Digging Trenches

[Timothy Ross]

I was reading this interesting email from Barking Up The Wrong Tree while enjoying my coffee this Thanksgiving Morning. Today is a wonderful day, the big stores are closed and all of the people employed there are getting a real day off, that is kinda nice if you think about it. I digress, back to the story. I shared ths with my darling wife and she reminded me where wisdom comes from. The Fear of The Lord. I will post the full email in comments and a link to the blog. Check this insight out next time your dealing with a smarty pants. ~ TLR 

 

 IQ isn’t everything.

"Greater education and intelligence don't necessarily lift you up; sometimes they just provide better tools for digging trenches.  “Intelligent and educated people are less likely to learn from their mistakes, for instance, or take advice from others. And when they do err, they are better able to build elaborate arguments to justify their reasoning, meaning that they become more and more dogmatic in their views. Worse still, they appear to have a bigger ‘bias blind spot,’ meaning they are less able to recognize the holes in their logic.”

A 2013 study from the Journal of Experimental Psychology found that people who were better at wise reasoning did better in nearly every area of life. They were happier, had better relationships, and were even less likely to die in the next five years. The twist?

Intelligence is pretty much unrelated to wise reasoning. And unrelated to those increases in health or happiness. You could have an IQ so high it requires oxygen, and it wouldn’t make you all that much wiser, healthier, or happier. "

 

https://bakadesuyo.com/2024/10/make-you-smarter/

[Timothy Ross]

** Napoleon Hill’s Thought for the Day
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** The mind serves best which is used most.
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** Do you have a continuous improvement program for your most valuable asset—your mind? Make sure that you spend at least a half hour each day studying, thinking, and planning. Review your long, intermediate, and short-term goals, and measure your progress to date. Are you on schedule for their completion? Ask yourself, “What information do I not have that would help me achieve my goals?” Then gather the information you need and get into action.

[Timothy Ross]

WORDS OF WISDOM
“In the woods, we return to reason and faith.”
RALPH WALDO EMERSON

[Timothy Ross]

Napoleon Hill’s Thought for the Day
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** A quick decision usually denotes an alert mind.
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** Successful people are decisive. They don’t agonize over decisions and thereby miss out on a great opportunity. They gather the relevant information, discuss alternatives with advisers whose opinions they respect, and then make a decision and get on with it. Indecision creates the worse kind of paralysis and, left unattended, can permanently damage you and your organization. If you have trouble making decisions, remember that there are few decisions that are irreversible. If you later discover that you were wrong, correct your course and move on.

[Timothy Ross]

Don’t let yourself get locked on to one idea. Don’t get lazy. Leave some wiggle room. Stay open-minded. Ambiguity doesn’t always create confusion. Sometimes it creates curiosity. And curiosity? That’s the stuff of brilliance.

Whatever your cognitive ability might be, start using these tools to improve your cognitive style. Consider the opposite: What if this problem isn’t as difficult as I think it is? Then self-distance: What would I tell my friend if they were in this situation? Check the base rates: How does this usually play out in the real world? Use emotional differentiation: Am I really “unhappy” with this situation, or am I just “frustrated” with this one issue? And, finally, consider there might be more than one way to make things better...

Having a high IQ doesn’t come with a warranty against being stupid. Being smart is great, but being aware of how your brain is trying to trick you?

That’s genius.

[Timothy Ross]

Here’s how to get smarter:

• Consider The Opposite: No, this is not a mental autoimmune disorder; it’s epistemological hygiene. Consider how you could be wrong and you’re less likely to be wrong.
• Use Self-Distancing: Sounds like something I might do at a family reunion. In reality, it’s stepping outside your emotional meltdown to look at the situation from a cool, objective distance, as if you’re watching a Netflix show about a character named "You."
• Use Base Rates: Those grim reapers of magical thinking that most people completely ignore because math is hard and hope is addictive. Before you worry about the unlikely or predict the impossible ask, “How often does this actually occur?”
• Use Emotional Differentiation: The top investors are out there deciphering the exact flavor of their emotional state like wine connoisseurs, while we’re over here chugging emotional boxed wine. Get nuanced about your feelings and intuition can become a sixth sense.

We’d all love to have clear answers in life – but sometimes a little ambiguity can lead to better thinking.

Researchers did a study where students were given a method to solve a type of math problem. Half the students were told this was “the way to solve this equation” and the other half was told this was “one way to solve this equation.” And that little word made all the difference.

Students who heard “one way” were 50% more likely to get the right answer. And, when tested, they had a more thorough understanding of the mathematical principle. Researchers redid the study with students in the humanities and social sciences. It worked again and again.

When we hear, “This is the cause, end of story,” we’re like, “Cool, I’ll just memorize that and never think about it again.” But with a little ambiguity it’s like we’ve been handed the intellectual equivalent of a treasure map. We’re no longer following orders -- we’re exploring. It’s like handing someone a mystery novel instead of a manual.

[Timothy Ross]

https://bakadesuyo.com/2024/10/make-you-smarter/