Knowing what we shouldn’t do is just as important as knowing what we should. In fact, it could be easier to see something wrong in things we already do than to see something right in things we haven’t done. In mind development, it means that we should see how we do things and find what’s wrong with them. We can then take the necessary actions to remove those problems.

Mind development killers The 9 mind development killers I’m about to share are something all of us should be aware of. To be honest, there are some of them I’m dealing with myself. I use this list as a checklist to warn myself if I have done something harmful for my mind development.

Here are the 9 mind development killers you should avoid:

1. Saying that something is boring

Saying that something is boring is a sure way to kill your curiosity and - along with it - your mind development. When you say that something is boring, you create a belief that it’s something negative you should avoid. Unfortunately, that could be a door to new opportunities. You might not understand nor need it now, but someday you might. Whenever you say that something is boring, you have closed one more door of opportunity.

2. Always reading the same kinds of books, blogs, or magazines

You need to branch out to new fields. Again, curiosity plays a big role here. If you aren’t curious, there is little motivation to read something new beyond what you usually read. On the other hand, if you are curious you will be glad to read something different because it’s fun.

3. Only wanting to do the easy stuff

Often we just want to do things that do not require significant effort. While this may make you feel comfortable, it won’t do you much in developing your mind. You should be willing to try something challenging that takes you out of your comfort zone.

4. Feeling good enough

If you feel that you are already good enough in something, you won’t have the drive to improve yourself. At best, your improvement will only be modest. It’s especially dangerous when you feel that you are successful. Steve Jobs gave us good advice we should all remember: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

5. Stop asking why

Often we are to busy doing things that we forget to ask why. We forget to ask why we do it in the first place. We forget to ask why we do it that way. Are you sure you need to do that? And even if you do, must it be done that way?

Just accepting conventional wisdom without asking why is a common mind development pitfall. It could kill the mind development of not only one person but also the entire community.

6. Saying “I’m not creative”

If you think that only certain people can be creative and you are not one of them, you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. Your belief is your limit. You won’t be creative if you think you aren’t. But the fact is everyone is creative. You are creative. So stop creating self-imposed limitations and start using your creativity.

7. Only having people who agree with you

If the people around you always agree with you, you miss a chance to develop your mind. While we can learn from people who agree with us, I believe we will learn much more from people who disagree with us. So expose yourself to more diverse kinds of people that have different perspectives.

8. Afraid of dreaming big dreams

Perhaps you failed in the past. Or perhaps people said that you won’t succeed. All these could make you afraid of dreaming big dreams. But if your dreams are small, your challenges will also be small and you won’t learn much. Only by dreaming big dreams can you stretch your brain muscles and achieve your full potential. So have the right mindset about failure and enlarge your dreams.

9. Not having role models

Role models act as pacers whom you try to pursue. They are concrete examples of the qualities you want to achieve. Without having concrete examples, it would be difficult for you to know whether and how something can be achieved.

In mind development, you can find people who have big dreams and beliefs despite being in difficult situations. You can also find people who have good intellectual discipline (e.g. reading one book one week) or generate ideas productively. Whatever trait it is you want to emulate, find your role models.

As I said above, this list can be used as a checklist to check whether or not you have done something harmful for your mind development.

Do you know of other mind development pitfalls? I would love to hear them.

了解什么是我們不應(yīng)該做的和了解什么是我們應(yīng)該做的同樣重要。事實上，從我們所為中發(fā)現(xiàn)失誤比從我們所尚未為中看到正確的東西更容易。在心智發(fā)展中，則意味著，我們應(yīng)該看到我們做事的方式并發(fā)現(xiàn)其中的問題。由此我們可以采取必要的措施解決其中的問題。

心智發(fā)展殺手，也就是我要談到的阻礙心智發(fā)展的9大殺手，是我們所有人都應(yīng)該清楚的事情。如實地說，其中一些，也正是我自己遇到的。我將其作為一個清單，用以提醒自己是否做出什么有害自己的心智發(fā)展。

以下就是這我們應(yīng)該避免的（阻礙我們）心智發(fā)展的9大殺手：

1。 認(rèn)為某些事單調(diào)無聊

認(rèn)為（某些）事情單調(diào)無聊的想法無疑會扼殺你的求知欲，同時也扼殺你的心智發(fā)展。當(dāng)你認(rèn)定一個事物無聊時，你就產(chǎn)生了一個本該避免的消極信念。非常不幸，這本來可以是通往新機遇的一扇門。你現(xiàn)在不能理解也不需要，而（將來）某一天你可能會（理解和需要）。

任何時候當(dāng)你認(rèn)為某事無聊無趣時，意味著你關(guān)閉了更多的機遇之門。

2。 總是閱讀相同類型的書，博客或雜志

你需要擴展新的領(lǐng)域。此處好奇心起著重大作用。如果你缺乏好奇心，就沒有動力去閱讀你通常接觸范圍之外的新事物。相反，如果你好奇心強，你就會很高興閱讀一些不同的東西，因為你會覺得很有趣。

3。只想做容易的事

通常我們只想做一些不需要很大努力的事情。這讓你感覺輕松，但同時對你的心智開發(fā)卻沒有太多好處。你應(yīng)該去嘗試一些挑戰(zhàn)性的事物，能帶你走出你的溫室。

4。 自我滿足

如果你在某些方面自我滿足，你就沒有動力提升自己。充其量，進步也只能有限。如果你覺得自己是成功的，則尤其有害。史蒂夫. 喬布斯的忠告我們都應(yīng)該記住：“保持渴望。保持自己微不足道的感覺”。

5。 停止探究（問為什么）

常常，我們忙于事務(wù)，而忘記探究為什么。我們忘記首先問問我們?yōu)槭裁醋觯�我們也忘記問為什么我們這樣的方式做。你確信你需要做它嗎？就算要做，必須這樣的方式來做嗎？

僅僅接受傳統(tǒng)常識而不加追問是一種普遍的心智發(fā)展缺陷。這種探究精神的缺乏不光會扼殺個人的心智發(fā)展，也會扼殺整個社會的心智發(fā)展。

6。認(rèn)為自己沒有創(chuàng)造性

如果你認(rèn)為僅僅某些特定的人們具有創(chuàng)造性，而你不是其中一員，你正在制造一個本身自然會實現(xiàn)的預(yù)言。你的信念正是你的局限。如果你認(rèn)為自己沒有創(chuàng)造性，那你當(dāng)然就不會有創(chuàng)造力。而事實是，每個人（本來）都有創(chuàng)造性。你是富有創(chuàng)造力的。因此，停止制造自我強加的限制，開始動用你的創(chuàng)造力。

7. 只接受意見一致的人

如果你周圍的人永遠與你意見一致，你就失去了發(fā)展心智的機會。如果說我們可以從與我們意見一致的人們那學(xué)到東西，我相信我們可以從持有不同意見的人們那學(xué)到更多。因此，我們應(yīng)該主動接觸更多各種持有不同觀點的人。

8。不敢擁有遠大夢想

也許過去你曾經(jīng)失敗過。也許，別人認(rèn)為你不會成功。所有這些都可能讓你不敢做遠大夢想。然而，如果你的夢想很小，那么你的挑戰(zhàn)也就很小，因此你就不能獲得更多。只有通過遠大夢想才能施展你的腦細(xì)胞，實現(xiàn)你的全部潛能。因此，樹立正確的思維習(xí)慣，擴大自己的夢想。

9. 缺乏行為榜樣

行為榜樣就像是跑步比賽中的追趕目標(biāo)。他們是你想要達成的品質(zhì)方面的具體榜樣。沒有具體的榜樣，你就很難明白自己是否和怎樣實現(xiàn)某些目標(biāo)。

心智發(fā)展中，你能找到那些在困境中仍然擁有遠大理想和信念的榜樣。你還可以找到擁有良好智力訓(xùn)練的榜樣（比如他們每周閱讀一本書），或者在卓有成效地產(chǎn)生思想的榜樣。不管你想要模仿哪種，你要找到自己的行為榜樣。

如同上面我說的，這個列表可以用作一個清單，來檢查你是否做出什么對心智發(fā)展有害的事情。

或者你還知道其他阻礙心智發(fā)展的隱患？我很樂意聽取。