Ways to Make Yourself Smarter

Have you ever taken an IQ test?

Actually I never have, but I understand it’s meant to give you a number that is said to portray some inborn capacity.

This gives you the impression that your level of intelligence, no matter how high or low it might be, is a fixed quantity.

You can learn, sure, but basically you’re only as smart as you were born to be, right?

But that’s not what the latest science actually says, according to Inc.com  who quote  author Annie Murphy Paul who lays out eight ways intelligence is affected by context in which we put it to use and suggests ways that we can rethink intelligence to get the best out of the brain we were born with.

So here are 8 ways they suggest you can make yourself smarter…

Situations can make us smarter

They can be the physical conditions that learners experience by way of how much stress they’re under and how much sleep and exercise they get, and the

mental conditions learners create for themselves by the levels of expertise and attention and motivation they’re able to achieve.

Situational intelligence, in other words, is the only kind of intelligence there is.

Beliefs can make us smarter 

Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck distinguishes two types of mindsets: the fixed mindset, or the belief that ability is fixed and unchanging, and the growth mindset, or the belief that abilities can be developed through learning and practice.

These beliefs matter because they influence how think about our own abilities, how we perceive the world around us, and how we act when faced with a challenge or with adversity.

Expertise can make us smarter

Experts don’t just know more, they know differently, in ways that allow them to think and act especially intelligently within their domain of expertise…

Expertise takes a long time to develop, of course, but it’s never too early–or too late–go deep in a subject area that interests us.

Attention can make us smarter

There are information-processing bottlenecks in the brain–everybody’s brain–that prevent us from paying attention to two things at the same time.

The state of focused attention is a very important internal situation that we must cultivate in order to fully express our intelligence.

Emotions can make us smarter

When we’re in a positive mood, for example, we tend to think more expansively and creatively.

When we feel anxious–for instance, when we’re about to take a dreaded math test–that anxiety uses up some of the working memory capacity we need to solve problems, leaving us, literally, with less intelligence.

Technology can make us smarter

The problem is that our devices so often make us dumber instead of smarter…

In order for tech to make ourselves smarter and not dumber, we need understand when to take full advantage of our devices, and when to put them away.

Our bodies can make us smarter

All the things that make the heart work better–good nutrition, adequate sleep, regular exercise, moderate stress–make the brain work better too.

Relationships can make us smarter

If you have a spouse or significant other: it’s likely that one of you is “in charge” of remembering when the car needs to go in for inspection, while the other is “in charge” of remembering relatives’ birthdays.

This is called transactive memory, and it’s just one of the ways that relationships with others can make us smarter than we would be on our own… a feeling of belonging is critical to the full expression of our ability.