HABITS THAT MAKE YOU SMARTER

 

 

HERE ARE 6 HABITS THAT MAKE YOU SMARTER.

GRADUALLY, JUST LITTLE BY LITTLE. 

In this article, you will know how you can apply these easy daily habits that make you smarter and wiser. These are very simple but they require your time. I will not tell you to leave everything and just go and study. These habits will make you smarter day by day. So, let's talk about these 6 habits one by one.

CONTENT OF THE ARTICLE :

1. Selection of your digital feed.

2. Self-Education.

3. Replace entertainment with learning.

4. Becoming Open-Minded.

5. Importance of Reading.

6. Focus on neglected topics.

Selection of your Digital Feed.

Digital Media is like an ocean of information, news, and knowledge. It depends on you how you use it. Do you take advantage of it or does it takes advantage of you?. You can go and consume whatever you want. You can consume shit from social media or you can consume knowledge about literally anything. It can become a very easy and efficient mode of self-education for you if you use it wisely.

According to a survey conducted by the American Survey Agency, on average, one person spends 2 to 2.5 hours using their mobile phones all around the world. If you do not waste this time in consuming unnecessary drama, negative news, and viral videos, and use this time to learn something inspiring and innovative, it will be very easy for you to learn new things. It will be so much better if you open your Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and you see information about your goals.

So, go and change your social media settings so that it shows you inspirational and innovative information and helps you learn more.

Self-Education.

How many of you remember the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma that you learned in school? Let it be whatever economic questions, math equations, or literature rules, whatever we learn in school we forget the 60 % after some days of the exams. But the lessons we learn at our workplace by working ourselves, we never forget that and remember life long. That's why Albert Einstein said, "Education is what remains after one has forgotten, what one learned in school." 

The best example of this is Elon Musk. When he thought about establishing his company 'SpaceX', he had no knowledge about space and rockets. But he educated himself, by reading books and spending time with space scientists and made SpaceX a successful venture. Here I'm not saying that formal education is a waste and is of no use. If you want a government job or want to be a doctor, formal education is the most important. But I want to say that not having a degree does not mean you are not capable of anything.

Self-Education gives you the power to take the keys of the car of life in your hand. You become your own master. The Internet has made it very easy now to educate yourself. You can read any article, watch any show or listen to a podcast without spending any money. If you have to spend money on a course, why not? You can spend lakhs on universities which don't teach you any skill but can't buy a course? There is no lack of money too. You can subscribe to Netflix but not buy a course? You should not have any excuses in today's world.

You should know that for acquiring knowledge, you don't need an expensive university or any degree. 

Replace Entertainment with Learning.

All around the world, on average an individual spends 3 hours watching TV and 2 hours on social media. I'm not advising you to stop this completely. Entertainment has its own place in Human Psychology. No one can work every time like a robot. But do you really need 5-6 hours of entertainment? No, you don't. You can refresh your mood with 1 hour of entertainment. 

Make a golden rule for your life that when you spend 1 hour for entertainment, you will make time, maybe only 1 hour for learning too. In that one hour, you can read books, listen to audiobooks or podcasts, and learn something new by watching online videos. Maybe a question will arise in your mind that what impact will only 1 hour of learning make on our life? Let me tell you, if you read for 1 hour daily for 1 year, you will end up reading 50-55 books of average length.

Famous author 'Earl Nightingale' in his book 'The strangest secret', said that with 1 hour of study, you will become the topper of your field in 3 years, within 5 years everyone in your country will know you, and within 7 years you will become an international personality in your subject.

Now the choice is yours. You can watch Netflix all day long or build your skills and knowledge and increase your self-worth. 

Becoming Open Minded.

Not judging anything and becoming open-minded by learning from everything around you is the best form of intelligence. It is not necessary to learn only from successful people. You can learn from anyone around you by observing the good and bad in them. Everything around you definitely teaches something. But the problem is that our mind sometimes is not able to see things even if they are in front of us. Remember that there is a lesson in every failure and a thief have a very high IQ level and smartness. It depends on how we see the world around us.

The reason most people don't learn from their surroundings is the "Closed Mindset". A closed-minded person will only judge everything and not learn from that. If someone becomes successful, they say he only works and is crazy. If someone fails, they say he is a fool and did not focus on work. Judging someone only by seeing them is a sign of a 'Closed Mindset'. A closed mindset means fixed belief and it means you don't want to learn anything new and you cannot even learn. Some people make assumptions about themselves that they know everything and no need to learn anything new. Some think that they know nothing and can't do anything about it. Both type of assumptions are dangerous as they block your mind and never let you learn about anything.

Albert Einstein also said about himself that "I am not a special human. I am just curious about everything new to me." So, If you can change your judgmental thinking to curious thinking, you will allow knowledge to flow in your mind and become an 'Open Minded' person. You will start to learn from people's mistakes and the good in them rather than judging them. Add curiosity to your life.

Importance of Reading.

Just like exercise make your body flexible and strong, Regular reading makes your mind creative and thoughtful. If you do not exercise, your bones and muscles will become weak. Similarly, if you do not read on a regular basis your mind will become weak. It is a fact that millionaires all around the world, on average reads 20-25 books per year. If you want to do something big, make reading a habit. 

Spend your time reading books. 15 minutes, 30 minutes, or 1 hour, the choice is yours but read. If you are so busy that you can't do this, you can invest your 'Dead time' in reading. Read books while traveling, eating, or when you are waiting for something may be in the restaurant. Now a day's it is not necessary to have a physical book in your hands, you have your phone. You can read online or on Kindle or any app of your choice. You can listen to audiobooks and podcasts.

Set a reminder on your phone for reading so that you don't forget to read any day. Teachers in primary schools told us that books are our best friends. They really are and they don't even borrow your money like your friends. Reading books on business or time management can be boring if you do not have a habit of reading. So, you can start by reading any interesting storybook or novel. Read in the language you want to. Once you develop a reading habit, you can switch to business books or any self-improvement book. Read, read and learn. Now, let's go to the last habit that will make you smarter.  

Focus on Neglected Topics.

Most of us unknowingly build a bubble of topics we like. For example, Most people eat the food of a specific type or wear clothes of a specific brand or style. They have a box of some selected topics and choices and they judge things outside of that box without trying. 

If you really want to become smarter, you need to come out of your 'Bubble of Topics' and try out new things and get new experiences. Learn about the topics which you neglected till now. When you will start to learn or try anything that you neglected till today, maybe you will get some help in whatever you do or figure out a solution to a problem you were stressing over. It may happen that you find something interesting. Focus on everything around you and try to learn something new every single day by keeping an 'Open Mindset'.

So, These were the daily habits that make you smarter. These obviously needs your time. Thank You for reading. You can read my article about Time Management and learn to manage your time in the simplest language.