Step One: Inhale

This “programming” observed by experts is associated with how the brain functions. For example, linguistic intelligence is related to the left temporal lobe and left frontal lobe, which are the areas connected to language comprehension and word formation (Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area). On the other hand, spatial intelligence is associated with the posterior regions of the right hemisphere, which are connected to visual ability.

Perhaps you’ve insisted on pursuing talents that aren’t in your most developed dimension, so I want to give you a brief description of the traits and contributions of the eight intelligences accepted by Gardner and most experts that followed him. This will help you understand what they represent and identify which ones prevail in you.

MUSICAL INTELLIGENCE

It includes elements that increase the potential to identify sounds, listen, sing, and play instruments. As a language, it helps to understand when a composition has some imbalance and allows one to interpret and create sound pieces. It’s not only useful for musicians but also for the people who support them, such as music engineers, manufacturers, or sound programmers.

BODILY-KINESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE

It involves body control, both in simple expressions, as well as in hand-eye coordination and dexterity in fine and gross movements. This control supports the expression of ideas through movement and leads one to perform activities that require balance, coordination, and ease. It’s necessary for athletes, actors, lecturers, dancers, or people who require outstanding motor skills, such as surgeons, metalsmiths, or carpenters.

LOGICAL-MATHEMATICAL INTELLIGENCE

It allows one to calculate, quantify, analyze, estimate results, and solve equations, as well as interpret numerical representations. It helps formulate quantitative statements and generate hypotheses. With it, patterns are identified and abstractions are made. It’s exceptionally valuable in business, engineering, exact sciences, and computing.

SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

It helps to perceive the spatial world, not only on a large scale. Someone with this intelligence can imagine how movements in a field will take place, and it allows them to consider different scales. It also makes it easy to present visual ideas and concepts, sketch structures, and estimate distances. It’s fundamental in the world of arts and communications, as well as in graphic, industrial, and civil works design.

LINGUISTIC INTELLIGENCE

It opens the door to formulating ideas using words—verbal or written—while accelerating the decoding of what others are expressing. It increases efficiency in speaking, writing, and appreciating messages. This skill is valued for its range, since it’s useful in the arts, sales, leadership, and communication.

NATURALIST INTELLIGENCE

Although not last on this list, it was added by Gardner more than a decade after he came up with the other intelligences. It involves the understanding of the vastness of nature, processing information that allows one to identify and stratify environmental elements. To those who don’t think this is a relevant dimension, I invite you to see how important it was to the development of our species in ancient times. It’s fundamental for scientists, geologists, agricultural technicians, and artists.

INTERPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

Considered a type of social awareness, it’s the program we use to pick up on signals other people send about their intentions, emotions, tastes, and motivations. It allows us to interpret what others want and establish a connection with them. With this intelligence, we reinforce empathy and acknowledgment. It’s essential for making group activities work, organizing leadership, and communicating in specific situations of affection, displeasure, or concern. While every area of human endeavor needs this intelligence, it’s especially important for people whose jobs require interaction with others, such as leaders, educators, therapists, and customer service teams.

INTRAPERSONAL INTELLIGENCE

I chose to list this one last because I want you to pay special attention to it. This intelligence consists of the ability to access and interpret inner emotions, sensations, and feelings. We can use it to take an X-ray and see the factors that define us, such as our biases and judgments. This understanding helps us to distinguish between what’s happening and what’s causing us pain and discomfort, and it gives us a visual of how we’ll react. Although it’s extremely useful to anyone, it’s of greatest value to people who need emotional control, who must maintain high-level relationships, or who have critical responsibilities.

We all have certain abilities in each of the intelligences. The strengths in one do not determine how the others play out within us: you can be a brilliant mathematician with minimal interpersonal skills, or a skilled mechanic with good communication skills. Although we have been taught otherwise, and partly because the educational system only recognizes and values some of them, intelligences are not always reflected in our grades, but they are intimately linked to what differentiates us from others. If you search online for “multiple intelligences quiz,” you will find a wide variety of sites offering assessments to help you discover your predominant intelligences. Learning your predominant intelligences is a valuable exercise that can provide you with countless insights.

WASTE NO TIME WITH ME; IT’S USELESS TO TELL FIRE NOT TO BURN.

Although they stem from the study of similar fields, learning styles should not be confused with multiple intelligences. The former describes how we prefer to receive information; the latter, how we process it.

WILLINGNESS AND CONFIDENCE

Accumulating talents is of little use if it’s not accompanied by the additional step that takes us from the good to the exceptional, from the admirable to the sublime. We often convince ourselves that we’ve done enough or that we’ve given our all to a specific situation. But deep down we know the raw truth is that we haven’t given everything, and we’re reminded of this by a voice that haunts and torments us. That voice must be heard, not silenced, because it’s the voice of excellence, the one that raises your standards and pushes you to break free from the systematic comfort of everyday life and the often-used phrase: “I’m fine like this.”

That voice echoes the roar of willingness and confidence. Willingness is an act of surrender, an act of commitment that prompts us to examine the motivators in our lives. What moves you: a dream, an addiction, a void, a man, a woman, money…? Think about it. Willingness isn’t easy, but it’s a mandatory condition for excelling in any endeavor or dream.

We all have certain resources, and regardless of what we can count on, we work, study, move, and live. Yet it’s interesting to see how readily a person can list the resources they lack and how challenging it is for them to recognize the ones they have from birth.