How do I increase my Intelligence ?!

[dennis08]

It has been a goal of mine to increase my intelligence. I don't know where to start.

I suppose reading will help but I have trouble processing and remembering information (or so I have been told by my teacher). Any suggestions?

What are the steps to achieve this goal?

Thank you.

[HU-C]

You could learn aMemory-strategy first, wich would help you to keep
things you've learned in your mind.

Also sport increases intelligence,

There're also a lot of intelligence-developement books

hope I could help you

[Sheeo]

Originally Posted by HU-C

Also sport increases intelligence,
hope I could help you

Why do you say that? I see no specific part in sports that would make for increased intelligence.

For improving memory, I can recommend the memory system Steve Pavlina introduced in his blog (I don't have the url, but searching should bring it up pretty fast). But don't just start reading anything--read things that interest you and challenge yourself with new knowledge.

Now "intelligence" covers a lot of different things, and to me there's more than just one kind of intelligence. So just saying you want to be more "intelligent" is a bit unspecific; try and specify what exactly you want to achieve--do you want to learn faster, know more or become better in social situations? All of these (amongst others) are part of what I define as intelligence.

[kellyrued]

I suppose reading will help but I have trouble processing and remembering information (or so I have been told by my teacher). Any suggestions?

Don't let your teacher discourage you. It's very hard for most people to remember useless information (meaning things that don't really interest you, and things that you don't need to use/know when to use in your everyday work and relationships). A lot of really intelligent people got horrible grades in traditional school settings because they just couldn't get into the read-regurgitate cycle of cramming and testing on things they didn't care about.

Do you have trouble reading and retaining info on subjects you truly care about? If yes, then a book or course on study skills might help. Also figure out if you learn better by doing hands-on activities, by watching someone else do something and asking them questions as they go, by listening to someone describe something, or by seeing an audio-visual presentation (like a video or flash tutorial online) where you can stop/replay different parts and take notes if you need to. Basically everyone learns differently so don't be discouraged if reading doesn't work for you. It doesn't mean you're not intelligent, that's for sure.

If you want a good idea of your IQ, just take a real IQ test (not a web quiz or self test from a book). Your school guidance counselor/career advisor (and even therapists/psychologists if you have one) can administer such a test and it will give you a good idea where you stand relative to others (an IQ of 100 is about average intelligence, not approaching genius but definitely not lacking enough to worry about increasing intelligence).

And if it helps any, remember that the most intelligent people are not always the wisest or the best decision makers. The men who develop most of the weapons and industrial production methods that are seriously screwing up the world/environment were likely very "smart" (same can be said for a LOT of dubious tech advancements) but they lacked the common sense and ethics that a lot of "less intelligent" people would have considered no-brainers. Plus, smarts can lead to arrogance and smart people can be just as wrong/slow/misguided at times as anybody else. I've heard that going to Mensa meetings is royally depressing because they're frequented by people that are nothing short of socially retarded (as in emotionally developmentally delayed). Not true of all brainiacs, but not an unfounded stereotype either.

If social skills or other traits come easier to you than brainy stuff, go with your strengths and don't waste time cultivating your weaknesses just to please your ego or somebody else's expectations/values (even if you think being a genius is important, you gotta ask yourself why you value it so much and what it will do for you if you were a little (or a lot) smarter). You might find that you don't know how it would help you at all, and that there are other areas you can improve where you just *know* how to get better at them (without reading a book or studying up). Most people have some intuitive talent that just come easy to them (a knack for writing, cooking, comforting others, speaking in public, sports, etc.). What if you worked on something you're already pretty good at instead of fussing with stuff you already think you're behind on?

Intelligence is really just your capacity to learn new things, problem-solve, and process existing data. Most people have enough intelligence to be successful and self-sufficient (and if you didn't, you'd probably have some kind of diagnosis or designation if you were in the public or private school system). Uber advanced intelligence (say, an IQ over 140) is one of those traits that is somewhat overrated in western culture, imo. Kind of like perfect looks in that it's not what you haven't got that is holding you back but rather how you use what you've got effectively. Hope that helps or gives you food for thought.

[dennis08]

Originally Posted by kellyrued

Hope that helps or gives you food for thought.

It certainly does ! Thank you

[Amadeus]

After 20 the average person has about 50,000 cells that die in their body every day. I'm sure a good portion of those are brain cells. It is recommended to keep the mind working every day on something to slow this down. Cross word puzzles, research, and other mentally challenging things should help with this. Watching tv and being dormant won't.

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Amadeus

After 20 the average person has about 50,000 cells that die in their body every day. I'm sure a good portion of those are brain cells.

There is an average of 100 billion neurons (brain cells) in the brain...
.

[dennis08]

[quote=Amadeus;97760]QUOTE]Depends on what you watch on TV. The discovery channel, the science channel, discovery health, the history channel and the military channel are just a few that benefit your brain.

[Power]

I would also have to agree that the first step is to educate yourself on Memory Improvement.

You may have seen it on TV where a person can recall 20 items list in hearing them just once in 2 minutes. 20 is a piece of cake, average people with trained memory can recall an average of 50. First time I saw it I thought of it to be a scam... why? because I asked myself if it was true, why don't they teach it in schools? No one ever taught me how to use my memory properly not until I was 16 when I went to the library and actually found a memory training book.

Improving your memory is pretty easy compared to learning physics or chemistry. But after a week or two training your memory, you'll be able to resite the Periodic table from Chemistry of the bat just like that!

.... once you got that covered, learn speed reading,.. BOO YAH!

[dennis08]

Originally Posted by Power

I would also have to agree that the first step is to educate yourself on Memory Improvement.

You may have seen it on TV where a person can recall 20 items list in hearing them just once in 2 minutes. 20 is a piece of cake, average people with trained memory can recall an average of 50. First time I saw it I thought of it to be a scam... why? because I asked myself if it was true, why don't they teach it in schools? No one ever taught me how to use my memory properly not until I was 16 when I went to the library and actually found a memory training book.

Improving your memory is pretty easy compared to learning physics or chemistry. But after a week or two training your memory, you'll be able to resite the Periodic table from Chemistry of the bat just like that!

.... once you got that covered, learn speed reading,.. BOO YAH!

Power can you share a little bit of this discovery with me ?

[Sam988]

Originally Posted by dennis08

Power can you share a little bit of this discovery with me ?

dennis, search for "How to Develop a Super Power Memory" by Harry Lorayne


read the book, its a great read

[Jaxelamse]

Intelligence can be raised by practicing various techniques. Try reading some of the articles at HOW TO INCREASE BRAINPOWER

[nightdiamond]

Hi Dennis08, my suggestion; first be more specific, "increase my intelligence" is a bit too vague though we both know fully well what you're talking about.

The reason why I'm suggesting this is because there are different channels of what you're talking about, intelligence; math, reading, writing, poetry, history, the sciences, spelling, ect., you can see what I mean.

If your goal or desire is to be a better reader for example, then focus on that for the time being. Simply practice (and I mean practice lol) reading something small then give yourself a quick drill about what you read bit later. Ask yourself questions about what you just read and if you can't remember everything at first, it doesn't matter- keep practicing. Read things that are interesting to you so you concentrate. Move on to bigger books but only when you feel you can clearly remember what you read from the smaller books first.

Tell yourself you are getting better and better at remembering AND understanding what you read each day at least 5 times a day or more.

When you have time, relax for a few minutes, block everything out and visualize yourself clearly understanding the things you read and enjoying it.

There are techniques out there to even increase your reading speed and read thousands of words in only seconds while understanding almost all of them, but they like learning to ride a bike, require practice and patience.

Let us know what you think Dennis....

[Power]

Hi dennis08,

There is really a lot to cover about memory training, I really suggest you fetch the book or audio by Harry Lorayne or Kevin Trudeau. Harry Lorayne memory system is Mnemonics (word based association) and Kevin Trudeau is Photographic (visualization based association). Both are excellent, combine them together, its astonishing

(yes, yes, yes... I can hear some you in the background... Kevin is a con artist... all Im saying is that with my own personal use of his program, it actually works and I prefer his system than Harry's. Actually, it was Harry's program that I stumbled upon first. Im not appraising the author but appraising the product)

The reason my advice is to learn memory enhancement first is because I personally believe that the more knowledge (information) you can absorbed and recall, then you are slighty given an edge when it comes to solving problems. Now, the more problems/challenges you encounter in life and the more you solve these puzzles, I believe your intelligence increases.
Here is an eg: No matter how creative Einstein may be. If he didnt study and learn the foundation of physics then he wouldnt be able to solve the equation. We need a foundation or ground knowledge first to work with.
So here is the equation:
*Lack of memory = less absorption of information and inability to remember information = lack of knowledge and difficulty in learning = low intelligence
*Good memory = more absorption of information and greater ability to remember information = faster learning = more bag of knowledge attained + more experience + (creative thinking) = more intelligence.

You can find the books in your local library... Memory enchancement is priceless... and the books are not boring, you will actually find the exercises very easy and fun... I think amazon sells them under $20 dollars.

Once you've improved your memory or learned how to use it properly, then it is the best time to pick any subject you can think off and learn that subject with ease; philosophy, science, poetry, chemistry, biology, etc...
Memory improvement is like learning your ABC's. Without learning your ABC's you wouldnt be able to contruct sentences and words. A Subject or information is like a sentence or words. You can't contructs them properly without learning your ABC's. You cant learn an information if you dont remember it.

[stephencp]

The first thing to do is get clear on what you mean by "intelligence".
It could easily include "emotional intelligence", although the best definition for me is "the ability to guess right".

What are you looking for?

Stephen

The Internet Largest Free Give Away Ever - ****************************

[dennis08]

Originally Posted by stephencp

The first thing to do is get clear on what you mean by "intelligence".
It could easily include "emotional intelligence", although the best definition for me is "the ability to guess right".

What are you looking for?

Stephen

The Internet Largest Free Give Away Ever - ****************************

Reading, writing, math, English and spelling. Most importantly analytical tasks. All around I guess you could say.

[stephencp]

Once you know why exactly you want analytical skills and link it to something you already love, it will come naturally.
Instead of mustering up the discipline to do anything yet, get clear on your motivation.

Stephen

The Internet Largest Free Give Away Ever - ****************************

[zeloc]

Originally Posted by dennis08

Reading, writing, math, English and spelling. Most importantly analytical tasks. All around I guess you could say.

I have thought about this question before and I've decided that mathematics is the closest thing to intelligence. SAT Math scores are great predictors of future grades in Organic Chemistry, for example, while there is not much of a correlation with SAT Verbal scores. While if you read some of the memory books that people have mentioned earlier in this thread, you will seem like a genius to your friends, it is not really going to substantially increase your intelligence because intelligence is more problem-solving, and analytical skills, as you say. I do think that it will increase your intelligence, though, and I highly recommend it.

To increase your intelligence, I suggest that you start by solving math problems, beginning with easy ones and progressing to extremely difficult ones. There are books with collections of problems that are solvable with only basic topics like algebra and geometry, yet are very difficult to solve. Once you get very good at math, which is about problem-solving and creativity, then you can tackle stuff like reading and spelling, because these are easier to master once you are good at problem-solving. I knew several people who were very good at math and also very good at English, but most of the people who were very good at English were not that accomplished in math, most likely because the skills are less transferable.

You can also do things like play chess, which will increase your thinking and problem-solving abilities. You can read books that are at a level a bit more difficult than what you would be comfortable picking up off the shelf and reading. Don't get frustrated if you don't understand everything or if people tell you that you don't remember things well. Once you read several books the skills with start coming all on their own. You can also try to come up with solutions to everyday problems throughout the day.