This brain skill matters more than your IQ

Below, Adrian Owen shares five key insights from his new book, Think Before You Think: Understanding and Mastering Executive Function. Adrian is a professor of cognitive neuroscience and imaging at the University of Western Ontario. He has been featured in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Nature, Wall Street Journal, and Science, among other publications. What’s the Big Idea? Your success in life depends less on how smart you are and more on how well you manage your mind. Executive functions determine whether you turn ability into good decisions and meaningful action. Listen to the audio version of this Book Bite—read by Adrian himself—in the Next Big Idea App, or buy the book. 1. The brain system you rely on most is the one you understand the least Have you ever walked into a room and completely forgotten why you went there? Found yourself reading the same paragraph three times because your mind kept wandering? Perhaps you sent an email you immediately wished you hadn’t or promised yourself you’d start that important project today—only to find yourself scrolling through your phone an hour later instead. Most of us treat these as unrelated lit…