Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips.
I have multiplied my “smartness” in the last couple of decades due to techniques I learned from two peolple.
I always wanted to be smart. Then I wanted to be smarter than that. I guess I am still working at being smarter. I recently switched to paying for Starbucks coffee using an iPhone app instead of a gift card. The reason for the switch was to learn more about iPhone apps, i.e., I wanted to be smarter.
While thinking about being smarter, two names came to mind:
Jerry Weinberg
Tony Buzan
Tony Buzan was introduced to me one Sunday morning while perusing the Washington Post. There was an article about an odd and colorful form of outlines called Mind Mapping. Since I used outlines in my writing and teaching, I was interested. I read Buzan’s book on Mind Maps. I still use Mind Maps today.
Then I found several more books by Buzan. One was about Speed Reading. I read much faster than before. Reading faster, while comprehending more, has speed my learning, i.e., has helped me be faster. Another book by Buzan was on Memory. I use the memory techniques (they are not tricks) Buzan described. I am using them this week to help commit to memory an entire page of text (don’t ask me why as it is a long story).
Jerry Weinberg first came to me while in graduate school. I was studying artificial intelligence, and there was a book sitting on an office desk titled “The Psychology of Computer Programming.” I thumbed through the book and remembered the author’s name. A year or two later I joined a book club because the initial benefit was a series of books by Weinberg on Software Quality Management. I was hooked.
A few years later, I met Jerry Weinberg at a class he was teaching called “Problem Solving Leadership.” I went to a few more classes that Jerry taught. He showed me useful techniques to understand other people by understanding myself. Since then, working with other people is much easier and we are all much more effective. Hence, we all seem to be much smarter.
I guess someone would call this learning to be smarter some sort of multiplier or lever. If you have a lever, you can move far more weight than if you only have your hands. The techniques taught by Tony Buzan and Jerry Weinberg are mental levers. I also consider them to be life levers. They have made me smarter and I know much better how to be smarter every day.