When we hear stories about a seven-year-old who can speak 14 different languages, or see a video of someone with a photographic memory repeating back every single person’s name in a fifty-person auditorium, we sit back in awe.
“How can they do that?” we say, our jaws on the ground. We begin to think that high levels of intelligence are more the result of nature, rather than nurture.
But that’s just not the case! The truth is, we are all blank slates when we arrive here on Earth. Sure, we inherit a few things from our parents, but ultimately our futures depend on our work ethic. There are plenty of brilliant people in the world who never amount to much, solely because they lacked the desire to refine their inherent talents and intelligence.
On the other side of the spectrum, there are plenty of people who had the odds stacked against them and went on to do brilliant things. We, of course, want to belong to this group. So take note:
People aren’t born smart. People learn how to work with what they’ve got and become smart as a result. How? Let’s learn from a super star Elon Musk:
Learning is one of the over-communicated but under-leveraged tools. Everyone talks about methods of learning, but few people find realistic and authentic techniques that actually yield a net profit in the information and application categories.
Elon Musk has broken through that barrier with learning techniques that have proven successful not just once, but time and time again.
Yes, Musk is a once-in-a-lifetime genius. He has a different way of viewing problems than the average person.
Of course, he reads hundreds of books. He works with top-level thinkers. He has astronomical levels of funding to put towards his every whim. But that’s not what makes him a great learner.
His learning methods aren’t that regal. In fact, his two rules for how to learn anything faster can be implemented by anyone at any time. Including you!
Rule #1—Make sure you’re building a tree of knowledge
What does this mean for you practically? It helps us understand that not everything is weighed with equal gravitas or importance.
When it comes to learning, there is a difference between material that ends up hanging from a branch and the material that makes up the base of the trunk of your tree. It’s the periphery vs. the central!
Musk is a master of understanding what is at the core of each of the sectors his entrepreneurial ventures sit in.
He starts there, ensuring that he has the best possible grasp on the “trunk” material before moving off into the minutiae of the branches and the leaves.
Musk’s brilliance is found in his second rule of learning, which underlines his ability to build vast and towering trees of intellect across multiple sectors.
Rule #2–You can’t remember what you can’t connect
This is how Musk was able to span sectors and shift entire industries seemingly overnight.
He started with solid roots and dense trunks, and then as he began to grow his knowledge upward, he began connecting branches and leaves together with other branches and leaves from other trees.
Musk never learns a piece of information at random. Everything he intakes, he connects back to some deeper, more solid base.
Musk plants trees, in rich soil, that grow to be thick and abundant centers of learning.
You can do the same. You just need to embrace his two rules. Build the trunk first, then work tirelessly on making connections.
Let me conclude with my vision: Smart people hang around other smart people.
Most people hang around other people just like them (of course observing social distancing, for the time being). This can be a good thing when done intentionally.
If you want to become smarter, you have to spend time around people smarter than yourself, or at least communicate with them. One of my favorite quotes is, “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.”
Smart people hang around other smart people. Remember: You are the reflection of the five people you spend the most time with!
I look forward to your smart responses; e-mail me at hjschumacher59@gmail.com