What Type of Intelligence Do You Have?

What is intelligence? We used to think that a high score on an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test meant you were intelligent, smart, even brilliant and likely to succeed, too. Now we know that's not necessarily the case. IQ tests measure only specific abilities and assume certain environmental background and set of experiences. But the truth is that people are intelligent in different ways, and we all have weak spots in our mental functioning as well, even the Harvard graduates.

It's all well and good to be able to learn information quickly and retain it well, but how well can you apply it? Do you have common sense? How well do you bounce back from setbacks? Do you think up creative solutions when unexpected problems arise? The answers to these and other questions are more than any IQ score, but it will predict your real-world intelligence and your ability to succeed.

Here are different types of intelligence and what they involve:

-Analytical intelligence. Analytical thinkers are good at assessing problems and solving them. They judge ideas and concepts objectively, without a great deal of emotional involvement. They react to errors correcting them, not by agonizing over them.

- Creative intelligence. Here are our poets, artists and inventors. Creative types are not intellectually constrained to building on what already exists, but they rewrite the book every time, coming up with new and innovative ideas.

-Practical intelligence. It's all well and good to be full of creative ideas, but you still need to implement them in order for the bud to become a flower. That's where practical intelligence kicks in. Practical thinkers know how to make something useful emerge from a dream. And they're good at separating the good dreams from the pipe dreams to figure out whether an idea can make that all-important leap from cool concept to practical reality.

-Emotional intelligence. Probably the most accurate predictor of success and happiness is a person's emotional IQ, which reflects how well one reacts to failure, interacts with others and processes life events. Do you berate yourself when you come up short? Or figure out where you went wrong and try again? Do you toss and turn all night over your worries? Or decide to look at them with a fresh eye in the morning and get a good night's sleep?

If you want to increase your emotional intelligence, you have to stop agonizing over life's day-to-day problems. Ask yourself what is the absolute worst possible outcome could be. In most cases, it's nothing dramatic, let alone disastrous. If you get fired from a job, you're being freed up to explore a new opportunity. If you have financial troubles, it's a chance to reevaluate your spending patterns and priorities and make changes that will ensure greater long-term security. People with high emotional security don't fret. Look for the challenge in the change, and rise to the occasion.