Game Changers: What Leaders, Innovators and Mavericks Do to Win at Life. Dave Asprey

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СКАЧАТЬ the field of intelligence research is really catching fire, and I’m excited to see what the future will hold.

      I used a clunky open-source n-back training app when I started the Bulletproof blog in 2011, and when I had my IQ tested afterward, it had increased by 12 points. When I wrote about that result on my blog and shared the software I had used, it was surprising how many people insisted that my results were impossible. It’s the standard science troll argument: “That can’t be, therefore it isn’t.” All I can say is that the training worked for me then, and there is a lot more science supporting its efficacy now.

      According to Dan, even though IQ tests don’t measure fluid intelligence, IQ scores commonly increase when people improve their fluid memory. Despite my results, I found that the training was so exhausting and discouraging that many people wouldn’t complete it. In the early days of Bulletproof, I flew around the world teaching hedge fund managers how to hack their brains. Even among this highly motivated crowd, very few people completed the n-back training because it makes you feel like a failure over and over before you see results.

      If you’re interested in trying it, my suggestion is to first use the other tools in this book to help strengthen your brain and your willpower. The n-back is a lot less triggering when your brain is running at full power, and if you’re exercising your willpower muscle on a regular basis, you’re a lot more likely to stick with it. Then I recommend doing the training for about a month. Your brain won’t like it at first—you will get bored and frustrated and probably have strange dreams. As you get better, you may find that you have more verbal fluency (Dual N-Back radically improved my live presentation skills to the point that I regularly speak in front of millions of people with confidence and ease), better listening ability, better reading recall, and more. When you’ve completed it, you won’t know how you functioned with only half of the working memory you just gained. It’s that strong, like a RAM upgrade for your brain.

      The best part about n-back training is that the effects seem to be permanent. After completing twenty sessions I did no training at all for a full eight months to see if I’d forget the skills I’d learned and have to start over. Astoundingly, the results were the exact opposite of what I had expected. After the break, I did better than ever, as if my brain had further optimized itself during those eight months off.

      Action Items

       Try one of Jim Kwik’s courses (https://kwiklearning.com) or another speed-reading course so you can literally learn faster.

       Teach a summary of this book to a friend, colleagues, your spouse, or your kids, so you’ll remember it all!

       Improve your fluid intelligence by doing Dual N-Back training. I recommend the Dual N-Back app by Mikko Tyrskeranta on the iTunes and Android stores.

       Hints:Do it for at least twenty days, but forty is best.Do it at least five days a week, when you’re not tired.You may get stuck for a couple of weeks, but do it anyway.Do not subvocalize (mutter to yourself) when you’re training so that you’re only activating the right side of your brain.Push yourself to failure every time—move up a level even if you’re only at 70 to 80 percent at an existing level. The software I recommend does this for you automatically.Tell a friend or coach you’re going to do Dual N-Back so they can make fun of you when you tell them how annoying it is. It’s like going to the gym every day for a month—accountability helps.

       Recommended Listening

       Jim Kwik, “Speed Reading, Memory & Superlearning,” Bulletproof Radio, episode 189

       Jim Kwik, “Boost Brain Power, Upgrade Your Memory,” Bulletproof Radio, episode 267

       Dan Hurley, “The Science of Smart,” Bulletproof Radio, episode 104

       Recommended Reading

       Dan Hurley, Smarter: The New Science of Building Brain Power

      Law 6: Remember Images, Not Words

      Your brain evolved in a world of sense, sound, and images, not a world of words. Train yourself to build images from what you read and hear so you can make full use of your brain’s deeply rooted onboard visual hardware. Remembering in words will slow you down and waste energy you can put to better use.

      Mattias Ribbing has a title you’ve probably never heard of: he is the leading brain trainer in Sweden and a three-time Swedish memory champion who is ranked number seventy-five in the world. Mattias has actually been awarded the title Grand Master of Memory by the World Memory Sports Council, which only 154 people have ever achieved. Mattias started hacking his memory in 2008. Before that, he says, he had an average memory; he could remember only ten or so digits at a time, while now he can memorize up to a thousand.

      Mattias always loved learning, and when he discovered that his memory could be improved dramatically, he set out to train his brain. Just a few months later, he won his first Swedish memory championship. He compares brain training to learning to drive a car. It takes a few months, and then you have a new ability for the rest of your life. Even better, the skill can increase and become stronger over the years, just like (hopefully) your driving skills.

      Mattias says that the basic way to hack your memory is to teach your brain how to think in images rather than words. This requires training your visualization skills. When you visualize images, information takes a shortcut in the memory-storage part of the brain, skipping over short-term memory and heading straight to long-term memory. Out of our five senses, our sight is the most important to the brain, because it is the most closely tied to our survival. Three-quarters of the neurons that work with our senses are connected to sight. (This is also why poor-quality light sources drain so much of your brain energy and why we use TrueDark glasses when brain training at the 40 Years of Zen neurofeedback program.) Some people think that they learn better through sound or through touch, but Mattias says the experts know that we learn best through visualization. Learning through doing or teaching is an even more powerful way to remember new information, but that’s because both of those approaches engage your visual senses.

      When you learn through sound by repeating information out loud over and over again, the brain can take in only a tiny amount of data at once. When we learn in images, our brains absorb more information more quickly. How does this work on an everyday, practical level? Let’s say you’re reading the newspaper. As you read, see if you can visualize the contents of a particular article as if it were a movie in your mind. Start off with something that’s relatively easy to visualize. For example, instead of using an article about the economy or international politics for this purpose, look at the local police blotter and imagine a story about a robbery.

      Picture the robber fleeing, coming out from a bank, and running down the pavement. What does he look like? Picture his black hat, green jacket, and yellow pants. Imagine him running, being chased by two cops with their guns drawn. Can you really see it? Train your mind to hold that image for a little bit. Then make it bigger. Notice the robber’s eyes, his hair. What does his face look like? Start to see the pavement in greater detail.

      You’ve probably done this before without even thinking about it, most likely when reading a novel. When you intentionally create such images, though, you can better remember the details because the images create a lasting imprint in our brains. The more often you do this, the more it will start to happen naturally. Images will start to pop up automatically, and learning through visualizations will become your new habit.

      If you think you’re “not a visual person,” you simply need to become better at visualization. To do so, start with something simple. Close your eyes and visualize СКАЧАТЬ