How to develop intelligence - the best exercises and advice from psychologists. The right steps to develop your intelligence

In the age of high technology, human mental abilities are the basic foundation for success in life. The ability to quickly remember and reproduce information, erudition, competence - all these signs relate to the concept of “intelligence”. Let's figure out what is meant by this term, and also learn how to develop intelligence.

The essence of the concept

Intelligence and its components were first described by the German scientist Wilhelm Stern at the beginning of the 20th century. Then many scales and methods for diagnosing mental abilities appeared, including the famous IQ test.

Intelligence is defined as a stable set of human mental abilities that allow him to adapt to the environment, cognize and change it.

This concept cannot be equated with cognitive, mental abilities. They are only a working tool of the intellect.

The most detailed model for this term was proposed by the American psychologist Joy Paul Guilford. In his opinion, intelligence includes 120 factors.

All of them can be classified according to three indicators:

content (human mental work);
operations (method of information processing);
result.

The development of intelligence is possible if you work on all these points. However, in ordinary life, a person may have many ideas that he analyzes in every possible way, but cannot put into practice. He just doesn't have the skill to do it. Here it is very important to know how to increase your intellectual level in all areas. But more on that a little later.

Exercise for the mind

Let's take a closer look at how to develop intelligence with the help of special actions. Before moving on to specific examples, it should be noted that the development of intelligence is impossible without the ability to fully rest.

The human brain must be active and process a large amount of information. This is impossible without good sleep. Normally, 8 hours is enough for a person, but it all depends on individual characteristics. The main thing is that the individual feels rested and full of vital energy to improve his intellect and develop creativity.

In addition, active rest is important. Hiking, running, cycling, and swimming are ideal for this. At the same time, the head has the opportunity to temporarily disconnect from solving global problems.

Now let’s move on directly to exercises and ways to develop intelligence:

Board games

This is the most famous and ancient way to improve human mental abilities. Playing chess, checkers and backgammon allows you to engage your intellect and creativity. Thinking, memory, will, and emotions actively work here. The player logically plans his moves and tries to predict the enemy's response.

In addition to well-known games, psychological board activities also improve intelligence well. These include the games “Mafia”, “Evolution”, “Dixit” and others. In such games, not only knowledge is important, but more so communicative competence in order to convey your point of view to others and feel the players.

Puzzles

The name itself suggests that the brain will have to work. Puzzles include Rubik's cube, jigsaw puzzles, crossword and scanword puzzles, mathematical and other riddles.

Thanks to this, it is possible to competently organize intellectual leisure for both adults and children. After all, it is very important to introduce a child to mental operations from childhood. When solving puzzles, fine motor skills are also involved, due to which the relationship between visual analysis, thought and action develops.

Fine art

Here the relationship between intelligence and visual creativity is most clearly visible. While a person is engaged in creativity, the brain is actively working and can find solutions to very important problems. This is also called illumination or insight.

The fact is that when drawing and sculpting, an individual falls into a light trance state and detaches himself from everyday life. This helps to tap into the unconscious impulses that are responsible for brilliant ideas.

The ability to draw and sculpt in this sense does not matter at all. The main thing is to surrender to the creative process. You can simply draw spots and lines, color the picture to a pleasant melody.

Foreign languages

How to develop intelligence through learning foreign languages is clear to everyone. The more knowledge, the wider the field for its application. What is important here is not quantity, but quality.

A person should have an interest in the language being studied and the culture of a given country, find consonances of words, write poems and songs in this language. This is what engages the “intelligence and creativity” connection.

Reading

Books for the development of intelligence are an indispensable assistant. Through reading, a person not only learns new things, but also immerses himself in unusual worlds, becomes acquainted with the secrets of science, and comprehends new cultures. How to develop intelligence in the process of reading, because this is a common human activity?

The correct selection of books is important here. As already described above, you need to read thoughtfully and with pleasure. If the book is not interesting, you should not force yourself. Such reading will not bring joy, which means it will go in vain.

Break pattern

A person whose life is subject to a clear routine often acts by inertia. Working and existing automatically does not allow an individual to even think about how to increase intelligence, and whether this should be done at all. Unfortunately, this is how most people live.

It is important to find the strength within yourself to break this vicious circle. You usually need to start small. For example, change the route to work. In the evening, take a walk in the park for an hour. On weekends, do something you haven't done before. Instead of household chores, go to an orphanage or to a neighboring town. Breaking the pattern allows you to look at the world differently and actualizes mental activity.

This article gives only some ways to increase intelligence. In this process, the most important thing is to understand how life will change when the intellectual level becomes higher. What will happen then to your inner world, your family, how will your wealth and relationships with others change? If the picture is positive, then this is the right path of development.

The connection between intelligence and mental processes

The human psyche is a complex structure, therefore all processes in it are interconnected and interdependent.

In particular, intelligence is largely influenced by the following internal realities:

Thinking

Some scientists even considered these concepts to be synonymous. But this is fundamentally wrong. Thinking is the process of cognition and processing of information, and intelligence is the ability to competently apply knowledge at the right time. Without mental operations, a person's intellectual level would be very low.

Volitional efforts are needed precisely in order to master new material, study important books, and bring thoughts to the final result.

Memory

The ability to retain, store and reproduce information is an integral part of intelligence.

Attention

Intelligent people are distinguished by an attentive attitude to the world around them. They are able to notice the smallest details, analyze and study them. The development of intelligence is closely related to the improvement of human attention.

Creativity

Guilford wrote about this sweet couple: intelligence and creativity. This term refers to a person’s ability to think creatively, that is, outside the box, to synthesize original ideas.

Basic indicators of intelligence

Psychologists have identified four key characteristics of intelligence:

Depth of mind is the ability to get to the bottom of phenomena and events.
Inquisitiveness is curiosity, the desire to learn new things.
Flexibility and mobility - the ability to act outside the box, bypass barriers, and overcome difficulties.
Logicality is the ability to substantiate one’s point of view and correctly present the material.

Erudition and intelligence

The development of intelligence is closely related to such a concept as erudition. Let's figure out what it is?

Erudition is a set of deep knowledge in any field of science or life.

Erudites have an inquisitive mind, always looking for new information on a topic that interests them. An intelligent person does not stop at one area; he develops in all possible directions. The line between these concepts is quite blurry. An erudite may also be interested in several areas at once, but, for example, be a layman in communication.

It is important to understand the following: in order to increase your intellectual level, you need to strive to become an erudite person in any field.

How to increase erudition for an ordinary person? The best way is to read topical books. Moreover, the quality of reading is extremely important. It must be thoughtful and meaningful. A person should write down or mark favorite or controversial phrases and questions, and look for an answer to them.

After reading the book, you can discuss it on a special forum so that the knowledge works and does not lie in your memory as a dead weight. In special psychological and pedagogical literature you can also find out the opinions of scientists on how to develop intelligence.

The ability to concentrate on small details, navigate information flows, respond instantly to changing situations and quickly make effective decisions are important skills that help businessmen achieve their goals. And in order to develop such business qualities and improve your mind, you need to regularly do special exercises for the brain, the so-called fitness for the head!

Just as muscles atrophy without physical activity, the human brain weakens without various mental activities. Conversely, the more you train it, the more nerve connections are formed in it, and the higher the activity of the brain, the more oxygen-rich blood enters it. And the intellectual health of a person actually depends on this.

In order for the brain to function effectively, it is important to specifically stimulate the growth of neural connections through new experiences. While studying at school and university, the amount of new information made it possible to consistently train the brain. But for an adult, whose life and work are dominated by routine processes, in order to keep the intellect in good shape, one has to resort to stimulation
with the help of special exercises for brain development. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to solve typical problems using non-standard methods.

Improving memory and brain function: the best exercises

To begin with, it is important to note that in order to properly pump your brain and develop mental flexibility, it is important to pay attention to nutrition, habits and lifestyle in general. Fresh air, healthy sleep, physical activity and healthy food have not yet been canceled. Therefore, in order to achieve the desired result, you must first pay attention to these important factors.

Effective brain training is exercises that are aimed at developing memory, attentiveness, as well as separately the right and left hemispheres of the brain.

The main specialization of the left hemisphere is logical thinking. It is also responsible for the following important abilities:

language and speech;
logic, analysis;
literal understanding of words;
mathematical abilities;
sequential information processing.

Also, the left hemisphere controls the movements of the right half of the body, and the right hemisphere controls the left side.

In turn, the right hemisphere is responsible for intuition and creativity, and also performs the following functions:

processing non-verbal information;
orientation in space;
musicality;
recognition of metaphorical meanings;
imagination, artistic abilities;
emotions;
parallel information processing;
face recognition.

So, how to develop the right hemisphere of the brain? These exercises will help you enhance your intuition and creativity.

Mirror drawing

Take a large piece of paper and a pencil in each hand. Start drawing the same shapes with your right and left hands at the same time. At first it could be circles, loops, squares. Over time, the task needs to be complicated - to draw full-fledged pictures with both hands.

Restoring reality in the imagination

The key to developing the right hemisphere of the brain is visualization exercises. Here it is important to connect imagination, visual, auditory and olfactory memory. To begin, get rid of extraneous irritants and close your eyes. Remember a person you know well: facial features, hair and eye color. After you create his face in your imagination, try to recall the sound of his voice and the smell of perfume from memory. Work out the image in as much detail as possible.

When you learn to restore images of people, you need to move forward, creating a whole parallel reality in your fantasy. This set of exercises greatly develops creativity, creative vision, and imagination.

Random words

The essence of the exercise is to choose several completely random words and connect them with the help of a story. At first it will be difficult for you, and it will take a couple of long sentences to connect these words. But during training, you will be able to connect seemingly unrelated words with just a couple of phrases.

In addition, creative thinking can be developed by drawing a mandala. The intricate pattern of all the colors of the rainbow perfectly calms the nerves, concentrates attention and develops artistic perception.

When talking about training the left hemisphere of the brain, first of all we mean solving mathematical problems, crosswords, puzzles, as well as logic games such as chess. It is important to note that exactly
the left hemisphere is dominant in most people. Therefore, it makes no sense to develop it separately. In this case, it is better to use complex exercises for the adult brain.

Neurobics

This is a kind of exercise for the brain with exercises that involve all five senses at once. The technique was developed by the American neuroscientist L. Katz. The bottom line is this: all ordinary things need to be done in an unusual way for you. For example:

move around the house with your eyes closed;
write with your left hand (if you are right-handed);
change your usual route;
inhale and savor the aroma of food, flowers, perfume;
identify things by touch (for example, the denomination of a coin);
perform unfamiliar work;
answer usual questions in a non-standard way, etc.

Unusual actions, sensations, smells, and surroundings provoke the emergence of new neural connections, which, in turn, helps the development of intellectual abilities.

Color words

Useful brain exercises or mindfulness exercise. It helps increase concentration levels, improves attention, and develops both hemispheres of the brain.

So, your task is to quickly name the color of the words. At first glance, everything is simple, but try to do it as quickly as possible, and the left hemisphere will immediately begin to concentrate on the words, confusing you. You need to synchronize the work of both hemispheres.

Alphabet

This is an exercise to develop thinking, attention and improve performance. In addition, “Alphabet” helps relieve emotional stress and restart the brain.

The work is as follows. Under each letter there is a mark - L, P, V. “L” means that you need to raise your left hand, “P” - right, “B” - both hands. You need to simultaneously pronounce the letter of the alphabet and perform the movement marked under the letter.

The first part of the exercise is to go from A to Z. In the second part - from Z to A.

Illogical chain

This is a test exercise to train your brain and memory. Look closely at the list of words for 90 seconds. A little tip: break the words into pairs and try to connect them using visual associations.

Try to reproduce all the words in order. If you can’t, then write on a piece of paper all the words that you remember. Now let's count: from 15 to 20 words - your memory is well developed. 10-14 words is the average result. Less than 10 - you absolutely do not know how to use memory.

Do these simple brain exercises, and soon you will notice a qualitative improvement in the functioning of both hemispheres, memory and thinking.

Instead of a conclusion

To train your mind, it is enough to do routine things in unusual ways, perform new actions, read more, play intellectual games. A great way to develop flexibility of thinking is to study foreign languages and play music. This encourages the brain to actively produce new neural connections, and therefore to work actively and efficiently.

To systematize classes to improve intellectual health, you can use special online services that offer dozens of different exercises, tasks, and tests for the development of thinking.

Write in the comments what useful exercises for the brain do you know? Share your experience with us!

Many are convinced that intellectual abilities are inherent in us by nature from birth, and doubt that it is possible to develop intelligence as an adult. They are wrong: it is quite possible to improve your cognitive abilities. CTD has collected several recommendations and exercises.

“No amount of training can help every person become a genius on the level of Mozart or Einstein,” writes Adam Wilson in the book “How to Develop Intelligence. “Psychology of a smart guy,” because for genius a unique combination of genetic prerequisites, proper upbringing, suitable social conditions and the necessary development of natural abilities is important.”

Scientists have been able to prove that intelligence is not a constant value: IQ can be significantly improved.

If you don’t aim for genius, you can increase your intellectual level through your own efforts at any age. Recent studies have proven that the human brain is capable of creating new neurons even at 60-70 years of age.

Intelligence is a complex concept that includes elements such as memory, attention and logic. Therefore, if you want to improve your intellectual abilities, you need to take care of the correct development of all components.

“Intelligence requires harmonious and complete development! Wilson insists. - Unbalanced development of the mind is somewhat reminiscent of uneven muscle training. Working only on improving one ability is like joining a gym and focusing only on developing arm muscles.”

Include daily exercises for memory, attention and logic in your training program, and within a couple of weeks you will notice the first changes. The main thing is that the loads are not only complex, but also constant. For the constant development of intelligence, they must become a habit, become a way of life. A parallel can be drawn with the process of losing weight: you can go on a diet from time to time, and then break off and gain the weight back, or you can constantly eat right and maintain a normal figure.

Whatever program you choose for developing intelligence, it should not be tedious and monotonous, otherwise you will quickly get tired of doing the exercises and you will not achieve anything. At the same time, it is absolutely not necessary to spend a lot of time on classes. As Roger Sipe notes, “stress is the biggest killer of your mental performance.” Therefore, choose for yourself the type of training that is closest to you and suits your character. In addition to direct exercises for the development of intelligence, some quite everyday and familiar activities are also effective.

Methods for developing intellectual abilities

1. Write down all your ideas on paper

When scanning the brain of a writing person, it turned out that when writing, several departments are involved at once, even more than when typing on a keyboard. When you write text by hand and then reread it, the information is perceived visually, so the parts of the brain that are responsible for vision are also involved in the work. In addition, when writing, you analyze the information much more deeply and think more intensively.

2. Play mind games

Play is the best way to learn and at the same time the most enjoyable. Crossword puzzles, Sudoku, puzzles or chess, as well as computer games, contribute to the development of intelligence. Even if you're playing a simple arcade game where you have to shoot monsters, you're still taxing and training your RAM.

3. Continue your education

The educational process helps people become smarter and teaches them how to handle information, helps broaden their horizons and develop their intelligence.

Most useful for intelligence:

Exact sciences - after all, to solve mathematical problems we need to use logical and abstract thinking, critical, analytical and deductive abilities, and also have a good memory.

Foreign languages - when studying them, the anterior cortex of the brain, which is responsible for decision making and emotions, works.

Handicrafts - it helps improve fine motor skills of the hands, which in turn helps develop cognitive and learning abilities, and has a positive effect on the functioning of speech centers.

Music - playing musical instruments is somewhat similar to meditation. It teaches you to concentrate and disconnect from the rest of the world.

By the way, music itself plays an important role in the development of intellectual abilities, says researcher Francis Rauscher. His experiment involved 36 students who were randomly divided into three groups. For ten minutes, one of them listened to silence, the second to relaxation recordings, and the third to Mozart’s sonata in D major for two pianos. Immediately after this, all participants took an intelligence test. It turned out that the average score after listening to silence was 110, after recording for relaxation - 111, but after playing a Mozart sonata - 119.

4. Don't live according to a pattern

When we perform a habitual task on autopilot, our brain shuts down. The action algorithm has already been built a long time ago, so there is nothing to think about. But if you do a familiar action in a new way or change the order of your own rituals, the brain will be forced to work actively.

5. Laugh more often

As you know, laughter promotes the release of endorphins - joy hormones, and therefore is the fastest way to relieve tension and stress. In addition, laughter helps break stereotypes and interrupt protracted and unproductive thoughts. In this sense, it can serve as an operational “charger” for your intellect.

6. Give up bad habits

In addition to the obvious benefits for the body, this will help the development of intelligence. It was found that the memory of smokers is 15% worse than that of those who quit the bad habit, and 21% weaker than that of those who have never smoked. Alcohol abuse also negatively affects memory.

7. Get more sleep

Get at least eight hours of sleep a night and, if possible, go to bed during the day. Sleep helps activate processes in the brain. Moreover, any knowledge that a person receives before falling asleep is better absorbed. Finally, while you sleep, your short-term memory zone is freed up, so you'll be better able to process new data when you wake up.

8. Eat right

Try to drink as much water as possible throughout the day. Dehydration leads to decreased concentration.

It is important to drink water and not any other drinks. In particular, caffeine promotes dehydration more than it quenches thirst. Matcha tea is also extremely useful: it has a positive effect on the functioning of brain centers. Eat foods rich in vitamins D (shrimp, crustaceans) and B12 (seafood), fatty acids (sea fish), iodine (seaweed).

8 simple exercises to develop intelligence

Count down from one hundred to one and try to do it as quickly as possible.

Say the entire alphabet in your head and for each letter come up with a word in which it is the first (A - watermelon, B - loaf, and so on). Try to increase your speed.

Quickly say 20 male and 20 female names, calling out the number of each of them (1 - Anna, 2 - Victoria, 3 - Maria, and so on).

Repeat the previous exercise, only instead of names, use any category of objects - fruits, clothes, furniture...

Choose any letter of the alphabet and quickly name 20 words that begin with it. Number them the same way as in previous tasks.

Count to 50 and back with your eyes closed.

Open the book and select any word from there. Set a timer for five minutes and during this time try to write on paper as many sentences as possible with this word. Phrases can be completely absurd; reaction speed is important in this exercise.

Take a newspaper or book, turn it upside down and read the text out loud.

Training memory, attention and logic

As already mentioned, memory, attention and logic are an integral part of intelligence, so training them is also important.

Attention: concentration, conditional commands and straight lines

Attention is inextricably linked with the process of concentration. The better a person is focused on something, the more effective his brain activity is. Attention helps a person notice new information and collect information that will help to comprehend it.

Wash dishes carefully. Break the process into several cycles (washing cups, plates, forks) and focus on each of them. After you complete one, say “Done” out loud and move on to the next one.

Place several small objects in front of you and concentrate on each of them in turn.

Take a sheet of paper and draw a straight line on it, concentrate all your attention on the stylus. Every time you get distracted, draw an impulse. Write down how many pulses you get.

Observe the world around you and notice what you see. Give yourself conditional commands. When your attention wanders, tell yourself “Attention!”

Logic: chains, predictions, incorrect conclusions and looking through someone else's eyes

It is easiest to develop logic from childhood, but anyone can easily improve their skills at any age.

Come up with logical chains. The first concept can be any object. First you need to come up with three concepts, and then arrange them in order from specific to general. For example, “rose - flower with thorns - flower - plant.”

Come up with an incorrect conclusion. Take one statement and come up with a conclusion that is not true. Explain to yourself why it is false. For example: “At night all cats are gray. This means that all gray animals are cats.”

Imagine how a medieval resident would explain what a metro is. Try to find the answer to any question from the other person's point of view.

Come up with a new name for a famous thing. It should be such that there is no need to explain its meaning.

Make predictions. Imagine what might happen next and explain to yourself why you think that.

Memory: rehearsal, association, games and chewing

Anyone who complains about poor memory, as a rule, is fixated on traditional methods of its development, which boil down to cramming facts. In reality, such methods are ineffective because over time it becomes increasingly difficult to recall information.

The idea that a person’s cognitive abilities decline after age 60 also turned out to be false. As a recent study showed, without regular practice, memory, for example, weakens after 45 years.

The ideal moment to repeat information comes when it has almost been forgotten. Each time it takes less and less time to update the data. It is also useful to repeat information a few seconds after assimilation, then after an hour, several hours, a day, several days, and so on. This is how spaced repetition works.

Test your knowledge instead of just repeating it. For example, ask yourself “Name the capital of Spain,” rather than repeating “Madrid is the capital of Spain.” It is known that our brain stores not words, but their meaning. The more images, associations and emotions you put into information, the longer it is stored in memory.

Helps you say important information out loud. So, if you keep losing your keys in your bag, tell yourself, “I put my keys in my inside pocket.” As a result, mental memory will work together with auditory memory. There is an even more interesting way - you can not say it, but sing it.

There is an effective technique for memorizing numbers using words. Compose a phrase from words, each of which has as many letters as there are numbers in the number. For example: “He sleeps a lot” is 254.

If the number is long, you can break it down into several short ones that are related to something. For example: 1312 is 13 (unlucky number) and 12 (number of months in a year).

Ask yourself or others easy but unexpected questions: how many floors are in the neighboring house? What color are the curtains in the kitchen? Explain things to the other person more often. With such communication, the meaning of what you said will remain in your memory.

Studies have proven that chewing movements of the jaw help to better remember and reproduce information faster. Scientists cannot yet explain what this is connected with. However, according to one theory, the reason is that the rhythmic movement of the jaws increases the heart rate and improves blood supply to the head. Therefore, if you want to remember something, chew chewing gum.

Everyone has ups and downs in life, and often we blame others and fate for our failures, but we may not see our own shortcomings. In order to change something in the world around you, you need to start, first of all, with yourself.

One day you will ask yourself the question: “where to start working on yourself?” Self-improvement is a delicate matter, you need to approach it very competently, so that at one moment you don’t feel the desire to give up everything.

The Wheel of Life - as a strong motivation on the path of self-improvement

If you don't know where to start self-development How to choose the right path for yourself, first you need to understand at what point you are. The Wheel of Life is a system that helps you analyze your level of success.

To do this, you need to draw a circle and divide it into 8 sectors:

- career and business. Do you enjoy your work?

- finances. Are you satisfied with your salary? Do you have enough funds for financial independence?

- friends and environment. Does your environment help you develop? What do you get from communicating with friends?

- family and love. Is there harmony in your relationships with loved ones?

- health and sports. How good is your health? Would you like to make your body attractive and get rid of excess weight?

- entertainment and relaxation. Are you organizing your vacation correctly in order to not only recharge your batteries, but also get something useful for yourself?

— education and personal growth. What knowledge have you acquired to develop and improve yourself?

- brightness of life. Are you satisfied with your life? Does it have enough bright, memorable moments?

Each sector is your life value, which is necessary in order to feel the happiest. This way, you will put your goals in order and have a better understanding of what you need to strive for. Also, do not forget to write what exactly in each sector you lack for complete happiness.

Each sector must be assessed using a 10-point system. You must be as honest with yourself as possible. There is no need to look for excuses for your saggy belly or low salary. Just finally admit to yourself that everything is bad in these areas and you need to do something about it.

After this, connect the points on the scale with a line. If the resulting figure in the center resembles a circle, then you can only be congratulated. You are in complete harmony with yourself and with the world around you.

If you get a crooked figure, you will be able to see which sector you need to work on in order to achieve harmony and happiness. In addition, by putting one sector in order, you can positively influence other parts.

After analyzing each sector, you must set global goals, which you need to break down into several small ones and confidently strive for them. In addition, the goal should be achievable, so be realistic and do not try to become slim like Angelina Jolie and find yourself a prince in the person of Brad Pitt.

Get yourself a diary and write down in it what you have achieved, every small victory. For example, you gave up unhealthy but tasty food. Praise yourself for this.

A positive outlook on the future is half the success

Personal development cannot be achieved without a positive outlook towards the future. If you always think that you will achieve nothing, that there are no results, thoughts will swarm about giving up everything, you will never achieve anything.

You should greet every day with a smile, rejoice in even the smallest victories, see the positive in everything, notice changes in yourself.

Of course, thoughts alone are not enough for a person’s self-development. Actions are important. At first, 30 minutes a day is enough to read a book and learn something. You can even just not sit on social networks or watch TV in the evening, and this will already be a victory and the first steps on the way self-improvement.

Literature for self-improvement

Books for self-development are another step towards improving your personality. There are many primary sources, such as the Bible or books on the teachings of Tao, but they will be incomprehensible to many.

Today there are a lot books for self-development. We present you a list of some of them:

Les Hewitt, Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen "A Whole Life". It will teach you how to set realistic goals that are easy to achieve. You will be able to correctly prioritize;
Dan Waldschmidt "Be the best version of yourself." This book can radically change your life. It tells how ordinary people become extraordinary;
M. J. Ryan “This year I...” This book will be useful to everyone, as it helps to change habits, keep promises to yourself, and change your life for the better;
Brian Tracy "Get out of your comfort zone." Recognized worldwide as the #1 book on self-development. You will be able to step out of your comfort zone to achieve maximum goals;
Kelly McGonigal "Willpower" How to develop and strengthen? The author believes that willpower is like a muscle that needs to be pumped up and strengthened.

All books have one main meaning - self-development never ends. You can work all your life to develop your personality, to make your life bright and unforgettable. Each of us strives to be better, but this quality must be used wisely.

A few rules for self-development

Each person lives in his own comfort zone, and we are often afraid of something new and unknown, which is why it is so difficult, and sometimes scary, to change our lives. The process of self-development needs to be turned into a habit so that you never stray from this path.

Where should you start self-development? Plan Simple steps will help you gradually develop this habit:

- life depends directly on our desires and actions. There is nothing impossible about it. Never tell yourself that something can't be done, just think about what it takes to make it achievable;

— break the path to the main goal into several small ones that are easy to achieve. Once this becomes a habit, you can set more goals for yourself;

- in the evening, think about everything that happened to you during the day. Record your successes and failures. If you did something wrong or it didn't work out, think about what would have changed if you had done it differently.

Do not forget that self-improvement is a difficult path, but very interesting. If you once decide to change your life, always stick to this thought and believe that the result will meet all expectations. Always look at life, successes and defeats with a positive outlook, and then you will definitely succeed.

Every person strives to be successful, and for this you need to have a broad outlook: how to develop intelligence if you are dissatisfied with the level of your knowledge and skills? How to be an active and wise person in old age?

What knowledge is needed for parents who want to raise a smart child with a wide range of knowledge, an inquisitive mind, and the ability to apply their skills in practice? You can develop intellectual abilities throughout your life; this process never ends.

10 habits for developing intelligence in an adult

We all admire the experts of the “What? Where? When?". We are amazed by the volume of their knowledge, breadth of outlook, and ability to find answers to a wide variety of complex questions. Don’t be sad or upset that you will never reach this level. Intelligence is possible at any age.

Previously, it was believed that such development was possible only during the period of growing up - in childhood and adolescence, after which all these processes are inhibited, and progress is no longer possible.

But now scientists have proven that new cells in the brain are constantly being formed and its plasticity, that is, the ability to develop under the influence of experience, changes - the richer your experience, the more flexible and developed your mind.

RULE	INSTRUCTIONS FOR ACTION
	Play logic and intellectual games- chess, backgammon, puzzles train the mind, memory and attention, logical and spatial thinking
	Read every day and everything that interests you- artistic, educational books will make the brain work constantly, besides, being well-read has never hurt anyone
	Write down, sketch everything you want to remember, your ideas, ideas- when writing, several areas of the brain are activated, which helps to better assimilate information
	Do math - it trains several mental abilities at once: abstract, analytical, critical and logical thinking, their speed, as well as memory and attention
	Do math - this trains several mental abilities at once: abstract, analytical, critical and logical thinking, their speed, as well as memory and attention
	Change your habits, what you do automatically every day- walk a different route to work, brush your teeth with a different hand, etc.
	Play sports- physical activity accelerates the blood, the brain is enriched with oxygen, and protein is produced that helps form neurons
	Eat properly and fully - By receiving the required amount of vitamins and minerals, your brain will work at full strength.
	Don't get depressed perceive all failures and obstacles as a chance for improvement and development
	Be sure to give yourself proper rest, preferably in silence and without TV

What is intelligence

If the brain is loaded with a solution, then new synapses will be formed - connections between neurons, otherwise these connections will die off as unnecessary.

What is intelligence? This is a quality of the human psyche. It unites thinking, imagination, perception. This is knowledge, understanding, the ability to analyze information, reason, draw conclusions, the ability to highlight the main thing, see patterns, generalize experience, and think critically.

An intellectual always strives to learn and understand what he did not know before. A person must control the work of his mind, and not vice versa.

Moreover, we can direct brain development in the right direction by persistently acquiring new skills or improving those we already have.

Advice: read Svetlana Pristalova’s book “How to Develop Super Memory, Intelligence and Attention.” In it you will find many exercises to help pump up your mind.

Formation of intelligence

According to scientists, intelligence begins to form in the womb, so when asked how to develop intelligence in a child during pregnancy, you can hear various recommendations.

Don’t be nervous, spend more time in nature and admire it. It is also important to eat properly and nutritiously so that the child can develop normally.

Much, of course, depends on genetics, but if the child was born without pathologies, then problems with intellectual abilities could arise during the period of intrauterine development.

If the baby does not begin to speak or walk when his peers have already mastered these skills, you need to find out if one of the parents was also a little late with this, in which case there is no need to panic.

No one can do absolutely everything better than others. Every person has some innate inclinations and talents, something that he likes to do. The task of parents is to notice and develop these features in time. But here it is important not to overdo it.

There is no need to try to teach a child something for which he has not yet matured physiologically - this can provoke big problems in the future.

For normal development, it is necessary to combine intelligence training with physical activity, normal nutrition, walks and avoid overwork.

Children develop in communication with adults. Psychologists have long noticed that in socially prosperous families, with parents with a high level of education, children have a higher level of intelligence.

Every person is endowed with some abilities from birth.

Still just a baby, the child enthusiastically looks at bright objects, tries to reach them and taste them. This is how intelligence begins to develop.

In this, kids resemble scientists who are passionate about their work - they try to learn everything about what interests them, explore from all sides and in all the same ways, while simultaneously improving their skills and rejoicing in their successes.

How to develop intelligence in a child?

First of all, you need to communicate with the child, even when he is very small. Talk to your baby and you will notice how attentively he listens to you.

Don't stop his curiosity, but also watch out for safety. Play together, show and explain everything - children will learn from their parents how to act correctly.

Just don’t rush to get ahead of development standards, even if the baby is very talented. Many of us try to realize our ambitions by “sculpting” a child into a child prodigy.

Our task is to provide children with normal life. Don't limit it to narrow boundaries.

The curiosity inherent in nature will certainly bear fruit, and the child will master all intellectual skills - distinguish objects by characteristics, generalize and highlight, see logical connections, retell fairy tales, build analogies.

Fundamentals of intelligence according to Doman

Many modern parents are familiar with Glen Doman's early development method. He developed it for many years, researching and observing healthy and sick children.

Here are the basic principles of the technique:

The brain grows and develops under constant stress
By intensively developing a child’s intelligence from birth to the age of three, you can achieve the best results
Physical development helps shape the brain and motor intelligence
The active growth phase lasts up to five years. At this time, training does not require additional motivation

You need to start from the age of three months, showing the child cards with images of various objects and naming them. This develops speech, attention, logic, memory.

They begin to work with the baby at the age of three months.

Whether you adhere to this method or not, in any case, work with your child, develop his creative and intellectual abilities, teach him to draw, write, invent and tell fairy tales.

A child at any age is interested in exploring something new, imagining and learning. And when everything works out, my parents praise me, I want to know even more.

How to develop intellectual abilities?

By constantly training your brain with special exercises, you can develop both intelligence, memory and attention at any age.

For example, you can use any object to train attention and memory - pick it up, very carefully study all the smallest details - color, shape, weight, roughness, abrasions, remember your tactile sensations.

After this, you need to close your eyes and imagine the object as accurately as possible.

You may not be able to do this right away, but regular training will help improve your memory. You can remember and compare sounds - how are they similar, is it possible to replace one sound with another, as they do when scoring films.

Develop manual dexterity, because fine motor skills are known to have a positive effect on the brain. Always strive to learn and learn something new - this is how new synapses are formed and your intellectual abilities will improve.

Develop your child’s abilities, but don’t try to force him to become a child prodigy

All these methods are suitable not only for adults, but also for children. Intelligence must be developed comprehensively, not limited to one way.

There are many activities that help develop intelligence, they are especially important for people in adulthood - they help to relax and learn to concentrate.

Dancing, which uses different areas of the brain to remember movements; martial arts that develop concentration and a sense of balance; gardening, which significantly reduces the risk of dementia.

Knitting, which is calming and develops fine motor skills, as is playing a musical instrument; Keeping a diary relieves stress and helps with decision making.

You can choose any of them or even several, and be sure to devote an hour or two a day to them.

Emotional Intelligence

How many of us understand ourselves and our feelings? As we age, we push them inside ourselves and don’t let them spill out.

What can we say about accepting and understanding other people’s feelings and patterns of communication! We often lack emotional and social intelligence.

Physical activity is necessary for harmonious development at any age.

Emotional intelligence is the awareness of emotions, understanding and managing them, the ability to communicate effectively with people, understand and empathize.

If you are prone to making impulsive decisions that you later regret, then you need to develop emotional intelligence.

How to do this?

Track your emotions reactions to events happening to you and around you, try to understand your attitude towards this.
Learn to feel the connection between body reactions and feelings. By learning to understand body language, you will better understand the experiences and feelings of other people.
Record your emotions and subsequent actions in a journal. Don't ignore any feelings. Face the truth, no matter how unpleasant it may be. By calming down and re-reading the notes, you will be able to look at yourself from the outside. This helps you understand if you did the right thing. If you lost your temper because of nonsense, then next time try to behave more restrained.
Understanding the causes of unconscious reactions, you will learn to manage them.
Learn to see and hear- small nuances, such as movements during a conversation, the tone in which it is said, can tell a lot about a person and the feelings that he experiences. This way you can learn to recognize whether a person is being cunning or whether he is being honest with you.
Be open, friendly and honest in all relationships

Developed emotional intelligence helps a person to be less susceptible to stress and to communicate calmly and effectively with any people.

Understand their feelings and be truthful in your emotions and reactions, without hiding them under the guise of equanimity. Use any of the above methods - all together or some separately.

Take care of your mental health. Choose how to develop your intelligence, and remember that it is important to learn, and laughter is called active meditation, helping to avoid stress and relax.

To achieve the desired result, you need to make a lot of effort, because modern man is lazy. Overcome laziness and make your life brighter and happier.