The Kind of Intelligence We Often Miss
Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of sitting with countless adults—many of them men, often tradesmen, mechanics, and engineers—who don’t struggle with intelligence, but with a system that doesn’t speak their language.
“I Take the Engine Out with My Mind”
One story I often come back to is of a man who works with machines the size of small buildings—tractors so large they tower over you in the paddock. He came to see me not because he was struggling at work, but because, despite being the best at what he did, he was hitting a wall.
When I asked, “So how do you go about fixing a broken-down tractor?”—his answer stayed with me.
“As the farm manager explains what he thinks is wrong, I take the engine out in my mind and place it in front of me. I pull the engine apart moving my mind around it. The parts sit in 3D – almost real – in front of me. I turn them around with my mind as he talks. By the time he’s finished talking, I’ve usually figured out what’s wrong.”
Visual Genius, Literacy Struggles
He wasn’t unsure of his brilliance—but he was baffled by why that brilliance didn’t translate to writing.
“Why can I do that—and be the best mechanic they’ve got—but I can’t even spell the word tractor?”
He shared how he would often avoid paperwork, drive around instead of going back to the office, and ask his manager to fill in the reports for him—because mixing up numbers and struggling to write a simple sentence left him feeling ashamed. That’s why they sent him to me—not to fix him, but to help him use his mind differently.
Rewiring the Mind for Reading and Writing
We worked together for just four days. That was all it took.
Using Davis Orientation Counselling and simple focus tools, I helped him shift the orientation of his mind—from mechanic mode to literacy mode. He quickly learned to read accurately, and the confusion around symbols and sequences faded and he began filling out his own report forms confidently.
Healing from School and Reclaiming Confidence
One more layer revealed itself. He told me how standing to write on the whiteboard at work triggered him—flashbacks of being forced to write vertically on the blackboard at school. His hand would shake, his focus would vanish.
We addressed this with a gentle Release procedure. The school memory softened, and with it, his confidence grew. After that?
He could write on the whiteboard without fear—and weld so much better vertically, not just horizontally. Sometimes learning trauma carries on into other contexts. Easily sorted with the Davis Release procedure.
Different Doesn’t Mean Broken
Sometimes, all a person needs is to learn how to use their mind differently for a different kind of task. Their intelligence isn’t the problem. Their learning style isn’t a deficit. It’s just never been translated.
And watching someone’s world open up when it finally is—that’s the real work I get to witness every day.
If This Sounds Familiar…
If you—or someone you care about—can see how things work in your mind but struggle to write them down, you’re not alone. There is a way to learn that fits how your mind naturally works.
📩 Reach out if you’d like to talk. I’m happy to answer questions, and there’s no pressure—just a conversation to explore what might be possible.
Let’s find the tools that work for your mind.