How to become more intelligent

LegacyUser

Can anyone suggest ways to become more intelligent??

I am 20 & am the most un-intelligent person on the plant.

I cannot remember anything, I forget things really easily & quickly.

I am not in college and am unemployed and have no friends.

Thanks.

LighterGuy

fact is everyone is intelligent. Just some are more intelligent than others.

you say you forget things easily. Well I can tell you right off that the bat thats because either A, there is something on your mind aka you think alot or B, your not interested in particular things you hear.


The mind is a funny thing.
As we learn something new our brain assigns that information with a type of value ... in other words new stuff we learn is either important or unimportant. So if some guy starts talking about a subject im not interested in. My brain will forget.


As for being more smarter? ... Half of what you hear is bs. Alot of people just recycle things they hear. For example, I watched a programe on CNBC the other day. Up until the 1980s coke was made by 3rd party bottling companies. Coke only made the syrup. It was other companies that made the coke we drink. Now thats not the most profound thing a person could say - lol - but i tell someone that they be like "wow, didnt know that" - i come off as smarter. In reality I watched a bloody tv show.


Give anyone a pc, youtube and a subject. After ten mins they'll be "smarter".

MonkeyBone

Everything LighterGuy says is true.

If you want to be more intelligent then follow your interests, read more and pursue the things you enjoy doing. Einstein was a genius at mathematics and physics because he loved them, the same can be said for Pele. He was gifted/genius at soccer because he loved it. Remember their are many types of intelligence (seven I think) so look them up on the web. Find you niche but more so find the things that you enjoy as it will help you build up the intelligence/person that you wish to be. For example, if you hate biology then don't force yourself to read biology books but if you love animal welfare then pursue/enjoy this interests.

By pursuing what you care about you will open up new doors to people who are of like mind as you and also potential opportunities too.

Milky Moo

If you are unemployed your brain has probably grown a little lathargic from lack of being tested, try to do the crossword each day to get it moving again.

Start reading, the library is free to those who are unemployed. Keep a book with you at all time, a few minutes on the bus or if you are waiting around somewhere is a great opportunity to get a few pages in.

This will also help you become more knowledgeable if you read non fiction.

mikemac

Youtube has some of the worst rubbish on the internet.
But also some of the best.
If there is a topic that interests you then watch some documentaries.

Do the daily crossword in the paper.
When I was young we used to get this magazine called Readers Digest.
My mother made me learn a new word every day, you can do this for free on the internet.

Try doing sums in your head.
When I go jogging I do it. My last payslip has x amount minus tax free allowance then lower tax rate then higher tax rate on the remainder minus benefit in kind contribution and so on.
I can figure out my next monthly payslip to within a few euro and it's a challenge.
Or challenges like list every single Formula 1 World Champion since 1950 or the 24 teams in Italia 90. I can do it as I've an interest.

So what are you interested in OP and now become passionate on it

Ever work as a barman?
Some nights you'd be in a stupid state and if someone ordered one pint you'd have to ask them repeat it.
And some nights you'd be on the ball and banging out orders with 10 drinks and remember them all.
I used to sing songs in my head with the drinks order, it realy works.

Realy, a lot of it is confidence too.
If you make a mistake, then **** it, who cares?
If you going around telling yourself you are not clever enough OP you will start to doubt yourself and make more mistakes.
Just be active, find what interests you and improve daily

Grawns

Diet and exercise can help too. If you're eating rubbish, your brain and body will grow sluggish. Even taking some supplements such as fish oils and a power walk once a day could help.

banshee_bones

I would say simply, read more.

Not the tabloid newspapers but The Times, The Independant or the Guardian or whatever. The head of my course actually said this to us and followed up with 'rubbish in is rubbish out'.
All of those newspapers are available online, less content but its a place to start. Go to the library and take out membership if you don't have it already. If your interested in something read up on it, if you don't understand something read up on it.

I would also +1 another suggestion on here for crosswords, or you could do sudoku or even wordsearches if that would be more appeasable to you.

Best of luck in your quest for knowledge!

Kidchameleon

Keep fit - go jogging

Read - go somewhere like Hoggis Figgis and find a subject matter that you like. Reading can be hard if you've never really done it, keep at it though, its a gift.

Diet - plenty of vegetables

Never, EVER read tabloids.

Use Sunscreen

(the last one was a joke)

epgc3fyqirnbsx

I honestly believe that 90% of intellignece is common sense. We have heard many times here about someone meeting the most useless person who obtains firsts in college but are pretty useless with regards to life in general.

All one needs to do to be 'intelligent' is to be somewhat aware of their surroundings and whats happening in the world. As was said forget about glossy magazines and reality TV and just read the paper. But moreso be able to live your own life without assistance

Rather than coming across a problem and deciding imediately that you dont know what to do and call for help, just figure it out
99% of things you can figure out on your own imho, it just seems like we are educated to find a source and the answer elsewhere which is another conversation
But you're obviously intelligent (you found boards afterall ), just dont doubt your own ability, you can do what you want

magneticimpulse

Its not about how brainy you are...its about how long your willing to stick with something. Failed Chemistry and French in Leaving Cert and now just finishing a PhD Doctorate in Chemistry at French University.

What changed? Not much...i didnt suddenly turn brainy. Id prob still fail Leaving cert papers if I was handed them tomorrow.

How did I do it? I stuck with it. Thats the key...sticking with something, especially if it interests you.

Being vegetarian i fall asleep, have no energy and never remember things...ive started to take fish oils (ok contradiction to being veggie) but I do think it makes a huge difference.

Reading news is good, it keeps you on top of whats happening in the world, and in my case im useless as English and Spelling...so it helps you feel smarter too

Oh and Einstein was rubbish at spelling. It prob depends whether your left or right handed too. Which part of the brain you use. For instance, in theory most Scientists and Creative people are left handed and in theory use the Right side of the brain. So maybe you just have to decide that your better at being Creative and being hands on, engineer, fixing things type of person

Reesy

how? wrote: »

Can anyone suggest ways to become more intelligent??

I am 20 & am the most un-intelligent person on the plant.

I cannot remember anything, I forget things really easily & quickly.

I am not in college and am unemployed and have no friends.

Thanks.

Hi OP,

I reckon there are some great suggestions above. Would you like to tell us how you'd like your life to be - some things you'd specifically like to change?

Good luck
ps you spell better than most of the highly-qualified engineers that I know!

mikemac

Reesy wrote: »

ps you spell better than most of the highly-qualified engineers that I know!

I often wondered why doctors have such terrible handwriting.
Looking at some prescriptions you'd wonder if the doctor even know how to write

Have you any goals here OP?

JayC5

Since you've posted on boards I assume you have access to the net...


Try these, I'm sure if you get through them you'll have plenty of conversational ammo - plus your sex life will improve if you hang out with nerds


http://www.openculture.com/ (excellent site if I may say so!)
http://www.ted.com/
http://academicearth.org/
http://sites.google.com/site/historicalpodcasts/allknownhistorypodcasts

Enjoy

LegacyUser

Original poster here

Thanks for the help and thanks for the links.

When I say I want to become 'more intelligent' I mean with everything. I noticed recently that I seem to have forgotten simple words such as patriotic etc and I stand there nodding as if I know what they mean, when I actually have to think and then I realize I haven't a clue what that word means cos I can't remember.

As I said in my opening post, I forget things very easily. I have starting reading a book, but I am finding it very difficult to stay focused on it. It's 'to kill a mocking bird'.

As for taking Vitamins, well I take Vivioptal daily. I only eat three types of fish, salmon (salmon fish fingers, rarely fresh salon as I don't like it) and sometimes (rarely) cod. I don't particularly like fish. I eat Bacon/Chicken/beef/red meat most days though.

Thanks for the help so far, anymore suggestions are welcome.

pwd

I don't know if you can become more intelligent, especially as an adult, in a literal sense. In a practical sense, you certainly can. You can improve your clarity of thought, your ways of thinking, sharpen you rmind to improve focus.

Exercise is one thing that is likely to improve clarity and focus. We were told in college that a study was done to see the effects of spending time playing sports on academic success. The results were that people who played sport and exercised performed better academically, which I think was the opposite to what they expected to find.

Crosswords have already been mentioned. They have been shown to help prevent senility. This supports the idea they improve mental clarity, I think.

Alcohol is something that has an obvious dampening effect on mental sharpness, and not just when you are drunk or hungover, but for a while afterwards. Many drugs impair sharpness and memory, ecstacy and cannibis are notorious for their effect on memory. Again, this effect is not just while the substance is in your system, but for a time afterwards. Caffeine and cigarettes have the opposite effect. Cigarettes have been proven to improve memory, in fact, though it would be moronic to use them for this reason. If you quit smoking you are very likely to find extreme difficulty concentrating for a period. Similarly if you drink a lot of caffeine, and then stop, you will probably find your concentration is adversely effected for a while.

I'll mention nootropics, which are "smart drugs", out of interest, rather than because I think you should try using them. Also the wikipedia page on them has a lot of information relevant to the effects of diet on thinking:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nootropic#Dietary_sources_and_supplements

I wouldn't worry about staying focused on a book. It is normal to find it hard to engage with books sometimes, and usually more an indicator of just not being very interested in it, rather than anything else.

kerash

Crosswords are great, dont forget to get yourself a good dictionary and use it!! Rather than books (if your are finding it difficult to concentrate atm) try reading articles - something completely new and unknown to you and some you're interested in and take notes.
Try jigsaws!

Keaton Clever Vehicle

Keaton Clever Vehicle wrote: »

I honestly believe that 90% of intellignece is common sense. We have heard many times here about someone meeting the most useless person who obtains firsts in college but are pretty useless with regards to life in general.

But there is a difference between intelligence and common sense. That person who obtains firsts in college is intelligent. The fact they might not be able to function in the real world has nothing to do with that. Likewise, someone with a lot of 'iniative' and common sense isn't necessarily intelligent. I don't think you can make yourself more intelligent. I think you can train yourself to remember things or read to appear more informed and interesting, but all you're really doing is applying the intelligence you were born with to different tasks. Someone with a low IQ is never going to be able to do a PhD, for example.

pwd

Evelyn Salmon Material wrote: »

Someone with a low IQ is never going to be able to do a PhD, for example.

I can think of some examples tbh

consultech

Evelyn Salmon Material wrote: »

Someone with a low IQ is never going to be able to do a PhD, for example.

Fairly sweeping, that.

consultech

consultech wrote: »

Fairly sweeping, that.

How is it? I'm talking low, not average.

consultech

consultech wrote: »

Fairly sweeping, that.

Really? People with IQs of 80 don't get PHDs. It's just a fact.

Galway K9

Just a hunch, will you do a ADD quiz online? let us know how it turns out.

LegacyUser

Original Poster here

Galway K9 wrote: »

Just a hunch, will you do a ADD quiz online? let us know how it turns out.

What is an ADD Quiz and where can I do it? Do you have a link please?

Cheers

Ickle Magoo

I think an internet quiz is quite possibly the worst way to try to discern anything about anything. If you have any concerns about your concentration or behaviour - make an appointment with your doctor.

Ickle Magoo

Ickle Magoo wrote: »

I think an internet quiz is quite possibly the worst way to try to discern anything about anything. If you have any concerns about your concentration or behaviour - make an appointment with your doctor.

+1

You should see a doctor, OP. It could really be anything at all.

LegacyUser

Original Poster here

I am not worried about my concentration or behaviour, I want to become more intelligent.

I did some Googling and found these quiz's, are they the quizes Galway K9 is talking about?

http://psychcentral.com/resources/detailed/1220.html

And for the record, I do not have ADD/ADHD. It's since I finished school/became unemployed that this has happened.

If I had any concerns about my mental health I would see a medical practitioner, not do an online quiz as a diagnosis.

Are online quizzes in any way reliable? I wouldn't have thought so, but maybe I am wrong.

pwd

how? wrote: »

Original Poster here

I am not worried about my concentration or behaviour, I want to become more intelligent.

I did some Googling and found these quiz's, are they the quizes Galway K9 is talking about?

http://psychcentral.com/resources/detailed/1220.html

And for the record, I do not have ADD/ADHD. It's since I finished school/became unemployed that this has happened.

If I had any concerns about my mental health I would see a medical practitioner, not do an online quiz as a diagnosis.

Are online quizzes in any way reliable? I wouldn't have thought so, but maybe I am wrong.

Is it funny that I did that quiz while I need to focus on my work

Big Bag of Chips

OP - a great way to remember things is to write them down.

If someone uses a word, like patriotic, for example, and you don't know/can't remember what it means. Write it down. Look it up and then write down the meaning - it is then more likely to stick.

It's a technique used to revise for exams. If you read something, it's sort of a passive thing, it doesn't take much effort and can very easily forget it as soon as you've read it. But if you have to write something down - you have to take an active role in it. You have to make the effort to think about it and get it out on paper. Your brain has to do more with it, so it's more likely to stick.

Try it. Don't do too much at once, you'll overload and become bored. Little by little.

BTW - I'm guessing there are a lot of people in the world who don't know the exact meaning of alot of words they hear, but pretend they do!

Get a diary/notebook and keep a note of things that you want to learn or want to look up. And always make out lists of things you need to do.

It helps!

Aard

If you can't bring yourself to reading, much less going to the library, a cheap way to get smarter is to read Wikipedia. I spend countless hours on WP every week, and it would be unusual for me not to have a tab dedicated to it at all times. Just look up something you're interested in, read the article, then click on the links in it. Hopping from one article to another is a great way to kill/waste time, not to mention becoming knowledgable on different subjects. There's a mobile version as well, so it's possible to do it on the move. If things get really difficult, there's also many articles written in Simple English: http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/

Good luck.

Zen65

how? wrote: »

I noticed recently that I seem to have forgotten simple words such as patriotic etc and I stand there nodding as if I know what they mean, when I actually have to think and then I realize I haven't a clue what that word means cos I can't remember.

You sound a little like the mother of young children. Often mothers (or fathers, in the same circumstance) who have not had "adult conversation" in a long time (because everyone they meet talks about the kids) feel that they've lost some brain cells. The reality is simply that your brain needs stimulation to keep remembering things. You cannot get that stimulation from watching TV. As you're unemployed it could simply be that you don't have enough conversations during the day to keep your mind in shape.

Try getting out, getting exercise, taking up a hobby which requires that you meet with people & interact with them. Perhaps voluntary work can achieve this. It's often said that certain brain-games help improve memory & your ability to reason, so perhaps these games might help? I think that brain games are overall less useful than social interaction for the kind of problems you refer to.

Don't dwell on the issue. Nothing short of an injury or serious illness reduces a brain's efficiency as much as the belief that you are not smart.

Be at peace,

Z

goose2005

feelingstressed wrote: »

I often wondered why doctors have such terrible handwriting.
Looking at some prescriptions you'd wonder if the doctor even know how to write

I think it's because of the volumes of paperwork they're required to do - scrawling is quicker and it becomes a habit.

Zen65

Try these tips?

http://health.yahoo.net/articles/womens-health/10-tricks-improving-your-memory


Z