Are You Up for My Simply Smarter Challenge?
by Bob Doman

In preparation for NACD’s entirely new Simply Smarter online system—which will develop and network your brain, improve your ability to attend, learn and think, and as a result help you do virtually everything you do better—we are offering a challenge. The Simply Smarter Challenge is open to everyone who has access to the present Simply Smarter Program.

Our new online program is going to be a dynamic program, which means it will grow and change as we analyze the results and user feedback. We will add, drop and modify activities and pieces as we proceed. The new system, which will start with at least 20 targeted activities, will be separated into four levels based on cognitive abilities (i.e. one’s ability for complex thought). Each person using our new system will receive a program that is targeted to his or her specific level of cognitive ability.

The new Simply Smarter will address the needs of individuals with basic processing skills all the way up to what may become some of the highest functioning, best thinkers on the planet. Each of the highest-level cognitive activities will require users to process complex auditory and visual information, visualize (think in pictures) and conceptualize (think in words), and in some cases also carry out mental computations.

The NACD Foundation started the Simply Smarter Project 10 years ago. The data from the Project have permitted us to establish norms and gain insights and perceptions into where we are and where we need to be in our abilities to process information and think. Having gathered significant initial data, we are now entering the second stage of the Project, which is to actively work at educating everyone about the importance of developing the key mental pieces of memory and thought that can help every one of us function better. The goal of the Foundation and the Project is to help pull everyone up to a higher level.

We have separated the population into focus groups. Group I includes those individuals who lack the processing skills (digit spans of 5 and under) that permit them to function well in society. These individuals, many of whom are those living in poverty around the world, have processing abilities that are so low that their ability to learn, think and function is impaired to such a degree that they cannot be meaningfully employed; they lack many of the basic skills to parent and simply can’t function adequately. These people desperately need help, or they and their children may never have the basic skills needed to function, let alone succeed, in society. Group II encompasses the majority of the population, generally those with digit spans in the 6-9 range. The folks in Group II are generally making it—some well, some not so well. Everyone in Group II can easily improve their processing ability and should correspondingly improve their ability to do most everything in their lives, from helping their children to succeeding in their work and relationships.

Group III folks are those with higher than average skills whom we wish to raise up to really exceptional levels. We desperately need more high functioning, really smart people to address the problems and needs of the world. I believe that our current global economic situation reflects a lack of individuals with the brainpower to figure out solutions and to help avoid such situations in the first place. The world is doing a pretty good job of utilizing collective intelligence. Collective intelligence builds faster planes, better buildings and cooler technology. What we lack is individual intelligence. Individuals with the processing power to really get their heads around the big problems and the big issues are few and far between. The brains exist but not the processing power. Our goal is help those in Group III to become those exceptional individuals with the superior processing power needed to help us all survive, and hopefully excel, as individuals, as societies and as a planet. Those who achieve Level IV in our new system are going to be some of those individuals. Our new system is smarter, much smarter, and we hope to help individuals become what we are calling Millennium Minds, those with the capabilities to carry us all forward. To enter the top tier of activities on our new program, individuals will need to work their way through many different complex cognitive activities. They must achieve reverse auditory and visual digit spans of 11 or higher just to qualify for entrance into Level IV cognitive activities. Those who achieve Millennium Minds status will have the ability to communicate and interact with other Millennium Minds and to share their thoughts and experiences with the rest of those using the program. They will also be permitted to assist in the creation of more complex brain-enhancing activities.

The Simply Smarter Challenge

When the new program is released we want to have as many Millennium Minds interacting and participating as possible. The Simply Smarter Challenge is this: Anyone who can achieve Millennium Mind status within a specified time period after starting the program will have their money refunded and have free lifetime access to the program; be recognized as having outstanding abilities; compete for top ranking in a variety of Millennium Mind activities; and have the ability to network with some very smart folks. Now, although you cannot yet practice the new cognitive activities, you can work on the basic criteria to enter the Millennium Level, which is to achieve reverse auditory and visual digit spans of 11 or more. You might be the first to get your name on the Millennium list for the world to see. Okay kids, moms, dads and even you grandparents-- are you up to the challenge, the Simply Smarter Challenge? Let’s get to work!