# Force Multipliers #3

*Intelligence, Patterns and Control Freaks*

By [Nic Peterson Stuff and Things](https://paragraph.com/@nicpeterson) · 2023-01-18

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> “It pays to keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.”  
> ― **Carl Sagan**

This newsletter is about 3 weeks old and I already forgot what day I send the Newsletter. Most of the time I use this as a blog, every so often it's sent out as a newsletter. I [explain how this all works here](https://paragraph.xyz/@nicpeterson/8-newsletters).

Whatever, it's a Wednesday and this is a newsletter.

Onward!

> “The capacity to establish and maintain a clear distinction between the life of dream and the life of the outside world is hard-won and requires several years to accomplish.”
> 
> John Mack

John Mack coming in hot today. Okay, he came in hot in like 1970, but you get it. For the sake of this issue of Force Multipliers, we can replace "the life of dream" and "the life of the outside world" with the following, respectively:

> “The capacity to establish and maintain a clear distinction between the CLASSROOM and REALITY is hard-won and requires several years to accomplish.”

or

> “The capacity to establish and maintain a clear distinction between the life of THEORY and the life of APPLICATION is hard-won and requires several years to accomplish.”

Sounds familiar.

How does one go about establishing this distinction?

**First, we would need practical definitions of the two things that we are trying to keep distinct.**

This past weekend I was introduced to a unifying, practical theory of intelligence that will help keep a clear line between the two and allow for the following, profound conclusions: _Things that make you more intelligent live in the outside world, reality, and/or application. Things that do not make you more intelligent live in the life of dream, the classroom, and in theory._

Simple.

If we accept that to be true, we just need a practical definition of intelligence. Good news.

[**Here is a practical definition of intelligence**](https://paragraph.xyz/@nicpeterson/12-in-the-classroom)

**Second, we would need to learn to identify patterns.**

Children, in a few ways, understand the world much better than adults do. The ability to recognize patterns to get what they want, even though they may lack the language to articulate or even form a thought about it is one of them.

If intelligence is the ability to get what you want, pattern recognition is the ultimate intelligence-enhancing super skill. Learning and remembering patterns will turn small mathematical differences into profound conclusions about the path forward.

[**Read "Patterns" Here**](https://paragraph.xyz/@nicpeterson/14-patterns)

An elephant cannot be the size of a mouse. If you remember the underpinnings of that statement, you can quickly recall the implication of scale on values.

If you don't know what that means, stop being a bum and read "Patterns" to get caught up.

**Third, we need to understand that what is accurate and relevant from our own point of perspective is not relevant and accurate from all points of perspective.**

Reality is not what we see at any given moment. What we see is a snapshot of a small slice of reality. Surrounding yourself with people that are open-minded, with different backgrounds, personalities and beliefs is a crucial component of maintaining contact with reality.

To graduate from the CCA or become a Guardian of the Guardian Academy, students have to present something from their lives that is considered a valuable addition to the body of knowledge.

Why?

Because wisdom comes from multiple perspectives. These presentations take the same core concepts and principles and present them or apply them in ways I would never think of. Seeing, hearing, and experiencing how other people apply the same conceptual frameworks gives us a more accurate view of reality. We can't be everywhere and see everything but we can utilize the eyes, ears, and experiences of others, _as long as they sit somewhere other than and have a different point of perspective than we do._

I am pretty sure that the CCA graduate presentations and Guardian capstones have increased my intelligence (as per our new, working definition) as much or more than anything else I've been a part of because it's increased my contact with reality giving me a greater ability to get what I want.

I can't wait for the next Certainty Summit.

What Is the CCA?
----------------

Glad you asked.

Lukas Resheske, a recent CCA graduate, noticed that every time someone asks that question we have a different answer. So he used his CCA graduate presentation to clean it up and deliver a clear, concise answer.

You can watch (or read) Lukas's graduation presentation and get a few of the other presentations + tools for free right here:  
  
[**CERTAINTYTOOLS.COM**](https://certaintyu.notion.site/Certainty-Tools-7cb1ed6d59fd4847ae1d560bc404cdb4)

If nothing else, take note of how Lukas writes, speaks, and presents.

Tired of writing now.

kthanksbye.

Nic

PS.

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This is a social experiment.  
  
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10:04 AM • Jan 18, 2023

](https://twitter.com/PeterNicson/status/1615772189151608832)

Social experiment. I said I would do Nicsmas '23 if a specific tweet got 100 retweets. It and I did. How many people will retweet something without knowing what it is or what they get? We'll see.

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*Originally published on [Nic Peterson Stuff and Things](https://paragraph.com/@nicpeterson/force-multipliers-3)*
