Note: This article is adapted from the blog of Lauren Hirsch-Williams, who shares tips for building your self-confidence and intelligence.
All of this requires courage and courage to stand up to challenges and persevere in the long term, especially when there are many pitfalls on the way to success. But a question that echoes in the minds of all of us and may bother the comfort of some of us is, "Am I smart enough?" This is called imposter syndrome.
Many people begin to participate in every training program they encounter, trying to repair the shortcomings they suffer from; constantly looking for new strategies, dreaming of finding the coach or program that will provide them with the needed information to answer all their questions and accelerate the growth of their companies, looking for an easy solution to increase their self-confidence, but meet disappointments every time, which brings them back to the beginning of the process again and again.
Growing up in New York City, I thought that being able to solve a crossword puzzle in a daily newspaper was an indication of an individual's intelligence, but I wasn't very good at it, even though I tried several times, and eventually gave up and discovered that it wasn't the suitable game for me. Still, I couldn't let go of my fear of not being smart enough because I couldn't solve it.
That thought came to mind whenever I failed at work and required intelligence. I thought for a long time that I would have been intelligent if I had done more to solve crosswords. Still, I loathed it when I remembered all the people who use dictionaries or the Internet to solve it, and after decades, I now know that I was wrong and that the crossword game is not that important, and instead, I found several activities that made me and many of the people I work with smarter.
Five unusual and fun tips to increase your intelligence
1. Read a book about business carefully
Don't just read or browse the topic so quickly that you see the small details or information that catches your attention, instead choose a book praised by critics, and make sure that it is described as containing ideas, knowledge, and information that has proven useful, then read one chapter and think deeply about it, allow yourself to absorb the information and try to apply your new knowledge immediately, which is an excellent way to stabilize the information in your mind in the long term. Still, if you read quickly, it may be difficult for your brain to maintain.
2. Change the way you practice your habits
Think of something you're used to doing automatically without thinking, and then try to do the opposite or do it differently; For example, use your left hand instead of your right to hold the glass of water or clean your bottom row of teeth after the top row, and this will train your brain to avoid slouching and thinking again while practicing habits.
It is similar to the way we practice sports when you practice a specific exercise always, you will use the same muscles always. At the same time, it is better to follow different methods, as any trainer will advise you to ask them about the subject, and change your exercise routine to ensure the fitness of your entire body; I want you to apply the same method to the habits gained by your mind, change the way you exercise and notice how your thinking will increase during this process.
3. Watch the documentaries
Look for the most purely scientific presentations. For example, you once saw a program on how to design and manufacture parking meters, and you might think that these topics are not interesting; the only thing that matters to us about parking meters is whether our allocated time is over, and in fact, the TV program was prolonged. Still, after two minutes, I realized how much focus and detail the process requires and how amazing it is.
I found myself drawn to a topic that I previously thought would be too boring, which made me realize that sometimes I need to slow down and think deeply about things that I think are taken for granted in my field, but when you start to look at those takeaways, you will open your mind as well. We will be able to notice the mistakes we make in our daily work.
4. Think ahead
Think about the future, like the future of your business or another field; For example, think about the future of cars. If someone thought about it years ago, they would think a car can brake automatically, or be equipped with sensors from all sides and make a sound to indicate how close it is to something else is strange, or even that a car has a sound that guides you while driving, all these features that currently exist would have seemed crazy to a person living in 1980.
Even self-driving cars are a reality today. The idea is to ask yourself, what's next? For the question to stimulate innovation, think about where this or that field of work can go later or your work field. Expand your thinking by imagining the potential possibilities in different areas and noticing how this will reflect on your thinking in your work field.
5. Think calmly for 30 minutes
Stop what you are doing now, stop accelerating thoughts, and stop numbing your mind by watching television, movies, and games. These two concepts represent the two states of extreme mental activity; excessive thinking or not thinking, but you need to learn how to reach a compromise so that you allow your mind to consider, but not too much; and so that your mind can relax, but not too much; so choose a topic and meditate for 15-30 minutes; so that you go beyond the stage of superficial thinking and get your mind used to thinking a little deeper, and this exercise alone will help your mind to get used to practicing itself by itself.
We all know that the more we practice, the stronger we become. If we train our minds in new and different ways, sure we will become more competent, and when we increase our confidence, we will start to act and move differently and more confidently; that is, the impact of increasing your intelligence will appear transparent in other aspects of your life, so use your mind to accelerate the growth of your company, and your intelligence may also rise.
Try these five exercises to eliminate feelings of unworthiness and start to feel more intelligent than you thought, soon your profits will increase, and your company will flourish while you confidently lead it.
After all these years, I still see the usefulness of the crossword game to improve your vocabulary, but to become more intelligent, you need this other set of exercises as well, so allocate 15 minutes after reading this article to think about what that means, and even doing just that is a step in the right direction.
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