1. 5 More Ways to Increase Your
Intelligence
1. Cultivate friendships with people who think differently. I enjoy talking to people who
really challenge my conception of the world. Artists (I’m not one), medical staff (I’m not
one), construction workers (I’m not one) and so on.
2. Get outside your own culture through travel, social gatherings, … Travel is great (but
the hit on the environment is large, so…. do a few long trips rather than many short ones
perhaps?) especially if you immerse locally. Going to Cuba and staying in a western hotel
is not travel. Going backpacking in Nepal is. Doing voluntravel (going somewhere to
help, e.g. Medicins Sans Frontiers) is ideal. But in any event the challenge to your sense
of normalcy is fabulous. I spent a month in western China with my kids. Watching them
take in the local environment and adapt was a real eye opener to how stuck-in-my-own-
ways I’d become.
3. Learn that it is okay to turn off your cell phone and email. Reflective thought and deep
reading take time. Oh excuse me, just got an email, be right back. Nope, that doesn’t
work. Its okay to be unreachable for hours a day. I aim to answer email for an hour at the
end of the day, at most. For many hours I’m unreachable except by family. Since I started
that my time for thinking and reading has risen dramatically.
4. Do less better. There’s always another project that we rush to, never finishing the one
we were doing. Sorry, great works of science and art take great dedication, polish, and
repolish! Sure, we’re not all Darwin or Monet, but we should ASPIRE to be. Just say no
to some projects. Focus on a few (make your family a project… for extra points!).
5. In all things seek balance. I agree that exercise is good. So is reading. So is relaxation –
and if a bit of TV is what works, great. I for one watch old romantic comedy movies
when I’m brain dead (well, okay, when I’m especially brain dead). I also enjoy blending
my activities – go for a long walk that ends up at a coffee shop where I read a paper or
book and stare out the window.
These 5 things are a great compliment to the original article, but there are still many more
the haven’t been mentioned. I’d love to hear what works best for you.