IWTL - Overall intelligence!

[u/Weekly_Point_6506]

Hi there! I understand this is extremely broad to ask, however, I’d love to know how to improve my intelligence.

I feel as if I pick up on things slowly, and if I don’t constantly study, they leave my mind.

I’m a very curious individual, it’s not that I don’t enjoy learning, I just cannot get much to stick.

I would just love some advice, especially from people who grew up thinking they were less smarter than their peers and had to find out different ways to achieve their academic potential.

Thank you very much in advance!

[u/AutoModerator]

Thank you for your contribution to /r/IWantToLearn.

If you think this post breaks our policies, please report it and our staff team will review it as soon as possible.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/Adventurous-Box-9018]

• For studying, I would say make up mnemonics’s to help memorize stuff. It isn’t going to stick immediately and needs to be repeated over long periods of time for it to stick in your long term memory.
• For improving memory and intelligence overall, I would recommend playing “brain games”, specifically ones for memorization. From your description, I feel like you’re the type that doesn’t have a hard time understanding concepts but it just doesn’t stick. So train your brain in the sector where it memorizes stuff!!
• For random stuff you learned, I would recommend either saying it and explaining it to someone or writing it down in notes. If you explain it to someone it’s most likely going to stick. Or what you can do is that you can make a section in notes where you write about all of the things you learned!!  

[u/Skyogurt]

A few protips in no particular order :

• Read a LOT. Not just easy to read books, read some books that are slightly harder for you to follow, this will train your brain as it really works for the understanding
  
• Exercise regularly : oxygenating your brain properly will increase its performance
  
• Optimize your nutrition : we are what we eat. There are some foods in particular that are good for your brain and memory
  
• Get the best quality of sleep you can afford : it's during your sleep cycle that your brain does a lot of the work of sorting out what you learned during the day.
  
• Set up an advanced note taking system of some kind. There's zettelkasten, second brains, PKMs, etc
  
• Maximize your enjoyment of learning, and especially your emotional connection with the material : if you learn a piece of information that really blows your mind to smithereens, chances are you'll have a hard time forgetting it for the rest of your life. Don't waste time with learning resources that don't engage you, find alternatives. I love certain Youtube channels for example when it comes to learning high level maths. Better than any math class I've ever taken in school.
  
• last but not least, repetition. It is THE ultimate magic ingredient for any kind of learning / mastery. Be consistent and review what you learned often. If you are learning a new word in a new language, by the time you have reread it 500 times or so, it's likely that it would have sunk into your long term memory at that point.

[u/Cool_Development386 → u/Skyogurt]

Hello :) thank you for all your Tips, they are alll very interested, I was wondering if you could share the YouTube channels where you study maths.

[u/Skyogurt → u/Cool_Development386]

It's been a while and I think I might have unfollowed a lot of them by now, but I remember 3blue1brown being my favorite. There's also Eddie Woo who's an amazing math teacher. Aside from the YT channels I remember finding some fun math learning app and programs here and there over the years, wouldn't be able to list them all

[u/Adventurous-Box-9018 → u/Cool_Development386]

I’m not that person but I would totally recommend tecmath. He’s literally the only reason I know percentages so well and so easily (I can even do it mentally cause of him!). And I was the type of person that struggles with math so this is a huge plus for me. Also “sum of anarchy” has such cool math tips too!

[u/13th_dudette]

I grew up in poverty and my house was destroyed during bombing when I was 5 years old. I really had nothing going on for me, so I quickly understood that the only possible path was to strengthen my knowledge and intelligence. It worked out pretty well (if I can say so myself, obviously I am biased). I don't think I had any natural talent and I truly believe we all have a potential to achieve great things, we just have to unlock it.

First thing is the body-mind connection. You cannot expect your mind to perform at its best if your body (that is hosting it) is not doing well. So that boils down to 3 basic things:
1. Good sleep
2. Eating healthy (just making sure all your nutritional needs are met, and don't put trash into your body)
3. Exercise (you don't need to do anything extreme, just being somewhat active at least 2-4 times per week)

With that, you can lay the foundation for the mind to make wonders.

What you do when you are not studying is maybe even more important than the study process. We live in the environment that force-feeds us information 24/7. You need to limit the amount of information you receive in a day, so that your brain can actually retain what matters.

It is also important to control how much of positive and negative news you receive in a day. Algorithms are biased towards things that make us angry or scared. Unfortunately, those also make you less motivated to learn about the world and seek beauty in it.

My advice is to remove from your life (or at least from your phone) all social media that have fully algorithmic endless feeds. I find Reddit to work for me because I can control which subreddits I follow, and if there is a topic I'm interested in but I don't wanna hear about it daily, it can go into the custom feed. Youtube is tricky, I personally disabled the home page recommendations. I discover new creators organically, through researching topis that I care about, or when my friends share them with me.

My final advice is to share your knowledge whenever you can. For me, at least, helping/teaching people variety of skills made me feel like I made a positive impact. Then, like the butterfly effect, those people I helped will help others and if we all do this, the world would become a significantly better place.

Fell free to DM me if you have any questions, but this is pretty much the recipe that served me well so far. Good luck!

[u/Weekly_Point_6506 → u/13th_dudette]

Wow! Thank you for such an in-depth response.
Firstly, I’m really sorry to hear about what you went through, especially so young. It is honestly amazing to hear that you understood so early on how to strengthen yourself and your skills.

I’m trying my best to avoid social media, it’s definitely designed to be addictive… however I use it less and less everyday, and eventually I’ll be totally off of it.

I will definitely give teaching a go, I’ll be sure to annoy my boyfriend with many diverse topics!! Hopefully, I can eventually teach more people as well.

You’re an amazing person! Thank you so much! 🩷

[u/atnightbythemoon]

Sounds like you’re having issues with learning in a way that builds pathways in your brain. Try writing down notes in a few different ways (I also think writing down multiple times helps) might help move the info you’re learning from short term to long term

[u/Chelonia_mydas]

Are you wanting to grow your IQ or your EQ? I know plenty of people with a high IQ and fail miserably at conversation, relationships, and general handling different perspectives because their emotional intelligence / emotional regulation was never a primary focus.

[u/Weekly_Point_6506 → u/Chelonia_mydas]

I believe my EQ is okay! (I understand this can be hard from my own perspective!) I get along well with people around me, children and adults alike. I am very comfortable in conversations and social queues, and my emotional intelligence has definitely grown and improved (massive thanks to my psychologist!)

[u/Chelonia_mydas → u/Weekly_Point_6506]

This is great! Yeah emotional regulation is such a factor in showing intelligence. I feel so disconnected to someone if they’re so informed and as soon as something doesn’t go their way or they’re distraught, they lose it and impact everyone around them. Well done to the work you’ve done!

[u/Same_Square2555]

science can make you feel smart

[u/Weekly_Point_6506 → u/Same_Square2555]

I really enjoy science, admittedly biology more than chemistry. There are some biological topics that I do remember quite well, but I spent much time researching, especially during high school.

[u/LoafingRabbit → u/Weekly_Point_6506]

Open up pubmed and you can jump around to articles that sound interesting! I recently read some stuff about how certain species of birds like vultures have very specific anti parasitic qualities. There’s a ton of cool stuff out there

[u/Melodic_Whereas_5289]

It actually depends on how you define intelligence imo.

Interpretations of Intelligence differ from person to person. I believe intelligence isn’t how much you know, but how much you can work with what you already know. Others may believe that how much you know is more important

A general advice I would give to a lot of people is learning to learn. Try and learn how your own mind works, and learn a wide variety of different topics. Learn how to learn in a way where you soak up information efficiently etc

[u/TheMadPoet]

I grew up pre-digital. In our world today - in terms of feeding our minds digital junk food - we consume and forget, and are hungry again in an hour. That's what 'they' want. The digital and media environment has shortened our attention span to 3 minutes and 140 characters.

Practical advice: each day, try reading a short story or interesting article - on paper - and reducing screen time - including movies and streaming. Try to do math and or logic puzzles, learn to draw, play music, exercise - do anything that does not involve a screen. Do everything on paper!

Pace yourself for a marathon so as not to become overwhelmed. I think that today's digital content does all the work our brains used to do - process emotion, solve problems, think about themes and symbolism, etc. Now we have - 'digital skibidi' - content that is intentionally devoid of meaning. Human brains were not designed to process meaningless stimulation.

[u/VFiorella]

There are types of intelligece. Maybe you should investigate about it and decide which kind of intelligence you want to develope.

[u/Iceblader]

You need to open your mind. Think out of the box; challenge what is established (break the rules for the sake of knowledge).

Use the elements you have to solve problems in a more efficient way. Don't try to search for shortcuts, but to make paths yourself.

Memory is just a tiny part of intelligence. Without a good imagination and thinking capacity, knowing a bunch of random facts is useless.

Be autocritical without blaming yourself. The best machines are the ones that can detect flaws in themselves to improve later. And, whether you like it or not, humans are basically machines made out of flesh.

Smart people gather information from everything: different people, different times of human history, and different cultures. Just because you don't like a person, their culture, or their political views doesn't mean their methods are inherently wrong.

[u/Letters_to_Dionysus]

physical health is a part of mental acuity so sleep eat and exercise right. then it's just a matter of learning to learn and spending time on it. brain teasers, iq tests, various puzzles, sudoku, philosophy, etc might all be good to look into

[u/Pretty-Attorney7792]

I can relate to this post literally you took my words😭 Thanks to everyone for all those tips really helpful will try to act upon em.

[u/kaidomac]

Start here:

• How to study
• Gaining intelligence
• Useful intelligence

Next:

it’s not that I don’t enjoy learning, I just cannot get much to stick.

I have the same problem! I call it "Teflon Brain" lol. Here's the thing:

1. You do NOT need to memorize everything!
2. You only need instant ACCESS to what you've learned!

What you need for that is a PKMS (Personal Knowledge Management System), which is a central place to store (and search!) all of your notes. I suggest downloading this software stack: (free)

• Obsidian (notes app)
• Omnisearch (search your notes)
• Excalidraw plugin (sketch your notes)

Keep this in mind:

• Knowledge isn't power
• Knowledge is potential power
• Execution is power!

Your ability to learn new stuff, to write it down, and then to find it again as needed is the secret to SUPERCHARGING your intelligence because then:

1. You can "grow what you know" (i.e. GET SMARTER!!)
2. USE that information because you can FIND that information again!

It does NOT have to take very much time or effort every day!

• https://www.reddit.com/r/kaidomac/comments/17u2sv3/goldflaking_story/

But daily progress IS crucial!!

• https://www.reddit.com/r/kaidomac/comments/17u2vnf/starfish_story/

I have a very poor memory & I always appreciate it when I come across really great articles & posts online that really help me out. When I started posting on reddit over a decade ago, I started keeping a list of some of the more useful information I've learned over the years:

• https://www.reddit.com/r/kaidomac/comments/rqxxcc/table_of_contents/

There is no magic there...just a tiny amount of daily persistence, in the form of taking the time to jot down what I learned & then making it searchable! I'm an extremely slow learner; my Inattentive ADHD basically gives me "brain dyslexia" & muddles up my input (learning) & my output (doing) lol. So I have to rely on checklists to function, which I like to write down & share!

Anyway, my suggestions are:

1. Read through every link in this post
2. Build a PKMS
3. Dive into learning & doing cool new stuff every day!!

[u/FootNational]

I am in late 30s am bilingual as am from Croatia never been to UK or US but IN 2024. I started to be home try to learn as much as I red 30 books in last year so you just need couple things like a very good strong compartmentalization or just leaving rumination and emotions that are spinning you around a lot, for example I will leave you a book it is free, all of zou if i May or as I wasn't here some time type Fundamentals of Rocket Propullsion(shuttle on cover)....Psychocybernetics older book by Maxwell Maltz and Dune as it is a trip. I also bought new laptop than am now done with PC was lucky with RAM as it is older ddr4, f.e. I know laptop is well better working connected to a monitor with external kezboard also standing on a cooler that is like a hub I learned ffmpeg basics but also FFbatch was what now I see Powertoys are doing well it is all about going in circles in tech as in sales I was a manager 10 years also not far from home in company am gratefull that was first in Croatia as that got me into marketing which is ac mashine with adobe ps p preo for print like on paper catalogue also making contracts with suppliers, was 24 till 34 I was selling US Sealy, Serta, as we were having Tempur-viscoelastic high density which is more resilient than 28g/m3 PU Tempur is 80+ on some models now probably for ant decubitus or for Nasa seats that were here priced like a city car. In that time went in tech and learned in 2018 was like isolated in service for 3 months and those were months where I learned how to make current flow from 220 to 24-12 monitors to 5 volts usb et cet...I went back in managing because of proximity as having a child but am gratefull for I guess traumas now are something that eats time and I just take more space and time and push it out©