As it happens, both had a talent for writing and both became journalists.  Recently they ran into each other at a party in New York. Both looked ravishing. But there was a difference: One wrote a column and a couple of books; the other wrote a column and a couple of books, but her column was turned into a television series, the series became the biggest hit on the network and is now shooting as a movie; she resides in a posh Village townhouse and owns a famous husband and a sensational wardrobe; and all of her novels have climbed to the peak of the New York Times&amp;#039; best-seller list.  Why does one woman rocket to the razzle-dazzle apex and the other sit on the muckheap of mediocrity? Or let me rephrase: How does a woman achieve greatness\u2014not just in her career, but in her love life and family life? How do you become a genius?   HOW TO BE A GENIUS AT LAUNCHING YOURSELFDEAR E. JEAN : It&amp;#039;s finally time to put my idea to work. I want to create a fragrance to be sold as a perfume. I&amp;#039;ve done the research on the scents (two from fruit, one from a flower). I have grown up with these delightful aromas in my backyard, and I would like to use them in a dramatic concoction, approach a company, and sell them the idea. I don&amp;#039;t want to fail! What do I need to start? I&amp;#039;m not smart about these things!\u2014Scents-ible Girl From Florida SCENTS, SWEETHEART : You don&amp;#039;t need big smarts. Superior performers (in all fields\u2014chemistry, medicine, writing) possess IQs in the 115-120 range\u2014dandy, but lower than the Mondo Genius range of 150: &amp;quot;You can be an international chess master with an IQ of 85,&amp;quot; says Dr. K. Anders Ericsson, a professor of psychology at Florida State University Tallahassee and the editor of the gargantuan Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance (Cambridge University Press, 2006). It turns out you don&amp;#039;t even need extraordinary talent. &amp;quot;With the exception of height,&amp;quot; says Dr. Ericsson, &amp;quot;there&amp;#039;s no current evidence that innate ability is needed to reach the highest levels of performance.&amp;quot; E-mail your questions to e.jean@askejean.com So, you can&amp;#039;t fail in creating a humdinger perfume because of insurmountable limits, Miss Scents. What you need is the motivation to work harder than everyone else. (&amp;quot;Count up the hours expended on deliberate practice,&amp;quot; says Dr. Ericsson. &amp;quot;Top performers in music [for instance] practice five times longer than the merely proficient.&amp;quot; )  If you&amp;#039;re serious, learn chemistry, develop your &amp;quot;nose,&amp;quot; intern with a company that makes fragrance, keep up with the perfume blogs such as basenotes.net, and before you do anything, read Chandler Burr&amp;#039;s article in the March 14, 2005, New Yorker about how Herm\u00E8s selected its newest perfume (newyorker.com). Burr will brutally crush the begonia of your illusions, but if you still believe you can create a hit, then be prepared. According to Dr. Ericsson, elite performers in science, art, and sports put in at least 10 years of sustained effort. Coco Chanel was raised in an orphanage, opened a little hat shop in 1910, and a mere 11 years later the entire solar system reeked of Chanel No. 5.  HOW TO BE A GENIUS IN BEDDEAR E. JEAN : I&amp;#039;m 28 and I think I may be addicted to my vibrator. It provides bliss 10 or 11 times in a single hour; but a man? It takes forever. I&amp;#039;m concerned on several levels: Is it blocking my ability to have meaningful relationships with guys? And my own body\u2014am I burning it down to a little unresponsive nub? Am I doing it too much? I&amp;#039;m worried, so I only do it every two weeks. Am I destined to hum myself to sleep alone for eternity?\u2014Creating Buzz BUZZ, MY BOOF : Let me get this straight: You&amp;#039;re experiencing the biggest Whoop Dee Do known to womankind 11 times an hour, and you&amp;#039;re asking Auntie Eeee about...guys? Take the fabled gizmo to bed with your lover. It will make your relationship more pleasurable, if not more wildly &amp;quot;meaningful.&amp;quot; (If it&amp;#039;s a problem for him, talk about it.) The real question is: Why limit your skills set to one gadget? Does Bonnie Raitt strum her guitar with only one pick? Does Maria Sharapova confine her game to her backhand? No, no, my dear. Geniuses became proficient in their domains because they train themselves to master new skills. Would we worship Julia Child if she&amp;#039;d refused to whip her meringue with a gravy whisk? Phoo. You need constant practice with other methods, including male thingamabobs, or, indeed, you risk short-circuiting your buttercup. E-mail your questions to e.jean@askejean.com  HOW TO BE A GENIUS AT GETTING A JOBDEAR E. JEAN : I&amp;#039;m 27 and very determined, and the only problem is my past. Six years ago I met a man, and when all was said and done, I embezzled a lot of money from my company, got arrested, and went to jail for two years. When I got out, I changed my life: graduated from college, earned a master&amp;#039;s, and repaired past relationships.  Now that I&amp;#039;m reentering the workforce, what do I say about my past? I can&amp;#039;t seal my record. Do I prevaricate and say, &amp;quot;No, I&amp;#039;ve never been to jail,&amp;quot; and they do a background check, and I&amp;#039;m caught lying? If I tell the truth, employers will turn me down before I&amp;#039;m even given a chance.\u2014DK in Chicago MISS D, MY DUCK : Neither reveal nor conceal. If they ask directly, reply: &amp;quot;I made a horrendous mistake. And that mistake has taught me more than my master&amp;#039;s degree, because I learned that I possess the guts to turn an impossible situation around!&amp;quot; Your ability to diagnose your flaws and improve is not only the mark of a very strong character, but it&amp;#039;s an essential attribute of all genius performers. (Martha Stewart was so good at diagnosing her mistakes, she actually used the pokey to pretty-up her image.) Do some intense volunteer work in the areas you&amp;#039;re interested in. This will allow you to put some sparkling &amp;quot;experience&amp;quot; near the top of your r\u00E9sum\u00E9. Cultivate three successful allies who&amp;#039;ll give your future employer uncompromisingly optimistic predictions that you&amp;#039;ll perform brilliantly. Lastly, hire a r\u00E9sum\u00E9 coach to help you work out exactly what to say on paper and in job interviews. Or try Yana Parker&amp;#039;s excellent r\u00E9sum\u00E9 site, damngood.com. I and all ELLE readers will be pulling for you!  HOW TO BE A GENIUS AT FINDING A GOOD CHAPDEAR E. JEAN : My droolworthy boyfriend cheated on me. Twice. He was an attractive guy, but a lying sack of you-know-what. Since breaking up with him three months ago, I&amp;#039;ve heard he&amp;#039;s been out with quite a few girls. I&amp;#039;m done with him; the only thing that hurts me? I have yet to meet any guys. My work is in good shape, my friends are wonderful, but my perfect view of the future is just a tiny bit blurred because I can&amp;#039;t find someone who&amp;#039;ll fall head over heels for me. What can I possibly do to make this process easier?\u2014Miss Moving ON! E-mail your questions to e.jean@askejean.com MISS MOVING : Forget the &amp;quot;process.&amp;quot; Sounds about as exciting as a court deposition. Just grab the next handsome rascal you see coming toward you on the street. And by &amp;quot;grab&amp;quot; I mean stop him with a smile (or at least trip him). Life is the process, Miss Moving, and that head-over-heels guy? He&amp;#039;s getting off at your subway stop, he&amp;#039;s getting on your elevator, he&amp;#039;s pulling up next to your Prius at the yellow light. Come on. Nothing mystifying. You&amp;#039;ll meet your fellow as you go on about your life. Smile. Say hello. Just do it. One other suggestion: According to Dr. Ericsson, another attribute geniuses share (along with working hard, putting in a decade of preparation, learning new skills, and diagnosing flaws) is that they have top-notch mentors. When I heard this, I thought...wait! This is genius! Why can&amp;#039;t Miss Moving ask hundreds of wily women how to find a good man? So, you can now go to little spot called Advice Vixens (I should have thought of this years ago!), where clever women like yourself exchange ideas, share knowledge, and basically save one another&amp;#039;s bacon. You want 17 more ways to get a new boyfriend, or 12 new tactics for receiving a raise, or 23 real-life tips for losing weight? Just ask. Go to AskEJean.com and click on Advice Vixens. It&amp;#039;s free. We&amp;#039;re all going to be geniuses!  HOW TO BE A GENIUS AT NOT FINDING A CHAPDEAR E. JEAN : I&amp;#039;m a 29-year-old single, straight woman living in the big city. I have been lucky and have found great financial success and personal fulfillment in my career. I own my own home and have fantastic friends. I find that as the years go by, I&amp;#039;m less and less interested in dating, finding Mr. Right, having children, or being married. I&amp;#039;m blissfully happy living alone, sleeping alone, being alone. Am I screwing myself for the future?\u2014Loving My Life MY LUV : You are married. Just not to a man. You&amp;#039;re wed to life, liberty, and the knowledge that if you change your mind when you&amp;#039;re 50, you can always adopt a young husband. E-mail your questions to e.jean@askejean.com "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/life-love/ask-e-jean/q-and-a/a9188/ask-e-jean-april-2007-19266/>