How to increase your IQ

Daniel Amen who studies brain scans and Barbara Arrowsmith-Young who pioneered a method of classifying individual capabilities in such a way that these could be trainable. Here are their 2 very different Ted Talks.

There are 2 people who have achieved amazing results at improving the way people's brain works.

Daniel Amen who studies brain scans and Barbara Arrowsmith-Young who pioneered a method of classifying individual capabilities in such a way that these could be trainable.

Here are their 2 very different Ted Talks.


The common thread to both of them is how to find and fix defects in the brain. It is the fixing of defects that produce the fastest and most astonishing results. While this is a common thread, their methodologies are very different. One studies the anatomical structure of brains, the other studies the visible capabilities of people based on what things they can and can't do.

Both talks are very apropos and worth listening to, as they tell a story of major advancement with highly specific regimens that are personalized and diagnostic, not one-size-fits-all in nature.

But if your brain is already working normally, with no particular defect, then taking it to a new higher level is an ongoing and slow process, one I've been engaged with my entire adult life. But I engage in this out of an interest in continuous improvement, not out of any particular IQ limiting need.

The issue to be aware of, before undertaking this ongoing effort is that people are rarely IQ limited in life.  What we know from studying competitive fields, even apparently IQ focused fields like chess, physics, business, finance, investing, is that the top levels are achieved by people who have an over-the-top interest in the field and who practice a particular form of focused practice and study. This concept is outlined in the book:

Talent Is Overrated by Geoff Colvin.

The whole modern word is set up to make it easy to not need a very high IQ to make your way in life. Even fields like computer science are filled with tools designed to reduce the cognitive load involved in solving hard problems.

Even so, here's what you do to advance those skills. First look at both of the talks I pointed you at, and find out more about both of those speakers. I've read many books by them and about them, and never been disappointed, always learned something useful.

Beyond their highly directed information, my general purpose approach is to push myself regularly into areas that are difficult for me, and keep pushing myself until the formerly difficult becomes easy, or until I reach a point of vastly diminishing returns.

When I take tests, when I read, when I write, when I think, I try to push myself as far as I can.

The only way I have to gauge the effectiveness of my approach is to pick up things that used to be hard for me and see how they are now, and most of the time what used to be hard has become easy.

Still, nothing is perfect. It is very important to realize the overarching limitation of IQ. How many fingers am I holding up right now? What card am I thinking of? What stock is going to rise the most tomorrow? No pure think-tank IQ approach can answer these questions. You have to collect data, engage with the world, try things.

There is one other thing that I was surprised about. My mind is pushed the furthest when I am running my own business, rather than when I am working for others.  And many of the most intelligent people I've ever met were all running small businesses. Once a business surpasses about 25 million in revenue the best approach is to delegate to experts, but prior to that time the wealth of the business usually isn't sufficient to afford good experts and do that effectively. So you often have to task switch constantly, think strategically, push yourself to the highest level.

Hope this helps.

ncG1vNJzZmirY2LAonnEmqqtZWFjrq6t2ailmq%2BjY7CwuY6soK2dqaS0qrqOsKdmm5%2Bjwaa602isqaSflrG0e5FpaG9nYGd8ibvWZpuoZXlitq%2Bv0Z6YrJ1dosZulbBmaA%3D%3D

 Share!