If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Happy? The true test of intelligence is getting what you want out of life. It’s not about IQ scores, academic accolades, or your ability to solve puzzles; it’s about consistently aligning your behavior with your goals. Intelligence is a behavior, and understanding this can transform your life. Introduction: Behaviour is Everything Every circumstance in your life—success, failure, fear, shyness—is tied to behavior. This means you should abandon limiting beliefs like: - "That's just how I am." - "I was born this way." - "It's because of my parents." - "I’m an introvert." - "I'm a hot-tempered person." None of these define you. Instead, every action or result is the outcome of specific behaviors. Let’s break it down: - Poverty is a behavior. - Shyness is a behavior. - Honesty is a behavior. - Patience, focus, intelligence, discipline, anger, resilience—all behaviors. If everything is behavior, then the key to transformation lies in toggling it. Intelligence Words shape our understanding of behaviors, but dictionary definitions often fall short of practical use. They don't define most words based on "what to do". This makes things vague sometimes. If you simply define things into operations and steps you can take, things become clear and progress becomes easy. For example: - "Difficult" is redefined as a knowledge gap. If something feels hard, it’s because you lack the necessary knowledge. Fill that gap, and it becomes easy. This approach turns abstract concepts into actionable insights, helping you adjust your behavior to achieve desired results. Learning and Intelligence: Key Operational Definitions 1. Learning: Operational Definition: Same condition, new behavior.


Example: If I show you a red card and slap you, and next time you see the red card, you duck, you’ve learned. If not, you haven’t. 2. Intelligence: Operational Definition: Rate of learning.
Example: If it takes 10 slaps for you to learn to duck, and someone else learns after 4, they are more intelligent. The most intelligent person learns before the first slap. Intelligence is not fixed. You can increase it by improving your rate of learning. How to Get Smarter Two Ways to Boost Intelligence: 1. Improve Foresight: Enhance your perception and mental processing speed to anticipate consequences faster. This reduces the number of iterations required to learn. This is done with systems, mental models and leverage. 2. Increase Iterations: If you’re slower to learn, compensate by increasing the frequency of practice. For example, if it takes you 20 tries to master something, do 100 iterations while others do 10. Outpace them through sheer effort. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable. Both methods train your mental “muscle,” increasing your ability to adapt and grow. Practical Exercise: Ask yourself: "What do I have to do to [insert goal here]?" If you can’t break it down into immediate actions, it’s due to a knowledge gap. Start learning to fill that gap, and the path will become clear. Difficult Tasks and the Knowledge Gap Everything difficult can be made easier by acquiring knowledge. The formula is simple: 1. Learn: Change your behavior to match the situation. 2. Define the Goal: Break it down into actionable steps. If this is difficult, it means you need more knowledge. 3. Act: Apply the steps relentlessly until the difficult becomes easy. Turning Goals Into Actionable Behaviors Example 1: Patience - Goal: Get a nice car. - Actionable Behavior: Practice patience. - Operational Definition: Patience is doing something else in the meantime that doesn’t detract from the goal. - Action: Find tasks that build towards your goal while you wait. Example 2: Commitment - Goal: Become the best at what you do. - Actionable Behavior: Commitment - Operational Definition: Commitment is the elimination of alternatives. - Action: Eliminate distractions and focus solely on your craft. In the real world, you're going to break things down until it gets to the level you understand. After breaking down commitment, you may need to break down elimination, and other things under that. Worthwhile goals like becoming a billionaire will have a large number of things to break down a large number of times. Thoughts Are Useless Without Action Your thoughts serve no purpose unless they sharpen your actions. Instead of ruminating, ask: - "What specific actions can I take to move closer to my goal?" knowledge alone isn’t power; power comes from action. Using Anti-Goals: List behaviours that lead to failure and commit to doing the opposite. For instance: - Instead of trying to "be successful," avoid actions that cause failure. Success will naturally follow. Exercise: Flip the Script 1. Write down 5 behaviours that hinder your progress. 2. Flip them into actionable anti-goals. 3. Break each anti-goal into steps you can act on today. Closing Thoughts The true measure of intelligence is your ability to adjust behavior, learn quickly, and act consistently in order to get what you want. The faster you iterate and the more you refine your foresight, the closer you get to achieving your goals. So, if you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy? Happiness is a behaviour. Big love, Praise J.J. PS: I've compiled a directory of over 120 operational definitions to help you with everyday challenges. It's completely FREE, no daily limits, no email opt ins, no BS. You will find more information, the url, and much more in this article: https://hackernoon.com/dont-let-dictionaries-keep-you-stuck-understand-and-conquer-the-world-with-redefyne Enjoy! PSS: Subscribe to my newsletter for more insights: crive.substack.com If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Happy? If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Happy? The true test of intelligence is getting what you want out of life. It’s not about IQ scores, academic accolades, or your ability to solve puzzles; it’s about consistently aligning your behavior with your goals. Intelligence is a behavior, and understanding this can transform your life. Introduction: Behaviour is Everything Every circumstance in your life—success, failure, fear, shyness—is tied to behavior. This means you should abandon limiting beliefs like: - "That's just how I am." - "I was born this way." - "It's because of my parents." - "I’m an introvert." - "I'm a hot-tempered person." None of these define you. Instead, every action or result is the outcome of specific behaviors. Let’s break it down: - Poverty is a behavior. - Shyness is a behavior. - Honesty is a behavior. - Patience, focus, intelligence, discipline, anger, resilience—all behaviors. If everything is behavior, then the key to transformation lies in toggling it. Intelligence Words shape our understanding of behaviors, but dictionary definitions often fall short of practical use. They don't define most words based on "what to do". This makes things vague sometimes. If you simply define things into operations and steps you can take, things become clear and progress becomes easy. For example: - "Difficult" is redefined as a knowledge gap. If something feels hard, it’s because you lack the necessary knowledge. Fill that gap, and it becomes easy. This approach turns abstract concepts into actionable insights, helping you adjust your behavior to achieve desired results. Learning and Intelligence: Key Operational Definitions 1. Learning : Learning Operational Definition: Same condition, new behavior. Example: If I show you a red card and slap you, and next time you see the red card, you duck, you’ve learned. If not, you haven’t. Operational Definition: Same condition, new behavior. Operational Definition: Same condition, new behavior. Example: If I show you a red card and slap you, and next time you see the red card, you duck, you’ve learned. If not, you haven’t. Example: If I show you a red card and slap you, and next time you see the red card, you duck, you’ve learned. If not, you haven’t. 2. Intelligence : Intelligence Operational Definition: Rate of learning. Example: If it takes 10 slaps for you to learn to duck, and someone else learns after 4, they are more intelligent. The most intelligent person learns before the first slap. Operational Definition: Rate of learning. Example: If it takes 10 slaps for you to learn to duck, and someone else learns after 4, they are more intelligent. The most intelligent person learns before the first slap. Intelligence is not fixed. You can increase it by improving your rate of learning. How to Get Smarter Two Ways to Boost Intelligence: Two Ways to Boost Intelligence: 1. Improve Foresight: Improve Foresight: Enhance your perception and mental processing speed to anticipate consequences faster. This reduces the number of iterations required to learn. This is done with systems, mental models and leverage. Enhance your perception and mental processing speed to anticipate consequences faster. This reduces the number of iterations required to learn. This is done with systems, mental models and leverage. Enhance your perception and mental processing speed to anticipate consequences faster. This reduces the number of iterations required to learn. This is done with systems, mental models and leverage. 2. Increase Iterations: Increase Iterations: If you’re slower to learn, compensate by increasing the frequency of practice. For example, if it takes you 20 tries to master something, do 100 iterations while others do 10. Outpace them through sheer effort. If you’re slower to learn, compensate by increasing the frequency of practice. For example, if it takes you 20 tries to master something, do 100 iterations while others do 10. Outpace them through sheer effort. If you’re slower to learn, compensate by increasing the frequency of practice. For example, if it takes you 20 tries to master something, do 100 iterations while others do 10. Outpace them through sheer effort. If you can do both, you will be unstoppable. Both methods train your mental “muscle,” increasing your ability to adapt and grow. Practical Exercise: Practical Exercise: Ask yourself: "What do I have to do to [insert goal here]?" If you can’t break it down into immediate actions, it’s due to a knowledge gap. Start learning to fill that gap, and the path will become clear. Difficult Tasks and the Knowledge Gap Difficult Tasks and the Knowledge Gap Everything difficult can be made easier by acquiring knowledge. The formula is simple: 1. Learn: Change your behavior to match the situation. 2. Define the Goal: Break it down into actionable steps. If this is difficult, it means you need more knowledge. 3. Act: Apply the steps relentlessly until the difficult becomes easy. Turning Goals Into Actionable Behaviors Example 1: Patience - Goal: Get a nice car. - Actionable Behavior: Practice patience. - Operational Definition: Patience is doing something else in the meantime that doesn’t detract from the goal. - Action: Find tasks that build towards your goal while you wait. Example 2: Commitment - Goal: Become the best at what you do. - Actionable Behavior: Commitment - Operational Definition: Commitment is the elimination of alternatives. - Action: Eliminate distractions and focus solely on your craft. In the real world, you're going to break things down until it gets to the level you understand. After breaking down commitment, you may need to break down elimination, and other things under that. Worthwhile goals like becoming a billionaire will have a large number of things to break down a large number of times. Thoughts Are Useless Without Action Thoughts Are Useless Without Action Your thoughts serve no purpose unless they sharpen your actions. Instead of ruminating, ask: - "What specific actions can I take to move closer to my goal?" knowledge alone isn’t power; power comes from action. Using Anti-Goals: List behaviours that lead to failure and commit to doing the opposite. For instance: - Instead of trying to "be successful," avoid actions that cause failure. Success will naturally follow. Exercise: Flip the Script 1. Write down 5 behaviours that hinder your progress. 2. Flip them into actionable anti-goals. 3. Break each anti-goal into steps you can act on today. Closing Thoughts The true measure of intelligence is your ability to adjust behavior, learn quickly, and act consistently in order to get what you want. The faster you iterate and the more you refine your foresight, the closer you get to achieving your goals. So, if you’re so smart, why aren’t you happy? Happiness is a behaviour. Big love, Praise J.J. PS: I've compiled a directory of over 120 operational definitions to help you with everyday challenges. It's completely FREE, no daily limits, no email opt ins, no BS. You will find more information, the url, and much more in this article: https://hackernoon.com/dont-let-dictionaries-keep-you-stuck-understand-and-conquer-the-world-with-redefyne Enjoy! PSS: Subscribe to my newsletter for more insights: crive.substack.com

The Pyramid Framework Can Help You Escape an Ordinary Life

Make Your Own Luck by Optimizing For It

Subscribe to My Newsletter

Read My Book

Too Long; Didn't Read

Boost your HackerNoon story @ $159.99! 🚀

How to Increase Your Intelligence (even if You're Not Genetically Gifted)

About Author

Comments

TOPICS

THIS ARTICLE WAS FEATURED IN

Related Stories

Balance Is Killing Your Ambition: How to Become World Class

Why Being Likable At Work Matters

Windows Sticky Keys Exploit: The War Veteran That Never Dies

Is ‘bias for action’ making product managers lazier?

Zero People Charged With Online Pirating, Swedish Prosecutor's Office Reports

What No One Told Me About Being a Product Manager at an Early Stage Startup

Balance Is Killing Your Ambition: How to Become World Class

Why Being Likable At Work Matters

Windows Sticky Keys Exploit: The War Veteran That Never Dies

Is ‘bias for action’ making product managers lazier?

Zero People Charged With Online Pirating, Swedish Prosecutor's Office Reports

What No One Told Me About Being a Product Manager at an Early Stage Startup

Light-Mode

Classic

Newspaper

Dark-Mode

Neon Noir

Minty

HN StartUps