Charles Bukowski

The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence.

Famous author

What's the most necessary for a young man?

“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.”
 
― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

On the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time.
But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons

When a person is “smart” there’s a risk of developing an inflated ego!

Our education system created the problem by giving exams then grouping students by their scores. The top group is labeled smart and assumed the most likely to succeed, but outside of academics being smart will not ultimately determine their success:

For e.g when working for yourself,  Persistence and Discipline is very impt. When working for others , you need to have dependability . In Public or politics being smart is just not enough, what’s probably most impt is patience and Tactfulness & of course foresight. With starting Relationships, you need Confidence and Respectfulness. Keeping Relationships is even harder ,  Trustworthiness and Patience . In the Entertainment business, tops would be  Charisma and Persistence.

As you can see in most of these situations, smarts doesn't help and can even distract or deter. The ideal situation for a smart person is being isolated or around other smart people, so they can slowly reason things out. But even when heavily controlled, life doesn't always allow that, so learn to emphasize other qualities. For instance, show some patience before calling someone stupid

Brain Food !!!

Oil-based salad dressings

The data support eating foods that are high in vitamin E and this includes healthy vegetable oil-based salad dressings, seeds and nuts, peanut butter, and whole grains
The benefit has been seen with vitamin-E rich foods, but not supplements.

A potent antioxidant, vitamin E may help protect neurons or nerve cells. In Alzheimer’s disease, neurons in certain parts of the brain start to die, which jump-starts the cascade of events leading to cognitive deterioration

Fish

Salmon, mackerel, tuna, and other fish are rich in heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).  In the brain, DHA seems to be very important for the normal functioning of neurons

Another plus: Eating more fish often means eating less red meat and other forms of protein that are high in artery-clogging saturated fats.

Dark green leafy vegetables

Kale, collard greens, spinach, and broccoli are good sources of vitamin E and folate. For example, one cup of raw spinach has 15% of your daily intake of vitamin E, and 1/2 a cup of cooked spinach has 25% of your daily intake.

Exactly how folate may protect the brain is unclear, but it may be by lowering levels of an amino acid known as homocysteine in the blood. High levels of homocysteine may trigger the death of nerve cells in the brain, but folic acid helps break down homocysteine levels. High homocysteine levels have also been linked to an increased risk for heart disease.

Berries

The latest research presented at the National Meeting of the American Chemical Society in Boston found that blueberries, strawberries, and acai berries may help put the brakes on age-related cognitive decline by preserving the brain’s natural “housekeeper” mechanism, which wanes with age. This mechanism helps get rid of toxic proteins associated with age-related memory loss.

Whole grains

Fiber-rich whole grains are an integral part of the Mediterranean diet, which is also loaded with fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, olive oil, and wine.

This type of diet may reduce inflammation, oxidative stress, and other vascular risk factors such as high blood pressure—all of which may have a role in increasing risk for brain and heart diseases

When Obscurity at Work Is a Good Thing

When Obscurity at Work Is a Good Thing

Most of us strive to go noticed by a boss when we're first starting out at a new job, but as 37 Signals co-founder and author Jason Fried point out, sometimes that obscurity inherent when you're at a new job can actually work in your favor. 

When you're straight out of college, the natural reaction is to go all out and try to get your bosses to notice what you're doing. The problem is that you probably don't actually know what you're doing. Fried's suggestion is to embrace the obscurity that comes when you're a nobody at a new job and use it to your advantage with long term goals:

I think obscurity is your friend when you’re just starting out. People want to get rid of the obscurity so everyone knows who they are and what they’re doing, but it’s nice to have that cushion of being able to mess up without anyone knowing or caring so that you can learn without the spotlight on you. Once the spotlight is on you, there’s a lot of pressure and you don’t need that kind of pressure early on. Take it easy, have a long-term view on things, build on little successes, and learn more before you try to go out and change the world.

It's solid advice whether you're taking on your first job or just changing careers. Obviously you don't want to dawdle away in obscurity for too long, but if you take your time on that first project you'll be able to impress that new boss a lot more.

How to remember more in less time?

1. Spaced Repetition

The spaced repetition technique spreads information in specific time intervals and repeats that information in specific points in time so you’ll remember more indefinitely. How can that possibly work?

When our brain is exposed to information over a long period of time, it tends to remember that information due to the Spacing Effect. It is a psychological phenomenon that ensures we remember information which is presented to us through repeated long termed spaced studying. 

How the method works:

•You memorize a piece of information and then after a few minutes you repeat; exposing yourself again to the same information in increased intervals.

•The intervals begin with few minutes, than increase to hours, days, weeks, and eventually months.

•An example to such an interval can be seen in Pimsleur’s graduated-interval recall – 5 seconds, 25 seconds, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 1 hour, 5 hours, 1 day, 5 days, 25 days, 4 months, and 2 years. 

Spaced repetition works so well because it uses your long-term memory instead of your short-term memory to process information. 

2. Mnemonic Techniques 

The mnemonic technique translates information you’re trying to memorize into a pattern your brain remembers better than the original form. There are many types of mnemonic applications including remembering sets of numbers (numeric), remembering lists and I also found it’s extremely effective when trying to remember new words in a foreign language. An example of mnemonic application can be learning the names of the stars in our solar system:

•My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nachos

•Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune (source). 

A foreign language mnemonic I use is associating words I find hard to remember to “link words” in my mother tongue, for instance:

•In Russian, the word cow (pronounced roughly “karova”) can be associated to “I ran my car over a cow.” 

Linkwords work in the following way:

First, you create the linkword > then you associate it with a story> the story leads to the meaning and there you have it.

Linkword > Story > Meaning 

After a while you’re able to remember the link word and meaning without the story, and eventually you remember the meaning, without the help of the link word or the story.