Intelligence is something more than IQ. Unluckily, when we were in school, we thought that if we were not good at Mathematics or English, then we were not considered intelligent beings.
However, this could not be further from the truth. Real intelligence actually involves being creative, adaptable, as well as thoughtful and kind in a world which is changing with the speed of the light.
While IQ is something that is mostly fixed, there are a lot of things which we can do in order to become smarter.
Ed Boyden, who is an MIT neuroscientist, suggested ten things in his epic post on MIT Technology Review. It is definitely worth reading the ten suggestions if you have the time needed. But if you don’t, don’t worry, as we have summarized his helpful tips in this article. They are:
1. Make your mistakes quickly.
It is quite okay to make mistakes, but you have to make them quickly and move on. As the well-known writer, Shakespeare said, our doubts are traitors, and they usually make us lose the good we can probably win, by fearing to try.
2. Work backward from the purpose you have.
When working forwards, you will face some risks, as you may never get where you want. Instead, when working backward, your efforts are directed to what is a more important step on the way.
3. Document everything obsessively.
If you don’t record everything, then you will not learn anything. Most of the creativity of a person is composed of learning how to see things in the proper way.
4. Synthesize new ideas all the time.
According to Boyden, reading passively is not useful. Instead of reading passively, he suggests that you should annotate, model, as well as think and synthesize while you are reading. This is going to lead to a more profound understanding, more creative breakthroughs, as well as mind receptive to different points of view.
5. Collaborate
Behind every great person, there is a bunch of people. Charles Darwin explained this in the best way, saying that it is the long history of humankind, as well as animal kind, those that learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively were those that also have prevailed.
6. Learn how to learn.
In today’s world where technology changes so fast, having the ability to learn quickly is extremely important. As Alvin Toffler once said, the illiterate of the 21st century is not going to be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, as well as unlearn, and relearn.
7. Keep it simple.
The famous Albert Einstein once said that if a person can explain it to a six-year-old, that person does not understand it itself.
