Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Practical Intelligence

The intelligence that we often talk about, or General Intelligence, is apparently not sufficient for you to get ahead in this world. You also need other types of intelligences, one of which is Practical Intelligence, to be really successful. Psychologist Robert J. Sternberg proposes three intelligences in human cognition:
  • Analytical intelligence is the ability to analyze and evaluate ideas, solve problems and make decisions.
  • Creative intelligence involves going beyond what is given to generate novel and interesting ideas.
  • Practical intelligence is the ability that individuals use to find the best fit between themselves and the demands of the environment.
All of these intelligences together comprise what Sternberg calls Successful Intelligence and this is what will put you ahead of the rest of the world. I see Practical Intelligence as very important as this is what enables you to use your other intelligences to get the best advantage. Malcolm Gladwell also talks about practical intelligence in his famous book, Outliers. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to find an answer to the perennial question, "what makes high-achievers different?"

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

WorkFlowy - Everything can be a list!

I have experimented with hundreds of note-taking and list-making apps on the web and on my iPhone but never stayed with any one for long. Simplenote was probably the best for simple text based notes and Evernote was the most versatile. But nothing was perfect and all of them lacked one feature or the other. 
Things may change though with the introduction of a new app called WorkFlowy. WorkFlowy is a simple note-taking app that makes lists based on bullets and sub-bullets. All your text in WorkFlowy is contained within one giant list that can have multiple nested sub-lists. This may seem counterproductive but real power of WorkFlowy lies in its simplicity.
Check this article on Slate.com for more praise and details.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Don't Be Afraid to Change Your Own Ideas

Here is a great piece of advice from Jeff Bezos:


"People who were right a lot of the time were people who often changed their minds. Consistency of thought is not always a positive trait. It's perfectly healthy to have an idea tomorrow that contradicted your idea today.

The smartest people are constantly revising their understanding, reconsidering a problem they thought they'd already solved. They're open to new points of view, new information, new ideas, contradictions, and challenges to their own way of thinking.

This doesn't mean you shouldn't have a well formed point of view, but it means you should consider your point of view as temporary."