What if I were to tell you that just six months from now your IQ could be 25 percent higher than what it is today? And what if I told you that all you needed to do was perform a simple daily exercise that would make it happen? In fact, there is strong evidence that by doing this one easy exercise, you can dramatically increase your IQ — and even make yourself a genius! So what is this simple, easy and fantastic “genius exercise” that will supercharge your brain? This: Keep a daily journal or diary. Every day, or several times a day, write down all your thoughts on paper. Do it faithfully for one complete year, and you will rapidly grow more intelligent — guaranteed.

Consider:

Researcher Catherine Cox studied the habits of 300 geniuses luminaries such as Isaac Newton, Einstein, Thomas Jefferson and discovered that all of them were “compulsive” journal or diary keepers.

A study determined that only one percent of the world’s population habitually engaged in daily journal writing. The study also found that that same one percent were almost always super high achievers, and that they almost always lived longer than the average for their time, place and era.

Thomas Edison wrote an incredible 3 million pages of notes, letters and personal thoughts in hundreds of personal journals throughout his life.

The brilliant cosmologist Steven Hawking contracted Lou Gehrig’s disease more than 30 years ago and was give just two years to live. Hawking is a shriveled up lump of a human being confined to an electronic wheelchair. He cannot speak, write, or even move more than just a trifle. But 32 years after contracting his disease, Hawking is considered among the world’s greatest thinkers. He remarried a few years ago after a divorce, and shows no signs of slowing down with his contributions to cosmology and quantum relativity theory. Although unable to physically keep a journal, Hawking has used computers and other mechanical aides to constantly record not only new ideas and scientific theories, but his own inner reflections.

When he was a young man, Albert Einstein took a young woman sailing for a date. The date didn’t go very well. The young woman was frustrated because Einstein hardly said a word to her — but instead spent the whole day scribbling in a small journal he carried with him.

Now here’s more good news: to get all of the IQ building effects of daily journaling, you don’t even have to write down anything that is coherent! This fact is demonstrated in the the journal of one of the great minds of the 19th Century, English inventor Thomas Faraday, a man much admired by Einstein himself.

Faraday filled thousands of notebooks with seeming utter nonsense. Many have studied the journals of Faraday hoping to discover the key to his brilliant mind. All have been frustrated. In Win Winger and Richard Poe’s book, The Einstein Factor, one researcher wrote:

“(Faraday’s) Diaries have the irritating form of ideas jotted down, repeated and forgotten … a morass or articulated and unarticulated principles, concepts, observations and physical facts.”

In fact, the best method to build your IQ seems to be carrying a journal with you throughout the day and writing down any random thoughts as they occur to you. Now an added bonus: Keeping a daily “random thoughts” journal will not only make you smarter, but may also increase your life span! The evidence for this come from a fascinating study of a group of unusual nuns in Mankato, Minnesota.

The nuns are unique in that just about all of them live well past the average age of death for women in Minnesota. Most of them live well into their 90s, and some top the 100-year mark. Few or none of them have ever suffered from senile dementia or Alzheimer’s Disease. What do the sisters all have in common? That’s right — they are all obsessive journal keepers. Keeping a journal is a requirement of their particular order. And yes, a study of the nuns’ IQs showed that they were all well above average. Of course, there were other variables in the clean and serene lifestyle of the sisters that most likely contributed to their intelligence and long life — but journal keeping is the single key element they all had in common. So there you have it. Buy a notebook and carry it wherever you go. Jot down your random thoughts, reflect upon what you write, and soon, you’ll be enjoying your shiny new super-powered IQ!

Please visit Ken’s Web site: www.starcopywriter.com

What’s the biggest problem with memory tricks? Remembering to use them, of course. There are many memory techniques that work well, but you’ll forget them when you need them most – unless you make using them a habit. So when you take the time to learn a technique, use it until it becomes automatic. Here are some to try.

Using a Story-List

I went to a party as a child. There was a game that involved looking at a table covered in 15 various items. After a few minutes, we were taken to another room, and each child was given paper and a pencil. We had to write down as many items as we could remember. I recalled seven or eight, but one boy won the prize by remembering all 15 items.

Years later I learned why he won. His father taught him a simple trick that none of us other kids knew. The technique is to tie the items together in an imaginative story. For example, what if you want to remember a list of the following things: Soap, milk, honey, fork, and flowers.

Start a vivid story in your imagination, adding each item to it as you go: At the sink, you reach for the SOAP. The soap dish is full of MILK, so you wash your hands in that. Then you comb HONEY into your hair with a FORK, and finally pick up a bouquet of FLOWERS and smile at the mirror. Say each item while mentally reviewing your “movie,” and you’ll remember all five things, even the next day.

Some Other Memory Tricks

Tell yourself to remember. When you learn a person’s name, for example, tell yourself, “remember that”. This signals your unconscious mind to rank this input as more important.

Know WHY you want to remember something, and HOW you’ll remember it. To remember a person, for example, ask why they’ll be important to you in the future, imagine where you’ll see them next, and connect that to anything you notice about them. Seeing the importance of remembering really helps, and additional associations (where you expect to see the person next) set the memory more firmly in your brain.

Do you ever forget where you put your car keys? You’ve probably tried retracing your steps, at least doing it in your imagination. This can work well, but even better is to prevent the forgetting beforehand. When you set the keys on the chair, see yourself walking in and setting the keys on the chair. You won’t forget where they are.

There are many more of these memory tricks. If you want them to be useful, though, don’t just read about them. Make a memory technique or two into a habit, starting today.

Does your mind sometimes feel like a television station you can’t quite tune in? You know there’s an interesting program on – or several, but everything is mixed with static. What if you could “tune in” at will, have clear thinking whenever you want it? Try some of the following.

Ten Clear Thinking Techniques And Tips

1. Take a walk. Science will eventually prove this to be a great way to improve the quality of your thinking, but don’t wait for the proof. Aren’t there enough other reasons to take a walk anyhow?

2. Stay away from sugar. If you want to understand what brain fog is, eat a sugary donut on an empty stomach, then do math problems twenty minutes later. What you will experience, along with the “sugar blues,” is brain fog. At least lay off sugar and simple carbohydrates when you need to think clearly.

3. Organized space means clear thinking. It’s rare that a person can actually work better in clutter. Organised working space means you won’t have the thought “where is that…” distracting your mind.

4. Get better sleep. Sleep requirements vary, but the minimum for most is somewhere around five hours. Some suffer if they sleep less than eight hours. The research, however, indicates that after a certain minimum quantity, the quality of sleep is more important to normal brain function.

5. Try meditating. No time? Just close your eyes, relax, and watch your breath for a while. Accept that your mind will wander, but continually return your attention to your breath. Five minutes of this, and afterwards you’ll feel a boost in your brainpower.

6. Resolve your “mind irritations.” Watch your busy brain. Maybe a call you need to make has been bothering you, just below consciousness. Find these stressors, and do something to let them go. For example, make that call, or put it on a list, and your mind will let go of it for now. Just seeing a problem and saying, “There’s nothing I can do about this until Friday,” will often stop unconscious worrying.

7. Don’t drink alcohol. At least don’t drink too much. While moderate amounts can be conducive to creative thinking, all the evidence says that it is bad for the long-term health of your brain.

8. Make decisions quickly. Nothing gets in the way of clear thinking like a dozen decisions hanging around unmade. If nothing else, decide when you’ll make the decision.

9. Get some fresh air. Go outside and breath deeply through your nose. You’ll get a good dose of oxtgen to your brain, and the change of surroundings can help clear your mind.

10. Satisfy your physical needs. Clear thinking is easier if you aren’t too hungry, thirsty, or hot.

You can think more clearly starting today. There are certainly more than ten ways, but you really only need to make a few of them a habit to have a more powerful brain. Why not try one or two right now?

When we’re in the creative flow, we can sometimes forget we even have a body, because our minds are exploding with color, sounds, words and images. But when unhealthy habits sap your body of its vitality and strength, your creativity and productivity will be sapped as well.

What could be more frustrating than the interruption of your creative flow by an uninvited headache, back spasm, dullness of mind or the “shakes”?

I once heard the expression that as a guitar player, I’m a “small muscle athlete” meaning I need to warm up those muscles and treat them well. Perhaps as artists we’re ALL small muscle athletes. After all, we do need a good measure of physical endurance to get through our creative tasks.

Whether it’s sitting hunched over an easel, the repetitive movements of playing a musical instrument, the stamina to stand and walk on stage throughout an entire show or sitting at a computer keyboard for most of the day, our creative tools all require the use of the body.

To keep that body strong and resilient takes daily attention.

Day-to-day self-care practices such as getting enough sleep, eating three healthy and balanced meals that are evenly timed throughout the day (plus healthy snacks if you need them), moving your body actively and drinking enough water are all essential for taking care of your body.

Taking care of the body also affects the mind. Fatigue, malnutrition, inactivity and dehydration will all have adverse effects on the mind and the ability to problem solve, concentrate and connect ideas.

The Creative Cycle and Self-Care

Touring with a band, rehearsing for a show or burning the midnight oil to finish a painting before a gallery opening, are all examples of extraordinary circumstances where we might relax our self-care discipline and adopt a whole new set of rules.

Then, when the show or tour is over or the piece is finished, we sometimes sink into an anti-climactic “low” or a period of transition before we get back into the creative flow again.

The daily practices you keep when things are “normal” will build resilience for the times when these extraordinary circumstances come up. They also build habits and healthy living skills that you can draw on when life gets more challenging.

Put it into play

One of the best practices for a healthy body, mind and spirit is to get enough sleep and rest. Tonight, end your evening activities a half hour early and spend that time winding down. Release the worries of the day by writing or speaking about them. Calm yourself with a bath, tea, massage, music or a good read that doesn’t remind you of your work.

We can all come up with reasons why we can’t exercise, we can’t make different food choices and we can’t focus more on our health.

You have a unique creative gift to share with the world, but your creativity relies on a sound mind and body.

So which of your reasons for not taking care of yourself are more important than that?

(c) Linda Dessau, 2005.

A recent survey tells us that 24% of Americans between the ages of 18-50 are tattooed. This is almost 1 in 4. The most popular reason people get tattooed is “To broadcast what they are all about.”

Keeping this in mind, many people end up regretting the tattoo that is inked on their body. Most of the time, these people did not take the time to really think about why they choose a particular tattoo and look at other tattoo designs that are available. This is why picking out the right tattoo design from the start is important. Being impulsive has disaster written all over it.

The removal of offending tattoos is painful and expensive. Learn this lesson now or pay for it later. That is all I am going to say about this!

Here are some suggestions how to get started finding your dream tattoo design:

To increase creativity, you need to do two things. First, you need to encourage it. Second, you need to train your brain. Start on both of these right now, and you can experience greater creativity today.

Encourage creativity and you’ll increase creativity. This is true of most things you want to see more of in your life. Encouragement can work wonders. How do you encourage creativity, though?

First, by paying attention to it. Your subconscious mind tends to give you more of what you pay attention to. If you ignore the creative aspects of your life, you are telling your subconscious that they are unimportant. If you consciously note when you are creative, and you look for opportunities to be creative, your subconscious mind will start feeding you more creative ideas. Look for it and you’ll find more of it.

Another way to encourage and increase creativity, is to write your ideas down. Keep an “idea journal.” If you do this regularly, you’ll notice that you often start having more ideas the moment you start to write. A so-so idea may normally be forgotten, but by writing it down, you may remember it, your subconscious works on it, and it can transform into something very creative.

You can also encourage greater creativity in yourself by putting creative ideas into practice. If you paint or write, for example, try anything new. Even just driving a different route to work to see if it is quicker can help. The point is to get you mind working outside of its regular patterns.

Just changing your surroundings can encourage creativity. If you want more creativity in your love life, go hike up a mountain with your partner. If you write, try sitting on a roof to write. If you need new ideas for your business, take a notebook to the park and sit by the duck pond. A change of enviroment can get your brain out of it’s ruts.

Creativity Training

If you want to dramatically increase creativity, develop creative habits of mind. Watch a good comedian and you’ll see that she has trained her mind to look for the “different angle” on everyday things. You can train your mind to do the same.

Challenge assumptions, for example, until it becomes habit. Looking for ways to get customers into your store? Stop and say, “Do I really need more customers?” The question suggests other creative solutions, like finding ways to make more money off existing customers, or ways to cut expenses. These may lead to more profitable ideas. Challenge assumptions to increase the creativity of your solutions.

As you drive to work, randomly choose anything around you and ask how it may be connected to whatever problem you are working on. A helicopter overhead might make you think about a way to track where the car goes when you loan it to your kids. A palm tree may lead to a new design for patio umbrellas.

The above techniques are called “Assumption Challenging” and “Random Presentation,” and are two classic creative problem solving techniques. There are dozens more. Train your brain to habitually use these, and provide it with a little encouragement, and you really can increase your creativity.