Aged six: Recipe for Success In the final episode of series six, we looked at the human ability to acquire new skills.

Each one of us has a unique blend of skills and talents, some inherited from our parents, others self-taught. During this episode, we identified seven important skills that contribute to an individual's success in life:

• musical ability
• logical ability
• understanding emotions
• creativity
• narrative ability
• spatial awareness
• physical ability

To be successful, it helps to know what drives you.

Musical ability

Understanding music requires a good ear, concentration, logical thinking and memory - all useful skills in life.

Music has such a powerful affect on the brain, listening to it can improve your concentration and affect your emotions. A number of studies have concluded that learning to play a musical instrument may increase IQ.

Logical ability

In order to be successful, it helps to think logically. If you possess this skill, you'll be able to understand mathematical operations and be in possession of logical reasoning and scientific thinking. You can hone your logical skills by regularly estimating your shopping bill and journey times, for example.

Understanding emotions

People with this skill are able to understand other people's moods and feelings. However, one in 20 people has difficulty spotting complex emotions in others. Teenagers, in particular, are bad at recognising anger.

Creativity

Creativity is all about making unlikely associations between things - the more elaborate our thinking, the more creative our ideas. We all use creativity to learn and adapt to face life's challenges.

To be creative, we need a wide variety of experiences to draw on. Most of us don't reach our creative peak until we're in our late 30s.

Narrative ability

Those with narrative ability have a gift for telling stories and are particularly good at memorising and recounting details. We all use narrative to impose order on events and sequencing them in time. Good narrative is also fundamental in effective communication.

Spatial awareness

This requires the ability to imagine, visualise, remember and concentrate. If you have good spatial awareness, you'll possess the ability to understand the relationships of objects in space, have perception of scale and the ability to relate to your surroundings.

You can improve spatial awareness by practising map reading, giving directions to people and playing 3D games and jigsaw puzzles.

Physical ability

This is the ability to control body movement and handle objects skilfully. If your strengths lie here, you're likely to take part regularly in a sport or physical activity, enjoy working with your hands to create things, be well coordinated and learn more about things by touch.

Whatever areas you've identified as your strengths or weaknesses, the important thing to remember is that the brain is a learning machine - it's always changing. This means every one of us, no matter how old, has the potential to improve our brain power.

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