1. Share what you learn
To learn, you must teach others about what you learned. If you really learn something, you must digest it and teach it to others.
Share your thoughts via your blog, or website. Start a YouTube channel or a podcast. Answer questions on Quora.
Explain to others what you are learning.
Explain something simply to others. You’ll better understand it yourself.
The key is to express what you know and how you think. When you share, you remember what you learned.
Communicate what you learn by writing and capturing it via video or audio. It will help you become a better communicator and smarter. You’ll remember what you are learning better.
2. Make sure you sleep 8 hours every day
Sleep is critical to your overall health and well-being. Most of us don’t get enough sleep. A lack of sleep can cloud your judgment.
How are you going to become smarter if you can’t think clearly?
Getting enough sleep is one of the most under-appreciated ways to become smarter. Take care of your body. Sleep enables our bodies to repair, makes us more productive, and helps us feel excited about the day.
Without enough sleep, our brains can’t function properly. While sleep needs vary from person to person, most adults need about 8 hours of sleep per night.
Sleep is one of the most effective things we can do to reset our mindset every day. Sleep allows your body to recharge its batteries. Make it a priority.
3. Exercise for 30 minutes every day
A majority of adults don’t exercise the recommended amount of 30 minutes a day. Exercise helps you boost your mood. It improves your positive outlook on life.
It improves your overall health and well-being. Exercise stimulates the growth of new brain cells and improves your brain health.
To become smarter, you need to make sure your brain is operating optimally. Exercise helps you think better and helps you remember things.
Exercise stimulates the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your body. When your heart and lungs improve, you have more energy.
To become smarter, you must have more energy to learn. Exercise can help you fall asleep faster and deepen your sleep. Exercise and sleep go hand in hand.
4. Schedule time to think without distractions
Are you making time to reflect on your day or your life? Reflecting on your day is something you shouldn’t take for granted. Make time to write, journal, and reflect. In our fast-paced world, it’s important to slow down.
Thinking is an activity that has a tremendous benefit on your success. You should schedule a time to think. Your quiet space should be free of distractions.
Do nothing but think. Turn off your phone, don’t log on to social media, and find a place where it is just you.
Go for a hike in nature. Get outdoors. Research shows nature can make you kinder, happier, and more creative. Use your weekend to get ahead.
Think out your ideas and question them. Many CEOs spend a certain part of their day just thinking.
For example, Jeff Weiner, Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, schedules 2 hours of thinking time every day.
5. Work hard on your mindset
What you believe affects what you do. It’s that simple. The hard part is that it’s difficult to execute. If you think you’ll get smarter, you will.
Your attitude and perspectives can be learned and unlearned. They can be programmed and re-programmed. They are conscious and unconscious.
Your mindset and mental strength require hard work and commitment.
The more you pick up a new skill, a new subject, or a new thought pattern, the stronger your mind becomes. Your brain is a muscle, just like your body.
Make it a priority to learn one new thing every day. When you change your state of mind, you become a better version of yourself.
6. Become self-aware and get rid of your bad habits
Self-awareness is a powerful tool for understanding if you have good or bad habits. We don’t think about every little thing we do during the day because our habits have been formed over our lifetime.
Habits are hard to change because we are on autopilot.
We don’t realize what we are doing because we have done it over and over.
When you become more self-aware, you better understand yourself and your daily habits. You become at peace with who you are.
Self-awareness also helps you keep your emotions in check and the things that impact your daily habits and thoughts. What bad habits do you need to change?
7. Read more
Reading should become a top priority rather than at the bottom of your list. Reading books, articles, newsletters, and anything you can find will help you increase your knowledge. Make reading a serious habit.
Exercise is nourishment to your body. The same thing can be said about reading.
Reading is nourishment for your brain. If you really think about it, what you say, write, or think about comes from what you read. If you make reading an ingrained habit, your intellect will be enriched.
8. Write more
Write what you learn. Take a couple of minutes every day to reflect on what you learned today. It will boost your brainpower.
Writing is easy because anybody can write. It takes hard work to write well.
Writing is a learned skill that is mastered over time.
Good writing is all about your desire, your effort, and your will to clearly communicate your ideas. Writing helps you become a better thinker.
9. Ask smarter and better questions
One of the best ways to learn and become smarter is by asking great questions. Professionals such as litigators, journalists, and doctors are taught how to ask questions. It’s an essential part of their training and job.
Is asking excellent questions an essential part of your day?
The art and science of questioning is a skill that requires practice and training. Just like you can’t expect to run a full marathon without training, you can’t just all of a sudden, ask great questions.
The way you ask a question, structure a question, and the tone and body language you use when you ask a question all matter.
These factors control the quality of information you receive in return after asking a question. To become smarter, you need to ask better questions.
10. Work on your personal time priorities
How you spend your time defines who you are.
If you are spending time on smart things, you become smarter. Decide where you want to spend your time. There are only 720 hours in an average month.
Your personal time should align with what you care about. If you care about being smarter, you’ll make time
1 answer
The text outlines ten strategies to enhance learning and intelligence:
Share What You Learn: Teaching others reinforces your understanding. Use platforms like blogs or podcasts to express and clarify your thoughts.
Prioritize Sleep: Aim for 8 hours of sleep daily to ensure clear thinking and overall well-being, which is essential for optimal brain function.
Exercise Daily: Commit to 30 minutes of exercise each day to boost mood, enhance brain health, and improve energy levels, facilitating better learning and sleep.
Schedule Reflective Thinking: Dedicate time to think without distractions to foster creativity and self-awareness. Nature is particularly beneficial for deep thinking.
Cultivate a Strong Mindset: Your beliefs shape your actions. Focus on developing a growth mindset by learning something new every day.
Enhance Self-Awareness: Understanding your habits helps identify and eliminate bad ones, improving emotional regulation and daily behaviors.
Read More: Make reading a priority to enrich your knowledge and nurture your brain's growth, similar to physical exercise for the body.
Write Regularly: Reflect on your learning through writing. It's a skill that enhances thinking and communication.
Ask Better Questions: Improve your questioning skills to deepen knowledge and understanding, as effective questioning is crucial in many professional fields.
Align Time with Priorities: Evaluate how you spend your time and ensure it aligns with your goals, particularly the goal of becoming smarter.
Emphasizing these strategies can lead to improved learning, clearer thinking, and enhanced intelligence.