home > Pumps > Alexander Zakharov is a man who can do everything. A person can do a lot if he wants to. Leonid Izotovich Ruvinsky S. I. Khokhlov

Alexander Zakharov is a man who can do everything. A person can do a lot if he wants to. Leonid Izotovich Ruvinsky S. I. Khokhlov

Recently, scientists have been increasingly amazed and admired by the limitless possibilities of our brain. This is evidenced by the following facts.

Our newspapers wrote about the "Yugoslav phenomenon". His name is Borislav Gadzhansky. In his hometown of Zrenjakin, he is famous as a mathematical phenomenon.

Can you, Borislav, extract the 22nd root from the number 348 517 368 454 361 458 882?

A maximum of a minute later, the answer was: "Eight."

Now, please take the 31st root of 538436517832435456582.

The boy thought for a moment and answered: "Four." The boy was in fifth grade. He was only 11 years old, but he already knew higher mathematics in almost the full scope of the university program and made complex mathematical calculations in his mind.

Another famous "counter" Louis Dagber was told by Parisian television. A competition was arranged (it was broadcast on television) between Dagber and an electronic computer. The task of Dagber and the machine was to solve several complex mathematical problems with a large amount of calculations. Dagber set the following conditions for the competition: he would consider himself a winner only if he could solve ten problems faster than the car seven. The viewers followed the competition with great interest and were looking forward to the results. We didn't have to wait long. Dagber solved all ten problems correctly in 3 minutes 43 seconds, and the electronic machine solved his seven problems in only 5 minutes 18 seconds! Dagber defeated a machine that performs several thousand arithmetic operations per second. The brain of an ordinary person performs 4-5 operations per second.

It is clear that Borislav Dagber and others are phenomena in their own way, but they give a clear example of what opportunities open up for a person in case of maximum use of the natural data inherent in him.

We often talk with some irony about those who can do several things at the same time, for example, read, write and listen, like Julius Caesar. However, a person is really capable of it. This is explained, as a rule, by good automatism, high skill of action. For example, a person who is good at typing can type on a typewriter and think about something else at the same time, or talk at the same time as typing.

However, here, apparently, not only automatism is manifested, but also other human capabilities.

It was generally believed that the two hemispheres of the brain function simultaneously and synchronously. Physiologist Professor V. V. Efimov suggested that it is possible to activate the work of each hemisphere and make them work independently.

VV Efimov made a report at the Moscow House of Scientists. He outlined the results of his experiments, including on himself. Using modern equipment, he proved that both hemispheres can work independently, but this requires systematic training. In his opinion, one of the types of such training can be the simultaneous actions of the left and right hands, when they perform different tasks: a person draws with one hand, writes with the other, etc.

The possibilities and abilities of a person could be manifested to an even greater extent, but, alas, they are, like chains, shackled by a kind of brake protective mechanisms. The action of these mechanisms can be neutralized, for example, with the help of hypnosis.

Professor K. K. Platonov in the book "The Word as a Physiological and Medical Factor" describes an interesting experiment. Immersed in a hypnotic state, people lifted a load of 10 kg to a height of 0.5 m. After the subjects experienced fatigue, which was recorded on a special device, they were given a suggestion that the load was lightened by 2 times. Performance was immediately restored. When, after several lifts, fatigue set in again, the suggestion was again made that the load had been lightened by another 2 times. And so many times in a row. Performance has been restored many times. In the end, this suggestion had no effect. But as soon as a new suggestion was made that the load was reduced by 4 times, the efficiency increased again. Then, when fatigue set in again, the same suggestion was made, and so many times, finally, a moment came when the suggestion to lighten the load by 4 times remained without affect. Then it was suggested that the load was reduced by 10 times. Again, working capacity was restored, and soon the moment came again when such suggestion no longer had an effect.

And finally, it was suggested that the load was reduced by a factor of 20. And again, performance was restored.

As a result, the average rate of a person's working capacity was exceeded many times over, i.e., a person's capabilities in performing physical work were significantly expanded due to the removal of inhibitory processes with the help of hypnosis.

No less amazing possibilities are shown by our senses.

American scientists have discovered in the area of the human nasal cavity an accumulation of microparticles coming from human blood, with the help of which people can pick up the magnetic field lines of the earth, as, for example, birds do when migrating over long distances. Another thing is that people do not use this device and therefore its sensitivity is significantly dulled. However, if in the process of performing any activity a person often has to use one or another analyzer, then the development of the sensitivity of this analyzer exceeds all our expectations. For example, master grinders can see gaps as small as 0.6 microns, while normally a person can see gaps as small as 10 microns.

Experienced textile workers distinguish up to 100 shades of black. Artists notice a deviation in the proportions of compared objects when it does not exceed 0.006 of their magnitude.

The above examples clearly prove the inexhaustible potentialities of a person, which are revealed in their entirety by those who believe in them, wish to develop them and do this through systematic hard work.

For the full disclosure of their creative potential, a person needs at least 3 conditions:

1. A person must be aware of the unlimited potential of the individual.

2. A person must want to develop these opportunities and abilities.

3. A person must have a strong character and sufficiently developed volitional qualities necessary for the implementation of his life plans.

Above we talked mainly about the first condition. Equally important is the second condition, which we now begin to present.

A man can do a lot if he wants

Millions of boys and girls annually come to vocational schools, secondary and higher educational institutions, production, sports clubs, art schools, etc. Everyone is trying to find their way in life, many dream of great success. However, not everyone achieves what they want. What's the matter?

The reasons are different. Many young people, when faced with difficulties, often give up, lose faith in themselves, easily give up their life plans and begin to consider themselves mediocre, believing that the reserves of their mental capabilities are completely exhausted. They underestimate their physical and mental strength.

Many of you probably know the deaf-blind-mute Olga Skorokhodova, who not only managed to get a secondary and higher education, but also defended her Ph.D. thesis in psychology and wrote the book “How I perceive, imagine and understand the world around us.” How could she achieve this?

Here is what the psychologist A. I. Meshcheryakov writes about this.

Olga Ivanovna Skorokhodova is a person of unusual destiny. As a child, she fell ill with meningitis and completely lost her sight, and then her hearing. Loss of sight and hearing in childhood isolates the child from others, makes him helpless, and forced loneliness leads to mental degradation. This did not happen with Skorokhodova. At the age of ten, she enters the School-Clinic for deaf-blind-mute children, organized in 1923 by Professor I. A. Sokolyansky in Kharkov. The painstaking work of specialists contributed to the development and restoration of speech. Using a special technique using the dactyl (finger) alphabet and relief-dotted (Braille) font, Olga was systematically taught all the subjects of the school course. Thanks to her perseverance, determination and other strong-willed qualities, Olga Ivanovna Skorokhodova achieved those outstanding successes mentioned above. It is safe to say that the whole life of Olga Ivanovna is a feat.

Leonid Izotovich Ruvinsky S. I. Khokhlov

"How to educate the will and character": Enlightenment; Moscow; 1986

annotation

In popular language, using extensive factual material, the authors talk about the capabilities of the human body, about the importance of self-education of moral self-improvement. The main idea of the book is that will, like muscles, develops in work. The book contains specific recommendations for self-improvement. Addressed to boys and girls.

How to develop will and character

Book for students

To the reader

It is very useful for you young people to assume a responsible position from an early age. This is absolutely necessary for the development of the mind and especially character.

K. Marx, F. Engels

Great personalities were not created by nature, but independently made themselves what they were, they became what they wanted to be and remained true to this desire of theirs until the end of their lives.

Young reader, you are on the verge of an independent life. You have to continue the great work of your grandfathers and fathers - the construction of a new communist society. This will require the exertion of all your strengths and abilities. Are you ready to overcome the difficulties that await you on a difficult but noble life path? Do you have enough strength, energy, stamina not to deviate from the intended path, to achieve the noble goals set by life itself and by you personally, to remain (by yourself and any, even the most difficult trials?

Or maybe the very first failures on your way will paralyze your will, and you will lose faith and your strength, in “poi abilities, in the possibility of achieving important life goals and tasks, will you lose your own “I” and turn into an ordinary inhabitant and opportunist?

The authors express the hope that this book will help to cultivate willpower, form the qualities necessary to be independent, be able to overcome difficulties, gain the authority of others, make real friends, set certain goals and successfully fight for their achievement.

Do we know human capabilities

The natural desire to find one's true vocation in life is often hampered by the poor awareness of young men and women not only about their future profession, but also about the possibilities of a person in general and their personal reserves in particular. This affects the implementation of aspirations and attempts to improve one's personal qualities, develop abilities, cultivate will and character. Excessive self-confidence also interferes with working on oneself, improving one's personal qualities, when a person does not consider it necessary to engage in self-improvement, mistakenly believing that he is already worthy of others; satisfaction with material well-being to the detriment of spiritual values.

Many young men and women often simply do not know how to work on themselves, how to achieve a high level in the development of will, character, attention, memory, thinking, and imagination. In this regard, we believe it will be useful and necessary for the reader to get acquainted with information about the potential reserves of a person.

Scientists today are unanimous in the fact that each person owns a huge set of, on average, equivalent opportunities stored in his body in the form of inclinations. The range of these opportunities is so wide, and the number of various specialties is so large (several thousand), that almost every person can find his calling.

It is safe to say that there are no mediocre people, but there are people who are not doing their job.

Each person has a truly enormous potential inherent in his nature. Take, for example, memory, without which it is difficult to imagine any activity at all. If there were no memory, then a person could not plan, acquire skills, use past experience. In the words of I. Sechenov, a person who does not have a memory, in a millionth race would perceive everything as for the first time and would be in the state of a newborn. Development would be impossible

One of the American magazines published a story about a man who is deprived of the wonderful gift of memory. When Henry M. was young, he fell ill with epilepsy. He underwent brain surgery. Doctors surgically destroyed the affected brain focus, which, in their opinion, provoked epileptic seizures and, as it turned out later, was related to long-term memory.

As a result, Henry M. lost the ability to remember. All events are instantly erased in his memory, passing through it like water through a sieve. Every moment of life is completely new for him. He cannot name the day of the week, the year, not to mention the fact that he does not remember at all how old he is. Researcher Brenda Milner spends a lot of time with Henry M., but every time Henry M. feels like he's seeing her for the first time. Once he remarked: “Honestly, I don’t remember what I did or said then. You see, at the moment I see everything clearly and distinctly, but here's what happened a minute ago, even kill me, I don't remember! This worries me a lot. I feel like a person who has just woken up and remembers nothing, nothing. Every day, whether joyful or sad, disappears without a trace.

Henry has only distant memories and some habits developed in childhood, but he cannot acquire any new skills.

Fortunately, each person has an invaluable gift of nature - memory. It is difficult to overestimate the possibilities of human memory.

The brain of an ordinary person can absorb a huge amount of information. Imagine that the brain consists of 9-12 billion, and according to the latest count, even 17 billion nerve cells. A cell may have several thousand contact processes in which information is recorded. There are many millions of molecules in one cell and hundreds of millions of information particles in each. This means that a person's memory is able to contain approximately as many bits of information as there is in the vaults of the V.I. Lenin Library - the largest in the Soviet Union

History knows a lot of people who have a great memory, either received as a gift from nature, or developed through intense training. For example, the artist Ge N.N., having once looked at the room of one of the St. Petersburg palaces, accurately reproduced it later in the picture.

Composer Balakirev M.A. accurately reproduced Tchaikovsky's melody heard two years ago.

The composer Taneyev (Rakhmaninoff's teacher) once hid Rachmaninoff in his bedroom when Glazunov came to play a new symphony he had just written. After the performance, Rachmaninov entered the room and performed the same symphony without a single mistake, which caused a slight confusion for Glazunov, who began to justify himself and assure Taneyev that he really wrote this symphony himself.

Mozart also had a phenomenal musical memory. One day, his father took little Wolfgang to the Vatican, where Allegri's spiritual composition was to be performed. The Pope jealously guarded this piece of music - a strict punishment awaited the one who rewrote the notes or even showed them to an outsider.

Wolfgang listened intently to this wonderful work, and at night, when his father slept peacefully, the boy diligently wrote down something in his musical notebook. In the morning, Wolfgang handed his father his note and, smiling slyly, said:

"Father, we will send this gift to our Nannel ... She will be the first person after the Pope to have Allegri notes."

Glancing at the notes, my father turned pale. In front of him was an exact, note for note, recording of the complex polyphonic work of the composer Allegri heard yesterday.

They say that the great commander Alexander the Great knew by sight all the soldiers of his thirty thousandth army.

The outstanding Soviet scientist A.F. Ioffe used the table of logarithms from memory. Academician S. A. Chaplygin remembered the numbers of all the telephones that he used.

Someone E. Gaon literally remembered 2500 books read by him. Moreover, he could, without hesitation, reproduce any passage from any book.

The cashier of the Polish football club "Gornik" Leopold Held remembered all the results and even the details of the games of this club. Once, during the next TV show, the TV commentator asked about the result of the four-year-old match "Gornik" - "Ostra". Leopold Held, without hesitation, gave exhaustive information: “We won 4-0, the meeting took place on August 18, there were 27 thousand fans, the total amount of income was 235 thousand zlotys. Three goals were scored by Paul and one Tzoltisik ... "

Some time ago on the pages of newspapers in many countries there were reports about the phenomenal memory of a certain Iktador Hussein Kuadra, who, without hesitation, names the date of any historical event and the persons associated with this event. He compiled for himself a special calendar in Islamic chronology with all the important events. The calendar is calculated by days and months from the first year of our era to the year 3000!

Professor Luria A. R. for about 20 years studied the memory of a person who did not know how to forget at all. His surname is Shereshevsky. He worked as a reporter for one of the Moscow newspapers in the 30s. The phenomenal memory of this man is considered outstanding.

So, he memorized a table of 20 digits in 35-40 seconds, and a table of 50 digits in 2.5-3 minutes. Moreover, after a few months, he could accurately reproduce these tables again from memory. “It turned out,” writes Luria, “that Shereshevsky’s memory has no clear boundaries, not only in its scope, but also in the strength of keeping traces. Experiments have shown that he can successfully and without noticeable difficulty reproduce any long series of words given to him a week, a month, a year, many years ago. Some of these experiments, which invariably ended in success, were carried out 15-16 years (!) After the initial memorization of the series, and without any warning. If we take into account that Shereshevsky, who by this time had become a well-known mnemonist and had to memorize many hundreds and thousands of rows, this fact becomes even more surprising.

How did Shereshevsky memorize and reproduce such a large amount of information? Shereshenek himself said that, having looked once at the table with numbers, he, having closed his eyes, continued to clearly “see” it in his imagination. And when playing, he simply read the table from the image in his memory. Shereshevsky possessed the so-called eidetic memory. It works flawlessly and, like a camera, accurately captures the surrounding reality. In addition, Shereshevsky had a "synesthetic" sensitivity, in which the impact on one human organ causes complex sensations characteristic of other organs. For example, the sound evoked in him, in addition to auditory sensations, the sensations of light, color, and even taste.

Once, during the experiments, Shereshevsky was offered a tone of 50 Hz with a sound intensity of 100 dB. He saw a brown stripe on a dark background with red tongues; this sound, according to him, "had" a sweet and sour taste, and the taste sensation extended to the entire tongue.

"Synaesthetic" experiences Shereshevsky also experienced when perceiving someone's voice. “What a yellow and crumbly voice you have,” he once said to the psychologist L. S. Vygotsky, who was talking to him.

When Shereshevsky heard or read any word, it immediately turned into a visual image of the corresponding object. This image was quite persistent. If Shereshevsky was distracted, the image disappeared. When Shereshevsky returned to the original situation, this image appeared again.

Letters and numbers were also perceived by him synesthetically:

“A” is something white, long, “I” goes forward, it cannot be drawn, “Yu” is sharp, it is sharper than “E”. When I hear the word green, a green pot of flowers appears; "red" - a man in a red shirt appears; "blue" - someone waves a blue flag from the window. "1" is a proud, slender person, "2" is a cheerful woman, "3" is a gloomy person; I don’t know why ... “6” is a man whose leg is swollen, “7” is a man with a mustache, “8” is a very plump woman, but “87” - I see a plump woman and a man who twists his mustache” .

One day, Professor Luria, after another experiment, was walking with Shereshevsky from the institute. “Won’t you forget how to get to the institute later?” Luria asked. “No, what are you,” Shereshevsky answered, “is it possible to forget? After all, this fence - it tastes so salty and so rough and it has such a sharp and piercing sound ... "

Of course, Shereshevsky was one of the few whom nature itself awarded with such a phenomenal memory. However, one should not despair and give up on those who do not have such an excellent memory. In the presence of sufficiently developed volitional qualities, such as purposefulness, perseverance, endurance, etc., any person, through persistent systematic daily work on himself, can greatly increase the possibilities of his memory, thinking, etc. Numerous examples of such facts can be cited.

An amazing example of the extraordinarily large compensatory capabilities of a person in the presence of strong-willed qualities of character is given by the life of the wonderful sculptor Lina Poe, who died in 1948. Having completely lost her sight, she created wonderful sculptures by touch. She has made over a hundred sculptures.

The German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann, in order to develop his memory, for many years memorized several pages of text from various books every day, and through such hard training he achieved that in 6-8 weeks he could master a new foreign language. By the height of his creative powers, Schliemann had become one of the largest polyglots in the world.

It is known that many of the world's great chess players, thanks to hard work, were able to play chess "blindly". The famous Russian chess player A. Alekhine could play "blindly" on 40 boards at the same time.

And one of the Hungarian chess players, Janos Flesch, set a record in 1960 by holding a simultaneous blind game session on 52 boards. 4 candidate masters, 12 first-class players played against him, the rest were chess players of the 2nd and 3rd categories. The game lasted about 13 hours, and he won 31 games, drew 18, and lost only 3. At the same time, he lost about 6 kg in weight.

Naturally, only having a strong will and a courageous character could a chess player prepare for this duel and successfully complete it. And the chess player was preparing for the record continuously for almost 2 years.

An example of the ability to mobilize one's reserves is the life of Professor A. A. Lyubishchev, a man of versatile abilities. He has written more than 500 printed sheets (12,000 pages!) of books, articles, brochures on zoology, genetics, philosophy, and the theory of evolution.

The writer D. Granin reveals to us the secret of the success of this scientist's work on himself: for fifty years in a row, A. A. Lyubishchev carefully recorded and planned the time spent. It was a system of respect for time, exceptional organization and maximum mobilization of one's forces and capabilities. Lyubishchev kept daily records, he himself summed up the results, mercilessly detailed, concealed nothing and did not soften anything. He tried to use every minute - trips in public transport, waiting, queues, etc. Lyubishchev thought out the possibilities of using such time to the smallest detail. When traveling, reading small-format books and learning languages. This is how he learned English.

A. A. Lyubishchev took the active time of day as ten hours and took it into account with an accuracy of ten minutes. It was traced all day, up to reading newspapers. At the end of each month and each year, the result was summed up, followed by an analysis. At the same time, the planning of work was carried out no less scrupulously: for a day, for a month, for a year and for a five-year period. According to Lyubishchev, a person should not have bad, empty, superfluous time and there is no time for “pure” rest. Rest is a change of occupation, like a proper crop rotation in a field. Lyubishchev learned to deal with the pulsating, elusive "now", was not afraid to measure the melting remnant of life in days and hours. Carefully he stretched time, squeezing it, trying not to drop it, not to lose a single crumb. He treated him respectfully, as if he were his daily bread, and “killing time” could not even enter his head. Any time was good for him. The lesson of Lyubishchev is that, only by mobilizing your willpower, you can live every minute and every hour of the day with a constant intense return.

Human possibilities are inexhaustible not only in the field of memory, but also in thinking, imagination, sensitivity of various analytical systems, etc.

Recently, scientists have been increasingly amazed and admired by the limitless possibilities of our brain. This is evidenced by the following facts.

Our newspapers wrote about the "Yugoslav phenomenon". His name is Borislav Gadzhansky. In his hometown of Zrenjakin, he is famous as a mathematical phenomenon.

Can you, Borislav, extract the 22nd root from the number 348 517 368 454 361 458 882?

A maximum of a minute later, the answer was: "Eight."

Now, please take the 31st root of 538436517832435456582.

However, here, apparently, not only automatism is manifested, but also other human capabilities.

And finally, it was suggested that the load was reduced by a factor of 20. And again, performance was restored.

No less amazing possibilities are shown by our senses.

Experienced textile workers distinguish up to 100 shades of black. Artists notice a deviation in the proportions of compared objects when it does not exceed 0.006 of their magnitude.

For the full disclosure of their creative potential, a person needs at least 3 conditions:

1. A person must be aware of the unlimited potential of the individual.

2. A person must want to develop these opportunities and abilities.

3. A person must have a strong character and sufficiently developed volitional qualities necessary for the implementation of his life plans.

Above we talked mainly about the first condition. Equally important is the second condition, which we now begin to present.

A man can do a lot if he wants

Here is what the psychologist A. I. Meshcheryakov writes about this.

A feat that she performed every day for many years. This feat of Olga Ivanovna was once admired by the great proletarian writer Maxim Gorky, who wrote in one of his letters to O. I. Skorokhodova: “I remember you as a symbol of energy that cannot but manifest itself actively even when it is physically limited.

Against the backdrop of the grandiose events of our days, your personality for me, a writer - and thus a little dreamer - acquires the meaning of a symbol of the victorious energy of the human mind, the most valuable energy created by nature-matter, as it were for self-knowledge.

Will and firmness, tireless striving for work, cheerfulness and optimism helped Skorokhodova achieve great success in her creative work. Her life and work serve as an inspiration to others. Here are excerpts from a letter from a girl from Riga:

“Dear Olga Ivanovna!

Personally, I think that you are a genius, and your whole life and your work is a feat. You will always be an example to me... When I was nine and a half months old, I contracted polio, which kept me in bed for years. Now I have graduated from high school and ... I work, and in the fall I will try to pass the exam in a technical school.

Sometimes it’s very hard for me to be alone, then I take your book from the shelf, read, look at your photo and want to be as strong as you ... and sad thoughts leave me ... "

Of course, for physically healthy people, the life of Olga Skorokhodova is an example of the disclosure of colossal human capabilities.

It is important to always remember that a person can not only improve the existing potential, but also enrich it, which is facilitated by the plasticity of higher nervous activity. I. I. Pavlov, who devoted most of his life to the study of higher nervous activity, wrote: “The most important, strongest and constantly remaining impression from the study of higher nervous activity ... this extraordinary plasticity of this activity, its enormous possibilities: nothing remains motionless, unyielding , and everything can always be achieved, changed for the better, if only the appropriate conditions are met.

Of course, the sooner a person begins to work on himself, the more success he will achieve in the development of his organs and personality traits, since the younger the body, the more plasticity (the ability to change and develop) it has.

But you must also remember that it is never too late to start working on yourself and achieve great success. Your talents, abilities in this or that activity, branches of science, art can be manifested, as well as develop in youth and even adulthood. This should also serve as an incentive for self-improvement to those who did not show outstanding abilities in childhood.

The great Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus was considered by some to be a dumbass at school and predicted a career as a shoemaker for him. At 20, he graduated from high school. However, Dr. Rothman, who was approached by Karl's father, concerned about the future of his son, unlike many, was able to notice Linnaeus's inclinations towards the natural sciences, especially botany, and in every possible way encouraged this hobby of Karl. Under Rothman's guidance, Karl began to study human physiology with the same fervor with which he read books about plants.

Using Linnaeus's interest in botany, Dr. Rothman managed to instill a love for the Latin language, which Carl did not want to learn at school.

One day the doctor brought Charles the works of the great naturalist of antiquity, Pliny, in Latin. “Here, read Pliny. In his books - a whole encyclopedia on the natural sciences of the ancient world. Latin is the international language of the entire scientific world. You cannot join science without mastering it. You see for yourself, scientific books about plants are written in Latin, how are you going to read them? By studying Pliny, you will learn Latin,” Rothman insisted.

An amazing and great thing is interest and will. Linnaeus's interest in the natural sciences helped to overcome the hated Latin. Carl Linnaeus learned the Latin language, absolutely necessary for every educated person of that time.

The Swedish scientist K. Linnaeus is a classic image of a scientist whose devotion to science arouses deep sympathy. His life path is thorny and dramatic, but he emerged from all trials mentally and spiritually stronger.

Consider Charles Darwin. His father thought he was incompetent. Repeatedly repeated: “You only have an interest in shooting, fussing with dogs and catching rats. You will be a disgrace to yourself and your family."

However, thanks to perseverance, perseverance, determination, Darwin created a work on the origin of species, on which he worked for more than 20 years and which brought him worldwide fame.

The great scientist Einstein also did not show any abilities in physics and mathematics in childhood, and was even a lagging student. His uncle Jacob often repeated: "It's okay, Albert, not everyone becomes a professor, and you will become someone." The whole world, however, is amazed and admired by the theory of relativity created by Einstein.

N.V. Gogol did not show literary abilities in childhood, and his school compositions were very mediocre.

Our famous writer I. A. Goncharov achieved creative success only at the age of 40.

Wagner mastered musical writing only at the age of 20, but this did not prevent him from becoming a great composer. This was facilitated by his exceptional ability to work and perseverance in achieving the goal.

Apparently, the naturalist Edison was right in many respects, arguing that genius is 1% inspiration, and 99% sweating. You are convinced of this once again, analyzing the path to the top of the glory of the Greek orator Demosthenes. By nature, Demosthenes was shy, suffered from a speech defect and, moreover, had a very weak voice. But on the other hand, he had perseverance, determination, perseverance. These qualities allowed Demosthenes not only to perfect the technique of oratory, but also to develop his voice, overcome burr.

Demosthenes spent hours reciting verses on the seashore, trying to shout over the sound of the surf. To get rid of his burriness, he spoke with small pebbles in his mouth. With such perseverance, Demosthenes practiced for many years. Sometimes, feeling that he lacked willpower, Demosthenes cut off a strip of hair on his head and, until the hair grew back, lived in a cave and trained. However, even after graduating from the school of oratory and such hard work on himself, he did not immediately achieve success. His first public speech ended in failure. He was booed. The second time - again failure. But he did not give up on his goal and continued to work hard. Finally, victory! Demosthenes became one of the most prominent orators of Ancient Greece.

As we have already seen from the above examples, even with modest natural data, through self-improvement, one can achieve great success and develop certain qualities, abilities, etc. Naturally, the result will depend primarily on ourselves: knowledge of our own characteristics and opportunities; our desire; degree of formation of volitional character traits. In this section, we have introduced you to the first two conditions for successful cultivation. Of course, you understand that these conditions (knowledge and desire) are clearly not enough for complete success, since desire, even with knowledge, can remain an unrealizable dream in the absence of a strong character and highly developed will. About what character and will are, and will be discussed in the next section.

What is will and character

That pitiful one who, under the hammer of fate, drooped, frightened, without a fight

N. Ogarev

Each of us himself mintes the price of his personality; a person is great or small, depending on his own will.

S. Smiles

Character and its properties

How often do we hear: a weak-willed person, a strong character, a weak-willed or strong-willed person; Even then, people tried to understand their essence, to highlight the typology. Thus, different types of Characters appeared. Here, for example, is the type of hypocrite compiled by the Ancient Greek thinker Theophrastus: “... He talks friendly with the enemy, sympathizes with him in grief, praises him in the eye, scolds him behind his back, speaks affectionately with someone angry with Him ... You scold him, he is not offended, but calmly listens to your abuse ... You intend to borrow money from him or Ask him for help - he has an answer ready ... He hides all his actions and insists that he is only thinking ... He heard - and does not give a sign, he saw - he will say that he did not see, he will give his word and pretend to have forgotten about him. He repeats one thing: I will think; about something else: I don't know anything; today you hear from him: and I won’t understand, tomorrow: such a thought comes to my mind not for the first time.

Character is often confused with temperament, which is an innate natural trait.

The initial classification of temperaments was given by IP Pavlov. The basis of this or that temperament is the speed and character of the balance of the nervous processes of excitation and inhibition. The qualities acquired during life determine the character of a person. Therefore, real representatives of temperaments can only show inclinations to the character of behavior described below. For example, sanguine people are distinguished by mobility, poise. They quickly adapt to new conditions, activities, are sociable, non-offensive. In the team they are cheerful, they are happy to take on a lively and interesting business. However, they quickly cool down and leave what they started when they lose interest. Standing in line or doing painstaking work is a real punishment for them. To achieve success, sanguine people can be advised to scatter less on trifles, to be more purposeful, diligent, more accurate.

Phlegmatic, calm, balanced, solid, slow, even in relationships. He doesn't raise his voice. It's hard to piss him off. He needs time to unwind. But if he has already started to work, it is difficult to stop him. He gets the job done, meticulous. His facial expressions and pantomime are poor. He is not talkative. And although he is distinguished by constancy and depth of feelings, he does not like to talk about it. In terms of self-improvement, it is important for a phlegmatic person to develop the habit of being more sociable, active, and responsive.

Representatives of the choleric temperament are characterized by increased excitability, imbalance. They are quick-tempered, aggressive, straightforward in relationships, energetic in activities. Self-esteem is often overstated. They passionately give themselves to work and feeling. It is important for choleric people to restrain themselves, not to be arrogant. If you are a choleric, make it a rule before you react violently to anything, count to 10, and you will save yourself from many troubles, first of all from incontinence and all its negative consequences. In one of the armies, a soldier has the right to file a complaint only the day after someone's wrongdoing. This is due to the fact that when we cool down, what happened to us no longer seems so serious and tragic to cross swords because of this.

Representatives of the melancholic type of temperament are distinguished by particular sensitivity, imbalance, and increased vulnerability. They are somewhat closed, especially in a new company, unusual environment, unsure of themselves. They often have low self-esteem. In their usual environment, they are contact, active, and can show willpower. In terms of self-improvement, melancholic people need to be more active, engage in patronage, organizational activities in order to feel their importance, confidence and increase their self-esteem. This is also facilitated by physical education and sports, in particular gymnastics.

The following example will help you visualize the influence of one or another type of temperament on human behavior. Four people with different temperaments were late to the theater. They are not allowed. Choleric immediately on the attack: “What kind of orders? Your clock in a hurry!" - and tries to squeeze through force. Sanguine immediately realized that it was easier to get to the upper tier, and quickly ran up the stairs. The phlegmatic slowly turned around and ... went to the buffet, saying: “Nothing, while we sing, and there will be an intermission. The first act is always uninteresting.” And the melancholic sighed heavily and deeply and quietly said with sadness, “I’m always unlucky, the theater gathered once every six months and then unsuccessfully” and ... went home.

It should be noted that pronounced types of temperament are quite rare. Usually in each person you can find the properties of two or even more types of temperament. You can change the properties of temperament within very limited limits. With age, the disguise of temperament occurs, i.e., its properties appear less clearly. This speaks of a complex combination of the social biological in a person. Biological, in this case, the type of higher nervous activity, constitutes the physiological basis of temperament, but the social qualities of a person, developed in the course of his life, are still decisive.

What is character?

Character is such stable personality traits that determine the typical way of behavior for a given person, attitude towards people, oneself, work, etc.

To reflect the most significant character traits of a person, the terms collectivist, egoist, individualist, kind, evil, weak character, decisive, independent, dependent, modest are usually used. ”, “boastful”, “liar”, “honest”, etc.

The number of character traits is very large, so listing everything does not make any sense, and it is simply impossible.

Only the most general character traits can be singled out.

Strength of character. A person with such a character is able to achieve his goals, overcome difficulties, defend his convictions, develop vigorous activity, and show courage.

Weakness of character manifests itself in cowardice, indecision, hesitation, instability of views, compliance, cowardice.

Originality character is manifested in the individual originality of a person, in what distinguishes him sharply from others. For example, hypersensitivity, excessive isolation, etc.

Integrity of character represents the consistency of human relations to various aspects of life. Unity of word and deed. Integrity of character, according to Ernst Thalmann, is an essential quality of a progressive personality.

Strength of character means consistency, perseverance in achieving a goal, upholding views, etc.

Most character traits can be grouped into the following groups: emotional(temper, passion, tenderness, depression, optimism, etc.), moral(honesty, collectivism, consciousness of public duty, responsibility, sensitivity, attentiveness, etc.), strong-willed(decisiveness, perseverance, courage, self-control, endurance, purposefulness, activity, courage, initiative, confidence, patience, etc.).

Of decisive importance in the character of a person are moral and volitional properties, which, like most others, are formed gradually in the process of cognition and practical activity. Further, we will mainly deal with the education of moral and volitional qualities of a person.

It would be a mistake to think that a person's character is something unchanging, due to heredity. It is generally recognized among Soviet psychologists that character develops and changes in the course of life. Very interesting in this regard are the observations of twins, which have exactly the same innate properties. But if they are separated, then under the influence of the environment and upbringing, they will acquire different characters.

Character is a kind of core that largely determines the degree of perseverance of a person in the implementation of goals and objectives. In essence, character affects the whole style of a person’s behavior and his relationship with others. It is no coincidence that since antiquity descriptions of happy and unhappy, bad and good characters have been given. Many writers - subtle connoisseurs of human psychology, have shown how much a person with a strong and optimistic character can do in life and how much trouble and grief a difficult or weak character can bring.

Let us recall the story of A.P. Chekhov “Heavy People”, which shows how people who love each other cannot live well, amicably and happily because of difficult characters, they hurt, mentally injure each other and feel unhappy. Psychologically, A. P. Chekhov ends the story with a description of the consequences of a quarrel between a father and a student son: “The student went to his room and quietly lay down. Until midnight he lay motionless and without opening his eyes. He did not feel any malice or shame, but some kind of indefinite mental pain. He did not blame his father, did not feel sorry for his mother, did not torment himself with remorse; it was clear to him who everyone in the house was now experiencing the same pain, and who was to blame, who was suffering more, who was less, God knows ... He could hear until the very morning how the sleepless father quietly wandered from window to window and sighed. Nobody slept; rarely spoke, only in whispers. Twice his mother came to him behind the screen. Still with the same surprised, stupid expression, she crossed him for a long time and shuddered nervously ... At five o'clock in the morning the student tenderly said goodbye to everyone and even cried. Passing by his father's room, he looked in the door. Evgraf Ivanovich, dressed, not yet going to bed, stood at the window and drummed on the panes ... "

Each of you is quite naturally interested in the question: Is it possible to judge this or that character of a person by some external signs? The character of a person has external expressions (some people are always harsh, others are friendly, others are obsequious, etc.), therefore (an observant person can determine some character traits by external signs. But how, you ask, character traits

When a person smiles, a certain mess is formed on the face, which expresses the character of this person. And since we often laugh without thinking, reflexively, impulsively, we show our true character traits. L. N. Tolstoy distinguished a smile, self-satisfied, sweet, happy, bright, cold, mocking, stupid, meek.

The character of a person can also be judged by the expression of the eyes. Even the ancients said: "The eyes are the mirror of the soul." L. N. Tolstoy distinguished, for example, cunning eyes, radiant, bright eyes, sad, cold, lifeless. He wrote: “There are people who have only laughing eyes - these are cunning and selfish people. There are people whose mouth laughs without eyes - they are weak, indecisive people, and both of these laughter are unpleasant.

Character can also be expressed in posture. For example, arrogant people are more likely to tilt their bodies back, stick out their chests, and throw their heads back. The toady leans forward all over, his gaze is ingratiating, his face has a wide obsequious smile, and in the corners of his eyes there is a barely noticeable cunning laugh.

Some data about a person can be obtained using the so-called projective tests (methods). For example, in order to clarify the attitude towards the superiors in the service, American recruits were offered a drawing: "A sailor in front of an officer." The recruits had to express their opinion about the plot of the drawing. Some believed that the officer entrusted the sailor with a serious task, others - the sailor received a penalty, and still others - the sailor turned to the officer with a request. The former were characterized by a zealous attitude to the service, the latter turned out to be disciplined, but without initiative, since fear of punishment prevails in them, and the third were independent and disobedient.

Of course, there are many more accurate methods for identifying certain characteristics of a person. You can read about this in the special psychological literature.

The concept of will

The process of self-education is closely connected with the will. A sufficient level of development of the will is a necessary basis and condition for the implementation of a program of self-education. Therefore, self-education of the will is not only the goal of developing one of the qualities of the personality. It is necessary for its formation as a whole.

If you want to seriously engage in self-education, then you must become a teacher and psychologist in relation to yourself, and for this you need at least a minimum of psychological and pedagogical knowledge, and first of all about the character and will of a person. We have already written about the character above. Now let's get acquainted with the will.

All our behavior consists of individual actions.

An act is inextricably linked with the attitude towards oneself, towards the surrounding reality, other people, work, its objects and results.

This relationship can be unstable and stable. For example, a game may or may not be liked depending on our mood. This is an unstable attitude.

We all love our Motherland. This is already a stable relationship. The source of such a stable attitude is beliefs, the system of which we call a worldview.

In any particular situation, we tend to act one way or another, depending on our attitude to the circumstances in which we find ourselves. Sometimes we (even at the risk of our lives) act in accordance with our convictions (we fight bandits, protect the weak, rescue a comrade out of trouble, etc.). But there are times when we give in to difficulties, try to get out of the situation, although, according to our beliefs, we should have intervened (for example, to protect the honor of a girl, friend, etc.).

Our behavior depends on many factors, but above all on our will.

When will and conviction are harmoniously combined, a person is capable of accomplishing noble and heroic deeds. The will of a person is closely related to his character. According to the apt expression of the English writer S. Smiles, character is manifested in the manner of action inspired and directed by principles, honesty and practical wisdom. In its highest manifestation, this is nothing but personal will.

In everyday behavior, we are guided not only by beliefs and worldviews. Many of our actions are prompted by feelings (how many feats have been accomplished in the name of love, a sense of duty?), interests, a thirst for knowledge (remember what heroic deeds the scientists Giordano Bruno and others performed) and other motives.

Motives are what motivates a person to do something. They are the psychological center of the individual.

Motives can be needs, interests, beliefs, moral feelings. Motives don't stay the same. Some of them develop, acquire greater significance for a person and push out other motives that previously occupied a leading place in his activity.

Professor V. I. Selivanov notes: “From the totality of the various motives of the individual in the process of life and upbringing, dominant and stable motives gradually begin to stand out that determine the direction of the individual, her position in life (what the individual strives for and in the direction of which she organizes her behavior , their activities).

The orientation of the personality is manifested in the peculiarities of the interests and needs of the individual, in the features of the goals that a person sets for himself, in the attitudes of the personality, in the feelings, beliefs of a person, etc. The orientation develops already in adolescence and youth. In all cases, the orientation of the personality determines the direction of volitional activity. Orientation finds its expression in such a motivational-volitional property of a person as purposefulness.

Therefore, it is very important to form highly moral motives in oneself from adolescence and youth, because, as the scientist-psychologist A.N. person, but merges his life with the life of people, their good.

But any motive and goal, no matter how noble they may be, must be translated into action, only then they acquire true value. Motives and goals are translated into activities with the help of volitional processes, states and qualities of the individual.

Thus, the will is closely connected with the motives of a person, with the whole personality as a whole. “In volitional activity,” write A. G. Kovalev and V. N. Myasishchev, “the whole person is manifested with all his qualities and characteristics - interests, needs and inclinations, abilities and beliefs ...”

The main features of volitional qualities are inextricably linked with the general characteristics of the personality.

So we come to the definition of will. What is will?

Not all scientists have a common opinion on such a complex problem.

V. I. Selivanov defines will as “a person’s conscious regulation of his behavior and activities, expressed in the ability to overcome internal and external difficulties in the performance of purposeful actions and deeds.”

As you can see, volitional behavior is manifested not in any, but only in consciously directed activity, when a person consciously sets a goal and fights to achieve it, overcoming difficulties and making volitional efforts.

Volitional behavior of a person consists of volitional actions. Volitional actions are simple and complex.

Simple volitional actions consist of two parts: goal setting and execution.

Complex volitional actions consist of several components, one of which is volitional effort.

Volitional effort is expressed either in focusing attention on the action being performed, or in urging oneself to act on the path to achieving the goal, overcoming difficulties and obstacles.

All the difficulties that we have to overcome in daily activities can be reduced to two groups:

1) objective difficulties, due to the peculiarities of the objects and phenomena themselves, for example, physical work that requires a lot of muscle effort, a difficult task, the solution of which is associated with great mental stress;

2) subjective difficulties, due to the characteristics of the subject himself, for example, the fear of diving into the water when we cannot swim; unwillingness to start doing homework on an unloved subject, laziness to mental or physical labor, the habit of not bothering to overcome difficulties on one's own initiative, restlessness, inability to be consistent in solving any problem, etc.

Depending on the nature of the difficulties, we must build our volitional behavior in order to successfully cope with them. So, in order to overcome objective difficulties, we must link our willpower efforts with the assimilation of work methods: in order to overcome difficulties in solving mathematical problems, we need to acquire the necessary knowledge and practice each rule.

In order to successfully overcome subjective difficulties, we must direct our volitional efforts to the formation of stable motives, firm life convictions and moral rules of behavior. We must learn to suppress the feeling of fear, negative emotional states when doing uninteresting but necessary work, develop the habit of completing the work we have begun, show determination, courage, independence in everyday life, etc.

Consequently, self-regulation of human behavior in difficult conditions occurs with the help of volitional efforts at all stages of volitional action, i.e., in determining and setting goals, fighting motives, making decisions, planning, and executing.

If you want to develop your will, then systematically exercising in overcoming difficulties in a particular type of activity, you create the prerequisites and conditions for the development of increasingly complex skills and abilities.

By acquiring that other skill, a person first keeps her operations under volitional control. At the same time, volitional efforts are also manifested in external reactions - in the tension of the muscles of the body, in facial expressions, in speech. In the process of exercises and automation of a skill, volitional efforts are, as it were, curtailed. Now a conscious-volitional impulse of a small force, expressed, for example, by the word “need”, is enough for a person to change something in the activity performed.

When tempering the will, it is important to take into account that volitional efforts are closely related to the motives of action, because, according to I. M. Sechenov, there is no naked will. The greater the significance and strength of the motive, the wider the person's ability to mobilize volitional efforts.

Will has no absolute social value. It can serve both an extremely noble, socially valuable goal, as well as morally negative, criminal and selfish motives and aspirations.

Many guys see willpower as the ability to push yourself as hard as you can, to obey no one, and to do something tiring for yourself. Such dangerous delusions can even lead to tragic consequences. Komsomolskaya Pravda once reported about a young man who, wanting to temper his will, went alone on a raft in stormy weather along the Amur River. Only thanks to a happy accident the young man survived.

To successfully temper your will, you must not only have an idea about it, but also know well all aspects of our psyche with which the will is connected, because the will and mental processes mutually enrich each other.

Will is connected with attention. As many scientists and practicing teachers note, attention training is one of the important ways of will formation.

In addition, with the help of attention we acquire knowledge. According to the figurative expression of the great Russian teacher and psychologist K. D. Ushinsky, attention is the only door of our soul through which all our knowledge passes, and the more extensive our knowledge in a particular area, the more productive volitional activity.

The will is connected with thinking, as it helps to achieve the goal with the least expenditure of energy. Judge for yourself, you can have a strong will, but not achieve your goal, because insufficiently developed thinking will not tell us the right way to achieve this goal and our efforts will be in vain.

This is especially true when solving problems. Due to the fact that we are not able to overcome the stereotyped thinking, the task may remain unsolved, although we will spend a lot of time thinking about it and show maximum willpower.

Will is related to imagination. Without the development of creative imagination, it will be difficult to mentally create a clear plan for the intended action, to foresee its consequences, which may adversely affect the achievement of the goal.

Will is connected with human feelings. It is even difficult to imagine an activity that would not be motivated or accompanied by feelings.

“I was inspired and continue to be inspired by two feelings,” he wrote, “love and hate. Love for children and hatred for fascism. Anger boils forever in my heart, and at the same time I want to hug and caress all the children of our country, I want none of them to know grief, suffering ... Every day, every hour, I awakened humanity in children's hearts - the subtlest ability to feel next to you the complex movements of someone else's heart, someone else's soul ... "

Feelings of cheerfulness, joy, confidence to a large extent help us overcome difficulties and achieve our goals.

Will is connected with memory, without which any successful activity is hardly possible at all.

The will depends on the mental development of a person. Without a developed mind, it turns into stubbornness and arbitrariness. Kik writes J. Comenius, "the mind illuminates the way for the will, and the will commands the action."

Will is connected with human habits. Training in overcoming difficulties develops a habit - the most valuable property of doing any business with energy and bringing it to the end.

A good habit, in the words of K. D. Ushinsky, is a moral capital ... which grows incessantly and a person uses interest from it all his life. Having developed a habit, a person does not spend each time his consciousness and will to fight those difficulties that have already been defeated once.

For the successful formation of the will, it is very important to familiarize yourself with such concepts that characterize the will as “volitional processes”, “volitional states”, “volitional properties of the personality”.

This is how Professor V. I. Selivanov characterizes them in his book “Will and its Education”.

Volitional processes take place in the very course of the volitional act from goal setting to execution. They are concretely expressed in deliberate attention, perception, memorization, reproduction, thinking, imagination, i.e., wherever it is required to mobilize volitional efforts to solve one or another complex task.

Volitional states are those temporary mental states that are the optimal internal conditions of the individual, contributing to the successful overcoming of the difficulties that have arisen. These include a state of optimism and general activity, mobilization readiness, interest, determination, arising under the influence of a whole range of life circumstances. Temporary mental states, repeatedly experienced by a person over and over again, turn into personality traits, become a feature of his character.

The volitional properties (qualities) of a personality are no longer temporary states, but relatively permanent, independent of a given situation, stable mental formations of a personality. The will of the individual is nothing else than a certain set of its properties that has developed in the process of life, characterizing the achieved level of conscious self-regulation of behavior.

Naturally, you may wonder why we focused on the formation of moral and volitional character traits in the book. This is due to the following reasons.

Moral good breeding determines the direction of all our actions, including strong-willed ones. If a person, for example, has a developed sense of collectivism, a desire to do good, then all his deeds and volitional efforts are aimed at doing good deeds. The actions and volitional efforts of the egoist are aimed at satisfying their own narrowly selfish interests. The core of human life is the volitional basis of his character. And if you want to live a full life, giving yourself to a common cause, not to fall into the category of losers, if you want to become the master of your destiny, to achieve success in any business, temper your will. And not without reason, comparing will and talent, Balzac wrote: “... There are no great talents without great will, these two forces - twins - are necessary for the construction of a huge building of glory ...

Will can and should be a matter of pride much more than talent. If talent is the development of natural inclinations, then a strong will is an every minute victory over instincts, over impulses that the will curbs, suppresses, over obstacles and barriers that it overcomes, over all sorts of difficulties that it heroically overcomes.

Great will is not only the ability to wish and achieve something, but also the ability to force oneself to give up something when necessary.

A. Makarenko

For a young age, acquaintance with the thoughts of great minds is an excellent mental exercise: it fertilizes the mind and refines the thought.

I. Herder

Our personality is the garden, and our will is its gardener.

W. Shakespeare

Strongest of all - owning himself.

Seneca

A powerful spirit saves a relaxed body.

Hippocrates

In order to justify ourselves in our own eyes, we often convince ourselves that we are unable to achieve the goal; in fact, we are not powerless, but weak-willed.

F. La Rochefoucauld

Disappointment is the property of the weak. Do not trust the disappointed - they are almost always powerless.

G. Flaubert

Not every resistance to trouble is rewarded with deliverance from death, but every death begins with the loss of the will to resist.

L. Leonov

There is nothing more disastrous for people in private and public life than to act indecisively, pushing away friends and being timid before enemies.

N. Chernyshevsky

Misfortune is the touchstone of character.

Honore de Balzac

First teach yourself, then you will learn something from others.

W. Goethe

Having a strong will does not mean losing your heart.

Sabit Mukanov

Here is what the psychologist A. I. Meshcheryakov writes about this.

“Dear Olga Ivanovna!

... Sometimes it is very difficult for me to be alone, then I take your book from the shelf, read, look at your photo and want to be as persistent as you ... and sad thoughts leave me ... "

Of course, for physically healthy people, the life of Olga Skorokhodova is an example of the disclosure of colossal human capabilities.

Using Linnaeus's interest in botany, Dr. Rothman managed to instill a love for the Latin language, which Carl did not want to learn at school.

However, thanks to perseverance, perseverance, determination, Darwin created a work on the origin of species, on which he worked for more than 20 years and which brought him worldwide fame.

N.V. Gogol did not show literary abilities in childhood, and his school compositions were very mediocre.

Our famous writer I. A. Goncharov achieved creative success only at the age of 40.

What is will and character

That pitiful one who, under the hammer of fate, drooped, frightened, without a fight

N. Ogarev

Each of us himself mintes the price of his personality; a person is great or small, depending on his own will.

S. Smiles