If you want to get smarter every day, you must look beyond the obvious. There are unexpected ways to gain intelligence.

We may already be familiar with many ways to get smarter every day. Education, at its most basic, will grow our intelligence, this is true, but there are other ways to become brighter that you might have missed. Yes, reading is great, and writing works as well, but what else works?

Hacks to make you smarter

To boost your intelligence, you will first want to make sure you are living healthy. Getting enough sleep and exercise are integral parts of fueling intelligence. Not only do they keep you feeling well, but they improve your calculating and reasoning abilities as well.

Here are a few more unexpected science-backed hacks that will truly help you get smarter every day.

Ask questions and challenge assumptions

Okay, listen carefully. This is a deep one. One way to boost your intelligence is to ask questions, and not just ordinary ones. For instance, you may think that listening to music makes you smarter, and it does. But, if you question this theory, it will make you research the connection between music and intelligence. You may find more information that you knew before.

So basically, questioning things gives you a reason to study them. This, in turn, expands your mind, offering new ideas. Why assume, when you know you can find out for yourself!

Respond correctly to mistakes

Some people make mistakes and then try to ignore them. Maybe they become embarrassed and do not wish to relive the mistake. The problem is that they do not learn from those mistakes.

The way to learn and become smarter every day is to take responsibility for the mistake, learn about what should have happened, and then educate yourself. No matter what the mistake was, facing it and accepting truth helps you learn how to respond to things with logic.

Go ahead and debate that subject

Another way to improve your intelligence is to partake in debating. This activity, when enjoyed in a polite and peaceful manner, can help you see things from other perspectives.

When you start to understand other viewpoints or reinforce your own, you are practicing reasoning skills that otherwise get lazy. You will notice how your brain surprises you with points, and you will also see good points in opposing arguments that make you take pause. All of this is good for you intellectual health, and you will get smarter.

Meditation

One reason our intellect suffers is due to the structure of our mindset. Stress can jumble our thoughts making us create wrong assumptions and suffer memory loss.

Meditation centers us and helps us focus. When we are able to focus, we are able to make uniform and solid decisions. We instantly become more intelligent as we begin to clear our minds of clutter.

Practice sarcasm

Yes, it’s funny when someone gives a sarcastic answer to a question, but it’s also healthy. In fact, the more sarcastic you are, the smarter and healthier you seem to be. Why? Well, when you give a sarcastic answer, you tend to get creative for fun.

So, with that being said, practicing sarcasm can train your brain to be more creative and improve abstract thinking abilities. Sometimes you can say something ridiculous and it still answers in a sarcastic manner.

Persistence

No, persistence isn’t always easy, but it can make you smarter. A way to look at persistence is exercise.

If you want to get into shape, you have to stay active, true? Well, in order to keep exercising on a consistent basis, you must persist in motivation. Maybe your headphones broke but you want to listen to music while you run. Well, maybe you don’t have a way to do that, but you have to make yourself run anyway. You have to keep going whether you want to or not – no excuses.

As you stay persistent, you develop habits which make you more intelligent in the long run. Keep pushing, get smarter.

Eat smarter

When I speak of eating smarter, I don’t mean jump on the fad bandwagon. I mean keep eating the basic powerhouse building blocks that have always been around. Never skip on vegetables, whole grains, and lean meats. These provide nutrients that feed your brain.

I guess it’s not necessarily a hack, but it works. Remember to eliminate as many processed foods and sugars as possible for optimal benefit.

Learn to cook new things

Maybe you can already cook really well, but your brain becomes neglected if you don’t try new cuisines. This is because once you’ve mastered a recipe and memorized it, you don’t really have to use your brain quite as much.

With new recipes, however, you have to understand ingredients, measurements, and techniques. This can take more skill than just reading. Try something new and notice how your mind starts to race.

What hacks do you use?

This is only a small portion of the hacks, tricks, and tips to get smarter. There are so many ways to give your brain a good workout.

Improving your intelligence doesn’t just benefit you either. What you learn today can help others tomorrow as they strive to get smarter every day. Just remember, keep reading, keep asking questions and by all means, stay curious.

What are your ideas for improving the mind?

References:

  1. https://www.rd.com
  2. https://www.fastcompany.com

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Don

    Although all of these are important, everyone has favorites, and mine is to question and challenge assumptions. To be closest to the truth one must be a listener, question, then then go find what is closest to that truth. It is almost frightful at times to learn the sources of others statements and beliefs. People should teach their children to question rather than be of those who say ‘do not question me’.

    1. Sherrie

      Yes, I agree, Don. I just read a quote a few minutes ago about how important it is to seek knowledge over finding. I cannot remember exactly how it went but, in a nutshell, those who think they know things are not as intelligent as those who understand the volume of what they do not know. I guess you understand what I am trying to say. We should all continue to question things.

  2. sri

    very nice post for each one…thanks for sharing

    1. Sherrie

      Thank you, Sri. I am happy you enjoyed the post.

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