What a great day yesterday was - I finally figured out how to get to the next level in my James Bond game – it’s taken ages, so I feel quite clever!

How intelligent are you feeling? Some of you will answer that question in terms of your IQ – others will groan – and maybe some of you will smile smugly and ask ‘which intelligence?’

There are many ways of viewing intelligence these days and many of us know and appreciate that some of us are good at some things and others at others. Gardner  suggested there are as many as eight different intelligences and we all have natural abilities in a few more than others.  Maybe you already know what you’re good at and where your natural talents lie – but what if you don’t or if you’re not sure.

There are a number of tests available for free online – and I encourage you to complete one of them (I’ve used the bgfl one recently). How does it help? Well, it’s helped me in two ways:

• when I first took the test it seemed that one of my strong intelligences was ‘musical’. Surprising… I don’t have much to do with music really … ah, but when I was younger I was one of those children carrying around a musical instrument – and I remember being tested with the rest of my class at school and being selected as one of the ones who would learn a musical instrument. I went on to play in the band, in the orchestra, played around with other instruments, even learned to sing (a bit). Although I’d say my musical ability these days is sadly lacking and much below what it was – taking the test made me rethink. I’ve always wanted to play piano – where do these ideas come from? – and maybe that’s something I should think about following up. In the meantime, I now listen to more music whilst I’m working – and you know what – it helps me concentrate and be more effective.

• I’m not great at drawing pictures (as many of you will know – I‘m not afraid to draw a sketch/diagram to explain something and it usually raises a laugh), so I’m not the best person to pick if you have a visual aid to be created! I accept this - I’m good at other things and try to concentrate on them. My test showed a low visual score – looks like it was right then.

Go try out the tests (there are loads out there) and let me know what happens. Anyone have any startling insights? Anyone surprised? Anyone think it’s just plain wrong?

I’m always happy to know your thoughts - so leave a comment here - or contact me.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 8:35 am and is filed under management skills, personal development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.