Do you want to learn how to become smarter and improve your life? Many people think that smart people are born smart. Others think that they are not meant to be smart. The truth is that becoming smart requires some learning, positive habits, discipline, and more.
You can become smarter if you want to. Every skill is learnable and no obstacle is insurmountable. If someone else was able to achieve it, so, can you.
In this article, I have put together a list of 35 habits that will make you smarter. Without further ado, let’s make you smarter.
1. Read every day
Reading is one of the best ways to build a massive intelligence and become smarter. You don’t necessarily have to read in your area of expertise or anything related to your job to learn something useful. By reading books, you improve your language as you learn new vocabulary, you keep your brain active, and more importantly, you focus on something that is useful.
If you want a habit that will make you smarter every day, consider reading every single day. After a long time, you will realize that you know more than most of your colleagues. The more you know, the easier you will succeed in this ever-changing world.
2. Have enough sleep
Sleeping reduces stress, rests your body and mind, and improves your health. Having enough sleep will also help you prevent diseases and increase your performance.
When you have enough sleep, your attention to detail increases and you learn faster and perform at an optimal level. If you are looking for ways to become smarter, start by having enough sleep.
3. How to become smarter: Drink enough water
If you thought I was going to ask you to study the most complicated subject, you are wrong. What will make you successful is not studying hard stuff. Instead, it is doing all those little stuff that everyone tends to ignore.
One of the most things you can do to become smarter is to drink enough water. Experts think that you should drink around 3 littles per day. As reported by Mayo Clinics, men should drink 3.7 littles or 15.5 cups whereas women should drink 2.7 littles or 11.5 cups daily.
So, why water? Well, water is the most important ingredient your body needs to function properly. Water helps in regulating your body temperature, flushes out body waste, helps form the Saliva, used in all body metabolic activities, etc. Being smarter starts with having a healthy and capable body and water is the most ingredient you will need. Your smartness will depend on how much water you drink.
4. Work out every day
Like water, working out will makes you smarter. It all works inside your body. When you work out, your body becomes healthier and cleaner. Not only that your burn bad fat, but you also become more confident.
Confidence is everything. When you are confident, you can learn anything out there. You can also influence people around you and make a difference. If you want to become smarter, start working out today.
5. Have a positive and open mindset
To become smarter, you need to be open to possibilities and more options in your life. You need to understand that each problem can have different answers and they vary based on who you ask.
Knowing that you can be wrong is a good starting point. Positivity is so important that it will determine your entire life’s direction. Always stay positive and avoid negative self-talk and negative people. Negative people will never help you out. The only thing you will learn from them is how to dive into a dark emotional abyss. As you know, your success will depend on how emotionally stable you are. In order to stay healthy and become smarter, you must avoid negative people and have an open mindset.
6. How to become smarter: Avoid negative self-talk
I cannot do it. It is too difficult. There is no way I will be able to do it. Why did they think that I can do it? I am not smart enough to do it.
If you ever thought of these small sentences, talked to someone about them, or used them; you have encountered negative self-talk. Negative self-talk limits your ability to succeed. Hence, hindering your ability to learn and make yourself a better person.
In order to become smarter, you need to be aware of your inner thoughts and only focus on positive ideas. Instead of telling yourself that you cannot do it, focus on how you can do it. For example, the following sentences are positive sentences that can help you become smarter and a positive thinker.
- I can do it
- I am able to do it
- How can I do it?
- I will do it
- It is possible
- Etc.
All these sentences register a positive message in your subconscious. Instead of complaining about the problem, you focus on how you can solve it. This leads to finding solutions. Hence, becoming smarter every day.
Related: 51 tips you can use to become successful
7. Telling yourself that you can do it
Before a habit becomes a reality, it must be registered in your subconscious. It takes a long time to train the brain on what to do and how to do it. Smart people are positive and focus on finding solutions rather than dwelling on problems.
If you want to become smarter, focus on a positive mindset. Tell yourself that you can do it. Focus all your attention on the solutions instead of the problem.
8. How to become smarter: Be confident
Confidence is everything. Have you heard of people whose minds become blank during a public presentation? Your brain will become irresponsive whenever you tell it to do so.
You must be confident in order to become smarter. Smart people know that confidence is the key to their success, and therefore, they make it a priority. So, you should do the same.
9. Eat healthy meals
Your body depends on what you eat and drink. If you eat healthy meals and drink enough water, you will have success. What you eat matters and you should be careful about it.
There are millions of people who are obese from their foods. If you are one of them and want to lose that those extra pounds, understand that you must control your diet. The food builds your body and makes your mind clear of bad thoughts. A good mind learns better and faster. If you want to become smarter, you need to start eating healthy.
10. How to become smarter: Ask a lot of questions
Nobody knows everything in the world. The only way to find out what you don’t know is to either ask a lot of questions or read some random books. The fastest way to have to answer is to ask a lot of questions. You can ask people or some computers. I mean, “google the answer”.
Not only that you get the answer to your problems, but you also know why. For example, a person can tell you more than you asked. This will increase your level of knowledge and make you smarter in the process.
11. Apply what you learn
What you have learned will not benefit you, unless you apply them in your daily life. If you learned a new skill, use it to solve problems. You don’t necessarily have to solve your own problems. You can use your skills to solve other people’s problems.
The more problems you solve, the smarter you will become. So, If you want to become smarter or wondering how to become smarter, start applying what you learn every day.
12. Become smarter by teaching others
Teaching is probably the best way to master a skill. It(teaching) is also the fastest way to learn a new skill. When you are teaching, you end up doing research. You educate yourself more to become confident and knowledgeable at what you teach.
At the end of the day, you cannot teach people if you don’t know what you are talking about. That is why the fear of failing in front of people pushes you to learn. As a result, you become smarter.
13. How to become smarter: Take free online courses
There are times when you will need a hand in your process. Sometimes you need to be a student before you become a teacher. Taking a free online course will be a great starting point for those who want to become smarter. This way, you will have access to knowledge without paying a penny.
Learn as much as you can. There are a ton of websites that offer free courses in any given area.
Some of these websites include, but are not limited to, Udemy, Coursera, Khan Academy, and many more. So, become a student first if you want to become smarter.
Related: Top 7 Best free online learning websites
14. Learn a new skill
Are you still wondering how to become smarter? Learn a new skill. There are a lot of skills you can learn out there that can help you improve your smartness. For example, you can learn a new language. This will improve your communication skills, help you interact with diverse people, built your connections, and in the end help you become smarter.
Those who are struggling with their current jobs can benefit from learning new skills. Why? Because once you master a new skill, you will use it to find your dream job.
What you learn can either be related to your current job or something different. As long as you are learning, you are becoming smarter every day.
15. How to become smarter: Take a break
You are probably wondering why taking a break will make you smarter. Well, your body is made of flesh and bones and they break easily. Once broken, your body cannot easily be repaired. In order to perform well and achieve success in whatever you are doing, you need to give your body a break.
Taking a break will help you refresh before continuing your task. You will also get a chance to reevaluate your procedures and the steps you are taking. A clear and well-rested mind will take you places.
16. Hangout with people who are smarter than you
You are the average of people you hang out with. If all your friends are like you or below you, you are not getting any better. You are not smart because of the people you hang out with. They don’t challenge you to succeed. Mater of fact, they pull you down.
In order to avoid the same fate as your friends who are lost with no clear direction in life, start hanging out with people who are smarter than you. Smart people have different mindsets and points of view about life and everything around them. They are smart because they followed steps that lead to success.
To achieve the same result, you must learn and follow the same steps. There is no better place to start learning than going directly to the source of knowledge: Smart People. Hang out with smart people if you want to become smarter.
17. Watch/listen to motivational speeches
When you listen to/watch motivational speeches, your brain registers that strong positive message for a while. This increases your feeling about life and learning in general which pushes you to do more.
Is there anything you are afraid to tackling? One or motivational video can get you started. For those with busy schedules, there is an alternative. You can play motivational podcasts in your car while driving. Even if you do not spend a lot of time in your car, you can still learn something. Every little bit helps.
18. How to become smarter: Learn public speaking
Public speaking is the hardest thing millions of people are afraid of. Yet, public speaking can boost your confidence and smartness at the same time. Confidence and knowledge are the solutions to public speaking. If you are afraid of public speaking, start learning how to become a public speaker.
You do not have to present to a group of a lot of people. As long as you have some audience, you will be fine. Keep building that up and improve as you go. The more you learn and improve yourself, the better you become.
How to become smarter? Start public speaking!
19. Learn the basics of mathematics
Do you hate Mathematics? Well, mathematics is fun when you have a great teacher. How do I know? I have a bachelor’s degree in mathematics! I like Math. Mathematics is the foundation of every science. You cannot be successful, for example, if you don’t know at least the basics of math. I am talking about addition, division, subtraction, and multiplication. Beyond these basic math concepts, there is another world in which you don’t need to get involved.
Math will increase your brain’s focus, stability, performance, and smartness. You just need to learn the basics and go from there. If you need advanced stuff, you can still learn them but they are not needed. Well, I can teach you about advanced stuff!
Your ability to think mathematically and quantify every problem will be the key to becoming smarter. If you really want to become smarter, consider learning mathematics! A great subject, indeed!
20. Stay away from negative people
The only thing you will learn from negative people is frustration and negativity. You cannot become smarter if you are focusing on negative useless stuff. It will be hard for you to improve your performance if you are crying about problems around you.
To make sure that you are not trapped in negativity and moving backward instead of forward, avoid hanging out with negative people. Do you have negative friends? Today is the day you should distance yourself from them. What if they are your best friends? Well, do you want to keep your negative friends and live a below-average life? Or, do you want to walk away from them, learn, become smarter, and later pull them up? I prefer to walk away from them.
A smart person once said,” you cannot help people by becoming one of them”. If you want to become smarter and help your friends and family members who are struggling, distance yourself from them. Only then, you can save them. You can always go back to pull them up and show them the light. However, you cannot achieve this by becoming negative like them.
21. Be Honest and avoid lying
Honest is important in every part of life. I once heard the following: If you can lie, you can steal. If you can steal, you can kill. Furthermore, if you can kill, you will go to jail. I guess we can agree that going to jail, will probably mark the end of your life.
You can see that honesty, avoiding lying, and becoming a better person are very crucial to achieving the smartness you are looking for. If you want to become smarter, stay away from trouble. Being honest will be a good starting point.
22. How to become smarter: Manage your time wisely
Have you heard a saying: Time is money? I bet you did. Time is the most important asset you have. Once wasted, time cannot be recovered. So, if you want to become smarter, start by using your time wisely. You can achieve millions of things when you have time.
However, you cannot achieve anything if you do not have time. Yes, time is money. Start treating time as money and manage it well. Only then you will become smarter and achieve whatever you are looking for.
23. Respect others
If you want to be respected, start respecting others. The respect you get from people will depend on how much respect you give. That is the price you will pay.
Why should you respect others if you want to become smarter? Well, if you are disrespectful to others, you will be disrespected. Being disrespected will create anger and conflicts with others. When you are angry at your friends, neighbors, or strangers, you will not focus your attention on learning and becoming smarter. Instead, you will focus on revenge and hatred. A good path you can take is to respect others. It is unlikely that a person you respected will disrespect you in return.
24. How to become smarter: Avoid conflicts
You will never gain anything from conflicts except hate and misery. The time you spend hating and going crazy about a person, organization, etc. should be used to benefit you.
When you are angry at someone, picture yourself better than them. Instead of focusing on hating them, focus on finding out how you can become better than them. Ask yourself the following question: How can I become better than them?
These thoughts and actions will create a positive mindset even if days are not looking good for you. By staying positive, you get to find solutions through continuing education and personal growth. Hence, becoming smarter and better.
25. Stop watching TV for a long time
The time you spend on TV, movies, video games, and other entertainment is wasted. If you want to become smarter, free a few hours from your entertainment and use it to learn something that is useful and productive. If you cannot stay away from your entertainment, find a way to entertain yourself and get paid at the same time.
For example, there are video games that will pay you to play them. Focus on these ones and build your wealth and smartness at the same time.
26. Play mind-sharpening games instead of just games
Just like I said above, instead of playing regular video games; start playing games that will make your mind smarter. There are games that will challenge you and forces you to learn something useful.
For example, if you want to be smart about money, start playing money games. Games that teach you how to save money, make money, or invest money. This is the only way you can have fun playing games and learn something useful at the same time.
28. Have an open mindset
Are you super stubborn? Well, I hate to break it to you. You must have an open mindset if you want to become smarter. Having an open mindset will help you locate areas where you need help and improvements.
As you know, becoming smart is all about adapting to changes. In this case, your changes will be your ability to accept that you lack some knowledge and are willing to learn. Most people do never acknowledge that they need help. That is why they never learn.
If you want to become smarter or need to know habits that will make you smarter, treat everything that comes your way as an opportunity and have an open mindset.
29. Admit defeat and ask for help when needed
There are times when you will start something and face obstacles that are bigger than yourself. When this happens, forget about your pride and ask for help. The more help you get when facing a very difficult problem, the easier it will be for you to solve it and become smarter.
If you want to become smarter, start considering your journey as a teamwork effort instead of an individual one.
30. Laugh as much as possible
Laughing is probably one of the best mood booster and stress relievers out there. Having less stress with a perfect mood creates the perfect environment for learning. If you want to become smarter, start laughing. Having a stress-free mind will increase your ability to learn and make you smarter.
31. How to become smarter: Learn a second language
Do you like learning languages? If so, you could find this path a way to become smarter. Learning a new language(s) will increase your communication skills and open opportunities to other sides of the world.
Those who like to travel can start enjoying the world with true meaning. That is you get to enjoy traveling only if you do not rely on translators.
The language you learn will feed your brain, increase your confidence, and more importantly, strengthens your decision-making abilities. All these will make you smarter if not the smartest person around.
32. Learn a musical instrument
Most successful and smart people play at least one musical instrument. Why is that? Playing a musical instrument reduces stress and increases creativity. In addition, your entire brain works when you are playing a musical instrument. This leads to time management, memory capacity, and decision-making.
You can see that in order to become smarter, you don’t necessarily have to rely on books. There are other things you can do to boost your smartness. Playing a musical instrument will be your starting point.
33. How to become smarter: Learn how to cook
Cooking! Most of you hate cooking. But the truth is that cooking can boost your creativity, increase your memory capacity, and make you smarter.
When you are eating out, you eat exactly what someone else prepared for you. Most of these foods do not have all nutrition you need. Others have more than you need such as calories, etc. How about taste? Well, if you have been dining in restaurants for a while, you are well aware that their foods do not taste as advertised. Eating that kind of food will not make you healthy. You will most likely become obese and cranky.
The solution is to learn how to cook. When you make your own meals, you decide what you want to eat, how to cook it, and more importantly, how it tastes. This leads to a healthy life, boosts your immune systems, and makes you stronger both physically and mentally.
If you want to become smarter, start by making your body healthier. A healthy body can learn anything in the world.
34. Keep a record of your work and track your progress
Tracking your record will make you smarter. Your record will show you where you have been, what you have done, what you haven’t done, etc. In addition, your record will show you what is working and what is not.
From there, you can make improvements, stick to what works, and get rid of what does not work. If you want to become smarter, record-keeping and progress checking should you part of your journey.
35. How to become smarter: Stay optimistic
Everything you have learned and the steps you have taken will not matter if you are not optimistic. Optimism is the feeling that something is possible and will work in your favor.
The journey toward success and smartness will not be smooth. You will have dark days, hit a wall, and free-fall all the way to the bottom. The only way you will be able to lift yourself up is by staying optimistic. Having a positive feeling about whatever you will be doing will pave the way to success.
When tears are rolling down your chin, the feeling that you can do it will be your greatest savior moving forward. Without an optimistic mentality, you will find it difficult to fight the fear of failure and negative people around you.
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