Intelligence is not about remembering facts or doing well on tests. It’s about living a life where you can thrive. This means being healthy, financially secure, and happy. You might be great at solving complex math problems, but can you solve the puzzle of your own well-being?
When we focus too much on IQ scores, we miss the important skills that matter. Skills like empathy, resilience, creativity, and self-awareness. After all, no one cares if you scored in the top 1% if you’re unhappy every day.
Think about it. If you can’t get what you want, like great health, wealth, or strong friendships, then your high IQ isn’t useful. The smartest person is the one who knows how to turn knowledge into real results.
So, let’s change the focus. Don’t worry about your IQ score. Instead, ask yourself these questions: “Am I living a life that matches my deepest values? Am I making the lives of people around me better? Am I waking up eager for the day?” Your answers to these questions will tell you more about your intelligence than any test.
IQ tests measure certain skills like math, patterns, and language. But they don’t measure the most important thing: creativity. When I took an IQ test, part of it was to show off. I wanted to know if I was “smart.” I rubbed my high scores on everyone’s face. But if I’m truly that smart, would I need to brag about it?
A few years ago, I asked a smart friend for tips to improve my intelligence score. They suggested books on memory training, numbers, and mental exercises. The brain is like a muscle. Those books were helpful, but they needed a lot of mental effort.
Eventually, I realized I didn’t care about fast math or pattern-matching. Computers can do that well. What I really wanted was to boost my creativity. Being more creative gives a bigger return. If I’m creative enough, I can build machines to do the hard calculations for me.
The only benefit of improving my IQ number would have been to impress people. But having a high IQ didn’t help me get dates. The authors of the books wrote the books by being creative. That’s the real superpower IQ tests can’t measure.
How Do You Truly Test Intelligence?
“The only real test of intelligence is if you get what you want out of life.” ~ Naval Ravikant
Last year, I created ‘Redefyne.’ It is a different kind of dictionary. I made it after seeing that regular dictionaries only give vague definitions. They don’t explain what you can actually do with the concepts. My “operationary” dictionary gives practical definitions based on what you can do.
The same unclear definitions that people sometimes use to mislead you. They say things like “Just be confident,” “Just be like James,” and “Just be patient.” But the problem is, if you don’t know what those things mean, you’ll be treated like you’re dumb.
It doesn’t matter whose fault it is. The solution is simple. You have to meet people where they are when teaching them. You have to teach to their level of understanding at the time.
I define teaching as breaking down a topic so your student understands it.
For example, telling someone “the first step is to build a website.” For someone who knows how to build a website, this is easy to do. But for someone who doesn’t know how to turn on a computer, they won’t understand. There are different layers of knowledge required.
There are different layers of knowledge between you and your goals. There are layers of knowledge behind being charismatic, wise, and trustworthy.
There are different layers of knowledge that make someone intelligent. I will share this with you.
The Layered Depths of Intelligence
Let’s look at some explanations of the terms. You can find over 120 of them on the Redefyne website. It’s free.
Intelligence is how fast someone learns. It’s about the speed at which a person picks up new information and skills.
Let’s look at a layer of knowledge that is underneath intelligence.
Learning.
Learning is when you show new actions in the same situation. This is the definition of learning.
If I show you a red card and hit you, you’ll learn. If I show the red card again and you move away, you’ve learned.
If you don’t duck, you haven’t learned.
That’s what learning is. It is not watching 200 YouTube videos or reading 100 books a week. Those can give you ideas to change your behavior. But the important thing is the new behavior itself.
Intelligence is how fast you learn. “How many times are you exposed to the same condition before you change your behavior?”
If you show Jack and James the red card, Jack ducks after 10 slaps. But James ducks after 30 slaps. This means Jack is more intelligent than James when it comes to ducking slaps.
How to Increase Your Intelligence:
There are only two ways to become smarter.
1. Improve your ability to see ahead. Improving your foresight lets you plan better. When you can predict the future, you can make smarter choices today.
Improve your ability to see what might happen next. This helps you learn faster. You can do this by using systems, mental models, and leverage.
2. Do more: Repeating the process lets you see what works and what doesn’t. You can try different ideas and see the results. Doing more iterations allows you to make better decisions.
If you are a slow learner, do more practice. For example, if it takes you 20 tries to learn something, do 100 tries while others do 10. You can outperform them through hard work.
If you can do both things, then you will be unstoppable. You will be able to achieve anything you want.
I’ve explained more details on how to increase your intelligence in this article:
The article shows how you can become smarter, even if you weren’t born a genius. It gives simple steps anyone can follow to get smarter over time.
So, I won’t repeat anything I don’t need to.
IQ tests may show how fast you solve puzzles, but they can’t say if you’re building the life you want. True intelligence is about how fast you adapt, grow, and use every lesson to reach your goals. Creativity, foresight, and constant improvement are more important than a test score. At the end, the smartest person is the one happy with what they’ve built.
If this article shifted your perspective, imagine what a weekly dose could do. Join value-driven creators rethinking creativity, productivity, and the new economy—plus get access to products, community, and exclusive insights straight to your inbox. Drop your email here: https://crive.substack.com.
Enjoy the journey. The true genius keeps learning.
~ Praise
