There are many techniques for increasing the power of the mind. Even simple habits like asking a few crucial questions anytime you consider something can make for more productive thinking. But there is one approach that can probably do more than all the other techniques to boost your mind power. It is being ready to be mistaken at all times.

Be Ready To Be Wrong

We like to be right. It's very satisfying on a certain level of consciousness. So much so that we feel better having argued our point well than having learned something new from another person. Really, when you look at it for a moment, wouldn't it be more valuable to us to learn new things from others rather than prove to them how right we are? Yet how often are we looking to be taught by a person when we enter an argument or even most casual discussions?

This bad habit of the ego level of consciousness is not limited to our direct interactions with others however. It also shows itself in how easily we identify with ideas as our "own," and how we feel pride in those ideas. Once we are enamored of an idea that we either worked to arrive at or even invented, we don't want it to be wrong in any way. But isn't it obviously an impediment to the power of the mind to attach so much value to an idea that better ones are not allowed to be seen?

A great example of the right approach can be seen in Stephen Hawking's first idea about information loss in black holes. He proved that there was no way for information to survive entry into a black hole, and for many years nobody could show any flaw in his work. Don't worry about the technical aspects of this, since they are not important here. The point here is this: Hawking was the one to finally prove his own theory wrong many years after the fact.

Now that's a true mind of a scientist. It is crucial to the advance of science not only that ideas and theories are overturned in favor of better ones, but that individual scientists look for truth above all else - including above being right. That is also the approach that we all need to have a more powerful mind.

More than just being ready to be wrong, we have to always accept that there may be better ideas just beyond whatever is in our minds at the moment. A good idea often kills creative genius, because once accepted as "the idea," it stops further exploration. It stops the process that might have lead to truly innovative thoughts, theories, products, inventions and knowledge.

Be ready to be wrong and be ready to look a little further at all times. Challenge what you think you know to see if there is some truth that you aren't seeing. Argue against your own ideas in order to see what others are possible. This is how you increase the power of the mind.

Author's Bio: 

Copyright Steve Gillman. For more on how to develop your Thinking Skills, and to get the Brainpower Newsletter and other free gifts, visit: http://www.IncreaseBrainPower.com