Science historian James Gleick thinks that part of what separates geniuses from ordinary people is their ability to concentrate deeply. If that’s true, it seems plausible that this is a factor which can be modified without changing your genes. Remember, a lot of heuristics and biases exist so our brain can save on calories. But although being lazy might have saved precious calories in the ancestral environment, in the modern world we have plenty of calories and this is no longer an issue. (I do think I eat more frequently when I’m thinking really hard about something.) So in the same way it’s possible to develop the discipline needed to exercise, I think it’s possible to develop the discipline needed to concentrate deeply, even though it seems boring at first. See also.
I flunked all my math courses in high school—which caused a lot of static with my parents. Later, after practicing meditation for many years, I tried to learn math again. I discovered that as a result of my meditation practice, I had concentration skills that I didn’t have before. Not only was I able to learn math, I actually got quite good at it—good enough to teach it at the college level.
I wrote some more about that here.
Science historian James Gleick thinks that part of what separates geniuses from ordinary people is their ability to concentrate deeply. If that’s true, it seems plausible that this is a factor which can be modified without changing your genes. Remember, a lot of heuristics and biases exist so our brain can save on calories. But although being lazy might have saved precious calories in the ancestral environment, in the modern world we have plenty of calories and this is no longer an issue. (I do think I eat more frequently when I’m thinking really hard about something.) So in the same way it’s possible to develop the discipline needed to exercise, I think it’s possible to develop the discipline needed to concentrate deeply, even though it seems boring at first. See also.
Shinzen Young writes about how meditation made him better at math in The Science of Enlightenment: