Mr. Beano - The Brain Training That Actually RAISED My IQ

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Improve your IQ through three daily habits (cutting doom scrolling and allowing boredom, learning on purpose, and creating rather than only consuming) followed by targeted training drills, specifically Raven-style pattern puzzles and timed arithmetic practice. The speaker claims this combination primed his brain and raised his IQ into the top 1%, based on his own self-administered retest.

Key Points

• Doom scrolling is presented as harmful, and constant stimulation is said to remove the boredom needed for the default mode network, which the speaker links to creative thinking and epiphanies.
• Learning new skills is framed as building neural pathways that can improve memory, processing speed, and cognitive function over time.
• Creative activities such as music, art, and writing are described as training pattern recognition, spatial reasoning, sequencing, and planning, and as improving mental health.
• The first drill targets pattern recognition using Raven-style grid puzzles, with the rule written down before choosing an answer.
• The second drill targets processing speed through timed two-digit arithmetic, with accuracy prioritized before speed.
• The speaker presents his own before-and-after IQ test, taken himself with no independent verification, as evidence of improvement.

Details Worth Noting

• Concrete instructions:

  • Habit 1 (boredom): Start with 10 minutes per day of doing nothing boring, such as walking without music or sitting still, without any phone use.
  • Habit 2 (learning): Pick a hobby that keeps producing problems to solve, such as gardening or cooking, or a topic to research, such as rainforests; or learn a skill like drawing, music, editing, or coding.
  • Habit 3 (creating): Make more than you consume through a creative pursuit such as music, art, or writing.
  • Drill 1 (pattern recognition): Solve Raven-style grid puzzles. Before choosing an answer, write down the rule by asking what is changing (number of shapes, position, rotation) and how it changes, for example "each row rotates 90°" or "the number of black circles drops by one each step."
  • Drill 2 (processing speed): Use an arithmetic sheet or website with two-digit addition and subtraction and one-digit multiplication. Aim for at least 90% accuracy first, then work on speed.

• The speaker's claimed challenge: if his IQ did not improve on retesting, he would live like a monk for 24 hours with no speaking; he says he succeeded, but this is his own unverified claim.

• Health and cognitive claims (such as neural pathway formation and reduced stress from creating) are the speaker's statements and are not professional advice.

Bottom Line

The video's practical value lies in its concrete daily habits and two timed drills, but its claim that these raised the speaker's IQ to the top 1% rests on his own self-reported test with no independent verification.