Brain Training: Valuable or a Waste of Time?

[Cognition]

I've begun an aggressive study on brain training, essentially how to substantially increase my mental acuity and cognitive performance. I want to strengthen my brain's performance in the areas of memory, visual-spatial, logic, concentration/focus, and language. After examining my self academically and intellectually, I don't believe my brain is functioning at an acceptable level of performance.

I've gotten so interested in this that I'm developing a proprietary brain training 'strategy' primarily for execution in my undergraduate studies. I've also tested and discovered that I'm a audio-visual learner and I will be tailoring my study habits to accommodate this learning 'style'.

I've purchased five books written by neurologists and experts in cognition. There are many factors such as diet, sleep, mental 'exercises', stress, physical fitness, and habits (such as smoking and drinking) that I've read information on that have a bearing on your brain's performance. I believe that newly-acquired interest of mine in brain training this will help me tremendously in my personal life, but more importantly, in my academic experience.

My goal? Tailor my personal learning style with superior study habits and "brain training" to transfer from El Centro College to Southern Methodist University and afterward, acquire a joint degree in law and computer science/engineering from Stanford, Duke, or U of Chicago.

Am I wasting my time with brain training or is it very relevant to increasing academic performance? Is my intelligence fixed and not 'improvable'? What are your thoughts?

[Elite Designer]

I haven't heard anything about people doing this, but it doesn't sound like a bad idea. It couldn't hurt. My IQ is 140, and I wish it were 250 I do believe that it is possible to increase your intelligence or use more of your brain's power. Eating very healthy and getting aerobic exercise are two things that do increase your mental performance. Also any kind of learning or mental activity is good for your intelligence. Brian Tracy said that you can increase your intelligence just by increasing your vocabulary! That sounds exciting, but I haven't done it yet. I guess you could study a dictionary every day to increase your vocabulary.

Personally, what I do every day is to work on my brain's psychology. I don't work on my IQ, but I do a LOT of work on the psychology of my own mind every day to get as much performance as I can out of myself to increase the sales in my business. So what I do is I PROGRAM my brain for higher achievement. Lately I have been listening to hypnosis recordings to make me exercise more. It worked. I'm exercising a lot more. I also eat a lot of high nutrient things, such as blueberries and fish oil, which are very good for your brain. I also eat salads, and other fruits and vegetables. And I take some nutritional supplements, which are very good for both my physical and mental health.

Actually, Brian Tracy says that mental attitude is really the most important thing for success. He says it is more important than anything else, including intelligence and talent. A great mental attitude includes things such as: thinking positive, working hard, believing in yourself, never giving up, being an optimist, having faith in your future success, etc. In any career or business field, it's not too hard to find out what you need to do to succeed, but the hardest part is getting yourself to do it!!! That's why I spend so much time on programming my mind for success - to get myself to actually do the things I should do! Many people have dreams or wishes but they do little or nothing about them. But the way you make dreams come true is by taking a lot of action every day.

I have noticed that highly intelligent people have a lot of curiosity and a thirst for knowledge in general. We spend a lot of time studying and learning things constantly. On the other hand, I've noticed that stupid people have no intellectual curiosity at all. They hate learning and they have no curiosity about things such as nature, science, technology, etc. So if you use your brain a lot and you spend a lot of time studying intellectual topics, then that should increase your brain power too.

Good luck. Working on improving yourself is one of the best thing you can do to become more successful. One rich man advised that you should work harder on improving yourself than you do working on your job.