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Steve Gillman asked:


What is real genius, and how do we cultivate it in ourselves? A common dictionary definition is, “Extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity.” Some definitions refer to a high IQ as well, but that doesn’t seem to be an important component. Both intellectual power and creativity can certainly exist without a high level of intelligence, as I will explain.

Real genius, then, whether in the sciences, arts, or business, is about finding new, creative and effective ways to do things. How high a man or woman scores on some test of intelligence is not so relevant. How productive he or she is in producing new ideas is the most defining factor.

Genius Is In The Software

If we look at the brain and mind as a computer, we can see that the physical part, made up of neurons and such, is the hardware. This is the computer before we install the operating system and various programs. If it is potentially more powerful, that’s great. But it isn’t enough. In order to realize that power, to use it, we need the programs. What would the computer on your desk be worth without any software? The same is true of our brains.

The software, then, consists of our ways of thinking. These are developed starting in childhood, but they are not static. We can continue to add new “programs” throughout life, and the right ones can dramatically increase one’s creativity. This is why a less intelligent man can be a genius at something, while a man with a much higher IQ may add little in the way of new ideas, thinking or products to the world. It is all about the software.

What about these “programs?” What are they, where do you get them and how do you install them? The bad news is that they do not install as easily as programs do on your desktop computer. You have to work with them for at least several weeks to make these new ways of thinking habitual. The good news is that once they do become a habit, they work for you almost effortlessly.

A “program” might be as simple as “the exploration of creative alternatives by looking at purposes.” This is something anyone can do, but few do it systematically or habitually. Work with this enough consciously, though, and it becomes a regular part of your thinking. You look at a textbook from a school, for example, and your mind asks “What are the purposes, and what does that suggest for alternatives?”

You see that a textbook is supposed to impart knowledge to the student. The questions that naturally arise include, “Does it do that well?” and “What else might suit this purpose?” The question of effectiveness makes you wonder what you would find if ten different textbooks on the same subject matter were used to teach students, and then we tested the students to see which group learned more. That leads you to the idea for a textbook testing service (currently, textbooks are often chosen according to the preferences educators, rather than by effectiveness). The “what else” part could get you thinking about making educational material into video games.

Other creative ideas will start to come to mind as you look at the matter, at least if that is the way your brain is programmed to work. And the “program” above is just one example of many techniques for creative thinking which you can “install” in yourself. A higher IQ could be helpful, and raising yours may be possible, but that is not nearly as important to developing real genius as changing the ways in which you think.



Micle Shenker

Margaret Paul, Ph.d. asked:


“…telling children they’re smart…made them feel dumber and act dumber.”

–Mindset, by Carol S. Dweck, Ph.D., p.74

In her extraordinary book, Mindset, Dr. Carol S. Dweck presents research that, hopefully, will change the course of parenting and education. In one of her research studies, conducted with hundreds of mostly early adolescent students, she:

“…gave each student a set of ten fairly difficult problems from a non-verbal IQ test. They mostly did well on these and when they were finished we praised them.

We praise some of the students for their ability. They were told: ‘Wow, you got [say] eight right. That’s a really good score. You must be smart at this….’

We praise other students for their effort: ‘Wow, you got [say] eight right. That’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.’” P. 71-2

As it turned out, the students who were praised for being smart started to do worse and didn’t enjoy the harder problems, fearing being exposed for not being as smart as the researcher thought, while 90% of the students praised for effort tried harder and enjoyed the harder problems. In fact, they found the harder problems “the most fun.” In the end “the performance of the ability-praised students plummeted,” while the “effort kids showed better and better performance.”

“Since this was a kind of IQ test, you might say that praising ability lowered the students’ IQs. And that praising their effort raised them.” P. 73

This is powerful research for parents and educators. As I look back on kids I grew up with and went to school with, I can see this in action. Often, the kids who were told how smart or talented they were, or how much natural ability they had in a given area, such as sports or math, were the kids who never lived up to their potential. Those kids who were not given a “potential” to live up to were often the ones who did really well.

What Dr. Dweck’s research shows is that praising an ability is one of the things that contributes to creating what she calls a “fixed mindset,” which is a belief that our intelligence and abilities are something we are just born with and cannot be changed. Those with a “growth mindset” – the intent to learn – do not have this belief. They believe that through dedication and effort, they can develop their intelligence and abilities. As she shows in her excellent book, this has been proven over and over in all walks of life.

So what about praise? As we can see, praising a child for abilities contributes to the child becoming externally defined. This child says, “I get approval when I succeed. My worth is attached to success.” This creates a fear of not succeeding and therefore not being worthy, which not only limits what the child tries to do, but also limits the enjoyment of it. The child is no longer learning for the joy of it, but for the approval, and will stop trying if it appears that he or she is not going to succeed. Failure to this child means, “I am a failure.”

On the other hand, those children praised for effort rather than for abilities learn to be internally defined. They keep their natural enjoyment of learning. They are excited by the prospect of a challenge because they are unattached to the outcome of success or failure. Failure just means that they will try harder. Success or failure doesn’t define their worth.

Not only can parents and teachers greatly benefit from reading “Mindset”, but anyone stuck in protecting against pain or failure can also benefit. If you have been trying to heal or progress in various areas of your life and feel you are not getting anywhere, read “Mindset.” I highly recommend it.



Steven

Bruce Hokin asked:


Managing your spending habits, saving sufficient funds and clearly seeing your personal financial situation are important elements in managing your personal finances correctly. This test will give you an idea whether you need some more help, or if you’re on top of this important part of your life. (The answers are listed at the end of this article.)

Question #1. What does “living within your means” really mean?

Question #2. What damage can only paying the minimum credit card payments each month do to your financial future?

Question #3. What is the most widely advocated and proven method of getting your finances in order?

Question #4. What are the most important financial goals you can set?

Question #5. Why is it not safe to spend all your income each month?

Question #6. What is the recommended percentage of my income that needs to be saved for emergencies and a savings nest egg?

Question #7. In what order should your bills be paid?

How did you fare with these questions? Did you know the answers? If not, or if you wish to check your responses, check out the answers listed below.

Answer to Question #1.

“Living within your means” means spending to live as comfortably as possible, from your income, while saving sufficient funds to adequately cater for emergencies and building your savings nest egg. It also means that you should not rely on external funding such as credit cards and bank finance just to live day-to-day.

Answer to Question #2.

Paying only the minimum credit card payment each month can condemn you to life-long poverty. It is that serious. If you only pay the minimum off your credit card each month you quickly start paying interest on the interest and the debt can spiral out of control. Live within your means, don’t add to your debts, pay cash and pay down that credit card debt as quickly as possible.

Answer to Question #3.

The most widely advocated and proven method to getting your finances in order is to prepare a budget. Please don’t go glassy-eyed and lose interest now. This is an easy task that can finally put you in control of your finances once and for all. There are many resources available on the Internet to help you quickly make a start.

Answer to Question #4.

The most important financial goals you can set are as follows:

a) Set a goal to pay down that credit card debt, both for the amount and the time period. For example, I am going to pay $5,000 off the credit card debt in the next 12 months. Commit to only living off my income starting today. I will always pay cash from today onwards.

b) The second most important goal is to set a savings target. A budget can show you how much you need to set aside for emergencies and that savings nest egg.

c) The third most important goal is to determine to be debt free. This will transform your life. Work out what you need to live and see how much better your life would be if there was no money being applied to debts each month. It’s like giving yourself a pay raise.

Answer to Question #5.

It is not safe to spend all your income each month for the simple reason that life is unpredictable. If you have no savings buffer then how will you afford the bills that occur when you least expect them? Will you pay for them with your credit card? Then how will you pay that bill?

Answer to Question #6. The most common percentage recommended to keep aside from your monthly income is 20%. This is a target of course. Not everyone can manage this immediately. Any amount you put aside will be better than nothing as long as you are shooting for a target.

Answer to Question #7.

If you are struggling with paying all your bills each month, the most vital bills are listed below in order of importance:

a) Housing – rent or house payments. If you don’t pay these you may have no home

b) vehicle

c) groceries

d) power, water, gas etc.

e) credit cards

The costs of shelter, food, clothing and transportation always come ahead of paying the credit cards.

Are you now a little more understanding of this critically important part of your life? Could you do with some help? There are many agencies and websites dedicated to offering advice and tools to help you better manage your finances. Check them out today. Financial success can be yours. Don’t you deserve it?



Philip

Evgheny Stivenson asked:


Do you feel heavy in your head when you walk around? Is your score in IQ tests too low? You may not feel as active or quick as early or you may be forgetting very commonly used words. This need not be the situation that cannot be dealt with. You can eat certain food items which will help boost your brainpower, clear up your brain and make you think at a quick pace.

Hence if you want to increase your intelligence level (and your IQ- your score in IQ tests) to the highest level read the information given below. It will help you clear up your brain and you will have great thinking power and ability to score higher in IQ tests. Your memory also depends on your eating habits.

Fish Oil

“Fish is a food for your brain” is an old belief. But nowadays fish is very polluted with mercuy and dangerous substances, so I will not recommend fish for consumption. Instead, I suggest to eat fish oil. It has fats which contain DocasaHexanenoic Acid and is beneficial for the brain and acts as a protective layer.

A majority of our brain is made up of fat and that fat is either DocasaHexanenoic Acid or Arachidonic acid. Arachidonic acid is found in unprocessed dairy products like butter and DocasaHexanenoic Acid is found only in fish and not in any other plant or vegetation.

It is very important to use a fish oil which is exceptionally good and has good reputation. I have done research and have clinical with patients, which shows the following trends.

1. Liquid form of fish oil is far better than capsules.

2. Not all brands are good

3. Carlson’s brand is the best and purest of all existing brands today.

It may not be the only brand that is exceptionally good, but till now I have come across many and have found that carlson’s brand is the best as far as fish or cod liver oil is concerned. You can find this brand at Mercola.com or at any health store near your house.

Vegetables

Nothing can ever match the nutritions that pure vegetables can provide us. Alzheimer’s has been known to occur because of deficiency of folic acid (green vegetables are very rich with it). Similarly, there are many other elements, antioxidants and phytochemicals that vegetables provide us with and can help us in keeping our brains sharp.

The easiest way to eat enough of vegetables is to prepare vegetable juice on a regular basis.

But the type of your metabolism is a key factor to decide what all you need to consume. For example, if you are a protein metabolic type, you need not eat vegetables. You can have half of what is usually recommended. That is for a protein type adult, one can eat half a pound of vegetable and this will be sufficient.

If you are a protein type of guy your diet should consist of low potassium vegetables like beans. Lettuces and the usual diet like collard greens have high potassium content and may cause biochemical imbalance. Also, if you have a metabolic type you also don’t need much vegetable juice consumption. A carbohydrate metabolic type wil beneft if he consumes more vegetables like collard greens, kale, Swiss chard etc. These are very much not suggested for the protein types.

I do recommend organic food if you want to get the most nutritious input, but if you cannot afford to buy them, don’t give up eating vegetables altogether. Eating vegetables in any form, organic or not is good and better not have them in your ration at all.

Raw Eggs

The best source for high quality nutrition is raw whole egg. It is also very much affordable by all. It is especially for those who are protein deficient. You may face some difficulty initially to eat them, but you will greatly improve your health, if you eat raw egg. Boiled or cooked eggs will not result in the same, so the lesser you cook the egg the more nutrition you will consume.



Martin

Rachel Broune asked:


Learning disabilities are problems that affect the brain’s ability to receive, process, analyze, or store information. The most common and best-known verbal learning disability is dyslexia, which causes people to have trouble recognizing or processing letters and the sounds associated with them. Learning disabilities are present in at least 10 percent of the population.Although the number of children with learning disabilities is unknown, about 5% of the school-age population in the US receives special educational services for learning disabilities. There are as many learning styles as there are individuals. There are two types of the learning disabilities and they are information processing deficits this will contain the input, integration, storage, and output and specific learning disabilities this will contains the reading disability, disorders of speaking and listening, writing disability and nonverbal learning disability. Memory may be defective, including short- and long-term memory, memory use (eg, rehearsal), and verbal recall or retrieval.

People with learning disabilities have average or above-average intelligence, but their difficulties in managing the information their brains receive hold them back in school and at work, causing problems with self-esteem. One of the most painful aspects of having a learning disability is to have your brain’s inability to process information in certain ways mistaken for low intelligence. The disability usually only affects certain limited areas of a child’s development. In fact, rarely are learning disabilities severe enough to impair a person’s potential to live a happy, normal life.

Causes of Learning Disabilities

Environmental factors

Complications during pregnancy

Genetic influences

CNS infections

Symptoms of Learning Disabilities

difficulty speaking

doesn’t recognize words previously learned

math problem

spelling

direct attention

difficulty in understanding

listening

problems with physical coordination

Diagnosis for Learning Disabilities

Diagnosis includes intellectual, educational, speech and language, medical, and psychologic evaluations. The important thing is to follow up on any concerns, whether you notice something amiss at home or a teacher raises a red flag. A specialist in learning disabilities may not be as knowledgeable about other conditions that may contribute to learning difficulties. For the diagnosisof learning disabilities IQ test can be taken which will give the results for there learning disabilities. The occupational therapist will tests sensory disorders that can lead to learning problems. Specially trained educators may perform a diagnostic educational evaluation assessing the child’s academic and intellectual potential and level of academic performance.

Treatment for Learning Disabilities

The good news about learning disabilities is that while they’re permanent, they’re also treatable. Learning disabilities fall within the class of neurological issues called developmental disabilities, in that they are chronic, they limit success in one or more major life areas, and they cannot be reversed by medication. Among these sources are doctors, special education teachers, and mental health professionals who can help identify learning disabilities and recommend the right combination of medical, psychosocial, and educational treatment. You will also be provided with practical solutions to help children and adolescents with learning disabilities greatly improve their academic achievement as well as their self-esteem.



Troy