We see things a little differently from most people, don’t we? Sure, we do. We perceive the world through what is called mechanical intelligence. Let’s take a look at your incredible brand of intelligence and explore the unique and valuable advantages you have because of it.
Odds are we didn’t shine as we strolled the halls of academia. The book worms looked down on us over their taped glasses. Our teachers knew we had something good in us, but their curriculum didn’t bring it to life. That is unless you had the rare gift of a teacher who reached out and helped you recognize it.
Most of us didn’t give a rip about math, science, and physics until we saw how we could use them to do something. These traits are evidence of your mechanical intelligence.
You and I thrill at the way things work and love figuring out how to fix them when they don’t. Most of us didn’t give a rip about math, science, and physics until we saw how we could use them to do something. These traits are evidence of your mechanical intelligence.
If you’re fortunate, you’re able to express and exercise this gift in your career. If not, your mechanical intelligence may still be dormant or barely stirring. As you learn more about your style of intelligence, it will ring true to you. As you discover this truth, you can kick it into gear and fire it up.
What is Mechanical Intelligence?
Mechanical intelligence is the ability to comprehend and figure out mechanical relationships. You do this with your eyes, hands, ears, nose, and test instruments. They quantify the information you need to provide the complete picture.
At that moment, your mind somehow assembles all relevant data and you “see” the mechanical solution in your mind. If a solution doesn’t immediately appear, your mechanical mind quickly identifies the missing information and directs you towards it. The beauty is, you learn more every time you push a little harder and you continue to get better at mechanical things.
Thinking Transcends Manual Labor
Your mechanical superpower directs your hands. By necessity, your hands perform the manual labor necessary to deliver the innovative solutions your mechanical thinking inspires.
If a solution doesn’t immediately appear, your mechanical mind quickly identifies the missing information and directs you towards it.
Somewhere along the road, we accepted society’s classification that we are manual laborers. Unfortunately, we all too often accept the compensation that matches that classification.
Consider other highly paid professionals who work with their hands. These include surgeons, pilots, engineers, information systems professionals, and physicists. They all work with their hands. Realistically, who doesn’t work with their hands? Is it the fact that you get dirty that depreciates your worth? I observed a surgeon cut open a face and rebuild a jaw once. His work was extremely mechanical, and it was dirty too. I didn’t consider his work manual labor, but it was.
Robert Greene wrote a book called, Mastery. Here is a quote from his book that helps describe our type of intelligence:
“Understand: mechanical intelligence is not a degraded form of thinking… It is, in fact, the source of many of our reasoning skills and creative powers.”
He continues with, “The principles behind mechanical intelligence can be summarized as follows: whatever you are creating or designing, you must test and use it yourself… You do not look at the parts separately but at how they interact, experiencing what you produce as a whole.”
Increase Your MIQ
MIQ is Mechanical Intelligence Quotient. I believe that as you better understand the value and purpose of your intelligence type, you will understand its power. As you understand your MIQ, you’ll find more reasons to increase and develop it.
Fulfillment in your career is usually in direct proportion to the rate you multiply your abilities. Applying consistent effort to improve yourself pays lasting benefits and carries an immediate payback. As you unite what your hands do with the mechanical superpowers of your head, your MIQ will soar.
Focused growth will feed the natural tendencies of your mechanical nature and nourish you with brain food you may otherwise starve for. You’ll also embrace the idea that your highest form of winning is craftsmanship and the mechanical results it produces.
The reward of exceptional craftsmanship is contrary to the recognition given in your education as a youth. You’ll soon see the labels you pinned on your shirt in high school were false and based on theoretical academic accomplishments only. They sustain your career today and your worth to society.
MIQ: now that you know what it is and that you have it; thrive as you grow it. As you pursue this path, it will lead you to your highest form of creativity and contribution.
A Couple of Curses
Just because you know you have mechanical intelligence tendencies doesn’t make any difference unless you do something with it. Several barriers or curses can keep you from growing the gift you have.
The first curse is holding to the belief that you have been and always will be a manual laborer – someone who only works with their hands.
You can advance as you acknowledge your hands can do nothing without your mechanical mind directing them. Then, you grow from there.
The second curse happens when you think you know enough. You have a decent job that pays the bills and your current career level is adequate. You’ve earned a comfortable place in the industry and that’s good enough.
Maybe it is. How’s that working for you?
The third and worst curse is overconfidence: when you think you know it all. At one time you worked to grow and develop your mechanical intelligence and excelled to some extent. Then your success lulled you into believing you knew more than others. You decided you “arrived at the summit” and built a cozy nest to settle into until retirement.
Each of these curses produces predetermined failures of their own.
Continuously working on and developing your mechanical intelligence produces its own predetermined accomplishments. Earn these accomplishments as you exert intense manual labor with your hands driven by abundant mechanical genius in your head to serve others.
Rob “Doc” Falke serves the industry as president of National Comfort Institute, Inc., an HVAC-based training company and membership organization. One way he develops his mechanical intelligence is by writing it down for you. You can contact Doc at [email protected] or call him at 800-633-7058. Go to NCI’s website at nationalcomfortinstitute.com for free information, articles, and downloads.