Innovating your intelligence adds successful opportunities, one brain cell at a time, regardless of what happened or failed to happen at school.
Trying to figure out how people get smarter led me to ask, “What do geniuses do differently?” Traditional questions about IQ, I found, often lead to misconceptions that you are not smart. Geniuses may get kicked out of school, as Einstein did, but they rarely trip over false notions of fixed intelligence.
Fact is, intelligent people rewire daily for updated mental tools and so can you. To act like a genius is to develop mental tools that master change, contribute gems to innovative circles, and lower speed bumps on life’s coolest highways.
Regardless of age, position or education, geniuses and most ordinary people can find success in spite of barriers. A genius tends to replace common misconceptions with mind-bending facts that optimize more brainpower.
At the heart of the idea of mental reinvention are some newly discovered facts: IQ is not fixed and brains can rewire completely overnight. Moreover, brainpower comes to those who ask “What if…?” kinds of questions. Ask, for instance, what if I could rewire mentally today to risk a life-changing inspiration? What does one do next?
Start small. Question one event in your day, and you’ll trigger new ways of seeing angles that eluded you in past. Bored? Then drive to work a new way. Too many rigid routines? Read the morning news from back to front.
Use mental tactics that switch it up, help you act from a new premise, and break with traditions to embrace change. Brain gurus say this is how you “generate new neuron pathways to achieve more of what you want.” Whatever you call this mental reboot, it takes less effort and adds more dividends than most people think.
Target one visible improvement in your day and the brain begins to create conscious impressions for you to improve other parts. Do you see challenges at work or in relationships?
Let’s say you are part of a team where one person dominates. Brainstorm one solution with peers over lunch, such as mutual collaboration on a project together, and you’ll recharge the collective brainpower for positive neuron pathways toward doable solutions. Expect insights to crack other related problems as well, once you begin to look at problems with solutions in mind.
Reflect on your personal strengths as mental tools, and soon you’ll begin to accomplish things never before accomplished by using parts of your brain never before used. It changes that little voice inside that limits ideas about your unique brand of brainpower. The same challenges that stop some people, tend to launch others who take time to reflect and act as masterminds do. That leads to genius IQ.
[…] Innovating your intelligence adds successful opportunities, one brain cell at a time, regardless of what happened or failed to happen at school. Trying to […]
It seems to me that multiple neuron pathways create a safety net for the brain. Looking at things from different angles does for the brain what cross training does for the muscles.
Janice, you make an awesome analogy here. The key to keeping a brain alive and building new neuron pathways for finer outcomes is to do different approaches. For instance I create tools for upper grade learners to question and discover through multiple intelligences. Learning springs into life for most with these tools. Does that make sense?
Dr. Weber, Have you ever heard of NICOLA TESLA, the only true genius that existed in the last century and did not fake it like the other. If you do not know him, please make it your business to get familiar with the man and his work.
Monique – thanks for adding your insights to our discussion here. In my 40 years of brain research I’ve seen delightful evolutions and understandings of what it means to be smart:-) For instance, my Mita work cited in Harvard’s text, “Intelligence Reframed,” shows the fact we possess at least 8 distinctive intelligences factors in, as does the enormous list of new neuro discoveries proliferated in recent years. Would you agree, it’s kind of exciting to learn that one of the 8 intelligences, “interpersonal IQ,” shows intelligence by the tone we use to discuss and expand on issues of intelligence as we support and learn from one another’s diverse insights. So it’s more valid now for example, to discuss HOW ARE YOU SMART, rather than the more water-tight past question, HOW SMART ARE YOU? Again, thanks Monique for offering ideas as part of a fun discussion about how we might help one another to raise collective IQ, in ways that benefit all. Best, Ellen
Dr. Weber,
Thanks for this insightful write up. I have personally tried to ask myself . How do I attain the Genius IQ. From this write up I can see it’s achievable. How can one benefit more from your 40 years wealth of experience.
Thanks for your kind words Olufunmilayo! Isn’t it fun to have so many new ideas about how awesome and flexible are human brains. To answer your question, you might enjoy frequently applied research findings at the blog https://brainleadersandlearners.com/ The blog, “Brain Leaders and Learners” engages brain based ideas to create innovative solutions for our new era. All the best, as you continue to explore wonders of the human brain! We can truly inspire one another, as this site suggests so well!