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Human potential is
NOT fixed. Over
time it may well be
infinite.
Even your brain cells are capable of regeneration, depending on
how much they are used. 14 The neurons, hippocampus,
branches, cerebral cortex and synapses that contain your memories
and your ability to process information, innovate, dream and
experience can all be enhanced and repaired. Depression, stress,
guilt and poor self-image all reduce your brain's performance
while caring, working, loving, relaxing, playing and meditating
all increase it.
You can start smart and end dumb, or start dumb and end smart.
Up to a 60 per cent difference each year depending on what you
choose to do with your potential. What an idea! Given the right
kinds of effort (mental, emotional and physical) you can
unshrink your brain Ð think of the possibilities and by the end of
this book you may actually be more intelligent. 15
But what kind of intelligence will you have gained? What kind of
intelligence do you want? IQ is just a measure of a particular
kind of efficiency in brain design. That's important for doing IQ-type
tasks but what happens when you want to complete a task
that IQ doesn't measure?
Howard Gardener is among many who have examined what he
termed 'multiple intelligence'. His first attempt identified six
'intelligences' that contribute to our society's success:
- musical
- logical
- spatial
- bodily
- interpersonal
- intrapersonal
He later added naturalistic, which is the ability to recognise and
classify objects in the environment that in adults might mean
plants, minerals and animals but in children might start with the
ability to identify cultural artefacts like cars and sneakers. Not
the kind of thing that IQ (and IQ-based aptitude tests) value at
all, with damaging impacts on the way that people are valued ,
as in the following example:
Unshrink Yourself/MYTH You Are What You Do/Winning At All Costs/Bob Knight/Troy Aikman/Believers In Our Potential/A Confidence Thing/Potential Is Not Fixed/Shrunk Down/Nit Picking/Charles Bronson/MYTH Work Comes First/Missing The Point/Reframe/Get To Work/Artificial Barrier/Live Your Epitaph/Be Your Own Expert | 
