Productivity – Personal Self Development https://selfdevelopment.site Ebooks, Reports, Articles and Video for Personal Development Mon, 30 Jan 2023 22:24:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.5.2 https://i0.wp.com/selfdevelopment.site/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/faviconpng.png?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 Productivity – Personal Self Development https://selfdevelopment.site 32 32 214823948 The Neuroscience of Intelligence > Self Development https://selfdevelopment.site/the-neuroscience-of-intelligence-self-development/ https://selfdevelopment.site/the-neuroscience-of-intelligence-self-development/#respond Thu, 23 Feb 2023 07:21:19 +0000 https://selfdevelopment.site/?p=136 Read More »]]> In order to increase intelligence, it makes sense to first try and define what we mean by intelligence. How do you measure it and what precisely is it? As it happens, the official answer at this point is ‘no one knows’. Intelligence is a highly abstract concept and in fact might not even be a useful term at all.

Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences

One of the most useful measures of intelligence is IQ or Intelligence Quotient, which looks at our ability to use abstract reasoning and other forms of ‘fluid intelligence’ (fluid intelligence being dynamic and distinct from ‘crystalized intelligence’ – which amounts to knowledge). IQ scores are awarded on the basis of national averages.

The problem with IQ is that it provides a single umbrella for ‘intelligence’ and doesn’t allow for the existence of multiple forms of intelligence. What if you’re amazing at math or not so good at English? What if you’re fantastic at music but lack social skills?

We know that language and math are handled by different brain regions (language is handled by Broca’s Area, among other structures) and so it’s perfect reasonable to image some might be more developed than others. In fact, this is often the case: Einstein was famously dyslexic for instance.
This is where psychologist Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences come in.

He suggested the following ‘aspects’ of intelligence as such:

• Linguistic Intelligence.
• Logic Intelligence.
• Kinesthetic Intelligence.
• Spatial Intelligence.
• Musical Intelligence.
• Interpersonal Intelligence.
• Intrapersonal Intelligence.

Someone could be ‘intelligent’ in any of these areas but less so in another and would still be considered intelligent. We call this the ‘modular’ view of intelligence.

But there are problems with this theory. For starters, it is largely arbitrary. Why do we have musical intelligence and not ‘computer game’ intelligence? It ignores possible connections between the different forms of intelligence and it ignores the underlying cognitive functions that might give rise to specific measurable abilities. Likewise, it still doesn’t really explain the kind of person who seems to be ‘generally intelligent’, who is sharp and witty and who quickly picks up new subjects.

It’s a step in the right direction, but not a comprehensive explanation of intelligence.

Whole Brain Connectivity and Plasticity

It would be fairly logical to assume that someone who we would generally consider to be intelligent might perform better than average in multiple of these categories.

In fact, genius – which is considered to describe a form of additional ‘insight’ and to be distinct from pure mastery – likely comes from the ability to apply multiple perspectives and multiple schools of thought to a single problem.

More recent research shows that intelligence is predicted by ‘whole brain connectivity’ – the ability of the brain to utilize lots of different brain areas at once in a cohesive manner. It even appears that connectivity between prefrontal regions may provide a basis for consciousness.

So, to be truly intelligent, you need to have better-than-average performance in multiple mental faculties and have better-than-average connectivity between those corresponding brain regions.

How to Become More Intelligent

So how does this come about? Simple: through brain plasticity.

Brain plasticity describes the ability for our brain to grow, adapt and change shape, right? Greater plasticity means greater potential to learn. Greater potential to develop specific brain regions and the connectivity between them.

If you have greater plasticity during your development as a child and you are then given the opportunity to learn by being exposed to the right stimuli, then you will develop more areas of your brain and more connectivity between them.

Intelligence = adaptability + opportunity

It’s likely that genetic factors might influence greater plasticity in certain individuals, but better sleep, greater happiness, exercise, more focus and interest and certainly better nutrition will all play a role too. That’s how you make a super-smart child but if you’re already an adult and you feel you missed the boat, then you need to look at ways to increase your plasticity again and start learning!

Related Info Products:

Brighter Brain – Self Improvement Ebook and Video Package

MindZoom – Positive Affirmations Software

 

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Procrastinating Your Procrastination > Free Self Improvement Ebook https://selfdevelopment.site/procrastinating-your-procrastination-free-self-improvement-ebook/ https://selfdevelopment.site/procrastinating-your-procrastination-free-self-improvement-ebook/#respond Mon, 30 Jan 2023 22:24:37 +0000 https://selfdevelopment.site/?p=231 Self Development ebook “Procrastinating Your Procrastination” looks into these main topics; Matters That Throw Us Off Our Course. View Your Commitments Differently. Desperation…and Promise. Recognizing The Issue. Success Obstacles. 3 Productivity Actions. Using Productivity Actions and 5 Success Hints. Click “Procrastinating Your Procrastination” to download (1.4 MB pdf) this free self help ebook.

Procrastinating Your Procrastination Ebook

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Ebbs and Flows in Your Productivity > Personal Productivity https://selfdevelopment.site/ebbs-and-flows-in-your-productivity-personal-productivity/ https://selfdevelopment.site/ebbs-and-flows-in-your-productivity-personal-productivity/#respond Sat, 28 Jan 2023 06:54:41 +0000 https://selfdevelopment.site/?p=130 Read More »]]> How do you get the very most out of your brain? For many people, the obvious answer seems to be that they should find ways to hack it, to bend it to their will and to make sure that it operates as they wish at all times. Not feeling productive?

Then the answer surely is to find ways to become more productive and focused, to drive distracting thoughts out of your head and to fixate on what you’re doing. But perhaps this isn’t the most effective strategy. Perhaps in fact, this is counterproductive.

Instead, what if you chose to let your mental state dictate your activities… so that when you felt focused you worked on tasks that required focus? And when you felt relaxed, you instead spent time being creative.

Ebbs and Flows

You can use nootropics, CBT and other techniques to try and hijack your natural state and to force yourself to become more alert, more focused or more awake. But did you know that you actually already alternate between states of high focus and relaxation?

In fact, you can fairly accurately describe your mental state at any point as being somewhere on a single spectrum. At one end of the spectrum is the highly alert aroused state of acute stress (fight or flight) and at the other end of the spectrum is the far more relaxed and calm state of relaxation (rest and digest). We spend most of the time somewhere in-between (a state called homeostasis) but throughout the day we will shift slightly toward each extreme.

When you wake up in the morning for instance, you are in a fight or flight state. A state of arousal that is caused by low blood sugar – the result of effectively fasting through the night by not eating. This low blood sugar puts the body in a mild state of stress and encourages food-seeking behavior. This is further enhanced by morning light, which encourages the production of cortisol, to further increase arousal.

When you later eat, this causes a surge of sugar to enter the blood. The body absorbs this sugar and leaves behind a substance called tryptophan. Tryptophan is a building block of the ‘feel good hormone’ serotonin. And serotonin, in turn, gets broken down to create melatonin – the sleep hormone. That’s why we feel tired and less effective after eating.

What’s also interesting is that these states of mental arousal and relative relaxation also correlate with the physical, hormonal states of ‘catabolism’ and ‘anabolism’. When we are excited, our body burns energy stored as fat to use as energy. But when we are relaxed, it takes the opportunity to rebuild tissue and heal wounds.

Exercise increases arousal but triggers a subsequent anabolic (rest and digest) state. Of course, fear puts us into an extreme state of fight or flight/arousal. Adenosine builds up throughout the day, slowing down our thoughts and edging us toward neural inhibition and the release of GABA (another inhibitory neurotransmitter).

What to do With This Information – So why is this relevant? The answer is simple: if you want to get the best form your brain, you can do so by working out your natural ebbs and flows and the times you work best. Instead of trying to force your brain into arousal, why not identify when you are alert and then get to work?

Related Info Products:

Brighter Brain – Self Improvement Ebook and Video Package

MindZoom – Positive Affirmations Software

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Results And Rewards Blitzing > Free Self Development Ebook https://selfdevelopment.site/results-and-rewards-blitzing-free-self-development-ebook/ https://selfdevelopment.site/results-and-rewards-blitzing-free-self-development-ebook/#respond Tue, 24 Jan 2023 21:27:45 +0000 https://selfdevelopment.site/?p=189 Self Development ebook “Results And Rewards Blitzing” covers main topics; Take Stock, Get Targeted, Optimism And Motivation, Concentrating And Planning, Push-ups And Responsibility, Be Clear And Make A List, Mental Attitude and Focus. Click “Results And Rewards Blitzing” to download (550 KB pdf) this free productivity ebook.

Results And Rewards Blitzing

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How To Accomplish More In A Fraction Of The Time > Free Self Help Ebook https://selfdevelopment.site/how-to-accomplish-more-in-a-fraction-of-the-time-free-self-help-ebook/ https://selfdevelopment.site/how-to-accomplish-more-in-a-fraction-of-the-time-free-self-help-ebook/#respond Tue, 24 Jan 2023 20:12:02 +0000 https://selfdevelopment.site/?p=186 Read More »]]> Self Help ebook “How To Accomplish More In A Fraction Of The Time” looks into main topics; Prioritizing, Tips to Help You Prioritize, Beating Procrastination, Tips for Staying Focused, Work Less Accomplish More, Equanimity and Using Affirmations. Click “How To Accomplish More In A Fraction Of The Time” to download (528 KB pdf) this free personal productivity ebook.

How To Accomplish More In A Fraction Of The Time

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50 Quick Tips On Getting Organized Easily > Free Self Help Ebook https://selfdevelopment.site/50-quick-tips-on-getting-organized-easily-free-self-help-ebook/ https://selfdevelopment.site/50-quick-tips-on-getting-organized-easily-free-self-help-ebook/#respond Tue, 24 Jan 2023 18:36:57 +0000 https://selfdevelopment.site/?p=181 Read More »]]> Self Help ebook “50 Quick Tips On Getting Organized Easily” covers as title suggests with 50 organizational tips. “Disorganization may actually trap you into living a life filled with tension, frustration and bedlam. It may rob you of the precious time you ought to be spending enjoying your life. By defeating disorganization, you may be set free to live the sort of life you’ve always dreamed of. You deserve to be organized“. Click “50 Quick Tips On Getting Organized Easily” to download (1 MB pdf) this free ebook.

50 Quick Tips On Getting Organized Easily

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Sleep Better for Greater Waking Intelligence > Self Help https://selfdevelopment.site/sleep-better-for-greater-waking-intelligence-self-help/ https://selfdevelopment.site/sleep-better-for-greater-waking-intelligence-self-help/#respond Sat, 14 Jan 2023 07:12:47 +0000 https://selfdevelopment.site/?p=134 Read More »]]> We as humans have a tendency to overcomplicate. Those interested in boosting their brain power for instance might feel tempted to focus on strategies such as brain plasticity, or nootropics before considering the most fundamental and basic changes they could make.

Nutrition is one. But even more basic is sleep. If you want to upgrade your performance tomorrow, sleep better today. Not only will this clear adenosine from your brain, replenish key neurotransmitters to avoid things like adrenal fatigue and provide you with greater energy for more focus and energy, but it will also help to support learning by enabling the growth and reinforcement of neuronal connections while you rest. Sleep is the ultimate anabolic state – the ultimate example of rest and digest – and it is when what we learned during the day is consolidated.

How to Sleep Better

So, to that end, what can you do to improve your sleep? The most important thing to do is to put yourself at the less aroused and more relaxed end of the spectrum in terms of your chemical balance.

That means you need to avoid anything that will psych you up – which includes loud noise, bright lights and anything that causes physiological stress. This is why as most of us now know, looking at computer screens and phones is so bad for you before bed.

It’s also why having a cup of coffee is not a good idea. Even doing something seemingly harmless like turning on the light in the bathroom can cause a flood of cortisol and ruin your release of melatonin.
To avoid this, it is recommended that you take half and hour to an hour of ‘down time’ before bed. During this time, you should read by a low-level light and avoid looking at phones or anything else.

Eating right also helps. While you shouldn’t eat too much before going to bed, this is an ideal time to have a slightly sweeter, carb-rich meal. In fact, it has even been suggested that we evolved to eat sweeter things last (hence dessert) because this encourages the release of serotonin and then melatonin. Eat well, but give it a couple of hours before you hit the sack.

Having a warm bath can help too, as this encourages the release of growth hormone and melatonin and relaxes the muscles. Consuming magnesium threonine can also relax the muscles and supports plasticity during the night.

Waking Healthy

Also important is to make sure that you wake up in the right state, in order to help set your biological rhythms. External Zeitgebers (time-givers) help to set your ‘internal pacemaker’ (body clock) and these include things like light and even social interaction.

One fantastic tool to this end is a daylight alarm that will wake you up with a simulated sunrise using a wave-length similar to that of the sun. This gradually stirs you from deep sleep and increases the production of cortisol, readying you for when the alarm goes off. It is hugely preferable to being startled out of deep sleep in a pitch-dark room by a conventional alarm! I’ve started using one and now my wife and I would never consider turning back.

Oh and supplementing with vitamin D first thing in the morning may also be beneficial.

Related Info Products:

Brighter Brain – Self Improvement Ebook and Video Package

MindZoom – Positive Affirmations Software

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