TL;DR: The belief that “geniuses are born, not made” is comforting but misleading. Neuroscience, through the concept of neuroplasticity, shows that the brain reorganizes itself with experience, which means intelligence is not a fixed ceiling but a capacity that can be developed. David Shenk’s The Genius in All of Us argues along the same lines that talent is largely a process. Someone who runs their own life like a CEO treats the mind not as a talent but as an asset they invest in steadily, and like a student they measure which method actually works on them. Below are six evidence-based habits, plus an original scorecard that tags each by what it builds, how solid the evidence is, and which moment of the day it fits. The goal is not to become a genius overnight, but to sustain a few of the right habits that compound.
Intelligence is not fixed: dropping the wrong myth
Most people think of intelligence as a quantity dealt at birth that never changes. The belief is comfortable, because it removes responsibility: if you are not good at something, it is because you cannot be. The evidence paints a different picture. Neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to reorganize its synaptic connections through learning and experience, is now a foundational finding of neuroscience. In The Genius in All of Us, the writer David Shenk argues that it is nearly impossible to determine a person’s true mental limits at any age with certainty, and that talent is largely a process rather than a birthright.
A caveat belongs here too: being developable is not the same as being unlimited, and most of the internet’s “brain games will make you a genius” promises are overstated. The accurate statement is this: intelligence is a capacity that can be meaningfully developed with the right habits, but through disciplined, evidence-based practice rather than magic. The job of someone who runs their own life is exactly that: telling apart the investments that yield real returns. The six habits below are presented with that filtering already done.
1) Adopt a growth mindset
The biggest obstacle to learning is often not ability but belief. The research of psychologist Carol Dweck distinguishes two basic mindsets: a fixed mindset that believes abilities are set, and a growth mindset that believes they can be developed through effort. Those closer to a growth mindset see difficulty not as a threat but as a chance to learn, and therefore stay in the attempt longer. This changes not intelligence itself but the behavior that reaches for it, and the effect compounds right there.
Through the CEO-and-student lens the lesson is clear: reading a failure as “I have not built this skill yet” rather than “I am not cut out for this” is what makes the next attempt possible. Mindset alone is no miracle, but it is the ground the other five habits are built on.
2) Practice deliberately, not just repeatedly
Doing something for hours is no guarantee of getting better at it. The work of psychologist Anders Ericsson and colleagues on deliberate practice showed that what separates expertise is not sheer repetition but a specific kind of practice: focused, challenging, and guided by feedback. Deliberate practice happens just outside your comfort zone, in the part where you notice and correct your mistakes.
The implication is to build learning on controlled difficulty rather than comfort. Someone who runs their own life designs practice like a laboratory rather than a performance, deliberately working on what is not yet functioning. With a student’s discipline they ask one question after each session: what could I have done a little better?
3) Use retrieval and spaced study
How you learn matters more than how much you learn. Two of the most robust findings in the science of learning are retrieval practice (the testing effect) and spaced study. The work of Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke showed that recalling information from memory, rather than rereading it, markedly improves retention. The comprehensive 2013 review by John Dunlosky and colleagues ranked these two techniques among the highest in utility, while placing popular methods like rereading and highlighting in the low-utility category.
The practice is simple: after reading something, close the book and try to recall it, and spread your study over time. This is counterintuitive because rereading feels more fluent, but fluency is a sign of familiarity, not of learning. The CEO logic here is return-focused: choosing the method that yields more durable learning from the same hour.
4) Challenge your working memory (with measured expectations)
The idea of training mental capacity directly is appealing and rests on some evidence. The 2008 study by Susanne Jaeggi and colleagues at the University of California reported that a working-memory task called “n-back” was associated with improvements on measures of fluid intelligence, the ability to solve novel problems independent of prior knowledge. This is a much-discussed finding.
Honesty is required here: whether working-memory training shows “far transfer,” meaning it carries beyond the trained task to everyday general intelligence, has remained contested in later meta-analyses. So n-back makes you better at the task; its transfer to general intelligence cannot be safely promised. That is why we present this habit not as a miraculous shortcut but as a challenge recommended with measured expectations. The job of someone who runs their own life is precisely this: using the evidence as far as it goes, and promising no further.
5) Treat sleep as a learning tool
Sleep is the missing half of learning. Neuroscience research consistently shows that sleep plays a central role in memory consolidation, the process that reinforces information acquired during the day; deep sleep and REM stages in particular are linked to the stabilization of new learning. Sleep deprivation, in turn, weakens attention, working memory, and the ability to encode new information.
The practical lesson is clear: stealing from sleep to study through the night is usually a net loss, because you undermine the very process that makes what you learned durable. Someone who runs their own life like a CEO schedules sleep not as a luxury but as an investment in cognitive infrastructure. Taking learning seriously begins with taking sleep seriously.
6) Feed curiosity and diversify your learning
Intelligence is not a single muscle; thinking across different domains enriches your models of the world. Learning a new language, an instrument, a craft, or an unfamiliar discipline forces the brain to build new patterns. The aim here is not to learn everything but to keep the learning muscle working regularly and to feed a mind diverse enough to connect across fields.
Think of it like a CEO’s portfolio: alongside depth, a diversity that spreads into a few neighboring areas produces value, because genuinely original ideas often emerge at the intersection of fields. The student side turns curiosity into a program: not random, but a chosen diversity.
Table 1. The Cognitive Habit Scorecard (CEOtudent editorial framework). This is an original scorecard that organizes the habits, not an empirical measurement. It tags each habit by what it builds, how strong the evidence is, and when it fits best.
| Habit | What it builds | Evidence strength | Best moment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Growth mindset | The ground of learning behavior | Moderate to strong (Dweck; varies by context) | At every difficulty and failure |
| Deliberate practice | Skill-specific expertise | Strong (Ericsson) | Focused practice sessions |
| Retrieval and spaced study | Durability of knowledge | Strong (Roediger and Karpicke; Dunlosky 2013) | After learning, spread over time |
| Working memory (n-back) | Within-task capacity | Limited/contested far transfer (Jaeggi 2008) | Short, regular sessions; measured expectations |
| Sleep | Memory consolidation | Strong | Every night, prioritized on learning days |
| Curiosity and diversity | Cross-domain connections | Conceptual/indirect | Weekly, with chosen diversity |
Conclusion: genius is a process, not a state
Being a genius is not an identity sealed at birth; the evidence shows intelligence is a capacity that can be developed and that the right habits meaningfully feed it. Steer clear of inflated promises, sustain the six evidence-based habits with a CEO’s discipline, and observe the results with a student’s curiosity. No single day makes a difference, but the compounding return slowly raises the ceiling you assumed was fixed.
Frequently asked questions
Can intelligence really be increased, or is this just motivational talk?
The evidence is clear on neuroplasticity, which shows the brain reorganizes with learning and experience, so learning capacity and skill can certainly be developed. But claims like “dramatically and permanently raising your IQ score” deserve caution, especially since the transfer of brain-training games to general intelligence is contested. The honest framing is this: habits improve learning, memory, and skill, and present that as a process rather than the promise of a single magic number.
Which of these six habits should I start with?
Start with the two of highest evidence strength and broadest effect: retrieval and spaced study (item 3) and sleep (item 5). The first yields far more durable learning from the same study time; the second protects the process that consolidates what you learn. Once those two are in place, add growth mindset and deliberate practice. Try working-memory training last, and with measured expectations.
Do brain-training apps work?
Usually not as much as you think. These apps make you better at the games you play; the real question is whether that improvement transfers to general intelligence in everyday life, and the evidence for this “far transfer” is weak and contested. Before putting your money and time here, prioritize habits with far more solid evidence, such as retrieval, spaced study, deliberate practice, and sleep.
I am older now, is it too late?
Neuroplasticity continues throughout life; although it is faster in youth, learning and skill development remain possible in adulthood and later age. That is exactly Shenk’s emphasis: it is nearly impossible to fix a person’s true limits at any age with certainty. The right habits pay off at every age; the difference is keeping expectations realistic and staying consistent.
Sources
- David Shenk. The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong. Doubleday, 2010. On the thesis that talent is largely a process and that mental limits cannot be fixed early.
- Carol S. Dweck. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Random House, 2006. On the distinction between fixed and growth mindsets.
- K. Anders Ericsson, Ralf Th. Krampe and Clemens Tesch-Romer. The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance. Psychological Review, 1993. The foundational source of the deliberate-practice concept.
- Henry L. Roediger and Jeffrey D. Karpicke. Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention. Psychological Science, 2006. Evidence that retrieval practice improves retention.
- John Dunlosky and colleagues. Improving Students’ Learning With Effective Learning Techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 2013. An assessment of learning techniques by their utility.
- Susanne M. Jaeggi and colleagues. Improving Fluid Intelligence With Training on Working Memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2008. On the association between working-memory training and measures of fluid intelligence; its far transfer is contested in later work.
This content was compiled with the support of AI following in-depth research, then written and prepared for publication by the CEOtudent editorial team.
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