Practical intelligence

Preface

1. A Problem and an Opportunity
Accidental Intelligence: The Terminal Assumption
The Widening "Smart Gap"
The Dumbing of America and the Culture of Amusement
Knows and Know-Nots: The New Social Divide
Who Cares? Who Needs to Care?

2. Multiple Intelligences: The Possible Human
IQ Doesn't Tell the Whole Story
There Are at Least Six Kinds of "Smart"
Building Out: Applying Theory to Everyday Life
Build-Out 1: Emotional Intelligence
Build-Out 2: Social Intelligence
The Next Build-Out: Practical Intelligence

3. What Is Practical Intelligence?
Thinking Is a Bodily Function
Meet Your Biocomputer
Brain Cycles, Brainwaves, Brain States, and the Daily Trance
Mind-Modules: You Have Many "Minds"
Mind-Models: Your Portable Reality
Four Habits That Unlock Your Mental Capacity
Four Dimensions of PI: Your Mega-Skills
Getting Started: Upgrading Your Mental "Software"

4. Mental Software Upgrade 1: Developing Mental Flexibility
Are You a Finished Product?
Dynamic Thinking and Archaic Thinking
You Might Be a Mental Redneck
The Creative Paradox
The "Beginner's Mind&": Innocence and Humility
The "Plexity" Scale
There Is No Truth--Only Your Truth, His Truth, Her Truth, Their Truth
How I Learned to Stop Arguing with People
A New Way to Think About Opinions
Three Phrases That Can Keep Your Mind Open

5. Mental Software Upgrade 2: Adopting Affirmative Thinking
Cleaning Out the Attic: Mental Decontamination
"Sensorship": Choosing What You Will Allow into Your Mind
Resistance to Enculturation, aka "Crap Detecting"
Cleanse Your Mind with a "Media Fast"
Re-Engineering Your Attitudes
The Attitude of Gratitude
The Attitude of Abundance
Practical Altruism
Meditation, Mindmovies, and Affirmations

6. Mental Software Upgrade 3: Adopting Sane Language Habits
Language as Mental Software: What You Say Is What You Think
The "Cookie Cutter" Effect of Language
Jumping to Confusions: Inferential Thinking
"Clean" and "Dirty" Language: Strategies for Semantic Sanity
Expressions You Can Remove from Your Vocabulary
The Self-Conversation: Cleaning Up Your Internal Dialog
Snappy Comebacks: The Language of Funny

7. Mental Software Upgrade 4: Valuing Ideas
Do You Have Lots of Good Ideas? (Almost Everyone Does)
"It Slipped My Mind " (Almost Everything Does)
The Greatest Thinking Tool Ever Invented
Thinking in Pictures
Are You a Yes-Person or a No-Person?
The PIN Formula: Protecting Ideas
Using Your Magical Incubator
"Metaboxical" Thinking: Breaking the Boundaries

8. Mega-Skill 1: "Bivergent" Thinking
The Divergent-Convergent Polarity: The D-C Axis
Process Consciousness: Managing the "Pivot Point"
Groupthink: The Collusion to Fail
Brainstorming: More Often Talked About Than Done
Systematic Creativity: The Balancing Act

9. Mega-Skill 2: "Helicopter" Thinking
The Abstract-Concrete Polarity: The A-C Axis
Visionaries and Actionaries: We Need Both
Connecting the Dots: You Have to See Them to Connect Them
Painting the Big Picture: Mindmapping
Explaining the Big Picture: Using the Language of Ideas

10. Mega-Skill 3: "Intulogical" Thinking
The Logical-Intuitive Polarity: The L-I Axis
Thinking Styles: Yours and Others?
Sequential Thinking: Re-Owning Your Logical Abilities
Trusting Your Hunches: Re-Owning Your Intuitive Abilities
The "Zen Mind": Flow and Mindfulness

11. Mega-Skill 4: "Viscerational" Thinking
The Rational-Emotive Polarity: The R-E Axis
First We Decide--Then We Justify: Irrational Thinking Explained
We'e All Neurotic, and That's OK
The Five Primal Fears We Live By: The Psychology of Risk
Signal Reactions: Disconnecting Your Hot Buttons
Emotions and Health: If It's on Your Mind, It's on Your Body
Can You Motivate Yourself? The "Popeye Point"

12. How to Become an Expert Problem Solver
Forget Those "Five Steps" They Taught You
Using Heuristic (aka Natural) Problem Solving
Your Five Key Mindzones
The High-Speed Problem-Solving Process

13. Success Programming: Causing the Outcomes You Want
Using What We've Learned
Mindmovies: Who's Producing Your Life's Story?
Alpha Programming: Making the Movies You Want
Your Life Wheel: Taking Stock, Setting Priorities, and Making Changes

Appendices
A. Answers to Thinking Exercises
B. Fifty Tips for Better Thinking
C. A Vocabulary for Practical Intelligence
D. A Code of Intelligent Discourse
E. Learn to Meditate in "One" Lesson: The Harvard Mantra

Index
About the Author