Can you make yourself smarter?
Researchers are finding more and more flaws with the long-held belief that we are born with a certain level of intelligence that remains the same throughout our lives. They are saying, essentially, that we can raise our levels of intelligence – every single day.
Two studies were highlighted in a recent post on the Fast Company blog, and the upshot was that “relentless persistence,” developing new habits and rewiring our brains, can make us more intelligent and ultimately more successful.
The blog post highlighted three things we can do every day to make ourselves smarter, all based on the concept of relentless persistence and habit-building:
Master the art of habits: Doing something persistently and consistently increases our intelligence levels. Stanford University researchers B.J. Fogg has developed a free five-day system called Tiny Habits that helps develop new habits through small steps.
Engage in percentage thinking: Look at past results when we’re setting goals, and use them to create success. For example, if we set a goal of 10 new customers from 10 new meetings, and the first one falls through, we fail. Instead, we need to understand that in the past it took 100 new meetings to get 10 new customers and pursue the goal of 10 percent return.
Exercise: The habit of working out is, according to Charles Duhigg’s book “The Power of Habit,” is a keystone habit, a way to develop other good habits. Duhigg, a writer at the New York Times, took an in-depth look at why habits exist and how they can be changed.
Learn more about what we do at the Synergyst Research website.
