We looked previously at some ways to appear smarter and look more intelligent. In this post I want to talk about ways to actually become smarter. A portion of your intelligence appears to be fixed. Research seems to indicate that there is little you can do to drastically increase your IQ. However, IQ is only one component of functional intelligence. Your knowledge, experience and training have a very profound effect on your ability to solve real-world problems. So even if you can’t directly increase your IQ, you can increase your ability and speed to solve problems, which functionally accomplishes nearly the same thing.
We are going to look at three areas as the foundation for increasing your intelligence. Until recently, these three areas formed the bedrock for education. In more recent years, educational efforts seem to have strayed into teaching students to mimic the outcome of intelligence-based education rather than focusing on foundational intelligence.
Reading
Reading is the cornerstone of education. The vast majority of this world’s knowledge is locked away in books. Your ability to access this knowledge is directly related to your intelligence. Now, don’t simply skip to the next section because you know how to read. There are many different levels of reading. Two individuals can read the exact same text but have completely different experiences.
Reading is a skill that you exercise. Your ability to read complex material is increased by stretching yourself — reading things that are harder and just beyond your current comfort zone. When was the last time you really struggled with reading? If it wasn’t recent, you are probably choosing material well below your full reading potential.
When Einstein was a boy, he was given a book on Maxwell’s equation. He started reading at page one. By page eight, he was thoroughly confused. So what did he do? He went back to page one and started over again. This time he made it to page 20 before becoming completely lost. So he started over at page one once again. Einstein continued this process for the entire book. By the time he made it to the end, he had a very strong grasp of the subject matter. In addition, he had greatly increased his reading skills. Most people are not willing to put that type of effort into reading, but those that are willing prepare themselves for a level of understanding that surpasses their peers.
I’m sure everyone has had the experience of reading where the words formed in the mind, but nothing really sticks. If you’ve ever had the experience of reading several pages of text only to realize you remember nothing, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Most reading is a bit more active. You remember what you read and actively think about how it applies to you. If reading with no memory is on the left side of the spectrum and reading while thinking of applications is in the middle part of the spectrum, what lies at the far right? Extremely active reading involves interacting with content on a very deep level. Not only do you think about how the information applies to you, but you also compare and contrast it with previously acquired knowledge.
This can be an extremely exhausting process. It involves taking every new piece of information and linking it with all of your previously acquired knowledge. Interacting with a text on this level ensures the highest retention because everything new is placed within the context of something old.
There is a simple test that can help you determine how actively you are reading. Since active reading involves comparing new information with old information, you should consistently run into situations where you disagree with what you are reading. If you don’t regularly think, “I’m not sure if that’s true” you aren’t actively reading (or you are just extremely gullible). The process of fitting new information within the context of old information necessarily requires conflicts. If you are experiencing any of these conflicts, your reading is probably being done toward the center of the spectrum instead of to the right, where active reading takes place.
The final area of reading that I’d like to discuss has to do with reading broadly. It is easy to get stuck in a rut and only read a narrow swath of subject matter. Your ability to increase your intelligence relies on reading a broad range of topics. New ideas, “eureka” moments and novel solutions all depend on seeing and framing problems from a different point of view. Reading broadly gives you the perspective necessary for seeing things through a different point of view. Understanding how problems are solved in a different field gives you the opportunity to view your area of expertise from a different vantage point.
In most areas, the low-hanging fruit has already been picked. The simple problems have already been solved. Your ability to solve the remaining problems is very much tied to creating a unique perspective on the issues. Reading broadly in a variety of different fields and actively integrating this new knowledge with what you already know can give you this perspective and unique point of view.
Writing
Reading is the process of acquiring and integrating new knowledge. Writing is the process of synthesizing new thoughts from that knowledge and experience. Writing is the systematic refinement of thought. It captures fleeting ideas, small inspirations and unique insights in a way that can be shared, remembered and analyzed.
Writing is how we clarify our thoughts. In fact, most people are going to have a difficult time forming a complex idea if they try to do it only in their mind. The practice of writing lets you exercise your thoughts in ways that are very difficult to do without getting them down on paper (or the digital equivalent).
To take advantage of writing as an exercise, you must do it often and on a regular basis. Writing can be very hard work and many people stop trying simply because it is difficult. Most people who have any skill at writing only got that way by pushing through the difficulties and continuing to improve their skill.
Here are a few ideas for practicing your writing skills on a regular basis:
- Write letters – Take time on a regular basis to write letters to the editor, heads of corporations, etc. When you see something that you disagree with or want to commend, don’t keep it to yourself. Write a letter. Not only does it make your voice heard, but it gives you a chance to articulate exactly how you feel on topics that are important to you.
- Keep a journal – There is significant value in keeping a journal where you are free to express and refine your thoughts on a wide variety of subjects and events. The practice is valuable–even if you are the only one who ever reads what you’ve written.
- Blogs and websites – Technology makes it very easy to publish to the web. You can easily start a blog about a particular subject or no particular subject as a way to practice writing. One of the advantages of writing for the web is the potential for readers.
- Write stories – Don’t dismiss fiction as “not serious writing.” Stories offer a unique opportunity to explore ideas in ways that are difficult or impossible in non-fiction.
Arithmetic
I will assume that most readers are proficient at basic arithmetic, so I’m going to discuss mathematics in general. Math has the ability to stretch your mental capabilities like few other things. There are a number of different branches of mathematics, and each requires a unique set of thinking skills that often can be very difficult to obtain. Looking back, many skills that have made me successful were acquired directly from the study of mathematics. I’m not just talking about the ability to work with numbers, but rather the ability to find solutions to problems in insightful ways.
Mathematics is about discovering relationships between data, finding patterns in information and applying what you’ve learned to new situations. These are some of the most sought-after skills in pretty much any field, and they represent a lot of what it means to be intelligent.
Very few people continue studying mathematics after college, and many stop after high school. Putting the effort into furthering your mathematical education as part of a lifelong learning plan will pay you tremendous dividends in increasing your intelligence, regardless of your area of expertise.
Conclusion
When it comes to making yourself more intelligent, the real gains will come from focusing on the foundational aspects of intelligence. Effort you expend toward increasing your skills in reading, writing and mathematics is going to give you the best return on your investment. These skills can fundamentally change the way you think.
Oh wow. I never thought of reading that way. I just always thought of reading as a hobby. And I’ve always liked reading even as a child. My mother said it was good for me because it expands my vocabulary. But I guess it was always a given, you read something, you learn something (hopefully).
As for arithmetic, I never liked it much. As a child, I always thought it was just something teachers use to torture the students. LoL. But yes, it does exercise logical thinking, solving problems, and it eventually useful to everyday life though we are seldom aware of it.
Then again, some people say this http://budurl.com/nsem is a sign of intelligence.
With respect to “When Einstein was a boy…”
We also need to put some self effort and try to learn it by ourselves. People immediately go and ask others when they don’t understand something. When they get a solution, they totally forget the problem and the solution. It doesn’t develop the problem solving ability, and when there’s no one to support, people find it difficult to solve problems on their own. What people do today is to either throw the book away, or ask a person who knows the subject. They don’t try to find on their own. I guess such attitude is becoming extremely rare and that’s why we can’t find scientists like Eistein, Newton, Edison etc., nowadays. People just lost it.
My educational experience up to college required getting a lot of answers yourself. There was a teacher available to help direct things, but if you had any serious questions you had to find the answers yourself. I remember calling the local stock broker to ask about something in economics and looking things up in the encyclopedia when something in the text book didn’t make sense.
When I got to college I was amazed at how everyone else seemed to expect the teacher to spoon feed them.
Very nice post. Especially the little piece of knowledge about Einstein and the Maxwell book. Very interesting. I should really read some more – I do enjoy it, but don’t find much time. Getting into the habit of reading before bed would really help me. :)
With writing/arithmetic – hmmm I’m not too bad at those.
There is one more subject that needs to be added. Drawing. Drawing teaches you to see objects more completely. Details will appear that you never knew were there. Perspectives will appear and be understood. No abstracts, please. This is not art. It is depicting three dimensional objects in two dimensions.
I don’t know if it will make you more intelligent, but it will improve your score on an IQ test.
Hey Doug,
I really liked your input, it makes a lot of sense. I’m a creative kind of guy but often felt discouraged owing to the impression that art is a waste of time. If it really does enhance my perception of things, then I think I should continue with it. Thanks.
I’ve always respected the role reading and writing can have in developing one’s intelligence. However, I haven’t really considered how studying math might strengthen your mind in a different way, and I guess I’m one of those people who quit studying math after college.
Does anyone have any recomendations on how to practice or study mathematics, or how to incorporate it into your daily life as you would reading and writing?
@ Wes, you might want to start by teaching your younger cousins or neighbourhood kids. It might even earn you a side income in the future.
@Mark, thanks for your post. I’d never write much, except for work purposes. Your post has encourage me to write this reponse! :D
This information is usefull but I think its incomplete. I shall write here one rule that contains in it everything that I have ever read and learned about how to increase the intelligence (however, its my own opinion and need not to be absolute truth for everybody).
1. To increase your intelligent you mast make your mind to work on something that you are not familiar with, do something that is very uncommon for you (and of course try to do it well) :
a. read books puting them up side down,
b. write with your oposite hand,
c. solve logical problems, puzzles, . . .
d. try to concentrate on something as long as you can without loosing your concentration even just for a second.
e. work on your memory ( read something once and try to recall everything you can, write it down, compare with source, calculate percentage of your recall and try to increase it (40% is normal for average man, but there is no limits) )…
. . . . etc. . . etc. . . etc. . . . .
…. and of course everything that is in Mark’s post.
This, if done well, will increase your intelligence and sharpen your mind.
P.S. I hope this will help. And sorry for my probably bad english, couse its not my primery language.
Assigning a number to intelligence falls within the realm of science fiction, sort of like the capacity to beam someone up on a spaceship (Pure Fiction). Surely you must see the fiction in IQ and in many aspects of psychology as well. I think that if you truly analyze and go beyond what the proponents of IQ are saying then you will see it all for what it is and for what it was meant to accomplish. The elites have created these types of frauds throughout the centuries.
No one disputes the fact that intelligence is important and that some people express it more abundantly than others, and the key word here is “express” because we all have intelligence and some of us refuse to use it. What is in question here is IQ which is supposed to be a scientific method of measuring intelligence, but if we look at its origin within a historical framework we can see the patterns of deception and its political implementations; it’s another hoax of the elites.
Whatever IQ measures within its meaningless methods and outcomes is no match for true intelligence. History and time attests to its complete meaninglessness. When you place the advent of the IQ concept in the totality of the historical time scale it barely registers. And the future will discount it as nothing more than a primitive mind set springing from a backward system of classification and a remnant of 20th century nonsense. IQ will go the way of electroshock and craniology.
I think you are underestimating the value of IQ. However, I will agree that having a high IQ doesn’t necessarily translating into being successful. If an IQ score measures raw talent, it still doesn’t say anything about the required discipline to turn that talent into something productive.