Imagine that you owned the best music
system that you could get your hands on.
Imagine that you paid $30,000 for an
amplifier and another $15,000 for a DVD
player plus $40,000 for the best speakers
you could find, and so on. You could now
boast that you owned the best music hardware
system in your street, maybe even the best
in your town.
Now, imagine you only had one solitary
Patsy Kline CD to play on your ultra-hi fi
hardware. There's nothing wrong with Patsy
but a diet of 'I Fall To Pieces' and 'Your
Cheatin' Heart' may be somewhat limiting
when it comes to longterm music entertainment.
These same limitations face us when we
boast possession of a necktop computer --
a brain -- yet only have one piece of
thinking software, logic.
In your necktop computer, logic is useful
enough for labelling and mail-sorting and
dealing with the past but it's not nearly
enough to help you cope with the challenges
of the future.
We do need some more software for our brain
to help us survive in rapidly changing
environments and increasingly competitive
and shrinking global markets. We also need
more brain software because we're not happy
being stuck with what we have at present.
Brainpower and Intelligence
Brainpower is how you use tools, like
software, to enhance your intelligence.
These tools are higher-order cognitive
tools that help us think about what we
should think about. Sometimes this
'thinking about thinking' is called by
cognitive scientists, meta-cognition.
There are two main types of intelligences:
Data Intelligence and Game Intelligence.
Data Intelligence has to do with the role
information plays in thinking. Game
Intelligence has to do with the role of
strategies, clever moves, clever ideas,
ploys and tricks that are the product
of thinking about and exploring the
information.
Data Intelligence is only necessary for
the relatively dumb, unthinking reaction
to situations -- "What do I do next?"
Game Intelligence goes a step further
where the individual asks himself,
"What do I think about next?" before
asking "What do I do next?"
Brain software is a mind tool which
permits the brainuser to go a step
even further by allowing him or he
to ask, "How do I think better about
what I should think about next?"
Tools are important for intelligence.
Tools, like a laptop, are not just
the result of intelligence but they
actually ENDOW intelligence on the
user. When you give someone a laptop
you increase or enhance her chance
to arrive at more intelligent moves.
"Anthropologists have long recognized
that the advent of tool use accompanied
a major increase in intelligence,"
observes Daniel Dennett, Director of
the Center for Cognitive Studies at
Tufts University and author of the book
'Consciousness Explained.'
Commenting on the value of mind-tools
in developing the user's intelligence,
he says, "Tool use is a two-way sign of
intelligence. Not only does it require
intelligence to recognize and maintain
a tool, but tool use CONFERS intelligence
on those who are lucky enough to be given
the tool. The better designed the tool,
the more potential intelligence it confers
on the user."
Cognitive Science
Since the 1970s brought the explosion of
the Information Revolution and the rise of
personal computers we've become even more
interested in the brain and how it works.
"What is intelligence?" and "How can we
improve it?" are questions being asked in
a whole new field of science devoted to
these things called -- cognitive science.
Cognitive science is concerned with the
processes of sensing (seeing, hearing,
smelling); storing information (memory)
and recall; reasoning, planning and
intelligent action. It also includes
areas like AI (Artificial Intelligence)
and robotics. In other words -- thinking
-- both in animals and machines.
Like all human traits -- height, strength,
sexuality and looks etc -- intelligence
is distributed unequally. Some people
have more intelligence than you do and
some have less than you do and, of
course, the same applies to me.
Brain software for better thinking
In the coming lessons you will acquire
all 4 new codes of software for your
brain that you can immediately use to
get better personal results at school,
at home and at work -- and also at sports.
The SOT brain software code is:
SDNT CVSTOBVS QRH PRR.
This 4-part suite of brain software
includes:
* The SDNT Search Engine:
Start-Do-Notice-Think
* The CVSTOBVS Cognetics Operating System:
Current View of Situation-TO-Better View
of Situation.
* The QRH Styleware:
Quality-Recognition-Humor
* The PRR Personal Trainer:
Practice-Repetition-Rehearsal.
So, let's begin ...
How's Your Brainpower?
Here is a simple audit for you to rate
your own brainpower. It was designed by
Dr Eric Bienstock who is Vice-Principal
of SOT in New York. Eric based this
checklist on the SOT's Learn-To-Think
course book. How do you rate your own
brainpower?
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer each of the following
questions, scoring either 3, 2, 1, or 0
points for each answer depending on your
objective estimate of how often you
actually do what is stated. Use your
best guess of the following criteria
for scoring:
3 - 90% OF THE TIME (nearly always)
2 - 70% OF THE TIME (mostly)
1 - 40% OF THE TIME (often)
0 - 10% OF THE TIME (hardly ever)
SCORE
______ My judgments of ideas are based
on the value of the idea rather than on
my emotions at the time.
______ I judge ideas not just as "good"
or "bad" but also as "interesting" if
they can lead on to better ideas.
______ I consider all factors in a
situation before choosing, deciding,
or planning.
______ I consider all factors first,
before picking out the ones that matter
most.
______ When I create a rule I see to
it that it is clearly understood and
possible to obey.
______ I try to see the purpose of
rules I have to obey, even if I don't
like the rules.
______ I look at consequences of my
decisions or actions not only as they
affect me but also as they affect other
people.
______ I look at a wide range of
possible consequences before deciding
which consequences to bother about.
______ On the way to a final objective
I establish a chain of smaller objectives
each one following on from the previous one.
______ The objectives I set are near
enough, real enough and possible enough
for me to really try to reach them.
______ In planning, I know exactly what
I want to achieve.
______ I keep my plans as simple and
direct as possible.
______ I know exactly why I have chosen
something as a priority.
______ I try to get as many different
ideas as possible first, before starting
to pick out the priorities.
______ I will go on looking for alternatives
until I find one I really like.
______ While most people look for alternatives
when they are not satisfied; I look for them
deliberately even when I am satisfied.
______ I am able to tell myself the real
reason behind a decision I make.
______ Before making a decision, I consider
the factors, look at the consequences, get
clear about the objectives, assess the
priorities, and search for possible
alternatives.
______ I am able to see the other person's
point-of-view whether I agree with it or not.
______ I am able to spell out the differences
and similarities between different viewpoints.
______ TOTAL SCORE.
INTERPRETATION
This is not a scientific test. It's just an
audit or checklist to help you take stock of
your thinking, that's all! A trained thinker
can direct his or her thinking and use it
in a deliberate manner to produce an effect.
To a trained and skilled thinker, thinking
is a tool that can be used at will and the
use of this tool is practical. This ability
to use 'thinking as a skill' is the sort of
thinking ability that is required to get
things DONE.
* If your total score in this test was
between 51 and 60 points, you already
possess superior brainpower.
* If you scored between 31 and 50 points,
you have better than average brainpower.
* If you scored between 0 and 30, you
possess no additional brainpower other
than the natural thinking ability that
most people have.
Record your score here: _______ (Note:
Keep a record of this score to compare
results at the end of your 10X Training).