“If you say you can or say you can’t – it’s true,” according to Henry Ford’s lived reality.
Research supports this notion since our view of intelligence cultivates or dampens mental capacity, just as Ford claimed: When IQ is seen as fixed our choices narrow.
Fortunately, we now know IQ is fluid and intelligences are multiple.
When we extend our view to include the intelligences below, for instance, we likely see ourselves smarter in some areas than others. Good news here is that we can increase our intellectual capacity in each area as we use it.
For example, we ramp up personal or social intelligences when we use intuition to make decisions that advance our opportunities?
Just as Ford implied – the brain comes equipped to grow IQ when we recognize that we can. It’s as if the brain reserves its fluidity for those who choose its genuine capability and then use it…
Even words we speak can shape our day to sink or swim. Want words to come easier and meanings to yield more wealth? Then play with words, do crosswords, compete in scrabble, debate, or offer to speak at a local club. Search for new ideas on the internet, write a blog, or tell your best idea in 140 letters, as a driver to boost your linguistic brainpower.
Similarly, music we listen to or compose can move our muse as fluid, or tank our talents as fixed. Play Bach or Handel in the background during your next creative project, for example, and watch how moods improve while stress flees. And there’s more.
What about our choice to move more? Hope to dance better? Want to move with coordinated grace? Then choose to shuffle and stretch so that kinesthetic intelligence kicks in with greater ease. Do it to grow it regardless of skills lacking or other limitations that hold those “fixed” folks back. I start with hikes in a nearby park and gradually began to toss naturalistic intelligence into my mental mix when I golf or bowl with my grandchildren.
We may shoot photos, or graph results to support a speech we give. And in these additions, we also grow capabilities in spatial intelligence through our deliberate use.
Once we recognize IQ fluidity, we tend to choose to grow brainpower. It takes less effort than some folks realize. Simply start a schedule to plan the coming week, for instance, and we’re already stretching our logical-mathematical IQ. Like other intelligences math genius grows more through math or logical choices, not merely by being a numbers guru. Start with baby steps and we lift off to new flights with use. Einstein put it this way: Education’s what remains after one’s forgotten everything learned in school. Do you agree?
Do use-it-or-lose-it warnings seem overly simplistic? Why believe research on the evidence of mental fluidity? Why not see for ourselves? If we suspect we possess any mental traits discussed here, why not survey our intelligences – and alter a few daily choices that grow a few new prospects the way Ford fueled his choices.
Created by Ellen Weber, Brain Based Tasks for Growth Mindset
YOUR TURN! Join our Brain Based Circles! Would love to meet you at any of the following!
Brain Leaders and Learners Blog
Mita Brain Center Facebook
efweber on Pinterest
@ellenfweber on Twitter
ellenfweber on Instagram
Ellen Weber on Google+
Ellen Weber on LinkedIn