Saturday, July 19, 2014

Axiom 52: Your IQ is Your Destiny


"Common sense is not so common." -Voltaire

"A smart man makes a mistake, learns from it, and never makes that mistake again. But a wise man finds a smart man and learns from him how to avoid the mistake all together." -Roy H. Williams

Have you ever taken an IQ test? 

Have you ever wondered how your intelligence stacks up against the average person?

What you might not know is that an IQ test is a highly accurate account of how smart (or dumb) you are. Most people do not know that this test is so important it could indicate if you're more likely to drop out of high school or get a PhD.

The average score is 100. Genius is considered as a score higher than 130 (Albert Einstein scored a 160). According to the University of Delaware if someone scores at least 115 they are mentally capable to doing any job.

An IQ test measures both your crystallized intelligence (book smarts) and your fluid intelligence (common sense). Crystallized intelligence is the knowledge you have learned through life experiences. This knowledge increases and builds throughout your life. Fluid intelligence is being able to problem solve independent of acquired knowledge. It is thought that fluid intelligence peaks in adulthood and slowly drops as people age.

If you score low on an IQ test don't worry. You can work on increasing your crystallized and fluid intelligence to increase your IQ score. 

To work on your crystallized intelligence:
  • Learn everyday (Reading, Hobbies, Take Online Courses, Learn New Tasks at Work, Watch Documentaries)
To work on your fluid intelligence:
  • Play mind games (N-Back)
  • Listen to classical music, or take music lessons.
The brain is like many other muscles in the body. The more your work it out the stronger and more efficient it will become. Once you work on improving your crystallized and fluid intelligence for a month you can go back and take the IQ test again to see if it has improved. You may see dramatic improvements if you are a young adult and slight improvements if you are older.

You can take a free IQ test here.