There are all types of techniques for how to become smarter. You can read, or do thinking exercises. Some people train themselves to remember long lists of numbers or other information. Some people go to school and attend lectures. But, I have come up with a real shocker: Going to the desert made me starter — and I have proof.
I play this Chinese game called Go. It is a very complicated game. Players have ratings that could be a kyu or a don. The stronger players are don players and don levels range from one to ten (the world’s strongest player is a ten don). I play online Go, and have noticed that my rating goes up and down very quickly. If you are having a bad day, instead of giving you some leeway, they demote you to a lower ranking after you have lost a few games. It really makes no sense, but is a great way to track how good your thinking was on a particular day.
In any case, I had not played in about three and a half years. When I went back to playing, I noticed myself making all types of very careless mistakes that lead to huge losses. As business people, we can all appreciate the fact that a single mistake can cost us thousands. In any case, after a month of playing, I got to the point where I made very infrequent tactical errors. But, I noticed that I was working too much, and getting mentally fatigued as well as physically fatigued. So, I went to Joshua Tree.
Joshua Tree is a desert destination with lots of hikers, rock climbers, photographers and many who engage in overnight camping. The energy there really picks me up. I always joke that there are different types of qi according to acupuncture theory, but the type of qi at Joshua Tree is Joshua qi. In any case, after I came back from my happy day of hiking in 92 degree weather in Joshua Tree, I noticed that my Go rank jumped up 1.5 ranks. After the energy that I had picked up in the desert dissipated after a few days, my ranking went far down.
The point of this quirky little analysis is that getting energy from nature can enhance your thinking ability. It is temporary of course, but isn’t it nice to keep an edge and always be your best?
May the qi be with you!