To increase your ability to become a smarter person, what skill would you choose? We would choose to read to make you a more intelligent person.
Reading … this is how Warren Buffett, one of the most successful people in the business world, describes his day. Sitting. Reading. He advises everyone to read more, and that’s certainly a goal we can all get behind.
There is both a conventional way to become a more intelligent person. And a non-conventional means to achieve it. But hold on the non-conventional ways for a moment.
So how do we do the conventional ways? And what are we to do with all that information once we have it?
The conventional techniques
Let’s discuss these conventional techniques and how best to achieve them.
More intelligent person … gives knowledge
One of the biggest reasons why we read books is to gain knowledge. Books are a rich source of information.
Reading books on varied subjects imparts information and increases the depth about the subject as well. Whenever you read a book, you learn new information that otherwise would not have known.
Improves your brain
Studies have shown that reading has strong positive effects on the brain. By staying mentally stimulated, you can prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.
This is because keeping your brain active prevents it from losing power. The brain is a muscle and like other muscles in the body, exercise keeps it strong and healthy.
Similar to solving puzzles, reading books is a great way to exercise your brain and keep it healthy.
More intelligent person … develops critical thinking skills
One of the primary benefits of reading books is its ability to develop critical thinking skills. For example, reading a mystery novel sharpens your mind.
Critical thinking skills are crucial when it comes to making important day to day decisions. Reading requires an individual to think and process information in a way that watching television can’t.
The more you read, the deeper your understanding becomes about what you’re reading and its application.
More intelligent person … improves focus and concentration
In our busy lifestyles, our attention is drawn in different directions each day as we try to multi-task through each day.
For example, you may find yourself dividing your time between working on a task, chatting with people via Skype, checking email, keeping an eye on Facebook and interacting with your colleagues.
All this multi-tasking can lead to high-stress level and low productivity. When you read a book, all your attention is focused on what you’re reading.
Your eyes and thoughts are immersed in the details of the story. This improves your concentration and focus. Read a book at least 20 minutes a day, and you will be amazed at how much more focused you will be.
More intelligent person … improves skills
Reading is a fundamental skill builder. For every good course on earth, there is a matching book to go with it. Books provide important information on various subjects and topics.
The best thing about reading is that you can go deeper than what learn in a classroom discussion. Whether it’s cooking, dancing, or even cleaning, you can always improve your skills by reading books.
The non-classical techniques
Those are the classical reasons why reading makes you a smarter person. But you can learn faster when you be like Da Vinci and focus on these non-classical techniques. Let me elaborate.
There are three classes of people: those who see, those who see when shown, and those that do not see.
– Leonardo Da Vinci
No doubt. I am a big fan of great thinkers. My top thinker of all time? It has to be Da Vinci. Why do you ask? For his abilities in learning and creativity, without a doubt. A mathematician. A scientist. An engineer. An anatomist. A creative and learner. Always learning and creating.
Do you see? Maybe the lessons from Da Vinci will help. So what would be the lessons in learning and creativity derived from Da Vinci? Here are the ones I continually come back to:
More intelligent person … sketching and note taking
Over his lifetime Da Vinci created 13,000 pages of sketches and notes. 13,000 pages. By hand, on individual sheets of paper.
A sketch in the center, simple and done quickly, a label on top, annotations along the sides, arrows pointing to key content. Sometimes a short summary on the bottom.
More intelligent person … divergent thinking first
Alone for the first few iterations divergent thinking. Time to generate lots of ideas, and to reflect. Incubate ideas. Ask himself lots of questions. Always observing and studying.
Think about the age of Da Vinci … no computers, few books, and few experts in fields of his interests. Just his ability to see and observe using notes to record for further study.
More intelligent person … convergent thinking later
Da Vinci often reviewed his work with respected peers after he had finished incubating his ideas. It was an opportunity to refine his ideas.
Time to collaborate. He was way ahead of his time in most topics, so many of his good ideas were rejected. He didn’t lose his desire or his persistence by the rejections. But remember … 13,000 sketches led to at least 3 masterpieces.
Persistence is a key, isn’t it? Perhaps this is the most important reason we have less creative people.
Save and revisit later
Most of Da Vinci’s sketches were done on individual sheets of paper. Not in a constrained notebook.
He understood the value of multiple revisits and connecting, reconnecting, and grouping related facts and observations. An analogy expert.
And an uncanny ability to connect several different observations and ideas to create new ideas.
You should know these: Top Notch Educated Person … 12 Traits You Will Recognize
More intelligent person … defer judgment
His basis of the study was simple observation and notes/questions on his observations. He withheld judgments, either positive or negative, for as long as possible. Particularly his own.
He appreciated that judgment would be a block to creativity and new ideas.
“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions”
Curiosity and questions
Perhaps Da Vinci’s greatest asset was his insatiable curiosity.
The more observations and connection of ideas, the more questions, and curiosity. And creative ideas.
More intelligent person … stimulate imagination
Da Vinci used divergent thinking to create lots of ideas. Lots of ideas, questions, and curiosity to stimulate his imagination.
He minimized the limitations and constraints when using his imagination to think of the solution space to his many questions.
Here’s what is recommended on both non-conventional as well as the conventional techniques:
Impression – Be impressed with the text. Stop and picture a scene in your mind, even adding elements like greatness, shock, or a cameo from yourself to make the impression stronger.
If Dale Carnegie is explaining his distaste for criticism, picture yourself receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace and then spiking the Nobel Prize onto the dais.
Association – Link the text to something you already know. This technique is used to great effect with memorization and the construction of memory palaces.
In the case of Carnegie’s book, if there is a particular principle you wish to retain, think back to a time when you were part of a specific example involving the principle. Prior knowledge is a great way to build the association.
Repetition – The more you repeat, the more you remember.
This can occur by literally re-reading a certain passage or in highlighting it or writing it down then returning to it again later.
Practicing these three elements of remembering will help you get better and better. The more you work at it, the more you’ll retain.
Keep the book and your notes close
The bottom line
Do you see? Very, very few of Da Vinci’s abilities are in the populace. But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn to be creative … it can be learned.
Can you use these lessons to learn to see or see better? Give it a try. Practice and be persistent. Stick with it and over the long haul, you will see some good dividends.
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Test. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
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Digital Spark Marketing will stretch your thinking and your ability to adapt to change. We also provide some fun and inspiration along the way. Call us for a free quote today. You will be amazed how reasonable we will be.
More reading on learning from Digital Spark Marketing’s Library:
9 Things to Know About Creative Visual Design Content
8 Presenter Mistakes That Are Rarely Made Twice
Know These Great Secrets of Collaboration and Co-Creation
How Good Is Your Learning from Failure?
Mike Schoultz is a digital marketing and customer service expert. With 48 years of business experience, he consults on and writes about topics to help improve the performance of small business. Find him on G+, Facebook, Twitter, Digital Spark Marketing, and LinkedIn.